Outlaws | An Eclipse | [Vol.1]

Chapter Five - "Heavy Mixture Of Blood And Water"

"Alright, young highness," Said Dimitri's teacher with a stern gaze. "I want you to try again. As I said before; you cannot just demand the water to do as you please, you must persuade it."
          "Easier said than done," Dimitri mumbled. His dark skin glistened under the moonlight. His black, button down shirt was wet from all his attempts to get the ocean beside him to calm. His patients was running thin.
          "Now, now," His teacher tutted. "If you continue like this, I will have to report you to the king. And you and I both know he doesn't enjoy hearing about your failures."
          "It's not like he does anything about them," Dimitri sneered.
          His teacher waved a dismissive hand. "Come on, Boy. It's just water."
          Dimitri's brown eyes dug blades into his teacher's back as he turned away and continued talking. Of course his teacher dodges the comment.
          "You must control your emotions," He stated.
          "I already do that perfectly," Dimitri scoffed.
          "No, you do not," The middle aged teacher spat. "You let your pride get in the way of simply asking for things. You force things. Making people do things. For some reason you can't stand to ask politely for anything. It's as if it is a sin."
          "What does that have to do with feelings?" Dimitri asks, his eyes narrow.
          "You tell me," His teacher said. "What makes you feel like you have to demand instead of ask?"
          Dimitri stared at his teacher for a while. Since when did his annoying, stubborn teacher become an 'expert' on 'emotions'? And what does he mean "Demand?" Dimitri asked for stuff all the time! Sure, it wasn't in the best tone of voice, but there was no way he was going to make his voice sound sweet while asking for something. Just the thought of doing that made him want to throw up.
          "Look, Master Brine," Dimitri said with a leveled tone. "I don't remember my father paying you for emotional training. You are here to simple show me how to control the water by the magic held within Beaksdale City."
          Master Brine stiffened. A flash of worry crossed his face, but it disappeared the moment it showed. "Dimitri, I am teaching you how to 'control water,' as you put it," He said in a dangerously low voice. "But you will get nowhere without learning how to ask the water for its use."
          "Why in Beaksdale would water need to be asked anything?"
          Shaking his head, Master Brine let out a sigh. "Some things cannot be explained, your majesty. Asking why the waves of the ocean need to be asked is like asking why we have a heart or a soul. There is no straight answer to explain that, it's just how we are made."
          Dimitri blinked, unimpressed with the answer he had received.
          Master Brine studied him. Dimitri's eyes look hollow. His face showing no emotion toward a single word that the teacher had uttered. Brine had feared that starting the young boy so late on his training would effect the kid in a negative way. If not taught in their much younger days, children can't learn the secrets of certain magic. Specifically the one that ran through Beaksdale.
          The king had told Brine that since Dimitri was only fifteen, there was still a chance. But the boy had been bent the wrong way since he was old enough to understand his position. He was being taught the wrong things during his schooling. And Brine knew that wasn't an accident. But to undo the damage... It couldn't be done. Dimitri had to teach himself. But the chances of that happening were very low. The boy wouldn't know were to start once his mind wraps around the idea of taking uncomfortable chances.
          "Are we done here?" Dimitri asks, snapping his teacher out of his thoughts.
          "Might as well be," He said, waving another dismissive hand.
          Dimirti imminently started to run off, his hair waving in the wind. He dashed across the shoreside until he reached black, stone step that climbed the side of the mountain. It wasn't steep. The rocky stairs were a little slippery from the misty air, but he ran up them like it wasn't a problem.
          Beaksdale was already in view. Not like it was hidden from his sight in the first place. It didn't matter where he was on the island, Dimitri was always able to see the tall buildings and bright lights that came from the city. All a deep blue, white, and cyan.
          Though it was going to be a bit of a run to make it into the city, he didn't mind. He quite enjoyed the silence that followed him whenever he was traveling to or from Beaksdale. There was a sort of peace that came with it. No responsibilities. No list of things he had to learn. No one to tell him what to do. It was nice.
          Wind softly whistled as Dimitri passed. If there was anything that he was good at that had to do with his skills, it was running. When he raced his brothers, he always beat them by a good length. Dimitri had always figured that swiftness was an air magic kind of thing, but his teacher, Master Brine, had told him there was no such thing.
          After what felt like a peaceful hour just running, he finally made it back to the city gates. Though he had pretty much sprinted his whole way back, he wasn't even close to exhausted. His hair and shirt were wet, but only because of the misty air around him.
          Dimitri slowed to a walk.
          Beaksdale.
          The place was full of lights that lined pretty much everything. The city was not all futuristic like he'd seen in story bubbles. But there were some parts of it that sort of felt like it. Like the lights, and the way the buildings were made. People got around with magic.
          Dimitri watched as he passed by someone who summoned a puddle and then stepped into it, disappearing. Just as the guy vanished under the water of his puddle, another one appeared a few blocks down, across the river that ran through Beaksdale like a rode. The man who had just disappeared, rose from the puddle and walked into a building.
          Dimitri shook his head. The guy could have just used the bridge.
          Speaking of bridges, Dimitri walked up to one and crossed it. It was black, like obsidian that was smoothed out than shined. He ran his hand along the perfect railing until he stepped off of the bridge. He continued to make his way down the sidewalk, created from black stone. Rough surface, but it reflected the city lights ravishingly.
