Chapter 25: Digging Deep Feelings
Troy's heart was beating super-fast as he got a bit more deeper into the forest. Maybe he should have brought some armor with him just in case. After all, Azore is very powerful due to the potion's effect.
"Maybe I should've got more protection." Troy muttered to himself, as he ducked under a few branches from some medium sized trees.
The wind started getting more warmer this time, and more trees got in Troy's way. Troy didn't care, and simply brushed them away from his sight. After a few more seconds of walking, the ground starting getting a bit softer for some reason.
"Why is this ground so squishy all of a sudden?" Troy thought to himself.
Troy used the time instead of thinking of nothing, to ponder about what happened in Kentar's castle today. Peroy seemed like a good enough prince to be Priscilla's boyfriend. GOOD ENOUGH was the key word.
When Troy heard him, Peroy had a very calm voice in him, but he didn't seem to have any sympathy or at least some empathy. Maybe because Peroy never had that kind of experience before. Troy hoped that was the cause.
Troy all of a sudden saw a large clump of leaves in front of him. Troy brushed more of those aside, and then couldn't believe what he saw straight after that. He saw what looked like to be someone; however they were facing the same way Troy was facing, so Troy was looking at his back. But judging how his quartz looking armor and sword and shield looked, he looked powerful, too powerful like… he was just like that from a type of potion.
"Oh man. Could that be?" Troy thought to himself.
That warrior looking person turned around, but Troy quickly ducked behind a tree.
"Someone must be creeping up on me." The warrior muttered, but then turned around.
Troy took a deep breath of relief and then walked a bit forward. All of a sudden, the warrior whipped around all of a sudden, and stared at Troy for a few seconds, with hostile looking eyes.
"Ah. Of course. I know you were spying on me." He said, with a low and calm voice.
Troy gulped in reply.
"Do not be astounded. I already saw you from Royal Arena from a big hill." The warrior continued.
"You did?" Troy asked.
"Of course." The warrior nodded. "You seemed to be pulling a balloon, hoping too." The warrior hesitated. "To trade."
"How did you know?" Troy demanded.
The warrior showed a slight smile. "It's all in the power of the inference. Now tell me… why were you spying on me?"
"I uh… came to ask you a question." Troy gulped.
"What is it?" The warrior said, with a neutral tone.
"Are you…uh…Azore Zakat?" Troy gulped again.
That was just a bunch of seconds of silence for a while.
"Yes." The Warrior nodded. "Yes, my name is indeed, Azore Zakat."
"Good." Troy breathed out a sign of relief for a split second.
"Why is that, that you question me for my name?" Azore asked.
"That's because I need to uh, ask you a few questions." Troy smiled nervously.
"Ask away. But I must catch your name first." Azore said.
"The name is Troy. And first of all, I heard that you were uh…causing some trouble in the realm." Troy stuttered.
"Ever know the reason why?" Azore said, with a bit of a hostile and rough tone in his voice.
Troy gulped. Troy then looked closer at Azore. He looked very young, maybe in his twenties, but he still looked rough and tough.
"W-Why?" Troy stuttered.
"My family were brutally killed by a bunch of…" Azore began. "I don't know. But they were evil, vicious people."
Troy could see his fists getting clenched with a fury with anger in him, from past memories of that event.
"Now," Azore continued. "I vowed to one day, get revenge on those people."
"Did you know who those people were?" Troy asked.
"No," Azore shook his head. "But I will take my life to find who they are."
"But…" Troy gulped. "What will you do if you ever find them?"
"Kill them of course." Azore clenched his teeth in sheer anger. "Like they did to my family."
"Would your family ever kill someone though Azore?" Troy proceeded on his curious questioning.
"Of course." Azore nodded. "But not unless in self-defense. They were wealthy though, but they had barely any heart in us. They emotionally neglected us over the years, and cared only about the riches they earned."
"You had brothers and sisters?" Troy was surprised by that, but knew that when Azore meant "They", that meant that he wasn't an only child in his family.
"Yep." Azore nodded, and smiled for a split second before getting back to a straight face.
