The Adventures of ArmorGames: The Fallen
Chapter 2: A Quest
Deloric gritted his teeth as Marle's huge sword swung in an arc at his head. He ducked, and slashed back and forth at his opponent's legs. Marle leapt back, and attempted a killing overhead blow. Deloric parried, and jabbed at Marle's chest. Marle deflected Deloric's light rapier, and made a thrust of his own. Easily sidestepping, Deloric feinted a sideswipe. Marle sidestepped that, and then, Deloric flicked his sword up in a swipe that would've cut off Marle's left arm, had they not been using dull swords with the edges covered with wood.
"Very good, Deloric!" praised his mentor. Deloric bowed his head respectfully in acknowledge of the praise. He was a quiet lad, especially for 16; the age when most would be full of energy and still impatient and curious. But of course, Deloric was different. His mentor, Cole, could see that easily. Sent off to the war at a very young age, Deloric had learned an elite swordsman's skills at just seven. But there was a price to pay. Deloric wasn't arrogant, like Marle, the other best student, but he was highly antisocial and had an explosive rage that surfaced easily. He was obsessed with revenge and becoming a better swordsman, and that worried Cole. Deloric had a fairly vacant sense of morality.
"You got lucky," spat Marle, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Deloric laughed and gave his sword back to Cole. Still laughing, he left and went back to the tent. Cole eyed him carefully. The sixteen-year old was the greatest swordsman he'd ever seen: but he was going down a dark path. Should Cole train him, and give him power? Power he didn't deserve?
Deloric kicked off his thick leather boots in the apprentices' tent. Marle stomped in after him, in high dudgeon. The younger, junior apprentices eyed the elder ones' moods carefully, and quietly retreated from the tent. They had seen the twos' fits of rage before, and it was not something they wanted to be in the middle of. The senior apprentices; Luke, Allessia, and Tyren, glanced at them too, but stayed. They weren't afraid of the rival sixteen-year olds.
"You just got lucky," Marle repeated
"Whatever," muttered Deloric, pulling the rough, too-small blanket over himself and lying down on the dirt.
"Hahaha. I told you. You just got lucky," Marle spat, trying to get a rise out of Deloric. Luckily, Deloric didn't have a pride like Marle.
"I heard you the first time," sighed Deloric.
"I don't think you did," Marle said, getting up. Deloric shook his head and sat up, pulling the blanket off himself. The senior apprentices left them alone. The rivals would have to settle their dispute someday.
"Believe what you want, Marle," said Deloric. "Just let me sleep. It's getting dark."
"Yeah, it is getting dark. But just say it. You only got lucky," Marle argued
"Look, Marle. Just let it go. I won," said Deloric, shaking the dirt out of his short brown hair.
"No, you didn't. You just got lucky. Your parents weren't so lucky," Marle spat. The older apprentices winced. That was a low blow. Deloric had watched his parents' house burn to the ground, with his parents inside. And this time, Deloric did get mad. He stood up and grabbed Marle by his collar.
"What did you say?" he growled.
"Your parents. Or maybe they were lucky, just like you. They just were too stupid," Marle said. He was getting frightened of Deloric, whose eyes were narrowed and practically glowing with rage, but he was too vain to back down, especially in front of his rival and the other apprentices. But this was the last straw. Deloric threw Marle to the ground.
"Don't mention them. And not like that," he said, gritting his teeth to control the fury building up in him.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I offend you? Your parents don't mind. They're six feet under the ground with worms crawling through them," Marle said sarcastically. Deloric clenched his fists by his sides and approached Marle again. The senior apprentices sighed and started to get up. Apparently, they would have to stop this.
"Hey, Marle," said Luke. "Let it go. Deloric won fair and square; we all saw it." Unfortunately, even though Luke's intentions were good, he'd said just the wrong thing. Marle grew even worse.
"Well, maybe he won. Maybe he won fair and square, with some luck. But he's still a coward. Because you watched your parents burn to death with the screams echoing in your ears. And you didn't help them. You just ran away like the little coward you are," taunted Marle. The senior apprentices gasped in shock. Marle had never taunted like this before, but as the apprentice choosings were coming up, he was probably getting more desperate and aggressive, striving to prove himself worthy. But this time he'd just gone too far. Deloric snapped. He dove onto Marle, raining his strong fists down on the other apprentice. Allessia, Luke, and Tyren jumped to their feet and tried to pull him off of Marle. But not even Tyren, with his giant strength, couldn't pull the enraged Deloric off poor Marle. Blood spattered the leather walls of the tent. Luke ran to Cole.
"Deloric!" sputtered Allessia. "Get off him!" But Deloric had lost control. He punched and kicked and bit, not even aware of what he was doing. A red film enveloped his view, and he kept beating up Marle. Cole came racing in. Together, the three apprentices and the mentor managed to haul Deloric off and away from Marle. Deloric struggled, but the four held him at bay. Marle's carrot-orange hair was soaked with blood, his neat clothes splattered with red and his once handsome face was black and blue and swollen already; the nose smashed like a lightning bolt. Deloric, his hands and arms covered with blood, shook his head, dazed. He blinked, looked at Marle, and looked at his own hands. He gasped, then his face hardened. It showed no sympathy or surprise at all. Just a cruel satisfaction.
"Deloric," said Cole, looking, horrified, at Marle. "You are banned from this camp forever on."
"Wait!" exclaimed the camp mage. "I have an idea. If Deloric goes on a quest...he might be able to return to camp as a better person."
"Deloric?" asked Cole, still furious at both his apprentices(but Deloric in particular, obviously).
"Ok," said Deloric, his dark eyes still looking at Marle's unconscious body with an air of dark satisfaction. "I'll go on the quest."