Konnor's arms were ready to give in, he was trying to walk on his hands. Next to him, Izinqe was grinning at his poor performance.

  " Stop smiling and give me some advice you idiot! "

  " Well first of all don't speak for a change! "

  " You fuck- "

  Losing his balance, he fell heavily to the ground, out of breath he kept his eyes fixed on the blue sky. It was a warm afternoon marking the end of winter. Izinqe was holding his belly while dying from laughter.

  " Instead of mocking me you could do the thing you swore you would do, teaching me those weird movements. "

  " I already taught you, not my fault you can't do it! "

  " You just told me to stand on my hands and move my legs! That's not helping! "

  Standing up from the box he was on, Izinqe simply stood on his hands and started walking on his hands like it was nothing.

  " See? it's easy, you do this and then you gain some kind of momentum by swinging your feet in a direction and then you just do all you can to keep rotating. "

  As he was explaining it, Izi started throwing kicks while on his hands and after gaining speed he was like a human stampede. The faster he was going, the less he needed to compensate with his arms. The arms were just to be sure he stayed 'up'. Once he was done, Konnor sat down and thought to himself " It seems easy when you do it. "

  " Izi, how did you learn how to do this? "

  Izinqe sat down next to Konnor and remained silent.

  " You don't want me knowing your secret? "

  He was still silent. Finally he stood up, readjusted his scarf around his face and walked away.

  " I'll cya later. "

  " Weird ... " Konnor dusted himself off and went back inside the tavern. As he stepped inside he was greeted by the powerful hand of Malik on his shoulder.

  " Hey look who took a longer break with his little friend ... "

  " Ow! Malik that hurts! "

  " That was the point. Now, get to work! "

  It had been a few days since he last saw Richard. In the meantime, Konnor and Izi were occupying his room. The agreement was that if Izi was ok to teach Konnor his way of fighting, Konnor would let him eat and sleep here. They were sometimes just walking around doing nothing but very often Izinqe would just disappear somewhere during the day and reappear at night only to eat and sleep. Even though they got close, Konnor still knew basically nothing about him. This was their routine, being friendly without being friends, having some light fights and bickering but Konnor wanted to have a deeper connection. " What's the point of interacting if it doesn't go anywhere? ". So he made the following decision : he would follow Izi to discover what he was up to during the day. But before that he had a whole afternoon and night to spend without raising suspicions. The afternoon went as expected, serving the tavern's customers, each time one entered the door he expected them to be Richard or Izi. But neither came all day, actually even at night Izi did not come back home. Late during the night, Konnor heard someone opening the door, trying to seem asleep, he kept still and realised Izi had entered the bedroom. He then took off his boots, his shirt and got in bed. But as opposed to how they usually slept he was awfully close. The silence was heavy but was soon broken by Izi.

  " Hey, are you sleeping? "

  " Nah. "

  " Why? "

  " What question is that? I'm just not sleeping. "

  " Ok. "

  The silence fell once again, Konnor decided to not let the discussion end here and turned to talk to his friend. He got a bit surprised when he fell face to face with him and how close he was. He never had the occasion to distinguish his facial features that much since he always wore his scarf around his head. From what he could see Izi had short black hair but clear eyes, probably green. Strangely he realised he never paid much attention to the color of Izi's eyes. His face was young yet you could tell by the look in his eyes that he had been through tough times. Konnor caught himself thinking he looked handsome and shook his head to make it go away. He never had that kind of thought about someone other than a woman. Taking him out of his thoughts, Izinqe broke the silence once again.

  " Hm, why are you looking at me like that? "

  " I never saw your face clearly before. "

  " What's wrong about it? "

  " Nothing nothing! There's nothing wrong with your face. "

  " Well it's just a face so stop staring so much."

  Trying to avoid staring, Konnor simply looked around but wanted to ask so many questions. Before he could, Izi got closer and snuggled against him.

  " Izi, what are you doi- "

  " Shut up for once, just shut up. "

  This overall situation was the most uncomfortable he had ever been.

  " Izi, you can't expect me to not have any questions. "

  " I know you have questions, just don't ask them. "

  " What if I ask them anyway? "

  " I'll hit you and I'll stop teaching you how to fight. "

  " Pfff, so far your advice hasn't done shit for me! The first time you beat me because you just surprised me. "

  Suddenly Izi got up from the bed and stood in the middle of the room.