"He must have had good loving brothers and sisters." Troy thought to himself.
"Well. I need you to come with me." Troy sighed at Azore Zakat.
"Oh? What for?" he asked.
"Have you killed anyone before in your life?" Troy asked.
"No." Azore said. "But I have pushed multiple people and dealt with those who tried to stop me."
"That means you…" Troy gulped.
"Yes. I wound them if necessary with my-" Azore began, before taking out his white sword with a yellow glare on it from his back. "Sword." He finished.
"But what are you doing now?" Troy asked nervously.
"I came here to find camp for the night, but I sleep for only a few hours." Azore sighed. "It has been a long time I have ever gotten a proper amount of sleeping hours."
Troy knew Azore was still wanted for the so called "Crimes" that he had committed, and he knew he can't just step back from everything Azore said.
"Alright then. Can you please come with me?" Troy asked Azore.
"Where too?" He asked back.
"Kentar's castle." Troy replied back.
"No way." Azore said, his hands gripping more tightly on the sword.
"Why?"
"Because I am well known, don't you see here? If they find me, they will kill me! Just like that did to my ENTIRE family." Azore said, his voice getting quieter and sharper.
"Don't worry. I will explain to them that you are not here to hurt anyone." Troy assured to him.
"Still, nada." Azore refused.
Troy could feel frustration rise in him, but at the same time, his fear of a warrior like Azore made his frustration balance out and not overwhelm his feelings completely.
"Well, you still have to come with me anyways." Troy said, but he could feel his voice getting stronger every split second.
"I refuse to do so Troy." Azore side, with his sword gleaming a bit more darker.
All of this bickering started going over and over for a few more seconds, before soon, Troy lost his temper.
"What is with you Azore?!" he exclaimed, with anger blazing in his eyes.
"I know that if you and I traded places, you will do the same thing, and not go over to Kentar's castle." Azore responded back.
Troy's fist was clenching, and Azore could see that. Azore stepped backwards, and wielded his sword in front of him.
"I am not afraid to use this, and I will indeed, use this to remove you out of the way!" Azore exclaimed.
"Oh really huh?!" Troy said, with more anger inside of him. "It's on!"
Troy was really confident about his fighting skills, and soon, smoothly got into his fighting stance.
"This is going to be hard, but I will win." Troy muttered. Azore heard that, and raised an eyebrow.
"You really sure about that idiot?" he laughed.
Troy's fist and teeth clenched more intensely and as ran towards Azore, charging up a thrust punch. Azore quickly put his sword back in its pouch on his back and then threw Troy over him.
"OOF!" Troy yelled, as he skidded across the grass, and then scrambled back up.
"Ah. No need to use my sword for this task." Azore muttered, as he ran towards Troy, with both fists ready to strike. Troy blocked three punches, ducked a front kick, and then lashed out back with another punch. Azore blocked and jabbed Troy straight in the face with his left hand, and then uppercut him with his right hand. Troy stumbled backwards, and shook out the pain.
"Wow. At least that was less painful than The Pummel's." Troy thought, as he rubbed his neck.
Azore then attacked Troy with a hook punch, but Troy ducked it luckily, and then lashed out with a force palm, striking Azore's chest plate. It went CLANG, but showed no significant damage.
"The legends are false." Azore said, as he punched forward. Troy ducked, and then tried punching Azore back in the face. Azore pushed Troy's fist away, and then front kicked him forward.
"How false are they?" Troy shouted, as he quickly spun around and landed a tornado kick to Azore's face. Azore backed off but then reeled backwards in his starting position.
"Good one." Azore muttered as he took out his sword again. "I guess your skills are necessary for this."
"And I will be the first one you will ever kill?" Troy gulped.
"Perhaps." Azore smirked before lashing his sword forward to Troy's face. Troy ducked, but then rolled backwards when Azore slashed downward. Troy dodged his face back and forth from the dangerous slicing weapon, and then managed to punch Azore in the chest. Azore stumbled backwards, but then spun around and hook slashed towards Troy.
