Rise of a Dark Hero

Revelations

Horses were just as understanding of human emotions as a dog. The way a man or woman could have tears spilling from theirs eyes or burn hot with anger; they could a smile forever plastered on their, horses would seemingly understand that. Blakely’s horses understood.

They whined and padded their hooves on the dirt floor. They could see how distraught their other owner was. His fists clenched, his body stiff as he stared out onto a destroyed landscape. A ruined city.

His hometown. “What the hell happened?! What the hell happened here, Iscariot?!” He yelled fiercely, his eyes burning red. He glared intensely at Iscariot, his ally. Why hadn’t Iscariot told what had happened here? At his city? His home…

“You needed to see it for yourself. That’s the one thing I’ve actually learned from our mentor. You had to see it to get past it.” Iscariot held a tight gaze, neutral. He wasn’t ready to fight his ally or to argue with him, but he wasn’t going to help him. “You have to help yourself on this.”

Blakely stared at the man in front of him, his eyebrows furrowed. “Help myself? Help myself?!” He rushed at Iscariot who stood still, waiting for the inevitable. Blakely grabbed him by his collar, smashing him against the wall of a broken building. “How would I help myself if I didn’t know what to expect?! My home has been destroyed! It was all taken from me! Who did this?!”

“Go see for yourself, Blakely. Just like I said.” He almost looked down at Blakely, as if he had no respect for him. Maybe in a condescending way. Or was it disappointment?

“Why should I look around when you’re right here? You act as if you know what happened, so, tell me! What happened to my family? To Cassia?” Blakely’s fists clenched again, and Iscariot could see it. The fire that burned in his eyes. “This is my home, Iscariot! What happened?” The words came out as a hiss, venom almost leaking off the words.

“Don’t forget, this is my home too! Just because you want to know gives you no room to throw a temper tantrum! Go find out for yourself.” He grabbed Blakely’s hand, ripping it away from his collar.

The two glared at each other, anger burning in their eyes. Blakely, suddenly, twisted away, searching the floor and buildings for any clues. Nothing made sense right now. 

The horses whined in the background, as if they were as distressed and angered as they were.

Iscariot sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. Blakely had always been like this. He would grow angry at anyone, it didn’t matter who, that hurt his home, family, or friends. At times, he would grow angry at his mentor when his family would get involved in something dangerous.

A session of training, where Blakely was beaten mercilessly, would occur afterwards. While it showed that he cared, he would still lose his cool, risking his own life and others because of it. I thought master’s death would strengthen you, Cap.

While it never strengthened Iscariot, seeing as how he never learned much from the man, he thought it would make Blakely stronger. A person who had looked up to and had learned almost everything from their master.

Sadly, he hadn’t learned to control his anger after all these years. Or how to let go of things and use it to make you stronger.

ῷ

Blakely searched frantically across the floors and buildings. He had to know who did this! He had to know who destroyed his home, killed his people!

He looked around the room, finding a body, sitting in the corner of the room. He checked it, finding nothing on it but a large gash in the middle of its stomach. More bodies were scattered among the house he was in. Two holding hands in the middle of the floor. Another had a sword sticking out of its chest. Knives and weapons were littered across the floor.