Snippet #2473690

Blackhurst- 2553 Years Ago
A clear spring day it was. The wind blasted through the fields, causing the tall grass across the plains to flatten nearly to the ground. This was the most refreshing of spring days though as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the only reason for this beautiful breeze was due to the blessings of the great Twin, Wind. Within the types of spring days, this was one of the best of them and even in the darkest days of this brewing war, there were things that could be seen as good in the great world of Valcrest. In Blackhurst especially.
During this time of war, Blackhurst was the first stop for all the pacifists. The ruling parties of Blackhurst refused to get involved in this war, just seeing it as a poor excuse to gain an unreasonable power. These pacifists came from the remaining four great cities of this land. From the great city of Sun and Moon, Newhaven; a city very much interested in the prospect of perfection. Possibly even jealous of the ability of Blackhurst to seemingly achieve this perfection they too sought after. Then there was the city of Blackpond; proud in its military might and so ready to show it off to those they deemed weaker than them. Seen by many as a childish threat, but to those who were smart to see beyond that, an ounce of fear of being their next target was seen as healthy. And of course, Brightvale; the trade capital of the great land, Valcrest. It’s only flaw was its greed. If it could have direct control in what it had to trade, the monopoly would cause much strife in the markets, but they didn’t control the product; they were only a central point at which the product was sold. But who could forget Effort; a city so distant from its partners that the only relationship it had was with the people in the desert. Not able to properly contact with its more distant counterparts, it was sadly left in the dark to the true nature of things in Valcrest for the most part.
Duncan sat on his second floor balcony to enjoy the spring’s refreshing breeze. As usual, he was on his own. Duncan’s loneliness was that of choice. He had charisma for hours, but he thought it dishonourable to use it to ascertain a woman. In what could have been seen as utter hopelessness, he wished to find someone who could steal his heart with their own charisma. It wasn’t seen as hopeless by anyone who thought to know him, but rather a humble admittance that swooning over him would be nothing more than a feeble attempt. Duncan didn’t mind the loneliness, however. He was usually surrounded by people who deemed him to be important and a chance to sit on his balcony and enjoy some morning tea. Peace.
“Duncan! Duncan!”
So much for a peaceful Saturday morning. Duncan watched his younger brother, Malcolm running down the otherwise empty street. Running by the potted plants and screaming to his brother. Duncan huffed his way out of his masterfully crafted chair and leaned himself over to look at the cobble path that lead to his house. His brother stood under the balcony with excitement projecting from his face far beyond what it probably needed to be. “What news?” Duncan lazily asked his brother.
“Terra’s here! She’s here!” Malcolm exclaimed.
“Who?” Duncan wasn’t impressed. He didn’t know who Terra was and didn’t understand what the deal was.
“How don’t you know her name! I thought everyone knew it! I mean, she’s been in town twice before…” Malcolm continued, but Duncan had exited into his house. He could still hear his younger brother blabber away through the walls though. Sometimes Duncan wondered how Malcolm, with no sense of social cues, could possibly be his brother. He wasn’t even sure if Malcolm noticed him leave. Duncan slowly walked down the stairs and walked towards the back door where Malcolm continued to yell from. He opened the door.
“… you have to… oh there you are! Come with me!” Malcolm grabbed Duncan’s arm and tried to pull him away, but Duncan didn’t move a single foot.
“Relax a moment, Malcolm. I’m not going to run in town for some woman who I know nothing of and who likely knows nothing of me. Let me have a day of peace. I don’t get many of them and I was hoping this would be one time it could actually go well.”
“You don’t understand, Duncan!” Malcolm yelled until he remembered what his brother requested of him. “You need to come. This is a once in a lifetime chance.”
Rather smugly, Duncan retorted, “I thought you said that this has happened twice before.”
“Just come.” Malcolm said and then ran. He didn’t even look behind him to see if his older brother followed.
Duncan simply rolled his eyes and followed his brother. Not running after him, but taking his time, striding through the street as if a ghost. His steps so smooth it seemed as if he floated across the street. Others stumbled in comparison.
