Fan Fiction - Eenik’s Story Part 2

Running through the forest at an insanely fast pace. Foot in front of foot, barely touching the ground, but gaining enough momentum of each and every step to sustain the speed he was traveling at. There was no predator chasing him, forcing him to run so fast, nor was he chasing after anything. He just loved the freedom he felt, when he ran, free from any worries or cares, where nothing could disturb him, where everything gazed in wonder, at the thing that dashed so quickly.

Yes, Eenik loved to be free, to sprint on the open fields, and to run through the forests, side-stepping trees, and jumping obstacles, with only a milliseconds notice.

Eenik began to gain even more speed, but only for a moment, before leaping high into the air, touching himself down on a strong tree branch, using his right arm for support, and his left for balance. Eenik looked out, he was sitting in a strong tree, on the outskirts Vindings Forest, which is a neighbour of Kiven Woods. Eenik gazed about the landscape in front of him, a short distance of plains, maybe a mile or so, and then the beginning slopes of the Infendo Mountain Range, an incredible sight to say the least.

Eenik’s vision was acute, he could see minor details that the human eye could never hope to see. He looked around the plains, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he just looked. His light green eyes fell upon a small family of deer, casually grazing on the plains. Eenik watched as the father nudged his two children along, prompting them to walk towards a nearby valley, probably there home. The mother deer was gathering some long grass, probably to feed the family for that night. As Eenik watched, a tear formed on his eye. He quickly wiped it away, regaining his self-control. Children of the Kiven Clan were taught never to show emotion, it was a sign of weakness. Eenik felt a pang of sadness in his chest, but knew he must not express his feelings. The Clan was his only family, after his parents were both taken from him by a vigilante.

Eenik did not want to relive the stories he had been told about that horrible day, but they filled his mind. The two ninja’s ambushing his parent’s as the rested. His father fighting off one of the ninja’s, but being brutally murdered by the other, his mother being killed while unconscious.

Eenik had always wondered, why could he not have died with his parents, why could he have not joined them in the after-life?
He knew he should be grateful though, many of the clan risked their own lives to save him, a rare occurrence in the Kiven Clan, usually every man is expected to look after themselves. One of the strongest clan members, Bearatum, had lead a group of the Kiven Clan to rescue him; they saved Eenik when he stood face-to-face with his father’s murderer, a ninja named Scorpion. Many daggers were flung at Scorpion, wounding him. He then fled, but was caught by a warrior of the Kiven Clan named Rabii. Rabii struck Scorpion many times, until he was near death. As Rabii prepared to strike what could have been the deadly blow, a spear was plunged through his back, by a mysterious creature; no-one saw who or what the creature was, as it escaped before help arrived. With Rabii dead, Scorpion had time to limp away, escaping his death.

After this, Bearatum took Eenik into his care. Bearatum trained Eenik from then on in the ways of agile fighting, and was the only family Eenik had.

As Eenik composed himself, he removed his thoughts about his late parents, and leapt down from the tree. Eenik looked up towards the sky, searching for the sun. It was only then that he realised how late it was. Eenik had no limit to how late he could stay away from camp for, but he had promised Bearatum he would be home early, so that he could help him teach some of the Mim’s (Clan members over the age of 7, but under the age of 11) some of the modern fighting styles. Usually Eenik would have had a certain time he must return home by, as all Kiven Clan members do. But at that moment, Eenik was an exception.

Only 14 days prior had Eenik reached the age required to become a ‘Clan Warrior.’ At the age of 16, a clan member is able to take an initiatory test, if he passes, they are regarded as a Clan Warrior, a very prestigious title. Eenik had passed the initiation easily, his early training from two of the clan’s best warriors (Aligati, his father; and Bearatum, his guardian) gave him more than enough knowledge and skill to pass the test. After becoming a Clan Warrior, you are given a 36 day exemption from all Clan responsibilities and tasks. After this exemption, you are expected to be refreshed, and ready to undertake your new responsibilities.

Only 1 other clan member was taking his exemption at the same time as Eenik. A man only slightly older than Eenik, named Ramethan, was in his 28th day of exemption. Ramethan was a friendly member of the Kiven Clan, but sometimes seemed to be lost in a world of his own, he sat alone and thought a lot. Ramethan was somewhat shorter than an average man, but was also one of the fastest and most agile Clan Warriors at Kiven Clan. He had dark, golden blonde hair, and large bushy eye-brows. He had an incredibly tough build for some-one of his size, with a firm stomach, and large tight muscles.
Eenik and Ramethan were quite good friends, and were enjoying a game together while they were both on exemption. If while frolicking in the woods, Eenik was to spot Ramethan, or vice versa, he could playfully attack him. If one can tackle the other to the ground, trapping him, they score a point. So far that day, the score was 2-2, both Eenik and Ramethan had won 2 battles each. Eenik was quite pleased with his score; over the 14 days he had been on exemption, Ramethan had scored higher than him on 11 days, Eenik only on 2. This was the 14th day, and Eenik hoped Ramethan would not find him before he reached home, as he was not in any mood for a battle.

