Dread

Tyrion slowly wakes with a splitting headache. Laying on the floor of the roof and covered in dew and some sort of slime, Tyrion feels terrible. Along with this disgusting feeling he has from the slime covering him, Tyrion feels like something important is missing from his mind. Dragging himself up, Tyrion heads back down to Caltain's apartment to take a shower.

As Tyrion enters the apartment he can see Caltain already starting to perform his morning practice. Hearing the door open Caltain looks over to see Tyrion's disgusting figure. At 5'10" and skinny as a stick Tyrion has never struck anyone as handsome. He does have piercing green eyes, a strong jawline and a full head of short dark hair, but his small physique doesn't do him any favors. Now covered in stinking goop, he looks terrible.

"Tyrion what the hell happened to you last night?" Caltain asks while covering his nose. "Did those loan shark's goons dump you in the sewage this time"

"No asshole I broke through. Take in all my glory. I have entered the Initiated Realm" Tyrion proudly proclaims as he sticks out his chest.

"...Are you serious? Holy shit you are!" Caltain yells as he jumps up and charges toward Tyrion.

"Woah! I don't think you actually want to touch me right now. Let me take a quick shower and then we can go celebrate. There are only a few days before the Kasper Entrance Exam. I'm guaranteed to get in now. You need to work are in the next few days to catch up".

"Alright, alright. I'll finish my morning exercise and then we will go downstairs and grab something from a street vendor to celebrate."

......…

After having a celebratory breakfast with Caltain, Tyrion has basically spent the last of his money. With nothing pressing to do Tyrion decides to roam the streets of the city as he enjoys the new-found power of the Initiated Realm. While it is only the first step in a martial artist's path, it is still a very important one that only ten percent of the population will experience. He now will always have a way to provide a good life for himself as an Initiated Realm expert.

While Tyrion would like to avenge his parents, he currently has no leads. No one was left alive in the caravan that his parents were guards for. The only reason he knows what happens is that the whole caravan was slaughtered, and their bodies were discovered by the next passing merchant.

Pondering on what life will be like in the Kasper Academy, Tyrion thinks of the rumors that he has heard. Supposedly there is a Technique Library that houses the most important and powerful martial arts techniques in the city. With different training rooms depending on what you are studying and teachers to help smooth the process Tyrion is extremely excited for the next chapter in his life.

He does still feel though that something is missing after the consciousness of Jack left him. Even though he experienced a breakthrough, it still feels like for those few moments that Jack was with him during the breakthrough that everything was even clearer than it is now.

Enjoying his stroll through the city, Tyrion decides to start heading back to Caltain's apartment to continue with his training. While Tyrion is feeling content with his current achievements he knows that the farther he goes down the martial path the more satisfying it will be. Just this initial improvement which in the grand scheme of things is inconsequential feels incredible. What about when he makes some real progress.

Daydreaming about reaching the Lord Realm and ruling over the entire country, fills Tyrion with excitement. As he turns the corner to Caltain's apartment Tyrion sees five large men surrounding the entrance all with eyes trained on their surroundings. Seeing Tyrion appear they all start smiling at him with ridicule in their eyes.

"Boy, we are glad to see you looking healthy again. Now when we sell you maybe we can get a few silvers for you," a large man with a menacing look from the scars crisscrossing his body says.

Stopping Tyrion tries to consider his options. Until he gets into the Kasper Academy these guys likely won't stop harassing him. As Tyrion stands there another man appears behind him and clamps his ham-like hands-on Tyrion's shoulders.

"Don't even think about running boy," he growls into Tyrion's ear.

With Tyrion's small physique, these men look like they could swing him around like a ragdoll. Unfortunately for them, Tyrion isn't the same as he was the other day when they easily beat him ragged.

Even though the man is grabbing Tyrion, he still feels like he is in complete control of the situation. As the 5 other men walk up to Tyrion surrounding him, Tyrion considers if he should just quickly escape or beat these men down. With the thought that no matter what these men will keep chasing him, Tyrion decides to get a little premature revenge. Ultimately these guys are just thugs. They don't mean anything to even the loan sharks, outside of some hired muscle. Flexing his fist Tyrion prepares to act.

Seeing this the large man with the scars can't help but hold his stomach as the hilarity of the Tyrion's useless struggle overwhelms him. "Boy, you don't think you can actually do anything?" Roaring with laughter all of the henchmen can't believe this tiny, malnourished boy thinks he can fight back against them.

