Chapter 8: Hero

 

       Not a single word was said between the two as they made their way through the forest. Skylar trailed behind, a little ashamed about angering Spike like that. He just hoped that the other male would forgive him for making such a mistake.

       It wasn't long until they came to a town that sat just a ways from the exit of the forest. They weaved their way through the slightly crowded streets until they came to an inn, where they decided they would rest for the night. When they headed into their rooms, both of them walked to the beds they would be sleeping in for that night. Spike laid down on his and stared up at the ceiling while Skylar let himself fall into a sitting position on the side of his bed. A quiet sigh escaped his mouth as he stared towards the wooden floor for a moment before looking over at Spike.

       “I'm sorry about earlier Spike,” Skylar apologized again.

       “I don't even want to hear it,” Spike said angrily.

       “I'll try not to hesitate next time.”

       “Yeah, sure you will,” Spike said sarcastically. “Just forget about it. You're nothing but a pathetic excuse of a warrior.”

       “I'm not that bad,” Skylar argued, a wee bit of anger in his voice.

       “Oh yeah? Then how's come you're known as the weakest warrior in the village? You're even one of the only ones that doesn't know any spells.”

       “That's not true. I know a healing spell.”

       “Yeah, but you can't even use it that well. You nearly pass out after healing a minor wound.”

       “I'm getting better at it.”

       “The day you get better at something like that is the day pigs fly. You'll never be a great warrior. You're just going to end up getting yourself killed. You completely suck at being a warrior and you know it. Don't know why you even bother when you're just going to fail horrendously at everything you do.”

       Skylar sighed. “Because I want to prove to you that I can be a great warrior. When I heard about how great of a warrior you were, I wanted to become a warrior, to be as great of one as you someday. I guess you could say I kind of look up to you.”

       “You idiot!” snapped Spike as he shot up into a sitting position at the side of his bed and glared at the other male. “Don't even say s**t like that! You're just wasting your damn time with all that crap! It's all pointless!” He sighed. “You know what, forget it. You don't understand; you never will. No one will.”

       The older male rose from the bed and made his way out of the room. He soon found himself on the slanted roof of the building. Spike laid down on it with his hands interlaced behind his head and stared up at the darkening sky, reflecting over everything that happened before.

       His father expected a lot out of him. He wanted his son to be one of the greatest warriors of all time. At the age of eight, a trainer was hired to teach Spike martial arts. Two years later, the training with the twin blades was also added. He was also taught various spells, most of them being the basics. Spike took all of his training seriously, wanting to please his father. He trained nearly nonstop for at least half of the day everyday. By the age of twelve, he was already recognized as a fairly good warrior.

       One day when he was walking through the forests surrounding Wildtree, Spike came across Blade training, who was only about seventeen at the time. Spike watched him, amazed at the skill he showed. Later that day, he found out that Blade was the greatest warrior in the village. This made Spike look up to him as a hero. It made Spike even more determined to become as great of a warrior as he could possibly be.

       At the age of thirteen, Spike had further increased his skills as a warrior. It was during this year when Blade took notice of his skills. He talked to Spike once and even complimented him on his skills. Spike was happy to hear this. It was really the only praise that Spike truly appreciated. The two got into further conversations every now and then and it didn't take long until they became friends.

       However, this all went down the drain on that particular day. Spike was fourteen at the time Blade betrayed the village and killed the leader. It upset him immensely when he heard the news. Blade was a hero to him and it sickened him to think that he would even do something like that. When he first heard about it, Spike didn't want to believe a single bit of it, but he soon came to accept the inevitable truth when he heard that his parents were killed during the attack. Spike had never felt so betrayed in his entire life.

       Ever since that day, Spike has felt nothing but resentment towards the man. He vowed to himself that he would do whatever it would take to someday avenge his parents and kill Blade for what he did. It would be impossible for him to rest peacefully until he completed this task.

       A sigh escaped the skilled warrior's mouth as all the memories ended. He just hoped that maybe he would encounter Blade sometime in his life so he could kill him for all the pain he caused him. Something told him that it would probably be during this journey too.

       After staying out there for about half an hour longer, Spike went back into the room he and Skylar had rented for the night. When he got there, he noticed that the other male was gone. It didn't worry him any because right now he couldn't really care less about Skylar at the moment. Instead he just headed to bed, falling asleep minutes later.

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

At the point where Skylar explains to Spike why he wants to try, it's a little awkward and forced.

Also, eventually we all want to here why Blade betrayed the village.