The Cursed Knight (Blue Triangle Series #1)

Along the main road of the Casterfall Kingdom, a competition is being held to choose who among the great warriors from the different villages of the northern kingdom are to become knights. "Warriors, prepare!" Grand Master Tera shouted as 24 participants have lined up in the starting line ready to run for the competition. It was a very loud day and a lot of people from the different places have come to watch the competition of warriors. Arth, a fifteen year old warrior was one of those competitors representing his village, Frostwood. He was trained by the elder in the Frostwood village, Chief Gregor and sent him here to be trained as one of the knights of the Casterfall Kingdom. Every day, the chief trained Arth to be a great warrior and taught him the values a knight must possess so that he can be prepared when the time comes. He believes that this is the time he is waiting for. He has to win this competition to become a knight and receive advanced trainings from the kingdom. The track is far from ordinary as many people think. Starting from the road, they will have to go through the dark woods which are inhabited by tons of beasts. Then, they are to cross the White River which is stated obviously by its name, it is a huge river which is freezing cold and has a powerful current that might drag anyone into the waterfall if he's not strong enough to go against the flow. This will be followed by the rocky mountain; they will have to climb the high mountain which has nothing but only rocks and soil. At the top, an arena is there and the warriors who can make it to the top will fight each other until one remains standing that will be announced as a winner. The warriors who made it into the top of the mountain will be given chance to prove themselves worthy to become a knight and the winner will automatically be pursued to a higher advanced training than the rest. It would be a big advantage to the winner for the bigger competitions to come. "Ready? Warriors begin!" The gunfire shot the air above and that signals the start of the competition. The crowd began to cheer for their representatives. Arth's village has only few members so there isn't much numbers in the crowd to cheer for him. The warriors ran first to the entrance of the dark woods and unsheathed the plain old silver swords that were given by the kingdom for the competitors. The trees in the woods have no leaves but winter white and are as high as each other about 10 meters tall. As the warriors scattered through the woods, they heard the trees shaking as if there were beasts jumping from the branches. Arth was looking straightforward but he can sense the environment around him. He can feel the animals in the trees, in the snow and anywhere he passes by. The chief had trained him how to fight using each of his senses. He remembered one time the chief threw Arth into a well which is pitch black and has a lot of bugs and insects inside and then closed it, but he learned how to fight using my other senses even without his sight. "Stay calm, Arth. A battle cannot be won with anger and rage," his teacher used to say. As he was running, there was a big stone covered with snow on top in his path and he heard something behind that stone. Arth slowed down and went around the rock. He was surprised when he saw a wild boar as big as him which directly turned around to Arth. The eyes of the beast sharpened and started charging towards him. Arth made his stance but there was a problem, the boar was charging too fast and he have not made the right timing to swing his sword. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to dodge so the boar hit his right shoulder. “Aghhh!” Arth cried as he was thrown back into the stone. The sharp horn of the boar wounded his right shoulder. Arth struggled in pain but managed to endure it. He managed to get into his feet. Arth made his stance again and he know exactly where to s***h his sword now, in its front leg. “You won’t get away this time, you damn pig!” he shouted as the horns of the boar was fast approaching towards the direction of his chest and by the time it was about to hit Arth, he ducked, dashed and quickly swung his sword from the right and cut the boar’s front leg. The beast screeched in pain as the bleeding continues. Arth walked towards the boar as it was lying in the ground and crawling. The boar was frightened as it saw blood spilling in the ground. Arth held up his sword with both hands and pierced through its head from above. Blood covered his silver sword. Finally, the boar stopped moving and died. Arth felt already tired because of his wound in his shoulder. He stripped his thick clothes with his sword and tied the wound to stop the bleeding. “I have to get past the woods as soon as possible. It would be very hard for me to go through this if the sun goes down,” Arth told himself. Arth continued his path through the woods when he encountered a tree full of brown snakes about 2 meters in length. The snakes were crawling and rolling through the branches. As they saw Arth, they began hissing loudly and jumped to the ground. Arth stepped backward since they were too many but then he realized, there were also snakes in his back. He was completely surrounded. The snakes crawled and hissed towards him. One of them in the side tried to bite his boots but it was too thick. Arth slashed his sword in to the snake and cut it into half. After swinging the sword, he felt hurt in his right arm because of his wound in his shoulder. He held his shoulder and breathed heavily. The snake died instantly with its blood flowing to the ground. The snakes became angry after seeing that. Arth doesn't know what to do. He has to make it out alive for him to reach the mountain top. The snakes began crawling and were already a meter apart from him and even though he swings his sword so fast to cut them, they are still too many. One snake jumped from the branches in to Arth's right arm and rolled itself. “Get away, you snake!” He grabbed the snake’s body to remove it but he was quickly bitten in his left arm. Arth shrieked as he felt its sharp teeth into his arm. He shouted and with much force, he was able to hold the snake and throw it farther. The pain won't stop but he has to hold it. The poison might take a little long time to spread, long enough for him to get over with these vile snakes. I have to use it. He thought himself. The Grand Master hasn't mentioned that magic cannot be used in this competition. Arth was not really that good with magic himself since he focused on training his physical strength and agility, but he can still use simple elemental spells. In the North, they often use ice elemental spells and magic. Arth was taught by his teacher how to freeze things with the proper spells. Without having second thoughts, he quickly positioned himself to perform a spell. Arth stood and extended his arms with his palms facing towards the snakes; he closed his eyes and did what his teacher told him. "Sheer cold," he called and his hand glowed blue as he can feel the energy towards his hands. A blue wave blasted from his hands and became an ice path. Starting from the snakes near him, the ice path circulated and expanded freezing everything in its path. The snakes became ice blue and frozen. “Hmm… not bad at all,” he felt relieved. In his pocket, he took a potion the chief gave him. In Arth's mind, he recalled what the chief said, ”Use this only when there is an emergency.” He felt grateful for that. After dressing his wound in his left arm, he continued to go through the woods. Arth encountered few distractions along the way such as spiders and insects but he just froze them with his simple ice magic. Finally he saw brightness in the direction and can hear water flowing and splashing. He believed he is near towards the White river. As he stepped out of the woods he can sense a very strong current in the river but he hasn’t felt any coldness in the wind. As he was about to step nearer the water, he stopped. He turned around the woods. “I know you’re there! Come out!” He walked towards the woods and there he saw a figure from the darkness of the woods. “I didn’t expect a less from uncle Gregor’s trainee,” the figure spoke as he became clearer in vision. The figure was another warrior, yellow haired, muscled shoulders and green eyes. He was a bit taller than Arth. He was wearing winter white clothing and black boots. “Bran…” Arth’s face completely changed as he saw him. “You know I’m never going to let you win this competition… I have better plans of having advanced trainings as a knight than you,” Bran said as he pulled his sword in its sheath.