Chapter 2. Leap of Faith

The Prince deeply sighed as he gently walked to the side of the building that he was standing on. He nervously looked down at Avorion who stood near him.

Avorion looked up at the Prince and similarly sighed before quickly grabbing a fruit from one of the nearby stands. Of course, if someone were to take something without paying, then the only natural response would be to look down upon such a thing. A woman that was about five-feet short came out of the building. She was wearing magnificently designed exotic fur clothing. While exotic, it wasn’t anything too crazy. Specifically, she wore fur akin to that of a white tiger, and she also had a greyish dress on as well. The female vendor came out understandably pissed due to the fact that she had what appeared to be a fruit-stealing thief before her. She seemed to be trying to decide who to yell at, but just let it rip anyways.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? Thinking that you can just take what you like without paying! My family has been here for thirty years and I'm not afraid to get this dress dirty if it means I have to teach you a lesson!”

Avorion slowly lifted his helmet to show off his face, before turning around to face the woman who was threatening him. The woman was shocked after seeing Avorion’s face as her face quickly turned red. Avorion then sighed once more before reaching into his pouch and handing the angry female a single gold coin. The vendor immediately gasped in shock after receiving the coin before quickly looking up at him. Her gaze was something of shock, as she clearly did not expect to get paid this much (or at all for that matter), nor have her fruit taken by someone so charming. What came next from her mouth were words of regret and praise since she obviously recognized the knight.

“S-sir Avorion, you needn’t pay me this much! You’re a loyal knight to the throne, and I as well as countless citizens owe you and the other knights far more than just gratitude. So please, just take the fruit and forget I ever slandered you for stealing it!”

The woman was blushing a deep red as he gently clasped the coin in her hand. He seemed to be insisting that she just accept the currency. Avorion gently set his hand on her shoulder and laughed. She looked up at him with a look of surprise, but Avorion slowly looked down at her before transitioning from a laugh to grinning.

“Nonsense! I took the fruit without paying, so giving you that gold coin is the least I can do as recompense!”

The woman then responded in desperation as she shouted at the knight for him to take her as his own. Meanwhile, the Prince simply stood there witnessing the odd interaction.

“Sir Avorion! Please! I’m young and I can provide as well, so you needn’t worry about me being a burden!”

Avorion shook his head and put down his helmet, before giving her a cold response.

“Listen. I will only tell you this once. My heart belongs to another, and she’ll be the only one I’ll ever choose to dedicate myself to. So, if you don't get away from me, I’ll have to shut your business down for harassment, and I’ll even confiscate whatever earnings you made for the day until you’ve learned your lesson.”

The young woman was hurt by this and turned quickly before walking away. As she walked away, the young teen Prince watched and attempted to flirt with her before Avorion realized that he was still being watched by her.

“Don’t worry! In a few years I’ll make you mine! Haha!”

The woman simply ignored him and walked away, already pissed off about her newfound rejection. Avorion (after quickly scarfing down the fruit) then tossed the finished fruit at the Prince and pointed leftward from where they were standing, signaling for him to pay his attention to that specific direction. He was tired of the distractions.

“Did I say for you to stop training my Prince? No? Alright; get to it before I throw more fruit at you to get you moving.”

The Prince looked down at the building's roofing inspecting how it was covered in a combination of snow and frost. He then looked around the surrounding area as he walked back to the center of the roof. His nervousness grew as he heard the commotion of the market section below alongside its dozens of people who were struggling to make a living. He felt like he was drawing in an ocean of words in which he was simply unable to hear his own thoughts from the sheer amount of fear that filled his mind and body. Finally, he forcefully bit his lip and started to concentrate on the task at hand.

The Prince sighed in expectation of himself failing. Despite this, he lowered himself to about where his waist was, bending his left knee forward and stretching his right one behind him in preparation. The Prince then placed his hands on the cold wet surface at his feet, closing his eyes calmly and focussing. After a few moments his eyes burst open aggressively. He began breaking into a dead sprint with all his thoughts being on the other side of the jump. With his heart pounding harder and harder, he desperately peddled his legs to move faster and faster as he approached the edge. In his mind he wanted to stop and turn around, but there was no choice anymore. He exploded off the edge and made the great jump. Before he knew it, the Prince had lept five feet in the air.

