“Say something?” Axyl finally let out.
Nothing. He just kept pacing.
Axyl went on. “With Taharqa being your father, it means you are also half-Vakin, and you may have some unique abilities that come along with that. Have you ever changed into a Vakin before? We have devices and magicks that help us stay in this form.”
Bakari finally stopped. “Changed as in transformed into what you are? No, not to my knowledge.” At this point, Axyl just stopped talking to see if Bakari would say anything at all. Still nothing. Time quickly started catching up with them as the sun went down and darkness overtook the skies.
“Okay, first, I don’t really know what you are yet, but how would I go about turning into one of you essentially?”
“Out of all of that information, tha’ts the first question you have to ask?” Axyl sounded confused.
“Yes?”
He is still a twenty-two year old young man. Axyl dragged his hand across his face. “I don’t know exactly how you would do it but I know a lady who could help us figure that out when the time comes…” Axyl trailed off when a loud howl in the distance, “Stay quiet, we have visitors.”
“We have to move!” Axyl had an edge to his voice, getting up from the chair swiftly and going to glance out the front window. “There's too many of them for me to fight by myself, with you here. We will have to make a run for it.”
Bakari hit the floor and crawled to a nearby window. “I don’t see anything.”
“Your eyes aren’t trained well enough to see the distances I can see. I count fourteen Crocs and three Redborn. Let's move.” Axyl ran out the door that Bakari had entered in and began sprinting through the backyard into the mass of trees. Running so fast, he realized Bakari wasn’t at all physically fit. He had to drastically slow down to keep Bakari close to him. “We won’t outrun them like this. We’ll need a diversion.” Axyl said as he slowed to a brisk jog. Bakari panted as he tried to keep up with Axyl’s earlier sprint. He didn’t want to say much as he tried to catch his breath.
“Okay.” was all he could get out.
“Here, I’ll be a diversion while you run. I will catch up to you. Just keep running, no matter what.” Axyl said, stopping in the middle of a dense population of trees and raising fog. There was a spot which looked as if it was recently dug up. Axyl smiled as he quickly dug a small hole until a golden blue hilt gleamed through the dirt. “Hey, old friend. I am in need of your assistance once again.” He mumbled as he grabbed the sword and tied it to his waist.
“They’ve closed in fast, start moving.” He said calmly, feeling at ease with his sword now with him. “It’s going to get dangerous for you real fast. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I'll try to make it easier. Until then… run!” Axyl heard the footsteps in the distance getting closer. He ripped off the chain he was wearing, causing his fur to cover his skin, his form physically changing, and his eyes reverted back to their normal state. He let out a loud howl that could have been heard for a two-mile radius. Bakari, walking backwards, was stunned by Axyl’s wolf-like features. Ayxl had a smile on his face as he looked back to make sure Bakari was still moving. He looked so human, but yet so wolf-like, His hands and feet were bigger, but his frame was the same. Bakari could even see a resemblance of his dreads within the fur on the top of his head.
The first Redborn reached Axyl. Axyl moved so quickly that Bakari couldn’t believe what he had seen when Axyl impaled his sword through his leathery skin with precision and force. He had the perfect balance of strength and speed, and from the looks of it Axyl yearned for the fight as if he was enjoying it. It was like looking at someone with pure bloodlust in that instance. Turning around and finally blasting into a full sprint, Bakari was cut off by another Redborn that had stopped him in his tracks. Bakari stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do. His heart beat fast and his breathing picked up quickly as the Redborn took a step towards him. Axyl, in a blur, threw a small dagger through the thick of his skull, and bent down so the Redborn fell on his sword.
“GO!” he yelled in a deep edgy voice staring at Bakari before quickly moving back through the trees.
Bakari took off as fast as he could, not looking back as he heard the blood shed and screaming in the distance. Into the darkness he went, not stopping for anything.
