Let me know what you think of it. Wrote this on a whim. Tell me if you think I should continue or not.

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The giddy Augustin runs to Yule. After long months he finally gets to return home and to see his Aely. His heart jumps when he thinks of her and her warmth. He picks up speed, crossing tens of miles of distance in dozens of minutes. Some of the senior disciples make fun of him for what see as puppy love, but for Augustin knows it is more than a simple infatuation. To him Aely is his life’s one and only true love.

It isn’t long before the Yule, his home village, is in sight. Despite his long journey he is not tired, perhaps he is even more energetic than when he left the city. As the distant between him and the village shrinks his excitement grows, perhaps it grows too strong because he misses something he wouldn’t ordinarily miss. It doesn’t take long though. What he was missing comes to light and excitement is replaced with dread and panic, marauders!

Augustin eyes are enhanced with qi; in fact his entire body is, so he can see everything. He wants to be there to stop it but he is already traveling at top speed. The marauders have captured and killed most of the villager. Those they haven’t killed or captured are in the village center, they are attempting to defend themselves with farming tools and other makeshift weapons. Few among the villagers have weapons but among them is Aely wielding her father’s short sword. Augustin’s heart skips a beat when a marauder swings his sword at her. It’s an amateur’s swing but is swung by a powerful arm. Aely is the daughter of a soldier and knowns how to use a sword better than a simple bandit. She dodges and stabs towards his heart. The man through some luck avoids the thrust but he quickly retreats knowing he is outmatched. Augustin is able to breathe when he sees the man retreat. A slight hope is rekindled in his heart. These bandits don’t seem to be high level so if the villagers can hold out long enough then he can easily take out these bandits. The thought that brings him hope dashes it just as quickly. Marauders of this caliber should have easily been taken care of, even their numbers only amount to fifty or so. Aely’s father, a Seruagh, could easily take care of a bunch of qi-less bastards. So where is he?

Augustin’s question is answered. A booming laugh brings Augustin’s eyes away from the villager and the attacker to a gigantic marauder wearing armor three times more valuable than any of the other attackers and a weapon twice as big. Augustin immediately recognizes this man as the leader, not only because of his gear but because of his qi. This man’s strength is easily surpasses the fourth chakra, he must be a Kelruagh. Augustin begins to worry; even he himself is only a Raruagh. This marauder has accessed an entire chakra more than Augustin. Augustin should count himself lucky that his man still belong to the ranks of the Ruagh and is not a Shen.

The leader drags a body behind him; it is the body of Don, Aely’s father. He drags it towards the villagers making sure that they can see his face. Aely’s face turns white, she never even conceieved the idea that he could be defeated by simple bandits. Laz, the leader of the bandits, is no ordinarily bandit though, he was once a warrior with a promising future but that’s all behind him now. Now he is Laz the Body Mangler.

Aely launches herself forward at Laz, forgetting everything else. Aely may know how to defend herself but she is by no means a warrior. Augustin reaches the edge of the town just as the clever slices down at Aely side. It rips through her clothes and a fatal inflicted upon her beautiful-olive skin. Augustin’s mind goes blank. The empty silence within him is torn asunder as rushes towards his beloved. Each and every enemy between them is ripped apart. How could these simple bandits compare to a Reruagh, or even a Doruagh for that matter.

All eyes turn to the speeding mass that rips through the marauders leaving only blood and corpses in his wake. Even Laz shows a slight surprise and agitation. Many of the bandits stumble away from the blur in fear. A path is cleared towards the shocked villagers and the wounded Aely. Everyone recognizes Augustin as soon as he stops to kneel down next to the now-very-pale Aely. She smiles when she sees his solemn face. This formal-looking expression is nothing new on him, but it fits the situation all too well.

Augustin immediately applies pressure to the wound. He cannot stop the profuse bleeding with just his hand though. He rips off a sleeve of his shirt and applies to the wound. His heart and mind race trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding and how to save his beloved from certain death. If only he was a few seconds faster he could have saved her, is the only thought running through is head after coming to the understanding that her death is inevitable. Every time he slacked for even a second over the past eight years of his life jumps to the forefront of his mind. Every time he flattered in his training for even a moment are the only things he can think about.

The panic that has set in is removed by a gentle hand on his cheek. The hand is traced down and connects to a gentle arm. It’s Aely’s arm, her beautiful arm. Her whole body is ghostly white. Her breathing labored. Death creeps up on her, yet she still manages to be beautiful. With great difficulty she says, “I didn’t know you were coming August, I would have worn something nicer.”

