Father Sword

Capture the Flag

Everything came at me in a flash. I saw my father, tall and proud whipping his sword high in the air. He gave a speech about driving out the terrorists and saving the kingdom. Then, I saw him in the Sandy Mountains, killing fire goblins and stabbing them with his sword. I saw him and his army working with Bellum. I saw Acri and my father standing proudly with their swords in the air, stepping on the dead bodies of fire goblins. I saw my father with a werewolf at his feet with the whole crowd cheering for the win. I saw my father kill the old man, looking him in the eye. And then I saw Noctis standing in the cave, not looking at me. But looking at my father's sword. I saw her run up to me and slash her werewolf claws at my face, causing my body to pass out.

And then I stared at Noctis on that cot. And I looked at my father's sword. And then, I dropped it.

The wizard noticed it first. Rev shouted, "The boy! What's he doing here? The goblin! Both of them! Get out!"

I didn't move but looked at Noctis. She was looking at me. She didn't smile or grimace. She didn't seem to even show emotion. Noctis just stared at me, probably wondering what to do with the son of a monster.

Acri blocked her from view, "Oh, Ribus. It will be okay. Why don't you head to the medic and get fixed up, then go to training? Okay?"

I nodded. Degre already was walking up the stairs.

"GOBLIN!"

Degre stood still.

"TAKE HIM TO THE MEDIC! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO BE DOWN HERE! REV!"

Rev picked up his staff, "Yes, your highness?"

"Do the stun," Acri grinned worse than Magnum Sivam.

Rev cackled a loud cackle and sent a spell towards Degre. It hit and Degre groaned a loud painful groan. I could feel the sharp punch even though I wasn't the target.

"GO, GOBLIN!"

I followed upstairs, Degre groaning behind me.

He guided me to the medic, and I tumbled on the bed. I asked the medic if Degre could get fixed up, but she shook her head as if she were confused. Without warning, she said, "Fire goblins, huh. That would be tough, wouldn't it? Why would you try to fix up something that can't be fixed?"

I noticed I hadn't carried my sword upstairs, but luckily Degre had brought it up.

After all the stress I had from the torture of Noctis and my whole life of being an idiots son, I decided to sleep.

And that's exactly what I did.

I woke up in the hospital bed and waited for the medic to tell me to go. When she did, I followed Degre out and he guided me once again to training.

This was not the sword fighting and unorganized archery and cannons firing every which way. No, this was real training. Six sections of the huge room covered different combat areas. Dueling, throwing weapons, parkour, running, and others. I grabbed my sword a little less tightly and headed over to the dueling area. Degre stayed behind at the entrance.

I understood why he stayed there. Even though fire goblins could beat up six people, they were still picked on with no punishment. But if he scratches a person he could receive a whipping or the spell that wizard gave him.

Things were starting to make sense.

I was about to go into the dueling area when I saw Loi. I sprinted as fast as I could over to the archery section. I didn't know a thing about throwing or shooting, but I wanted to stay with Loi.

I picked up a throwing knife and said to Loi, "What happened to you?"

Loi quickly responded, "Not now. We have to train."