Chapter 13
Stryder turned to King Olin. "What is he talking about?" The king looked scared. "I have no idea." Rubiel snarled. "Damn liar! You're the king of Alghan!" Stryder looked at the king in pure shock. Erin looked between the both of them. "What the hell is going on?" Suddenly the King grabbed Erin and ran away with her." Stryder tried to run after him, but a trail of flame appeared in front of him and cut him off.
Rubiel was walking slowly towards him. "You killed Serus, and then Abel. You didn't kill Tarik, but I hold you responsible! Now, you will see what it's like to die a slow painful death!" Rubiel dashed towards him, drawing his dual swords in the process. Stryder dodged to the side as Rubiel flew by him. Stryder gained his footing and drew his sword. Just as he did, Rubiel appeared right in front of him. Stryder raised his sword and deflected the first blow, then dodged as the second sword came around. Rubiel gave him no time to rest, he would appear right in front of Stryder every time.
Rubiel was definitely harder to fight than the other three Terra combined. He was more skilled than them and having to block two swords drained his energy faster. Rubiel smiled as he noticed Stryder weakening. "Ha, can't keep up can you? Well how about this!" Rubiel stabbed low, near Stryder's thighs, Stryder pushed the sword aside. With his other sword, Rubiel slashed in an upward arc. Stryder bent backwards to prevent the sword from burying into his chin. While Stryder was bent, Rubiel jabbed forward. Stryder miraculously managed to deflect it.
Rubiel started laughing. "Good, good. Now it's your turn." Rubiel stood back and held his swords in a defensive posture. Stryder took a second to catch his breath and ran towards Rubiel. He tried all kinds of maneuvers, everything he learned, but everything was parried by Rubiel. He tried to knock Rubiel's swords out of his hands with an upward arc, but he held strong.
Rubiel kicked Stryder forward. He started laughing. "You are a worthless fighter. You can't even land a hit on me." Stryder picked his face up from the dirt. To his right, he saw Serus' bow and quiver, where Erin had dropped them after jumping onto Tarik's back. Stryder wasn't a great archer, but it was worth a try. Rubiel started walking slowly towards him, swords out, exposing his chest. When Rubiel came a short distance away, Stryder jumped for the bow, and pulled an arrow out of the quiver. He placed the arrow on the bow as fast as he could and shot it. It flew straight and hit Rubiel right in the chest, before he could react.
Rubiel looked at the arrow that was sticking out of his chest, where his heart was. He fell backwards, onto a wall, and slid down, his swords falling out of his hands. Stryder stood up and walked over to his body. Rubiel grabbed the arrow, and with a groan, pulled it out of his chest. Blood trailed down from the hole. Stryder walked up to him and kneeled down. Rubiel started laughing. "Killed by the weapon of the man I was trying to avenge." Stryder bent down next to him.
"Were you telling the truth about Olin being the king of Alghan?" Rubiel looked at him. "Go find out for yourself." Stryder couldn't get anymore words out of him, so he stood up and ran to the castle. When he entered, all of the guards were slain and on the floor. "Damn!" Stryder said. "What is going on?" He made his way to the throne room. When he opened the double doors, he saw Erin fighting with the king. She was trying to pull herself out of his grasp. "Why isn't it working?"
Stryder ran up to the fighting pair. "Let her go!" He said. Olin looked at Stryder and gasped. Erin kicked his leg, making him release his grip and she ran over beside Stryder. She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm glad you're ok." Stryder nodded to her and then looked at the king. "Olin, what the bloody hell is happening here." Olin turned his back to them and looked out the great window that portrayed the battle still raging outside. He started laughing to himself.
"A great battle between two powerful forces. Neither side knowing that they were ruled by the same leader." Stryder raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" Olin started to laugh again, but continued. "I decided that Alghan was becoming too much of a threat, so I took a couple of soldiers with me to assassinate the king, who was at a meeting in one of the neutral countries. We made it to the meeting and we fought bravely. I had the king on his hands and knees, begging for me to spare him. So I had him write out his will. It stated that I was supposed to become the next king of Alghan. Then I killed him. My soldiers disapproved of my actions, so I killed them too." He laughed evilly.
