Ulmir’s Domain, the Four Seasons, Second Day of the Hunt.

During the bad times, Zedd resorted to religion to alleviate his pain. He visited Osimir’s temple every day. On the altar, Zedd would always give offerings. Sometimes it was a jewel he’d found in the sea. Others it was his last meal of the day. Osimir blessed those who’d forsake their most precious things to their God.

It was because of that blessing that all of Zedd’s misfortune started. It was because of that blessing that Zedd vowed revenge on all the Gods.

His first step was to destroy Ulmir’s domain. ‘I don’t care what Vaneel said. The destruction of this realm is symbolic.’ Black Eyes was absorbed in thought. ‘Whether the place belonged to the Hunter God or not, it will cease to exist shortly.’ He stood up and approached his injured friend. He inspected his pulse and was pleasantly surprised. Cane’s injuries were healed, his breathing had stabilized.

The big bear opened his eyes then looked at the man with black eyes. “What’re ya doing here?” he asked. His voice was hoarse. His face was pale, and he could barely move his arms.

“There was an accident,” Zedd said. “Don’t move, you should rest.”

“What happened?” the big bear asked.

“Don’t worry about it. For now, you have to rest do you hear?”

Cane seemed to ignore Zedd. “How long have I been ‘ere Black Eyes?”

“A few hours, you were badly injured. If I hadn’t showed up here on time, you would’ve died. Now close your eyes and rest. You’ll need to sleep for a few more hours before you’d recover.”

“How will ya reach the Watchdog?” Cane asked, still insisting on getting some answers.

“I’ll tell you later. You need to rest. And it’s not safe here. Now, let’s go,” Zedd extended his arm towards Cane then helped him get up.

“We’ll use this piece of technology to get to Ulmir’s Garden.” Zedd pointed at the Mobeel he acquired from the imperials. “You’d be surprised at how stable it is inside,” he went on as he led the big bear towards the rolling sphere. “You’ll sleep like a baby. Come, let’s get inside.”

Inside, the sphere could accommodate eight soldiers. Zedd got in then led Cane towards the benches soldiers sat on. “I’ll strap these belts to you now,” Black Eyes told him. “You’ll be stable here, nothing would harm you. Get some rest until we reach the Gardens.”

Zedd finished then took the pilot’s seat. He put his hand on the Crux then injected it with Essence. The Mobeel started moving and Zedd started laughing. ‘This stuff is amazing when it’s in your hands!’

An hour ago, Zedd took care of all the imperials he was asked to execute. Thinking back about it, he thought he had overdone it a little. He didn’t mean to provoke them to the point where everything got out of hand.

‘I might’ve been angry,’ he thought as he drove the Mobeel towards the forest with gigantic trees.

‘I might’ve taken it a bit too far.’ He remembered the imperials’ faces. Their eyes looked at him with horror as he struck them repeatedly.

‘I might’ve taken out my anger on them.’ It all started with Dismas. That shit faced bastard humiliated him. He made him into an assassin for hire. He wasn’t going to let that slide.

When he arrived at the imperials’ location, Zedd was thinking of all that. He thought of how he was used by the city council and that slimy bastard. He thought of how he almost got himself killed. He remembered Red’s reprimands, and how he beheaded him. Then he heard it!

“Tsk!”

He was standing atop Ayala’s corpse. He looked at the soldiers that were both delighted and apprehensive. His last sentence meant that he wasn’t there to save the day. “Blitz!” Gavin shouted. “He’s just a man. He got lucky with that monster! Attack!”

All soldiers attacked at once. Bowguns were shot. Lances were thrown. And Gavin shot the projectile from his cannon. As bullets, lances and the projectile drew close to Zedd, he shouted “Vanish!” All weapons and projectiles collided then exploded. Zedd teleported behind the imperials and kept watching them with dark eyes.

The lances were blown back due to the explosion. One landed near a soldier’s foot. The other missed Gavin by a hair’s width. The third lance was heading towards Zedd. Black Eyes lifted his arm then caught the weapon midair. “Of course, my luck would want to fuck me just when I was about to have fun!”

