The Martyr

A dear stood in a brief clearing in the forest, his head perked up and viewing his surroundings. In the bushes not even ten metres away from the animal, lay Gabriel, his hands gently holding a rope that hung from the tree beside him.

"Go," he whispered to himself as he tugged down gently at the rope, giving the signal for an attack, his idle hand clenched in anticipation.

Judith, from his position atop the trees, lines his bow and arrow with the target, he quietly pulls back his weapon ,and then exhales before finally letting go.

The arrow flys through the air, and into the neck of the animal, the deer promptly keeling over right after the strike, its body becoming limp, and its wide, glassy eyes flickering with its last sparks of life.

Gabriel rose form his position hidden amongst the fauna, before going and investigating the animal. As he neared the animal he noticed that he was not quite dead yet, so he gently put him down, by using the nearest rock.

Judith sat idle atop a large branch, his eyes more fixated on his bow, than his soon to be meal,

"Come over here, I need help to bring the deer over to the camp," he shouts, trying to drag the animal.

Judith jumps down, before he lays his bow down and walks over next to him. "we'll both drag it by the foot, this is the easiest way to do it," Judith says calmly, Gabriel responding with a nod.

Gabriel grabs the right foot of the animal, before Judith grabs the right. The pair begin to pull, the deer moving only mere inches from where it once laid. Regardless of the slow progress, the two still continue to drag away at the animal.

After some brief struggling, they reach the outskirts of their camp, where they leave the deer to rest. Both Judith and Gabriel have little energy left and too fall down in fatigue, the sweat pouring off of their bodies and into the soil below.

After they regather their strength, they rise up once again and walk into their small wooden hut to get a sword.

Gabriel's eyes gravitated towards a grand and mighty sword that lay amidst the stockpile of weaponry Judith had collected over so many years. The sword was a shade of black, made from a material so fine it could never dull, or break apart. It was roughly the size of the young boy, and was too heavy for him to reasonably lift.

The young Gabriel's hands reached out in awe to the sword, as he selected which weapon would be the best suit for slicing the deer. Judith reactively blurted out "No!" His hands instinctively rushing to protect the weapon, although soon contained his panic and held himself back.

With an raise of an eyebrow, Gabriel questioned, "Should I not use this sword?" His advance to pick up the sword halted.

"Thst is my finest sword, but you can have it. Anyway, do you know who's sword this is?" Asked Judith, his tone now calm and collected.

"No, I don't," the boy replies confused.

"Their once was a man called The Prince of Freedom who stood against the oppression of the Fantasium nation, he went across the land and slaughtered the evil, for many years his identity was hidden, as he always wore armour as dark as the night. When he was finally caught, he was crucified, his motive never found and his name a mystery, his armour found its way onto the black market, where I stole it, I cannot wield it myself, and selling it is out of the question."

Their was a brief period of silence before he continued, his eyes now looking across to Gabriel sympatheticly, "I think that's why you should have it."

"Thank you," Gabriel replied, his voice greatful, although Judith had all ready left to go light the fire.

Gabriel admires the weapon in awe, the sword so dark not even light can reflect off of it, although it somehow seemed to glow. It almost stood as tall as the boy, despite it leaning against the wall.

Gabriel reach's up and wraps his hands around the handle of the sword, his body feeling the immense weight as he gently tugs the weapon towards him.

He thinks to himself how he won't be able to handle the sword—let alone skewer a deer, although his pride and determination rely on it.

Gabriel waddles out of the small cabin, his arms pulling the large sword along with all of his might. Outside judith sits arround the campfire, the carcass of the deer laying in wait.

"Are you ready?" Enquires a curious Judith who had been waiting outside for the last several minutes.

Gabriel acknowledge's the question, but chooses to stay silent and continue to drag the sword across the campsite, his panting the only semblance of an answer. Once he is in proximity of the deer, he briefly stops, and leans against the sword, his voice exhausted. "Yes… I'm ready."

Judith sits and stares at Gabriel as he finally attempts to lift the sword off of the ground, his hands firmly gripping the blade of the weapon, as he begins to walk it backwards. His arms stiffen as he leans backwards, the sword now barely hovering above the ground, the strain on his face clear. Judith tries to stand up and help him, but Gabriel desperately signals for him to stop.

