At the Third Elder's office
The third elder was working late, but his mind was somewhere else, this evening his attendant informed him that Aspen was joining this year annual competition, his hand stopped, he took a long breath and called his attendant " Call Aspen "
"Yes elder" the attendant said, leaving quickly, soon he returned with Aspen, then his grandfather started to ask him about his training and different things, but Aspen stopped him "grandfather is it about me joining this year competition"
"Aspen, if you're doing this for me… you don't have to," his grandfather said softly, his tone laced with worry.
Aspen stood before him, hands folded behind his back, his eyes steady "I'm not doing this for you, Grandfather" he replied firmly, "I'm doing it for myself".
The old man sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Are you sure you don't want to join the helpers group instead? You could assist them with the annual competition, it would be far more safer and you will be helping the village"
"No, Grandfather" Aspen said, his decision firm.
The Third Elder looked down at the documents on his desk, guilt flickering across his eyes "At least check it out" the old man insisted after a pause "I already submitted your name in the helper squad for this morning shift, If you don't like it, you can start your preparation for annual competition "
Aspen hesitated for a moment, then he nodded. "Alright Grandfather, I'll go and see them."
"They'll be leaving early morning," the elder said, glancing toward the window , it was still pitch dark outside "But you can go now if you want, meet other people and help them if needed " Aspen nodded again, bowing slightly before turning to leave.
Soon he reached near the base of the mountain, as he came closer he noticed two men descending down the mountain carrying crates of food supplies. They looked startled when they spotted him.
"Hey!" Aspen called them, hoping to ask if he was headed the right way.
But the two exchanged quick, nervous glances and ran away, he wanted to follow them but dropped the idea, he was puzzled. "Weird… what's got them so scared?"
He looked up towards the mountain again, "If they're coming from there," he murmured "then I must be on the right track."
Without hesitating anymore, Aspen continued climbing the mountain as he reached near the base
he heard the sound of weapons clashing and people fighting, he quickly climbed towards the base. when he reached the base, he saw men in black cloaks everywhere, their faces masked and many dead bodies lying around. Then he heard a voice, as if someone was struggling, when he searched for the source of voice he saw Vayu and the man who had pinned him down with his boot, Vayu was covered in blood, for a heartbeat Aspen wanted to rush in and help him, but if rush now and got caught who will alert others. He scanned for the signs of the next helper squad, there was still more than 1 hour left before their shift started, he thought about going down the mountain and call for reinforcement, as he was about to leave he heard a voice "kill everyone here": now he had two choices, He could either run for help, or act on his own. He stayed hidden looking for a chance, after sometime he saw two men dragging Vayu toward a tree to bind him, so he slowly circled the area reaching behind them, his plan was simple, kill both of them then fight the rest, no overthinking, no planning. So he slowly got up his axe ready in his hand, but the man binding Vayu got up and said "this rope is too short, find a bigger one inside the tent. The other guard left towards the camp without any reply, Aspen acted quickly not leaving the opportunity, quickly closing the distance, when he reached the required distance, his hand shot out gripping his mouth shut while he swung his axe in his other hand, the strike was savage and the man folded without a sound.
Vayu heard the swing and turned his head. "Aspen" he breathed. Aspen pressed a finger to his lips and hissed Vayu . Without hesitating he shoved the corpse aside, quickly taking his cloak and mask and sat down behind Vayu as if he was still trying to bind his hands. After some time the other man returned with the rope, and threw it in front of Aspen, Aspen didn't knew how to tie a rope so he asked the man irritably "Tch, I can't tie him properly, You do it"
The second man frowned, snatching the rope from his hands. "Useless" he hissed, crouching down to finish the job himself.
That's when Aspen struck his head with his axe, as they were behind the tree no one saw what happened but Aspen quickly checked the others,no one had noticed them, he exhaled quietly, dragging the corpse deeper in the trees concealing it. He wiped his Axe clean against the man's cloak and rushed back toward Vayu's position.
As he returned, another figure was already standing near Vayu. "Where were you?" the man demanded, suspicion sharp in his tone.
"I heard a noise," Aspen replied quickly " So I went to check it out."
The man's eyes narrowed. "Then who's guarding the boy?"
"There was another one here," Aspen said smoothly, forcing calm into his voice. "He was tying his hands when I left."
