The End of the Beginning of the Beginning Part Two

In the interior of the warehouse the poacher trio Taylos, Jibot, and Dia The three people that were in the hallway when they first entered were sitting in the main hall of the wearhouse. Some boxes were being carted in by some kind of labor animal that looks liked a large hog or boar.

On the level below them the villagers began to close up their shops for the day. They watched as they carted their goods out on their back. One of the pirates intimidated one of them and pushed an old woman to the ground.

"You're candies weren't as sweet as last time" He told her. "I want a refund."

"Yeah me too." One of his crew mates said.

"I made them the same way I've been making them for 80 years. That's impossible." She tried to reason with them.

"Are you calling us liars? Do you think because we slit throats and smuggle drugs, that we aren't insulted? Give me my money back." He demanded leaning down nose to nose.

"I already used the money I made to pay the rent to my stall today, I barely made any money today, please."

The other venders keep walking by, no one sticks up for her or even looks her way. They all know, they want to escalate the problem and get more people involved. Then their buddies come out the woodworks then they're out numbered and the pirates refuse reason and accept violence as the only solution to a disagreement.

Taylos was sitting and Jibot and Dia were gambling. Taylos was sitting on the floor leaning against a box watching the events unfold. Jibot and Dia argued whether the other one was cheating, though both of them were. Taylos saw smoke coming from the hallway that they had directed Nero and Frides down.

Toward the hall there was smoke rising out of the cracks of the frame of the door as well as the key hole. Taylos got off of the floor. He looked up at his companions and then back at the smoke. "Hey guys?" He walked towards the door.

"Light in the dark, a true haven, Let the twelve pillars guide you into the sky. Where you may flourish and shine down and strengthen your families beacon." Nero said a traditional prayer for the dead as they stood over Urs' mother.

"Fire!!!" Taylos screamed and then all of the vendors did their best to grab what they could and got out of the warehouse that had become the new market place for their port.

Flashback to Nero and frides in the cave.

"I don't usually work in circumstances like these." Frides said.

"What do you mean?" Nero questioned unsure as to what circumstances, nothing seemed to out of hand yet considering.

"Effective plans require time, tools, and intelligence. The more of each that you have, the better the chances are that you can succeed. We have so little time and little to no intelligence on the number of people, so we are going to have to manipulate the situation and increase our odds, understand?"

"Yeah, but how are we going to do that?"

"First we need a goal."

"Kill Kota, obviously."

"And how are we going to do that?!" Frides said while grinding his teeth.

"Okay, I'm listening. You don't have to yell."

"We need to get rid of as many of his people as possible."

"And how do we do that?"

"We flush them out."

Nero tilted his head. "Huh?"

"Create panic." Frides explained.

Kota was in his office when a man ran up and burst through the door. "There's a fire! All of the shops are going to burn."

"I could give a damn about the merchants. Secure our merchandise at any cost." He got up and walked to a cabinet next to his desk with a wooden staff in it.

"That's what we were doing but the uh some of the merchandise got free and are escaping."

Kota whipped his head around. "What?! How? Capture them!!! And call Barbados!"

Nero and Frides ran up the stairs. "I'm sure this is where he should be."

They barged into the room and Kota was standing behind his desk stuffing papers into a bag. "Intruders. It is so hard to find good help."

"It's too late. No one can help you now." Nero slowly walked into the room.

"That's why these days I settle for great help!" Barbados stepped from behind the door and punches Nero through a wall and attacked Frides but he dodged backwards into the hallway.

"I'll take this one, will you be okay?" Barbados didn't take his eyes off of Frides.

Kota spun his wooden staff. "I'm prepared." He opened the door to the room where Nero was flung into.

"You're friends going to die." Barbados said to Frides.

"You should worry about yourself."

Baridos lunged at Frides and missed punching a hole into the wall. "He's definitely going to die, you don't have to die with him. I'll let you go, just run."

Frides moved back and stood up straight then dashed at Barbados slicing through his side.

"You don't understand the situation. If you try to chicken out again, I'll take your head before you can run."

Nero got up and brushed the splinters from his shirt and looked up as Kota walked into the room holding a wooden bow staff.

"How are you alive?"

"How am I alive?" Kota smirked. "Not really the thing you expect the person who tried to kill you to ask."

"You used me and threatened the only person dumb enough to suffer me. I was no more than a weapon to you. You shouldn't be surprised."

"A friend! I was your friend."

"You lie to your friends?" Nero looked around the room and picked up a bronze statue of a dragon.

"I never lied to you. You never asked. I assumed you were too afraid or just didn't care. As your friend, I left it up to you."

Nero put the dragon down. "Is that why you gathered dirt on me. Are you always prepared to blackmail your friends at any moment?"

"I had no plans to use that but like I said, that was told to me freely. Do you actually think you're better than me?"

Nero looked at his bow staff. "What are those things at the end?" He pointed at it.

Kota raised it in front of him and spun it and smiled. "Do you know there is a country where there is no Glow? They have never been conquered. It is the oldest known empire in the world. There is no Glow there."

"When their ships made it to shore none of the soldiers were able to Glow any weapons." He had heard about it in books.

"It's a phenomena where the country itself rejects glow. This staff has a similar effect." Kota reaches into his pocket and pulls out a rock. "When they couldn't defeat them they made a truce. There is a certain metal that comes from there that is very dangerous for any Glow user because it makes Glow very unstable. It's most commonly known for its use in hand cuffs and chaining up criminals. This was all I had of it because the stuffs very expensive. The Peace Corps have monopolized it. I couldn't even get my hands on the stuff. Not even me, not even on the black market. It was given to me as a gift I never thought it would be useful to save my life one day. Pretty isn't it?