With all of his might, he swings the sword arround, slicing right through the middle of the deer as if it were paper, although the sword's pull ended up throwing Gabriel to the ground head first.

"I'm alright!" He shouts, his teeth angrilly gritted. The boy rises once again, now more determined than ever, his eyes hovering to the deer. He walks back over to his blade which is now laying flat on the ground, and he yanks it up once again, putting all of his back into the pull.

With the sword barely hovering above the ground again, he swings it once more, cutting the deer's head off and flinging poor Gabriel for another time. Yet again, he rises, and continues, Judith looking on in Awe at his aquantince's willpower.

Although he didn't quite grasp the technique of the sword, he mindlessly swung the weapon again, and again, until the deer was skewered enough to prepare for dinner, Judith's shock never quite fading as he witnessed it.

…

Gabriel, now utterly exhausted, rests down on the log, as Judith sets the deer meat to cook above the campfire.

When Judith finally finishes up, he sits down on the log beside Gabriel, before he asks, "Why do you try so hard to impress me."

Gabriel stares into the fire as he ponders this question for some time, he eventually turns his head and responds, "What else do I have, I escaped to find purpose, so let me stay with you, please," his tone unwavering.

Judith gently smiles before responding jokingly, "Then you best make yourself useful," he says gesturing to the sword which lays down beside the ground. "Every morning, and every night I want you to try swing that, and when you can, swing it again, and again,control it elegantly, after you can do that, I will train you to fight."

"I will," Gabriel says, before he stands up and takes the food off of the fire to give to Judith, "let's eat first."

The pair eat their meal in a tranquil silence, the only sound being that of the wind. the texture of the food was a long awaited sensation that their tongues have waited for.

Once they finished up, Judith went into the cabin to sleep leaving Gabriel all to his own devices. As one young boy slept, the other grabbed his sword, trying to lift it, and hold it in place, stregnthing his muscles, and accustoming himself to the tremendous weight. It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, and was quite unbearable in most instances, yes he prevailed at his craft, trying his upmost hardest to maintain the sword.

He tried to swing his sword a few times although all attempts lead to the same outcome; him ending up on the ground, but even with that, he swung it once more, and then he held the sword up, then swung twice more, and repeat many times.

He did not quite get the hang of it that night, or the night after that, or even the week after that, but he continued to persist, waking up early every morning to train, and staying up even later into the night to do the same. Some days he would train midday when he had time, although more menial tasks were required at the time, so it was not too common place.

Judith would often overlook Gabriel if he was present, he would critique the form and the technique until he got that right, although the technique did not provide much aid as the sword was too heavy. Some days Judith himself would train side by side, although he preferred to use an axe, as he grew accustomed to it by chopping trees, every since he went on the run.

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Two weeks had passed, and they were sitting arround the same campfire that they have sat arround for the last while, the same food cooking atop the fire. Over this time the two have bonded quite a considerable bit to be comfortable arround each other.

While the pair sat in wait for their food to cool, Judith asked a question—as he so often does, "do you think we should stay here, or should we move camp."

Gabriel doesn't respond to the question for a moment, opting to look arround at the same trees he had stared up at for the last while, "It gets mundane out here, which is no problem for me, I've grown up in mundanity. But we're not going to get anywhere out here, I think we should go somewhere more useful."

Judith seems intrigued by this question and responds accordingly so, "somewhere more useful? What do you mean by useful?"

"I want to see the world, and I want you to see it with me, but more importantly, I want to see what you become, what do you strive to be?" He asks, his eyes focused on the night sky.

"I want to make sure I can never become a victim again. I want to be feared, as humans are cruel, if that means becoming a notable politican or warrior so be it!" Judith's tone turning rather agressive as he lashes out to the heavens. He pauses for a moment, letting his rage simmer down, before he turns to Gabriel, "Although not all are bad, they're some people in this world who are still good, Commander Jean protected me and I owe him, but most importantly you. You chose to stick by me on your own free will and I respect that."

"You two Judith."