Eenik began to run softly through the forest, he had to hurry as the light was fading, and he had promised Bearatum he would be home by sun-set. Eenik began to pick up pace, as he darted through the hap-hazard path he had followed before, dodging trees and other obstacles. Eenik’s feet softly touched the damp forest floor, covered in golden yellow leaves. Eenik’s pace was beginning to pick up now, he was reaching the insane pace he had run at before. Dodging fallen branches, and boulders in his path, Eenik continued running.
He was close to the outskirts of Kiven Woods, and would soon be home. As Eenik continued to run, he saw up ahead a fissure in the ground; stepping centimeters before the deep crevice, he leapt high into the air, gripping an overhanging branch with one hand, he swung himself across the fissure, sailing safely over and landing on a rough path that led home. Eenik continued to sustain the pace he had run at before, sprinting along the path towards home. As he ran, he had a feeling that some-one was running close-by. Usually he would have checked around himself, and prepared to be attacked, even if it was only a gut feeling; but Eenik was in such a rush to return home, he ignored the feelings.

Eenik ran along the path, when suddenly something sprung out of the hedges on the side of the path. Eenik had only enough time to turn to face the thing that had leapt from the bushes before it grabbed him around the waist while still in mid flight, taking Eenik to the ground with it as it rolled off the path and into a small clearing to the left of the path. Eenik’s vision was blurred, but he swung out with his fists at the fiend that had tackled him, trying to break free from its grasp. Eenik made a connection, but the thing was incredibly fast, it held down Eenik’s arms and legs and pinned him to the ground.

“Gotcha Een,” a familiar voice said cockily.
Eenik blinked twice, before opening his eyes to see Ramethan holding him to the ground, with a big grin on his face. Eenik groaned, he was aggravated Ramethan had slowed him down by tackling him, but found it amusing that he had been taken down so easily. Eenik tried to knock Ramethan off him, and climb to his feet but Ramethan pushed him back onto the ground.
“Suppose that makes the score 3-2, I win again!”
“Get off Ramethan; and don’t call me Een, you know it’s disrespectful.”
“Ha ha, so sorry Eenik!” laughed Ramethan as he released Eenik from his grasp.
Eenik climbed to his feet, and told Ramethan he had to hurry back home, as he had promised Bearatum he would help him with his lesson.
“Oh, alright,” said Ramethan, “I might come along too, give your big old Guardian a hand, if he needs one.”

Eenik nodded, and began to jog back onto the path, towards home while Ramethan jogged by his side. As they jogged (for both were too worn out to run fast, and home wasn’t too far away), they listened to the pleasant sound of crickets and other night life. ‘The sound of night is so calming.’ Eenik thought to himself, ‘the quiet chirping; the calm breeze.’

Eenik and Ramethan jogged a little further, then stopped suddenly, a gut feeling had told them both to stop.

The two stood still, not saying anything to each other, but listening intently with their strong hearing, there was something wrong. Ramethan was the first to realize what it was; ‘The night noises have stopped. Listen, everything is silent.’

Eenik stared ahead, trying to find something to listen too; Ramethan was right, there was no noise.

There was a crash, the branches of a tall tree above their heads exploded. Pieces of bark and leaves flew everywhere. Eenik and Ramethan’s vision darted upwards, to where the explosion was. There was nothing there except for a few leaves, floating to the ground. Suddenly something pounced from behind the two warriors. Ramethan’s instinct’s were the first to react. He immediately swung his left arm behind his shoulder, making connection with the jaw of some beast. As the creature fell to the forest floor, Eenik spun around on his toes, and pushed the creature down, holding it to the ground.

“It’s a panther…” breathed Ramethan quietly.
Eenik removed his hands from the unconscious big cat, and stood up straight.
“EENIK, DROP DOWN NOW!” shouted Ramethan as he lunged at Eenik, pulling him to the ground by his shoulders. Eenik’s head bent backwards, and he was able to see why Ramethan had pulled him down; only inches from his face, a Broad Sword was being swung. Eenik hit the ground as the Broad Sword smashed into a wide tree; it splintered straight through the tree before resting against the ground.

