by Samuel Small
It was a week into traveling through this so-called no man’s land when Jake realized nothing dangerous ever approached him: no mercenaries, no bandits, and most suspiciously none of the black creatures known as Malice, which had suddenly showed up after the tragedy at Niflheim. He expected a lot of trouble going through this part of the world but so far he’d encountered even less problems than during the Void incident, and that area was under the Republic’s supervision. This led Jake to another thought: did some sort of higher power protect this area as well?
He thought back to the villagers and their flat denial of knowledge about the lightning group, and those that told him to leave upon asking about them. It would make sense, a lot of sense, if they were protected by this group. Jake kneeled down on the cold ground and began stroking his chin. But what do they stand to gain from helping these people? It couldn’t be for money, the villages in this area are all relatively poor. As I understand it, they hurt Dante somehow and declared war with the Republic, so why are they suddenly so charitable?
Jake was still kneeling, trying to wrap his head around the whole scenario, when he heard the crunch of footsteps approaching. It took him a moment to register them, but when he did he looked up and was faced with three men clad in bear skins. Each one held a curved sword in his hand.
He rose to his feet, unsheathing his sword. He held it out in front of him, earning a chuckle from the three men. One stood in front of the other three, the apparent leader of the group, sporting shaggy black hair, a black beard, and a heavy build. He smiled, revealing crooked teeth, and held his weapon casually at his side.
“That’s a nice sword you go there, a bit too nice for you, yeah?”
Jake didn’t answer him, only shaking his head and taking a few steps back. The group stepped forward, making Jake’s attempt to gain distance futile.
“Listen, I’ll give you a chance to get out of this alive,” the large man said. “There’s three of us and one of you, so just give me your valuables, especially that sword, and we’ll let you be on your way.”
Jake looked at the sword in his hand. The first gift Major Miles had given him. Not offered out of obligation due to his position, but from love for his student. Jake didn’t want to give it up, and he needed the gold to complete his mission. Without that, he’d starve before he made it back to the Republic. Again, he shook his head.
“No?” The bandit leader sneered, walking closer. Those behind him flanked out to the sides, attempting to surround Jake. “Just a dainty sword and a few gold pieces, that’s worth your life ain’t it?” The man gripped his curved sword tighter and twirled it in a fighting stance. “Can’t say I didn’t give you an out.”
The man came at Jake with a wide horizontal slash, one that Jake found easy to block. The bandit’s blade bounced off his and he stumbled backward. He looked over toward his comrades, frantic, and Jake followed his eyes. They both nodded at him then charged. The two came immediately after each other and lucky for Jake they made wide, predictable swings that were easy to block, but that didn’t help much. Their attacks were in sync – once one was done attacking the other came in immediately, giving no time for a counterattack. Their swings were heavy and wore Jake’s arms down with each block. Soon it took effort just to keep his blade eyelevel.
The three men saw Jake’s shaking blade and walked with deliberate paces, like a group of lions that had stalked a particularly tasty-looking antelope. The leader smirked at Jake, then pulled back, bending his knees as if setting up a charge.
A suppressed shot rang out from the trees. Then the man collapsed.
The other two looked toward their ally and shouted for him with trembling voices. One dropped to his knee and began shaking their leader, only to open his mouth in shock upon getting closer. Slowly, he stood up and turned to Jake, a ferocious anger etched on his face.
Another shot rang out from the forest and one of the bandit’s head jerked to the side as if it had been hit by a train, then the rest of his body followed. He fell on the ground unmoving, blood leaking from the side of his skull. The last member looked to his comrade in shock, then turned his wide eyes to Jake. He let out a terrifying roar and charged, but also fell to the ground before he could reach the boy.
Jake stared at the three bodies, mouth agape, then surveyed the rest of the area. There were only denuded trees, their bare branches swaying in the chill wind. He made his way to the body of the man who had charged at him and knelt beside it. His head seemed to have exploded, with little bits of bone and brain splattering the ground around him. Among the mess of flesh, a little piece of flattened metal shined. A bullet.
