A Hardened Warrior

Totally forgot today was Friday, sorry guys. posting story now.

Chapter 15 - Everything Dies Part 3/3

Roderick was seized and brought to the dungeons in Gryphus for more torturing. Only this time, he had a dagger hidden in his boot. They hadn’t yet chained his hands to the wall, so he grabbed it with his bound hands, and cut the rope binding them. The room he was in was empty of other life, bar the rats running around.

The griffins, hadn’t learned from last time. They left his armor and such in a chest with no lock on it again. In the half an hour he had to dress himself, no griffin had come in to check on him. So, he politely lets himself out by hacking the iron bar door down with his sword with one great cleave. There still were no guards outside the door, or down the hall for that matter.

’It’s too quiet... I’m sure its another trap.’

‘Doesn’t matter, Sigurd is corrupt. He’d sell his own for a few extra... erm...’

’Septims. As they were called when I was still around a thousand years ago. Named so after Tirius Septim.’

‘Right, I don’t need a lecture right now.’

He’d been running down a very long corridor. It took him nearly a full minute of running to reach the door. He regained his composure before setting foot outside, to an office with a sleepin warden.

‘Nice security...’

’A thousand years ago, he’d of been beheaded for that.’

Without a second thought, he slipped out the... locked... door...

He scanned the room for a window, luckily there was one. Unluckily, he was on the second floor. He dived out, falling face first into the cobblestone with a loud clang and screeching of metal. This awoke the warden on the second level, who looked outside the window to see a mess of steel and gold. All he did was raise an eyebrow, and go back to his spot.

’That was unnecessary...’

‘Agreed...’

He could hear a cheer echo from the next block over, attracting his attention.

A familiar voice sounded off right next to Roderick. “How do I keep running into you?” It was, yet again, Grendle. He was carrying what looked like a basket full of bread on his wings, and other groceries.

“I’m not certain... but where is Sigurd?”

“He’s making an announcement that direction.” he said while pointing to his right. Looking down the long stretch of cobblestone, there was a caravan awaiting a griffin on stage, whom he could only guess to be Sigurd. “Why? Somethin’ wrong?”

“He imprisoned me, and seeks to use me to benefit himself with money.”

“Whad’ya mean? He’s gonna sell ya?”

“Exactly, he sells me as a... slave... to someone else. Or rather, somepony... else.”

“A slave?! Are you sure?”

“Yeah, he even said it to my face last time.”

“Last time...?”

“I escaped twice now.”

“Something needs to be done.”

“Something needs to die” Roderick had been lost to his hate. Which had affected Nightmare as well, seeing as she was now part of his conscience.

’Roderick! calm do-’

Nightmare's new usual voice was interrupted by her old one, one much more sinister.

'Roderick... Kill...’

Hearing Nightmare’s voice(s) distracted him from his hate. He’d noticed what happened to her, and he began to regain his composure again.

'Nightmare?'

’Good... keep calm... This kind of anger will only endanger you. I should have mentioned, I once was mortal, but... something occurred...’

‘You were... mortal?’

’Yes... I was actually a twin. My sister was always filled with hate, but I, was kind. But our parents loved us both... enough to commit to dark magicks. When she died, they put her soul in my body with me. It killed us both, but made us one... Nightmare.’

‘I see, you’ve my condolences... but I’m still going to kill Sigurd.’

’Thats fine, but do not lose yourself, I’m finally free from my hate. I’d... well... hate, to lose my freedom so quickly.’

He began walking to the stage Sigurd was on, picking up his pace as the hill he was on gained an angle. Halfway down, he was at full speed, and barreled through the guards, the crowd, and then dived at Sigurd.

Sigurd’s eyes engrossed his head as he saw the metal mammoth coming his way. And then colliding with him. Gasps were heard, then yells.

The landing may as well have crushed his ribs. He screamed in pain, as red took over his vision. Before Roderick could bring down the tip of the sword down on his skull, he clawed voraciously at him, the attacks only bouncing off the thick plate metal. What did help, however, was when one of the civilians were bold enough to tackle him off.

Roderick flung the griffin off quickly, and stood back up. Not bother to take the slow sword, he pulled out his dagger from his boot’s ankle strap. Holding it in an aggressive stance, he charged Sigurd, only to be blocked off by more civilians.

“What the hell d’ya think yer doin?!” One of the griffins shouted.

“Some hero!”

“Go away!”

“Get lost!”

“Get out of our city!”

The demands poured on, and on, and on. Enough time for Sigurd to push his way back out of the crowd, after taking one of the crossbows from his guards. He fired the shot, and it stuck into Roderick’s throat.

He didn’t grunt in pain however, he pulled it out, and the wound quickly sealed up. Not even a scar was left there, and when he saw the look on Sigurd’s face, he grinned. And charged yet again. He was quick, but not quick enough to stop when he noticed Sigurd pulling someone else into the way. It was Grendle.

The dagger plunged into the part that connected his wing and shoulder, going all the way through, and arcing into Sigurd’s skull.

The griffins wailed in pain as the blade went through them, one dying short, but the other, lasted.

Roderick put up no resistance when the guards came to arrest him. He put up resistance when they came to kill him. He bolted through the crowd so fast that it looked like Barry Allen himself dashing through.

‘I love the way this world works.’

’Glad to see you’ve calmed down.’

‘Battle no longer fills me with rage, just adrenaline.’

’So I see... you can remain calm even when staring down your enemy like that... Very admirable’

Most of the crowd took a while to register what just happened when he took off. Some took Grendle to the hospital to fix him up and ask questions. The others finally realized where Roderick had gone, and chased after.

Roderick had made his great escape, after doubling back various times to get them confused. Only one of them had seen him jump off the cliff, into a waterfall. It had slowed his fall at first, until he fell right back out of it. He knew what it was like to do a belly flop with no protection against the water... but this, hurt like nothing else could. Nightmare wasn’t pleased...

’Why must you be so reckless?!’

‘I’m not sure. It’s just who I am.’

’Well then stop being YOU!’

‘Besides that... do you think the griffin city will collapse?’

’No, they’ll just find someone else to take charge. Like they always do...’

‘And what of Grendle? I suppose he’ll hold a grudge against me.’

’It’s very likely, but it is better to be known as a monster than ignored.’

‘Perhaps... Where should we go now?’

’There are still slaves in the dominion... Take a guess.’

‘More dragons to kill! Yay me!’

’You’re sounding more and more like a foal everyday.’

‘I think this world is contagious.’

’Maybe, after all, you did become 3 different sentient beings at once when I jumped into your body. So you may as well be picking up on the magic here. It makes just about everything obnoxiously childish.’

‘What about our mentalities? Surely they won’t degrade down to that.’

’No, the mentalities are still the same, but with influences... Let’s just drop this subject, and go to ‘work’’

‘Yes... let’s.’

He finished drying his armor out from the fall, after trudging through the twenty feet water to the surface. He dried the metal using some magic Nightmare taught him. A basic spell to heat up the water, and turn it into a vapor.

He put the armor on, and walked off into the sunset.

’Wrong way.’

‘I knew that...’

A/N: Don’t worry, if you feel bad for Grendle, we’ll see him again... or not. who knows...

Anywho, I was playing assassin’s creed when I was writing this. <3