Flameheart soul of the frozen King

The Outlaw Camp

Mercy is a luxury that outlaws cannot afford.

"Wake up, fragile boy," a harsh, booming voice echoed above him.

Soren opened his eyes slowly. He was no longer lying in the bloody snow at the edge of the burnt forest. He was lying on a hard stone floor inside a massive cavern lit by flickering green torches. The smell of roasted meat, stale ale, and wet leather filled the damp air.

"Where am I?" Soren rasped, forcing his aching body to sit up.

"You are inside the Iron Teeth Stronghold," Kaelen said, stepping out from the shadows near the stone wall. She was still wearing her dark leather armor, though her ice daggers were missing from her belt. "We were pulled out of the blizzard right before that armored war beast could crush us."

"Who saved us?" Soren asked, testing his fingers to ensure his right hand was still covered.

"I did," a tall, heavily built man roared as he stepped into the torchlight. He had a thick beard, a bare chest covered in dark beast scars, and a heavy iron collar locked around his neck. "I am Varek. This mountain belongs to my outlaws."

"Varek the Unbroken," Soren said calmly, looking the big man up and down. "The legendary runaway tamer who wiped out three noble patrols in the western pass."

"So the kid has a mouth," Varek laughed, clapping his massive hands together. The sound echoed off the high cavern ceiling. "Listen to me, boy. I do not run a charity for weak refugees. The princess here told me you have rare skills, but to me, you just look like half a dead body."

"I do not need your charity," Soren replied, his voice flat and steady. "I only need a place to rest for two days."

"Rest?" Varek barked another loud laugh, stepping right into Soren's space until his giant shadow swallowed the boy completely. "No one sleeps under my roof for free. If you want food, shelter, and your life, you earn it in the pit."

"What pit?" Soren asked.

"The blood pit," Kaelen warned, her face tight with worry as she looked at Soren. "Varek, his mana channels are completely wrecked from the battle in the valley. He cannot fight down there right now!"

"Shut your mouth, princess!" Varek snapped, pointing a thick finger at her face. "Around here, if you cannot bleed, you do not eat. The boy fights, or I toss you both back out to the Iron Clan patrols searching the mountain foot."

Soren stood up, despite his knees shaking beneath his weak frame. "What are the rules of this pit?"

"Simple," Varek grinned, showing a mouth full of uneven teeth. "You go down into the cage. You fight whatever beast I drop inside. No swords, no daggers, and no tamed drakes to help you. Just your bare hands."

"Soren, do not do this," Kaelen whispered, grabbing his sleeve. "It is suicide. You barely survived using that dragon spell earlier."

"We need a safe base," Soren said, gently pulling his sleeve out of her grip. "If this brute only respects blood, then I will show him blood."

Ten minutes later, Soren stood at the center of a giant circular pit carved into the mountain bedrock. Hundreds of dirty outlaws stood along the high stone railings above, banging wooden mugs together and shouting for death.

"Bring out the beast!" Varek shouted from his high wooden throne above the arena.

A heavy iron gate on the far side of the pit groaned open. Slow, heavy footsteps echoed from the dark tunnel within.

A giant frost bear, standing twelve feet tall on its hind legs, lumbered out into the torchlight. Its thick white fur was matted with dark purple veins, and its eyes burned with a sickening, unstable black flame.

"What is wrong with that bear?" Kaelen called down from the upper ledge, her hand gripping the wooden railing tightly. "That is dark ice corruption!"

"That is right!" Varek yelled down, laughing maniacally. "I fed this beauty dark ice crystals three days ago! Its hide is hard as iron plates, and its mind is completely insane! It does not feel pain, boy! Let us see your slick tactics work on a monster that cannot be killed!"

The corrupted frost bear let out a wild, distorted roar that shattered three torch glass covers around the pit. It charged forward like a rolling avalanche, tearing deep gouges into the stone floor with its jagged dark claws.

"No weapons. No drake. Immune to physical strikes," Soren analyzed rapidly as the massive monster closed the distance in two seconds. "If I try to dodge, this weak body will tire out in less than a minute."

The bear swung a massive paw toward Soren's head, the black-veined claws cutting through the air with terrifying speed.

Soren ducked sharply to the right, feeling the cold gust of air graze his ear. The bear's claw slammed into the solid stone wall behind him, blasting shower of rock splinters into the air.

"He is fast!" an outlaw shouted from the upper deck. "But he cannot hurt that beast with bare fists!"

The bear turned wildly, swinging its heavy head back to snap its dark, foam-draped jaws at Soren's torso. Its movements were erratic, twitching uncontrollably from the dark ice corruption burning through its blood.

"Die, commoner! Run!" another outlaw screamed.

Soren did not run. He stepped back two inches, letting the snap of the bear's teeth miss his chest by a fraction of an inch.

"Soren! Move away!" Kaelen shouted, her voice laced with rare panic. "It is going to crush you!"

"Look at its neck," Soren thought, his pale eyes tracking the dark purple light pulsating underneath the monster's thick fur. "The corruption is centered in its magic core right at the throat. It is overloading."

The corrupted bear raised both of its heavy forelegs into the air, preparing to slam its full three-ton weight straight down onto Soren to crush him into a red paste.

Instead of rolling away to safety, Soren did the unthinkable.

He stepped directly into the falling shadow of the giant beast.

"Is he crazy?" Varek stood up from his throne, his jaw dropping open. "He is walking right under it!"

Soren reached up with both arms, thrusting his bare hands directly into the thick, freezing fur around the bear's throat. His fingers locked around the glowing purple core pulse point.

"What are you doing?" Kaelen gasped from the railing.

"Yield your dark fire to me!" Soren roared at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing with ancient, terrifying authority.

He did not use a weapon. He activated his forbidden soul technique, opening his inner mana channels to act as a vacuum.

A bright, violet shockwave erupted from the bear's throat. The creature froze mid-strike, its massive paws suspended in the air as it let out a horrifying, silent scream. The dark purple corruption flooding its veins began reversing its flow, pulling out of its skin and draining straight into Soren's bare hands.

"He... he is absorbing a wild beast core?" Varek whispered, his voice trembling for the first time. "Directly into his own body without a focus stone? That will blow his chest wide open!"

Black and purple lightning crackled across Soren's arms. The dark energy tore into his weak skin, causing black blood to leak from his nose and eyes. Pain beyond description flooded his nervous system, but Soren stood his ground, his feet tearing deep into the bedrock below as he held the massive monster in place.

"Drain!" Soren screamed through his bloody teeth.

The bear's glowing purple eyes slowly faded to dull gray. Its heavy, hard fur softened, and its massive three-ton body completely lost its power. With a quiet, heavy thud, the giant frost bear collapsed forward, falling stone dead at Soren's feet.

The loud, roaring arena fell into absolute, dead silence.

The hundreds of outlaws along the railings stopped shouting. Mugs were dropped to the stone floor. No one breathed.

At the center of the pit, Soren stood over the dead monster. He slowly turned his head upward, looking directly at Varek sitting on his high throne.

Soren opened his eyes fully. The pale gray color was completely gone. Burning out from his pupils was a bright, terrifying, ancient golden light that lit up the dark pit like twin suns.

"Is this strength enough for you, Varek?" Soren asked, his voice sounding like two heavy iron plates sliding over each other.

Varek sat back in his throne, his big hands shaking as he stared down at the golden-eyed boy in the pit. "What... what in the name of the old gods are you?"