Fate's Reluctant Heroes

In Sumar - Acacius

Acacius dodged a sword stroke as it whizzed past his head. Then he tripped on the rock behind him. “

Now this is where you would be killed, dude. Get it together!” Nicolas encouraged.

Acacius’s dagger wasn’t nearly as good as Nicolas’s sword. Acacius growled in frustration and looked up at him, “Alright, I’m done!”

Nicolas had a disapproving look in his face and was taken aback by Acacius’s abrupt statement.

“Acacius, we’re going on a BOUNTY HUNT That means we’re going to be fighting, and if you want that ten thousand royals, you have to be ready for it, as the money doesn’t come easy man.”

            Acacius stood up and dusted himself off. “A day more of practice won’t help, we’re only an hour away from Sumar. Let’s just go already.”

Nicolas sighed and looked up at the sky, “Alright Acacius, the burned inn is close to the center of the city, so let’s go gather some information.”

They both grabbed their packs and started walking towards the center of the city. They were somewhat silent during the hour walk, with Nicolas cracking the occasional joke at the land or a passerby.

They smelled the inn before they saw it, for even after all this time it still smelled of burning wood and straw. Acacius instantly forgot his frustration earlier in the day and gaped at the destruction before him. There was nothing left of the burned Inn, not an upright board nor a hint of anything here before. It was all just a pile of black ashes.

            There was an older gentleman sweeping the ashes up, and putting them in large buckets. Acacius walked up to him and asked, “What happened here?”

The old man looked up from his task and looked confused, “Ya don’t know? It was some young feller who was hot-headed. Goes by the name of Canicus. This was my inn, and I was one of the few to escape alive. I had to talk to him about threatening customers and all that, but then this Canicus guy got drunk and went to his room. The next morning, all I know was that there was a fire coming out of his room, and my whole inn was burned to a crisp.” He looked back down and kept sweeping robotically.

            Nicolas asked, “Do you know where he went?”

Without looking up again, the old man responded, “I told the guards about it, and a guy with the same description went west. Not sure about where to though.”

Acacius looked to the distance and thanked the man for his time. The pair hurriedly started on the trail west. Acacius knew that this was his opportunity to start changing things. He could get into an honest school with that bounty money, and even buy a home, he thought, for later.

After they left the outskirts of Sumar, they started along the first path west that they saw. Acacius was lost deep in thought when Nicolas suddenly spoke up, “Uhhhhhh, Acacius, what should we do about THAT?”

Acacius looked up, “What?”

 Then he saw it. It was a boy, jet black hair and dark clothes all around. He was pale, but his eyes were dark red. A constant stream of what appeared to be dark shadows leaked off of him.

He looked at them both and shouted, “Stop!! You can’t beat him you know. You have no idea what he’s capable of.”

Acacius thought his voice was a little high pitched for how scary he looked. Acacius responded, “Hey, I don’t know what kind of creepy show you’ve got going on over there, but we know he’s a pretty strong criminal. We don’t need your advice! So, if you would be so kind as to move out of our way…”

Acacius trailed off as he saw a look of anger in the boy’s deep red eyes.

“Fine then...you leave me no choice Acacius.”

Acacius had no idea how the boy knew his name, but that question went to the back of his mind as a dozen black tentacles shot out from the shadow leaking out of the boy.

Acacius jumped, but he was caught by three of the tentacles. Nicolas was much faster to react. He swung his sword, only to have it bounce off the tentacles that shot at him. The tentacles wrapped around Nicolas and he was left dangling upside down.

The boy in black had not so much as moved, but he had incapacitated both of them in an instant. Acacius just dangled with his jaw wide open as he tried to comprehend all of this.

The boy smiled and said, “Now that you’ll listen to me, my name is Nero.”

Acacius observed the boy. He had an arrogance about him, but he also felt that he could back up that arrogance.

Nero held them tightly in those black tentacles of darkness and looked as if he was contemplating something. He then decided to gently place Nicolas and Acacius on the ground.

“You two have no idea what you are getting into. You can’t even beat me, so you have no chance of beating those guys you’re after.”

Nicolas was too shocked to speak, but Acacius was quicker to regain his wits. “Who are you?”

 “As I said, my name is Nero. I have been watching you guys for the past couple of days, and I would like to help you catch the criminals you are after. Because in all honesty, you both really have no power.

“So, I will take it upon myself to get you guys into fighting shape before you go and get yourselves killed.”

Acacius was very interested, but Nicolas was very suspicious, “What’s the catch?”   

Nero looked at him and gave a sly smile, “Half of the reward.”

 “WHAT? No thank you! You would be getting a third of the reward! But that is only if Acacius is okay with you coming along! What do you think man?”

Acacius didn’t know what to say. He had so many questions, but there was one question that burned in his mind above all the others.

“How can you do the little tentacle trick? What are you?”

Nero looked at them both and sighed, “Neither of have powers, and neither of you know anything. Alright, come with me and I’ll explain it to you after we find an inn to stay at here in Sumar.”