The light of the trodden

The Revelation

"Hey Lionheart, you up for a little bit of sparring?" Nolander asked, wiping his forehead. He had been rigorously training for the past two hours. Lionheart smiled.
"No indeed. It wouldn't be a fair match. You have been training for two hours while mine has just started. Ask the General." Lionheart puffed put his chest "Besides it would be against the warrior code to fight in uneven odds."
"You and your warrior codes." Oliver said, emerging from behind Lionheart.
"What were you doing behind Lionheart?" Nolander narrowed his eyes.
"Let's just call it a special type of training. Let's leave it. Lionheart you say that it would be against the warrior code to fight him but pitting him against the general would also go against the code." Oliver argued.
"True."
"Yeah even I agree." Nolander sat down on the deck "I mean pulling a plough is one thing and fighting another. Last time, I broke his back. Who knows what I'll break next?"
"Wait. You're insinuating that you'll win." Oliver laughed and even Lionheart chuckled.
"Why? I mean a powerless person against a trained and powerful person like me. You do the math." Nolander smirked "I would beat the General like I would a dog."
Lionheart and Oliver gasped.
"Oh really" said a voice behind Nolander, Nolander turned.
"You'll beat me like a dog?" General asked, fire in his eyes "Okay then I'll take the beating. Let's spar here right now. I'll carry just a sword. Choose any weapon you like."
"I only meant it as-" Nolander tried to explain.
"It's no use now." Oliver shook his head "He heard you, now you have to just accept defeat as quickly as possible or prepare for a world of pain."
Nolander looked at the General. To him, General just looked like a guy who was a powerless slob. Nolander would defeat him and thus gain the respect of everyone. Not a bad deal.
"I'll choose a sword and a shield." Nolander picked up one from from the weapon's rack "Sure you don't want a shield?" Nolander called out to the General. The General shook his head. Nolander took a stance opposite of the General. His round shield in front of him, exposing almost none of his body. Nolander waited for the General to charge. The General ran toward Nolander going lower than ever. The six foot General was running at a height of five foot by bending his body. Nolander crouched a little. The General was closing the gap faster than ever. Just when the General was about to clash on the shield, he jumped high.
'Oh crap he's gonna attack from the other side. That's why he came in so low. He predicted the I would crouch therefore lowering my movement but I got a surprise for him.' Nolander thought. Nolander suddenly spun around on his ankles. This move was a very hard one and exerted a lot of strain of his knees so it was only a one time move. Nolander spun around exerting a tremendous amount of strain on his knees, almost causing them to buckle. General suddenly flipped backward causing him to land behind Nolander.
'Oh no. He predicted the turn too. He's going to kill me. I NEED TO TURN.' Nolander thought. Nolander shifted his weight to his left foot to make a turn. Suddenly, the world went in a slow motion for Nolander, all he saw was the bright blue sky in front of him, he realised that he was falling backwards. He had put to much strain on his feet and that had caused his feet to slip out. He suddenly saw a booton his chest and the world resumed to its normal speed. Nolander fell down with a resounding crack of bones. The General was standing on top of him with his foot on Nolander's chest. Nolander got up, staggered. He felt his chest.
'I've broken some ribs, for sure.' Nolander thought.
"Do you want to continue?" General asked, his face oozing of unending confidence. Nolander gripped his sword tightly and charged. General dodged all of his swipes and thrusts with an amused smile.
'His attacks are becoming faster and more powerful every second' General thought 'But let's show him what I can do.'
General suddenly stopped retreating and thrust towards Nolander's midriff. It was clearly a strike meant to stop Nolander's momentum by making him hesitate in his next attack. Nolander dodged the attack, easily and leaped backwards. General saw the chance and immediately kicked at Nolander while he was midair. Nolander put his shield in front of him to protect himself from the kick. Nolander flew backwards and landed expertly on his feet. Nolander quickly took a quick scan of the deck. General was nowhere to be seen. Nolander kept his shield close in case of any attack. Suddenly General appeared right at Nolander's left side where he had kept the shield and executed a neat uppercut, breaking Nolander's jaw. General then, using the opening created, kicked at Nolander's right shoulder, dislocating it instantly. Nolander instinctively tried to reach out to his right shoulder with his left hand when he saw a blur of the General's foot and another loud crack was heard. Nolander's left arm was broken now. General then proceeded to break his knees. Nolander lay crippled on the ground as the magician rushed to tend to his wounds.
"Like a dog you said, didn't you?" General wiped the blood off his face.
"I never had a chance." Nolander said. General was momentarily staggered. Speaking with a broken jaw was an immensely painful job and most people just replied with stares in such situations. The General turned and walked away to the other side of the deck.
"GENERAL." Zane yelled coming from the medical room where Shadow was held. "He woke up."
*********************
Shadow opened his eyes and saw a rather unfamiliar face. Dark black eyes looked at him earnestly and then suddenly ran out. He returned with a man who was a foot taller than the other man.
"What is your name?" He asked.
"No hospitality here eh?" Shadow got up grunting.
"This ship has set sail with an intent to go to war. Hospitality has no place here."
