The Cyclopians: Argonm Ambushed, Cynlocked on Target

The trees glimmered with sunlight in the forest as Argonm and Arak were fast approaching the border of Amunum. They were one step closer towards the molten mountains. All seemed to be going off without a hitch, when suddenly a load crunch was heard and a tree fell in front of them blocking their path. Argonm stepped over it somewhat easily, but he and Arak both instinctively knew that it was meant to be an ambush and that they were being watched. Arak spoke to Argonm using the unique magic he had developed "We should flee, Cyclops roam the area and some are a threat. Even for you."

"Understood" whispered Argonm and he increased his gait. Arak looked between the trees as their pace increased. He has spotted a few smaller cyclops, likely the ones who had knocked down the tree earlier. The cyclops kept their distance among the trees and Argonm gained speed and they got closer and closer to clearing the forest.

"They are among the trees... and it's almost as if they are waiting for something" Arak spoke into Argonm's mind.

Suddenly the trees in front of them bent and a shadow was looming over them. A great elder cyclops even larger than Argonm parted the trees and stood before them. Argonm prepared for battle and Arak braced for sudden movement. Surprising enough instead of moving in for the attack the cyclops spoke.

"I am Cynlock, leader of this tribe, you must not remember me." the cyclops paused "but I remember you." he bellowed. Arak used his magic to translate the conversation between the two larger than life warriors.

"What are you talking about" Arak telepatied to Cynlock.

"Back in the times of warring tribes, you dueled my grandfather when I was hardly a runt, and you slew him where he stood. Even when he set the rules, it didn't matter. He fell in seconds all the same. You didn't even let him strike his return blow. Too scared of what he'd do?" Cynlock spoke, gradually getting louder and louder and his anger granted his words more emphasis the more he recollected.

"I saw nothing as monstrous as what I saw that day, we raised livestock what had we done to deserve it? Want our own independence? So you killed him? And after that my older siblings moved here and we started this tribe. Well, look where all those duels lead you. The giants divided and scattered and almost as battered and irrelevant as you yourself" Cynlock laughed guffawing at his own humor. Argonm looked visibly upset as he adapted a more offensive stance. With his shield offset to be able to perform a riposte. They were numerous meters apart and Argonm would have to close the distance. To his disadvantage Cynlock had chosen a location with numerous boulders.

"As much as I loathe you, I respected the honor you showed my grandfather until the end. You treated him as an equal. So I challenge you to a duel, just like my grandfather" The Cynlock flexed his muscles and reached into the ground pulling up a large boulder of sod and heaving it above his head. Argonm whispered something indecipherable to Arak. Arak then telepathied to the cyclops Argonm's message.

"On one condition. I won't kill you." Arak spoke.

"What? What nonsense sort of condition is that? Alright then die like a coward, Hrmmphhh" Cynlock grunted with strain as he slung the blouder towards Argonm.

Argonm thrust his shield forward with exacting force. The first boulder was cast aside by the shield. Cynlock looked a bit shocked, but this fleeting moment of surprise did not last long. Soon
Anything more or less would not has resulted in the boulders being deflected every with every shield strike. Argonm pushed forward to bash the cyclops with his shield and land another blow with the butt of his spear to the windpipe in quick succession.
Argonm dodged the boulder and advanced rapidly hitting the cyclops with the butt of his spear in the stomach. Then the windpipe. The cyclops brought his left fist down upon Argonm's shield, but Argonm withstood it; However, he couldn't withstanding without stoping to brace for impact.
"This cyclops is must faster than his ancestor" Argonm thought.
"There's something off about this one"

Cynlock swung another blow at Argonm and it was almost as if his eyes deceived him but he evaded well before. It's almost as if his arm began to speed up to incredible speed as he swung, starting at a speed that was almost still. His starting position being that of throwing a boulder or delivering a downward strike.
Argonm has figured it out.

"Impressive" he thought. "A fighting style all his own, simple but effective I can't tell if he's going to attack at range or up close. Formidable indeed. He truly has trained to a peak of excellence." Argonm had already mentally prepared the footwork for his advance as a professional dancer would. His parry and advance was accompanied by the shield in a strange overhead position.

"Hahahahaha what a silly stance, you think that you are faster than I am? Your giant footsteps are dreadfully slow I know exactly where you're headed" Cynlock snarled, but Cynlock's eye was wide this was not what he was expecting to face.