Even when Malcolm ran out of Duncan’s sight, he was still able to guess exactly where the commotion was by the direction that the rest of the people in town were also travelling. They were going down to the main street; towards the square.
Whoever this person was seemed to actually be a big deal. His brother wasn’t just inflating things this time. This Terra woman must have had something worth seeing, even if it was a thrice in a lifetime experience.
It only took another five minutes for him to reach the square. The crowds were huge. Hundreds of people surrounded this poor woman who he couldn’t even see. People were yelling and pushing to get a look at this woman. This was completely unlike what the people of Blackhurst. Usually, there would be a calm crowd that would wait their turn. One voice, however, suddenly boomed over the already roaring crowd.
“Everyone quiet!” Yelled the King Alec. Alec, his servants and his nobles walked from the castle, down the main road. Duncan would be there with them, but he had chosen to take the day off. The crowd had silenced instantly. The great King Alec demanded respect and there wasn’t a single person in the city that would ever deny it. It was a special kind of respect. One that none of the other Kings were able to accomplish and really, only the Boundless Fourteen were able to surpass it. “Let the young lady pass. Let the King formally welcome our guest.” Now that the crowds had settled down, Alec’s voice merely had the volume of a mannered conversation, yet it still carried itself.
Duncan only knew where the woman was walking because of the view he got of the crowds moving in unison to let her through to the king. It took her nearly a minute, even with the crowds cooperating, to get through. Still, he couldn’t see her. He had to wait for her to walk up the step.
About halfway down the main road in Blackhurst, every hundred meters, there were five steps. This went on for nearly Five kilometres until the road reached the castle. By that point, the city had been raised by 240 steps. At the foot of the castle, before you reached the castle doors, there were still 100 more steps that needed to be concurred. The crowd covered everything in Duncan’s view until the first flight of five steps.
She walked up that first step, only the back of her head could be seen.

Simply unbelievable.

Her hair was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Everyone in Valcrest had brown, black or blond hair. Terra had red hair with loose, but well defined curls which bounced with every stair step. At the top of the stairs, the rest of her back could be seen. She wore a dress which was also unlike anything anyone had worn. The dress was form fitting, showing off her form completely. It followed her curves completely until it reached about half way down her calf, at which point the dress flared slightly. When she turned around, the dress revealed its continuation of broken boundaries. The dress clearly exposed the top of part of her chest, but not enough to expose cleavage thankfully. The sleeves rested halfway down her arms, just above her elbows, which kept them up. This meant that her shoulders were completely exposed. The sleeves were just there for show. There was no practical use for it. Going following the curves down again, Duncan noticed a slit in the dress that seemed to be there intentionally. It ran up Terra’s right side practically up to her hip. No wonder every man in Blackhurst had come around to check it out. For a thrice in a lifetime experience, it sure was worth calling it a once in a lifetime one.
The King welcomed her and spoke to the entire community and she whispered into his ear. Duncan tried to read the expression on the King’s face, but the King had the best poker face of anyone he knew. He didn’t give anything away. All he did was motion his nobles to follow him and they were off with Ms. Terra. Duncan wasn’t sure what compelled him to go. Nearly twenty minutes ago, he was reluctant to even see what was going on. He’d completely forgotten why he was reluctant. He pushed through the crowds of people. Nothing was going to be an obstruction in his path. For once, his stride wasn’t as perfect as he would have wanted it to be.
When he passed through the crowds, he ran to catch up to the King and his nobles. Gracefully, he stepped into his place in the V-shaped procession and followed along into the castle.
“Glad to see you make it, Duncan.” One of the nobles behind him said. “Some of us were starting to guess you’d died.” It was a joke. Not a very good one. He got it every time he took a day to himself, but it was a joke none the less. Duncan remained silent to keep his dignity. Out of all the nobles, he was the one whose image had the farthest to fall. It wasn’t like a single joke would do it, but he kept the shield of silence because if he were to let his guard down for one moment, he could find himself plummeting fast.