6
Running aimlessly into the mountains, Bakari had finally reached his limits. He fell over near a tree and tried to gather his energy, but it didn’t work. At the very moment he stopped, he realized he couldn’t take anymore. He was exhausted. With the adrenaline ceasing to pump throughout his body, he finally noticed the pain coming from his ankle. He looked down to notice it was swollen and hard to move. Trees and darkness in every direction, he couldn’t see anything in the distance. The only sound he heard was the sound of the forest, and his heart beating profoundly. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, he finally heard something: footsteps. Hearing the footsteps among the trees, he tried to stand up but any more movement resulted in pain.
“Axyl?” He mumbled to the trees.
Nothing.
“Who’s there?”
Again nothing.
He searched the ground for anything that could be used as a weapon, and came across a tree branch that was sticking out the ground. He took deep breaths before pulling it with all the energy he could muster. Pain jolted throughout his whole body almost causing him to go unconscious. His breathing was still sporadic.
“Who’s there?” He yelled into the trees, out of breath.
Nothing again as the footsteps went silent. Bakari scanned left and right as he leaned his back up against a tree. Nothing stuck out, and nothing was visible to him besides the trees. The footsteps picked back up, but at a slower pace as they came towards Bakari. He pointed his branch in the direction that the footsteps were coming from. Finally, a dark brown wolf came out of the trees in a slow, prey-stalking manner. It stopped a few feet in front of Bakari, staring into his eyes and letting out low snarls as Bakari waved his stick in front of it.
“Get back! Go! Get!” Bakari desperately shouted, hitting the ground, trying to scare the wolf off. Nothing was working as it just stood there, unmoving. Bakari then tried a passive approach and set the branch down on the ground and put up shaking hands. The wolf stopped snarling, and hid its fangs from Bakari. At that moment the wolf didn’t appear to be a friend or foe, but someone that was passing through and just happened to run into Bakari.
It lay down in front of Bakari, confusing him, but at this moment he wasn’t being eaten so he didn’t mind. Still, as it looked at Bakari with those fury golden eyes, it sent chills throughout Bakari’s body, his heart racing. For the first time in Bakari’s life, he was too tired to question the logic behind something. He didn’t even care why the wolf was there. He just wanted to survive, and rest.
With time moving effortlessly and the wolf still not moving, Bakari struggled to keep his eyes open. Every blink became longer and longer with each passing second. The wolf stood back up with a low growl, sending a boost of adrenaline throughout Bakari’s body, waking him up. He grabbed his branch again, not feeling the pain anymore. Realizing the wolf was growling at the trees and not at him, he started scanning the trees to see if he could spot anything.
Nothing.
Moments later, he finally heard it. It sounded as if someone heavy were running through the trees. He gripped his branch as hard as he could, tensing up. Trying not to let the pain of his ankle get to him, he forced himself to stand up with every ounce of energy he could muster. The wolf quickly moved into the trees and stayed quiet. Finally, there was Bugawa, walking slowly from the trees, wearing full red armor engraved with black dragons. He had a smile stretching from ear-to-ear. This time it wasn’t a dream. No one was going to wake him up if he screamed for help. This was real.
“I found you, young king.” Bugawa said in a sinister voice. “Zera is Lord Droga’s for the taking once I kill you.” He pulled a concealed dagger
from his backside, and walked towards Bakari. “I’ll make it quick.”
As he got closer to Bakari, the wolf came out running at full speed, catching Bugawa by surprise. He jumped and latched on to his arm holding the dagger, piercing his skin. Bugawa punched and clawed at the wolf, causing it to let go, wincing in pain.
“Damn mutt! I’ll deal with you later.” He began walking towards Bakari again.
The wolf shook off its pain and again ran up to Bugawa biting down harder on his dagger-carrying hand. As Bugawa punched and clawed, the wolf was determined not to let go, but eventually Bugawa’s relentless attacks caused the wolf to release and fall in pain. Bugawa reached down, grabbing the wolf by the neck, and forcefully bashed it to the ground. Bugawa repeatedly knocked his skull until the wolf was knocked unconscious. Now Bugawa was spurting random words, and walking towards the staggered Bakari, ready to end his life.
“Stay back!” Bakari swung his branch back and forth, trying to deter Bugawa.
“Since your little friend here annoyed me, I’ve decided to make you feel every bit of pain before you die.” Bugawa knocked Bakari’s branch away and grabbed him by his head, forcefully tossing him into another tree.
