The two kicked off, dust and dirt in their wake. Edge of cold steel rose to meet the burning ivory, a final time. Atlas jumped, his muscles and wound flushed with blood fighting to clog them as they stretched to their limit. The metal bent and groaned at the force, aiming to pierce between the sanguine tusks. His hands barely on the shaft.
With the pop of bubble-wrap the Boar’s head cracked open and all manner of liquids painted the air pink. Atlas hurled and flipped onto the falling boar, whose fire faded, its eyes turned the white of smoke and it crashed to the dirt, pushing against it till a momentous stop.
Shouts of celebration broke out. A manic fervor spread through the onlookers, all the men and women that had protected their home.
Atlas silently indulged in his own thoughts as his consciousness begun departing. He slid down the belly of the beast and placed a hand on its unmoving body. ‘Thank you.’ He whispered before he took his spear and gutted open the carcass. Pushing one hand in deep innards he felt around for a few moments before grabbing onto the Spirit Core of the Boar, the very essence of its cultivation existence. He pulled his hand out and stared at it, covered blood and slime it shone sharp, jagged, impassioned. A dying ember emitting the last of its heat inside of its crystalline nursery.
Atlas then promptly lost all strength in his body and collapsed, head on resting on the still warm underbelly, wet with blood. His eyes rolled, his jaw turned to gum, and even still his eardrums reverberated with the whispers of a Hero, the one and only, True Heir.
Festivities after a catastrophe never last. Atlas is hope, yet hope is for the future, now the men and women of the Laertis clan are in the present, and their eviscerated comrades, cousins, brothers and sisters lay dead under their feet, beneath their flattened homes, burnt to a toast or washed away with grime and blood.
Gone was the Hero spiel, now it was time for consequences.
There were many casualties, men and women with broken ribs, arms, and legs, cracked skulls and punctured bellies. Many of the Civilian forces of the Laertis Clan having been injured in their courageous charge, as well. Old and Young, lay listlessly on the paved road. Mourning cries broke through the eerie silence with a heavy cadence.
In a family as large as this, conflict was sure to exist amongst distant relatives who live in one village, confined within their walls. It happened to families of five, not to mention families of two hundred. But, now the two clans were united in Griff as their own people disappeared from this world in a day that should have been like any other, their spirits burning with hatred at their death, forever bound to this new earth with not the heart to settle into a grave, and not a whole corpse to call home.
The two Patriarchs were brought, after their own demands, closer to each other. They could not shout, or speak over much, yet it had to be done. As they were being treated with all emergency measures the two begun talks. “We need a home. We have been losing members steadily since the Changes came. The toll coming here has been heavy, and your lands have something that calls out to us.”
“I won’t argue with you much Patriarch Ru. I may not fail on this particular matter despite past records. Your Clan has a home with us, Nay, we are one. From today forward our two clans carrying the weight of the world and its long lost histroy into the age of blood and despair will be as one. United, and may this unions interests always come above any other. You can call me without any honorifics, Brother Wai.”
“Very well then, Brother Archeseus. I shall call for the rest of my people. They are already being needed. With every concoction a life we need them here yesterday.” Ru Wai calmed down his mustache, even as he was being wrapped around in bandages as if he was a mummy.
“People of the Two Clans. Laertis and Ru! Hear me! From today and onwards until the utter destruction of our peoples, our Two Clans will be united for the shake of our ancestors and for the flourishing of our people! Our two Clans will face all outside forced with a united front, and its priorities are above those of an individual clan. The Name shall be decided on a later date.” Archeseus announced after nodding to Ru Wai. It was a necessary step. The officiation of the Union. The sooner the better.
The talks were thus concluded.
But Archeseus had even more to say. “And let these united peoples hear and remember. That upon this day as mere mortal that have not yet integrated with the Qi our forefathers tamed and used to create miracles, we fought and killed a horde of Evolved beasts helmed by a Spiritual Boar that wielded the most destructive element of all. With the final blow and greatest contribution going to my Heir and promising Hero, Atlas.” People’s spirits were lifted slightly, those words latched onto their mind and pushed away some of the horror of this day. The Children even stopped to marvel at their cousin and friend, who they had always known, but this time around as a person of might. Even his unconscious form seemed to glow with the might of the terror he vanquished.
Atlas wakes up around that time, with half a mind to hear his father speak. He could feel he was being carried, he cracked his eyes open despite fervent protest. He was being taken to a nearby house, to its porch and out of the dirt, with Ru Shi there to heal him. Bags of herbs and other tools taken from the Main Manor, on her person. He struggled to little avail. He was gently laid down on the wooden floor of the east facing patio where Ru Shi begun working her Alchemy.
“You should probably treat those in a worse condition than me first.” As Ru Shi’s hands flew with certain mastery over his person, as smells of weird and exotic origin assaulted his nose, as his wounds itches and closed themselves, as he felt energy re-enter his brain, he spoke the thing that was keeping him awake.
“That’s not good Atlas. You need manners as a person. Without them you’ll only ever be a beast. Just like the one you killed.” Ru Shi smiles softly, yet her fingers prod and poke at his horrific burns, sending jolts of horrible pain through his body.
“Yes! Right… Thank you for helping me very much, Ru Shi, without you I’d be dead or dying. But, You should Rea~lly leave me alone.”
