Chapter 191: The Dispute Between Parent And Child
>>Ariston
The rain had finally stopped. What it left behind was a soaked, crumbling courtyard bathed in gray light. The clouds still hung low like a heavy ceiling, but the thunder had moved on. A shallow mist drifted over the ground, and the puddles mirrored the two of us, me and him.
Rael.
He stood a dozen feet away, sword in hand, posture loose but coiled like a viper. His dark cloak clung to his soaked form, strands of hair stuck to his face. He looked older now, more weathered. More dangerous.
He tilted his head. "Do you still want your answers?"
I didn’t respond.
"I will give them to you," He said and for some reason it sounded like he was telling the truth.
But I offered him no words and simply raised my sword at him
That was all he needed to see.
He dashed forward, and I did too. The clash was instant, a screech of metal as our swords collided mid-air, a force so strong it sent sparks flying.
I twisted my wrist and tried to hook under his guard, but he twisted with me, parried, and struck low. I dodged back, barely avoiding the cut.
My boots slid across the wet stone, but I kept my balance.
He didn’t let up.
Rael came again, spinning low and fast, his blade a blur. I deflected once, twice, then ducked under a slash aimed at my head and countered with a clean strike toward his ribs.
He blocked it.
The vibration of the impact rattled up my arm.
He stepped in, shoulder-checking me hard, and I staggered. But I didn’t fall. I twisted and came back with a furious upward slash that cut his sleeve and drew a line of black blood across his bicep.
Rael hissed, leapt back, and looked down at the cut.
His eyes lifted to mine. He smirked, like he was proud I’d landed that hit.
I didn’t let him speak.
I lunged again.
Our swords collided in a dizzying flurry, metal crashing against metal, footfalls slapping across soaked stone. We moved across the courtyard like ghosts chasing each other through a battlefield. My arm ached, my chest heaved, but I didn’t stop. Neither did he.
We were equals.
Every strike I gave, he matched. Every advance I made, he countered with cold precision. He fought like a man who had danced with the dark for years, fluid, unflinching, brutal.
But I knew him. I’d studied his movements. I knew his rhythm.
Just like he knew mine.
After all, he had taught me and I had learned his techniques. It was because of the things he taught me that I performed so well in the war.
He cut in wide arcs, then feinted low to go for a shoulder. I caught it this time. My blade slipped through his parry and slashed his side.
He grunted, staggered back.
But even with blood dripping from him, black and unnatural, he didn’t falter. He charged again, and we locked swords, faces inches apart, pushing against each other with everything we had.
"You’re stronger than before," he muttered.
I didn’t answer.
"Finally, you’re not holding back like last time."
I bared my teeth and shoved him back.
He skidded, then rushed forward, raising his sword for a powerful overhead strike. I met it with mine, the sound of the clash echoing through the open ruins.
He spun behind me, I turned with him.
Steel screeched. Sparks lit our faces. We moved with pure instinct now, no strategy, no restraint.
Just years of pain. Rage. Betrayal.
We had become shadows circling each other under a gray, ghostly sky.
I wasn’t fighting for answers anymore. I didn’t care about the why. Why he left or why he turned to the dark side. I didn’t need it anymore.
I realized I needed to leave his betrayal in the past and move on.
I had someone to move on with after all.
We broke apart once more, both of us panting, blades trembling in our grips.
And still, neither of us stepped back.
***
>>Drakkar
I flew faster, pushing through the wind, the smoke, and the heat of the burning sky.
Far from me, my mother circled the towering giraffe-like monster, even with her blood pouring into the air from where her legs used to be. She was still fighting. Still holding on.
She shouldn’t be.
She needed to rest. To heal. To stop before she bled out in front of me.
But she didn’t stop.
I watched, eyes wide, as she dove low, soaring beneath the monster’s swaying neck. Her jaws opened wide, her black scales gleaming against the burning sky, and then she struck.
With one massive snap of her jaws, she ripped the monster’s throat open, peeling back layers of corrupted flesh and muscle until the glowing core inside was exposed, pulsing with dark energy, twisted veins running around it like living rot.
!!!
It was amazing to see how strong she was. But then again, not too long ago she was the Demon Queen.
She flapped backwards, to take a good look at the core. The giraffe swung its neck towards her, twisting it an awkward angle to reach her but she managed to fly around it. She charged her breath as she flew around the giant.and came back to the exposed core.
Then She burned the core, throwing all of her fire on it.
But out nowhere, the giant did something I could never have imagined.
It stood. The flame got redirected
WHat the hell!!!
The core had cracked but the giant had no intention of dying. It stood on it’s hindlegs and with it’s forelegs it grabbed mother’s wings
OH NO!!!
Mother must have guessed it too. So she moved her face up and continued to throw more flames at the core
The giraffe screamed as the core burned but in it’s last attempt, it managed to tore off mother’s wing
Both of them then stilled
No! No! No!!!
I reached her as both fell towards the ground