The boy jumped up, now aware of the danger he was in. He looked about frantically, only to be met with the same empty space devoid of any living creatures. That wasn’t good, there wasn’t anywhere he could run for cover and if he did make a dash for it he’d certainly be shot. Jake, out of options, fell to his belly, covered his head, and trembled.
Out in the distance where the dead trees were standing someone bellowed uncontrollable laughter. Jake looked in the direction of the sound and saw several people come out of the little concealment the forest offered. As expected, each member had a gun in hand, some large and some small, large attachments jutting out of them, which is what Jake figured must have suppressed the sound. They stopped and looked behind them where the silhouette of a boy, crouched down and holding his head in laughter, came from. He stood up and walked to the center of the group, and the rest of the members followed. Never once did the furious laughter abate and as he got closer Jake’s eyes widened in shock and fear.
The boy standing over Jake had messy pink hair. He was about Jake’s size and offered him a hand. “Hey, we’ve actually been looking for a sword wielder. You mind joining us?” he said. But his casual demeanor wasn’t what had Jake in such a state of shock. It was the clothing the boy wore – a tight-fitting jacket, yellow in color with a black design running down the length of the arms. Over his heart was the symbol of a lightning bolt.
Chapter 2
Across the room from Jake, the small pink-haired boy, who he now knew to be Bolt, fought with a large and gruff youth called Thun. They dueled with switchblades, thrusting and slicing at each other.
Thun took up a military stance and held the knife in a reverse grip. He punched out and attempted to slash Bolt with the blade that stuck out of his fist. The smaller boy crouched low and danced around the well-furnished room. He too held his knife in a reverse grip, but did not punch outward to cut his opponent. Rather, he sliced upward, jumping into the air with the attack and when he hit the ground he lunged in with a low stab.
These two boys were polar opposites, and their fighting styles attested to that. Thun was regimented and rough, whereas Bolt was unpredictable and freestyle. After jumping back from his combination, Bolt drew down low as if preparing for a strike. Thun caught onto this and tensed his muscles. Jake thought he would try to counterattack.
The smaller boy rushed forward, pulling his knife far behind him as if to go for a large horizontal slice. Thun made no attempts to block this obvious attack and stood unflinching. Just as he reached him, Bolt shifted his arm and came up diagonally across the larger boy’s midsection, who took a single step backward to avoid it. Thun then took a large step forward and wound back for a punch. Bolt wasn’t done with his attack yet, however, and he quickly switched the grip on his blade to overhand and slashed across Thun’s arm.
A spray of blood flew into the air as the smaller boy smirked. He turned his back on his opponent with a large grin plastered on his face.
“Dammit, I hate when you do that fancy shit.”
“Whatever,” Bolt said, chuckling, “my fancy shit just won me a fancy meal.” He locked eyes with Jake. “You want some? It’s on him.”
The hunched-over Thun glared at his friend, then Jake. His eyes were narrowed beneath the thermal burn that scarred the left side of his face. “I didn’t say I’d pay for him too,” he sai
d in a low voice. Jake looked downward and waved his arms in front of his face. He didn’t want to upset the boy further, especially considering he was built like an ox.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Jake said, “I really don’t want to intrude or anything like that.” He rubbed the back of his head, faking a smile, and then gave a genuine nervous laugh. Bolt didn’t catch onto this, and gave Jake a firm slap on the back.
“Don’t mind Thun, he’s always been like that. Besides, we need to talk about you joining us.”
Thun looked at the two with an annoyed glare that Jake was starting to believe was permanent and shifted his eyes from one to the other, finally resting them on Bolt. “I think you should be more cautious. Word is people are looking for us, we can’t just let every stranger we meet join up—”
“Pfft. We were just talking about how we needed a sword wielder and look who shows up. Clearly, lady fate has smiled upon us today.” At this, Thun’s eyes narrowed further and his flat face creased into a frown.
