The war between kinds

by Will O Wisp191

In ancient times, there were several different races, two of the main ones being humans and aura users. There is currently a war going on between these two races and one teen seeks to stop it, by any means necessary. Follow him on an epic journey where he will encounter different places, dangers and people. This is the story of an aura user, this is the story of Ash.

12. Chapter 12

Welcome to chapter 12! Hope you're pumped to read more! Off we go!

Jack bounded up the steep sandy path and came to a stop on top of a grassy sand bank, the wolf spotted the coastal town of Dunwitch off to the left atop a very high arch that stretched out into the sea. Below the massive formation he could see a large collection of ships that were docked in the massive port, serving as the town's main means of trade. A winding path snaked it's way up the steep cliff to the start of the arch's formation and lead to the entrance, many carts were making their way up this path, the horses pulling them groaning from the effort. "There it is, we should be able to make it there by nightfall." He said taking note of the orange sun that was now touching the horizon. Ash sighed, "Good, I'm starting to get hungry..." May nodded, "I could use something to eat as well..." Cynthia looked at the surrounding landscape, there were many flowing sand dunes that were covered in grass, to her right she spotted a large area of trees. "Why don't we make camp over there? Heading into town now at the end of the day means that there won't be as many visitors right? We could get spotted easily." Jack thought for a moment and eventually nodded, "I guess we could forage for some fruit in there, all right, hold on!" The wolf said before taking off into a bound towards the small circle area of forest.

(10 minutes later)

Ash's eyes widened, "There's a hidden cove over there!" The group had entered the trees and began to look around, the raven haired teen had spotted an area of the land that was a lot lower than it's surroundings. The ground dropped down at least twenty metres to a smooth sandy cove that was full of turquoise crystal clear sea water that flowed in from a cave, this cave turned out to be a tunnel leading to the outside coast. May took a breath of awe, "It's so beautiful!", being protected by cliffs and trees from all around meant that the cove wasn't windy and very warm despite the season being autumn. Cynthia couldn't take her eyes off of the water, "I bet the water is full of minerals from that cave over there!" She said whilst pointing to the opening, "To bad we can't drink it..." Ash said in dismay, May giggled, "Oh well! This place is a paradise, it's completely untouched!" Jack was scanning the beach, "Hmm, too perfect..." He thought to himself. He listened in but didn't hear anything besides the gentle lapping of the waves, the ocean breeze and the sounds of birds in the trees above them. "All right, let's camp there, but keep your guard up. Just in case..." The group nodded and made their way down the rocks onto the soft sand.

(5 Minutes later)

Ash breathed in relief as he fell backwards onto the comfortable ground, "I'm stuffed..." The teen said whilst rubbing his stomach, Jack chuckled as he sketched a crab that was basking in the sun from within the water of a rock pool, "How could you not be, you just ate six fish as well as a boatload of fruit!" Ash burped, "And I loved every second of it!" Jack pocketed his pencil and booklet, he then stood up and walked over to the teen, coming to a stop at the side of him with a determined grin on his face. Ash raised a brow, "What's up?", "Time for some training tubby" The aura user sat up and reclined using his arms to hold himself up, "Training? For what?"

Jack took out another small handbook from his knapsack that was on the floor next to the teen, "Ever since we met, I'e been taking notes on your aura and power. I must admit, you have quite a lot of it, even feeling the amount of power from an untrained aura beam was enough to destroy my body!" Ash's mood dipped slightly but Jack simply smiled, "Ash, If you did that without even knowing how to properly control your power, you could become even more powerful by learning how to!" The teen tilted his head, "Okay... So how do think we could do that?" Jack stood back up and gave his companion a thumbs up, "Simple, you launch attacks at me, I tank em' and judge their power." Ash crossed his arms, "I don't know how I feel about that, I mean yeah I wana get stronger but... I don't want you to get hurt because of it..." Jack squatted down to the teen's eye level, "Well, you see, this'll actually be helping me become stronger as well." Ash became confused, "How so?" the brunette showed Ash his booklet, across the slightly aged brown pages he could see that Jack had drawn a very detailed picture of his werewolf body. Many note were scrawled across the page, a block of information caught his eye, "Resistance to damage types..." He read aloud, the author nodded and then placed his booklet on the ground and widened the 'V' in his tunic to reveal his defined chest but also a scar that was shaped like the scorch mark from an explosion, "I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything but check out this scar I got from our battle!"

Ash had expected Jack to be angry or upset but his face was a beaming smile, "It's a scar Ash, a scar!" The teen slowly nodded, "A scar... I'm not following you..." Jack thumped his chest, "Thanks to you I learned more about myself, the reason I still have this scar I because my body had never before taken damage from an aura attack, this means that my body has to suffer damage from a specific type before it can build up a resistance!" Ash's mind clicked, "So you want to take the aura attacks-" "To improve it's resistance!" They both finished at the same time, Ash laughed slightly,"Okay then, let's both get stronger together!" Jack nodded with a grin.

(On the beach)

"You ready?!" Ash shouted to his companion from down the beach, Jack simply morphed into his werewolf form and nodded. May and Cynthia were sat in the water watching, both of them not being happy at all that their friend were fighting again, even if it was just training.

Ash began by activating his aura, triggering a aqua blue glow to light his body and eyes up and make them glow, cobalt mist also began to emanate from his body. The teen brought his hands to his side and bent his knees slightly into a battle stance, he focused his mind and began to form a glowing blue sphere. He put enough power into the attack so that it grew to the size of a basket ball but was stopped from launching by a flash of the scene from his and Jack's previous battle. He saw his friend howling in pain as he was being burned and crushed against a building, his breath hitched and the glowing ball disintegrated to nothingness. Jack saw this and raised a brow, Ash dropped his panicked eyes to his trembling hands, "What the..." He whispered in confusion, May waved to the teen, a slight blush on her face from being in her underwear, despite her body being submerged. "You okay Ash?!" The raven haired teen quickly cleared his mind and nodded at the brunette, "Y-Yeah, just warming up!" Jack wasn't convinced.

