Alexander’s eyes shuddered. He had no way to check the validity of what Brandon had just told him, but he would definitely trust his best friend before a man he had only met 2 weeks ago. “This… is a lot to take in. Why would Director Li lie to me like this?”
“I think he may have been doing it as a way to link you to the clan more strongly. He and the council seem to value you highly since the plan is to send you out to the Duke of the West. He’s the third strongest Elementalist in Agni and probably the most adept at the white flame.”
“You said he was in Propizio, right? We are in an alliance with the lightning noble clan. Maybe this can still be a good opportunity for me, and out there, I can see for myself what the truth is.” Alexander remained optimistic. Maybe the full truth was a combination of what Brandon and Director Li had told him. “Perhaps the director hadn’t intended to lie. He could have just shared a heavily biased history lesson.
Brandon looked concerned. “I think it’s a bit generous to call what he taught you biased. I understand you want to trust him, and he truly might have what’s best for you in mind. But the history you were taught was a blatant lie: a disrespectful twisting of the facts.” Brandon began standing up from the chair. “Yes, the Duke of the West is at Propizio, but I could not tell you why. She might be preparing for another invasion; likewise, she could be healing the injured soldiers of the Jupiter clan. It is my brother who is next in line to succeed my father. I am not privy to up to date information on our exact war strategies, but if you’re adamant about going though, I can try to find out. I didn’t come here to tell you what to do. As your friend, I only wanted to make sure you were safe.”
Alexander rose from his seat and gave his best friend a hug. “Thank you for your concern. You’ve really helped me clear my head. Let’s go ahead and visit your father to talk about that appeal. It’s probably better that I wait to be deployed until I have a better idea of the mission details and what the goal of sending me out so soon is. Director Li had mentioned someone of my power level would never be sent to war when I first met him.” Alexander started walking towards the exit of his home. “You think there’s a good shot your father will agree?”
“Absolutely. From what I overheard, it sounded like he was pissed off a beginner was being sent out.”
Shutting the door to the cottage, the two began the trek to the Eastern tower. As they were walking, Alexander continued. “Regardless of what happens, I never planned to directly join the bloodshed, just so you know. I had resolved myself to possibly join the war efforts in the future, but it would only ever be as a healer. I’m no fighter, Brandon. Despite the training, I know where my talents lie, and no one, not even the king himself, can force me to be a soldier.” No sooner had the words left his mouth, that Alexander saw the world become dark. Color was draining from everything around him. He felt so cold.
“Hey, Alexander! What’s wrong with you? We’re in the middle of the road, you can’t just sit down here.” Still in the Southeast section of the island, several workers and horses veered around Alexander as he had suddenly stopped moving. “You’re shivering! What’s going on?”
Alexander struggled to lift his arm to point at the monstrosity laying at the end of the road. He couldn’t understand how everyone else on the road was so calm. There was a 50-foot black snake covered in eyes staring him down. It was quite a distance away but just its pressure had Alexander at the edge of unconsciousness.
As Brandon finally managed to see what Alexander was pointing at, he half carried his friend over to the snake and bowed. “My Lord, could you please remove my friend from your spell. He is only an Apprentice Elementalist at the moment. Please, he could die.” While Brandon pleaded with the snake, it began to slowly shrink until it morphed into a man. Bandages covered his eyes and head, and a black mask covered the rest of his face. The man was wearing a red cloak embroidered with the 9 colored flame, the symbol of the Agni clan, over his left chest, and a tattoo of the snake Alexander had just seen on his neck. “Alexander, quickly bow down. This is a warrior of Boitata, the King’s Knights.”
Alexander dazedly bowed his head towards the knight. “It is an honor to meet you, sir.”
The man stared at the two for a few seconds before speaking. “Do you realize the heresy of your words?” A deep and powerful voice filled their ears. Each word was slowly enunciated as if the man had not spoken in years.
“I-I don’t”
“YOU DENY YOUR HERESY?” There was venom in his voice now. A seething anger as if he had just witnessed the most horrible crime. “If the King says you are a dog, there is no ifs or buts, you only bark.”
“I apologize. It was only an expression. I meant-”
“What you meant does not matter. What you said was a crime. Furthermore, you claim yourself to be no soldier as if you have a choice. The council has decided you will be our weapon. There is no choice here. You live and breathe for the clan. If we point you to city, you will kill until we say stop. YOU ARE OUR WEAPON.”
The color once again began draining from the world, but this time Alexander was unwilling to back down. “You must have some sort of mistake! I’m a beginner. All I can do is heal, and I am happy doing just that. I won’t ever be some sort of weapon.”