“You look beautiful in anything, my love.” Augustin says honestly, tears now dripping from his eyes. Truly, Aely does look good in anything. Her long black locks of hair and grass-green eyes compliment anything, especially in Augustin’s eyes.

A hint of laughter appears in her eyes. “Such a smooth talker, you are. Why do you look so sad, my pretty?” Usually he would hate being called pretty by her, by anyone really, but now it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore. “Would you smile for me one last time?” He does as is asked of him. A moment ago smiling would have been impossible but this request is from his love. “You look so much better when smiling. You should do it more often. Otherwise you will never find a good wife.” These words strike deep at his heart. If it isn’t Aely it’s impossible. Without her there is no point in living, all his life has been for the purpose of being with her. All his family died when he was young, the other disciples are hardly what he would call friends, and even martial arts has been for the purpose of having a good social standing and income to support a family.

Augustin voices his intentions to Aely. “No, Aely, there will be no other. When you leave this world I won’t fare behind you. If I can’t be with you-“

Her face grows sullen and she interrupts Augustin. “Tell me about your namesake once more. I love that story.”

Augustin is surprised but he honors the request. “As you know I was born with a full head of scarlet hair. Upon seeing this, my mother exclaimed, ‘Ah this boy, my son must be destined for greatness. He is the embodiment of the first sun, August. He must be with hair such as this.’ So she named Augustin, meaning ‘Of August’.” Everybody in the village in that story knows the story, as does Aely so he can only wonder why she asked so near to death.

“That’s right, August, you are destined for greatness. So you cannot die, you cannot. The August I know and love would never give up. He would never resign himself to death. August you must your way through life, if not for yourself than for me. If you die, if you let yourself die without using every ounce of your strength to survive then you will cease to be that man that I love. So I don’t care if you must suffer through, you cannot die a coward’s death.” Augustin is shook to the core, he cannot live without his love and his love will not allow him to die. “Promise me, my pretty. Promise me.”

Augustin feels his entire mind strain. He doesn’t want to promise, but he doesn’t want to deny his love anything, certainly not now that she is long for this world. Looking into her pleading eyes he says, “I promise…” Aely smiles after hearing his response. “How is it you always get what you want?” Aely chuckles and Augustin does as well.

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Suddenly a powerful voice brings Augustin back to the situation. “Are you two lovebirds done? I mean, it was beautiful and all but I have a village to raid and looting to do.” Augustin’s eyes become possessed with fury, he glares at Laz. Laz has the audacity to interrupt his final moments with Aely.

“Augustin, remember what I said.” Aely pulls Augustin in for a kiss. Her lips even when cold possess warmth. Augustin draws away from Aely. She’s gone, his fury however is not. He stands and turns. All eyes are once again of him. With his entire body enhanced with qi, he launches towards Laz. Laz swings his overly large blade almost severing Augustin in half. He nimbly dodges and strikes directly at Laz’s head. He evades with ease.

“Don’t do this, boy. We both know who is gonna win this fight. Why don’t you just bugger off, and I won’t kill you.” Laz says with a smile on his face. Honestly, he just doesn’t want to have to deal with Augustin. Augustin doesn’t listen though. The two fighters clash several times in half a minute. The gap created by different levels of Enlightenment, the amount of opened chakras, is nearly closed by teaching. While Laz at one point was a soldier he doesn’t have the teachings of a proper school and is mostly self-taught with some minor instruction over the years. Augustin on the other hand was practically raised in a dojo, fighting most of his life with a goal in mind.

Over the course of the fight Augustin landed quite a few blows on Laz. One blow was on his ankle, another on his knee, both on the right side and one in the ribs. Laz swings horizontally, Augustin retreats backwards. The tip of the blade leaves a shallow cut in Augustin’s stomach. Augustin takes the opportunity to strike. He jumps and swings his foot at Laz’s head. Laz attempts to step back but his leg will not move. Augustin’s foot connects with Laz’s powerful. The blow is powerful to kill and it does. The mighty Laz falls.

The killing doesn’t stop there. The small force of marauder is nothing without their powerful leader. And while Augustin may be injured there are no fatal wounds and even if he was, his lust for vengeance is too strong. Some of the smarter marauders run after the first few deaths, but even those are not lucky enough to escape. Each and every bandit is slain by Augustin’s hand. By the end, Augustin’s body is just as red as his hair. Blood soaks the ground and bodies are moved from the town center to a pile by the villagers. Augustin, however, returns to Aely’s side. Revenge was taken so quickly, his revenge is over so fast. Aely wanted him to live, but he doesn’t even have his revenge. Now he has only the loss of his beloved one, the promise he made to her, and the desire to die.

