A Power Game

The air among the small group was tense as Mhykol stood, accepting his swords from the smaller boy. Octavian stood, one hand outstretched, the other pressed against his hip. A small smile nested on his lips.

"Come on, I'm excited to get hunting."

The boy turned, his black ponytail twisting from the momentum, and walked towards the forest. A cool wind blew across the plains, tugging at Mhykol's clothing and sending a quick shiver across Mhykol's skin. Looking up, Mhykol saw that the sky had gone from blue to light grey, and was beginning to look like storm clouds. The air still felt dry, however, so Mhykol guessed the rain was still a few hours off.

As the children entered the forest, the light slowly faded. Dark green pines spread out in front of them in every direction, and the forest floor under their feet was brown and springy, packed with dead and fallen needles. Tasting the air with his tongue, Mhykol savoured their sharp sweetness. Tugging his black jacket more closely around his thin, athletic frame, Mhykol hurried to catch Octavian. As much as he now distrusted the young man, there were some questions he still wanted answered.

As he drew level with the boy, Octavian turned to look at him.

"Where are we heading?" Mhykol tried to make his voice as casual as possible. From the look on Octavian's face, it didn't work. The boy grinned at him wryly, scratching at the back of his head with one hand. To Mhykol's surprise, the boy looked almost apologetic.

"Still don't trust me, huh?"

Mhykol turned his face to look at the boy, though he kept walking as he did. "No; but that's not why I'm asking. I'm just interested."

Octavian nodded slightly, his brown eyes flashing in the dim light. In that moment, the boy reminded Mhykol strikingly of Walker, wild and fierce. "I'm thinking I'll show you Fighters Clearing, Sun Rock, and probably the Dark Woodlands. Fighters Clearing's the closest, and has the lowest level monsters, so we'll head there first. To be honest, even I struggle with some of the higher level monsters in Dark Woodlands, so we'll wait a while before going there. Then, maybe, if you're good, we'll head over to the World Boss. I've got a friend who lives there that I think you'd like."

Mhykol fell back slightly, leaving the smaller boy to lead them. Ten minutes of hard walking later, they arrived at the clearing. Mhykol knew it instantly. The grass suddenly seemed greener, the needles on the trees sharper, more vibrant. The sky stretched above them as if Mhykol was looking at it through a fish-eye lens, like a flat grey disk.

"Alright, here we are." Octavian stepped into the clearing confidently. Looking over the boy's shoulder, Mhykol frowned. The clearing was empty.

"Where are the monsters?"

Octavian looked back at them with a smile, his small scythe-like knives suddenly spinning through his fingers. "Oh they're here. Walk a few steps forwards."

Taking a deep breath, Mhykol decided that he would trust the boy. It wasn't so much that he didn't think that Octavian would betray them, as that he simply liked the irrepressible boy. Besides that, Mhykol had seen first hand just how strong the boy was and even is he wouldn't admit it publicly, he knew that Octavian could have killed them all easily. He really had no reason to keep them alive, that Mhykol knew, and every reason to kill them. Yet, he hadn't. Mhykol thought that for that, the boy deserved a little bit of his trust. Stepping forwards, Mhykol gasped.

It was like jumping into a cold lake. An invisible force passed over his skin, causing his breath to catch in his lungs. It was thinner than paper, Mhykol felt, but it traced every inch of his body. It reminded him of the cold sixteen years ago, bitter and terrible. And then it was gone, and Mhykol stumbled forwards, out of the barrier. Octavian caught him gently, pressing one hand to his chest.

"Heh, you did better than I did my first time." The boy's voice was like a proud father, and Mhykol narrowed his grey-blue eyes at him threateningly.

And then Mhykol saw the monsters. There were four of them, each one pacing restlessly around the clearing. One was tall, with long arms and long legs. It had a narrow face, and it's massive teeth stuck out like a sharks, misshaped and twisted. It's enormous, milky eyes bulged from a flat, slimy face, giving Mhykol the impression of a deep sea creature. The other three monsters were identical. They stood near each other, black and ghostly. Translucent, misty tendrils curled from their bodies, but they walked like men. Each one carried a long sword, easily five feet long, but thin as a razor blade. As Mhykol gasped, they turned to face him. Their faces were blank skin, like an open canvas. Flawless black leather. All three made a hissing sound as they drew themselves up, stalking towards the two boys with a swinging walk.

"These things are Black Guardians. 45 Health, 60 Attack power. They're good for training between level 2 and 6 for the most part, though I moved to the Sun Rock at level 3." He raised his arm to point at the tall monster across the clearing. "And that ugly mother fucker over there, would be a Vampire. 200 health, 95 attack power. Don't let him hit you. It wouldn't be fatal, but..." The boy trailed off, leaving Mhykol very sure he didn't want the Vampire to touch him.

The first of the Black Guardians reached them, and both boys braced themselves as it raised it's long, thin blade. Mhykol darted forwards as it struck, rolling under the things arm and dragging his twin swords along it's body, just under the ribcage. The Black Guardian shrieked as it disappeared, dissolving into mist. As it did, two symbols appeared above its head. One was a golden circle, with the number 15 beside it, the other was a ball of pale green light with the number 92 beside it.

