The child is staring with an immense killing intent with pitch black hatred directed at the pack leader, as he is biting his under lip to the point of drawing blood, that continuously flows down the side of his cheek as it drips from his chin, Falling into the pond as it dilutes the clear blue colored water with a deep dark red color into the water. Cringing his forehead to emit the strong feeling of a furious anger solely directed towards the pack leader, with his back hunched over the edge of the plateau, in a primal stance with his knee's bent looking as if he's about to spring into a sprint using all his four limbs, whilst he waits for the slightest sign of an opportunity to strike for a mortal wound.

Meanwhile the stoneclaw lion pack leader shows no signs of caution, standing tall with his chest is outwards, flaunting to show his pride and masculinity. His neck in a straight fashion with a disturbing expression, while he raises his right eyebrow staring at the child with a strong sense of confidence, sporting a demeaning grin that is meant to make light of his adversary.

The atmosphere is so tense that not a single being in the cave is making the slightest movement. The only thing that can be heard is the sound of the wind, flowing through the tunnels as it ricochets from wall to wall echoing through the cave, as every sound is absurdly magnified to the point of it ringing through the ears of the crowd.

“Father what is happening, why is he ignoring you and focusing on that small child? Why are you nor any of the tribesmen not attacking him?” Diarge asked quietly as he couldn't muster a higher voice due to the heavy atmosphere.

“It is not our place to interfere, look into the child's eye and tell me what you see, share me your thoughts with us aswell Axe'rin.” The warchief said with a stern look on his face, trying to portray the importance of this question to his children.

“I see anger, a fierce anger. I'm also getting a strong feel of vengeance.” Diarge said while squinting his eyes as he tried to focus all of his attention into the gaze of the bewildered child.

“What I see is a lonely gaze, one of solitude it's as if he's crying on the inside.” Axe'rin said with a sad, yet not pitying look on her face, a look of pure compassion.

“Well my children you are both correct his eyes do portray an anger, an anger sharper than the sharpest dagger we have in our village, maybe in all of Agaria. And this dagger is a tool of vengeance, he's seeking retribution against this stoneclaw lion. But deep within his eyes it's just as Axe'rin has spoken, there is a deep sadness, a loneliness that seems immeasurable at this point, with a true feeling of solitude oozing out as if he's all alone in this world.” As the warchief spouted these words of observation he looked to both his children and sought to see if they comprehended the words he had just spoken

“But father why is he feeling this strong feeling of sadness and anger? both Diarge and Axe'rin asked with a discerned look.

“From what I can judge that Shadow flame wolf is none other than the adoptive mother of the child, and considering the vast life threatening injuries she has received, makes me believe the chances of her surviving this encounter is no more than a rough estimate of 15% survival rate. She has also just birthed a cub which would mean a brother to this child. Shadowflame wolfs are not very fertile and can usually only get between 1-4 cubs within their lifetime and during this time they are extremely weakened and frail. This boy has most likely already concluded that his mother and newborn brother will perish tonight along with himself, which is why he is doing his best to seek retribution for his family, and offering the last bit of his life force to bring honor to his family.”

Both Axe'rin and Diarge finally started to be able to understand at least a portion of the emotions running through the head of the child. As they started contemplating this sad yet courageous scene they started to feel deep compassion and admiration towards the zealous boy, both Diarge and Axe'rin started trying to imagine themselves in his position, asking themselves if they would ever be able to show the same amount of courage and honor towards their loved ones in the same position, they both continued to ponder on this question reviewing the scenario over and over again...

Suddenly the silence broke as the warchief shouted out asking for two daggers, swiftly afterwords two archer hunters appear before the warchief, unsheathing their daggers they carry for either carving after hunting or for self defense as they usually only carry a bow and a quiver of arrows. As he receives the two daggers he overhands throws the two daggers towards the pack leader, as they swish with great rotational force past the stoneclaw lion on either side, as they very slightly cut through several strands of hair from the gray-silver mane the stoneclaw lions wears with pride. But as the daggers pass the child suddenly springs into the air with spontaneous force, whilst mid air he reaches out and grasps both daggers with a swift and dexterous movement, wielding them with a reverse grip as he lands without making much of a sound he resumes his primal stance.

