"Ge— U— Chil— O—
You Ha— S— Mu— T— —-"
𝕀 𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔻 𝔾𝔼𝕋 𝕌ℙ!
[SWOOSH]
" *huff huff… huff"
I quickly opened my eyes, it felt as if I had just awoken from a really deep sleep….but the sight of the night sky told me different, I was still in the same giant place I was before. I was still in a dream
[Boom! Craaack! Pshhhh!]
Loud lights kept flashing in the sky with little drops of water hitting my face, the same water that was there when daddy disappeared…. Am I going to disappear too?
"You up? " a familiar voice asked, it was Jarl.
"So… I'm still here."
"Yup and you still have more to do, raise yourself."
I sat up, put my hands on my knees
and stood, my body feeling okay unlike the day before.
"Do you know why I'm doing this?"
"…n-no not really." I told him, but truly it didn't matter, none of this was real anyway.
"….here." Jarl handed me a piece of something, a little strange looking.
"What's t-this?"
"It's fish, have you ever eaten one?"
"Fish….no… I- only s-seen it in books."
"Eat it, you're gonna need the energy."
"O-okay."
I quickly shoved the dish into my mouth. It smelled bad and was slimy… but it tasted better than what I had at home and I was very hungry.
"Good, now pick up the sword." Jarl pointed to the giant knife right next to me, the same one from before.
I froze, those words put a bad feeling into my body… I remember exactly what happened yesterday…I also remember what would happen if I didn't listen.
"Trust me when I say this is for your own good boy, you need to be able to stop others from hurting you."
To stop others from hurting me? To stop others from hurting me….. To stop others from hurting me. He's right
I picked up the sword and turned towards Jarl, the water still pouring on us, thr light still flashing.
"Swing."
I don't want to…but I also don't want to hurt anymore. The sword felt a little less heavy than yesterday, enough to where I was able to pick it up fully.
"What are you waiting for, come."
[Yahwehs POV]
The boy swung his sword with all his might, only to be easily blocked by Jarl. Dusk' sword slid off the right side of Jarls blade, allowing him to get behind dusk and hit him with hilt of the sword.
"Aghh! I thought you said this is so it wouldn't hurt!" Dusk yelled at him in anger
"Just learn not to get hit." Jarl told him
I want to know…. I want to know what that was, that face….should I get a bit serious? Jarl thought to himself, wondering how he could push dusk to such a state once again.
"….how do I not get hit?" Dusk asked, his stutter gone. Was it because he was angry he was able to speak so clearly or was it because he was no longer in a state of constant fear? What good is omniscience if I can't answer simple questions like this? More importantly…. What is he? Then again, the boy wouldn't be able to answer any of those questions either.
"I don't know. Find a way."
Jarl instantly dissapeared from Dusk' line of sight.
"Hey, dodge this."
Jarl was now right beside dusk, the edge of his blade already at dusk' eyeball.
"Wha—
Dusk' was just fast enough to put his sword in between Jarls blade and his face.
[Clinggggg!]
The sound of steel clashing against each other echoed throughout the arena as dusk flew back, his feet off the ground. He tumbled like a weed in the wind but was able to promptly recover.
"Block."
Jarl moved like lightning, leaving no time for Dusk to even breathe. Jarl swung his blade down and dusk blocked, still kneeling on the ground.
"Good." Jarl complimented him.
Dusk remembered the menuever Jarl had did before and slid his sword across the side of Jarls hoping for an opening. He got behind Jarl and slashed at his backside.
"Got ya—
"But not good enough."
Jarls fist already embedded into Dusk' gut.
"Uah…uahhhh—
"Shut up."
The punch was followed by a head butt to silence the gagging noises dusk was making.
"If you can't handle this much then this is going to be a long night." I say that…but how many people in our tribe are actually able to dodge the attacks I've thrown at him? Two.. no maybe three. You're telling me this boy….. I want to know.
*huff huff
An exhausted Dusk gasped for air and when he caught it…. The look in his eyes changed, but this was a much more tame look, as if he'd found a solution to his problem.
"Dodge this, block this…. You're not even telling me how! But it's okay." Dusk pointed his sword at Jarl
"I understand now." Dusk said, a faint smile on his face.
"….hahhh and here I was thinking yo—
Jarls speech was interrupted by something that surprised even I….Dusk sword was already at Jarls neck. Jarl moved his head ever so slightly backwards, keeping the sword from slicing his throat.
Though we weren't far away in distance, he moved quite fast. If I was paying attention his sword wouldn't even have neared my face…. I need to go a bit harder… no, a lot.
Jarl in his own thoughts was assessing the situation, in which he was not wrong. Dusk' growth is nothing short of abnormal… even beyond that, but there's no way to overcome a difference in physical attributes in such a short amount of time…. But I will say, to be able to look at your opponents for a few moments and know exactly how to perform their same movements….it's definitely something.
"Hahahaha! Well then. Let's get serious, eh?"
Jarl thrusted his sword foward towards the Dusk' chest, the boy ducked and swung his sword at the same place he had cut Jarl the previous day, Jarl quickly intercepted it by stepping on the tip of the sword, the middle of the sword and hilt pointing upwards.
"What now boy!"
"This."
Dusk slid in between jarls massive legs and shifted his sword to the right allowing the middle of the blade cut at Jarls calves.
"Damnit!"
Jarl lifted his foot releasing the sword and losing his balance in the process making him fall, Dusk wasted no time, lifting the sword up and striking downwards at the falling jarl. So very very close, a pity.
