The First Kill

BOOK ONE: The New World

CHAPTER 8: The First Kill

That word seemed to snap them out of their stupor, Jehdin told Pilm to stay back and began moving forward himself.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding." Arkyn did not know what a 'Meld-Kin' was or what it meant. He had no idea why his eyes were setting them off, but this reaction was even worse than before. 

He knew this time that his options were limited, talking was not an option anymore.

Kuge refused to listen to his words and his only response was a quick kick to the campfire, aiming the fire at Arkyn.

Sparks erupted into the sky while hot coals flew in his direction. They were tiny, black and smoky meteors that hit him all at once, singing parts of Arkyn's face and bombarding his tunic.

A few half-flaming logs rolled out of the fire pit too, becoming tripping hazards for anyone that tried to go around and come at Arkyn from the side.

Arkyn kept his eyes squinted and shielded with his hammer. Not wanting to get cut again while he was blinded, he did his best to not lose sight of the attacker. He recovered just in time to see Kuge was diving towards him once again. 

Arkyn was somewhat ready this time and tried to slam his hammer against the hand holding the knife.

The hammer grazed the end of the blade and the force from contact made Kuge stumble, but he refused to let go of the knife. Arkyn held his bleeding arm close to his chest and swung again. This time to his side, making Jehdin step back. He had been slowly approaching from around the fire debris.

Arkyn made eye contact with the father and could see that he was just as against this fight as him.

"Kuge . . ." Jehdin trailed off as he tried to reel back his son. He was refusing to listen to anyone now.

The young man only grunted and began slashing at Arkyn with his arm fully extended this time. The two started exchanging wild swings at one another. 

Neither Arkyn nor the farmer's son were experienced fighters. They were both physically adept from their daily labors, so every movement was strong yet clumsy.

Neither knew how they could get real connection in without exposing themselves to getting attacked by the other.

Arkyn tried to manipulate his mana to control the ground, but the pain across his arm and the attacks from Kuge kept breaking his focus. He could only leave small traces in his footprints that slowly faded after each time he changed his stance.

'I am already at several disadvantages because of this cut and they outnumber me, so how can I escape this?'

Arkyn thought about pleading to Jehdin, but he was about to start slashing too. A father would always protect his son it seemed, even if the son was causing the danger. 

Arkyn tried side stepping away from the two, hoping to find a path of retreat, and almost fell over his little creation from earlier instead. 

The tent he had made for Pilm.

'The tents!' Arkyn recalled how he spent a decent volume of mana into crafting them. It should still be easy to manipulate them on contact, just like the stone pillar he made against the bears. The mana occupying the material wouldn't start fading for a while. 

Arkyn calmed himself as best he could, he had something that could turn the situation around now. His breathing wasn't frantic anymore, his mind was focused on finding the right moment to act.

He kept dodging and blocking, having a couple close calls until his chance came. Jehdin and Kuge both swung near the same time, stepping too close together and flinching out of surprise. 

No one there had real experience in combat, they were too paranoid about injuring each other, so they both reacted strongly when swinging near each other, backstepping heavily.

Arkyn used that moment to fall backwards. He intentionally rolled over the triangular tent and when standing back up on his feet, half the tent was gone. It became a thick and cracked layer of brown dirt that was shielding his torso and wrapped entirely around his good arm.

The armor left his neck and other armor a bit exposed still, but vital organs were covered in a layer of earthy armor, boosting his confidence.

The sudden transformation startled the other two a second time. Arkyn used that opportunity to drop his hammer and grabbed more sections of the tent with his usable hand. The mound spread out into a disk shape, forming a rudimentary round shield. 

Kuge could not believe his eyes, but mostly because of what Arkyn had said just a few minutes ago. 

He lied about the amount of mana in his circuit, making his suspicions of him even worsen.

"Lying piece of filth!" Kuge spat as he tried to stab through the makeshift armor. Arkyn appeared to be weaponless when his hammer fell, so he made an angry lunge at him. 

Kuge grabbed the edge of the shield with one hand, pulling it aside. At the same time he brought his knife wielding fist under the shield, trying to stab through the smaller bracer of earth magic.

It might serve as some form of protection, but Kuge figured a shard of metal could pierce through the defensives if the puncture force was good enough. He would make the Meld-kin bleed.

Instead of stabbing Arkyn's other arm though, the shield morphed under the farmboy's touch, swallowing both of Kuge's arms up to the elbow. The blade was locked within a cocoon that began hardening under the blacksmith's control. Before having a chance to react or free himself, Arkyn ripped Kuge off balance too.

Jehdin called out to his son in a panic, both Stennicks looked at Arkyn in fear. Mages were typically dangerous in groups and from a distance, yet this lone mage seemed to gain control by himself and at close quarters.

Before Kuge could even attempt to pull himself free, Arkyn let the mound fall off his arm and hit the ground with a dull thud. The weight change of the large restraint brought Kuge to his knees, he couldn't feel the handle of his knife anymore.

He started to feel he made a mistake picking this fight now, terrified of what would happen next. When looking up to Arkyn, Kuge saw his knife was out of the dirt, currently in his grasp.

Arkyn had the perfect chance to stop the fighting. So with a stern look on his face, he ended it.

Kuge looked away, expecting the blade to pierce his back.

All he felt though was his arms getting pinned into the ground, still alive but now stuck. Arkyn had stomped on the bonding clump, merging it with the ground with one last push of his mana circuit.

Once he saw Kuge was only struggling and no longer fighting, Arkyn let out a breath and drew away. His body ached from the effort and the pain shooting up his arm was increasingly hurting. The blade didn't leave his hand though, he watched and waited for Jehdin's response.

The old man saw the fight was over now too, sighing out of relief and exhaustion. He gave Arkyn a look of gratitude now that he saw there would be no more harming one another, and thought for a moment.

He decided to drop his blade. The action meant there was no more need for fighting and he was willing to end things there.

Now that he had the upper hand, and the hostile one was subdued, Arkyn saw this was his chance to escape. All he needed was his bag and he could run into the night.

Arkyn only managed to take two steps back before Pilm let out a scream behind him. 

The youngest charged him at his back from the darkness of the forest. He had not fled when his father told him to, but actually ran around the outskirts of the campsite. Pilm was scared of what might happen to his family, so he waited in the dark to see everything unfold.

Pilm was alarmed when he saw Arkyn create his armor, but the panic started when he watched his brother fall. From that distance in the dark, he couldn't see anything clearly, and was picturing the worst about to happen. 

He watched his own father drop the blade in defeat, surrendering to whatever might happen next. Pilm thought they were about to die. Once it was over, he would be left alone. 

So he believed he must enact vengeance while he had the chance.

Arkyn had not expected this, he barely got to turn around before Pilm was already clinging to his back, the point of his knife was biting into the armor around his collar.

The boy could not see past Arkyn's body, he could only stab in a frenzy while thinking his older brother was going to die if he did nothing.

Jehdin shouted at his son to stop, running across the hot coals as quickly as he could. They crunched under his boots and caused him to stumble slightly.

Arkyn brought his still earth-covered forearm up to his head and tried to deflect the blade before his neck was cut open. He managed to stop it twice before Jehdin's accidental tackle caused everyone to fall over.

They all fell sideways, and Arkyn felt one of Pilm's limbs break as he landed on the boy. A few moments later, Arkyn felt a warmth start to gush along the side of him that was laying face down.