PLEASE NOTE: This chapter contains themes of abuse and brief self-harm
Going to history class was the last thing Forzen was wanting to do today. After how the last lesson went with Master Krygour throwing all sorts of insults and prejudice against him, as well as harshly revealing Muras' true identity as Malefor to him, it was the last place he wanted to be. Forzen had done his best to not become a hateful person, as to try and be as different from Spyro as he could, and also because Jaarsol had taught him that hatred ruins people from inside, but Forzen couldn't help but hate the ice dragon for what he did.
He had thought about skipping history class, pretending to forget that he was in the class, but since he was caught between a large group in his class as they funneled out of the math classroom, Forzen knew he couldn't sneak away without it looking sketchy. The last thing he wanted to do was give false impressions that he was a really shady and secretive person who was running off to 'scheme' and 'plan', even though it wouldn't be true. He'd received enough hatred and prejudice during his short time in Warfang; he didn't want to add more to that by the actions he made.
So, Forzen found himself walking amongst the rest of his class, trying to stay towards the back so as to not be around absolutely everyone in the class, on his way to history class.
He was a bit surprised when Master Krygour did not greet the class and let them in, nor was he even present. Instead Master Hyrath, the principal, stood outside of the classroom and allowed them into it. Questions clouded his brain as he walked in and took a seat in the back corner of the class. What had happened to Master Krygour? Why was he not here? Why was the principal of all people here? Was he teaching them, or was the whole class in big trouble?
As the last of the students made their way into the room, Master Hyrath closed the door behind the last student, before making his way to the front of the classroom. He did the roll call, before he then put the roll on the teacher's desk beside him and cleared his throat, ready to address the class.
"Alright class, now I wanted to start today off by owing you an apology on behalf of Master Krygour and his behaviour recently," Master Hyrath said, his voice calm and level, yet still betraying some of his frustration. "It has been highly unprofessional, uncouth, and extremely inappropriate. It was very targeted and unjust towards one of the students in this classroom, and I believe that many of the other students here also joined in, following Master Krygour's lead.
"I will not stand for behaviour like this in my school, particularly from my teaching team, so Master Krygour has been prohibited from teaching this particular class, especially for the current topic at hand, which from what I heard, was grossly inaccurate and exaggerated to the actual historical events. As for all of you who joined in on this behaviour, I will let you off once, but if it ever happens again in my presence, there will be punishments."
"What?! Did that purple devil really just dob us all in like that?" a lightning dragon complained.
"No, actually. Forzen had nothing to do with it. Master Krygour mentioned it in passing to another teacher who will remain unnamed, who then in turn told me. It happened after hours, so Forzen was not even present in the school grounds," Master Hyrath corrected, his voice stern and intimidating. "Now I will not tolerate any targeted verbal harassment towards Forzen. Final warning. And that goes to everyone."
"You're actually serious about this?"
"What makes you think I'm not? I am very serious about how I run this school. I don't care what you think about him being here. He is your classmate and he is here to learn, just like the rest of you. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Master Hyrath," the class chorused.
"Great. Now, onto the class content, I understand that Master Krygour tried to tell you all about the rise of Malefor in the beginning years of the Dark War, am I correct?" Master Hyrath boomed, receiving several nods from the class, including Forzen. "Alright. Well, I think for now, we can come back to the topic of the Dark War. We'll move onto the War of Blood and Bone and come back to the Dark War at a later date."
A paw shot up in the air. Master Hyrath held back a frustrated growl, before turning towards the earth dragon who had raised his paw. "Yes, Gagrath?" Master Hyrath said.
"How come we're changing topics so soon? We just started the Dark War. Why can't we just continue what we were already learning?" Gagrath asked.
"Because going off the combination of what I heard Master Krygour say last week, combined with what's in our textbooks, I believe that our unit on the Dark War needs some… heavy revisions. I will be working with Muras and General Cynder on rewriting our unit on the Dark War, and there's potentially a chance I might even get them to sit in on a lesson with you and talk to you about some of what happened."
Forzen's eyes widened. So that's where Muras had gone yesterday. Cynder and Aerus had returned from Typhaar on Aloeday, and Cynder had brought some awful news with her regarding the wind dragon city, or so Forzen had heard. He still didn't know what happened. Then yesterday afternoon after school, Muras had gone out for some time after Forzen had returned home; Muras had said he'd had a meeting to go to, but didn't really explain what it was. It must have been a meeting with Master Hyrath, and by the sounds of it, Cynder as well, to talk about updating the teachings on the Dark War.
The young purple dragon's heart skipped a beat as Cynder's name entered his mind. He had his first elemental lesson with her for his wind element this afternoon after school. His dread for history class paled in comparison to his dread for his first lesson with Cynder.
"Alright, if you could open your textbooks to the chapter on the War of Blood and Bone, we'll begin by looking at an overview of that war, and going into depth on how it began. Now, Styvar, would you like to read the overview box?" Master Hyrath said, his voice cutting through Forzen's thoughts, making him remember that he was in a classroom and needed to learn.
Scrambling for his textbook, he opened it to the correct page, and began to follow along as Styvar began to read through the section he was asked to.
As the lesson went on, Forzen found he was actually learning quite a lot, even though the content put him at great unease due to how intense it all was.
The War of Blood and Bone was a war that took place three hundred thousand years ago, being one of the bloodiest conflicts known to dragonkind. Torture ran rampant among both sides of the conflict, including Warfang, and dragons' body parts were used as bargaining chips for each side. Streets and homes were decorated with body parts of slaves from the other side, and rituals were made with them, due to the belief that the ancestors would strike their enemies down and pull them down to hell. It was barbaric, one of the most barbaric displays since the extinction of the sinister dragons.
The battles in this war were incredibly extreme, ranging from the Eyeless Siege, the Battle of Red Rivers, the Battle of Lost Skeletons, and the Rush over Bone Sea, just to name a few. Forzen was not particularly excited to learn about any of them. The names themselves put him on edge and made him feel sick.
Luckily, the rest of the class went by pretty quickly, putting an end to Forzen's own torture of sitting through learning about these gruesome events. He knew he would have to come back and learn more about them, but at least now he was able to get a break from it.
As he got up and started to make his way out of the classroom, being the last one out as usual, he paused to look over at Master Hyrath, who was currently packing up his own gear, ready to head back to either his office or the next lesson, he wasn't sure.
"Um, Master Hyrath?" Forzen asked nervously.
"Yes, Forzen?"
"I just… I wanted to say thank you."
"No need to. I didn't do it for you."
