The fire crackled as the two blue-robed figures stared at each other.
"Why are you doing this?" Luke asked, carefully keeping his tone casual as he pocketed the batch of talismans Nel had left him. Leafing through the bunch, he separated a single protective talisman from the others, folding his fingers around it so that he could easily tear the perforated tab.
Just in case.
Rose could throw fireballs. Jax didn't show any abilities like that, but he was still handpicked by Cyzicus. It's best if I don't take any chances.
Jax stayed silent. His sword and shaved head both shone in the orange glow of the campfire as he circled around Luke.
"It's not me, is it? Like, we just met, and I really don't think I did anything to offend you … I'm pretty sure about that, actually.
Honestly, I thought we were getting along pretty well," Luke continued.
I'm also pretty sure that you don't know anything that would make you want to kill me, either.
There's no way in hell you know about the God Seed. It could be my sword, but so far, no one's noticed anything odd about it. Not Cyzicus, not Nel, and not even the society when they got their set of harpy wings.
Jax frowned and kept circling him, seemingly looking for an opening to attack.
Why is he being so cautious? When we sparred before, he was nowhere near this hesitant. I don't even have my sword drawn, for fuck's sake.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Luke asked, drawing his own sword from its sheath. "If you insist on dying by my blade, can you at least do me the courtesy of telling me why I had to kill you."
"Those are bold words," Jax finally said, his voice low and strained. He sniffled. A tear welled up in his eye and rolled down his cheek.
Huh.
"Are you crying?"
What the fuck is going on? Like, seriously Luke thought.
"No!" He lifted his arm up and rubbed the tears off his face.
… fuck this. Disarm first, questions later.
Seizing the opportunity while his opponent was distracted, Luke slipped into the First Stance and closed the distance between them as fast as he could. He kept a careful eye on his mana as he did, in case there was a sudden drain. It never came.
I've won, he realized, a single step away from his foe.
Jax was too slow to respond, and his intentions were clear as day in Luke's mind with the aid of the technique. Luke snaked past his guard in a single smooth stride. Whacking him in the face with the flat of his blade, he struck his sword arm with an open palm, belatedly realizing that Jax hadn't even tried to fight back.
This is …
Jax's blade ripped free from his hand and sank into the earth near their feet. Luke, copying Yjarn, lunged forward and kneed him in the ribs with every ounce of strength he could muster. Jax stumbled back, wheezing for air, and clutched his sides. Luke hooked his shin across Jax's ankle and sent him falling ass first onto the ground.
That was easy. Luke frowned, his chest rising and falling and the tip of his sword pressed down on his opponent's neck. Way too easy. Why didn't he fight back? Is he trying to make me kill him? Why?
"What's going on?" Luke asked again.
Jax turned his head to the side as tears streamed down his face.
"Look. You're kind of putting me in an awkward situation here. I don't know if I should kill you or give you something to wipe your tears with," Luke said, standing over Jax, uncertain as to what to do. "There's obviously something going on, so why don't you just tell me and we can figure it out, yeah?"
Jax started sobbing. Curling up into a fetal position, he started rocking back and forth.
This is awkward … so awkward.
"Is this because of your family? You were worried about them, weren't you? Did something happen to them?"
He still didn't speak.
What should I do? Luke scratched the back of his head.
"What really happened to Rex? Where did you send Nel?"
"…"
"Fucking hell, man, will you say something? Listen, you rolling in the mud bawling your eyes out isn't helpful. I need you to get your shit together and tell me what happened. Who took Rex? Why were you trying to pick a fight with me? Why did you give up so fast? I can't help you if I don't know what's happening," Luke pleaded, increasingly frustrated as everything he said fell on deaf ears.
This is starting to creep me out.
Luke frowned as he tried to puzzle out the situation. A sinking feeling spread through his chest as he realized that they were in the middle of nowhere, while someone was nearby and hunting them. All the while, he didn't know who or what they were, how to stop them, or even if he could. Only that a single encounter had seemingly sapped one of his companions of the desire to live.
Rex and Jax shouldn't be weak, but Rex got caught while Jax escaped. So at the very least, it's not some warrior or hero out there—unless they're playing some cruel game.
Should I just leave him and go?
But where? After Nel? Or should I just run away, disappear into the wilderness and wash my hands of all of this? He was tempted.
He hadn't expected to be embroiled in this mess. He had wanted to kill some giants and rake in a large number of status points. Not get caught in the middle of a power struggle between two Hero-tier cultivators vying for a throne. No matter how nice one of the two had been to him.
"Kreeee!" The griffin clambered to its feet and began pacing around the clearing. Stretching its wings to make itself look big, it hissed, staring at the direction Nel had left in.
