HEADLESS REAPER
The reaper was an eight foot skeleton dressed in a shadow black cloak that was alive and could clutch at an enemy and even turn into big wings, the skull was covered with a black aura and the aura was over the blade of the scythe that the reaper wielded, Elliot had seen reapers from the books about demons but he was not expecting it to be so big and tall, it could split Elliot into two with that scythe but he was not still afraid, he stared the reaper down and for a quick moment the reaper lost his cool because Elliot was so overpowering, he noticed the reaper twitch his scythe a little bit and a sense of awareness came over him.
“Sometimes you don’t have to even start the fight to win it, all you have to do is to have a strong and confident aura, say ‘I am strong and I am aware of the full potential of my abilities so I know that I am going to defeat you’… with that kind of mindset, you can even scare your enemy about attacking and h might reconsider his bad decision afterwards” his mentor had taught him and that had been a rule that Elliot carried about with him, he always an intimidating look and it had helped him in a lot of situations.
The reaper got agitated and lunged first, it was fast but the size meant that Elliot could track his movements easily, the scythe swung at Elliot at a devilish speed but he was quick to open his shield which deflected the weapon to the other direction, the shield was on his left hand and he summoned his magical sword by calling its name.
“EXCALIBUR!!” the silver blade appeared in his right hand, the sight of the pure blade made the reaper quiver, he was aware of the damage that the sword could deal.
“HA! I thought you were boasting about ripping my head off with your bare hands, not a man of his words I see”.
“The sword is for disarming you, then I will rip your head off” Elliot made the dash this time, the reaper dodged easily, he swung his scythe as a counter to Elliot’s missed swing but the shield was ready to pop up to block the attack of the reaper.
“You are very skilled with the double wield, you are obviously experienced with the sword but I have what you don’t have…” the reaper got into a stance that made him look as if he was ready to fly, the cloak turned into a pair of shadowy wings.
“And what is that?” Elliot wanted to know what sort of advantage that his opponent had over him.
“I have magic” the reaper flew at Elliot with flashing speed, this time he could not move out of the way in time so the scythe cut his right shoulder, blood gushed out of the wound and it made his swings slower.
“Such an advantage, I just have to find a way to avoid your silly party tricks and avoid getting killed by that gardening tool” Elliot spoke calmly even though he felt his life force draining off his body from that wound, it was not closing up by itself and it made his auto regenerative abilities slower than usual.
“You have a big mouth, let’s see how much more you can talk after I put you in your grave” the reaper flew at Elliot with the same speed as before but he dodged this time but the reaper shot a black beam at him from it’s free hand, the beam hit him square in his chest and he felt his HP reduce by a huge difference in the subtraction. Elliot stood up as if he was not flinched by the surprise combo by the reaper, he had not been expecting it but he still grasped the situation in a matter of seconds.
‘I have to destroy his scythe but he can still cast spells with his other hand, I have to get rid of the hand that shot that powerful beam that reduced my HP that much… my arm is still healing slowly but I can’t get a good swing on him at this rate… I need a diversion’.
Elliot brought out his last dagger and he ran at the reaper with the dagger in his fingers, he jumped and threw the dagger but it wasn’t at the reaper but at the ground in front of the reaper and it exploded stone and dust particles into the face of the reaper, the reaper shot beams through the smoke blindly but Elliot had already landed on the floor with a slash that took off the free hand of the reaper, it screeched and flew away from Elliot in fear with one arm clutching the scythe in desperation, he followed in hot pursuit with his sword ready to cut off another limb, Elliot threw his sword at the flying shadow in front of me but it was like he just dispersed into the air before the sword hit it’s body, the reaper materialized behind Elliot who was without his sword.
“Nowhere to run now!!” the scythe was aimed at the torso of Elliot but in a split second he activated his rage mode and he stopped the blade with his bare hands.
“Gotcha now” Elliot chuckled in a scary manner, his eyes were pure black and his pupils were no longer in his sockets, his hands bled from stopping the blade but it was as if he was not even feeling the injury.
