Athurious stood in the center of the Clerics, staring dumbfounded at the tiny lizard in his hands. It looked all around the area, its mouth open as it made a strange gurgling sound. It turned its attention back to Athurious and closed its maw, though its tongue hung out from the side of its reptilian lips.
“This is my Spirit?” Athurious thought to himself, sweat running down his forehead as his mind throbbed with humiliation. “How am I supposed to become the greatest Knight with this… Thing?!?”
He slowly turned to look at the Grand Cleric, who smiled at him, stroking his beard.
“This is quite the surprise, young Pendra.” He said, his expression almost relieved. “A Spirit like this is most favourable to you.”
“How?!?” Athurious snapped, feeling irritated with the old geezer. “How is this a good thing for me? Look at it! It’s puny, pathetic! It’s-”
“A baby.”
Athurious fell silent and slowly looked back at the lizard in his hands.
“And like a baby, it will grow. But as your Spirit, its growth will depend on you and your own growth. How it turns out will come down to how you develop in these coming years.”
Athurious stared at his Spirit with wide, panicking eyes. What was this old coot talking about? Growth? What growth? His growth? What was there to grow? He was already perfect! Impeccable! The prime example of a human being! There was no getting better than he already was!
“Now move along, Young Pendra,” the Grand Cleric said gently, “there are still others yet to Awaken.”
Athurious slowly walked back to the crowd towards his friends. He could hear several people around him trying to stifle their laughter, their eyes staring at him with gleeful schadenfreude. He reached his friends, not daring to make eye contact with them. A few moments of silence passed before he finally spoke.
“Well… this is rather… unexpected, isn’t it?”
In response to his words he heard a snicker and looked up. Fred, Tim and Olly were all staring at him with dark smirks on their faces; their eyes filled with malicious delight.
“Uhh… guys?” Athurious asked timidly, suddenly feeling like a mouse caught between three lions.
“Oh, thank the gods. We can finally end this charade.” Fred said with a sigh, his voice filled with venom. “Ten years of putting up with you and your holier-than-thou attitude are finally at an end.”
“Just wait until mother hears about this!” Olly chortled, his belly jiggling as he tried to contain his laughter. “An itty bitty lizard! It is indeed the end of House Pendra! Bwa ha ha ha ha!”
“A cripple, a failure, and now a lizard.” Tim said, staring down Athurious with his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know which of you three is the bigger disgrace. But in the end, it’s just as Olly said. Your House is doomed to recede from Nobility. Oh, but don’t worry. I’m sure you won’t go hungry thanks to your brother’s apothecary!”
The three all burst out laughing, which triggered a chain reaction with all of the onlookers. Soon it seemed like the entire crowd was laughing at him, and Athurious fell to his knees, feeling himself turn red with embarrassment.
“Now hold on!” he heard Willow shout. He looked up to her as she stood between him and Tim, her viper hissing at Olly, who backed away with a squeal. “How is ‘Turious failure? He not even shown Spirit yet!” She turned and looked down to him, smiling. “Go on. Hear name and call.”
Athurious slowly looked from Willow to the lizard in his hands. The two made eye contact. “Come on…” Athurious thought to the lizard, sweating in desperation. “Come on! Tell me your name! Show me that you are not a useless little lizard!” The lizard stared back at him, blinking its eyes a few times curiously. It then stuck its tongue out with a little ‘pfbt’ sound.
“I… can’t hear it.” Athurious said slowly, and the crowd roared with laughter once again. Fred fell to the ground, rolling while holding his stomach as Willow looked with concern at Athurious.
“You no hear?” she asked, her voice filled with concern. Athurious heard it and felt even more embarrassed.
“She’s pitying me,” he thought to himself, feeling all alone in the middle of the crowd. “This common rabble of a beggar girl is pitying me.” He felt tears start to run down his face and he rose to his feet and ran; pushing past Willow as he beeline for the gates.
“Wait! Turi!” Willow shouted after him as the crowd continued to laugh. She gave chase as he pushed his way through the crowd, desperate to escape.
Athurious ran. He didn’t know where he was running to. But he didn’t want to stop. He ran past his home. He ran through the marketplace. He ran through the Commoner’s District. He ran out the gates of the city. He ran through the fields of wheat. He just kept running.
