The sun was up and about quiet early that day, as it shone its glistening rays down onto the various homes, urging people to start that wonderful day. And as they shown their way through my bedroom window, I could do nothing else but rid myself from my slumber. It appears I wasn't the only one to be stirred awake by the golden caress of morning light, as once I opened my sleep burdened eyes, I was met with the gaze of gentle emerald green eyes.
And as I proceeded to open my eyes fully, I took my time to appreciate the gentle goddess like features that came with those tender eyes. Her lips, soft and rosy, curled into a sweet smile that was brighter than the sun rays itself. Her snowy skin seemed to glow under the dawn sunlight. And her cheeks tainted red with gentle excitement as she greeted," Good Morning,"
A voice so tender and warm, as gentle as a mother's lullaby, enough to lull me back to sleep but that would prevent me from appreciating this other worldly beauty.
"Morning to you as well, my beautiful starlace," I said as I cupped her cheeks in my palm and stroked it ever so lightly. She leaned in closer to my touch as she let out a warm summer giggle.
"So early in the morning and you already proceed to praise me with that devilish tongue of yours," She responded cheekily.
"Well can you blame me. In the presence of such beauty, one cannot help himself." I say with a sly grin as I lean in closer planning to praise her with my tongue once more but in a more physical way. But I suddenly felt a hand on my chest pull me away.
"Calm yourself now my dear. I may be your wife but I'll be damned if I let you close to me whilst your mouth smells like troll's sweat." She said in a sly tone as she pulled away even more. I put on a sad needy face for her but she simply giggled before facing away from me. "That sad face shall not work on me," she said as she showed me her back. But I'm not a man to give up so easily, I've tamed wolves and beasts before, this one will not prove a challenge to me now .
I decide to get closer as I put my hand round her waist, and whispered softly in her ear," You dare leave a man so dejected.....at such an early hour no less," I trailed gentle kisses along her neck as I waited for her to take the bait and finally fall into my trap but ooh was I so wrong. With no hesitation at all she pulled away and even went as far as to leave the warm safety of our bed.
"Such a Stubborn Hag," I sigh out begrudgingly under my breath. But it appears her ears were sharper than I thought as she stared daggers back at me and asked. "What was that, Jason?". Her gaze was viscous and deadly. It surprised me how this woman was capable of switching from a gentle goddess to a vile beast only my shadows can hide in mere seconds.
"I said such a stunning heart.....umm....that you have such a stunning heart," I said in quick recovery as I hoped deep inside she'd fall for it. The woman stared at me a couple more minutes, this time with an eyebrow raised, my heartbeat doing the best it can to rid the room of silence. She giggled slightly and turned back away from me. I sighed in relief, I knew she saw through that tomfoolery and knew what I said but I guess my unbeaten charm tamed her after all, that or she simply granted mercy.
She had made her way to the window that was next to our bed and stood there as she stared outside. I on the other hand did my best to get out of bed, I should start preparing to go to the courtyard, the king summoned all the royal knights to be gathered there, and it would be awfully wrong for the captain himself to be late.
"Jason..." she called from the window seal, in an eerily odd tone, her back still faced towards me. "Yes?" I answered back.
"You said you'd always save me. Be there when I need you, keep me safe, be my HERO," she said in a complete change of topic and with a strange straight tone.
"O.....of...course, my love but where is this coming from," I say concerned as I try to get close to her. But as I tried to get closer to her, she seemed to be going further and further as if the room was getting bigger.
"Then why did you leave me? Left me to Them?!" she said her voice seeming to echo away from me.
"I didn't. I would never." I said as I now started running towards her, but she seemed to be getting further and further.
"LIAR?!" she yelled her voice coming out as a demonic screech. "You left us all!!!!! David, Stacy and everyone else!!!!!You are no hero!!!!" she yelled even more, the house getting darker and trembling more. The window she stood at lost the beautiful sun rays and glowed a bloody red, her figure getting further and further away from me.
