Paradise Tower

Zane splashed the cool stream water onto his face and let out a sigh of relief; Isaac had been keeping him working all day long and this was his first break. The stream was Zane’s favorite place to relax, it was so calm and the babbling of the stream was soothing his body and soul. His green eyes drifted to his reflection in the stream. He had changed quite a lot since he first arrived at Isaac’s six years ago.

Zane was no longer the small, frail boy he used to be. Through years of training and hard labor his body has become strong and muscular. At only six feet he was not as tall as Isaac, but he still towered over most others when the two travelled to the neutral market city of Trase. Along with his body his face had become more set and angled, but it still had a sleek and smooth aspect to it, which gave him a more feminine look. The fact that his hair fell to his shoulders did not help with making him look any more masculine, but he didn’t mind. It was not as though there was anyone around Isaac’s cabin to judge him.

The young man let out a sigh and stood back up. If he did not return to the cabin soon Isaac would make him run laps again, followed by some hard exercises. Zane still had no idea what had changed Isaac’s mind to let him stay here, but he was not going to let him regret the decision. The jog from the stream to the cabin was about five minutes and as Zane (maybe just use his name?) came up and over the hill he saw his master waiting impatiently. Isaac did not like waiting for anyone, maybe that is why he preferred living alone. When Zane got close enough he dropped to one knee in front of his teacher and lowered his head.

“I am sorry I am late Isaac, it will not happen again.” The student apologized, awaiting his punishment.

“Stand, boy.” Isaac said in a calm tone. His brown eyes watched as his pupil stood up before him; the boy had grown these past years, but he still had a lot more growing to do. When Zane had finally stood Isaac grabbed a sheathed sword beside him and tossed it to the boy.

“Ready yourself, if you can cut me before I cut you then you won’t have to run laps.” Isaac instructed as he drew his own blade. The blade he bore was a great sword, about five feet in length from the bottom of the hilt to the tip of the blade and a foot in width.

Zane drew his blade, a scimitar that Isaac has picked up for him a few years back, he spun the blade a few times before stopping it so that he held it upside down the blade ran down along his arm. His feet slid into a defensive stance and he held his right arm out in front of his face so that his blade would shield him. His emerald eyes scanned his opponent, looking for an opening.

Isaac took his normal stance, the large blade held straight out in front of him with his two hands griping the hilt tightly. He knew Zane had speed but he had experience on his side. Seeing Zane taking a defensive position, the master decided it would be up to him to take the first strike in this battle. Isaac raised his blade high in the air; as he pulled the blade up over his head Zane quickly darted in, hoping he was fast enough for the opening. Before he could even take a swing at Isaac the large man brought down the hilt towards his head. Zane quickly rolled to his right to dodge the spine crushing blow and then quickly jumped backwards as Isaac had followed up his strike with a horizontal sweep. The second his feet touched the ground he bolted in once again. He knew he was much faster than the older man and used this to his advantage; his strategy was a mix of hit and run tactics that optimized Zane’s speed. Zane could tell that with the momentum Isaac was building up a vertical or diagonal swing would come next.

As Zane went to attack his opponent’s chest Isaac brought his sword diagonally from his right shoulder. The boy saw this coming and sidestepped to his left, dropping down to the ground for a leg sweep. This was a bad idea on his part, as he soon found out, for trying to take out one of Isaac’s legs was like trying to kick down a tree stump. The stun of the blow on his own leg had kept Zane distracted long enough not to notice the large blade coming from up above. He quickly brought up his blade to protect himself. With only one hand on his sword though Zane could only slow down the blow and he felt the hot pain of the cut on his shoulder as the metal sliced through his flesh.

Luckily for Zane Isaac had been pulling his punches and he made sure his blade only made a shallow slice on his shoulder. It would sting, surely, but the boy would recover. The large man pulled back his blade and jabbed it into the ground next to him.

