Fell listened as the last words of the fairy-like hostess, Ms. Lydia, echoed around the open second floor guest room that he had been sent to upon registration. His bag was laying beside the hanging emerald-green bed sheets, a pocket open from which he had taken a bottle of pain medication, then something else that was supposed to stop the occasional attacks that he had. So… he was going up against Kio Tazamaki. A college student that was hardly any different from Fell, other than some age difference. This would be interesting, to say the least. But, to have the key that would open any desire that one could want… well, the boy could certainly fight for that.
He stood as there was a sudden and intense silence in the room. Okay, weapons. He wasn’t magical. There probably wasn’t a gun within a hundred miles of here, and using a sword just felt kind of medieval. Would there even be a sword here? Logic dictated a no.
Sighing, Fell turned and wrapped his hand around the handle of a nearby lamp, ripping the plug out of the wall. It was short with a dark metal neck, then a white glass mosaic type top decorated with dragonflies. Looked expensive. Oh well.
The roofer took an experimental step out in the hallway. He heard a slight creaking overhead, and something like a splash-- was that the pool area? Maybe someone was drowning. Or maybe he was wrong and it was just someone taking a bath…
Fell shook his nearly white hair and inched forward. Every heart beat made an unnecessary echo in the dim silence. The lamp was beginning to make the flesh of the boy’s hands go numb, but he didn’t dare release the death hold around the handle.
“Hee-yah!” He yelled, leaping around the corner and swinging the lamp in an arc. There had been a shadow standing there around the doorway, a shadow that jumped back just as he approached…
Nothing happened. It was still just another hallway, a royal red carpet trimmed in gold, that ended in a flight of curving stairs at the end with a gleaming mahogany rail. Then, a thought flew through his head; what made him think that Kio would come looking for him? Perhaps he would have to be the hunter here. After that realization, his legs quickly transitioned him down the hallway and towards the staircase head, a transition to the ground floor, and then beyojnd that… who knows.
The ball of his right foot touched the first stair. Wood creaked like it was rotten, potentially giving away the position. Just as Fell hugged the lamp to his chest, enjoying the calm sensation of icy glass, there was a very minor shove from behind. A hand on the middle of his back.
He stumbled. Tripped forward, grabbed the hand rail, and didn’t fall but instead slipped to one knee. His sea green eyes swiveled around to spot the one face he had been hoping to find.
“Hello, Fell,” Kio mumbled, tapping something large and long into his palm. Was that a hammer? Where the hell did he find that? “No hard feelings, man. But you know how the competition works. I’ll try not to kill you…” The center of his stomach clenched and went cold. Kill him? They were just supposed to win a fight here. There was no reason for death to be invol-
The hammer came down in a forward arc towards the center of Fell’s forehead. His body automatically propelled itself to the left, and with a yelp of fear, he swung the small lamp towards Kio’s leg. The glass top made contact and shattered so delicately, as if the design had been made from pure paper. He cursed under his breath, but didn’t have much time to go over his poor choice of weapons when the head of the hammer came down hard on one shoulder.
“God!” He yelled, and fell backwards. Rainbows of color flashed like a strobe behind his eyes as the pain spread and made him gasp for unnecessary air. First was the shock, then a few pulses of severe pain, and then an overwhelming numbness. Shit. Could he move his arm? Only a little. Double shit.
There was no more time to think after that. Fell stumbled backwards down the stairs, his bare heels scraping against the edges of wood as Kio clumsily swung with the hammer. It hit the railing in several places and splintered wood exploded in puffs through the air. Both of them were coughing as they finally hit the ground level, Fell spilling onto the cold surface and then scrambling to his hand and knees, heading towards the closest door. He had no weapon and was being chased. There had to be some way to gain an advantage.
“Hey!” He heard Kio yell from somewhere close behind, and there was a whoosh of air as the hammer came down too close to his right side. This was motivation enough for him to climb all the way to his feet and grab the handle of the door he had been going to. It crackled slightly, blue electricity dancing up Fell’s arm and singeing the hair there, but the large chunk of wood still swung inwards and he dove towards safety, putting a blind trust into the inky blackness.