Forzen blinked, confusion washing over him, mixed with a small hint of fear. What would Master Hyrath say to him now that there was no class present? He remembered back to the first time Forzen met the principal, noticing the light of distrust in his eyes.
"To make things clear, I, like many others in this school, still don't like you or trust you," the principal explained coldly, causing heavy disappointment to wash over the purple dragon. "I don't like you being here as much as most of the other dragons in this school, both student and teacher. However, I still need to remain professional, and a teacher, first things first. We are here to teach, just like you are all here to learn.
"Not only that, but I do still have an image to uphold for the school, and that is one of safety for the students here. I do not want stories going around of other students in my school getting beaten, abused, bullied, and targeted, including you. Because I've noticed that since you've been here, many bullies have been able to get away with a lot more. I've heard some of our nullen students are getting targeted a lot more, as well as some of our disabled students. I will not let abuse against you be the start of abuse toward others as well, so I'd prefer if there was none at all.
"On top of that, the fight you got into with Fjor'gand and his group on Xurday, while you were the only one hurt, did put everyone else in the lunch hall at risk. I will not tolerate anyone getting hurt because a fight was picked. Now, I am aware you didn't retaliate, and that you were trying to stand up for one of our nulls, which I do appreciate, but it was still a fight that didn't need to happen, and I'd appreciate it if you avoided interacting with those students again."
"I know, I'm trying. I don't like being beaten as much as you like the fights happening. I… I am sorry for getting myself involved in that situation on Xurday, though," Forzen replied.
"Don't apologise to me," Master Hyrath shot back. "Apologise to the rest of the lunch hall for endangering them with a potential fight when you got yourself involved and allowed the situation to escalate, knowing you'd fuel their anger even more.
"And one more thing. I know, regarding safety, that most parents and families would be just as concerned of their child's safety due to you simply existing and being a part of this school. I'm following orders from the guardians, but in turn, taking a big gamble. I don't know what I'd do if everyone's suspicions were right and you do turn out to be evil. So I'm entrusting our public image of safety with you as well. Don't do anything that would put others in harm's way, and for the ancestors' sake, be good. Now get out of here, purple dragon. I have places to be, and I know you do too."
Forzen felt his chest tighten as Master Hyrath began to say the word 'purple', convinced that he too would call him a 'purple devil'. It was actually nice to be called a dragon for once, as weird as it sounded. It definitely beat being called a devil, something he knew he was not.
Making his way to his literature class, he found himself walking past Fjor'gand as they made their way to the same classroom. Forzen tried not to acknowledge Fjor'gand, not wanting to start anything. Ancestors, I hate having to share almost every class I have with this bully, the purple dragon thought. I hate having to run into him between most of these classes.
His thoughts didn't get much further as Fjor'gand ran up beside him and slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. "Ancestors, can we just get to our classes in peace?" Forzen exclaimed. "Aren't you sick of picking fights all the time?"
"No and no," the earth dragon said with a dark sneer. "There will be no peace as long as the enemy is lying right underneath our noses, camping in our very own school. I will pick fights as long as I can, and beat you to a pulp every time, with the hopes that one day I can finally kill you, that one day I can say I killed the Dark Overlord's devilspawn."
"I am not your enemy," Forzen coughed. "Please tell me how I can prove—"
Forzen was cut off as Fjor'gand hit him in the face, before putting his paws around his neck, pinning the purple dragon to the ground and cutting off his air supply. The purple dragon felt his paws reach up and try to pull at Fjor'gand's, but he wasn't having much luck. The earth dragon was very strong.
"Another thing, moras'tov: you are not fit to speak or invoke the ancestors' names. You are not worthy of their time or compassion. They do not even care about you. Not even hell cares about you, you piece of dirt. You're weak. It's hilarious for a devilspawn like you."
"Maybe… I'm purposely not fighting back," Forzen choked. "I refuse to hurt another dragon. That… is my vow… to the ancestors, and to Warfang."
Forzen felt his vision go blurry, his throat constricting even more. He was running out of air very quickly. He could barely see how Fjor'gand was reacting to what he had just said through how blurry and dark his vision was becoming.
This is how I die, isn't it? I die by another kid.
It shocked him how willing he was to accept death, but he would not turn back on his vow to never hurt another dragon. If he was to die upholding that oath, he would. Maybe he was better off dead, so that way Warfang would have one less purple dragon to worry about.
"Fjor'gand, what are you doing?! We're gonna be late!" a voice from the distance called.
Forzen heard Fjor'gand growling in frustration, before finally letting go of Forzen. Air rushed into his lungs, which were burning from the lack of oxygen. "Fine. You're off the hook for now, moras'tov. I'm not getting in trouble with Mistress Yorrine for being late again," Fjor'gand spat, before he ran off in the direction of his friends.
The purple dragon coughed violently, trying to regain his breath properly. He sat up, remaining in that spot for a good minute before standing up. He almost collapsed again, feeling lightheaded from how little air he had just had, but he managed to catch himself as he stumbled forward.
Eventually, he made his way to the classroom, to where the class was already in progress, each student sitting around the classroom continuing to read Siren's Call, nearing the end of the book. Mistress Yorrine looked up from her desk at the sound of Forzen opening the door, and for the first time outside of marking the roll, she finally spoke to him.
"Three minutes late to class, purple wyrm," the ice dragoness scowled. "You're to stay back after school for fifteen minutes."
Forzen winced; his first session with Cynder was pretty much immediately after school. He couldn't leave Cynder waiting. The thought of that terrified him. "I'm sorry, I kind of can't—" Forzen started.
"Backchatting is another five minutes."
"Can't I—?"
"That's another five. Am I clear?"
Forzen just blinked, not expecting her to not even listen to him. His silence seemed to annoy Mistress Yorrine even more. "Answer me, lizard. I can keep adding minutes to your detention as long as I want. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Mistress. I'm sorry."
"Good. Now sit down and read."
So she's quiet but has a very short fuse and lots of venom, Forzen thought as he sat down. Now I see why Fjor'gand rushed off instead of actually finishing me off. Ancestors, I just hope Cynder's understanding of this.
Knowing her, she'll probably chew your head off for this as well.
Don't need to rub it in.
You know it's true.
Forzen fought to keep his frustrated growl in, but was successful. He sat and continued reading, hoping that the day would go by soon so he could sit his detention and then head over to the Warfang Temple to meet up with Cynder for his wind element training.
The class went by relatively quickly, and before long it was lunch time. Forzen, as usual, was one of the last students to leave the classroom, wanting to stay behind everyone. "Hey, purple boy," Mistress Yorrine called from the other end of the classroom as he made his way out the door.
