Clash

 Since the dawn of civilization, mankind had the erroneous idea of having tamed nature itself. Beasts were driven to extinction, entire forests were cut down, the course of rivers changed. Entire mountains were carved. And yet, one threat seems to be unavoidable.

As if the world itself attempted to get rid of humanity, dragons are the reminder of humanity’s insignificance, an antithesis of progress. And yet, this is not enough to break their will to live, the will to thrive.

The first and last frontline of mankind, the heroes of legend, inspiring future generations, they are called, dragon slayers.

Chapter II: Clash

 In a dark room with an old CRT monitor, a chubby, middle aged man with gray hair and a pair of glasses analises attentively the images of the dragon defeated previously. “...So you are saying that someone without experience managed to fight on equal grounds with a dragon?” he says.

Karasu, wearing a fabric face mask, standing by the door, being illuminated by the corridor light, while crossing his arms replies: “Yes.”

“Well, it is impressive for a normal human being, are you sure there was nothing special about his gear?”

“The sword was just a regular steel sword. The shield seemed to be something special, but he confirmed he bought it from the same craftsman who made his sword.”

The older agent fixes his glasses and grabs a folder from his desk. “Carlos, please turn on the light.”

Karasu promptly turns on the light of the room, revealing a bunch of boxes and the only window shut by a curtain. By the older agent’s desk, a thermos bottle and a ceramic mug. With a stash of plastic cups by the side of the old computer monitor, an overall mess of an office.

“Get a coffee.” The older agent says as he opens the folder. The file inside has data on Alex, “He did well in the theoretical test. He scored an 86 in the first test, and a 93 on the second attempt; if he applied for an office position, he would be hired on the spot, where he failed, was the physical test. He has good scores, but according to this report he lacks something.” He raises his eyebrow “And it says here he has no formal training and no special abilities at all” the agent points out a picture in the monitor, “Do you see this?”

“That’s charred asphalt sir.” Karasu replies, while pouring coffee on a plastic cup.

“Yes indeed it is, but look at the pattern, the flames just couldn’t get past the seemingly normal shield, isn’t that odd?”

Karasu leans closer. The agent continues “Have you seen any damage on the shield itself?”

“No sir.”

“So, it seems there’s something special, either with the shield or with himself. This report” he closes the folder and slams into the desk “This report is bullshit.”

🟆🟆🟆

Alex wakes up and scratches his head while yawning. With a melancholic visage, he recollects what he has seen. The person he could not save, the broken sword, how utterly weak he felt. “I almost died…” he thinks.

He looks at his own hands, as he moves his fingers to check if he’s still alive, he pats his own face and gets up. After washing his face and changing for the uniform provided by the clerk. “Let’s go.” he says to himself.

Alex arrives at the test hall, the same place where he attended twice. An auditorium, big enough to fit around five hundred people inside, facing a table where a speaker or professor could give a lecture. “Please, take a seat by the desk”, said the older agent.

Besides him, Karasu and two similar looking women, sitting by the front row. The older agent holds the folder with his files. Karasu has his arms crossed, by his side, his sword. While the two girls have a typewriter in front of them.

Alex sits down. The chair is old, yet comfortable, it seems it is from the 19th century. Above the desk, there’s a chess board, with two queen pieces, an eccentric decoration choice. He pays no attention, Alex adjusts himself.

The older agent stands up and presents himself. “Greetings, first of all, I am Agenor, regional supervisor for the order.” In a harsh tone he continues “Let's commence, shall we?”

One of the ladies starts typing on the archaic machine as they speak. Alex nods, Agenor adjusts his glasses and glances at the paper sheet he got from the folder. “Please, confirm some information, first, name and address?”

“Alexander Camelot, I live near the old railway, in the underpass slum.”

“I see, well, we are no strangers to homeless people and nomads joining our ranks, but we require at least a level of functional literacy, knowing how to read and write is not enough I’m afraid. What’s your education level?” Agenor inquires.

“High school completed, I have never pursued a college degree.” Alex says calmly, despite taking the comment in an offensive way.

“Very well,” Agenor continues “have you ever had contact with the supernatural aside from dragons?”

Alex replies: “Do you mean, magic? No, no curses and ghosts, nor blessings and angels as far as I’m aware.”

Agenor glances at the ladies alternating their turns on the typewriter. He looks back at Alex “Thanks for clarifying this information, now, do you know why are you here?”

“I… tried to kill a dragon without permission? Or something like that” he affirms with a hint of irony.

Agenor raises his eyebrow and quickly glances over Karasu before looking back at Alex. “Well, first of all, there is no need to worry about a license, you were acting to save people, this is not a crime, quite the contrary. Although, this is not what I meant, you managed to kill it, with a broken ordinary sword.”

“Huh?” Alex is surprised “Did I do the killing blow?”

Agenor shrugs and continues “Well you managed to pierce the brain, according to the forensic report. Our colleague, Over there, happened to arrive just in time, so there’s no conclusion on who did the killing blow”

The image of the dragon feeding rushed down on his head again. “...how many? How many died in that attack” he asks.

Everyone else in the room expresses discomfort. The silence is broken by sighs and the occasional sound of wood from the furniture creaking.

Agenor clears his throat and says “Only a single person and his dog… Unfortunately, we can’t save everyone, but thanks to you, no one else died yesterday.” 

The ladies alternate turns on the typewriter. 

Agenor continues: “Due to your actions, you proved yourself worthy of joining our organization.”