"You did good kid." Jarl had a wide smile on his face ear to ear
He kicked at full speed, his foot landed right in between Dusk' chest and stomach launching the boy far into the air, way over the arena.
"Gahhh!" dusk coughed blood as he tried to retain conciousness, almost passing out from the pain, his chest fully caved in. Understandably so, it would be no exaggeration to say that man kicked at such a speed that even sound couldn't keep up.
"I guess I have to catch 'em huh?"
Jarl stood up and bolted outside the arena, looking in the sky to predict where Dusk would fall.
"Don't worry lad, I got you!"
Jarl jumped high into the air to catch the falling boy, he grabbed Dusk' arm and pulled him into his chest, landing with quite the impact when meeting the ground.
"Whooo. Now that was a workout. What about you lad?"
The barely conscious boy struggled to speak, his lungs hardly getting any air.
"….I'm sorry little one, I admit I took it too far." Jarl was filled with guilt as he looked at the state the boy was in, fully realizing the damage which he caused.
"….though I do not regret it. It was necessary and I believe that whole heartedly." He assured himself. "You, my friend, are a true warrior."
"R-really?" Dusk asked, struggling to even say this one word."
"I speak only the truth."
Dusk smiled, a look of satisfaction replaced the expression of pain he previously wore.
"Now let's get you back home, you need to heal up fro tomorrow." Jarl said.
"Y-yea.
[Jarls Perspective]
[BOOM!]
I barged into the chiefs manor, the rest of the elders all sitting down, discussing what will come….
"So… how did it go with the little lad?" Alvis asked. He was an outstanding elder, his beard so long it nearly touched the floor, yet no hair to his head…. What an old bastard.
"Do not refer to the chosen one as such!" One of the elders screamed. It was a man with a large scar over his eye, no hair of any kind and a mischievous grin. Fritjof
"Why so passionate? You act like he's gonna up and disappear if we call em that!" A familiar voice laughed aloud. It was Egil.
"Now now, boys. Let's stay focused and talk about the matter at hand." A woman said calmly, her bright blonde hair nearing white, her skin even paler with crimson eyes to compliment it, my beautiful wife saga.
"The lady is right! So first things first, how is it teaching em?" Egil asked saga
"It's….very interesting…. I don't if you could even call it teaching."
"Huh?" Everybody in the room said in unison.
"Can you clarify my lady?" Alvis asked, his curiosity peaked.
"He….just learns it…. No instruction necessary, you give em the basic principles and he just figures out the rest by himself whether it be learning runes or boatbuilding he simply just understands, I've never seen anything like it." The amazement on her face was quite visible
"….I've had the same experience." Egil came forth
"I took the boy to the smithy to see if he had any talent and after watching for a couple minutes, he asked to try. I thought it was just a boy being a boy but he actually started to do it! without even knowing what would be next he just used his noggin! The boys a genius and nonetheless!"
"How did the weapon come out?" Fritjof asked Egil.
"Eh, pretty shitty but for his first time he did splendid! To be able to create a sword on your first try is more than impressive…. But I found it pretty funny, he didn't call it a sword but a giant knife!" Egil chuckled
"Oh my!" Saga exclaimed
"Impressive indeed." Alvis said with fritjof nodding in agreement.
"What about you jarl….How'd it go?"
The atmosphere in the room changed, I felt everyone's gaze upon me, expectations were in all of their faces. I could see it
"He….is not normal."
"Well no shit you dope! We're asking how capable is he!"
"….would any of you be able to dodge a swing of my sword if I was serious?" I asked them all
"Are you serious brother? You were able to run across water at the age of 15, you killed a bear with only your hands at 20! There's no warrior in all the tribes who could take a swing from you!" Alvis exclaimed
"…..but they boy could…"
They all stood up, some of their chairs falling back…. A reasonable reaction, no…. More than reasonable and their confusion abundant.
"At first he couldn't even properly lift the sword, he went from that to being able to react to my sword and from there to being able to injure me."
I pulled up the sleeve of my trousers and showed the cut above my ankle.
Everybody was silent, all them in awe… it definitely is impressive.
"What was odd though, is that I couldn't make him face me as a man….until I explained that if he doesn't like being hurt then stop me from doing it…. After that he changed, something in his eyes… his being, he changed…. It almost seemed as if he didn't know what he was doing.
"I noticed that too while I was there." Egil said.
"It wasn't a face a child should be making…. I don't even think it's a face a child capable of making, any of us for that matter."
Everybody showed deep concern to Egil and I's testimony. A needed concern though. If he thinks we'll hurt him, would he turn on us? A question which would need to be addressed eventually.
"All cause he didn't want to hurt? Interesting indeed." Alvis responded
"But there must be a deeper reason than just merely being afraid of getting hurt." He continued
"I agree….however he never talks about what happened to him before, when questioned the boy goes silent and being a chosen…. Who knows if he's from anywhere of our knowledge in the first place?" Egil and Alvis started to discuss among themselves
"….327." Saga said
"What's that supposed to mean." Alvis asked
"Me and Helga tried to undress him so we could bathe and he became terrified, he froze. We eventually calmed him down and got him into the bath, but one thing I noticed the entire time is he had a lot of marks on his body, ranging from small cuts to gigantic gashes.
"Could you go more into detail?" Fritjof asked, his curiosity overflowing.
I started counting, 1,20,50,100,200…..,327. He had 327 scars on his body."
A grim look crossed all of our faces, 327 scars is something that warriors who've been in the battlefield for all of their lives don't even have….
𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕜