The Warrior [Complete]

The Remains Of The Tragedy

Leo flies in close to the castle island. The dome appears in front of him, but a hole opens in the barrier and he flies through. He lands in the courtyard of the castle. Despite the beauty of the castle from the outside the inside is broken and plants have overtaken most of the castle. He walks past the fountain in the middle and up the stairs. He looks around quietly at the rubble. He opens the large wooden doors and finds himself in the dining room. "What, happened here?" He enters a door on the far left and walks into the castle's study. He finds a single book left on the bookshelves. He picks it up and the bookshelf crumbles to dust showing a door behind it. He walks in and down the steps into a room with pictures on the wall of a young woman, man with white hair, and a young girl all smiling. There is a note on a desk and Leo picks it up to read. "Dear Leo, this is weird writing a note to myself one hundred years later. I'm writing this after the castle has turned mostly to rubble and plants have overrun it. A few years ago I had settled down with a young woman named Rose. We had a beautiful daughter named Rachel. One day a man broke the barrier around my castle and attacked us. He created two clones of himself out of a white mist. Those two killed Rose and Rachel while I dealt with him. I found the man's name to be Lance, the god incarnate of light. Since the murder I have not smiled nor have I found a new love. I managed to create clones of myself who have accidentally gone rogue and will most likely attack you if you accidentally draw attention to yourself. I have left a note with one of them though, probably not a good idea, and you have to find it and read what I found out at the end of my journey."

Leo sets the note down and looks at the ceiling. He hears some scuffling about on the upper floor. He draws his spear, sprouts his wings and jumps through the floor. Five shadow clones turn to face Leo and draw their swords on him. Leo jabs the one in front of him, swings the spear over his head and slices the one to his right. The other three knock the spear out of his hand and tackle him. As he lies there struggling against the others a large axe drops down on one of them. A man in blue stands over them and drops his axe killing the other two in a single strike. "Well I'll be dipped in hot butter and spanked with a rope belt, it's Leo!"

"Who are you?"

"The name's Fen, I sacrificed the ability to die to stay here and wait for you so I could give you this note. Originally Leo put it on a shadow clone, but after he thought about it he gave it to me to keep safe. Here, read it." He hands Leo the note and Leo starts reading. "Leo, during my travels I learned that revenge is not a good thing to chase and never hold on to the past for too long. Always push forward and no matter what keep living for a better tomorrow. It's alright to smile and to cry no matter what your reason is for not wanting to. There is no reason to…." The rest of the words are faded. "Uh Fen, do you know what he wrote there was no reason to do?"

"Sorry son, but he wrote it before he met me. For some reason he wasn't really himself when he came here. He looked solemn and saddened when he came. I tried to put my hand on his shoulder but it's like my hand passed through him. Although when I looked at it he was a step to the left so I assumed I missed him."

"I wish I knew what he was going to say."

"Yes, but Leo I have a small favor to ask you." Fen's expression was sad and serious. "What is it Fen?"

"I need you to kill me."

"What? You can't ask me to do that!"

"Leo, it needs to be you. I should have died a few years back, but I was unable to die unless you killed me. Please Leo put this old man to rest."

"I don't think I can."

"Leo, do you want to be like the Leo before you? He would quickly do his friend a favor and put him to rest if he really desired it."

"I'll do it Fen." He holds his spear and aims the tip at Fen's heart. "Very good, remember never let death you've caused effect you negatively. Always think of your killings as an act of aid. You fight to protect and to help those who need you. I need you to kill me, so do it!" Leo runs his spear through Fen's heart. His features grow older. "Thank you Leo. Take my axe and remember me for a while and I hope it will protect you." He puts the blade of his axe in the ground and his body turns to dust and floats out the window. "He's joined back with the planet. I hope to see him some day." He puts the notes in his pocket and jumps out the open window and flies over the sea. He flies high into the air and tries to spot the ship. He sees it not too far from Illuminaria's dock. He flies and lands on the deck. Tom and Misty greet him with multiple questions. "How did the castle look? How cute was his wife and daughter?" Misty asks eagerly. "What's up with the axe? Did you get any better with fighting? What did you find out about Leo?" Leo chuckles at the eagerness of his partners. "The castle was in ruins. I was right when I said he lost his wife and daughter. A man named Fen promised Leo he would stay there immortally to give me the note that Leo had left. Here are the notes, but I couldn't read the end of the second note." He hands it to Tom. "Well we'll figure it out after our training, we've arrived at Illuminaria." They look off at the large white castle in the distance at the middle of the continent. "Let's find an inn and we'll head there in the morning!"

They find an inn near the back of the town and get one large room. Leo and Tom sit at the table studying the second note as Misty lies on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Well kid, as much as we've studied this note all I can determine is that it says there is no reason to fight. But what is it he didn't want you to fight?"

"Maybe it's not a something in particular, but something in theory."

"Kid, don't think too hard or you'll never figure anything out. There are some things that are simple to figure out, not everything is complex."

"Sorry master, I was just saying that to open up a new possibility."

"Oh don't worry about it, let's just sleep well tonight and the answer will come to you soon. Just sleep on it and focus the task at hand." Misty suggests out of boredom. Leo and Tom look at each other and silently agree with Misty's suggestion.

In the middle of the night Leo dreams of a fight on a snowy mountain between a man in black and a man in white. After the fight is over the man in white dies and the man in black crawls on his knees to the top of the mountain. He shouts to the heavens and a holy figure appears. A look comes across the man in black's face as if he had figured something out. "It's pointless to fight." Is all that Leo hears before his dream stops. He finds himself floating in an empty space full of stars. Floating blissfully and relaxed through the space.