"Let's try again." Ash nodded and began to form the aura sphere, just as he was satisfied with it's size a glimpse of Jack's pain filled face flashed through his mind, causing the teen to throw the shrunken sphere in blind panic with a startled yelp. The attack impacted with a rock and caused a tiny puff of smoke to sizzle up into the air from the scorch mark on the rock it had hit. Jack morphed back into his human form and took out his hand book, jotting down a few notes, "I see... Ash, your emotions may be preventing you from properly harnessing your power. Your aura is powered by emotions, they act as the fuel, without them being stable, you won't be able to fight to your full potential." Ash sighed as he rested his head on his hands, May frowned, "Isn't there a way for Ash to use his own power without the need of his emotions?" Jack shook his head, "His aura is his power, but also his life force, without him feeling stable he won't be able to properly do anything that involves calling upon that power." The moon shifter turned to the troubled aura user, "Ash, we need to know what's keeping you down so we can help." Ash looked at his friends, all eagerly waiting to hear the thing that was bothering him, "I guess I'm still bummed out about what I did to Jack..." Said person smiled and put a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder, "Okay, first of all, that's all in the past so don't get too hung up on it, you'll miss the good things in the present." Cynthia smiled as she remembered him saying that to her, "And second, Ash..." He said, making the teen look him in the eyes, "You're my friend, I chose to do something for my friend when he was in trouble, there's no reason for you to feel like it's on you." Ash looked at the ground, "You just keep fighting towards your dream, we'll always be there by your side no matter what happens!" May and Cynthia both nodded. The teen smiled, "Thanks... All of you..."

Ash grinned as he saw Jack stick up his massive thumb, the teen exploded into a blue glow and began forming an aura sphere, his mind started to drift back to the battle but he closed his eyes. "No matter hat happens..." He whispered to himself as the aura sphere began spinning at lightning speed, he then launched the attack towards Jack who held up both of his massive arms with his fists clenched and both legs slightly bent. The aura sphere was on him in a flash, the wolf roared and surged forward into a deadly punch that shattered the attack into tiny blue sparkles, no explosion occurred which confused Ash. "My body absorbed the attack as energy. A little something I've been working on." Said the moon shifter as he studied the glowing veins on his forearms, he looked back at the raven haired teen, "Again." Ash obeyed and sent another aura sphere barrelling, this time Jack hit the attack with an uppercut, His arms began to glow brighter. "You're putting in more power..." Ash nodded, "Very good... Again!"

(20 minutes later)

Jack's glowing arms and Ash's aura were now illuminating the beach since the sun had set and the moon was now climbing into the night sky. Cynthia stood up from her perch on a rock, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to Ash and Jack, "Shouldn't you two call it a day?! It's already dark out!" Jack stood up from his stance and looked up at the now visible stars, "I just want to try one more thing" Ash nodded and walked over to the beast, Once he was within range, Jack lightly put his massive hands on Ash's shoulder, causing the bright glow to transfer from his hands into the teen's body. Ash felt a feeling of rejuvenation wash over his body, "You returned it!" Jack nodded, "You'll need it for this last experiment." Ash raised a brow, "What have I gotta do?" Jack pointed to his defined chest, "Place both of your hands here and do the same thing that you did with the shackles that one time." Ash's eyes widened, "Jack, that could be really dangerous for you!" The wolf nodded, "However, it's a sure fire way to make sure that Iv'e got as big a resistance as possible to aura." Ash rubbed his forehead, "Fine...But let's make this quick!"

The teen placed both of his hands on Jack's chest, allowing his fingers to spread out and still being left with loads of room. Jack had lowered himself down onto one knee to allow Ash to properly reach. "You ready?" He asked, feeling slightly uneasy, Jack nodded. Ash closed his eyes as he lit up and began to pump the aura into Jack. The energy flowed into his body, lighting up all of the veins in his body in a brilliant light blue, Jack threw his head back with his fangs bared as his scarlet eyes were completely taken over by a cobalt glow that filled his entire eyeballs. Cynthia ran up next to Ash, not saying anything to avoid throwing his focus off, May had just come back from bathing and the sight that she saw made her drop all of her possessions.

(2 minutes later)

May bit her finger nails nervously, "Is Jack okay?" She asked, Cynthia looked at her with a worried face, she wanted to say he was but she wasn't sure. The were both interrupted by a deep growl that began to resound in Jack's throat. The blondette gasped when she saw his veins turn from glowing blue to bright green, his fur began to go ragged and many scars lit up all over his body. "Oh no..." He whispered, getting May's attention, The fur on Jack's back began to violently snap up into sharp spiky formations, the tip of each glowing the same colour as his veins. "May! Get Ash away from Jack right now!" The brunette was caught off guard, "Huh? What's going on?" She watched Cynthia take off into a sprint towards the aura user so she followed suit. Cynthia came to a stop beside Ash and grabbed the teen's arm, yanking it off of Jack's chest, causing Ash to slowly open his eyes. May caught up and was confused to say the least, "Cynthia? What's going on? Is the training done?" Asked Ash, Cynthia nodded whilst grabbing May and pulling her closer to the two of them, "Both of you stay low!" May quickly crouched down beside a very exhausted aura user. The blondette took one last look at her crush, his eyes had now changed from blue to glowing emerald and he was beginning to wake from his trance. She wasted no more time and chanted a quick spell with her hands held out in front of her, massive pillars of ice then shot out of the ground to form a solid block that encased the three of them. Jack's ears twitched slightly...

