Chapter 5
"Wake up nonbeliever!" said a voice filled with venomous anger. Seth sat bolt upright and a feeling of eminent danger nearly made him make a break for the door, but he was pushed back down onto the bed. "Whoa boy you need to chill." Seth looked up to see who it was that had spoken. It wasn't Strat that much he knew but then who. The person in front of Seth was probably six feet tall with the build of an extreme athlete strong and quick. He had brown shaggy hair and intense blue eyes, and it was his eyes that had Seth scared.
The guy's eyes were electric blue and when they scanned Seth he had a feeling like he was being put through an x-ray scanner.
"Who are you," Seth asked taking a polite but guarded tone.
"Someone who doesn't care for people who can't accept reality for what it is. Personally I think Katie would be very disappointed in you." Seth bristled at this,
"Who gave you the right to speak my mother's name." At this lightning flickered around the guy's hand and he stared at Seth until he Seth backed down.
"How about your mother whom I've known since before you were even born."
"What!?" "You're kidding right; you don't look that much older than me." The guy said nothing but instead grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"Put this on and then come out," he said shortly. Then he turned around and went right out. Seth looked down at what he had been handed. He had been handed some sort of armor breastplate made out of some weird kind of white metal. It was a simple breastplate: two plates, one to cover his chest and abdomen and one and then one to cover his back. They were connected by leather ties at the shoulder and then had ties under the armpit and side on both sides. Even Seth wasn't stupid enough to not be able to put on the armor; he'd seen enough movies to know how it went. Seth still wasn't convinced that all of this was real but he had promised to play nice until they'd brought proof in the form of his mother.
Seth finished putting the armor on, which was much more difficult than he'd originally thought it would've been. He must've looked like he was trying to do the funky chicken dance and was having trouble finding his head. Anyways Seth finally got his armor on and went out the door where the guy was waiting for him. He looked him up and down then nodded for him to follow. A glint of light caught Seth's attention and he noticed a sheathed sword, belt and all in the guy's right hand. Wait it hadn't been there before. Seth went to go ask him about it but he turned around first and handed Seth the sword in his hands.
"You'll need this," He said shortly then he led Seth through another set of corridors to a massive set of double doors even bigger than the ones that led to the throne room. About five feet from the doors they stopped. Outside Seth could hear the muted sounds of swords clashing and people yelling.
"Whoa!" "Sounds like a war is going on out there," Seth said in a joking tone. But his lovely grim chaperone turned to him and said in a deadly serious tone,
"Exactly." Then he gave Seth a smile that said he was going to enjoy what came next.
"The second you go outside those doors you will be immersed in a battle for survival. Trust me it's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before."
"Well just being here is like nothing I've ever seen or experienced before." Seth replied smartly.
"Well good luck, I assume Master Strat already told you the rules and how to fight?" Seth nodded. "Good then let's g..."
"Wait!" Seth exclaimed.
"What?" the guy asked a look of irritation came to his face.
"I'd at least like to know your name before I get skewered." At this he smiled,
"Well good sir my name if it pleases you is Jack Peterson," Jack Peterson said in a perfect imitation of a medieval era Briton. "Now I will say no more for battle waits for no man."
Seth smiled trying unbelievably hard not to explode into a laughing fit he knew would probably get him killed or worse. "Okay... I think I'm ready to go." With that Seth's vision went black.
When he opened his eyes he was in a totally different place. For one he was now outside, for two he was holding the sword drawn in his hand ready to fight, for three he was surrounded by unfamiliar people who wore white shirts, jean pants and white metal breastplates, and carried swords just like his. Sensing that he didn't have much time to take in what was going on he quickly looked around. He was standing in the middle of some market square. All around the smell of food: Baking bread, sizzling meat, the sweet smell of fresh fruit. The buildings around him were made of a mixture of birch wood and white marble like stone. Some buildings were two story and others were just one story but there were signs hanging above doors that had the names of what Seth guessed were taverns. Seth was aware of the Sun far above shining down on him, the feeling of heat on the back of his neck like a warm oven hot pad energized him. There was a gentle breeze barely noticeable but definitely there that rolled over him like he was merely a speed bump in the road and then continued on its' way. Seth was standing in the middle of a crossroads. The street was gray cobblestone that was clearly worn from the many years of foot traffic. The road was as wide as a dump trucks front bumper and gradually rose up towards a massive castle looking structure that had roofs gilded in gold and massive marble pillars that stood proudly basking in the light of day.
