Private Tales First Darkness, Last Light

[Rhidian]

There was nothing out here for him to punch without magic, but for days now; no, weeks, Rhidian had been filtering a rage he only felt when he came into possession of his magic. Krixus had helped him understand then, had been the one to help start him controlling and honing his magic that without his help and patience, Rhid was sure he would not have graduated. There was still a ways to go, but all thoughts and plans for his future felt futile. So many of them were made when he had thought Odessa Urahil would be there with him, but now... the realities of the real world after graduation had taken her away from him.

Even as he went to go fight for her, he was beaten down for it and sent back to the barracks he was to live in.

Best way to get over that sort of shit was to be busy. But even missions were not enough to stop him from thinking, remembering, and sinking deeper into the void-like bitterness.

No bag filled with sand to punch, Rhidian channelled magic into his fists, turning to the cliff face and charging measured punches into the rock. Deafening cracks filled the air, heard for miles around but he was far from the campsite. If he woke anyone, fuck it. Not his problem.

There was only one problem he had, and no other way to express it other than taking it out on something that could not fight him back.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

Wake someone he did, and perhaps the worst person to have woken.

At first King was simply irritated that his sleep had been disturbed. The mission had already been grinding at his nerves, a long and arduous journey that had seen nothing but misfortune at what felt like every turn. Having to waste time pulling one of the group's horses from a bog had been so tiring that King had assumed nothing would've woken him from the depths of slumber. Color him fucking surprised.

However, as the D'Amour boy laid eyes on who had gone about making enough noise to wake a devil, he couldn't help but feel a sadistic smile pull at the corners of his mouth. Dreadlord Rhidian. A recent graduate, and if rumors were true, one who had only barely scraped by. He was dead weight, and isolated in the middle of night as he was, a perfect target for venting King's frustrations on, even as Rhidian vented his own.

King approached from behind and waited for a pause in his "superior's" antics. When the opportunity presented itself, he piped up.
"A little late in the night to be getting in a training session, don't you think?" he jeered as he walked up, hands sunk lazily into his pockets. He inspected Rhidian's work, eyeing the soot and crumbling stone. "I suppose a wall is the only thing you'd be capable of actually hitting though, hmm? Perhaps if you practiced with moving targets you wouldn't be struggling so badly, o Ser Dreadlord."

 

[Rhidian]

"Come to offer yourself, D'Amour?" Rhidian spared him a glance, barely, but took the interruption as a point to pause his aggression against the face of the cliff towering well above himself and King.

Rhidian lifted his shirt to wipe at his face, his breaths heaving and panting as he came to slowly recover from his vigorous workout. "You know, I am in the mood to put my fists against something other than hardened rock. You've been a right shit of an experience on this mission, Initiate." He remembered D'Amour and that other girl in the year below him, terrible and yet all the same gifted with immense power. It pissed a lot of people off, and probably not a great idea for him to pick a fight with an Initiate now he was made Dreadlord, Rhidian was itching to teach the little shit a lesson.

"Come on, King. Fist to fist, you and I? No magic to show off?"

And then his shirt was pulled off in a smooth motion, once more wiping his sweating face and being tossed aside to the ground. "Or you going to crawl back to your tent and not get your hair messed up?"

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

Ooo, so quick on the draw! King had barely even begun to torment Rhidian and already he wanted to brawl over it. Perhaps that wasn't too surprising. He had been angry enough to wander off in the middle of the night and punch a rock wall, after all.

"Touched a nerve there, did I?" King grinned, folding his arms across his chest. He watched the shirt sail aside, then cast his eyes back towards the budding Dread and quirked a brow. It was neither a threatening nor seductive display, though some secluded corner of the D'Amour boy's mind thought it a shame that looks were so often wasted on failures.

King took a confident step forward, arms now beckoning Rhidian towards him.
"Initiate or no, we both know you won't be able to lay a finger on me. Even with a 'no magic' handicap," he laughed. With magic involved King was confident he'd have to struggle to avoid killing Rhidian by accident. "But by all means, you're certainly welcome to try. After all, I'm the best duelist in my class year. And what are you? A laggard who wouldn't have survived graduation pre-revolution?"