“You know the drill, run to the lake and back four times and then we will proceed with four sets of twenty pushups, five sets of sit ups, and as many pulls ups you can do till you drop.” Isaac instructed as the defeated lad nodded and stood up from the ground. With a sigh of despair and discontent he began his journey into the woods. The distance from the lake to the woods was about a mile so his four laps were about eight miles. The hard part was that it was through heavily wooded terrain so he was constantly dodging roots and jumping over fallen trees. To keep himself entertained Zane liked to see how long he could go without touching the forest floor. His leather boots left the ground with ease as he jumped onto a nearby log. From the log he jumped to a tree branch, which he swung off of to land on top of another tree branch. He continued to leap from branch to branch, landing on the ones strong enough to hold his weight and swinging on those who seemed a bit more fragile. This fun made his laps a bit longer but they increased his agility, reaction time, and his dexterity. With almost inhuman grace Zane leapt from one of the branches and landed on the shore of the lake. The lake and the stream were the boundaries between the Skies and the Knights of Remoria. Compared to the Black Suns and Devil’s Roses one could say that the Skies and the Knights were the good guys of Remoria, but calling them good was still a bit of a stretch. Zane had come to learn that in Remoria the only people that anyone ever cared about were themselves.

Regretting not having the time to take in the view Zane turned back to the woods to complete his first lap. Maybe on his last lap he’d take a quick break before heading home for more physical torture. He made it back pretty quickly for fooling around but he stopped short of the edge of the woods. There were voices coming from the other side of the cabin. Quickly Zane drew his scimitar and crouched behind a bush as the voices grew louder.

“Isaac the Traitor we have finally hunted you down, now show yourself!” called a voice.

‘Traitor?’ Zane thought to himself. Seeing as they were out by the front door Zane silently crept out of the woods and to the wall of the house facing him. From there he slid around to the side and then peeked his head out. Four heavily armored men were waiting by the front door. They wore a strange kind of armor, almost like heavy cloth and their helmets seemed to be made of an odd material, like fake rock. The uniforms they wore were mixtures of blues and blacks and each one had a sword on his waist and each was holding an odd shaped box with a tube sticking out of the end.

“Isaac, you can either come peacefully or we will take you by force.” The man who seemed in charge barked again. They obviously weren’t point hunters otherwise they would have just kicked in the door to attack him. If not point hunters then who were they and what did they want with Isaac?

Deciding to get as better view Zane climbed up to the roof, using the windowsill as a boost for his foot. As he lay prone on the roof, weapon still drawn, he heard the door below him open and saw the large man he called master step out. For some reason Isaac was not carrying his weapon.

‘Does he know these people? They seem to know him well enough.’ Zane questioned as he focused his senses to listen in on the conversation just starting. He saw the man pull out a small black box and hold it out so Isaac could see.

“Isaac Morrison you have here by been accused of treason against the HGM Corporation, how do you plead?” the man asked as he stared up at the giant of a man. If it were not for the black glass covering his face Zane was sure he’d see fear in his eyes. Isaac did not respond, though, and just shook his head. Two men came to grab Isaac arm but just as they did Zane jumped from the roof, tackling the one on the right to the ground. With a quick sweep Zane smashed the hilt of his sword against the man’s neck, knocking him unconscious. The other men were at first shocked to see the new attacker and Zane used this time to lunge at the second guard on Isaac’s left before he could draw his sword. But as he charged he felt his body snap back and his feet left the ground. Isaac had grabbed the boy by the collar and was now holding him up like he was nothing more than a rag doll.

“Zane,” Isaac whispered sternly to the boy, “this is not your business. Go to the Skies now and ask for Krystale Ember. Do not come back and don’t try and rescue me.”

“Isaac who is this boy?!” the leader demanded as he pointed his box at the dangling teenager.

“He’s nobody, just a point hunter don’t waste your bullets on him. You wouldn’t want one of these “animals” to find them and start to question would you?” Isaac replied. He could feel Zane struggle in his hand, trying to break free and fight these men but Isaac’s grip was far stronger. With what seemed like great ease the giant flung the boy back at the house. Zane’s body hit hard and his vision began to fade as he slid down the wood and hit the ground. The last image he saw was that of Isaac with his hands tied behind his back, walking off with the men towards the giant tower in the sky.