“It is all over!” His mind raced as tears continued to flow from his eyes. “How can I return my House to its former glory like this? A nameless lizard? I can’t join the Royal Knights’ Academy! I can’t become a Knight, much less one of the Order of the Cross! This is the end of everything! My dreams! My goals!”
He stopped running and looked around. He had run into the forest outside of the city. He could hear the sounds of animals all around him, the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees. He could hear the sound of running water a small ways off and started walking towards it. He loosened his grip on the lizard, and it crawled up his arm and back on top of his head, where it nestled down in his hair.
“A Spirit that will grow as I grow?” he said out loud, staring at the forest floor as he walked, sweat running down his face as he breathed in deep, controlled breaths. “What a load of crap. I can’t grow anymore than I have. I’m a Noble. A Pendra. I-” His eyes caught sight of his stomach, slightly bulging out against his shirt, spilling over the brim of his pants. He reached the source of the water he had heard, a stream, and looked at his reflection in the waters. His cheeks were chubby. His body was not at all how it had been when he was younger. He was flabby. He was not the image of a Knight. When had he become blind to this? When was the last time he had taken part in any physical training? When was the last time he had held a practice sword? When was the last time he had actually put in any effort for his dreams? He looked down at his hands, slowly opening and closing them, trying to recall the feel of a sword’s handle in them. The memory felt completely foreign, as though it had been a lifetime ago.
“I’m a Pendra,” he repeated, feeling more tears burn the backs of his eyes. “I thought that meant that things would always go the way I wanted.”
“Athrio!” he heard a female voice call out from behind. He turned and saw Willow running towards him, barely out of breath. “Why you run?” she asked, clearly concerned for him.
Her pity burned him like an acid.
“Why…?” he asked, shaking. “Why did you follow me? So you could laugh at me some more?”
Willow looked confused. “I no laugh at you.”
“Sure you didn’t. I, Athurious Pendra, the final straw of the broken House Pendra. I will be the laughing stock of the city for the rest of my life!”
“Why?” Willow asked. “You not funny.”
“Shut up!” Athurious shouted, causing Willow to jump back in shock and her viper to hiss at him, slithering forward on her shoulders to put itself between the two. “Why are you pretending to care? You don’t know me! You’re just a commoner! So why would you care?”
“Because Trias is my friend.” Willow replied simply.
Athurious stood in shocked silence.
“What… why… why would you think that?” he asked, dumbfounded. Willow smiled and rubbed Terra’s head, causing the viper to relax.
“You share food with me. You show me town. You tell me of Spirit. You reason I have Terra. So, you Willow’s friend.” She walked up to Athurious and slowly wrapped her arms around him, gently pulling him into a hug. “And when Willow’s friend sad, Willow help.”
He could not remember the last time a hug had filled him with such warmth. Such sanctuary. When had he last felt so safe in someone’s arms? He felt fresh tears run down his face, and Willow let him go, taking a small step back.
“Feel better?” she asked, and Athurious nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. “But why so sad?”
“I have failed.” He blubbered. “My Spirit is a tiny weak lizard. It won’t tell me its name. How can I ever become a Knight and regain my family’s honor like this?”
“You not hear Grandfather?” Willow asked, tilting her head. Athurious stopped his sobbing and looked at her, lost.
“What?”
“Grandfather said Spirit grow as you grow.”
“But… I’m not gonna grow much more than this, I don’t think.” Athurious said, looking around at his body. Willow giggled.
“Not body. He mean grow here,” she took a step forward and placed a finger against his forehead, “and here.” She placed her left hand against his chest. Athurious felt his cheeks burn as he looked into her eyes, feeling her fingertip against his sweaty brow and her hand against his heartbeat.
“Well, isn’t this a tender sight?”
Athurious and Willow both turned to see a man approach them from the trees, his features hidden behind a pale purple robe.
“Here I was, wondering how I was going to get you alone after the Ceremony, and then you go running off to the woods all on your own. Saved me a lot of trouble. I must thank you,” the man stopped a few dozen feet away and pulled back his hood, revealing a face thin from hunger, eyes sunk back in their sockets and long, greasy black hair. “Master Pendra.” he finished, smiling.
Athurious and Willow took a step away from one another and turned to face the man.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Athurious asked, completely lost. The man sighed.