With his last word, the color drained completely, leaving Alexander in a void of darkness. He heard one final sentence before falling unconscious. “Nobody was ever asking.” The Boitata warrior summoned a crystal snake to catch Alexander’s falling body and turned to leave.
“Where are you taking him?” Shouted Brandon.
The man stopped before turning his face halfway, “Brandon Pascal. This is a matter completely above your clearance level. Leave.”
Brandon shouted once more. “My father won’t stand for this. Where are you taking him?!”
The man released a snippet of his pressure, this time on Brandon. “Careful with your words, child. I hold back merely because of your father, but this is not a matter in which he can interfere. I am taking the weapon back to my residence before promptly escorting it to Propizio tomorrow morning by the King’s order. Now, I will repeat myself no longer. Leave.” Without waiting to see if Brandon had obeyed, the man left, walking beside a snake carrying Alexander’s body.
At the foot of the northern tower, the King’s peak, lay 7 beachside cottages. The Southeastern section of Agni housed the only public port, however each of the 4 skyscrapers had a port. Whereas members of Agni had access to the Duke’s ports, the Northern Tower’s port was private: an area accessible only to the King’s line and the Boitata. Currently sitting in a rocking chair at the porch of one of the cottages, a man sat staring at the gentle ebb and flow of the waves in the sea. Beside him a snake was coiled around a young man who was furiously mouthing words to no avail: there was no sound. The ocean was the very picture of tranquility, and the sky was clear. After a few more moments, the man spoke, “There’s a tempest coming.”
Suddenly, the sky began to darken. A large black cloud rapidly approached the beachside cottage from the east. In the blink of an eye, the cloud had eclipsed the sun. Upon closer observation, one would be able to see this was not a normal cloud but a large collection of smoke. From within the black smoke a voice bellowed out, “You dare take my apprentice prisoner?!” The sheer volume of the shout caused the ocean to rumble and the winds to pick up.
Unfazed, the man stood from his chair and walked towards the water. “This is no longer your apprentice. As a weapon of the clan, what the king does with it does not concern you. Now, leave this beach. I have no qualms with drawing blood for your intrusion in the king’s private land.” The man expertly dodged as a lance of smoke was flung from the cloud and embedded into the sand. “Blood it is.”
Sprinting towards the water, the man jumped into the air and landed on the 50-foot black snake as it materialized in the water. Hundreds of smoke lances rained down on the man, but he stood fearless. The giant snake opened its mouth and released a beam of fire with a roar. The fire breath dissolved the first rounds of lances, but as the seconds ticked by, the lances started to change. Soon, the lances not only stabbed down, but also detonated on impact. As the snake’s beam trickled out, the cloud rumbled and began to spin. Its speed increased until it merged into a giant lance bearing down on the man and his snake.
Orange fire began to envelop the two, evaporating the waves of water attempting to crash into them. The fire crystallized into a set of orange armor that connected the two the instant before the giant lance made contact. *BOOM* The explosion of the giant lance was in another league compared to the previous lances. The raging ocean quieted as it turned into a ringed wave expanding outward and flooding the shores. As the remaining smoke returned to the cloud in the sky, the aftermath of the explosion was clear to see. Apart from the minor tsunami dousing the walls of Agni and Alexander, the snake rider was totally fine, his armor unblemished.
The brief peace was broken as the smoke began to swirl once again, this time condensing into a tornado. Without waiting for the smoke to gain momentum, the snake rider charged forward while releasing another beam of fire. This time, the fire breath was not just red flame, but it contained orange fire crystals within. Each time the beam made contact with the tornado an explosion would follow, eliminating the fire crystals while consuming some smoke. Before both parties had even clashed, the tornado had already decreased from 100-feet to a measly 25-feet.
Attempting to end the battle in one fell swoop, the snake rider began to morph the fire beam into a vortex of flames and crystals surrounding the snake. As the comet met the tornado head on, a sliver of smoke separated and circled around the snake rider. The remains of the tornado detonated five times, each explosion building on the energy of the prior one, repelling the comet away towards the final specks of smoke. While the snake rider spiraled uncontrollably towards the ambush, the remnant smoke transformed into the silhouette of a lancer who pierced forward. The tip of the lance glowed with a fierce yellow flame. An explosion so loud followed, the world grew quiet for 5 long seconds.
5… The snake rider was blown underwater, no longer visible as he was thrown over a mile deep. Pieces of its broken crystalline armor lay floating in the air.
