Draven stared at the hologram features in surprise. He could not believe the master was saying such words. How many times would he have earned something in order for it to be given to him? Hadn’t he earned enough already? Hadn’t he worked enough already?No, he was not going to do such a thing. The sword had been damaged when he was trying to survive with his life intact, and even the master knew that. Hell, he said he was aware!Since he was aware, why was he still trying to punish him? Because this sure as hell feels like a punishment.“Don’t I deserve to be given a gift?” he asked as a last resort.“A gift?” The master made a sound that Draven could only decipher as a scoff. “My dear student, why do you think I will make you a new sword as a gift?”“Because I survived when I could have died from it?”“The fact that you allowed this sword to shrivel and die without you in it is an indication that I should not make you another one. You do not know how to handle a sword, Draven. There
“What do you mean we’re under attack?"!” Draven nearly yelled.“Exactly what I mean, man, we’re under attack!” Leo replied just as bluntly.“Alright fine, where’s the attacker?”“They’re on their way here.”He arched his brows at Leo. “Really, man? They’re on their way here?”“I heard screaming, okay? And then I came to check if you'd gotten the sword back so we could fight them off but apparently you haven’t had a single thing!”Draven inhaled and exhaled consecutively. The Master taught him that he must be calm at all times, and that’s exactly what he wanted to work for. Maybe if he became obedient and started his training again, the master might just take him seriously and make him a new sword. It had to be earned, right? This was part of the earning process.“I didn’t get the sword,” he said quietly. “But I’m going to work for it, alright? That’s the condition they gave me.”“You were given a condition in order to have a new sword.”“Yes, that’s basically what I just said.”“Do yo
Draven did not step back, much to Leo’s disappointment. He wanted to help the girl. She didn’t look like she was injured, but if they left the tree trunk under her for some time, then she would die. He didn’t want her to die when he knew he could save her.“What are you doing under there?” he asked. “Did it like fall on you but you were somehow miraculously saved from being crushed by it?"She didn’t answer. Actually, she seemed out of sorts and breathed. Draven realized with horror that she would die from breathlessness before the tree even got to her. He bent over to her, examining the damage done. Apart from the pressure of being pressed by her side that would eventually kill her, Draven didn’t see any other issue.“We have to lift the tree off her,” he said to Leo as he straightened.Leo was appalled. “What? You want me to lift the tree from her body? Do I look like I’m 300 pounds of muscle?”Draven rolled his eyes. “Jesus can you be serious for once? We’re only helping the poor g
It took a minute for the girl’s words to register in their minds. Leo growled and looked around very quickly, as though expecting the monster to just jump out of nowhere.“I knew it!” He said in a heated tone. “I knew we shouldn’t have saved her ungrateful, killing ass!”Draven simply stared at her, too tired to say anything. If the monster she spoke about came at them, he would die because he’d lost half of his energy pushing that very gigantic tree trunk off her. It would take at least 2 days for him to fully recover. Maybe less than that, but at that moment it felt like his relaxation would go on and on. And oh how he craved it so well.“We should have just left her to die!” Leo continued to say as he rotated about.“Hold up for a damn minute,” the girl said, looking around. “What do you mean left me to die? Why would you leave me to die?”“Why would you lure us here when you know you want to feed us to your monster?!” Leo fired back. “Now where is he?"The girl looked surprised, s
They walked briskly out of the forest, all on the lookout for the large monster Lara had explained. Draven imagined it would be a pretty big and monstrous monster if it was able to overlook Lara hiding under a tree because it was like a branch in his eyes. He found many loopholes in her story, but he imagined that she was too distressed to tell the whole full story. Leo didn’t buy it, though. It was written on his face; it was so wide and telling. Draven knew that Leo was thinking about that time with Elena, when they were so betrayed that they thought she would kill them for sure. Once or twice he yelled at Lara when she stepped into his lane. “I’m sorry about his behavior,” Draven apologized. “Leo is not usually like this, but he is so agitated right now, you know?” “Is it something I did?” she asked. “Yes!” Leo shouted from where he was walking. “It’s not your fault,” Draven said reassuringly. “Please don’t just mind him. Our friend Elena betrayed us one day and tried to kill
Draven was smiling when he went back to Leo and the girl. He reminded himself over and over that this girl was Lara, not Elena. Lara was stupid and clueless, and she would not last long in a game. He didn’t know why he cared, but it was these simple acts of caring that made Master reconsider his mind.He would never understand how the robotic man thought, but clearly hard work was a factor that finally gave him the sword. He waved the sword in the air, testing it. Actually, he had been testing it for the past 15 minutes, but what did that matter? He had a new one now—maybe better or less, but he would figure it out. He always does.Leo was making a fire to brew his medicinal tea when he came in. Both hands were behind his back, and so was the sword. Draven wanted it to be a surprise, but then he was just too excited to keep up with it.“I’m hungry,” Lara suddenly said, forcing his attention to her.He smiled. She actually cut off her hair; so low that there wasn’t any call down to her
“Kill it!” Lara shrieked. “Don’t just sit there like a princess, participate in the killing contest too!” Leo shouted back at her. She shrieked and jumped into a tree when a tiny foot soldier came at her. Draven rolled his eyes as he rotated around a much smaller monster; something that looked like the baby out of the bigger ones. The group of five trolls had jumped on them when they were walking east. Lara saw them first, and of course she screamed her head off. If she hadn’t screamed and the trolls didn’t see them, then they wouldn’t be having a semi-fighting and killing contest. Plus the trolls were troublesome. It was not enjoyable to be fighting off things that crawled on your leg or jumped on your back and what not. Draven certainly didn’t enjoy it, and by the looks of things, none of the others did too. “You’re not going to kill anything if you hang on to that tree!” Leo yelled at Lara as he chopped off the head of a troll with one arm. There was no use talking to her. Th
He expected her to freak out. Matter of fact, he was counting on it. Lara was so simple-minded that he wouldn't be surprised if he found out that she died just breathing in the wrong air. So when she did not start screaming immediately at his unjust fairness, he was impressed. Leo seemed even more impressed than he was, watching Lara in a critical way as though he expected her to fail them and start crying all over the ground. The baby troll was still trying to wriggle its stone-like body out of there, so Leo pushed it with one foot and it rolled towards Lara. She jumped back when it touched her feet, then gripped Draven tightly by his arm. “I can’t kill it,” she whispered. “Why not?” Draven asked. “It’s a baby. We don’t kill babies.” “It’s a monster,” Leo chuckled. “This baby monster will grow up one day and bite off your ass if you don’t kill it straight away.” Draven bent down and hit the rock three times. The troll unraveled, showing itself. It was too weak and powerless to