(Inside the ice)

"Cynthia! You've kept us in the dark long enough! What's going on with Jack and why are we in here?" Moaned a very agitated brunette, the young woman put a finger to her lips, "Shhh! I'll tell you now but you need to be silent..." The teen folded her arms, "Fine..." She said quietly, Ash was also very curious about what was going on, the blondette hugged her knees to her chest seeming very hesitant to talk. "Jack...Jack went too far with the training." Ash raised a brow, "How so?" She looked at the boy, "He absorbed too much of your aura at once and it overcharged him..." May tilted her head, "Overcharged? What does that mean?" Cynthia heard movement outside and went silent, after a while she spoke up again in a tiny whisper. "You need to be very quiet now..." She said slowly, "By overcharged, I mean Jack took in enough energy for his beast side to take over." May and Ash froze, "When his beast side takes over, he's not himself any more, he only wants to find and kill anything he can." May face turned to one of fear, "That's horrible..." Cynthia nodded, "He calls it 'Primalisation', he goes completely feral and becomes essentially unstoppable. But the thing is...This only occurs during a full moon, I don't know how absorbing energy caused this to happen..." Their discussion was interrupted by a soul haunting howl that came from beyond the safe haven of ice...

(Outside...)

"Strange..." It looked around, the first thing the beast noticed was that the moon wasn't full, it growled menacingly, "A waste of my potential!" In it's anger the wolf stepped forward and threw its head back, howling into the night, giving anything or anyone that heard it a cold sweat. "The hunger...It is sated by the holy one that dwells within..." It spoke to itself, a scent entered it's nose, causing the beast to drop to all fours and search for the source. The trail lead to a strange looking blue bulge, "The trail of odour that dances with my taste buds is closed off from the ever seeing eyes of the hunter..." It growled, placing a massive hand on the ice caused his entire limb to be frozen solid, the wolf's brow twitched slightly. "A cornered prey seeks to punish my search for result..." The wolf rambled insanely to itself before tearing off its arm and then immediately growing a new one from the bleeding stump. For a second the sound of a muffled voice from within the structure was caught by his acute hearing causing him to snarl, "Hiding from the looming appearance of your untimely demise..." Another voice broke into his conciousness just as he was about to smash his fist into the ice, "Do that and I'll end the three of us..." The voice was distant but still heard, causing the beast to growl, "The knowledgeable one seeks to deny me my inheritance of blood, proposing the cold dark of my end, one with which the noble one finds no comfort..." The wolf took another look at the ice figure and snarled before walking away still on all fours, "The noble one seeks to seize this mind from me, new beginnings and quick tragedies, the latter only being reserved for my existence. No balance, only hunger, two judgemental souls each befitting the other, plagued by the one who clings to the fragile grip of your conciousness. One day I will fall and you will BECOME WEAK!" He didn't get a response, the wolf had reached to top of the cliff in silence, the last thing he saw before being pulled back into the darkness of his shared body was the twinkling stars and the gentle light of the moon as it sailed through the calm of the night sky towards the distant horizon.

(Inside the ice)

May gently stroked Ash's head with a small blush on her face, the raven haired teen had become too tired to stay awake and had fallen into a deep sleep, sliding to the side, unknowingly landing on May's lap. Not that she was against it. She giggled, "Ash sure sleeps a lot..." She whispered, Cynthia smiled at the two of them and decided to start a conversation. "Hey May..." She whispered, getting the brunette's attention, "I know it's a long way away...But what do you plan to do after we finish our quest?" The teen's face went blank, she hadn't given the subject any thought at all, her face gained a slight look of sadness as she remembered that her home in the palace was no longer accessible. She looked down at Ash, his sleeping face full of peace, she smiled slightly. "I want to follow him...He's always so sure and headstrong...As well as confident..." She giggled again, "although sometimes too much..." Cynthia nodded with a smile on her face, glad to finally hear how the brunette felt about her crush, "What about you?" This caught Cynthia in the same position as May, "Uh..." A blush appeared on her face, "I kinda wanted to..." Her heart started beating faster, "To...S-Start a family..." May beamed a smile at the woman, "That's so cute! No doubt with a a certain brown haired gent..." May said, flicking her brow a few times, Cynthia's face turned scarlet as she fiddled with her fingers. May simply chuckled with her eyes closed and a bright smile on her face.

(With Jack)

The brunette twitched in his sleep, he took a deep breath and moved slightly, his arm hanging lazily over the edge of the grassy cliff top. He haw currently dreaming, or remembering the events that took place so long ago...

(Jack's dream)

A growing wolf child bounded down a steep hill through the mist of the dark forest that he had been travelling through for two days. The image of his mother's gruesome death propelling him through the thick bracken, eager to reap his revenge on any humans he came across. He caught a faint whiff of smoke with his highly adapted nose, the tiny werewolf growled, "Probably a stupid village..." He thought to himself before locking onto the scent and following its trail.

Jack broke through the line of trees to see indeed that the scent he had been following lead to a village, but one that was under the attack of a goblin raid squad. He laughed to himself in his head as he watched a fat human fall on his face before rolling onto his back to beg for mercy, only to receive a sword in the chest. One of the chieftains spotted him on the hill, the werewolf simply raised a hand and waved, the green skinned monster nodded at him before pulling down its helmet and charging in for another wave of assault. Moon shifters and goblins had a neutral relationship with each other, both races living closes or in the mountains meant easy trade was possible, helping to forge a bond. This bond made stronger by the fact that they shared a common enemy, humans.

Jack enjoyed the show, he even received a few more nods in thanks as humans saw him and began to panic, opening up the opportunity for the goblins to get easy kills. It wasn't uncommon for a moon shifter to be spotted at the scene of a goblin battle, vice versa. The little werewolf's fun was ended abruptly by the sound of a distant battle horn, only heard by him over the noised of the battle thanks to his acute hearing. Jack looked in the direction of the sound and spotted a sight that filled him with dread, the human cavalry. "Oh no... They'll all be mown down..." He panicked, the horses had already started their charge, each rider roaring their ow battle cry. The goblins had no chance but Jack wasn't leaving it at that, he took off into a bound towards the nearest goblin soldier who was frozen in fear.

He watched his closest companions get skewered like fish from a stream, the goblin recoiled as a pure white horse nearly knocked him off of his feet. He spotted a rider heading towards him, was this it? He closed his eyes, preparing for the incoming spear jab but was instead yanked off his feet onto his rear and dragged into the bushes.

