Reclaiming A Life: Chapter 1

“You know, when I said sample the local cuisine this isn’t what I meant.”

“You didn’t give him guidelines.”

“How was I to know he’d spend it at the first kiosk he saw.”

“Hey I can hear you you know.”

“We’re very aware Semperius. I can’t complain about your choice, these are good. Bagboy is just being a stick in the mud.”

“A stick in the. Fine. I will eat in silence.”

“Thank you. Something we can all agree on.”

In the back streets of Dekourt, a city in Noria the trio walked down one side of the street. People were slummed out in the dark of the night passed out drunk, living homeless, or begging for scraps. The sky above was covered in clouds despite it being late in the afternoon but it was overcast like dusk. No one had lit any torches to help things either. The city was big and was specifically positioned on the edge of the country. It was one of the only cities near the massive coast.

The tallest of them seemed to be leading. He had dark brown hair, done up in a high but short ponytail. He strong molded features onto his brown skin with sharp light brown eyes. He wore a tight black sleeveless shirt and grey pants tucked into dark boots. Across his shoulders was a thick red coat, with black fur around the wrist and neck.

Tearing a chunk of overcooked and heavily seasoned meat off a skewer he all but glared at his companion with dark red eyes. “Do you still have the picture of the kid bagboy?”

Ignoring the nickname, he reached a gloved hand into his bag at his hip. He wore a black double buttoned up shirt, burgundy jacket on atop it, white slacks, and reasonable brown shoes polished once upon a time but now horribly ruined by sea salt. He had sharp features, almost gaunt, in a way on his tanned skin. Short blonde hair was hidden behind a wide brimmed hat and golden rimmed red glances rested on his face.

“I have a name Alistair,” he replied walking with a subtle limp and leaning on his cane.

“Yeah Alistair. John has a name.” That was their third companion rounding out the trio. A pale man with a recently shaved bald head. A face that looked both suspicious and yet unassuming. He wore a bright red sleeveless tunic, a darker orange sash around his belt, yellow pants and simple brown shoes. However, what made him stand out even more was the dark red cape behind his back, and the golden metal glove with claws protruding from the knuckles.

In his free hand however, were four skewers that he was rotating between for consumption. Alistair glanced at him, raising his eyebrow and tearing off one of his own separate chunks. “I’m aware that bagboys name is bagboy.”

Grunting in frustration, John shifted his skewer to his other hand he pulled out the scroll and it revealed a simple picture of a boy. He couldn’t have been older than eighteen. A scrawny faced kid with messy orange hair, brown skin, and green eyes. And yet despite things he sported a massive cocky grin and John wondered what this kid had done to be put on their radar.

“Is this kid really a threat to anyone?” John mused. He bit off a chunk of vegetables. “He looks at most annoying. Not dangerous.”

“Well put it this way,” Semperius said. “You look like a librarian. But you could probably kill most of us with a look. Or some weird magic tentacle thing.”

“This,” John paused thinking. “This is true.”

“So, what if this guy is like us. Some funky magic and shit and fucks us up.”

Alistair scoffed, tossing the cleared off stick across the ground. “I would love to see him try.”

John glanced at him, “Alistair you know we need this kid alive. We can’t have you killing another one.”

“I know why we’re here,” he said rolling his eyes.

“Hey if I kill this one we’ll all be at one,” Semperius mused.

Moving past that Alistair mused, “Where do we start? We’ve already been here three days.”

“The storm slowed us down yes. We can ask around. See if anyone’s seen this kid,” John folded his arms in thought. “Though we don’t even know if he’s even in this city.

Semperius shrugged, “At least we have the call instructions on what to do once we have the kid.”

Their path had taken them down to the square of the city. There was a statue of a man in the center of a fountain. He stood in full armor, a sword raised high to the air. Even looking at it the trio felt some sense of unease from it. The statue had been defaced, rusting, and bronzed but something about it looked like it was going to move. Fight them.

Though in their past they had been through something similar so nothing was up to chance. There was a person passed out on the fountain. Walking down a street opposite them was a trio of red armored soldiers. As they passed the fountain, one shoved the stranger into the fountain and the other two broke into laughter.

