“The blade,” the Elder said, pointing with his nose, “is made of granite.”
Esh made an audible ‘woah’ sound as he let his finger tap it. He had never seen granite before, only heard of it. Apparently, the king’s entire castle was made of granite, from his furniture to his outhouse. It was by far more beautiful than Esh had ever imagined for it held different blotches of Green mixed with darker shades of grey.
“This granite is special, however. Your mother knew better than anyone that granite was by far too heavy to be wielded, but she used her elemental sorcery to inject millions of tiny air bubbles into the granite, making it nimbler than any other sword it’s size.”
“Where does the cold come from?” Esh asked.
The Elder looked at him as if he were crazy. “What do you mean?”
“You know, when you grab it and then your body gets all cold. Don’t you feel it?”
The Elder sheathed the weapon and held it out in front of him once more. He tilted his head and then stared blankly at nothing. “No lad, I sure don’t.”
“Then why do I?” Esh desired to hold the sword once more.
“Your mother or father must have put a special charm on it… Especially for you.”
“Let me see it! Let me see it!” Esh said, jumping up and down.
The Elder shook his head and put the sword even higher up on the wall. “No, no, no. You’re already lucky I don’t whip you for sneaking around my home. Now get in your bed,” he said, walking to his own.
17 - The Rektops
The next morning’s training was more brutal than Esh was ready for. They began before breakfast and he was handed one of the large bo staffs which turned out to be just a piece of hollow pipe. He was taught a few slashing moves which was just making a simple X shape with the tip of the bo before he was thrown into the action.
“Move your feet, lad!” the Elder would say, charging at him with a very dramatic thrust. Esh would try to move but would still get hit in the gut or the side.
“Your weapon is your arm, your limb! If you drop your weapon you lose an arm and losing an arm merits punishment.”
Esh didn’t know what the Elder was talking about until his bo was flung from his hand across the room.
“Come here, lad,” the Elder said, waving him over with his fingers. “Give me your arm.”
Esh extended his arm and it was slapped hard with the Elder’s pipe bo. He fell to the ground in agony holding his arm thinking it might be broken.
“Get up! Again!”
Esh stood with one foot, gritting his teeth in anger. Instead of running to his weapon he attacked the Elder’s legs but it was easily dodged and he was hit over the face with the butt end of the bo.
“How pathetic. Go grab your weapon!”
The Elder lifted the bo over his head to bring it back down but was met with a face full of sand.
“Ahh!”
Esh crawled between the Elders legs, his head accidentally hitting his balls.
“Oomph!”
The Elder fell to his knees now holding his groin. Esh grabbed his bo and pointed it at his head.
“That was some cheap move,” the Elder groaned. With a snap of motion, the Elder palmed the tip of Esh’s bo and pushed it directly into his solar plex, removing all the air from Esh’s body and sending him again to the ground.
“Two notes. Great job on the cheap tricks. As you can see,” the Elder said, catching his breath, “they work. Note number two, always finish the job or be prepared to be finished yourself.” He cracked the bo over Esh’s head one more time before saying, “Time for work.”
His mentor allowed him to rest his face in the sand while the pain subsided. He wanted to cry but was too embarrassed to let the Elder see his tears.
As they worked through the heat of the sun-cycle the Elder would allow Esh to ask questions when no one was around. Esh asked how the Order recruited its members.
“Well it’s easier than you’d think. We keep our ears open for humanoids who have been used and abused by this tyrannous system of ours. Some of our recruits actually have found us just by asking around and our agents hearing them. You also wouldn’t believe how many prisoners are jailed for the slightest slights against the king. These prisoners often beg to join our cause.”
Looking back, the orphanage had seemed like a lot more like a prison rather than a place for children to grow up in. There was less freedom in the orphanage than there was in the real world.
By the time the sun-cycle had ended it was time to go back to the hut.
“Now the real work begins,” the Elder said as they walked.
“What do you mean?” asked Esh.
“I mean you ate the last of our Rektops meat and now we have nothing for dinner.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
The Elder smiled, “You will see, lad.”
Once they had returned the Elder took Esh by the shoulder and brought him to a blank wall in the corner of the room. “Time for a new surprise,” he said.
He leaned his head to the wall and let out a deep breath. The dungeon began to tremble as the wall turned itself on an axis. Slowly, the wall creaked open sending dust and sand everywhere. A whole new room was revealed, a sort of chamber that was lit by some artificial sun that spun itself on an axis in the center of the room.
Esh’s mouth dropped.
“It’s not that special, lad,” the Elder said walking into the room. “Come on, you got to be fitted.”
Esh followed him but couldn’t help but stop and stare at all the weird things that were placed around the room. To his right was a large cabinet lined with jars of dead species he had never seen. To his left was a large flat table in which heavy duty straps crossed over in order to keep someone from moving.
“Is this for torturing humanoids?” Esh asked, pointing at the chair.
“Something like that,” replied the Elder casually, waving his hand in dismissal.
