The Vagabond

2: A Life for a Life

It was the end. She knew it. What she couldn't believe was how her life had ended. Some of her old friends she knew would die from the common flu or a random heart attack in the years to come, but she had always thought she would have lived a long life. She had done all she could to be healthy and fit, staying far away from unhealthy things. But here she was, spinning away into darkness, almost as if dancing with the ogre that tried to grab at her as they fell. They twirled and twisted through the air, the distance between them feeling odd as it seemed they grew nearer and then further away, as if in rhythm to a song.

Shit shit shit! The sudden moment of shock passed and Kass realized to a fuller extent what was happening. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" She looked around herself desperately as she yelled, trying to see through the hair that whipped in her face. Debri fell with them, the chunks of rock, wood, and dirt falling like rain from the clouds. The sun appeared and disappeared with each of her rotations, each time further and further away. A glint caught her eye again and Kass remembered the sword. She was still holding it somehow, having locked it in a death grip as if losing it would spell death for her.

A sudden urge overcame her then and she unsheathed it from its beautiful scabbard as she fell, not worried in the slightest about cutting or stabbing herself. She stared at it, almost as if lost in a trance, until her eyes snapped up and targeted the ogre. It was all this things fault that she was here, dying. A lust for blood entered her that she had never felt before. It felt so unnatural, yet natural at the same time. Either way it didn't change what she wanted. This ogre would die too, and she would make sure of that.

Snapping back into focus after only a few seconds of falling, Kass steeled herself, fighting back all the built up emotion inside of her. Don't cry. Can't......cry. The ogre was below her, too far away to reach at the moment, still reaching out, trying to snatch her. She lost sight of the monster as she spun away from it for a split second, then found it again as she came around. Can I even catch that thing? Trying her best to halt her horizontal movement, Kass pointed her body down and dove towards the ogre, sword arm outstretched. She still spun, but this time she never lost sight of the ogre, spinning like a bullet towards its target. Her speed increased and the distance closed between the two. Kass dodged a large clump of dirt, maneuvering herself through the air with surprising skill. What am I doing!?

Another second passed and Kass fully committed to her course of action. Through gritted teeth and water filler eyes she screamed, something primal escaping from her center. She shot straight for the ogre who was still free falling, arms and legs waving through the air, keeping it facing her. It swiped its arm at her as she came in range, and she did her best to dodge it, only her feet getting hit by the wrist of the beast. It still spun her, and she momentarily lost control. She stabbed into the monster's arm to arrest her motion and was surprised as the blade cut easily into the flesh and then continued to cut as she fell down its forearm.

Out of the corner of her eye Kass saw the other arm coming towards her quickly, as it to squash the irritating mosquito. With a quick reaction Kass planted her feet against the thing's arm and pushed off, soaring upside down, over the second arm that smacked into the first with great force. Almost like pole vaulting. Now past the ogre's defenses she dove again, this time feet first, holding her sword with both hands above her head and aiming directly at its' chest. Whether it was plain luck or the cosmos of the world giving back just a little for the injustice of everything that had happened, her feet planted, and her blade drove home.

As soon as her blade had touched the ogre, they hit the ground. The force travelled through the ogre and into Kass in an instant. Bones snapped and she was instantly pressed hard against the thing's body. Her vision went black just as fast, fading away into nothingness.

-------------------------------------------------------- * * * ------------------------------------------------------------

The Urun scout shuffled its feet, bored of doing the same thing every single day. The thing stood at the edge of a large, circular lake that marked the outskirts of the Urun clan's domain. Tunnels branched off in many directions in the cavern, which could spell danger of many different kinds coming to the clan. That's why the scout stood there, day after day. It was a good task, one of the most important, it knew. But it was a boring one. Not much had happened in these parts for many many years. The beasts that prowled the areas outside the clan's reach knew the danger of approaching the Urun settlement and so most generally stayed away. And it had been longer still since the last raid from another clan had come their way, but still, the Urun stood watch.

It rested its crude spear against the tunnel wall and kicked at a rock, sending it soaring into the lake and creating ripples that lapped at the sides. The Urun loved to watch the ripples, and so it repeated the process, its scaly skin scraping against the rough floor as it kicked another, this time larger stone into the water. It smiled a toothy smile as it watched the pattern play out in the water before it. This was something that never got old. The occasional drop of water from above also created these ripples all across the lake and it mesmerized the Urun.

A loud sound from above broke the Urun's concentration on the ripples and it snapped its head up quickly, not used to such sounds here. Far above, in the circle of light, the Urun spotted a dark spot enter the usually spotless circle. Unsure what could have caused this, and knowing that it was not yet time for the light to disappear, the Urun grabbed for its spear and watched, fully alert. The spot grew quickly as the seconds passed and the Urun instinctively took a step back.

In moments it could make out the features of a huge monster with arms and legs, flailing about as it fell. Then the Urun made out another shape, similar arms and legs but much much smaller. Its good eyes were one of the reasons it had been chosen for this task, and it picked out information quickly, ready to run and inform the clan when necessary. The two beings were headed straight for the lake, and a part of the Urun knew that they would not survive such a fall. It had fallen before, from much less height, and it knew the danger of falling.

The two shapes came to eye level of the Urun and time seemed to slow as it watched from its perch above the lake. The smaller one had something shiny, a weapon it realized, sharp like its spear was. The big one swung its huge arm, strong and fast enough to kill any Urun, but missed the small one, who then stabbed at the arm. A split second later the second arm swung, clapping together hard with the other arm. Yet this one missed too, and the Urun watched in amazement and fear as the small one soared through the air, like a rock towards the lake. With what seemed like such grace to the Urun, the small being flipped once and then held its stabby weapon high, arms stretched above its head. The small one's feet landed on the chest of the large monster and drove its weapon towards it, sinking to a knee as it sunk home.

Unable to move from where it stood, the Urun watched as the two monsters plunged into the lake. Water exploded everywhere and the Urun saw the biggest ripple it had ever seen in its life. It shrieked and fell back, scrambling to get away from the wall of water headed its way. It failed, and the water washed over the Urun who clung on for dear life. In an instant it was over and the water washed back towards the lake, dragging smaller rocks with it.

It managed to push itself back up to its feet and began to flee. It risked a glance back and was blinded by the brightest light it had ever seen, and within the light, head back and arms limp, the Urun looked upon the smaller being. The one that had destroyed the huge monster. The one that had created the largest ripple ever created in the history of the Urun. The one that the Urun knew to be the end of its clan. It turned away and ran as fast as possible to warn the others of the God of Death that had just arrived on their doorstep.