Spiralbound ~ A Guide to Cradle

Chapter 2 - Alpha (Cyber-Fist)

Cyber-Fist

Peering stealthily around the stone that makes my hiding place, my eyes lock on my target. Encased entirely in fur, the poor guy I'm about to pummel to death scratches his chin before letting out a yawn as wide as a Clockworks Tower. I smile twistedly at the creature oblivious to my presence, and creep out from behind the rock and tip-toeing past a leafy bush.

He won't even know what hit him. I smirk at the thought of my victim's future look of horror when I shove my precious Furious Flamberge in his face. The target lays down on the dusty ground, so pooped from another long Clockworks day that he doesn't even care where he's sleeping. He just wants to play over in dreamland. This is gonna be fun.

And then he closes his eyes. This is it, finally. Took him long enough to get his guard down.

With the sleepy guy completely conked out, I dash right for him, leap into the air with my Furious Flamberge drawn, and yell "HEY SLEEPY SKOLVER!!!!"

What happens next I can't fully describe beyond a furious scuffle. My friend's leg is in my face, and I'm waving my arms around, trying to wag my sword into the Knight's helmet somehow. We roll around like crazy, yelling who knows what, and try like anything to best the other.

Haven's sleepy atmosphere jerks awake from its doze, every Knight, Stranger and Snipe jolted and startled from the broken silence. Everyone stares at us either in sheer amusement, shock, or complete horror (lookin' at you timid ones).

"HKLHKJJLGJHASDFJG!!!!" The Skolver Knight screams at me before attempting to wildly swing his fists at my head. Luckily, he has no depth perception when sleepy, so he misses by a hundred miles.

"What's that? I didn't take Wolver in the academy's Linguistics, you-" He breaks my taunt off abruptly as I get my face buried in the snow-white Wolver fur covering his shoulders.

In less than a moment, I have a Knight sitting on my back and his legs wrapped around my neck. I grunt, struggling to break free, but my friend pins my arms to my side and obligingly presents me with a death stare.

"Eh heh heh..." I hold my hands up in innocence as well as I can with my arms pinned down. "You win?"

"Try anything like that again, and you. Are." he leans over and draws his Cold Iron Vanquisher, pressing the flat side to my neck. "Dead. Got it?" the sword starts to freeze my neck slightly.

I just start laughing and push Taeren off my back in a playful light. "Lay off, it's not like I actually cut you or anything." I get to my feet and brush the dust and grime off of my red Tabard.

"You could still hurt somebody." Taeren retorts sharply.

"Ha ha. Me? Nope." I turn to the frozen citizens of Haven and spread my arms out wide.

"Show's over, folks! Lights out, store's closed, whatever." I lean over into a deep bow as if flowers were being thrown at me on-stage. Most mumble something quietly before scattering in different directions.

I wheel back towards the frowning Taeren with a wide smile. "Why the long face? You look like you just killed a baby Snipe."

"I'm still mad at you." he says in a monotone.

"You need a chill pill. Oh wait-!" I snap my fingers as an idea comes together. "Even better! How about some food?"

"No."

"Aw, c'mon, it's on me." I approach him, motioning to myself.

Taeren shifts his weight uncomfortably, bending under the pressure. "...No."