Chapter 2: A Bloody Change

Sorry that it is so much longer than the last one, and I'm sorry for the wait. I promise the third chapter will come MUCH sooner than this one did.

“The Harbinger’s courage and power can cause even the most powerful of foes to cower.”

 

        Petrus rose slowly from his bed, his joints sore and his body stiff. The past two days have been filled with agonizingly painful training of the sword and other forms of combat, such as pugilism. The former slave turned personal guard hesitantly placed his armor in its proper locations, and carried his sword out into the morning light. The sun had just begun to rise over the horizon, causing the sky to become a beautiful crimson red. Today would be like the others before it, more brutal training with the blade. “Petrus, hurry here, boy!” Aeolus yelled for him. The giant of a man made his way quickly to the Baron, and he breathed a stiff sigh of relief. He had expected training to begin early, but no, he caught sight of two other nobles. Most likely a baron and his wife, and luckily Petrus knew how to handle meeting nobles. He bowed his head “Milord, milady.” He stated clearly, raising his head and looking at Aeolus. “You called for me, sir?” Petrus asked, raising an eyebrow. “Indeed I did, Petrus…and it’s good you came so fast. These two didn’t believe me when I told them about you.” The Baron gave a chuckle, placing a hand on Petrus’ lightly armored shoulder. “I can assure you, milord and milady; I am far more than a simple fable.” He smiled, feeling a sort of pride swell up within his humble heart. The pride didn’t show itself though, as he stood there silently while both nobles looked him over. Though he felt that the nobleman’s wife was looking at him far differently than the nobleman himself was.

        Once the conversation was over, Petrus was taken aside by Aeolus. “I say you deserve a day off of training…especially since you’ve learned in three days what it would take the average recruit a week or two…either I’m a great teacher, or you’re a great student, or a mixture of both.”  The noble gave a chuckle. “I wouldn’t know, milord…it feels natural to wield a blade, maybe the scythe had made me grow accustom to swinging blades…except this one is just much, much heavier.” Petrus gave a shrug along with his statement, he truly didn’t know. “I wouldn’t think so, Petrus…if it were so then the workers in the fields would have rebelled successfully long ago.” Aeolus chucked, in which Petrus merely agreed with the shake of his head. “Onto different matters, milord…” Petrus said, before being interrupted by the Baron “Petrus, I’ve known you since you were born, it’s about time you started calling me by my name.” he stated, as little as it was, Petrus took the statement to his heart. It almost felt like a sign of equality, but it wasn’t for nothing. Petrus was now the guardian of Aeolus, and there was no better guardian than one who is your friend. “As you wish, mi- I mean, Aeolus.” The Baron and Petrus both smiled, Aeolus even gave a friendly chuckle. “Will we be practicing today? And if so, where will I need to be?” the giant asked, tilting his head slightly in a questioning manner.  “No, not today…I want you rested up for tomorrow, because I’m going to teach you the use of three weapons; the bow, the axe, and the war hammer…all three take up quite a lot more energy than the sword.” The Nobleman patted his guardian on the shoulder “Its easier than it sounds, it’s just something that will drain your stamina until you’re used to them.” Aeolus stated, watching Petrus’ reaction to the new weapons he will be taught with. Petrus gave a smile, and a nod of the head to show that he was excited to learn how to wield these new weapons of warfare and destruction…and an entire day of rest. “If you plan on leaving the grounds, Petrus, I want you to return before night fall, alright?” Aeolus asked, but it seemed more like a ‘friendly’ demand…and for good reason, the Harbinger could use the blade perfectly fine, but Aeolus hadn’t actually taught him how to deal with groups of opponents, like bandits…and bandits haunted the woods like ghosts at night and always in groups that would easily surround and overcome the much larger Petrus. The giant nodded his head and turned around making his way out of the Baron’s lands and into the wild forest regions.

