The Warlord vs The Hunter [April Short Story]

Hey peeps!

This month's short story is Volke vs Zaxis after the defeat of the Second Ascension. This was recommended last month, and I said I would do it, but all your suggestions this time were great, so look out for all of those, too, lol

Hopefully you enjoy!

Shami

Volke the Warlord vs. Zaxis the Hunter

I stood at the base of my latest creation—a mountain range that would act as the new western border for the Argo Empire. Although the empire wanted to expand, I managed to arbitrate negotiations for expansion through the south, beyond the Amber Dunes, rather than the west.

The mountains would also serve as the base building point for Adelgis’s passion project. He wanted to make some sort of academy that bordered both the Argo Empire and the newly expanded nation of Sellix. With my ability to shape the world, I gaze the smaller island nation more arable land with which to grow crops. They had once been limited by their collection of small islands, but I made their islands larger, and even connected a few to the mainland.

Now they would have the resources necessary to feed all their people, and grow as a people.

“Warlord?”

Terrakona’s strong voice rumbled through my thoughts. I glanced upward and spotted his glittering emerald scales coiled around one of the smaller peaks. He was hundreds of feet up the side of the mountain, his massive body a sight to behold. Terrakona hugged the mountain like it were a toy, so gargantuan, he was a legend unto himself.

His black crystal mane shone in the afternoon light. His fangs were so large, they couldn’t fit into his mouth, and his reptilian eyes had the fearsome intelligence of a cunning warrior.

Terrakona’s nose flared as he sniffed the winds.

“Is something wrong?” I asked. Although my voice wouldn’t carry to his place on the mountain, Terrakona heard me just fine. He always did.

“The Hunter is here.”

Oh, I knew. The chilly breeze that had lingered all morning while I worked was a clear sign of his presence. And when I turned to face the distant cluster of trees, my tremor sense informed me of the wolves that waited there.

“He won’t let this go,” I said with a sigh.

“It is the nature of a hunter to know its place in the hierarchy. It was inevitable that the Red Wolf would come calling for personal combat.”

Zaxis…

Ever since we were young, he could never let it go. He wanted to know which of us was the stronger god arcanist. Over the last few days, he badgered me into agreeing to a friendly match between rivals. He wanted to know which of us would prevail in a fight.

I had told him that it wasn’t possible to really know. My blade, Retribution, didn’t have a sparring option. If I struck him, it would be devastating. I couldn’t use it—not against my ally.

Although, I shouldn’t say that. Zaxis wasn’t just my ally, he was my brother now. Ever since he married Illia. Which was more of a reason I couldn’t bring all my might down on him.

“His anger makes the wind grow cold,”Terrakona telepathically said.

“Yeah,” I muttered, my breath on the wind like I were a dragon exhaling smoke.

The storm around us was growing worse. The magic of the fenris wolf was unmistakable.

Zaxis had been angry when I reminded him about my sword, and my power to devastate the landscape. He didn’t care about that—he still wanted us to battle. We wouldn’t use trinkets or artifacts, though, which meant I also couldn’t use my shield.

This seemed silly, but I didn’t voice that concern.

If Zaxis wanted a bare-knuckle fight, then that was what he would get.

“He’s approaching, Warlord. Now is the time.”

I sensed their approach, too. It felt like the icy presence of an enemy. Or perhaps, someone once an enemy. Was it Vjorn’s magic? I believe one of his innate powers was to fill the air with dread. If I were a knightmare arcanist, it wouldn’t shake me, but as the world serpent arcanist, I felt the cold grip of artificial fear.

Cracks formed in the ground around my feet as my magic took hold.

Stream sprayed upward like geysers. When the chill winds of winter rushed by me, they were cut by the bubbling heat just beneath the dirt’s surface.

A tremor shot through the land, like the world itself was shuddering.

A howl of wind brought dark clouds. It was the afternoon, but darkness took hold. That didn’t bother me. I touched my arm, thankful Evianna had enhanced my flesh with runes that allowed me to see in the dark. Although we weren’t allowed to use trinkets or artifacts in this fight, our runes were permitted. They couldn’t be gotten rid of, after all.

A blizzard formed around the mountain. Snow filled the gale force winds, and the plants in the area frosted over from the sheer power of the fenris wolf.

Vjorn emerged from the storm as silently and as ethereal as a ghost.

