Primordial Breaker

The sound of a fight echoed from the castle's courtyard. Watched by Melaine and a dozen ravens, Leander was in the middle of a fight. His opponent an undead ogre clad in black metal whom Melaine had summoned to give Leander 'a training dummy that punched back'. Hours had passed since the duel had first begun both, still, were moving with incredible speed as exhaustion meant nothing to the undead. With neither side having landed a substantial hit they carried on.

Raising its inhumanly large double-headed battle axe into the air, the ogre swung down, almost cutting Leander in half had he not stepped to the side at the last second slamming into the dirt. Pointing his sword forward, Leander thrust towards the ogre's chest. The attack did nothing but produce sparks as it grazed the breastplate.

Adjusting its grip on the battle axe, the ogre tore it from the dirt aiming towards Leander's chest. Its speed left Leander with no time to dodge. Swapping his sword to his left hand, Leander braced his right arm to take the hit. The force of the strike caused Leander to slide sideways, his feet kicking up dirt as his footing didn't move an inch – without wasting a second – Leander grabbed below the metal of the axe, pulling the ogre towards him – at the same time taking a step forward. Leander's blade flew forward towards the gap in the ogre's helmet.

The sound of clapping hands interrupted Leander's attack, along with the pleasant voice of the Lich Queen.

"Ok, ok enough. You know I don't actually want you two to kill each other right."

Leander and the ogre exchanged glares. The ogres' eyes – cyan flames burning behind the helmet's visor shifted towards Melaine. Leander huffed, lowering his sword as he let go of the ogre's weapon.

Bowing her head to the ogre, Melaine gestured to the courtyard exit.

"Thank you for your time, Merritt, you may return to your post."

Nodding to his queen, Merritt looked down at Leander. Slamming his large fist against his breastplate, the ogre's gruff voice boomed from behind his helmet.

"Is an honour to be the whetstone that helps hone the Hero's skill."

Without a further word, Merritt raised his axe into the air resting it on his broad shoulders and then left. Listening to Merritt's heavy footfalls grow quieter and quieter, Leander gave Melaine a glance.

"I find it hard to believe you have an ogre working for you. I may not remember much, but I remember some things, like how that race does not follow orders very well. Preferring to decide who is the strongest with strength."

Melaine slowly walked in circles around Leander as she formed her response.

"Any undead is welcome into my kingdom. If they tried to live in peace anywhere else, fear and suspicion would stalk them until a mob of righteous folk would burn them and break them. Only here are they safe to hope for a brighter future. Merritt has been under my watch for, oh I don't know, three hundred years or so. He likes to guard the gate to my castle, so I let him. Now."

Stopping on Leander's right side, Melaine bent down slightly inspecting his arm that had taken the brunt of Merritt's last attack.

"The armour held up well, a very comforting feat. If it had shattered from a small attack like that I don't know what I would have done. So many years and so many challenges, just for it to break. Oh, I probably would have cried!"

Laughing to herself, Melaine put a hand on Leander's shoulder for balance. Leander watched Melaine with a measured gaze of annoyance and disinterest.

"Melaine, has anybody ever told you you're kind of strange?"

Her laughter abruptly stopped. Melaine, stared at the ground for a second until she turned to Leander with a smile on her lips.

"Only once before. Now enough about me, the armour is intact, but what about you, your arm? Feeling, exhausted? In pain?"

"Now that you mention it."

Holding up his right hand, Leander flexed his fingers a few times.

"I don't feel exhausted, I assume because I'm not truly alive. But that doesn't explain why my arm hurts like hell.

Leander said, without an ounce of pain in his voice.

Melaine wafted her hand free hand as she shook her head.

"You feel pain because of how you were resurrected, but without a beating heart, you won't have to worry about bleeding out in the middle of a fight. So as long as you just handle the pain, I'm sure you'll be able to take on anything that moves."

"As if I will be able to kill anything with this."

Holding up his sword, Leander's gaze was bordering on disdainful. It was a simple, short sword, unremarkable. Made from steel, it was only slightly heavy, but Leander was able to wield it with great ease.

Melaine pulled back scratching her jaw as she looked away.

"Ah the sword, unfortunately, I was unable to either find or have something made that would be able to… Match your strength, so I went for the easily replaceable option should it break. Should worst come to worst you can also engage whatever beast or fiend you find in hand-to-hand combat."

