WINNERS & LOSERS PT 7

My life, at this point, had turned into an utter disaster. Nothing I did ever seemed more wrong than anything that had ever happened. I had tried reassuring myself that I was only being paranoid over a hundred times but to no avail, my fruitless attempts forever remained wasted.

Jake, you are stronger than you really think you are. You do not need April. What you need is to realise your true potential. I can help you with that. Jake, if we work together you could have anything you ever wanted. Anything…

I bolted up only to meet the silence of the night. My whole body was drenched in cold sweat and my hands were shivering. It had been two days ever since I parted with April.

Slowly, I calmed down, rested my head on my mattress and looked into the starry sky. In the midst of the darkness the luminous stars shone, their light penetrating to make a mark. Maybe there was hope after all…

I glanced at my watch and sighed. It was still 2.30 am in the morning and I needed to get more sleep. Ever since I started dreaming about the leader of Black Death and his offer I had never managed to lie peaceful for more than an hour.

That creepy nightmare had been a recurring torment for me, the horror revealing its ugly face to me every time I slept. I would have to spend my night in a more thoughtful and recreational way the next time.

For now I would just have to wait.

~~NEXT MORNING~~

I left early before the sun had risen to get some practice in. Since my camping spot was in Cloud Park I decided to go for lucidas. Bringing along only my dragon tail and a bottle of pure water I journeyed to the garden of darkness.

“Hey Jake, so we meet again.” I heard a proud voice ringing from a distance. Was it the leader of Black Death?

I heaved a sigh of relief. It was Dave. He swung his Devil’s Sunrise over his shoulder and flashed me another one of his charismatic grins that drove girls’ crazy- one of his charismatic grins that drove me mad.

“Oh…leave me alone.”

“What’s wrong with you? Show me some joy! Show me some laughter!”

Everything had always favoured Dave. What would he know about me?

“Psst!” Dave continued, leaning closer. “If you think I’m so free, you’re wrong buddy. The wee hours of the morning are the only times I can train. I can’t enjoy more than 3 hours a day without those girls ogling around me. I agree that being to popular rocks, but freedom rocks harder. Jake you need to learn to cherish it.”

Dave took a few steps back and bashed a group of lucidas with the blunt side of his sword. I studied him carefully. My mind was still stubborn on having April back.

“By the way, I have been hired to track down the leader of Black Death. The reward for his capture is 60,000,000,000 mesos. Let me rephrase that- 60 BILLION mesos. Heck I could buy anything I wanted with that hefty sum in my pockets. Wanna help?”

I almost choked on nothing and gasped for air. This was my golden chance to get back at the leader! This was my golden chance to get things in my way! Money may not have been able to buy anything, but in my simple and narrow philosophic mind, mesos could.

“Hey you look pretty enthusiastic about my offer!”

A dark thought surfaced in my mind as I nodded my head and shot Dave a smile- the kind that Scar shot Mustafa when he was hanging off a cliff.

“Perfect! Now all we need to do is to try and locate the gang.”

I spoke nothing and secretly punched the numbers 666 on my phone. They would be coming anytime now…

“Fool! You tried to get protection from the almighty Dave eh?”

A typhoon-like sound spoilt the peace as a deadly avenger burst out from the sky, its razor sharp blades spinning in fury.

“Heh you can’t even hold a candle to me.” Dave relaxed as the avenger harmlessly bounced off his gold kalkan shield. “You are pathetic!”

”Hahaha! I am a chief bandit, not a hermit! Would you really expect my attacks to be so poor? That was one of my runners you idiot!” The menacing voiced boomed once again.

I gritted my teeth and held my wrist guard up. It was coming anytime now…

Klunk!

I dashed towards Dave and pushed him away. No sooner had we touched the solid concrete when the bag of mesos split into a roaring inferno.

Smoke filled the air. Trees were set ablaze. I struggled to clear my eyes of the smog. Dave stood up, his leg revealing an ugly wound of torn out flesh. The garden of darkness now looked like it had been the battlegrounds of World War II.

“Dave oh Dave! The great Dave! The legendary Dave! The about-to-be-finished Dave! You still do not know your limits! It is obvious that you are not even in my league. I AM SO MUCH STRONGER!”

A familiar figure cloaked in black robes jumped off a burnt tree and landed on the ground without a sound. He then turned to me and laughed evilly.

“Jake I had given you a chance. You could have been in the winning team! It is a pity you backed out from my offer. I will make sure you die before Dave goes down!”

The leader finished his sentence and charged at me. I could almost barely see him as he dashed past my side, leaving a trail of crimson blood behind. I let out a scream and watched in horror as my arm slipped off from my body. The pain was excruciating and I could barely take it.

“It is such a sad story. Why do the bad guys always win? It is because they have me! Jake, this will be my last sentence to you. Good bye.”

The leader prepared another assaulter. I closed my eyes and prayed. I prayed that April would not know of my death. I prayed that after this episode she would live happily. I prayed that she would be fine.

All of a sudden everything happened in slow motion to me. I slowly held out my dragon tail as a measly amount of protection. Then the leader started his attack. He swung out his varkit and his legs ran like a fast forwarded flash jump. If only a miracle would happen now. If only…

Suddenly I noticed a Devil’s Sunrise pop out from below. It was Dave! He was trying to trip the leader to help me! I hoped that I would have the chance to thank him one day.

SPLAAT! Then silence. My eyes fought to open and I stared in horror. The leader had actually tripped over Dave’s sword! He had landed on…

I dropped my dragon tail in relief, the lifeless head of the Black Death leader stuck on it like a kebab.

I had killed the Black Death leader! I had killed him!

Suddenly many high levelled thieves walked out from the shadows, their head almost kissing the ground in attempt to grovel before me.

“What the hell…you have killed our leader! I cannot believe my eyes.” One member stuttered.

Another thief approached me. “According to the rules, you can now be the new leader of Black Death if you want to, or you could abandon us and Black Death would be officially disbanded.”

I could not believe the turn in events.

“Jake, we won the money! We are rich!” Dave cheered wildly.

I sat on the ground and looked at my amputated arm. There was a fire in me and it was about to explode. I recalled my evil plan. That had been my last resort but now it was first.

“Members of Black Death! I will be your new leader!”

Dave’s eyes widened and his face was overwhelming with shock.

“And for your first task, I want you to capture someone and imprison him for life! He ruined my childhood and I want my revenge! I want you to capture…”

I pointed at that person. He stayed rooted to the ground, not believing his rotten friend had betrayed him. I pointed at Dave.