BLACK RIDER
-In the dressing room of a tournament somewhere in the North Europe, one of the teams that made the finals is talking about their problem....
"What do you mean you couldn't find anyone who would blade in our team?"
"Yeah man! First you don't want to blade and when we agree for you to find someone else who will blade instead of you, you say that you have no one!? We can't blade if we are only two! And you know it!"
"Look, I'm really sorry!"
"Everyone can say sorry! Why didn't you find someone?! We'll lose because of you! And we could take them! They are no match to our bit-beasts but we'll have to let them win...BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T FIND ANYONE!!!" He strikes the other boy, who was almost in tears.
"Stop that!" A third boy stops them,«We don't have time for that! Look, we are good bladers, we'll try to delay the end of first two battles and you," he menacingly looks at the boy who had watery eyes, "you'll find someone to fight for us this time. And don't worry - it doesn't have to be a good blader. We'll win the first two battles so it doesn't matter if this one wins or not...HE JUST HAS TO BE THERE!" And they left, heading back to the stadium, leaving boy alone with his misery.
"How did I ever get mixed up with those two?" He thinks. He leaves the building and hopes that he'll find someone who would blade for them. While he was walking he didn't notice that the sky was getting darker and darker...
Meanwhile, at the tournament, it wasn't as the boy predicted. Their opponents were much tougher than they had expected and as much as they were trying they still lost one of the battles.
"Now we have a problem! Even if Gregory managed to find someone we need him to win!"
"I know! I'll try to win...but I mustn't do it quickly."
"Why? It's over."
"It's not over! And as long as we have hope...." And he goes to the dish to meet his opponent.
As they started a raven flew in and perched next to the commentator. A light wind started to blow and two wolves run into the room - one black and the other white. Just as the boy wins, a rider rushes in to the room. He is dressed in black top, black trousers, black gloves to the elbow, with two sharp metal pieces above his second and fifth finger, around 5cm long (and if he made a fist these two pieces would still be in line with his arm). He is riding a large, black horse with short mane. That's what all the people noticed as they got a first glimpse.
He gets off his horse and stops by the dish next to the boy who just won.
"I'll fight as the third one," says the rider with a cold voice, almost whispering. He has long, black hair. His face is...or it could be beautiful but it's white, pale almost like a waxen figure or a statue with a live black, scary eyes in which there is some sort of pain and suffering but also a threat...in these eyes you couldn't find any sympathy or kindness.
The boy moves a few steps back from the look he is receiving from the figure, and the rider takes the blade. The battle is short - the moment that the blades meet the rider's blade knocks the other one out. And when it lands by the shoes of the owner it melts.
"What did you did that for?" yells the boy who won the battle, "there was no need to!"
But the rider doesn't answer. He slowly walks back to the horse and gets on it again and moves to the exit with no rush.
"I'm talking to you!" yells the boy. He takes the melted blade and throws it at the rider's back. The wolves want to jump on the boy but the rider stops them with one movement of his head. The raven flies past the boy, takes his blade and vanishes again – the boy doesn't notice as all his attention is focused on the rider.
The rider stays still for few moments. Then he slowly moves his left hand further to the left. The horse starts turning left - first the head, then the forelegs and finally the back legs. With this movement he comes few steps closer to the boy but the horse doesn't stop when it is face to face with him...it keeps turning so it's diagonal with the boy but so the rider is closer to him. While this moving the rider is watching him from between the horse's ears. When the horse stops, he looks at the boy and a small smile appears on his face. Not really a smile (nature turned the riders mouth down and now that he attempts to straighten his lips it looks like a smile) and in his eyes a red flame starts to burn. First around little cat-like pupil of the eye, than it slowly spreads and after few moments his eyes aren't black anymore but red.
The raven flews over the boy, drops his demolished blade at his feet and lands on the rider's right arm. The wolves are sitting next to the horse; one on each side. A deadly silence falls on everything as the rider leans forward to the boy, opens his mouth little and says with chilling voice: "I know you!"