1 Upcoming destruction. (Prologue)
'Please, don't kill me'. A boy in his mid-teens begged staring at the knight in front of him. He was sitting on the ground, and fright was evident on his face.
'Sorry, boy, I'll have to kill you, you have to go to the spirit world. Your father needs to be taught a lesson, fright needs to be instilled in him'. The knight uttered.
And after making that statement, he drew out his sword and pierced it straight into the boy's chest.
Yeah, this scene kept on playing in, Cassius', head, the king of the Fleuran kingdom. The day he lost his only son to one of the knights of the Ivairis kingdom was the most painful part of his life. He watched as they killed his son right in front of him, he couldn't do anything. Now, he was left with his wife and daughter.
As that scene kept on replaying in his head, he got angrier. He was sitting on his throne with a stern look on his face, his crown on his head. The palace was so glamorous, the ground was well tiled, and there were beautiful paintings on the wall. There were two knights in armors standing in front of the palace, they were there to protect the king.
They had spears in their hands, and their swords were well placed in their scabbards. The Ivairis kingdom has always been victorious over the Fleuran kingdom, but seems like things might be different today. The stern look on the king's face turned into a smirk.
Suddenly, another knight in armor ran into the palace and uttered to the king,
"Your majesty, we are all prepared, we are ready. Should we attack now?".
"No, that wouldn't be much of a wise thing to do. According to what we've seen, their knights have let down their guards, they are relaxed. But even with that, we have to attack in the evening whereby none of them would be prepared at all. But before that, you have to send a spy there. Then that spy would come back and give us useful information". King Cassius voiced out.
"Yes, your majesty, that's what we'll do".
"The Ivairis kingdom would meet their doom today. I'll repeat, make sure to kill as many as possible, capture the ones you can capture. And foremost, capture that king of theirs after bringing ruin to his family". King Cassius uttered once again.
"As you wish my Lord, may I go?".
"Yes, you may go".
After the knight left, the smirk on the king's face widened. There was a secret, the Fleuran kingdom was gonna be pairing with a neighboring kingdom to attack the Ivairis kingdom...that's why they were sure of victory.
********
There was a smile on Hugo's face as he ate the delicious porridge his mum prepared this morning before leaving for her trading business. His mum was a good cook, that's why eating the food alone was making him smile. His siblings had eaten theirs, and they had scampered away.
Hugo was the firstborn of his parents, his little brother was 14 years old, while his little sister was 12 years old. As known, his mum was a trader, she was into selling of attires. His dad was a successful blacksmith with lots of customers. But not only that, he was a good swordsman. He wasn't part of the knights that were protecting this kingdom, but his fighting skills were as good as theirs...maybe better.
Hugo finished eating his food, stood up from the chair, took the plate to the kitchen, and kept it where it was supposed to be. He was dressed in one of his favorite robes, a light-blue robe, it was his best. What he planned on doing now was to head over to his mum's shop, he wanted to help her out. He wasn't going to the academy today where he learns public speaking and writing, the next four days were free time for the students.
He strolled out of the house, shut the door, and as he was about to begin sauntering once again, he heard someone call his name,
"Hugo".
He glanced in the direction where the voice came from, and there was his best friend running towards him. He reached the spot where Hugo was standing and inquired of him,
"Are you going somewhere?".
"Yeah, I'm heading to my mum's shop in the village square". Hugo retorted.
"Oh, no". His friend voiced out with a bit of distressed face.
"What's the problem?". Hugo inquired.
"Can't you see my hands? I'm holding mini-arrows and bows, I want us to go hunting as usual".
"Oh! Didn't realize that, what should I do now?". Hugo questioned himself using his palm to rub his face. He was confused as to if he should follow his friend to go hunting or go to his mum's shop.
"Don't be confused, come on, let's go hunting. Think of the number of meats we'll be able to eat. Remember, the last time we went hunting, we caught two grasscutters. We could be lucky today and catch three, we'll eat meat like never before". His friend said to him once again.
Hugo contemplated for some seconds, then he decided that he was gonna follow his friend to go hunting. At least, his mum didn't know that he was coming to her shop today, she didn't give him instructions to come over, it was his decision. But he's changed his mind, it's best to go hunting.
He glanced at this friend, placed his palm on his right shoulder, and uttered to him,
"Let's go hunting".
"Cool, you made the right decision".
His friend handed over to him his bow and arrows, then he gave him something that looked like black ink, but it wasn't. It was playing an entirely different role, it was poison. It wasn't poisoning for humans, it was for animals. This was how it was being used.
Once they sight any animal, mostly, grass cutters, they'll put the sharp edge of an arrow into the black ink, then they'll place their arrow into their bows, aim for their target, and fire. If they aim well and their arrow pierces into the body of the animal, apart from the arrow injuring the animal to kill it, that poison would infiltrate into the body of the animal to hasten its death.
Hugo wore his pack of arrows 'cause it was tied to ropes, then he wore the little can of inks 'cause it was tied to a rope also, then he held his bow in his hand. His friend did the same, then the both of them began sauntering. They made their way to the forest, then they began glancing around to see if they'll sight any grass cutter.
As they glanced around, they strolled, and they chatted. They had been sauntering for some time now, but they hadn't sighted any grass cutter. Hugo said to his friend,
"Seems like finding one would be hard. Maybe they know that we are coming today, so all of them have gone into hiding".
"There's nothing like that, we'll find one soon".
The both of them continued sauntering while glancing around, then suddenly, Hugo stopped, and that caused his friend to stop too. His friend glanced at him and inquired,
"Why did you stop?".
"Look up". That was all Hugo said.
They were under a tree right now, so his friend began glancing up slowly, and by the time he fixed his gaze completely on the branches of the tree, he voiced out,
"Holy shit! a snake".
Immediately, he used his bow to hit the snake off the tree, and the moment the snake landed on the ground, it tried to attack them...it was a dangerous one. The both of them moved back a little, then Hugo picked up a huge stone from the ground and smashed the snakes' head. That wasn't enough to kill the snake completely, its body was still shaking though its head had been damaged.
Hugo picked up the stone again and smashed part of the snakes' body. And that's how it kept going, he kept on smashing the snake until its body stopped shaking, damn! they were so hard to kill. Hugo and his friend began sauntering once again, then his friend said to him,
"We've got to be very careful, we can't get bitten by a snake".
"I know that, at least, this isn't the first time we are encountering a snake". Hugo stated.
"But this is the first time we are encountering one that tried to attack us. The ones we've encountered in the past would see us and start crawling away".
"It attacked us 'cause you hit it with your bow, it was threatened by us. But I've heard you anyway, let's keep searching for a grass cutter".
They continued strolling and glancing around, but they hadn't still sighted one, it was just like the grass cutters were truly hiding from them. After strolling for some minutes more, Hugo's friend tapped him on his shoulder, pointed at a direction, and uttered,
"Look".
Hugo glanced at the spot where his friend was pointing to, and behold...there was a fat grass cutter eating grass.
