Down but Never Out

“Raaagh! Open! Stupid…damn…sick of…being in…this stupid…room!” Alex cried out as he slammed repeatedly into the heavy metal door of the cell they had been trapped in.

“It’s been a week, dude,” Jake said, leaning against the wall. “What do you hope to do?”

“More than sitting here!” Alex said, ramming into the door one last time. “Well Kraelin, you’ll be happy to know Ekodyne steel is something to be proud of! Incredibly sturdy! Those workers earned their raise this year!” He laid down on the cell floor, spreading out. “How do you even know it’s been a week?”

“I’ve slept seven times,” Jake said with a shrug.

“Dude, you fall asleep if a hard math question pops up in front of you,” Alex said, sighing. Stick came over and sadly licked his face. “Hey boy. You feeling better at least?” The little whiptail trilled and rubbed his face against Alex’s cheek.

Kraelin sat still on the bed, as he had for the past…well, none of them knew. They were fed sporadically, and the lights were on all the time. Alex was increasingly worried about him, but he didn’t know what to do, as he felt rather hopeless himself.

“We’re going to get out of here,” Jake said confidently.

“You keep saying so, but we keep having to turn to face corners while one of us uses the lone toilet,” Alex said. “And might I add, going to the bathroom is doubly awkward for me.”

“Yeah…” Jake said. “I’m sorry. I’m…Alex, this is all my fault. If I wasn’t the way I was, trying to always be the big, bold…hell, trying to not be my dad. I ruined your life. If I was stuck here by myself, I could at least know I did this to myself. But I dragged you into this too.”

“How many times we gotta go over this, dude?” Alex said, sitting up. “I’m not as big a moron as you think I am. I make my own choices. You couldn’t possibly be alone here, because I ain’t leaving you.” Alex pointed a finger at Kraelin. “Or you!”

“Why? He’s right. We failed,” Kraelin said softly. “Malphi strung us along all our lives. Each moment of my life has been influenced by him. I’m not a warrior. I’m a…a puppet! A little doll meant to be played with and discarded and…”

Alex punched him in the face as hard as possible. Kraelin’s head turned with the blow, and he looked at Alex, shocked. A look of anger which neither Kraelin nor Jake had seen on his face was there.

“So we're done? Both of you are giving up?” Alex said softly. “All my life I’ve had the crap kicked out of me. Dad died, Steve married mom, treated me like garbage or worse. No friends, no respect, nobody but you, Jake.” Alex pulled out the old broken watch from his father. “This is all I have to remember the only man who ever believed in me before I met you, Jake! You taught me I could be a good man, despite everything else the world told me! And you, Kraelin, taught me I could be a hero! I’ve been stabbed, slimed, clawed, beaten, bruised and broken these past few weeks! I’ve had my body rearranged into a girl hotter than I’d ever feel comfortable talking to and been hit on by creepy old guys! But I have never, not once, given up! Yeah, this sucks!” Alex leaned over, putting his hands on Kraelin’s knees, getting right into his face. “So make it not suck! Because I…I…” Tears slipped past his defenses, falling down his cheeks and to the floor. “I can’t do this by myself. God damn it, I need you two. I need my friends.”

“Hell yeah…” Jake said slowly, pushing himself off of the wall. “Hell yeah! Alex, you are absolutely god damn right! We’ve been dead and back again! Compared to dying, being stuck in a room should be easy!” He led Alex away slightly from Kraelin, blocking his body from sight. Alex winced and held the hand he used to punch Kraelin.

“Thank you!” Alex whispered. “Damn, the boy is made of iron!”

“How many of the tears are from emotion and how many are from the punch?” Jake asked with a little smile.

“Screw you is how many,” Alex said.

“You’re right,” Kraelin said, standing up straight for the first time in what felt like forever. “You’re right. I gave up. I lost…everything. Thank you, Alex, for…for finding me again.”

“What are friends for, buddy?” Alex said, locking eyes with Kraelin. A moment passed between them, not one of friendship, but of deep respect. Then Kraelin looked to the door.

“Now, the problem. The door,” Kraelin said. It was thick metal with a small window to the outside hallway. A computer keypad was embedded in the wall on the right. “The control panel is most likely the weakest spot. We break it, we break the door.”

“Yeah, but it’s metal too,” Jake said. “Ain’t no smashing the thing.”

