of a Royal

The clang of metal on metal and the buzz of metal on lightsaber filled John’s ears as he and Raina took on Lord Brighton together. The two worked together in rather good synchronous movements despite the two having never fought together before. So glad I did the opposite of Anakin in Attack of the Clones! John thought to himself as he pretended he was in his own Star Wars movie. The nerd could not help but make the “whoosh” and “bzzt” sounds in his head whenever he and his rival locked blades. Lord Brighton’s angered face showed that he clearly had never seen a Star Wars movie and was nowhere near as excited as John was to be living this moment.

“Light’s Radiance!” shouted Lord Brighton as he pointed his palm at John and Raina after he deflected the latter’s slash. A bright light burst forth from the center of his palm and only got brighter. In a split second, John found himself blinded by his opponent’s attack.

“AHHHH!” screamed John as his left hand went up to his eyes. Even with his eyelids tightly shut, he could still see bright spots. John stumbled around thanks to the disorientating effects of his new temporary blindness. John faintly swung his sword around in a weak attempt to stop his blinder from attacking him in his weakened state.

Lord Brighton looked on at Jon Newman’s pathetic attempt to stop him while the boy was blinded. He let out a sigh of contempt at his pathetic struggle.

“Do not worry, boy, I’ll deal with you later. It’s your friend that is the only threat to me here, today. So she shall die first!” announced Lord Brighton as he thrust his rapier at the blinded Grey Jedi. His facial expression quickly changed from elated joy of striking down his enemy to an uncontrollable rage as she effortlessly parried his attack. “WHAT? NO! YOU’RE BLIND!” he shouted as he wildly swung at the young girl, who easily dodged, blocked, or parried every attack that came her way. “No! How?!” questioned the Lord as he continued his flurry of attacks.

“Simple. I am one with the **** and the **** is with me!” was Raina’s reply as she did a **** Push against the angered Lord which sent him tumbling back away from the two. “Focus, John Newman. Breathe! In and out, in and out. Let your body recover,” Raina told the Gamer who took her advice and focused on his breathing. Slowly his vision returned with each breath but there was something else too. He felt a strange tingle on the back of his neck before the pretty Grey Jedi came into focus in front of him.

“There we go!” Raina said with an enthusiastic smile. “Now, let us deal with this zealot, shall we?” she asked as she turned to face Lord Brighton, who was charging towards them. John and Raina charged right back at him, the two zigzagging between each other to keep their enemy off balance.

Lord Brighton’s eyes darted between the two as they attempted to disorient him with their movements, but he would not fall for this simple trick. Many have tried, and failed, doing this exact move on him. You can not confuse me, children, I’ll kill the boy first and then deal with the Jedi afterwards Brighton thought to himself as he beelined straight for John.

The three came to head as all three weapons came into contact with each other, each with a stoic look of determination painted across their faces. Lord Brighton, however, had no intentions of allowing these two to leave this battlefield alive, no matter the cost. The battle-hardened Lord once again raised his hand in preparation for another spell. John and Raina, having learned from the last attack, quickly disengaged and attempted to turn away but were not fast enough.

“Light Grenade!” announced Lord Brighton as a mass of holy energy focused into his hand before violently exploding, the blast sent all three flying away from each other. John’s chest burned as he rolled over onto his back after landing on his side.

“Ah, shit, that hurt,” he said as he looked down and saw what appeared to be holy fire burning his armor. “Shit shit shit!” he said as he attempted to pat the fire before remembering to stop and roll. Just like the simulations! John thought as he rolled on the ground to stop the holy flames from spreading. When he was sure the fire was out, he got to his feet and took a quick survey of the battlefield.

“Damn, my weapon isn’t near me and I don’t see it,” he said as he took a glance around the battleground. “But I do see Raina, and she could probably use my help,” he said as he saw her fight off five Order knights that had surrounded her where she fell. She still had her weapon unlike John. “Glad she still has her lightsaber, course she can **** Pull it from literally anywhere on the battlefield. So plus one to being a **** user,” John mumbled to himself as he looked for his enemy. No matter how many times he scanned the battlefield, John could not find Lord Brighton. He did not realize until it was too late where Lord Brighton was hiding as he looked down and saw a blade sticking out through his gut.

“Your rule ends here and now, King Newman,” Lord Brighton said as he stabbed John in the back while The Gamer was looking for his weapon. Vitriol oozed from the last two words in that sentence, a clear mockery of the fledgling kingdom John had set up and was slowly making into a true home for its subjects.

“B-but how?” was all John could ask as he fell to his knees, both hands wrapped around the blade that ran through his body.

“Quite simple, really. I have decades of combat experience compared to your week’s worth of it. First I tried to deal with the greater threat quickly when I disorientated you two, but her heretical magic allowed her to stay on par with me even when blinded. So I switched up and decided to deal with the weaker of the two before focusing entirely on the greater threat,” Lord Brighton explained to John as he towered over the slowly dying Gamer. “So you will die here, then I shall kill the girl and probably the rest of the Abyssal filth. Maybe purify the stronger ones to replace X and Y that your minions brutally killed,” mocked Lord Brighton as he told John his plans for the boy’s friends. “Look upon your kingdom one last time, as my troops kill your ragtag group of friends, comrades, and heretics! But I must thank you, you have confirmed my suspicions that the ancient Jedi and Sith were still alive. Once we have finished with this,” Lord Brighton said as he motioned to the clashing armies, “I will redouble our efforts to flush out the Jedi and Sith and crush those ancient enemies to finally rid the Abyss of them once and for all!” proclaimed Lord Brighton as he dug his blade deeper into John’s back.

John coughed up blood as error message after error message appeared.

WARNING! GAMER’S BODY HAS BEEN DISABLED! BODY DAMAGE IS PERMANENT! **** IS LIKELY! STOP BEING STUPID AND GET OUT OF THERE!

“I-I’ll kill... you...” John said between gasped breaths. The air burned his lungs as he took in each breath, a labor to do in his condition. His vision blurred as he felt the blood ooze out of his body. The cold steel against his warm insides gave him a strange, tingly feeling as John **** himself to stay conscious for as long as he could. “I’ll... stop... you... here...” John struggled to say as he attempted to get up.

Lord Brighton laughed as he watched his enemy struggle to get up. As John used his hands to slowly push himself up, Lord Brighton grabbed his weapon’s hilt, and pulled the blade out of his opponent. John wobbled at the sudden change but quickly found himself on the ground once again as Lord Brighton performed a cheap punch on the back of John’s head.

“ARGH!” cried John as he fell to the ground and rolled over onto his back. His left hand slowly crawled over his body until it rested on his chest, the fingers slowly circling the wound in his chest. He could barely see Lord Brighton as he towered over John, a twisted smile on his face. His mouth was moving, clearly talking to, or rather taunting John. At least, that’s what John thought since he could not hear any of it. A small buzzing in his ears at the start of the stabbing had now become a full blown ringing in his ears that blocked out all other noise. John’s eyelids grew heavy as it became harder and harder to focus on the world around him. A tiredness swept over John. I... I think I’ll just go to sleep now... thought John right before a bright light nearly blinded him.

Everything else disappeared as John looked into the white light and saw a womanly figure float down to him. It was clear she had wings on her back that carried her down to him. Wait, I’ve seen her before... back... the last time I nearly died. With Moira I think? Yeah, that’s it. Hah. Of course I’d nearly die with her and now really die with her dad. Well, at least this proves there's life after ****... hah... ha... haha... John looked on as the figure got closer to him, her features slowly became clearer. It was when he was admiring her beauty that John noticed a shadow seemed to be moving rapidly towards her.

John tried to lift his arms to point behind the valkyrie he had met the last time he nearly died, but to no avail. His arms would not respond to any command he would give. Come on! Move! Point, dammit! Point! John yelled in his mind, angry that his body would not respond to his commands. The black cloud got closer and closer to his would be escort to the afterlife. As the creature got closer, John was able to get a better look at the shadow creature. Wait, is that... long hair..and outline of breasts?! John asked himself as he realized the shadow was, in fact, a female. John couldn’t make out any major features, except that she had firm breasts hidden in her shadow cloak thing she wore.

The shadow female rose her hand out as an object materialized in her hand. John examined it the best he could in his condition. It seemed to be a simple pole at first glance but at the top he noticed a long, curved blade. Wait... that’s a weapon... a... a... a scythe! realized John a mere second before she raised the weapon and swung it at the valkyrie’s back.

“HIS SOUL IS MINE!” she screeched as her weapon tore into his would be savior’s back.