"I'd never do that.....I'd save you no matter....." Just then the scenery changed, a large group of people were gathered around something. The people were enraged, with torches and pitchforks in hand. Their faces weren't recognizable but what they were saying was clear. "KILL THE WITCH!!!KILL THE WITCH!!!"
This peeked my intrigue and I had to find out what was happening. And that's when I caught sight of what was happening. At the middle of the crowd was a wooden structure.....a guillotine. Right next to it was an executioner dressed in full black with only his eyes and calloused hands being visible, hands that were clutched tightly to a hemp rope. The rope was connected to the blade which was held at the top of the tall frame of the deadly contraption. The unfortunate soul who was latched to the machine had her head laid low, but I could recognize that flowing blonde hair from anywhere. I instantly started rushing through the crowd, pushing everyone out my path. I heard insults and curses thrown at me but all my senses were on the executioner's calloused hands as they let go of the rope, leaving the rest to gravity.
The steel blade reflected light into my eyes ,as if to mock me, as it made its inevitable decent. I turned my focus back to the woman and all i was met with was her gentle warm smile, as if none was this was happening and she muttered, "MY HERO....." The blade finally made contact with her head as the log finally split open.
I watched as each halved piece of wood fell onto the ground once my axe struck through the piece of bark. I leaned into the swing and simply bent down and greatly tried to catch my breath. Drops of sweat fell from my head and onto the forest ground.
That dream again.....why? why can't I just forget everything and move on....I breathed out a sigh of exasperation and stood up straight.
"You took everything from me. What more do you want?!" I yell up at the glazing sun which only glared back its blazing rays at me, giving me a clear answer of what the universe had to say about my question.
The silence was greater than ever and it was just a reminder of how empty my life is right now. I clutched my axe tightly as a melodic tune of her voice rang in my eyes, it wasn't nostalgic but simply insulting and in a burst of rage I threw the axe at a nearby tree, but I threw it with such a lose of control, the axe burst right through the tree and proceeded to just burst through even more, bringing some of them down with it.
That axe reminded me just how strong I regrettably was, a strength meant to be a so called herald of hope for people. What a joke!! People don't deserve hope, no one does, it's just a selfish distraction for the inevitable.
And as I said this an image of the boy from a couple of weeks ago came to mind, he had hope in me, hope his village could be saved but why? Even if I helped, what was done was done. Fate doesn't care who you are and never will. Some would say I did the wrong thing but did I? He's with family now isn't he? Isn't that what he wanted from the beginning?
Besides with them gone, I was now completely alone, just how they wanted. I could die a miserable lonely death just as many curse that day, because at the end of the day just as was the Imperial knight's motto said; "The people of the Kingdom come first,".
I decided to simply let the axe go and picked the few logs I had cut up, I was frankly just too mentally exhausted to keep on going. I simply used a rope I had on me and tied up the logs before hobbling them up over my shoulder and made my way back up the hill back to my little cottage. The walk across the forest was more silent than ever, with only morning birds serenading the bleak morning with their merry chirps. At one point even spotted a couple of hatchlings squeak uncontrollably as their mother purposefully kicked them out the nest one by one.....naturalselection.....only the strongest survive, a law prevalent across all creatures, from the smallest of creatures to the.....I stared back down at the old village. Smoke was still emitting from some of the buildings. Out of the five hatchlings only one of them was able not to meet its death on the forest earth, and it gently glided its way to a nearby branch. It chirped in excitement of it's succeeded survival, but its joy was short lived as a red tailed hawk swooped down and grabbed the hatchling before soaring away to enjoy its fresh meal. The mother bird watched all this and did nothing, why should it, once out the next, those birds weren't hers but belonged to the world and it simply flew off to go by its day as usual....
I made it back to my cottage and slipped the timber down next to my stockpile that I stationed behind my home. With winter coming soon, I had to keep warm as best as I could. I slipped my shoes off as I made my way inside. In the entrance hall, I took off my coat and hanged it on lycan skull's fang, it belonged to one of the many I took out on my property, it seemed only fair to find use for it.
