Fighter's Fever: The Metallic Siege

by Ricardo Nazaire

  “If I could speak my mind here, I’ll tell you that you made that obvious when you actually swung, runt. You couldn’t be that great of a swordsman with that kind of style.”

  “Wait, how did you…?”

  “Does it even matter? Relax, relax…I’m part of the Empire. I’m one of the good guys, remember?”

  Deciding to step things up, Agent Fallon rushed in violently, shoving Keenth forward. Before Keenth could plan his counter, his opponent was beside him and repeated this.

  Keenth was pushed several feet away, causing him to crash to the ground. At this point, it was clear that Agent Fallon was using excessive force, as seen with the wound on Keenth’s forehead.

  Agent Fallon continued the rapid blows until it was clear that Keenth was becoming disoriented.

  “You are painfully slow, kid! If this is the best the Academy has to offer then—”

  In a fit of rage, Keenth angrily swung his sword with both arms and, with a torrent of energy sped towards Agent Fallon. Unable to completely dodge the attack, Agent Fallon thwarted it with his right arm.

  The sound of the impact was powerful enough to cause several windows in the surrounding area to shatter while the spectators looked on in amazement as the shards rained down in the courtyard.

  “Wow…That was some attack. It looks like I was right...you definitely are a special one, alright,” Agent Fallon says to himself as he examined his wounded wrist.

  Realizing that he was injured by Keenth in front of the others was a massive blow to his ego and Agent Fallon could hardly contain his usual careless front.

  The attack, however, drained Keenth, who almost dropped his sword. He was just as surprised about what had happened and Agent Fallon made his way towards him.

  “Now that the gloves are off, let’s make things interesting…”

  Agent Fallon rushes towards Keenth with an attack aimed at the young trainee’s neck.

  The onlookers are astonished at seeing Agent Connors blocking Agent Fallon’s attack barehanded as Aamina rushes to help Keenth.

  “Keenth! Are you alright?”

  “M-Ms. Aamina? Yeah, I’m fine. Or at least I think I am…”

  “Don’t worry about it. Do you have any idea of what you did back there?”

  “I-I don’t’ know…It just happened, I—”

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Agent Connors says as she lowers Agent Fallon’s blade.

  “Oh, come on! He attacked me first! See? I’m bleeding and everything!”

  “Agent Fallon, you are part of the LanTech Empire and it would be in your best interest to carry yourself in a respectful manner. Do you understand me?”

  “Give me a break! You know, I can’t say I remember too much about my mom, but I don’t think I’d be wrong in thinking that her nagging sounded a lot like yours.”

  “I asked if you understood, Agent Fallon??”

  “Yes, Agent Connors.”

  “Keenth, how are you?” Agent Connors asks, examining his wound. “You gave us quite a scare there. We’d better get you some medical attention. That cut of yours looks pretty bad.”

  “I can help,” Aamina volunteers. “I can fix an injury like that no problem!”

  The group moved to the upper level of the Academy where Aamina is seen tending to Keenth’s wounds, while Agent Connors speaks to Agent Fallon in another room.

  At this point in the day, luckily most of the guests had left the Academy, seeing how the ceremony was over.

  “You used quite a bit of force, Agent Fallon.”

  “Yeah, but you know I was holding back earlier, of course. I was just having a little fun, is all.”

  “Agent Fallon about before, there’s no need for me to publicly berate you. At the same time if you openly object to a senior Agent’s orders then…”

  “No, I hear you loud and clear. I was the one acting out of line. Sorry for that. Agent Connors, just between us, what did you think of what happened earlier?”

  “I’m not too sure I understand what you’re asking. If anything, it was reckless and there are a few broken windows to prove that.”

  “Who cares about the windows,” Agent Fallon exclaims. “They can be replaced. I’m talking about the fight; do you think they were more impressed with me or the kid?”

  “I’m going to act as if I’m not getting the vibe of you treating what happened earlier as a popularity contest, Agent Fallon.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, but it looks like my guy gave you quite an injury. If it means anything to you, I scolded him already, but between us, you really had it coming,” Aamina bluntly states. Agent Connors laughs, while an embarrassed Agent Fallon tries to keep a straight face.

  That night at the Tortuga Forensics Facility, Agent David Fallon is reviewing a stack of documents. A group of assistants request permission to enter, claiming to have found something very crucial to the investigation.

  What they have appears to have been surveillance data. Agent Fallon and the others watch the footage. At first it appears to be nothing, but the audio feed of the scene is of the attack on Agent Keyes’ group.

  Not too long afterwards, a long silence follows and a seemingly random sequence of numbers appear on the screen.

  Suddenly, an image of a metallic mask cryptically flashes before the screen and then numbers return. Then, the tape stops.

  “Take this to Agent Connors’ team for analysis immediately,” Agent Fallon orders.

  As the aides began to follow through with the order, Agent Fallon requested to see the video again. He studied it a few more times before he came to his conclusion.

  “Those weren’t random numbers. Those are sets of times and dates…And coordinates. There’s going to be another attack.”

  “What? You can’t be serious, Sir! Where??”

  “Clear the Academy.”

