PREVIOUSLY ON IMMORTALITY

Wait!" I said, finally gaining their attention. "What is going on here? What is a harbinger and who the fuck is this?" I asked.

"I am Achilles." He simply said.

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Now I know I had heard that name before. I just couldn't remember where I had heard it.

"So. Derek Bryan. What kind of name is that?" Achilles asked. I barely knew him and I could already tell he was annoying.

"Achilles. What kind of name is that?" I replied back.

"You're a feisty one I see." He said.

"I only bite when you threaten me."

"Am I?"

"Are you?" I replied as we now stood face to face with each other. The silence was deafening as Achilles and I stared at ourselves.

"Don't try it man. You don't stand a chance." Jake said, finally breaking the silence.

"Don't underestimate me." I replied. I could see Achilles smile as I looked at him at the corner of my eye.

"Man you are annoying." He said.

"Lucky me. We have that in common."

"What do you want captain?" Achilles said, changing the topic.

"He is going to the pit in a few days. He's unprepared. The judges have asked that you train him in combat." Catherine stated.

"And why would I do that?" Achilles asked.
"Because he will die if you don't." Jake spoke up. I could tell he was trying to make fun of me. I decided to let him off the hook this time.

"How is that my problem?" Achilles said, as he moved away from us, heading towards one of the doors. Catherine and Jake quickly followed him. I did same reluctantly. I didn't know who he thought he was. But if he thought I needed him, he was mistaken.

"Cmon Achilles. We need him." Catherine kept trying to persuade him.

"You, need him. Not me. Besides. He is way too arrogant. There is nothing I could possibly teach him. To learn the art of combat, you need self discipline. He doesn't have that."

"That, I can agree on." Jake added.

We now came to a huge room filled with various kinds of battle apparel.

"Teach it to him then." Catherine pleaded.

"I don't have that luxury Catherine. Besides, I stopped being the sensei of Elysium long ago. Why bring him to me?"Achilles asked.

"You know what? I'm done with this. I will do this on my own." I said, heading to the door. "I'll wait in the car." I added.

They said nothing as I walked out.

"You see? Arrogant. I can't train that." Achilles finally spoke up again.

"Cmon Achilles. You have to train him. He can't survive the pit, let alone the raging force of Ares." Catherine continued to plead.

"I am not Elysium's trainer anymore." Achilles replied.

"I know. But you are still it's finest warrior. I'm not asking this as a duty. I'm asking it as a favor. For a student and friend." Catherine said. Achilles kept mute for a while.

"Fine. I'll do it. If only you will teach the discipline to him." Achilles said.

"You want me to fight him?" Catherine asked.

"We have to know how strong he is. Plus I want to know if you still remember your training."

"I literally just won against you."

"No you didn't. And you know my moves......Some of my moves. But not his." Achilles replied.

"I do this and you accept to train him?" Catherine said.

"Deal." Achilles replied.

"I'll go get him then." Jake said, and walked out the building.

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Jake and I approached the arena. Catherine and Achilles stood in the center of it so we joined them. As we stood before them, sharing glances at each other, none said a word. Catherine walked up to me and stood before me so close enough I thought she was going to kiss me. She just stood before me saying nothing.

"What?" I said.

"Achilles is training you." She replied.

"No he is not." I retorted

"Yes he is and that's final." She said.

"So what? You're controlling me now. May I remind you that you do not own me. I can leave Elysium whenever I want."

"Shut up harbinger. Your arrogance is sickening." Achilles jumped in.

"Watch it old man. Don't call me that. Whatever it means." I warned.

"Or what?" Catherine defended.

"Stay out of this."

"Or what?" She repeated, staring right into my eyes with so much anger. I felt my powers surge through my veins as I folded my hands into a fist. Achilles took notice of it.

"Perfect. It seems you're in a fighting mood. Cmon. Show us what you're made of." Achilles said, stepping out off the arena together with Jake. Only Catherine and I were left standing right in the middle of it.

"This is how it's gonna be. Defeat me and you get to leave Elysium." She said.

"And if I loose?" I questioned.

"You stay and train to be the harbinger." She answered.

"A harbinger? What are you talking about?"

"Defeat me and you will find out." She said and took few steps back.

"Any rules?" I asked.

"Go crazy." She replied.

Suddenly, the ground on which we stood begun to sink a little deeper into the ground. Jake and Achilles stood above us as a huge wall circled the arena. Finally it stopped when it had gone a few meters down.

Just then, two sections of the wall opened up. One behind me and one on the opposite side behind Catherine. I turned back to see an inventory of weapons. Spears, Swords, helmets, and shields. The shields were actually some kind of  Vambrace that morphed into shields.

I grabbed a Spartan helmet much like the one Achilles had, an average sized vambrace shield and a katana. Catherine picked up a helmet,a spear and a shield.

"I don't want you holding back." She said.

"If it means getting out of here, trust me I won't." I replied.