"The golden symbol is Ka." Octavian explained, and when Mhykol shot him a confused look, he sighed. "It's money, idiot. The green is, as I hope you could guess, experience. We call it Ba." Mhykol nodded in understanding.

The other two Black Guardians reached them at the same time. Instead of using their swords, as Mhykol would have expected, they lunged at Mhykol with their hands. Where their fingers should have been, metal claws raked towards his face. Stumbling back hurriedly, Mhykol felt something pass over him. Octavian hit the ground silently, knees bent, and hurtled into the creatures. His twin knives were like the claws of a miniature bear as he spun between the Black Guardians, sliding the thin metal scythes across their necks.

Behind him, Mhykol heard the rest of the group enter the clearing. Avery gasped slightly as she stepped through the invisible barrier.

As she did, the Vampire turned to look at them.

"Well shit." Octavian's voice wasn't worried, in fact it was glassy calm as he saw the Vampire turn. He did, however, move so that he was between the Vampire and the rest of the children. "Here it comes."

Mhykol braced himself. The Vampire opened it's mouth, the black hole gaping in it's leathery face, and screamed. The sound was like grass being dragged across Mhykol's skin, and he wanted to scream. His entire being seemed to vibrate in pain, even the blood pounding in his veins sent waves of agony through him. And then the pain ended, and the Vampire was in front of him. Mhykol raised both of his swords as the Vampire closed, one arm swinging towards him. The razor edge of his right sword sang as it slid through the creatures arm, which fell to the ground. The Vampire barely slowed, its other hands catching Mhykol a stinging blow across the head. Mhykol stumbled back, and someone stepped in front of him. To Mhykol's astonishment, it was Avery. The girls perfectly curled brown hair flew around her as her rapier danced out, flickering like the tongue of a snake. The Vampire watched the young girl with its milky, blind white eyes, tongue glistening in it's repulsive black mouth.

"Heya!" Avery yelled, dancing forwards. Her thing sword struck out quickly, and the Vampires other hand fell to the ground. Mhykol noticed that where the creatures black blood splashed or dripped over the green grass, it became grey and brittle, shattering like glass when Avery stepped on it.

"Activate Special Ability: Numbing Terror."

Avery's quiet voice rang out clearly in the nearly silent clearing. Suddenly, Mhykol struggled to breathe. Looking around, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but he suddenly felt as if he was teetering on the precipice of death. The hair on the nape of his neck and the small of his back stood up, feeling strange against the soft fabric of his shirt.

I have to get away from ... what? Mhykol twisted around, desperately trying to locate the source of his fear, but he couldn't. It was all consuming, and seemed to come from everywhere at once, but nowhere at all. In the side of his vision, he saw Avery walking towards the Vampire, but he ignored her. In the face of this fear, such a small evil as the Vampire seemed utterly insignificant.

The creature was frozen, it's massive eyes bulging in it's thin, insidious face. It didn't make a noise as the small girl's rapier edge took its head from its shoulders in a single whipping blow. As the creature dissintigrated into sand, which was blown away in the light wind, Mhykol's fear ebbed.

Gasping air, he looked at Avery with wide eyes.

"What was that?" His voice sounded breathy even to his ears, and the small girl smiled at him reassuringly.

"Numbing Terror. It's a special thieves ability. My apologies, mister, I didn't mean for it to rub off on you. It seems I'm still not quite strong enough to control it completely."

Mhykol saw Octavian regarding the shy girl with a new level of respect, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, the boy turned to face her.

"Avery, what level are you now?" His voice held a trace of misgiving. "You're the only one who's level is hidden from me here, which means you're stronger than I am. Isn't that right? Just who's been training you, Ave?"

The girl raised her eyes to meet Octavian's humbly, mumbling something under her breath. The boy put a hand to his ear, leaning down. Ave tilted her head, whispering something quietly in his ear. Mhykol watched in interest as the small boy's eyes widened, in something very akin to fear.

"Him?" Octavian's voice drew a thin line between grudging and respectful. "God, I hate that prick. He's nothing but a -" Halfway through the sentence, the boy froze, mouth still open. "He's here."

Avery nodded slightly, her pointed chin dipping to her collarbones. Her chocolate hair hung over her face, hiding her eyes from Mhykol's view, but Octavian's reaction was enough. Both of the children were perfectly still, heads tilted slightly to the east.

"He's gotten stronger."

"He's two levels higher than you." Avery's voice was flat, but Octavian smiled at her words.

"Good. That should make this interesting." He reached into his sleeves, and he drew his matching knives into the cool forest air. Morning sunlight played along their edges, making the silver steel glow like white fire.

"Who is it?" Rain's voice was trepidatious, and Octavian turned to her with a sly smile. One of his light brown eyes flickered quickly in a wink. Twirling his knives through his fingers playfully, he moved slightly closer to the rest of the group, leaning in secretly. This was Octavian at his finest, Mhykol could see.

"Avery's mentor, The High Lord Sam Herschel, Commanding Officer of the Knights of Justice, known as the Nightmare Prince. He is death with a name and a cute face, and unfortunately ..." Octavian trailed off with a sigh.
"My brother."