They all walked into the throne room. It was special throne room that was dedicated to creating a sense of equality among the nobles. Each noble had a throne, personalized to their liking and none were any less illustrious than the other. The final throne, for the King was nothing special at all. In fact, it would appear that all of the money used to make the throne had gone into the nobles’ thrones. It was still a better chair than a towns person’s chair would be. Each chair was placed at equal distances from each other across the room. Two small pillars separating each chair allowing for a balconied seating area above the room allowing for the public to sit in on all meetings which were determined to be fit for the public’s eyes and ears. For a secretive meeting, the doors would be locked to make sure no one would get in. There were a total of thirteen chairs in all.
Duncan was the only of the nobles with any sort of intuition in this particular situation. While all the other nobles went to sit in their seat, Duncan just stood beside his. There were only thirteen chairs, but there were fourteen people in the room. “Would you care for a seat my lady?”
Terra slowly walked towards the seat. She got within a foot of him, but sharply turned around. The waft from her hair burst across Duncan’s face leaving the scent of magnolia and lilac. Duncan stood there in shock. A small chuckle could be heard, stifled under someone’s hand. Duncan didn’t even bother to check who it was. He was far too focused on the fact that she actually refused his offer.
“Just sit down and listen.” She said sternly. But Duncan didn’t listen. “Okay then sir. I might as well do it now since you are standing. I’d like to speak with the King Alec of Blackhurst alone. All of you can leave now, but don’t go far.”
Everyone left the room, but Duncan stayed fixed in his spot. He continued to look at the woman in awe. It was a woman who didn’t swoon over him. He felt speechless in her presence. Oh, and what a presence it was. She commanded that room, yet still, she still seemed unable to hold command over him. Instead, she seemed to do the opposite at the moment.
“Good sir Duncan. It is hard to have a private meeting without privacy.” Alec said.
This snapped Duncan out of his trance. He bumbled out of the room like a child too young to carry a glass of water without spilling. When out of the room, all of the nobles stood there watching him. Since that woman had entered into his life less than an hour ago, he had been far less suave than he usually was. His charisma was nearly nonexistent in her presence and it was obvious to anyone who paid attention. It was clear that every nobleman was paying attention. They all had wide grins on their faces and it was clear that they were all thinking the exact same thing. Duncan was actually falling for someone as opposed to the other way around. All Duncan could do was waiting for the first of them to say something.
“Will you all stop looking at me like schoolboys and just say what you want to say.”
One spoke up. “How… what is it like to be on the other side of attraction like the rest of us?”
“We’re all nobles. We don’t have any real issues with that.” Another one piped up.
“You can’t say that we all don’t feel the same way as Duncan does about the woman in there. She’s absolutely stunning!”
“Wait, where are you going?” One yelled at Duncan, who was now running out the castle doors. “She said to stay close.”
“I’ll be back before Terra calls us back.” He yelled as the servants shut the large door behind him.
He ran through the streets. Not the main ones, but the side streets and the shortcuts, the alleyways and the parks. He even ran right through someone’s yard. Jumping through ponds and nearly getting him soaked to the bone. It was worth it for what he was doing. When he made it to the square of the marketplace in the wealthy district, he was surprised to see that none of the shops were open. They must have still been out and about after the commotion in the city’s centre earlier that day. Did he have time to go anywhere else? Would anywhere else even be open? He stopped to think about his question.
Of course, the poorer district of the city would be open. They wouldn’t be able to even afford giving up a day on the job to see the commotion in the city. They banked on the chance that there will still people who needed to buy something even on these occasions. Duncan was going to make their assumption a reality. There was really no way to tell if he was going to make it in time.
Then he saw the horse in the stable. There was no one there to take care of the horse. The stable boy must’ve been taking time off as well. It was going to be very dishonest of him and his character to do this, but he needed that horse. Was it ever worth it to steal? He didn’t stop to think of this question. Running to the stable, he didn’t even think. He opened the door and hopped onto the horse. Coxing it with the reigns, he rushed to the poorer district.
