King of The Land

Act 3

It was a bright day, and the sun basked in glory as it stood at the center of the world, offering its sunshine across amidst a fully packed arena. The crowd had gathered to see this wonderful once in a lifetime event.

The Princess sat in a closed compartment, and was told she must watch the games herself as to not insult tradition, and she did.

The warriors soon stepped forth. There were too many to count and they came in all sizes and shapes. Some had muscles and their faces were covered by scars, while others stood at nearly seven feet tall. They were called giants, who held a battle hammer, and then there were noble sons who were dressed in expensive armor. You could tell them by the way they had prepared their hair.

Then, there stood among them, a man that seemed normal. He had darting blue pupils that sat his eye pockets, and was short. He had wavy black hair. His name was Zayden, and from the first glance, he knew that he had literally no chance at victory.

“Look at our competition,” a warrior said, as he spat on the ground. He moved towards Zayden. “Are you lost, little girl?” he taunted.

“Brute strength is not all that determines a battle,” Zayden replied. He then smirked and pointed at him. “But I'm sure someone like you won't understand.”

One of the giants stepped closer to him. “You . . . are smart, I like you,” the giant said. “My name . . . Keltus, nice eating you.”

“Eating me?” Zayden gawked, as he took a few steps backwards.

“Sorry, I meant meeting you. Why are you here?” Keltus asked.

“My village,” Zayden replied. He could see that his answer took Keltus by surprise. “It's a very poor village, and they could use the exposure just from me being in this tournament.”

“But you will die,” Keltus said.

“It's not a problem. If my death, will cause even one person to eat for another day, then I do not mind it,” he said.

“I like you. I keep you safe,” Keltus said, as he smiled and stood next to Zayden.

Zayden looked at the giant as if he was a watchtower, but he was moved by his words, although he would be vigilant, he wouldn't know what would happen once the signal to commence the tournament is given.

And it wasn't long before they had the signal, one of the advisors stood up. “Good people of the lands, I salute you,” he said before he took a bow. “Today and for your pleasure only, the Princess will wed the winner, further proving that anyone may rise to be King, even if they are from humble roots. Let the games . . . begin.”

As soon as he finished that word, swords, daggers went flying across the battle field. First, all the thugs worked together to kill off all the nobles, perhaps it was envy, or rather something else, but they despised them. And having them all on that arena seemed too good to be true.

The battle dragged on, the nobles fell to the swords of the commoners one by one, and when there was no one left to unite against, they turned on each other. Back stabbing seemed to be one of their deadly traits.

Zayden, was smart and he avoided any contact up until then, he managed to hide away and dwell within the arena. The others were busy butchering each other and did not take note of him and Keltus, who was providing cover for him.

Hours passed as if sand in an hourglass, and the bodies soon began to pile up and cover almost the entire arena. Princess Nura, was a stranger to these wild instincts, and she didn't know what made her feel worse, the fact that soon one of those would be called King, or the fact that she would be the one wedding them.

All but four warriors remained standing. Keltus and Zayden included. Up to that point, they have done great at avoiding battle and fought only when they had no alternative, and that proved to be working quite well.

But the other two, were fully tainted in the blood of the others they slaughtered. The crowd cheered them on as if they were witnessing their most favorite sport but that was not it. It seemed that the two fighters enjoyed the process.

As each eyed down the other, they began clashing and the sound of swords colliding left and right rang anew in the ears of Zayden, who at this point began to tremble where he stood. Would that both of these warriors fall, mean that he has to fight a giant?

Keltus knelt towards Zayden, and his giant face wore a warm smile that covered the entire view of Zayden.

“Don't worry . . . Zayden, I will not hurt you,” he said.

Zayden, exhaled in relief. He felt beauty in the giant's words, ones that sent a chill down his spine, but he knew he could trust in them. So far, his giant friend did protect him from many attacking enemies, but would the temptation stand?

Then, and in a blink of an eye, Zayden stood in silence, as his eyes grew wider and bigger than the blue horizon. The expression on Keltus's face suddenly changed. Blood came dripping down from his nose, as he fell on the ground, a cold corpse.

A sword was stuck to the back of his head, and a warrior was rushing to Zayden's sight. He had taken out the other fighter, and struck the giant when he was distracted.

“Come out, little girl. Remember me?” the warrior said, as he smirked. His face was covered completely in red this time. He paused at the giant's body, and picked up his sword. “The name's Aligus, nice to meet you,” he said before he took a bow.

“You only do that at the beginning, you moron,” Zayden said.

Aligus took a few steps back. “Well, excuse me if I don't know good manners. I should learn soon, seeing as I'm gonna be the next King!” he said before he burst into laughter.