Blackest Knight
Chapter 3
“Wake up maggot!”
John was awoken by the sudden yell. He snapped awake and was greeted to the sight of the changeling from yesterday. He never got a name, but the changeling right now looked angry, but John had no idea why. He was stuck in the goo, so he had no way of inciting the changeling’s anger. He soon realized however that it was more of a drill instructor angry.
“Time to get up and train,” the changeling ordered. He had brought a bowl of oats with him, with which he spoon fed John, who was forced to chew and swallow quickly to be ready for the next hurried spoonful. After John was fed, the changeling’s horn flared with energy and the goo around John was dissolved. John fell to the ground while the changeling moved to the door.
“Train?” John asked. His whole morning was fractured and he was still trying to figure out what was happening.
“Yes train, now get up.” The changeling ordered, opening the door leading out of the room. John hesitated and was rewarded with a sharp pain in the back of his head. He yelped while the changeling laughed. “That’s what happens every time you disobey an order, now get up.” John quickly got up and the pain instantly stopped. “Come on.” The changeling walked through the door.
“What are we doing? Why are we training?” John questioned while he followed the changeling through the hall beyond his room. The whole building seemed to resemble a castle with the texture of a bee hive. Understandable considering bugs built it.
“We are training you so you have a better chance of surviving the enhancements,” the changeling answered. “Last time we had an unprepared human, it got quite messy.” John had no idea whether the changelings were helping him in this respect then or merely pursuing their own goals. They walked in silence before reaching a large courtyard.
“Is he ready?” another changeling came from the other side of the courtyard to meet the two. This changeling seemed to be a bit bigger than the one John had been following, leading John to believe he might be a soldier, and had a large scar across his left eye, which was a cloudy white. The changeling was also eying John as well, and looked more than a little disapproving.
“Yes Halberd, now take him, I need to attend to my other duties.” The changeling returned through the doors and slammed them behind him.
“Now, have you ever handled a sword before?” The changeling, whose name John guessed was Halberd, asked.
John turned to Halberd before answering, “No.”
“That’s too bad,” Halberd went into a shed in a corner of the courtyard and returned with a large wooden sword and wooden halberd in his hooves. John was going to ask how he was holding them until the changeling threw the sword at him, nearly knocking him off his feet by the weight.
“This thing is nearly as tall as I am,” John stated the obvious.
“Yes,” Halberd replied. “We will train you to wield that and maybe smaller swords.”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to start me off with the smaller ones?”
“Celestia and Luna will not fall to weak weapons, and the weapon you will wield later on has been enchanted to kill both the sun and moon,” Halberd replied. John had no idea how to respond to the last statement, but realized that Halberd meant to spar with the way he was standing. He quickly grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands while Halberd continued his explanation. “That wooden sword has been weighted and balanced to mimic the God Killer.”
“What?” John had no idea why he needed a sword that could kill gods. Didn’t they want him to overthrow the princesses?
Halberd obviously thought he was talking about the wooden sword, “The wooden sword feels exactly like God Killer does, so you will have no trouble switching between the two.” John was about to explain his question, but Halberd gave him no chance before saying, “Defend yourself,” and readying his halberd.
“Wha…” was all John could manage before pain exploded in his knee. Halberd had struck his knee with the staff of his weapon. John barely had enough time to fall to his knees before Halberd spun his weapon in a mighty ark, the axe head connected with John’s head the second his knees hit the ground.
John was revived a few minutes later after the medic changeling arrived. He awoke to a conversation between Halberd and the new arrival.
“He probably has a concussion,” the unfamiliar voice stated.
“I guarantee he does,” Halberd’s gravelly voice came as John opened his eyes.
“It looks like he is waking up,” the medic said, getting closer to John. “Don’t get up too fast, let me heal your concussion first.” John felt the headache he just now noticed begin to fade. “Name is Ditto,” The medic said.
“The maggot doesn’t need your friendship Ditto.” Halberd cut in.
“He needs my name, how else is he going to refer to me when he finally knocks you out cold.”
Halberd shot daggers at Ditto for the snide remark. “I haven’t been beaten once in combat, even unfairly. This maggot is far from beating even our novices, it will be a long time before he could hold himself against me.”
“Then why did you spar with him?” Ditto cocked his head.
“I needed to see what his skill were before I partner him with anyone else. As it stands, he’ll be training with the novices for a good while.”
“After only one sparring match?”
“Of course. He fell in only two strokes, didn’t even move his sword. He obviously needs to learn the basics first. A lot of basics.”
Ditto chuckled, “Did he even know you were sparring?”
Halberd paused before answering, “What?”
“If I know you, you probably just said ‘Defend yourself’ before assaulting him, right?”
Halberd paused before grumbling. “Fine, I will give him another round.”
John felt that no one asked his opinion, he was fine with the novices, as long as Halberd wasn’t teaching. Before he could voice his opinion, however, Ditto pressed the large wooden sword into his hand and stood him up. John still felt awkward having lost so badly to a miniature horse barely up to his chest.
Halberd was obviously more than a little angry that his judgment had been questioned. He readied his halberd again, giving John enough time to ready his weapon as well. The large sword was a bit unwieldy, but John almost felt it becoming more of an extension of himself. The feeling felt almost natural, but John had never seen a real sword, much less wielded one. He was snapped from his contemplation as Ditto said, “ready.”
