Chapter 6: A Fated Encounter

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Several days and dead cats later

"I have to see what day it is." Kieltar explained to the hound, which now after careful tending, looked healthier. 

" that way I can figure out how long I've been asleep for.  let's check here." Kieltar said, nodding towards a market stall

 "maybe they know."

 Kieltar started to walk over to the stall he had indicated, when some children knocked him down.  The dog growled, and Kieltar patted it's head and whispered "I know."

 The plethora of children continued down the street, knocking people and merchandise over as they played a very complex game of tag. Kieltar put his mask on. "three….two…..one."

*BANG*

 The bang sounded from the children. The street stopped all motion, and as if with one mind everyone ran away from the noise. The cry of the children was drowned out by the screams of fear from the crowd. Kieltar walked slowly towards the group, the hound walking with him, teeth bared. 

In only a few seconds, an entire street filled with people, was empty, except for two groups, the children, who were at the epicenter of the blast, and Kieltar, his cloak swirling in the wind. The kids were bawling, tears streamed from their eyes and noses. One or two of them had blood trickling down their ears.

 "when you steal, you will get hurt." The kids looked at Kieltar with beady eyes. 

"but we didn't steal anything." a kid cried. 

"we're the victims here, poor tommy." another kid said, pointing towards a boy with golden brown hair. Tommy seemed to be the smallest of the group. 

"poor Tommy my ass, he's faking it." the kids seemed shocked to see a person so heartless towards them. Tommy got up, and pulled out a butterfly knife, which he expertly spun open. 

"drop all of your goods and we'll let you live." Tommy said, signaling the other kids, no longer dazed, to circle Kieltar.

"what can one adult do to us, you can't hurt kids, it's banned by law." Kieltar stopped, and put his hand on his chin. 

"I do recall something like that." Tommy smiled. Kieltar sighed,

 "but no matter, it's not like anyone would care if a bunch of orphans disappeared." 

all the kids ran at Kieltar with sticks and stones. Tommy just stood there, frozen with anger. Kieltar stomped his foot on the ground once, hard. A giant dust cloud appeared around Kieltar and the kids. Some kids were blown off their feet from the force of the cloud hitting them. 

"run for it" one of the children yelled. Kieltar could hear a high-pitched wailing as the kids ran into the side streets. The hound was about to leap after them,

 "Stay."  Kieltar said as he took off his mask and hid it in the cloak. 

"there's always next time."  

The hound whined with disappointment, but flattened it's fur anyways. The wailing got louder, and around the corner came a wagon without any animal pulling it.  The hound looked up at Keiltar for directions, he inclined his head towards a nearby building.

From the outside it looked like  all the rest, but inside it was the animal center. The floors were waxed, and a sweat smelling perfume was in the air.

 "stay close to me." Kieltar said softly to his friend, 

"we don't want them to think you are a stray." 

The hound shook his fur. 

"Is dat a medium sized dog der? Or is it a hound Ja?" a man wearing a neon pink, skin tight jumpsuit, came around the corner. "are ja here to give dat one it's special treatment Ja?"

"well actualy.." before Kieltar could finish the strange man zoomed close to Kieltar's chest. 

"und while  jour at it, mind if I takes care of you Ja?"

 the hound growled.

 " Oh, he's a fiesty one Ja. Well I can see why Ja came here, it's the best spot Ja." the man said, backing off Kieltar and putting his hand on his chin.

 "considering za merchandise, und say… Zirty seven kings, and fifty two queens Ja" 

"what?!?"

 "ok, ok ,ok, I'll lower za price Ja. Zirty Kings,  und sixty five queens Ja. It's da money Ja."

 "money? For what."

 "vor jour little vriend's little vriend Ja. Jou vant zem removed Ja."

 the hound growls grew louder, the man whirled around and zoomed behind the counter, grabbed a board and zoomed back out. On the board was a diagram of a dog. The man talked Kieltar through the operation.

"virst ve put him in da back Ja. Und zen ve give him za happy gas. Zen ve takes ze big guy und…" He got no farther through his description, because Kieltar had left the shop. The strange man looked out the window and saw Kieltar walking down the street, the hound by his side. A glint flashed through his eyes as he looked at the description of the lost cargo that was meant to be at the local auction last week.

"I think we should leave town soon." Kieltar said aloud. 

"that way we can avoid future  conflicts." 

The hound wagged it's stump in agreement. 

"but how to get out without the guards noticing me." the hound sat down and put it's head in it's paws. Kieltar's stomach growled.

 "I guess we should get food first, but where to go." Kieltar said, as the hound got back up. 

"this time, let's go to a tavern."

 the hound barked, wagging it's stump of a tail. As Kieltar was walking down the street, the sun started to set.  A reflection shone in Kieltar's eyes, causing him to blink and look in a window. 

The black cloak had turned into a traveling cloak, and the mask had turned into goggles, pushing his white hair back, revealing his forehead. An old looking scar ran across the top of his right eyebrow, down to the middle of this left cheek. 

