Sorardia, the Tale of an Outcast, King, and Inventor

Chapter 4: The Duel (Anne Rae)

I was running around trying to find something to eat. Svictoran wasn't a place to find food. The king kept all of it. Most people who crossed through were young, and thought that this place was always a dusty place. Thing was, if you were old enough to remember when the king was a much kinder man, you would have remembered when it was a green place, full of grass, and trees, and even streams going in between houses. All that's left of them all now is dirt, and the grooves where the streams used to be. "Leverage" the king calls it, making sure that the people would vow to do anything for him. Sorardia just needed changing, period. Frasia was still under control of Todd I, the Bloodbearer, Pearlistia under control of Surgentalius II, the Splitter, some called him because of his innate ability to split into four separate people, Sur, Surge, Surgent, and Surgental. Only as one person is he Surgentalius. Others called him the Onslaught Surge, because his attack style mainly focused on the use of his splitting ability. This king, was, unfortunately, my father. He used to be a kind soul until my older brother decided to burn down the entirety of the old castle. Then he was scarred, I couldn't see him and he kicked me out of the castle, thinking I was in league with my brother. His name was Erid, some called a master warrior, others called a master magician, and others all the more called him the Explosivo. I haven't seen him, nor my other brother, Tomo, in years.

          "Hey little girl!" A voice said from somewhere nearby. "How about you come over here and lemme check ya out!" I turned knowing who it was. It was Crister, the ugliest boy I've ever seen. He was short-ish, with somewhat short brown hair, green eyes, and some much rattier clothes than me.

          "Sorry Crister but I'm not yours and never going to be. So how about you go look for someone else," I retorted. "Maybe...Sasha?"

          "Sasha? She is way too ugly!" He commented.

          "Like you," I said, smirking. He looked annoyed, or possibly quite angry I couldn't tell which.

          "I look much better than you girl. At some point you'll appreciate that!" He retorted stomping away. Meh, he always was a baby. He had goons to get him food and he didn't have to work for anything. Shelter? He just kicked someone out of their house for the night. For some reason he takes that literally, and says it's not kicking, but rather ordering someone out. As you can tell, he's also quite dumb. Then it was quiet. Much more quiet than usual. Must be a duel or something going on. I decided to run to the castle, since usually that was where duels were hosted. Yep, there was a large crowd out over near the training yard. Not much in the yard, just some crudely made training dummies and racks of very few weapons. But there was something that caught my eye. There was one of the guests of the King, Ben, and a stranger. Their stances showed they were the ones dueling. Whoever this guy is, he couldn't beat Ben.

[Ben]

          This guy couldn't beat me, I was the best swordsman in Svictoran, and everyone knew it that's for sure. I lunged, He side-stepped and knocked my sword out of my hand. One attack and the duel was done.

          "Who are you?" I asked.

          "Perhaps you should've asked before you decided to fight me," the man said. Then something struck me. The only person ever able to do that to my father and grandfather was the Cleaver Knight and his son. Could he be...?

           "Hang on...are you the Cleaver Knight's grandson?" I questioned.

          "Yes, and now that the other Cleaver Knight's are gone, I am the new one," Cleaver Knight replied. "So a quick question. Do you join us? Or do you decline?"

"Sure I'll join you. We just have to get my stuff and-"

"Look out!" A voice said from the crowd.

[Anne Rae]

A laser fired out of the blue straight towards Ben. He jumped out of the way not knowing where it came from. There wasn't enough time to dodge another. So I did the only thing that I could. As soon as I saw the laser, however fast it was, I jumped in front of it. Everything went dark.