Nevarii raised the knife to Kylia’s throat, piercing it only slightly enough for a bead of blood to appear.

  “Kill Lukas Hisstion, or she dies.”

  Tutsoi stared at Nevarii, again contemplating what to do. He could try to fight Nevarii, but given the extremely relaxed nature of Nevarii’s body language and voice, he was likely an expert fighter.

  “Don’t listen to him, Tutsoi! Just run!”

  Nevarii hits her with the back of his hand, blood splattering from her nose onto the floor. He smiles.

  “Your dear sister cares deeply for you; she would do anything to keep you safe. Wouldn’t you do the same for her?”

  The snow fell in heaps; it was colder than usual. Tutsoi ran through the snow, his sword sheathed by his side. He couldn’t believe what he was actually doing; his entire life was about to be nothing more than ruin. He snuck back in through the loose brick and into the city. The night was now silent: no more busy, tired merchants, blacksmiths, farmers, or anything of the sort coming home anymore; nothing but silence.

  The only sound was Tutsoi’s heavy breathing and the snow crunching beneath his feet. Finally, he made it to the Academy, his hands shaking. He lifted his hands and looked at them. He looked at them for their last moments as clean.

  He looked up again and walked forward to the grand doors of the Academy. He raddled them, locked. He assumed as much. He looked up and found instantly what he was looking for: a window. He stepped up on the air, and it condensed around his feet, creating a poofy solid surface. Over the years, he had perfected how he walked on the air. He walked up the air like it was a staircase to get to the window. As he got up, he opened the circular window quietly and slipped in. He appeared to be in a small bedroom, though it was empty. Whoever slept there must have still been awake.

  He snuck to the door and looked through it. Luckily, it was already cracked open a perfect amount for Tutsoi, so peer through. He saw nothing for a few moments, then he witnessed Lukas walk up the stairs and towards this room. Tutsoi quickly jumped up in the air and into the corner. Lukas walked in with a small candle, setting it on his bedside before sitting on his bed. He sat there for a few moments before he blew out the candle. Now was Tutsoi’s chance. He tried to slowly fall, but his own nerve betrayed him.

  He fell with a thud onto the floor, and Lukas instantly turned around, trying to see what it was. He doesn’t say anything or do anything for a few moments. Then he grabs a match and relights the candle. Tutsoi had been lying in the corner, still building up his courage, no, his cowardice, to kill his own friend. As Lukas raised the candle to see, Tutsoi dashed forward with his sword. But Lukas was not so easily caught off guard; he grabbed his sword and quickly deflected the attack. The bad lighting of the room made it difficult for Lukas to see his attacker, and Tutsoi desperately hoped it would stay that way until Lukas was dead. They bumped into walls, bookshelves, and cabinets as things fell and shattered or thudded on the ground.

  “Lukas, you okay?”

  Tutsoi could hear Keris’s voice coming from below. Before Lukas could answer and call for help, Tutsoi pushed Lukas through the wall where the window was. The window shattered on impact, and both of them fell through. Tutsoi tried to catch himself, but he was shaking far too uncontrollably. Both of them fell onto the snow, landing on their backs, wind knocked out of them. Tutsoi instantly tried to get up, but it was too late.

  “Tutsoi?”

  Lukas was already slouched and still standing. Tutsoi didn’t give him a chance; he leapt off the air near the ground and slid toward Lukas’s feet, slashing with his broadsword at them. Lukas jumped back easily, but Tutsoi was not so easily giving up. He quickly got up and began attacking recklessly. His movements were sloppy; it was clear he was horrified at what he was doing.

  “Tutsoi– What are you doing!?”

  Lukas was blocking and dodging the attacks with relative ease, but he was still, however, being pushed back and off the training grounds into the fence that surrounded the area. Lukas was only defending himself, but then Tutsoi landed a sloppy hit on Lukas’s cheek, which seemed to cause rage. Lukas began to attack Tutsoi back, and their movements began to blur. Tutsoi knew he had only a few more moments before Keris came to see what the noise was about, so he moved quickly.