Avorion watched from below with the Prince both peddling his legs and flailing his arms while floating in mid-air. The Prince, of course, made it to the other side, but he slipped on the floor upon his rough landing because of the winter-inducing debris that covered it. The slippery ice made him slip forward which made him land on his face. He groaned in pain and rubbed his head while slowly getting up from the floor.

“Damn, that really hurt.”

Avorion walked over to the building that the Prince was previously on top of before leaping onto the roof of it. He made the jump look so casual. The knight offered the young Prince a hand, and the young lord sighed, accepting the offer from his mentor. The Prince firmly grabbed Avorion’s hand, and the knight pulled his arm back, using his strength to help the young lord to his feet.

“You did pretty good there, up until the end of course. You ought to get used to traversing odd floorings. It’ll assist you well one day.”

The Prince tried to keep his head leveled as he rubbed his head more.

“How do you make it look so easy?”

Avorion slowly crossed his arms and placed his right hand on the part of his helmet where his cheek would be located. The knight then lowered his head and began to think about it hard for he did not wish to give his lord a ridiculous answer. He then snapped his fingers as if a simple way to explain this had crossed his mind. Next, after some brief additional thought, he shook his head deeming the answer too cryptic. Avorion finally took a deep breath which revealed itself in the cool air before raising his helmet and simply forwarding it in front of his pupil.

“You see my young lord, it's simply due to skill. I’ve learned to balance my steps so perfectly that I cannot fall or slip on the surface.”

The Prince shook his head and spoke to Avorion while face-palming himself in disbelief.

“Really now?”

Avorion only nodded, as this was the simple truth.

“So then, prove it by hopping the top of a broom that someone sweeps with.”

Avorion nodded and walked to the side of the building slowly. There was a man sweeping the front of a store, and the knight smirked as he signaled over to the Prince to come over and watch him. The teenager didn't think it could be done but came over to watch Avorion anyways. Avorion then leapt over the side of the building, seemingly flipping himself onto the broom of the man. Both the man that was sweeping, and the Prince looked in shock as Avorion stood on the tip of the broomstick. Avorion’s stance was simply too perfect with his right heel on the broomstick itself, his arms perfectly crossed, and his left foot sitting perfectly adjacent the right one. Avorion looked up at his Prince and smirked, providing a slightly cocky tone as he began speaking once more.

“See? I told you so.”

The Prince quickly replied with a very immature remark.

“Ahhh… what the fuck?”

Avorion laughed before hopping off the broom that the store-owner was trying to sweep with. The teen, still not being able to believe what he saw, shook his head and walked away from the side of the building where they now stood.

Avorion walked three houses down and leapt on top of one, staring at his pupil with his arms crossed. The teen saw this and immediately knew that Avorion wanted him to get over there. The Prince sighed and got back into stance before breaking into a mad sprint once again. The teen wanted to land without getting hurt this time, so upon the Prince landing on the snow covered roof, he came up with an immediate plan. He tried to lean back to put more weight on his rear in anticipation of this tactic leading to a safe landing, but he just ended up falling on his ass instead of his face this time. He squealed upon impact like a baby.

Avorion sighed as he kept watching his student fail over and over. He was feeling bad for his Prince, but also found that his pupil’s failures proved to be quite entertaining. The Prince sighed before he slowly got back up, wanting to give the leap one last try before throwing in the towel. He centered himself on the roof (similar to his previous attempts), lowering himself into a steady running position for a final time. Unlike the last attempt, he raised his rear slightly to make the transition to his on coming sprint easier. The boy made sure to tune out the noises caressing from the civilians below them before attempting the leap.

The Prince lunged towards the other side for a final time, leaping a distance that was at least seven feet. He opened his eyes upon his landing, taking a deep breath as he slowly realized that he finally succeeded without fail. The boy put his arms up and clenched his fists in triumph as he cheered for himself.

“I-I did it! Haha! I did it!”

His mentor gave him a reluctant clap of hands, wanting to at least show his support. However, Avorion rolled his eyes and threw another piece of fruit at the Prince. With a lack of awareness encompassing his reality, the Prince was struck on his head by the airborne fruit, before looking at Avorion aggressively. The Prince gently tossed the fruit up and down in his palm while speaking to his mentor snarkingly.

“What was that for? What even is this?”

Avorion laughed at his clueless pupil and simply replied.

