Kingdom Fallen

Volume 1 Part 11: Focus

His ear-wrenching scream echoed through the alleys and clutched on to his hand that was still dripping blood

A bright smile appeared across my face as I excitedly put the bow down. I had done it, I had finally shot the arrow, though it was nothing compared to Mister's. It still made me tingle with excitement; however, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. That sense of power and strength were nowhere to be found

"Hey don't get distracted!" I heard a yell from behind me

There was someone running up towards me quickly. Thanks to him, I had snapped out of my dazed and remember the urgency of the situation. The duo had barely gotten Bethany in the bag so uninjured one ran with her over his shoulder, her legs hanging out of the bag as he ran along with the injured guy trailing behind still clutching his hand with the arrow still lodged inside

I chased them moving as fast as I could as we tore down the streets making sharp turns as they tried shaking me off. Though it was impossible to do that, even without my golden eyes, it was easier than ever to track them as they had a trail of blood flowing wherever they went

It seemed the duo had caught on to this as well so the injured on came to a stop and turned to face me while the other continued down the road. This was a dilemma as he was already nearing the exit of the town so if I were to stop and deal with the injured one then he would probably get away and if I tried to ignore him then the injured one would attack me. I had no idea what to do then maybe I had wasted the arrow early. If I had shot for his head, then maybe I wouldn't have to worry about it....Maybe

"Hey, you're zoning out again," I heard the same voice now right beside me

"The hell? Who are you?" I asked surprise he had managed to reach that close to me

"Not important right now. We have to catch up to them," he said

"Oh yeah, you're right," I said looking straight ahead

"Okay, you take the one up ahead and I'll go after the other one," he said as he began running past me

"What?" I said bewildered. This stranger was faster than I expected. I watched as his back vanish into the distance. He made it to the injured man who prepared to grab him; however, the person used a fancy foot movement to easily dodged his hand with effortless grace as if there was nothing there.

Wow, it had left me amazed as I had never seen anything like that before and thanks to my golden eye it would be stuck in my mind forever.

"The hell," the man said as he realized that he didn't hit anything, He tried looking back to see if he could capture him again however that person had long made distance between the two of them. Seeing this as an opportunity to strike, I tried to dash faster into range and with all the strength I had I jumped, timing my attack perfectly for when he turned to look back at me it was just in time for my fist to connect directly. That was my full forced punch and once it connected it sent the fully grown man flying back six feet landing flat on his back

"WHAT!! THE!! f**k!!" the man yelled bewildered as he struggled to get to his feet while trying to fix his jaw.

Now I had finally got a good look at the man, he stood at one hundred and seventy-seven cm (5'8") and weighed about the average of a man his height. He wore dark clothing and had a really unremarkable face. He was average looking from his dirty brown hair to his standard lumberman's shoe. Truly someone who could be easily forgotten

"Which son of a b***h snuck up on me," the man said looking around frantically

"It was me" I proudly said

"A f*****g kid?" he cursed before bursting into laughter

"You've got to be f*****g kidding me," he laughed hysterically

"What's so funny?" I glared at him

"Listen kid, I don't got time to be playing with brats. Run along, I'mma about to become a thousand silver richer," he let out hearty laughed before winching in pain

"Where are you taking Bethany?" I asked

"If you are talking about the bar-wench then it is none of your business. Shouldn't a child like you be sleeping? Run along while I'm still being nice," he said and I grit my teeth in anger

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where Bethany is," I said raising my bow once again

"Wait, a damn minute. Were you the one that f*****g shot me?" he cursed with his face tweaking in anger

"Tell me where she is," I repeated my demand as I took my final arrow from my shoe

"I would worry about yourself, you f*****g brat," he cursed as he angrily pulled the arrow from his hand. Blood gushed out and it was clear he was in pain. I'm not sure if he was trying to be intimidating, but it really wasn't. So, while he wasted his time with theatrics, I loaded my bow with another arrow

"I am going to ask you one more time, where are you taking Bethany?" I asked

"And if I don't tell you? What you gone do? Shoot me?" he jeered as he took a step towards me. With that step I pulled back the bowstring

"Have you ever killed before kid?" he asked and I didn't answer.

"I can see it in your eyes. You don't got it in you. Look at you; your hands are shaking. You've never had to kill anything before," he mocked, and honestly, he was right. I had never taken a life and even the thought of killing a poor innocent rabbit was overbearing for me

"There's a first time for everything," I said after tightening my grip on the bow

"You're damn right kid," he laughed before his laughter turned into a cough and blood came out

"There's always a first time when it comes to killing an innocent and it's always justified," he said

"I'd never kill an innocent. You on the other hand are not innocent," I glared, now determined to finished the job

"You're damn right kid," he said as he then took out his shirt tossing it to the ground. My eyes had never left his body so I had gotten a full view of his torso. There was a large bruised X shaped scar stretching all the way across his body and in the center of that X a black hideous hole as if he had been pierced and it spiraled like the projectile had been twisted before violently pulled out. It was gruesome and staring at it made me want to throw up. That would be an image burned in my mind forever

"You see this kid? This is what happens to innocent people," he said stepping a bit closer

"What happened to you?" I asked

"What happens to every young man. You get taken from your home to fight against beast calling themselves human. You risk your mind, body, your heart and your dreams! All so you can die and get buried in some unmarked grave on the battlefield somewhere if you're lucky. And if you're unlucky you get to return home with a whooping ten silver coins for severance. Ten coins, just barely enough to pay for medicine...just medicine of course. How you eat? Where you live? Who gives a f**k, right? They just f**k up your life. Your parents are dead, your girlfriend is married to some geezer, you have to work at the f*****g lumbermill and of course all that does is make you worse so the next you know you're back for that f*****g medicine," he cursed

Every word he rambled on about felt like a hammer beating against my nine-year-old chest. I had no idea what he was talking about as I was just a kid, one that hadn't even been sociable before. This had sent my mind in a confused spiral so I hadn't even noticed until it was too late. I felt my bow fly rapidly out of my arms before I snapped back to reality. The man was now in front of me stretching his arm out to grab me. I tried to jump back so that I would be out of his reach, however I was too slow. He grabbed my throat and lifted me into the air with his uninjured hand

"s**t like that really washes away the f*****g innocence, don't you think?" he mocked as he continued to squeeze tighter until my vision started to blur. Everything was getting dark rapidly