Melaine found her last comment funny enough to warrant a small laugh. Ignoring this, Leander sheathed his sword with a reluctant sigh. Leander held his arm, the pain having dulled. Shaking his head he turned to look toward the gate – as the castle was raised higher than the land surrounding it – passed the gate the first light of dawn could be seen stretching across the land banishing the darkness away.

"What now?"

Turning, Melaine rested a hand on her hip.

"Getting restless are we?"

Crossing his arms, Leander turned away from the dawn to gaze at Melaine – the Lich Queen buried in the shadows cast by the tall walls of her castle's courtyard.

"You're the one who said your kingdom was in danger, under threat by a Demon King and a Goddess. Doesn't that make time a virtue? You brought me back to fight things, so where do you need me to go, and what do you need me to kill?"

"That is true, I guess I was just sad thinking about how long it will be until I see you again."

Reaching out of the shadows and into the light. Melaine ruffled Leander's fluffy white hair. In answer to her unprompted assault – Leander's eye twitched – reaching up he attempted to grab her hand but Melaine was able to evade his grapple, stepping away she began walking away from the light into her keep.

"Head east my Hero. I recently received news that Beasts have been pushing into my territory and harassing my villages, but my forces have been too busy dealing with the Church in the west."

Adjusting his hair – brushing his long fringe away from his eyes – Leander asked, confused.

"Head east, and then what? How am I supposed to find these Beasts with such little information?"

Melaine held a hand up to wave without looking back.

"Just head east, I'll send a friend who will help you find where you need to go. We'll be in touch, Leander."

Watching her walk away, Leander rubbed his brow.

'Would my life have been easier had I just stayed dead.'

Grunting he turned around departing from the Lich Queen's castle. Walking down the slanted steps that lead from the Lich Queen's castle into the village below, Leander set his gaze on the land beyond. Melaine's home, Funerary – the capital of the Undead Kingdom – resided on an almost disconnected chunk of land, that when the tide is in could almost be called an island except for a single road that connected it to the rest of the continent.

Passing through the village, it had come alive more, alive than Leo's last visit the night before. Leander and Merritt's sparring duel had lasted the entire night ending just before the rising sun. Now the hustle and bustle of daily life within Funerary began. Many undead left their homes to go about their business. Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, the list went on.

His head held high, Leander didn't pay the passersby any attention too focused on finding which road led to the entrance of the city. But the opposite was far from true, where ever Leander walked, whispers followed like a bonfire.

"Is that, is it really him?"

"Did the Queen actually achieve it? She brought the Hero back from a true death?"

"Our Queen really is amazing!"

"Where is he going, is he checking the city to make sure there is nothing that could threaten us?"

"What else, as expected of a Hero!"

Stopping, Leander looked around. Spotting a bookstore, Leander's eye twitched.

'That… Is the fifth time I've seen that exact bookstore. This place is like a maze.'

Grabbing the arm of a zombie man who was hurriedly about to walk past him. Leander looked down at the man, he asked a simple question.

"Excuse me, which way would I need to go to find the entrance? I am pressed for time."

The man's half-missing jaw hung open as Leander spoke to him, reaching up he moved his jaw as he spoke.

"U- uh um-"

After half a minute of stuttering, the man relayed the directions to Leander. With only a nod from Leander, he continued walking. Unbeknownst to him, Leander's question pushed the whispers that before were like a simple bonfire into a raging wildfire. Following one single line of reasoning.

"Did you hear that!? The Hero is pressed for time, he has just come from the Queen's castle and he's asking how to leave. That means our Queen has given him a mission!"

"Praise our Queen! Praise the Hero!"

Finally reaching the entrance to Funerary two hours after having finished talking with Melaine. Leander sighed.

'Could she have not just given me a map or something? It wouldn't have been easy, but it would be better than nothing.'

As he passed through the gate, he spotted a tall suit of armour holding a double-bladed axe stabbed into the dirt. About to walk past without a word, Leander paused for a second as Merritt's voice boomed within his helmet.

"I would have won had my lady not saved you."

Rolling his eyes, Leander didn't respond to the gatekeeper, distracted by a single thought.

'Is it too late to ask Melaine for a horse?'