Chapter 13 Damien

Damien watched from the sidelines as Brutus and Bursty approached their sides of the walled off area.

They didn't need to be told to start, they just looked at each other, and started the fight.

Brutus sends his first fireball which is followed by multiple others. Bursty deflects each one with a simple flick of his hand. The fireballs hit the ground, setting grass on fire, along with any other flammable materials that the fire licked across.

Soon Brutus was charging at Bursty, his sword in hand. Soon that sword was covered in bright flames. With every movement made the sword of fire was followed by a smoky trail.

Brutus attacked Bursty with both speed and strength. Bursty held out a hand as Brutus attacked. Then, Brutus's sword was suddenly stopped in mid air. With his free hand, Bursty sliced the air with his hand, and Brutus was pushed back by a strong gust of wind that hit him in the chest.

Brutus flew through the air, landing on his ass. Bursty was quick. The next thing Damien knew was that Bursty had created his own sword from the wind. The wind sword was barley visible but Damien could tell that it was pressed to Brutus's chest, pointing at his heart.

The match was over. Bursty had won this time. Damien recalled his previous match against him. He had only won against Bursty because he tripped when Bursty released his air slice to knock him off his feet.

Because of this, Bursty wasn't fast enough to pin him with his sword. Instead Damien was able to curve his sword in the air. He was able to stretch the metal of the sword to reach Bursty heart.

As Brutus and Bursty headed off the field, Damien took a glance at Kacy. If this was a real fight all Kacy had to do was to stop his heart from beating, and all Damien had to do was crush Kacy's armor around him to suffocate him.

Damien started walking towards the field, hoping that they wouldn't have to actually fight each other one day. Damien knew that Kacy only used his sword instead of his powers on them. He didn't want to risk it. Damien also knew Kacy could be the most dangerous of them.

Kacy could kill them all in a heartbeat, literally.

The others have pretty amazing skills, but none were as deadly as Kacy's. Kacy could heal them all, but yet he could kill them in a blink of an eye.

Once they got to their side of the field, they ran towards each other, swords raised. It was just like the many matches they had before. The only thing different was that they were being watched. Damien could feel all of their eyes on them.

Kacy went to attack Damien first, but he used the metal in his armor to make the sword thicker and heavier so that it absorbed most of the impact of Kacy's hit. Despite Kacy's looks he was actually pretty strong and his attacks could do a lot of damage.

Kacy stumbled back from the force of the impact. Now it was Damien's turn. Damien concentrated on the metal of his sword. He spread the metal around. Some retracted into the metal on his gloves.

Damien has special armor and swords. Instead of a regular handle, his was straight metal. His gloves were made from cloth but it was lined with metal, making it so that he could blend the metal from his gloves to the sword. He wouldn't be loosing his sword anytime soon.

This equipment allowed the flow of metal to shift from his armor to his sword and back. Damien had came up with the idea. To his surprise it worked out better than he expected.

Damien could feel the flow of the metal as it made its way into his glove and back to the metal in his armor. Now the sword was light and thin, it was made for speed.

Quickly, before Kacy had the chance to steady himself, Damien struck. He made sure the edges of his sword was dull enough that it barely did any damage to his friend.

Damien watched in horror as the time slowed, he could see everything that was about to happen. Macy's eyes changed, they became cloudy and distant. Next thing he knew his blade was stopped in mid air. Looking up at the blade, Damien saw Kacy's hand, it was holding the sword in the air, the blade embedded into his skin.

There was no blood.

What?! Damien thought, why would he do something so reckless?! Damien was more worried about his friend than scared of him.

Behind him he could hear the mix emotions from the others. Some of them gasped while others cheered Kacy on.

Shocked, they stood there, neither of them moving. Or so Damien thought. Damien felt metal coming towards him. It was a small knife.

Quickly he called out to the metal. It responded to his call and molded at his demand. As soon as it was close enough to him, he absorbed the metal into his armor, leaving only the rubber handle left in Kacy's extended hand.

This matched wasn't going to be easy for Damien. He knew that after all the times they practiced together, after watching him grow. Of course he was proud of Kacy, but something hid underneath all the pride he had. Something cold and dark. Damien was scared of what Kacy was becoming. He didn't want to loose the smiling, innocent, Kacy that he knew and loved.

Damien jumped back, pulling his sword out of Kacy's hand with a yank. Damien watched in awe as Kacy's skin stitched itself back together. His hand was smooth, no trace of the deep wound that was there before.

Damien needed to get passed Kacy's new defense. He needed to go all out so he could grow as much as Kacy. Yes, the soldiers he would be going against were normal humans, but he wanted to be the best, the strongest, someone Kacy could be proud of, someone his team could look up to. He wanted to protect the things he cared about, even if it was against his own country, his own government, even his own king, no one will stop his team, he wouldn't allow it.

