Burdens

“Have you grown lax over the past few years?”

*Bang*

“Why are you so slow?”

*Boom*

“Not bad; but that wouldn’t catch anyone off guard. At least, it won’t catch any sensible person off guard.”

*Bang*

“Did you somehow become stupid in the time I was away? How can you call yourself a Scholar with such silly tactics.”

*Boom*

“Huh? Are you really my student? And is that pitiful thing the staff I gave you? Do better Aegeus.”

*Boom*

Aegeus was sent flying backwards as he struggled to stabilize himself. Next to him was Abe. The former prince was wiping blood off his lips with a large frown on his face. His body was riddled with superficial injuries of various sizes, the largest being the one on his abdomen. The depression in the earth he stood on and the Abe-sized engraving in that very depression told the story of what had caused his injuries. While Abe and Aegeus looked miserable, their states were better than the others around them.

Jake and John, the ones known as the Hydra Twins, were t