The Staff

Chapter 3

    WHOOSH! 

   A wild swing came crashing towards Ageis. Immediately he held his guard, turning his staff sideways, then dropping the end to the ground making the attack fall away from him. 

    "Good Agii, again!" His father shouted.

    It had been a week since he entered the Black forest with his friends. Being the protective father he was, Jonas decided to start training his son how to fight using a staff. 

     WHACK!

    "Ooooouuuccchhh!" Ageis yelped, dropping his staff.

    Immediately, dropping to the ground, Ageis held his right hand in pain. 

    "How many times do I need to tell you, Ageis? You need to pay attention to where you put those hands." His father grumbled, walking over to him. 

    At that same moment, his mother dropped the basket of clothes and came rushing in, grabbing Ageis and checking his wounded hand.

    "Oh my gosh, my poor Agii!" She held his hand, rubbing it gently. 

     "Eloise, you're babying him." Jonas put the staff on his shoulder. 

    "It hurts mom! Dad is hitting too hard." He whined. 

    "It's okay dear, your father will stop hitting so hard- right?" Eloise shot a glare at Jonas for confirmation. 

    With a strained laugh, Jonas responded. 

    "Ahahaha...that's right! I'm sorry son, we will start again, this time slower okay?" He said, making the whimpering Ageis look up at his dad. 

    "Okay..." Ageis hesitantly picked up his staff. 

    With a smile on her face, she looked over to her husband confirming he was gonna go easy on their child. 

    "Okay, okay." Jonas averted his gaze, in hopes that backing down would relieve her. 

    Once she got assurance that they would take it easy, Eloise went back to tending to their clothes. 

    "Alright from the top, remember Agii when your enemy is gonna attack you, from above let the attack collide with your own then push it away from you. Don't just let it hit your hands this time." Jonas got ready to strike his son again. 

    "Okay!" Ageis said, readying himself. 

   <One foot back, one foot forward. Keep a firm grip, and keep my eyes on him.>

    Jonas stepped forward, almost moving too fast for him to see. Immediately, he brought up his staff and took up a defensive stance. 

    Thud. 

   The staff blow was softer than the rest, but by no means was it weak. The sturdy strike rattled the staff in Ageis hands.

     "Good, now what do you do?" 

    "Turn it away and push!" Ageis replied. 

    Instantly, he turned his body and pushed his dad away. It was a success! Ageis managed the block properly.

     "Good job Agii, now let's keep it going!" His drill sergeant of a father cheered. 

    Ageis got a confidence boost, so he did his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his hand. He kept his guard up, as the two continued the same round of strikes and blocks. Then after they were done-

     "Alright you two, come eat!" His mother called. 

     Ageis ran into the house excited as usual.

    "Mom! Did you see me?" Ageis looked over to her. 

    "I sure did, great job Agii! I saw everything." She praised.

   "Phew, I can't wait to eat." His dad walked in before them, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. 

 -

   Ageis lived a rather peaceful life, day in and day out, he was surrounded by his loving parents and friends. He was working in the field with his dad, they rearing the goats in for milking. That's when he overheard-

   "Yeah. I heard the last village got raided as well." The voice of an older man gossiped to another. 

    "If it wasn't for that Demon king or whatever he calls himself, we would be living in peace." The other responded.

   Ageis had never heard of that before, however he had heard of the Demon folk. Monsters that are said to have been from the Abyss of the world and then ascended to the realm of man. Terrorizing and killing mankind, just for the sake of entertainment. But, what was a demon king?

    "Hey dad, what's a Demon king?" He looked over at his father who had been busy pulling a stubborn goat away from the crops. 

    "Huh? A demon king?" His dad replied, still struggling as the goat continued to pull in the opposite direction. 

  "Yeah, those two old men said something about a village being raided." Ageis came over to help his dad. 

    His father didn't respond, focusing on the goat as it finally gave a buck towards them. Knocking Ageis and his father backwards and into the crops. Almost like it was proud of knocking the two away, the goat began to waltz away. 

     "Ouch, you okay Agii?" Jonas helped his son up from the muddy mess. 

   Nodding, he looked at his dad for answers, his dad sighing. 

   "Well, the Demon king is basically the lord of all demons. Right now, our kingdom is at war with the Demon country.'' Jonas didn't expect his son to understand too much, however to his surprise Ageis nodded his head. 

    "So the Demon king is our enemy and we are fighting him right?" Ageis exclaimed, walking over to the garden hoe that laid nearby and picking it up. 

    "Of course, he's actively attacking our villages at every chance he gets." 

  "Then, that means that if I defeat the Demon king, I can be a hero like you, right?" Ageis smiled in the face of his dad. 

     "Hahaha, that's right if you beat the Demon king I'm sure everyone would consider you a hero!" Ruffling his hair, Jonas knelt to fix the destroyed crops. 

    "However, Ageis a real hero isn't someone who can just beat up his enemies." He turned to look over at a confused Ageis. 

    "He isn't?"