The mighty wolf stood taller than most three-story buildings. His black fur was frosted at the tips, permanently coated in the deadly winter colds that swirled around me. He wore chains and shackles with the same unforgiving rime. His claws were as black as the void and far sharper than anything found on a normal wolf.

When Vjorn stepped forward, it seemed as though his massive form should shake the earth, but his padded feet were silent, and only my tremor-sensing magic allowed me to detect his presence. A mortal would have no idea that such a gargantuan beast was nearby.

Then Zaxis appeared just as his eldrin—silently, and seemingly from the storm itself.

He didn’t wear his armor, since we had agreed to no trinkets or artifacts, so instead, he wore nothing but his sparring trousers and traveling boots. Zaxis had bulked through the years, and he had also allowed his beard to grow. His red hair seemingly started at his head and traveled down to cover his chin and most of his neck, as though it were a moss that couldn’t be controlled.

His god-arcanist mark was etched into his chest, shoulder, arm, and down his ribs. The form of the fenris wolf wrapped around the many points of his star was as intimidating as it was impressive.

And while I had to use my magic to keep warm—to keep a deep heat in my body, and my bones—Zaxis just stood in the blizzard without a shirt like he didn’t even know a storm was raging around him.

“Volke,” he called out, his voice on the winds. “Hopefully you haven’t forgotten what today is.”

“I haven’t,” I replied, the snowstorm threatening to mask my words completely.

Fortunately, Zaxis heard just fine. He smirked, as he always did, and then patted the massive leg of his wolf eldrin. “Then let’s settle this. Which of us is the better arcanist?”

“We don’t need to fight to determine that.”

“Oh?”

I shook my head as I squared my stance. “We both already knew it’s me.” I didn’t normally boast, but it was worth it for Zaxis’s laugh, followed by his glare, a primal need to answer the call of challenge.

More cracks formed in the ground, some as thick as a finger, as steam shot up into the storm. A heavy mist filled the winds. It was almost difficult to breathe.

Terrakona roared.

The blizzard picked up, and both Vjorn and Zaxis disappeared from my sight, the white snowstorm creating a blanket that hid everything. But they couldn’t escape my tremor sense. I knew where they were, and how they moved, even if my eyes were useless in the face of winter.

Vjorn came at me from the left, and Zaxis from the right.

The massive fenris wolf emerged from the snowstorm, launching himself at me with bared teeth and claws. He was large enough to crush my body, but I had been prepared for his attack.

I lunged out of the way.

Then the ground cracked out wide, catching the beast’s paws. Magma bubbled to the surface, slow but hot. The bright glow of the molten rock cut through the storm.

Vjorn evoked a blast of ice that cooled the rocks in an instant, filling the air with hot steam that washed over the area.

Zaxis went for me. He waved his hand and a flurry of icy shards jutted from the ground. One was sharp enough—and fast enough—that it cut part of my arm, but I didn’t care. I healed so fast, it was like the injury never happened.

My body heated, and my bones hardened.

When Zaxis came within a few feet of me, I held up my hand and evoked the magma. He was ready. He exhaled a blizzard’s worth of ice, frosting the glowing rock and cooling in such a way that it practically cracked.

The whole area rumbled as Terrakona slammed his way down the mountain. The world serpent practically landed on Vjorn, crashing into him with the weight of a giant serpent mixed with the power of gravity. The two giants rolled into the snowstorm, their angry growls and snaps of their jaws enough to shake the ground.

Bits of obsidian formed on my knuckles. When Zaxis came in, I swung with a fist, but he dodged. As I was readying myself for another strike, I realized his body had changed. Fur-like needles of sharp metal had formed on his back, like a wolf with its hackles raised. His wrists were covered in iron shackles, and his fingers were curled into steel claws.

Terrakona’s magic changed me—my bones, my body—and Vjorn’s magic obviously did the same with Zaxis. The magic of the god-creatures was so potent, that it was capable of altering us.

Zaxis swiped with his steel claws, and I lifted my arm to block. The strike behind his blow was considerable. He cut my flesh and battered the basalt deep in my body. I staggered backward.

Terrakona and Vjorn emerged from the storm. Terrakona had coiled his body around the fenris wolf, and Vjorn and latched his fangs around Terrakona’s body. But the wolf’s teeth couldn’t pierce Terrakona’s mighty scales. The world serpent was nigh invulnerable.

With a powerful twist of his body, Terrakona crushed Vjorn in his coiled grip. The wolf screeched, his voice half a howl.

The snowstorm grew more intense. It hurt to keep my eyes open, so I didn’t.

