Chapter Three- Blood to Bleed

After a short break, Chapter Three of Damian's tale is released.

The next morning, I woke slowly, as if I had finally slept well. The exhaustion had been killing me, not literally, but in such a way that I felt worn-out as if I’d been traveling for years on end by foot. What had woken me, however, weren’t the sun’s harsh beams blazing down through the entrance of our little cave; it was the lack of such that bothered me. Somehow, a storm had rolled in the few hours I’d been sleeping, and the soft pitter-patter of water trickling down on the rocks was audible even were I sat at the back of the cave.

 

From here, I could see that nobody had yet awoken, so I stood and walked to the entrance of the cave. What happened next, I honestly did not expect- a massive explosion ripped apart the roof of our cave, and heavily-armored… creatures leaped down through the hole that they had created. Each had differently colored plating- one had yellow, one had green, one had blue, and the last had red. Each of these was bright, vivid colors, so bright that they almost hurt my eyes almost to look at them. But the good thing was that they were that much easier to track because of that.

 

As the rest of my little group roused with startled cries, I did all I could, withdrew my blade from the holster, the metal sword light as ever, and covered the distance between each of the neon beings within a second. The first one- the green-clad creature- had just gotten his sword out when I got there, and I was unsurprised to see a shiny silver sword. It was effortless- I swung fist, and cleaved his blade in half with a metallic resonance that brought joy to my ears. Continuing with the momentum of the swing, I soun and ducked under a swing from my opponent, then stabbed upwards with the sword.

 

The results were immediate and devastating; he coughed blood, and started spewing it from the wound. I’d barely had time to rip the blade free from the strange metal armor before ducking under a swing from yellow man, whom kept going and accidentally lopped off his dying comrade’s head. Good, clean fun- I mean, beheading.

 

Anyways.

 

By this time, I’d already been outnumbered, and surrounded. Red and Yellow both came from different angles, and Blue came in for the kill from directly in front of me. Turning, I saw that the two other brutes were waiting, shields up as to protect themselves from my blows; and to ensure I couldn’t escape.

 

I don’t think I’d ever been happier to have something shot past me- Brianna had managed to grab her bow and let off a shot, from what I presumed, as there was an arrow sticking out of the man’s chest. He looked down in… well, I’m not sure. He was wearing a helmet, so I couldn’t tell. But whatever emotion he was showing, he was stuck with it forever, as the second arrow tore through his face. Literally- he got hit right in the middle of his face. Talk about brutal.

 

Spinning, the last two of the men found themselves in a bit of a bind. Paige had grabbed the staff now, and it was visibly glowing with energy- I don’t know about what the people here thought, but she seemed to be a prodigy when it came to magic. Brianna was struggling to nock another arrow, mostly due to the unfamiliar bow. But as Blue finally collapsed for good, Yellow turned and jumped at Paige, only to find himself consumed by a fiery firestorm- a brutal way to die. I could hear his screaming resonate through the air as he was quite literally cooked in his armor.

 

Now, Red seemed to wisen up- he tried to flee through the hole by running. Letting out a feral hiss, I drew back my arm, and threw the sword.

 

As the blade pierced his back, and he cried out, I noticed a good amount of storm clouds spiraling around the hole above the cave- it seemed that a tornado was forming, in a way. But instead of wind, the air was calm; then a massive beam of light tore apart the body of the creature, leaving nothing but an inscription on the ground at the foot of the beam of light. The fallen armor-clad warriors all suddenly vanished as well, as if they were never there, as the pillar of light reached into the sky. I noticed my sword lying in the middle of the beam, but I didn’t reach for it.

 

Then the beam suddenly tapered out, and vanished into nothing. My sword lay on top of the inscription, faintly smoking and now a deep, obsidian black, almost the same color as my knife, except darker.

 

“Mike, can you read this?”

 

It was the first time I’d really spoken a full sentence since we’d gotten here, but still. The geek/translator/living computer walked over, stumbling on the rocks that were scattered everywhere. He read, muttering to himself in the strange language that these folk apparently called their own. Then he stood up, speaking to me again.

 

“It says that the Colored Knights were a test of sorts, to see if we were worthy upon being in this world. It says that since we were successful in defeating these knights, one of us would be rewarded, with something called ‘Adamant’, which is Latin for Diamond.”

 

Upon that revelation, I looked down at my sword, noticing how the blade seemed to be almost clear in a razor edge along the blade, then faded to the deep midnight black. Was it possible that the blade was truly this ‘Adamant’? If so, it must be rare- rarer than any metal here.

 

Finding our cave destroyed, everything turned into a fast-motion blur as we packed up and left, heading to the city. I was too busy wrapped in thoughts about the blade, which now had to go over my back as to carry it properly. Guess Adamant made things longer, too.

 

I’d have to show Acer that later.