The goblin cursed at chattered at his captor in his own language as he was dragged away from the battlefield. After about five minutes he was released, instantly spinning around to see the form of a small childlike werewolf. He was dumbfounded, the werewolf tail wagged excitedly as he stood up straight and pulled the goblin to his to his feet. Both of them were the same height despite Jack being a child. "You saved me Nightblood?" The goblin chattered, causing the werewolf child to nod happily at the mention of his heroic deed, the goblin smiled, revealing his jagged yellow teeth. "Many thanks wolf child." Jack morphed back into his human form to make communication easier. "The cavalry was coming, I don't think there was much chance for your friends..." Jack said in the goblin's native language that would sound like random gibberish to anybody else. Jack learned how to speak goblin from his mother, fully passing the language test on his first try. The goblin nodded sadly, "Indeed, no chance to live now..." Jack smiled and patted the goblin's shoulder, "You're my friend now!" The monster raised a brow at the child's antics, "Me friend?" Jack nodded with a grin, "You travel with me now!" The goblin cackled, "I suppose I do owe you, but for what reason do you want me to travel with you Nightblood?" Jack stuck up his thumb, "I need a guide" The goblin scratched his chin for a moment, "No intent to return to where you came from, you were attacked yes?" Jack's perkiness died down as his eyes dropped to the ground and he nodded without saying a word. The goblin smiled with sympathy and ruffled the boy's hair, "Very well, I'll help you wolf boy, the name's twigitherius!" Jack's face went blank, he tried with all his might to pronounce his new found friend's name, scrunching up his face from the effort. "Twiga... Twider...Twiggy!" The goblin cackled again, "Very well, you may call me twiggy, what's your na-" "I'm Jack!" Jack said with a puffed out chest, causing Twiggy to cackle for the third time that day.

(2 Days later)

Jack pounced on the rodent he had been hunting for the past ten minutes and continued to devour everything. Twiggy shook his head as he roasted a rabbit, preferring to eat it cooked unlike others of his race. Jack finished his meal and sat down next to his friend on the log, morphing into his human form as he did so, "Where are we going tomorrow Twiggy?" The child asked his friend, his scarlet eyes full of curiosity. Twiggy's face became very serious at that moment as he turned towards his companion. "Jack, you know that for the past two days you have been my friend but also my student, and every lesson I have taught you has been for your own good and so that you can eventually survive without me one day yes?" Jack gained the same look on his face as Twiggy, "Yes" He replied, "Well, tomorrow is probably the most important lesson of all, it is the most useful, most difficult, most confusing skill of all. With your qualities I think it might just be possible, but the battle will be harsh and will test everything you have. Your endurance, your intuition, your determination, your grit. Jack..." Twiggy went silent for a while, "Tomorrow, I'm taking you to the caves of endorium, we're going to the tavern and we're...We're...We're gonna pick up some HOT BABES!" Twiggy shouted the last part with a clenched fist and stars in his eyes, his body oozed determination. Jack copied Twiggy's actions with a giddy laugh, almost not being able to wait for the time when he could slay this monster known as a hot babe!

(Early the next morning)

Jack's ear twitched, he had morphed into his werewolf form for the night to help him stay warm, he slowly opened his eyes as he heard the sound of snapping twigs and rustling bushes. It was the voices that made him snap his head up to look for the source, "I'm telling you Neil, all of those goblins are dead, why are we even searching out this far from the village?" Jack heard another voice reply, "General's orders Rick, you know he wants to be sure." They were heading in his direction, the child could feel the fear building up in his chest and stomach so he did the first thing his friend had told him to do at the sign of danger, he got Twiggy's attention.

Jack morphed into his human form and crawled over to his teacher, who was in a deep sleep with a drop of drool hanging from the side of his mouth. The brunette shook him a few times which woke him up, he was about to speak but Jack shook his own head vigorously and pointed into the bushes and thin birch trees that were shrouded in the early morning mist. Twiggy got the point and moved to a crouching position, drawing his battle worn short sword as he did so. The humans were very close now, one of them spoke up, "Hey you smell that? Smoke!" Jack looked to Twiggy for guidance but the goblin looked to be deep in thought, his eyes suddenly locked onto Jack's and motioned for the boy to come closer. Once Jack was close enough to whisper to Twiggy spoke up, "Jack, no matter what happens from now on, you must not transform." The moon shifter was about to protest but Twiggy shook his head, "No back chat, now, you need to play along with what I'm about to do. This is an order, do you understand!" Jack frowned but eventually nodded, "Okay..." Twiggy took a deep breath, and began to tie up Jack's hands with a strand of rope that he pulled out of his knapsack, Jack could feel his friend's hands trembling and eventually caught onto what Twiggy was planning. "Oh no no no! We are not doing that! They'll kill you!" Twiggy cackled sadly, "If we don't do this they'll kill both of us." Jack was starting to thrash around and panic, just what the goblin wanted, he then tied Jack's kicking legs together and stood back as the two soldiers came out of the mist...

(Humans POV)

Rick grit his teeth, before him and Neil was a disgusting goblin who was eyeing both of them up with his weapon drawn. He drew his sword and gripped it tightly, "You filthy creature!" Neil brought him out of his thoughts, "Rick look he's got a prisoner!" His friend said whilst pointing to the bound child that was violently flopping around on the floor, Rick's mouth dropped, "You'd dare steal a child from a village that you were going to wipe out, bastard!" The goblin simply grinned gestured for the both of them to bring it on, Rick growled and charged towards the monster with malice in his eyes.

The battle with the goblin was relatively short, Twiggy fought half heartedly, knowing that this was most likely the safest option for his friend's survival. The goblin swung his sword upwards to counter the downward slash from Rick and then punched the man in the stomach, forcing him back. The monster took one last look at Jack, who was now staring at him with tears in his eyes, "A debt repaid, don't waste this chance for survival my friend..." Before Jack could even blink, Twiggy took off into a sprint towards the two humans to meet his demise. Ash their swords pierced his chest he looked up to the slightly peached coloured sky, "I should have died on that battlefield with my comrades...Everything from then on was just...Extra time..." He whispered before passing away to the sounds of the early morning chirping of the birds in the trees.