Within minutes he was there. He had never been on a horse that could run through a city that fast. In Blackhust, the poorer district wasn’t even impoverished. It was merely the least rich of the city. These people did have to work harder to keep up with the rest of the city, but they were far better off than the middle class of any of the other cities, besides maybe Brightvale, but the people of Brightvale were known for their hard workers and it paid off in their economic status. This part of town still looked better than the poor places in Blackpond and even Newhaven. It was something that Blackhurst could be thankful for.
Another thing that he was thankful for was that the stores here were actually open. Just as he suspected. He actually hadn’t been down to this part of the city all that often, so he actually had to search for the store that he was looking for. Jumping off his horse, he walked past each of the stores looking for the right one. The Jewellery store.
“Hello there mate.” The man said, quickly catching himself when he noticed who it was. “Oh my! My good sir Duncan. What’re you looking for?”
Duncan didn’t speak at all. He was in a rush and wasn’t too interested in the small talk that accompanied the jewellery business. “I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t have a single bit of cash on me, but if you could give me your most beautiful ring in the store, I would reward by paying you three times what your entire store is worth. I promise you this.”
The man’s eyes brightened instantly. It was something that was rewarding to see. He swung around his counter and rushed to the window where the best ring was. It was a silver band with a particularly large opal. Then it appeared as he remembered something. He run to the back of the store and when he came back, he came with another silver band, but this one had a cut Kunzite stone in its center surrounded by very small quartz of different colour. He couldn’t count how many of these gems were in it, but he could tell there was somewhere around ten. It must’ve been his prized possession. He probably never intended on selling it. It was actually a thing of beauty. Maybe he intended it for someone himself.
“You don’t know how much this means to me.” Duncan said.
“Oh no. It means far more to me than you would ever imagine.”
“I will… by next week, I will have a ring that is just as good as this for you as well.”
“Thank you.” The man said. He waved Duncan off as he left his store. A tear was in his eye from utter happiness.
Duncan hopped back on his horse. The horse was obedient enough to stay exactly where he left it. It was a good horse. He again whipped down the reigns and ushered it back to the castle for him. The horse sped so fast, he couldn’t even tell if it was windy out anymore or if it was just the wind from the travel. It was something unbelievable, especially in roads like the ones he was going on. Too soon, he had to slow down a little. Crowds were beginning to gather around the city again. It was almost out of nowhere, but he had to make sure he didn’t people. He slowed to a strut. At this pace, he was going to be late. He was going to take the risk.
Again, he ripped at the reigns, but this time the horse took only a few steps. Before he even realized what was happening, he was thrown from the horse. His face hit the ground hard and he slid about a foot. He got up and composed himself as best he could. People had quickly rushed to see if he was alright, but he didn’t let anyone get close. Despite the blood running from his scrapped cheek, he insisted to people that he was alright. The horse on the other hand…
He looked behind him to check on the horse. It was still on the ground. Actually, trying to get up, but it couldn’t. The horse’s left hind leg was broken and every time it tried putting weight on it to get up, it just fell back down. He didn’t even know the name of the horses owner, let alone its name and now it was going to have to be put down. He felt bad about it, but he almost had no time for remorse. He was compelled to get back to the castle.
To his surprise, he left the horse to be dealt with by others and continued on his way to the castle. Again at a running pace, he didn’t stop for anything. When the made it to the castle, the doors of the throne room had just been closed. Duncan stopped in his tracks. Standing before the door, in complete hesitation. After all he went through, all of a sudden he was about to do something of complete disgrace to the highest of degrees. Interrupting the business of the throne room didn’t seem like a good idea, but again, his arms compelled him to open the doors. No, not open, but bust through them with excitement.
Duncan ran to the middle of the room where Terra stood. He grabbed her hand, not even knowing this woman, he grabbed her hand. He got down on his knee and presented the ring to her.