The sight nearly took Seth's breath away, and for a moment Seth was speechless. That's when the clang of metal clashing brought Seth back from his scenic tour. The people in front of him were engaged in a vicious battle against each other. As Seth watched he noticed that his old skills had resurfaced and without realizing it he had begun to analyze the people's movements and technique. When Seth had been in the fifth grade his mom had put him into sword play classes with a neighbor down the street from them. And it wasn't any fencing classes either he had learned about several ancient sword styles from the man he called Master Mustache on account of the very long and thick mustache that the old man sported.
Any way Master Mustache had pounded into Seth the way of the sword. And after about one and a half years training, Master Mustache had given Seth one final test and then disappeared without a trace. Seth tried asking his mother where he went but whenever he did she would never answer him.
It was thanks to those skills that Seth could sense the attack coming from behind almost as soon as the attacker entered the fighting field. Before Seth had time to think Seth had thrown himself to the right and into a summersault. He made sure to keep the sword in his hand away from his body to avoid impaling himself. Yes, what a fine trick that would be, a demon failed to kill him so did that girl Rylee but his own sword would. Seth came out of the roll kneeling his sword already at the ready. His attacker a short stubby looking guy that looked at least a bit older than him looked surprised that Seth had moved that fast.
But instead of introducing himself he simply raised his sword above his head and a bolt of white energy shot into the sky and exploded like a flare.
"Uh oh," was all Seth could think. "This is going to be bad." Suddenly guys in armor and swords started showing up from wherever they were fighting. Seth stood, he was completely surrounded probably by about thirty of the guys. He quickly assessed their skill. None of them were particularly good but there was way more of them. Seth immediately understood what this was it happened to him plenty of time when he had moved to a new school. It was an initiation, to beat up Seth. The thought that these guys wanted to gang up on him made him extremely irritated. A battle calm fell over Seth as he readied himself to fight.
The first guy seemed taken aback by this. "What! You still intend to fight us when we outnumber you thirty to one." Seth calmly glared at the guy until he cringed.
"Do you think that I'm afraid of cowards like you!" Seth snarled. "Fighting me thirty on one you can't be serious... you'll need more men."
This definitely shocked his esteemed attacker. Seth saw anger flare in his face.
"You arrogant little..." "GET HIM!!" With that Seth was rushed by all thirty of the enemy at once. It was then that Seth instincts took over. He side stepped the first blade by a hairs breath, then he struck outwards with his left fist. His fist connected with the guy's abdomen and a blast of light energy picked the guy up and threw him backwards on a tide of pure energy. The man bowled into several of him comrades. Seth didn't waste any time worrying about where that power had come from he just continued to fight on his mind completely focused on the task at hand. The fight continued like this for several minutes. Seth rolled, summersaulted, sidestepped and even vaulted his way out of danger, but despite his efforts he couldn't keep dodging all of the attacks that were aimed at him. Seth suddenly slipped up, tripping over some rubble that had been strewn about by the bolts of white energy that had been exploding around the area. Seth immediately tried to roll out of the way from the strike he knew was coming but instead he felt his arms locked in the vise grip of someone. He turned to see a young man about his age with a mop of black hair and green eyes. He was definitely strong looking, broad shoulders, slim waste, and track runner legs. He too was clad in white armor and had two boxing glove looking gauntlets over his hands and forearms. Seth tried to fight free but the guy's grip was vise like. The guy saw him struggling and smiled. "It's futile you know, but I definitely admire your strength. To fight off thirty Lightforce agents for as long as you did is indeed a feet worthy of note. But now it's over and you're going to sleep."
"Who're you?" Seth asked.