The two soldiers sheathed their swords and sighed, "Cornered animals always put up a fight..." Rick sighed, he saw Neil deep in though and raised a brow, "What's up?" Neil looked at the goblin's corpse, it seemed to have a look of peace on its face, "That thing didn't seem to be bothered about dying..." Rick laughed slightly as he walked over to Jack, who was remaining silent with a distant look on his face, "Must've realised that there's nobody left from its raid squad." Neil slowly nodded although not entirely convinced, turning his attention to the bound child that had been pulled up to a sitting position by Rick, "You okay Kid?" The child had tears running down his face, Rick's face turned to one of pity, "That thing must've treated you like dirt huh?" Jack's eyes suddenly locked with Rick's brown ones, the boy waited until Neil had cut the restraints on his hands and legs before lashing out at Rick by throwing a punch and biting his arm. "ARGH! What the fuck! This kid's crazy!" He screamed, wrenching Jack off of his arm and dropping him onto the dirt, the child started to scream at the soldier, "DIE, GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MONSTER!" Rick was dumbfounded as he massaged his throbbing jaw, "What's wrong with this kid Neil?"

Jack was sat with his legs hugged to his chest at the base of a skinny birch tree as the two soldiers were talking not too far away from him. "Well what would you expect?" Said Neil, "A kid that age, he probably thinks that if he's treated like that for as long as he was, then everyone is going to act that way..." Rick nodded slowly as he was still rubbing his jaw, "Ohhhh, but Lord, Kid's got one helluva punch. I'm surprised he actually got taken prisoner!" Neil nodded as he looked over to the child, who was now glaring directly at his blue eyes with his scarlet ones. "I've never seen a kid with eyes like his..." Rick raised a brow, "He's an albi-" "He's not an albino stupid..." Neil interrupted, he decided to drop the subject. "So what do we do with him?" Rick shrugged, "Can't really send him to an orphanage if he tries to eat whoever touches him, guess we should take him back to the kingdom and drop him off in the refugee camp with the doctors..." He noticed Neil with a look of shock on his face, "What?" "That's the first smart thing I've ever heard you say!" Rick rolled his eyes, "Psh! Shut up!"

(At the refugee camp)

"I'm doing this for you Twiggy..." Jack said to himself quietly as he followed the two soldiers into the healthcare part of the camp. The refugee camp had been set up at the base of the human kingdom's massive outer wall. People that came to the camp were given some meagre supplies before being told that heading to the main city was their best option. A soft breeze was blowing across the open grassy hills, the rays of sunshine reflecting off the moving grass making the whole landscape look like rolling waves. The child could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he imagined his teacher standing next to him, going on about how you could actually find a city in the clouds or how good he was at drinking milk through his nose whilst hanging upside down. He laughed slightly as he wiped the water out of his eyes with his arms. Neil noticed this and slowed his pace to match Jack's, causing the child to retreat into his metaphorical shell, "Hey kid..." He said slowly, attempting to comfort the boy, "Did you uh...Did you lose somebody special?" Jack glared at the brown haired man, causing to feel slightly unnerved, "You...You don't have to...You know...Talk about it if you don't want to..." Jack looked back out into the fields, he set his eyes on the deep blue sky, picturing Twiggy's bright determined face. "My friend..." He mumbled simply, causing Neil's eyes to widen, the kid talked! "I-I'm sorry..." Jack raised a brow and looked at the man, less hostility evident in his eyes, "That must be difficult...Losing somebody that you care that dearly about..." Jack lowered his eyes to the ground, "Yeah well...He's resting now, for when we next meet." Neil smiled, "That's a nice way to handle it." Rick's voice interrupted the two of them, "Hey you two! Speed up! We gotta get a move on!"

(10 minutes later)

An aged woman smiled as she entered the tent that Jack had been sent to for a check up, "Hello there young man" She said with a smile as she picked up her note book and sat down on the bed cot next to Jack. The boy looked her over, she had grey-blonde hair, several wrinkles, squinted eyes that were pure silver. She wore a white over coat with a pink cotton shirt, a black skirt and a pair of beige leather shoes. "My name is Carolina, I'm here to give you a little check up to check that you're nice and healthy okay?" The boy simply nodded silently, causing her to chuckle kindly as she started to write down a few notes, "No need to be so nervous honey!" Jack nodded again with a little 'humph' of confirmation, the woman smiled as she took out a tiny wooden paddle. "I need you to hold up your face for a second sweetie" Jack obeyed and raised his face. The woman was surprised by the colour of his eyes for a moment but decided not to pry. "Thank you, now say ahhhh" Jack sighed slightly and just opened his mouth widely, Carolina chuckled again, "Ohhh you're a smart young boy." She pressed his tongue down with the paddle and examined the back of his throat, "Interesting..." She said before removing the paddle and allowing Jack to close his mouth, much to his satisfaction.

"I must say, you're the healthiest boy that I've ever examined, healthiest patient actually!" Carolina exclaimed as she jotted down her results into her note book, she noticed Jack observing her book over her shoulder and chuckled. "Interested in my findings eh?" Jack jumped slightly as he moved away from her slightly, "You are indeed a smart boy, I wish you were a talkative one too, I think you would get on very well with my granddaughter, she's the same age as you are." This piqued Jack's interest and made him open up slightly, "W-What's her name?" Carolina smiled, "Cynthia." Jack raised a brow, "Never met anyone called that before..." Caroline stood up and placed her note book on the desk before sitting at the wooden table, inviting Jack to join her. The brunette was hesitant at first but eventually sat on the chair across the table from her. "She's a very nice little girl, although her shyness tends to stop her from making friends easily which is a shame since she does everything in her power to look after people she cares about, often worrying about them a bit too much." Jack listened intently as Carolina described her daughter that sounded more like an angel.

