Chapter 1 Part 5

Iris feels conflicted. One part of her is glad for the chance, and another part of her regrets the action entirely. But now is not the time to think about it. The deed was done, and all the foolish teen can do is look on the bright side of her action: the chance to prove to everyone (and herself) her capabilities as a warrior.

Bruce swings his ax fluently, warming up his muscles. “What’s this? Is the problem child actually nervous after displaying such a pompous attitude?”

“Nervous? Sorry, you must have been thinking about yourself because I have never been more ready in my entire life,” The young teen quips back as she grabs up a regular steel sword from one of the boxes.

Bruce frowns resting his axe on one of his shoulder blades. “I’m a nice guy, so I’ll give one last chance. Apologize, and we can go back to doing more important matters.”

Iris laughs and glares at him. “No can do. I've been waiting a long time for this. It’s time someone finally steps up and knocks your ego down a peg or two.”

Bruce grits his teeth, and the grip on his axe tightens. Without saying another comeback, he launches full speed at Iris, and he brings her sword up barely blocking Bruce’s swing. She stumbles from the shock but shakes it off quickly.

This is Iris’s first battle with another warrior, for she has always trained alone since no one else would train with her. She only got a few lessons from Boss, but they never fought each other. With the few lessons, Iris learned something useful.

Bruce swings at her again, and she dodges again. Iris knows two things. One, Bruce is more powerful than him. And two, Bruce is around six feet while Iris stands at a height of five feet. In other words, Iris knows she can’t win against Bruce when it comes to pure power alone. So, the plan was to overwhelm him with strategy.

Due to their current relationship, Iris would gag at the idea of listening to his advice, but there’s one that she takes to heart: Learning strategies and applying them to battle are key to a turning point. Despite her uncle’s orders, she sneaks into the Village Guard’s headquarters and watches the men battle on the training field. Iris has seen Bruce’s battle style many times. Now she needs to put those thoughts into practice.

“You can’t run forever!” Bruce once again swings his axe. The axe moves in a right diagonal motion. Iris moves the sword to the position of blow and blocks the strike completely.

“What?!” Bruce is momentarily shocked by his failed attack. With this, Iris moves quickly to get behind Bruce. She jumps high into the air, swings her sword downwards, and strikes a blow onto Bruce’s right shoulder blade. The strike was sloppy but did the job as Bruce stumbled a little from the blow.

The crowd gasps at the turn of events. Then, cheers start erupting the crowd.

“Iris struck it.” “Amazing!” “It was probably just luck.” “Who cares! Luck is part of the battle. Keep going!”

The fight, that was meant to be serious, became entertainment. Iris should be upset, but she’s not. In fact, her blood rushed from this!

Iris gasps for air each time she breathes. Bruce seems to be in the same state. She never thought that battling someone else would be so exhilarating. Her only regret is that she didn’t do this sooner.

“My legs are too heavy”, Iris thought and laughed quietly, starting to see the consequences of her action. Bruce hasn’t made a move yet which shocks Iris. “Hey! What’s wrong vice commander? Don’t tell me you are giving u-?”

Suddenly, Iris starts to feel a chill on the field. An evil aura surrounds Bruce, and his eyes become soulless.

“How…?” Iris barely hears the question from Bruce’s low mumble. Then, Bruce starts yelling, “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???!!!!”

“I’VE TRAINED LONGER! I'VE BEEN TAUGHT BY THE BEST!!! I’M SUPPOSED THE HERO, SO WHY ARE YOU BETTER THAN ME???!!!”

Bruce laughs mockingly. Iris and the whole village are shocked at Bruce’s change in character.

“I get it. I’m still weak. I haven’t changed at all! I need power. I need more power!”

He screams to the heavens, “GIVE ME MORE POWER!!!” The dark aura surrounds Bruce’s body entirely. Iris’s hands quiver at the scene before, wondering why she’s so nervous. Her question is answered when the aura dissipates.

Bruce, who is now a wolf-like creature, stares at with hungry eyes. One of Bruce’s men slowly walks up to him.

“H-Hey Bruce. Is that you, man? Look I’m sorry I ran away. We

The beast’s eyes are a deep red with a gaze that’s hungry for blood and terror.

“Void. It’s the Void! They returned!” “How’s this happening?” “Where are the other warriors?!” The villagers are all in a panic. They feared for a long time of the Void’s return. Now, those fears are answered.