“Of course you don’t recognize me. It has been ten years since we last saw one another. Ten years since your brother cast me out of the Knights’ Order and ruined my life!”
“Oh, right! Sir Kled!” Athurious said as the light came on for him. “I totally couldn’t recognize you. You used to be a lot… thicker.”
“Who he?” Willow asked, pointing at Kled.
“Oh, just a Knight that used to work under my Brother a long time ago.” Athurious answered with a lazy wave of his hand. “But he got thrown out of the Kingdom after my brother busted him for selling orphans to some foreign diplomats or something, I dunno.”
“That’s exactly right!” Kled said, gripping a fist in front of his face. “All I did was sell a few brats off for some extra coin, and your brother goes and gets me banished from the Knights’ Order! What does it matter? Those kids would have just rotted away in that orphanage anyways! I at least gave their damn lives some purpose!”
“You know, you have got a point there.” Athurious muttered, thinking to himself. Beside him, Willow’s body had tensed up as she glared at Kled.
“You. Sold childs?” she said, her voice shaking with anger.
“Yeah?” Kled said, smiling wickedly. “What about it?”
“People! Are not! For sell!” Willow shouted as Terra raised up from her shoulders, opening her mouth wide and hissing. Kled chuckled to himself.
“Well, you say that, but you see… when a person has no choice but to submit to a superior being, does that not make them that being’s property?”
“Filth!” Willow shrieked, her eyes flashing dangerously. Athurious took a cautious step away from the angry girl.
“Well, no matter.” Kled said with a shrug. “My plan had been to kill Athurious as payback to his brother, but now I think I have a better idea. My dear Lord Pendra,” Kled spoke, sending a shiver down Athurious’ spine, “I am going to rip out your tongue and sell you to the first dirty bastard who offers me a coin for you, so that you can live out the rest of your miserable little life as the piece of worthless garbage that you are! And come to think of it…” Kled cast his predatory gaze up and down Willow’s figure. “The girl there is actually quite pretty. I can probably get a good amount of coin for her from the right buyer.”
Willow shook with rage at his words, but Athurious sighed heavily and stepped over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down Willow. This guy is all talk.”
“He is?” Willow said, shocked. Behind Athurious’ back, Kled’s mouth hung open, dazed and confused.
“Yup. Back when he was still a knight, and in much better condition I may add, he used to be assigned as my weapons trainer. And he sucked! He could never beat me, even when I was just a child! So trust me,” Athurious walked past Willow, heading for the stream, “we have nothing to worry about.”
Kled’s expression shifted from flabbergasted to an evil grin, and Terra turned its head to the stream. Willow sensed the danger and quickly turned to Athurious.
“Athis! Get down!” she shouted as the water’s surface suddenly erupted.
Athurious saw a large dark shape hurling towards him, then felt Terra’s tail wrap around his neck and yank him back, pulling him off of his feet and cracking his head down on the forest floor. Willow dove out of the way as the dark shape shot past her, showering the area with water as it circled around and hovered beside Kled. Athurious slowly got up, his head pounding from the impact. Refocusing his vision, he saw the massive form of the hammerhead shark at Kled’s side.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Wh-wha-what is that?!?” he shouted as Kled placed a hand on the shark’s head and patted it.
“Oh that’s right, you never did meet my Spirit, did you?” Kled spoke slowly, letting his malice drip off of every word. “Sledge.”
At the name, the shark vanished in a vortex of water swirling around Kled’s hand, quickly dispersing and revealing a war hammer with a concave serrated curve along the upper side of the hammer’s head. Kled took the weapon in both hands, gripping it tightly as he stared down the two teenagers. Athurious squealed in terror, his knees shaking as his mind began processing everything.
He was about to be beaten up by this outcast. He was going to lose his tongue. He was going to be sold into slavery. He was going to live the life of less than a commoner! His entire body trembled as he fell onto his backside, quivering in terror as Willow quickly stepped in front of him.
“Terra!” she shouted, and the viper wrapped around her, flashing silver and transforming into the steel ring. “Athris, you run!” she shouted, looking over her shoulder at him. Athurious looked back at her, dumbfounded.
“You want me to…”
“You! Run! Get safe!” she said, turning to face Kled as he slowly approached. “I deal with filth.”