        As the giant moved through the snow covered forests he had to duck under heavy branches over head, and step over the large ones that fell. He was making quite a lot of noise; it wasn’t difficult to tell he wasn’t accustomed to traversing the forests of the realm. No one could blame him though; his entire life was spent on roads and in flat fields. This wouldn’t have been as hard if he wasn’t wielding his sword, and his armor didn’t help either. While he moved through the forests, and not very flawlessly either, he was busy keeping his eye out for things he could trip on or things that could hit him in the head. The warrior’s eyes also kept a constant notice on the position of the sun…but with all these things the warrior’s eyes did notice, Petrus never noticed the slender, pale and red-haired figure that seemed to be following him. Nor did he hear the figure…he generally had a great sense of hearing, but he wouldn’t have been able to hear a bear over all of the noise he was making. Walking through the woods had drained his stamina; he was grunting and breathing through his mouth to regain his breath…which was added into with the noise from the tree branches snapping underfoot and his armor clinking together, as well as the crunching of snow. Though, he did catch a glimpse of the figure out of the corner of his eye after he stopped moving in a small clearing to finally catch his breath. He turned to the figure, but he didn’t see a human being…all he saw were trees. Green fur trees and the brown of the dead trees, none the color he saw from the corner of eyes. After thinking for a moment, he looked up to see the sun beginning to set. “I swear to all things holy, I’m going to have to go through again!?” he grumbled, angrily as he turned around. Though his angry glare was replaced with a very happy smirk as he saw that the path he had trouble going through was no flattened…it would be much faster to get through now. Before leaving the small clearing he looked around once more, a good part of him wanted to see nothing but forest, but another part wanted to see the figure again. Though in his mind, he felt like he would very, very soon.

        On his way back to the house he saw the sky turn into a blue and purple color as the sun lowered further down into the horizon. As he moved through the forest once more, he came to notice the air was dry and the wind was near dead. When he looked up again he turned and saw what caused it, a wall of towering clouds bearing more heavy snow rolled towards the forest and Aeolus’ estate. As the warrior moved through the woods, much more quietly than before he began noticing a certain smell that was not normal for a forest…it smelled like something was burning, but the giant didn’t see anything aflame…yet. Once he turned walked past a thick bundle of bushes and trees he noticed the source of the smell…the Baron’s home was ablaze. He took a gulp as he stood there, dumbfounded and hidden away in the forest. He pushed forward through branches and charged forward after he had reentered the flat plains that surrounded the now burning home.

        As he rushed boldly through the snow and into the problem at hand, a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. Mainly who had done this, the safety of the Baron and Petrus’ own family. There were only a few culprits he could think of…bandits were the first to come to mind, but they wouldn’t have been able to do such damage so fast, maybe a military force? Couldn’t have been, Petrus would have heard the trumpet’s and they would have been easy to see from the distance he was at. None of the apparent options made sense, but he would find out soon enough who caused the damage. Finally after the long sprint, he stopped at the first few buildings; he passed by his family’s burning home. He moved forward, kicking down the wooden door and looking inside, empty. He moved out of the burning home, giving a coughing fit as he cleared tears from his agitated eyes and moved forward near the Baron’s mansion. He eyes kept sharp before he heard a screech, his eyes moved towards the source of the noise as did his feet. Petrus moved past yet another small home; this time when he turned the corner he saw something he wished he never would have seen. His father and the Baron were standing side by side with weapons drawn; behind them lying on the ground was his mother…an arrow in her back with black blood oozing from the wound.