    "Yep, a real hero is someone who can protect those he cares about. No matter how broken or how many times he is beaten down. The hero always stands to protect his loved ones." Oddly, his father didn't look too happy. 

    Confused even more, Ageis came over to the crops and helped his dad. 

     "Mmmh, I don't get it, aren't you supposed to defeat enemies to be a hero?"

     "That's part of it."

    "Then, all I have to do is defeat all of the enemies before me! If I beat up all of the enemies, then everyone I care about will be safe!" Ageis flashed a cheeky grin.  

    "Ahahaha! That's also true, maybe if you have the strength to do it then you can save everyone then."

    "Hehe!"

    "But- even then when you're strong enough, you won't be able to win every battle with just that. One day, you will be able to understand and when that time comes I'm sure you will be strong enough to protect everyone you care about." Jonas gave his son a smile. 

     Ageis continued with his chores that day, thinking about defeating the Demon king and what his father said. He wanted to be a hero and defeat the Demon king.

     "Aha! I thought of a game we can play!" Ageis said to himself thinking about his friends. 

     He ran over to his dad, who was busy talking to his subjugation group. 

    "Dad! Can I go play?" He asked, seeing his father looking serious. 

    "Yeah, just don't run into the forest, got it?" 

     "Okaayy!" He yelled. 

     Ageis quickly ran over to where he and his father kept their staffs. Picking up his, he climbed over the stone fence that separated their home from the others. He wanted to tell his friends about his idea. Ageis' father watched his son runoff in the distance looking back over to the group that gathered around him. He hoped Ageis forgot the nightmare he had and that it was long past him. 

    "So you're saying it was goblins?" He asked in a stern voice. 

    "Possibly even a few hobgoblins. I think they were looking for something, which is odd considering none of the other goods in the cart were taken- except for the weapons." One of the men answered. 

    "Should we tighten security? Maybe even alert the imperial army?" Another asked. 

    "We have no choice but to do so, if we leave it like this we'll end up like the other villages." One of the older members said in despair. 

   "Even if we alert that damn army, they won't take us seriously until it's too late!" Jonas turned to face the despairing man. 

    Jonas was right, the imperial army wouldn't take matters seriously due to how far they were from the capital. To them it was a given that such a village in the sticks would be attacked. They were on their own. 

    Meanwhile, Ageis turned up at Nina's house, who was practically family, he grew up with her after all. He knew her for all 12 of his years of his life. Smiling brightly as usual, he knocked on the door and put the staff against the wall.

     Creak…

   The door slowly opened, revealing an exhausted woman. Her features were frail, her skin haggard and her hair in a mess. 

     "Oh..Ageis, did you come over to ask if Nina could play?" She spoke in a hushed tone.

    "Y-yeah.." He managed to get a glimpse of the inside of the house, it was a mess. 

    "She's not feeling well at the moment, maybe tomorrow might be a good time." She closed the door without another word. 

    Ageis was stunned for the most part, however he knew that Nina's family had always been different from his. 

  However, she wasn't the only one.

   One after another, each of his friends were sick or busy. Somedays, it was always either one or maybe even two of his friends that couldn't play. But all of them? This was just strange.  

    "Haah, I guess I could just play by myself then." Ageis put his staff on his shoulders copying his dad. 

    Then he began to walk around the village, seeing many of the villagers either doing farm work or simply talking with one another. The sounds of birds chirping and the slow descent of the sun gave Ageis a feeling of peace. Even if he couldn't play with his friends, he was simply glad that that nightmare he had before wasn't real. It wasn't real. That's what he told himself and that's what he wanted to believe. Ageis never told his dad about the box that Ludolf found. Feeling that it was probably all apart from his dream. Lost in thought, a familiar voice called. 

     "Agii!" 

    The tomboy Megra ran over and gave Ageis a good slap on the back. Flashing a toothy grin to him as she stumbled forward. 

    "We were lookin' for ya!" She chimed, before nodding backwards. 

    The lonely Ageis was surprised, seeing Ludolf and Nina walk over.

   "But weren't you guys sick?" Ageis was touched by the reunion. 

    "Huh? Did the old man tell you that?" Ludolf practically laughed at Ageis.

   "Well, Nina's mom said she was sick, Megra's dad told me she was busy taking care of the horses, and your grandpa said that you were training." Ageis felt a tinge of frustration knowing he was lied to.

    Though, the three of them simply shared looks of confusion between one another and then burst into a roaring laughter. 

    "Wh-what's so funny?" He fumed.

   "Well, the fact that you actually believed such a lie." Nina giggled. 

    "Agii is such a kid! Adults lie all of the time." Megra crossed her arms, sighing.

   Ageis didn't know what to say, however for the most part he was happy. He was glad to not be alone and to have his friends around him.

  "Thanks guys for coming to play with me, I really missed everyone." Ageis smiled. 

  The three of them smiled in response, each giving Ageis a pat on the head or a side hug. This was probably the best feeling Ageis had ever felt. 

    <If only this moment could last forever. If I had a magic spell to keep everything like this, I'd cast it!> 

   [Analysis 78% complete]