Carolina watched the young boy intently as he scanned through her medical notes, his scarlet eyes widening in surprise whenever he learned something new, it was almost as if she was reading him whilst he was reading a book. "What's your name young man?" The boy tore his eyes away from her book after a couple seconds of silence to look into her eyes, "Jack..." He mumbled simply and went back to reading, Carolina tilted her head in question, "And your last name?" He didn't look at her this time, only turned over the ageing paper to read more, "Nightblood." The doctor raised a brow, "Nightblood? I'e heard stixy, lofflelug, romadon and turian but nightblood's a first..." Carolina pondered the source of the name, not coming up with any meaning behind it so she decided to question further, "Iv'e never heard the name Nightblood before... Where are you from?" The brunette seemed to seize up, suddenly becoming very withdrawn, "Far away..." He mumbled weakly as his posture slumped, the woman felt sorry for the boy but needed to know more, "Is Nightblood really your second name?"That confirmed her suspicions, the boy slowly shook his head, "It's what a friend used to call me..." "Oh..." Carolina pieced everything together, why else would he be at a refugee camp? "So what is your second name?" Jack wetted his cracked lips before speaking and locked onto her gaze, a new fire simmering to life from with in the ruby pools of his irises, "Talbot." Carolina raked he brain for a second, "Destroy and...message or tidings...Messenger of destruction..." Jack nodded, as his pride began to heal, "After the power of my father and the bravery of my mother." Carolina was amazed, this little boy sitting on the chair opposite to her was going to aspire to become a powerful fighter, she could feel it.

Neil's voice brought the two of them out of their trance, "You done in here kid? Time to go!" Jack's gaze fell upon the soldier who was waiting patiently with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, the child nodded and slid off of the chair. "Thank you for the check up Miss Carolina" He said politely, the woman nodded with a smile as she closed her booklet, "You take care now Jack Talbot..." She said, using the name that he was still slightly surprised to hear somebody else say, Jack nodded at her and strode out of the tent with a new air about him.

(With the soldiers)

Neil looked down a the boy, only seeing the top of his chestnut coloured scruffy hair, "How'd it go? Any problems?" Jack respond since he was taking in the sheer size of the colossal entrance of the wall that the trio were walking through, Neil chuckled slightly as he tapped the boy's seemingly brittle shoulder, "First time here?" Jack glanced at the man and nodded quickly before gazing back out over the wide expanse of land that was the inside of the human kingdom, spotting a few houses and barns here and there as the group made steady progress down the dirt road through the farmland towards the distant spires of the capital. Rick spoke up, "So what are we gonna do with him then? He doesn't seem so bad now, maybe we should send him to an orphanage?" Neil's brow creased at the sound of that, "Uh...hmm." He mumbled to himself for a while as he began to scratch the growing stubble on his chin. Whilst the soldier was lost in thought he didn't notice the first prod from Jack on his waist, Jack did it again, this time managing to get the man's attention.

"What's up?" He asked, looking down into the boy's scarlet pools, Jack directed his gaze up the road by pointing, "We've got guests..." Neil followed the direction of the boy's finger and spotted a group of four figures all dressed in leather armour with hoods, capes and scarves hiding their faces. One was wielding a pair of slightly blunted daggers that glinted in the sunlight, another had a heavy looking wooden shield and a sword that was in better condition that his companion's weapons. The figure further back was resting a large broad sword across his shoulders, his choice of weapon only being able to be used by someone of his size, him being considerably larger than his friends. The last figure was holding a brown wooden staff that reached down to the ground, the top of the wooden staff formed a goblet within which a golden coloured gem about the size of a grown man's fist rested. "Bandits..." Hissed Rick, "And they have a sorcerer..." Neil chimed in, removing his steel shield from his back, its surface sporting the crest of the human kingdom's royal family, along with several scratches from previous battles. Neil quickly yanked out his sword, the blade making a high pitched grating noise as it escaped from its scabbard. Rick had copied his fellow soldier and was already slightly crouched in a battle stance, his shield held up with his left arm to protect his torso from any magical projectiles that may be sent flying his way.

The bandits moved without noticed, shooting towards the trio from down the road, the sorcerer staying where he was, readying a glittering yellow lightning spell. Rick looked at Neil and they both nodded, having fought several battles together kept the odds even, despite them being outnumbered. The two soldiers moved in front of Jack to cover the north east and north west of him. The bandit with the daggers reached them first, moving faster from the lack of weight, he jumped high and brought the daggers down in an 'X' on Rick's shield, the force from the attack sent vibrations through the soldiers arm but left him mostly unharmed, having blocked many attacks had made him able to withstand much stronger blows. The bandit tried to push Rick back but the soldier's stance made him hold his ground, his out stretched leg behind him providing support.

Neil lowered himself and braced as the bandit with the shield charged into him, attempting to ram him off of his feet, his attack was no more than futile as Neil bashed him backwards with his shield and followed up with a s sidewards smack, the steel shield's weight helping to knock the bandit's protective wall out of the way and throw him off balance, the attacker tried to regain his balance as he stumbled backwards, Neil took his chance and lunged forwards. His sword was driven straight through the man's stomach and quickly yanked back out with expertise, Neil made sure the opponent died by bringing his sword back and then ending the bandit's life by sending his sword diagonally down across the man's chest to the left. The gnash killed the man before he hit the ground, leaving the corpse to topple to it's knees and fall onto it's back, sending a gentle cloud of dry dirt into the air on the dusty road.

It didn't take Rick long to finish off is opponent since the barrage of attacks that the bandit was launching did nothing against his steel shield and quickly drained his energy. Rick swung his sword upwards, an attack that was weakly blocked by his attacker at the cost of both of his daggers being sent flying out of his grip, leaving the man defenceless as the metal shield impacted with his face and a sword then pierced his heart.