“Do not panic! There’s only one monster. We can handle it” Elder’s loud voice is heard loud and clear as she makes her way to the field. “Everyone moves off the battlefield. Bring up the barrier!”

The barrier is a special tool that purifiers use to protect the surrounding area from monsters. While these barriers can purify the monster after a while, barriers are mostly used to keep people out, and the purifier can do his job.

The villagers move out of the way quickly, but Iris hasn’t moved an inch.

“Iris, you need to move! Now!” She hears the Boss calling to her. The light of the barrier is half way before it closes.

“Iris, what are you doing?!” Move!” Now, Elder is yelling desperately at her. Without hesitation, Iris moves to strike at the beast, and the barrier is fully closed.

Iris strikes at the beast, but it evades her attack easily. Desperate to defeat it quickly, she attacks carelessly again and again. Iris stumbles at her last attack, and the beast back kicks her into the barrier.

““Iris!”” The twins cry. Iris falls flat on the ground. She feels the bruises but luckily they’re not bleeding.

The beast stands faraway from Iris as if waiting for her next move. This gives Her time to come up with a plan to defeat the beast and purify Bruce. Except, she doesn’t know how to purify him.

When a purifier cleanses a soul tainted by the Void, the soul is still alive. But, if the purifier doesn’t cleanse the soul, the soul is dead, becoming part of the earth. Iris hasn’t awakened her element yet, and now she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.

‘Is this...the end?” Iris thinks and slowly closes her eyes in defeat.

(It could...but it doesn’t have to be.)

Iris opens her eyes widely at the new voice in her head. The voice is wise but boyish. ‘Who are-?”

(You are a bit of an amateur, but the skill is there.)

‘What are-?’

(I can lend my power to help save him.)

‘How are-?’

(It feels like cheating, but you’re very close to awakening. So, call this a small nudge.)

‘Will you let me talk?!’

(Will you accept my powers or not?)

Iris thinks a little, but thinking was never her strong suit.

“Yes!” She declares. A green aura surrounds her body. Unlike the black aura, the green aura was warm, comforting, and very nostalgic.

“Iris?” Elder questions looking through the barrier, but the young girl doesn’t hear it.

As the aura disappears, she slowly stands up, and her sword is surrounded by the aura. Her hair and her eyes turned green, but she didn't notice it.

(I’m only lending you a small amount of my power. You need to decide the right time to strike. You have one strike.)

‘Only one?!’

(Good luck!)

‘Wait! When do I know when it’s time?’

(Listen to the wind.)

‘How am I-?’ The beast launches at Iris. She dodges, and she can no longer hear the voice inside her again. Iris continues to dodge the beast’s attacks until she learns to listen to the wind.

‘But the wind isn’t telling me anything, damn it!’ She growls as she dodges another attack. The beast looks to be gaining its breast. Iris closes her eyes to calm her nerves down.

Then, she feels it. Opening her eyes again, swirls of green aura are surrounding her. The wind blows into her ear as if it is whispering the path to victory. The young teen nods in understanding.

She runs straight to the beast, and the beast launches its claws to attack. Iris slides under the beast, plants her feet onto the ground, and jumps high into the air. The beast lands on the ground and turns around unable to counterattack quickly. She swings her sword downwards and hits the beast square on the head.

The beast is surrounded by a white aura. The dark aura leaves Bruce’s body, and he is back to normal unconscious. The light of the barrier slowly disappears. And, the villagers come onto the field and they cheer for the victory. Iris finally collapses from exhaustion. Her muscles are aching, and her heart is beating at a normal rate again.

“What just happened?” She murmurs as she feels two thuds bringing her out of her thoughts.

The twins run up to her and start asking questions simultaneously.

“Iris, what was that just now?”

“Did you awaken your element?”

“Your hair turned green!”

“Your eyes did too!”

“How were you able to fight like that?”

“Are you one of those naturally gifted types!? You looked so professional!”

“I can think of many words for that fight, and ‘professional’ is not one of them.”

The chattering dies down as the crowd looks to where the voice came from. At the village entrance, the troupe returns from their mission. The air gets thicker and the crowd slowly disperses as the commander walks closer and closer to the battlefield. The commander looked down at the teen with a passive face and a cold stare.

Iris gulps and laughs nervously, “Hey, Uncle Zorro. So…how was the trip?”

“Iris. We need to talk. Now.”