Ramethan jumped up from on top of Eenik, and stood in a battle stance. Eenik flung himself to his feet behind Ramethan, to see the fiend responsible for nearly taking off his head. The fiend was clothed in black, with yellow bands around parts of his body. Eenik had heard the stories enough to know who this was, it was his parent’s murderer, Scorpion. Eenik was raging, but he was also incredibly scared, he had never been trained for this situation.
Scorpion dropped his Broad Sword and stepped towards Ramethan, who was standing in front of Eenik. With incredible speed, but not as incredible as that of the Kiven Clan, Scorpion threw two punches at Ramethan, from both hands. Ramethan used his elbows to knock away both punches, and then bent his wrists to grasp Scorpion’s forearms. With little trouble, Scorpion took one side-step to Ramethan’s left, and swept out his long right leg, ripping Ramethan’s feet from underneath him. As Ramethan was suspended in the air, Scorpion lifted his other leg around his body, and pushed out with it. Ramethan was kicked hard in the stomach while in mid flight, sending him soaring through the air, and landing uncomfortably on a rocky patch of earth.

Eenik stepped backwards, it was one-on-one; the same position Eenik had been in 10 years previous, facing his parent’s murderer, Scorpion.

“Revenge is a sweet thing, boy,” chuckled Scorpion.
Suddenly without warning, Scorpion jumped backwards, into a thicket of trees. Eenik was breathing deeply, not daring to remove his attention from the place Scorpion had jumped into. Eenik heard a rustle coming from the thicket behind him. He craned his neck to see Scorpion flying out of the thicket, feet first, towards him. With incredible pace Eenik bent his shoulders to dodge Scorpion’s flying kick, and grabbed him hard around the ankles. As Scorpion flew past him, Eenik swung Scorpion by the ankles towards a nearby tree. Scorpion’s back collided hard with the trunk of the tree. Eenik left no time for recovery, he sprinted over too where Scorpion lay on the ground, and stomped down on his neck. Scorpion made a skid along the ground, dodging Eenik’s stomp by only inches. Scorpion kicked his feet past his face, and back-flipped to his feet, as he landed on his feet, he shot out his left arm, clothes-lining Eenik. Eenik fell backwards, onto Scorpions knee, which was being thrust upwards, making a horrifying ‘crack’ as it connected with Eenik’s back. He fell forwards, landing on his hands and knees, the pain he felt was immense, and he could not force himself to stand.

Scorpion swiveled to face the crippled Eenik. Clenching his fists together, he brought down an axe-handle punch to Eenik’s back. Eenik howled in pain as his back gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. Scorpion kicked Eenik in the face while he lay on the ground, adding to the pain Eenik was suffering. Kick after kick Scorpion dealt to Eenik, always on the right side of the face, making it bloodied and bruised; Eenik could no longer see out of his right eye, the bruising was so bad. Content with the damage to Eenik’s face, Scorpion pulled him to his feet by his short hair. Pulling him towards a large rock, Scorpion slammed his head down onto it, and then pulled it back, and then slammed it down again. Harder and harder he smashed Eenik’s face into the rock; his face was shattered, blood was everywhere, and he had no feeling in his body. Scorpion lifted Eenik’s head for the hardest slamming yet, one that would probably shatter Eenik’s head completely, when his grip on Eenik’s head was released. Eenik’s body slumped to the ground, he was unconscious, and barely alive.

Scorpion hit the ground with a groan, but he rolled backwards and pounced to his feet. Bearatum stared at Scorpion, breathing heavily in rage and tiredness from the sprint he had made from home. Behind Bearatum, Ramethan leant against a tree, gasping for breath after trying to keep up with Bearatum. Ramethan had run to the Kiven Clan’s home village, seeking help. Bearatum had been the first person he saw, and the two ran to help Eenik as fast as they could.
Scorpion hissed at Bearatum in rage, he had been so close to killing Eenik, he would not lose this opportunity. He shot an object from his hand, a ‘snake rope,’ towards Bearatum. With skill and agility Ramethan had never seen before, Bearatum jumped over the snake rope, and landed on it with his feet, pressing it to the ground. He quickly pulled a long dagger from his leather waist belt, and cut the rope. Scorpion let the remains of the rope fall from his hand, and lunged forward. He swung his elbow wide, trying to hit Bearatum in the stomach. But Bearatum was too fast, he pushed the elbow away with one hand, and with the palm of his other hand he hit Scorpion hard in the chest, knocking him backwards. Swinging his leg across his body, he hit Scorpion hard in the side of the face, momentarily stunning him. While Scorpion was unable to defend himself, Bearatum dealt to quick punches to his stomach, and then leant back, using his full body strength to upper-cut Scorpion far into the air.

Scorpion landed hard on the ground. Realising he could not win this fight, and using the distance between Bearatum and himself, he jumped to his feet and ran off into the forest.

Bearatum’s rage dimmed, he walked over to where Eenik lay. Ramethan was with him, splashing cool water over Eenik in an attempt to revive him. Eenik groaned, he could not see for the blood and bruising on his face, and he felt as if he were dead.
“Are you all right my boy…” Bearatum said softly.

Eenik groaned a quiet “yes.” He would be alright; Scorpion had not gained his revenge…yet.

By Halberd

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