We're going to fight.
Mort felt a shiver run up his spine the moment Sarah spoke those words. His mind thinks back towards the fight with Kyrre and the stinging pain he felt which made him audibly gulp. Sarah grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along as she started to walk towards the backdoor of the house.
"Why are we fighting?" Mort questioned her reasoning for fighting and tried to break from her grip to no use. Sarah didn't answer and continued to pull him along until they reached the backdoor. She grabs the key from the counter and opens the backdoor letting in a chilly autumn breeze. Sarah lived in the forest and had quite the backyard as the whole forest basically functioned as it. They walked past many trees and orange leaves that had fallen from the trees. Mort continued to question Sarah's motives but she refused to answer until they arrived at their destination.
"Welcome to the training grounds Mort," she said while pushing the branches which blocked the view out of the way.
They arrived at a tall brick wall which spanned across the field. Sarah let go of Mort and continued to walk forward and finally begun to explain why she had brought him here.
"This is the place where you are going to go from a peewee little boy with minimal fighting experience...to a fighter capable of handling even the toughest opponents head on!"
" 'Peewee little boy?' Girl I took on THE Kyrre you know?" he said while flexing his muscles and showing his decently muscular abdomen which was still wounded off to Sarah who just sighed.
"Alright then big guy, watch carefully...." Sarah said while facing towards the towering wall infront of them. Sarah suddenly vanished from view and left Mort dazzled. His head spun left and right trying to find where Sarah had gone to until he heard shouts from above.
"HEY! PEEWEE BOY! UP HERE!" She shouted while waving from the top of the large wall. Mort was left stunned by what Sarah had acomplished in a matter of seconds as she hopped down from the wall and took a solid second before reaching the grass. Mort's brain had yet to comprehend what happened as his blank stare began to annoy Sarah who had just landed.
In annoyance, Sarah slapped Mort in the face which knocked sence back into him and made him snap out of his confusion.
"WHAT? HOW? W-" Mort had begun to rapidly ask questions bit was silencd the moment Sarah gripped his lips and forced them shut.
"Mort I'll give you an explanation so LISTEN CAREFULLY!" Sarah said while picking up a few sticks shattering them into many pieces. She goes to sit next to the pile of small sticks and Mort quickly followed suit.
"Imagine you have ten sticks, but you can sadly only hold one stick!" she said while picking up one of the sticks she had shattered. "You're aiming to hold as many sticks as you can to show that you are the person with the most amount of sticks, but you only have one hand!" she said while putting one arm behind her back. "You search long and hard and figure out that there are ten more sticks infront of you, and that you have a second hand!" She said while picking up another stick from a pile of ten.
"Now, while you have more sticks in your hands, the percentage of sticks that you are holding doesn't change!"
"So, while people hold more sticks they never hold a larger quantity when looking at all the sticks they have?" Mort asked while picking up two pieces of his own and holding them lightly.
"Yes! But sometimes when people are in emotional distress, they can rarely hold more than one stick because their bodies do so on instinct in a sort of defense mechanism." Sarah said while picking up another stick and holding two of them in one hand.
"Now, if you learn to control that emotional strength and use it properly, you can temporarily use more than that 10% to the effect that I did when jumping on the wall!"
Sarah stands up and walks away from the wall until she has a solid distance inbetween her and it. Mort followed behind and looked on as Sarah positioned herself in the form of a spear thrower with the stick as her spear.
"Watch carefully Mort!" Sarah quickly twisted her waist to the side and used the momentum she had generated to throw the stick in her hand at an incredible speed.
Sarah didn't live in the city, but rather at the edge of it inside of the forest which was the only reason she could preform this feat unnoticed, because the sheer power she put into her throw it sounded less like a stick being thrown, and more like a high callibur weapon being fired. While Mort spent a moment in awe as he looked towards Sarah who was putting up a fake smile after the stick collided with the wall. Blood dripped down her arm and Mort snapped out of his amazement and quickly dashed towards her.
"You see Mort, if your body isn't prepared to take above the amount you control, it will be YOU breaking and not whatever you tried to hurt," she said raising her sleeve and shirt slightly to show Mort the wounds she had inflicted upon herself.
"Your skin has torn open and I can see your muscle fibers! Let me go get a first aid kit and I-" Mort tried to stand up but was quickly pulled back to the ground by Sarah.
"Don't worry Mort, 'T'is but a fleshwound'. She said while laughing. Mort's worry didn't dissipate as he tried to stand up but couldn't even break free from her grip.
"I'm going to demonstrate why I am a true 'master surgeon' for your peewee eyes to see~"
Mort's heart was rapidly pumping and his stress still stayed, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He nodded and looked at Sarah who started to speak Latin again like she had when they were inside. This time a bright green light emmited from her hand the moment she began her chant.
Cutem in pristinam gloriam restitue.
Mort's eyes were blinded by the bright green light as he looked away from it and waited for it to slowly go. When he looked back after the light had stopped shining he was baffled by the sight he layed his eyes upon. Sarah's torn skin had been healed in the blink of an eye and not even a scar remained in both spots.
"...So let me put this in perspective Sarah. A latin speaking goth woman who was also a master surgeon and a barwoman had watched me fight a high 'Noble' from a different city who sliced my arm offf. I suprisingly satisfied her in a Duel while half-conscious and passed out as the aforementioned 'master surgeon' sewed my arm back on can now chant magical latin phrases and heal her wounds?"
"Yep."
"If I wake up in a second and find out I was in a coma since I drank your special beverage I would not be surprised in the slightest."
"I make fucking BANGER drinks Mort, don't disrespect them like that!" Sarah chuckled and reaffirmed Mort on the status of his conscious. Mort sighed and tried to go lean against the large wall again until Sarah stopped him.
"Oh this must be so confusing Mort! Come here and give me a good hug to console that poor mind of yours~" Sarah said in an alluring tone. Mort hadn't thought much of it and opened his arms to give Sarah a nice and tight hug.
"Hey Mort, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bird?" Sarah asked while still tightly hugging Mort. Mort wasn't sur eof how to respond and just shrugged. It wasnt until Sarah started to slowly crouch that Mort begun to get worried.
"Uh Sarah could y-"
Mort couldn't even get out a word as Sarah used her legs and elevated them both off of the ground. Mort wasn't prepared for this sudden shock and started to scream in terror like a baby. Sarah on the other hand screamed with joy and exicitement as they shot up in the air.
"Whee~ We're like birds Mort! Flying high in the sky~"
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"LET. ME. GO. SARAH!"
"Hm? Would you rather let go of me and you splash on the ground only to become a goop of flesh and blood?" Sarah asked while loosening her grip and almost dropping Mort. In the blink of an eye Mort clutched Sarah even tighter than before and snuggeled against her shoulder
"NO THANK YOU I'M COMFORTABLE HERE!" he shouted while looking down to see the incredible distance they made
"Oh, it seems that you don't want to be smushed into paste after all! Hold on tightly because I like giving a preformance while I'm in the air~" Sarah said as she started to rapidly preform spins and other acrobatic tricks while Mort desprerately clung on for dear life.
"Sa....ra...h.....go......slo.....wer" Mort barely said as the breakfast he had ate not an hour ago had come back up and wanted to desperately escape the clutches of his body. Now they reached the top of the wall which releaved Mort, but Sarah didn't aim to land at the top, rather she went over it fully and started heading down at a rapid pace towards the other side of the wall.
"Mort, hold me tightly because if you don't...the force caused by our landing may kill you nonetheless~"
Their descent continued picking up speed and the were heading for the other side of the wall. Mort squeezed Sarah even tighter as they got closer and closer to the ground.
"And now...PREPARE FOR LANDING PEEWEE BOY~" Sarah shouted as they made impact with the ground and a shock ran through their bodies. Mort in a state of shock and stress didn't let go of Sarah and continued to hold her tightly even after their landing.
"Too......close" Mort muttered as his grip finally gave out and he fell onto the grass. He passed out from the stress and layed there, basking in the sunlight as Sarah looked at him and smiled.
"Kicked the bucket already Mort?" What Sarah hadn't accounted for, was the fact that Mort's wound hadn't healed yet. The moment she they landed it reopened and ripped open further than last time. While Mort didn't realize it yet, Sarah quickly started to panick and attempts to coerce Mort into removing his shirt.
"Ugh...fuck Sarah...why does my abdoen feel so warm?" Mort asked as the clutched it and started to feel a warm sensation on his fingers. Sarah started to anxiously try to pull off Mort's shirt but failed to do so because Mort rolled away with every attempt.