The trio reacted in their own ways as the soldiers came by. Alistair scowled fiercely and John grabbed Alistair’s arm knowing that he was about to needlessly attack the soldiers of a foreign country and get them into some sort of fight that they desperately did not need.

What neither of them accounted for was Semperius. With the cleaned off skewers, he tossed them away and then stuck his leg out. One of the soldiers walked right into his leg and tripped right over falling onto the ground in a heap of armor. Because of his sudden fall, he tripped up one of the others but the third had managed to avoid the tumble.

The trio fought their laughter and continued walking past the fountain. However, like they assumed, one of the guards pointed at them. “Hey stop where you’re going!”

Alistair glanced at the two of his companions, “They’re calling out to us. Can I?”

John let out a very exaggerated sigh, “I thought that we could start fresh in a new country and not be murder hobos this time.”

“Ha! Murder hobos,” Semperius chuckled. “That’s exactly what we are.”

“That’s not an answer,” Alistair said watching as the guard came closer raising an armored fist.

“Fine. What good is turning over a new leaf if it’s already soaked in blood. Just be quick about it. We’ve got a job to do.”

“With pleasure.”

He turned around on his heel and spread his arms whipping the coat back. The soldier stopped in front of him frozen on the spot. His mouth was open mid insult and threat but paused. Alistair stared down at the man and it was a small but swift transformation. The tilt of his smile into a sneer, the upraise of his nose into a flare, and his eyes turning a blood red.

Lowering his hands quickly he grabbed the hilts of a pair of weapons at his hips and drew them in one cross motion. A red X flashed across the man’s chest as the weapons carved through his armor. He didn’t even get a chance to cry out before he fell to the ground.

The other two soldiers had managed to stand again but they stared at Alistair with wide eyes. He turned both weapons in hand, one a short katana and the other a rapier with a thick cutting edge. But both weapons were accented red, coated in thick coagulated blood that caught the light.

Rotating both swords slowly he chuckled staring at the other two guards. Both stared at him with wide eyes and panicked backing away. “A Cerisan!”

“I thought they were a myth!”

“I’m not losing my life for this shit!”

They stumbled away and started to run leaving them behind in the square. “Oh, come on you cowards!” Alistair shouted. “At least give me a goddamn challenge!”

Frustrated he stabbed the katana into the body of the first guard. The blood from the katana sank into the body of the guard and he gurgled, his body writhing against the ground. And then his eyes flew open burning red. Jerking slowly the guard grunted and rolled to its feet and got off the ground.

The soldier stood at attention, holding the sword that he’d dropped after Alistair cut him. Resting one of his swords across his shoulder and letting the nonbloody one hang at his side he motioned to the square.

“Hey dead man,” Alastor asked and glanced at the corpse. It looked at him and then he waved his hand. There was no point talking to a corpse that couldn’t talk back. Not really. “Go fuck off around the fountain.”

It groaned and stumbled away as he sheathed both weapons and adjusted his coat. “You let them go?”

“They ran away.”

“But now they’re going to alert more guards,” John said indignantly.

“Well then why didn’t you stop them bag boy?” he cleaned his ear. “I killed one of them.”

John groaned leaning his head back. Pinching the bridge of his nose but he nodded, “Alright. Alright. Let’s just. Focus. We need to find the boy. And we have some time. Let’s split up. Cover more ground that way.”

“Uh don’t think we have to.”

Heeding Semperius’s words they both turned in the direction that he was pointing. The teen walking toward them had two arms around a bag of produce that he was balancing carefully. He was in deep concentration but he matched the picture almost exactly.

He took a step forward and stumbled falling down to his knee spilling everything. Shaking his head back and forth he swore starting to reach for everything. Slowly the produce rolled back toward him as he gathered them in the back. Alistair glanced at the teen and then at John. “Is that the kid?”

“I think so,” John pulled the picture out slowly and unrolled it before nodding slowly. “Yes, I believe that’s him.”

“Great. Hey kid!” Alistair said walking toward him slowly. “We need you to come with us.”