Bakari screamed in pain as he hit the tree, falling to the ground. Knocking all the wind out of him, Bakari no longer had the will to stand or move. Bugawa kicked him over and over again knocking him in and out of consciousness. Bugawa was relentless in his attacks, enjoying the fact that he had the great Taharqa’s kid on his dying breath.
“Goodbye, Your Majesty.” He smirked as he raised his dagger, ready to pierce through Bakari’s heart.
In that instant, footsteps came quickly through the trees. Axyl showed up at that precise moment. He grabbed Bugawa’s arm, squeezing it with all his might. “Taharqa will punish you in the afterlife.” He said, showing at his teeth and giving Bugawa the most intense gaze he could muster.
“Not if Mataga punishes you first.” Bugawa tried to bring around his other arm to grab Axyl and tried to stick his dagger in Axyl’s back, but Axyl was too quick, kicking Bugawa into the tree where Bakari had just been laying.
Bugawa got up, walking in a circle as Axyl did the same. Steam came from his body as the heat raised in preparation to spew out fire. Ayxl took an offensive stance redding to charge at Bugawa. As he charged, Bugawa released a volley of flame, and Axyl ran around it. One… two… three… Axyl was counting the seconds Bugawa had until he couldn’t spit fire anymore. Since Bugawa was a lowly Phyra and the max he could hold his flame for was three seconds before his body disabled, and he couldn’t spew out fire for another three minutes. As soon as the three seconds were up and Axyl could see the flame dying, he ran towards it and out of Bugawa’s sight until the flame was completely gone. Axyl was now up close and personal with Bugawa. This shocked Bugawa as he had no time to completely dodge Axyl’s attack. He let his body fall to the ground trying to dodge what he could, but he was still cut across the middle of the chest. As he fell to the ground, he quickly rolled out of the way of another one of Axyl’s thrusts. Bugawa promptly jumped to his feet and kept his distance from Axyl.
“You will not get away this time.” Axyl let out a snarl, running towards Bugawa and propelling his sword as he relentlessly thrust, not letting up. Bugawa, on the defensive, took a crouching stance and jumped from tree to tree as he tried to block Axyl’s attack. With Bugawa leaping around, the timing of each of Axyl’s attacks was becoming more desperate as Bakari’s breathing slowed.
Axyl took notice of this and knew he had to end this as quickly as possible or Bakari could die. Axyl caught Bugawa by surprise when he threw his sword, predicting where Bugawa would jump next. He successfully impaled Bugawa’s shoulder. Bugawa stood upright, wincing in pain as he tried to remove the sword. Axyl was too fast, and wouldn’t give him the opportunity to remove it. Already in his face from the moment he stood upright, Axyl kneed Bugawa vigorously in the abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. He followed up with an immediate uppercut to the chin, sending Bugawa stumbling into a nearby tree. Axyl wasted no time moving in on him as he grabbed the hilt of his impaled sword and forcefully pushed it deeper into his shoulder.
“May Taharqa punish you.” He said in a low murmur as he stared into Bugawa’s eyes, forcibly angling his sword diagonally from his shoulder towards his neck. It slid through his skin, sending Bugawa screaming in pain and choking on his blood.
Axyl removed his sword forcing Bugawas lifeless body to fall to the ground. Axyl let out a war cry, howling in the air as the battle was finally over. He walked over to Bakari’s unconscious body and put the palm of his hand over his mouth to make sure he was still breathing. He let out a sigh of relief when he could feel the slow breathing coming from Bakari. He was still alive. Picking him up, he placed him over his shoulder.
“Hang in there. Sorry, young king, I should of got here sooner.” He exhaled as he walked over to the wolf.
“Thank you, old friend.” Axyl said, kneeling over the bleeding wolf, who was also panting and on the verge of death. He picked him up and started into a brisk jog disappearing into the darkness.
7
Axyl walked into a dimly-lit cave, panting heavily. He leaned up against the wall, walking very slowly. A short, older, slim woman with rich dark skin and markings all over her body came from deeper within the cave and approached Axyl. She was wearing a blue robe with yellow prints around it, carrying a tall wooden staff that curved around a crystal orb. Her black hair was bushy and short, and her eyes were a warm brown, full of untold stories.