  " Get up. "

  Konnor sat on the bed " What does he want now? ". Izi was still standing there, waiting.

  " I said get up! "

  Konnor stood up, only to be pushed back on the bed one second later by Izi.

  " Again. "

  Once again Konnor stood up only to be pushed back.

  " Again! "

  " No! What's wrong with you Izi? "

  " You think I'm weak, I'm gonna show you, get up! "

  " Izi that's not what i me- "

  " Get up! "

  He was obviously hurt by what Konnor had just said. Konnor got up but this time he didn't get pushed, Izi stood there looking at him. They both stood in the lightly lit room in silence. Konnor never saw him bare chested before, he was noticing bruises and further scars all over his body. Noticing him staring at him, Izi turned away as if he wanted to hide in shame. Once again, Izi was the one to break the silence.

  " I'm sorry, I just get annoyed when people just say things like that... "

  " Well if you told me more about you, this would not happen. "

  " Right ... " Izi paused " Come here, take my hand, I need to show you something. "

  Konnor simply took his hand and trusted him.

  " Ok, you keep this hand in mine and you put the other behind my back, not so low! Ok there. "

  " Izi what are we do- "

  " Shut it and listen! " Once they were in position, Izi started moving left and right and Konnor had no choice but to move with him. " When people fight, they move at a certain tempo, when you disturb this tempo with your own, you can pace the fight the way you want it to go. But first you need to match the tempo of your opponent and gauge it to be able to change it. "

  While explaining, Izi was making Konnor turn on himself and move around the small room. This interaction was weird, Konnor wished he stayed in bed.

  " Permission to talk? "

  " Yes."

  " Aren't we just .... dancing...? "

  " Yes."

  A silence fell between the two, still dancing in the room. The silence was not satisfactory enough to Konnor.

  " That's it? Just yes? "

  " Yes. "

  Konnor let out a heavy sigh. " He is doing it on purpose to annoy me, I hate it when people do this. ". Izinqe ignored him and continued his explanation.

  " When you fight, to match your opponent you need to pay attention to a lot of things, their heights, size, and even small details about how they move in a small amount of time, most of these details can be overwritten by one simple thing : their aura. "

  " Aura? "

  " Yes."

  " Can you elaborate on what the aura is supposed to be like? "

  " No. "

  Once again, they were spiraling in silence in the room. Suddenly Izi stopped and tapped Konnor between the eyes.

  " What was that for?! "

  " You are not focusing. "

  " What am I supposed to focus on?! You're not explaining anything to me! You are just .. DOING things and I'm uncomfortable! "

  Izi tilted his head to the side.

  " What is so uncomfortable about this? "

  " I don't know! I just feel it! "

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Izi walked closer to Konnor, the closer Izi was getting the more Konnor was trying to move away. Soon the back of his knees met the bed and he almost fell backward except this time Izi grabbed his forearm to prevent him from falling. In the same motion he pulled him and the two collided, their nose being the closest they have ever been.

  " Don't feel uncomfortable, I'm just helping you, now just close your eyes. "

  " Why should I clos- "

  " Shush! Just close your eyes! "

  Konnor let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes.

  " Focus on your body, your breathing, what muscles are moving and then expand your view to my body, my breathing and then you will even be able to predict where I move from the slightest contraction. "

  Konnor focused on his sensations. Like Izi said, first his own breathing, slowly breathing in and out. Imagining the air entering his nose, then from his trachea to his lungs. He then focused on his body, the cold feeling of the wood on his feet, the slight breeze coming from the open window. He was now seeing his body despite having his eyes closed, he then focused on Izi, still in contact with him while dancing. Without realising he pulled Izi closer and now both of their bare chests were touching. As the dance was going on, they synchronised their breathing, even their heartbeats became the same. Breaking the silence, Izi decided to test him.

  " Can you feel me? "

  Konnor simply nodded as an answer, afraid of breaking his focus. Izi then started doing more complex moves and let go of one hand.

  " Can you SEE me? "

  " Yes."