Forzen turned around with a wince. "Yes, Mistress Yorrine?"
"Head straight back here after school. Don't forget."
"I won't."
"You better not. Now goodbye."
Forzen shivered under her cold gaze, before he turned around again and finally made his way out of the classroom. He went to his locker and put his books away, briefly noticing how everyone tried to keep their distance from him, whispering amongst themselves about him. Due to his sound element, he was able to pick up a large majority of what was being said.
"He terrifies me. Why is he even here?"
"It's only been a week since he started here but it feels like a lifetime."
"When will they kick that devil-child out?"
"He doesn't belong here."
"I don't know how the guardians let him come here."
"I heard some of the teachers are protecting him. Do they know what he's capable of?"
"He could kill us!"
"He's a purple dragon, he's strong enough to level the entire school!"
I'm strong but I don't even have that much power yet, Forzen thought. Besides, I wouldn't even dream of killing or even hurting anyone here. I don't know how to prove that to them.
He closed his locker gently, frowning dejectedly before marching sadly to the lunch hall to grab some food. He made his way to the queue to get food and stood in line quietly, not even attempting to talk to anyone else. He was already getting concerned looks from the people in front of him.
"Hey, moras'tov."
Forzen tried to hold in his frustrated groan. He had already dealt with Fjor'gand today, and he was the reason Forzen now had to spend twenty-five minutes sitting in detention after school, just for being three minutes late and complaining twice. He tried to swallow his anger, knowing that he would do something he would regret if he acted out of it. He wouldn't respond. Fjor'gand didn't deserve his attention, particularly not with the way he had been treating him.
He suddenly stumbled forward into the dragon in front of him as Fjor'gand pushed him from behind. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm sorry!" Forzen exclaimed to the dragon in front of him, suddenly terrified as he realised the dragon in front of him was actually Du'ryal.
"Watch it, you purple brat," the brown dragon snapped. "Push me again and I won't hesitate to beat your face in. I don't need elements to beat you to a pulp."
"I didn't mean to run into you, I'm sorry."
Du'ryal rolled his eyes, before he turned back around. Forzen's heart was racing, particularly as he started to hear Fjor'gand and his friends giggling behind him. He was about to turn around and ask them what they were planning, but he found out long before he could say anything.
Fjor'gand pushed him forward again, hard. Forzen fell with force into Du'ryal, who whirled around with an annoyed growl. "Knock it off, devil!" he snarled, before he delivered a strong punch directly into Forzen's snout.
Staggering back, Forzen tried his best to keep his balance and prevent himself from collapsing onto the ground, however Du'ryal followed up with his first attack with a swift headbutt to the face. This time, Forzen went down, sprawling out onto the ground as he fell out of the line.
With a groan, Forzen reached up, feeling the front of his face. Blood was dribbling slowly from his nostrils. Coughing, he stood, starting to make his way back into line, before he realised his spot was gone. Fjor'gand and his gang had stepped forward, taking his spot in line. Fjor'gand smirked deviously at Forzen.
"Come on, is this really necessary?" Forzen asked. "I'm just trying to line up for food."
"Firstly, you acknowledge me when I speak to you, and only when I speak to you. Secondly, you don't deserve our food. Evil creatures like you should feed on blackened slop," Fjor'gand snarled. "But if you want our food that badly, you're going to have to join the back of the line, and who knows, you might still have to fight your way to get food. Or you might just get scraps."
Forzen frowned. "I'm not evil or blackhearted. I just want some food," he said.
"Back of the line you go then."
The purple dragon turned to look at the line, which had gotten over twice as long as it had been when he first stepped into the line. His stomach growled, demanding food. With a bitter sigh, Forzen made his way all the way to the end of the queue.
"Enjoy your scraps!" Fjor'gand teased with a laugh.
Rude bastard, Forzen thought. I'm literally just trying to exist and he goes out of his way to make my life hell.
Eventually, Forzen got back around to the serving table where he finally got some food. It wasn't scraps, but he was definitely nearing the end of most of the food supply. The meat was a bit smaller and drier than normal, the potatoes were burned and pieces of charcoal came off the bottom of the tray as well, and they were apparently out of gravy, so he had no sauce to go with his meal.
He sat down at his normal table in the back corner of the room, eating his sad meal alone, before he just sat there with nothing to do when he was done. Eventually, the bell rang, and it was time for the next class.
The last two lessons went by smoothly, with Forzen doing his very best to just blend in. He frowned as he left his final class, making his way to his locker to put his books away. At first he felt dread wear down on him as he thought of the training lesson with Cynder this afternoon, but the dread got even worse when he remembered his detention, which would make him significantly late to his training session, which would anger Cynder even more and would probably make her less lenient with him.
This afternoon is going to be hell. Help me ancestors, Forzen thought.
He made his way to Mistress Yorrine's classroom, knocking on the door once he arrived. "Come in, purple boy," she said from inside.
"Hi, Mistress Yorrine," Forzen murmured quietly.
"Now, do you know why you're here?"
"For being late."
"And?"
"Umm… I guess I complained?"
"Good. I trust you won't do either of those again, right?"
"I'll try not to."
"No. You won't do it again. I don't believe in trying. It's half-hearted and cowardly, and gives you a reason to back out. Hold yourself to your word. Now let's try again. I trust you won't be late or complain in my classroom again?"
"I… I won't, Mistress Yorrine."
"Good. Now sit down. Your twenty-five minutes begins now."
It was the longest, most boring twenty-five minutes that Forzen had ever sat through. He had nothing to do, not even writing lines. A few times throughout the detention, he noticed a few other teenagers walk by the classroom, pointing and laughing at him as they saw him in there. About fifteen minutes into his detention, the pointing and laughing stopped as Mistress Yorrine got up and threatened the kids with their own detention if they continued to be rowdy and rude.
Well, at least this detention doesn't seem to be a target on me, Forzen thought. She must just like to give out detentions.
By the end of the detention, Mistress Yorrine actually seemed nice to him. She walked up to him once the twenty-five minutes were over, and gave him a soft smile. "Alright, Forzen. Up you get. You're good to go now," she said.
"Uhh… thank you," Forzen stammered, not expecting to actually be called by name.
"Let me guess, you think this was a target on you, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I did."
"It has nothing to do with your scale colour or anything. I just do not tolerate people being late to class and disrupting the lesson once it's started. If you waste my time, I'll waste your time."
"I… I understand."
"Good. Now scram. I have work to do."
