Aethelos: The Bastard of Light

(SCENARIO: Clearing after Glinn’s surrender. Then a hideout in the forest.) · The Swordsman (the Hero / Ninjespeed) looked at Glinn analytically. “Why?” · “I’m exhausted, okay? And I don’t have enough strength right now to take a power attack,” Glinn answered, his voice revealing an honesty forced by fatigue. · Lygar, Eli Cari and Yana watched from a distance. Lygar whispered to his companions: “I don’t think he’ll accept the surrender. He can’t be that stupid without making Glinn feel a bit of his power.” · Eli Cari answered: “I still find it strange. It wasn’t more explosive… It was too physical.” · Glinn and the Swordsman stared at each other — a short suspense that felt like a lifetime. Until the Hero sheathed his swords, shrugged, and said in a cartoonish way: · “Hmm, okay. Let’s really rest a bit. And if we cross paths again, we fight.” · The three friends all reacted the same way: “What?!” · “I can’t believe he’s a complete idiot,” Lygar added, exasperated. · “Wow,” Eli Cari said. “I know he’s not in bad shape from the fight, but giving him the chance to recover is just crazy.” · Yana agreed: “Lygar, he really is… hmm, exotic in his ideas.” · Glinn laughed. “You’re something else. You’ve got potential.” · His opponent answered: “You weren’t bad either.” · Glinn looked at the trio, laughing, but the Hero immediately cut off his thought: “If you touch them right now, I’ll turn you to dust.” · “Ui, ui, ui, calm down. I already surrendered, but interesting. You’ll turn me to dust — fire abilities, maybe?” Glinn provoked. · The Swordsman laughed, but became serious: “You don’t want to see it. At least not now.” · Glinn raised his hand in a final sign of surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll take the warning… Well, three friends, until next time.” And he walked away, disappearing quickly into the forest. · As soon as Glinn left, the three started arguing. Eli Cari said: “Let’s go talk to him.” · Lygar answered: “Look, didn’t you see he’s on a level above us?! If we go there, we’re just handing ourselves as a free meal to the hunter.” · Yana intervened: “I don’t know… I think he won’t do that anymore. After all, he saved us.” · Lygar sighed, fed up. “Okay, I’m tired of listening to you. Let’s go.” · The moment they started pushing through the bushes, the Hero was already in front of them. “Buuuu! Hahahahahaha!” · The three got scared. He added: “I loved the name you gave me, sinister guy: ‘hunter’.” · Lygar became serious again. “Who are you and why did you help us?” · The boy sheathed his sword. “Actually, I felt a little sorry for you and thought you needed it.” · Lygar clenched his fist, irritated at feeling weak. He moved to throw a punch, until Eli Cari grabbed his arm. · “Thank you, apple thief. We appreciate it,” Eli Cari said. · The boy straightened up. “To you it’s Hero.” · Eli Cari made a face of contempt. “Obviously I’m not going to call you that.” · Yana, pragmatic, asked the question everyone needed to know. “Thank you for the help. What’s your name?” · The boy introduced himself with an exaggerated smile. “I’m Ninjespeed.” · Ninjespeed has lighter hair (light brown), an agile and light appearance, confident/smiling expression. · Lygar made a face. “Poor guy. I preferred when your name was thief.” · Eli Cari had the same physical reaction. “That can never be a real name.” · “Why not?” Ninjespeed defended himself. · “Basically, your name is Ninja Speed… How horrible,” Eli Cari answered. · “Oh, oh, you’ll see. I’ll show you my identity after we get out of here,” Ninjespeed promised. · Yana rolled her eyes. “Okay, I don’t want to know anything else. Once again, thank you.” Then she asked: “Guys, what are we going to do?” · Lygar answered: “It’s not that I want to be here with you, buuut yes, we have to stick together. We’re not in any condition to wander around, and we need food, water and maybe a hideout.” · “Yes, we really need all those things,” Eli Cari agreed. “But you forgot one thing.” · Lygar, confused, looked at him. “Huh? What?” · “Your manners! After everything we’ve been through together, you still say you don’t want to be with us!” · Yana and Ninjespeed started laughing. Yana asked Ninjespeed: “And you, do you want to stay with us?” · Ninjespeed thought: “Aiiii, she’s so cute asking me that, my heart melted.” Trying to impress, he said: “I