“Do not actually try to play the Hero, don’t let what your father said get to your head.” Ru Shi continued her work all big and small wounds on him being looked over, all while his most major injuries were being stabilized.
“Can your alchemy bring back the dead? If not then you should go heal those that are on the verge.”
“That is exactly what I’m doing, you blind fool. If you’re not near death then no one is. You’re more important that ten of them anyway. Even if you were not right about to die, and even if I did not owe you a debt for letting me save my cousin just a few hours ago, I would still choose to heal you as you are the strongest fighter our people have. You’re worth more than any single elder or child in this whole compound.”
“It terrifies me.” Atlas spoke through clenched teeth as Ru Shi moved down his torso, now finally ready to tackle the biggest burn she had ever seen. “That my healer, and what would amount to a magical doctor has such a cold, calculating, mind. Ready to weigh lives and their worth on a whim. Was your smile a charade?”
Her burning emerald eyes bid him to silence.
“You have no choice in this matter, Atlas. Do not act like a child, do not anger me further. Do not speak, and stay still while I pull you straight out of the hell that is disability and back to normalcy. Understand your situation, and your importance and shut the hell up because your making my job even harder than it already is.”
“… Yeah. Okay. I’ll shut up.” Atlas obliged her.
{Sigh~}
“You should be happy. Being treated with such respect from your people.” Ru Shi said after working silently on Atlas for some time. Applying, washing, and re-applying her alchemical creation, which were being supplemented with modern medicine on certain aspects.
“That’s not respect, its reverence… And I am no God. On the other hand, despite your apparent cruelty, I envy you much more. Head strong, you stick to your decisions, to your beliefs. I don’t. I am just a tool.” Atlas responded, downcast. The pain at those words dulling that flaring at his sides.
“I don’t get you Atlas. You drove yourself to near death, met your grandpa and came back, yet you did that only because you were a tool? And if you hate their reverence so much, why did you go and earn it?” Ru Shi tightened a bandage a little too tightly as she spoke.
“EY! Chill.” Atlas cried. “It’s fine you don’t get it. Even as a tool I have my pride. It was my duty and I fulfilled it, despite being late in doing so. A few months of recuperation and pain were well worth it, in the end tool or not. My family is my own.”
“Months? Atlas. What did you think I have doing, working on your deep fried flesh the past few hours? In four days you’ll be up just fine and in no more than 7 you’ll be able to fully exert yourself again. Do you see me as a joke? Or maybe Therapy?”
“Are you joking?” Atlas pushed himself to a sitting position slowly. The two now sat eye to eye with each other.
“Please~ I’m a certified Genius at Alchemy, and my Clan is the best at Alchemy to have ever existed in the old world. If I had spiritual Materials to create actual recipes you’d already be up and running.” A Spark flashed deep in green of her eyes.
“…Certified by who?” Atlas spoke a little to slow to hide the fact he had been lost staring at her for a few breaths.
“My father and myself. He’s always said I have a nose meant for this profession.”
“Yeah, okay. I won’t question you. I know nothing about Alchemy anyway.” Atlas pulled some hairs that had fallen to his eyes back and noticed that at some point in the fight his head scarf, made from his mother’s silks after her death had disappeared. He blinked rapidly, eyes darting about as shock spread over him. “Shit! My Headscarf.” He shouted and stood up. The rush turned his vision black, spotty, and he crumbled to the ground once more.
“Atlas! I have it! Don’t worry!” Little Argea came gliding into the house on her wheelchair with aunt Xanthip nowhere to be seen, at the most perfect moment.
“ You little rascal, what are you doing here?” Atlas picked her up in a hug, ignoring the pain on his waist. Giving love to the most adorable creature in the world being his number one priority. “Thank you very much” He tied the head scarf on his head with a satisfied smile.
“It came flying over to were Aunt Xanthip had hid me, lucky right? I picked it up and stayed there… I… I’m sorry I couldn’t help, I couldn’t do anything” Argea punched at her limp legs. She frowned, despair clawing at her. She punched again, and again. Harder each time. Until Atlas took hold of her hand and stopped her.
“But you did help. You brought me the spear. Without I’d be dead. It stopped its fire, cleaved it right in two. And not only that, you even brought my mother’s memento back to me. You don’t know how much you’ve helped me. So don’t hurt yourself like that.” Atlas kissed little Argea on the forehead and ruffled her hair.
Argea wiped off a few tears threatening flood her eyes and out of the blue stuck her tongue out at Ru Shi. “… See that miss? He likes me more, so go bark up another tree if you need to.”
She, who had been turning darker and gloomier by the second at the interactions of Atlas and Argea suddenly smiled a toothy grin. “You vixen! You stole my man!?” Ru Shi rushed forward and pulled Argea’s cheeks apart.
“He was always mine in the first place, witch!” Argea defended herself by snaking her hands into Ru Shi’s complicated dress and tickling her to the ground in a fit of uncontrolled laughter. It’s sweet cadence bringing peace to Atlas’ heart.
Atlas took a step back and basked in the glory of the scene. A warmth suffused his mind, calming, soft. He stared at the Western sky over the tall trees and the frolicking hills. The bright red sky and the dark Orange sun. The wonderful fiery light almost like an homage to the Warrior’s soul inside the Boar King. Its spirit galloping fiercely and savagely into the sky as it burned brightly, until it reached the stars and made to rest, its flame retreating to the pale blue of a coming night. Atlas fell into a deep sleep.