With that, they both left the classroom, and Forzen immediately broke into a sprint, running down the hall and leaving the large building that the classroom was inside. Once he was outside, he spread his wings out and shot into the skies as quick as he could. He needed to save as much time as he could; he'd already wasted twenty-five minutes of Cynder's time with him.
As much as Forzen now understood Mistress Yorrine's reasoning behind keeping him back, it was not just his time that she was wasting. She was wasting Cynder's time as well, and Forzen knew that wasting Cynder's time was something that one did not do, purely going off what he knew of her. However, Forzen knew if he tried to tell her that he had detention, that Cynder would not believe him for one minute and claim he was making excuses.
It was the truth though, and lying was the last thing he wanted to do, even if he knew Cynder wouldn't believe him.
He made his way to the Warfang Temple. The guards noticed him approaching the front doors, and they all suddenly got very offensive. "Hey, purple devil. What are you doing here?" one of the guards snarled.
"I'm here for my training session with General Cynder. Please let me in, I'm already late enough as it is," Forzen said, trying to keep as calm as possible.
"Can we trust you, you evil swine?" the other guard growled. "What if you just want in so you can kill the guardians?"
"I swear, I'm just here for training. Nothing else. Please let me in."
The guards looked at each other, hesitating. "The General did walk in thirty minutes ago wanting the training room," the first one whispered.
"Alright, we'll take you there ourselves," the second guard said.
"Thank you," Forzen said with a smile, trying to seem as nice as he could.
"No funny business, understood?"
Maybe his smile came off too nice. Forzen winced, before looking up at the guards and nodding. With a scoff, the second guard turned and opened the door, allowing Forzen in, before he led the purple dragon down the halls towards the training arena. The silence between Forzen and the guard was incredibly uncomfortable, but Forzen also didn't feel comfortable trying to start a conversation, so he forced himself to tolerate the silence. He wouldn't even know what to talk about anyway.
Eventually, they arrived at the training arena. The guard opened the doors, and Forzen walked in, suddenly noticing Cynder standing in the middle of the training ring, standing over a bunch of slain fearbringer dummies, blood splattered over the floor and her scales. "There you are. I was wondering if you'd forgotten," Cynder said, letting the dummies disappear as she walked ominously towards Forzen.
Forzen suddenly realised he was alone as he heard the door slam behind him, and suddenly realised that Muras was also not present in the room. He said he would be here. Where was he?
"Ancestors, you're half an hour late. Where the hell were you?" Cynder snapped, towering over him as fearbringer blood dripped from her face.
"I had detention because I was late to class," Forzen explained. "I didn't mean to be late, I'm sorry, Cynder."
"General Cynder," the dark dragoness corrected sternly. "So you thought that because you were late to class at school you would get to be late to my training session as well, hmm?"
"It wasn't my decision! I wanted to come here first thing after school but my teacher wouldn't let me! She gave me more time for trying to explain that I had to be here!"
"I don't care. You're here late and so you're wasting even more of everyone else's time. Pathetic!"
At that last word, Cynder reached forward and slapped Forzen across the cheek. One of her claws was bent inwards and caught the edge of Forzen's cheek, leaving behind a thin bleeding line across the left side of his face.
"I'm sorry. Uh, where's Muras? He told me he was going to be here," Forzen asked, reaching up to try and wipe the blood off his face.
"He got food poisoning, so he's at home throwing up. So I guess that means we have each other to ourselves," Cynder explained, her voice monotone. "And for the record, I don't think either of us are looking forward to that, so do what I tell you to and we can make this easy for ourselves."
Why do I feel like she's still going to make this the worst experience I've ever had? Forzen thought, but nodded outwardly. We've barely started and she's already hit me!
"Alright, into the ring and show me what you know of the wind element," Cynder demanded, walking over to the ring that she was standing in earlier.
"Can I at least get plain straw dummies for this since it's just a demonstration?" Forzen asked, knowing she would give him live shadowclaws.
"No. You're not in school now. You're in training with me. We go for real, even for a demonstration."
"What about apes?"
"No. You're getting dark dragons and that's final. Now get the hell in there and show me what you can do."
Forzen gulped, before he finally stepped into the arena, making his way towards the middle of it. Cynder didn't even warn him when the simulation was beginning. Without any prior calls, Forzen watched as the barrier went up and almost immediately two fearbringers appeared in front of him.
Two fearbringers.
Ancestors help me, Forzen thought, feeling his heart start to race, slamming against his chest in an attempt to break free.
It had been quite a while since the last time he felt this much adrenaline, this much fear. Not even escaping Dark Peak and the threat of being caught crushed him with this much fear. This time, he stood staring down the very creatures that terrified him most, with the very dragoness that hated him the most in control of them.
He barely got a second to breathe before the fearbringers launched into action. The first one lunged directly at him, while the second one created five orbs of phantom fright around it, ready to send them shooting towards Forzen. The purple dragon's eyes were more focused on the orbs of phantom fright floating in the air, hardly giving himself any chance to dodging the tackle from the first fearbringer.
He was slammed into the ground, feeling the fearbringer's massive paw holding him down as it stood snarling gleefully over the top of him. Forzen noticed its throat start to glow red, and he realised that this fearbringer wasn't safe too.
Panic filled him, all sense of strategy leaving him entirely. He clawed at the fearbringer's legs, but it didn't budge. A screech tore from his throat as sound waves enveloped the fearbringer's head. It flinched and snarled in pain, but it had less of a reaction than Forzen had hoped for, pushing down with more force as all the air left Forzen's lungs, putting an end to his deafening screech.
Forzen lay there watching as the large fearbringer above him prepared to use its dreaded siren scream on him. He choked, trying to fight for air but unable to breathe in, the fearbringer keeping his chest in place, unable to expand with air.
He infused his body with lightning as a last resort, before sending it shooting from his chest into the fearbringer's body. Its front legs wobbled as lightning shot up them, before it collapsed on top of him, before rolling sideways off him, trembling as electricity coursed through its body.
A large gasp overtook Forzen as air rushed back into his lungs, now that all the weight had been taken off his chest. The oxygen burned as he took a huge amount of it in at once, but he was just thankful to have air again.
Suddenly Forzen became very aware of five red orbs shooting towards him from the other fearbringer. He just barely rolled away as the phantom fright orbs slammed into the ground, dissipating with a haunting red mist that rose into the air. Relief washed over him, but not for long as Forzen watched the fearbringer release more phantom fright orbs at him.