“Live your life with me Terra. I don’t know how I know, but I know that you are what I’ve been living for. Be with me; love me as I love you. You are the only woman to do this to me. I know it’s true. Just please say yes!”

Duncan's Home- A Week Later
Spring came with its ups and downs when it came to weather. One of those downs—for people at least—was the rain. On this day, it was pouring down from the skies. Of course, who didn't enjoy a good rain though. The sound it produced from trickling down the road and the patter of the rooftops. Today, there was nothing that was going to interrupt his day of Peace. Coming out of his kitchen, with a warm mug of tea in his hand, he stepping into his living room. Sitting on a chair facing his large window was Terra. He stopped and smiled before taking a quick sip of his tea while taking a step. Quickly, Duncan projected himself away from the tea as he accidentally spilt some and was afraid of getting some on his shirt.
He went to sit in the seat beside Terra. “Here you go.” Placing the tea on the small rounded table that separated the two chairs.
“You drank some didn't you?”
“No.”
“You're worse than a child.” Terra smirked and wiped Duncan's face of the tea that he didn't realize missed his mouth.
Duncan shied his head away from her. His smile was sheepish as he reached his hand to his face to wipe anything that was left. “Maybe I can make one for myself.”
“I'll do it for you.” Terra got out of her seat. “It is only fair. Since you got mine.”
Duncan didn't argue with it. He already knew better than to argue these things with her. Terra was going to do what she wanted to do. There was nothing that he could do to stop her. Thinking about it made him realize that was exactly what made her special.
The things that Terra wore these days were far more subtle, but he was still compelled to look at her as she left the room. Still, she was beyond beautiful. Even better, her hair made her unique to everyone else in the world. Not even any of the Twins had hair of her colour. When it came to the way she dressed though, it was still a little re provocative than most people did, but he thought she did it for him more than anything. Despite him never saying it, he believed that she sensed his discomfort when she did wear extremely revealing clothing. Maybe she just felt as though she didn't need to dress the way she dd anymore. Now that she had found Duncan, she was fine. That was purely speculation on Duncan's part though so he decided to forget about it.
The sound of the rain attracted his attention. The rain beating against the window was like a rhythm of disjunctive drummers. Yet, it all sounded to be going in its own, perfect rhythm. The water slid past the window slowly. There wasn't much of it on the window though. It would only hit the window every once in a while when the wind pushed it in the right direction.
Duncan took one last moment to appreciate the view before he looked back at the creaking floorboard behind him. Terra was back, but not with a tea. She was holding a sword. It was a silver blade with a white gold pommel. The blade was thicker than many usual blades. He wasn't used to seeing such a configuration. It was sharp on only one end. It started out thin at the handle then flared out at the top, curving slightly to the tip.
“I haven't had a tea in a couple of weeks, but you still can't fool me. That is not a tea.”
“Relax. I'll get you your tea in a moment. This is a wedding gift sent to us by Queen Amber of Brightvale. While she cannot make the ceremonies, she wished to send us her blessings.” Terra said.
Duncan's eyes brightened a bit and he said, “Never mind then. Let me see the blade.”
Terra walked up to him with the blade and handed it to him, taking extra precaution to avoid cutting him. It was a thing of beauty, the blade. Not something he ever wshed to use, but something that was far more a decoration anyways. On the blade, an inscription. It wasn't any language that Duncan recognized though. “What is this?” Duncan asked, pointing to the inscription.
“Oh, that's just the traditional language used to inscribe important things in Brightvale. It says 'Drained of the soul'.” Terra exclaimed.
The words were almost jarring Duncan. 'Drained of the soul'; what exactly was that supposed to mean? It wasn't even a real sentence. What was it that was being drained from the soul? Duncan then asked. “I've not yet asked you this, but I believe this to be an appropriate time. Where did you come from?”
A knocking on the door interrupted the conversation before it went any further. Terra gave the sheath to Duncan. He sheathed the sword, and started to tie the belt around his waist as he walked towards the door. When he reached the door, he wasn't quite finished tying, but the door banged again. He scurried to finish tying the belt and then promptly opened the door. Alec stood at the other end. While his face usually embodied a relaxed decorum, he instead, looked strained.
