Exams are over schools out guess who's back. Me, but don't let me hold you up.
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Chapter 7: The Test
*Yawn*
‘Time to get up,’ thought Perseus as he sat up.
He checked the time and saw that he still had half an hour to go, so he decided to take a shower.
After his shower Perseus got dressed and walked out of the main gates of the base ready for the test. He chose a direction and started walking. After walking for 10 minutes, Perseus realized he was getting nowhere and decided to finally ask for directions.
He called out to a merchant who was minding his stall, “Excuse me sir could you point me in the direction of the Royal Castle, I am late for a meeting.”
“Sure it’s just down the road, keep walking and after a few minutes you will reach the castle,” said the kind merchant pointing down the road.
“Thanks,” said Perseus as he walked towards the castle.
‘How could I have missed this thing, it’s huge,’ Perseus thought stupefied. The castle was indeed huge, the castle had 4 towers each reaching 40 meters, walls 15 meters high and dozens of Knights, wearing gold tabards, patrolling the walkways on the walls. The gate was guarded by 4 very strong looking guards armed with very sharp lances and shields.
“Halt, state your name and business here,” said Guard 1.
“Hey, I’m Perseus, Instructor Grant told me to come here for a test,” said Perseus.
“Oh the winner of the tournament, we’ve been expecting you. The instructor is waiting inside,” said Guard 2 as he ushered perseus inside.
The guard quickly took Perseus inside the gates and told him to go down a flight of stairs.
Perseus walked for minutes and just as he began to wonder if the stairs would ever end he found himself in a small room with no windows and a door with many carvings on it.
As he walked in the Instructor came out of the shadows and with a smile he said, “I must be dreaming you’re here on time for once.”
Perseus smiled back and said, “Yeah, I guess so. Is the test in there?”
“Yeah, but before we begin the test I have to tell you some things first. First this test is something that was created back in the days of the great Empires and the room past here is enchanted with magic by the most powerful enchantress who ever lived. The room itself will change shape to fit the needs of the test. Secondly the moment you enter the room it goes through your memories and experiences and chooses a test designed to test you in for a class it decides is best for you. So you will not get the class unless you pass the test. Also when you enter you may remember things you would rather not, so I am inclined to warn you before. Oh and Perseus just remember whatever you see during the test is not real,” he said.
Without a moment’s thought Perseus grinned and opened the door.
As soon as he stepped through the door Perseus fell to the ground gasping for air. His head was in a twist, he was seeing images of his life being played out in mere moments.. He saw his early days, the ones he spent with his family, all the trips to the corner shop, park and all the pranks he played. The memories caused Perseus to laugh between his gasps for air, then the visions started getting darker and Perseus found himself under the bed, the one he hated so much. Even though he knew he couldn’t change what was happening he started shouting and screaming at his younger self to do something, anything. But nothing happened, he had to watch his mother’s death again. Perseus started crying, they were bitter tears, filled with regret and anger at himself and the man. The visions didn’t stop there and kept showing what happened after her death, the police dropping the case because of a lack of suspects, despite Perseus’s protest, her funeral all the way to the present.
Perseus didn’t notice that the visions were continuing or that they stopped he just kept crying. After 5 minutes he managed to calm himself down and looked around he saw that he was in a small cavern a few meters wide and the door he came through was not behind him anymore. As he got up he noticed some movement to left, moving closer he saw that it was a little boy no older than 7 years old, staring at him with wide fearful eyes.
Perseus walked closer to him but he backed away whimpering and began begging Perseus not to kill him.
Perseus didn’t know what the boy had been through but he could tell that the boy was clearly traumatized. He held out his hand and said, “Don’t worry kid I’ll protect you from all the bad people. Come on lets get out of here. I’m Perseus what’s your name.”
Hesitantly the boy took Perseus’s hand and spoke softly, “Alex.”
