Brothers

by Viktor Zólyomi

  We attacked them without hesitation. I chopped into them with the sword as powerfully as I could, while Zack fired his lightning wands at them as swiftly as he could. Neither attack seemed to work very well against the skeletons, but we were able to wear them down eventually. Zack's lightning made them convulse after a while, and once I managed to crack their skulls in half or chop their skulls off, they were finished. There were only five or six of them, but it was a difficult and exhausting battle.

  `Do you think there's more of them?' I asked, once we were done with them.

  `Could be.'

  `We need better weapons against these things.'

  `Maybe I'll try a few new spells on them.' he said, and then we marched on.

  Not much further ahead, we found a room that was full of rubble and large blocks of stone. There was a door at the far end of the room, but some creature was standing in front of it. It was humanoid, tall and furry, and seemed very much alive. It was like a troll, except that its entire body was covered in brown fur.

  `What the Hell is that?' I asked.

  `I have no fucking idea.'

  `What's it doing down here?'

  `Good question... I doubt there is another entrance to this place. But if it lives down here, what does it eat?'

  The creature roared aloud, and grinned at us. Its teeth were very sharp.

  `I think it wants to eat us...' I said, and then raised my sword and charged the creature.

  It didn't stand aside, and I pretty much impaled it on my sword. The blade entered through the left side of its belly, and came out on its back. But it just laughed, grabbed me by the throat, and pushed me back. Then it pulled my sword out of the wound, and firmly grabbed the blade with both hands. It grinned viciously, and then it simply broke my sword in half...

  `What...?' I asked in disbelief.

  `I told you so...' said Zack, but I ignored him.

  `What?!' I asked, screaming in anger, just staring at the broken remains of my sword on the ground. In rage, I charged the creature. I pushed it against the wall and started pounding on it with my fists, hitting it where I could. The creature grabbed me and then pushed me away, but I didn't fall and wouldn't give up. I charged it again, and trapped its torso in a bearhug. Then I headbutted it in the face at least three times.

  Zack in the back was laughing.

  `Maybe you should let me take care of that thing...' he said, but I ignored him. I continued beating on the creature, ignoring its punches. My armor protected my body well enough, and the creature failed to knock me in the head. After a while, I managed to knock it to the ground, and then I stood up and stomped on its head.

  It was dazed briefly, and I used the chance to look around for a weapon. The broken sword was useless, but the room was full of large rocks and blocks of stone. I picked up a rock the size of a troll's head, and tossed it at the creature. It groaned in pain, and then I reached for another rock. After I had hit it with five big rocks, it was severely bleeding, and no longer even trying to stand up, it was just curled up trying to protect its head from my attacks. But I would not be denied. I went to the corner and picked up a huge slab of stone. It was at least two feet wide, four feet long, and ten inches thick. I raised it high above my head, went over to the creature, and with a cry of rage I threw the slab onto it. There was a loud cry of fear, then a loud crushing sound as the slab of stone flattened the creature, then silence.

  `Take that, you son of a bitch!' I exclaimed, and stared at the remains of the flattened beast. `No-one breaks my sword... and lives!'

  Zack looked at me with raised eyebrows.

  `Remind me never to piss you off...' he said.

  *

  A minute later, I picked up the chunk of my sword, and stared at it sadly.

  `What am I going to do now, Zack?'

  `Don't worry, you'll get a new one.'

  `How am I supposed to fight now? I didn't bring a spare weapon...'

  `Tell you what...' he said, and he handed me one of his wands. `Use this.'

  `Huh? I am no mage.'

  `No, but you have the blood of magicians in your veins, so you shouldn't have much difficulty using a wand efficiently. Just focus on it when you aim. Wave it like this.'

  He showed me how to aim, and told me the activation word that I should whisper before firing the wand.

  `Well, I don't know...'

  `Just try it. If it doesn't work, just keep throwing rocks.' he said, laughing. I frowned, and then we left the room to explore deeper into the dungeon.