The boy hadn’t moved since he stumbled down and Alistair stood over him. This close though Alistair could feel the aura coming off him. More than that. Magic. He could sense it exuding off him like a bonfire. Alistair snarled and placed the tip of the katana underneath his chin and lifted his head up.

The blood from the blade dripped down his neck and he met his eyes. His arm jerked out of his pocket and suddenly Alistair was blown backward onto his back by flames. He’d managed to keep his grip on both weapons but felt the cut in his jaw.

He watched the boy get up and saw that his right arm was covered in flames. But when it faded he saw a sword floating just over his hand. The boy stood up slowly and smirked at the three of them. “I had a feeling I was being followed around here. I didn’t think I’d get caught so soon but master always said be prepared.”

Narrowing his eyes Alistair wiped the blood from his face and licked at his finger for a moment and then chuckled. “I don’t know what this kid is talking about but he’s got me interested.”

He pointed it at him and watched as the sword seemed to move instinctively as if the boy moved his arm. Alistair raised his eyebrow pointing his rapier at him and chuckled, “You’re full of surprises.”

“Should we help him?” John asked.

“Let him get this out of his system first,” Semperius folded his arms. “The kid looks like a mini Alistair. Definitely want them tired out instead of putting up with them.”

John made a face. “Could you imagine Alistair with children? That sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen.

“Amen.”

Alistair snorted, “Let’s see you deal with this child.”

He snapped his fingers at the soldier at his side jerked to the side. It turned and faced the boy stumbling toward him. It drew the sword at its hip and the boy looked at it strangely and then at Alistair.

“You can raise the dead? But that’s not necromancy. How’d you manage that one?” he said turning to face the soldier.

The soldier stumbled forward and started running at him swinging the sword. It came down faster than he anticipated and he caught it with his hands. Turning he sent it away going wide and punched the soldier in the chest. It stumbled backward shaking its head before running right back at him.

It swung with quick and practiced strikes of a soldier that the boy had to actually work to keep up with it. But as he fought, he watched the way it swung. It wasn’t doing anything special or unique. It was a basic soldier that didn’t know the difference between certain ways to block or stances. It had been competent in life but in death, it was just a soldier. No true skill or talent.

He took a step back and dodged around a clumsy swing and then brought one fist back carefully. Stepping forward he swung and punched it, this time power behind the blow. His fist hit its chest and the chest of the thrall was blown off its body. Its torso collapsed against the ground, crawling forward for a moment before going still.

He kicked it down the lower body and wiped at his cheek. Chest heaving slightly, he beckoned with his fingers at Alistair. “Nice trick. Let’s  see if you can back it up with your sword!”

“Yeah he’s definitely a tiny Alistair,” Semperius said.

Blood shot out of the waist of the soldier and surged to Alistair’s open palm. Stabbing the tip of his rapier into the pool it was coated in the blood immediately turning into fine sharp edge.

“So, you took down the soldier. Good job. I was hoping that it would live a little bit longer than that.”

“Well you thought wrong,” the boy replied pointing getting into a stance with his sword this time. “I’ll send you packing back to Daze.”

Alistair paused and turned to look over his shoulder at his companions, “You know what the hell this kid is talking about? Who’s Daze or Gest?” Both of them shrugged and he scowled rolling his eyes, “The one who hired us didn’t mention any of this shit. I’m going to go wrap this up and then they’re going to explain this shit.”

Alistair darted at the child and brought his katana down over his head. He blocked and immediately the floating sword waved under the pressure. His eyes widened and he jumped backward immediately as the rapier stabbed into the ground at his feet.

He stumbled backward as Alistair moved like a shadow after him. The haughty cockiness of the child disappeared as he realized just how outmatched, he suddenly was. He glanced at the sword and blocked Alistair’s next strike stepping aside and deflecting a thrust of the rapier. Moving backward quickly he tried to put some distance between them when Alistair’s foot found its way into his chest.

He slid across the ground and grunted. Alistair rested one sword across his shoulder and rotated the other one slowly as he walked after him. “That all you got?”

