Kingdom Come {END OF AN AGE -- BOOK 1}

: chapter 3 | bolt :

Max ducked on instinct and felt heat pass by his hair.

"That was close..." He pulled his sword out of its sheath, the familiar weight helping him to focus. He heard a screech from behind him and turned back towards the crowd, where the bolt had originated from, to see that the man he had noticed earlier had his hood down now.

He had a piece of black fabric wrapped around his eyes and a frown on his face. A purple amulet around his neck glowed a vibrant violet and next to it a golden "Z" necklace flashed.

"Max!" He quickly spun around to see Mitch and Jerome, both looking quite frantic. "What do we do? Solace ditched!" Mitch stared at him with wide eyes. Screaming sounded all around them as civilians tried to escape the square.

"What do you mean he ditched?" He growled before glancing around. He could see a few guards surrounding someone, a man in the middle had a light purple aura around him as he tried to hold them all back.

A young woman with red hair held small flames in her hands was keeping other guards away from the platform. Max could recognize Ross in that group and he almost ran over to help his friend.

Max looked back at Mitch and Jerome, and behind them he could see the guy with the amulet climbing the steps to the platform. Guards tried to attack him, but their attacks bounced harmlessly off of the golden shield around him. The official that had been running the execution had already run off, leaving the prisoners on their knees, gasping for breath. It looked as though the bolt had burnt through both ropes and dropped the sorcerers.

"We need to go after him! We can't let him get to those two!" Mitch had followed Max's gaze and was now starting to make his way over to the steps, Jerome on his heels.

"Wait!" Max let out an annoyed groan before following the two. He jumped up onto the platform just as someone flew over his head. He ducked again and glanced back to see it was one of his fellow guards. He was slumped against one of the building walls, a smoking dark circle on the center of his lightweight armor. He heard a shout if outrage from Mitch and turned his head again to see the two boys charging towards one of the sorcerers.

"Seto!" The man with the golden shield let out a shout before grabbing his amulet. Slowly, the man's form began to fade before he was completely invisible. Max raced towards where the guy had been and swung his sword. He heard a sharp yelp to his right and watched as a small red spot appeared in the air and slowly began to spread.

"Sky!" Another call sounded and Max stumbled back, surprised by how close it was. He whipped around in time to see a small bolt, this one a shade of violet, flying towards him.

Max tried to jump out of the way and in the process grabbed something cold and hard. He stumbled and fell over, hand still clutching whatever it was he had made contact with.

He heard a grunt and felt the weight in his hands come down with him as he tripped off of the platform.

Keep in mind that the armor Max was wearing for this lacked a helmet. So when Max's head hit the stone ground after he fell, there was nothing to protect it.

Max was barely able to register anything as he felt his consciousness drifting. The pain in head was almost unbearable and when he reached up to grab his head, it fell warm and wet. Through the buzz in his ears he was able to hear words above him.

"Should--kill him?" Max felt himself tense up a little before gasping in pain and relaxing again.

"No. It's not--bad--should leave." Max heard footsteps grow faint as the pair that had been above him made their way out of the square. He groaned again before the buzzing in his ears grew fainter, giving him the ability to hear someone call out in fear, "Holy shit! Max!"

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Wow this chapter was absolute shit. Sorry I'm writing this while on a plane like an idiot. I'll probably edit this and fix it before the next update, but I promised to get this out today so here.

Hope y'all enjoyed!

TOODLES!