“Lady fate smiling upon us? What a joke,” he said, then stomped off. Still grinning, Bolt extended a hand and coughed. Thun about-faced, pulled some coins out of his pocket, and threw them at Bolt. His eyes were wide with anger and his face red with embarrassment. He turned around, thrust his hands into his pockets, and stormed off.
“Well then, shall we?”
***
The cafeteria was large and streamlined. There was a counter with everything you could want: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and a choice of desserts. Oddly, it was self-service and Jake couldn’t see a worker in sight – no one at the register and no one to pay. He followed Bolt along the line, adding what he wanted to his metal tray as he went, and stopped when he reached the end. Bolt threw the coins Thun gave him into a jar and walked toward a checkered table across the way, several of which lined the room. Jake plopped into a seat across from him, looking about with interest.
There wasn’t a single person their age in the room. Everyone looked very young, the oldest being preteens. They wore dainty clothing like Jake, although unlike Jake theirs probably wasn’t a ploy to infiltrate this organization. Jake thought about the purpose of these children. The building he now resided in was a large manor hidden deep within the forest he had watched the Lightning Gang emerge from. They had to do several twists and turns on their journey, noting various landmarks, and their destination was very well hidden. Jake doubted he could find his way to it without being accompanied by someone who knew where they were going.
But that was off topic. Why were there so many children here? Dante seemed to have a vendetta against them, and although he knew the boy could overreact he didn’t think he’d have such a big problem with them if they weren’t at least a little evil. Perhaps the children were slaves or—
“This place is an orphanage,” Bolt said, taking a bite out of his food.
Jake’s mouth hung open. An orphanage? Is Dante trying to beat up a bunch of orphans? Jake shook his head franticly, trying to knock away the cobwebs of thought caught up in his head.
“So do you and your group run this place?” Jake asked.
Bolt nodded. “Yep, we go around and protect nearby villages since this area’s really susceptible to thuggery and violence. The villagers are usually grateful and give us food and supplies that we use to run this place. That’s also why they didn’t give you any information about us.”
Again, Jake looked shocked, but Bolt kept talking as if this was no big deal. “Of course we knew you were looking for us, they let us know about that type of thing. Don’t worry, we’re not suspicious of you or anything, we know you were looking for us because you wanted to join up.”
Jake grabbed his trembling leg and forced it still. He opened his mouth to agree, but a girl’s voice interrupted him.
“He’s not the only one that’s looking for you though, right? Isn’t there that other guy?”
Jake looked up. There was a girl, roughly their age for once, with chestnut hair that hung just above her shoulders. In her hands she held a tray filled with healthy foods, something both Jake and Bolt should probably have had more of. She stared at Bolt, then glanced at Jake with an innocence Jake hadn’t encountered in a very long time. Bolt swallowed nosily.
“Yeah, I don’t know what his intentions are though. He goes around ridding villages of Malice, but once he’s done he asks all kinds of questions. I think it’s best to just avoid him.”
The girl nodded and said she understood, then took a seat next to Bolt. She extended a hand out to Jake and smiled widely. “I’m Carol, nice to meetcha!” Jake took it and shook, and before he could introduce himself Bolt did the honors.
“You’re looking at the newest member of the Lightning Gang. His name’s Jake.”
The girl leaned in, almost on the verge of stumbling onto him. “So you’re the sword wielder they’ve been looking for?” She plopped back down in her seat then turned to Bolt and asked, “Is he any good at it?”
“Probably,” Bolt said simply.
“You’re no fun, Bolt,” Carol said, then rested her inquisitive eyes on Jake. “Do you have any formal sword training?”
Jake’s hands twisted nervously in front of him and he muttered some unconnected syllables. He couldn’t exactly tell them that he’d been trained by the nation they had declared war on, nor could he say he refined those skills trying to stop a demon from killing everyone, but he also couldn’t think up an explanation as to why some nobody would be able to wield a sword the way he did. Just before he thought they’d figure it out, Bolt spoke up.
