The After Effects

One Hundred Battles

Thesaurus Dictionary:

Acer (Adjective): Someone or something exhibiting expertise in some activity.

~~~~~~

I could tell I hit home as Soren's eyes flickered darkly. I thought he was not going to answer for the longest time.

"My father sent me away at the age of 14 when my mother died. 14 is an important age for any young boy and I didn't have my father." Soren sighed.

I did some quick mental math. Knowing that the queen died during the first year of the Plague, I knew I was ten when the Plague started. Therefore Soren and I are four years apart. Making him 25 years old while I sit at 21 years old.

"I saw him on several occasions, and every single time I saw him he was always talking about this Acer guy. Apparently my father saw all of his fights, from the very first to the last one." Soren explained.

Wow, I didn't realize that the King sat through all one hundred of my fights.

Oh right, you read that right. I fought one hundred battles in the Northern Arena from the ripe age of 14 to 18 years old. That's roughly 25 battles a year and I barely had two weeks to recover from each fight before my father was forcing me into that retched arena again.

After my hundredth battle, I was deemed the Acer. Because if there's one thing I'm good at in this current day in age, it's killing.

By some miracle, my father granted me my freedom after I fought and won one hundred battles. That's when Locke and I were finally able to get away from the North and came here.

My title of Acer always haunted me. It always struck fear in people because it claims me as a killing machine with no remorse and well that may be true sometimes, I like to think that there's still some light in my heart.

The battles I fought were always more difficult as they progressed, a test from my father I realized at some point. Sometimes I fought more than twenty men in one battle. So although I fought one hundred battles exactly, my body count was so much higher than that, roughly nearing a thousand.

That's why people trembled and ran at my title, because I single-handily killed more than a thousand trained warriors in my teen years.

My brother was there for every fight too. See he was dad's favorite of the three siblings, probably because he was the only male. He got to sit next to Dear Old Dad, DOD, on the podium, watching as I fought for my life at least two times a month. Locke even got to stay in a nice room, while after every fight I was sent back down to my dungeon cell.

To be honest, my cell was a comfort. I spent my time in there reading educational books and healing from my latest fight. Locke would join me, usually slipping me whatever medical item I needed to heal whatever ailment was weighing me down. He also helped teach me how to write and read to the fullest extent.

Locke is the reason I'm still alive to this day, whether it be from the physical support or mental support he provided, I owe him my life.

Soren's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"My father always pushed me to train harder and be like this Acer. Whenever I did do something, I always felt overshadowed by this person that I've never even met." Soren said, his hands spread in frustration as he ranted.

I realized why he hates the Acer. He's Jealous.

"So you hate the Acer because you feel that he took your father from you?" I asked, my voice soft.

"Exactly." Soren sighed, his blue eyes looking up to me showing vulnerability.

"So you think the only way to get your father back is to kill the Acer?" I asked.