King gave a thoughtful shrug.
"I think my hair will be fine."

 

[Rhidian]

It was true that it took Rhidian considerable amount of time to begin besting his classmates soon after his admission to the Acdemy, but what he learned with growing up with family serving the Guard and soon his own enlistment and training, it was hard for the Dreadlords in training to get an edge in with him.

But King was someone with a unique magic and ability to harness it. The smallest waves could be made into a tidal wave, the coldest breath made into an icy blizzard.

And perhaps Rhidian was after such a defeat.

"Yeah, we weren't all killers as children." Rhidian beckoned him closer. "Come on then, show us what the best duellist of your class looks like."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King shook his head, half laughed, half scoffed. What gall...that someone so lowly would invite a D'Amour to a brawl. The boy sneered.

"Very well. Try not to bore me, will you?" he taunted Rhidian before pulling his own nightshirt off and hanging it over a low-hanging branch. Best not to get it covered in his opponent's blood.

King drew up in front of Rhidian and took an old-fashioned stance, his right arm tucked close to his chest with his left arm held outwards and upwards, both hands curled tightly into fists. His status as a duelist, of course, was much better applied to his swordplay; the falchion and swordbreaker were a deadly pair that felt like elegant extensions of King's own body, ones that he regularly used to trounce his classmates. That wasn't to say that he didn't know his way around hand-to-hand, though. King favored quick footwork and rapid strikes, just like his swordplay.

Rhidian had already been out here wailing on the wall for who knew how long. He was sure to be exhausted already, so starting simple was the obvious choice. King stepped in, jabbed twice with his left fist, then delivered a cross with his right, all while paying sharp attention to how Rhidian would respond.

 

[Rhidian]

Exhaustion was never something Rhidian felt after exercising his magic, not when Alistair Krixus had taught him ways of using magic in a way that did not deplete his magical reserves so easily. After that lesson, he had begun to control his detonations with such determination and concentration, he likely thought it had helped him graduate.

Kress, wasn't he glad for that. Otherwise he'd be stuck with this guy.

Rhidian took the jabs well at his chest. He expected it as soon as King took that step forward. Rhid threw up an arm to block the crossing of his right fist, his other hand moving to reach and grip his wrist and pull him in closer where little damage could be done in such close quarters.

His next move was to pull his arm behind his back, moving around the Initiate to pin his arm and stretch it at an uncomfortable angle.

"Come on, D'Amour. You're boring me."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

"Nnggh!" King let out a muted grunt of pain as his arm was bent behind him. Right...so, not only was Rhidian not tired, he was also rather nimble. King made mental note of that.

Annoyance bristled through him, but this was far from over. Rhidian wanted things more interesting? Fine.

"Here I thought you just wanted a round of boxing. But if you'd rather go full contact--" he began before interrupting his own statement.

In one swift motion, King reached back with his free arm to grab a handful of Rhidian's hair, stomped sharply on his foot to pin it to the ground, and swung his head backwards to slam the back in a reverse headbutt.

 

[Rhidian]

He took the hits, gladly, but it did nothing for the trained brute to release his hold on the younger male. No, it was calculated by Rhidian to release a few seconds later, letting his mouth and chin become covered with blood that only gushed from his nose.

Thank Kress this kid was not gentle, because that was not what he was after tonight.

The pain felt good, made him exhilarated. The night was warm, the moon hidden behind constant cloud cover, and Rhidian had no intentions of getting a wink of sleep tonight. There was simply too much to think about, to process, but that was a pain he did not like. He was powerless to it, useless and unworthy.

But here, as Rhidian bared his teeth in a crazed grin, lifting his gaze to watch King. He made no true move to attack again.

He waited.

Invited.

"Good job on drawing first blood, D'Amour." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but trickles of blood soon covered them once more.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

How tough! Rhidian took the full brunt of every hit and didn't let--wait, he did? Of his own volition? But why?!