Perseus lead them out of the cave and into an impossibly long and narrow tunnel. It had many diverging paths but he thought it best to just go straight, for now. After 20 minutes of walking Alex started to get tired so Perseus stopped and took out some bread and his canteen. He handed a loaf of bread to Alex and said, “Eat some of this, I know its not that good but its all we've got.”
“Thank you,” he said before digging in.
They sat eating in silence before Perseus broke the silence.
“Alex, how did you get here and why did you think I was going to kill you.”
Alex was silent for a while and just when Perseus thought he wasn’t going to answer he said, “My village was raided by some bad people they...they ” he started crying before he could finish.
Perseus didn’t know exactly what happened but he had a pretty good idea. He wanted to know more but he kept quiet waiting for Alex to compose himself.
After a minute he started talking again, “They killed everyone. I ran. Even though all my friends and family were being killed I ran, I ran all the way here, I thought I was safe then I heard voices so I ran deeper, that’s when I saw you. You appeared out of nowhere so I thought they sent you but you said you will protect me right, can you kill them, please kill them, please, please…..” he said before going into another crying fit.
Perseus was in rage he couldn’t believe how those people could make an innocent little boy want something like revenge. No. He understood perfectly, it was exactly what he went through. Even if the boy was an NPC he still had emotions and experiences to Perseus he was real, so he would help him. Perseus wasn’t going to say something like someday there time will come, no, he knew exactly what he was going to do.
Perseus stood up and told Alex, “Let’s go.”
Alex got up and dried his tears before asking, “Where?”
“To serve justice,” was Perseus’s answer before he began walking.
Without a word Alex followed Perseus and after another half an hour they reached a large cavern littered with stones and broken tools. In the center of the room there was a campfire but no people.
‘Looks like this used to be a mine,’ Perseus thought as he looked around.
Perseus slowly approached the fire and as soon as he was in the center of the cavern he felt several Killing Intents around him. Cursing his carelessness Perseus unsheathed both his Claymores and blocked the two attacks aimed at Alex. The two aggressors jumped back into the shadows as a man stepped into the light of the campfire.
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The man was wearing a hood and leather armor, judging by his gear he appeared to be in the late 20s at most. The man just started clapping before looking at Perseus.
“That was a good block you just did, but I am going to have to ask you not to interfere,” the hooded man said.
“Not interfere?! You are trying to kill a little kid, do you think I will just stand back and let you,” Perseus asked incredulously.
“I had hoped so, but if you have a problem with that,” he signaled to the men in the shadows and eight men came out of the shadows, all wearing malicious grins and carrying swords.
“I don’t think so, you probably noticed when your men attacked just then. I’m a lot stronger than all of you. If you fight me you will all die,” Perseus said with a confident grin. Many of them were uneasy at that statement but stayed silent, watching their leader.
The hooded man however just smiled and said, “That may be the case but how well can you fight while protecting the kid. You are outnumbered, if you fight us you will make a mistake and both of you will die. So if you want to survive hand over the boy. If you do his death will be quick and painless.”
Perseus realized the truth of the man’s words but was unwilling to accept that he is too weak to save the boy, so he just growled at them and defiantly said, “His name is Alex and not in this lifetime.”
The man was about to tell his men to attack when Alex spoke, “I’ll go.”
“You can’t he’ll kill you,” said Perseus desperately trying to stop Alex but he was already in front of the bandit leader.
“It’s okay, this way you get to live,” Alex said with a smile.
“Now drop your weapons or I’ll hurt the kid more than I have to and you guys tie him up,” said the man said as he grabbed Alex.
Perseus had no choice but to give himself up or he would kill Alex. They took his weapons and tied him next to the fire.
“Now that he’s out of the way lets get down to business,” the man said with a malicious gleam in his eye.
Alex looked the hooded man in the eye and bravely said, “Get it over with.”
The man however didn’t seem to agree and just shook his head as he said, “After all the trouble you put me through, you’re not getting away that easily. I’m gonna have some fun before I kill you.”
