Ch.12 Wolfen Pact (Part 2)

He sneered at me as he watched me try to understand how he could have immortality. "Is that too hard for you to comprehend? That you'll die here in this ring to my superior ability?"

"There's no such thing as immortality." I was sure of that. There was no such thing in Minecraft!

The teen was suddenly in front of me with his hand gripping the collar of my shirt. "Sadly you're wrong. There is such a thing as it. I signed the papers in blood. My own blood. Within twenty-four hours I was given immortality." He moved his head past my face and whispered in my ear. "You can't beat me. No one has yet to beat me."

I felt the wind get knocked out of me. My gut spasmed and clenched in pain. He had kneed me with such strength I wasn't sure if I'd recover my air in time before I black out. I felt myself get thrown across the ring and hit a barrier. It reacted sending electricity through me.

If I had the breath to cry out I would've. I fell to the ground with smoke trailing from my body. I gasped for breath coughing as my gut unclenched and was able to understand what had hit it so suddenly. My arms pushed me up slightly shaking. I looked up to see my opponents foot kick me in the chest and send me back into the barrier to be electrocuted once more. This time I did cry out.

"How does that feel, Sell, daughter of Lord Rien?" the teen laughed at my pain that I was going through. "Now, for you to feel the pain that my friend felt. The blade that stabbed him in the heart. Your blade!"

Before I had time to gather myself the teen leapt and took the sword from my grasp. With tiny electricity currents still running over me I looked up just enough to see the teen grinning at his reflection in the sword. He had been right; I was going to die here. The teen speared it suddenly. I felt pain in my left chest.

Blood spilled from the corners of my mouth onto the ground. My heart began to beat out of rhythm. My left hand reached up to feel the sword running with blood that was pierced through my chest. The teen let go of the blade and let me fall over onto my side as I panted.

"Sell!" Hel cried out from outside the ring. He bashed away at the barrier, his eyes turning dark red. "Sell! Sell!"

The villagers all gasped and cried out to me. "No! Get up! You can't let him kill us!"

The teen stared down at me with hatred. "How could you kill him? He did nothing to you!"

"He attacked me," I whispered. "That was good enough motive for me to attack back. It was sheer luck I hit his heart the way I did."

I felt more pain, this time in my right chest. I realized I was pinned to the ground by his sword that was through my other chest. I coughed blood up as it dripped from my mouth pooling up below me and slowly running across the ground. He knelt in front of me, eyes glowing. His hand lifted up my face to his. "How does it feel? How does it feel to have your heart stabbed clean through?"

I gurgled at him and coughed blood on his chest. Hel roared pounding at the barrier to get to me.

"Sell! Sell! Bastard, let her go!"

I don't know if I was dead or if I had passed out and was on the verge of death but I appeared at the farm. My brothers working out in the field cutting the grass that had grown too tall. I watched them work for a moment before taking a step and squatting on the fence. They both looked up to see me there. "Sell!"

I smiled at them as they ran over to me. They began to talk about dad and how mom was getting depressed with him being gone so much. Dad had told her that he had been asked to help build something for the newspaper company. Another mob grinder that was bigger and better. I leaned out and hugged them tightly around their necks.

"It's ok. You don't have to tell me anymore. I know what's going on. It'll be ok. He's doing it out of good."

They looked at one another behind my head wondering why I was crying. "Sell?"

I let them go and looked over at the gate that opened up. Dad stood there with his arms crossed looking at them. "What about Sell?"

I wasn't sure how much life I had left but I thought it was time that I allowed dad to see me. I stepped off the fence line and became a little more clearer to see for my dad. His arms drooped to his sides as he stared down at me. "Sell…"

"I'm aware of what's going on."

He stared at me still. His face changed to something I couldn't read. I hugged him tightly before anything more was said. "Thank you."

He pulled me away from him and looked at me solemnly. "Whatever is happening where you are, remember this. You are the one that the weak look up too. Villagers and those that live outside with no name to uphold. Day and night the evil of Minecraft prowl about taking the lives of the innocent. Destructive forces are working among us once again. Up hold our duty and fight back with the courage that is within you."

My brothers stared at us not knowing what we were talking about.

"Believe in yourself. The power comes from the heart. Not by what you're told."

My body faded from their sight. My eyes opened to see a fuzzy mass of people mouthing something and pounded on something that wouldn't let them progress. A figure strode over to them with his sword enjoying their reactions as he held two swords; a stone sword and his iron sword. My body didn't have the excruciating pain it had when it had the swords in it.

My eyes stared out at the crowd, its blurriness looking like a wave now as it moved up and down from the jostling people. My arms pushed myself up slowly and it all got quiet. I saw a pool of blood all around where I had been laying. I stared back at my crimson reflection and saw that I was covered in blood. It didn't matter to me anymore.

My legs finally pushed me up right. The people's mouth turned into gasps. The teen turned around and seemed shocked that I was still alive.

"How are you still alive?"

I strode towards him with blood dripping from me, leaving a trail behind. "Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it kind of does matter." He replied as he held up his two swords. "What sorcery is this?"

"It's no sorcery." I came face to face with him and took hold of his hand that held my sword. "I believe in myself. I was born to protect those that cry out for help. Your actions just helped to prove that."

He pushed me back, my fingers slipped through his grasp allowing me to take my sword from him and slide away with the help of my blood that was on my shoes. "I believe in myself. I believe that I have the strength to take you down!"

The teen scoffed at me. "Seriously? The Skeletal Lord abilities are just a hoax! There's no such thing as it! I've been here for a few years and I've still got nothing out of it!"

"You must believe that you have the power," I replied and saw flames leap around me from head to toe. I saw my clothes burning away into something entirely different. I realized they were turning into a robe that hid my face. Previously I feared I would've been burned to bits but this fire was my friend.

The teen gawked at me as I stepped towards him. Hel gawked at me as well watching me transform. Sell!

I reached out and took hold of the teen's sword. The fire jumped from around me and disappeared in a crackling sound. The teen yelped and attacked me. I backed off and held up my own sword. We stared at one another, my eyes glowing a deep red with no noticeable pupil beneath the hood.

We charged one another yelling out. Each of us strengthened by our own morals and beliefs. The two swords clashed making sparks fly. It lit up the anger on the teens face as the villagers and Hel watched. We danced about clashing and breaking away here and there. He and I were on the same ground now, same exhaustion, same weakness and same pain. He launched himself across the arena with a bound that was no doubt backed by the werewolf pact. I blocked his downward slash gritting my teeth as we glared at one another over our blades.

"Just fucking die already!"

"I will not fall to the evil that harms innocents! That is the Skeletal way!"

My eyes narrowed as I slid beneath the teen's attack and leapt up from behind him to kick him in the teen yelped letting go of the blade and flying across the arena into the edge of the barrier. I grabbed the hilt of the sword and buried its blade in the dirt. I stood in front of the teen not caring that I was weak and near death, if I was about to pass out from blood loss, if my heart was going to stop on me there and then. I held up my sword to his neck. Sweat dripped down his face. I could see that his soul had given up. He had given up on life completely without the werewolf's power.

"Stop this bullshit. You are an heir to the Skeletal race. Why do you doubt your abilities? I can see it in you, it's strong! You have the ability to summon it. You don't need the help of the werewolves. They've lied to you."

"Sell! He isn't immortal!" Hel cried out making me look up at him. Hel was nose to nose with the barrier. "The wolf that he had gotten the Pact with was the one that died! He has less than twenty-four hours left with his power that he obtained from the wolf!"

The teen whirled around glaring at Hel. "You mangy beast! How dare you help her?"

I laughed a laugh I had never heard myself do before. The teen looked at me holding up my sword with fear.

"I will hold onto you. I will not let you stray from the path you were chosen to walk. We are the bringers of justice to the weak."

My eyes burned into his. I strode over to the barrier and stabbed the scorched earth. Hissing and popping with sparks of electricity shot around inside. Hel leapt away before there was an explosion and smoke mixed with dust filled the air. The dust and dirt gradually faded. The teen looked up at me with uncertainty. "You believe in me?"

I nodded at him. "Who wouldn't? If anyone doubted you then they too doubt their own selves. You can do so much more without help from wild animals."

He held out his hand for me to take after a moment of thinking. "Glad to meet you."

He took my hand with a strong grip and pulled himself up. Skelar suddenly went blurry and began to get enveloped by darkness that I couldn't tell where it had come from. Hel sprang onto the arena hurriedly with his arms out. I didn't know what was happening but apparently I had passed out. The last thing I saw was Skelar gaping at me in surprise not letting go of my hand.

"Sell!"

"Sell!

It had turned winter here in the village. Hel and Skelar helped with the rebuilding of the village. His werewolves had done a lot of damage. Many of the villagers had been injured and five had been found dead. Some were missing still.

Hel and Skelar knew that there was nothing they could do for the missing villagers. The werewolves had dragged them away and had possibly killed them. Each day they would come into my room and tell me how the rebuilding was going. How much progress they were making. I would smile at them as I drifted asleep from the drugs that were being given to me to help me heal.

