Unbound Book 1: The Failed Duke

CHAPTER ONE: THE HERO FAILED BY ALL

Somewhere far away, there was a world known as Hamstead, and in that world there was a continent called Rockingford.

On this continent, there was the newborn kingdom known as Arelith, and it had rapidly grown into a superpower.

It was here that our story began, at a mercenary camp, where the flags were emblazoned with Eagles, and the soldiers all had scars of some form.

In the middle of this camp, two of the larger men fought with their fists.

They were surrounded by a cheering crowd that yelled one of two names. These names were Diego and Julian.

Julian took his fist and slammed it into the lower jaw of Diego.

Diego's jaw slammed shut, and the force caused him to take a few steps backwards, which made him crash into one of the spectators.

The spectator in question pushed him back and yelled, "Get back in there Diego! I've got a whole day's salary riding on you!"

Diego spat out some blood before he rushed back in to attack Julian.

The spectator was elbowed by the man next to him who said, "That fifty obsidian is as good as mine. No way Julian loses this."

The spectator growled as he cheered on Diego even harder.

Diego pulled his arm back and attempted to hit Julian with his right fist.

Julian was able to dodge out of the way of the strike by leaning to his left, and with Diego's defenses exposed, twisted his body as far as it would go before he buried his fist into Diego's side.

Diego moaned in pain, but Julian continued the attack, and hit him square in the chest with his right fist, which launched him backwards.

He landed on his back with a thud, and while he tried to scramble to his feet, Julian rushed over and pinned him to the ground, where he punched him over and over to keep Diego on the ground.

Everyone watched as Julian mercilessly beat Diego, who could no longer defend himself.

There were groans, as everyone knew the fight was over.

The fight was interrupted by the sound of a flintlock pistol going off behind him.

The crowd turned to face where the shot had come from, and saw a man, younger than most of them, with spiky black hair, wearing a red coat accompanied by black pants and a sword on his hip, as well as three separate belts on his waist.

What drew most people's attention though was the brand under his left eye. It was directly underneath, and was the size of a silver dollar.

When the crowd saw him, they began to whisper amongst themselves, and were disappointed that Lucan showed up before the payouts were given.

Lucan handed the pistol back to a woman mercenary and said, "Thank you, Charlotte."

He walked over to the two fighters, who both scrambled to their feet, with Diego having a bit more trouble.

Lucan looked around to the crowd and said, "Would anyone like to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

When silence was the only answer given, he turned to look at Julia and Diego. "Either of you feeling more talkative?"

At first they both remained quiet, but once Lucan raised an eyebrow, Diego said, "Julian went into my tent and stole a locket I bought at the last town we visited."

Julian elbowed him in the ribs, and Lucan's attention was turned to him. "That true?"

He scrunched up his nose and said, "Course not. Why would I steal from someone who earns shit? What's he got worth stealing?"