“Yes!” Athurious thought, slowly getting to his feet. “This is how it should be. This commoner should protect me. She should be honored to give her life for mine!” With these thoughts in his mind Athurious turned and ran away as fast as his legs would carry him.
Kled laughed as he watched him run. “Yes, that’s right, boy! Run! Make this hunt more interesting!” He then moved his hammer up, creating a flash of sparks as Willow’s ring blade bounced off and flew back to its owner. Willow placed the ring around her shoulder blades, both hands resting on the inside of the ring as she stared at Kled, her eyes burning with hate.
“Pay attention.” she growled, eyeing up Kled like a predator. “You fight here.”
“Oh don’t you worry, girlie, I haven’t forgotten about you.” Kled responded with a lecherous smile.
Willow rushed forward in an instant and swung the blade around and up, cutting an arc through the air towards Kled’s neck. The former knight blocked the attack and brought the hammer down at Willow, who nimbly leapt back from the attack, gracefully flipping and landing on her feet.
“Oh ho ho…” Kled chuckled, licking his lips. “I like you.”
~
Athurious had no idea where he was running to. His lungs burned as he forced his legs to keep moving; weaving around trees, jumping over fallen branches, slipping on patches of moss. Soon he could no longer continue and stopped, hands on his knees, sweat dripping off his face, panting for breath as his body screamed at him in agony. It had been years since he had put this much physical effort into something.
In the distance behind him he could faintly hear the sounds of steel against steel as Willow fought against that deranged former knight. She fought for his sake. He, Athurious Pendra, was relying on a young girl to protect him.
He shook his head.
“No,” he thought, still doubled over trying to catch his breath, “this is how it is supposed to be. Commoners should all be so lucky to give their lives for one of Noble birth like myself.”
His lungs screamed as he took a deep breath, coughed and panted some more, trying to moisten his mouth and swallow to make the breathing easier.
The distant sounds of steel grew fainter.
“The commoner’s place is at the foot of the Nobility! So there is no shame in me running!
His hands clenched into fists against his knees.
“There is no shame in me leaving her behind!”
The backs of his eyes burned.
“I am not doing anything wrong! This is how it should be!”
The back of his throat began to burn.
“So why do I feel so ashamed?”
Tears rolled down his cheeks once again as he panted, choking on the breaths as they came. He dropped to his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air as he cried, his fingers digging into the forest floor.
“Dammit,” he choked, lowering his head against the moist dirt. “I am such a coward.”
He felt something start to tug on his hair. Sitting up he felt the lizard shift itself on his head, then bite down in his hair and pull, as though it was trying to get him to turn back the way he had come. Athurious slowly got to his feet and turned, looking at the tracks he had left when he had been running. The lizard continued to tug at his hair, trying to pull him back down the path, growling its gurgly, throaty growl. Athurious reached up and took the lizard off of his head, bringing it down to eye level.
“You… want us to go back there?” he asked it. The lizard stared back at him, opening its mouth and making the noise again. “You know that it's dangerous back there, right? That if we go back there, we could get hurt. Or worse. I could die.” The lizard growled again. “You know that if I die… you die too, right?” Athurious brought the lizard right up to his face as he spoke. It stared at him for a moment before opening its mouth and pressing its tongue against his nose.
Athurious sighed and put the lizard back on top of his head, where it returned to tugging at his hair. He took a deep breath and looked down at his mantle; at the Crest of House Pendra. He placed a hand on the crest, running his fingers across the embroidery as a pit in his stomach burned with the shame of his actions.
“I am a Pendra,” he said to himself, clenching his shaking fists. Without another word Athurious ran back down the path, back towards the danger he had fled from.
~
Willow spun and twirled, her ring blade whipping around her with the inertia, clashing against Kled’s hammer as the two battled one another, showering the air with sparks as they continued to attack and defend. Willow stopped her spin and rushed in, sliding on her knees and leaning back to avoid a swing from the hammer. It passed over her and she grabbed Kled’s ankle, using her momentum to kick her legs up and lift herself up; hooking her ankles around Kled’s neck she swung herself around him, pulling him off balance. He stumbled back and she unhooked her feet, flying up above him and cutting down with the ring at his unguarded chest. The blade struck true but rather than blood, sparks shot out from the point of impact. Kled laughed.
