Chapter 5: The Path of War
Silence. Darkness… the fox opened his eyes and stare down at the ground. He was… alive. Somehow. He perused the landscape around him quickly. Was it possible? He was right where he was supposed to be… the portal must have dumped him out back on Venom. The landscape was barren and brown as always and the crippling acidity of the soil had killed all life around. But something was wrong…
"Of course…!" He muttered aloud. "How the heck… is this area so serene? I just bombed this place…"
With effort due to his recent trip through the dizzying portal, he got his bruised body to his feet and paced about the ground, staring at it with deep focus when he came upon a pair of dirty metallic boots.
"You… dog. What are YOU doing here on our side of the fence?" A mud-covered fox spoke to him, a knife held in his hand in a clearly intimidating manner. "I'll bet you haven't had your shots, mongrel…" He aimed to stab at the white fox but was quickly foiled. The white fox swept to the side and twisted the assailant's arm with a sickening crack as the knife dropped into the sadistic fox's other hand.
"Who are you?" He held the knife to the assailant's throat.
"Agh…! Who are YOU?" The fox held onto his shattered arm in agony.
"My name is unimportant… you won't live long enough to do anything with it at this rate. Answer!"
"Heh… all part of war, eh?"
"War…? Never you mind." He slit his throat and threw him to the ground swiftly. "War…" He walked forward and tossed the rusted knife aside, himself passing around a cliff.
The shadow of the black and brown rocks faded into light as he felt his metallic claws around the rough surface. A faint roar in the distance boiled deep into the fox's blood. He had heard it before… and it was now unmistakable. It was the cries of war, the clash of fire and laser. He yearned for the feeling of battle. He always had… and it haunted his steps every day. Nevertheless, it was a long time ago… that his instincts took over… he no longer cared for tranquility. It felt like an age ago that he wanted peace… until the day he realized that peace was pointless. Power goes to the one who wants it most, he thought. His sanguinary drives forced him onward for miles… until happened upon a clearing distraught with battle. A long stretches of fighters adorned the battlefield and their fire lit his eyes like a flame.
He reached at his side, felt a warm metal… his eyes closed and his mind faded to his lust for bloodshed as he pulled it off from his side and held it defiantly into the air, clicked on the switch, and spawned a bright blade of laser. A hypnotic red color bit through the air as he strode onto the field, starting with an immense bound. He pounced forward in a spring of forty to fifty feet, directly into the fray. He went completely silent as he was met with attacks from confused soldiers… some bearing the crest of Corneria, others Venom. He felt a small burning prod from his side.
"Who… may I ask… are you?"
Five soldiers and their own searing blades corned the belligerent white-pelted fox. He was completely cornered.
"I'm not going to ask you twice. Who are you? You are clearly not from Venom. Nor from Corneria." The figure speaking was immensely largely built, his armor thick and covering his entire body. A large assortment of medals coated his vest. His fur was hidden from his entire body, save his face and hands. It was an amber-like color matching his right eye, a powerful orange itself. His left eye was a quiet black. From his appearance, he was a tiger.
"I am… from neither. I chanced upon this area and decided to join in.
Despite the battle around them, the few aside guarding the white fox broke into a hearty laughter.
"Oh… you… do you honestly expect us to believe that?" the tiger prodded him harder and stabbed his weapon barely into the fox's arm. He, in return, did not flinch. "Clearly, you are… a spy?"
"Now it is your turn to be mistaken. If you refuse to believe me…" He spat onto one of the enemy blades. "Then I'll have to prove that I am as I speak in battle."
He did another jump followed by a flip in mid-air, the tiger's blade slicing upward past his arm. His descent happened behind the farthest back soldier whom he hashed his weapon deep into his stomach. The blood was burned and dissolved off the blade in an instant.
"Attack him!" The tiger commanded, himself diving into the battle with vengeance.
The fox spun to the side, killing another soldier flawlessly. He followed with a second parry to the side, followed by a sweeping thrust into the back of a third soldier.
"Had enough?" He gestured toyingly to a third soldier, who slowly began to back away into the fray of the war. "Just you and I, general."
The tiger swung crushing blows toward him, but were all slighted with uninterested and graceful dodges.
"You…" the tiger watched him and held his weapon in guard. "If you are from neither side… then why do you persist to fight us?"
"Simple enough. You do not trust me, thus I have no reason to not fight. Or… a reason to fight." He feinted a few blows and kept his cold eyes locked onto the stance of the general. He made a gesture of swinging his blade around and pointing it at his adversary. "If you really hold that position so well, prove it. Or are you truly undeserving to be in this war? To have soldiers at your command? Come." He gestured again with a single swing and the battle resumed.
Every blow was powerful, but the fox denied his enemy any chance of victory. Every sidestep or jump was with blinding speed, and the fox did not plan to allow the tiger a shot at him. He finally went to offense and swung at his enemy's arm maliciously. He was blocked and thrown back into the air by a massively powerful counter to his blade.
"Ah… so that's your skill, is it? You're powerful… but how does that help you if you're slow?" He mocked, jumping about to the tiger's side and feinting more shots that would have clearly been fatally placed. "Pathetic, like I said… but you have talent for swordplay, I give you that."
The tiger's face had gone red from anger and humiliation; he threw more crushing blows and felt a surge of pain rush through his leg. The fox sat, crouching, his blade cleanly placed through his ankle.
"Heh. You can always surrender." He mocked again.
"I…" The general winced hard and stumbled over his words. "I would never… concede this battle. I would not allow you the honor of victory."
The fox, seemingly puny in comparison of size, laughed and held the tip of his sword to the back of the tiger's head.
"How about… you give me your name and the victory of this battle, and I let you live? Seems fair enough, eh?"
The tiger closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, furious. "Fine. I am General Tigereye of the Cornerian army. May I ask your name?
"Ah, bold, I like that. Asking the name of the one who could kill you before you notice… very humorous indeed."
The battle suddenly died down and was raised up into cries of victory.
"General! General! The battle is over! The Venomians have been defeate-" He stared at the wounded leader at a loss for words. "What… what… happened…?"
"We all lose battles, General." The cold voice of the white fox sounded on the field once more. "Unfortunately, this one you will end up regretting for the longest time… you see… you've beaten the Venomians… and I've defeated you. And unless anyone wishes to object and face the death of Mr. Tigereye here… you are now under my command."
"Not at all…" Tigereye spoke. "We're under the control of the Cornerian army."
"Well… too bad for them. Because you're under the command of myself now… and if anyone wishes to object, I'll be sure to think of an extremely painful punishment for them to face."
"You…!" Tigereye clenched his teeth once more.
"Heh… you can call me Skye." His snarling grin grew ever darker. "Skye Abison."