Luck Weaver

6. Setback

Chapter 6

The fighters continually swung and dodged.  The fight was at a standstill, as no one could hit the teenager, and he couldn’t hit any of the opponents.  They all covered each other, and blocked the strokes that would have left the target gasping for breath on the floor.

The audience could barely keep up with the swift, but skilled fight.  The movements were all instincts and reactions.  On the inside, they were all hoping for the teen to lose, especially one boy, the one who stared the teen in the eye.  He was still giving that intense stare.  The teenager almost felt unnerved, almost.  Instead, he held the boy in contempt. The teenager knew he was going to lose soon, so he changed up his style.  His normal light jab and swing changed.  He immediately caught one student off guard.  The heavy swing was not expected, and random.  The sword slipped from his grip, and hurled past him to imbed itself into the floor.  The stroke that unarmed him continued on its path, and slammed into the student’s temple.  He quickly collapsed. 

The students now had a hole in their once impenetrable defense.  Before it could be filled up by the other opponents, the teenager used it to stab another student who used to be covered by the now unconscious student on the floor.  He felt something crack, but pushed on anyway.  He felt sorry for the pain he was conflicting, but it was for the position as Luck Weaver.

The teenager was tiring though, and everyone knew it.  Instead of offense, now he spent most of his time defending himself and dodging more slowly.  Realizing that, the instructor and the two remaining students pressed harder than ever, victory in their sights.  In order to survive, he would have to do something quickly.

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Feeling awkward because of company, Alex tried to pass time by chatting with Jay.  He spent his whole life hiding because of his aura.  No one liked warlocks, and people would try to kill him on first sight.  They are supposed to not only be unlucky, but evil also.  Just barely better than necromancers, both thrived on the misfortune of others.  In order to be more powerful, most of them actually purposely cause misfortune to feed off of it.  If they didn’t they would be weak, and probably killed.  It was a cycle that doesn’t have a end, everyone tries to kill them, so in order to prevent it, they have to cause misfortune to get stronger.

Alex had to spend his whole life hiding in his house, too afraid to come out, for good reason.  The only person Alex ever talked to before was his mom.  The fact that Jay wasn't talkative only made it worse.  Whenever Alex would try to strike up a conversation, Jay would give a one worded answer in response.  It really made it awkward between them.

"Are you a warlock?"

"No."

"Can I see your sword?"

"No."

"I'm hungry."

"Too bad."

On the inside, Alex was feeling more and more embarrassed and awkward.  As a result, he tried harder and harder to talk, resulting in more and more failed attempts.  Jay wasn't purposely trying to ignore him; he was trying to think about his next destination, how to kill the mephs, and much more.

Jay had so many questions swirling around in his mind.  A single thought burned in his mind above all else though.  Revenge.  He needed revenge for his town and his father.  That simple objective brought so many questions.  First, he to find them, he had no idea what to do.  Second, he knew two people couldn’t take down all the mephs.  He needed allies.  Slowly a plot began forming in his mind.

The long walk seemed to go on forever.  Passing through the endless plains with gentle slopes was so boring.  Everything looked the same, the road stretched into the horizon, merging with the sky.  Occasionally, there would be some wildlife, but nothing bigger than a rabbit.  The blur of different shades of green lulled Alex almost to sleep, but walking kept him barely awake.  It was hours before they finally encountered something.