A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 76  The Cruelty of The Gods - Part 1

Beam bit his lip, the reality of his defeat setting in. An emotion he hated bubbled up and ate at him. "Damn it," he cursed, as he forced himself to deal with it.

"Heh, you really are trash, aren't ya lad?" Dominus said, but his smile as he said it didn't quite match his words. He put his hand on Beam's head and ruffled his scruffy hair. "To be honest, watching you there, for a second, I thought you might go all the way. You have no reason to be bitter about this defeat – you fought an enemy you had no business fighting, and you even managed a good attempt at complete victory. Frankly, I'm stunned. Seeing you make such progress in just a week – it's frankly unnatural. You should be pleased with yourself, lad."

Indeed, when he'd arrived and he'd seen Beam's last charge – he'd been sure he had it. Dominus was a man with such a wealth of experience under his belt, that seeing the conclusion of a Second Boundary conflict moves in advance was far from being a difficult feat.

What he'd seen as Beam charged the Hobgoblin was something overwhelming. A depth of roaring potential that drove forward like a spear. A frightening inferno that had finally been allowed to catch fire, fuelled by the countless hot coals of suffering Beam had built up… And yet, more suffering still awaited the boy.

With him sending his own potential forth so freely, Ingolsol's curse and Claudia's blessing had moved too. They each fought to pull his blade in a different direction. Claudia, with her compassion, sought to protect Beam from Ingolsol, and the blessing moved with such intentions – but with the way it had been adhered to the edge of Beam's soul in such a flimsy connection, it rendered the blessing just as destructive as Ingolsol's curse.

And Ingolsol too had sought to guide Beam's blade in his own direction, a long a more manic and chaotic route. Ultimately, Beam had been able to overpower both those urges, but the cost to his sword had been great and he was unable to inflict anywhere near the damage necessary to kill the Hobgoblin.

For a boy who had only just begun training the sword, to truly be in range of such a certain victory – that was an Arthur-level talent. Only, to equal that, he had an Arthur-level problem to solve.

But even receiving his master's praise, it did not lessen Beam's pain. He felt tears cloud his eyes. "It hurts…" he said quietly, grasping at his heart.

"Your leg?" Dominus asked. "Yeah, I'd expect it does."

"No… Losing," Beam told him, as he sniffled, clawing at his chest. The feeling of defeat felt like hot lead running through his blood. It was so unbearable he could hardly stand. "I was so close… I could feel it. But I messed up. I failed again."

"Eh?" Dominus was taken aback by that, seeing the boy's tears fall down his cheek. He knew that Beam had hated losing, but he didn't know quite how bad. 'Heh…' he thought to himself, shaking his head. 'He's a strange kid alright.'

"C'mon, boy, cheer up. You lived – that's the important thing. Now you've got a chance to try again. A bit more training and you'll get there, I reckon," Dominus said.

"I'll do it for my swordsmanship test," Beam said, sniffing.

"You're really set on making things harder for yourself, huh?" Dominus asked, not entirely understanding. But this time, unlike the week before, he didn't dismiss his pupil's proposal entirely. "Fine, if you're so set on that being your test, we'll say it is. But remember that it's you who set that burden – you who gave your word. If you fail again, then I won't be taking you as my apprentice."

"Will we be able to find another one?" Beam asked. "I thought Hobgoblins were rare."

"I'll find you one, if necessary," Dominus said, taking a glance at the corpse. "But… I have a feeling another one might crop up. There's something unnatural going on here," he said, as he picked up the Hobgoblin's discarded greatsword. "This is too fine a weapon for a Goblin to just stumble upon," he murmured to himself.

Beam listened without fully understanding, thinking more of the future, of how he'd make sure he would beat the Hobgoblin at the next opportunity he got. That was when Nila chose to approach.

"Wipe your face, boy," Dominus said, jabbing him with an elbow, "the girl's come to see you."

Nila looked to Dominus cautiously as she approached, and so Dominus took a few steps away to leave her and Beam alone.

"…Your leg," she said, her voice softer than Beam had ever heard it, tinged with an emotion that sounded like regret.

"It's not as bad as it looks. I think if I get it stitched up, it'll be alright in a few days," Beam said, hoping that his own words were true. In truth, in his head, he was planning to immediately get back to training as soon as he woke up in the morning, but he had the sense not to mention that to anyone worried about him.

"My mother can stitch it," Nila murmured, looking at the ground. When she looked up, she saw both Dominus and Beam glancing at her and she waved her hands as she hurriedly tried to explain. "She works with thread, y'see… and she was always stitching up my dad when he hurt himself. But I guess you'll be able to look after it yourself…" she trailed off awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

"As a matter of fact, I just so happen to be lacking a needle and thread," Dominus said, a mischievous smile on his lips. "If you could tend to the boy's wounds, I'd be grateful." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Nila looked at Dominus as he spoke, his eyes peeking out from under his straw hat. To her, he was just a stranger – one that she'd seen about town once or twice. But now she could sense the murky force of mystery emanating off him, just as she had started to with Beam.