Awakening

Chapter 7: Black Cloak

Chapter 7: Black Cloak

Nothing that you can say or do will make me change my mind. Mami’s voice echoed in his head as he left Tanya’s Tavern. It lingered longer than he wanted to which only increased his anger and frustration as he was making his way back to the Guild.

This is garbage!  He thought to himself as he jumped from tree to tree. Once he landed, he started running with his hands behind his back. What a selfish person… only thinking about herself! Just because she’s the strongest person in the Guild does not mean she can just do whatever the hell that she wants!

He eventually slowed down to a walking speed, trying to think about any logical reason of why she would just leave like that. Even though the reasons that she gave out were perfectly legitimate, he still couldn’t see why that would be her motive for not staying.

Sacrifices had to be made… in order to be where we are… the strong live… and the weak die… that’s the way of life! He hands on his forehead rubbing it as he sat down near the closest boulder. He took a deep breath and then yelled out. Since no one was in the forest, he didn’t care what he was yelling out as long as he got that steam out of his system.

Breathing out heavily, he stared at his hands. He imagined that the knives that he had on the rooftop of Tanya’s Tavern were there as he was about to strike Mami in the throat. The whole scene was replaying in his head as he missed the strike and Mami had him in a headlock with the taste of steel on his tanned skin.

Remembering that scene made him furious and to show it, he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Quickly standing up, he turned around and punched the closest tree that was nearby. The poor tree had a groove which showcased his strength.

“Dammit all! How the hell can Mami still be stronger and faster than I am?!” he roared out, “It’s always been like this! No matter what I do, she’ll always be ahead of me!”

His hand was bleeding and it was a little sore. He knew that it was a stupid thing to punch a tree, especially when there was a high chance of getting splinters, but he was too angry to care. Nursing his hand by putting a cloth that he had in his brown leather bag, he wrapped it around to form a bandage.

Shaking his head, he stared angrily at the ground and kicked a rock that was nearby. It flew deep into the forest and made the bushes rustle once it landed. “Gods, I can’t stay around here any longer. I have to go back to the Guild to do other things…”

Kneeling down, he tightened up his boots and put up his hood to conceal his eyes. He jumped a couple of times to loosen up and was about to start running, but his attention was directed to mysterious clapping which could be heard throughout the whole forest.

“That was quite the soliloquy!” Lale turned his head side to side, looking for the voice that was calling him, “I must say that it is quite unfortunate that you feel this way… of a girl!”

Without thinking, Lale drew out his knives from the sleeves, readying them. “Show yourself, coward!” He spun the knives twice and then gripped the weapons tighter. “If you don’t reveal yourself on the count of three, I will not hesitate to kill you!”

The voice laughed. “You got spunk… boy. I like that!”

“Don’t call me, boy!” he snapped back in disgust, “Make this easier for me and do as I say!”

“You seem very confident in your skills… but I can tell you that you are NO match for me…”The voice laughed once again, mocking Lale. “Try and kill me… if you can!”

Lale’s senses were heightened as he evaded throwing daggers that were sent from above. He instantly looked from the treetops and saw that a person wearing a black cloak was leaning against the tree. It stood there flipping one of its throwing daggers.