“You think Sledge is just a hammer for me, you dumb bitch?”
Willow leapt back again, allowing for distance between them as Kled got to his feet and ripped the tattered remains of the cloak off, tossing them aside to reveal that his chest, arms and legs were all covered by a strange-looking leather armour.
“Benefit of being a Rank Three Knight. Shark-Skin Armour. Quite useful against slashing weapons like yours. Better try a different trick!”
“Understand.” she said calmly as she placed the ring around her waist and lowered her stance far down; her legs spread wide, one hand on the ground and one pressing on the inside of the ring. She took a breath and rushed forward, remaining low. Kled brought the hammer up overhead and swung down to intercept Willow’s attack path. As the hammer came down, the girl vanished from sight, and the hammer slammed into the ground, blasting a small crater in the moist earth and showering the area with dirt and moss.
“What the hell?” Kled asked, looking around the area. “Where did she go?”
The leaves behind him rustled, and Kled leapt to the side as a flash of silver traced through the air where he had been standing just moments earlier. Willow slid across the forest floor in a low three point stance; her ring raised up behind her, a trail of blood running along part of its edge. Kled glared at her and ran a hand along his left cheek, feeling the deep cut she had given him.
“Viper Strike.” Willow said in a low voice, her eyes locked on Kled, the air around her deathly chill. “If can’t cut body, then take head.” Willow returned to her prior stance and rushed in again, vanishing from sight as she closed the distance between them. Kled grit his teeth in irritation, his eyes bulging in their sockets as a vein throbbed in his temple.
“Don’t you go getting ahead of yourself, you little whore!” he screamed as he whipped around and grabbed Willow by the throat and slammed his hammer against the ring, sending it flying out of her hand and embedding it into a nearby tree. Willow choked for breath as she clawed at Kled’s hand, trying to loosen the grip he had on her. Kled growled and slammed her back first into the ground.
Willow coughed as the air was driven from her lungs by the impact and lay on the forest floor, twitching as she tried to breath. Kled glared down at her, panting as he wiped the blood from his cheek.
“That was quite the ace up your sleeve, girlie. But now you’re all out of tricks.”
Willow choked out a single word.
“Te...rra…”
Kled looked to where the ring blade had struck the tree and saw the viper lunge at his face, mouth wide and fangs bared as it bore down on him. He swung his hammer and struck the snake in the side of its head, sending it flying off into the forest.
Willow struggled for breath, reaching out in the direction that her Spirit had flown, powerless to do anything.
“I will admit, you put up more of a fight than I thought you would,” Kled growled, dropping to his knees to pin Willow under his weight. “But now, I need you to take a little nap while I go and catch our Prince Charming.” His hands closed around her throat and squeezed, causing Willow’s eyes to bulge from the shock and force. Her fingers began to claw at his, fruitlessly attempting to pry them away. Kled’s face wore a manic expression as he stared down at Willow, watching her eyes begin to roll up into her head.
His smile vanished as a rock collided with the side of his head. Kled staggered in his kneeling position and turned to look where the rock had come from.
Athurious stood a short ways away, panting and clutching a second rock in his hand.
“You… get away from her…” he panted, his eyes locked on Kled as the lizard atop his head let out what could only be called its attempt at a roar. Kled smiled and rose to his feet, turning his back to Willow and grabbing his hammer, hefting it up onto his shoulder.
“Well, would you look at this,” he said, bewildered, “the spoiled little shitstain of a Noble decided to put on his big boy britches and come face me like a man. Not that it matters. After I’m finished with you, you will never dare call yourself a Pendra again. Hell, I doubt even your sister would want you back in the family!”
Kled laughed as Athurious stared at the ground, his eyes fixed on the ground.
“You’re right.” he said, bringing an immediate silence to Kled’s laughter. “I have been a disgrace. Not just to House Pendra, but to all of the nobility in Drakara. I thought myself better than everyone because of my birth. I thought that my blood entitled me to whatever I want. And I even thought that my life was somehow worth more than that of a friend…” He looked up enough to look at Willow, who still struggled to breath but managed to get out one word.
“Athurious…”
“I have not been worthy to call myself a Pendra. No, not even worthy to wear the Crest of Pendra!”
Athurious grabbed hold of the crest embroidered on his mantle and ripped it off, throwing the crest off to the side as Kled looked on in shock.
