The Guardians of Celesk

Chapter 12: Last Defiance

Mes - Celesk – the once glowing jewel of civilisation and central hub for all trade, commerce, artistry, and the odd bout of politics was torn apart and smouldering from Valezk's next great siege. He had scorched the surrounding hamlets and villages that traded supplies as he forced the last front of the Golden Blade into the empty heart of the city. Most of the citizens boarded up their houses as many of the city's nobility were rounded up and forced into the main square.

Valezk was overseeing a combat trial on top of a mounted stage as one of his humanoids, clad all in black was fighting against Keol, a commander of the Golden Blade. Each formed a spirited joust of death, brandishing matching blades that glinted in the sunlight. Valezk was watching this match with great interest, the ricocheting sounds of steel on steel temporarily hypnotised him.

The two students were eager to clash against one another. A few Guardians overlooked this scene- each of the young men were entering their last stages before they would become fully trained Guardians. The winner of the contest was given a speedy last stage while the loser would continue to remain more anonymous among the masters. It was an unofficial contest among peers, but to the two young men it meant everything.

Each of them attacked the other with great ferocity, staffs clashed against each other as the vibrations nearly shook their wrists apart. Aeron was growing with confidence as he thought he saw the weakness of his opponent. He swatted away another vicious flurry of strikes, patiently seeing the sweeping movements of his opponent's legs as he desperately recovered his footing. He baited the next attack with a few swipes of his own- a horizontal sweep across his opponent's torso was quickly blocked but, in his reflex, swiping vertically and narrowly missing his opponent's earlobe. His opponent took the bait and with greater speed and aggression, he forced Aeron back, only to overextend himself as Aeron caught the staff at a downward thrust, his opponent clumsily leaning on his front foot, making him vulnerable. Aeron thrust upward, smiting his opponent sharply on the jaw and knocking him down. He smiled at this little victory. His partner thrust out a hand and sent flames licking on the staff and briefly scalding Aeron.

A master saw this in the background and went to interrupt, yelling "No magic!"

Aeron was enraged at the sight of his reddened left hand, the pain temporarily subsiding as his rage continued to engulf everything. The Guardian put his hands up but Aeron knocked him away and in a stunning blow, knocked the staff from his rivals hands and launched two sharp blows to his head one after the other before the staff was finally caught by Eondall.

"Stop it! Look at him."

Aeron looked into the blemished face to see the eyes were dead. "You've killed him!"

He finally felt the rage subside only to give way to a terrible sense of dread and confusion.

"Valezk!" Slaker shouted.

He finally snapped out of his hypnosis.

"He was victorious and now he seems to mock us," she said.

One of his dark warriors lay on the ground, having been pierced in the torso by Keol.

"Is this sport to you people?!" he shouted.

Valezk in turn chuckled at this.

"This is not our way!" he shouted.

"But it is ours! Besides, you looked like you enjoyed yourself. Perhaps you would like to join my ranks. Plenty of sport for everyone!"

At this Valezk's crowd of followers cheered.

"It is not the inner way! We will be remembered for our better days and not the darkened ones."

"Spare me the rhetoric. You sound just like one of them. Do you know why they truly call them Guardians?"