  Tutsoi jumped up and grabbed Lukas, flinging him up and over the fence, jumping over it himself. Lukas landed with much more grace than before, though he was still shocked. Tutsoi pushed him farther into the city, passed the threshold of the Academy, and into the main city districts. But he knew he could not keep this up with ordinary attacks.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Broadsword Style, Leap of Faith!”

  Tutsoi’s sword glowed a golden color as the Ani entered into his body from the air, and he darted forward, pushing Lukas with him as both of them blocked, parried, and slashed at one another constantly. Golden light began to flicker off in multiple directions, yet still, Tutsoi could not land many hits on him. Something inside of Tutsoi still had him missing, like a hidden force he could not surpass.

  “Broadsword Style, Power!”

  For a finish, Tutsoi channeled all of the energy from his body into his arms for one last devastating blow towards Lukas. The sword flung forward at incredible speeds, yet Lukas still dodged it. Lukas used the opportunity of doubt in Tutsoi’s actions to change his stance to that of an offensive one. Now Tutsoi was defending himself.

  Lukas didn’t seem to want to hurt Tutsoi either; only immobilize him. Lukas’s attacks were mainly directed towards Tutsoi’s arms and legs. Tutsoi knew that if Lukas managed to hit one of them, it was over. He would be caught and thrown into prison. Hell, even if he managed to win, he would still probably be thrown into prison. As he thought this, his arm gained a brand new massive cut from his elbow to his shoulder. He yelled out in pain.

  Just then, he saw dozens of people exiting their homes and looking out to see what had been making the ruckus, and Tutsoi knew that it was over. With their help against Tutsoi, Lukas would fall. But, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, they did what Tutsoi did not expect.

  “Lukas is attacking Tutsoi! I knew that damn Shem was no good! Come on!”

  They came with daggers, pitchforks, swords, torches, and anything they had at their immediate disposal; they grabbed and ran to go help Tutsoi in what they thought was him defending himself. They were wrong.

  As Lukas watched all of these people come from all sides, he jumped back away from Tutsoi. He looked around in horror at what was happening. Suddenly, guards showed up with a woman leading them.

  “There! That's the boy I was telling you about! He attacked Tutsoi, I saw!”

  Lukas backed up slowly. Tutsoi stood there in disbelief at what was happening. Was this fate? Lukas looked at all of them, turning his head back and forth.

  “No! No! He attacked me! I’m innocent!”

  The people around him got closer to him, and the guard unsheathed their swords; Lukas was surrounded. One of the women standing with a torch spoke up.

  “Since when have Shem been anything but lying and deceitful?”

  Waves of guilt began to run through Tutsoi; he knew that it was over for Lukas. The angry mob would surely attack him any second. Lukas’s cheeks began to go red as tears flowed down them.

  “I swear to the heavens and the earth I didn’t attack Tutsoi! You have to believe me!! Tutsoi, please!”

  There was a vigor coming from Lukas’s voice, a desperate hope for Tutsoi to save him. Yet, there was nothing. Tutsoi did nothing, and the guilt in his soul rose. One of the guards looked at Tutsoi.

  “Did Lukas attack you, Tutsoi?”

  Tutsoi stood there for a few seconds. His answer would determine Lukas’s entire life, his fate. Tutsoi shook, the frigid air getting to his sweat, cooling him tremendously. Tutsoi couldn’t imagine what Lukas was feeling right now. Betrayal, shock, fear, pain, a hint of hope as to what Tutsoi would say next. Tutsoi thought of his sister. Would she want this? No, she wouldn’t, but he couldn’t do it. She was everything to him. The guard seemed impatient.

  “Well, did he?”

  The whole world seemed to look towards him; the angry mob wanted Tutsoi’s perspective. They wanted the green light to kill Lukas. Tutsoi looked up slowly.

  “Yes.”