"Don't fight! It won't kill you if you don't fight!"
-Heard by an army major on number 1539. Note: Took place during the third war's dismantilization.
Green sat down with his back resting against a tree, the jerky man had his back against the same tree. Despite his age—Green had to admit he was fairly agile. They had been half-sprinting for a good five minutes and the man was only slightly winded.
"You got quite the stamina, you know that," the man said.
"I think you're just getting old," Green replied.
The man smiled, "Yeah I suppose so, I actually questioned whether or not I should enter this thing."
"You've done this before?" Green asked.
"Yup, I won these things several times back in my youth," the man replied. "Joshua."
Green turned his head.
"My name," Joshua replied, "I never introduced myself."
The man stuck out a hand—Green obliged—shaking his hand. "Green."
Joshua sat back against the tree again. "Green huh? That's an odd name."
"I could argue the same for yours," Green replied.
Joshua chuckled, "yeah, I suppose so. You got a plan? Or did you make an old man run for nothin?"
"I wanted to get as much distance from us and them as possible." Green replied. "It gives us a chance to scope out the area."
Joshua nodded, "smart. But this forest is too big to get a "scope" of."
"Not entirely," Green said, pointing forward. "Nature is often a pattern, on our way here I got intel on how this forest is constructed."
"Constructed?" Joshua questioned, "this is a forest. You talk like man built this."
"In a way they did," Green replied. "Several areas around here have nothing but stumps. That's something man did, but they rarely understand what cutting a few trees does.
"That aside, this forest is constructed with few vines and bushes, which makes the tree trunks thicker than normal. There is the occasional stone, which suggests glacial remnants or an old farm. Plus the ground here is softer than normal. It's got good soil."
"Stones boy, you got all that by running?" Joshua asked.
"I just pay attention to detail, it's not that hard." Green replied.
"I beg to differ," Joshua argued.
Green moved to stand, "regardless I think we should—"
"Sit down," Joshua grabbed his padding and forced him down.
A split second later, a bullet whizzed by right where Green's head had been.
"I thought you paid attention to detail?" Joshua said.
"I can't see a sniper," Green argued, "but thank you."
Green got up in a crouch, then started walking away and gestured for Joshua to follow.
Joshua nodded, "You got a bounty on your head or something?"
Green dodged the question. "I technically caused a man's death in the first round. I think a few people knew him."
You did?" Joshua said, slightly amused. "Which one?"
"The man that fell," Green answered.
"That was you huh?" Joshua asked, Green nodded. "How'd you get him?"
Green paused next to a tree, "do you really think it's a good time to be discussing this?"
"Yes," Joshua replied quickly. Green raised an eyebrow, "it's interesting. Plus it seems you gave these people a good reason to see you dead?"
"How so?" Green asked.
"The man you killed was Keeth," Joshua answered. "He had two wives and six kids, and was the best bounty hunter this place had."
Green opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself. The man didn't seem all that good—if he was, he would have shot Green with a "misfire" before going after him.
"He wasn't the best because of his skill," Joshua continued, "but because he was a pinch hunter. Plus he was related to quite a few people in power."
Great, Green thought. A pinch hunter were the people who went after the smallest bounties.
While others like Green traveled and only took the large bounties. Pinch hunters stayed in one place and took on the bounties that affected the people directly.
Some were dangerous, some weren't. They were things like helping law enforcement to find a killer or kidnapper. Or killing a wild animal that made it dangerous for children to play outside. They were essentially the city or town's personal care taker.
I've made too many enemies, Green thought, then turned to Joshua. "What do you think of this?"
Joshua narrowed his eyes. "That depends on your answer—how did you kill him?"
"I didn't." Green retorted. "I was heading for a stone when he grabbed onto the same chain as me. He tried to shove me off, and when he finally got me loose, I held onto him. He was the one who let go. We both fell, and I kicked off of him to reach another chain."
Joshua nodded before suddenly breaking into a sprint. Green followed, but gunshots rang out behind him. Alright, he thought. Sliding his feet to maintain momentum, he spun sharply—executing a precise one-eighty—and charged toward the gunfire.
The shooter spotted him and fired again. Green raised his arm to his forehead, letting the padding absorb the hit. He reached the man, and something in his face made a thrill spark in Green's chest.
The man's eyes widened—he hadn't expected Green to predict where he'd shoot. Headshots were off limits after all.
Without hesitation, Green struck, using Kaisher to send the man's chin snapping upward, knocking him out cold. He swiftly snatched the pendant from the man's upper arm and secured it around his wrist. One down, he thought.
Then, his ears picked up something. He looked up and jumped, grabbing hold of a tree branch and pulling himself up. From his vantage point, he spotted a group of three, moving cautiously about a dozen paces away.
Green fiddled with his pistol, he should shoot, but he only had a certain amount of bullets and he doubted his team would give him more. If these men are out to kill me, it won't matter whether or not I hit areas for disqualification, Green thought.
Nodding to himself, Green aimed. He would hit their wrists. Without their guns, they should be easy to deal with. Hopefully.
He had grown sloppy, he had underestimated a great number of people and had ended up regretting it. This time he would expect these men to be experts in hand to hand combat. Green almost pulled the trigger, but paused when he heard a gunshot.
One of the three men got hit in the chest, the other immediately went on the defensive, but they were shot a moment later as well.
Green followed the origin of the shots, and spotted a familiar face. It was Joshua. Green jumped down, then bolted the men for the pendants. He hadn't seen anyone else around, and it was better for them to not waste any time.
Favoring his shoulder wound, he kicked one man's chin upward, knocking him unconscious. By the time the other two got their guns out Green shot one, dropped the gun and palmed the other's gut with his now free hand, forcing him down.
Grabbing his pendant, Green let his legs give way as a bullet whizzed past where his head had been. He looked to the left and saw Joshua running at him with the gun raised to shoot.
Flame it, Green thought, then rolled backwards, picking up the gun and shot the first man in the chest. The one he palmed however, was already on him, he had left his gun behind and had tackled him.
They struggled, and the man's hands slowly settled on Green's neck, trying to strangle him. His shoulder screamed at being used too early after treatment, and Joshua would be here any moment now. Not to mention the first man was still conscious.
Green kneed the man on top of him in the stomach. But the man just grunted and continued his struggle.
Green jabbed him here and there while keeping him from his throat. He was trained in Kaisher, it was one of the best in terms of hand to hand combat. But when it came to wrestling it was practically useless.
Green did know the basics when it came to wrestling, which was probably the only reason he could fend his opponent off as long as he could. But he wasn't a pro.
The man didn't seem like one either, but that didn't stop him from winning. He was getting closer to Green's neck.
Green looked up to see the self satisfied Joshua staring down at him. He wasn't helping either Green nor the man on top of him, he likely didn't see the need to. Green's blood began to boil.
He had never really trusted Joshua fully, but he had let himself think him a temporary ally.
Green growled in frustration, but the third man had gotten to his throat, making the growl raspy. Despite this he continued to struggle, clenching his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Take care! Keep an eye out and remember to win this thing ok!?" Green's eyes shot open. Carrie's words replayed in his head.
He should have buried those, he should have ignored them. He didn't, and that frustrated him as much or more than Joshua. His consciousness was already slipping, and the hands tightened, causing Green's grip to weaken.
I'm going to die here, rather than terrify him however, the thought gave him comfort. And a weak smile formed on his face as he let his eyes rest. He felt himself go—he felt himself sink—and when he opened his eyes, darkness greeted him.
I died, Green thought, and I'm falling. He wasn't sure how he could feel it, he just knew that he was. I'm falling in the abyss, I guess those screams will greet me there.
He could hear them already. Screams of men and women.
"Go ahead," Green said, "Take my soul if you wish."
He smiled, slowly drifting further down.
"I can finally rest," Green said to himself.
He floated for several minutes, assuming he would eventually fall into the fires of hell, but it was taking longer than he expected.
Then his mind paused when he felt something. A beat. His smile turned to a frown when he heard it again, then again. My heart, Green thought, I have a heartbeat after death?
He felt it pulse throughout his entire body now. His chest, throat, legs, arms, even his fingers could feel the beat.
It was cold, and he felt the outside. He was sinking, but his instinct told him he could climb back up. It feels like I'm in thick water. Green paused at the thought. I'm not dead, I'm inside the shadows.
The screams he heard before became muffled, then faded away entirely. He looked at his hands. He had a phantom form, but he could feel his nerves playing with energy. Energy an elf shouldn't have.
The feeling was familiar to him, it felt the same as when he had eaten the War Shadow's core. Green looked up, then moved to climb out of the earth.
He came out several paces away from the men. And for one reason or another, the padding he had on was where he had been before entering the shadows. He was wearing his regular tight black shirt and baggy ashen-gray pants.
Joshua, and the others turned to look at him. Their faces showed utter confusion, one's jaw was even hanging open slightly. Green stood up and stared at them, equally confused. A sense of euphoria surged inside him, and his mouth gapped into a floozy grin.
His body felt different, like it was made of energy. He felt the urge to use it, to experiment with this power. A part of him knew he shouldn't, he had sworn to never use his powers again.
"But this was not something I was born with," Green whispered to himself.
This was not something from his past, this was something he had now. He took a step forward, then bolted. The men panicked the moment he did—as if a wild beast started charging.
Joshua fired his gun, but Green dropped before he pulled the trigger. His body shot up from the ground when he touched an area where the sun came through the trees. He took a step forward, then uppercut Joshua's chin, knocking him unconscious.
The first man swung, and Green palmed the man's fist away, then immediately went for his chest, putting his full weight behind the thrust.
The first man was knocked away, and Green felt the other grab him under his arms. Green could have dropped his weight and threw the man over his shoulder. But he sunk into the ground and appeared behind him.
And in true Kaisher fashion, Green palmed the back of his head, then kicked the man just above the kneecap with his shin.
The man fell, and Green looked up to the first man running away, with his pendant on the floor. Green knocked out the third man, then picked up the pendants, including Joahua's.
