Competition

Time had stopped as Hallow stared at Bryson with a mischievous grin on his face. Literally, time had stopped. The monstrous bats that had been corrupted by ancient divine magic were frozen in the air mid-flight. Bryson and his group were all standing around frozen in place.

Hallow took a step forward before appearing right in front of the frozen-in-time Bryson. This was the first time he had seen the boy in person. He was sorely unimpressed. Even for an eleven-year-old, he was short, his short-cut hair looked so dumb, too much like Valer.

“You have some weird parents giving you a job like this. But who am I to judge.” Hallow said with a shrug, “Now what can I do to really piss those higher-ups off?”

As Hallow was thinking a bright flash exploded behind him. Slowly turning around Hallow had an eyebrow raised. Something had struck the suit of automated armour.

Specifically a massive beam of blinding white light. Once the blinding light disappeared the armour stood there still frozen in time but now glowing. A moment later it seemed like something within the armour was activated.

Then surprisingly, it began to move. Hallow’s brow furrowed as it started walking towards him. This shouldn’t be the case, the only thing that could move now was him and him alone, that or anything that was of the same make as him.

Then Hallow recalled that that thing had entered the realm. The armour in front of him definitely felt as if something had entered it. But that didn’t make sense, time would be stopped for them too. There was no way it or rather he was powerful enough to break free.

As the suit of armour drew near Hallow a hoarse echoing voice could be heard coming from the armour, “Hallow. You will not go any further.”

Hallow’s eyes narrowed. He recognized that voice. So it was him.

“Crux. So good to see you. What are you doing in there?” Hallow said coldly.

“I have been sent to stop you.” The armour that now housed Crux said.

“Really?” Hallow snorted, “You stop me? Isn’t the only reason why you’re in that armour because you can’t make your own body? How are you going to stop me?”

Crux stood in silence for a moment before the armour started to glow. Hallow simply stared at it bored, nothing being shown was remotely impressive. Then, something changed in Crux, something dangerous.

Hallow stared at Crux, not believing what he was seeing. Cruz was supposed to be a lower-level entity that couldn’t touch Hallow. Yet now discerning Crux’s make, it was far different. It contained power, real cosmic power.

Hallow now stared at Crux alert and bewildered. It didn’t make any sense. Hallow face turned into a nasty sneer as he asked, “How?”

“I have been sent to stop you.” Crux repeated.

“Oh.” Hallow said softly realizing something, “Valer actually upgraded you. How did he get the authority to do so?”

“She gave it.”

“Of course.” Hallow said nodding his head, “So she still tries. Still, you aren’t strong enough to stop me.”

“I can stop you long enough.”

“True. As much fun as it would be to eradicate you, that would stop me from having anymore.” Hallow said tapping his chin, “That’s fine. You should be fun to play. Makes things a bit more interesting.” Before disappearing completely.

Crux stood there in silence for a moment before looking over to Bryson, “You better be worth it.” He said aloud.

***

“Hey, do you see that?” Bryson asked Sable.

“What?”

“That thing over-huh. Never mind.” Bryson said confused. He could have sworn he saw something at the base of the tree. Guess it was all in my head. Bryson thought as he looked away. Only to spot something strange.

“Uh. Why is The Omen so close?” Bryson said. He recalled that the suit of armour should’ve been fifty or so metres away. Yet here it was, with the group.

Sable looked over and blinked in surprise, “I don’t know.”

Everyone now looked over to the suit of armour that seemingly teleported forward suddenly. None were able to figure out why or how it did so.

“Omen follow behind me.” Sable ordered. There was the briefest of pauses and then it complied.

With that everyone seemed to accept this weird event. Maybe it had an ability no one was aware of, maybe they just didn’t notice. Either way, it seemed to be acting normally and people didn’t raise any objections. Maybe get a checkup by Tufnut when they return, but there wasn’t much point right now trying to figure out what happened.

“Am I the only one who thinks that’s a bit weird?” Bryson whispered to Florence.

“No, but no one can explain what just happened.” Florence whispered back.

“You don’t think something otherworldly happened?”

“No idea.”

“Hmm.” Bryson said as he stared at the walking suit of armour with suspicion. I guess I’ll find out later. He thought still staring at it.

***

“It seems to be in perfect working condition. All damage is superficial.” Tufnut said after he finished the tune-up for The Omen.

“Is that so?” Bryson said. During the entire trip back, he had not taken his eyes off The Omen. He could have sworn that it looked over to him at times during the trip back.

“What do we even do with it when we get back?” Sable asked.

“I don’t know. Duchess Coldwater would be the one to decide that.” Tufnut said as he backed away from The Omen, “Alright, it’s yours to command once more.”

“Omen follow.” Sable said. The armour immediately walked over to Sable and stood at attention.

“Was Mother aware that neither Bryson nor I could command this thing?” Viola asked curiously.

“Yes, she was informed that it would only be able to listen to the orders of those in her bloodline. Otherwise it would only be a suit of armour.”

“Oh, so Mother gave the responsibility of controlling it to Sable?” Bryson said.

“Yes. I assume so.” Tufnut nodded his head in agreement.

“Oh.” Sable said in surprise, “Mother trusted this to me.” She said in wonder staring at the armour that stood before her, “She actually believed in me.”

“Why wouldn’t she? You’re family.” Bryson said earnestly.

Sable looked over to Bryson for a moment before turning away and crossing her arms, “Shut up.”

Bryson looked at Viola in confusion and was only returned with a similar look of cluelessness. Turning back to Sable he saw that she was already walking back over to the car with The Omen tailing behind.

“What?” Bryson said out loud as Mary walked over to them.

“Alright, everything is in order we’re ready to leave.” She said as she handed Bryson a box.

“What’s this?” Bryson asked as he studied the ornate hand-crafted box.

“It’s the magnolia flowers. Just prettied them up a bit for when you hand them in. Though considering how much you crushed those flowers, the only thing we could really do was make the package look nice.” Mary teased.

“Hmph. What was the point of gathering these flowers anyway?” Bryson said annoyed.

“Soap.”

Bryson blinked, “Pardon?”

“Apparently due to the old magic in those flowers they make for some amazing soap. Keeps your skin young. A single flower can provide enough soap for months. Also they smell nice. It’s your mother’s personal brand.” Mary said with an amused grin seeing the look of absolute confusion on his face.

“Wait. So I nearly fell to my death for soap.” Bryson said in a quiet voice.

“Essentially yes. But hey, at least it’s tangible and very valuable.” Mary said earnestly while Viola struggled not to laugh.

Bryson stared at the box so hard a hole could’ve been burned through it. Giving a long inhale he tossed the box over to Florence.

“I’ll be waiting in the car.” Bryson said quietly as he without another word walked stiffly away.

“Yep, just as cute as Lilith said he was.” Mary chuckled to herself.

Huh, she’s familiar with mother enough to be on a first-name basis. Viola mused. Poor Bryson, that was pretty funny though. I do wonder if I could get my hands on some of that soap.