Chapter 7

Arthur was stupefied. Ever since he became a pro knight, he had never been injured, nor had he seen his own blood.

Theo attacked again. He brought his sword down on Arthur's head, hoping to divide it in two. Arthur jumped back, avoiding the fatal attack. The sword smashed into the ground, creating a large crater on impact. He rushed to attack again, but Arthur flashed behind him.

Arthur, expecting to have gotten to Theo's blindspot didn't see Theo in front of him. "Looking for me?" Theo whispered from behind him. Arthur quickly spun around, only to meet Theo's steel ready to impale his face.

Arthur deflected the stab with his palm, and stabbed Theo in the rib. Grunting, Theo created space, but proceeded to attack again.

In truth, Arthur had the upper hand in the fight. Theo was injured terribly, while Arthur only had a cut that seemed to have caught him off guard.

Theo started throwing out random strikes. Arthur seeing this kept dodging and giving out his own blows.

The paladins seeing as Arthur has gotten the fight back under his control began to relax a little. "That boy is nothing special. The fight will end soon. So go back to your position Ceri." a paladin with long straight black hair, and a face mask said. 'But still he managed to injure Arthur. Just who is this kid.'

In the infirmary, Jakob was dumbfounded. "When we fought that crawler the other day, he wasn't this good." he said. "I'm not surprised. If you thought I was a monster, I guess you could say Theo is what all monsters are afraid of." Bo replied.

"But what's happening." Jakob asked. "I don't really know" Bo said back. Looking at the screen, he felt very uneasy, "The truth is, everyone steered clear of him because of that. It's like a_ "Curse" Jakob interrupted. 'I just hope it's not what I think it is'

"I'm pissed off now", Theo hissed. Arthur was about to throw a punch, when Theo dodged and made another large cut on Arthur's chest. Arthur's abilities weren't working, they kept buzzing out. With a bit of fear mixed with desperation, Arthur threw out a careless slash. Theo noticing an opening, stepped back, flicked his wrist, and took out Arthur's left eye.

Everywhere turned dead silent, except for the screams of Arthur on the floor. That's when it hit all the paladins at once.

Theo's aura. Nobody else sensed it but the paladins, it was so thick, they felt it heavily all the way up in their booth. Even Jakob and Luna could tell from where they were. "This aura, it can't be!".

Theo was standing over Arthur with his sword pointed to his neck. Arthur was on the floor nursing the wound he had on his face. His eye, his eye was gone. For one he hadn't sustained an injury in a long time, more so lost his eye on the same day, and in the hand of a rookie at that. Arthur was shaken up. That's when he felt Theo's aura and understood what was going on.

Theo could see it, the magic in the environment slowly draining into him. 'I feel invincible'. That's when the shout came. "Seize him!".

All at once all the paladins I. the booth had surrounded him with their weapons pointing directly at him. "Hehe, what the hell is going on paladins?" Theo asked with a smirk.

"From now on, you will be under the custody of the of the KAKS for the suspicion of using anti magic. You are to drop your weapon, and follow us immediately!" The paladin with the face mask commanded

Squinting at the paladin, he replied "And if I don't want to?". "You will be killed on the spot!", a large man who pointed to axes at him replied, almost immediately.

Sighing, Theo said "This is your problem now kid".

With that said, he fell on the floor unconscious.

"It's just as I feared. I'm sorry, but your friend has been cursed with anti-magic. I doubt you will ever see him again" Jakob said to Bo. Bo was scared shitless, considering his best friend was just basically arrested. 'You always come out of situations like this. I hope you come out of this one unscathed' Bo prayed in his heart.

********

Twelve years ago.

It was a rainy evening, and Theo was being led to a mansion in what seemed to be Manhattan . It was the day he lost everything, the day his life turned upside down.

Walking with him was a man who was largely built, and had a black trenchcoat on. His face was covered with a black fedora so Theo couldn't tell what he looked like, but his long curly black hair was evident.

He bent down and placed his hand on young Theo's head. "These guys will protect you no matter what. Uhmm... yeah!, be the best okay?" the man said, in an attempt to encourage Theo. Young Theo nodded his head. "I can see it, you're the strongest one there young fella."

The door to the building opened, a man with a ponytail and a grey sweater came outside. "Oh my God, what is a kid like you doing outside in this cold rain". Turning around, he wanted to say goodbye to the man who saved his life and brought him here, but turning around, the man had vanished.

"Come inside little one, I'll fix up something warm for you to drink."

On top of the building at the other side of the street, the mysterious man, watched as Theo was taken into the building by the other guy. "He'll be one great young fella."

Inside the building, Theo was taken to what looked like a library. In the library, he was led to the front of a fireplace. The man brought hot cocoa for Theo.

Looking into the flames he was reminded of the camping trips he went on last summer. Never would he have thought that he would never go on another trip like that again.

At that moment, the backlash of everything hit him at once. Theo started bawling his eyes out. In truth, he was scared of being alone, he was never going to see his family again. He felt guilty and cheated for being the only one to survive.

Just then, a boy with tattered clothes and bushy hair sat in front of him, blocking the view of the flames. "Why are you crying?" the little boy asked. Theo noticed the boy and sniffled. "My parents are dead." he replied getting even sadder. "So what?" the boy asked.

Theo frowned at the mysterious boy, and yelled "What do you know about losing family!". The boy way surprised at first, but began to laugh "Nothing! that's why I don't understand why you're crying." he replied.

Theo understood what he meant, and immediately stopped crying. "What's your name?" the boy asked. "It's Theodore, but my parents called me Theo" he replied. The boy squinted and said "Theodore is a Knight's name. You're more of a frail duck" that's when his face lit up with an idea. "I'll call you Theo-duck!". "And you can call me Bo!" he added.

"I'm gonna be a paladin, so I can protect frail ducks, like yourself." Bo said. "What's a paladin?" Theo asked. Bo started laughing hysterically, "You don't know what a paladin is?!. They're this super cool knights that protect us from evil monsters." Theo started laughing too, "You're crazy, monsters don't exi_" That's when he remembered what attacked his peaceful home.

Tears Welled up in his eyes, but when he was about to cry, he saw Bo's confident face and sat up "I'm gonna be a paladin too!" Theo proclaimed.

"You, a paladin. What makes you think you can pull it off!"

"The fact that I'm willing to try!"

"What is this kindergarten?, that doesn't mean squat!"

"My mom says trying is winning too!"

"Really?, where is she now idiot!"

"Take that back. You're the idiot, you meanie, idiot meanie!"

The man with the ponytail was hidden behind a wall close by. He heard everything and smiled, 'He's gonna feel right at home.'

********

Sitting in the infirmary, Bo watched as his best friend was taken out of the fight circle on a gurney. Theo was badly injured and had lost a lot of blood.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Jakob said. Bo didn't know what to say. He was shaken up by everything that had just happened. 'Please be alright Theo."