Marcus…
Sunlight poured in from the kitchen windows and his eyelids squinted as he woke up and found himself lying on the kitchen floor.
“How…,” he mumbled to himself as he tried to remember why he was sleeping on the floor.
He looked over to his right and noticed the bottle of scotch and two empty glasses.
“Oh…”
He then turned his head to look to the left of him and found Selene lying asleep on the floor next to him. Most of her face was hidden underneath her crazily strewn hair. It swayed ever so slightly as her breathing caused it to sway slightly.
He got to his feet and had to hold onto the counter to keep himself from falling over.
He looked down at Selene and figured that it must be uncomfortable to be asleep on the rough floor.
He knelt down and gently put his arms under her to carry her over to the couch, taking care not to wake her up.
As he walked her over, her head turned and nuzzled against his chest. Before setting her down like he had intended, he found himself staring at her.
He shook his head to keep himself from getting lost in thought and set her down. He then pulled the blanket over her and turned around.
Just as he was about to walk away and leave her alone to sleep in peace, he felt her hand gripping the end of his shirt.
He looked back at her and saw that her eyes were still closed, yet she was holding onto his shirt.
Carefully, he unfurled her fingers and gave her a pillow to hold onto before he left to make some coffee.
Today was his day to fight in the contest, but he wasn’t really sure if he was ready. He felt uneasy about how today’s match will go, especially since it will be his first major showing of strength in such a public setting.
Either way, there were expectations put on him to see this through so he had to move forward whether he liked it or not.
The smell of coffee in the pot must have been enough to wake Selene up as she rose up from the couch and turned to look at him with tired eyes.
He raised his coffee mug to her as he said, “Mornin’.”
“Good morning…,” she groaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
Her eyes then drifted over to the window and she squinted before asking, “What...what day is it?”
“July 7th,” he answered and she looked at him like she didn’t understand.
“Oh...right. Its the 9th day of the 13th month. Its difficult getting used to the 24 month calendar system and not having names for each month,” he said absentmindedly as he took a sip of coffee.
She was silent for a moment, as if deep in thought when she said, “Today is the day you fight, isn’t it?”
He looked down at his coffee mug and spun the fluid inside as he said, “Yeah...it is.”
“You don’t seem excited about it.”
“I’m not. For some reason, I feel uneasy about today. It get the feeling like I shouldn’t go to the arena today. As if I have something bad waiting for me there.”
Selene scoffed as she said, “You’ve faced down against Artemis and Malthael in battle and survived. I doubt that your first match will be that bad.”
“I’m not worried about whether or not I’ll win. Its...its something else. I just have a bad feeling about this,” he said as he finished his coffee and rinsed the mug out in the sink.
“If you really feel that way, then what is stopping you from refusing to participate?” she asked.
“Three things actually. One, my deal with Ruvick. If I win, he’ll tell me everything about him, myself, and what he intends to do with me and anyone close to me. Two, my deal with Moyako. If she wins, then I have to agree to find a way back to Terra and I don’t want to go back since...since there is nothing worth coming back for. And three, the Kingdom of Forrosa is invested in me. If I refuse to participate, then that could ruin my opportunities at providing for Thalia financially.”
“If that’s really the case, then why do you look so nervous?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I just have this strange feeling that something is trying to pull me back to my old world despite my efforts to let go of it. I think that whatever is waiting for me in this first match is no different.”
“That reminds me, do you know who your first opponent is?” she asked.
“I ran off with Thalia while Dean was reading off the names so I never got to hear who I would be facing against. Although, I did hear some rumors lately that the person has a title. He goes by ‘The Sword of Rain’.”
“Oh! I’ve heard of him! He’s a warrior who is famous for bringing down the Lich King of Verglas and also fought in the Mordrinite War! He’s not as famous as the Nøkkran Assassins, but he is a very powerful and well respected man.”
“Do you remember what his name is?” he asked.
“Uh...no. My mind is drawing a blank. I think he’s named after a kind of rock, but I don’t remember what,” she said and Marcus raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
“A famous warrior with a title that suggest he controls water but named after a rock? I guess I’ve heard of stranger things,” he said as he shrugged.
He tried to hide the stress that he was feeling, but he could tell that Selene was seeing through all of it.
“Marcus…, you’ve already helped me to adjust to everything I’m going through, even if I haven’t yet come to terms with everything quite yet, you’ve helped take the burden off my shoulders, if for a moment. I can tell something is bothering you, but you don’t need to put it into words if it makes you uncomfortable. If you ever need my help, all you need do is ask,” she said gently.
“In that case, whenever I feel down, I’ll be sure to let you know,” he lied. He had no intention of placing his burdens on others. Although…, if she wanted to offer him comfort, who was he to refuse her offer.
He didn’t need someone to help him solve his problems; rather, all he needed was someone to ease the feeling of stress and to give him the motivation to keep going forward.
“Selene?”
Her eyes perked up as she was addressed directly, “Yes?”
“I’ll be sure to call on you when things get too difficult for me to handle alone. Can I depend on you?”
She smiled as she said, “Of course.”
Layla…
Layla Vulcara hailed from a small village to the south of the town of Lunaas. It was barely more than a collection of farm hands and cattle ranchers meant to provide food for the larger cities in the Duranell Kingdom.
Her family had originally hailed from the blacksmith town of Vulcan in the Brunhildt Kingdom but fled from it during the second Amazonian war.
Very few people had even heard of her village’s name as there were already so many farming villages that made up the massive expanse of farmland within the Duranell kingdom.
Its name was Siligo, and she was the only one who managed to walk away from her home alive when Malthael’s flames tore through it and left a scar upon the land. Not a single trace of her home remained, and what replaced it instead was a canyon, scorched black by the Archdragon’s breath.
When she arrived in Lycenea, the capital city of Duranell, she heard of the great warrior who had taken down the awful dragon.
Marcus Wright was his name.
A man who could fight gods and beasts with the power to raze entire kingdoms to ashes in a single night.
It was their fight, and his incompetence that caused the dragon’s breath to make its way to her home and destroy everything and everyone she loved.
With Layla’s Amaskian blood coursing through her, the blood of Dagon, she was certain that she could have killed that dragon without resulting in any needless deaths.
Selene as well shared the blame, as she too was fighting the dragon, although in a new human form.
But even before the dragon had fallen during the Mordrinite War, it was because of her and her father refusing to participate in the battle against the dragon that so many had died.
However, as much as she wanted to take her anger, to take all her wrath upon that woman, she did not think herself foolish enough to fight an abomination like herself.
Although, with Marcus participating in this year’s contest, perhaps she will be able to deliver unto him a humiliating defeat at her hands.
Cole…
Today was the day…
The day that he had been waiting seventy years for.
For the moment that he could confront the man who had caused him so much misery before he came to this world.
With his sword and with all his strength, Cole, the Sword of Rain would fight tooth and nail to force the answers out of Marcus.
He would finally learn the truth as to why Marcus The Enderman murdered his parents right in front of him.