Zedd hurled the lance at Sergeant Drevo. The weapon whistled by his ear and sliced it in two. The man held his injury and howled in pain.

“Who are you?” Gavin asked. “You know who we are, don’t you?”

“That’s the attitude I hate about you.” With a dash, Zedd reached the pilot in an instant. “Imperials and their mighty protector,” he told Gavin as he fixed him with his black eyes. The pilot felt like he was fixing a demon in the eyes. It was hard to keep looking at rectangular pupils that shone bright gold.

“What now?” Zedd asked. “Won’t you call for daddy Avourel? Or will you pray to Dhobor?”

“What do you want from us?” Drevo suddenly shouted. He was holding his head, trying to stop the bleeding. “We never met! I’m sure I’d remember a face like that!”

“What did you say?” Zedd turned towards the Sergeant.

“I only meant,” Drevo blabbered. “I only meant that you’re unique!”

“Unique how?” Zedd asked as he dashed at the injured man. All the others were glued in place. They didn’t dare move or attack. The man with black eyes was very fast. If they missed their attack, they’d risk hitting a teammate. Zedd took his sword out then put it on the Sergeant’s neck. “Unique how?” he repeated.

“He only meant that you’re powerful!” a soldier interfered. “Nobody can forget someone as powerful as you.”

Zedd smiled then jumped in the middle of the clearing. He was surrounded by five soldiers. “Listen up!” he shouted as he dropped his sword to the ground. “I’ve been ordered to kill you all. No survivors are allowed.” Zedd turned towards Gavin then smiled. His white teeth, coupled with those strange black eyes of his, made his smile eerie, otherworldly.

“You see, it’s nothing personal.” He turned towards another soldier then spoke again. “I’m offering you an opportunity,” he told the soldier then turned towards another. His movements were deliberately slow. He wanted his words to go beyond the soldiers’ ears. He wanted his words to reach their hearts.

“Convince me to let you go!” he told the soldier. His eyes landed on Devron once more. “Or fight me! I’ll only use my hands. I won’t touch the sword.”

Black Eyes slowly turned towards the Mobeel’s pilot. “Decide now!”

The soldiers looked at each other then jumped at the man with black eyes. Zedd had underestimated them enough. He even dropped his weapon to humiliate them. They’d die rather than live with the shame of being humiliated and not fighting back. Zedd admired their resolution.

Two soldiers remained behind while three charged Black Eyes. They swung their swords in unison then missed. Zedd had jumped backwards to dodge. He was toying with them. One of the gunners shot him as he initiated his jump backwards. It was a well-timed attack, one that could’ve critically wounded Zedd.

Invisible threads pulled him backwards then helped him perform a backflip. The bullet missed him by inches. His Fairies anticipated the attack and helped him evade it. “You’re not the only ones with support fire!” he shouted at the soldiers.

The gunners in the rear were swept away from their feet. Zedd jumped above the three swordsmen then landed atop a gunner. Zedd lifted the soldier by the collar then looked him in the eyes. “Have you ever tasted a punch, powerful enough to destroy a tree?” The frightened soldier shook his head.

“It’s peaceful,” Zedd went on. “It would feel like that bullet if it hit my head.”

“I won’t beg for my life!” the soldier said.

“I don’t need you to.” Zedd punched the man so hard his head bounced off the floor then heavily fell again. Blood oozed out from the poor gunner’s orifices. “I hate guns!” Zedd jumped at the second Bowgun wielder then held him from the shoulders.

“What about you little man?” he asked. “Would you beg for your life?”

The gunner fixed Zedd with eyes full of hatred and determination. Their general had warned them about a threat. He was sure that the people of Yanoku wouldn’t take kindly to their mission. The gunner wasn’t going to beg for his life. He was a pride soldier, willing to die with dignity.

All he needed to do was to try and buy some time. His comrades were already approaching Zedd. They could surprise him and wound him. Or they could at least force him to let go of the gunner. He could’ve just blabbered something to the impatient man. Instead the gunner had accepted his fate. Although he was too young to die, he accepted that his time had come. He accepted his death with a “Tsk!”