One more step inside and I froze, that pressure, it was slight but I felt it. Someone was here, someone who wasn't meant to be here. I coated my hand in shadow energy and readied myself as I slowly made my way further inside. At the fireplace in the corner right in front of it stood a hooded figure. He stood motionless beneath a slightly damaged dark green hood. I couldn't see his face but, his aura, it was eerily familiar.
"Never took you as the cottage type, Jason" He's voice though coated with hints of aging, I could tell it was him.
"Arthur," I said as I lowered my guard and he turned around. He proceeded to take off his cowl and true, it was him. His face may have changed a bit but his eyes was the same as usual.
"I expected you to react better to seeing me, old pal." He said with a pained smile. " I mean it's not like I've been looking for you for ten years! Only to realize you've been hiding here , chopping wood and keeping cozy and warm." he added accentuating each sentence by inching closer and closer to me.
"I know how you feel but I did it....." He instantly cut me off as he shoved me back. "Bullshit!!!!You don't know shit about me. Your days of acting like some wise ass mentor of mine are over. You betrayed everyone and left even without a word. Our so called hero?" He said this time his flamish aura getting hotter and hotter as he yelled.
I simply stood there and looked at him. "Look Arthur you clearly aren't thinking soundly right now and I don't want to talk about the past. I'd love to forget it." I said to him trying my best to keep calm. In response his fiery aura got hotter and hotter, to a point some of the hairs on my head coiled in on themselves from the heat. But suddenly it stopped and he sighed.
"You're right. You must have had your reasons. I just didn't want believe my dear friend and commander could have done such." He said as he straightened my shirt and looked at me. "I should go, but I hope one day you can tell me the truth.....commander." he said as he parted my shoulder before walking out. Arthur was a stubborn lad with how I remember, it seems the years have changed him.
The hooded figure walked out of Jason's cottage and made his way towards the forest but once he took a couple steps away from the cottage, he stopped and stared down before mumbling something to himself," Commander...tsk...you don't even deserve to be called that, you wretched monster. Hero my ass! All you are is a coward and an enemy to the kingdom," Arthur proceeded to turn back and look at cottage and with a simple psychotic chuckle muttered, "Ignite,"
Inside the cottage, Jason was holding onto his old torn family picture, he caressed the face of his wife but right under his fingers a sigil appeared . He frantically pulled his head up and caught sight of numerous sigils that were around his house all charging up. And before he could even move they all went off.
The cottage went up in a fiery blazing explosion, with pieces of wood being blasted all over. Flames were devouring the structure with violent hunger as Arthur simply stood in front of it, the heat not fazing him at all.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO TALK?! MY COMMANDER DIED A LONG WHILE AGO IN THAT CAVE. I'M HERE TO DEAL WITH A CRIMINAL AND I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW HAPPY I AM TO HAVE THIS PLEASURE!" Arthur yelled at the flames as they crackled and glowed as if to show Arthur's rage.
But as if to answer him a violent dark aura started eating the flames from the inside a it got larger and larger and in the middle of it all stood a burnt Jason who simply slouched down as if to moan the destroyed building, and with no warning , multiple shadow tentacles erupted from his back as he stood up. The tentacles swayed close to him like hounds simply waiting for the command to kill.
Arthur made a half smile as he took off the robe, he cracked his knuckles and locked eyes with the shadow being who was surrounded in a field of flames." Just like old times," Arthur said as blue flames coiled around his frame increasing his power immensely. Wings of fire unfurled behind him, vast and ethereal, crackling with untamed energy.
Phoenix ascension: Arthur no longer uses earth's usual mana to make his flames but instead taps into the universal mana pool, making his flames more powerful by tenfold.
Arthur had a wide vicious grin that had slight specks of flames at the corner of his mouth. He used his new-gained wings soar up in the air before making a powerful dive towards Jason...