The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

"Zaos?" Drannor asked as he approached. "What are you doing here?"

       Even though Zaos's entire body was covered by the dark cloak, it was hard not to see the shape of his big sword on his back. Drannor only knew a single person that could carry a weapon like that and knock down senseless dozens of royal guards without breaking a sweat, and that someone was Zaos.

      Drannor had heard that Zaos had deserted while using the chance that everyone thought he was dead to attack some houses, but Drannor never believed that. Regardless, Zaos couldn't give him the chance to see or notice anything, so he just enhanced his sword and then swung it toward the knights around Drannor. Some of them managed to block the attack, but others lost their heads. In fact, Drannor reacted so fast that Zaos only saw his arm and sword moving like a blur… Zaos got stronger in the last three years, but it seemed that Drannor also got.

       Regardless, Zaos enhanced his arms and the sword with wind and earth magic, and then he began to walk toward the gate while ignoring the fact that the path was blocked. The knights dashed at him with lightning speed, but even so, they stopped moving every time Zaos swung his sword.

"Why are you doing this, Zaos?" Drannor asked.

       Suddenly, a lightning bolt fell pretty close to the area, and it illuminated Zaos' face. Drannor could see that he wasn't there to talk. However, what came afterward shocked him even more. Coming from Zaos dark cloak, the fry of a baby echoed through the area.

"Zaos… what did you do?" Drannor asked with a shocked expression on his face.

      Zaos ignored the question. It would be better if Drannor made as many assumptions as possible. It was evident that Zaos had his kid with him, and it was evident that he came to do something evil considering that he was killing royal guards without even blinking. 

     The remaining royal guards tried to stop Zaos, but in the end, their words didn't even touch Zaos's armor. They were cut down easily, and that made Drannor's bloodlust increase. That wasn't Zaos… it was a monster. Drannor drew the king's sword, and Zaos realized that that fight would last for too long unless he went for the kill. Milliendra was still crying, and even though she was safe from the rain and cold due to the cloak, Zaos had other things to care for. From now on, Zaos' will have to take care of her food, cleaning, health, clothes… just thinking about it made Zaos realize that looking after her will be much harder than any battlefield he had been.

       In the blink of an eye, Zaos enhanced his sword with Earth magic three times and realized that the energy was pretty stabilized… even when Zaos used that on the weapon he was used to using, the energy never stayed like that. In the end, after using enhancing magic two more times, the silver sword was completely brown, and Zaos could feel that the next strike would be like no other.

      Drannor tried to strike Zaos down, but even with one hand, Zaos blocked it… Drannor tried to jump to the side and stab while focusing on speed. However, Zaos swung his sword faster than he had predicted and was forced to block it. Drannor succeeded, but the bones of his arms shattered upon impact, and he was sent flying. He rolled on the ground for several meters and only stopped when his back hit the walls.

"I knew it… this extra power is just…" Zaos said, surprised, but then he forgot about it when he saw Drannor unconscious while some blood was leaving his mouth. "He must have trained using a sword, but while he is way above average with it, it can't be compared with a spear on his hands… Sorry about this, Drannor. You will see your daughter again once I make sure that the demon god won't be able to affect her life."

      Without wasting any more time, Zaos headed to the gates and then grabbed one of the horses. He tried to calm down Milliendra, who was still crying, but the lightning bolts falling in the distance still were bothering her. She only calmed down when he gently covered her ears with his left arm.

"I suppose things aren't going to be easy for us for a while… but I swear that I will protect you against this fate of yours," Zaos said.

      The sound of the rain and lightning bolts was so powerful that no one noticed that commotion in the castle. Few people outside and inside did, and Zaos dealt with all of them. While riding the horse, he crossed the city in just a couple of minutes, and the gate was already open… the guards didn't pay attention to him.

"I can't get lax because of this, things have always been like this in these parts, but things will change from now on…" Zaos thought. "I need to consider our next steps carefully… I also hope that all this won't cause problems for my unit."

      It was a bit too late to consider what Zaos had done, but he at least had the right to hope for things to work out for them in the end. No one could tell if they would ever meet again, after all.

      After a couple of hours, Zaos reunited with Aleni in the lake. He could see some horses running away in the distance, and even though he had no idea how she brought so many, she made them run in pairs.

"Do you think my father recognized you?" Zaos asked.

"Only one assassin like me worked for this kingdom, and my job was to protect Ameria," Aleni explained. "After the attack on the castle years ago, the king decided to hire one of us to prevent that kind of incident."

      It seemed that there were many things that Zaos didn't know… Nevertheless, he will have plenty of time to learn.