"Whoa!" Troy shouted as he ducked, this time, on impulse and not reaction. Troy double kicked Azore when Azore wasn't blocking with his sword, then landed a spin kick after that to continue his combo.
"Hmph!" Azore muttered as he lashed his sword forward.
"AHH!" Troy shouted in horror, but quickly managed to barely limbo under the tip of the sword, which barely missed the front of his neck. Troy ducked down completely and landed a high tornado kick on Azore's chin, and when Azore was winded back, Troy quickly rushed forward and slammed a tiger fist on Azore's chest plate, the same one Troy repeatedly tried hitting.
CRACK!
Troy saw a medium sized dent on Azore's chest plate. Azore looked at the dent, and then Troy in rage.
"How dare you attempt to destroy my valued armor!" Azore roared, and then clubbed Troy in the head with the bottom of his sword.
"AOH!" Troy shouted in pain as he fell backwards down on the ground.
"Like I said." Azore smirked. The legends are false completely. You are about to experience my powers they didn't put down in writing and storytelling."
Troy gulped at Azore's threatening tone. He knew Azore wasn't lying. Azore quickly pointed his sword at Troy, and a small yellow ball shot out of the tip of sword and struck Troy, bringing him excruciating stinging pain.
"OOAZAH!" Troy exclaimed.
Azore smirked and yanked Troy up by the outfit. Ironically, the same way that other prince grabbed him to get the Medallion.
"HEY!" Troy shouted, as he squirmed kicking at Azore.
"Well, well, well." Azore laughed. Troy grew raged at that, and felt boiling anger rising over him. Troy quickly had to bite Azore's hand one time. Azore muttered something in pain and quickly yanked his hand away. While Azore was shaking the pain away, Troy rapid punched Azore in the stomach a double dozen or so times.
"YOU!" Azore shouted in anger.
Azore quickly shook his sword a few times in some kind of code, and then drew an X with it, its sparkling streaks gleaming.
"X-SLASH!" Azore yelled as he slashed his sword forward, in the middle of that sparkling X. It shot its way like a fiery X shaped arrow towards Troy. Troy gulped and ducked it. Azore shot a few more sword tipped yellow beams at Troy, who barely dodged them, but got hit by two more.
"OOMPH!" Troy muttered in pain.
Azore then tried to stab Troy in the chest, but Troy rolled forward just in time, and just barely had enough space to land another punch to the chest and then an uppercut.
"Uah!" Azore muttered.
Azore then slashed wildly at Troy's neck, but Troy once again rolled backwards, so quick he nearly fell over.
"Ha!" Azore shouted as he, on impulse whacked Troy in the face with his fist. Troy's whole upper body twisted his whole body back down to the ground.
"OOF!" Troy yelled.
Troy then took a deep breath as he dodged more of Azore's really swift and fast sword slashes. He ducked down when it was the most appropriate time to duck, and then did a headstand, and managed to launch both of his feet up in the air as he exited his headstand, similar to that of a front flip. He got Azore right in the face.
"OOMPH!" Azore shouted.
Troy nicely transitioned back to a kicking stance move, and then landed a spin kick on Azore's face, twisted around, and then landed a stomp kick on Azore's neck. Azore fell backwards, but then spun around, slashed his sword towards Troy, creating a circular like yellow beam.
"AH!" Troy gulped in surprise.
Troy was hit by it in the chest, and it was actually stronger than he expected. He was sent rolling across the ground, but slowly, managed to get back up.
"Slash Rush!" Azore exclaimed as he pointed his sword towards Troy, while running at him at the same time. A sword of pummeling like force appeared in the tip of the sword, which was a bit intimidating to Troy.
"Get ready!" Troy said to himself.
Troy noticed that there was a boulder very big behind him. He quickly jumped backwards and wall jumped leaped off the boulder, which made him managed to avoid it, and he also even double judo kicked Azore in the head. Azore was sent propelled backwards, but he rolled backwards too.
"Looks like my combos ought to deal with you." Azore said, as he quickly slashed eleven more of those yellow beams at Troy, but then also rushed forward with another slash rush. He was practically blended in, but by the time Troy saw it, one of the beams hit him down, which made him duck the rush.