King rushed a few steps away once freed and whirled back to face his opponent. He was bleeding from the impact of King's skull, but...smiling? Like a lunatic, in fact.

"What the fuck is this? Fancy yourself a masochist, Ser Dreadlord?" King hissed venomously, annoyed at how their little opening spat had played out. Rhidian had already danced around King and restrained him like it was nothing, and now he was just...inviting another hit? Somehow that made a rage begin to boil in King's chest. "Don't you dare patronize me!"

No more testing the waters! If Rhidian wanted a proper fight, then he'd get one! King rushed in this time, a hail of practiced punches and kicks ready to be unleashed.

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian took every hit. He made no move to defend himself against the flurry of attacks, just grunting and grimacing and wheezing whenever King struck him.

He was sure his kick to his ribs broke something, or at least bruised him so much that he was sure it would show come daylight. Rhidian's feet stumbled, trying to keep his upright position as the Initiate gave no reprieve, and it was inevitable for him to fall to the ground. It was as if something clicked in his mind once he hit the grass. Numbness took over, made him hollow inside and out.

And Rhid hated that he couldn't feel anymore. He liked the burn of anger he had come to know since finding out his first love was not meant to be. It made him dangerous, reckless, and to the point that no one could truly say they feared the heat of his magic as he wasted no energy in destroying anything he was ordered to blow apart.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

The onslaught that followed was perfectly one sided. Ordinarily King would have been pleased; after all, very few could say that they held a candle to him, let alone could claim to be his equal. King took no pleasure in this beatdown, though. No, instead he could only feel frustration and confusion welling inside him. Rhidian had already proven he could pose a threat to King...he was allowing this.

King panted, his annoyance brimming as he stood over Rhidian's crumpled form.

"What is wrong with you? Huh? I thought you said you wanted a fight, then you just stand there like an imbecile. Now here you are in a bloody, pathetic heap! What a waste of my time!" he shouted at the other boy, angry beyond what his composure usually allowed him. King was better. He knew he was better. Why wouldn't this fool let him prove that?!

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian slowly began to relax against the grass, panting as he stared blankly to the darkness above. There was a faint glow from the moon, the other hidden by cloud cover. He winced, hurting but the pain only seemed to bring out bubbles of laughter from him.

"It doesn't matter. None of it does. And what is the point, if I cannot truly feel this pain, cannot truly believe I deserved all of this..."

He was rambling now, but as he looked past the fuming face of King D'Amour, Rhidian could only wish that it was raining. That way, maybe he could pretend all that hurt, all that pain inside him, could appear to affect him. Raindrops would turn to tears, or perhaps the illusion of them.

"I can't feel it anymore."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King huffed and shook his head before dropping onto his bottom to rest in the grass. Rhidian wasn't worth the energy to continue wailing on. The boy was already broken, body and spirit.

"I'm not your fucking therapist, and I have no interest in what 'all of this' is," he hissed at the collapsed wreck of a Dreadlord at his feet. If he had expected consolation he was whining up the wrong tree. "Do me a favor: either find your balls and get back up, or choke on that blood in your mouth and die. This wallowing in self-pity serves no one. Have some fucking pride."

That might've been what annoyed him most. The absolute bollocks Rhidian had to call himself a countryman of King's while sulking like this. Any soldier or warrior of Vel Anir that would dare put on such an act in the face of an enemy...Kress, he should've just finished him off. Vittoria would have. So why hadn't he?

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian laughed.

It was odd, strained but unable to keep it from leaving past his lips. He winced as he did so, clutching his side where King had landed a nice bruising punch. Once his laughter subsided, he gently pushed himself off his back and gathered himself. To his feet, he flexed and stretched, wincing each time a new pain made itself known.

"You're good." Each hit had registered an ache, aches that fueled Rhidian and his call to magic. Anger had been the easiest way to summon his magic, kept him centered as he drew from deep reserves. But he promised no magic to be used against each other. It lasted only a few seconds, but Rhidian looked to King and allowed him to witness the anger lighting up his features. Magic drew to his palms, glowing a muted red before growing in intensity.

But he did not use it against King.

