512 AV 89th day 3rd Bell 40th chime
It was after midnight, too late for almost anyone to wander, too late for almost anybody to be awake at this hour. ‘Almost’ was the key word here, even at this time there are those who walk the streets of Zeltiva, some because the nature of their work causes them to be awake at this time and others who are awake are just plain odd ‘Who in their right mind would be?’ Thought Zivilist Gott as he walked through East Street, he had ended up with the graveyard shift and as its name implied; was quite quiet and spooky. He had seen a few people about, some heading to some tavern, some to a brothel and some just wandering about as if they had important business to attend to. Other than that, the area was quite as a ghost, if it weren’t for the voices he would occasionally here, such as the sounds of laughter from a tavern or a tavern and the crying of infant children keeping their parents up at night. Still, businesses were open, people wandered even if few and trouble would thus never sleep.
After the passing of another bell, Zivilist had encountered another Wave Guard who was obviously shared his shift. He was a man years younger than Zivilist, perhaps nineteen or twenty years of age, and wore the same Azure Uniform and bared the same Shield that indicated him a member of the Wave Guard. Unlike Zivilist, he wore no armor and was armed only with a short sword to compliment his shield, reasons for that were that the Wave Guard only supplied the uniform and shield; its members had to purchase its own weapons and armor. Along with other factors, it meant that the Wave Guard was mostly a ceremonial force and while they are respected by the citizenry and perform some peacekeeping duties, were mostly made up of regular citizenry with little to no combat experience.
“Mister Gott! I don’t see any problems on my end” Said the young man cheerfully as he saluted Zivilist.
“Er…. You don’t have to salute me Gino, and um…. Can you not call me Mister? I’m not that older than you” Zivilist responded, putting on a light smile as he scratched the back of his head
“Sorry sir- I mean Gott, just trying to be respectful ”
‘Sure, make me feel old while you’re at it’ He said mentally, then outwardly said “In any case, nothing has happened on my end either. Hopefully another quiet night” His eyes wandered around as it looked at the area, a few people had passed them and he gave them curt nods while his ears picked up the sound of a screeching cat.
“Well if it gets any quieter I fear I may doze off, why did they have to put on the Graveyard shift? I only joined three days ago” He complained as he rested his hand on the back of his short sword, Zivilist simply chuckled and took note of the short blade hanging at Gino’s waist. He couldn’t tell if it was new or anything since it was snuggle into a leather sheath.
“Curious about my sword?” Smiled Gino as he drew the blade from its sheath, it looked unused, not having seen sort of use since its purchase “Bought it just a few days ago, was hoping that Guard would supply weaponry but not much to complain about”
“I do hope you’ll learn how to use that, just because we don’t encounter much trouble doesn’t mean we won’t need to actually KNOW how to use the weapon we carry”
“I know that, it’s why I planning to join the Marital Association, they could probably teach me a thing or two to use this blade” He sheathed the blade and placed his hand on the Heavy blue shield “ And probably with this two, it’s not easy carrying this”
“Indeed, it is quite a chore to carry, though ”
“Wish I had an armor like yours though, would be better than just having a piece of metal in one hand and a thin layer of clothing on your body”
“Save up some Nilos and you will soon have one, though to be honest it’s a little heave” He said to his young associate “It took me quite a while to get used to the weight, and it isn’t exactly easy to-“ A scream cut him off, it sounded like the scream of a woman and it was shrill enough that it would have caused ears to bleed if it wasn’t cut short as suddenly as it came. With a hurried run towards its direction and turning around the corner, the two Guardsman saw the scene that lay before them.
Two bodies, one of a middle-aged man, dressed in garb you’d probably see a sailor wearing and the other, a young woman dressed in dress that would make the Goddess of Love blush; then again Zivilist knew almost nothing about the goddess to make that assumption. Standing before the two corpses was an intimidating figure, a human male standing at six gold two silver, his hair was blond, long and wild. He wore a large fur coat that, while it wasn’t noticeable, had small metal plates sewn on the inside. Beneath it was a chainmail shirt that would provide extra protection. Below the waste he was less protected, a simple cloth pants and boots was all there was. What was in his hands were the most important though, in his right he wielded a Broadsword, complete with a basket hilt to protect it while in his left a round, circular shield made of metal that was somewhat smaller than the shields the two Guardsman carried.