“A moment of your time?” The king simply asked.
“Yes. What seems to be the issue.”
“May the Twins have mercy. They've caught wind of your relations with Terra and are looking to take her away from you, by force if they must. They are fighting wars between each other to get to you. To be frank, they will probably be at our gates within the hour, but even that is being modest.”
“Then I will be at the gate to defend my honour.”
“No!” Terra shouted. “The Twins are beyond nature. They do not bleed like we do.”
The King spoke up. “You may be an experienced swordsman, but Terra is right. You cannot even begin to match their prowess.” He sighed. “You need to come with me. We've set up a safe house for you to stay at. It is an underground house near the stables. The only way in is through a certain sewer grate about a half kilometre away from the safe house.”
“I don't wish to be rude, but I'd rather die than to live a life in a safe house.”
“There is no choice. The council has deemed it a necessary.”
“Why was I not called to this meeting?”
“Duncan, it was to address you as an issue. I feel it to be in ill taste to speak of such things with you present. To add to it all, humiliating.”
It was settled, but Duncan didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to defy the council even if he felt as though they defied him. It may not have been fair, but sometimes things had to be sacrificed for the greater good of things. People ad to be betrayed. In the end, however, it wasn't so much of a betrayal. He was only being protected. In the end, it was probably worse for the city that he was kept hidden, but the king was not about to admit that he was going to do something detrimental to the city.
Duncan didn't say another word. He grabbed Terra's hand, giving it a kiss and then turned back to the doorway. “Wait.” Terra said. “I'll grab our coats.”
“Terra, I don't expect you to come with me.”
“I know.”

Safe House- Two Months Later
The first signs of summer started to come. It was a stuffy and humid day in the safe house. Somehow Terra continued to look good. When most women's hair would do crazy things and puff up in this sort of climate, Terra's seemed unnaturally the same.
The city was under occupation by only one of the Twins now. Every single one of the had moved onto other places, thinking they had searched every last inch of the city. They believed that both Terra and Duncan moved onto another place in Valcrest. They split to many different lands since then and still couldn't find them.
The one Twin that remained was Life. His wicked nature made him attuned to the good in the world. He naturally wanted to find the good in the world and strike it down with an evil intent. While it wasn't fair, it was what it was and this meant that Duncan and Terra continued to hide in the safe house by the stables.
Today was the day that they got their regular supplies. They hadn't rationed the last week's rations well and they were in desperate need of more food. At least Duncan was. Terra was so stoic, she refused to show any signs of weakness that even Duncan had been starting to show from living underground for just over two months. Dunan couldn't even remember what day it was. Maybe he had been down there only a month. He had no clue.
“Terra.”
“Yes, Duncan.”
“Living a life with a Twin would be much better than living the rest of your life down here. Don't you think?”
“Now why would you say that Duncan?”
“I'm serious. I can't do this. I'm going now.”
Duncan walked towards the door that lead to the sewer exit. “Do you really love me!” A guttural shout came from Terra's direction. He turned around. “Do you!?”
Terra looked like night and day from what she looked like moments before. She was slouched with a wicked look in her sobbing eyes. Her hands were tense, but not clenched, making her fingers look like dangling twigs on a dying tree in fall. Even her hair had managed to tangle in the few seconds he had turned. “Do you love me!”
Duncan jumped. He had never seen her lose her composure. Why, so suddenly did this happen to her?
“Mr. Duncan...” A timid voice said from the doorway.
Duncan didn't turn away from Terra. She was heartbreaking in the way that she tried to get herself together for the company. Without turning to the man at the door, he asked. “Are you here with supplies?”
“No, they will come within the hour. I came to inform you of what has developed at the surface. Life has challenged been at the square all day, claiming that he wishes to duel you.”
Without another word, Duncan walked to one of the walls of the room. He grabbed his sword from off a rack and walked through the door, past the messenger. He didn't stop for anything...