With that said the hooded man began torturing the poor boy, hitting him with the butt of the blade, punching and kicking the child. The scene was so gruesome many of the man’s own men looked away.
“Stop it, he is only a child, show him some mercy. Just kill him, he doesn’t deserve this,” Perseus said as he struggled to free himself.
The man just ignored Perseus’s warnings and continued to beat Alex. Until finally Alex stopped responding to his beatings. The man didn’t care and just kept beating his limp body.
Perseus noticed Alex’s lack of response and called out to him, “ALEX, ALEX ANSWER ME ALEX.”
‘They killed him, they killed him, they killed him, I was helpless again. These bastards killed him, damn it. I promised, I would protect him. I promised, damn it. These Fucking Bastards.’
Perseus felt his rage boil and begin to take a physical form by itself, mist of black and red began to our out of Perseus and spread throughout the room. The power of the raw emotions emitted from Perseus froze everyone of them in place except the hooded man, who obliviously kept hitting Alex’s limp body. Some of the men thought about informing their boss of Perseus’s state but upon looking at Perseus’s eyes they shut their mouths. He tensed himself and broke through his bonds.
The hooded man only realized what happened to Perseus when he heard sound of metal snapping. He looked at Perseus with disbelief and fear evident in his eyes. His only bargaining chip is dead, the man stronger than all his men is free and now he’s pissed.
The grunts were scared stiff but Perseus paid them no heed and walked right past them, he would deal with them later. His target was in front of him. The hooded man saw that he was going to die he knew but he just accepted it. He decided that since he was going to die he would just say what he wants.
“You want to kill me, huh? You may be strong, you may be able to rip through metal but you can’t fight the world. You see even if you kill me there will always be someone worse than me, someone more evil. It will never end and one day you will die,” he said laughing like a mad man.
“Doesn’t matter I’ll just kill them after I’m done with you.”
With that said he grabbed the hooded man’s head lifting him off the ground. Perseus then focused his all his aggression into his free fist and formed spikes. He then pummeled everything he had into the man. The man’s screams filled the cavern but none of his men lifted a finger for fear of being targeted by Perseus. The man screamed for minutes before Perseus crushed his skull with a sickening crunch. Perseus dropped the hooded man’s bloody mutilated body onto the ground before looking at the men around the room.
They were too scared to move for fear of dying, some began crying sensing their demise and others started to be for forgiveness. Perseus however didn't care for their fear or their regret over their actions. They hadn't stopped Alex’s death nor that of Alex’s friends and family so they were guilty. He was just delivering justice, nothing more and nothing less. They would die simple as that. Perseus spent the next ten minutes carrying out a slaughter that would make Vlad Tepes turn over in his grave.
After carrying out his duty he walked over to Alex’s body and held him in his hands before letting out a roar of anger and sorrow, finally releasing his emotions the Killing Spirit faded away back into Perseus. He then began digging a grave for the boy all the while contemplating what happened.
‘My first kill, they say when you kill someone you lose a part of yourself and feel regret. Ha, yea right. I would feel anything but regret over this. It was justice, simple as that. No regret, no guilt only rightness but if there is something I regret its not kill the bastard before. Never again, I was helpless this time but this won’t happen again, ever.’
Finishing the deed Perseus grabbed his stuff and walked out of the cavern with a heavy heart. After walking for a few minutes he finds another door. Perseus opens the door and walks through. He finds himself back in the room with the instructor standing in front of him. But before Perseus could say anything he feels an intense burning cover his entire body, before he passes out on the ground.
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So there's Chapter 7.
A bit short yes but I felt that it should end there. I spent a fair bit of time on this chapter and kept rewriting it.
The next one will be out sometime tomorrow nearly finished with it just need to fine tune it. I think you will find his class interesting.
Don't forget to comment and give your opinion.
Also if it wasn't clear enough Perseus was tied up with rope that was lined with metal like a cord, of sorts.