  Konnor still had his eyes closed, still holding one hand, Izi rotated on himself and moved under Konnor's arm. Unfazed, Konnor simply moved in order to not twist his arm and kept dancing. As a final test, Izi completely let go of his hands. They were now dancing without touching each other. At some times Izi tried to disturb Konnor by moving into him but each time the boy could evade him. Then Izi got as quiet as he could get and took a slight step back, he then used the fastest spinning kick he could to hit Konnor in the temple. But he managed to stop the kick with ease and finally opened his eyes, smiling at Izi.

  " Woah... that was .. incredible! "

  " You were incredible Kon'. "

  " Where did you learn this? It's such a great technique! "

  Suddenly Izi's face lost all light and he sat on the bed. Seeing as he was not saying a word, Konnor sat next to him. The two young men stayed there in silence as if they were two strangers " Everything was going so fine ... why did I have to ruin it by asking something like this...". He then decided to try to fix this.

  " Izi I- "

  Before he could say another word Izi moved in to hug him. This sudden display of affection was not what he expected. " I can never tell what he is thinking. ". Izi kept his head against Konnor's shoulder.

  " I will tell you in time, but not right now. Let's sleep ok? "

  " Ok.. "

  They both layed down but this time, even if the physical space between them was the same as before, they felt closer than ever and it was not that uncomfortable.

  The next morning, Konnor was awakened by a knock on the door. Jessamine slightly opened the door and smiled at Konnor.

  " Slept well? "

  " Yes, perfectly. "

  " Malik wanted you to know you could sleep in this morning since we don't have many customers and it probably will be a day off if it stays the same. "

  " Ok. "

  She then went away and Konnor sat on the bed. Suddenly he realised Izi was not there. He had a strange feeling and he needed to trust his guts on this. He quickly grabbed clothes and went outside. It was late morning but the sun was already high and the town was awake as the market was full of people. He followed his gut feeling and headed towards the part of the city he first encountered Izi in. " Please be safe Izi."

  A few hours passed and his guts were still telling him to look for his friend. It was now noon and his stomach was loudly grumbling, he decided to sit under a porch in an alley and looked up to the sky.

  " I'm so damn hungry dang it.. "

  A door opened behind him and an old woman was pushing the dust out in the alley from inside.

  " Oops sorry young man didn't see you there. "

  " It's my bad, I was looking for someone and decided to rest. "

  His stomach grumbled again.

  " Sorry ... "

  " Ahah don't be sorry young man, wait here. "

  The old woman waddled back inside her home and came back with an apple.

  " Oh you really don't need to give me this maam! "

  " Shush you youngling, I may not have any children alive in this world anymore but the creator will not catch me not feeding a hungry one! "

  She seemed like the stubborn type so Konnor decided to stop making a fuss and took the apple, he took a bite of it and it was the greatest feeling.

  " Thank you maam ... ?"

  " Lorynda. "

  " Thank you alot maam Lorynda! I'm Konnor. "

  " Well then lil' Kony, go on your way now, I may be generous but I'm not the duchess and I don't want to attract ALL the starving kids! Ehehe. "

  " Yes I'm going! Goodbye. "

  Rejuvenated by this encounter, Konnor resumed the search for his friend.

  It was now early in the afternoon and Konnor decided to ask the locals if they knew the whereabouts of his friend. Most of them never saw him, even mentioning the blue scarf did nothing. Until one worker heard him and approached him.

  " Hey lil fella, I've heard you are looking for someone? "

  " Yeah ... "

  " Well you might want to head to the Cauldron, it's a well known bar in this part of the city and there is never something you cannot find there. "

  " And where is this Cauldron? "

  After following the directions given by the man, he ended up finding it by walking into an alley and there was a huge man standing guard in front of a metal door. " Must be it "

  " Humm mister? Is this the Cauldron? "

