Chapter 9: Realization

 

       Haven walked through the forest, trying to look for a source of water where he could get a drink. He left the older male about three minutes ago, thinking that he would probably be fine without him for a while. However, so far his search was proving to be unsuccessful and the youth wasn't really sure if he wanted to stray too far from Lucifer. If something were to happen, he would want to be able to go back to help the older male without having to go far.

       A couple minutes passed and Haven still had no luck finding any water. He sighed before turning in the direction of where he left Lucifer. Before he could begin making his way back there though, he caught something at the corner of his eye. Haven looked over to see Lucas coming into the small clearing.

       “What the hell are you doing here?” the brown-haired boy quickly questioned as he placed one foot behind him.

       “Please, I don't mean you any harm,” said Lucas. “I just came to have a word with you.”

       “Why should I listen to you?”

       “Please, just walk with me for a little while. I promise I won't try anything.”

       Haven eyed his old friend suspiciously. He then sighed and agreed. The two began to walk, going in the northern direction. Haven kept his guard up as he looked at Lucas and their surroundings for any possible signs of trouble. There weren't any so far and Haven began to relax a wee bit.

       “A lot of the people in Fallcrest miss you, Haven,” Lucas said after a couple minutes of silence as they continued to walk.

       The blue-eyed male nodded.

       “And they're also ashamed of you for not being able to face the punishment for your sin like a man,” continued the blond.

       “I'm done listening,” Haven muttered.

       He turned around and was about to walk off before Lucas spun him back around.

       “Look at yourself, you're acting like a fool!” Lucas said a little angrily. “How can you be going through all of this without having a single ounce of remorse? I'm only trying to do you a favor as a friend by trying to lead you down the right path, but you won't even listen to me! You can run all you want, but you will still be seen as a sinful b*****d wherever you go! Facing your punishment is the only way you can redeem yourself!”

       “I already told you, I'm not going to do that. Why should I go through with something as minor as that?”

       “'Minor'?! How can you be saying something like that?! You committed a sin that's as worse as committing homicide!”

       “Can something like that really be that bad?” Haven slowly shook his head a couple seconds later as a hint of coldness showed in his eyes. “Lucifer was right about Fallcrest. It's foolish for making a stupid law like that.”

       “So you're even starting to believe in what he says now are you? Who would you rather listen to: your friend, or some bloody criminal who has murdered thousands of people?”

       “How can you even call yourself a friend?” questioned Haven a little angrily. “You're the one who's trying to lead me to my bloody death when I didn't do something that bad! Does that really sound like something a friend would do?!”

       “That hooligan has really changed you,” Lucas muttered as he looked at Haven as if he was pitiful.

       “Is he really the terrible one? Or is it the priest and that whole bloody religion everyone in the north follows?!”

       Lucas's jaw dropped at those words. After a couple of seconds, Lucas threw a harsh punch to the side of Haven's face, which was jerked to the side from the force of it.

       “How dare you say something like that,” said the blond. “That 'bloody religion' is the same religion you follow!”

       “No, you're wrong,” replied Haven. “I'm done with that religion! I'm not following something that makes a b*****d out of Deus! That religion knows nothing! It's all a bunch of rubbish!”

       “I've had enough of this!” yelled Lucas. “I will not sit here and listen to you insult our religion!”

       “Go ahead, run along then!” shouted Haven.

       “No, not yet. Capture him!”

       Several holy knights came out of hiding. They rushed into the area and towards Haven, who quickly had his staff appear in his hands. He dodged and blocked the swords that were swung at him as he tried to work his way out of them. There was no way he would be able to hit them effectively due to their armor, so Haven was really left with no choice but to run. However, when he finally got out of the circle of knights, Lucas quickly slid towards him with his leg outstretched completely. Before Haven could react to this, he was tripped and he fell flat on his face.

       One of the knights quickly got down on Haven before he could get back up, his knee digging into the brown-haired boy's back. The youth tried to struggle out from underneath him, but the weight was far too much. A second holy knight came and pulled the wooden staff out of Haven's grip before throwing it off to the side. The first knight stood up, forcing Haven to a stand by lifting him up by his arms. Handcuffs were placed around the boy's wrists. Lucas stepped in front of Haven and looked down at him sternly. A couple seconds later, he punched Haven in the side of the face again.

       “That was another punch for insulting our religion,” said Lucas.

       Haven turned his head back to look at Lucas, coldness in his eyes, before spitting a bit of blood onto Lucas's face. The blond stared down at his friend for a few seconds before wiping the blood off with the back of his hand.

       “Come, let us get going,” he said to the knights before turning around. “We have a long way back to Fallcrest.”

       The holy knights began to pull their captive along until he started to walk on his own. Haven didn't even bother trying to break free of their firm grip, knowing that he didn't possess enough strength to be able to do so. However, he needed to get back to Lucifer. He knew the spiky-haired male wouldn't be pleased to wake up and find that he wasn't there. Unfortunately, there was no way he would be able to use Flash since he had to chant for the spell in the form of prayer. Haven soon sighed quietly, hoping that he would get his chance to escape from them soon before they got too far up north.

       A couple hours passed and they were a good distance away from the forest. There was a river just off to the left of them and all the holy knights soon noticed it. Haven realized this and his hopes began to increase a little.

       “Sir, please let us stop and get something to drink,” said one of them.

       “You have your canteens,” stated Lucas. “Just get something to drink out of them.”

       “But all of them are empty,” replied a second one. “We drank all of the water from them on our way down here and we never had a chance to refill them.”

       Lucas sighed. “All right, but let's try to make it quick. We have a lot of ground to cover and I want to get back to Fallcrest as soon as we possibly can.”

       They walked over towards the river. When they were a few yards away from it, all the knights except the two that were holding onto Haven rushed towards the bank. The two that stayed behind threw Haven to the ground for now as they watched their comrades getting a drink, waiting for their turn. Noticing that they seemed to be distracted at the moment due to their thirst, Haven scooted backwards a little ways to get further out of their sight. Afterwards, he worked to bring his hands in front of him.

       “Hey, what do you think you're doing?!” said the knight on Haven's right when Haven finally brought his hands in front of him.

       The boy quickly got to his feet and got out of the knight's grasp before trying to run away towards the forest.

       “Damn it, hurry and get him before he can get away!” Lucas commanded angrily.

       The knights started to chase after him. Thinking that there was really going to be no way he would be able to outrun them enough to lose them, Haven turned around and quickly muttered the chant for Flash. When he was finished, the flash of light occurred and everyone but Haven yelled out as they were blinded.

       Not wanting to waste a single ounce of this time, Haven quickly began to run. However, he realized that he wasn't going to be able to reach the forest before the spell's effect wore off. He then remembered the river and noticed that the current was strong. Thinking this would be the quickest way to get back to the forest, Haven dove into the river and let the current carry him southward.

       The blinding effect wore off about five seconds later and Lucas and the holy knights quickly looked around for their captive, but he was no longer there.

Author's Note

Is the dialogue in this chapter okay too?

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

The dialogue in this was fine too. I like how Haven is starting to change. I'm also wondering why some spells have chants and others don't.

[Amund Schofield]

good dialouge and suspense.