A throbbing sensation pounded into Naadi’s head, a blaring energy signature coming in hot from the east; someone was coming his way. And from the violent flare of their aura, it seemed they wanted to fight. But he’s not that strong. Naadi observed. Only an amateur would flare their aura out like that.

Closing his eyes, he ignored the threat and sat against the boulder calmly, waiting for his pursuer to attack. Slowly, a thin veil of magic energy shrouded his body, calmly flowing from head to toe without a ripple of the slightest bit of bloodlust. Come, Locket Bearer.

I’ll send you swiftly to your death.

A stone came flying out of the forest, aimed towards Naadi, who swiped it out of the air easily, tossing his head towards the direction where the stone had been thrown. Slowly, Urn stepped from the shade of the trees, and into the bright clearing, holding his messer in one hand.

This guy means business. Urn thought, staring at Naadi, who returned the gaze with a glare filled to the brim of barely contained malice. Naadi pulled himself off the floor, tightening his grip on the stone in his hand, and reducing the rock to dust.

“Are you the Locket Bearer?” Naadi said, nodding his head at the locket lying on the boulder.

“I am.” Urn said. “Who are you? And what’s your business with me?”

“I am your executioner.” Naadi replied coldly, summoning forth his sword and pointing it at Urn. “For all the lives your grandfather stole, and all the misfortune that locket spread; I will kill you.”

“So, it’s revenge you want?” Urn inhaled deeply before releasing an enormous volume of magic energy from his body, the pressure rupturing the dirt beneath his feet as his aura roared. “But do you really think you can be-”

Before Urn could even finish his sentence, Naadi leapt from his spot, closing the distance in the blink of an eye, and thrusting his blade towards Urn’s chest. Yet before the blade could sink into Urn’s body, an enormous snake ripped itself out of the ground below Naadi, wrapping around the King’s body and completely cutting off his movements. Urn stepped away from the blade poised at his chest and grinned at Naadi mockingly, before stepping towards his locket.

Yeah, right. No way I’m fighting a guy like that head on. Urn swiped the locket off the boulder, dangling it playfully at Naadi, before pulling it over his head and onto his neck; immediately, he felt a rush of power invigorate every cell in his body. Naadi grunted, struggling to break free from the tight grip of the snake, who rapidly tightened around Naadi the more he struggled; glancing upwards, he saw two purple sharks, circling above his head; the snake’s eyes were a bright purple too.

Tensing the entirety of his body, Naadi’s magic energy enveloped his sword, which flew right out of his hand, and as if being operated by an invisible hand, unleashed a series of slashes onto the snake, slicing it up like ribbon. Naadi then leapt into the air, landing onto the handle of the flying sword, riding it through the air as it thrusted towards Urn once again.

Urn scoffed and snapped his fingers, calling forth another magical beast from the forest; a great horned boar, charging into the clearing at Naadi. Naadi pressed down against the handle of his sword, sending it pivoting away from the boar, who slammed into the bark of a tree. Backing away from the dented tree, the boar focused its purple, glowering eyes towards Naadi as it began its charge again.

What a sick piece of shit. Using other beings as playthings while he stands idly by. Naadi narrowed his eyes, preparing to cut right through the boar as it charged towards him; yet Urn suddenly dashed towards the boar, slamming his body against it and tilting the trajectory of its charge. ‘Saved’ by Urn, Naadi shot towards Urn from on top of the flying blade, aiming to pierce right through his adversary’s throat. As he flew, a purple ball of energy escaped from his lips; and two purple sharks appeared in the air above, circling around him.

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“Now then, you owe me!” Urn said with a grin. “Don’t move.” Urn commanded, and for a moment, Naadi’s body acted against his will; he was completely frozen in the air, although only for a second. Dashing out of the blade’s trajectory, Urn whipped out his messer and slashed at Naadi, who barely avoided it, backflipping off the floating sword and onto the ground.

Damn it! I thought I had him with that one! Urn thought, backing away from Naadi. Who is this guy? He moves even better than Ralph; of course, my grandfather managed to piss off all the strong guys!

“You perverted psycho. Smiling as you burn away the lives of others to further your own selfish, twisted agenda; you’re just like your grandfather.” Naadi spat, grabbing his blade out of the air and speeding towards Urn, who barely ducked underneath the thrust; and then was caught off guard by a swift kick to the gut, sending Urn tumbling across the clearing.

Urn held his stomach as he slowly rose off the grass, backing away from the approaching Naadi. “Look man, I have no idea who you are, or what my grandfather did, but that has nothing to do with me. I’m just trying to live.”

“Then you should of never picked that locket up in the first place.” Naadi replied coldly, lifting his blade into the air. Urn gazed up at Naadi, and almost flinched away, unnerved by the intensity of Naadi’s glare. Just as Naadi was about to bring the blade down, three small white balls came flying out of the trees, aimed precisely for Naadi. With a flourish of his blade, Naadi deflected the balls; yet as he cut through the balls, a thick mist came bursting out of the balls, completely clouding up the entire clearing.

“NO!” Naadi shouted, swinging through the mist at the exact spot Urn had just been yet his blade met no resistance, slicing through the air harmlessly. Summoning a sphere of energy before his sword, he slashed through it and brought forth a great blast of wind which quickly ripped away the mist, exposing that Urn was no longer in the clearing. He couldn’t sense Urn’s energy either; someone had whisked Urn away at the last moment.

Slamming his blade into the ground, he slammed his fist into the tree before him repeatedly, ignoring the pain as more and more bruises spread over his knuckles with every blow. How could he have been so foolish? I let my guard down at the most vital moment, and now he’s gone! I could have put a stop to the terror of the Orian Locket, and I let the chance slip out of my hands! I’m fucking useless. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why didn’t I just kill him?

Pulling his hand away from the tree, he dropped to the floor, exhausted, and slowly calmed his quick breathing. No. No. I still have a chance. He’s still in the forest; he must be. He just has allies, or a magic skill I don’t know about. But he’s not as strong as I thought he’d be. just a scheming, pathetic boy. I can kill him. Naadi pulled himself off the ground and picked up the small balls lying on the grass. They were made of bone, it seemed, and had marks resembling the antlers of a moose at their rear, the signature emblem of the Epe Tribe.

So, one of those savages did this to sabotage me. That bitch probably gave me the coordinates of the locket and then had someone follow to steal my chance away at the last moment. Naadi clenched his hands, grinding the balls to dust. But I can worry about dealing with them later. I need to find him before he gets too far.

~~~

Urn blinked rapidly, grasping the sides of his stomach to keep himself from vomiting. In the blink of an eye, he’d been transported from the forest to a waterfall; the sudden change was disorientating and sickening. Pulling himself off the ground, he struggled to find balance atop one of the numerous rocks floating in the body of water below the waterfall. Standing on another rock was a tall, black-haired boy with a strange glint in his eyes.

“Are you alright?” Asime asked. “I know teleporting is a pretty gross experience; it makes me want to puke from time-to-time mys-” Asime immediately spun around, bending over and puking into the water for several moments, before wiping his mouth and turning back to Urn with an embarrassed smile.

“Teleport? You saved me?” Urn widened his eyes at Asime; the boy’s teeth were strangely sharp, a signature trait of a beastman. He must be from the Epe Tribe. But then, why did he save me? I have the locket on now, so he knows who I am. So then why?

“I know, I know.” Asime sat onto the rock and rested his chin on his palm. “Honestly, I don’t know why I did it either. Letting him kill you would have been better for a friend of mine…and yet. I guess just watching while you got destroyed would have been too cruel.”