The man glanced at Vayu, confusion flickering across his face "Then why aren't his hands tied yet?"
Aspen froze, his fingers slowly reaching towards his axe under the cloak.
"Why would I know? Why're you questioning me? I told you someone else was binding his hands" Aspen snapped
"Tie his hands — quickly" the man snapped back
"I don't know how to do it, do it yourself?" Aspen said and the man shoved him roughly aside and crouched to finish the job himself. The moment the man's focus slid and his hands were occupied, Aspen attacked again, opening his head like coconut.
Three deaths, clean and quick, Aspen quickly grabbed the man's body, dragging the corpses deeper into the trees, tucking it behind a bush and quickly stepped back into the clearing as if nothing had happened.
"Hey — you!" someone called him, he looked up without replying, then the man continued "Come here and help them collect the bodies" Aspen joined the others without hesitation, moving among, slowly counting their numbers, only 5 left.
He put one body onto his shoulder and quickly put him near the others, when he was carrying the body he found out they were alive and there were no wounds on their body. Then he came back to carry another body and went towards the farthest one, it was behind a cage, then started acting as if he can't lift it up, then he asked the same man who had called him to collect bodies " Hey! Can you help me lift this? It's too heavy" he shouted from his place, the man came to him quickly, when the man bent to assist, Aspen struck him with the blunt end of his axe as his head slammed against the cage, the blow landed with sickening force, the man fell down immediately.
Like a trained assassin Aspen took them down one by one, until only three remained standing. As Aspen called one of them "Hey can you help me remove this box"
"Why are you moving the box"
"That guy told me to bring this box " as Aspen pointed his finger at one of the other two and coincidently the man saw him pointing his finger at him and thought they needed some help so he started walking towards them to help and when he reached near he saw Aspen killing the attendant, the man shouted "Who are you?" Aspen was cleaning his axe using the dead attendants cloak ,but when he heard a noise behind his back he freezed , he slowly got up and turned towards the man, the moment he turned towards him, the man pulled out his knives, ready to fight, Aspen knew he was caught so he dropped the act and rushed towards him throwing his axes one after another, the man dodged them like a skilled warrior, but then came Aspen signature attack Dropkick, he hit him straight in the chest and the man flew , his back slamming against the cage, hearing the commotion the third man joined too, he was the same man who was stomping over Vayu's face.
As the third man saw the two fighting he asked the fallen attendant "what happened"
"He killed our subordinates" he said, that was when the third man lifted his head and look around and found no one except these two, they had been so busy collecting the unconscious bodies that they hadn't paid attention to their subordinates, the third man helped him get up, the two stood side by side weapons drawn and Aspen stood in front of them with his axes in his hand. The clash was fierce — steel ringing against steel, grunts echoing through the dark woods. Aspen fought with everything he had, dodging, parrying, and countering the two men who came at him like wolves.
It was two against one, and though Aspen's strikes were swift, but soon weight of exhaustion began to show. His breathing turned heavy, his movements becoming slower and soon all he could do was defend himself from their attacks, getting no chance to attack. Then a attack hit the back side of his axe, his grip loosened and the axe fell, then another man attacked him but Aspen grabbed his wrist , then Aspen swung his axe, but the man blocked it, their blades grinding in a brutal deadlock.
Watching them in deadlock the another man attacked, stepping to Aspen's side, dagger raised high, ready to plunge it through his ribs. Aspen's eyes widened as he knew he couldn't break free in time.
Then with a swoosh, a dagger came flying, slamming into the attacker's back, the man turned his back, he was the same man who had stomped on Vayu's face, the moment a second dagger came slamming in his forehead, the man's eyes opened wide in shock as he saw Vayu with a smirk on his face, showing his bloodied teeth, his body drooping back, as he fell the knife pierced his back coming out from his chest, blood pooling beneath him.
The another was distracted by what had happened, Aspen didn't hesitate he twisted his blade free and drove it straight through the men's throat. The body fell limp at his feet.
Panting, Aspen looked in front of him, Vayu was leaning on the tree trunk his eyes closed, but his chest was rising and falling, he was breathing he was alive. Aspen himself was very tired, he slowly sank to the ground, closed his eyes feeling the cool breeze.