Forzen scrambled across the ground, just narrowly being missed once more. Now he tried to stand up, but was immediately thrown off his paws again as the fearbringer swung its tail around and walloped him in the chest, sending him flying back into the invisible barrier around the training ring. He felt himself falling down to the ground after the initial impact with the barrier, but was suddenly aware of the fearbringer lunging at him and slamming its fist into his face in a downward motion, sending him slamming into the ground forcefully.
The purple dragon coughed, spitting up blood. He looked up and immediately rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding a siren scream from the fearbringer that stood over the top of him. He tried to stand but immediately stumbled, watching as the red sound waves from another siren scream shot over his head.
His heart ached as he felt it thumping against his chest faster than it ever had, and he could hear the blood roaring in his ears. His breath was heavy and jagged, his muscles burning. He had never felt so much panic in his life.
Standing up, he turned around and watched as the first fearbringer slowly got to its paws, the second one stepping forward ominously behind it. They both split and walked in separate directions around Forzen, making it hard for him to keep track of both of them.
The one to his left made the first move, lunging towards him with claws outstretched. Using his wind element to propel him sideways, he narrowly dodged the attack, sending the fearbringer crashing into the other one. Now that they were both down on the ground in a tangled mess of black and red limbs, Forzen summoned a tornado around them. The tornado lifted them up in the air and threw them around ferociously, before Forzen sent them flying into the barrier at the other end of the ring.
Forzen leapt into the air above the fearbringers as they slid down to the ground, before he gave a mighty exhale and out came a strong gust of wind aimed at the fearbringers, pushing them even further into the ground. He held them there for a good ten seconds, before he felt himself running out of breath. He stopped, trying to get his breath back, but didn't get the chance as he saw one of the fearbringers look up and release a siren scream at him.
A panicked scream tore from his throat, before Forzen practically dived into the ground to dodge the attack. He propelled himself down with his wind element, allowing him to shoot down with great speeds in order to dodge the attack. However, it sent him going too fast, and he too slammed into the ground. He groaned with pain, and was very sure he had broken something in his tail or hip.
He got up anyway, watching as the two fearbringers closed the distance between them and him. He stepped back cautiously, waiting for their next move. Forzen wanted to move first, switching to electricity to kill these things, but he wanted to be cautious, since he knew they could attack him with their fear element at any time, and that would not end well.
Sure enough, their throats both started glowing red as siren screams tore from their maws. Forzen used his wind element to propel himself out of the way, only just narrowly doing so. He noticed that the fearbringers were getting much quicker with their attacks, and much more accurate as well. It was getting harder to dodge.
Wanting to try and confuse them, Forzen broke into a sprint, using his wind element to power his movements and speed himself up. He ran circles around them, gradually getting faster and faster until he realised they were struggling to keep track of him. By this point, he called back the wind element propelling him forward, before he leapt into the air from behind the fearbringers, hoping to land on the back of one of them.
However, the fearbringer was quick to notice what was happening, as it whirled around and swung its tail around. This time it was the blade that caught Forzen, and he was sent slamming back into the ground, the tail knocking him down to the ground as a nasty slice tore open his front, running down his left shoulder to the bottom of his chest. It wasn't too deep, but it was big enough to start bleeding profusely, causing several large droplets of blood to drip rhythmically onto the ground below Forzen.
He cried out in pain, not even wanting to look down to see how bad the wound was. He also knew if he looked down, that would give the fearbringers an opening to attack. He wanted to be the one to make the first attack this time, knowing that the longer he waited, the more he would tire himself out, and the more open he would make himself to their attacks.
Taking a deep breath, he let out another gust of wind from his maw, slamming into the two fearbringers and throwing them off balance. Forzen rushed forward, before leaping high into the air and letting out another strong gust of wind, slamming the fearbringers further into the ground.
The purple dragon landed on top of one of the downed fearbringers, scrambling up towards its head, before digging his claws deep into its temples. The fearbringer snarled in pain, before Forzen guided his lightning element to his claws, sending vicious volts of lightning shooting into the fearbringer's skull. The black and red dragon screeched in pain, writhing as sparks and crackling bolts of electricity shot out of its head, bursting through scales and flesh as it burned through its skin. Smoke began to rise from its head, and even out of its eye sockets. Suddenly, there was a loud crack as sparks flew everywhere, the lightning searing through its skull and into its brain, destroying the life crystal inside. Red mist joined the smoke rising from its head as the fearbringer slumped to the ground, dead.
In the time it took for Forzen to kill the fearbringer, the other one had finally recovered, standing up and turning towards Forzen with a snarl on its face. It opened its maw, which glowed bright red, and a siren scream tore from its throat. Forzen noticed the fearbringer just in time, only barely dodging the horrid red sound waves pulsing towards him. He ducked, before rolling off the dead fearbringer, trying to get away.
Another siren scream narrowly missed him, and Forzen counteracted with his own sound attack, a loud screech tearing from his lungs as violent, pulsating indigo sound waves enveloped the fearbringer. It howled in pain, reaching up to its ears and staggering backwards, disoriented and in agony.
Knowing Forzen had the fearbringer in a death trap, and not wanting to prolong the fight anymore, he used this moment to do what he had when he demonstrated the sound element to the guardians. Increasing the power behind his shriek, he watched as the sound waves became more violent and angry, the volume inside the beam of sound growing exponentially louder. The fearbringer let out a cry of agony, before shooting out another siren scream. It was so disoriented that the siren scream was aimed in a completely different direction than Forzen was.
Forzen watched as dark red blood poured from the fearbringer's ear holes, before red mist also began to rise from its ears. The sound attack is affecting the crystal inside its head! Maybe this could be another way to exploit the dark dragons' weaknesses! Forzen thought.
The purple dragon intensified the attack even further, before there was a similar sounding crack as before, and the fearbringer slumped over, dead, red mist billowing from its ear holes, which now had rivers of blood streaming from them.
"You used your wind element, I'll give you that, but I didn't ask you for your other ones," Cynder deadpanned, disappointment dripping from her voice; as she said this, the barrier around the ring disappeared, as did the two fearbringer corpses. "The whole point of this was to show me what you can do with your wind element."
"I'm sorry, I panicked," Forzen whimpered, curling in on himself as he turned around to look at Cynder. "I don't… I don't do well with fearbringers."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Um…"
Flashes of distorted, warped images tinted red rushed through Forzen's vision. He felt his chest tighten.
"Nothing. It… it's fine," Forzen stammered.
"Then I bet you wouldn't complain if I gave you more to fight against… right here, right now," Cynder challenged.
"NO!" the purple dragon screamed.
"Then spit it out," Cynder snarled, her eyes gleaming with hatred and contempt.