"Hmph!" Azore muttered, as he easily obliterated the large boulder that Troy wall jumped on.
Troy then gulped as he quickly backed off. Azore was in a sheer rage right now, as he kept on slashing forward his sword towards Troy.
"I will *Slashes* soon overwhelm *Slashes* you Troy, and I will soon, *Slashes* have you done away with!" Azore said, between clenched teeth and sword slashes.
"Look at yourself." Troy gulped harder.
For a second, Azore looked remorseful at that, but then quickly got back to his anger and started slashing more at Troy.
"Come on! You are trying to kill me!" Troy tried reasoning out.
"Which is what, I WILL SOON ACCOMPLISH!" Azore roared between slashes.
Azore then tried to all of a sudden slash Troy's face, but Troy was ready for those kinds of moments right now, and ducked, and lashed out with another front punch. The punch landed in Azore's torso armor, but that was really brutal to Troy's fist.
"Shoot." Troy muttered as he tried to shake out the pain. Azore quickly smirked and then slashed at Troy's left arm. He barely creased Troy, as it dug into the outer layer.
"AHOUCH!" Troy shouted in surprise.
There was a bit of that red liquid oozing out from the cut, and after a few more dodging and slashing, Troy's arm let him down, as Troy twisted to the left and was now on the ground facing Azore.
"Ah. At last. It's now time for me to finish this off!" Azore chuckled.
Troy stared at Azore wide eyed. He had never thought to get wounded at this kind of battle. All of a sudden, he heard someone say something to him. Something very familiar and it sparked in Troy's mind.
"Any last words Troy?" Azore smirked while he raised the sword in the air.
"Wait!" Troy gulped, and put his right hand in front of him. "I just need to say a few things to you."
"I'm all ears." Azore muttered.
"Listen. I know your family means a lot to you, but that doesn't mean you should always go out for revenge." Troy began.
"I am doing what I know benefits me the most." Azore replied back.
"Do your brothers and sisters care about you?" Troy asked.
That sentence. That very sentence immediately hit Azore's heart emotionally. He lowered the sword, and showed that same face of remorse.
"I never knew how to feel myself in a long time." Azore slowly said. "Until now."
"You forgot how to feel?" Troy was shocked.
"For many years." Azore sighed. "My brothers and sisters had more care in me than my parents did. Well, we all cared for each other. Even our parents."
"I'm sorry to hear about that of your parents." Troy sighed. He was beginning to feel what Azore Zakat is feeling right now.
"My brothers and sisters were the most I valued in my whole lifetime." Azore's voice trembled. "They were real family to me.
Troy felt his eyes almost about to shed tears, but he used his remaining strength to just feel the sadness Azore's heart has.
"And on one night, that last night before my parents and brothers and sisters were killed, I and my brothers and sisters all vowed that we would never kill anyone in our life." Azore began, with tears from him visible and creeping down from his eyes.
"Oh man." Troy's voice trembled.
Azore looked back at Troy.
"I vowed with my whole heart that night to never kill anyone." He said, as put the sword back in his back. "And I will never do that, because of revenge."
Troy wanted to just sob right now because of Azore's really emotional story, but he managed to stay tough enough to only shed a few quiet tears. Azore then walked forward towards Troy, and Troy gulped and closed his eyes, and waited for impact. Instead, nothing happened.
"Huh?" Troy thought to himself as he opened his eyes.
Azore was still standing there, holding out his hand in front of him.
"Let me help you back up." He said to Troy.
Troy stared at Azore for a few seconds, before finally reached his right hand out. Azore pulled him back up and then smiled at Troy.
"I should have never even battled you in the first place." He said again.
"Same here." Troy replied.
"Now," Azore began as he sighed with relief, but was still smiling, since he managed to think of past memories, with Troy's help, and saved him from doing a horrendous event. "Let's go to Kentar's castle and we can all settle this down, and everything will become better and normal again, and besides," Azore smirked. "I like it when everything is usual.