Silence. That's all that echoed through the silent woods, the only sound being rain falling onto the moss-covered ground. Suddenly, a loud bang, followed by a red firework flew up into the sky, exploding in a red mist that lit up the night sky. After a long period of silence, fourteen-year-old Nick Blackheart crawled out from behind a bush, holding two kukris in his hands. His blue eyes looked around, sensing if anything moved around him. As soon as he was safe, he let out a breath and walked through the bushes, his shirt and pants covered in filth. As he kept walking, he heard a sound of a twig snapping and he pointed his kukri at it, shaking in his boots. He gulped and slowly made his way to a bunch of overgrowth. He listened around when he heard a string loosen and an arrow punched through his calf, making him scream in pain. He fell face first into the mud and he flipped around, looking around when he spotted a girl, a bow in her hands. She approached him when a spear impaled her in the chest, blood spilling out of her mouth as she fell to the ground. He grabbed his kukri and started to cut the arrow out of his leg.
"C'mon, c'mon," He said, gritting his teeth together as he pulled the arrow out, making him scream loudly. He heard the sound of fighting as he looked behind him, watching three people with spears fight a giant man with a spiked war hammer. The man swung the hammer, knocking the three men to the ground and he stomped on one of their heads, crushing it, and he swung his hammer into the other's face, their eyes exploding out of their skull from the impact. The third man tried to run away from him when the man picked up a spear and threw it through the man's chest, impaling him to a tree. Nick watched in horror as he turned around, the man's face covered in blood. He chuckled and picked up his war hammer and walked over to Nick as he tried to crawl away. He stepped on Nick's back and looked at the scar on his neck, the scar in the shape of a crude sword and spear.
"Ah, an Arogian," The man boomed, flipping Nick over. He grabbed Nick by the collar and lifted him towards his face. He turned Nick's face left and right when he laughed, dropping him to the ground.
"Your kind is supposed to be all warlike, but yet you are so obsessed about your small, tiny world of make-believe and gods. You know what I am, boy? I am a barbarian of the Norse empire, we are trained from birth to slay whatever is in our path," He said, proudly when Nick coughed, slowly rising to his feet.
"That explains the bad smell," He said, laughing when the man growled, kicking him in the chest, sending him flying into a tree. Nick coughed as he gripped one of his kukris, yelling in defiance as he charged the barbarian, ignoring the pain in his calf when the barbarian smacked him with his war hammer, knocking him backwards. He fell to the ground, blood spilling out of his mouth as he gasped for air, the barbarian standing over him, smiling.
"Nice try," He said, raising the bloody war hammer in the air, ready to strike him when Nick closed his eyes, holding his arm out in the air.
"Bellum! Slay my enemy and my life is yours!" He yelled. The barbarian looked around, waiting for anything.
Silence.
The barbarian laughed and looked at Nick, raising the war hammer back in the air.
"I told you, your make believe gods won't do anything-" He started when a loud voice boomed throughout the woods.
"Make believe?!" The voice yelled and a fireball erupted from behind the barbarian, knocking down trees and burning the grass. The barbarian turned around slowly to see a man with fire for hair, pale skin, red eyes, and armor that looked like it was carved from molten lava. Nick recognized the man that appeared before him, the armor, the hair, the rage hidden behind his eyes.
"Bellum?" Nick asked, shocked. The barbarian looked at Nick then at Bellum, shocked as well.
"He's real?!" He said, dropping his hammer. Bellum chuckled and held his hand in the air, a pillar of fire erupting from his hand, it turning into a giant sword.
"Oh yes, I am real. Now fear me, puny Viking," He said, twirling his sword. The barbarian growled and charged at Bellum, when he swung his sword, cutting clean through his head. It rolled onto the ground at the feet of Nick as shock shook through him. Bellum chuckled and his sword disintegrated into flames. He looked down at Nick as he shook in fear, then he kneeled at the feet of Bellum, looking at the ground.
"Lord Bellum," Nick said. Bellum laughed and grabbed Nick by the shirt, hoisting him to his feet.
"That was quite a show, Nick. Quite a show! Why, I haven't had this much entertainment since the battle of Calamaria. Ah, so many orphans," He said, smiling. Nick gulped and looked at Bellum.
"Entertained about what?" Nick asked. Bellum waved his hand at the chaos and dead bodies.
"Why at this, I can't believe you have slayed all of these souls with two kukris!" He said, laughing.
"Um, I didn't-" Nick started when Bellum covered his mouth.
"Shush! I have an idea!" He said, smiling. Nick gulped as Bellum grabbed a broken spear and his kukris. With a wave of his hand, they transformed into hooked blades attached to chains. Nick recognized the weapons as a Kusari-Gamas, a Arogian weapon that only the elders know how to use. Bellum grabbed the weapons and handed them to him, but Nick waved his hands.
"But Lord Bellum, only the most skilled elders know how to-" He started when Bellum shook his head.
"Eh, you'll figure it out," Bellum said, nodding. Nick gulped and grabbed the weapons when the chains wrapped around his arms, burning into his flesh. Nick screamed when the pain stopped, the weapons glowing with a red haze. Then he felt the power coarse through his veins, making him smile. He looked at Bellum and kneeled.
"I will serve you Lord Bellum," He said, when Bellum nodded.
"Good," He said, smiling.