Author's Note: Alright everyone, we're back with Ned! To recap what's going on for all you new readers: What are you doing reading the latest chapter without reading the rest of the book? You should be ashamed of yourself! GO STAND IN THE CORNER! …well, now that Mr. Impatient is standing over there, the rest of you can enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 20: Power
Enter Ned:
"Hm…" I looked down at the table in front of me, thinking my hardest.
"Your Majesty-" started a soldier.
"Nono," I held up my hand. "I appreciate the offer, but I have to do this myself…"
After much thought, I slowly brought my hand down to strategically…
…move the black three on the red four, flipping over the card under it.
"Sweet, an Ace!" I said cheerfully, moving it to the top. "Solitaire, prepare to be conquered!"
It was about then the doors crashed open. We all turned our heads to see a beat up soldier run in, panting and looking like he was ready to collapse from exhaustion.
"Oh God!" I said, standing up. "Quick, bring the Healers!"
A few of the soldiers ran off to get the Healers while I and a few others ran to the soldier, holding his arms to keep him upright.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
"N… no, my lord…" he coughed. "Monster… coming here…"
"Monster?" I asked. "What kind? Was it big?"
"No…" the soldier shook his head. "It was… a teenager…"
"…a Teenager?" I asked. "Are you… feeling alright?"
"I swear, I saw him with my own two eyes!" he said in fear. "He had a massive, evil sword that granted him powers beyond any I've ever seen before in my life!"
"Evil sword?" I asked. "You don't mean… the Sword of Darkness?"
"Sword of… my lord?" the soldier asked, confused.
"…nothing," I said as the Healers arrived. "Help this soldier, I want him good as new."
"Yes my lord!" the Healers bowed, picking up the soldier.
"Wait!" the soldier said. "The Monster, he said he would wait an hour before coming this way!"
The blood drained from my face. Someone with the Sword of Darkness was coming to my castle? And hurting my people?
"How long ago did he say this?" I asked urgently.
"I ran as fast as I could… I think…" the soldier thought for a minute, then his own face paled. "…an hour ago."
We all stood there in silence for a minute. The silence was soon broken, however, by the sound of a massive explosion outside, followed by the screams of people. I ran to the window and looked down to see a dark dot leisurely walking through town and destroying everything in its path.
"Oh…" I stepped away from the window, feeling sick to my stomach.
"My lord!" a nearby soldier said, holding his spear tightly and facing me with loyalty. "What shall we do?"
As I looked between all the soldiers, it finally hit me. I was the king, it was up to me to keep everyone safe. I mean, sure, I knew that earlier, but it was just now that it hit me with full force. Something really big and really destructive was coming this way to destroy everything, and I was the one everyone looked up to in hopes of overcoming it.
That was more terrifying than the scariest thing I'd ever seen before in my life.
Still… I wanted to be king. I made the world. I had to be strong for everyone else.
"…set up a safe zone in the basement of the castle!" I finally said. "Get as many soldiers out there as you can and bring back every civilian possible!"
"Yes your majesty!" the soldiers saluted, running off to do as told. As they ran off to do that, I ran up into my room, where Daisy was sitting next to a pile of books she wanted to read from the library. I could see one of them she just dropped when she heard all the commotion.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Is everyone alright?"
"I hope so…" I said, running to the closet and tapping the wall. It glowed magically, opening up the storeroom where I kept all the good magical weapons.
"My Lord?" Daisy followed me as I ran deep into the room and pulled off the glowing broadsword on the far wall: The Sword of Light.
"Alright…" I said, attaching the sheath to my belt. "This should help me face off against it, and-"
Daisy put a hand on my shoulder, making me turn around.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Please my Lord, I want to know…"
I took a deep breath, taking Daisy's hand in mine.
"Something… big is outside," I told her. "Big and dangerous. If someone doesn't stop it, we won't last very long. I… I have to go and fight it myself, it's my job to protect my people."
"But what if you get hurt?" asked Daisy in concern. "My Lord, I don't want anything to happen to you…"
"Me neither," I gulped. "But I gotta do it…"
"Why you though?" Daisy asked. "Why not give the sword to your most elite soldier?"
"Because…" I sighed deeply. "Because… I can't just stand by and let someone trample over everyone under me!"
Daisy looked at me curiously. "Um… what?"
"I've been bullied all my life," I told her. "I HATE bullies. I don't… I don't want anyone else to ever have to face what I've been though! So what if that thing out there's bigger and stronger than anyone else? That doesn't give it the right to push them around!"
I turned to the door. "So I'm gonna stop it before it causes any more pain."
"Ned…" Daisy took my hand.
"Daisy, I told you, I have to-" I started, but when I turned around, Daisy TOTALLY shocked me by kissing me.
On the lips.
She… KISSED me!
On the LIPS!
A girl kissed me!
It was as good as the books made it out to be! No, it was better! A million times better! It made my chest explode with fireworks and my lips melt and oh it was so good and-
"Ned?" Daisy finally snapped me awake. "Ned?"
