A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

As the Hobgoblin's sword neared him, Beam leapt, using it as a springboard. An impossible feat, for true, to accomplish such timing, such precision, when the sharp blade was moving so fast. But Beam's eyes saw it differently. What had gradually slowed over the course of the fight was now entirely still, as the Hobgoblin revealed the full extent of its being and Beam devoured it.

From the new weight on the blade, the creature finally saw through its mistake. Feeling the fear of death overwhelm it, as Beam now stood so close to his neck, his sword shining menacingly in the fading moonlight.

It roared and frantically shook him off, determined to deprive him of his perch, trusting in its own thick hide – that if the boy had no solid ground to swing from, he'd never be able to damage him.

With the shake of its blade, it flung Beam behind it, leaving itself off balance, but eliminating the risk regardless. And yet, even as he flung the boy away, the sense of overwhelming dread did not fade and he dared to look over his shoulder to find out why.

As Beam flew, he was perfectly balanced. The truth was soon revealed – Beam had seen through that too. Before he hit the ground, he sliced out at the soft spot behind the evolved Hobgoblin's knee, targeting the tendon. His blade was stopped short halfway through by the creature's tough tendons, but the damage was enough.

Its right knee buckled from the pain and it fell forward, its sweeping sword laying out in front of it and his twisting neck nearing it.

His sword-wielding hand hit the ground first, leaving the sword pointed upwards. His neck slid onto it a moment later, skewing it all the way through.

It coughed up a mouthful of green blood, as its eyes widened in shock and its body trembled with fear. Beam glanced at it. "You lost the moment you showed fear," he told it. "I see through you."

And from the sparkling of his wide eye, those words rang true. Even without intelligence, without human language, the Hobgoblin seemed to understand. It saw the golden flecks rushing around eyes of green and blue and grey – and he saw the flecks of redness rising among them, tainted by blood, and from that, he knew he had lost.

From the moment it had started its charge, Beam had seen all the way to its death. Knowing that he could not fatally wound it with his own sword and strength, he instead made the creature turn its blade upon itself.

The creature spasmed and gasped, as its blood ran out. It died a moment later.

The observers stood there stunned, truly rooted to the spot, as they continued to stare at the battered boy, covered in blood, his body crooked from exhaustion. The first light of dawn broke as he stood there, catching his heroic figure for just a second.

Beam looked up at the sky and the fading stars. The world remained blurry to him. Now, accompanied by an intense dizziness. He thought he heard a woman's laughter ring out as he stood there. A voice spoke to him a moment later.

"You'll do," it whispered seductively.

"Heh…" Beam said, reaching a hand to his forehead, feeling the exhaustion overwhelming him. "Guess I must be going mad too," he told himself, as his legs swayed underneath him.

Just before he could collapse, he felt an arm hold him up. He squinted to see who it was, finally noticing Dominus. "Ah, master…" he said in a weak voice. "I know I said… a Hobgoblin… but does this count?"

Dominus beamed a smile and shook his head. "Glad to see you're still a pain in the arse," he grinned, before grasping his shoulders and looking him dead in the eye. "You've made me proud today, boy – beyond what you could ever understand. You've tapped into a realm that I was denied access to and you snatched victory despite the odds against you. Those are the makings of a hero, boy.

You have what it takes. Seeing such spirit, I believe it now when I say it. Be it in a decade, or several, you, boy, will slay the Pandora Goblin."

"A decade is a pretty… long way off. I still have those other tests to finish," Beam said.

"Hah! Complaining about a mere decade. Still the same old impatient little shit," Dominus said.

Greeves wandered over as they spoke, admiring the corpse and then picking up the sword to glance at it. "Ah, now this is far too fine a blade for a mere Goblin… and the amount of steel on it too, mm."

Dominus caught him before he got too many wild ideas. "An expensive blade for true – and one that you'll be paying the boy extra for if you want it. Along with this here corpse. You gave him a quest and he over delivered."

Greeves grunted. "Damn it, even I'm not so coldhearted as to feel nothing after seeing a display like that… It's not just profit I'm eyeing."

Beam looked at him, a threat in his eye.

Greeves shook his hands in front of him in apology. "I get it lad, I get it! I was wrong. I shouldn't have threatened ya like that. Maybe I don't need to play quite so strongly in the dark. Could be that it'd be more balanced for me to show a slight bit of kindness now and that."

As both Judas and Beam looked at him in confusion, the merchant hurriedly tried to correct himself. "Damn it. I'm not trying to say I'm suddenly out to be a good person. My flag is already dyed the colours it is. But maybe, just make, there's a place in a bit of sunlight even for a creature as dark as me."

Dominus sniffed. "I doubt it. But I won't stop you from looking."

Greeves twisted his face. "I don't even know your name, and I already dislike you. Funny how things like that work, isn't it?"

"Not particularly," Dominus said. "You're merely responding to my own thorough distaste for you. Your talk of change, here and now, it irritates me. For a creature such as yourself, even after bearing witness to such a thing, you are far too long gone down the path of darkness. Tomorrow you will begin to forget what you witnessed here and you will return to your old ways."

Judas looked between Greeves and Dominus, looking unsure as to whether he should intervene. But by now he'd finally got a sense for the difference in strength between him and the old warrior and he dared not provoke him as quickly as he had before – especially seeing what Beam had achieved and knowing that from the way people looked to him, Dominus was meant to be stronger even than that.

Greeves didn't grow any angrier at Dominus' provocation and merely shrugged his shoulders, guessing that it was likely true. "Mm. Even I might get motivated if there were rewards in it, no? Perhaps, even after all my years in the business, there is room for me to change and grow as a merchant."

Dominus tutted. "To have the line I was about to say dirtied by your merchant tongue… Hah… Forgive me boy," he said to Beam. "I should have turned him away from the start."

Beam shrugged in his tiredness. "He's welcome to do what he wants."

It was only then, in that brief lull in conversation that a tearful Nila was finally able to speak, sniffling all the while. She looked at Beam with round eyes full of relief and Beam looked at her, with a tired smile. "Sorry for not telling you," he said. "I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily."

"Idiot!" Nila shouted, pulling him away from Dominus into a hug. "We're friends, aren't we?" She mumbled into his shoulder. "You can't leave me out of something like this… I want to lecture you and tell you to never to do something like this ever again, to save my heart from the worry… But I realized something watching you fight."

"Hm? What?" Beam asked as she clung to him.

"I realized that this is you, this is your world. How could it not be? For you to fight for so long and to grow so quickly during it – you're like a fish that's finally found water," Nila said.

The older men listened in. Dominus nodded in agreement, whilst Greeves tilted his head in understanding.

"And from that, I think I know what I need to do now. So thank you. Thank you for surviving. And thank you for showing me what I was looking for," she said, offering him a pure smile.

Beam stood there stunned in place by the smile, not quite understanding. He knew not the effect that his battle had had upon the others. How his light had shone so strongly that it began to illuminate even the paths of mere observers.

"You were right," she then said to Dominus. "He did have what I was looking for."

Dominus scratched his head awkwardly. "Perhaps I might have said that… But this wasn't the outcome I'd foreseen. Though in truth, the same might apply to me. After many long years of stagnation, I finally see just the glimmer of a path to greater strength… How cruel the Gods are, to dangle such fruit in front of me, knowing that I do not have the time to seize it."

But even with such a cruel fate ahead of him, he could not help but smile. A true smile, for the first time since Arthur had died. 'I've seen it at last, old friend. That which can subdue even the Gods. As we expected, such a sword is forged through suffering – but if only we knew quite what that suffering entailed.'

VOLUME 1 - PART 1 END