Chapter Twelve: Guardian
The hall was silent, the crackling of the torches echoing ominously in the vast chamber. Dusken stood at one end, facing off against six attackers.
Without warning, he sprinted forward, his muscles screaming in protest as the pain from the hall intensified.
The six pursuers charged after him, their faces twisted in agony as they pushed through the same grueling pressure of the corridor.
"You won't escape today, Dusk!" Drake roared from behind.
Dusken ignored him. Drake had always been competitive, but his childish provocations were beneath Dusken's attention. Paying heed to such things were not what one should do in battle unless necessary.
With a sudden lunge, Dusken grabbed a nearby torch from the wall and hurled it at his pursuers. The flames flickered wildly as the torch spun through the air, the wind howling in its wake.
The six attackers instinctively dodged, halting momentarily as the torch thudded to the marble floor before vanishing entirely. Another torch appeared on the wall seconds later, as if it had always been there.
Dusken's eyes gleamed.
'Fifteen seconds,' he calculated. That was the time it took for a new torch to materialize. It wasn't much, but it was enough to turn the tide.
"You think that'll save you?" Joel shouted, firing streaks of blue light toward him.
Dusken barely dodged them all, but one beam accidentally grazed him.
A heavy, sinking sensation spread through his body, slowing his movements as though he were trudging through mud.
'Crap' he cursed inwardly.
His pursuers closed in, and with no other options, Dusken executed his plan. He snatched another torch from the wall and threw it at them, then another, and another.
Each time, the torches spiraled through the air, leaving the area engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
Dusken paused, his breathing heavy but steady. Through the veil of darkness, his vision remained sharp, as clear as daylight.
The six attackers, however, stumbled around blindly, unable to see in the suffocating blackness.
"Don't think you can hide in the dark, Dusk!" Drake shouted, his voice defiant but laced with uncertainty.
Dusken remained silent. There wasn't much time. He moved swiftly, targeting the strongest first. The darkness shrouded him as though having life its own as it improved his senses.
In seconds, he reached Drake - hearing Dusken's footsteps, Drake swung his sword wildly at the air. Dusken darted forward and with precise aim, delivered a brutal kick to Drake's lower abdomen.
"Ah! Curse you, Dusk!" Drake collapsed, veins bulging on his forehead from the pain.
Dusken didn't linger. He moved to the lean boy wielding a whip and slapped him hard across the face. A well-placed kick to his groin followed, dropping the boy with a muffled groan.
Dusken's breath came in rasps, but he pushed forward. Joel fired more streaks of blue light into the darkness, desperate to hit him.
Dusken dodged, using his night vision to the greatest advantage and seized the fallen boy's whip.
With a burst of speed, he lashed the whip at the fat girl. The whip struck her face with precision, and he followed it up with a kick to her already injured nose, sending blood splattering onto the marble floor. The girl collapsed with a shriek of pain.
The torches flared back to life, illuminating the hall. Dusken wasted no time and lashed the whip at Alex - the boy with two-colored eyes.
Alex caught the whip and pulled, his strength dragging Dusken toward him.
Dusken released the whip and launched a kick. Alex met the blow with a punch, their collision resounding with a bam as Dusken fell to the ground.
Alex clutched his fist, grimacing in pain, while Dusken winced, his toe throbbing in agony.
Dusken rose swiftly, his gaze locking on Joel.
'Time's up,' Dusken thought with an unsatisfied sigh, his excitement was just beginning, but ten minutes had passed since the battle with the children, and now...
A suffocating pressure suddenly descended on the hall, forcing everyone to their knees, and making them cough out blood.
"Who dares fight in the sacred hall of the gods?" boomed a deep, ancient voice as the air thickened.
Dusken scanned his attackers. Drake and Joel were pale, beads of sweat rolling down their faces. Drake's sword dissolved and his hands had returned, and Joel's blue light flickered out as he disperse his side ability.
"You children dare desecrate this sacred place?" the voice thundered, sending waves of fear through the group. Dusken, however, felt only discomfort, not dread.
"T-they attacked me f-f-first," Dusken faked a stammer, as though his voice was strained under the pressure.
A vague, shapeless figure began to materialize in the hall. Dusken's heart quickened. He recognized it: the guardian of the gods' palace.
His father had told him of this being - a powerful entity that appeared only after ten minutes of chaos to restore order. Dusken had been counting on its arrival since the very beginning of his fight.
The guardian's cold, emotionless voice echoed through the hall. "You brought your petty enmity into this sacred place? Do you understand what you have done?"
The children knelt, trembling, their heads bowed. Dusken remained silent, calculating the guardian's motives as he faked reactions.
"You knew I would descend," the guardian addressed Dusken, "yet you still disrupted this place. I cannot tell if you are clever or foolish."
The air grew heavier, bones cracking under the pressure. The fat girl let out a whimper as sound of sniffs filled the area. The guardian relented, dismissing the oppressive force with a wave.
Dusken forced himself to speak, his voice steady:
"I hadn't know of your existence, nor that there was a guardian in this palace." It was technically true, his father had told him years ago, but Dusken had never knew until then.
The guardian regarded him coldly.
"I am the law here. You all disobeyed." Its form expanded, filling the hall.
"For fighting, you will each endure ten times the pain of crossing this hall. You are here to seek the legacy of the gods, not to fight."
The children all gazed at Dusken with looks of schadenfreude as they weren't the only one punished.
Dusken's face twisted in anger as he chuckled inwardly.
"They attacked me first! I only defended myself!" Tears welled in his eyes as he stared at the guardian.
The guardian paused.
"Although they attacked you, you fought back with brutality beyond your years. I will lighten your punishment: you will face five times the pain."
It turned to the others.
"You initiated the fight and took malicious joy in another's punishment. For this, you are barred from proceeding further. You may only choose statues in this area."
The six children's faces fell, their expressions dark with anger and frustration, yet they didn't dare say a thing.
They bowed their heads, the initial look of enjoyment had backed fired. They now understood that the guardian had been testing them and they failed terribly.
The guardian vanished, leaving only silence in its wake.
Dusken wiped away his false tears, a smirk forming on his lips.
'Success.'
Drake glared at him with pure malice as he spoke through gritted teeth:
"Mark my words, Dusken. I'll kill you with my own hands!"
Benita shrieked, clutching her bloody nose. "My clan won't let you get away with this!"
Dusken sneered at both of them: "You attacked me first and got punished. Yet you act like you're victims? Pathetic."
He turned, his gaze lingering on Rebecca.
'I'll make sure you all suffer. Slowly.'
Without another word, Dusken strode down the corridor, satisfaction welling up within him. He had sought power, but had entered the must kill list instead.
However, he had now gained a small victory over them, but he knew that the strongest legacy of the gods lay ahead, and nothing - not pain, nor vengeance - would stop him.
The battle ahead wasn't to be won by brute force alone but by willpower, firm willpower.