Arcanum

Chapter 31: Lucas

"Aiyana I... I never had feelings for the princess. She kissed me, and I was never expecting it. Sure, most men would go onto their knees and plead for the princess's love. But I'm not one of those men." I told her and sat down on a nearby chair and put my face into my hands.

Too much was happening. I wanted to look away from my past life and be happy. But now it feels like I'm not welcomed anywhere. Maybe I really am supposed to be a renegade. At least my father would be there.

Crap my father!

"I have to go Aiyana." I gasped as I rushed to my room and grabbed my swors and kunai's and shoved them into my sleeves on my way out.

"Where..?" She tried to ask but I was already running to the forest.

"I got to tell my dad that I can't meet there anymore too.." I muttered and growled at how dangerous this could be.

When I crossed over to the human territory, I felt so much more comfortable here. But I knew I could never return after today.

My father stood ahead, slashing at a tree with his sword violently, and I stared in awe at the large chunks of bark fly off.

"Dad." I greeted him as I walked over, and he whirled around and aimed to hit me, but I quickly drew my own sword and blocked him.

He smirked at me, and pushed harder.

"You missed training." He said, and I grunted and pushed his blade away and jumped back when he aimed to hit me again.

"Got exiled and was about to be executed. Sorry for not coming." I said sarcastically, and my father laughed loudly as he ducked under my sword slash.

"I see it runs in the family." He joked, and I laughed too.

"Well we can't meet here anymore. Can we train in the renegades territory?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. We're still going to train at midnight though, right?"

I grinned, and I stabbed at him, who jumped back before my tip hit him.

"Yep."

"Seems you're handling the blade well."

"Yeah. I mean, I still feel the pain in the blade. But it's not nearly as bad as it used to be." I told him proudly. He rolled his eyes and tripped me.

"Don't let that ego go to your head. You just got kicked out of an army remember. At the moment, you're nothing." He explained, and I grunted as I landed on my knees.

"Gee, thanks for the support dad." I said sarcastically.
I quickly got up, but as soon as I did, I had a blade pressed across my neck, and I glared at him.
"Well I can't stay for long because being here is risky. And I think the catori will get suspicious if I'm gone for too long." I explained and he released the sword.
"Okay son. Get going then." He smacked my bottom and chuckled.
I rushed through the forest silently, and nearly ran into Aiyana.
"There you are! Come on, we have to present you to the catori so they don't attack you when spotted." She explained and grabbed my hand and led me through the forest.
When we got to the village, she called everyone together, and I begun to feel a tense atmosphere spread.
I didn't let myself shrink back when some pointed swords and arrows at me.
Aiyana cleared her throat, and they lowered their weapons, and I rose an eyebrow, but stayed silent.
"As most of you know, this is Lucas. He is no longer the general of the human army-" but Aiyana got cut off by people shouting.
"He's killed hundreds of our kind!"
"He'll betray us the first chance he gets!"
I flinched at the violent glares catori people, and thoughts begun to run through my mind as I got the urge to run away from all my fears, and just forget about everything.
I will never fit in anywhere
Aiyana tried to reason with them, but I knew she was having a hard time doing so.
I rested my hand on her shoulder, and I shook my head slowly.
"It's okay princess. I don't belong here after all. I'm not even a catori. I belong as a renegade." The word tasted like poison on my tongue, but I turned away and begun to walk through the crowd.
"I'm sure there's a crystal that can turn you into a catori Lucas." Aiyana tried, but I ignored her.
"Lucas wait!" Aiyana grabbed my hand, and I looked at her.
"Princess! The humans are on the way!" A cry grabbed our attention, and we both looked to see a catori sprinting at us.
"We'll talk about this after. But right now, you're fighting for the catori." Aiyana said to me, and she rushed past me to her house to gear up.
I looked through the trees, and sure enough, humans were running towards the village.
I still had my sword on me, so I withdrew and got into a battle stance.
Every knight had dense armor on, but I knew my sword could pierce it.
Suddenly, a man pushed me behind him, and he shot me a short glare, before he looked back to the human army.
I inwardly cursed when I reminded myself I wasn't a general anymore of any army.
"Attack!" The man shouted, and the catori army surged forward.
I launched myself right at a soldier, and sliced right through the armor, and into his skin.
I didn't even spare a second glance before I lunged at the second soldier.
"Lucas?" A familiar girl gasped, and I stopped myself from hitting her. It was Rebecca.
"I faltered a little, and stared at her.
She nodded for me continue, and I smiled softly, before I whirled around and attacked the next soldier.
"G-general?" The soldier asked, and he was too confused to fight, and I killed him quickly.
"This was a pointless battle." I hissed as I attacked the next soldier and they went down.
"What were you all expecting?" I snarled as I fought my next soldier.
"To finally end this war!" They roared and slashed at my arm. It made a deep dent in the armor, but not enough to puncture it, and I chuckled darkly.
"Retreat!" A voice shouted after a while, and I watched the soldiers flee.
I would've been one of them... Fighting against the catori now... Once, I was the human army's general. Now I don't know who I am..