“Uhhh… it’s an apple my Lord. Ever heard of one?”

The Prince rolled his eyes similar to how Avorion did earlier and shook his head in response, getting a bit irritated with Avorion’s smart-talk.

“Of course I know what a fucking apple is, but why did you throw it?”

Avorion pointed to a bundle of boxes that were stacked up high. The Prince glanced, shrugged, and looked back over at Avorion.

“Uhm… it’s a stack of boxes. What? You want me to use these boxes to get over to you or something?”

Avorion nodded and replied.

“Obviously.”

Avorion watched as the Prince tried to attempt at the task that was assigned. The Prince tried getting a head start on the boxes, running and jumping on them one by one with his distance from the ground getting farther and farther. However, on the last box, he slipped and fell on his rear, only then to subsequently fall from the highest box that he had just slipped on all the way onto the ground. The Prince grunted as he hit the side of the roof on his way down. Luckily, the Prince landed on his side.

“FUCK! THAT HURT!!”

Avorion quickly made his way to the Prince and helped him up, feeling a bit guilty and responsible for assigning a relatively difficult task to his pupil. The Prince wined a bit as Avorion felt around his pupil’s side to make sure nothing was broken. The Prince shouted in pain as Avorion felt his shoulders. Avorion realized quickly that a part of his pupil’s right arm was lodged in his shoulder, probably causing significant pain. Besides this, Avorion felt some relief in the fact that his pupil was still overall fine (he deemed this right-arm-shoulder issue as something easily reprimandable). Quickly, he got to work on helping his student.

“This may hurt, so do try to not make a big commotion.”

Avorion firmly grasped the area between the Prince’s right shoulder and neck, before subsequently grabbing the Prince’s right wrist. The Prince began screaming.

“A big commotion? What do you expec-“

The Prince’s sentence was cut off as the knight pulled on the Prince’s arm while making sure to hold the boy’s shoulder in place. After a moment, a loud popping sound was hurt while the Prince hit himself in his leg in response to the underlying pain. The Prince remained on the floor for a minute or two.

Panting heavily, the teen slowly tried to get up from the ground using his right arm to push himself off. This was a poor decision as it resulted in the Prince’s arm giving out quickly since it was still hurting from being tugged out of its socket, making the Prince fall on his bottom once more. Shaking his head, the Prince used his left arm this time to push himself off the ground before leaving Avorion slightly behind.

The Prince took a deep breath, rubbing his right shoulder while he walked back to the castle. Avorion watched the Prince walk away and shook his head, wanting desperately for his young lord to get better. However, Avorion knew that greatness cannot be pushed onto someone so young for it would take time for such a thing to develop.

The knight sighed and followed the Prince, heading to the entrance of the kingdom. On his way he watched the merchants trade amongst themselves as well as other civilians. After strolling for a few more meters, Avorion was stopped by some kids who were playing with a ball amongst the front street of the kingdom castle as their ball rolled up to his leg, slightly hitting it. The kids ran to the ball and looked up at the knight slowly in awe of his appearance. His white armor shined, glistening amongst the frost-white of the benevolent snow that consumed the ground. Avorion slowly kneeled down to the ball, before picking it up slowly. He seemed to be reminiscing of a childhood long forgotten and plagued by both insecurities and fear.

“Make sure you don't lose this. It’ll be a shame if your parents had to waste their coin to buy you another one.”

Avorion then tossed the ball towards the kids and continued walking on. The ball Avorion tossed back exhibited bounce-like noises as the kids continued playing, their sounds and laughter growing more distant as he walked onward. This made Avorion think of the Prince who was also just a boy. Perhaps the knight was being too hard on him is what Avorion pondered. He thought the Prince would’ve been more than capable of accomplishing the knight’s tasks, but then again he himself is bound to misjudge things from time to time. So, to make up for his assumed miscalculations, he intended to challenge himself to a task that will make him surpass his own limits.

The older knight reached the entrance to the city where he was greeted by the two lesser knights that guarded it. Avorion looked at their armor and thought about how the gear they wore wasn’t completely forged from the special frost iron like his own. Instead, the armor was made with only a small amount of frost iron alongside basic minerals from the icy earth giving the armor of the lesser knights a slightly duller appearance. This color further revealed itself through the glistening snow that refused to cease its falling. The knight on Avorion’s left looked up at him and spoke. This knight was rather buff in comparison to the one on the right of Avorion.