Smiling at their ignorance, Tyrion quickly pivots while raising his elbow and swinging behind him. His pivot easily rips his body out of the goon's hands that is behind him and his elbow quickly connects with the man's head knocking him out almost immediately.

The laughter that was ringing out around him cuts off abruptly as if someone slashed it with a knife. All of the thug's eyes look like they are going to pop out of their heads. "Impossible…" the man with the scars mumbles as he looks at Tyrion with an incredulous expression.

Finally finding his courage the man speaks again with more confidence. "This doesn't make a difference boy. Either way, you will suffer. We might not be able to bring you in, but that doesn't mean others won't"

"You should worry about yourself," Tyrion says while cracking his knuckles.

Bursting forward, Tyrion lands a punch to the scarred man's midsection before he can react. Sidestepping the man's falling body Tyrion then launches a kick to one of the men that is standing to the side and connects with his knee. With a cringe-worthy crack, the man's leg unnaturally bends backward. Tyrion, himself is surprised by the destruction of the man's leg, as the man falls to the ground and starts to scream hysterically.

As the man with the scars lays on the ground vomiting and the man with the broken leg screams in agony, the street quickly clears out of pedestrians. The other three men stare at Tyrion with fear as they slowly start to back up. As Tyrion turns to look at his next victim, all three of them simultaneously sprint in separate directions leaving their fallen comrades to fend for themselves.

Breathing out a large breath of hot air, Tyrion tries to gather his nerves. It was only a few weeks ago any of those guys could have seriously injured him. Now he has some strength to change the outcome of his life. Unfortunately, Tyrion knows that things won't change from just this. Until he gets admitted to the Kasper Academy the loan sharks will just keep sending guys after him. He is sure that they also have some Initiate Realm experts that they can hire.

Making a discussion, Tyrion goes upstairs to talk to Caltain about it. Getting to the apartment, Tyrion can see the door barely hanging from its hinges after being kicked it. Rushing into the apartment Tyrion finds Caltain bleeding on the floor. It looks like one of his arms is broken and he has lost a few teeth. Blood is covering the floor from the beating that they gave him.

Rage and grief flood Tyrion as he kneels on the floor and checks to see if Caltain is still breathing. Without moving him Tyrion gently calls Caltain's name.

"Caltain…" Tyrion calls while gently placing his hand on Caltain's chest. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, bro I hear you," Caltain answers as he slowly opens his eyes with blood slipping out of the corner of his mouth. "I'm just glad you are alright. I was worried that they would ambush you after they got me."

"They tried brother, but I was able to take care of them. I wish I would have disabled all of them now. I'm so sorry that I dragged you into my mess" Tyrion says as tears start to leak out of his eyes.

"It isn't your fault Tyrion. Help me get up. We can't stay here anymore." Caltain says as he struggles to sit up.

"Ok let me wrap your arm up really quick," going to the small kitchen Tyrion gets a towel and wraps it around Caltain to hold his hanging arm. "We need to get this looked at"

"It's fine, let's go," said Caltain while grimacing. Grabbing Caltain around his chest, Tyrion helps Caltain stand. Letting Caltain lean on his shoulder Caltain and Tyrion slowly make their way out of the building.

"I have a little bit of money left in my account. Let's go stay at an inn till the exam. Once we get accepted into the Kasper Academy they won't be able to do anything to us," explains Caltain as they meander their way through the streets of Taal. With the number of people in Taal, it is easy to get lost in the crowds and that is exactly what Caltain and Tyrion are trying to do now.

After approximately an hour of crisscrossing alleyways and mixing in-between crowds, Caltain and Tyrion finally make it to an inn that is both cheap and hidden away in the city. Booking a room and meals for the next few days, they start to settle in. Tyrion wants to get a physician to come and look at Caltain's arm, but neither of them has enough money to afford it.

Instead, Caltain insists on practicing. Pushing the only bed in the room to the corner Tyrion creates enough space in the room so that they can practice their forms. As the next few days pass Caltain surprisingly gets much better and after the third night there he finally has his breakthrough to the Initiated Realm.

As Tyrion watches Caltain experience his breakthrough, he can see Caltain's arm healing at a visible rate. Even faster to heal are the bruises and cuts across his body. Unfortunately for Tyrion is that he has to sit in the same room as Caltain as his body excretes all of the toxins making the room smell like something worse than garbage.