I would be back to full health in a few more months. Meaning I'd be back up around spring time. I spent my time projecting myself to my family, talking to my father and my brothers. I helped them out around the farm and talked to my dad about everything that's been happening. Each time we talk I understand the Skeletal race a bit more.

They can do great things and bring catastrophe too. Always keeping themselves in check is a dire thing. I helped dad with his blue prints of the mob grinders he was building to decrease the mass of evil that was steadily gathering in all the caves in Minecraft. Father had never seen this many monsters pouring out of caves in years. The last time he saw this was when he and Lones still accompanied Lady Ananon.

We sat at the hearth sipping tea and staring into the fire. My father's eyes had gone back to their normal looking self. It made me happy that he was smiling again.

"Have you heard about the werewolves that are selling themselves to a Skeletal heir in exchange for a drop of their blood?"

I looked up at him when he said that. "I faced a teen called Skelar that had made a pact with a group of werewolves."

"Did you beat him?" Father leaned forward interested in this.

I nodded. "Just barely. The words you said to me helped me out at the last minute. He stabbed me in the heart and in the right chest." My eyes stared at the fire. "I won't be back up until spring. Hel is watching over Skelar and any possible werewolves to attack the village again."

My father smiled at me. "I knew you'd know how to handle him. As for Skelar, that's Lones son. It now makes sense why he acquired help when he almost died."

"The Pact?"

"It's a dangerous trade off. An heir's blood for signature to attain power from werewolves that has hardly anything to give." My father looked into the fire with a hard look. "They trick those into believing they are a powerful group with many on hand to take down anything that stands in their master's way."

My mind went back to when I and Hel entered the village for the first time and saw all the carnage going on by the werewolves. "All they bring is suffering and pain. Even death. There's no power in their ruthless jaws."

My father nodded. "Exactly. They have mastered the ability to trick people. No thanks to the foxes that roam the woods."

I shook my head at him placing my cup down. "It wasn't the foxes. The foxes can't understand their language. Hel said so. I talked to him about the possibilities of this. It was a human that teaches them this."

Father stared at me thinking. It was silent between us when the door opened to the living room. My brothers entered and sat down in the other chairs that were around the hearth.

"Listen to me wisely children. This is important information for all three of you that go out into the wild every day. Werewolves are two faced beasts of fury. They are not tame unlike Hel was. I trained Hel at an early age. He is on our side and will help you, Sell, with other werewolves that may be considered dangerous to you."

"He's helped me out plenty. Even trained me to sword fight."

My father nodded his head. "Hel has the responsibility to protect you at all costs. Even giving up his life to make sure you live. You are my last child, an heir to my bloodline. I cannot afford to lose you when you've hardly fought evil."

My brothers stared at me looking grim. "We're sorry we don't have what you have. We'd help you in any way we could, sister."

"Don't feel sorry. Don't be sorry about something like this. Be glad you're both the way you are."

They looked to one another and then to father who nodded in agreement. "I'm happy that you two are normal to be honest. Your mother would be devastated if you both were to die to the hands of evil."

"Mother doesn't know about this stuff. Don't utter a word of it to her," I said warning them.

They nodded. I turned to father again. "What about the werewolves of the wild?"

He stared at me and placed his cup down. "The moon is what gives them power. It also takes it away. As for the tame wolves they can change when they feel like it. Their power is broken when they are tamed by a Minecraftian."

"That explains Hel's ability to change at will." I folded my arms across my chest.

"You've ridden on his back before. Haven't you?" Father asked inclining his head slightly.

I nodded. He grinned at me.

"I know. I see you two in my dreams riding across the lands of Minecraft helping those in need. You are doing a greater good out of all the Skeletal Lords combined. You and Hel are strong together. I have faith in you that you both will help the Lords in their great fight against the darkness."

I remembered the time I leapt onto his back. Being raced through the village in leaps and bounds. He was faster than any horse I knew of. My body faded from the living room. I opened my eyes to see Hel sitting next to my bed resting his eyes.

I reached out and rested my hand on his head. His eyes opened to look at me.

"Thank you. I never got to say that fully to you."

He took my hand from his hand and slightly squeezed it. "I'm here always. Don't forget that."

I let myself drift back asleep with him holding onto my hand. I missed how someone would hold my hand as I would fall asleep. It brought back memories of when I and the little boy would nap in the tall grass beneath the great oak that had sprawling branches. We would stare up into the leaves and watch the light filter through and change around us as the wind would blow through the trees. I smiled to myself in my sleep as I placed myself amongst my younger self and the boy, enjoying the time I had there.