“Sir Avorion, heading out are we? Would you like some help with your task, whatever it may be?”

Avorion simply put his hand on the man's shoulder and leaned in slowly before disengaging the mechanism that kept the top of his helmet up. The top of the helmet clamped down, making the knight jump in surprise at the sudden closing of Avorion’s helmet. Both of the knights simply took two steps to their respective sides, clearing the path for Avorion. This was a simple gesture, something that could be understood without words being spoken. The message that was translated through such a sign was cold, simple and very harsh. The message exerted respect, assertiveness, and sheer strength to anyone capable of receiving it. It could only translate to one thing.

“I don’t need you. Stop bothering me, and get out of my way.”

The two lower knights that guarded the entrance to the kingdom, quickly looked down at their feet in silence. Avorion walked into the psychotic blizzard, the snow gently crunching beneath the weight of his armored heel. Usually, going out into the blizzard filled land is equivalent to sucicide as most people in the kingdom couldn’t even navigate through the barely visible landscape. Admittedly, there isn’t much to the land of Fortis Gelu as it is simply a land of fierce felines, mountains, and even forests all plagued by the signature tall Arctic Willows that enveloped it. These things made the kingdom known to be a somber land, seemingly frozen in time where man had no choice but to fight for their stake in the world, even if small.

Avorion sighed as he trudged through the insane snow, the wind continuing to blow past him with no weakness. The knight walked towards the forest, brushing past all the signature Arctic Willows. He squinted his eyes and started to look down at the snow, wanting to see if there were any fresh prints he could take advantage of. The cold didn’t affect the Prince. His thoughts and feelings lied in his failure involved in misjudging the Prince’s skill level. Avorion just couldn’t get over how he managed to even do such a thing. After all, these feelings are the reason for why he made this trip in the first place. He wanted to be able to forgive himself through a trail of strength and blood.

The knight began to walk through the forest, attempting to strive towards a familiar mountain in the distance. Unfortunately, it was getting dark, and the temperature was dropping fast. Avorion expected this and brought a few matches to get a fire going if need be. Avorion ran towards the mountain, quickly pulling out his sword to cut down, and collect branches on his way. Finally, he arrived at the base of the mountain in which the light in the sky was unequivocally and almost completely gone. Fortunately, he was able to see that there were tracks leading up to the mountain. Using his acquired intuition alone, Avorion walked along these shallow tracks and saw that the farther along he followed these prints, the more fresh they looked. Visibility seemed to submerge in these prints the more and more farther he followed them. Finally, Avorion arrived at the prize he sought. It was a cave of mighty felines. He slowly poked his snowy head in, and began to count how many of them were inside the cave.

“Let’s see, I count one… three… six, and eight. Eight big kitties total… and only one of me. Seems fair enough. I like those odds. If I am to truly be liberated from my shackles that I have induced upon myself, then I must make amends through blood and blood alone.”

Avorion began to slowly take off his chest plate despite the cold, exposing his grey and black hair to the environment with no care at all. The next pieces of gear to be removed were his shoulder plates and the thin exquisitely crafted frost iron armor that protected his arms. This left his head, hands, and lower half still wearing and attached to frosty armor. The knight tossed his armor and branches into the entrance of the cave. The clanking of the items caught the attention of the tigers inside, making them peer towards Avorion who stood at the entrance in suspicion. The tigers sensed a powerful killing intent from the man as they began to rise up onto their feet and face the knight that was obviously challenging them for the right of living. This was the only deduction that the tigers could make since the man barged into their home so uninvitingly.

“Alright then you overgrown cats! Relieve me from my frustration!”

The knight threw his arms out and back, laughing as he gave into the bloodlust that began consuming his mind. This murderous state of mind is what the king’s knights have been trained to go into when they are faced with many powerful foes. After all, why shouldn’t they have the same killer instincts as the beasts that they model their armor after. Channeling this is the key to survival in these lands, and an even better tool to vent one's frustration efficiently. Every step Avorion took up until this point was for this very moment.

Finally, he let himself loose onto the beasties, and the fiends did the same. The tigers charged at him in a clash that was met with both metal and claws. Man versus beast, predator versus prey.

Nonetheless, the strong always survive… and the weak always perish.