The broad sword dripped with blood while stains covered the shield, he looked at the two men who stood before them “Oh dear, you saw my face…Pity” He said not all that concerned whither they saw it or not.
“So what now Wave Guards? Be heroes and take me on, or will you be wise than that and run for reinforcements with tails between your legs?” To say he was terrifying was an understatement, he had just killed two people, seemingly without a care nor reason.
With a large gulp, Ziv drew his rapier and said” Gino?...” Gino was more terrified than Zivilist. It was to be expected “GINO”
Snapping out of his terrified daze, he turned his head to Zivilist and said “Y-yeah?”
“Go and bring reinforcements, we can’t let him escaped justice”
“W-what about you? I don’t think you can take him on”
“Don’t worry about me” In truth Zivilist doubted he could take this foe on by himself, he didn’t know of his skill but the Murderer looked to be quite confidant of his skill “ Just bring in reinforcements, I’ll handle things to the best that I can….Just Go!” With that, and hesitantly, the young Guardsman left to bring reinforcements, leaving Zivilist with a foe whom he didn’t know if he could beat ‘This isn’t the first time I fought someone to the death, doubts aside this shouldn’t be any different’ But it did, thugs and pirates were one thing, but this one looked like a full-fledged warrior and looked terrifying to a fault.
“You know, saying you’ll handle things the best you can tells me you aren’t quite confident in your skills…. Are you saying that your skills are less than mine? Or is your self-esteem just that low? Either way that makes you quite a disappointment along with your foolish bravery” Words had a strength to them, they could be used to charm people and to anger them. Words could build and army or makes foes out of another and right now he was trying to get under Zivilist’s skin.
“Your words don’t work on me you scoundrel” In truth it did, Zivilist was gritting his teeth; he was feeling both anger and fear as he stared down his foe. The Warrior only grinned as he raised his sword and shield, he knew he was under the Guardsman’s skin and he enjoyed it.
“Then show me what you can do with that pointy sword of yours, unless it’s the same as you and the Wave Guard, just for show” Anger was a weakness, a warrior who could not suppress or focus it was likely to lose. Zivilist had lost it as he lunged forward, covering a few feet quickly as he moved, attempting to plunge the tip of the rapier deep into the Warrior. But it was a move done in rage, he didn’t perform properly and the Warrior simply parried the blade with his own and slammed his shield into the Guardsman, bruising his face and pushing him to the ground.
Dazed, Zivilist tried to regain himself but it didn’t seem that he was going to in time to avoid the downward swing of the Warriors Broadsword. But then the warrior was caught off guard by Gino, who had ignored the order and returned for Zivilist, he attempted to stab the Warrior but his lack of skill and the Warriors protective garb foiled that Idea “Brave little lad, aren’t you?” Chuckled the Warrior as he pushed Gino back a bit and swung his blade across Gino’s torso, a deep gash across his body that mean certain death as he lied there in a puddle of his own blood.
“G-Gino! NO!” Shouted Zivilist as he stood up, he had now lost a comrade and felt like the world was ending all around him, he turned his head to the warrior who simply smiled and shrugged and like suddenly like a cat pouncing upon a rat swung his blade, forcing Zivilist to raise his shield and block it. His swings were hard and heavy as Zivilist could feel the impact reverberate throughout his arm and into his body. If he kept blocking it like this he would certainly suffer a broken, when he swung his blade again Zivilist attempted to swing his Shield arm in order to parry his blade and stab him through the abdomen but the Warrior brought up his own shield and knocked the blade aside then brought his Broadsword down, forcing Zivilist to raise the shield above his torso, but this allowed the Warrior to kick him in the stomach and then to slam his shield into Zivilist and knock him down again
“that was better now Friend but-“
“Halt!”
“Whoopsy, best that I leave now, bye bye friend” He laughed as he ran away from the other Guardsman, he ran away quite easily in fact. A few Gaurdsman gave chase but they had no hope in catching him, a couple stayed behind and examined the condition of their Comrades, hoping that it wasn’t a complete loss.
“I-is Gino…..?” Spoke Zivilist weakly, blood was dripping from his nose and forehead, some of it entering his eye. The Guardsmen looked at his other comrade who knelt before Gino….and closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry…” Zivilist didn’t hear him as he lost Consciousness, but in the end….at least one guardsman survived, at least….. that’s a good thing right? |
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