Chereads / The King’s Keys / Chapter 12 - Getting along

Chapter 12 - Getting along

Guy is back at the Master's house, sitting on the floor with his arms crossed. Ellian is training, using a single Magic page with a single symbol to move small rocks around.

"You're supposed to be training me, not moping," says Ellian.

Guy sighs, "What's the point if I'm not going to unlock the power-" Ellian throws rock at Guy's head.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!" shouts Guy.

"Me? What wrong with you! You know you weren't supposed to be here in the first place, don't you remember? My dad told you he wasn't going to train you, but you still did it! So why are you listening to him now?"

Guy is surprised, "Well, even if I wanted to do the final step, I don't know where it's at!"

"It's behind the house in the woods inside a cave, dad goes there to think a lot."

Guy is speechless.

"Well, are you gonna go?" ask Ellian.

Guy jumps up and grabs his sword, "Thanks!"

The Master and Bear trek through the woods and into a large cave. Inside is a huge old statue of a figure with its arms spread. Under it is a rug, candles, and a small table with a cup and pitcher.

"This is the final test," says the Master.

Bear sits on the rug and the Master pours him a drink.

"It will put you in a deep trance, it might take hours, maybe even days before you wake up. If you survive, make your way back to the house."

Bear nods and drinks the liquid. His eyes slowly close and he passes out. The Master watches Bear for a moment and then gets up, places his hand on Bear's head and smiles.

"You can do it," he says.

The Master leaves the cave.

Guy is hiding in a bush outside the cave. He watches the Master leave and go back to the house. Once it's clear, Guy runs into the cave. Inside he sees Bear in a trance, his body is sweating and shaking. Guy quickly grabs a cup and fills it up, and then sits next to Bear. Guy takes a deep breath and drinks the liquid.

Guy is sitting in darkness with his legs crossed, just like his meditation training.

"Am I dead?" asks Guy.

Suddenly, a small light appears in front of him, and he grabs it. The light envelopes Guy, his whole body is getting warm and his heart is racing.

"It's too much!" shouts Guy.

His body can barely handle the stress.

"No, I won't die! I can handle this power!"

Guy calms himself down, and after a few deep breaths, his body lets the power flow.

Suddenly, the light he grabbed turns into memories. Guy sees the memory of Bear saving him from that guard. He also sees memories of Bear saving him multiple times over the years and helping him.

"I've always needed your help, is that my truth?"

The memories play over and over again.

"I have to accept this!? Always in his shadow! Always needing help!"

Guy gets angry, "NO! I won't accept it! I can do it by myself!"

Guy forces the memories back into a ball of light. The light tries to fly away but Guy snatches it and forces it into himself. He absorbs the light, and then everything goes black.

Guy wakes up in bed, there is a nurse in the room taking care of him.

"Where am I?" asks Guy.

"You are in your bedroom. You've been asleep for 2 days now. We weren't sure if you'd make it," she explains.

Guy looks at his hands, his muscles are sore. He can feel the power he unlocked just by taking the first step. Guy tries to grab a glass of water off the side table, but it shatters in his hand.

"Careful, the Master said if you woke up, you won't be used to your body," says the nurse.

"He knows?"

"Yes, he found you and brought you back here."

"Did my brother make it?"

"Oh yes, Bear is training right now."

Guy gets out of bed.

"You really shouldn't get up," says the nurse.

"I'm fine," says Guy as he limps out of the room.

Guy walks outside and sees Bear at the training ground training with the Master. They're both using the power and are surrounded by energy.

"Bear survived, and unlike me, he accepted what he saw," Guy thinks back to the memories he was shown, "I won't accept it, I'll train and get stronger than Bear, I'll find my own way."

Guy walks towards the training ground.

Back to the present, Guy is walking by himself in the woods. He still only has one sock on, but his clothes are dry now.

"Why did I yell at her like that, she didn't deserve it," Guy says to himself.

He stops walking and sits down on a fallen tree.

"Now I've lost my best chance to prove myself, I'm an idiot."

Suddenly, Guy hears something approaching, something large, he quickly jumps up into a tree to hide. Out of the bushes comes a thrall riding on a fury.

"We must be getting close to the town, but what is it doing out here all alone? Did it get Lane?" thinks Guy.

The fury sniffs around at the base of the tree, it can smell Guy's unclean sock. The thrall looks up just in time to see Guy jumping down with his sword! The thrall and fury dodge the attack.

Guy stands ready for a fight, but the thrall runs away.

"Hey, get back here!" Guy chases after them.

"It's headed to the town! It must be a scout, I can't let it get away!" he thinks, but the fury is too fast and he can't catch up to it.

Suddenly Lane jumps out of the woods in front of the fury.

"Get out of the way!" shouts Guy.

She throws a crumbled up object at the fury, it flies through the air and opens up, it's Guy's missing sock! It lands on the fury's eyes. The fury stumbles and crashes into a tree.

The thrall tries to get up, but Guy acts quickly and slashes it to dust. The fury pulls the sock off its face, only to see Guy, who cuts off its head.

Guy turns around and sees Lane standing arms crossed, she is clearly still annoyed.

"Wow, that was really impressive," he says awkwardly.

"Yea well I heard you coming and figured id help even if you didn't want me to, I'll be on my way now," Lane turns and walks away.

"Wait," says Guy.

Lane turns around, "What?"

"I treated you like crap I'm sorry, it just...I'm not used to this," Guy says in frustration.

"I just thought if I did a few nice things for you, that you would begin to trust me and open up a little," she explains.

Guy sighs, "I'm not used to that either."

Lane, "can you trust me long enough to save my town?"

Guy nods in agreement, "I can do that."

"Okay, tell me about your power," she replies.

Guy puts his hand on Lane's shoulder, "I'll tell you if you help me with one thing."

"What's that?" asks Lane.

Guy smiles, "Help me find my sock."

Lane laughs and retrieves his sock.

The two head towards Sansen as Guy opens up, "Like I said before, the power isn't magic, it's more like raw energy. I don't use it because I'm not good at it."

"Who taught you how to use it?" asks Lane.

"A Master that lives in the capital," Guy continues telling his story as they head in the direction of Sansen.

At the same time, in a different part of the Kingdown is the town of Locktin.

Locktin is like Sansen, surrounded by walls with a castle in the middle. Just outside the castle gate, sitting outside a pub, is a large man eating food. Next to him is a wolf dog with a strangle symbol on its chest.

Suddenly, Sarah and Robert walk by the large man and up to the castle guard.

"Please, you have to let us in, we have an urgent message for the Warden of Locktin!" Sarah explains.

"No one sees the warden without a summons," says the guard.

"You don't understand the town of Sanasen has been attacked!" shouts Sarah.

The word "Sansen" and "Attacked" gets the large man's attention, and he gets up, his wolf dog follows him. He walks up to Sarah and Robert.

"What happened in Sansen?" he asks, sounding genuinely concerned.