[ 2 Weeks Had Passed ]
[Scraaaaaape Scraaaaaape]
I lunged my knife into a piece of wood….creating these strange shapes I didn't really understand. I understood what they were saying but I didn't understand these….things.
I'm still scared.
but all the people are very nice, they don't try to hurt me… they also give me food.
"røkkr! Jarl's calling for ya!"
The voice of a woman called.
My attention immediately turned to the exit of my hut.
Røkkr is what they call me. They asked what my name was so i pointed at sundown and this is what they called me since then.
"Comin!" I yelled.
I ran to the side of my bed to get my boots, the worn out leather and ragged laces gave off a smell of musk.
"Hurry up!" She yelled from outside the hut.
"I-I'm on my way!"
I hurried outside the abode and right as I exited, I was confronted by a short girl with red hair tied in a pony tail, a frown on her face.
Anybody knew that face around here, it was jarls daughter, helga.
"Didn't we tell ya to wake up at the crack of dawn? It's mid-day!" She screamed.
"I-I g-got it." I responded as I lowered my head, too afraid to look her in the eyes.
"And stop stuttering! It's annoying, men should speak proudly with their chest! She exclaimed as she puffed her chest out.
"Pffft!"
"What's so funny?!"
"Nothing, nothing." I said.
"I see…..anyways, we have to hurry! Cmon then."
She grabbed my hand and started bolting the opposite of where we were. The frown once on her face nowhere to be found.
We rushed through this white stuff that lays on the ground, I don't what it is but it's always very cold. The trees leafless and the sky was always kinda dark….but… it felt comfortable.
"Wh-where are we going exactly?" I asked
"To the training grounds of course! A warrior can't be a warrior without the proper tools after all."
"Uh-uhhhh.. what's training?"
Helga turned her head full circle as if I said something bad…
"Your joking righ—
[ BOOM! ]
Helga ran right into something, but I couldn't see from behind her. As she fell, I tripped over a branch and landed directly on her. I hope she doesn't get ma—
"Shit!" I heard a scream from in front of us, interrupting my thoughts. My attention came back to Helga.
"A-are you alright?"
"I'm fine but what In the bloody hell was th—
Fuck."
She pushed me off of her and quickly stood up, her eyes only focusing on what was ahead. Helgas not usually scared of anything though so what could it b— …..fuck.
A boy sat there on the ground, and about four more children stood behind him. Another familiar face, Carr. He was one of the few people who didn't like me when I came here.
"Do you ever watch where you're going you doofus?!" He yelled at Helga. "Oh! and looky what we have here, the freak."
"He is a warrior chosen by Odin! Watch your tongue." Helga snapped.
"A warrior?!" He cackled. "He can't even look people in the eye and you call him a warrior?!" He snarled….but was he really wrong? I don't even know what a warrior is….
"Not a warrior aye? Isn't your grandfather blind? Is he not a warrior then?!" She retorted in my defense.
"YOU BITCH!"
"Hey hey now! What's all this fuss about?!"
An old man with a grey streak in his hair and beard emerged, it was Egil.
"Didnt you already finish your training for the day ya little shit?"
"Y-yessir…"
Scurry home then!" He shouted at Carr.
"Yessir."
Carr and his group quickly left but givin me a mean ole look as he was walking away…. What did I ever do to them?
"Dusk, my dear lad! What brings you here?
A smile spread across my face after hearing my name correctly after a long while. Egil always wants to study my langauge so I taught him what I knew and ever since he's called me dusk unlike everybody else.
"His name is røkkr." Helga said firmly
"His name is whatever I want it to be goddamnit!" He responded
"Well that's enough chatter, let's head inside swiftly little one." His attitude changed as fast as you could drop a penny.
Even before walking in I notcied… this was a place I never seen. It was big but this wasn't a house, it was a circle all around and walls as high the birds could fly. The rocks it was made out of seemed to be breaking down, cracks all within the walls of this massive place with plants and other green stuff poking out of those very same cracks…. It's kinda cool though, to see things like this that I never saw in real life…. What a cool dream.
"Is he here?"
A giant man with red hair asked, it was jarl.
"The little lad is right here and ready for the world!….. right?"
"What are you talking about?" I stared at him blankly
"….anyways he's up for the challenge!"
"N-no I'm no—
[ Clinggggg ]
Jarl threw what looked like a giant knife near me before I could even finish my sentence.
"Pick it up."
