Damian - Sink or Swim?

I woke early the next morning, my internal clock sending me out of my bed at five-thirty. Upon eating a quick breakfast and then showering and dressing in the formal duel garb of Cofando, I left the cabin at six-fifteen, heading to the arena to prepare. I even sent a set of clothes to Damian's cabin, instructing him to wear it for the duel. I doubted he would, but at least I could use it to teach him a lesson.

Once I stepped foot in the arena, I drew my sword and swung it in the air as the start of my pre-duel ritual. I was to perform a dance of the blade, my sword curving beautifully in the air for all to see. I waited approximately fifteen minutes for the first camper to arrive, and pretty soon, the rest of them had begun filing into the stands and taking their seats.

We waited.

The clock struck seven.

Damian had yet to show up.

I sighed. Typical. When he does show up, and he will, eventually, he'll think that he's fashionably late and won't care too much about it. He won't be wearing the traditional clothes, because, even if he did try them on, he wouldn't like the style, and just show up in jeans or something similar.

Five minutes later, he sauntered in casually, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, just as I'd predicted.

"Damian!" I shouted, like my instructor back when I first became the prince, "The first rule of being a prince is that you can never be late!"

He shrugged, giving me a foul look. "Whatever. When I take your title, I'll just change the stupid rules, so they fit my needs. That way, I can be late all I want."

I groaned internally. "If you say so. Now, to start a traditional duel on Cofando, both participants must follow these specifications. One, you may only use one weapon of choice. All other weapons will be removed and stored elsewhere," I explained.

Damian didn't move, so I continued, "As you can see, I have already removed all of mine." I gestured over to where Seraphina was in the stands. She was sitting next to a large, neat alignment of weapons. It would've taken fifteen minutes at least to remove all my weapons, so I did so beforehand. With her help, of course.

"Next specification," I said, "Male participants must fight bare-chested. This is a tradition that goes back millennia because it leads into the next part- the test of purity." With that, I removed my cloak and shirt - though I was careful to leave my mask on - and handed the garb to Seraphina. I sent her a small smile of thanks as she did so.

Damian removed his shirt as well, but he seemed more uncomfortable than I did, probably because he had stomach flab whereas my chest was muscled from years of training and marred by the wounds of particularly nasty battles.

'Gods,' I thought, 'So many of the girls are drooling. Why? This never happens on Cofando when I duel. Are there guys staring as well? What?' I tried to ignore it.

"You're just popular," Crypt told me.

"Yeah, let the kids have their fun. Not every day would they see someone which such delicious muscles," Tile added. He had a point. I mean, Damian didn't exactly have a six-pack. Or a four-pack. He didn't even have a pack. Maybe a fanny pack.

Then, I realized just exactly what Tile said.

"You're weird," I replied, "And I don't think you and the campers are thinking the same thing."

"Not my problem that I'm a carnivore! If we weren't connected, I would seriously consider eating you for lunch! You have so much tender, dark meat on you!"

I shook myself out of that conversation to continue explaining things to Damian. "The test of purity is a tradition not seen by many. Only those with pure hearts and minds will be able to witness what we are about to do." I smiled behind my mask. "Now, Damian, copy my stance," I commanded. I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and let my arms hang afloat in the air. Tilting my head back, I closed my eyes.

Proteus came forward to chant for our test. Five seconds in and my body began to glow. I could feel it. The great warmth filled my chest first, then spread throughout my body. Damian must've begun to glow as well because I heard him give a sharp gasp of shock before he fell silent again. Bringing my head forward, I opened my eyes to look at him.

"You can look now, Damian," I said.

He peeked out of one eye.

We were both glowing with white light, but as soon as we met eyes, our lights changed. My entire body darkened to black, except my heart. My heart remained white and unmarred by the darkness surrounding me and glowed a brilliant white in contrast. My hands, as well, were a different colour. They shone deep, blood red, but on my palms were stars of white.

I had killed, yes, but I killed with purpose. I killed to protect others.

Refocusing my eyes on Damian, I almost broke my stance at the alarming sight of his heart, openly displayed on his body.

His hands were stained, as mine were, but there was no white light in sight. The red snaked up his arms, like creeping vines wrapping around his shoulders. The red then melted into a muddy grey colour.

I nearly let out a sigh; his soul was a devastating sight. Truly.

The onlookers were in awe. At least, the ones who could see what was happening. Most of them could, which was a good sign, but some of them – blind followers of Damian and his ways, small as they were in numbers – could not.

Slowly, the glows faded from our bodies and I prepared myself for the fight to begin. "Now, we duel," I said. "No powers. Maiming is allowed. Killing is allowed, too, but is frowned upon and only used in barbaric times. It only ends when one of us surrenders or loses consciousness."