4… The ocean itself split as two enormous waves crashed away from the smoke swordsman. The fish that had survived until this moment rained down into the ocean scorched black.
3… The aura released from the clash between the lance and armored snake created a shockwave that knocked out Alexander and even a few of the lower leveled warriors standing guard far away at the entrance to the Northern Tower.
2… The smoke began to dissipate as it slowly revealed itself to be Dr. Hernandez. His right hand and forearm had disintegrated at the moment of the explosion, and his arm was a bloody mess.
1… BOOOOOOOOOOOM
As the deafening roar of the explosion resounded throughout the island, the doctor collapsed in the beach. Gasping for air, he began to use a white flame to seal his wound. While regrowing an arm was well within his capabilities, there was no time right now. He ripped off a piece of his already tattered clothes to use as a makeshift bandage and prepared for round 2.
As the waves of water crashed together once more, the snake rider burst out into the shore. The broken orange armor had now been reformed and improved. A second layer of armor was now overlayed on both the snake and its rider outlining their skeletons and glowing a deep violet. “While it has been a memorable experience to fight with the Tempest himself, it’s time we draw our little play to an end.” The rider raised his arm, palm open towards the sky, and gathered a combination of orange, green, and violet flames. The fire pulsed and began to take the form of a spear; meanwhile, the snake roared as thousands of eyes began to open all over its body.
In return, the doctor summoned the smoke to cover his body like cloak. This time the smoke emanated a blue flame at its ends. His only remaining arm was encapsulated by yellow flames as it turned into a lance. Instead of only having a yellow flame at the tip, then entire body of the lance was aflame. Dr. Hernandez did not carry weapons on him because his own body was a weapon. “I was just thinking the same. Defeating one of the Boitata will be quite the grand accomplishment. I’ll be able to show off for life.”
The doctor drew his right leg back in the sand as he got into position to throw the lance and began gathering even more yellow flames. The snake hissed in return and grew to 60 feet as it absorbed the 4 flames the rider was emanating: the normal red along with orange, green and violet. Behind the rider, the foggy apparition of a giant reptile eye began to open its lids. The aura surrounding both men had reached a level so high the climate was beginning to change. Already the winds were howling, and several pitch-black storm clouds were approaching the island.
As their auras reached an impasse, the two men began their attacks, but before any measure of a clash was completed, All the flames disappeared. The Boitata warrior fell to the sand, his snake gone, and the doctor hurriedly used the leftover scraps of his white coat to cover himself as he was now semi-nude, his smoke returning to his body.
Soft footsteps were heard as a tall red-haired man with a crew cut and a Viking style beard slowly made his way towards Alexander’s crumpled body. “Your stupid fight could’ve killed the boy. And for what? This was a needless show of bravado. Dr. Hernandez, take Alexander back to his cottage and make sure he is well. I assume you need no help fixing up your arm?” Duke Pascal, the Duke of the West and Brandon’s father, finally looked up and acknowledged the men.
“Duke, with all due respect, I must object. It is the king’s order that I-”
“And the king’s orders will be fulfilled, but this is my son’s best friend here. I am not proposing we disobey the council’s decision, but that does not mean we will dehumanize him. Alexander will return home with his mentor and have a proper goodbye before leaving with you first thing in the morning. I am sure the king, and thereby you as his voice, would give me this much face.” The duke’s tone left no room for discussion. “Xavier, this is my decision. I do not intend for this to be a negotiation.”
Xavier, the Boitata warrior finally relented. “We will respect the duke’s decision. As soon as the first ray of light rises over the horizon, I will be taking him.” He said facing Dr. Hernandez before walking away towards his home.
The duke’s aura dissipated, and Dr. Hernandez used his newly regained magic to gently lift Alexander. “I greatly appreciate your help today, my duke.”
He made to bow towards the man but a hand on the shoulder stopped him. “There is no need to thank me nor to bow. I simply intervened because I saw an injustice. To uphold the morals of the clan is but one of my responsibilities. Now go. Take the child home. I am sorry all I can provide is a night rather than permanently keeping your family together.”
After the doctor thanked the duke once more, he trudged on towards the residential section in the southeast sector of the island. Looking at the unconscious Alexander, a tear strolled down his cheek as a realization hit him. 6 years with this kid. I’ve watched him grow for a quarter of his life. This is not just my apprentice; he is like my son. Can I really let them send him away as a weapon? A conviction rose within Dr. Hernandez to help Alexander more; after all, what wouldn’t a father do for his son.