As the sun began to set Zane finally got up; his whole body ached and his head was throbbing. He felt dried blood on his back and reached to feel splinters in shoulder blades from hitting the wall with such force. Isaac sure didn’t know how to take things easy.
‘Isaac!’ Zane thought to himself. Of course by now he was long gone, the capture had been hours ago and Zane was not the best tracker. Not one to give up though the boy quickly found his sword still lying on the ground and sheathed it as he ran off towards Paradise Tower. He did not stop to tend his wounds; he instead just pulled the splinters out as he ran. It was pretty obvious they had gone this way; Isaac always left a trail when going through the woods. Crushed roots and broken branches marked his pathway through the forest.

Even at a full sprint it took Zane a good ten minutes to reach the tower. He was running on adrenaline before but now his body was starting to catch up with him. By the time he reached the clearing around the tower his breath had become somewhat heavy. Once out of the woods though there were no more signs of Isaac. Zane searched all around, the group had not reentered the woods anywhere, so unless they had backtracked and then went off in another direction, they had gone into the tower.

Weakened both physically and emotionally the young man dropped to his knees and looked up at the tower. Those strange men had taken away the only family he had and now they were out of his reach. The tower had no door, just a scanner for point counters. The only way that Isaac would ever see Isaac again was to obtain ten thousand points.

Zane glanced down at his own point counter and pressed the button, which showed his current point balance: a measly 800. In the past six years he had only hunted oxen and the occasional tiger and with the points he spent on the clothes, tools, weapons, and other necessities he didn’t have many points left. By his age most people had around three thousand, five if they were hard working and strong enough. He had to grow stronger; he had to earn those points. How he was going to do this, he did not know. He thought of his options as he made the hike back to the cabin. He could join one of the tribes, or become a professional hunter and sell pelts and meats, or become a sword for hire, or a trainer for young ones. Most people by his age had already had kids and merchant parents did tend to hire others to train their kids in combat. Still, there were the last words of Isaac to consider.

Zane always felt so uneasy around the Skies. The Skies were an almost all female tribe. What males were in it were only there because they had gained the favor of one or more of the females. In Remoria males outnumbered females four to one so a law of the land was that if a female chose you to be her mate you had to comply. The Skies made deals with other tribes, picking men from them and if the offspring was male they would be given to the other tribe once they had reached childhood and if it was female she would be kept in the Skies. Because of this rule Zane always felt like he was being sized up by the women, as though he were a piece of meat. He had received plenty of compliments on his looks but for some reason, to his ease, they never once commanded for him to mate with one of them. This was probably Isaac’s doing, for Isaac also never was propositioned on their occasional trips to the Skies base at the heart of the western forest.

If he did go see this Krystale Ember, Isaac would not be there to protect him from these hungry gazes. It was not that Zane did not like women, it was actually quite the contrary, but he felt that, like the birds, a human should chose one mate for the rest of their life. Also because he spent most of his life just with Isaac he had no idea how to deal with the other sex. This idea and the fact that he refused to kill another human made Zane an oddity in the society of Remoria, that and his foggy past.

Zane finally reached the cabin as the moon was almost at its peak. The old building seemed so empty knowing that he was now alone here. How Isaac lived like this for all those years before he had shown up was beyond Zane. The young man slowly walked over to the cot where he had slept for the past 6 years. With a thud his body hit the bed and he drifted off into darkness.

As the sun rose so did the young man. Zane slowly began preparing for his journey. He was not looking forward to leaving this cabin behind, but it had to be done for sitting around moping would not help find Isaac. For the sake of his future he was going to have to leave all of this past behind. The soft reds and oranges of the sunrise lit Zane’s face as he left the cabin. On his back were Isaac’s sword and a bag of food for his travels. He also had his water satchel and his scimitar on his hip. The leather sheath bounced against his leg as he began his slow, but steady, pace westward. Isaac had told him to visit this Miss Ember and so Zane would honor his wish. Maybe she would know something that would help him find Isaac.