"I… During my time in Dark Peak, fearbringers brought the worst pain onto me out of all of Spyro's dark dragons. I've seen and experienced horrors I wouldn't even wish on the bullies at school from them. Please, I don't want to fight any more of them."
Cynder frowned, deep in thought, before she let out a low growl. "Fine. But only for today. I'll be putting you up against more, I can promise you that, whelp," Cynder snarled. "Now, about your wind element, I still need you to demonstrate to me everything you can do with it."
"Well, luckily I think that's about everything I can do with it: just very simple breath attacks and a little bit of tornado summoning. I can also use small bursts of wind to launch me forward, but yeah… that's about it."
"You're serious? That's it? You are a purple dragon for ancestors' sakes, and that was all you could show me of your wind element? That pathetic display of wind magic is what a purple dragon holds? I should be grateful that you aren't as powerful as I thought you were, but really I'm annoyed. I'm disappointed, and I'm mad. Because now I'm expected to teach you even more, and what use are you to us if you can't even use magic?"
"I'm still learning, Cyn—"
Cynder roared angrily at him.
"—General Cynder," Forzen corrected himself, cowering in fear as Cynder glared daggers at him. "I haven't had anyone teach me this element yet! I only am more skilled with lightning because I've had Muras teach me! Sure I had Jaarsol trying to teach me but she wasn't a wind dragon; this was basically all she was able to help me learn while not knowing a thing about the element herself!"
"That doesn't explain your knowledge on the sound element," Cynder shot back.
"I know. I don't know why I'm so strong with it. Maybe I'm more naturally talented with it? Can that happen with purple dragons? Just a more natural talent in one particular element over another? I don't know! Maybe the sound element's just that much stronger? I don't know how it works! I don't know how any of my magic works!"
"Fine. I'll teach you then, if that's what you really want," Cynder snapped, although Forzen could tell there were other thoughts running around in her brain, thoughts that he may never know. "And for the record, don't you dare yell at me like that or I'll beat you to a pulp, heal you up with red gems, and then beat you again. You hear me?"
"Yes, General Cynder."
"Now, the thing with the wind element is you can't just rely on your own breath to using it. Your breath has a limit. Using only your breath, you are forced to stop once you have nothing left in your lungs, and then you find yourself trying to regain your breath and wasting time in the middle of a fight, opening you up to possible injuries. That was what happened in that fight just then," Cynder explained. "Now, what is around you?"
"Um… a building?"
Cynder reached forward and slapped Forzen across the face. "Air, you wyrm!" Cynder growled. "Air is around you, all around you. A limitless supply of it. A wind dragon can connect to it, bend the air to their will, make it do what they want it to do. You could use the wind element to lift something up into the air, keep yourself flying without using your wings, make you fly at impossibly fast speeds, conjure up massive tornadoes and wind currents, and more."
"Oh…"
"'Oh' is right, you stupid whelp! I thought you would have known better, but clearly I was wrong."
"Hey, I wasn't even taught by someone who knew the wind element, okay? Jaarsol and I were both learning as we—"
Forzen was hit across the face again, this time with claws. He was sent sprawling to the ground, three large gashes covering his face as her claws flashed across his flesh. Thin beads of blood dripped down his face. He winced as he fell, landing on the large bloody gash running down his shoulder and chest.
"I know that. I'm calling you stupid, not her. You're the one with the wind element. You should be able to feel the air all around you."
"I don't know how to do that!"
"Then learn."
"Then teach me!"
"I want you to figure it out for yourself. No better teacher than experience. If you still can't figure it out by then, then I'll give you the answer."
Cynder stepped back and the barrier reappeared around the ring. Forzen looked around in horror, before he leapt up against the barrier and slammed against it with his fists. "Hey, let me out! At least let me heal myself before throwing myself into another fight!" Forzen pleaded.
"No. You'll live. I've given you enough lenience in going along with your wishes to not use fearbringers. So, I'll give you three shadowclaws instead. Go."
"WHAT?!"
This is so unfair, what did I do to deserve this? Forzen thought as he whirled around and watched three shadowclaws materialise in front of him.
The shadowclaws rushed forward, and Forzen was forced to leap out of the way of their attacks, dancing around them as quickly as he could, knowing that these dark dragons were very fast and very aggressive with their physical attacks.
As he jumped around, he slipped, sliding around as he tried to regain his balance. Due to losing control of his body, he was unable to dodge the next attack as a shadowclaw swung its long, lethal claws around, catching him across the other side of his face, drawing several long, vicious cuts across his face, mirroring Cynder's scratches running down his other cheek.
Spitting blood from his mouth, he leapt backwards as the large black and purple dragon lunged at him, swiping at his face again. He used a gust of wind from his maw to send the shadowclaw flying backwards into the other two behind it, sending the three of them sprawling onto the ground, writhing about as their limbs tangled around each other. Angry snarls rose from each of the shadowclaws as they tried to untangle themselves.
Forzen stood back, trying to use this very brief downtime to try and figure out what Cynder was wanting him to learn. He tried to focus, tried to reach out to feel the air around him, but he was struggling to do so under pressure. Usually Muras would tell him to close his eyes to truly focus, but he was being thrown into the ring against three horribly deadly opponents. He couldn't afford to take his eyes off them.
He barely got a couple of seconds to attempt to connect with the air around him as the shadowclaws resorted to their shadow elements, each one of them diving into their shadows and then leaping up into the air all around Forzen. The purple dragon felt his chest lurch with fear as shadow fire built up in all three of the shadowclaws' throats. Using his wind element, he launched himself forward to dodge the attack. He barely dived out of the way as the dark shadow fire slammed down onto where he was once standing, a large black inferno rising into the air. For a brief moment, the shadowclaws appeared confused as to where Forzen had gone.
The purple dragon tried to reach out again, but barely felt anything. He didn't get much of a chance to readjust anything this time either, the shadowclaws bursting into action almost immediately after getting over their confusion.
For a good few minutes, he let the shadowclaws gang up on him constantly, before dodging out of the way as they all tried to attack him at once, trying to use these brief moments to feel the air around him, but with the extra stress and adrenaline, and the threat of potentially being killed by these dark beasts, he was struggling to focus.
Eventually, the shadowclaws caught onto his strategy, and so they proceeded to all take turns attacking him, leaving Forzen without a window to feel the air around him.
"General Cynder, I can't do this with so much going on! What happened to normal training?!" Forzen pleaded.
"This is normal training," came Cynder's reply.
"For skilled fighters in the army, maybe! I'm trying to learn an element here!"
"This is your normal training. As long as you're in a session with me, this is your normal. Get used to it."