"Names Michael Hrumphae but I go by Mike no one calls me Michael. Well... not unless they get a cheap hospital bill." Mike dragged Seth over and pinned him to the ground. Then Seth was swarmed by his assailants who were holding him down despite his struggling. Seth desperately trying to think of a way out of his predicament, when the guy who had signaled the attack walked up to him sword in hand.
"You did well no doubt, but you're still nothing special. General Joseph didn't have to give his life for the likes of you."
"The likes of you." Those words resonated with Seth deep inside of his heart. He hated those words they were the words he'd heard from every bully in every school he'd ever been to just before he was usually beat senseless. Seth's vision went red and he felt an energy swell within his body. The energy felt warm and comfortable like a soft blanket that wrapped Seth in its' protection against the wintery world around it. The energy coursed throughout his body and resonated with every part of his being, filling him with a sense of calm and safety. Seth noticed that his senses seemed more acute, his eyes were picking out the detail in everyone and everything. Seth could see the tiny bit of gray in Mike's hair that even though he couldn't have been more than twenty was definitely there. Most of all Seth felt as if he already knew what to do. Not by instinct or by instruction, but for reasons he couldn't identify he just already knew what the power he felt was and just how to use it.
As Seth let the energy flow and take over, a shock wave of blue and white energy blasted outward from him knocking everyone away from him. Then Seth who continued to let the energy do its thing raised his left foot and then brought it back down to the ground. Much to Seth's surprise the earth began to rumble and then turned into a wave as it pushed outwards from him in every direction. The thick hard dirt flowed and waved as easily as water in the ocean, and it swept any of his attackers still standing to the ground.
Some of the Attackers just looked stunned; confused, and didn't seem to know what to do. But others just got to their feet and charged at Seth. Once again the energy surged with in him and from the fountain not two yards away, water came shooting out like a geyser hitting the first men in the chest and knocked them to the ground where this time the majority of them stayed. The ones that didn't well... In Seth's right hand a ball of pure white divine light burst into being, and just as he had been thinking that he had dropped the blade he had been given a perfect likeness of the weapon formed in his hand. The weight, the roughness of the handle, even the shininess of the polished blade was there, but it was all made of the light in his hand.
Seth dashed forward to meet the guy named Mike and three others. The three guys besides Mike fell rather quickly but Mike proved to be much more of a challenge. He dodged Seth's attacks even as Seth dodged his. Seth felt his energy start to wane.
"Whoa you're really good," Mike commented as they fought. "What was your name again?"
Seth smiled "My name is Seth Malcovitch son of Katie Malcovitch and I will not tolerate being looked down upon by those that have not gone through what I've gone through." Seth blocked another slash from Mike with the flat of his blade and countered with his own. Mike was certainly an opponent to be wary of; he was very skillful to say the least.
"Well Seth Malcovitch you're doing surprisingly well but I think you're about at your limit aren't you?" Seth felt the surge of strength he was using continue to drain away. He had to do something soon or he would lose this fight. He still didn't know what the power he had been using were but if it gave him the power to beat the people he was facing right now he would use it to the fullest...
Taking a deep breath Seth did something he hadn't done in a long time. He let his instincts take over completely. Instantly his senses opened up and Seth began to see Mike's next move before he ever executed them. Seth laughed as he blocked Mike, it was so simple, Mike's every movement and reaction told Seth all he needed to know. Seth stomped on the ground and three stone columns erupted from the ground at his feet; flew directly at Mike. Mike jumped backwards and managed to dodge the first one but Seth summoned a gust of wind and knocked Mike off balance. Two stone columns hit Mike square in the chest and sent him fling backward. Mike actually flew straight into one of the many buildings that lined the street. As Mike slammed into it there was a massive crash and a plume of smoke and dust was sent up into the sky.
As the smoke began to clear Seth could see Mike struggling to stand. He was bruised all over and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"W...Wow Seth y-you pack quite a punch," he commented.
Seth had no energy to reply in fact he had no energy at all. All he was able to do was grunt before he collapsed on the cobblestones.