"He went this way." A voice echoed out from the forest. Tensing, Luke grabbed Jax's sword and chucked it far away before hiding behind a tree, leaving Jax alone in the middle of the camp.
Why's he not hiding?
A group of three bald men wandered into the clearing.
"Is that a—"
"It is. Don't do anything to provoke it. Griffins aren't supposed to be violent. If we ignore it, it should ignore us. They must have used it to fly over the river," said the leader, interrupting the other.
"Right. Is that him?" One of them pointed a spear at Jax. "Why is he just lying on the ground?"
"He's the one, boss. The needle pointed straight at him."
"Hmm. You're Jax right? Alexander's son, if I'm not mistaken. Your father was a good man—shame what happened to him. He wasn't stupid, though. So I have to ask, did you really think you could get away?" the leader asked, crouching down in front of Jax. "Where are your friends?"
"You already took him," Jax said, glaring at him.
They know each other?
"Let's not lie, kid. Do you think we don't know what goes on in the capital?"
"If you knew what was happening in the capital, you wouldn't have come here," Jax answered cryptically.
"Hmm. Is that so?" The leader paled and stood up urgently. "They might have a warrior with them. Send a message back to camp—we need reinforcements." He barked orders as he pulled his sword out of his sheath and rested it on Jax's neck. "Here's the deal, kid. You tell me why you left the capital, and I'll let you live. You can even come back to the clan. How does that sound? You had a little sister, right?"
"I'm not going to tell you anything."
"That's not true. You should know as well as I do that your mind will break. Why not save us the hassle, and yourself the pain, and tell me what I want to know? Besides, what has Cyzicus done for you, huh! What's he done for us? We won his war, and how does he treat us? Leaving us a barren strip of—"
A flash of light emanated from deep within the foliage, and a shock wave traveled through the air moments later. Seconds after that, Nel burst into the clearing with Rex, unconscious and drenched in blood, slung over her shoulder.
She's not dead. Luke sighed in relief.
She took one look at Jax lying on the ground and at the others standing around him, and her ring flashed, a spear appeared in her hand, and the next second it pierced through Jax's head.
Wha—
"Run!" the leader screamed. It was pointless. Her ring flashed three more times in quick succession, and a spear impaled itself through each of their hearts, killing them before they could take even a single step outside the clearing.
"We need to go. Now," she said coldly. Seemingly staring straight at Luke.
Luke stepped out from behind the tree. Nervous sweat poured down the side of his face as he looked at Jax's corpse.
She just killed him. Fuck.
"We don't have time to dawdle. One of them released a flare. If we stay here, we'll be overrun."
"Uh, right," Luke said nervously, watching her gently set Rex on her steed. She walked forward and ripped her spears free from Jax's skull and the three corpses and waved her hand.
Everything in the whole clearing packed itself up and returned to her ring.
Luke's eyes darted between Jax's corpse, Rex's body, and Nel, before he nodded.
Something tells me that I don't exactly have a choice.
Sheathing his sword, he climbed onto her griffin, and then they were in the air moments later.
"What happened?" Luke asked again.
"Traitors," she said, her voice seething with barely restrained anger. "Traitors happened." Turning Rex over, she forcibly opened his mouth and poured a bright-blue liquid down his throat.
"I see. Is he going to be okay?"
"Yes," she said. Her ring pulsed, and a bow appeared in her hand. She handed it and a quiver full of arrows to Luke. "They shouldn't be able to keep up, but if you see anything," she stressed, "kill it."
"I will."
She nodded in satisfaction.
Luke hesitated. "Who are we running from?"
"We're not running, but Clan Skyscar … Jax's family. They came here with the Rebel, but when it became clear that their leader would lose, they turned their backs on her. It seems like they decided to get back into her good graces by betraying us." She sighed. "Jax was unlikely to have even known about it, but his clan is in possession of a blood compass. They used that to lay an ambush."
"A what?"
"It's what it sounds like—an artifact that points you to your descendants. They're rare; not even Grandfather has one, but they allow you to keep track of all the members of your bloodline."
Luke frowned. "You couldn't have let him live? Killing him like that, when he meant us no harm … it—"
She shook her head. "No. He died the moment his clan decided to throw their lot in with the Rebel. If he came with us, they would know exactly where we are, and if we left him, they would know where we were going …" She glared at Luke. "He wasn't hiding with you. Don't pretend that it wasn't you who put him on the ground, and that you wouldn't have killed him as well."
Luke sighed. "After you left, he drew his blade. He made me think he was going to attack me, but when I attacked, he didn't even attempt to fight back."
Nel frowned. "It seems he was loyal then, but the second his clan turned traitor, his fate was decided. It's unfortunate, but—"
"Yeah." Luke ran his hand through his hair. "No choice. I get it."
This world is a shitty place. I already knew that.
"How far are we from the cyclops?"
"Two days."