"Uh…what is thi—
"It's a sword." He kept interrupting me…
A sword…. Are all giant knives called swords? I wonder.
I reached for the handle of the… sword? Whatever you call it. The handle was riddled with marks… as if it's been used many many times.
"Huh?"
It was much heavier than I thought it would be, I tried as hard as I could and was still only able to barely lift it up.
"A-alright I did it!"
"Good."
[Crackkkk]
"Aghhhhhh!"
It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts I hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts!
Jarl kicked me right in my chest! But why?!
"W-w-wait! S-stop!"
"Whooo….. question boy. You seem to know a lot of things, but you also seem to not know much more… so let me ask you this.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT HELL IS?
[ Yahwehs POV ]
The boy laid there stricken on the ground after the attack from jarl.
The feelings of comfort he once had disappeared in that instance, replaced with the very same feeling he knew all too well, he knew it better than himself, Fear.
"Get up."
"I-I c-cant, I hu—
Jarl cocked his leg back and jammed it right into dusk' side, launching the boy to the other side of the arena.
"Uhhh…ughhhh."
The boy started to silently cry to himself.
"GET UP." Jarl unsheathed his blade from its scabbard. "I will not ask again."
One should surely fear for their life in a situation like this, but to dusk who was all too used to getting beat, this was simply a situation he hated but could do nothing about.
Jarl drew closer and closer to dusk with his blade in hand, both Egil and Helga watching the events unfolding before them with blank faces, the type of face a child would make when bored of their new toy.
"….do you not fear death?"
Jarl who had finally reached the fear strucken boy asked.
"W-wha *huff huff I-is death?" The boy responded, holding his chest with crossed arms.
A peculiar answer, even to my standards.
"Let me change the question then.
Do you like what's happening to you right now?"
A stupid question, dusk thought to himself.
Who would like getting beat by anybody?
"W-why would I-I l-like this?"
"Then stop it."
"What?"
"If you don't like what's happening to you right now, then stop it from happening!" Jarl roared.
stop it from happening? Dusk sat on the idea. Had he ever thought of that before? Surely not or he wouldn't have been in this predicament. He was so used to simply listening to those with power over him instead of fighting back.
"Pick up your sword… if you don't like the pain I am inflicting on you, then stop me from doing it!"
He stomped his foot down near Dusk' head, fortunately Dusk was just fast enough to evade it.
"Atta boy!" Egil shouted from the sidelines
"Kick his ass!" Helga shouted right after
"Cmon boy, show me that you don't want to feel this pain anymore. Show me why you were sent to us!"
Those words were the final push Dusk needed….. but not the push jarl may have been expecting. Dusk' face changed from one of fear to a face that didn't belong on a child or even an adult…no…. A face that didn't belong on a human. An expression void of all emotion, even desire, a expression of must instead of want.
"…haha.hahaha! Now that's an interesting look."
Dusk' who was barely able to lift the sword, now drug it across the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. He looked as if he was in a trance, as if he wasn't fully conscious.
"Ohhhh… what a menacing sight." Egil commented, Helga nodding in agreement.
"Alright let's see what you can do th—
Dusk chunked the sword at jarls face
Jarl immediately moved his head out of the way, swaying slightly to the left to look back at the sword which dusk just threw at him.
He swiftly turned his head back to the boy, however Dusk had already lunged at him. On contact, Dusk bit at jarls throat, ripping a small piece of flesh from his neck making Jarl drop his sword near his foot.
"This little FUCK!" Jarl shouted as he grabbed Dusk and threw him at the ground. Dusk' back hit the floor hard enough for him to bounce back up in the air. Dusk grabbed jarls fallen sword which was located right below his ankle and started tumbling backwards while applying force to the sword, leaving a slit near jarls tendon.
"Gahahahaha! Now this is a warrior!" Jarl exclaimed
Jarl walked to the backside of the arena to grab the sword that dusk threw. The boys eyes locked into Jarl as if he was prey, the boy sprinted at Jarl but this time Jarl also sprinted at the boy. Closer and closer they got to each other until…..
[Thud!]
The boys head hit Jarls shoulder….. but not as a head butt or any attack for that matter. He was unconscious by the time Jarl reached him, but what I found odd wasn't the fact he was standing while unconscious…. But the fact he was in position to strike down an enemy while unconscious.
The same boy who could barely even lift the sword was now holding it over his head while not even being awake.