Forzen was ready to fire back another complaint, before he was slammed in the head with a heavy paw, sending him sliding across the ground. A shadowclaw leapt on top of him and with a devilish grin, opened its maw ready to bite down around his neck and snap it into two.
As much as I hate to be on Cynder's bad side, she won't kill me. She won't be allowed to. She'll get in trouble for it, Forzen thought. These things on the other paw, won't hesitate to kill me. Cynder would pass it off as an accident. I don't care if I make Cynder mad, I'd much rather kill these things and get out of here.
With that, he let electricity flow throughout his body. He fired the lightning up into the shadowclaw's paws as it pinned him to the ground. The shadowclaw screeched in pain, reeling backwards and freeing Forzen from its grasp. The purple dragon stood up, before leaping high into the air and grabbing a firm hold of the shadowclaw's throat, digging his claws in. Lightning surged through his claws into the shadowclaw's body, before frying it from the inside out. There was a crack, and the shadowclaw went limp, smoke and purple mist rising from its neck wounds.
"No more lightning! We're here to learn wind, damn it!" Cynder scolded.
I can't while I'm in this ring fighting these monsters, Forzen thought with a scowl.
Forzen then dealt with the other two shadowclaws swiftly, ending them in the same way as he had the first. He dropped down to the ground, breathing heavily, as the three shadowclaw corpses dissipated. The barrier around the ring also disappeared.
The purple dragon's breath halted when he saw Cynder storming towards him, anger in her eyes. "You dare disobey me?" she roared, before clawing him across the face yet again, digging into the wounds already there.
Forzen staggered backwards, crying out in pain. Every inch of his face burned with agony, blood dripping down his face as his cuts ran across the length of his snout and cheeks. Cynder lashed out again, catching him over the eye. It wasn't deep enough to cut out his eye, but the wound was still pretty deep. Blood flooded over his eye, and he was forced to keep it closed to keep blood out of his eye.
"I was more concerned about life or death than trying to feel for air, I'm sorry!" Forzen exclaimed.
"You're not sorry."
"Okay, you're right! I'm not! I can't focus on trying to learn while I'm fighting for my life in there!"
Cynder's eyes shone with bloodlust. Forzen was terrified she would rip his throat out. Instead, she just stared at him, before he suddenly felt a strong constricting weight around him. Confusion filled him, as Cynder had not moved from where she stood a few metres in front of him.
That was until he realised what she was doing: she was increasing the air pressure around him.
His heart fought to keep blood pumping throughout his body, the pressure proving the task more of a challenge now. Moving was hard. His head spun. "Stop it, please," Forzen pleaded, suddenly finding even talking and breathing hard. "Help…"
The purple dragon collapsed to the ground, his vision blurry and chest hurting. Cynder kept him there, lying on the ground in agony, for what felt like hours but in reality was just a few seconds.
Eventually, the air pressure around him returned to normal. He felt normal air rush into his lungs, and freedom return to his joints. Everything felt so light around him compared to the crushing heaviness he had felt around him for the past few moments.
"We're done here. Go home," Cynder said, before turning and walking off.
"But… I didn't learn anything!"
"Then that's your own problem. Maybe instead of doing whatever the hell you want and start zapping things left, right and centre, you actually listen to me and do what I'm telling you to," Cynder scowled. "I'm done for today."
"But…"
"Go. Home."
With that, Cynder dove into her shadow, before she was gone. Forzen sighed dejectedly, before he stood up and limped his way back to Muras' house, leaving through the front doors of the Warfang Temple, only to have more rude jeers thrown at him from the guards standing at the entrance.
I feel awful, Forzen thought. I hate all of this: school, learning my elements, living here… it's all horrible. No one treats me like an actual dragon, except for Muras and Master Almai. And maybe Uncle Aerus. That's it… and it's kinda sad. Why does everyone go out of their way to hate me when they don't even know me yet?
Forzen walked dejectedly back home, making sure not to make any eye contact or interact with anyone. All the way back, he felt his face and torso burning with agony, the cold breeze of the early evening rushing past him. It crossed his mind that he could spend this time trying to feel the air around him properly, particularly with it being so active, but it was the last thing he wanted to do right now, particularly with his current physical state. Besides, he was out in the middle of the Warfang streets; he didn't feel safe stopping right there and trying to work on his elements.
Eventually, the young purple dragon made it home. He walked inside and was greeted to the sound of Muras retching in the bathroom from his food poisoning. Forzen groaned to himself; he was going to go there to wash his face and chest free from the blood, but now he had to wait even longer.
He looked down, looking over the massive gash running from his shoulder and across his chest. Streaks of dark red covered his beige chest scales, starting to dry up and become hard and crusty over the top of his body. He winced, knowing his face was probably in a similar situation; he could almost feel the blood hardening on his face.
With a huff, Forzen turned and made his way back to his room. He just sat down, not even wanting to grab a book and read. He laid down on the ground and did nothing. He would have laid down on his bed to wait but he didn't want to get half-dried blood all through his bed, or fresh blood if he accidentally re-opened his wounds.
He didn't know how long he was lying there for before there was a knock at his door. "Hey, Forzen, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your training session, but…" Muras started, before he cut himself off as he opened Forzen's door and saw his bloodied state. "What… what happened?"
"Cynder happened," Forzen murmured.
"Wait, she did this to you?"
"Half of it was her, but it may as well have been all her. She made me fight fearbringers and shadowclaws today, and expected me to just… learn the new techniques on the spot instead of properly teaching me."
"What? How was this allowed to happen? I thought Torialis was supposed to be with you!"
"No. No one else was there."
"But I sent Cynder a message telling her to have Torialis supervise in my absence! Did… Did she purposefully not get him there so she could do this to you?"
"I don't know. This is the first I'm hearing of someone else outside of you being there."
"Ancestors, I… I don't know what to say. I'm sorry this happened. I'm… angry and appalled that Cynder used this situation to get at you like this."
"Sounds almost too coincidental."
"She wasn't the one to give me food poisoning, if that's what you're suggesting. Her poison's too lethal for that; I would have died by now if she had. Besides, it was my fault for suggesting to Aerus that we try a new place for breakfast. I'm never going back there again.
"But that aside, I need to have a stern talk with Cynder, and maybe fill Torialis in on this as well. I can't let this happen again. It's straight up child abuse."
"Don't think she sees it that way," Forzen murmured. "I think she sees me as a demon, just like everyone else. She didn't call me 'devil' or 'demon' like everyone at school does, but I could see it in her eyes. She wanted to call me that. I'm surprised she didn't just say it honestly."