If his memory served him correctly the trip to the Skies base would be about two days long. Usually he and Isaac would hike to the small merchant town of Soras on the edge of the western woods and spend the night there so they would not have to travel through the wood at night. It was the quickest route, but not necessarily the safest. For one, Soras wasn’t known to be the friendliest town in all of Remoria. It was basically a black market of sorts where thieves would come to sell their recently acquired wares. Also the western woods were not a safe, peaceful place. There was only one safe pathway to the base in the north. The woods were filled with vicious beasts that would gladly devour any human brave enough, or stupid enough, to travel through their territory. This was all the better for Zane, the more beasts to kill the more points he gets and the closer he gets to rescuing his master. As for Soras, since he had been there a few times already he had learned the ways of the town and had made a few contacts to help him out. Whether or not they would help him now without Isaac was his only real worry. That, though, was a bridge he’d cross when he got there. Right now he had a long journey ahead of him.

“What I’d do for a horse right now.” The red head whispered to himself as he continued on his unbeaten path. The sun was nearing the end of its journey across the sky now and Zane had been walking this entire time save for one break. He had already cleared the small woods that surrounded the cabin a long while ago was now trekking through the hilly fields of the western planes. The terrain would not change too much from now till he reached Soras, though he should be intersecting a small river soon which would travel along with him for the rest of the journey.

Once the boy had finally reached the running water he took another break. Setting down his bag the young man began to disrobe. He was still an hour away from Soras and there were no other villages around so no one should mind if he took a quick dip. Soon his chiseled body was exposed to the skies, as he was quite eager to wash up. Not even bothering to fold up his worn clothes the young man jumped into the river causing a tower of water to shoot up and break the serene quiet. As the red head’s head emerged the water from his splash sprinkled on him like a quick shower. Zane relaxed his body as he enjoyed the flowing cool water around him. Some fresh water fish darted around his legs as they made their way downstream towards Soras. They were too small though for Zane to take the time to catch for food, instead he just appreciated being one among nature. As the setting sun set the sky aflame with reds and oranges Zane relaxed his eyes, taking in the quiet sounds of nature. He listened to the chirping crickets coming out for the night, the occasional splash of a fish catching a bug, the sound of horses racing in his direction.

‘Horses?’ Zane questioned as he opened his emerald eyes and turned to face towards the sound of the noise. In the distance, coming from the same direction as Soras, he could make out four horses and their riders seemingly chasing something… or was it someone? As the group came closer he could hear the cries of a woman screaming for help. Acting quickly the young man leapt out of the water. He quickly pulled on his cloth undergarment and his leather pants; he wasn’t about to leap to the rescue in the nude. By the time Zane had picked up his scimitar the young woman was already fully visible. She appeared to be around his age, 17 or 18, with short black hair and a wiry frame. She wore a sleeveless, patched up, brown cloth shirt, black cloth pants with holes, and a pair of leather sandals. If it was not for her feminine face and her high-pitched screams Zane might have mistaken her for a boy.

“Help me, sir! Help!” The girl cried, having seen Zane with his scimitar fully drawn. With a nod Zane began rushing toward her and the horseman who were catching up. The men on the horses were all large, very muscular men. They also wore cheap clothing like the girl but it was in a lot better shape than then hers. Their expressions showed their anger and a hint of malice towards the girl, giving away their bad intentions, and Zane would not allow something bad to befall and innocent girl.

The horses had almost overcome the girl by the time Zane had arrived. One of the men reached down to catch the girl by her hair, what he caught though was the young rescuer’s hand instead. Using the fact that the man had become unbalanced in order to grab his target, Zane pulled hard on the man’s arm yanking him from his saddle. His body hit the ground hard knocking him out and the momentum sent him rolling off to the left, nearly hitting both Zane and the girl. The other three horsemen saw the shirtless rescuer and quickly maneuvered so the three horses circled around him and the girl, like sharks.