“Oh I’ve just started,” he grumbled. He clapped his hands together and bright flames manifested around his fingers. Pulling them back a spear of fire manifested in his palms. Taking a quick step forward he hurled the weapon at him. Alistair swiped at it cutting it out of the air. The flames scattered and then reformed in the air as missiles.

They rocketed forward one hitting his shoulder and two more exploding against his stomach. Startled he stumbled backward and the boy punched his fists together. The flames gathered for a moment before exploding again. Alistair stumbled forward and grunted sliding across the cobblestones.

Pain radiated through his clenched jaws. He spun his katana down and cut straight through the flames. He smashed his swords together and doused the flames with his own blood. Coughing he fell down to his knee and glared at the boy. He smirked in response though and grabbed his sword out of the air.

Leaning forward he launched the floating sword at him. Alistair deflected the first blow but was on the back foot as the weapon whipped around and attacked him again. Ducking out of the way he rolled forward when it swiped his ankle. Jerking his head upward he watched the boy lunge at him with his fists this time.

Growling Alistair reinforced his stance and blocked with his rapier. The boy leaned forward and smirked leaning forward against him. “Not doing bad for myself am I?”

“You’re still as overconfident as when this fight started,” he rotated his wrist and a bang rang out.

The boy stumbled back blood flying from his forehead. Alistair stood up slowly and John shouted at him, “Alistair you’re not supposed to kill him!”

“Oh shut up bag boy! I just grazed him,” he said tersely. Standing and wiping blood from his lip he watched the boy stumble backward and then right himself.

Sure enough, the bullet had grazed his forehead leaving a small blood trail. Wiping his forehead clean he shook his hand out and raised his fists once more. “I’ll admit. I didn’t see that coming.”

“I’m just full of surprises aren’t I?” Alistair asked rubbing his wrist. It smoked for a second and he pulled back on a tiny barrel so that it disappeared into whatever glove he had on his hand. “You’re lucky I need you alive. But I don’t need you in one piece.”

“Alistair.”

“I won’t kill him,” he said smirking. “I’m just going to hurt him a bit.”

The boy watched the wrist where the gun had been carefully so when Alistair raised and tossed his arm forward, he wasn’t ready for what came out. A sound like a chain hissed his way and he ducked down immediately on instinct. But then he shouted as something sank into the back of his shoulder.

Gritting his teeth together and glancing over his shoulder he saw something like a throwing knife embedded in his shoulder. Alistair jerked his arm back and forced the kid to his knees. He jerked his arm again and started dragging him across the ground. “See bagboy? Easy.”

“Easy he says,” John said coming forward. The entire situation didn’t sit right with him but results were results in this case. “Let’s just tie him up and be done with it.”

“Yeah yeah I’m getting there,” Alistair said once the boy was in front of him. Yanking the dagger free he sheathed the rapier and raised the katana. “But first let’s make sure you don’t go getting any more ideas.”

As he brought his sword down there was a massive sheet of fire suddenly. The heat was so intense that Alistair was forced to retreat. When the flames faded, he narrowed his eyes and watched as a woman stood. She wore a long red coat, dark green eyes, and brown skin similar to the boys. But unlike him, her hair was actually a lit with dancing flames.

The boy’s eyes went wide as he looked at his savior and laughed, “You finally caught up Brynie.”

She looked at the boy and nodded, “Sorry I took so long Zoren.”

“Better late than never,” he said. “I was right to think that things weren’t going to be easy this time.”

Brynie looked at him and for a moment she was ready to comment but she knew they had other issues to match. She stood up her green eyes turning to embers. “I don’t know who you are but this is your only chance to back off.”

This woman, something about her made Alistair hesitate. Not because of her. But by looking at her he saw the shadow of something bigger behind her. An ancient creature that had lived many lifetimes. More than he could ever.

Shuddering he snapped out of it and beckoned with his hand, “Come on then. If you think you’re that tough. I’ll take you both on.”

“No Alistair,” John said walking over to him and raising his can. “I think this time we need to work together.”

“I second that,” Semperius replied. He waved his claw glove back and forth. “I get the feeling we’re gonna maybe die.”

“Nothing new for us,” Alistair grinned and charged forward.