A Coward's Story

Darkness prevailed on the battlefield on that night. A storm raged, and the occasional lightning strikes were about the only thing that made anything visible.

Despite the monstrous remains of slaughtered spawns of malice, the three brave warriors of the double-edged blade tribe did not quiver as they went trudging through the massive cemetery.

"Victory is at hand, my brothers!" one of them exclaimed and balanced his halberd on his shoulder.

"Do not be so swift with conclusions, Dalberh," his bowman comrade replied. "Although the army of malice is no more, the Malign itself still remains and will continue to breed should we fail here, this day."

"Bah!" Dalberh rejected the notion. "You worry too much, Acheron. Even without the sage's blessing, no monster could ever stand against the three best warriors of Mernolia."

"Maybe so," Exhorresco added. "But we must still make haste while the blessing lasts, else the darkness will obscure our vision again."

"No need to rush, my brother," Dalberh told him and pointed over yonder. "The Malign approaches," he added and readied his weapon for battle.

"By the gods..." Acheron muttered and prepared an arrow for launch. "What foul hellhole did this blasted creature crawl out of?"

Maintaining their resolve, but nearly losing their lunch from both the sight and the stench, the three brothers held their ground as they got ready to face what appeared to be a living mass of bones and insect parts that somehow miraculously managed to stick together with nothing but rotting sinew and black sludge keeping it from falling apart.

As the Malign crawled towards them, its body simply sprouted three pairs of appendages with sharp claws.

"Surround it!" Dalberh shouted and moved to the monster's right flank. Doing just as ordered, Acheron moved to its left flank, leaving Exhorresco facing it head-on. "Hey! Over here!" he bellowed and swung his halberd at the Malign's sides, knocking two of its appendages clean off and luring it towards himself. "Exhorresco! Acheron! Move in for the kill!"

"Damn you, Dalberh!" Acheron shouted back at him before doing as told. "You always have to play the hero, don't you?" Taking a few steps closer to the creature and shooting two consecutive arrows at it, Acheron noticed Exhorresco standing completely still. "Exhorresco, you coming?" he asked, but his brother did not respond. "Exhorresco?"

Alas, Exhorresco could not hear a word his brother was saying. His mind got swept away the moment the Malign started chasing after one of his brothers. The only thing he could hear was the sound of arrows flying, a halberd cutting through sludge and sinew, and the dreadful guttural noises coming from the Malign.

What is this? Exhorresco asked himself. I... I want to fight, but my body won't let me... I can barely hold on to my sword, let alone walk... His hands began to shake and cold sweat started pouring down his temples, but he couldn't even understand why. Is this... fear? Have I become afraid of dying, all of a sudden? he asked himself, but could not answer himself.

What if... what happens if I die here, today? Would all that I have done be in vain? All the lives I've saved, all the wars I've lived through, all of my dear ones that died and lived on through me as I told their stories to the rest of my brethren... If I die here, with my brothers... will there be anyone left to tell our stories?

"Exhorresco!" Acheron screamed out his name again.

Snapping out of his state of trance, Exhorresco's eyes filled up with fear. His body stopped shaking just long enough to let him turn around and start running the opposite way.

"Exhorresco!!!"

Ignoring the bawling coming from his brothers, Exhorresco sheathed his sword and only started running even faster. He turned back for a moment to see if the Malign wasn't chasing him, but just as he did so, he got grabbed by a giant hand.

"Exhorresco!" a massive, blue spirit called out his name as it held the warrior on its open palm and lifted him up to his face.

"Sage!" Exhorresco recognized the spirit's face. "I... I don't know what came over me! I... I was--"

"Hold your tongue, coward!" the sage interrupted him.

"Coward?" Exhorresco repeated and looked upon his own sweaty palms in shame, afterwards dropping on his knees. "I... I can't be... a coward... I am Exhorresco of the double-edged blade tribe! I've seen more death than most men can count!"

"But never have you ever thought about your own," the spirit told him.

"I..."

"You shall speak no more, Exhorresco of Mernolia!" the sage declared and stood up. "Not until you've learned how to control your fear."

"Control it?" he repeated. "But... how do I--"

"I shall banish you from Mernolia, Exhorresco. To a place where a coward like you can learn his lesson."

"Learn my lesson..." the warrior muttered. He suddenly felt the giant hand grabbing him and lifting him up much higher. "Sage! Wait!" No matter how he screamed, the sage did not linger for even a second and began driving his hand against the ground with full force. "Saaaaaa--" The last thing that he could see was the ground drawing closer to him, eventually causing him to black out.

"Aaaargh!" Exhorresco woke up screaming and immediately drew his sword. He heard a soft gasp from someone the instant he regained his senses. Still sweaty and panting heavily, he turned his attention towards the voice that he had just heard, but the only thing he could see was a pink tail sticking out from under a quivering blanket. "Just a dream..." the warrior sighed with relief and got up from his bed. After sheathing his weapon, he walked closer to the cowering pony under the blanket and slowly removed it from her.

The pony kept shaking from fear another ten second before she finally mustered the courage to remove her hooves from her face and lift her head up. "E-E-Exhorresco?" she quietly addressed the man.

"It's all right, stuttering o... erm... forgive me," he apologized and added a touch of regret to his expression. "Fluttershy, was it?" he asked and received a slight nod from the pony as a response. "Forgive me if I scared you... I don't think I've ever had nightmares that bad before."

"What was your nightmare about?" Fluttershy asked out of concern for the man's well-being.

Exhorresco looked away from her before quietly answering, "My past sins."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain later," he declared and got up. "Come on. I assume the princess is already waiting for me."

"Oh!" Fluttershy jumped up. "Yes! She actually asked me to get you. That's why I was even..." Before she could finish her sentence, Exhorresco simply walked out the door and began walking down the hallway. "Here..." she added and hung her head from sadness caused by her thoughts telling her she was incompetent of performing even this simple task. Letting out a sigh of sorrow, she followed the warrior to the throne room. "Exhorresco?" she addressed the man after catching up to him.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think it's easy being brave?"

Had she asked Exhorresco that question a few days ago, he would have answered without thinking, but, given his recent experience, the man had to ponder on the question for quite some time before letting out a heavy sigh and replying with an uneasy look on his face, "No... I don't"

His reply surprised the young pegasus. From someone so big and strong, she would have expected nothing short of a quick and solid "of course!", and yet, his expression clearly held no lies. Seeing that even someone like Exhorresco doesn't consider bravery to be something that should come naturally and without second thoughts made Fluttershy feel a bit better about herself.

"Me neither," she quietly added. They walked alongside one another in silence for a while after that. Only mere moments before they reached the throne room door did Fluttershy speak up again, "Have you ever been afraid, Exhorresco?"

The warrior didn't give his reply right away. It only came after he had already placed his palm on the door and begun pushing it open.

"You're about to find out."