Here is a short story from a fantasy story I’m experimenting with.
Warning: It is VERY LONG
The New Squadron
Footsteps echoed off the stone walls of the palace. Small talk could be heard from people in the hallways as they passed by. The day was like any other day. Guards went to their spots to patrol the palace. Soldiers were sent off with their given missions. Although, not everything had been this orderly or amazing. Decades ago, the three species of the land, Demons, Humans, and Wizards had waged war on each other. Though a hidden society had offered a new solution, each species would get one-third of the continent’s land, and they would be watched over by their new king and queen, a demon and a wizard. The three species had reluctantly agreed, as long as they still got to rule over their own people and would not be bothered, unless asked. The society had agreed, and they built their palace at the center of the interception where all three countries would connect.
I eagerly walked down the halls of the palace. It was my home. My mother and father were the leaders of the Alpha Peace Society. And I had been one of the four people to be a part of their first squadron. I couldn’t wait to see who the other three would be. I was told there would be two demons and one human. I had never seen a demon before, aside from his mother and a few of the Secretaries,…I had heard of how monstrous they were…but those were all stories.
I stopped at a pair of double doors. It led into one of the dueling rooms. I would always practice his sword skills here. I had gotten fairly good at them. I had even practiced with his magic, although I wasn’t very great at it.
The room was a large rectangular area. There was a line that outlined another rectangle in the center of the room. That was where all of the duels would happen. Along the walls were racks and sets of various weapons, swords, daggers, arrows, anything really. The room was lit from torches along the walls and lanterns that hung on the ceiling. The lanterns held blue glowflies in them, lighting the gray room in a bluish light. A circular hole had been cut out of the ceiling, exposing the light blue sky. The cool mountain air filled up the room.
Inside, three people stood in the center. I recognized one of them as one of the guards here in the palace. They wore the standard metal armor and helmets. I focused my attention on the other two in the room.
One seemed to be about my age, 19. He had light blue hair and two blue gem earrings. He wore a blue coat with white fur on the neckline and wrists. His eyes were pale green and sparkled with excitement and wonder. He caught me looking at them and smiled, he waved.
I waved back as I turned my attention to the other man. He seemed to be about 22, 3 years older than me, and he looked much more gruff and intimidating. He looked like he had been in the great war between the three species so long ago, except that would be impossible since that had been decades ago. He had dark green hair and one horn on the side of his head. The other looked to be torn off. It looked like he had once had wings too, but all that seemed to be left were two black studs. His right eye looked fake too. It was yellowish orange and gleamed in the sunlight, like glass. His left eye was dark brown and stared at me intently.
“I-uh-hi? Are you two part of the new squadron?”I asked.
“Yeah! Are you the wizard I’ve heard about? Oh! I’ve heard you’re the prince too!”The blue haired boy said.
“Well yeah, I am. But it’s really not that exciting. I’m Rotau,”I replied.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot to introduce myself,”The boy put his hand to his forehead and shook his head,”I’m Prevren. And this is Grevin,”Prevren pointed at the green haired man. He nodded in response.
“Uh, cool. So where’s the fourth member?”I asked.
As if to answer my question, the doors behind me opened up and a young voice yelled,”Get your hands off me! I swear I’ll cut your throat with my claws! You know I can!”
I turned around and looked at the boy who had entered. He was being dragged in by another guard. The boy was struggling against him and yelling insults and shouting in resistance.
The boy had short purple hair and two gray horns. He had a purple cape with pink embroidery all over it. His nails were sharp claws and he had an empty sword hilt at his side.
“…oh…”I heard Prevren say from behind me. Grevin grumbled something I didn’t hear. I didn’t exactly feel great about the boy either, but surely he wasn’t that bad.
The guard dragged the boy over to us and said to us,”This is Olin. He’s the fourth member of your squadron. Now, we’ll be letting you four get to know each other for a bit, we’ll stand guard though,”The guards both eyed Olin before walking over to the wall and standing, watching intently.
I held out my hand to Olin,”Hi, I’m Rotau, nice to meet-”
Olin swiped my hand away,”Does it look like I care?”
There was an awkward silence after that. Me and Prevren eyed each other, Prevren shrugged as if to say, I don’t know but…I guess we’ll have to work with him.
Prevren sighed before saying,”I-I’m Prevren, this is Grevin, and like he said, this is Rotau,”He pointed at each of us when he said our names, he then changed to a whisper,”Rotau’s actually the prince of the Alpha Piece Society.”
Grevin rolled his eyes. Olin looked at me and smiled smugly,”The prince you say? Here, how about we duel? This is a dueling room isn’t it?”
“I-I’m not sure if we should do tha-”
Olin interrupted Prevren,”I asked the prince,”Olin said the word in a mocking sort of way,”Let’s see what he says.”
Grevin sighed and put his fingers to his forehead, looking down.