Damian took his stance as well, and I almost cringed. Who even taught this boy how to stand? His feet were too close together. His toes were even turned in! How does he keep his balance? Damian wobbled, and I held myself back from sighing, Oh, he doesn't.

Drawing my sword, I levelled my eyes with his. "It seems that we both have blood on our hands. I wonder...which one of us will add a little more?" I asked casually.

The horn was blown, and our duel commenced.

Calmly, I walked towards him. "Being a prince means that you must be the best. You must be able to protect your people from harm. With that in mind, I have trained day and night by Lord Chaos and Lady Order themselves, so that I could master every method of the sword. I have spent centuries honing my skills under their guidance and tutoring. Every style is now mine to command, all from right here," I tapped my temple.

Then, I leapt into action, jabbing my sword at him with one hand and then jumping back into position in front of him. In a fluid movement, I wrapped both hands around the base of my sword and brought it down in front of me, the blade stopping right above his shoulder. I'd purposefully not hit him, though that didn't stop the flinch that ran through his body.

"And, of course, with the knowledge of all these different styles, I have been able to come up with my very own rhythm in swordplay. Hundreds of combinations that have never failed me in a battle against my opponents."

Gliding around him, I kept both hands of my sword, spinning and striking at his upper body, only to pause and keep the blade from touching him. I dance around Damian, demonstrating many other techniques that I'd picked up over the years, while he remained untouched due to my last-minute pull-back.

Finally, I decided that it was enough playing around, and appeared in front of him, swinging the sword around and smacking him in the chest with the butt of the hilt. He fell back into the dirt.

"I have worked for my title, and you do not deserve to even fight me for it, but I allowed that. You do not have what it takes to be a leader, much less a prince." I couldn't help it – I sneered at him. Hate broiled up in my chest, all aimed at one person, but I managed to push it down, settling for a cruel tone instead of taking him apart. I didn't. Of course, I have a sharp blade in my hand.

Placing my blade at his throat, I snarled. "Do you surrender?"

He nodded quickly, which was stupid because he almost took his own head off on my sword.

"Then I have won this duel. Good day to you." I withdrew my sword and sheathed it, giving him a curt bow and turning to retrieve my gear from Seraphina. It was just then that I sensed it. Something was coming toward me. With a quick glance up, I could see the campers in the stands looking at something behind me, wide-eyed, and I spun around just in time, drawing my sword to deflect a knife.

It fell to the ground, motionless.

Damian just didn't know when to give up, did he?

Wait. What was that? I looked closer at the knife, picking it up from the ground. There was poison coating the blade. Damian had tried to kill me. With an angered grunt, I threw the knife down again, though this time, the blade was buried deep into the earth.

Then, I spun around, ready to face him: my attempted murderer. He was standing again, though he was frozen in shock. He unfroze, soon after, and began walking toward me, but much to my surprise, someone stepped between us.

"Stop being mean to my friend!"

It was Rosie. My heart swelled with pride as she raised herself to full height, arms spread and ready to protect me.

Damian, however, sneered. "Get out of my way!" he snarled. Once he was in front of her, he shoved her down. She landed in the dirt with a thud and cried out, but – to her credit – didn't burst out crying from the obvious future bruises.

That sparked a chain reaction.

I leapt forward, over her and tackled Damian to the ground. Flipping him over, I held his face to the ground and pushed his arm up his back, hand between his shoulder blades. During this, my wings had snapped open, alight with dancing flames of red, blue, white, and black.

Everyone jumped back to avoid the heat.

I leaned down, snarling in Damian's ear. "If you ever touch her again, I swear..." My threat trailed off. I didn't even have to finish; he got the idea.

He shivered as I stood, releasing him and regaining control over my emotions. Then, I rushed to Rosie's side and lifted her into a sitting position on my leg, gently running my hands over her legs to heal the quickly forming welts. After they were all healed, she looked okay, but I double-checked, just to be sure.

"Are you alright, Rosie?" I asked gently, my voice laced with concern.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed tight, giving me a big hug. "Thanks for saving me," she whispered in my ear. She buried her nose into my shoulder, snuggling closer.

"That was very brave of you, Rosie," I told her, and felt her lips curve into a grin against my neck. "No one has ever stood up for me like that before, so...thank you."

Rosie pulled away with a Cheshire grin on her face. We both stood, and I took her hand, leading her over to where her mother and siblings stood on the sidelines. Demeter herself came forward and, once we reached her, took out a random box of cereal, handing it to me for my efforts.

I heard some chuckles from the audience, but then, my attention was drawn elsewhere.

"What?" Tile asked in my head. He brought our eyes down to the cereal in my hand, leering internally. "What's with this?"

"Demeter is obsessed with cereal," I explained. It was true; she was, but seriously? Where did she even get it from?

Ignoring it, I accepted the cereal and left Rosie with her family, then returned to my own, ready to accompany my warriors to breakfast.