“You have no part in this business, sir.” One of the men growled as he pointed his dented and beaten short sword at his bare chest. He was only a year or two older than both the boy and girl but the five o’clock shadow and grimy features made him appear a lot older. As the man snarled Zane could see that the man was missing quite a few teeth. They must have all been from the poorer side of Soras. The town’s gap between the rich and the poor was very large, it mostly depended who was the best thief or who had the best thieves working for them.

“Explain to me your business or I may be inclined to differ.” Zane replied, not lowering his blade. He wasn’t about to let some bullies push him around. The fact that the brunette was now quivering behind him, using his bare body to hide from the men only furthered his belief that these men were in the wrong. He placed his left hand on top of her right hand, which she had placed on his right shoulder, in hopes to calm her shaking.

“I do not have to explain myself to you; the girl belongs to me so just give her up.” The man replied as he dismounted his horse to approach the two. He kept his sword pointed at Zane as he reached with his left hand for the girl who was hiding behind him. The man had kept his eyes off the young boy, which was a mistake. With the blunt end of the blade he smacked the man’s sword arm out of the way. As he did so Zane took a step in and took the momentum of his sword swing to bring that same arm quickly back and smashed that elbow into the man’s chest. The blow pushed all the air out of the man’s lungs, causing him to drop his sword and take a few steps back. Zane tossed his blade into his left hand as he followed the man’s steps, keeping the distance between them close. With his now free left hand he took this opening to land a few more strikes. A quick uppercut to the man’s stomach made him keel over, still gasping for air. From here Zane sidestepped to the man’s left side and brought a hard elbow to the man’s spine. The large man quickly fell to the ground.

As this quick takedown occurred the other two men dismounted as well and were now charging at the boy with their swords drawn over their heads. The first man swung down hard at Zane as he turned around to face his attackers. The boy easily sidestepped the attack as he brought his sword up to block the second man’s vertical swing. The larger man put all his might into trying to push Zane’s blade down with his own, but Zane had sparred with Isaac for the past six years and compared to Isaac this man was nothing. Using the man’s own force against him he tilted his blade and stepped off to the side. The attacker stumbled forward only to be tripped by Zane’s foot.

The shorter of the two men, whom Zane had first dodged, charged at the redhead. The man swung down from his right shoulder, aiming to slash across the boy’s chest. Zane easily parried this attack with his sword and then landed a hard right hook on the man’s left check. He could feel the man’s jawbone crack and break against his knuckles. Following up with his momentum he brought his left hand up, scimitar still in its grasp, and smashed it up against the bottom of the man’s already broken jaw. This combo sent the man stumbling backwards, tripping over his partner who was just trying to get up.

Zane knelt down besides the two men on top of each other on the ground, as they were the only ones still conscious and mobile. His emerald eyes playfully looked them over, he had never had a real fight before and for his first time he thought he did pretty well. Of course none of these men were good swordsman, they seemed to put all their time into looking tough instead of training to be actually tough. Still though a fight was a fight, and it was four against one after all.

“I suggest you gather your friends and leave this girl alone.” Zane said it a calm, cool voice before standing up to face the girl her had just rescued.

“Thank you so much, sir, you saved my life!” She cried as she quickly ran over to him and threw her body onto his. Through her thin cloth top he could feel her beating heart pounding against her chest making it, in turn, pound against his own. On top of this he could also feel her body’s heat and the small buds, which proved to him once and for all that she was in fact a girl. Zane felt his face blush at this feeling and he quickly pulled his almost naked body from hers.

“I..it…it was n..nothing.” The young man stuttered in reply, his head turned the side to hide his reddening face. He was just doing what he thought was right, but he could not seem to articulate that into words that he could tell her. Instead he just let out a nervous laugh as he tried to look into her grayish blue eyes only to find himself all the more embarrassed.

“Is there anything I can do to repay you, mister?” The girl questioned as she approached him once again. She bit her lower lip in a coy manner as she traced her right hand from his right shoulder down his well sculpted chest. The touch of her soft hands against his skin made Zane’s hairs stand on end and as her palm ran over his nipple he found himself jumping backwards to get away.

