Can you Love me?

c h a p t e r 5

n i g h t   i n   s h i n i n g   a r m o u r

I was choking , gasping for last string of air. My eyes watered but there was nothing I could do. I was hopeless. I saw someone from my class, the girl Laura extend her hand with a concerned look on her face, I saw my parents, Luca who kept begging me with silent eyes to give them my hand and escape but I was too scared to accept the help and let out my hand for them to touch.

If this ends with me dying, I was ready. I gave up the struggle and the one having the choking hold over me hissed in mockery.

"Yes, that's right. Just give up and everything will be fine." The voice hissed and I felt dread crawl all over my body. I tried to see who it was but my eyes were blurry as I was being suffocated to death.

My hands gripped the dark smog ensnaring my neck and I heard a shriek as the form backed off. The hissing came out angry now and I felt some kind of poison burn my hands. I felt the liquid searing through my skin and a scream escaped my mouth , finally letting air to breathe in.

***

Like every other night I woke up but this time with a different kind of dream. I instantly looked at my hand. It was fine and it just turned out to be a nightmare. I was beaded with sweat and my heart beat was erratic. Something thing wet was on my cheek and I realised I had been crying.

This is the only time I cry, in my room where I am hidden from the eyes of other people. I got down from the bed and put on a woollen shrug before stepping out . The hallway was empty at three in the morning and all I could hear was insects. I walked noisily through the dark corridor and  straight for the armoury.

I pulled out a sword and stepped outside in the forest area which is often used as practice arena. It is behind the armoury and it is not allowed for students to go there after dark but I didn't really care.

I focused all my energy and mind on killing off practice dummies kept all around the arena. I did everything from sword art to archery, boomerang and poison pin target practice and even worked with spears. I slashed almost every dummy ruthlessly letting out my pain through the only way I knew.

As I was about to turn and hit another one of those practice dummies , my sword hit another sword creating a loud clanging in the silence of the night. Shocked I saw a boy almost my age, with honey brown eyes and dark brown longish hair. He was striking, to say the least but the usual goosebumps I have around Jayden was missing.

His eyes analysed my stance , as did I and he step forward making another hit. He was not fighting with usual norms , he was agile, alert and professionally trained. He held the sword with both the hands and tried to slice me from the middle. I jumped back and got down on one knee, kicking one leg to hit his leg.

Everyone knew I played dirty when it comes to battle. My move surprised him as he fell back by the surprise attack on his leg.

Who the hell was this guy? And what was he doing at this time of night?

I was about to plunge my sword in his thigh but he was too quick and leaped forward on his foot blocking my attack. From then on we fought for too long , attacking and blocking. Suddenly I had an idea in mind when I realised that the guy was not trying to kill me.

I increased my speed of blocking and attacking him, my eyes on everything except his sword hilt where I was planning to hit. I didn't want to alert him. And when I saw a mini opportunity open up, I used the tip of my blade to tangle his sword hilt with my own.

As he registered what I did, I pulled out the sword with help of my blade and caught the second one in my hand leaving him weaponless.

He raised his hands in a peace gesture and I felt as if he let me win. Because he was an excellent fighter.