4 Graves?

For as long as he could remember, his parents were never in the picture and whenever he had tried bringing it up to Graves, he either avoided the question entirely or came up with an excuse to change the subject.

"Hold on! What do you mean they belonged to my parents?" Rikkard asked but Graves ignored his questions.

Graves grabbed a sword of his own from the chest. His sword, however, was much bigger than Rikkard's. He strapped it on his back and walked out of the room. Rikkard followed him. They kept going until he saw the entrance of the cave. From where he stood, he saw it lead to a forest.

Grave took about 10 steps outside before he collapsed into a fit of coughing. Rikkard rushed over to help but he was stopped with a raised hand. Graves spat onto the ground and rubbed his mouth.

"I'm fine. This won't kill me, I promise. But you must listen to me. And I mean actually listen to me, boy. You got that?" Graves ordered. Rikkard watched as the wound leaked more and more. He looked into Graves' eyes and nodded.

"Good. You need to get to Rales Town and find men in black clothes. They might look suspicious, but you can trust them," Graves winced before continuing, "Talk to them and find a man named Tombius. He will protect you."

Graves got up and stretched his shoulders. "Damn it. Being old sucks." he fumed.

"Wait! What do you mean find men in black clothes? How will I find them? Who is Tombius? Why would he protect me? Why'd you give me things from people I've never met in my life?" Rikkard asked. "And what about you? What will you do? Back to the village? If you're going, then I'm coming too. I won't leave without you-"

"ENOUGH!" Graves screamed. He walked over to Rikkard and placed his hands on his shoulders. Rikkard had never seen Graves look this serious in his life. Not even when he messed around or got into trouble. Sure, he yelled at first, but he always smiled it off later. Will he ever be able to smile after this?

"They're only after me, so while I distract them, you'll need sneak away as quickly as possible! I'll try to catch up when I get the chance." After that, he took a deep breath and looked at Rikkard with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry, brat. Truly. I should have explained things sooner. About who I am… was at some point. Who you truly are and what your lineage means. It's too late for me to explain these things but Tombius will tell you everything… So for once in your life, will you just do as you're told?"

Rikkard didn't know what was going on. Heck, he didn't even know how to process all the information that he was just given. He didn't want to leave but the look in Graves eyes told he that he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"..Ok. I'll go. But, you better hurry back, old geezer." Rikkard scorned. Graves let off one of his toothy grins and chuckled to himself.

"Good, I'll see you at Rales then." Graves chuckled. And then he vanished into thin air.

Rikkard blinked. He blinked again. Graves had disappeared. One moment, he was here. The next, gone. The He quickly looked around until he heard a strained shout. Graves! He bolted in the direction of the shout, the sword fumbling at his waist. Branches broke and twigs snapped as things moved adjacent towards him. Worried, he picked up speed.

When he broke into a clearing, he stopped in his tracks. Something was off. There were dozens of Corrupters, but all of them refused to step into the grassy clearing right in front of them. In the center of the open field, there was a slightly larger Corrupter. Everything about it was identical to the others except for the single streak of red fur on its head. The creature snarled as it hunched over something beneath it.

He dropped to his knees as he realized what was under its claws. With lifeless eyes and a giant hole through his chest, Graves lay down underneath the creature. His sword tightened in his death grip.

No. No. No.

It can't be. It just can't be. Rikkard drew his sword and sprinted at the creature, screaming at the top of his lungs. The other Corrupters looked surprised and leaped. The one he assumed to be the leader, didn't notice him until he thrusted the sword at its hide.

It didn't even phase the creature. Roaring in anger, it swatted at him, connecting right in the chest. Something crunched as the blow sent him through the air and right into a tree at the edge of the clearing.

Dazed, Rikkard got up. A warm liquid warm ran down his face. But he didn't care. Every breath he took felt like he was inhaling glass shards. He didn't care. When he picked up his sword, a couple of fingers didn't respond. He. did. not. care. All he wanted was to inflict as much pain as possible on the creature that killed Graves.

However, the creature also seemed pissed off and did something strange. It twisted its neck around for a bit before it opened its jaw as if it was about to take a bite.

Because he was a good distance away from the creature, he was stumped by the action. Then it happened. A vacuum of wind began to form at the center of the creature's mouth like it was taking a deep breath. It was so strong that he felt the bottom of his feet slide across the dirt towards the creature.

With its mouth still ajar, ends of the fur stood up as they changed into a glowing white. Its red crimson eyes glowed. Small lines of dirt formed as the creature seemed to brace itself. From the depths of its mouth, something shined so bright that it lit up the the entire area.

A stream of concentrated fire blasted out of the creature's mouth. Rikkards eyes widened as it came hurling into his direction. Quickly, he forced his body to jump out of the way. Stinging pain hit him as his chest connected to the ground.

The diameter of the blast was so large that it filled a good 1/6 of the field. The heat was beyond anything that was in the village. The steel chain around his neck warmed and almost hurt to wear because it was so hot. After a few moments, the heat subsided as the stream of fire disappeared. Then, the sound of wind blowing started again.

'Fire. It breathes fucking fire,' he thought in disbelief.

Once it was done taking its breath, it closed its mouth. All of its fur was covered in orange flames that burned high and wide. Its claws and teeth glowed like heated metal that burned the very dirt it stood on. Its crimson, glowing eyes were locked in Rikkard's general direction.

There was no time to think, for the creature had started running towards him. Jumping to his feet, he took to the side as he tried to flank it. But this creature was much faster than the others. It closed the distance in a blink and was already attacking him before he had taken his second step. He barely raised his weapon before the beast smacked him aside with its paws.

The ground became the sky as the impact sent him flying. He landed a few yards away, hitting trees and branches as he slowed down. He finally stopped once he hit a tree, stopping all momentum. Blood ran down his face from the wound on his head. His arms were bent in opposing directions and his legs were twisted beyond repair. Breathing was only met with extreme pain as he coughed up blood.

The sword lay down right next to him, the blade broken into tiny shards. Pained, he looked up. The other Corrupters slowly walked towards him with gaping mouths, ready to devour him.

Tears streamed down his face as he thought of all the times he spent with Graves. How he had scolded him for not working. How he would praise him when he finally did work. He chuckled to himself. Man, if he could go back in time, he would like to apologize. And thank the only person to not give up on him.

Closing his eyes, he was thankful for only one thing:

At least… It was cold... Burning... alive... would have sucked.

And thus the story of Rikkard ended.

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