Half a day passes in the blink of an eye before one of the villagers, Aely’s uncle, comes for her body. They need to bury her. Augustin doesn’t stop them; he doesn’t even know that the body is being taken. He is trapped in his own mind. He is caught between ending it all and living as he was requested. Does he indulge himself? Or does he honor Aely and her request? A day passes and so does another. Augustin has made up his mind after much deliberation. He rises from the ground in the middle of the night. The villager of watch is surprised, he immediately goes to alert Aely’s uncle, the village chief. Augustin, at a normal pace, begins to walk back to the city.

He reaches the end of the village proper when Aely’s uncle and a few others finally caught up to him. Aley’s uncle calls out, “Where are you goin’?” Augustin turns back but he doesn’t respond to the village chief. He only stares at him sorrowfully before beginning to walk to the city again. No one tries to stop him, they is nothing they can do. Aely was all that Augustin ever really had, what happens when you take away everything a man cares about? What is left of that man? And if that man doesn’t even have revenge anymore, what does he do then?

After a week of walking Augustin reaches the city limits. It is a smaller city; it doesn’t even have walls around it. The guards upon seeing the bloody man move to stop him. They recognize Augustin and quickly send word to the temple instead. Augustin pays them no heed however and continues walking through, they do not stop him. They do try to question him but he does not respond.

Walking through the city he receives many nervous glances and is avoided, those that know him show worry but everything he encounters is paid no heed. It isn’t long before he reaches the temple; Master Gen is waiting there for him. He already received word from the guards and after using his spirit to scan the city found out Augustin was returning to the city. He begins to worry when he sees the dried blood covering his best disciple. He did worry when Augustin didn’t return from his day trip but it wasn’t unusual for Augustin to stay with Aely longer than planned.

“Augustin, what happened? Are you okay?” Master Gen asks but receives no response. It is fairly obvious though that Augustin is not ‘okay’. Despite his physical wounds healing the mental anguish is too much for his mind to bear.

Augustin continues walking towards the dormitories. Augustin turns to Master Gen who has been following him and says emotionlessly, “Master Gen, con you gather the other masters and meet me at the main gates? I’ll be there soon.” Master Gen says he will, and Augustin continues to the dorms and to his room. He receives some stares from other disciples but no one says a thing because they can sense the massive emotional turmoil.

Augustin reaches his small room. Him having a room for himself was a luxury most other disciples didn’t have, but he always thought it was too confining. He changes his clothes and then he gathers his things in leather bag. He clears the room of anything that would signify he ever lived in the room. When he is done he returns to main gates as he said he would.

Waiting at the main gate are the three masters of the temple and the grandmaster that presides over them. Master Gen, Master Dep, Master Sinx, and Grandmaster Yur are all there. Grandmaster Yur is the one to speak but he clearly speaks for them all, “What is the meaning of this, Augustin?” Augustin is a valued disciple so are naturally curious and worried about his intention, especially now that they see his packed bag.

Augustin bows to each as he addresses each of them as is customary. Then he moves unto the more important conversation. “Thank you all for the years of instruction. I am truly grateful.” He bows deeply.

“You speak as if you are leaving.” Master Gen says clearly worried as they all are. Not only is Augustin a chance to raise their standing he is also something like a son to the four men. They took him when he was young and alone and he has become a fine young under their tutelage.

“Aely is dead. She was murdered.” Augustin says. The men all understand everything after he speaks. Everyone is the temple knows about Aely and about Augustin’s deep love for her.

Master Sinx now speaks, “That is no reason for this. Do you seek revenge? What is the point? With talent like yours you could reach the Sage level with enough years of training. Why throw that away?” Master Sinx doesn’t know that Augustin has taken his revenge already. That is because Augustin has changed out of the bloody clothes.

Grandmaster Yur heard the whole story from Gen however and knows that Augustin has already had his revenge. “It is not revenge that Augustin seeks. I believe he has already accomplished this.” This surprises the master with the exception of Gen who saw the blood. Grandmaster Yur has lived a great many years and has seen many man, he is somewhat decipher Augustin’s intention. “This path that you walk, it leads nowhere.”

Augustin begins to leave. When at the threshold of the gate he says, “You are wrong, Grandmaster. This path I follow does lead somewhere. Death.”