“From this day forward, I renounce the name Athurious Pendra! I shall live my life by the name of my Spirit, until the day that he deems me worthy of my Household’s name once more!”
Somewhere deep in his mind, Athurious heard a voice whisper to him.
Good.
“I will earn my way in this world!”
Yes.
“I will become a better man for my sister!”
Reach out.
“For my brother!”
Hear me.
“For the people!”
Feel me.
“For my country!”
Awaken me.
“I will become a man that my family can be truly proud of!”
Call my name.
Athurious reached out his right hand, palm up.
“ROAR!” he shouted as the lizard leapt off of his head, landing on his forearm before hopping onto his waiting hand. “DRACO!” He closed his hand around the lizard as it let out its gurgly battle cry. The lizard vanished in a flash of fire that surrounded Athurious’ hand. The flames spiraled out from his fist and then flashed away, revealing a long sword; silver steel blade with a black line running the length of it from hilt to just under the tip. An upward curved guard sat between the blade and the brown leather wrapped handle, the pommel a golden four toed claw with a black steel ring hanging in its grip.
Athurious stared at the sword in his hands in disbelief. He had done it. He had heard his Spirit’s name; his new name.
“Draco…” he whispered to himself, tightening his grip on the sword’s handle. “I did it… I did it!”
“You sure did, you little brat!” Kled shouted, his voice filled with frustration. “But if you don’t mind, you’re burning daylight, and I have slavers to visit!”
Athurious held the sword out in a combat stance, locking his eyes on Kled.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Kled sighed, shaking his head as he rubbed his forehead.
“Fine, fine. I guess I am a few years overdue on giving you a lesson. Very well kid, come.” Kled readied his hammer with a sadistic smile. “Class is in session.”
Athurious took a breath and charged in, sword held in a thrusting stance as he approached. He lunged forward and Kled easily side stepped him, tripping Athurious with the handle of his hammer. The boy hit the ground with a dull thud.
“Come now, where’s your foot work?” Kled shouted, stomping on Athurious’ ankle, who screamed in pain, rolling away and gingerly getting back to his feet. “Tsk tsk tsk,” Kled said, shaking a finger at Athurious, “that is all wrong. Your feet are not spaced properly.” He rushed in and Athurious stumbled backwards. Kled punched him in the face, drawing blood from his mouth and nose. “Your left side is wide open!” He swung the hammer and connected it with Athurious’s left side, sending him flying with a sickening crack.
Athurious tumbled along the forest floor, coming to a stop as he slammed into a tree. He coughed, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. He got back to his feet slowly, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side.
“I’m… not… done…” he panted through the blood, his eyes still focused on Kled. The former knight whistled and applauded.
“I have to say, kid, I honestly didn’t think you had this in you. You actually might have made a good knight. But, all good things must come to an end.” He readied a stance, legs out in a wide stance, hammer in both hands in a heavy swing position. “Rip Tide!” He shouted, swinging the hammer and sending a surging rush of water at Athurious, who raised his sword overhead and slashed down, letting out a battle cry as he did so. The sword’s blade burst to life with roaring flames as he swung, striking the water with an explosion of steam.
“What?!?” Kled shouted in shock, staring at the steam cloud as it dissipated. Athurious stood there, sword in front of him from where he hit Kled’s attack. “You can use an Element at Rank One!?!” Kled yelled.
Athurious lowered the sword and smiled. “Seems so.”
Kled growled, growing tense for a moment before taking a deep breath, calming himself.
“Not that it matters,” he said, looking back at Athurious. “You still have no hope of victory. Now witness the power of a Rank Three!” Kled raised his hammer over his head. Water started to swirl around the head of the hammer, quickly swelling up into a giant orb above Kled.
Athurious raised his sword again, the blade igniting once more.
“That puny flame has no chance against this!” Kled shouted, smiling widely at his assured victory. “Take this; my strongest attack!” The water above him surged and took on the form of his hammerhead, only about three times its actual size. “Feeding Frenzy!” Kled roared, swinging the hammer down and launching the shark at Athurious.