"How did I get this?" 

 the hound whined, pointing it's nose towards a nearby hut. It was worn down to the point that the thatch roof was on the verge of collapsing.  Kieltar approached the old hut, and stepped through the broken threshold.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

 Inside of the hut was contradicting the outside appearance. The floor was marble white and grand designs were etched into every available space that could be reached. Kieltar walked farther into the building, which size was seemingly impossible for the outside. The Hound growled at a shadow. 

"calm down boy" Kieltar spoke softly to the Hound 

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Kieltar said with a much more steady voice than he had expected. Kieltar noticed another shadow move.

 "I don't know what's going on, but it's sort of creeping me out.” 

The sound of a sword unsheathing could be heard. Kieltar turned around and saw a figure spinning in the air towards him with a silver streak flowin behind it. Kieltar ducked and rolled away from the figure. The silver streak had turned into a steel double edged short sword, that easily sliced into the floor. This weapon was clearly an entirely different level from the cheap sword Kieltar encountered earlier. 

Kieltar didn’t know how he knew it was steel, but he had a hunch that it was not normal. 

The Hound was still growling at the shadows, but it’s breathing had slowed down so much that it was almost impossible to see it’s chest move in a steady manner.

 The figure that had tried to perform the sneak attack looked like he was Kieltar’s age. the figure's  gold hair matched the color of his eyes, which had a blue ring surrounding the pupil. The rest of his face was covered in a dark red cloak, which also covered the rest of his body. 

Kieltar moved as the man in red did an over head swing at him in a seemingly over dramatic fashion of a regular swing. Dodging to the side, Kieltar sent a jab into the man's gut. The man flew into the wall and time went back to normal, the hound turning as fast as it could toward the man, who was imprinted into the wall from the force of Kieltar's jab. 

"getting slow there you rascal." Kieltar told the hound 

"if he had got me, what would've happened to you?" Kieltar heard another dull thump that came from the ceiling's rafters. Kieltar looked up, seeing a flash of silver streaming towards him. 

Again time seemed to slow down, and Kieltar could see the crossbow bolt that was now seemingly gliding towards him, slowly crawling forwards. Kieltar ran towards the wall opposite of the man in red, and jumped onto the wall, then into the rafters with a flip.

 Kieltar looked around and saw a figure dressed similar to the man in red, but this time was in a dark blue, and it's face was covered by a mask. It's weapon looked like it was made of metal, yet it seemed to have the same effects of water, reflecting light, and little waves where the figure's hands were holding it. It seemed so beautiful that it was hard to believe that this weapon almost killed him. 

It was like a good dream that…. 

*KLANG*

The bolt hit the ground with a metallic screech, bringing Kieltar out of his daze. The figure had raised the crossbow, and aimed at Kieltar. His instinct told him that he should wait until the bolt was fired, duck and draw the goggles that were on his head down to his eyes. \

A dull thump sounded and a bolt raised toward's Kieltar's leg. Following his instinct, Kieltar ducked and pulled the goggles down in the same motion, ignoring the bolt which used to be streaking towards his leg, but now his face. 

*KLANG*

The sound of the bolt hitting the stone where Kieltar's heart would have been if he had raised his leg in response to the mirage. Kieltar started advancing, slowly at first, but with each step his pace got quicker. 

The figure backed up in response to each step Kieltar took, and as fast as it seemed able, shot bolt after bolt at Kieltar. Kieltar duck dodged and weaved, avoiding the bolts as each one barfly missed him.

 The figure's aim seemed to be getting worse and worse, as it's hands started to tremble. Kieltar readied to attack with the light sword and...

"STOP!"

 the man in red had finally regained conscienceness, and was holding it's stomach in pain. 

"stop?" Kieltar responded sadistically

 "why should I stop, I am mearly responding to a challenge to the death. The one who struck first was him."

 Kieltar motioned his head towards the figure in blue, who's back was up against the wall.

 "You invaided us, therefore we protected…" the man in red trailed off after seeing Kieltar hop down from the rafters. 

"I don't enjoy fighting, nor do I enjoy punishing others, but if my life is in danger, I will start fighting and punishing until I feel it is right."

 "And when is that?" a voice said from the entrance.

 "If you don't like fighting others, then why come into enemy territory?" the man wore a white cloak, and held a straight metal staff lightly in his hand. 

"enemy territory? What do you mean by that?" 

"If that's your answer then I am going to assume that you don't know  the game's rules." though the man's voive sounded happy, his white eyes looked sad and lonely. 

"I guess it would be easier to explain while fighting, since you are in our base."

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Holy Chicken in a thingy, that was long, now then.... random stuff

Who were the kids, why was that man so racist and stereotypical, what game, and who am I??!?!? - a random thought from a random person

Author- OK, the game is basically a territory war in the town, will explain more in detail in later chapters, the kids and man are part of that "game", he is stereotypical because I wanted an interesting character, and I have no clue voice from my head.

OK in all seriousness, I sincerely hope you have enjoyed my writing so far, also, don't be afraid to comment and rate the story, I want to know what you think of the story and how I could improve it. Yes I am planning on explaining the magic system and all the plot holes eventually, so ya. SEE YA