Blade(Part 1): Dawn

Chapter 44: Dameon

Dameon chased after Lord Nouzari as he and his two Undying guards ran across the bridge above the swamp, like cowards. When they reached the other side of the bridge, both of the Undying turned around to face him. They both carried long glaives with black, cursed blades. They both raised their glaives and chopped at the bridge that Dameon was running on, and it shook. Dameon jumped into the air as it began to collapse, and as he came down, he sank his blade into the chest of one of the Undying. They both crashed to the ground, but the Undying he stabbed still wasn't dead. Dameon jumped off of his chest and pulled his blade out of him. The assassin then turned around and faced the Undying. They were both twice his size and wore heavy armor, but they both had one weakness. Shala had told him that the only way to kill one of them was to take off their heads. Both of the mutated soldiers rushed straight at him, swinging their glaives. Dameon ducked under both of their swings before rushing forward. He stepped on the guard of one of their glaives and jumped straight for its wielder's head. Before the Undying could raise his glaive, Dameon swung his cutlass and took his head off. As Dameon came down from the air, he grabbed the second Undying's helmet and threw him into the riverbed under the bridge. One of the sharp rocks took the soldier's head clean off of his shoulders.

"Nouzari!" Dameon shouted, as he ran further down the trail, after Lord Nouzari. It was no surprise to him that he ran off right as the horn at his camp went off. Dameon had always known Lord Nouzari to be the biggest coward he had ever seen. He ran the second the rebels attacked the camp, and now he was gone again. Dameon wouldn't lose him this time. A screech came from Rda as he flew above the trail, and Dameon followed after him. Rda led him all the way down the trail, but stopped to perch himself on the branch of a tall tree. Nouzari must have been nearby.

"Come out from hiding, you coward!" Dameon challenged. No one answered, then another screech came from Rda. He was still standing on the same branch on that same tree.

"What?" asked Dameon. The falcon then tilted his head to look under the branch. Rda pointed to the other side of the tree with his beak. Nouzari wasn't just in the jungles. He was right behind the tree where Rda was perched. Dameon drew his cutlass, then slowly crept right up to the trunk of the tree. He took great care with every step he took, putting his foot on the ground as quietly as he could as to not make any noise. The young assassin then reached behind the tree trunk and swung his cutlass. He heard a metal clash from the other side of the tree, then he was thrown back by a black khopesh. Lord Nouzari himself emerged from behind the tree's trunk.

"Who are you, boy?" he demanded. Dameon pulled his hood down, then gave Nouzari a stare of rage right into his eyes.

"Take a good, long look," Dameon growled. "You killed both of my parents where they stood, and laughed!" Nouzari did take a look at Dameon. A long one. A look of dread then came across his own face. Nouzari did recognize him.

"You are Dameon," the nobleman gasped. "The boy from Aglain ten years ago." Dameon was certain that after killing so many people, he wouldn't recognize one of the few he had spared, but Dameon was more than glad that Nouzari knew who he was, who was about to kill him.

"This doesn't need to end the way you think it does," Nouzari offered.

"Oh, but it does," Dameon denied, and he lunged forward with his cutlass. Nouzari parried his attack with his khopesh before throwing him backward with a punch to the chest. The Skaolan then swung forward with his black blade. Dameon blocked his attack before taking a swing at his side. Nouzari jumped backward to dodge. Dameon lunged again, too swiftly for Lord Nouzari to block or parry the attack, and nicked his face with the tip of his storm-enchanted cutlass. Blood dripped from the cut on the Skaolan lord's face. Nouzari put his hand over the wound for a moment, shuddering at the pain.

"That's barely a flesh wound compared to what you've done to others," Dameon growled. "But I'm going to make it even worse." Their blades clashed again, with hatred in each swing from Dameon. The young assassin must have clashed with the Skaolan lord a hundred times, until Nouzari missed a parry. Dameon suddenly took his sword hand completely off, and then kicked him onto his back. Nouzari began to scream with pain, and Dameon smiled.

"Have mercy!" Nouzari cried, as Dameon stepped towards him.

"Mercy!?" Dameon shouted, sheathing his cutlass, and extending one of his bracer blades. "Like you showed to my parents!?"

"You know as well as I do," said Nouzari. "This world is shattered. Aziz will unite it. There is no need for war."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Dameon roared. "Zenartha will always be shattered, especially with men like you living in it."

"What gives you the right to decide that?" Nouzari wondered. "What is right and what is wrong? What gives you the right to decide whether I should live or die?"

"How about someone who has suffered!?" Dameon answered. "Someone who lost his family, his childhood, and his whole life, to someone like you!? To someone who should die!? Well, you're going to die, and you'll feel every single cut." Before Nouzari could object, Dameon stabbed his blade into one of his arms, and he screamed. He then stabbed through one of his legs, and he screamed again. Blood began to profusely bleed from the wounds, and Dameon stood to let him feel the pain. He was in a pool of his own blood, shuddering with fear, but still alive. Dameon grabbed Nouzari's hair and lifted his head, then drove his blade through his neck. He then dropped the head into the pool of blood after he pulled the blade from the corpse, then retracted it. Dameon stepped back, away from Nouzari's corpse. The man who killed his parents, and so many others, was still, silent, and lifeless. He wouldn't be missed. Men like him weren't worth the memory. Dameon looked to the sky. It was night. He must have tracked Nouzari for hours, and fought him for even longer. He knelt down, still looking up.

"Mom, dad," he prayed. "I've done it." His parents were at peace.

"They will rest easy, knowing you have avenged them," a voice suddenly said. It wasn't Shala's, or anyone else he knew. Dameon quickly stood to see who it was. It was a Guardian, but he seemed a year younger than Shala, with the blue robes of a Guardian Knight Captain of the Sorcerer class. The Guardian was a few inches shorter than him, with dark skin, and bright, green eyes. He must have been from Weshiola.

"I hated that man as much as you did, assassin," the Guardian admitted. "But I never thought I'd see his end." Dameon had met two Guardians who would have enough of a reason to have hatred for Nouzari, and Shala told him of the only other Guardian who would.

"You're Zabaia, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes," Zabaia answered. "How did you know?"

"I know Shala and Alexius," Dameon enlightened. "They're both in Noglidas."

"They are?" Zabaia gasped. "Can you take me to them? Actually, wait. Go ahead and tell them that I'm not alone."

"Who are you bringing with you?" Dameon wondered. Someone emerged from the jungles. He had the body of a man, but was twice the size of one, with scales as blue as the sky in the place of skin, and the head of a dragon. He wore heavy, golden armor, and carried a spear with a steel shaft, with a teal tip carved from glass malakyte. His shield was large, round, and forged from mithril, with Drogbel, the Great Dragon of the Sky and Wind, etched into it. He was a draconian, from Acran and from what he was wearing, he was their King.

"Friends," the King said, answering Dameon's question. "From Acran."