“DRACO!” he shouted, tightening his grip on the sword. The flames roared higher, but the shark was on top of him. Athurious screamed as he swung his sword into the shark; the shark’s mouth snapped shut on the flaming blade, extinguishing it instantly before the attack slammed into the teenage boy, launching him through the air with a thunderous boom. Athurious was sent clean through the tree behind him and into the next one behind it. He slumped down to the floor, blood now dripping from his eyes as his head hung low. His breathing now came in slow, bubbly breaths. He watched the blurry outline of Kled approach him and struggled to raise his sword once more. No use; both of his arms were broken.
“Well, I know I said I was gonna sell ya, kid,” Kled said as he walked up to Athurious, looking down on him, “but in your condition I couldn't even give you away. So-” he lifted his hammer overhead for a downward swing, “this is good-bye, Pendra.”
“Don’t!” Willow screamed. Her cry brought a wider smile to Kled’s face as he tensed his muscles to swing the hammer. A breeze blew through his hair and he froze, his pupils dilating in fear as he slowly turned his head to the side.
From the shadows of the trees slowly came a set of sounds; a footstep, the tap of a cane, and the clunk of a wooden leg. A figure appeared from the shadows, black leather long coat, hand gripping a snake handled cane, eye patch over his right eye and a wooden peg for his right leg.
“William… Pendra…” Kled whispered, his voice shaking in terror as he looked into his former captain’s eye. Even with the hundred feet between them, Kled could feel the pressure from the head of the Pendra House.
“Kled Termine.” William replied, his voice friendly, yet with a distinct tone of anger behind it. “I take it you have been keeping my brother company?”
Kled looked to Athurious, barely conscious, struggling to breath at the base of a tree a mere two feet away from him. He then looked back to William and saw pure murderous intent in his eye. Kled swallowed hard and took a step away from Athurious, shaking in his boots.
“I told you what would happen if you ever came back to this city, did I not?” William said, taking a step forward.
Kled shivered, the memory still haunting him. The memory. The past. Kled began to laugh, losing all composure as his maniacal cackling filled the forest.
“Of course I remember! The you of the past! The Fang of Drakara!” he laughed more. “Compared to how you were back then, the man standing before me is just a shadow of your former self! A mere cripple! Dismissed from the Order of the Cross! What can you do to stop me? You can barely walk!”
Kled gripped his hammer and rushed at William, hammer trailing behind him for a running swing.
William sighed as Kled approached, giving his goatee a scratch.
“You are correct on all accounts, except for one.”
Kled was on top of William now, his hammer midway through its swing towards his head. William continued to speak, completely calm.
“You see, I was never dismissed from the Order.”
The snake head on his cane suddenly came to life and surged out from the cane handle; the giant maw of a Basilisk chomping into Kled and slamming him down into the ground in the blink of an eye. Kled exhaled weakly, the life flickering in his eyes as the snake’s giant fangs skewered his body, pumping him full of its venom.
“I stepped down.” William finished, staring coldly down at Kled as the Basilisk released its grip on the man and receded back into the handle of the cane with a sinister hiss.
Kled lay on the ground, gurgling on his blood as the venom coursed through his veins. William ignored him and walked over to his brother, kneeling down and checking him. He then reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small glass bottle filled with a violet liquid. He popped the cork that sealed its tip off and, gently lifting his brother’s head up, poured the contents into Athurious’ mouth.
“Help… help.. Me…” Kled gurgled, reaching out to William as his veins bulged out, his skin slowly turning blue. William stood up, keeping his back turned to Kled as he did so.
“You know, they say that death by basilisk venom is one of the most unique ways to die. First the venom courses through the bloodstream, thickening it and slowing its flow, clogging your heart and arteries. This causes the excruciating burning sensation that you are currently experiencing. But they say that right at the moment of death, victims all are overcome with a look of pure ecstasy; as though they have just been welcomed into the bosom of a Goddess.”
William looked over his shoulder at Kled, watching as the man foamed at the mouth, his eyes bulging out as he struggled to breathe. William then lashed out with his cane; the body of the cane coming apart into multiple sections as they flew out at Kled. The tip of the cane flattened out and curved into a blade as it snapped across Kled’s neck, severing it from his body.
“You don’t deserve to experience that kind of death.” William said coldly as his cane snapped back together at his side. Setting the cane tip down on the ground, William gazed at Kled’s corpse as the birds in the treetops all took flight, terrified by the bloodlust of the man with one eye and leg.