"HAHAHA" Caltain burst into laughter as the mist that was formed from energy disperses. "I did it Tyrion. We did it! We can both go to Kasper Academy now. I've waited for this day my entire life. I'm so excited!" Caltain can barely contain himself.

On the other hand, Tyrion is just looking at Caltain in disgust. "Go wash downstairs. The stink coming from your body is unbearable." Tyrion says while continuing to cover his nose.

"Brother come on. Give me a congratulatory hug! I want you to celebrate with me." Caltain says as he slowly walks toward Tyrion with his slime covered arms held open.

"Caltain seriously stay back or I will fling you out the window" Taking a few steps back Tyrion prepares for if Caltain tries to harass him.

"Don't be so serious I'm going." As Caltain saunters out of the room with a giant grin on his face.

As Tyrion waits for Caltain, he lays down in the bed to take a quick rest. As Tyrion drift off to sleep, he is awakened by a loud crashing sound. Startled Tyrion jumps up and looks out the window. Down below in the inn's courtyard, there are around thirty people with a wide variety of weapons: Swords, axes, spears and other weapons are held menacingly in the men's hands. Located in the middle of this is a man dressed in an elaborate trench coat. With shoulder length blonde hair and a feminine build he doesn't look like a bad guy, but from the sword that he is resting on his shoulder that is dripping blood and the deferral treatment he is receiving from the large group of men, Tyrion knows that he isn't someone to mess with.

They are all looking toward the inn's outer courtyard wall. Currently, there is a large cloud of dust obstructing Tyrion's view, but he can see that someone is slowly crawling out of a crater that they must have made in the wall. Tyrion's gut immediately clenches as he continues to watch the person climb out and slowly stand. As the person stands and the dust settles a little Tyrion can slowly see that it is Caltain. Caltain is currently only wearing some shorts and his chest is bear with a thin slash running from his right shoulder to his bottom left rib. With blood and dirt covering him, Caltain looks miserable and scared.

"Caltain!" yells Tyrion as he quickly opens the window ready to jump out and help his only friend.

"Stop Tyrion!" Caltain quickly yells back as he realizes that Tyrion is about to jump down. "You need to run. This isn't going to turn out well."

"No, we can stop them Caltain!" Tyrion wants to jump down, but from the pleading, he can hear in Caltain's voice he hesitates.

"Tyrion don't. I'll hold them off. Please just run!" Caltain says as he slowly prepares himself.

"Hahaha!" The man in the trench coat laughs. "How ridiculous. I'm going to kill you both. Go ahead and run Tyrion. I'll enjoy it more." As the man's melodious, but sinister voice rings he slowly turns his head back and looks at Tyrion with disturbing eyes. The feeling the man gives Tyrion terrifies him and his body is immediately covered in goosebumps. He knows that this man is not joking. If he doesn't escape, then he will be not just killed but tortured until he begs for it.

"Tyrion RUN!" As Caltain screams out the last sentence, he sidesteps and shoulder slams one of the men to his right caving in his chest. Following through with the movement Caltain forward rolls and comes up with the man's ax. Screaming Caltain charges at the next man hacking down and embedding the ax through his collarbone. Before the man even begins to fall, Caltain has snatched his sword and runs before leaping towards the still smiling trench coat man.

During this whole time Tyrion is hesitating, not just from Caltain's warning, but also from the dread he feels as the man continues to look at him. Not once during Caltain's quick massacre and subsequent leap towards him with his sword brandished hacking towards the man have his eyes left Tyrion.

About when Caltain is five feet from the man still flying at breakneck speed through the air does the man make his move. Caltain is too close and can't register the movement in time. For Tyrion even though he can just barely track the man it still is too fast to know exactly what he did.

As Caltain lands, the man has already moved a few feet forward and turned around facing up towards Tyrion evilly smiling with his arm and sword hanging down as blood pools off the tip. When Caltain's legs hit the ground they immediately give out and his body continues to fall forward smashing into the pavement of the courtyard. By this time his body has stopped, but his head is still rolling across the courtyard till it stops below Tyrion's window looking up at him. Caltain's dead face is stuck in a position of rage and unwillingness.

"CALTAIN!!!" Tyrion screams as tears burst from his eyes and he fights to keep himself from collapsing.

"Get him," says the man in the trench coat.