The Midnight Flare

An Easy Task

As I enter the throne room, I instantly notice that the only person in the room is the King. He notices me walk in and motions me over. He appeared to have been reading.

"So, I see you got cleaned up," The king says. His voice makes him sound as if he just got out of some other world. "What brings you here anyways?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, you couldn't have just stumbled into this kingdom by accident. What brought you here?" He asks.

"Depends. How far back into my past do you want to go?" I ask as serious as possible (for me at least).

"As far as you'd like," He responds.

"Well then. I was born and raised to the age of ten by my parents, who both taught things such as how to defend myself and how to carry out simple tasks, in Silmthyr. At ten, around my next birthday, my father was murdered. My mother, days after, killed herself because she couldn't stand living without him. So, I wandered the streets in search of somewhere to go. Eventually, I just found an alleyway and slept. I woke up in a bed in a small house. Nobody else was there. So, I waited. Three hours later, someone came back, and took care of me up until I had the test at thirteen."

"What test?" The king asks.

"Over in Silmthyr, they have a test to determine what you wield. You can guess what I did. Ran at the first sign."

"Oh. Please continue then."

"So, after the test, I ran into the alleyways. For the next two years, I would steal supplies from the rich and sleep. Until one night, I found Demi. She, um, looked like she had been through some shit, so I offered her help. She accepted, and for the next two years, we lived the same way. Until some police found us. We ran and almost got away. Until she almost got hit. The only reason we're here in the first place is because I took the hit and got arrested, although some weird doctor tried experimenting on me, though I was 'scary'. I got thrown into a cell with others like me, including Blake, and planned. I tried to escape, and succeeded. But only after I murdered two traitors after they attacked me. Demi showed up in the middle of the escape, and we got out of there. Blake barely got out with his life. We came down the mountain and your other children know the rest. Not much else."

"Just one question. How many people have you killed?" The king asks.

"Well, judging by the many people that have threatened her and my life, a lot." I chuckle. So does the king.

"Well then, I think I have something for you to do," The king begins. "Actually, multiple things. First of all, I want you to train with the royal knights. Just to test what weapons you can use, but it's also to help the pitiful creatures known as my knights. Second, I want you to be Demi's personal bodyguard. I don't want her to go missing again. Third, I want to spar. Test your current skills. Agreed?"

"Of course. Anything else?" I ask.

"No, but I would love it if you met me in the weaponry so we could spar. If that's not too much to ask."

"Please, I would love to spar," I say. He nods and stands. I push open the doors and hold it open for him. We walk to the weaponry and step inside. Inside, Demi is hacking away at a still training dummy with her dagger. She got changed, though her outfit is completely different from what she would want. She's in a dress. It stretches down to right below her knee caps. The dress is colored teal. And you can tell she hates it.

"Y'know, you don't have to slaughter a dummy 'cause of an outfit," I say with a smirk. I put my hands in my sweater pockets. "Especially if it can't fight back."

Demi stops and turns around. She glares at me for a second, then sees the king behind me. She hides her dagger behind her back and stares at the ceiling. The king rolls his eyes.

"You act as if you need to hide that," The king says. "If that's your preferred weapon of choice, then go ahead. Just, like he said, try fighting something that can fight back." Demi blushes.

"Well, why are you guys here anyways?" She asks, obviously embarrassed.

"Well, it was requested of me that I spar with the king," I say, becoming serious. "Then, well, he has some things for me to do." I put on a mischievous smile. Demi rolls her eyes.

"Well, try not to kill him. Oh, and use actual weapons too. The ice can be... weird." With that, she walks out of the room, dagger in hand.

"So, what weapon will you choose?" The king asks after the doors shut.

"I was thinking of a dagger, but something is telling me to try a lance. What do you think?" I ask.

"Whatever suits you," He says with a chuckle. "Just know one thing. I'm not holding back. So you better not either."

"Hey, just as long as we can agree not to kill each other, then that's perfectly fine." I reach for a lance, but bring my hand back. I pick up two daggers and walk into the center of the room. I toss the dummy that Demi was using, which was slightly burnt, over to the other dummies. The king picks up a lance and walks to the center. I back up to give some distance between us.

"The rules are as follows. When one of us yields, the other is the victor. Nobody kills anybody kills anybody. Oh, and one more thing. The only other weapons you can use besides your own are the opponent's or those created by ice. Got it?"

"Of course Your Highness. Shall we begin?" I ask. The king nods. We ready ourselves and wait for someone to make the first move. "This'll be fun."