The stoneclaw lion suddenly changes his facial expression as the thrown weapons cuts through the silver-gray mane he wears with such pride, the daggers being thrown with such power and accuracy forces his face to become bewildered as he realizes that he could have been gravely wounded by those daggers, but then he sees the child grab the spinning flying daggers with elegance and ease, his face changes and becomes  ever more flabbergasted by the skillful display, but that swiftly turns back into his sinister and domineering expression he previously wore with such confidence to once again try to undermine the opponent.

“Father what are you doing, shouldn't we help him drive off the stoneclaw lions instead?” Asked Diarge with a disturbed and confused facial expression.

“I've already told you it's no longer our place to interfere, as soon as the child challenged the pack leader I saw in his eyes that no matter what he will not be able to live with himself if he doesn't fight this battle, just look into his gaze one more time do you really believe anybody can stop someone with that amount of anger and determination? His eyes have not yet left the sight of the stoneclaw lion, not even during the time he obtained the daggers mid air.” The warchief said as he was looking upon the child with a strong admiration and intrigue.

“Yes father, I see your point... I don't believe anybody would be able to convince him to do anything else but to battle with his life pride and family on the line...”

“Look closely at what is about to transpire before you very eyes children, no warriors as well! Burn the image of this into your heads for the rest of your lives, and try to muster the same determination and honor as this child if you are ever faced with a perilous situation as this, don't even look away for a second or blink.”

The warchief said while steadily standing whilst holding his twin edged battle-axe upside down, resting both his hands on the handle whilst looking over the soon to be battleground with great anticipation for what this scenario will have in store for him and his tribal warriors.

“Yes sir warchief!” All the warriors bursted out as they lined up besides the warchief and his children sporting the same gaze as the warchief.

The atmosphere is at the peak of tension, the air is heavy, it's harder to breathe than ever... The silence is back and it's stronger than ever, not a single thing is heard for approximately 2 minutes. Until suddenly a gust of wind breaks through heavy silence... As it flows through the tunnels echoing becoming the only thing that is heard, bringing with it a small rock that is flung over the edge of the opening of the cave, falling towards the ground picking up more and more speed as it finally hits the ground... The sound making it's way through the vast cave. 

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

But as soon as the echoing sound of the rock finds it's way to the child, and the pack leader... At split seconds afterwords they both gear up for a jump, and in the blink of an eye they are both flying towards each other with great force, as the child howls from the top of his lungs with a furious anger, the pack leader responds with a striking roar as they both clash claws and dagger, above the the pond that is still diluted with the blood of the child, you can hear the striking noise as the dagger hits the stone claws of the beast scraping and denting the claws, but as the child clashes with pack leader with his right dagger he swiftly uses the stop in momentum to make an upwards thrust with his left dagger as he slits open the right front leg of the pack leader. As the both land after the confrontation they are now in reverse positions from the starting point, swiftly turning their heads as they stare at each other with their teeth exposed in an angry fashion over their shoulders.

“Look father he managed to wound his opponent!” Shouted Axe'rin as she pointed towards the wound on the front leg of the stoneclaw lion with a joyous look to her face.

“Yes he did indeed wound the stoneclaw lion, but I'm afraid that is not nearly a deep enough wound to effect the battle greatly, this is not the time to celebrate, you never know what happens in a battle this fierce, the winner will not be able to be seen or predicted until the very end of this scrimmage.” He said with a stern look on his face, whilst Axe'rin's facial expression becomes much more concerned.

Both the child and the pack leader turn around while still glaring at each other with exposed teeth, this seems more so like the quarrel of two beasts than a fight between human and beast.

With their eyes still fixed onto each other the child starts walking around the pond on all four limbs as he slowly begins to pick up the pace, the pack leader turning around constantly at the same spot in the middle of the plateau as the child slowly but surely makes his top speed.

“interesting the child seems to be well versed in the arts of combat.” the warchief said with a subtle smirk

“what do you mean father all he is doing is running around aimlessly and tiring himself out from my point of view?” Diarge said perplexed with the statement his father had just made

“no no Diarge, he is not running around aimlessly he is showing of his prowess as he is intimidating his foe with the speed and the feeling of being encircled by enemies, pressuring him into the mindset that he doesn't have anyplace to escape to” Said the warchief as he wore a wide grin.