Skull bone contacted with a sharp surface. Groans were heard along with several thumps as Fell went head over heels, edges digging into his body, bruising and cutting it while he almost comically somersaulted down the stairs to the cellar. It felt like hours until he was laying on a flat surface again. The blonde boy wheezed and gripped the material of his shirt, unable to see a thing, aches coming from everywhere all at once. Stairs… more stairs? He had fallen down stairs. Was he still alive? He was still thinking and feeling pain, that was evidence enough, wasn’t it?
“Come out, come out,” he heard a call from the top of the stairs. It sounded full of fear. Small footfalls came on the stairs, and as they got closer it was revealed that the fall could have only been ten feet or so. A low whimper. Fell thought it was Kio, until he realized the whisper of air was coming from his own body.
“Do you just want to forfeit?” The question flew through the air and hit Fell like a slap in the face. Him, wuss out? No way. Not this time.
Power came from some hidden resource, and he pushed up to his feet once again, going the other way through the spacious and stuffy room. Now that he was up, there was a small yellow glow evident about the room, probably sunlight flowing in from some upper window. The ceiling was tall and lined with wooden rafters uncovered by any ceiling material, and sitting by the wall were several odd collections-- statues, scrolls, white bags. There was one stone statue of an elephant with emerald tusks, and Fell ducked behind the bulk of it when Kio began coming closer.
“You’ve lost already…” The sound of his opponent’s voice was soft and enticing. Asking him to admit defeat. Fell felt a physical tug on his body, like there was a string drawing him out of his hiding place. He gripped one tusk of the elephant to hold himself back, and as he did, the brittle gem shifted in its hold and bent to the left.
‘It comes out.’ He found himself thinking. The point was sharp. Kio was coming closer. If he hadn’t seen the emerald tusk shift, then there was still a chance…
A shadow appeared against the yellow light flowing from the room, the silhouette of a man with messy hair and brandishing a bulky weapon. The dark outline looked much bigger than what the hammer would have produced. This move was all going to depend on timing and sheer luck for the exhausted roofer.
His hand gripped around the bottom length of the tusk as he yanked upward. A grating screech, like the cliché sound of nails on a chalk board, came for half a second and then it was free. The sound of footsteps increased when Fell’s position was given away, and they both leapt out into the open, swinging the weapons found in the cellar.
Kio had something that looked like a stone arm. It was smooth and gray, fingers jutting out into a reaching hand, uneven edges on the end that Kio was holding showing that it had been broken off. The finger tips brushed against Fell’s cheek on passing and burned three ridges into the flesh there; Fell brought down the emerald tusk point into the shoulder of his opponent at the same moment in time, and they both flared out curses, groping the area of their respective wounds.
The fire began spreading into Fell’s face, causing tears to form at his eyes and drip down into hot trails, while he watched Kio through a blurry haze. The tusk had been lodged too deeply into the college student’s shoulder to pull back out, and now blood was flowing out around the puncture and staining the green jewel red. Both of them seemed to be affected by some sort of magic that these artifacts were legend to hold.
It came as a surprise when Kio suddenly collapsed backwards, gasping for air like a dying fish, pulling weakly at the tusk in his flesh. Fell leaned over him curiously. The skin on his neck and face was all beginning to turn a horrible shade of dark blue, like the blood under his skin was freezing, and his blue eyes narrowed upwards towards Fell.
“Take it.. Out… I .. I quit,” He mumbled. The words were almost ineligible. With a frown and a sigh, Fell gripped the dull end of the tusk and pulled, not wanting the death of a man on his shoulders.
“Augh!” They both screamed when the tusk emanated black electric sparks, and Fell let go, rubbing his hands. Kio gagged and convulsed, hands clenching in and out involuntarily.
“Oh, shit…” Fell mumbled. He was helpless to watch the other man’s torment. Then suddenly he felt himself get slammed back against the elephant statue by some invisible force. Was it a last move by Kio? His back brushed into the remaining emerald tusk, but the surface he hit was smooth and benign, so the objective of the move was unsuccessful.
A few more gasps. A last attempt to pull the tusk from his puncture wound before falling unconscious. All of his skin turning an odd shade of blue, chest barely rising in and out. Fell picked his way over the body of the college student, and he knew that somehow, he had won the round.
“Sorry,” he also mumbled. Then he began to haul himself back up the cellar stairs, mind reeling in circles and body shaking, but a smile on his lips born by the fact that he maybe had a chance to win. The second elephant tusk was clutched tightly in his left hand. |
Submission Name: RND 1: Fell Lennox: The Gem of Victory
