Sons of Hellfire: Book 1 [Wattys 2016]

Lucien - 7

He was shit at weapons.

After Aeric had grabbed a couple of weapons to begin Lucien's training, they went down to the open area around the house where he had a set up of dummies he practiced on. They were battered and frayed, a sign of a good time's training. Lucien had the sinking suspicion that Aeric didn't just 'kind of' know how to use his weapons.

They started off with the sword, Lucien using his new one and Aeric using his own which was quite similar. Lucien was quite sure that most boys started off with wooden practice swords and when Aeric hefted his in his hands and instructed Lucien to lift his as well, he simply stared in shock.

"Luce, sword up!"

The nickname still struck a chord with him, being so foreign and 'familiar'. He wanted to bark that Aeric had no right to call him by any other name than his given, but if they were friends, was that really allowed? Aeric didn't seem to have a nickname that Lucien could use against him.

"Don't yell at me," he snapped, lifting the sword up to try his best in mimicking Aeric's stance. He stood poorly, he knew. He had never trained before, so his thin arms were being weighed down by the sword's heaviness. He stared enviously at Aeric's muscles and his ease at holding a sword.

"I'm not," said Aeric, waving the sword. "Relax your shoulders. Loosen your grip, you're holding a sword, not choking someone to death."

Lucien frowned and tried to follow the directions, only to yelp when the sword fell from his grip after he loosened too much. It thudded onto the ground and he growled, swiping it up. He straightened up only to see Aeric walking forward with a calm expression. "I told you, I'm terrible-"

Aeric swung.

It all happened in a seconds. Lucien gasped as the blade came rushing at him and automatically he took a step back. Slipping at a bad footing, he fell backwards, throwing his arm up in defense. His eyes clenched shut as he waited for the blow and he heard Aeric shout.

A loud clanging sound rang through the clearing, freezing everything.

Slowly, Lucien opened his eyes, blinking warily. The first thing that his vision honed in on was Aeric, standing over him with a petrified expression on his face. His hand was still gripping his sword tightly, the blade hovering just over Lucien's face. But Aeric wasn't looking at him. Lucien followed his gaze to where the sword was pressing right against Lucien's extended arm and a shout ripped from his throat as panic filled his chest.

"What is that?!" He nearly screamed, scrambling away from Aeric and getting to his feet, holding his arm away from him, staring at it in shock. In the area that the blade would have surely cut through flesh, his sleeve was cut open by the sword's edge. Scales as black as obsidian had formed, covering his entire forearm stopping just at the wrist and elbow. He turned his arm over in horror, staring as the scales glistened in the sunlight. His arm didn't feel any different, but he didn't feel any pain at all either from the blade's strike. "What happened to me?!"

Lucien's screech must have shook Aeric from his frozen position because the other boy tossed the sword to the ground and held his hands up, taking a slow step towards Lucien. "I don't know," he said honestly. "This hasn't happened to you before?"

"No!" Lucien shouted, nearly in hysterics. He tried to grab at his arms in attempt to slide them off but he gasped when he could feel every scale infused to his arm.

"Relax," Aeric said and Lucien jerked his head to him, seeing in his eyes that he was as far from relaxed as Lucien was. "Let's get you back to Vajeel, she'll know what to do. Come on."

A whimper threatened to spill from Lucien's throat but he refused to fall into the panic. He was about to turn and flee to the house when he decided to throw a glare at Aeric, effectively keeping him in place. "Why did you attack me?" He snarled, stepping closer.