Damien craved the power to protect. Not the power over others to scare and forced them to his will. He saw what power hungry men will do for their dreams, he wouldn't let that happen again.

Damien placed his sword in its place on his belt, now choosing the two short bladed knives that were also held in his belt. He backed up away from Kacy.

Damien felt Kacy's grip tighten around his heart.

He looked into Kacy's dead eyes, his face blank. What was happening to him? Damien needed to save him, protect him from the evils that would harm him. It was his job. He couldn't let him go through the pain of loosing someone he loved again.

Kacy could kill him right now. Fear struck through him at the thought of Kacy being his end to this new life. Kacy wanted to kill him....no... that's not Kacy. It can't be.

Damien ran behind Kacy in a half circle, as he grew closer, the grip on his heart tighten. He could feel his body starting to weaken, but he pushed through it.

He was right behind Kacy now. He threw the knives at his back and he pulled out his sword in one swift movement. He ran straight towards Kacy. He watched in horror as Kacy turned his head around to face him.

The rest of his body didn't move. It was just his head. His arms bent over his shoulders in unnatural angles. The knives embedded directly in the center of his hands. Again, there was no blood.

Damien swung his sword up but he didn't use it, not yet. With one hand he held on to the sword, the other he kept on his side. He watched Kacy's face as his eyes traveled up to the sword that was, in Kacy's eyes, the thing that would be the most damaging.

Now, not just his heart, but his lunges were being squeezed at the same time. It wasn't a steady squeeze though, whenever it got close to doing damage the grip would loosen. Either the thing controlling Kacy didn't want to kill him or Kacy was still in there fighting back.

Damien was now right behind Kacy. He brought his free hand up, placed it on the center of his back, and pushed as hard as he could. Then Damien's body rammed into Kacy's, knocking both of them down.

Damien heard the thump as Kacy's head landed hard on the concrete beneath them. Kacy, no, the thing controlling him must of turn Kacy's head to the right before it hit.

Maybe it wasn't the ground that brought Kacy back to him maybe it was him knocking into him that brought him back. But all that Damien knew was that he didn't feel a death grip on his heart or lunges anymore.

Damien started down at Kacy, his knees were placed on his wrist, keeping them in place. Damien watched as Kacy open his eyes as he groaned. He tried to raise a hand, probably to rub away the pain in his head.

Damien breath was rigid from the fight, but he watched as Kacy's eyes found him. To his surprise, Kacy's eyes started to swell with tears.

"Thank you," Kacy cried. "Damien, thank you!"

"W-what? What do you mean?" Damien replied.

"I don't know what ha-happened," Kacy explained. "One minute I was having fun trying to beat you then... I don't know! I was trying to kill you! It wasn't me! I would never hurt you...."

"Kacy," Damien said calmly. "I know, okay? Everything will be ok. I will always save you, and you know that, right?"

The tears were flowing in steady streams now. Kacy barely manage to choke out an answer. By then the others were rushing towards them.

Most of them had big grins on their faces. They didn't know what actually happened, and Damien didn't plan on telling them till he knew what happened himself.

The others cheered at Damien at his win. Some went straight to Kacy to cheer him up and tell him how awesome he was. It was true, Kacy was awesome. He will always be awesome in Damien's eyes.

Now that their practice was over, they headed inside. They barley made it for the end of lunch. After they eat they had the rest of the day to themselves. Kacy went to bed, and Damien didn't blame him.

Damien headed straight for the library after parting with the others. He will take all the time he could to study, but tonight he was studying anything that could explain what happened to Kacy.

He spent almost the whole night in the library. He didn't want to leave but the librarian kicked him out, telling him, "it's to late for you to be reading. You need sleep. Honey, why don't you go to bed now?" And when he made sure he wasn't leaving she said, "well then I'm kicking you out! Go go! Hurry before I call security!"

Damien couldn't help but chuckle at this. But he couldn't stand the fact that someone who looked so much like his grandmother to be calling him "honey". Only his grandmother could call him that!

When he made it to his shared room, he found that no one was snoring, he smiled to himself, he could sleep peacefully for once. As he made his was over to his and Kacy's bunkbed, he checked on Kacy.

With a small smile on his face he peered into the darkness of the room at Kacy's bed. He could see the flow of the white sheets. But there was one thing odd about them. They seemed flat. Damien's smile slide off his face as he put his hand down on the blanket. Panic ripped through Damien.

His hand went straight to the mattress. Kacy wasn't there. Kacy was gone.