“I will not hold back maggot,” Halberd threatened.
“Spar!”
Halberd rushed at John immediately, aiming at his leg once again. John felt the world slow slightly as the staff targeted his knee once again. He reflexively brought his sword across his body and barely got it between the staff and his knee in time. The staff was deflected with a solid Thwok. John’s amazement was cut short as the changeling quickly spun and used the staff to sweep his legs. John was suddenly upside down in the air. The world seemed to slow again as he saw the head of the halberd coming to meet his face. He quickly blocked it with his sword, but the force spun him faster and knocked the sword from his grip. John landed upon his face and cartwheeled a few feet before sliding to a stop on his back.
“Good, but not good enough,” Halberd suddenly appeared above him, pointing the spear tip of the halberd at John’s throat. They stayed in this position, with John on his back and the changeling standing over him, before Halberd withdrew his weapon. He reached out his other hoof to help John up.
John sparred with Halberd for a few more hours, Ditto standing to one side in case John was knocked unconscious again. John felt himself improving slowly. The weight of the sword began to feel natural, though John knew not why. Ditto finally called an end to their session when he noticed both human and changeling were tiring, the latter less than the former.
“I think it’s about time to get something to eat,” Ditto went to get them food.
“Do you mind if I ask a couple questions?” John asked after Ditto departed.
“You have earned a bit of my respect, not many learn sword fighting so easily, especially with swords of a heavier caliber. Ask away.”
John mulled over his questions briefly before asking, “The sword you are wanting me to use is called God Killer, right?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Aren’t I supposed to just overthrow the two princesses? I was never told about any god.”
Halberd laughed heartily before answering. “I forgot you do not know much of these lands. Let me tell you a little story.” Halberd launched into a summarized history of Equestria. John was incredulous of the fact that the princesses controlled the sun and moon, and stated so, which elicited another laugh from Halberd. Ditto returned during the story with three bowls. Two held a pink, milky substance, while John was given another bowl of oats. Ditto helped provide information where Halberd was lacking, and answered John’s many questions. They finished and focused on eating until John caught a glimpse of what the changelings were eating.
“What is that that you two are eating?” John asked.
The two changelings looked at each other and laughed again before Ditto explained. “We do not require the regular sustenance of normal beings, changelings feed instead upon love. Usually we draw it from the air, but hunters must bring it back to the hive somehow. They capture the essence in special jars before bringing the jars back to the hive to be processed into a liquid substance and stored for those who cannot hunt themselves, or have other duties that prevent them from hunting.”
John could not help but ask, “Love?”
The changelings laughed once again before simply answering yes. John decided to drop the subject before he became even more confused. Ditto looked downtrodden that he would not be able to launch into a biology lecture. Halberd looked relieved. Though John dismissed that topic, he had another question.
“How can you hold weapons with your hooves?”
Ditto seemed to perk up that he could answer this question, “We have inherent magic within us that we can channel into our hooves to create a sort of selective telekinesis field. This allows us to manipulate objects like weapons much akin to your hands, but we are a little more nimble. The strength of the field is also tied to our strength, much as it is to yours. We can pick up a brick, but not the entire castle.”
John guessed that made sense, if he did not dwell upon the fact that magic was prominent in this world. “One more question.”
“Okay,” Ditto responded.
“Why is your name Halberd?” John looked at the changeling in question and noticed he became grim, Ditto looked nervous, and was about to change the subject until Halberd answered.
“I don’t tell many about the origins of my name. Few outside Ditto and the Queen know. But you have earned enough respect to know. My original name was not Halberd, and I was once a captain of the Queen’s army,” Halberd got a faraway look in his good eye. “One day, I was leading my squad in a patrol when we were attacked by assassins. They outnumbered my squad almost three to one, and over a quarter were slaughtered before we knew what was happening. We began fighting back, but it was nearly hopeless. That was when my best friend, my second in command, was killed in front of me. I lost control, and should have called a retreat, but I only saw red. I was the only living thing to leave the battle, my only serious injury was the scar on my eye. When I returned, the Queen stripped me of rank to punish me for the needless loss of the soldiers. She also stripped me of my name to shame me, and dubbed me after my weapon. To the rest of the hive, I was pronounced dead. Only a nameless soldier had returned. Now I am only useful to the hive as drill instructor and quartermaster.”
John was left nearly speechless, “I…I’m sorry…”
Halberd dismissed it, “Let us return to training.
John continued training under Halberd for almost two months. He steadily improved, and spars against Halberd got longer and longer, but were always one sided. John also sparred against other changelings, but more losses were recorded than wins. Physical training was also a daily exercise. John preformed the training four times a day to improve his strength, stamina, and speed. His body became stronger, yet his heart always traveled back to his home. His girlfriend was always on his mind during any breaks he got, and he could feel any changelings in the vicinity draining upon his love, but he was no longer weakened by the feeding.
Days before the mark of his second month in the hive, his caretaker, whom thought John was below him and could not be graced with his name, disrupted his morning exercises.
“Come with me,” The changeling commanded. John obeyed, only because he learned the changeling was not above punishing any hesitation. He followed the changeling to a room in a different part of the hive than he had been before.
“What is this room?” John asked.
The changeling smirked, “This is the room in which we will inject the enhancements.”