Rhidian shifted, arms moving like a dance of strength and impressed his magic forward with a motion that seemed to encourage it's direction. There had been large boulders behind him, and the easiest target to unleash his explosive talent. Debris flew into the air, falling to the forest floor like rubble.

"I got up." He said, slowly turning back around to face the Initiate. "But I think I still need to find my balls." Rhidian smiled, teeth coated in blood. "One more round, my King?"

It was good to be distracted. He did not care that the Initiate thought him crazed, unfit of his rank, or unworthy of anything. Perhaps he was inclined to agree. Rhidian didn't think he amounted to very much in this moment of his life. None of it had gone the way it should have, and that left him reckless. "I could go all night, I warn you. Seems I do need a good release on some tensions."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

So the punching bag managed to pull himself to his feet. Great. Step one complete, but King looked down the bridge of his nose at him all the while. Rising was only step one, and King wasn't so easily impressed.

Then Rhidian channeled his magic, once again taking out his frustrations on the environment. Such a detonation was flashy, imposing even. King took a ready stance. Would Rhidian be casting off this "no magic" rule, or was he just blowing off steam? The smallest hint of apprehension entered King's mind. A fight on that scale would certainly end very poorly for someone.

It was his opponent's choice of phrasing that caught King far more off guard than the bluster he'd put up so far. "My King?"
"Go all night?"
"Good release?"
King blinked, wide eyed.

"...Huh?"

For a moment, King's mouth went dry and his stance looked distinctly sloppy. It was the realization that a burning sensation had entered his cheeks that pulled him back to reality, and he tightened his form.
"Uhh...right. I'm hardly one to tap out either!"

Ugh. What a weak comeback. What a foolish little series of moments...King's glare intensified, stray strands of silver hair falling in front of one eye. One hand gestured to Rhidian, beckoning him to strike first this time.
"Think you really have what it takes? Come on, then! "

 

[Rhidian]

A smile crawled over his bloodied lips, staining his teeth as he gave a light chuckle.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he cleaned it off with the side of his trousers, still smiling at King. He was brought up as a Guard, already aware in changes in the opponent before he even joined the Academy. It was such instincts he wondered that helped him scrape by to graduate, or Vel Anir was ready to get him out in the field because of his deadly detonations. He had seen King's demeanor change, and Rhid never thought his usual, yet somewhat lower in earnest, flirting would fluster him the tiniest bit.

It gave him a brief nostalgia for the days before graduation, where he was free with his flirtations before courting Odessa Urahil secretly. Making the boys smile or become flustered was something Rhidian loved to see. Especially the ones that end up second guessing themselves.

King's words made Rhidian laugh, and he slowly advanced towards the him with a boyish grin. "No need to sweat, D'Amour. I'll give you opportunities to catch your breath."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

"I..."

Anger, confusion, nerves. A dry gulp. A thudding in his chest and a churning in his gut. Just what the fuck was this change in dynamic? Rhidian had gone from sulking to...flirting. That was the only word for it. Surely Rhidian knew what he was doing. Did he somehow know about King? Whether or not he did, it was working, and that infuriated him.

"Don't you mock me!"

King stepped forward, right fist raised, ready to throw a haymaker. Easy to read. All rage, no precision. Sloppy.

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian reserved a crooked smile only for King.

Each step King took, Rhidian mirrored. It was not until the moment they were within reach that Rhidian wisened up and began to go on the defensive. No matter what King did, Rhidian found a way to toy with the younger male. He copped a few hits, but that did not slow him down until he was brought to his knees, winded.

He'd give King a moment to gloat before his leg swept at the other's feet.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King struggled with every step, the frustration of now being outplayed at every turn beginning to mount. The realization that the only path to victory was likely going to be running Rhidian out of stamina began to set in, and while the bitter sting to the Pirian boy's pride felt less than stellar, that same pride pushed him to win at any cost.

At last, at long last, Rhidian fell. Panting, King managed a laugh and a brief flip of his hair before he felt a sharp pain in his ankle and the world suddenly inverted. King hit the ground, staring up at the stars before he'd even realized what had happened. He landed with an "oof," dust kicking up around him.