"I started ruling Alghan shortly after I gained rule over Serra. I came into the palace with the will, and I was soon put into power. Ah, the power, it felt so great ruling two countries. But after a while, it became a great hassle. People were becoming suspicious, so I decided that I had to rule only one great country. I declared war on Serra from my position in Alghan. Whichever side would win the great war, would gain me as their leader and the loser country would become our slaves. With that great army, I would take over all of Kalm!"
Erin looked at him with a disgusted expression. "You sick! All of these deaths just so you can gain power?" Olin turned to them. "Yes! Great power! Which brings me to how I tie in with you two. There once was a man who had great power in Serra. His name was Artemis Garin. He was our blacksmith and he crafted the greatest weapons and accessories man has ever known. He found out about my treachery, so I had to have him disposed of. He created something that would really benefit the kingdom of Serra, that he would give the council, instead of me."
"He crafted a pendant that would give its wearer ultimate power if they knew how to release it. This pendant was created from the rare onyx stone." Erin looked down at her pendant. Olin laughed. "Yes, it is your pendant. That is why I had Stryder here search for you. Artemis Garin was Stryder's father." Stryder looked at the king. "Liar!"
"Believe what you want but its true. I killed Artemis and his wife. But not before they gave birth to their son. I couldn't kill a child, so I had him orphaned, with no knowledge of his past. He grew up to become the great mercenary he is today. I stole the pendant, but could not find out how to unlock its power. Meanwhile, my wife was pregnant with our child. She soon found out about my treachery as well, and fled Serra. She was eight months pregnant when she left, soon to give birth. She took the pendant as well. I had a search team look for her, telling them to kill her. They found her, but she had already given birth. I had no idea where my child was, until now. You, Erin, you are my daughter."
Erin gasped. "No, my family is the Crescents." Olin laughed. "They merely adopted you and didn't want you to know your past, knowing the truth of my treachery, but they were living in a neutral country, so the war did not bother them. I had Stryder here search for you. Then, over in Alghan, I had hired the Terra to kill Stryder before he can become a threat to me, since I had killed his father. But apparently they did not do a great job."
The two just stood there, as the newly gained information of their past lives sunk in. Both refused to believe, but knew that it had to be true. Olin looked back and forth between them. "I am getting that pendant one way or another, even if it means to kill my own child.' Stryder pushed Erin behind him and drew his sword. "First you're going to have to get through me." Olin smiled. "Very well then." He reached to his side and drew his own golden sword. Stryder looked back at Erin. "You have to go somewhere, I can't have you getting hurt." Erin nodded and ran to the corner of the throne room."
Olin smiled. "First I am going to kill you, and then I'll kill her. I'll retrieve the pendant and gain ultimate power. Then I will take over the world!" The king slashed at Stryder who merely dodged the attack. "You're not getting through me. I'm not the rookie mercenary you knew before." He ran at Olin and tried to stab him, but Olin blocked the blow, returning with is own slash. Stryder parried the attack, leaving Olin open. He jabbed at him, but Olin grabbed his arm and pushed him off. "Nice try, boy. You are going to have to do way better than that. Don't you feel any anger at all, knowing that I killed your family and laid your entire life to waste?"
Stryder stood back, panting heavily. The king smiled. "Tired already? I am just warming up!" He ran at Stryder, trying to catch him off guard. Olin kept running towards him, but Stryder didn't move. The king stabbed towards Stryder, who weakly tried to block it with his sword in his left hand. Olin stabbed Stryder in his hand, causing him to drop his sword by his legs. Olin raised his sword to jab Stryder in the neck, for a killing blow.
The anger built up in Stryder as he thought of all the pain this man has put him through. As the king came close, Stryder snapped. Stryder dodged to the side as the king's sword went right by his face. Stryder grabbed the king's sword and spun in a circle, wrenching it free from Olin's grasp. Then he stabbed the sword backwards, right into the king's stomach. Olin took a few steps backwards, gazing at his own sword sticking out of his stomach. He looked up at Stryder. "Impossible….." Olin fell onto his back, dead.