Jack's voice rang out in alarm, "Look out, magic!" Rick and Neil jut managed to dive to the ground, Neil grabbing Jack as he did so, to avoid a stream of coursing yellow energy that shot over their heads. Rick raised his head to see a quickly descending broad sword, he reacted instantly, rolling to the left as the blade smashed into the ground, creating a few cracks and chipping the blade slightly. The attack tutted, "You damaged my babe!" The tower of muscle bellowed as he brought the sword from the ground into a wide sidewards swing, Rick raised his shield which only ended up in him being swatted off of the path and down into the wheat field that was adjacent to the road. The force made Rick grunt in pain. Rick hit the ground lick a sack of bricks, his armour clattering and clanging whilst his body inside landed limp. The air was ripped from his lungs as his body arced violently. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his mouth desperately tried to take in oxygen to regain his breath. The man laughed in his booming voice, "Did you really think you could stop me?! HAHAHA"

Neil had watched Rick be sent up into the air as if he weighed nothing and could feel the anger building in his body as his grip tightened on his sword hilt and his teeth ground against each other. "Look out!" Jack shouted again, causing Neil to instinctively raise his shield, the lightning bolt crashed into the shield, catching Neil off guard, he cursed for not paying attention. Horror suddenly spread through his body as well as electricity as he mentally smacked himself, instead of dissipating the lightning flowed straight into the main source of protection that Neil had. the pain caused his whole body to suffer as the current rampaged through his flesh, singeing his hair and burning his skin. The soldier threw his head back and bellowed in pain.

The steel armour that served to protect him was now working against him and amplifying the flow of electricity and thus pain. The flow eventually left his body but what was seconds felt like decades. His knees screamed for rest as the soldier desperately tried to keep himself awake, not sure if he would wake up if he fell into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness. Neil's vision was little more than a mess of blurred colours, his hearing was muffled and his energy had been sapped leaving him swaying from side to side. He felt like he had gone for weeks without food, his mouth was completely parched, he dropped to one knee, using his sword for support. He could just make out the figure of the bandit, he was readying another spell, that would definitely end him...

The massive shadow of the built up bandit loomed over rick as he lay helplessly on the ground, he tried meekly to reach for his sword but it was kicked away from his hand, which was then roughly trod on, "GARGH!" He cried in pain, the bandit enjoyed his struggle and leaned down, wrapping his gigantic hand around Rick's neck and then hoisting him up like he weighed nothing, despite his body being covered in battered steel armour. The bandit stretched out his arm, lifting Rick higher into the air and causing him to start to turn bright red as his body demanded oxygen, threatening to stop working without it. From his vantage point Rick caught sight of his long time friend Neil, who was now at the end of his rope, his slumped form made it blatantly obvious that he wouldn't be able to avoid his opponent's next attack. The boy was beside him, desperately trying to pull the man to his feet. Adrenaline began to pump itself through his veins, the soldier looked back down at his torturer who raised a brow, "You gonna die yet?" Rick's face started to turn purple causing the man to laugh again, "HAHAHA LOOKS LIKE IT!" The bandit was to busy enjoying this little activity that he didn't notice Rick's arm reaching around to his back. "Hey..." The soldier managed to choke out, his vision darkening, the bandit wiped a tear from his eye with his free hand and lowered Rick closer to him, "What did you say?" Rick grinned and ripped his dagger out from it's scabbard that was located at the base of his spine, "DIE FOR ME!"

Rick plunged the blade into the unsuspecting bandit's neck. A torrent of blood erupted from the wound since the blade had sliced straight through a main artery. The bandit's eyes widened as he dropped Rick who hit the ground with a heavy thud and started coughing and heaving as much air into his lungs as he could get with desperate wheezes. The bandit choked and gurgled but quickly lost all strength in his legs and plummeted to the ground, stone dead in mere seconds. Rick weakly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees grabbing his bloody dagger as he did so, resisting the urge to rub his neck he started to crawl as fast as he could up the slope.

Rick slipped many times, each time his hands and feet desperately scrambling around for purchase. After what felt like years he managed to reach the top of the steep slope, he scanned the road and spotted the sorcerer further down the trail not too far away. His mind suddenly clicked, the soldier quickly started pulling off his armour, leaving only his chestnut cotton shirt, black trousers and black shoes. With the dramatic loss of weight helping him speed up, Rick took off into an all out charge towards the magic user who was now holding out his staff in the direction of his best friend. His injuries were numbed by adrenaline and his arms became covered in goosebumps, he flicked the dagger around in his hand and let out a battle shout when he was within four meters of his target. The sound of a rear attacker caused the sorcerer to whip around only to see Rick jump into the air with both hands on the dagger above his head, his legs were pulled close to his body as he jumped to generate extra momentum.

The blade pierced the sorcerer's chest and the jump attack from Rick forced him down onto his back with a heavy thud. Rick cursed when he saw that his dagger had pierced the right side of his target's chest, he heard the sorcerer quickly mutter something but ignored it and tightened his grip on his dagger, so much so that veins appeared on the back of his hand. Rick then started dragging the dagger through the victim's chest to the left causing the man to scream in pain as the blade cut though his flesh. "GRAGHGRRR!" He growled in an animalistic way, the sorcerer's flailing and screaming a suddenly stopped and Rick let loose a breath of relief. ""He's dead..." He pulled his blade out of the corpse and stood up, noticing that his shirt was covered in blood, he laughed slightly as he saw the kid looking at him with horror on his face, "Sorry you had to see that kid!" He shouted as he gave them a wave, he noticed that Neil was looking at him now with the same expression as Jack. He felt a weird movement in his chest and raised a brow, Rick took another glance down at his shirt, there was a weird lump underneath. He lifted the cotton and what happened next both confused him and killed him. His body was torn clean in half and thrown off the road, each half on an opposite side, "What...?" Was the last thing he muttered before the gleam from his eye faded.

Jack watched in horror as Rick was stabbed straight through the stomach by what looked like a mass of writhing black tentacles from behind, his face was confused to say the least, the see through tentacle flexed once as another one shot into the puncture hole and then they proceeded to split him apart like some kind of toy. Jack could barely keep down the contents of his stomach as blood, entrails and other contents of Rick's body were spread all over the path. His legs were flung to the left and his body was tossed to the right, a stupid questionable look still plastered on his face. Once the victim had been dispatched and detached, the monster dissipated into nothingness, leaving only a mess behind.