"Well does hospitality have a place for the right hand man of the person you're going to war with?" Shadow smiled slightly. The man narrowed his eyes.
"I'm the General of this warship and if I tell my men to throw you off the ship they will do so ." General said.
"Three days have gone by since you set foot on the island. Your kingdom is in danger, General." Shadow chuckled coarsely. General walked across the room and poured Shadow a glass of water.
"You think that my kingdom is that easy to finish." General smiled.
"I said your kingdom is in danger, I did not mention that your kingdom will be finished." Shadow sipped the water.
"You think that I don't know about you, Shadow. The one who committed all the murders in the dark city. The leader's favourite weapon." General sat on Shadows bed. Shadow laughed.
"I never was the leaders favourite weapon. I was his favourite errand boy. His favourite weapon is on his way to meet you and you won't be able to defeat him. All the surprises that the leader has in store for you. Let me tell you one surprise. There's a traitor on your ship." Shadow leaned in and whispered a name in General's ear. General got up and sprinted up to the deck.
"Oliver." General shouted. Oliver turned "Traitor."
"What are you talking about, Gen?" Nolander said "Oli's our friend."
"He's the one who has been leaking information." Zane said, glaring at Oliver. Oliver coolly looked at Zane
"Whoops, looks like I'm caught." Oliver backed away from the crew.
"Why Oli? Why?" Lionheart said, the whole crew had listened in on General's outburst and they all looked at Oliver.
"Because they promised me that Zandaria will be safe if I supported them. They already have the device. They just need time and they've bought that. Right now, a battle is ongoing at our kingdom. All the rebels are rebelling together not giving a chance for the king's to react. If you turn back now they get all the time they need and if you sprint towards them they have an army for us. We can't defeat them. We never could." Oliver wiped a tear.
"For Zandaria, you would throw away the whole world, Oli." General looked at Oliver. Everyone could sense the sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry General. I'm not like you. I can never throw away the one I love just because it benefits the world." Oliver's expression tightened.
"What are you saying? He would never-" Zane looked at the General. General looked down.
"I'm saying the truth. He killed his own brother, Zane. For the good of the kingdom. He killed his own brother."
"It was a military call, Oli. He didn't want to do it." Lionheart defended General.
"Oh so you know about the incident." Oliver unsheated his sword "You weren't there. There were many ways to prevent it."
"There weren't." Lionheart also unsheated his sword "And I was there. I was the lieutenant in charge of the mission and I knew the stakes. General made a great sacrifice there, Oliver."
"General made a sacrifice?" Oliver scoffed at the ramark "His brother made the sacrifice. His life could have been saved. Due to bad calls he is no longer with us. Can we trust you with our lives if you couldn't save your own brother? I won't ever trust you General. At least the leader is good. He promises me that the world won't blow up."
"You'll trust a leader of the dark forces over me, Oliver." General looked at Oliver.
"I trusted you once, General. But then you showed me that whoever trusts you dies. It's going to happen, General. Someone here is going to die or face a fate worse than death." Oliver said.
"Whatever our ending may be, Oli. I can't see this ending well for you." Nolander raised his fists "Whatever your reasons may be for hating the General, you shouldn't have betrayed our trust."
"Nolander, I took my lessons in learning not to trust anyone and I learned from the best. Ask him, Nolander, ask him how he became this strong. Society shuned him so he shuned the society. He doesn't see people, he only sees number's. The number of people saved."
"We won't kill him, crew." General ordered "But detain him."
"You won't be doing either." A voice said from behind the crew. Instinctively they turned around. Shadow came out of his room.
"Leader." Shadow smiled, blood dripping out from the corner of his mouth.
"Hello, traiter." Leader greeted "So you've seeked refuge within these pitiful people."
"Hey." Zane called out "Watch it."
"Or what?" Leader sneered at Zane "You'll make me."
Zane stepped forward but General slightly shook his head. Zane relented. Leader laughed.
"Just as I thought."
Leader walked around the deck looking at everyone and laughing. He stopped at the weapon's specialist and at the fast guy.
"Hmm. You both are not so bad. The rest are pathetic. Especially YOU General." Leader poked at General's arm. "You're pathetic."
"Pointing out other's flaws to cover up your own again brother. Shame."
Zane's eyes widened. "You said that his brother died." Zane glared at Oliver. Oliver sighed.
"You're talking as if a person cannot have more than one brother." Oliver pulled out a bottle of liquor from nowhere and popped it open.
"He killed our brother." Leader glared at General. "And he forgot he had another."
"Well you were also not the one to write letters everyday." General retorted.
"You imbecile." Leader cursed.
"I might be but not as big as you. NOW!!!" General shouted. A big hammer hit leader right in the face and he went down. While the leader and General were talking, the blacksmith had snuck down and got everyone thier custom-made armour and weapons. Everyone, warriors as they were, quickly donned the armour while Oliver sat bavk and watched. Leader got up and saw everyone with thier armour.
"Well well well. Brother fights brother. Care for a one on one." Leader smiled, forming a blade of yellow lightning in his hands. General held his cross-shaped shield and drew his sword.
"Nothing could please me more."