Chapter One; Arrow and Sword

Torturous fires, citizens in desolation, Soldiers burning with fear, and passion all the same, risking their lives to protect and serve. Demons. An angry horde of  them. “I  was correct, It's coming.” Said the King as Short glimpses of the future flashed through his head. He hated day dreaming, It always meant trouble. Why did he have to be cursed with such a searing power? King Malivu sat deep in thought facing the dark, empty throne room. Footsteps, starting dim and getting gradually louder knocked him out of this daze. A duo of knights, standing menacingly In front Of him. The  room got darker than It already WAS, their scary eyes thrashed through their masks. The air was heavy. The king spoke out loud, elevating his wearied, raspy voice:

“Bino. Binky.” Neither of them hesitated to drop Knee to the floor and bow to their King. “We bring an update for his majesty”, One Of the knights said. This one was Bino, a decently tall man who flailed a long red cape atop his armor; the man was equipped with colored face ornamentation, and a jester designed helm. The lady knight beside him bore similar face markings, she wore stockings with plates of armor on them, and probably the shortest shorts she could find, with a strapless, armored shirt which stopped at her breast, with sun shaped, jester-like head wear. 

“Very well. You may rise, Guardians of the Great One.” The duo arises on the king's orders. Bino towers over his companion in terms of height, but she showed no signs of alarm toward him. They both carried longswords concealed by their full body capes. Bino speaks to King Malivu in a respectful tone.

“weve found a suitable candidate to deter the threat moving north.” Binky interrupts, she is excited to speak.

“His name is Apollo boy! Hes really strong and cu—”

“Enough.” The king had not a lick of patience today. “You refer to the boy with the mask? I'd never gotten a chance to go over his dossier. Tell me about him if you will.” Bino knew the king was speaking to him now.

“Sir. Apollo Gladstone, you may have heard the family name. The boy is an exceptionally skilled marksman, with early showings of advanced TAKA enactment. Apollo is heavily trained in the arts of assassination. His martial arts may even rival mine hand to hand. With such a limited amount of information to scale our threat off of, I decided that if we want this done quickly, and precise;  he's our best bet.” The king paused a moment before speaking.

“I regret to inform you, as of earlier today our information is no longer so limited.” Bino wondered why that would be a bad thing. “After I share this with you.. Let us decide together if your hunter is suited for the task.” —

Wind blew fiercely and tottered the leaves on their branches. The sun radiated through the forest, lighting every spot not dappled by the trees. Through these woods a masked boy darted branch to branch, bow in hand, hawking his prey.

“Ive been trailing my target a full day now, the disease brewing in that wolf seems to have a much faster spread rate than i was told.” Apollo kills his presence while tailing the beast. Finding a clean shot wouldn't be easy with someone constantly hovering over it. Did he know what was going on?

Impossible, Apollo thought. The eerie, ominous energy percolating from the wolf was enough to make him shiver from a distance, but the boy was walking beside him as if completely normal. Apollo was pulled out of his thoughts when the companion of his target began speaking for the first time since he’d been trailing them.

“We’ve searched far and wide, Inzuru. Since you ate that weird, lustrous chunk of snow, you've been scaring me. But it's ok, we’ll fix you right up I swear it by the Greatmother and her Rifths!” The boy's skin was a tad bit lighter than Apollos. He was equipped with a long sleeve under his strap vest. Flapping off his back was a long, grey cape with white fur at the neck. He was armed with a sword, and his purple eyes pierced through everything he looked at.

While walking the boy noticed that Inzuru was no longer strolling with him.

 “What is it boy? Need a break?” He stepped toward the wolf but was surprised when his furry friend snatched away from him. Inzuru let out a growl at the boy, who stood firm but adopted a sad expression.