  The man looked at him and Konnor noticed he was missing his left eye. As an answer the man gave a sign to Konnor to turn around. Without asking any question, he did. Once he had his back turned, the big man patted his pants looking for a weapon and then checked his sides. Once he was sure the young man had no concealed weapon he pushed the heavy door to the side. Behind the door was a staircase going down, the Cauldron was an underground bar. Konnor nodded to the man and started going down. Soon enough he started hearing the different typical noises of a bar, the cheers, the songs and the smell of alcohol. He arrived and discovered a room twice as big as Malik's tavern, the bar was made out of the carved stone that had always been there, the edges were rough, the seats were old wooden chairs, some partially rotted and some fixed with crudely fixed bolts. The place was not very fancy but it seemed fun. But one could tell debauchery was the word of honor, in this very room a few men were fighting, some were fucking the waitresses and some were passed out in their own vomit. " So unsanitary ... I don't want to stay here for too long.". He painfully made his way through the crowd and arrived at the bar. There he was greeted by a bald woman with a metal spike piercing her nostrils, he had never seen such ornaments on a person.

  " What can I get you, baby boy? "

  " I'm looking for a friend. "

  Just after he said that a big bearded man slapped his shoulder, he reeked of booze.

  " Aren't we all looking for one lad?! Ahah!! "

  " I'm looking for MY friend! "

  " Well good luck with that boy! HAHAHA!! "

  Once again his eyes were caught by the spike in the waitress's nose. Noticing his attentive look, she sniffed up the air and made her nose move a little bit.

  " You like it boy? "

  " It's interesting ... "

  " What do you think of those then? "

  She then lifted her shirt to reveal the same spikes in her nipples. Konnor quickly looked away but tried his best to keep his cool.

  " Humm, it's hummm .. "

  " Ahah I think I caught a very young boy! "

  " I'm not that young! Anyway, I'm looking for my friend, he his tanned, short hair, probably the same age as me even tho he is a bit smaller and he wears a blue scarf! "

  " You know Izi?! "

  " Yes! "

  " Well you are in luck but he is very busy today with customers, I didn't think he was picking customers outside too."

  " I'm not a customer, I'm a fri- ... an acquaintance. "

  " Well you can sit around, grab something to drink or ask one of the girls to be your first lady, unless you aren't into ladies."

  " I'm not into anything! I'll just wait!"

  Konnor walked around in the Cauldron for a while, apparently there was a collection of tunnels leading to private rooms, it was a literal underground labyrinth. The main lobby was only the facade but there was probably illegal affairs going down in this maze. But one of the entries caught his eye, men were going in and out of this one tunnel constantly. " This seems like a good place to ask questions.". He decided to walk into it and followed his instinct, noises all around were getting his attention, the usual drunks, people fornicating and fights erupting were like an orchestra. The further he was getting, the less lights there were. After a while he entered a room to his right that seemed completely empty, it was barely lit. But somehow it was richer than the rest of the rooms, there was a giant bed at the center of the room and red curtains were closing the room from the two entries. After further inspections it seemed most rooms had two openings. Just before he decided to resume his search. Konnor heard footsteps coming his way and it seemed people were coming into this room. Looking around, he hid behind curtains on the left side of the bed and almost knocked off bottles of wine that were behind it. As soon as he was hidden he could see two people walking into the room, the bigger person spoke first.

  " So, I've been told you have been away in the richer parts of the city these days? "

  " Hm hm. "

  " You don't enjoy this place anymore? "

  " I do ... "

  Konnor's attention was suddenly piqued. " This voice, I heard it before..". The bigger man was still speaking while Konnor was trying to discern the shape of them.

  " Have you forgotten all I did for you?

  " No.. "

  " I always loved you, showed you love any time I can and you do this? You disappear for days, doing god knows what, with strangers and you don't even bring value here. "

  The man paused, he was moving in the room and Konnor could have a clearer image of him. He was a small man with a black and white beard. He had a cane in one hand. He seemed like the kind of man that was trying to seem richer than he really was and to impress his peers was wearing the type of clothing the rich would discard. He used his cane to make the other person raise their head.

  " Hey look at me, I said LOOK AT ME! "

  Even from behind the curtain Konnor could feel the man's anger.

  " You know what comes next right? "

  " I'm sor- "

  Before they could finish their sentence, the second person was receiving a heavy hit from the cane in the mouth making them stumble upon the bed, then from where he was Konnor had to sit through a beatdown that seemed to last like an eternity. Kicks, punches, insults, spitting, cane hits, hair pulling, everything was inflicted on the poor other person but every time the man with the cane needed to take a pause to breathe, they would stand up still in front of him waiting for the next hit. Finally the man passed his hand in his greasy hair to put them back and rearrange strands of hair that were now all over his face. Regaining his composure he leaned towards the other person.