can’t… My training involves new challenges and finding weak people to protect, like I did with you.” · TOC! Lygar had given Ninjespeed a knock on the head. “Call me weak again and I won’t be responsible for my actions.” · Ninjespeed, lying on the ground, groaned: “Next time I’ll be more careful with my words.” · Eli Cari laughed at the situation. “Well, let’s go. We need to find water, food and a place to hide.” · Ninjespeed stood up. “Maybe I’ll spend the rest of the night with you and leave at dawn.” · Yana said: “Good. One more person to help with the watches.” · “Watches?” Eli Cari asked. · “Yes. We’ll take turns keeping watch. One stays awake and watches, then rotates with another, and so on,” Yana explained. “Great idea.” · In the middle of searching for supplies, the forest seemed calmer. Screams and parallel fights could no longer be heard, but there were trails of blood and dead competitors, or others murmuring: “Please, end this suffering… End me.” · It was a tense moment. Yana said: “We’re lucky we’re not like that. Because if we had been alone in the fight against Glinn, maybe we would be one of these people.” No one answered. The luck of having been saved was undeniable. · When they reached the hideout, they arranged the shifts. · “I’ll start,” Ninjespeed said. “My sleep is light. I’ll stay up in the tree.” · Lygar accepted, grumbling: “Fine, ‘Hero’.” · Ninjespeed was high in a tree when Eli Cari joined him. “Can’t sleep?” Eli Cari asked. · “Yeah… Can I keep you company?” · “Company is always better than being alone,” Ninjespeed answered. · Yana climbed up next. “Can I join you?” · “Aaaah, she wants to keep me company! My heart melted,” Ninjespeed thought, but said, trying to sound smooth: “Of course, madame.” · “Only Lygar is missing,” Eli Cari said. · “He’s awake. He’s above us,” Ninjespeed said, pointing to a higher branch. Lygar came down. · “Which academy do you want to enter?” Eli Cari asked. · Yana said: “You already know, but okay, these two don’t. I want to enter the Solaris Academy.” · Ninjespeed said: “Humanite Academy.” · Eli Cari frowned. “Humanite, seriously?! That academy is so weak.” · Lygar agreed. “Really. You have potential to be in the best ones in the kingdom.” · Eli Cari added: “It has no reputation at all. It’s a waste of opportunity.” · “You guys depend too much on status,” Ninjespeed answered. “But not me. I’ll be the one who gives a name to that academy. One day I’ll make people go there and see me as an example.” · “But seriously, it only has low-level humans. Think about it,” Eli Cari insisted. · Yana interrupted: “And you, Lygar?” · “I want to go to Solaris,” Lygar said. · Eli Cari shouted: “You?! Seriously?!” · Lygar got exasperated. “Yes, me, seriously. Why the suspense?” · Ninjespeed answered: “It’s because you really look like a villain.” · Eli Cari agreed: “Exactly! That’s why I thought you’d go to Umbra.” · Lygar got furious. “Do you seriously think villains go to Umbra, Eli? Sometimes you really piss me off.” · Eli Cari quickly changed the subject: “Ninjespeed, can I ask you a question?” · “Sure.” · “Why were you fighting Glinn so physically and why didn’t you finish him with a long-range attack?” · Ninjespeed sighed, the smile disappeared, and he looked seriously at the trio. His voice lowered, making the silence of the forest crushing. · “The truth is I can only fight physically,” he answered. “I don’t have any ability.” · The silence was crushing. The person who had saved them from the fearsome Glinn was a simple mortal. · Lygar was the first to react, murmuring: “Pfffff… I can’t believe I was saved by someone like that.” · Yana asked, shocked: “So you bluffed against Glinn?!” · Eli Cari shook his head. “Seriously, Ninjespeed? That move was way too dangerous! It could have gone very wrong.” · Ninjespeed smiled again, though the smile was now forced. “Come on, come on, come on. What’s done is done. It worked and that’s the most important thing.” · Yana, however, remained serious. “But that’s going to bring you a rematch from Glinn.” · Lygar interrupted, already lying on the branch. “I’m going to sleep.” · Eli Cari agreed. “Yeah, better rest a bit.” · Yana followed the example. “Yes, let’s rest. Dawn will come soon.” · The revelation hung in the air while the four nestled to recover, the secret of the “Hero” turning their newly found safety into an even greater risk.