  Through the Fog, Pt. V

  Night falls where a full moon shines on the Training Academy. Keenth reflects on the events that took place earlier in the day.

  “So, when you can’t climb trees, you stand on rooftops,” Paul asks as he accompanies Keenth upstairs

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Keenth replies. “Paul, you were watching before with the Agent, weren’t you? What happened? What did I do?”

  “Man, you’re asking the wrong person. That was like something out of a movie. Your guess is as good as mine. Not pissed or anything, but it would be nice to know that you had it in you, Keenth. Why did you keep that to yourself?”

  “Huh? I don’t know what you are talking about. The last thing I wanted to do here at this Academy is cause any trouble.”

  “Trouble? Dude sparring or not, you were able to strike a LanTech Agent. Do you think something like that happens every day?”

  “I wonder what’s going to happen next?” Keenth thinks out loud. “Paul, do you think the ones running this place will kick me out or something. That’s the last thing that I want.”

  “You’ll cross that bridge when you get there, Keenth. But if it comes down to it, you know that I’ll be there to vouch for you. That and at the very least, you should probably reconsider your specialty here because—”

  A massive explosion violently trembles the Academy. Before Keenth or Paul could fully process what was going on, two more explosions go off and screams are heard throughout the area.

  Paul glances at Keenth and quickly tells him focus on himself and to get to safety while avoiding the main halls. Keenth hesitates, but Paul doesn’t waver.

  “You’re out of your mind if you think I’ll run off without making sure that the others are okay, Paul!”

  Paul reluctantly agrees and the two begin searching until Keenth looks back only to find Paul surrounded by what could only be described as living shadows.

  “Paul, look out!”

  As Paul hears Keenth’s warning, an explosion went off where he stood. At that moment, Keenth heard a loud, but familiar cry for help.

  “Keenth, Paul…Leave...Leave
while you can...”

  “Ms. Aamina…? Aamina, where are you? AAMINA!”

  As other explosions went off, Keenth’s fears were realized when he could no longer hear her voice.

  “I c-can hardly breathe in here...What's going on? Is this place on fire,” Keenth thinks to himself as he gasps for air.

  While he had no clue as to what was going on exactly, he knew with each toxic breath he inhaled, he was closer to death. At this point, he was reduced to crawling and, with each push, he felt closer to the abyss.

  “No, no, no…I’ve seen this before!! I’ve gotta wake up, I just gotta wake up!”

  As it has played out in his dreams before, a mysterious shadow appears only to strike the young man while he's down.

  This being was seemingly unfazed by the cloud of death that loomed above them. It must've been some sort of monster.

  Not only for attacking someone that was near death, but for presumably causing the fatal events to occur in the first place.

  Acting instinctively, Keenth rises to his feet seeing this being as unforgivable. He draws his sword to cut down this nemesis with the last of his ailing strength.

  As he desperately tries to fight the being, more figures like it appear, signifying the end of the young man.

  “No…This can’t be happening! Somebody, anybody, please help us—”

  As Keenth pleads for his life, he sees a single hooded figure standing in the distance. Amidst the chaos, a savior enters.

  “You…Who are—?”

  There is no response. The hooded figure moves towards Keenth and helps him off the ground. As the assailants take note of this, they rush towards the two, but are stopped once the floor beneath the enemies collapses.

  More assailants try to attack from behind, but they too are stopped when a wall suddenly comes up from the ground. The wall, however, appears to be a stone-like substance which greatly confused Keenth.

  “W-who are you? How did you do that?”

  Before Keenth could question the mysterious one any further, the assailants broke through the wall with more numbers on their side. It looked grim for the newly formed pair until the mysterious one finally spoke.

  “Your questions will have to wait until later. Just stay by me for now.”

  The ally then put their hand on Keenth’s shoulder and concentrated their aura on their two fingers. Without a moment to waste, the ally placed their fingers on their forehead just as another massive explosion went off on that floor.

  Agents Jennifer Connors and James Fallon race back towards the Academy on her airship. Though it was late at night, the flames engulfing their destination were unmistakable

  “You can’t be serious. An attack on the Academy of all places?”

  “But why today of all days? Do you think it has anything to do with the ceremony earlier? That and how exactly did you receive this information in the first place, Agent Fallon?”

  “Like I said, this information was forwarded from my brother’s research team!”

  “Right, right. Information that was oddly sent directly to you and not me for some reason…”

  “Seriously? I don’t think now’s the time, Agent Connors—”

  Agent Fallon was cut off at the sight of an explosion that destroyed nearly half of the Academy right before their eyes.

  The aftershock was so intense that their airship had to redirect the course to avoid putting themselves in danger.

  Agent Connors looks on in shock as Agent Fallon notices that the smoke coming from the site gave the same image of the ominous mask seen in the surveillance video.

  As day breaks, Keenth recovers. Unsure of where he was or what had happened, he sees the hooded figure looking off into where the Training Academy once stood intact.

  Despite what had happened, Keenth was somewhat skeptical of his mysterious savior.

  “Who are you? What is going on here?” Keenth presses on, only to receive no response.

