MLTP Part 3- "Torn"

"Torn" is the third Part of "Miracula Luxia: The Prequel". It was released on 31.12.2019.
== Plot ==
The Part starts with Aleks trying to find the one (or ones) responsible for the Giant attack that left his hometown in ruins.
He has to succeed- for his family. And for every good person in those lands who would get hurt by those enormous humanoids.
== Story ==
Aleks entered a nearby forest and started looking for anything suspicious.
He found footsteps. A lot of them. They were leading to the west.
The problem was that there was no path ahead. It was just a dead end.
Realizing that there might be a secret entrance around here, Aleks pushed a nearby tree.
Sure enough, the tree contained a button. Once pushed, a small part of the copse of trees moved out of the way, revealing a secret passage.
Aleks listened to the sounds inside.
But... he heard nothing. It was eerily quiet.
Aleks knew that there was something wrong. Such a secret passage can't be quiet if there are so many footsteps near it!
He reminded himself to be careful and moved on.
He walked on the small path made out of gravel. He was amazed by how the Giants (or whoever lives here) managed to place this material here and even make a road out of it.
Until he heard something. Rustling in the bushes.
He tried to hide, but a mysterious arm grabbed his left arm.
He tried to scream for help, but the person (or creature) shushed him.
"Keep it quiet! You don't want us to get caught, do you?"
Aleks looked at the person who was talking to him.
It was a young woman with blue hair wearing leather armor.
He tried to introduce himself, but she insisted on going first.
"Name's Kayla. Okay, what's yours?"
"I'm Aleks."
"Aleks Kaos?"
Aleks nodded.
"Good. Your sister sent me here, to look for you."
"My... sister?"
Kayla nodded.
"I work for her. We're from the same village. She sent me here, because she thought that you might come."
"And she wasn't wrong."- Aleks added- "Thank you for coming."
"Of course. I just saved you from certain death."
"But why?"
"You were going right into their trap. Have a look."
Kayla took Aleks to a safe spot and showed him a clear vantage point.
There were three Giants armed with huge rocks, ready to stop anyone who attacks their secret camp.
"So... is there a safe way in?"
"That's why I took you in. Come on. Follow me."
Aleks followed Kayla into another secret passage which went underground.
There he saw a small underground room with five levers on the right wall and a button on a pedestal next to it.
"I've been hunting those dumb fools for months. This is my base when I have the time to return to have some fun."
"You regard killing Giants as "fun"?"- Aleks wondered.
Kayla snickered.
"Oh, come on! What are you? A boomer? Haven't you had fun killing something this much?"
She thought that he would smile. He didn't.
She returned to her usual calm and collected demeanor.
"Sorry. Sometimes I tend to overreact. I know that you have a family. You must be worried about them."
Aleks sighed and looked at the exit.
"I have a girlfriend and a little daughter. Soon, I will also have a son. But I left them with my sister and my father."
"So? They're gonna take care of them. Don't worry."
Aleks looked at her sadly.
"I wish I could stop worrying. But I can't. Every moment, I think about how I expose myself to various types of danger just to protect my loved ones. But then, some of them die, making me think that I'm useless and weak. My family keeps reminding me that I'm strong and that I must keep fighting, but I just can't get over the fact that I might die in battle one day, leaving them alone and afraid."
Kayla looked at him angrily, arms crossed.
"What? Really?! Look, I understand your concern, Aleks, but you can't just think about that! Man up! Survive for your family! They need you as much as the rest of the world does! You get it, right?"
Aleks nodded.
"Good. So keep fighting. They don't want you die. They want you to live. So keep it that way. Be a better father. And husband, I suppose."
"Okay. So, what's the plan?"
Kayla looked at the five levers and the button and sighed.
"I want to see what this thing does, but I'm too confused to figure out the combination. Can you help me out?"
Aleks nodded.
"Let's do this."
He approached the levers and took a look at them.
He pulled one of them down. It shined in a beautiful green light.
Then he pulled another. This time the light was red. He also noticed that all of the levers moved to their original positions.
"That's what happened to me."- Kayla sighed- "I can see that you're not doing better than me."
Aleks pulled the first, third and fifth lever. They all shined in green lights.
Then they heard a strange *Ka-Kn!* sound and saw that the button shined in the same green light as the levers.
"Well, what are you waiting for? The honor to push the button is yours."- Kayla said.
Aleks pushed the button and heard a sound outside.
He and Kayla went there to look and saw a bunch of Golems in the village along with the Giants.
At first, they thought that the Golems were operated by the Giants. A few seconds later they realized the opposite.
The huge constructs attacked the humanoids and a huge fight ensued.
Giants were trying to fight off their mechanical pursuers, but to no avail.
Their mages tried to help them, but they ended up dead as well.
Soon, the Golems entered the buildings. Screams of dying Giants came out of them.
After about half an hour, the fight was over. The Golems had won.
But at what cost? As soon as they killed the last Giant, they fell apart and left behind only rubbles of stone and gems.
"What a shame. Such powerful constructs with only one purpose- to keep the forest safe from invaders, but they can only be used once. Then they go to another plane of existence."- Kayla said, feeling sad about the Golems's demise.
"You're right. It's so sad."- Aleks nodded.
They entered the village and picked up most of the gems, as well as the gems of most of the giants (who were carrying them prior to their demise).
They looked inside the buildings, finding more gems and dead Giants.
They also found a message on a nearby table.
Aleks read it and realized that this was not the main camp of the Giants. This was just a camp, used to raid nearby communities and slay innocent travelers. The real camp was hidden in the woods to the north of those woods.
Aleks and Kayla got out of the woods and headed towards the northern woods.
As they entered the woods, the girl showed him a secret passage.
At the end of it they found a bunch of Giants waiting for them.
