Beal stared intently at the food on the table. The aroma of steamed vegetables and pork, played a game with his nose.
"You can't!" A familiar voice sounded behind him.
"I know. " He looked away from the food, "Can I at least attend tonight's dinner?"
"Tonight there will be things a child shouldn't be exposed to." Uriel stepped up and placed his hand on Beal's shoulders, as the boy let out a quiet sigh.
Beal looked back to his father, his blue eyes filled with sadness. Uriel smiled and patted his head. "Don't worry. I have something prepared for you."
His eyes lit up and the boy smiled dimples appearing on his cheeks. Uriel cleared his throat. "After you finish helping Miss Helen that is. I have prepared a very special gift for you." He let go and turned around his white robe dragging on the wooden floor.
Beal smirked, "Telling me now kind of ruins the surprise. And why can't you give it to me yourself?"
"We both know you would have found it long ago if it were here."
The boy went and clung to his father, " I promise not to be so noisy in the future."
He gently caressed his black spiky hair, "I know you will keep that promise, you're a good kid after all."
Beal looked to the ground, " I am. I guess"
"Did something happen?" His father raised an eyebrow. "Did you do something bad?"
"No, no, I was just talking nonsense." He averted his gaze.
Uriel sighed and patted his head, "You can tell me if anything had happened. You can trust me."
"It's nothing, really. I was just jealous of someone." He pulled back from his father. "I better get going." Beal went to his room, the only one in the grand hall, the only thing separating them being a thick wooden door with a black star sigil above it. The boy grabbed the handle as he felt the warmth of his father's hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be so harsh on yourself, you're perfect already."
Beal pulled down the handle, "Thank you." He said quietly and entered, closing the door behind.
Uriel stopped the door with his foot, and peaked through the small gap. "Beal. Be back by midnight." As the door began to shut, Uriel added. "Put on the cloak before you go. It's cold outside."
Beal nodded as the door shut. His room was small and cluttered, it could only fit a bed, a wardrobe and a desk. He skimmed through his room, the unfinished letter on his desk, he opened his wardrobe full of white shirts and black pants, and took out his cloak from the bottom of it. There was still dried blood on it, he stepped up to his desk, tripping on the sword lazily thrown underneath his bed. He took it and put it on for the sake of it.
Beal sat on his bed slumped over. ~I can't complain about my life.~ He thought. I have everything I need. He slapped his cheek. "Don't be greedy."
He got up swiftly and headed for the door. Beal quickly passed his father on the way out, stepping down from the podium of the church and putting his shoes on as fast as he could. He rushed out the front door and headed for the town.
There was only one path for the place he went to, a steep one at that. His home was on top of a hill overlooking the whole area so it was a challenge to get there and get down from there. The road to the town was surrounded by thick high grass filled with animals and runic beasts. Some of the many reasons Beal took his sword.
Halfway down the path a sound began dancing near his ear. A dance of shattering glass.
The disturbing noise came from the left side of the road. Without a second thought Beal rushed to the bushes to investigate.
The source of these sounds was a Great Black Snake and a woman dressed in all white. The fight was mesmerizing, the woman gracefully evaded the snake's attack. The lady only dodged its attacks, unable to land any attack of her own.
Beal was at a loss for words. It was not uncommon for animals to attack people crossing the road, and usually someone had to intervene, but this was different. I need to get help! The lady lost her footing and the snake whipped her with its tail into a nearby tree that broke in two. ~She might not make it by then!~ The boy began biting his nails, thinking of a solution.
Doubt arose within his mind, as he touched his sword's handle. ~Can I handle this?~ On my own ? He thought for a split second, before something jumped from the ground left to him.
As he turned around the only thing he saw was the giant mouth of the snake, ready to swallow him whole. He moved his arm to defend his face, closing his eyes prepared for the blow. He could smell the rot coming from that enormous mouth and felt the sticky saliva touching his cheeks.
A thud echoed through the field of bushes, then followed the sound of glass shattering.
When he finally opened his eyes, the entire snake had been turned to hundreds of pieces of broken ice. The temperature around him had dropped so much his breath came out as vapor.
Beal looked around to find the other snake in a similar condition and the woman was gone. The boy sighed disappointed "How useless am I?" He asked himself.
Beal unsheathed his sword and looked in the reflection, it was a very clean blade, a blade not used once since the day it had been given to him. A truly shameful display.
Beal did not wait around to find out what other dangers lay there. With his head down he returned to the road, from there it didn't take long to reach the town.
There was quite the commotion going on in there. All the people had gathered in the star-shaped centre of the city. They were cheering and celebrating.
Even from a distance Beal could smell the blood, as he got closer the reason for the commotion became visible, until it wasn't.
Beal along with the crowd was looking at a giant house sized centipede, its head barely holding onto the rest of the body-appeared like a small field of flowers.
The rest of the massive corpse was a dark brown colour. The plates or armour this thing had used had rough uneven texture. The legs at the front and the back were very long with varying thickness. The legs in the middle of the body were shorter and sharper, with spikes on the inside.
Beal made his way through the crowd to one mezmorized guard who probably should be doing his job. He lightly tapped on the back of his chest plate.
"Who is our hero today?" Beal asked as the guard turned around.
The guard looked back, trying to hide his pity. " Do you really wanna know ?"
Beal nodded with a serious glimpse in his eyes.
"It was Zeph. He did it all alone."
A bittersweet smile overcame Beal's face, he looked down and began slumping away. The only other question he asked - "Is Zeph still here?"
"He's leaving for the capitol tomorrow by dawn. You better make your last times together worth it."