“Bring them in. I need to address the boy’s wounds quickly.” The mysterious woman said in a lovely modulated voice, turning and walking back into the cave.
Axyl followed and observed all the markings on the wall. The cave opened up into a large oval-shaped room, A hollowed out tree bark extruded from the middle of the cave with a floating flame coming from its center. Four large mud pods extruded from around the cave, circling the flame. The walls had a dark muddy hue and were covered in markings.
“Place him on one of the pods, and place Avi on one also. She’s having a hard time recovering from her wounds.” She told Axyl.
Axyl did as he was told.
“Do what you can for them, AiLeen.” Axyl said as he slouched against the wall.
“You know I will, and you should get some rest. I know the run here was exhausting, especially carrying these two. You can fill me in later after you awake.” She looked back at Bakari.
“I’m fine.” Axyl lied.
AiLeen ignored Axyl as she stood next to the fire, tapping her staff on the ground three times. The flame grew bigger, brightening the entire room. She closed her eyes, raising her staff in the air, mumbling words. She looked back at Axyl, her eyes completely whited out.
“Don’t you…” Axyl started to say.
“I said rest!” AiLeen shouted at him, waving her hands in his direction and mumbling more words. Axyl tried to fight what she was doing to him, but he was too tired so his eyelids closed and sleep came to him at her command.
“Never want to listen,” she joked as she turned back around looking at Bakari.
“You’ve taken a serious beating, boy,” she mumbled as she looked him over.
Waving her staff in the air and mumbling more words, her off-hand began glowing and emitting heat. She touched Bakari’s forehead, sending a shock through his body which caused him to gasp for air. Markings stemmed down from his forehead and all around his body as her fingertips stayed placed on his forehead. His body’s nature healing abilities started to increase drastically, sending his body into a random state of panic. AiLeen mumbled more words to calm him down, but it wasn’t working. Something was conflicting inside his body that she wasn’t noticing. She left her staff floating in the air next to her as she placed her other hand over his heart, mumbling more words that sent waves through her body making her gasp for air as she looked inside his body.
“He’s a Vakin? No, he’s huma
n.” She was now confused at what she was seeing. “He’s… a hybrid…” She finally came to a conclusion, taking her hand off of his heart. “Who did you bring me, Axyl?” she asked, looking back at a resting Axyl. “If you brought him, he must be pretty important. You almost never leave Taharqa’s side.” She let her thoughts subside as Bakari started convulsing. “Shit.” She muttered. “This is getting bad.”
Bakari’s eyes involuntarily opened, his eyes changing color from brown to a bright green. He was changing. AiLeen could see his fur, a faint autumn orange, coming and going. His teeth changing from fangs back to teeth. She finally figured it out. His Vakin instinct was coming out to protect him, rejecting her healing.
“What have you been through to subconsciously be this scared? What is your mind hiding?” she asked out loud, shocked by Bakari’s reactions.
She had to calm him down and quickly ease his pain. She removed her fingers from his forehead, grabbing her staff with both hands as the markings on her body began glowing. She slammed her staff to the ground, now yelling words and causing her crystal to emit a bright light. A bright barrier came from the ground, trapping Bakari within it. It wasn’t calming him as she had hoped. Now she had no choice but to fully shut down his body, which would slow down the recovery process drastically and require a lot more power from her. I don’t have any other option right now… Damn… I have to shut you down, kid. Fighting me like this will stop your body from healing permanently. It can’t be helped… She let go of her staff and held her hands together. Shouting more words, the markings on the cave began to emit light, accompanying the markings on her body as she drew power from it. As she shouted more words, light emitted from her eyes and mouth. She gathered all of that power and orbited it all to her hands, which began emitting a very bright power. “Rest!” she yelled, slapping the palms of her hands down on the barrier she had placed around Bakari. Sending vibrations throughout the cave, she pushed the barrier closer and closer to his body until he wasn’t convulsing and changing anymore.
Zera_Dawn Of The Redborn Page 5