"That name-calling is still happening?"
"It's been a week, Muras. It's not going to magically stop over the course of one day. Besides, with half of the teachers also hating me and going out of their way to make life hard for me, I don't think it's going away anytime soon."
"How the hell are we going to make them realise that you're not a devil?"
"I don't know. Don't care honestly. I gave up caring ages ago. I've come to accept that even though it hurts to be called those names, I will never be able to make them see me as anything else than Spyro's little devilspawn. The name-calling does beat the violence though."
"Violence? Don't tell me you got beaten again…"
"I got choked at school. I swear I was about to die. I've never been that long without breath before."
"Forzen…"
"I don't want your pity. Just leave me alone. Especially with your vomit breath."
"Okay, I'm sorry. Did… did you want me to bring red gems for you?"
"No. I'm fine. Leave me alone, please."
Muras looked at Forzen with sorrow in his eyes, before he nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Forzen sat there alone for about an hour before he decided it was probably a good idea to wash his wounds off. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom.
Forzen came to a stop in front of the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. His face looked awful. The wounds looked almost black with the way the thick blood had crusted over the wounds, and his cheeks were stained with dried red streaks. The cut over his left eye that Cynder had gifted him had also hardened up, and with the blood running down his face from the cut, it looked as if he had been crying blood. His flesh was red and swollen under the wounds and torn scales. His chest didn't look any better than his earlier looks at it.
He turned on the water and began to run his paws underneath the running water. He started with his face first, reaching up with both of his paws which dripped with cool water. The moment he touched his cheeks, he jerked backwards from his own paws, hissing in pain as his wounds burned with pain again, his gentle touch against the raw flesh meaning nothing to the wild gashes across his face.
Biting his tongue, he tried again. He flinched once more as he touched his face. Trying one more time, he reached up to softly touch his cheeks. He was accustomed to the pain now, so began to rub gently, trying to free his face from the dried, crusty blood. He spent a few seconds wiping his cheeks, before he took his paws away and looked at them. The pristine water covering his paws was now a soft, murky red, and as he put his paws back into the running water coming out of the tap, he watched as rivers of cloudy red water washed out of his paws.
He repeated the process again after he had washed the bloodied water off his paws, reaching up with freshly wet paws and softly wiping his face, running his paws over his cheekbones, his temples, and then with a fresh set of water, over his eye and back over his cheeks again. He had to go over his face several times, as washing his wounds and rubbing them irritated them slightly, causing small beads of fresh blood to trickle down his face, although it was luckily not as much as it had been before.
Without the thick layer of drying blood covering his face, the cuts didn't look as bad, although they were still pretty deep and jagged, particularly the ones Cynder left over his eye. The flesh was raw and red, and Forzen had a deep hunch that these wounds would scar. Maybe red gems weren't such a bad idea after all.
Once Forzen's face was clean, he repeated the entire process with his chest wound. Like his face, he flinched a few times before being able to actually start rubbing water over his wound, his chest not used to the contact the same way his face was. Eventually, he was able to clean it up, leaving it at a similar state to the wounds on his face.
The purple dragon turned off the water, before looking at himself in the mirror one more time. He hated how he looked. The wounds were awful to look at; just the sight of them made him hate himself even more.
I know I don't deserve this, but what if I do? Forzen thought, his thoughts going dark once more. What if this is punishment for something that happens in the future? Everyone says I'm going to be like Spyro. It's the last thing I want, and I will do anything to prevent that, but… what if it does happen? Is that why I'm getting all this hate and abuse? Will I do something bad?
What have I done to deserve any of this? All I want is to live a normal life where I can just be me. I want to live a life where I don't have to be the son of the Dark Overlord, the purple devilspawn… I want to life a life where I don't have to be a purple dragon… a damned moras'tov. I don't want any of this.
Forzen almost felt himself shed tears as he spoke the word 'moras'tov' over himself in his mind. Since learning about the meaning of the word, he'd never spoken it over himself before. But now after calling himself that… it brought a new level of hurt to it that he didn't think was possible.
No. No, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't you dare even think about shedding one damn tear, Forzen thought, reaching up and flashing his claws above his right eye. There is no crying here. Not now, not ever. Even if you get called that… that horrible insult.
Forzen raked his claws down his face again at the reminder of the word, before growling in frustration as he watched fresh blood drip down the right side of his face. I just cleaned that… he thought, before he turned on the water and got back to washing his face.
Luckily, it wasn't as painful to clean the blood off this time, as the wounds were much thinner than the ones Cynder and the dark dragons had left, but they still stung an awful amount.
He finished cleaning his face, turning off the tap and immediately walking out of the bathroom. He wouldn't entertain the thought of looking at his scratched-up face in the mirror again. He wouldn't entertain the thought of adding to the scratches any more than he already had. He went straight back to his room.
Forzen was about to shut the door behind him, before he turned around and called down the hallway, "Muras?"
"Yes, Forzen?"
"Can you bring me some red gems?"
"Sure thing. I'll just be a moment."
"Leave them at the door please. Just… I want to be left alone tonight."
"Okay. I'll do that."
Forzen then turned back into his room, closing the door behind him and instantly making his way to the bookshelf. At this point, reading was the only thing getting his mind off being choked by Fjor'gand at school, getting beaten and abused by Cynder, the horrible gashes covering his body, and the thought of adding more gashes to his body. All he wanted was to get swallowed up by another world and not have to think about what was going on in this world.
His attention on the book was briefly interrupted by Muras knocking on the door and telling him that the red gems were sitting outside. Forzen got up, grabbed the small stash of red gems, before breaking them over his body. He felt the wounds close up, but as he looked down over his chest, he noticed a small lump in his flesh where the wound was.
I guess that wound's scarring, Forzen thought as he reached up to his face. And the one over my eye Cynder gave me. Thanks ancestors for leaving me with permanent reminders that my own mother wants me dead and will do anything to draw out my suffering.
He scoffed, before he sat back down at his book and continued to read through the majority of it, reading until late in the night before he decided it was getting late and he should sleep.
He dreaded to think about what tomorrow would bring, particularly since the days never seemed to get any better.
Yet another chapter that ended up significantly longer than I expected it to be lol, I feel like this is going to be a repeating thing lol (not that it's a bad thing XD). Been having a lot of fun writing for Outcast recently, particularly Forzen's chapters. It's fun exploring his character, experiences, thoughts, etc., even though I feel bad for the poor guy after writing each chapter lol.
Really excited to get to the next few chapters too, got some fun stuff planned coming up!
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you guys think, and I'll see you with the next one! Have a great day everyone!