Raxogar sat
motionless. He was completely lost. Nothing was making sense to him anymore. He
had been brought up as a fighter, taught to kill without mercy. With that world
crumbling in front of him, he no longer knew what he was or what he should do.
He looked down at his hands and wondered what they were for if not for
fighting. The anxiety spread in him like a virus, starting at his heart and
continuing to his extremities. His fingers felt like they were moulded from
clay – unfeeling and unresponsive.
As he sat,
his life unravelling before his eyes, a piercing scream permeated through the
mental fog that surrounded him. It was the same scream he had heard only
moments before, the cry that had started the end of his life has his knew it.
This time though, the scream was cut short.
As his eyes
refocused Raxogar could see his brother Mondaresh with his hand around the neck
of Ellana, his meaty paw lifting her off the ground, choking the life out of
her. She kicked and clawed at him, but Mondaresh was too strong. He held her
aloft, staring into her eyes as he watched the life slowly drain from her.
Gradually her attempts to extricate herself from his grip grew weaker and her
eyelids drooped. Just before she passed into the next world, the meaty grip on
her neck vanished and she dropped to the ground with a thud.
Coughing and
spluttering, Ellana crawled to her knees. She looked to where her captor was
now wrestling with the blue Dragonborn she had just encountered. Scrambling
backwards away from them, with confusion she watched as the two creatures
tussled, throwing punches and kicks at each other. She could see that, whilst a
fair bit smaller that his counterpart, the blue Dragonborn was much quicker and
was able to block or dodge many of his opponent’s blows.
Raxogar
didn’t know why he had attacked his brother. He had no loyalty or feeling
towards the girl being strangled, so why should it matter to him? Regardless,
he had felt an overwhelming force lift him from his torpid state and push him
into the confrontation with his brother. Without any forethought he had tackled
his brother to the ground, forcing him to release his grip on the young girl.
His brother retaliated with his fists and feet, and Raxogar responded in kind.
Still on the
ground with his brother on top of him, Mondaresh grabbed Raxogar by the front
of his leather tunic and, with an acrobatic flip, threw him over his head and
onto his back. Both Dragonborn rolled off their backs and onto their feet,
crouching low in preparedness. Now face to face with his quarry, Mondaresh
growled angrily at his sibling.
“Traitor! I
will take pleasure in finally ripping the life from you!”
Raxogar
stared deep into his brother’s eyes. Not until now did he see the monster that
his brother was, the monster that he himself was so close to becoming.
“Whether you
kill me or not, I will ensure you never touch her again.” Though he spoke with
confidence, he felt anxious inside. He did not want to fight his brother, but
he knew there was no option now.
“Raaaaarrgh!”
Mondaresh roared in anger, baring his teeth at his now former brother. He
dashed the few meters towards him before leaping into the air. With all of his
weight behind him he came crushing down on Raxogar with both fists.
Raxogar had
little time to react to his brother’s attack. He crossed both forearms above
him to block the strike, but the strength of Mondaresh combined with his
greater weight was too much. Raxogar’s left knee buckled under the blow,
putting him off balance.
Seeing his
quarries weakness, Mondaresh continued with a vicious assault. He followed
several quick punches the abdomen of Raxogar with a nasty jab to the face,
breaking the Dragonborn’s cheekbone. This gave him an opening for a knee to the
stomach and a left hook across the head.
Blood
spurted from Raxogar’s mouth onto the cold dirt. He had seen and fought his
brother many times, but this assault was far beyond anything he had experience.
He felt blow after blow connect, unable to dodge or block them. As he felt his
flesh rend and his bones break, Raxogar’s will faded. His defences dropped as
he turned into little more than a punching bag for this brother.
With a
mighty blow, Mondaresh kicked his former brother to the ground. He then knelt
over the hapless Dragonborn and proceeded to pummel his near lifeless body.
With each blow Mondaresh’s bloodlust grew as Raxogar’s hold on Iife diminished.