        The warrior gripped his sword tightly, instead of sorrow a deep anger built up from inside him. He marched ahead, past his father and the Baron. “Petrus, where are you going!?” his father asked in a yell, but the Baron held him back. “Don’t go after the boy, you saw what kind of creatures those were, be glad they just haven’t moved to this corridor yet!” he barked, using his superior strength to keep Petrus’ father from chasing after him. Petrus turned the corner, this time seeing the enemy. His anger now reached a boiling point as he watched the monster rip its blackened blade through the throat of a maiden. Petrus locked eyes with the demon; his eyes of deep blue met the creature’s eyes of an evil red. He began to notice the monstrosity’s companions. He charged forward, his blade prepared to strike. The blade ripped through the demon’s armor and body as if it were made of snow. Petrus quickly pulled the blade out, raising it in the air for the next beast. He brought it down onto the creature’s head, and the blade stopped at the creature’s chest. The warrior kicked the beast off of his blade and looked about, the rest had backed away. He looked forward, the rest had gathered together in front of him. He stomped forward, and a violent roar ripped its way out of his mouth. “I will have your heads!” he roared, easily heard over the flames of the burning buildings. He began walking forward, his blade ready to be swung in a wide arc to kill multiple creatures in one swing. The creatures were cowering, the warrior’s anger had seen to that. One creature rushed him, but was cut nearly in half by the giant. The second one to rush him had his head lopped off, as did the third. One after one they charged him, one after one they fell in pools of their own blood. The rest moved back, finally realizing they wouldn’t succeed. “I thought you were demons, worshippers and chosen warriors of the legendary Gods of death and blood, not a group of cowards from another dimension!” he heard another voice bark, this time from behind the demons. Soon a creature in blackened armor moved through the crowd, a disgusting and cursed looking blade was in his right hand, in his left was a shield with a crest Petrus didn’t recognize. “This is what has put my warriors in such fear!?” he turned, giving a glare to the warriors under his command. “What is your name, boy, hurry now I do not have time for there are many I need to slaughter.” The demon tapped his foot impatiently, Petrus peered into the deep blue eyes of the pale fleshed demon…realizing they shared some similarities. “I am Petrus, and you, whoever you might be, are not welcome here.” He barked back, putting himself in a battle ready stance. “Petrus? What kind of name is that, why couldn’t you have a name like Lucian or at least Julius, something that didn’t sound like the name of a filthy peasant!” the pale skinned warrior barked his insults. Petrus let out a growl “Who are you, foul monstrosity?” he asked, in which the demon replied with a smirk “Commodore, take care to remember the name.” the Demon cackled, giving a wave of his hand for his warriors all to charge. The warrior gave a wide swing, killing and wounding at least seven of the demons before the rest fell upon him, knocking his weapon out of his hand. He was pushed down and now had to fight his way with his fists and legs. He managed to kill the demon that he was grappling with by smashing his fists into his opponent’s face, the creature didn’t last long. The demon’s body was thrown off and he rose, grabbing the blade from a fallen demon he was now armed again, but it soon broke when he tried to dig it out of another one’s armor. Finally, the demons were called off…and the warrior stood with less than a few dents. “Since these ‘warriors’ can’t defeat you, I guess I have to!” Commodore barked, moving through the group of demons and to Petrus himself, who was now rearmed with his long sword. Though, before he charged at Petrus the demon turned and with a wave of his armored fist the demon’s were gone…most likely back to where they belong. “You won’t be that lucky with me, I’m not a simple hell spawn.” The Demon gave a light smirk, like he was a happy man.

        Petrus prepared himself, but he was too slow. The Demon moved much faster than anticipated, knocking the warrior back with its shield and taking a swing at him the next moment. He lost all his determination; he couldn’t strike back without being struck against. He could feel the armor he carried breaking, and in some places was already broken. As the snow began to fall he also began to feel the snow fall gently onto his freshly opened wounds, causing a light sting. These factors all piled against him, but luckily he was saved. “Die, demon!” he heard a roar; it was the Baron, accompanied with Petrus’ father. Commodore gave a strong push to Petrus, pushing him to the floor…the giant was too tired to pick himself up, but he tried and tried…but he wasn’t strong enough to do anything but watch the events unfold in front of him.

        The Baron fell first, while he brought a strong attack from above the Demon gave a block with the shield and cut through his torso with his own blade…he fell in a pool of his own blood, and he was followed by Petrus’ father. The father didn’t even get to attack; first to go was his knee which was sliced by the blade of the Demon. “Petrus, isn’t this a touching family moment? The mother dead, an arrow to the heart…I watched it with my own eyes, and now the father.” He cackled, placing the blade gently against the old man’s throat, and shoving it through and into the man’s torso before ripping it out violently, creating a massive rip through his throat and upper torso. Petrus let out a cry, reaching outwards in a feeble attempt to help his already dead father. Commodore took a leisurely walk to Petrus, pushing the giant flat on his back. Now Commodore’s full facial features were seen, until then they were hidden by a hood as blackened as his armor. And Petrus wasn’t the only one that noticed, the similarities caused the monster to give a smirk. “The mother, the father, and the son…all dead because of a prophecy none of you knew anything about...” the Demon sounded almost sorrowful, like he dreaded what he was doing, “Rest well, Harbinger.” He stated in a murmur, before stabbing the blade through Petrus’ chest.

        What had he called him? Harbinger? The title sounded so familiar, yet so distant. These were the last thoughts that filtered through his mind as his sight faded to black.