We both put on our helmets and drew out our weapons. Then as if on cue, dashed out towards each other. As we got closer, I leapt up into the air and came down on her with a heavy vertical slash. She jumped back, evading my attack and replied with a quick thrust towards my left chest which I evaded by leaning to my left shoulder back and replying with a horizontal slash, but she quickly raised her hand, allowing the vambrace to quickly morph into a shield that blocked the attack before swinging the spear heavily against my legs, knocking me off my feet.

I groaned as I crushed into the ground with a big thud. The shock rippled through my body. She circled me, waiting for me to get back up to my feet.

I quickly got back to my feet, narrowing my eyes at her. She stood still and looked at me. Then she attacked with a powerful vertical swing which I blocked with the morphed shield and countered with a spinning horizontal slash but she ducked, giving her the opportunity to bash me on the stomach with the shield. The force sent me back a few steps and she quickly followed up with a powerful thrust as she leapt into the air. I quickly brought up my shield to block but wasn't quick enough to block her follow up spin attack as the wooden part of the spear sent me tumbling to the ground with a heavy and painful hit straight to my face.

"Get up." She said as she circled me once more.
I realized she wasn't fighting me. She was humiliating me.
I slowly got up and dropped the shield. It was of no use anyway.

"You're sure you wanna do that?" She asked. I said nothing. I had only the katana in my right hand. Narrowing my eyes at her I dashed towards her. She stood her ground, trying to anticipate my move.

As I got closer to her, I slid between her widely opened legs. She quickly turned around, attempting to block a vertical slash from me with her spear held horizontally in front of her but the katana cut it in two. Without wasting time, I kicked her hard on her chest, causing her to tumble and fall over backwards but quickly got back up. I didn't allow her the breathing space. I introduced a heavy slash towards her head area but she quickly ducked right under my arm so that she stood behind me and slapped both halves of the spear hard at my back whiles ducking behind my arm once more so that she now stood in-front of me. She didn't hesitate in kicking me in the stomach with her right leg. Anticipating that, I caught hold of her leg and swept her other foot off the ground with my right foot causing her to fall heavily on the ground.

She wasted no time in getting back up to her feet.

"You dare touch a lady?" She said.

"You don't want me holding back remember?" I replied.

"Okay. I'm ending this." She said and performed a thrust toward my left and right chest respectively. I quickly blocked both with my sword respectively. Then she made a thrust for my torso which I blocked with the sword and cut short using the katana before she could withdraw it. She then drew out a sword I didn't know she had.

I slashed horizontally towards her chest followed by another towards her right hip. She blocked both with the sword and countered with a spin slash aimed for my left waist which I also blocked, replying with a thrust toward her abdomen. She stood sideways to the left as the blade went past her stomach and she countered with a head slash which I ducked to evade, giving me the chance to slice her on the right calf but she anticipated that and quickly stabbed the sword into the ground right beside her foot, blocking my attack and replying with an upward thrust towards my jaw. I leaned back to evade and quickly blocked her follow up horizontal slash towards my chest.

I performed a heavy vertical slash toward her shoulder. Anticipating the move, she blocked with the shield and replied with the same attack, but I leaned my shoulder back and replied with a thrust aimed for her neck. She stood sideways once more as the blade missed her neck by few inches, giving her the chance to elbow me right in the nose. The pain shot through my head and I fell to the dust.

There was no time to waste. I got up and attacked with heavy vertical slash.  She blocked and replied with a strong kick to my right hand, causing me to lose hold of the sword and she followed with a heavy shield bash to my face, making me fall heavily once more. My sight was blurry and I was exhausted. Obviously she was much more skilled than I was. My nose began to bleed. I tried to get up but I couldn't.  I just lay there.  She walked up to me and pointed the blade at my throat.

"It's a wise move to stay down." She said with a wryly smile on her face.  "It is settled then. You will stay in Elysium and train with Achilles." She added.

I now sat up on the sand. Jake handed me a tissue.  "But I did good right?" I asked, still working on my broken nose.

"As Archaeans, we are natural combatants. That means, we have natural instincts for battle. That allows us to be able to defend ourselves in dangerous times. But that is not enough. So no. You didn't do good." Achilles said.

"No one asked for your opinion old man." I barked at him.

"Well you will, if you want to have a shot at fighting Ares. I wouldn't worry too much about winning because the pit is probably going to finish you off first. " He replied.

As annoying as he was getting, I decided not to reply. First I had to deal with Jake and now him.

"Your training begins immediately. Achilles is your teacher. Pay good attention to what he teaches, and you may survive the pit." Catherine said.  I took a quick glance at Achilles and he had on a wry smile.  He was going to enjoy this.

"Cmon on now. We have to get you out of those clothes. You need some new gear too." Jake said as he headed out. Catherine and I followed.

"See you back here soon harbinger." Achilles said as I walked past him. I ignored him. This was going to be a long week.

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