Behind the chair was a circular table with a large map of Reah over it. Another ripped map was connected to it and he guessed by the Green color that it was a map of Vivreon. Across each map were tiny little carved figurines that must have been used to create different tactics.
“Over here, lad.”
Esh looked up and his mouth dropped once again. The Elder stood by a massive suit of pitch black eco-armor with a dagger attached to each hip. The suit was complete with a hood and a tunic which had both been shredded by what Esh figured to be the scars of past battles.
“Is this the armor the agents wear? Like in the story?” Esh asked, barely able to contain his excitement.
“Yes, your father wore something very similar to this design. You see these vents?” the Elder asked, pointing to two fat cylindrical tubes sticking out of the back of each shoulder. “These either heat or cool the wearer depending on his or her body temperature. And the material itself is very light and is made to endure tough terrains.
Esh ran his hand over the chest plate and down the arms. He pulled at the material and it stretched surprisingly far. It was then that a random question popped into his head.
“What type of sorcery are you able to use?” he asked.
“Well that should have been obvious when I took control of your body the other sun-cycle. I am a sorcerer of control.”
“But I thought you said you weren’t very good at manipulating sorcery?”
“Enough talk about me, lad, we got work to do.” This was what he always said when he didn’t want to talk about something.
The Elder turned and walked to a large desk in the corner of the room that was covered in different types of dirty tools and stray screws. Parts began to fly over his shoulder as he dug through the mess when he finally lifted out a large piece of string. “Here we are.” He walked back to Esh and yanked his arm out. He used the string to measure every part of his body, grunting each time he got a measurement. He let the string drop to the floor and he walked to the other side of the roo
m, this time to another desk which was covered in different parts of armor. “This ought to work.” He threw a piece of metal over his shoulder on to the ground. This went on for a while. The Elder would say something under his breath and throw another piece of armor into a pile on the floor.
“Done!” he exclaimed, turning back to Esh. “Come ‘ere, lad. Try these on.”
This is the moment Esh had been waiting for. He grabbed the first piece he saw and shoved it onto his forearm.
“No, no, no, that’s for your shin!”
“Oh,” Esh said embarrassed. He slipped it off and pulled it over his foot. A perfect fit!
It was a very long time before Esh was fully fitted. He felt a lot heavier and a lot bulkier now as if he were two times the size. And he was. The armor was slow and each of his movements took a lot more energy than he was used to.
“How’s that feel?” the Elder asked.
“Horrible. I thought it would make me faster and stronger.” He tried lifting his arm into the air but only made it a few inches.
“Well that makes sense. This set of armor is ancient compared to the one your father used to wear.”
“Why can’t I wear the set like the one on the wall?”
“Firstly, you would never get any stronger if I just gave you the easy route,” the Elder said, walking over to the wall and beginning to suit up. “Secondly, I’m not sure you noticed but that suit is double your height.” It took the Elder a quarter of the time to suit up. When he was finished he stood up straight with a sigh of relief. All signs of his age had vanished. Esh stood there in shock. Before him was no longer the Elder trash worker. No, before young Esh was a conditioned warrior, his long grey hair hanging over the black metal chest plate. The Elder flexed his hands and let them rest on the hilt of the two matching daggers on his waist.
“Woah…” Esh Gasped. “You look… awesome… Oh! How do I look?”
“Look for yourself, lad.” The Elder pointed to a mirror on the wall that Esh had previously not noticed.
His purple hair was long and landed over his chest plate just like the Elder’s did. His face was dirty but handsome in his opinion although his cheeks were a bit sunken in. He could also see why everyone treated him so differently for his eyes were not a dull purple, but they shined brightly in their sockets. He touched his ears and was surprised to see how pointed they actually looked rather than felt. He bobbed his head to see if they bounced but they were too taut.
The Elder walked up behind Esh and put his hands on his shoulders. He tapped Esh’s ears, “Ahh, a gift from your mother.”
“Did… Did hers look like these?”
“Sort of, but hers were taller.”
Esh let out a breath through his already opened mouth. He played with his ears a bit more before running a finger down his jaw, a jaw that looked to already be taking a chiseled form. All in all, he still looked like a hungry orphan.
“Don’t get to use to the lad that you see there. I’d give you three months before you see a whole new you.”
Although the armor was extremely heavy and awkward, it looked to be a perfect fit, forming snuggly to Esh’s body. The Elder handed him a tunic and he tried to throw it over his shoulder but failed. After a few tries he got it right and with the help of the glass he was able to strap it on to each of his shoulder pauldrons. He threw the hood over his head and smiled.
“Time to get to work!” exclaimed the Elder, knocking on Esh’s head with his knuckles. “Stop goggling and let’s get going.”
“I don’t think I’m ready!” Esh said, already feeling fear build up in his gut. “I’ve only been training for one sun-cycle!”
“Nobody’s ever ready for their first Rektops experience.”
Esh tried to hide his lack of courage but his shaking hands gave him away. He’d only ever seen Rektops sketches in the various books at the library with each depicting it as a monster from the four hells. Yet, he couldn’t help a feeling of excitement and wonder fill his head. He had never hunted for anything in his life! Well… he hadn’t done much of anything in his life before.
