Quitum waited at the edge of a human sized hole. His best friends stiff body laid at the bottom of it. Maybe he was doing as he was told or he'd lost track of time, but either way he had dug it deep. He stood there for a moment. His eyes seemingly fixated on something in the distance, "Sorry."
His eyes slip down into the hole and snapped right back up. He jammed that shovel into the dirt mound hard and deep. Leaned his body weight onto the back end of the shaft until the blade tipped back and the section nearest to him began to rise. Frander wouldn't rise. He steadied the dirt and balanced until he reached the hole. He jerked his hands away from his body forcing the dirt off of the blade and into the hole. Quitum turned back to the mound of dirt and did it again and again and again and again. Suddenly he didn't have anymore dirt to shovel and one hole was filled.
He walked through the forest. He was supposed to be searching for the cub, yet he was not. Instead he was stumbling over himself in a daze. Not wanting to accept that his friend, his friend who he grew up with and known his entire life and was like another brother, was dead now. Running it over and over in his head that Frander wouldn't even have been there if it wasn't for him. He knew this. He knew neither of them should have been there.
He stumbled through the trees accidentally following a path, the same path the cub took.
He walked up to a bush where the path ended and he could slightly make out the Domaku inside. It reoccurred to him that he was looking for it. He could hear it moaning, or at least he thought it was moaning. Thought that it was crying. More importantly he could hear it. His senses were coming back to him. He pulled out a rope from his bag and reached towards the Domaku.
The cub was warned by its mother to run away, so it did. Now confronted by its mothers aggressor it had no reason to be scared it had to be brave. Domaku are two things above all, loyal and proud. These are the two characteristics that define a Domaku and every other characteristic is second to their true nature. The Domaku wasn't afraid. The only things the Domaku was thinking of was its loyalty to its mother, to want to protect her, and how it was going to fight and get back to her. So instead of moaning with fear it was growling as a warning for someone who didn't deserve it.
"It's not scared." Nero says informatively from a vantage point.
"Who was that? Who's out there?" Startled, Quitum frantically looked around.
"Up here. I'm up here. It's not scared. If it were, the moan would be more high pitched, but instead its low like a confident threat." Nero called out from up in the trees.
Quitum followed the voice up into the trees where he found Nero on a branch. "And, who are you?" He replied indignantly
"I'm Nero." He announced, "Whoa relax, I was just up here wondering what you're doing to that animal. Mainly because if it wanted to interact with you in any kind of way it would've approached you." He noted.
"Its not scared, its crying." Quitum replied, annoyed that this guy was diverting his attention and keeping him from getting this done as if he wasn't wanting for a distraction.
"Nope. That's a growl buddy." Nero reiterated his observation in hopes of deterring him.
"I can hear it crying." Quitum fussed.
"The only one crying here, is you." He murmured in response.
Quitum reached his hand to his face and felt it was wet with tears. "I'm crying? How long have I been crying?" He thought to himself, then wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Just mind your own business." He shrugged off Nero's meddling once and for all.
"Oh... okay." Nero lifted his hands in surrender.
Quitum began to reach for the cub again as Nero watched and the cub moaned again.
"Your going to hold the rope with just one hand?" He couldn't help but interject once again.
"Shut up." Quitum brushed off the comment.
"Okay. Being quiet, now." Nero zipped his mouth shut and moved around a little in his seat. He leaned forward to get a better view. "Its just..." He proposed again.
"Seriously? Shut up." Quitum could not believe how annoying this guy was.
"Its just..." Again Nero could not help himself.
"Seriously. Okay, just say it." He finally gave in. "Maybe if he says it then it will be out of his system, and he'll leave me alone or at least sit quietly." He hoped.
"Its just... you know what? I don't want to get in your way or anything. I'm sure you've got this covered. Even though the way you're holding the rope shows you have no experience doing this kind of thing and that you're an idiot. But I'm sure you've got this. Continue." Nero got up and bent forward placing his hands on the branch between his feet. Then using only his hands he spreads his feet until they were clear off the branch, and kicked them up into the air.
Quitum looked down at the rope. "Whats wrong with holding it with one hand?"
"Well its just.. okay look you've worked on boats before right?" He presumed while walking the wide branch on his hands.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Well you're clothes stink like they've been drenched in brackish water and haven't been left out to dry properly or cleaned often enough and have become molded. I can smell it on the breeze sometimes, but in your case I smelled you a mile away."
Quitum smelled his clothes and he was right.
"Look your used to tying up things that don't fight back. With a wild animal, its not just going to place its head in the loop, you have to be aggressive. You have to get it off balance grab those legs and start, ya know, puttin'em together. Look you don't even have a knot tied."
Quitum looked down at the rope in his hand and tied a knot."Like this?"
"No its going to break out of that in a second." Nero spun around and continued to walk on his hands.
Quitum fumbled and then showed him a more intricate knot.
"Yeah, there you go. See that's how you do it." Nero cheered him on genuinely. Quitum now with more confidence, stilled himself. He noticed a presence next to him. He looked right and Nero was by his side. Quitum looked at Nero, then Nero smiled at him. Quitum had a puzzled look on his face and then looked up at the tree, then back to Nero. "Hey."
"Hey? You were really high up there." Quitum responded.
"Yeah I jumped. See I thought maybe you wanted to study this animal and then I noticed your bloody shovel and your clothes then I got curious. So... whatcha doin'?"
"Um me and a few guys are trying to catch Domaku. Heard there was a sighting out here of a mother and a cub, so we got the mom already and thought, why not? Lets get the cub too." Quitum said jokingly.
Nero exhales loudly. "Yeah... I thought you might say that."
Nero spun while activating his glow in the form of a green staff and swept Quitum off his feet, then brought the staff back into position again and slammed it down across Quitums' face.
Quitum moaned on the ground for a second and fell unconscious.
"Look, when you wake up, hurry and get out of here before it gets dark. That's when the real hunters come out."
Nero walked over and searched Quitums' bag and pulled something out. "Here it is." He headed toward the bush where the Domaku was and said calmly. "Hey in there. I know you sounded angry before but look what I've got."
Nero opened his hand to show some food in it. He picked a piece off and left it in front of the bushes. He stepped back and placed another one and again. The Domaku smelled the food and poked its head out. "Yeah thats right come on out."
The cub leaned in to smell the food and licked it with its tongue and it tasted good, so it inhaled it. The Domaku tread closer and closer cautiously until it was eating out of the palm of Neros' hand. "There you go, works every time."
Nero noticed that the Domaku limped over to him. He looked around reached and grabbed the rope the poacher was going to use to tie up the Domaku, then for a nearby branch and made a leg brace for it. While strapping on a brace to the Domaku he smelled another person then snatched the Domaku and ran.
As he left his location, a purple arrow slammed into the ground in the form of glow and a succession of purple arrows followed him. He ran through the bushes, taking advantage of the trees that were surrounding him. He matched his timing with the pace of the arrows.
The Domaku was resisting being held by flapping its wings. "I'm trying to save you, relax." He said sternly and then sensing no ill will the Domaku relaxed.
He noticed after five shots there was a slight pause of one second then the gap went back to 0.3 seconds.
He circled the area drawing closer with each step. On the fifth shot he dropped the domaku in a bush and drew his green staff then made a direct line to the attacker. He jumped into the air and three arrows were fired simultaneously heading his way. He verified the the attacker. It was a young lanky boy in dingy clothes and short hair partly covering the side of his face. It was Frides and he had another three arrows drawn.
Nero used the staff to repel two and dodged the last by using his momentum to send himself into a spiral. The next three were sent flying at him and he transformed the staff into a spear and used it to repel the other three. He joust the spear at Frides but the boy jumped into the air away from him. Nero stabbed the spear into the tree trunk and used it to catapults towards him. He let go of the green glowed spear and drew another staff.
Frides drew throwing knives under his feet then used the momentum to throw them. While his feet flung upward into the air, he twisted his body then created needles into his hands then pivoted and threw those at Nero in mid air. Nero used his staff to deflect two then the other two as well. Frides continued spiraling and throwing another two with his feet and then produced needles from his finger tips and flung those like water drops at Nero.
Seeing he couldn't be able to dodge the needles, Nero balled up and guarded his vitals the best he could while being pierced by four needles as they fell to the ground. Frides readied for another attack.
"Really!!!" Nero yelled while getting up and pulling out the needles. Frides stopped in his tracks.
"Really? You? come on. The other guy he was basically hopeless, no talent. I mean really. But you. You must have spent time honing your skills. And for what to become a thug." Nero was frustrated that this guy so obviously talented was wasting his gifts.
"What?" Frides had never had someone be surprised by the fact that someone wanted them dead. They usually saw it coming. Usually people just begged or offered him money.
"I'm not going to let you come in and abduct this sacred animal for money. At least the wild predator is after food, it's hungry. Whatever your intentions are with that Domaku, I will stop you here." Nero Spreads his legs and got in a position to fight.
"Domaku? Where?"
"Don't play dumb. You're trying to kill me so you can get you're hands on it."
"Are you talking about that thing you were running with?"
"So, you're not with the other poachers?"
"I saw but I don't even know what that was."
"So why are you attacking it."
"I'm not after that thing."
"Then what are you doing here."
"I'm here to kill you. Because I'm an assassin."
"Oh that was your intent to kill. Hmph."
"Actually yes. It's what I do. I'm pretty sure I have killing down to a science."
"See there it is. Science. That's all wrong. Mere science can't kill the force of a natural disaster." In an instant Nero covered the distance. A chill went up Frides' spine. Neros' speed almost made his violent swing unreadable but he managed to shift his weight in time and dodged a blow that was meant to take his head off. He managed to dodge most of the attack, still taking a bit of the attack to the side of his head. Nero pivoted, swinging his foot straight towards Frides' sternum. At the last moment Frides crouched and put up a light guard but is still sent flying backwards. Before Frides can recover he is bombarded with kicks from every direction.
Nero jumped at Frides, and twirled another kick at Frides'. Nero brought his foot high up into his chest then crashed it down into Frides' shoulder causing his knees to buckle. Frides clamped onto Neros leg with his hands then spun Nero into a tree. Frides followed it up by throwing more needles to halt Neros advance and build some distance.
Nero saw the needles and sunk his fingers into the grooves of the tree and glided around the tree, his limbs running across the bark.
Nero concealed himself in the trees and jumps from tree to tree barely dodging Frides' flurry of arrows. Nero circled Frides but was drawing ever closer. Maintaining his distance and timing his approach. He found an opening and sprints towards Frides closing the gap instantly. Drawing his green glow staff again in the process but once he got right on Frides he was unsettled by Frides calmness. He was baited and had acted too rashly and it was too late. Frides had glown two small purple daggers ready to sink them into Nero.
All of a sudden Criselda was between them and Frides wet flying into a tree.
Still riled up Nero, approached the tree towards Frides. "You're here for me? From where? Where do I know you from? Theres only one person who wants me dead. But he cant be alive. Did Kota send you?"
Frides leaned up against the tree with little to no stamina left but glowed two purple daggers.
"Wait!" Criselda walked past Nero and between the two of them. She continued towards Frides. "Are you an idiot? You don't know him. He could be willing to die to complete his mission, even if it means death."
"Seems fresh to me." Nero stopped and sat down, he kinda deflated.
Criselda approached Frides,"If you move I'll take your arms from your shoulder. Got it."
Frides paused seeing that there was no way he can beat the two of them in his current state. What was he thinking trying to take on another mission. He couldn't think of anything besides the shame it would bring his family if he died too. He stood no chance and Criselda could see that realization in his eyes.
"I'll take that as an understanding. Now lay chest down." Criselda glowed two grey rings. She then grabbed his arms and placed a glow lock on his wrists and locked them together. "You're not dead now and YOU know why."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks for reading!