"FUCK! Mort pull of your shirt right now please!"
"What's wrong? Have you grown so fond of my ripped abs that you now want to see them basking in the sunlight?" Mort asked while letting out a small chuckle. Sarah's face went from worried to annoyed really quickly as she sighed and replied to his obscene sentence.
"Tsk, sorry in advance about the shirt Mort..." Sarah said while fishing in her pocket and pulling out a pair of fancy scissors. She quickly unlocked it and made them two differing blades as she grabbed Mort's body and layed it still on the ground with a slight touch. She sliced his shirt open in an 'X' patern and blood finally started to spurt outwards. Mort finally realised the severity of the situation as his face started to become paler with every passing second.
"Since this is my fault Mort, I'll heal your wound up good alright~"
Sarah yet again began to chant the command she had before, although this time it felt different...It felt darker...
Cutem in priStInAM GLoRiAm rE-
Instead of the green bright light that had previously emerged, a black aura circulated around Sarah as blood started to leak from her eyes. Mort's vision became blurry as the world around him faded and he lost consciousness. Sarah's eyes slowly turned from the beautiful blue they were before, to fully pitch black pupills surrounded by blood red scleras. Placing her hand on his abdomen, she continued to chant as her blood dripped down her face like water from a river. The tips of her fingers slowly turned orange and the black aura continued to violently thrash around them.
reStITuEt VuLNerA, OPerUiT iN sAnGUiNeM, cUm pOtEntiA FLAMMA!
The black aura circulated and lashed out at Sarah. A black tentacle slashed back and shattered the choker Sarah was wearing making her neck bleed and causing her to flinch. She continued to chant until the black aura fully engulfed them both and a black sphere formed. Sarah's skin slowly went from her usual shade to a more yellow and orange tone around her body, and a dark red tone at her fingertips. Sarah cried her last tears of blood as she stopped her chant and the black aura receded back into her. Her eyes returned to their blue color and her scelera's turned back to the pearly white they were supposed to be...
An hour had passed and Mort woke up in a cold sweat. The wet grass he had passed out while bleeding profusely was the same as he woke up on, although it was just on the other side of the wall this time. Sarah was laying next to him with the blood tears still on her face. Mort looked at her and quickly tried to stand up and to his surprise his abdomen didn't hurt anymore. He touched his abdomen a few times and yet again he felt no pain.
"What...where is my wound?" Mort pondered while searching for any leftover damage that remained on his body.
Mort's abdomen showed no more signs of internal or external damage and all that remained was a small scar. Sarah on the other hand was desperately gasping for air as she started clutched her neck in anguish. Mort snapped out of his own amazement and dashed towards Sarah and attempted to help her, but she would not let go of her neck.
"STOP CHOKING ME PLEASE!" Sarah screamed in pain and terror. Her eyes were a deep red and not the blue they had been since Mort and Sarah met. Mort clutched Sarah's arms and attempted to pull them off of her neck to no avail.
Visions flashed in Sarah's mind from back when she was but a young teenager. A tall dark skinned man was sitting on top of her and whispered into her ear.
"Don't worry darling, I'll be gentle, I always am~"
"I DON'T..." Sarah attempted to finish her sentence but with the lack of air going to her body the blood circulation in her body lessened and lessened with every passing second. Even if her arms got weaker, Mort still wasn't able to pull them off as her grip tightened and her face turned blue.
"...la..sci...v-" Sarah muttered those last few words as her voice gave out and her eyes closed. Mort tried and tried but Sarah's grip did not relent even after her passing out.
In her mind the scene she previously envisioned continued.
"LET...GO" Sarah attempted to scream while trying her best to push the man off of her body. He only smirked and while still choking her with his left arm, he carressed her cheek with his right.
"You are such a pretty darling~ Wouldn't you want to be with me...forever?"
"DAMN IT... LET. GO. SARAH." Mort shouted while attempting to loosen her grip but not once succeeding and getting her to stop.
Tears ran down both Sarah's and Mort's cheeks as Sarah's face turned purple and her grip loosened slightly. Mort had barely known Sarah for a month, but for some reason he felt as emotionally connected to her as he did with his father.