“What can I do to help?” Esh asked as the Elder was getting the rest of his gear together.
“Oh you? You have the most important job of all!” The Elder flattened a three pronged trap and placed it in a bag.
“And what’s that?”
“Well, you’re the bait! Oh but don’t worry, you’re in good hands.”
The Elder’s words didn’t make Esh feel any better. “Well what did you use for bait before you got me?”
“Myself of course, but that wasn’t too fun.”
The Elder turned Esh around and began pushing him out the exit. The wall turned and closed behind them.
They climbed out of the hole and Esh followed the Elder in the direction of the Igneous Plains. The moon-cycle of the sun was out and there was no one out on the streets. He began to think that the moon-cycle was just the beginning of an ordinary sun-cycle for an assassin. When did these humanoids sleep?
They walked for what felt like ages. Esh was finding it harder to stay awake as time passed. His eyes would droop and so would his shoulders. Sometimes he would awake from a standing doze to find that the Elder was a hundred or so feet ahead of him. The moon side of the sun shone brightly tonight, its beam reflected off all the dried magma sending tunnels of light in random directions.
Esh looked out far into the distance. His half elvish eyes made it possible for him to see a little better at night than the full blooded Reahlics. The land of Reah would have been completely flat and boring if it wasn’t for the dark outline of Gurgamosh sticking way up into the sky.
This was the second time he had stepped foot out of the city of Zel in his entire life, and so he used this time to marvel at the massive form that was Gurgamosh, the unknowing slayer of so many humanoids. Not paying attention to where he was going, he ran straight into the Elder, whom didn’t seem to notice.
The Elder coned his hands in front of his mouth and started to make maniacal yelling noises. Esh couldn’t help but laugh but stopped when the Elder gave him a stink face meaning to shut up.
He continued his crazy calls until a humongous roar responded out in the distance. Esh automatically felt like he needed to urinate. “What the four hells was that?”
“The call? Well it’s a mixture of--,”
“No!” Esh hissed, “Wuh-was that the Rektops? It doesn’t sound too happy!”
“But it is! Can’t you tell? It’s horny!”
Again, the Elder didn’t make Esh feel any better. He’d rather be eaten than what the Rektops had in mind.
“You! Go over there,” the Elder said, pointing out in front of him. There were no landmarks and Esh gave him a confused look. “Just start walking!” The Elder pulled out a large contraption from his pack and placed it softly onto the ground.
Esh put a shaky leg out in front and then another. He had been more brave back in the dungeon and wished he were back in his bed getting sleep for the next sun-cycle of trash pick-up. But here he was.
“What the hell are you doing!” he heard the Elder whisper. “Keep going! You’re too close to me, lad!”
Esh looked back at him and started to wonder if he hadn’t been the first young humanoid to fall for this trick. Maybe the previous bait had been a previous student who had been stupid enough just like Esh to listen and keep walking.
He forced the thoughts out of his head. This was still much better than being back at the orphanage.
“Okay stay there,” he heard the Elder call.
Esh turned to watch the Elder set up but couldn’t see much. All he could see was a black character moving wildly under the moon-cycle light messing with his different pieces of gear. Then he heard the loud crunching steps in the distance behind him.
“Don’t move!” the Elder warned, but Esh didn’t listen this time. He turned to face his attacker, but once he did he really wish he hadn’t. Out on the dark horizon a gigantic figure was
taking shape, the three arms easily distinguishable and death was moving at an extremely fast rate towards him. Every instinct inside of him was screaming at him to run and to run as fast as possible! The other half of his instincts told him to wet himself.
He did neither and just stood there. The Rektops was closing in on him, its characteristics becoming more and more visible. It came to a sliding halt once it figured out that Esh had not been a female Rektops. Its head raised and the roar made Esh cover his ears. He didn’t need the Elder to tell him that this monster was infuriated by this trickery and was about to commence a death penalty.
It charged, and everything happened in slow motion. The beast was a good ten to fifteen feet tall. Its body was large, long, and hunched over. Its head was the size of Esh’s entire body and its mouth was covered in crooked razor sharp teeth. Its two arms on the sides clenched shut and open as if they were already ripping him limb from limb. None of these attributes, however, were the most dangerous aspect of the Rektops. He remembered reading that it was the third arm over its head that its prey had to look out for. It was connected to its back muscles and was extremely strong. This arm was used for crushing prey while the other two were used for shredding prey.
The beast jumped into the air ready to use its body weight to smash Esh flat. The scaled belly came so close to his face that he could see individual scratch marks from its battles in the past. At the very last possible moment, the Elder threw his trap into the beast’s face. The Rektops fell inches in front of Esh, and the trap unfolded itself effectively blinding the beast and pulling its mouth tightly shut. It started to scrape at the trap with maddening force, using the long spike above each arm to dig into its own face. Cold blood sprayed onto Esh’s terrified face, much of the splatter making it into his mouth.
The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One Page 9