  Well, the next section of the dungeon was an interesting and unique experience for me. A few corridors later, we ran into a whole group of those furry troll-like things. There were at least ten of them, but fortunately they were smaller. Possibly the first one we met earlier was an alpha male or something. Anyway, they attacked us on sight.

  Zack fired some magical projectiles at them, while I used the wand he gave me. It was not a lightning wand, but a wand that fired a small greenish sphere and covered the creatures in some kind of acidic liquid upon impact. The acid seemed to do quite some damage to the creatures, and between these and Zack's own attacks, they went down astoundingly quickly. When the last of them fell, I laughed aloud.

  `Hey Zack, this is fun!'

  `You like the wand, huh?'

  `Yeah! I had no idea it was so much fun!'

  `So, keep it. I have plenty of them.'

  `Well, thanks... but... I'd still prefer to fight with a sword, as soon as I get a new one.'

  `Maybe now you see my point about enchanted swords.'

  `Well, now that I think about it... You might be right.'

  He then opened his pouch and took a book out of it. I recognized it. It was a tome we had found a few months earlier in another dungeon.

  `Here, take this.' he said. `This is a book of enchantments. Look through it, study it. There are descriptions of the various enchantments. Pick the ones you like the most, and I'll make you something after we get out of here.'

  `Wow! Thanks, buddy!'

  We went on, and I started reading through the book, and... Well, what can I say? I liked it. I really liked it. I didn't understand a word of the magical procedures in it, but the descriptions of the enchantments were detailed enough that I understood the what they could do. And what could they do! I was amazed by it! I slowly began to realize that a useful enchantment could make a sword ten times more powerful. I never realized that before. I was truly amazed...

  A while later, we ran into another bunch of the creatures, and I could barely make myself put the book down to fight them off. After we killed them, I opened the book again and continued where I left off.

  `I see the shit picked your interest.' said Zack, laughing.

  `Yeah. I had no idea of all the things that could be done with magic...' I told him.

  A while later, we ran into a third group of creatures, and this time I fought them without even closing the book. I held the book in my left hand, and looking up from it every now and then, I fired Zack's wand with my right. Once the battle was over, Zack gave me a disapproving look.

  `Can't you wait with that shit until we're out of here?'

  I ignored him and kept on reading. He shook his head, and went on. I slowly followed, with an eye on the pages and an eye on the corridors ahead.

  *

  There was one final group of those creatures a while later, but we dispatched them just like the rest. After that, everything went quiet until we reached a new, large chamber. As we stepped inside, a portcullis was abruptly lowered in the doorway behind us, trapping us inside. We slowly turned back and observed the sight of it, then looked at each other.

  `No problem.' said Zack, and he stepped to the portcullis. He pressed his palms against the bars and whispered a few magic words, but nothing happened.

  `What the fuck?!' he exclaimed, and then he tried again. No effect. Then he stepped back and pulled out a wand, and aimed it at the door. Nothing.

  `Fuck!' he screame
d angrily.

  `What's wrong?'

  `I don't know, but for some reason, magic is not working in this room... Not even from wands. We're trapped.'

  `Let me try.' I told him, and stepped to the portcullis. I grabbed its bars and tried to raise it, but it wouldn't budge. I kept trying for a while, but it was no use.

  `As you would say, fuck!' I told him.

  `Damn fucking right! Well, let's look around. There must be something in here that will open that door. Some kind of failsafe mechanism, or something...'

  Only then did we bother to examine the chamber. The walls were full of intricate carvings. Text and drawings alike. The drawings depicted hideous figures, demons as far as I could tell. Zack examined the writings.

  `What does it say?' I asked.

  `Something about Doom and Chaos. But it's hard to follow what this is all about.'

  The center of the room contained five pedestals, one in the middle, and one at each corner of the central pedestal. There was something on this central pedestal.