  “Hey, I asked you a question!” Keenth asks as he grabs their shoulder. As he moves back, he accidentally pulls down the hood and, to his surprise, reveals a young girl with short brown hair.

  Confused, Keenth continued to stare into her eyes, but is stopped short when she finally speaks.

  “What’s with the look? You know for someone who was just saved, I would think you’d be just a bit more grateful, Keenth. After all, you’re not the only one with dreams,” she replies with a smile.

  “The name’s Cory by the way, Cory Daken…Pleasure to save you!”

  “This is W-NJFM here with our top story: Reports of an attack on the Hasania Training Academy just a few hours ago has local authorities baffled as to what the motive may have been and what was used in such a large-scale attack. While information is limited at this time, the death toll is believed to be in the hundreds. We’ll have more on this story after the break.”

  “That’s horrible,” Aya says as she studies the images of the attack. “This story is all over the news. It’s getting much more coverage than the Keyes Investigation.”

  “That’s understandable. Naturally, LanTech would want to keep a story about a Veteran Agent and his team being attacked under wraps, but an attack on the Training Academy? What is the world coming to,” Madam Chambers replies from behind her desk.

  Madam Chambers called for a meeting with Aya and Beth to discuss their progress with the Keyes Investigation. Due to the unfortunate turn of events, Madam Chambers and the others knew that they had to change strategy.

  “So, what do you expect us to do now, Ma’am?” Aya asks.

  “We follow from a distance. Take what you can from the media, but don’t be too reliant on their reports, if you understand what I’m saying. Remember that it hasn’t been too long since we were at the Academy that has been attacked, so be careful out there.”

  “While your words are appreciated Madam Chambers, that didn’t exactly answer our question. That includes you as well, after all,” Beth adds.

  “Ah, you got me. If you really need to know, I’m going to reach out to a couple of people who can help with both the investigation and the recent attack,” Madam Chambers replies as she puts on her overcoat.

  “Interesting. I guess we didn’t know you were that well-connected, respectfully speaking, of course,” Aya says, stepping up to leave.

  “Just because I’m a little older, it doesn’t mean I don’t have my sources,” Madam Chambers responds with a smile.

  “So, your name’s Cory, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “And you saved me from the Academy?”

  “Mhm.”

  “And I’m supposed to follow you because you were told to through a dream?”

  “Hmm, something like that, yeah.”

  “You really expect me to believe all of that? You come here covering yourself in a hood and dressed in a dark-blue robe like you are dressing up as some kind of mage or something…What are you, like twelve? Go back home, I’ve gotta find the guy who actually saved me.”

  “First of all, I’m fourteen, not twelve. Second, do you seriously doubt that I saved you? You’ve never seen me around the Academy, so how is it so hard to believe that I was sent here to help you. You know this attitude of yours is really starting to get under my skin, so let’s just head out of here.”

  “Do you hear yourself right now? I’m not going anywhere with you!”

  “Ah, right. The Training Academy that you are a part of has been attacked and you somehow ended up miles from there completely unscathed. You’re just going to be a miraculous survivor who’s just gonna sit around pretending like everything is alright, right? That’s a great story, Keenth.”

  “No…Just be quiet. And don’t call me a survivor because the other ones are alive, I just know it.”

  “Really? Is that what you’re telling yourself? Sorry to say it, but everyone you came across in there is gone. I didn’t risk my life for a person who is going to sit around pretending like that isn’t true.”
/>   “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you help them? If you knew this was going to happen, then why me? Why did you just save me?”

  “Sorry, I don’t have an answer for that.”

  “And why not?” Keenth snaps.

  “Because I’m not the one who had the dream, okay? I was sent here by a man named Lord Haden.”

  “Haden? Who is that?”

  “Lord Haden, the Sage of Hatre.”

  “Wait, Sage? Hatre? What are you talking about?”

  “Listen, we don’t have time to talk right now, okay? Events are in motion and I was sent here to bring you to Lord Haden. That’s as far as I know. I’m sorry for what happened to your friends back there, I really am, but I only had the power to take you back, so that’s all I did.”

  Her words calmed Keenth as listened.

  “You’ll get your answers if, no, when we see him. Seriously, Keenth. Your training days are behind you, so we need to get out of here now before we end up getting caught up in anything.”

  “No, no I hear you it’s just…All this time I’ve been throwing questions your way, but I never bothered to thank you…So, thank you,” Keenth says, bowing.

  “Hee hee, you don’t need to do all of that. It wasn’t a problem at all, really. We’ll pull through this, I promise! By the way, welcome to the real world,” Cory says as she pulls Keenth up by his arm. “C’mon, let’s go!”

  “Right!”

  Chapter Six

  “Jeez, my body feels like it was slammed by a truck,” Keenth thinks to himself, before realizing he is in an unfamiliar setting. “W-wait, where in the world am I?”

  “Ah, thank goodness you’ve awakened,” an elderly woman answers. “We’ve been nursing you for the last few days, but I didn’t think you would recover as quickly as you did. I’ll be sure to let the others know.”

  “Oh, thanks for keeping an eye on me, I really appreciate it. But that doesn’t answer my question about where I am. And you said that you’ve been nursing me for days…What’s been going on lately?”