The War of the Blood Brothers - Vol. 2

A thousand miles apart, Kovak and Heidhal prepare for war.

On the stony balcony of the castle, atop the mountain, stood Kovak. The shape of the horizon melted from his mere sight and his menacing stance elevated him higher than any man before. The sun itself, escaping in the distance to depths below, seemed to revere him with an orange tone of respect. For a brief moment he felt translucent and pure, his body bursting with emotion and his mind evading itself to the furthest corners of his psyche. His eyes lost all the color they ever had and turned black like the darkest night. Victory resided near, just beyond the lush forests ahead and the steep mountains next. The sword on his back could decide the fate of the land, the death of his former friend and his family and the future of his being almost too easily, almost hesitantly. A dark destiny for a dark being, a suiting epitaph should he fail, but a possibility hastily dismissed in favor of anticipated jubilation. But darkness did not always coat his being, there was a time when light filled him mostly and only a resemblance of a shadow resided within him. As a barely grown man, Kovak saw in first hand the result of a war of pride and madness, his village burned to the ground and his family slaughtered because some leaders believed that their emotions raged stronger than all the others and so they could not stop to drive down a path of destruction. It was when he stood most fragile on his trembling knees, contemplating the vision of his mother being savagely raped in front of his eyes, only to be dismissed and killed after the deed of evil men was accomplished that he understood what kind of world he lived in, and what he would have to do to correct it. First he killed the ones that had ravaged his mother, slicing their throats, leaving them mangled, without eyes, noses, tongues, and sexual parts, and then departed on a journey of revenge, not against the supposed enemies, but against those who kindled the flame of a pointless war. He did not believe himself to be total darkness, because a shadow is only as strong as the light that casts it.

Kovak waved his arm and the deep sound of the horn of war was heard along the hills, echoing between the smallest of rocks and shaking the skies themselves. The gates of the castle opened and the rumbling of the army across the halls was felt and seen, soon filling the entirety of the road between the trees on a marching position. Leading the army was Kovak, treading with a dark aura of resolution towards war and desired peace.

A thousand miles away, with his body stretched across the sand of the beach, was Heidhal. Gazing at the tainted sky and the yellow clouds he thought of the world as a transient sphere, one that swirled and swirled around itself repeatedly and systematically, trying to impress the skies above but infinitely failing to do so. He imagined humans as desperate beings trapped in perpetual motion, always trying to determine why their nature is so elusive and why their existence is so futile, only to conclude their thoughts on rampages of false identity. Behind him, not so far away, his city of Wyrnstead remained in a climate of unsettling tension, as wives and children watched husbands and fathers leave to war from the wooden walls of the wooden city. His mind detached itself from reality when pondering on why Kovak did what he did, why he would revolt against war through more war and why he believed himself capable of not repeating the same errors as his predecessors. How could he trust his human and fallible nature and how could he not see the reasoning behind the war? How could he not understand that a Kingdom cannot prosper under constant threat of invasion and thus needs to push ahead in order to prevail? What changed in him?! Was he only hiding his lust for power behind a charade of reasoning? If so, how blind was he to not see wrong in killing his friend and his family? Was he cursed by witches or did he fall in discredit among the gods? Perhaps he was evil all along. Perhaps it was Heidhal himself that hallucinated with the idea of friendship and fairness. In all truthfulness Heidhal desired to erase the present from memory and reality and simply return to a time when two boys adventured with wooden swords through the creeks and the forests, fighting for fun and with no intent of causing harm, ignorant to the tragedy of the world and the cruelty of grown men. Alas, he could not do such thing. Perhaps the Gods could intervene, but all hinted towards their disregard of current events. All that remained was war, one Heidhal could not afford to lose, for the sake of his people and family, and for the sake of his Kingdom, after all, his friend was dead already. Heidhal climbed on his horse and galloped towards his marching army, running with a determined face and a sealed fate across the plain coast of his land.

The day for confrontation draws near, and conclusion awaits the life of both men. Long have they waited for it. 

Author's Note

Remind me of any mistakes :)
This is a transition part, one that intends on teasing the battle to come.
Hear the song while reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91B-X82GIcQ

Reviews

[Mister T.]

To start off with, the music indeed adds a nice 'silence before the storm' feeling to it. I can see how they prepare for the war, the wind quietly touching their hair, their faces concentrated on the horizon in front of them. They do not speak, they just stare in front of them, with a certain frown on their faces. This is it, there's no turning back. The war is about to be unleashed. It gave me a very exciting feeling. Great job on that :)
Besides that, one thing I wanted to mention, is that the font type wasn't really pleasing to my eyes. I liked the style you used in the first 'chapter' better, to be honest. Maybe you should consider sticking to the same font type in each story. Just an advise ;)
Furthermore, I noticed one small error while reading:
- "the world as transient sphere": forgot the article (a) here.
Anyways, I'm curious to see how things will end up for them :)

[John C. Chill]

Thank you Mister T. I think I have solved both of the problems. The font type was off because I wrote this one in here and the other one in word, and I didn't really think it would have an impact. I'm glad you mentioned it :)

[Zyle Christian William ..]

You can develop suspense like nobody's business and it is such a treat to read! I am so happy that you decided to run with this story, I am so thrilled to find what happens next! Very nice work, John!

Errors bunnies:
four lines up from the bottom of Para 1 you have os, I think you want of. also, the third line from the top you have bellow (shout) and I think you mean below(beneath).

[John C. Chill]

Thank you again Zyle !
I have corrected the errors, thank you for reminding me. :)
The next one will probably take a while, since I have too much stuff to do and I also need to catch up on some reading around here (including your writing). But it will come !

[Zyle Christian William Cook]

I have to catch u on some reading on here as well! I've been horrible these last two days. Happy reading I can't wait for more!

[Zyle Christian William ..]

OMG OMG OMG! About to read!