Alex is stunned in shock, not being able to express any reaction.

The older agent steps up to the stage where the desk is “However, you have already failed the entrance exam this year, we can’t handle the license for you so easily…” Alex keeps a calm posture, but his eyes betray him, his heart races.

The sound of the typewriter stops. The girls say in unison “Sir, the contract is ready.”

Agenor turns around and smiles, “thank you Ligia, thank you Livia.”

As he grabs the papers they handle him, they say in unison “No problem sir.”

“As I was saying. The license won’t be given easily.” he puts the papers on the desk,“Allow me to explain" he continues.

 "As you failed our exam this year, you will be taken under custody by a senior, who will vouch for you in the next 6 months. At the same time, you will be taking classes and having a training routine. This contract is a clause of exceptionality, however, we need more substantial proof that you deserve this chance.” 

Ligia and Livia stand up, one holding Alex’s shield, the other with a standard, yet new sword. “Stand up”, Agenor orders Alex, who nods and takes the gear from the twins.

Agenor takes a notebook from a pocket, opens it and glances over the glasses, raising an eyebrow and looking at Alex, he says “Are you ready?”

Alex nods.

“Very well, Carlos, come over here.” he orders, Karasu promptly without hesitation goes up to the stage. Agenor asks “are you okay with using Kegare?”

Alex and Karasu say in unison “WHAT!?”

“The test will be a duel, the report said you lack something, you held your ground against a dragon. 

You need a formal report from a senior. And as you have a score to settle, I’ll kill two birds in one stone, as well. 

Please gentlemen, both of you, sign the contract the girls wrote just now.”

Both take a page, they seem to be written in an esoteric language with a strange pattern. Rather than being written in a linguistic structure. Karasu removes his face mask, bites into his thumb and pinches a corner of the paper. 

Alex looks perplexed and asks “What should I do? Get a drop of blood on this paper?”

“Precisely.” Karasu says, he lays the paper down on the table “That typewriter is an artifact that can create supernatural contracts, this is to ensure we won’t die when dueling.”

The ink on the paper morphs back into a silhouette of a man, made of the glyphs.

Perplexed, Alex laid down his copy of the contract, he tried to bite into his thumb, but to no avail, instead, he unsheathed his new sword, a regal sword with a golden decorated crossguard. He pokes his index finger onto the sword tip, and smears the blood onto the page

As the glyphs morph, Agenor adjusts his glasses while writing on his notebook and says “Whoever strikes first wins, you are free to move as you please, all damage will be transferred to the blood contract, everyone agrees with these terms?”

“Yes sir.” both says in unison, The room around them unveils, the floor now is filled with a checkerboard pattern, each tile has around one and a half meters of distance, enough room for them to clash swords.

🟆🟆🟆

Agenor sits on the desk and observes the board, with two queen pieces. He places both contracts around the board, one on the right, one on the left. 

Lidia asks “Father, why would you set this up? You could use the report as evidence.” Agenor raises his hand, while not taking his eyes out of the board.

🟆🟆🟆

Karasu stands on a white tile, Alex on a black one, the horizon seems to be a cloudy sky, with no discernable ground aside from the tiled floor.

Alex is confused “Wait, how did we get here?” he asks while looking around.

“This is Agenor ’s doing, he is from a sorcerer family, they use seemingly ordinary objects for spellcasting.” Karasu replies. “Now, we won’t leave here if we keep talking, you can ask him how this works all you want when we leave.” he holds his sword ready to unsheathe and says “zan…”

Alex notices his instance and goes on guard, ready to parry.

“...Kegare” As he unsheathes, a trail of red mist follows the dark red blade.

Alex backsteps and grips his sword, he readies to thrust, but Karasu starts another attack. His footwork is a dance, trying to break his foe’s defense, Alex blocks and parries with his shield, he thinks “How is this even possible, I had an easier time fighting a dragon the size of a truck than a guy with a sword?”

🟆🟆🟆

As they clash, the pieces on the board move. The white piece advances, while the black piece does not bulge, yet it moves slightly.

🟆🟆🟆

 Karasu shares his focus on breaking the posture and a particular issue of his sword. “I can’t keep Kegare unsheathed for long, or else the bloodlust will take over…” He thinks, as he backsteps, he sheathed his sword, after taking a considerable distance.

Alex seizes the opportunity and rushes to attack. Despite being slightly longer, his new sword feels lighter than his old sword due to the blade tapering. It’s long enough for a slash, but the tip is thin for a thrust. The crossguard has a groove on one side that holds the thumb comfortably. He lunges at Karasu, Who parries his strike as he unsheathes again.

Karasu follows up with a second slash, aiming for the neck, he is aware that as soon as he hits the duel will end. Alex parries with the shield. With his guard now open, he keeps an annoyed face. “You held back...” he says.

The floor around them has small cracks formed from the trails of mist that hit the ground. “And there’s nothing that annoys me more…”Alex slashes downward,, “...than someone, UNDERESTIMATING ME!”

Now at a disadvantage, Karasu blocks his strike, feeling the weight of the raw strength over finesse, Alex punches with the rim of his shield. Hitting Karasu’s stomach.

The swordsman is thrown a couple tiles away, he coughs as he is kneeling he says “Very well..” he readies sheaths his sword again.

“You want me to go all in?” He wears his oni face mask and regains his posture “Let’s do it.” As he holds his sword handle, he raises his head revealing crimson eyes.