(6 months later)

Jack shifted on the tree branch slightly, the moon cast a pale light over the courtyard, bathing everything it touched in a surreal clam feeling. He was currently lounging on a very high tree branch of a ancient oak tree that had been planted in the centre of a medium sized cobble courtyard. The building behind him formed a three walls that fenced off the property, in front of him was a high stone wall that had gained many cracks and chips over its lifetime. From his perch the boy could see the lights of the city as it continued to buzz with activity despite the moon being so high in the sky. The brunette squinted as he tried to make out the ground below, his night vision was still in the process of developing so he couldn't see much at all. He sighed, "Hobble cove orphanage, it's the best place for kids who've lost everything!" He mocked in a stupid voice whilst tossing some pebbles he had collected into the fish pond at the base of the stone wall. He thought back to the last time he had tried to escape, he met a blonde haired girl and saved her from some thugs but got caught as soon as he left her after taking her home. A voice from below brought him out of his thoughts.

"Jack? You shouldn't be out here..." The brunette threw his last pebble before descending the trunk of the tree to talk to his friend, "Oh come on Pete, you don't actually believe that it's any better in there?" He said motioning to the building with his hand before folding his arms, Pete was a boy that was a year younger that Jack who was eleven. The had met two days after Jack had been dragged to the orphanage, Pete was always following Jack around telling him off whenever he did something wrong, although he actually admired how Jack never let the other kids or adults stop him from being himself. Pete had blonde hair that flowed down over his head and stopped at the top of his ears in a straight line all the way around his body apart from his forehead where it parted in a 'V' shape. His eyes were turquoise coloured and always filled with amazement. He was considerably shorter than Jack, the top of his head just reaching Jack's shoulder. He was also very skinny, causing him to get teased by the other kids. Jack had kicked it off with Pete well because they were both bullied, Jack because of his eyes.

"I'm not saying that it's better in there, but it's better than getting into trouble and having to do everyone's laundry for a week." Jack scoffed, "Just burn it, that's what I did." Pete raised both of his brows, "And what happened?" Jack slumped slightly, "They maybe...Hit me...a couple times..." Pete nodded with a stern face, "Exactly, C'mon, they'll really punish you if you're caught again." Jack sighed in defeat and followed his friend inside.

(4 years later)

"You sneaked out to meet Cynthia again didn't you?" Pete said as Jack dropped down over the outer wall, the brunette jumped at the sound of his friend's voice and turned around whilst scratching his neck, "Oh come on Pete! I've been her friend for ages, I can't just stop seeing her, she's be really sad." Pete rubbed his forehead, obviously stressed, "Jack, this isn't going to end well, remember what happened to Wells?" The brunette's mood dropped, "She just went to the wrong part of town..." Pete frowned, "She tried to find her family Jack. She searched for too long and eventually her luck ran out." Jack's eyes locked on Pete's, "I'm not like Well's, I don't go out in desperation, I plan ahead." Pete grit his teeth, "Do you really think you can plan what'll happen out there? Huh? You may know all the paths, alleys and territories but you'll never know if there's a psycho with a knife hiding around the corner with a knife! Do you want to DIE THAT BADLY JACK!" Pete screamed, his anger getting the better of him, Jack's fist clenched, "You told me how Neil taught you how to fight but look what happened to him! He was sent to a battlefield with armour ,a sword, a shield and years of training but he still got slaughtered!" Jack's teeth clenched, "Stop..." He said quietly, Pete didn't hear him so his onslaught continued, "Do you really think you can survive out in those streets? You aren't trained enough, you can't do anything to the monsters out there!" "Stop..." Jack said again, Pete still continued.

A crowd had gathered, all of them eager to see Pete's anger since he was normally so shy or scared. The bullies were snickering as the watched Jack stand there and do nothing. "What'll happen if you get attacked when you're with Cynthia huh? Do you really think you can defend her!" Jack snapped, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He launched forwards and hoisted Pete up by his neck, everyone showed their shock in different ways, apart from the bullies who whooped and laughed. Pete struggled as he tried to take in oxygen, "You...Can't...Survive...Alone..." Jack's eyes widened and he quickly lowered Pete down who had passed out, the brunette looked down at his hands to see that they were trembling. Thompson strutted over with his hands in his pockets, he was the leader of the group who always liked to use Jack and Pete as their targets, He stopped beside Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nice job demon spawn, that little bird was starting to chirp a little too much." Jack interrupted him, "Get your filthy hands off me..." Thompson scoffed as three of his buddies walked over, "And what if I don't?"

In a flash Jack had grabbed Thompson's wrist and flipped him forwards over his shoulder, he landed with a thud on the ground, Jack the twisted his wrist to the left with a quick jolt to the left. The boy screamed in pain as he rolled away Jack silenced his crying by delivering a hard kick to his stomach. With Thompson defeated Jack turned to the other members of his group with malice in his eyes.

After all the members of Thompson's group either had broken bones or dislocated limbs Jack took Pete up to the boy's room and laid him in a cot. The brunette smiled sadly at his long time friend, "I'm sorry Pete..." And with that he left, giving Thompson a piece of advice, "Don't touch Pete ever again, or else I'll come back" The boy nodded vigorously, Jack then climbed the oak tree for the last time and took one last look at the orphanage before vaulting over the wall and heading through the streets towards the house of his blondette friend.

And there you have it. This chapter was mainly about Jack as you saw, I wanted to take some time to give him this back story that I've been planning since the beginning I was just trying to figure out how to incorporate it into the plot. I hope you enjoyed let me know what you think in a review. Sorry for any typos!

Next chapter will be out next month.

Also, should I start naming the chapters? I dunno, the just seem kinda plain without a title, but it may be a bit weird if I suddenly start naming them when we're this far. Let me know guys!

As always, until next time!

-Will O Wisp191