  We went there, and could see that there were two bladed weapons resting upon the pedestal. They were longer than a dagger, but shorter than a sword. They had curved blades, and it seemed the inner arch was the cutting edge. The blades were faintly glowing in a reddish color, and the hilts were covered with runes.

  `There are your new weapons, Danny Boy!' exclaimed Zack. But I shook my head.

  `These toothpicks? Are you trying to insult me?'

  `Don't you want them?'

  `Of course not! I want a big sword. A big sword, got that?!'

  `Alright, then they're mine!' he said, smiling. He reached for the weapons, but before he grabbed them, he noticed a writing on the pedestal.

  `Interesting...' he murmured.

  `What?'

  `The text says, Prove your worth to wield Doom and Chaos!'

  `What does that mean?'

  `Hmmm.... I think Doom and Chaos are the names of these knives... They are heavily enchanted. And I do mean, heavily enchanted... These are some extremely powerful weapons.'

  `So take them!' I told him. Without hesitation, he picked them up.

  `They're nice light.' he said.

  `No, not like that, you incompetent wizard!' I told him, seeing how terribly he was grasping them. `Here, let me show you.'

  I showed him how to properly hold the blades, and then he swung them in the air a couple of times.

  `Not bad!' he said. The blades weren't, but he was. He was an amateur...

  `Yeah, but you need to...'

  Before I could finish trying to explain to him what he was doing wrong, a loud noise interrupted us. With a grinding sound, the far wall of the chamber lowered into the ground, revealing another, smaller room. From the darkness of this room, a large creature came towards us.

  It walked on four insect-like legs, and had two arms that ended in vicious claws. Its head, like its torso, was covered in dark scales, and it had two long goat-like horns protruding from its forehead. It approached us slowly.

  `What is that thing?' I asked.

  `It's a demon.' said Zack. `I think it's guarding the knives. If we want to take them, we must defeat this creature...'

  `Errr... Why don't we just let him keep the damn things? They don't look like they are worth the trouble.'

  `Trust me, they're worth it!' he said, and he slowly approached the creature with the two knives in his hand.

  `Are you insane? He's going to eat you for breakfast!'

  `Then how about you help me out here?'

  `With what? I don't have a weapon! You said the wand was useless in here!'

  `Improvise, fuck you!' he said, and he lunged at the demon.

  *

  Now you see, that's exactly what I'm talking about when I say that he recklessly jumped into the fray all the time without thinking. Just think about the situation. He had no armor, no magic to protect him, and he jumped at a big ass demon armed with two knives when he never wielded a melee weapon in his life! You'd think he's got a death wish or something... Well, every time he did something like that, it was up to me to get his ass out of trouble. That day was no exception...

  He needed my help more than ever. The big creature struck towards him with its claws, but Zack was somehow able to roll aside just in time. He tried to cut towards the demon, but he was too far away. His knives had a small reach, he had to get closer. But as soon as he tried to close in, the demon struck towards him, and he had to retreat. Zack's lack of experience in melee combat didn't help him much there...

  It was only a matter of time before that creature would catch him. I had to help him. I looked around in the room, looking for something I could use as a weapon. But there was nothing around.

  `Eh, the Hell with it!' I exclaimed, and I charged towards the demon with a loud battlecry.

  I pretty much shoved Zack aside, and then charged right at the demon. It was able to strike at me with its vicious claws, but my armor protected me. I ducked from its second attack, and then I charged at it, and with my shoulder I tried to push it against the wall. But it was too heavy, so I changed tactics. I punched it a few times, and when it got staggered for a second, I took the chance and got behind it. I climbed on its back, and grabbed its arms. I forced them against its torso, and headbutted it in the back of the head.

  The skull of the creature proved to be quite hard however, as my headbutt didn't even faze it. My skull however hurt pretty bad, so I didn't try that again...

  `Now, Zack!' I exclaimed. `Stab it to death while I'm holding it down. Quickly!'