I wasn’t sure I really wanted to duel Olin. We were supposed to be a squadron, I didn’t think we were supposed to battle each other. But, I also didn’t want to turn down the duel, the way Olin looked at me in his challenging way, I felt a surge of frustration come through me. Why was he suddenly turning on me like this? Sure my parents were king and queen, but why should that matter so much?
“You’re on,”I said, trying to imitate Olin’s stare.
“Wait Rotau are you sure?”Prevren asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure,”I said.
Prevren frowned at me, still not sure whether we should duel each other this soon, but he still walked out of the dueling ring, along with Grevin.
“May I ask what is happening?”One of the guards asked.
“We’re dueling,”I said.
“Alright, just remember, no killing or drawing blood,”The guard said.
I walked over to the sword wall, searching for the one I commonly used. I spotted its silver and blue hilt. I picked it up and stared at my reflection in its cold silver steel. I stared into my curly white hair and blue eyes.
Should I really be doing this?
Before I could argue, Olin pushed me aside.
“Hey!”I protested,”What was that for!”
“You were in the way,”Olin snapped.
I stared at him. Why hadn’t he just asked?
Olin grabbed a golden sword with a purple ruby at the center of its hilt.
“Alright Prince, let’s see what you really got,”Olin said.
I sighed as we got into place in the center of the rectangle.
“Raise your swords!”Grevin shouted,”When I count down to zero, then the duel shall begin! Three…”
Olin stared at me now with anger. Why was he so mad at me? Or was he taking something else out on me? I couldn’t think about this stuff now.
Grevin started again,”…two.”
Not waiting to zero, Olin swiped the sword at my face. I barely managed to avoid Olin’s sword as it swiped over my head. I ended up flailing and falling on my ■■■.
“Hey! You were supposed to wait!”I yelled, regaining my footing.
“Real battles don’t wait for anything,”Olin said, coldly.
Olin charged towards me and swung his sword. I blocked it with my sword and Olin pulled back. We clashed multiple times and I managed to get a good hit on his side, I had hit him with the side of my sword though so I wouldn’t actually cut him. Olin swore under his breath and fell back, before regaining his balance. We circled each other for a bit. Olin put his sword out in front of him and charged me. I decided to pull a move I had learned in training. I ducked and slid under Olin. Olin tripped over me in surprise and fell on the floor. His sword fell from his hand. As he turned over to grab his sword, I put my foot down on the sword and kicked it away. I pointed my sword at his chest.
I had won.
Prevren clapped.
“Rotau has won,”Grevin said.
Then, Olin yelled and jumped at me, reaching for my throat. His hands clamped around my throat and the two of us fell to the ground. I choked and tried to pry Olin’s hands off my throat, but his grip was firm. Olin stared at me, rage burned in his eyes. It actually terrified me, he might actually kill me.
Prevren shouted and Grevin stared, emotionless as usual. The two guards ran over and pulled Olin off of me.
“That was the end of the duel Olin!”One of the guards shouted.
“Let go!”Olin yelled, pulling against the two guards who had grabbed each of his arms.
I sat up, rubbing my neck. It was sore from Olin’s grip. Prevren ran over,”Are you ok Rotau?”
“Y-yeah…I’m fine,”I said, standing up.
“You sure? Your neck is really red,”Prevren said.
“Like I said, it’s fine, just a little sore,”I said.
Prevren nodded at me and turned to Olin,”Why did you do that?!”
Olin didn’t answer, he simply glared at me.
What made this kid hate me so much?
“We’ll give Olin a long talk about proper dueling etiquette and the rules here,”One of the guards said.
They dragged Olin out of the room and closed the doors.
“I can’t believe he would just do that! You didn’t even do anything to him! It doesn’t make sense…”Prevren said.
“Honestly, he’s an embarrassment to demons,”Grevin said,”Being beaten that easily by a wizard of all things, and not being noble enough to accept defeat. Wrath burns intensely in him, but he’s nothing like any Wrath demon I’ve seen.”
Olin’s actions may have been inappropriate, but an embarrassment to demons? Sure, I didn’t know much about demons and their culture but really? I noticed how he said Wrath demon too. I had heard about the demons having their own species too. I hadn’t learned much about them though, even with their species constantly fighting themselves.
“Embarrassment? That seems a little harsh Grevin,”Prevren said.
“I’m just saying what I’m seeing, maybe he can change my mind, but that’ll be unlikely,”Grevin said, then he left the room.
“Where’s he going?”I asked.
“Probably to his quarters, as we were being escorted here they pointed them out to us,”Prevren said.
“Oh, yeah,”I said.
“I should probably go to mine too…”Prevren said.
“Uh, sure, yeah, yeah, you go do that,”I said.
“Sorry our first meet hasn’t been very…great,”Prevren apologized.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t your fault,”I said.
Prevren sighed and nodded, then left the room, leaving me alone in the cold room.