"Huh, what?" I blinked. "Oh… I'm sorry, just…"
Daisy giggled. "There are more where that came from when you get back," she said, winking at me. I blushed for a minute, but that was certainly enough incentive to make me rush off with a greater determination than before.
I mean, sure, before it was about stopping someone from bullying everyone, but now it's about kisses!
…yes I'm aware that I can be shallow. It was my FIRST KISS, cut me some slack! Please!
Enter Abby:
Pathetic, all of them. The people screamed and ran as I slowly marched through, destroying buildings with the twitch of my wrist. The funny thing was that I wasn't even TRYING to hurt anyone. All I wanted was to destroy the bastard that kidnapped my Daisy.
I eventually came to a stop in the city square, looking around at the empty streets around me. Ahead was the castle, but I really didn't want to go quite that far. Not if I had to, anyway.
"King!" I barked out. "Where are you?"
Silence met my echo.
"Come out here and fight me like a Man!" I barked again. "Come now, are you just going to hide behind your creations all day?"
"No, I won't!" a voice replied, and out from the gates came the man that stole Daisy from me. Well… man wasn't quite the word. He looked like a kid grown into a teenager's body. I didn't care if he looked like an old man though, seeing him made my vision go red with rage.
"You…" I hissed, pointing my sword at him. "You… will PAY for what you've done!"
"Pay for… what?" the King asked, blinking. "I don't think we've even really met."
"Oh, playing DUMB, are we?" I asked, fury building up in me more and more.
"No, really!" the King said. "Look, maybe this is all just a case of mistaken identity. If you put the sword down, maybe we can all just talk this out and-"
"NO TALK!" I snarled, holding the sword above my head. "SLAUGHTER!"
I dashed forward at him, making him whimper and hold his sword up in defense. For the first time, my own blade was stopped by another. The King seemed as surprised as I was, but he managed to push me back and swing his sword at me. He was rusty, I could tell, but the sword was pumping skill into his mind and body. His swing, therefore, was easy to block, but the next strike came surprisingly fast. I ducked under his swing and sliced upwards, but he managed to roll to the side and point his sword at me, charging light up at the tip.
"Holy Blast!" he cried out as a wave of light shot out toward me. I jammed my sword into the ground, shooting up a wall of darkness, but the light blasted right on through and struck me, knocking me back onto my back. The light burned my skin, especially the palm of the hand that was holding the sword.
"…hey, it worked!" the King said cheerfully, looking at the sword in his hand. I snarled deeply, catching his attention.
"You thought THAT was impressive, huh?" I asked. "You thought it would be that easy to beat me?"
"…well, I was kind of hoping-" he started.
"Well I'll let you in on something, boy…" The sword glowed with a deep, dark aura that almost hurt ME. The aura surrounded me in it, and I was soon floating above the ground, staring the King down. "You haven't seen the worst yet. Not by a long shot."
I swiped my sword down, shooting a wall of black flames down at him.
"EEP!" the King rolled out of the way, the black flames blasting into the ground. With a twitch of my head, the fire formed into a spider that chased after the King. He turned around and stood his ground, holding up his sword defensively. The Spider shot down a sharp leg of fire at him, which the King blocked with the flat of his blade. He ran up and sliced upward through the spider, slicing it clean in half and causing the fire to explode, vanishing into the air.
"Ha!" Ned swung his sword, turning back to me. "Looks like I could handle it after…"
He saw I wasn't floating there anymore.
"…huh?" he blinked, looking around. I, who had snuck around while he was fighting the spider, grabbed him from behind, putting my sword to his throat as I floated an inch above the ground.
"You know something?" I sneered, pressing the sword against his throat and letting the aura choke him. "I am REALLY going to enjoy this."
I was about to send off a blast that would rip him to pieces when I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, knocking me out.
Enter Ned:
We both fell to the ground, I panting heavily.
"Wha…" I coughed as I pushed myself up, turning around to see the unconscious teenager at the feet of Daisy, brandishing the Yibirth Macisto.
"Are you okay?" she asked, running to me and helping me to my feet.
"Yeah… I'm fine…" I panted, nodding. "Thank you…"
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Daisy said, hugging me. I hugged her back, looking at the teenager.
"Guards!" I called out. "Take him to the dungeon, but don't touch that sword!"
Guards ran out, picking up the teenager and carrying him away as a few magic users used their powers to lift the sword without touching it.
"Where should we put this?" they asked.
"In the vault," I told them. "Put it under 24/7 watch, I don't want anyone to touch it agaaaaAAAAUGH!"
I was interrupted as the cheering residents of my kingdom ran out of their safe places, lifting me above their heads.
"Three cheers for the king!" they cried out. "Hip-hip, hurray!"
As they cheered for me, I looked around, realizing that I really did save them all. I… I really WAS a hero! I laughed, holding up my arms in victory. Daisy stood by, holding the book under her arm and watching me with a smile on her face.
Right then, I was the happiest squirrel in the world.
Author's Noted: D'aw… it's not going to last long at all. Welp, next chapter we have Lucy, so until then, this is Pax the Dreamer, signing out!