“What happened to you?” the reaper had to ask because his opponent had become something else, he tried to retract his scythe but Elliot’s grip was strong and he refused to let go.
“Rage mode activated” Elliot pulled the reaper closer with the scythe he was holding, he headbutted the reapers flaming skull and the aura vanished from the skeleton’s head, Elliot broke the scythe with his bare hands and proceeded to tear his enemy apart.
“Wait! Why don’t we talk this one out?” the reaper was begging for his life but Elliot had turned into a ferocious beast, he grabbed the only arm of the reaper and he pulled it out of it’s joint, he kicked at the knees of the reaper demobilizing the creature, he grabbed at the neck of the fallen skeleton in front of him.
“I told you that I was going to rip off your head with my bare hands, too bad you won’t live long enough to see it happen” Elliot squeezed tightly and the spine of the reaper cracked to pieces under his hand, he pulled off the head of the reaper and he took it back with him to show to his father but Elliot uplifted the village from it’s misery by burning the village to the ground, he used all the gasoline and alcohol that they had in the village and he used a spell to start a fire that wouldn’t stop blazing.
The news of the Elliot’s victory spread round the region and it eventually got to the ears of Constantine who was already in his doubts if the king of Mytigon was planning to overthrow the kingdom of Briggs and dishonor the truce that they had, Constantine was planning to wait a little bit longer but he was already afraid of the capabilities of the prince of Mytigon. The advisor to the king of Briggs was another person who was scared of the power level of Elliot.
“It is better to have that boy as an ally instead of an enemy, we need to-” the advisor broke the silence in the room by attempting to tell Constantine what he had been thinking about the whole situation.
“I already know what we need to do and I have arrangements to send a messenger to the king of Mytigon to remind him about the truce, it is very urgent and we shall proceed with immediate alacrity… if they start a rebellion right now, I am not sure that we can stop that boy” Constantine did not want to take any other chances with his truce, he wanted it to happen instantly.
“We can take them down from the inside before they plan anything of that sort” the advisor said to the emperor.
“We can do that but first things first… the truce”.
WISTFUL DESPERATIONThe message of Constantine was passed to the king of Mytigon and it put the poor king under pressure, little did he know that his adversary was facing even more pressure than him. Elliot had returned with the head of the reaper and it was hung on the wall of the council room, he was proud that his father had congratulated him on his return but there was something that Elliot needed to clear out with his father.“Father, I thank you for putting your faith in me and letting me going on this quest but there is something that happened during my fight with the reaper’s minions” Elliot watched his father closely, he wanted to know if his father would lie to him.“What happened, my son?” Ivan asked with a calm expression, he probably already knew where the talk was headed but he stayed cool.“When I was fighting with the two mutated corrupted, one of them just fell to the ground with blood gushing out of its chest… I didn’t slay that beast with my sword or magic powers” E
A SMALL FAVOR“Life is filled with opportunities, different opportunities that can take your life to the next level and all you have to do is to grab it, seize it by the horns, your whole life depends on you choosing how to seize the moment… this moment in front of me is one that I so desired to live in, one that I have been dreaming about since I was a little girl, being the princess of a kingdom, the wife of a prince then eventually turns king and I eventually turn into a queen, it was a life that I dreamed about but I never lived it… It was hard to live your dreams when you are stuck in a town like Borcher that is beyond dilapidated and poor, there was barely any clothed children running through the streets, bandits lurked every alley and homeless people slept on the floors of the street”.“There was no money but if there was any money, it was collated and spent by the corrupt council of elders that have been ruling for years and they still had supreme rule over the whole town whic
A SMALL FAVOR IIThe ingredient that the witch needed was a flower that couldn’t be found anywhere else other than close to the mountains or the hills, the witch was too old to climb such steep places so she resorted to scouting for the flower in the lows of the valleys, she had been searching for the flower before she fell into the ditch that Morgana found her. The witch gave Morgana a small purse in which she was to put the flower into after she had plucked it, she gave Morgana a healing potion and a knife just in case she entered into any trouble on her way.“I expect you to come back with the knife unused but I am still giving you a potion just in case you get hurt while scouting for the flower, I am sure that you know your way back here but here is a magical map that will guide you in case you get lost… anything else?” the witch asked Morgana after giving her all of the necessary items that she needed for her mini quest.“Yes. I need you to tell me the exact hill that I can find
A BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSMorgana ran back to the location that the witch was supposed to be but the map was not functioning properly so she got lost, she was running round in circles and before she knew it she had ran past a tree that she had seen barely five minutes ago, Morgana sat by the foot of the tree and she lamented about her situation, she was lost, hungry and with no way to pick her way through the darkness, it was a full moon but the light could barely get through the leaves and a full moon meant that there are wolves on the prowl.Morgana could hear sounds from different creatures and some were from creatures that she could recognize but the rest were random sounds and screeches that made her almost jump out of her skin every time, she could not sleep so she decided that it was best to keep on moving since there was no place to camp around where she was, the slow trek began and she had already gotten tired because of the running that she did earlier, she walked past some group
SCREENING DAYThe day that was stipulated for the screening was a very busy one in the city of Borcher because it was during the middle of a trade fair in the market of Borcher, all the women and the young ladies gathered in the town square waiting for the announcement that would make all hell break loose. Morgana had gotten home and snuck in her room without alerting her mother who was fast asleep on one of the benches in the restaurant, it was obvious that she had been trying to wait for her daughter before she passed out on the bench, Morgana changed from her fancy clothes and she wore one of her usual clothes before she woke her mother up.“Mother, wake up… it is me Morgana” she shook her mother gently and the woman opened her green eyes slowly, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand before she recollected her senses.“Is it really you? Where have you been? I have been looking all over for you” she sounded so worried to the point that it almost broke Morgana’s heart but she
THE HEADLINE PRINCEIvan Alexander was a man that always knew how to get what he wanted and if it wasn’t through making a deal then he would resort to force but there have never been a time where the king of Mytigon ever needed to use force to get what he wanted and that was mainly because he was so good at striking deals that the other person would find hard to refuse, the deal that he had made with Constantine was already sealed but he wanted his son to pick the princess of Briggs as his wife but he couldn’t influence the prince’s choice directly, all he could do was to plan the ceremony and maybe he would look for a way to get the special princess into the list of the selected.“Father, are you well? You looked troubled” Elliot said to his father who had been so lost in his thought that he had actually forgotten that he was sitting on a horse, they were having a decent father and son time before they went out into the streets of the kingdom to make an important announcement.“Yes I
PARALLEL WORLDSThe Emperor of Briggs had already heard the news about Elliot and the ceremony, when he received the letter containing the invitation, Constantine just smiled because he knew that Ivan was already making plans for the truce to be completed but what he couldn’t understand was why didn’t Ivan just come directly with his son instead of going through all of this ceremonial process. Benita heard about the news and she was excited because she had heard stories about Elliot and his conquests, she had a serious crush on him and when she heard that there was a ball coming, she began to dress and act like a princess even more than before so that her chances of being selected would be higher than others.“How many maidens are going to come out from Briggs?” she asked her father as they watched the antics of the dramatists that were acting on the stage of the theatre, Benita shared her father’s love for the theatre and she always accompanied him to see different plays right from t
PREPARATIONSThe kingdom of Mytigon was plagued with a terrible wave of over-excitement, the ball was a big ceremony to them and the people were all aware of the benefits the ball was going to bring. There would be traders coming from far and wide to sell their wares to the travelers or the rich folks that came from distant lands just so they could attend, the commercial part of Mytigon was the busiest of all the places while inside the streets; the people worked hard to decorate their homes and fronts.“The prince is so handsome, look at the shiny gold suit that he wore during the public announcement” one of the women in charge of decorating said to her colleague who was holding the ladder for her as they hung daisies and scented flowers on the window sills of the houses.“One fleck of dust from that suit is bound to make anybody rich for life, but yet…it was only worn just for show, we might never see him again in it” the other woman lamented bitterly, they had been present at the c