“Why did you even tell him?” A rumbling alto came from the corner of the room, directed towards the messenger. “My fiancee is walking towards his death right now. WHY DID YOU SAY THAT!”

Blackhurst Square- Ten Minutes Later
Duncan hadn't seen the light of ay for a long time, but even the light of day managed to escape him. The sun had just begun setting and a reddish light covered the few clouds that were on the horizon. With the escape of Sun, came the Moon. It was a waning crescent that still lit up the night well enough that there was no use for the streets to be lit with torches. The only really relieving thing about the sun going down was that there wasn't a bright sun beating down on him. It made the humidity a lot more bearable and with a slight breeze coming in from the fields, it was almost nice out.
As a strong breeze ripped through the square Duncan stood opposite the god. “I'm here to defend my honour.”
Life looked to Duncan, his expression as stone cold as his heart. “A narcissist’s virtue; honour. Respect is far more selfless in its nature, only when done correctly however. Even the narcissist, who leads a life of honour deserves respect. This is why I will respect your wish to defend your honour.”
Duncan sneered at the god. He held himself in sch high regard, but was just as weak as any other human struggling through Life. “You speak of respect as if you have an ounce of it, but you are about to fight me, not for respect of a man's honour, but because you cannot contain your manhood.”
Life's expression changed in a moment. An ounce of human emotion in something beyond humanity. Life gripped onto the dagger in his hand and drew out his second sword. A parrying sword. Something that was far more familiar to Duncan than the scimitar-style sword that Duncan was fated with. He raised his sword to ready himself for the attack, but it didn't come. The first strike wasn't going to come from Life. He was too wise for that. The call to action was left for Duncan to decide.
Duncan placed a firm grip on his sword and slowly sauntered over to Life. He didn't have a care in the world as to how he went about making his first strike. He merely circled the god once around before looking him dead in the eyes. He quickly raised his sword out to his abdominal level hoping to see the god flinch, but nothing. He dropped his guard and then walked even closer to the god until he could feel the great being's breath against his mouth. This left him in a very open position to attack as Life had a dagger which could do great amounts of damage to Duncan if he chose to attack. Maybe the god actually did have a sense of honour after all.
At breakneck speeds, Duncan chose to make his first move. He jumped backwards and swung the scimitar above his head and across Life's stomach. Life did his best to lock the attack, but with such a light sword, it cause a chance for Duncan to make a swift attack while Life recovered from the first. The attack was clean and done to near perfection, but Life's dagger allowed him a chance to block with the other hand as well.
This was all just a test. Could Life fend for himself in a sword fight. He could, but it seemed that he didn't know the finer details of sword fighting which Duncan had had a chance to perfect over several years. It was his hobby, swordplay. While he had never used it as a means of violence up until this point in his life, he enjoyed it as a sport and played for fun when he wasn't too busy.
The next set of attacks came from Life. This gave Duncan a perfect chance to see Life's offensive. For the most part, it was pretty solid. He kept a good grip as he used his sword as it was intended to be used. Duncan didn't allow any of this to get to him though. He came back with his own counter. It was a devastating attack. One blow after another, after another until his defences were ideally broken. With that, he swung his sword over his behind his back and over his head again, swinging the scimitar down into the god's skull. Life simply smiled at the pitiful attack. Without a word, Life plunged the dagger into a shocked Dunan's temple. His body went limp and he fell to the ground.
“Oh by Mother and Father; Duncan!” Terra screamed. She had just made it to the square in time to witness the murder.
That night, despite all efforts, Terra clung to her dead fiancee's body. Attempts to pull her away were futile. Not a single soul in Blackhurst slept. Some knew why there was a woman shrieking out in the distance while others were unknowing. Some just knew that the first ever murder in Blackurst took place that night.
Duncan had fought for his honour and the honour that he fought for was unfortunately Terra. There was no contract or law that forced her to merry Life, but she felt an obligation to. The wedding took place not soon after Duncan's death.