He hated his powers. And despite the fact that what he had now was a pulx, he felt it to be separate. The power felt new—untainted by the deaths. The fact that he could use this power without a chant meant that it had come from the War Shadows.
He wasn't sure how or why, and he intended to get an explanation. Whether from someone else or his own research—he would find answers. But for now he simply grinned in satisfaction.
Green walked out of the forest. The time had run out and when he looked up he gave a quick count, he found himself to be one of the last ones to come out.
A hush fell suddenly the moment Green was spotted by the crowd. A terrible, silent vacuum. Then, a single gasp. A wave of absolute disbelief hit them. It was a tangible thing, a force.
"Forty-six?" Someone in the front counted, the word was a raw whisper. It carried across the clearing.
Other whispers were made, though not all had something to do with the pedants. Green could swear he heard a click of the tongue, and a "why is he still alive?"
Nevertheless, most eyes were wide. Some were even filled with disbelief. And awe. They followed the impossible line of silver reflecting sunlight.
Up Green's forearms. Each pendant hummed a silent energy.
The euphoria that Green had felt before had run dry, and he was now forcing indifference in his actions. He had used pulx, he had used his powers.
Whether or not it had been new, whether or not it was tainted, the fact was that he'd used power.
He shook his head, barring the guilt he felt, though he wasn't sure whether or not he should consider his action as breaking his vow. For now he discarded the thought, and moved to turn in his pendants.
"Well that's quite the hall you got there," the official said, and Green blinked when she spoke. She sounded like a child, though she was probably in her late twenties.
Green handed over the pendants, feeling their weight disappear from his arms as the official counted each one. Green's ear visibly twitched when he heard the whispers continue to ripple through the crowd.
Sixty-three people had entered this competition, twenty-one per team. With forty-six Green had to have taken the pendant of every single person on adjacent teams.
Or take a few from his own.
The other members of the red team had done worse than Green thought. He had thought that the team with the most points in the last round would have come out on top—but cold logic had told him otherwise.
It was in fact their skill that played against them as the yellow and blue team had teamed up against the red—seeing them as the greater threat.
The red team still won however. Along with Green were four others. One being the geezer's grandson from the gun store.
Green turned in his gun, then found his way to the waiting area. When he looked up he found the other contestants narrowing their eyes. They already hated him. So he let himself ignore their glares.
He sat on the bleachers, untying the tunic and inspecting the damage. It wasn't looking too good. He undid and replaced the stitches, and bandaged it back up.
When he finished, he spotted Joshua in the corner of his eye, shuffling further away from him. Green didn't bother looking his way, it was hard for Green to hate the man.
Sure he tried to have him killed, but that was the life of a bounty hunter. People tried to kill you. It wasn't personal.
That was how Green normally thought. But Joshua's reason was more likely to be personal than not.
"What was your reason?" Green asked, causing Joshua to flinch.
Green shouldn't care for the reason, he knew that logicily. But his emotions had often contradicted logic, he controlled that for the most part but the snow ball had already begun rolling.
Joshua didn't answer so Green asked him again, "Why did you try to kill me? Were you close with the man that fell with me?"
"Pff," Joshua retorted. "Whether or not I was doesn't mean anything, you've got a bounty on your head don't ya?"
They were close then, Green thought, he's just using the bounty as an excuse. While there was no doubt he was after the bounty, Joshua wanted revenge.
"I didn't kill him." Green said.
"And I didn't try to kill you," Joshua replied.
Green opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. Green hadn't shoved the man he fell with off, but he had been the direct cause. On the other side, Joshua hadn't tried to kill him, he just didn't care to help Green after distracting him.
What's the difference? Green asked himself. He'd taken so many lives. He should know shouldn't he? Shouldn't he know the difference between accidental and intentional murder? That was the only difference between the two situations.
But Green couldn't help but feel wrong about that. What did it matter whether or not it had been intentional, murder was murder. Green's eyes widened, I'm growing emotional, Green thought.
The thought profoundly disturbed him. He shouldn't be emotional, emotions misguided him, emotions gripped people like him, threatening to break them.
Green had been trained to forget emotion, to work without distractions, and he'd put that training to good use.
When had he started to care? When had he started to question his actions, and judge with emotions he should have never listened to?
Green felt something click, felt his mind reset. The confusion he felt on the situation, the lump in his throat that grew whenever he thought of the past few days subsided.
He felt his thoughts shift back into place, felt his attachments go, he felt the comforting hatred for himself settle. The knowledge that his life didn't matter placed itself back in his mind.
All's that mattered were the vows he'd made to himself, the promises that made him who he was.
"It makes so much sense," Green whispered to himself.
Why should he care why that man had tried to kill him? People tried to kill you, it was a part of life. Why should he care whether or not he caused the other man's death? People died around him all the time, and many of those deaths were his own doing.
What was one more?
Green nodded to himself, then sat back. He had a job to return a girl to her home, this competition would provide him the most efficient way to do that. Of course he'd made the promise to let her see part of the world first.
He would keep his promises. He would keep to his vows. And he would keep his goals.