Zedd punched the kid and sent him flying miles away. That expression was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Zedd went fully berserk. He had heard that expression twice that day. And every time he heard it, he remembered his mistake. Every time he heard it, he remembered the old man’s smirk as he mocked his swords. He couldn’t take it.

Zedd jumped at the swordsmen then kicked one in the face. The poor man’s head bobbed to the side at an abnormal angle. It looked like his neck had extended and his head peeked from beneath his armpits. Then swordsman fell to the ground.

Sergeant Devron realized the dire situation he was in. He pushed Gavin at Zedd then started running. He was dreaming. Yes, after their escape from the plains, they spent the night inside their Mobeel in the Four Seasons. He was still dreaming, he thought. It was just a horrible nightmare. Soon he’d wake, and see his teammates again.

All he saw was Zedd’s face as he appeared out of thin air. “Going somewhere friend?” the man with black eyes asked. The Sergeant backed away slowly. His eyes frantically moved in all directions. He was looking for an opening. “This is no dream Sergeant!” Zedd told him.

“Your friends are dead! And you’re next!” Zedd jumped at the Sergeant and punched him lightly in the stomach. The Sergeant’s body flew upwards then he landed on his knees. He was coughing wheezing, trying to catch his breath. “Hurts doesn’t it?” Zedd knelt down then held Devron’s face in both hands.

“Why do you fight Sergeant?” he asked. The man looked at him with eyes that communicated deep hatred.

“To rid the world of the likes of you!” Devron answered.

“How would you do that?” Zedd asked. “By running away to the woods?”

The Sergeant fell silent. Only the sound of his rapid breathing remained in the forest at that moment. Far away, a beast could be heard roaring. The earth shook, announcing a fierce ongoing fight nearby. “You could’ve avoided this you know,” Zedd said.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here!” Zedd punched the Sergeant hard enough to send him flying above the cut trees. “May you find a better life in the next one!” he shouted at the flying corpse.

“Now, what shall we do with you?” he asked as he looked at the pilot.

One hour later, Zedd had forced the pilot to give him access to the steering screen. One cannot tell of the horrible things Black Eyes had subjected the pilot to. As the fight between monster and champions raged around the speeding Mobeel, Zedd was heading towards Ulmir’s Garden at full speed.

‘I must find a way to get the Watchdog to show up,’ he thought as he directed the spherical tank to move faster. ‘At least my luck didn’t turn sour today!’ he happily noted. ‘I wonder how long it’s been since I had such a lucky streak!’

For some reason, whenever one thinks this way, calamity follows. The roaring of beast fighting hunters intensified. The sound seemed to get louder and louder. Zedd activated the Mobeel’s Skylight and the gray metal became transparent. In front of him, a dozen champions were fighting a giant beast.

It looked like a wyvern, but it didn’t have wings. It was about thirty feet tall and fifty feet long. It walked on all fours. On each leg it had sharp metallic claws. It was covered in scales that looked like dried earth. Its head had two pointy horns that were as large as an average tree trunk.

The hunters had the beast tied down. Zedd stopped the Mobeel to observe the fight. Eight hunters were pulling on ropes while the other four tried to climb atop the wyvern without wings. Zedd looked at the monster. Something felt familiar about it. He felt like he’d seen it somewhere before.

“It’s you!” the message reached his head, not his ears. “I can smell you across the realms,” the beast’s voice went on. “I’ve been chasing you, trying to reach the Gardens before you. I was surprised to feel your presence in here, all of a sudden.”

Zedd finally recognized the voice. “Drake!” He said.

“I’m coming for you Stalwart!”

The beast roared once again. It started wiggling, fighting the ropes that tied it down. Then with a loud “Snap! “ all the ropes were cut at once. The four champions that attempted to climb the monster held on for dear life as Drake stood on all fours. It slowly turned towards the Mobeel then opened its mouth. A fireball, the size of a miniature star, was hurled at the transparent Sphere.