Raxogar’s
body fell limp. Seeing he was at the edge of death, Mondaresh stood up and
walked over to where he had dropped his sword. As he retrieved the blade, he
felt with relish the idea of finally driving it through the runt’s body. He
turned with a sinister smile back towards the helpless Dragonborn.
Raxogar looked
up at the sky through his one open eye. Unable to move, he felt death’s cold
hands grasping him, pulling him below the earth. As he closed his eye and
accepted his fate, he thought he could hear angels singing to him from the
other side. However, it was neither an angel nor singing that was calling to
him.
After she
was release from Mondaresh’s grip, Ellana had crawled over to her still
unconscious mother. Unable to rouse her, Ellana grabbed her underneath the
shoulders and dragged her beneath the nearby wagon. From there she cowered as
she watched the fight ensue between the two Dragonborn. She watched as her
saviour was beaten mercilessly to the edge of death by his larger opponent.
When
Mondaresh retrieved his sword, Ellana knew the end was nigh. If the blue
Dragonborn perished then surely she and her mother would also die at this
monster’s hand. Without thinking, Ellana screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Get up!”
she cried.
Raxogar’s
head flopped to the side from which the voice came. With immense effort he
opened his one good eye. Though he couldn’t understand what was being said to
him, he could see the little girl crying desperately ay him. As he saw her
pleading he tried to raise his arm and reach for her, but could only summon the
strength to raise the palm of his hand an inch off the ground.
Ellana
continued to scream at Raxogar to get up, tears now streaming down her face. As
Mondaresh moved over him, Ellana looked down onto the ground beside her to
where her mother had dropped her father’s sword. As Mondaresh raised his own
blade above the blue Dragonborn, Ellana grabbed the sword and sprang forth from
beneath the wagon. Knowing she would not make it to the pair in time, she
hurled the blade towards Raxogar.
Whether by
skill, luck, or divine intervention, the blade’s handle fell on top of
Raxogar’s outstretched hand. As soon as the weapon touched his skin, Raxogar
felt a surge of energy flow through him. He felt a searing pain across him as
his broken bones mended and his lacerations closed. As he turned his head to
look up at his brother, he felt the sword pull his arm from the ground and
parry Mondaresh’s death blow.
Stunned by
this turn, Mondaresh paused in confusion. This was the only opening Raxogar
needed. He deftly kicked him in the stomach, forcing him a few paces backwards.
With a dexterity he had never known before, Raxogar flipped off of his back and
onto his feet. He stared at his bewildered opponent, not with anger or hate,
but with a calm resolve permeating through every fibre of his being.
Still
shocked but his adversary’s revival, Mondaresh roared and swung his blade at
Raxogar. Raxogar calmly dodged and parried his blows with perfect efficiency.
Strike after strike, Mondaresh grew angrier and more desperate. After
attempting a particularly wild swing which Raxogar swayed out the way of,
Mondaresh over balanced and fell face first onto the ground.
Spitting
dirt out of his mouth he snarled at Raxogar. “What is this trickery? You were
dead. How can you still be fighting?”
With a calm
resolve Raxogar pointed the tip of his sword towards his brother. “Dead or not,
I vowed that I would stop you.”
Mondaresh
snarled once again. Dropping all pretences, he jumped up and charged at
Raxogar. In a blink of an eye it was over – Raxogar parried his brother’s blade
and plunged his own into Mondaresh’s chest. For a brief moment there was a look
of surprise on Mondaresh’s face before it slackened and his body fell to the
ground, Raxogar’s sword still protruding from his chest.
Raxogar
looked down at his brother. Whilst he felt sorry for him, he knew in his heart
he had done the right thing in ending it there. He stared down at his hands
which were covered in his brother’s blood. They felt strong and with purpose.
His mind was now clear as to his path. He would no longer fight out of fear or
anger. He would fight to protect.