The Fallen Jester of Remnant

The Journey Part 2 - End of Innocence

I'm finally back! I had to rewrite the entire chapter painfully. Twice. I finished the whole chapter, reread it, and got frustrated with the direction it was taking. So I redid the entire thing, and it still didn't feel right. So with the final rewrite, I came up with something that I'm proud of. Thanks, Captainofhighstories and GodzillaKOTM2019 for proofreading this chapter. Here's the first song I made as an apology for taking so long.

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Daren woke up with a kick to the head. He tried to get up before realizing that he was bound and gagged. He heard a muffled 'sorry' coming from his right. Hearing the familiar voice of Archie calmed his fears a little as he turned his head towards him. Just as he was about to say something, another voice grunted, startling both of them.

"Looks like they're awake, boss. What should we do with them?"

"Remove their gags. I want to talk to them before we take off. I want to know how they stole that horse." Both of them were forcibly stood up and made to face the leader of their captors. He was a somewhat burly man with lightly tanned skin. He wore leather armor that went from his chest to his legs. His arms were free, with only a black shirt to cover them. Steel-tipped boots adorned his feet, a nasty surprise for the defiant traveler.

In his left hand was a long, black dagger with only the edge having the steely glint that most blades have. In his youthful enthusiasm, Daren momentarily forgot that he was taken hostage and commented, "That's blacksteel! They use a special kind of rust to coat the steel, which gives it its iconic dull black tone and prevents the harmful rust from forming." The bandit leader scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, not used to his prey acting like this. He gave a glance to Archie, who only shrugged with wide eyes as the prince continued his small rant.

"Sirus never let me coat the blades I forged, which is really annoying because he showed me the process." He then gave a small, disappointed sigh. "Oh well, shouldn't complain about it anymore. I guess tha-"

His confusion gave way to anger since he wasn't being taken seriously. He clicked his tongue, signaling his two lackeys to forcefully pull the prince down to his knees. Finally remembering the danger he was in, he struggled against them. As his hands and legs were tied, this amounted to nothing more than flopping like a fish. Archie was shifting something behind his back, seemingly not paying attention to the danger Daren was in.

"Being smart, are we?" The man snarled as he tightened his grip on the dagger and advanced towards him. "Let's see that snark when you're drowning in your own blood." Panicked, Daren subconsciously cast a spell that shrouded his entire body in electricity as he was thrashing around in their grip. The two who were pinning him down could not let go as the intense voltage, made even more lethal by the boy's desperate emotions, fried them inside and out.

It only lasted five seconds, but it was more than enough. The leader watched in horror as his two companions charred so quickly that they couldn't scream. His hands were shakily holding the knife, and he started to hyperventilate. In a voice filled with both anger and fear, he yelled at the still tied prince, "What in Oum's name are you?" An intense, sharp pain manifested in his chest. He slowly looked down in shock and saw a sword sticking out of where his heart lay. As his vision started to fade, he thought he heard someone say, 'my friend.'