The child jumped over the pond in a swift movement to not allow a chance for a counter attack as he lands whilst still continuing his previous momentum slowly running in the shape as a whirlpool as he slowly closes in on his prey.

The stoneclaw lion is furious with anger only strengthened by the humiliation he faced during the first clash between the two, slowly getting impatient as he is being driven into a corner by the child he had continuously looked down upon he starts gearing up for a charge. In a fit of rage he charges with all his might towards the child as he tries to predict the trajectory of the child to be able to meet him head on, as they draw closer and closer towards one another only a few feet away from each other something unexpected happens.

As the child sees the stoneclaw lion coming he stops is entire momentum by digging the daggers into the ground and making a frontwards flip as he makes his jump, in a moments notice he is now straight above the stoneclaw lion, descending onto his back while digging both daggers into the back of the beast, a burst of blood emerges from the heightened pulse of the beast while letting out an almost deafening screech of immense pain as the daggers are lodged behind the shoulder blades of the stoneclaw lion.

“wow the finesse and the agility of this child is outstanding, his reflexes are inhuman perhaps it's natural talent or it might be because of the way he has been raised in the wild, either way this child has immense potential.” the warchief said with his eyes widened by the skills the child is showcasing

In a tantrum of anger the stoneclaw lion is finally able to fling the child of his back, the child gets thrown straight into the pond with a splash as the water flies up into the air and drizzles down again. The stoneclaw lion is having issues standing up since the more pressure he puts on his front leg the more blood spurts out of his wounds.

But this is not the end yet, as the stoneclaw lion scans around the area he finds the shadowflame wolf and his expression instantly switches to a heinous grin as his tongue licks his upper lips. He musters all his strength and runs over to the mother wolf, finally as he makes is approach he's still sporting his heinous expression and licking his upper lip, as the mother howls out with a fierce look in her eyes cringing her forehead, taking up a defensive position standing directly above her cub which squeals with it's hairs standing straight up as it's frightened for it's life by the villainous character that appears before him and his mother.

At that moment the child bursts out of the water into the air with great force as water scatters around him drenched in water he opens his eyes to the sight of the mother wolf and cub being threatened by his foe, he instantly becomes disgusted by the act of taking hostages as a last resort within a duel between two warriors, as his face cringes and his teeth starts showing becoming like a wild furious beast he runs towards the stoneclaw lion at full speed with every intent to kill.

“He's not going to make it at that pace...” The warchief said with a sad and discomfort look in his eyes.

“Why aren't we helping him, the stoneclaw lion has already betrayed the act of the duel by attacking bystanders!?” Axe'rin shouts out with a muzzled sound and tears in her eyes.

“I'm sorry Axe'rin but even if the stoneclaw lion isn't being honorable in this fight and resorting to such tactics we can't help him out” the warchief said with a stone-cold face that you could see is almost at the verge of cracking.

“Why, just how could you be so cold father!? How could you let a mother and child die without doing anything about it!?” Axe'rin shouted at the top of her lungs with a hint of disgust towards her father.

“There is nothing we can do, if we attack the rest of the pack will engage as well and by no means will we be faster than them getting to the mother and cub, but that's not the only reason for us not intervening, it will be a disrespectful act towards the child that is fighting, I don't believe he would ever want to stoop to his level and bring other people into a personal fight, as I said from the start this is his fight alone we can't do more than watch anymore” Said the warchief as his stone-cold face started to crack and you could see the the anger and sadness he felt from seeing the sight before him.

Axe'rin, Diarge, the warchief and the rest of the soldiers watched in suspense as they watch the horrendous scene unfold before their very eyes as they can't interfere or do anything at all, just helplessly standing there hoping for the best as the shadowflame wolf and her cub are face to face with death and the only chance of salvation for them is a frenzied wild child bearing two daggers in either hand and a heart split with one side filled with the feeling of hatred and vengeance while the other half is filled familial love and hope...