When Zaxis attacked me again, he caught my face, digging his claws into my flesh. My hot blood practically froze in an instant, but I wasn’t bothered. I altered the ground beneath us.

Zaxis was a fierce warrior—he never shied away from attacking head-on—but he couldn’t fly. The ground beneath his feet twisted and then sucked him down, the stone crushing his ankles, then his legs, and then his waist. Zaxis clawed at the ground, obviously trying to free himself, but his ice wasn’t helping.

The snow piled on.

More weight. More sinking.

He growled as he tried to free himself.

A deafening roar rang out throughout the field, and then the snowstorm abruptly ceased. The winds died, the ice faded. Afternoon sunlight flooded the area, illuminating everything. Terrakona had caught the wolf in his deadly coil, and I had caught Zaxis in an equally deadly trap in the ground.

And while Vjorn controlled the weather, and Zaxis was a fierce warrior, they couldn’t compete with someone who could manipulate the terrain. That was why the former world serpent arcanist was known as the Warlord. I always had the advantage when it came to a fight on the ground.

Zaxis, waist-deep in the ground, dug his steel claws in the dirt. “Let’s go again,” he said, mirth in his words. “This wasn’t a fair fight and you know it.”

“Why is that?” I said as I walked over to him. Although, I wasn’t about to admit my heart was hammering. It had been a lot time since someone had injured me. I touched the slash marks on my face. They were healing, and soon they would be gone, but it had startled me when Zaxis landed the blow.

I was getting soft. It had been too long since I had a real fight.

“Next time, you can alter the terrain,” Zaxis said.

With a wave of my hand, I freed him from his rocky prison. “So I can’t use my sword, and I can’t use my manipulation… Why don’t we just say I can’t use any of my magic, and you can attack me while I’m sleeping? Will that make it fair enough for you?”

Zaxis chortled as he brushed off his trousers. Then he met my gaze with a half-smile. “You think you’re so funny.”

Terrakona uncoiled himself from Vjorn. The wolf limped away, flashing his fangs as he went. Then the two giants relaxed, their animosity short lived.

“I’ve been everyone else who accepted my challenge,” Zaxis said matter-of-factly. “None of them can deal with my blizzard.”

“Oh, you mean the cute little breeze you had going?”

Zaxis narrowed his eyes.

I chuckled. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

“The winter chill gets them all—but not you.” Zaxis sighed. “I suspect it wouldn’t get the phoenix, either, but I didn’t have the heart to challenge Biyu.”

He said that, but I knew the real reason. Zaxis didn’t want to fight a phoenix.

“I have been bonded longer, and my magic seems suited to defeating your stealth and cold,” I said. “Maybe you can let this one go. We’ve no need to fight each other.” I held out my hand, hoping he would take it, so we could settle this once and for all.

Zaxis stared at my palm and then met my gaze with a sardonic glower. “You must be joking. I’m not going to get complacent. I’ll figure out a way to handle you and your tremor sense. Or maybe my son will beat yours in a duel one day. That’ll be revenge enough.”

I sighed as I lowered my hand. “Will and Roark don’t need to fight.”

“Perhaps they’ll want to.”

“Or perhaps Will and Robin will end up marrying,” I said with a laugh.

Zaxis straightened his posture and frowned. “No oneis touching my little girl. I’ll bury them in the snow if they even try.”

After a slight roll of my eyes, I shrugged. “Well, until you concoct a way to beat me, I say we settle this for now. I have to head to the southern edge of the empire to help alter some of the deserts. You’ll keep watch in the north for any trouble?”

Zaxis nodded once. “You can count on me.” Then he clasped my shoulder. “And we should see each other more often. Illia asks about you all the time, and it seems like our families rarely interact.”

His concern caught me off guard. I nodded once. “R-Right. I’ll do that. As soon as I’m done with some of my work.”

I had so much to do. Spending my free time doing nothing seemed like a waste. Zaxis believed, though, and released my shoulder. Then he turned and whistled for his wolf. Zaxis and Vjorn headed for the distant trees.

Terrakona slithered over to my side. I touched his scales.

“Let’s go, Terrakona,” I whispered. “Perhaps if we finish our work fast enough, we can have a family day.”

“You know that the Hunter just wants to trick you into coming onto his territory. He thinks he can win through a surprise attack.”

“Maybe,” I muttered. “But I think it would still be fun.”

Terrakona snorted a powerful laugh. “The Children of Balastar are interesting creatures.”