Argonm's footsteps weren't slow due to lack of potential speed but a different sort of deliberate footstep. Almost as if a panther were bounding slowly from a great distance. Cynlock's vision wasn't the greatest and his depth perception was close to nothing. But he could recognize the edges of a smile when he saw it, a cold calculated smile. The imminenet dread set in and Cynlock began to throw boulders at Argonm one after the other. Argonm's arm and shield moved in a blur. Syncipated to the exact location the boulder wouldve struck. Altering it's trajectory just enough to veer avoiding Argonm's arm and sheild held above his head. He would quickly and accurately deliver a shield strike to the boulder as it was coming in. Both with angle force and speed of matching the cyclops exactly. Cynlock's eye grew wide again with terror, but then calmed. He adopted a different stance and strained and flexed his arms legs and every visible muscle that Argonm could see.
Argonm thought to himself "Now he's just waiting for the up close attack, utilizing every muscle for greater speed. How clever, he thought about how each generation of cyclops had fought him in the tribes located near where his giant brethren had their hold. He thought about how most of them dueled to the death or until unconsciousness (if they decided to use a helmet or were just that heavily boned), Cynlock's grandfather was a terrifying cyclops. Purple tatoos all along his body carrying a tree branch, he had tempered his skin with fire until it was hard as steel, a ferexian ritual that he adopted exclusively for this battle. Cynlock misunderstood why Argonm had killed him that day, and not let me deliver a single blow. It wasn't due to cowardice, oh no it was due to the fact that Hu'Ra'Kal (Cynlocks grandfather) decided that his duel of choice would be an exchange of blows. Very simple, but potenitally brutal end to either of their lives. And he did not kill him because he felt like Hu'Ra'Kal was an unworthy opponent if anything it was because he saw in his grandfather's eyes a certainty. A certainty that his blow would end Argonm's life, he also saw a malice he had never seen in an opponent before. The malice and hatred of one with nothing to lose fighting the one who made him lose it all. A desire to leave Argonm's blood a mist in the forest and his body a mere memory. He didn't flinch as Argonm returned the gaze with that of a cold professional soldier, a gaze that had seen countless victories all calculated and thought all. A gaze that had seen the life run out from many an opponent, and forgets none. A gaze that Argonm only possessed in the greatest heat of battle. And to this gaze Hu'Ra'Kal Cynlock's grandfather only smirked and said "I'm still gonna kill ya when it's my turn, well come on. What are you wai--" Hu'Ra'Kal had learned a few sentences for the fight. He wanted Argonm to know that he was certain his return strike would him, but Argonm's strite stone spear struck into his neck and blood spurted forth as his slumped to the ground. His smirk still on his face. A deathrattle gasping from his lips and his legs wobbled as his grabbed for his neck and began to stand again. His eyes burning just as strong, almost as if this was the outcome he expected.

"This isn't the last you see of me, Now it's my turn" he whispered as he drew his last breath and his body abruptly fell and he was prone and in a puddle of his own blood. Hu'Ra'Kal may have killed him with that strike, Argonm hazarded to guess what would've happen if the cyclops had been granted the first blow. He was lucky he had the overconfidence in his steelskin to let Argonm go first.

Argonm's thoughts of Hu'Ra'Kal were brought back to the present by Cynlock laughing boisterously.

Argonm smiled even wider. He thought of how proud Hu'Ra'Kal would have been of his grandson. Was this how Hu'Ra'Kal would strike back against Argonm? Whether he thought this would be his return blow or not Hu'Ra'Kal's training was apparent in Cynlock's movements. Argonm saw the same tensing of the muscles he had seen in his grandfather being used in Cynlocks techniques. This time, instead of being implemented to resist an impact a milisecond before Argonm's blade struck he was using it to move his appendages with god-like speed. He thought about how the first cyclops he had to duel merely wanted to duel him in arm wrestling match of mere brute strenth and how far they've come. Argonm had such a respect for the determination of these warriors.
"Well have at it then" Argonm yelled.
Cynlock's eye grew cold. And a much more sinister grin took his lips and Argonm prepared to strike with shield and spear at the same time. Not giving Cynlock a mode to defend barehanded. "Why was he smiling like that?" Argonm thought. That smile was the smile of a grenadier with an extra satchel charge in retainer "just fer surpsise".

Before Argonm could react Cynlock swung both his arms, much to Argonm's surprise, directly at Argonm's dual strike. Cynlock's left arm hit Argonm's shield with perfect precision to parry. Despite the blow not being strong enough to overwhelm Argonm by any means. It was a strike used to push off from Argonm's shield just enough to gain further momentum in his left arm. Argonm's eye's went blank and his body began to react on years of battlefield experience. Without thought Argonm's spear swung is a deadly spiral nearly severing Cynlock's arm while the side of Argonm's shield delivered a decisive blow. Blood gushed forth from Cynlock's arm, while the shield Cynlock's neck hard. Not lethal but with great force.