  He didn't need to be told twice. He jumped forth and sunk both knives into the demon's body. The demon screamed out loud, and began to writhe in my grasp. As Zack moved in for another attack, it tried to bite him. Zack jumped back just in time. As he approached again, the creature tried to strike him with the horns on its head. Zack leaned out of the way, and cut towards the demon's horns with his blades. A second later, the horns fell to the ground, and the demon screamed out even louder than before.

  Then, Zack smiled and struck towards the demon's eyes, trying to blind it. The demon pulled its head away in time, so Zack targeted its torso instead. He cut deep into the creature's flesh with his knives, and then slashed towards its throat. The next thing I knew was that blood started to spray from the creature's neck and the demon began to thrash in my grasp wildly. A few seconds later it violently shook me off its back, and went on a wild rampage. It knocked Zack to the ground, but instead of attacking him, it ran off into the darkness, screaming, and leaving a wide trail of blood behind. Less then a minute later, the creature stopped screaming, and everything went silent.

  Zack slowly stood up, and looked at his newfound weapons with a wide smile.

  `I love these fucking knives!' he said. Then he went after the creature, into the darkness.

  I quickly followed him, thinking that the demon may be luring him into a trap, but my worry was needless. We found the demon laying on the ground, motionless. It was dead.

  `You had to mess with us, sonny, now look where it got you?' I asked of the corpse. Zack nodded in agreement, and then we turned around.

  We headed for the entryway, and found that the portcullis was raised. We were free to leave.

  *

  On the way out, I opened the book once more, and studied the many enchantments contained within. After having seen the effectiveness of Zack's knives, I was even more thrilled about the idea of having my own enchanted sword. After all, Zack was wielding them like a complete amateur, and yet he was able to kill the demon once I held it down. That's how powerful his new weapons were.

  `You know, Zack, I've been thinking...' I told him, as we reached the surface. `Can you teach me how to make enchantments? I mean, I appreciate the offer that you'd enchant a sword for me, but... I'd like to do it myself. I'd like to experiment. Until I find the perfect enchantment!'

  `Well, to do that, you need to learn the basics of magic first. That shouldn't be so hard, since
it runs in your family. But it will take a while.'

  `Oh, I'm okay with that. I'm in no hurry.'

  `Good. And look on the bright side. Magic will extend your lifespan, haha!'

  `Cool! So, you'll teach me?'

  `On one condition.' he said.

  `Sure, what do you need?'

  He raised his newfound magical knives and swung them in the air, in a way that perfectly showed what kind of an incompetent beginner he was.

  `Teach me how to properly wield these things!' he said. I nodded.

  `I can do that. And I can tell, you sure need some help. At this point, you couldn't kill a rat with those things without my help.' I told him, laughing. He frowned and gave me a nasty look, but somewhere deep inside he probably knew I was right. Yeah, I'm sure he knew that very well...

  Guess what time it is?

  Somewhere in Draconia, present day (11 hours after Twilightfall)

  `So, that's how he learned to fight?' I ask, as he finishes the tale. `From you?'

  `Yes, and he learned it very well. It took a long time though. Likewise, it took him a while to teach me all about magic. But ten years later, I was able to create my very own enchanted claymore. I was extremely pleased with it. Of course, it was nothing compared to my current sword, but it was a very good start. Over time, I made some damn good swords!'

  Yes, he sure did. I've seen what his current sword can do...

  I must keep that well in mind. I want the stone back, and I have to be very careful getting it back. I've seen what he can do. I must be patient, and choose the right moment to take it from him. Even if I have to wait until we reach wherever the stone is guiding us...

  Speaking of which...

  It would be about high time we got there!

  `We've walked far, and still found nothing. Are you sure that thing is not just a broken compass?' I ask.

  `No, I am sure it is leading us somewhere. I can almost feel it luring me... But you are correct. We've traveled far, and I have no idea how long we've been on the move. I don't even know what time it is.'