They lunged at them.
Kayla grabbed her sword and attacked them, managing to easily slay two of them, but struggled with the third.
Aleks helped her kill it. She looked at him and smiled.
"And that's why it's better to work with another person. I was a fool to not realize that before."
Aleks smiled back and moved on.
As they entered the camp, they were greeted by a much of Giant Slingers who shot their rocks at them.
Using their high agility to overcome them, Aleks and Kayla managed to take the Giants down, but not before they alerted more hostiles.
The Giants tried to attack them from behind, but their plan failed when Aleks turned back and struck two of them down with a rock.
Kayla also threw some rocks, killing three giants in the process.
As they killed the regular Giants, a Giant Shaman approached them.
He said something in his weird language, making the two heroes realize that he is the leader.
Understand him or not, this Giant was clearly angry. He used a spell to throw them into a nearby tree, almost crushing them.
However, the spell tired him. Aleks managed to use this as an advantage, grabbing his sword and slicing him in the shoulder.
The Giant screamed in pain as Kayla delivered another nasty blow, stunning him.
She held his throat angrily.
"Tell me now, big guy. Where is my sister?!"
The giant laughed.
"You never know, human girl. Sister thing is gone far, far. Very far."
Kayla screamed in anger and plunged her blade into the Giant's head, killing him.
She stood there, holding her blade which was now covered in the leader's blood.
She did it. She killed the one who forcibly exiled her from her sister.
Then she looked at Aleks.
"You... you have a sister?"- He asked.
She looked down.
"I did. And it was because of this... monster!... "- She kicked the Giant in the head- "... that I was separated from her. One night, he and his band of dumb beasts invaded our camp, killing most of my friends and forcing me to flee with her. However, this Giant managed to pull her away from away from me before we could escape and threw her in the opposite direction, breaking her arm. She was forced to flee in another direction after the Giants attacked and almost killed me."
"I remember how I yelled "Run, sis! I'm gonna find you! Just run and don't look back!". I was out of my mind back then. I told her to run away. My poor, defenseless sister! After what I promised to our dying father- to protect her 'til my dying breath!"
"But no. I just told her to run without me. This big jerk is probably right. She's long, long gone. Probably killed by Giants. Or wolves. Or bandits."
Aleks placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Kayla."- He said, prompting her to look up.
"I know that you have lost hope. That you're not sure whether your sister is alive or not. But don't lose hope! Because hope is all a person has when they search for someone they love."
"That's how I've always reunited with my family, after all. Because I hoped and prayed that they would be alright. And to find them sooner."
Kayla smiled and her eyes teared up.
"Thank you, Aleks. You're such a responsible person. Not like me. You care about your family so much!"
"Well, I can help you find your family, too! Your sister, I mean."
Kayla's eyes widened.
"You really would? Th-thank you!"
She hugged him.
"I mean it!"
"Y-you're welcome, Kayla."- Aleks said and hugged her back.
Then they looked at the dead Giant.
Aleks picked up a light shield and a scroll.
Just looking at its writing made his thoughts jumbled and messy.
Kayla suggested that he should put it in his pack for now. He listened to her and did so.
Then they left the forest, their quest complete.
However, this was only one of many quests to come soon.
"So, where should we go next?"- Aleks asked his new friend.
"Well... wait, you have to go back to your family, don't you?"- She asked him.
Aleks shaked his head.
"They can wait. You matter is much more urgent now."
"I guess you're right. Well, my sister went this way."
They entered the ruins of their camp near the woods.
Kayla searched one of the tents and found a surprisingly intact picture of her, a young girl (possibly her sister) and an aging man (possibly their father).
Aleks sighed.
"I'm so sorry about what happened. I hope that she made it."
Tears were falling down from Kayla's eyes. She looked at Aleks.
"Yes. But I know that she probably is alive. Maybe she left the picture here as a sign that she's still out there. Somewhere."
Aleks looked at the picture. There was a message attached to the back of it.
He read it.
"Dear sister Kayla- I know that you're probably long gone by now, but just in case you ever come back here and find this picture of us, I just wanted to tell you that I'm okay! I left to find a new home, hopefully in a nearby town, so I can look for you from there. Oh, and I wanted to tell you this- don't stop looking. I know that our paths will cross again. We will have so much to talk about. I love you. - Your little sis Rin"
Kayla grasped the picture in her hands and cried.
"Rin. Oh, Rin. Why did I do this? Why did I run away? Why did I leave you to those jerks?!"
"I love you, Rin. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you... "
She kept repeating the phrase "I love you" over and over again, not stopping for breath.
"Kayla?"- Aleks looked at her and asked her if she's alright. She didn't acknowledge his presence at all, repeating the phrase more loudly.
Aleks shaked his head.
"She's been through too much. Maybe I should leave her be for a while? To recover. Then I will pick her up again."- He said to himself as he began leaving the camp.
Kayla ran up to him and grabbed his hand.
"Aleks, no! Don't leave me, please!"
Aleks looked at her. She was still in tears, but entirely conscious.
"I'm sorry if I confused you. Please don't go!"
Aleks smiled.
"This was just a test, Kayla. And you passed it. Good job!"
Kayla looked at him coldly. Then she slapped him.
"Ow!"- He said- "Well, I deserved that."
"Please, stay with me."
"I'm right here."- Aleks comforted her and hugged her tightly.
She fell limp into his arms, feeling at ease, like in the arms of her own father.
It was at that moment that Aleks and Kayla noticed a person watching them in the distance.
A girl with a belly.
Aleks let go of Kayla and looked at the person.
"Seiko?"- He murmured as the woman approached them.
== Trivia ==
* "Torn" is the true last Part of "Miracula Luxia" overall which was released in the 2010s.