“H..h..how about you just tell me your name?” Zane sputtered out, thinking quickly to find a way out of this awkward situation. He had never had a woman come on to him like this, so he had no idea how to deal with this. She had seemed like an innocent enough girl while she was being chased but now this young woman was completely different.

“Daphne, and your name my handsome hero?” the girl asked. Even though she was no longer touching him her voice carried the same sensual heat, which gave the redhead goosebumps.

“I am Zane… Well, it was nice meeting you Miss Daphne but I must be going.” The young fighter replied, finally regaining control of his words. He quickly bowed to the girl and turned around to where he had left his equipment. Before he could even take a step away Daphne’s voice stopped him.

“Okay, I guess I will just walk back to Soras all alone as the darkness of night overcomes me. I will probably just be jumped by some more men from a dark alleyway on my way back home.” The girl sighed aloud, over-dramatically.

“Alright, I will walk you back into town, but just let me grab my things.” Zane replied as he waved for the girl to follow him. She quickly caught up with and fell into step with the young man as they made their way back to the riverbed. Here Zane covered up his body once more and threw on his sheath, his master’s sword, and his bag of supplies.

“Wow, that is a huge sword and what fine craftsmanship. That thing must be worth a fortune.” Daphne admired as her eyes examined its entire length, paying attention to every little detail she could see from her position a few feet away. She moved closer to get a better look but as she reached out to touch it Zane turned to face her, moving the blade out of the way. The boy soon realized that this move to get the blade out of her reach had put his face inches from hers. This time he managed not to blush but just quickly took a step back.

“Please, Miss Daphne you can look at the sword all you want but you cannot touch it. It belonged to someone very dear to me.” Zane explained. He checked to make sure he had everything with him and once sure he began his walk towards their destination.

“It’s already getting dark, we should hurry back to Soras as quickly as possible. I have an early morning and a long journey so I would like as much sleep as I can get.” Zane said to the girl who had now gone back to acting innocent. He never understood woman and he did not think he ever would.

“Okay, Mr. Zane.” The tomboyish looking girl replied with a cute smile as she followed him a few paces behind, her eyes focusing on the giant blade on his back.

The pair followed the river the rest of the way to Soras. The river ran right through the town and then into the western woods on the other side. It was the main water source for the town and a form of passage through the western woods and to the west coast, though it did not go to the Skies’ base which was Zane’s destination. The town itself was split basically in half by the river and the people seemed to use this line to split themselves as well. The northern end of Soras is where the rich merchants lived while the southern end is where all the poor criminals and thugs lived and the very middle of the town, around the river, was where the markets were located. It was easy to tell which side of town you were on, the rich side was clean and well kept while the poor side was beat down and dirty. No one, though, on either side was to be trusted completely.

The two entered through the main entrance, which was a gate that had been left open without any guards. Being a thieves den there was no real police force in the town. The rich men and the gangs that worked for them instead ran the town. Zane knew that on his way to the inn he and Isaac usually stayed at, The Golden Clover, he’d have to go through a checkpoint run by one of the gangs.

“This is where we part ways, I guess.” Zane said as he turned to his female companion. Though she was a nice enough person he had not grown too attached to her in these past few hours.

“Wait, where are you spending the night?” Daphne questioned still playing innocent.

“I was going to get a room at the Golden Clover.” Zane replied already knowing where this conversation was going.

“Why don’t you sleep at my place? I could make you dinner and breakfast in the morning. It’s the least I can do to thank you.” The girl suggested. Before he even gave an okay she grabbed him by the wrist and led him up over a bridge to the poor district of Soras.

Zane did his best to remember the many turns on streets and alleyways they took until they reached their destination, but it was just too much. Finally, though, the tugging on his arm stopped and he found himself in front of a very large building.

“This is your hou..” Zane’s words were cut off as he felt a large object strike him in the back of the neck and his vision went black.