 “Cmon boy, it’s your old pal Stowie, can’t you see?” He knew something was wrong. But what? Before time itself could even move again, a glowing red arrow gleamed in the distance, cutting through air and sound. “Shit!” Stowie said while barely unsheathing his sword in time to cut the arrow. On guard now he switched to a defensive stance. The silence after that shot was so loud it rang through Stowie's head. 

He held out his sword, constantly poking defense at every adumbral spot around him. He was growing impatient. What the hell was that? No time to think. Faster than he could perceive, Apollo was in his face, attack ready. It surprised him. Apollo had dashed straight past him.

 “The wolf,” thought Stowie. He dashed forward in an attempt to match Apollo's momentum, an arrow shot to the leg ended his pursuit. Stowie could only watch as the masked aggressor closed in on his cohort. Inzuru sat in a paralyzed state as the terrifying figure of Apollo towered over him. The masked man nocked his bow , as hard as he could. A kill shot, this was sure to take care of him. As he let loose, Stowie's sword came cutting through air and snapped Apollo's bow in twain.

“No matter, my mission WILL be carried out.” Said Apollo as he threw his damaged bow to the side, equipping a small portable dagger and winded up another blow intended for the wolf. His focus was unmatched.

 Interrupting the demise of his wolf once again, Stowie tossed himself into Apollo, knocking him a good distance away. 

“You know, it’s pointless to delay the inevitable”

“What? My wolf isn’t dying, watch your tongue before I cut it out!” Stowie screamed back in denial, but Apollo insisted. 

“Don’t give me that shit. You must’ve felt it. That dark, heavy energy. It’s not normal”

“SHUT UP! He just got his paws on a bad batch of snow. I’m gonna get him fixed up as soon as possible, so MOVE.” Apollo let out a sigh before replying;

“How ignorant. You don’t think this can just be “fixed” do you? My apologies, but I can’t let your bond with a beast put lives in danger. You just don’t understand the importance of this threat, let the beast go or he’ll turn into a Monster.”

Stowie raised his head to the sky, dragging his palm vertically down his face in a tedious manner.

“Guess I'll be moving you myself then.”

Stowie lunged toward Apollo with as much force as he could gather in his right hand. He took a swing, and missed. Apollo had bobbed lower than Stowe's peripheral could see, rising back up with an elbow to his stomach. Stowie dropped to a knee and as he looked up, Apollo's boot came soaring at him and landed directly on his jaw. Stowie slid weightlessly across the snow while Apollo waited for him to gather himself.

“Yea, good luck with that. I noticed you're way stronger with your sword.” Stowie brushed himself off as Apollo spoke. 

“Anyway, you struggle in vain, the wolf is gone. Likely ran off while you were throwing a tantrum, thank you so much… For protecting a calamity and influencing its spread! What type of scu–” Apollo was interrupted by a painful sounding groan that came from Stowie. His raspy voice followed.

“I don't give a Rifths arse what you think, I have to help my friend.” His voice rang through the forest, his exhausted body started to move toward the tree his longsword was lodged in. Apollo just watched, as if he could feel the melancholy in Stowie's voice, as if he felt bad.

“I won't shame your duties, nor should you mine. Selfish it may be, I have a promise to keep, and I intend to do so, flat cut. If the situation is as you say, then come and serve your justice when the time comes. I swear I'll take the Rifths punishment head on, for me and the demon dwelling in my friends’ consciousness. But only after I've eradicated it. You've no right to touch my wolf, but im giving you a reason to direct that grudge to me,” Stowie said as he yanked his sword from the tree.

Apollo sat with a blank expression, the snapped bow still in his grasp.

“Lets hope we don't have to meet again.” Stowie bidded Apollo farewell as he pricked back his sword and haled it roughly through the snow.  The masked man was now face to face with a mini, sword made snowslide that obstructed his view. The snow drowned out the black in Apollo's cloak. Now submerged he took a deep breath and clinched every muscle in his body. A wave of glowing red energy shot from his presence and blew the snow away. As he’d thought, the strange swordsman was gone with the wind, and so was the wolf.