"I was sure I pierced your heart."

"My heart just so happens to be the location of the pocket where I keep it. The kind of stupid luck that screams higher power."

Nero Glowed a dagger and stabbed into Kota's chest. "Should have left it there."

He looked down and saw the end of the dagger had disappeared and before he could recover, the staff that Kota was holding spun and bashed Nero in the side of his head.

Koa pulled his shirt over his head revealing a shining black chain mail knit toed under garment. "After our little run in, I had it made, along with this little thing. Now I don't need anyone's help. I can protect myself."

Nero got up on his fists. "Ha. That kinda hurt more than usual."

"No not yet." Kota charged at Nero. Nero tried to Glow a weapon, but Kotas staff broke through it and bashed Nero on the head and he flew into a shelf in the corner of the room.

Nero pushed the shelf off of him. "Fuck that's annoying." Nero wiped at the blood that ran down the side of his head.

"Why me? This was no coincidence. My goals must be so important to the plan that the stars have planned out in the sky that fate stepped in."

"Wow! You've lost it." Nero dashed at Kota and he swung his staff again and Nero dodged it. Then he Glowed a staff.

"You never learn, your Glow can't pierce these chains."

"What about that humongous ego sized head of yours?" Nero bashed him square on the mouth busting his lip wide open and shattering his jaw.

Frides dodged Barbados' ferocious attacks as he tore apart the building or at least the parts that weren't on fire.

Barbados pulled his fist out of yet another wall. "What are you doing?"

"Stalling while he kills your boss."

"You seem more sure that he's going to kill him than me killing you."

"You can't kill me." Frides looked at Barbados shoulders as he struggled through haggered breaths. "It's not possible."

Barbados leaned forward trying to catch his breath. "Are you saying you can kill me."

Frides frowned. "Of course I can." Frides attacked him more and more ferociously cutting him from head to toe dodging Barbados' sloppy swings.

"See, I was stalling as well but your attitude is pissing me off. I'm sure your friend..."

"He's not my friend." Frides yelled.

"Whatever. I'm sure he's going to kill him but before that happens i'm going to get you to stop playing around. I can tell you're holding back. I can't tell what it is but I'll make you show me." Barbados cornered Frides. Frides looked back and to his surprise he was genuinely tricked by this man. Frides got frustrated for a moment. Barbados quickly gained control and feinted. Frides swung to attack Baridos' throat and instead of guarding his throat he attacked more fiercely. Frides pulls back and shallowly cut his throat. Barbados landed a back kick into Frides' side making him slam into the wall.

"Your not trying to kill me. I thought about it. If I had my opponent off guard the way you had me, then the only reason he'd be alive, is if I wasn't trying to kill him." Frides got up off the ground and coughed up blood. Barbados looked down at Frides and grinned. "I don't want to kill you but if you don't take me seriously, I won't pull my final blow."

Frides stood up and bounced off of the walls. Barbados put up his guard struggling to keep track of his movements. Frides landed behind him. Barbados haulered and blood squirted in his face. Frides turned around and was holding the mans hands.

The Barbados dropped to his knees screaming in agony.

"I don't have to kill you for this fight to be over." He threw the mans hands at his feet.

"My daughter. How will I ever hold her again."

A shock went through Frides' body. "I'm sorry." Barbados sobbed. Frides gave Baridos his hands. "I cant do it but If you hurry, there might be a doctor who can help you."

Baridos looked up at Frides. "Who are you?"

Nero walks over to Kota mumbling something through his broken jaw. "Oh must've broke your jaw, Let me get a little closer so I can...Here you go." He leaned down.

"It's not over." Kota grunted.

Kota pulled a dagger out of his sleeve and attempted to stab him. Nero caught his wrist and squeezed so hard Kota let it go. Nero grabbed it and stabbed Kota in the throat.

"Yes it is." Nero got up and pulled a chair over. "And to make sure, I'm going to wait until you take your last breath."

Kota gargled blood for a moment and tried to take the dagger out of his throat. Nero pulled it out and used it to slit his throat all the way open. Nero looked down at him and threw the dagger across the room. Kota tried to stop the bleeding by pressing his hands over the gaping hole in his neck.

Nero sat back in his seat. "That should do it."

Kota scowled as Nero watched him and as he took his last breath he spit blood in Neros' lap then his head tilted back. His hands slid away and the fire in his eyes faded.

Frides walked into the room and looks around the room. He had seen death in many forms but he found this exceptionally gruesome and cruel. "Can we leave now?"

"AAhhhh!" Nero fumbled over and scooted to the wall. "Shit that was scary! How long have you been there?"

Frides rolled his eyes. "Stop being stupid. I just got here."

"So did you kill that other guy?"

"What does it look like? Can you stop making small talk this place is on fire!"

Nero looked back at the hallway, which was on fire. "Oh yeah. Let's go out the window."

Nero and Frides jumped out of a window from a burning building.

Frides and Nero walked around some bushes and found Urs cuddled up in some bushes. Nero reached down and untied the rope from the bushes. "Sorry we had to leave you out here, Urs. We had to start a fire. Not the right place for a growing Domaku."

"How'd you know she wouldn't try to escape?"

"I just gave her our food." Nero pointed to a bag next to the tree. "Oh shit she ate it all."

"Even the food Lyra cooked?" Nero turned around and gave Frides a devilish grin. "Oh shut it. I didn't want us to be starving again because of your bottomless stomachs."

"We can go back if you want?"

"No we can't. Not anymore. So where to next?"

Nero smiled and pet Urs on the head. "Now the real fun begins." He handed Frides his bag and slowly curled Urs into his bag and slung her over his back.

"That is not an answer."

"Follow me buddy, We're going to....."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading!