The Final Life

  ***

  It was not until the trio was more than two thirds of the way towards its destination that Glint and Azrael encountered their first job as guards. They were strolling through the forest at a trot when the warrior suddenly hushed Vladimir, who was playing his gharja at the time while Azrael eyed the light brown of the wide beaten path they were taking, lost in thought. The bard was taken aback by Glint’s interruption, and misinterpreted it as disliking his song. “I can play something else if you-“ he started to say but the warrior gave him a warning look and brought his finger to his lips. With the man quiet, Glint listened more carefully. All three were still now and Glint felt Azrael expanding his senses outwards with a look of full seriousness on his face. From his expression, Glint confirmed what he already knew through his physical senses: something powerful had gotten wind of them.

  “Your thoughts?” asked Azrael, and Glint marvelled at the man’s tenacity: even in this situation he seeked to teach the warrior and test his proficiency. Regardless, he answered.

  “Something strong. It’s not too far, north to and a little bit west.”

  “Very good. Course of action?”

  Glint thought for a moment. Feeling the wind’s direction with his finger, he felt it striking against the right of his thumb, from almost the direction the thing was. The warrior realized they were downwind of danger. It had their scent already. They hadn’t been careful enough, lulled into a sense of security by the apparent safety of not having met anyone for two months. “I don’t think running is an option, Michael. Should we take it together or leave someone to guard Vladimir?”

  “I think we should both go, just in case.” Azrael answered, running his hand through his wavy black hair “This is no mere mutated wolverine.” He looked slightly more worried than usual, Glint noticed, but the man exuded the same air of calm confidence that Glint knew him to have at all times. He wondered at it: how could a magician who barely looked in his late twenties or early thirties (although with Ability users, looks can be deceiving) have this much confidence?

  “Alright.” Glint looked over to Vladimir, who was still astride his horse, but gathering his wits about him fast. He had followed what the two were saying whilst stroking his moustache, and offered, “How about I go off in the opposite direction, so that you two need not worry for my safety? I’ll stay with the horses.”

  That was a wonderful solution, and Glint exclaimed, “Great! In that case, you head south for about a minute please. That should be far off enough.”

  “So far?” asked the man in surprise, causing Azrael to laugh.

  “It’s just a precaution, master musician,” He informed the man, “although Glint here has been known to be thrown quite the distance.”

  “It was just that one time,” Glint growled at the necromancer, remembering his fight with Alfjötr several months back, and Azrael laughed all the harder. The two bid Vladimir goodbye and turned towards the direction of whatever it was that was stalking the green bliss of this place. The woods felt more ominous all of a sudden, thought Glint to himself. He could hear no wildlife, natural or not, and it was as if the clouds roiled ever thicker. A droplet of rain fell on his cheek, but he didn’t expect a downpour despite the darkened sky.

  Looking over to his companion walking slowly to his left, Glint noticed Azrael’s serious expression. He looked quite intense as he bit his lower lip in anticipation, and Glint reminded himself of the man’s words. He’s right, this is no simple mutated wolverine. Sklaver was an Unchained, and the monsters he created were known to be as superior to other animals as Ability users were to Normals. Some said they could even think and lay plans to catch weary travellers unaware. Glint suspected that they were about to face such a monster, for what else would roam this place so freely?

  As they walked, the two came close enough to see what they were up against, not bothering to go in stealth as the beast was surely aware from them. Glint thought he’d prepared himself for the life of an Ability user after witnessing Alfjoetr’s strength, his own abilities, and the impossible creatures that lived in this very forest. However, What Glint saw still gave him goose bumps and left him in awe, for nothing could have prepared him for this creature. The forest held its breath.

  It hunched less than fifty feet away, and despite it looking off to the side, Glint knew full well that this majestic monster was indeed fully aware of them. It had taken up place between two towering redwood trees, on the other side of a clearing, and was standing rather still on its four massive limbs. It had large long claws, and was at least six feet tall, even while hunkered down. The bear’s pelt shone in a way that made Glint fear the beast was covered completely in needle like armour. However, this metallic hair still moved lightly and shimmered in the wind, making the warrior wonder at its very existence.

  The large bear turned towards the duo and stood on its two hind legs, coming up to its full terrifying height. It was massive, at least fourteen feet when standing straight. To Glint’s shock, the bear beast shook itself all over, and some of its longer needle hairs brushed the tree to its right, cutting deep grooves into its hard looking trunk. At that, the warrior focused on his bracers, which were rimmed and bore the insignia of a Y shaped helmet set against a rectangular black background on the inside of his forearms. In an instant, power suffused him and he became as the clouds above, filled with smiting force. Things came into sharp clarity, and even the minute sound of Azrael’s breathing was amplified. Then, the youth focused his energy and gave it form. The bracers reacted to his lightning and created that beloved armour for him fluidly, in the space of a few seconds. Added to that, he created a long needle-like short spear, simplistic yet sharp and hard to break.

  Behind the warrior, Azrael said, “Wait. He isn’t ready yet.” Glint was puzzled. What was the man talking about? There was no one but the two of them here. Was he finally going crazy from all the complicated games he played with people’s lives?

  Then the bear said, “Thank you,” in a deep rather bearlike voice. Glint’s jaw dropped.

  “Urek the Thorn, I presume?” Azrael asked of the bear, and it grunted in surprise. In that deep age old voice, it answered, “Indeed. You know who I am and still presume to come here? Just the two of you? Gah, fine then. Come!” with that, it gestured at the two to attack, standing in what looked to Glint like a stance, with both of its paws splayed to its sides, claws poised to stab through something. Things were moving too fast for Glint. He hated it when Azrael didn’t tell him things.

  “A question first if I may,” said the necromancer. “Great Thorn of the metal coat. What is the ranking of Alfjötr Christon? He wears a necklace of a wolf’s visage.” Glint thought the man might be buying time to use his abilities on the bear, for Alfjötr should have had nothing to do with their situation. Urek looked annoyed by the question, yet delighted by the title Azrael had used to address it.

  The bear stayed its stance yet relaxed a little, pondering the question for a few seconds while Glint’s mind continued to reel. “You are polite, black one, like a curious child I once met… very well, I shall tell you. The master of Quicksilver, when he fought me, was halfway through the Pilgrimage, although he is now closer. He is upon the twentieth, Mog. Now, waste no more time and come!” The last word was said with a roar that shook the very air around, almost splitting Glint’s eardrums. Luckily, he had learnt how to adjust his senses almost instantaneously, and so was spared the brunt of that unintentional blow. Glint knew that no more words would get to the bear. He had no clue why it could speak, what Azrael had spoken to it about, nor the implications of its answer. However, the warrior had no time to ask, for Azrael immediately whispered to him “Go, in twelve seconds I will be able to start weakening it. It’ll still be a hard fight, so be cautious.”

  With that in his ears, Glint sprinted towards the bear suddenly with all his might, crushing the grass under his feet where he stepped and leaving deep grooves in the ground. A few feet away from it he stopped hims
elf, and the powerful swipe it had unleashed in anticipation of him coming into range missed his torso. When the gleaming black claw of the metal clad bear passed an inch in front of his eyes, he leapt upwards and to the right, soaring right over its shoulders and into the bear’s blind spot. Of course it heard his powerful impact with the redwood tree to its left, for he had stepped against the trunk with such force that he left a caved in imprint on it. But by the time its head snapped over to look there, Glint had sprung up to the other side and up, against the other redwood. From there he accelerated and with one last effort, the warrior simply jumped up, directly twenty feet above the creature, towards clouds as lightning filled as him. From there, the warrior spun in the air, keeping his left arm wide to his side. He aimed in the span of an instant and launched the spear in his right hand with as much force as he could muster, his spin and height adding more force and torque to the missile as it went and struck its intended target perfectly. The needle struck the top of the bear’s head from the back with a deafening scream of metal clashing against metal, driving it down and slamming the creature into the grassy floor, raising a cloud of dust and dirt due to the lack of rain in the past month.

  Glint landed against the forest floor behind “Urek” in a backwards roll, coming to his feet in a ready stance. He was confident in his abilities, but the sound the spear had made when it connected with the bear was not reassuring. Moreover, the youth couldn’t see clearly, due to dust still floating in front of him. He had been counting the seconds since the start of the fight in anticipation, and he licked his lips. Six, seven, eight... still a bit before Azrael could support him.

  Just then, the dust gave way to an animal crouched right in front of him, just under his line of sight. Startled, Glint lifted both hands in a shielding motion, elbows coming together, just in time to repel the beast’s right paw. Glint was amazed at this animal’s speed. It was almost as if it had teleported to him. The strike also carried frightful force with it and despite just barely going through the armour, it drew blood and launched the warrior into the air, sending him far away and as high as he had earlier leapt.

  With that, Glint knew that he didn’t stand a chance against the bear. It was far above him in every aspect of battle, including protective capabilities and speed. If he were alone the best he could do would be put up a good fight for perhaps a minute before giving in to his doom.

  Luckily he was not alone, for with him he had with him a certain raven haired man. Ten, eleven, twelve! The last count was made while flipping head over heels in the air, body stretched out and limp in case he smacked into a tree. Garbled scenery flew by the warrior with amazing speed, but he wasn’t too worried. Relaxing your muscles was a wonderful defence against full body impacts with immovable objects, he had learnt a while ago. Moreover, his power was already slowly at work, mending armour and flesh slowly.

  From the edge of his vision, Glint saw the bear stumble in its movement, and knew that Azrael had managed to weaken it. He smirked.

  From then on, the battle didn’t go on for too long. The bear still kept its defensive capabilities (Azrael’s ability couldn’t change the quality of its pelt), but his power was enough to weaken its attacks and make it slower to react. Thus Glint was able to tire it –him- out without too much trouble, and strike him enough that the damage eventually went through to the bear’s muscles, disabling him slowly but surely. The fight ended in ten minutes, with Glint standing over Urek, his spear over its –his- throat, panting. With that, Azrael said, “Enough,” walking towards the two slowly, his cloak bellowing in the breeze. The bear was panting and growling, his body shaking with pain and anger, but his clear brown eyes held the same intelligence that Glint saw in humans. “Do you yield?” Azrael asked Urek softly, “or must Glint do something that will harm both him and yourself, just for a bear to keep his sense of foolish pride?”

  The bear panted angrily, his metal hair shining in the sunlight, almost blinding Glint with its brilliance. He realized how special the bear truly was, for it was sentient. To kill Urek would be the same as killing a human being, and he did not relish doing that sort of thing again. He hoped the bear would surrender, and held his breath in anticipation for what seemed like forever.

  “I... I yield,” the bear murmured. Azrael looked as relieved as Glint felt, and the two helped the bear get up, each grabbing him by an arm. Of course it was more a gesture than anything else, for Urek was huge, and moving him without cooperation would have been unlikely. When he was fully up, the bear looked over to Azrael with his large eyes, his expression only partially bitter. “You... have passed the trial. Both of you,” he added while glancing at Glint. The warrior felt Urek might be feeling slightly snubbed at having been beaten in battle. “You have proven your worth, and it has been years since the last time since less than five men had passed my test. In fact,” he admitted, “I did not wish to allow you to pass, until I was...made to.”

  “It would have been easier for you to just have let us through earlier,” said Azrael with his usual cheek and the bear growled at him. “Now, I wish that master Glint Stryger here be awarded the badge.” He pointed at Glint, who had retracted his armour into his bracers. As usual, the warrior was confused, but he had learnt by now not to make too much noise when the necromancer was withholding information from him, lest he fuel Azrael’s fun.

  Azrael’s request seemed to fluster the bear, and it went down on all fours as it padded closer to him, its paws making soft thuds on the grass and crushing the occasional flower or two. All the while it sputtered, “T-This is highly unusual. The badge is given to the one who played the most part in the test. It is an unspoken law! It was undoubtedly your help that allowed this child to fare so well against me and-“

  “Master Thorn!” said Azrael, putting a hand up to the bear, whose snout was almost touching his face by now. The powerful creature, who until just then had looked beyond rules and regulations, anything that humans could dream to place upon such a majestic and powerful creature, was now obviously unnerved by the fact that Azrael did not want this “badge.” He fidgeted visibly, silver fur floundering from side to side is he whipped his head this way and that. When the beast had finally calmed down, Azrael rubbed some of the consequential dust off his sleeve and resumed to speak in calm, soothing manner. “Master Urek, as you yourself stated, it is only tradition, an unspoken rule. In fact, the more important thing here is the rule of the victor. As the victor, we are able to decide to whom the badge should go. Am I not correct?”

  For a while, Glint though that the mighty bear was not going to answer, or worse, attempt to cleave Azrael in half. Dangerous paws dug into green grass, making it bleed brown dark soil in a way that suggested what they might do to Azrael. To the warrior’s relief, however, Urek relaxed after a few seconds of struggling with himself. “Aye,” sighed the bear, defeated. He and Azrael went off, shambling slowly into the thickness of the trees and leaving Glint to sputter behind them in confusion. The necromancer turned to Glint and winked, saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back in a few minutes,” and he was left watching the human and bear walk side by side into the distance until they disappeared into the forest as if swallowed whole. It was a strange sight to say the least. The warrior spent his time picking at grass leaves absently. He surveyed the forest around him in wonder for the hundredth time. This variety in wild and plant life was almost out of a dream.

  Ten minutes of waiting later, Glint heard the metallic sound of Urek’s hairs shaking around as he walked, like a blade being unsheathed, then glimpsed the two coming back towards him from amongst the elms. He stood up to meet them, relieved, and Azrael wordlessly held out a brooch to him. It was shaped like a leaf, with dark patterns on its green surface. On the centre of the brass rimmed brooch, he saw a shape that vaguely resembled the face of a bear, as well as unfamiliar runes etched next to it. From the badge’s touch, the metal was hard to the touch yet warm, which the warrior found to be an uncommon mixture. The metal emitte
d its own heat. He stared at it in wonder, then focused his energy on his eyes. Still, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  Azrael chuckled dryly at the sight, apparently recognizing Glint’s squinting for what it was “That won’t work, my boy. There’s nothing magical about this piece of metal.”

  Puzzled, Glint asked, “Then why is it warm? It’s almost like I’m holding a stone that’s been sitting in the sun.”

  “Just the way it is. The material this brooch is made of is like this. It’s what’s called star stone. A piece of a shooting star was extracted and the ore inside was used to make these. They’re special. The rune on it identifies you to all of Sklaver’s creations. It comes with a great deal of honour, and you should be proud to have it.” At the mention of the Second’s name, the mighty bear pressed a paw to his nose as if to kiss it, and Glint realized that it was a sign of salutation for his master. He marvelled at his situation. A few months ago he was a normal mercenary brat, and now he was receiving jewellery from a talking bear.

  With that, Azrael and Urek exchanged words in a language unknown to Glint, though the warrior could tell it was not meant for human tongues from the painful expressions the necromancer was making. Despite him not understanding a word (or in this case, snarl) that passed between the two, Glint could see immediately that something was off. The bear was showing deference to Azrael in a way that was obviously missing earlier. He wondered what had passed on between the two when they were out of his sight, but dismissed the question. There were too many mysteries surrounding Azrael either way, what difference did one more make?

  When all was said and done, the bear took each of the two’s hands in his giant paw in farewell and then bounded off into the trees, promising them no harm from the creatures in the forest. Glint felt it was all slightly underwhelming, for a part of him expected the mighty beast to decide to join them on their journey. He guessed that was too much to expect from a protector of the forest. Still, Urek could have stayed and chatted with them a bit longer, at least.

  As usual, reality didn’t seem to measure up to human expectation, and so it was that Azrael and Glint walked away from a metal furred bear created by an undead god who has been making such beasts for thousands of years, leaving him to scratch his back against a great white oak tree in the middle of spring. “What was that all about?” asked the warrior, finally letting his curiosity get the best of him.

  “Oh, so much that I haven’t gotten around to explaining yet about this wonderful world, my young friend!” lamented the necromancer with a dramatic swing of his hands. “Let’s meet up with Vladimir first. He’s been waiting and I don’t want to have to tell this story twice.”

  And that was that.