“Unless you mean code breaking it, which…I mean, we don’t even know how many numbers we need,” Alex said.

“No, we don’t have time,” Kraelin said. “Whatever they’re going to do to Elysia is going to be soon, if it hasn’t happened already. We need to break it. I don’t suppose you’ve figured out how to turn into your metal form yet?”

“Yes, I have!” Jake said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “It’s why we’re outside this cell beating the crap out of the bad guys and saving Elysia!”

“Okay, dumb question,” Kraelin said. “There is another option. A warriors technique. The only problem is, none of the warriors in Lugara have even come close to mastering it. And I…” He looked away, contemplating.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

Kraelin stared at the door, no longer seeing it. He was far away and long ago, in a field outside Lugara. And like he was in Vyock Castle, he had been trapped then as well.

*

A flurry of punches struck the wooden training dummy, the ropes surrounding the midsection straining under the blows. Kraelin breathed hard, entering his fourth consecutive hour of training. Or was it his fifth? It was hard to tell when he got into his head. Whenever he wasn’t with the warriors of Lugara, training with the professionals, working towards his goal of protecting his home, he was out in the field, practicing by himself.

“Only two more years until you can take the warrior exam,” a harsh voice said. Kraelin could practically hear the sneer as he turned to see Kegrom and a few of his goons.

“What do you want?” Kraelin asked, landing a kick on the dummy, trying not to pay attention to the instigator.

“My due respect. That insult from earlier you threw at one of your meathead warrior friends. Something about glowing hands compensating for something. Turn around and look at someone whose mother is on the council! I deserve respect!” Kegrom demanded.

“Funny. You don’t give the same respect to Elysia, and her father is Master Augarium,” Kraelin said. He then instinctually dodged as a rock flew past his head, Kegrom’s hands glowing red.

“Think you’re so clever! Looking down on magic users! Thinking you don’t need us!” Kegrom bellowed, lifting his arms as the ground began to tremble, dirt swirling around Kraelin’s legs, trapping him.

“I don’t look down…on magic users! I look down…on you!” Kraelin said, struggling as his arms were pinned to his sides, his legs immobile, trapped in a pillar of stone with only his head visible. If only I were faster, stronger, he thought.

“You. Your parents. The psychopath Saphira and her moronic father. None of you belong here. Lugara is a village of sorcerers. A proud village of sorcerers. You warriors are merely sweating, grunting filth,” Kegrom sneered, turning to walk away. “I’m sure Elysia will find you eventually. Maybe she’ll have a pickaxe. It’s not like she has a Talent which will help you.”

They left him there, his face barely containing his anger as he concentrated. Hours later Elysia did find him, Augarium in tow. She ran to him as the late twilight sky hid his features as Augarium summoned vines to tear the stone pillar apart. “By the First, Kraelin, who did this to you! I…your hands!”

Elysia held his hands, shaking and bleeding from the hours in the stone, his repeated blows useless against the unflinching rock. “It doesn’t matter who did it. Nothing will happen,” Kraelin said bitterly.

“Which means Kegrom,” Augarium said, looking at the boy's hands. “I recognize what you were trying to do. You had to know it was impossible at your strength level.”

“When Barram was trapped for ten days in the coffin, he probably thought it was impossible too. But we know who won the Battle of Arthan Canyon in the end,” Kraelin said. He held up a bleeding fist, flexing and wincing. “Everything is impossible until it happens! How can I push Elysia daily and not try to do the impossible myself?! How can I face my parents again one day if I don’t fight?!”

Augarium nodded then, a small smile breaking through his beard. “Elysia, let’s help Kraelin home. I believe he’s earned some rest.”

*

“Its called the Punch of the Stone Casket. Once there was a great battle, two warrior tribes in the days after the First Magic War. A great warrior hero was captured and sealed in a stone casket. Victory for the brutal invading tribe seemed all but certain. But the heroic warrior, Barram, managed to punch his way through it by tapping into the innate energy of his soul, creating something close to magic. Stone and metal shattered from his righteous fury. I’ve tried for years to master this punch…”

“And today you’re going to, bro,” Jake said, slinging his arm around Kraelin’s shoulders as all three stared at the control panel. Kraelin nodded. It wasn’t about being a warrior anymore. He had to become a hero.