Maybe it was the fact that he never had a mother figure growing up, or the fact that his girlfriend left an empty spot in his heart. Mort didn't know and didn't care at the moment as his priority was making sure Sarah was safe and alive.
While Sarah should've far outmatched Mort in strength at even 10%, Mort for some fantastical reason Mort was able to break her grip and pin both arms against the grass to stop her from choking herself again. Her arms tried to push back but they were pinned down strongly by Mort. Mort neither knew if his perseverance was the thing that got through her grip or that she got too weak but he was now winning the exchange while on top of her. Mort placed his ear close to her face in an attempt to hear her breathing but no sound was heard.
"WHY ISN'T SHE BREATHING?!"
Sarah couldn't breathe as the man's grip tightened and his thrusts went harder. Sarah had cried so many tears that there was nothing left to shed as the man thrusts one last time and finishes. Sarah's body was left paralyzed and in a state of shock as the man leaned in and whispered.
"Come here and give me a kiss, darling~"
Mort noticed that Sarah's body was refusing to breathe as if it was still being choked. In an futile last ditch effort to save her, Mort attempted to give her CPR to force oxygen into her system. The moment that his lips connected with her mouth and a little air entered her lungs her eyes shot open and tears started to run down her face again. Mort was confused why this was happening but didn't have much time to think as Sarah pushed Mort off, sending him flying off of her and towards the wall.
Mort made impact with the wall at a high speed as his head collided with it at a high speed. Instead of a shattered skull or a broken spine, Mort felt oddly warm as no wounds or fractures remained on his body. He stood up and dusted off his shirt which he hadn't realized was ripped, and slowly advanced towards Sarah.
"Calm down Sarah, everything is going to be okay alright?" Mort calmly said while attempting to avoid making any sudden movement. He continued to advance until he was infront of Sarah. He slowly sat down next to her and tried to make her feel comfortable. She was curled up in a ball and was only visible through the gaps in her fingers.
"W-why did y-you do that t-to me?" Sarah stuttered while covering her face with her hands and peeking through the gaps. Mort remained calm and reassured her of his intent. He talked slowly and monotonic as a memory played in his mind.
"I don't know what has happened to you, but whatever it was, fear not as I will extend my hand and help you."
These words felt calming and Mort knew them by heart. Sarah lowered her guard and calmed down for the first time since she woke up. The moment she calmed down, her body gave out and her mind shut down as she fell unconscious. Mort quickly swooped in, picked her up and started to walk back to the house. With his thumb he wiped away the bloody tears that remained on Sarah's face. Once they reached their home, Mort opened the door and quickly brought Sarah to her bed and layed her in it.
Mort thought deeply about the situation he was getting himself and Sarah into and what risks it posed. From what Mort had seen Sarah clearly wasn't mentally stable enough to really accomplish the promise she agreed upon with Kyrre. This gave him the idea that he should console Sarah about it and tell her that they shouldn't go through with it.
Mort began to walk away until Sarah grasped him by his arm tightly as he was about to leave the bedroom. Her eyes barely open she tried to speak but wasn't hearable from the distance Mort was standing. Mort moved closer and brought his ear to her mouth as she slowly started to speak.
"Go...to...library...and...learn...about...the...shit...I...mentioned....earlier...about...the 10%."
After every word Sarah said there was a considerable wait, but Mort listened carefully to every single one of them. Sarah continued as he slowly loosened her grip and started to close her eyes with every passing second.
"Also...thank...you...for...helping...me...M-" Sarah stopped speaking and barely held her eyes open. While her grip on Mort was tight, instead of the harmful choking she had been putting herself under, her grasp on Mort was gentle and caring like a mother's embrace. A smile erected on her face as her grip finally gave out and she fell unconscious. Mort tucked her arm into the blankets and left the room.
"I'm going to help her. if I have to, I'll wrap my arm around her and give her that stability she is lacking." Mort told himself while walking away from her bedroom. Mort's eyes looked weary and unprepared for whatever he was going to face, but he still continued to walk. He thought about how much he changed over the past month that he spent with Sarah and how that affected him as a person. He didn't care if he got hurt again or if he lost an arm in the process of protecting her, because she was one of the few people that had shown him kindness when other didn't...
He opened the door and felt the autumn breeze blow in his face as a tear rolled down from his cheek...