Rhidian had tricked him. He'd pay for that...King would make him pay for that. He willed himself to move, but the wind had been knocked out of him, and he was exhausted and sore. Bitter embarrassment rushed through him and his teeth gnashed against each other.

"Bastard..." he managed to wheeze out.

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian's laugh cut through the night. He heaved himself upwards into a sitting position and taking his time before getting to his feet as King tried to refill his lungs with air. Towering above the younger male, Rhidian could not help but smirk and taunt the fallen Initiate. "You're fighting with your emotions. Thought that was beaten out of the Initiates that lived at the Academy basically their whole lives."

But he was enjoying himself. Rhidian just wasn't sure if it was because he liked riling up King, or the fact it was fun, entirely too much fun that it made him feel like a masochist for doing this.

Still, he did not move for a few seconds before his hand held out to assist the platinum haired male up. He did not voice a truce, not when he wasn't completely sure if he wanted one or something else.

"I thought you were here to be a challenge for me..." He murmured.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

If there was one thing that earned King's ire, it was being spoken down to. Rhidian clearly understood that by now and was using that fact against King. He was being played, and yet...

To a degree, Rhidian was right. King was fighting like a brute, when he should've been fighting like one of the Terrible Two. He was better than this.

"You'd throw out a dirty feint like that, then taunt me? You're right, you did deserve what I gave you," he groaned.

King wearily took Rhidian's hand as though he were accepting the gesture, but as he began to let himself be lifted up King would use the momentum to pull a feint of his own: striking Rhidian skull-to-skull with a headbutt.

 

[Rhidian]

Fuck.

He judged that incorrectly.

Stars danced before his vision, turning the world too bright for this hour of night, but in his daze and disorientation, Rhidian stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground. He gasped for air, surprised yet again by how the misjudgments happened one after the other in quick succession and what a fool he appeared to be.

But as his vision began to clear, he began to chuckle softly before building with volume to outright laughter. He held his stomach, pain not at all absent as his back was still recovering from landing on it badly. "You surprise me... but I should have known you'd do something like that. Thanks for reminding me that you can be predictable."

Rhidian began to push himself up, slowly, before lifting eyes seeking rebellion to King's stare. "Come on, then. Take another cheap shot."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King clenched his teeth as the headbutt connected, soon after feeling the sting of cracked skin and the warm trickle of blood running down from the small gash he'd just opened on his own forehead. That had better not scar. It hurt quite badly, but it had hurt Rhidian more so since he'd not been prepared for it.

Rhidian laughed, and this time so did King. Not with as much gusto as Rhidian, but his usual facade finally broke for once.

"Am I surprising or predictable? Make up your mind," King jested. There was still a fire in his eyes, but the fight had gone out of him by now, perhaps the impact from moments before having knocked it loose. Instead he sat on the dirt, one knee beneath him. This time he was the one to extend a hand to Rhidian.

"No more tricks from me, not tonight. Shall we stand together?"

 

[Rhidian]

Rhidian truly did not know how to make up his mind on the matter. He could not figure what was truth and what was said to get a rise out of the Initiate, but as soon as a hand was extended to him, he soon chose not to answer his question.

Instead, seeing King clearly now without fight... it tugged an emotion deep inside him. Something that used to be carefree, fun, and part of the charms he wielded during his short time at the Academy. Being playful never seemed to be truly gone from him, but there were barely any boys his age at the Academy that would have dallied with him. Girls had been easy enough, but one girl in particular...

And then that rising emotion became crushed, and Rhidian's recklessness soared triumphant.

His face changed to something more determined, calculating. Confidently, he took King's offered hand and used the assistance to get up to his feet, but as they stood across from one another, he did not immediately surrender the hand he held on to. Before either of them could really put together what was happening, Rhidian pulled King closer and angled his face before the Initiates for one second. His breath warmed the other's lips before he commanded the space again and shorted the distance, brushing his lips still sticky with drying blood to capture King's with a commanding kiss.