SKAE Chapter Four

Chapter One: Castle of Desires
Chapter Two: Death of Seven Pirates
Chapter Three: Face of the Faceless Guard

Chapter Four: Knocking on the Castle's Door

The mysterious statue spoke: "Hello, Thef."
Thef: "How do you know my name? Who are you?"
The statue: "I am the Statue of Fulfillment.
You've entered the Castle of Desires, and now your desires shall be fulfilled."

Thef: "Who were those faceless guards? Why didn't they kill me?"
The statue: "You had no intention to exploit the Castle, so the Castle held no guard against you."
Thef: "Well, I have only one desire now..."
The statue: "And it is fulfilled."

And miraculously, a giant aircraft appeared before Thef's feet!

built by Charlie
The statue: "Your desire of escape will be fulfilled with this aircraft. It can take you to any place you could possibly want to go."
Thef: "Whoa..."
He dropped his weapons, and took flight.

Thef: "Hahahahaha! Huhoo!"

As the aircraft is cruising at ultrasonic speed, a man hopped onto its nose.
Thef: "!?" How is that possible?
The spaceman said: "Please slow down your aircraft. I have a favor to ask."
Thef accelerated to near light speed, but the spaceman still stood there casually.
"Or I could destroy your aircraft."
Thef landed immediately. "What do you want?"
"I want no harm. I just want to know where I can find the Castle of Desires."
"Oh! Well, that way."
"May the force be with you!" The spaceman flew away before his voice could reach Thef's ears.
"What's with all these people?" Thef scratched his head.



A minute later,
two spacemen arrived at the Castle of Desires.
This time, the guards were already waiting in high alert. They knew these spacemen were unlike any other enemies they have faced.
The spacemen said: "Please grant us entry to your Castle. We do not wish to harm you."
The guards didn't lower their weapons.

With a flash, the entire Castle was lit by countless torches!
The Left and Right Guards stepped up cautiously to the spacemen.
For the first time in history, they spoke, in a hoarse voice: "Leave at once."

"Well, if you have the power to drive us out, you would already be doing so, wouldn't you?" The spacemen smiled.
The Left Guard launched his attack, but the spaceman was so much faster.
That's a speed foreign to the entire world!


And sure enough, the spacemen are foreigners from another world.

They revealed their real look.
"Jajajajaja!"
What hideous two-legged-scorpion-looking aliens!
"Jajajajaja... it's too late now, foolish guards!"

The three guards simultaneously attacked the two intruders,
but the aliens disappeared before Guards' swords could even point to them!

"Jajajaja! What are you pointing at?"
"We are here!"
The tail of the thin alien almost stabbed the Middle Guard in the throat,
but the other Guards disrupted the alien's attack.
"Aw... I'm hit..." the fat alien lied flat.
"... or not!"
"Jajajajaja!"
The Guard took a direct hit and dropped his helmet and weapons.


"This is going to get interesting..."
the Guards said in a chilling voice.

The weapons and helmet were not for attack nor defense, they were in place as training tools to slow down the Guards!
Facing these aliens, the Guards now dropped their burdens and prepared for a real fight.

With incomprehensible speed,
[animation]
the aliens were knocked down.

"Ja...!"


But the fat alien wasn't critically injured.
Rather, it was merely excited!

"Jajajaja! How's this?"
He flew right into the guards, and
opened fire on top of Middle Guard.
"Jajajajaja!"
"Wait, where are you going?"
The fat alien watched the Middle Guard fly into the Castle.

He was going to get his desires fulfilled!
"Foul! Cheater!" The fat alien screamed, but it was too late.


A gigantic dragon appeared!
built by Charlie
"HAARRGGHH!!!"

The dragon circled over the area awesomely,

and the ground shook as it landed.
"!?"
"That's... not fair." The fat alien was awe-struck.
HHAAAAARRRGHHHHH!!!

to be continued...

SKAE Chapter Three

Chapter One: Castle of Desires
Chapter Two: Death of Seven Pirates

Chapter Three: Face of the Faceless Guard

One hundred years later...

"Hu hoo..."
Are they still after me?
I must find a place to hide...
An exhausted man ran into view with immense paranoia.