          Weather it was fortunate, or unfortunate, the fifteen year old was one of the very few that didn't go around trying to use water magic all the time. Mostly because he didn't know how to. He always told himself that even if he did know how, he still wouldn't use it. But, every now and then, Dimitri finds himself longing for the opportunity to be able to manipulate water the way everyone else did. After all, it was pretty cool.
          He was getting side tracked.
          Dimitri walked for a while, passing buildings and people. Nothing really caught his eye as he made his way home without thinking too much about it. Once he reached a large building with black tinted windows lined with neon blue lights, Dimitri went up the stairs and walked right past the four guards manning the front entrance.
          Reach guard nodded toward Dimitri respectfully as he entered the building.
          Home.
          As Dimitri walked the halls of the building, he tried to avoid anymore guards on his way to his room. He didn't want to take chances in anyone telling him he had to be anywhere he didn't want to be. He climbed more stairs and crossed a few more halls until reaching black, tinted, glass doors that were too dark to look through. He opened one of them and stepped into a nice, clean, looking room.
          A king sized bed was put opposite of the doors, a gray tinted window above it. The window was rectangular shaped, and large enough to almost cover that side of the wall. The bed had navy blue sheets that looked bran new.
         Dimitri scrambled over to the bed and plopped down on top of it. It wasn't too long before he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Dimitri jolted awake at the sound of something shattering. Eyes wide, he got up from laying on his bed and looked around the room, his heart pounding in his throat and palms from being shocked awake.
          His eyes swept the room, but nothing seemed out of place. He turned and looked over to the window, but it was still intact. So where did the shattering sound come from?
          He looked down at his watch. It was almost four twenty-one a.m. Had he really slept only six hours? Normally there was a bell that rang every hour that would wake him up. It would wake most people up. Either he slept through it all, or the old man hired to ring it every hour had fallen asleep.
          Dimitri rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he was just hearing things. No one was really allowed to walk around past midnight anyway. The shattering noise must have been in his head. Maybe apart of a dream he can't remember. If something had broke, than that would mean someone was messing with things that they shouldn't be messing with, and no one was dumb enough to go against the King's rules to be out this late. Not even Dimitri, and the king was his father.
          Dimitri started to climb back into bed when he realized he was still in his day clothes. He had forgotten to change out of them, again. He turned to his closet and pulled out a T-shirt and some sweatpants. He laid them on his bed and started to unbutton his shirt when he heard foot steps.
          He stopped and looked toward the exit to his room.
          The click of high-heals past his room doors.
          Dimitri buttoned his shirt back up and went over to his doors, pushing one open just a crack. He peaked down the hall to see the back of a woman.
          She walked down the hall with purpose, her red hair pinned up in a high ponytail and swinging from side to side. He black dress was tight around her, and went down to just above her knees like a pencil skirt.
          Dimitri scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "Who are you?" He whispered to himself, barely making any sound. He imminently felt uncomfortable. No one in Beaksdale had red hair. Since when was having such a vibrant color for hair even a thing? Hell, nothing in Beaksdale was red. He only knew the color because his mom had a silver charm bracelet that had her initials and a small red gem hanging from it. No one ever saw it though because she almost never wore it.
          As the woman turned the corner, Dimitri pushed his door open a little wider. He pulled off his boots, that he still had on from when he first went to bed, and put them on the inside of his room, then left, closing the door behind him. He quietly began to make his way down the hall. Then he stops.
          He turns and looks down the other side of the dimly illuminated hall, his curiosity telling him to figure out where she had left from. But at the same time, his gut was telling him to head back to bed. If he was found wondering the halls, his punishment would sure show for his actions.
         Dimitri let's out a low growl. "I don't care," He mumbles, making his way down the hall and toward where he thinks the woman came from.
          He went from room to room, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Everything was normal. Whoever this woman was, she clearly hadn't stolen anything. As Dimitri made his way back to his room, he looked at his watch.
          Five O'nine?
          It's a new hour, but there was no ringing of the city bell.
          Dimitri's eyes looked up, toward the ceiling. five floors above was a staircase that led to the bell. So the old man had fallen asleep, he thought to himself. Normally, Dimitri wouldn't care. This wasn't the first time this had happened. But the old guy was on his last warning, and Dimitri didn't want to see him thrown in jail.
          The youth rubbed the back of his neck and climbed the stairs. He went up, and up, and up, until he reached a staircase that lacked the lights the others had. He sluggishly went up them and then pushed open the door.
          "Hey, old guy, you need to- AHA!" Dimitri tripped and fell on his chest with a hard thud, his head whipping down and hitting the floor, hurting both his neck and forehead. He groaned in pain, and rolled over. Reaching up to rub his head, his other hand felt something wet over him. He brought his hand to his face and almost let out a scream, but held himself back. Dimitri scrambled to his feet, almost slipping, and looked at what he tripped over.
          A huge lump formed in the boy's throat.
          Laying in front of him was a dead body surrounded by blood. The man's eyes were open, but lifeless, and he was deathly pale. Blood was smeared everywhere. The body's head was almost cut off. It looked as if it was only still connected by a few threads of flesh and the bones still connecting it to the spinal cord. Fresh blood dripped from the open neck, and the man's mouth, teeth and tongue and deep red.
          Dimitri almost threw up. The boy's entire chest and back was covered in the old man's blood. His gut twisted, and Dimitri started to have a hard time catching his breath. He swayed in place and his vision went in and out of focus. He was going to pass out. In a state of desperation he immediately slapped himself in the face to keep himself awake. He sucked in a sharp breath and swallowed hard.
          This was going to be hard to explain....