“Carol, you know it’s off limits to ask people about their lives before the orphanage. So stop.”
Carol puffed her cheeks out and glared at Bolt, who continued eating without looking at her. Jake couldn’t help but chuckle at the whole image. It was almost as if Bolt switched personalities with Thun. When he first met him he was bright and cheery, just like this girl, but almost as soon as she showed up he mellowed and played the role of a father figure.
They both looked at the chuckling Jake and gave contented smiles.
***
Carol followed Jake and Bolt out of the cafeteria and went on and on about her life at the orphanage. It was hard to believe she was Jake’s age as she seemed so childish, not that it bothered him. He guessed she wasn’t a member of the Lightning Gang, but she was well aware of all the activity within the group, something that the other orphans apparently were not told about. He looked at her bubbly eyes that were full of light, then shifted his gaze to Bolt. He often put on a happy exterior, but his eyes didn’t lie. They radiated a sharp pain, as if he was on the brink of tears. It reminded him of Dante.
Bolt turned toward Jake and shot him a smile, one that he now suspected was without a shred of honesty. He’d stopped before a room, one with a plaque over the closed door that said ‘Meeting.’ He turned to Carol. “Shouldn’t you be going?”
She dropped her head. “I’m not some innocent little kid you know. I can go to the meetings.”
Bolt, his hand on the doorknob, only shook his head without looking at her. Carol withdrew, as if the gesture had physically hurt her, then looked at Jake like she had something she wanted to ask, although he couldn’t think what that might be. She stared at him for a few seconds with her lips pursed, Bolt still with his hand on the door and waiting for her to leave. Finally she shook her head frantically and turned around. “It was nice meeting you, Jake,” she mumbled, then walked off down the hall. Once she was out of sight, Jake gave one last look to Bolt, who nodded, then opened the door.
Inside the room were about six members seated along a table, only one of which Jake knew: Thun. They all wore the same lightning bolt insignia on their jacket that Bolt had on, and they all had the same dead eyes. They tore through Jake, and he felt a presence in the room that was all its own. Jake shook his uneasiness off and waved, and Bolt put a solid arm around his shoulder.
“This here is that sword wielder we needed: Jake.
” He shook Jake, but his happy demeanor did nothing to ease the tension in the room. Thun scoffed and Bolt led Jake to a seat. He sat down and listened as they discussed their next mission. They were going to rid a nearby village of Malice.
When the meeting wrapped up and some of the members got ready to leave, Bolt held up a hand and they stopped in their tracks. Jake wasn’t sure about it before, but now he was positive Bolt was their leader. He did have an air of authority about him, Jake supposed, but his happy act seemed to discredit it. Jake weighed the pros and cons of having the boy as a leader in his head as Bolt walked to the far side of the room and opened a closet with a sliding door. He pulled something out from inside and tried to conceal it behind his back, but the boy’s thin frame was not much of a barrier. He smiled at Jake, and brought the jacket out from its poor concealment. “Since you’re one of us now, you’ll need one of these!”
***
Jake wasn’t familiar with this type of battle strategy. The Republic had always taught him large-scale sword wielding combat tactics, the type you employed when you had an enemy right in front of you. He had no idea what this ‘taking cover’ thing even meant. Nonetheless he looked about the group and watched the members jump behind objects, so Jake leapt behind the relative safety of a wheelbarrow that had been knocked over. To his right stood Thun, who had taken cover behind a tree. He shook his head with his mouth wide, an almost comical look of disapproval, but disapproval it was and Jake sunk even lower behind the overturned farm equipment.
“Look alive Jake,” Bolt yelled, “we need that sword of yours!”
Jake leapt over the wheelbarrow and pulled his sword from its scabbard. He took a fighting stance, surveying the area. This village was absolutely overrun with Malice. Humanoid little ones about waist-height ran about with their large jaws snapping viciously. Behind them were big brute-like ones, a type Jake had encountered many times before. He heard Bolt call to him from behind, and when Jake turned the boy pointed at the larger creatures.