  " You understand why I do this do you? "

  " Yes. "

  " You realise I hurt you because you hurt me? "

  " Yes. "

  " You understand that I want the best and I love you right? "

  " Yes."

  The man wiped the sweat off his forehead and sat on the bed.

  " Now go over there get me some wine. "

  Hearing this, Konnor looked for a way out of his little space without getting spotted but there was nowhere for him to go. As the curtains before him opened he discovered Izi's bruised face by the beating he just took. The two young men looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, Izi put his index on his own lips to signal to his friend to remain silent. With his other hand he grabbed a bottle and closed the curtains again. " What is he doing here? What is his job and why did he let this man beat him like this? ". The man then grabbed the bottle and started drinking from it, he gave a sign to Izi to come sit on the bed. The boy sat in silence waiting for the man's next order.

  " Take my boots off. "

  Izi kneeled down and helped the man take his boots off, this whole dynamic was strange, the man was unpredictable and Konnor feared for Izi's safety. Out of the second entry, a man entered the room.

  " Boss, we have a situation in the main lobby, the sluggers have come."

  " Can't you see I'm busy?! "

  " Boss, Spike is holding them but they are getting aggressive and there are like seven of them. "

  The boss groaned in annoyance and turned to Izi, slowly touching his face and wiping away the blood at the corner of his mouth.

  " Get cleaned up, stay here, I'm coming back to finish our talk. "

  " Yes sir. "

  The boss then got up and walked away. As soon as he was gone, Konnor stepped out of his hiding spot. In silence and his back turned to him, Izi was washing his wounds.

  " Izi!"

  Izi remained silent.

  " Izi, let's go home. "

  Once again Izi was not answering, slowly moving closer to him, Konnor kept a safe distance and noticed Izi's eyes were fixed on a point ahead of him. He finally decided to touch him on the shoulder but Izi quickly slapped his hand away.

  " Get out of here Konnor, before you get in trouble.. "

  " Ok, we have to go quick, I think I memorized the tunnels a little bit."

  Konnot looked through the curtains of one of the exits, no one one the left and no one on the right. Once again he tried grabbing Izi's wrist but he moved away.

  " Izi ... "

  " I can't come with you Konnor, just get out. "

  " But I can't go knowing you go through this! "

  " I've been living through it even before you knew me so go back home! "

  Konnor took a deep breath.

  " It's not because you lived through it before that it's ok for you to continue this way."

  " Konnor you really need to go or both of us are going to - "

  Izi stopped mid sentence when he noticed steps coming back to the room, he then pushed Konnor back behind the wine curtains.

  " When I give you the signal you get out of here and stay silent until then! "

  A few seconds later the boss came back into the small room, this time he was bare chested and drops of blood were on his chest and face. He was breathing heavily, his eyes were wide open and the veins on his neck seemed to pump his blood at an alarming pace.

  " Blood, clean, now. "

  Izi did not ask any further questions and started wiping away the blood from the man. The man then took out a small metal tube from his pants and shook it. Yellowish fumes were now escaping from it. After a few seconds looking at it, the man inhaled all the fumes and his entire body started shaking. " What the heck was in that tube? ". Konnor could only stare in silence as the man kept shaking and grunting. Once he calmed down, he was breathing even louder than before, he also seemed bigger. All of a sudden the man grabbed Izi by the throat and threw him against the wall. The man was enraged and Izi was now the only target he had. " I need to do something, he's gonna kill him!". Before Konnor could jump out, Izi sat on the bed and opened his arm.

  " I love you and I'm sorry, please give me a hug like you always do."

  To Konnor's surprised the man listened and hugged Izi, the weight of the man brought Izi down and both of them were now looking away from Konnor. Taking this opportunity, Izi did a slight hand sign in Konnor's direction telling him to go now. The last thing he could see before he turned the corner, was the tears of his friend as he suffered yet another beating from the man in the room. He was now filled with a powerful drive, wiping away his own tears, he kept on repeating the following words in his head. " Wait for me, I will rescue you from this place!"