You’re in a shadowy labyrinth with your enemy Commander’s sword at his neck.
But you’re in enemy territory and have to find a way out.
You think the walls look familiar, but now you have worrying doubts.
The shadows have all shifted, and nothing looks exactly like before. Of course, you were shackled then.
Your eyes dart between each shadowy wall.
The lit torches remain, but the walls don’t seem familiar.
At all.
Suddenly, there’s a sharp dip in the floor like a step. You lunge forward, losing your balance.
And your arms instinctively spread out to find your center, which you do.
But it’s too late.
The Commander drops to the ground, escaping your sword at his neck.
He is swift, and you’d be impressed if he wasn’t your enemy. And suddenly, it all makes sense to you as he moves quickly into the shadows. Well past your reach.
How he was able to disarm you so fast from the beginning, removing your poison tooth.
You grab the sword with both hands and circle the darkly lit room, shrouded in long shadows. Your hands tremble as you search for him.
Must escape.
And suddenly, faster than you can blink, he’s behind you. His warm fingers are pressed up against your neck.
“Don’t make me do this again,” he says in a silken whisper. He looms directly behind you.
You can feel the warmth of his body radiating off him like scalding dragon fire.
He’s so close. You’re sharing the same breath.
And the threat of what he can do to you is at the very front of your mind.
But he’s giving you a choice… Is he?
His long fingers press against that delicate spot on your neck.
“Do you surrender to me?” he whispers in that rich, velvety deep voice.
You gasp. The sound echoes loudly throughout the shadowy hall.
Surrender? To him?
Liar.
All his kind are, but you’re running off pure adrenaline now.
All you can think of is getting to your blade and escaping this place.
Escaping him. Escaping him.
All you know and feel is that he’s somehow a danger to everything you know.
Gods, how will you do this?
The thought of leaving your blade behind was never an option. Never.
It would have been like abandoning a faithful friend in their darkest hour. Your heart twinges at the painful thought. You could never.
The idea of it angers you, filling you with unleashed rage.
You narrow your eyes. You only have an instant to move.
You slam your head backward, catching him by surprise, knocking into him.
When you hear him coughing violently, you know you hit your mark.
As quickly as possible, you swing the sword around, and it’s sloppy form.
He recovers fast and jumps back.
You swing at air. “Something in your throat, Commander?” you goad him, frustrated that you missed.
And you suddenly wish you would have trained better with longswords.
He’s circling you now like a powerful apex predator and searching for weakness.
You are a skilled fighter, but all his movements are beyond you as you clumsily attempt to kill him.
“Stop fighting me,” he urges softly.
“I’m just a soldier. I can’t be of any use to you,” you say.
He flicks his eyes at you, locking in. “You are wrong.”
You swing again and miss. The weight of his sword is unwieldier with each passing moment.
He must have known this and anticipated it.
With all the strength you have, you lift the sword and run towards him. “I will never surrender to you.”
Commander Story Chapter 11-Next page
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