As Dess was walking back from the chest, he heard Anthony cheer. He immediately ran over to him, wearing the mysterious ring. He saw Anthony with a barrel full of obsidian, gold, and silver coins, plus food.
"JACKPOT!!" Anthony yelled.
"Same here!" Dess exclaimed. "I found this cool ring!"
Dess showed him the artifact, and Anthony gasped, "IS THAT...IS THAT THE FABLED RING...OF BEING BORING?!"
Dess laughed, "It's called the Emerald of Courage, idiot."
"I've heard of that," Cade added. "I read it in an ancient text before my parents...er, never mind."
"Your parents...what?" Dess urged Cade.
"They—nah, it's not important," Cade responded.
Dess was curious to find out what happened to Cade's parents, but he figured it was something for another time, and he changed the subject. "Anything else you know about this?" he said instead.
Dess sounded really cocky saying it, like he was bragging that he got a super powerful stone and Cade and Anthony didn't.
"Not really," Cade responded with an angry edge to his voice.
"Oh, that's too bad," Dess gloated.
Cade was done with this. He was angry with Dess for being an idiot. So he did what he did best—slice and dice.
Dess saw Cade's eyes start glowing a faint yellow, which meant he was angry, so he pulled out his daggers. But Cade was too fast and disarmed him before he could do anything, sending his weapons of choice flying off the ship, probably never to be seen again.
Cade then backed up, took a running jump, and slashed his scimitars at Dess.
Time slowed down.
Dess was unarmed and about to die, so on instinct, he reached out his hand, and into it came a double-edged sword with flames all around it. He raised it up to block the incoming attack, and a sonic boom rocked the ship on the collision of the blades, and the human and the elf got knocked back.
Dess struggled to his feet, and saw Cade glaring daggers at him. They were about to start clashing again before Felix yelled, "STOP IT, NOW!!"
"What the actual heck just happened?!" Charlotte asked loudly.
"I--er--um--" Dess stuttered. He was just staring at Charlotte, and his heart started beating fast, with Charlotte's sky blue eyes and wavy blonde hair flowing lightly in the wind (CHARDESS!). He shoved that weird stuff aside and willed his knees not to shake from shock.
"I was talking to Cade about this weird ring that I got, and I might have gotten a weird braggy tone, and he attacked me, and...yeah," he explained.
"I give up," Cade said angrily. "Anthony and Gerald, come on. We're leaving."
All the kids could do was watch as Anthony gave them one last upset look and Cade somehow opened a portal to who knows where.
Dess had a feeling that he and Cade had started a war. He cried out in frustration, knowing things would never be the same.
YOU ARE READING
The Devil's Bane: (slightly more than) a short story
FantasyDess Gafe is a normal thirteen-year-old in his village. Then, on Thanksgiving Eve, his older brother Tom, who had been possessed by the Devil, destroyed Dess's town before his very eyes. He ran into the forest with his friends Charlotte and Felix. T...