"Cynlock had used the impact from his one lighter strike to deliver a greated blow on my attacking side as a riposte. It's amazing how far they've come. This wasn't the sort of thing gained through training, this was the sort of technique gained through battle. A fake double strike, concealing a riposte at increased speed" Argonm thought to himself. "That blow would've severed my right leg right from it's knee and easily broken the other." If he hadn't used the bladed end of his spear to deter the blow there would've likely be a successive blow to finish him off with his newly acquired void in his defense.

In an instant Cynlock was gasping for air on the ground. The other members of his tribe flooded from the trees to his aid and Argonm bounded deeper into the forest. Arak held onto his hood so it wound not fall backward with the increased speed at which they traveled.

"I didn't know you had to duel Cyclops" Arak said.

"I had to duel a lot of warriors. But the cyclops had a pride in dueling like few I have encountered. They always pushed me to the limits of my experience as a duelist. Having to utilize every style of fighting and strength and weapon at my advantage" Argonm said sullenly.

"Some with too much honor and pride to lose a duel and live on, others merely living to defeat me" He said as his eyes became saddened. Argonm stopped and turned around. "I was a glorified enforcer not a duelist" Argonm said as he quickly returned to the site of their encounter.

"What in gloridax are you doing?" Arak replied directly into Argonm's head.

"We're going back. We can't let Cynlock die, I doubt those cyclops will be able to assist" Argonm said. The cyclops scattered on his return. Arak knew why Argonm needed to do this. He promised he wouldn't kill him, and he knew Argonm didn't want to leave even a chance.

"Ha, this wound won't kill me" Cynlock said as blood continued to pour from the opened gash cleaved into his forearm. However without Arak's magic these words fell upon Argonm as gibberish.

"Heal him" Argonm said. Arak jumped off Argonm's shoulder and his hands grew green with healing magic and from the wound the first thin strands formed a paper thin layer of skin and began to sow itself over to stop the bleeding. It would be quite some time until all the layers of the dense cyclopian dermis had been healed.

"Why are you doing this?" Cynlock asked confused. Argonm looked to arak who began translating. Once Argonm knew what the cyclops said he replied.

"I said I wouldn't kill you. I always keep my word against an honorable warrior. Your grandfather was honorable too. I killed him because I knew if he had his blow it would've ended my life, the only reason I won that day was that he let me have the first strike. He also had developed a technique to withstand my strike, even though it failed. It was only off by a fraction of a second and caught me by surprise. Were he just a fraction faster he'd be alive and I'd be dead. I will always remember his name Hu'Ra'Kal, a truly great warrior." Argonm said with reverence as he sat next to Cynlock who was lying on the ground.

"Well since you won the duel, I grant you passage throught this forest." Cynlock said trying to remain somber but a single large tear began to well in his eye, trying his best to not show how these words effected him.

Cynlock began to spoke. "You know he wanted to kill you right? Not for glory, not for wealth, but because you killed the village guardian before him. Since we had no other cyclops trained in battle. We were expecting our champion to win, so the whole village only produced one warrior that season. But after your duel a band of molten ogre thugs took his family away we were helpless to stop them. He never heard from them since and assumed they were dead." Cynlock finally started to cry. "Why couldn't you have saved our champion then? Why me?" Cynlock let a tear roll down his face.

Argonm began to reply, his eyes looking into the distance. "He set the conditions, and he told me "If I don't win, my son will get ya and my son's son. I fight for no more tribute to your chieftan. We hardly have enough for ourselves, and the only reason we can't be free is that we can't beat you." Argonm said "He called for a fight to the death, to finally end my tribe's opression of your people. I'm sure he had not the faintest idea of defeat in his mind. Neither did I, but it was then I started to wonder..." Argonm looked as if made of melancholic stone.
They sat in silence as the mending continued. The tension could be felt as thick as a gelatinous cube.

"I suppose it's not that much of a delay." Arak talked to himself "plus We're almost to the Burning Lands. That means the mountains, maybe Magnor, Huh? huh?" Arak responded.

Argonm smiled, he almost forgot why they had come this far in the first place. They continued ever closer to the Molten Mountains, not knowing that the journey was merely just beginning. They had only merely exited the forest to begin the trek to the Burning Lands. Little did they know Ferexia would not be nearly as they expected. Hu'Ra'Kal's final strike wasn't complete. Argonm would regret the condition he had set, for Cynlock's grandfathers plans were more sinister then either of them could ever realize.

Above Image augmented by AI

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