What's this?
He saw something parculiar under a pile of leaves.
A pirate's hat?
Aha! Weapons!
The man quickly removed some leaves. Several ancient abandoned weapons revealed.
"Yargh! Run for mercy!" The man put on the hat and picked up a sword.
Only if these fire arms were 100 years newer... he thought to himself.
As he played around with the new weapons, a row of headless bodies appeared!

"Argh!" the man screamed.
"Don't fear us, but fear the place you are about to go..." the headless Captain said in a gloomy voice.

"Stay back!" The man swung the sword at the headless Captain. Air was all that he hit.
"Holy ****!!" The man screamed even louder than before, and he took off in a flight.
"... poor soul..." the headless Captain said with a sigh.


A few minutes later.

A team of sharp-looking cops arrived after the escaped man.
"Wow, he's quite a runner!" A cop said.
"How's everyone doing?"
"Ha ha... what now, do you want a coffee break again?"
The cops laughed.
"Nah, let's catch this filth and go home."
"Agreed. Been playing with this one too long."
Zoom!
The cops drove pass the pirates' weapons, heading towards...?



"Ha... ha... hoo... hoo..." The man's adrenaline surge died down after some vigorous running.
Where am I? A building. A Castle?
Who cares, it's a good place to hide.
The man went in...
without taking time to notice the heads...
...of the ancient preys of Castle of Desires.


After some loud screeches of breaking,
the cops arrived at the Castle soon after the man.
"Well, gentlemen, I think this is it."
"Hold down guys, I can't get the helmet off my hand."
"Hmm, this Castle looks funny..."

And out of nowhere, three Faceless Guards appeared!
"What the...!?" A cop was taken aback, and then
he started to laugh.
"Ha, ha, ha...! The Castle of Desires! How long have we been trying to find you!"

These aren't ordinary cops; they are the Price Hunters.
They pursue the most wanted criminals, fight the most dangerous battles as mercenaries, but their ultimate goal, is the legendary treasures like the Castle of Desires.

"Let me show you my toy..." The Price Hunter smiled as he pulled out a massive hand-held cannon.
His smile and his cannon were equally menacing!
The other Price Hunters pulled out their weapons as well.
What an excitement for them to finally find the legendary Castle of Desires!
"Ha, ha, ha... rock 'n' roll!"
"Oh, I got it! Stupid helmet..."
"Behold, the Sword of Fire..."

"Wahahaha! Play time!"

And the stage is set for a timeless battle!


Facing these professional enemies, both of the Left Guard and the Right Guard launched their attack with lightening speed.
But this time, the high-power machine guns proved to be fast enough to stop the Right Guard.
"Chongchongchongchongchongchong!!!"
The Price Hunter pointed his spears at the weakest spots of the Left Guard, forcing the Guard to abruptly freeze his attack.
Both Guards had their attack disrupted, and they knew it was time for some real fights!


"I guess it's three on one here, too bad for you."
The two monster cannons fired at the same time.
Two blinding neon laser beams stroke the Middle Guard square in the chest!
"Huh?" "Where's...?"
Was he evaporated by the ultra cannons?


No!
"What the hell!?"
"Arghh!!!"
[animation]
With countless spiraling slices, the Hunters were hunted.


"Chongchongchongchong!!!" The machine guns spit out thousands of deadly bullets per second.
"Why don't you die!?" The Hunter shouted.
Suddenly, a circle of Guards appeared above the Hunter's head, and attacks seemed to descend from every direction!
[animation]
And then the bullets stopped.



The Left Guard miraculously stopped his attack in mid-air to avoid an attack on his weak spots, but he didn't expect the Hunter to fire his spears like bullets!
"Puuuu-sh!"
"Chiang!"
The helmet of the Guard was stroke off!
The Faceless Left Guard did a 360 spin, and, oh Lord, he showed his concealed face!
!?
Oh, what face did I see!
The Hunter fell to the ground.
That face... that face...
The Hunter kept thinking, until the world in front of his eyes went black.

The Left Guard picked up his helmet. The three guards looked at the bodies of their enemy in silence.And the Castle of Desires was kept untouched.

Or was it?

"What in the world just happened?!" The escaped man watch the entire fight behind the Castle's gate."And what is this?"

... to be continued