The Hammerhead

Chapter 1 

There comes soon a time of great turmoil and struggle. A dark, evil man approaches, a man of immense power and might, a man who brings death and destruction and holds the power to end our world. 

But wait! At our deepest valley, there comes a champion of the light. A hero comes forth with the power to destroy the darkness, and he who has this power wields it through the might of his hammer. 

“Yes, yes, I know the prophecy, Aurelis. Why are you so keen on retelling it to me now?” 

“Because,” said the old tutor with a gleam in his eye. “The time has come for the prophecy to come true.” 

“You can’t be serious. What makes you think that?” 

“Because,” And then the man took something out of his robes. 

Othenial was expecting to be impressed by whatever the old man pulled out. He was sorely disappointed.

Out came a short, stout hammer, made out of chipped stone. It looked old. It looked so old, it seemed that if you slammed it against something, it would probably end up breaking the hammer rather than what you hit it against.

But then something changed. As Othenial watched in rapt attention, the chips and cracks in it began to smooth out. In the space of fifteen seconds, the hammer suddenly looked as good as new. 

“You are of who the prophecy speaks of. Truly, you must! You fit all the requirements.”

“B… but then who is the evil one mentioned?” 

“Take a guess.” 

“The king.” Old King Gengar was widely regarded as the most cruel ruler that the land of Morcium had ever seen, even out in the far reaches of Othenial’s village, Eskatar. He was also known for being wildly eccentric, the most recent proof being that of his ban of hammers. 

“Exactly right, son,” Aurelis said, as if he could read Othenial’s mind. “Why would he do that, if he wasn’t the evil one?”

There came a sudden tromping of footsteps from outside.

“Damn the Watchers!” Aurelis cried! Othenial cringed a little. “Here, here, take this!” the old man cried, shoving a purse into Othenial’s hands and then ushering him out the back door. “Do good! Save us all!” 

Completely bewildered, Othenial stumbled out the back door just as he heard the Watchers open the front one.

And so, a journey began.

This story, like all my other stories, is copyrighted by me.

Head of the shark shaped like a hammer !

Wait. Really? Total coincidence, I swear.

I was so confused as to why people were talking about sharks. Now I get it. Maybe I'll throw one in there somewhere.

All will be revealed later. Chapter 2 comes out on Sunday, July 14.

Make the king be Gengar the pokemon in disguise lol

Another journey begins

Just wait until you see what the king can do.

Chapter 2: Eskatar

“So I hear that the prophecy begins to reach its fulfillment.” 

The four members of King Grengar’s court didn’t reply.

He gripped the armrests of his jade black throne. “Well, he’s in for a bad time, isn’t he? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!” 

The four members of King Grengar’s court continued to remain silent, knowing much better than to interrupt the king during his maniacal laughter sessions.

Suddenly, he stopped, and pointed a finger at the person farthest from him. 

“Sergeant! Take a squadron of men and go to the village of Estakar! We shall stamp out this threat before it ever becomes one of relevance.” 

The man bowed. “As you wish, my sire.” He backpedaled out of the room, banging his head on the top of the doorframe. 

The other three members of the court gave off a collective groan as the Sergeant turned himself around and walked out the door. 

And all the while, the king laughed. “AHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!”

Othenial wasn’t stupid. He knew that the kingdom of Morcium was more or less comprised of eight different towns, from his tiny village of Estakar all the way to the capital city of Arrowhead (previously named Hammerhead, until the current king changed the name).

He heard his old mentor doddering, stalling the men at the door, and he risked a look behind him. 

There were a large collection of them, maybe eight or so, all of them armed with spears, and adorned in heavy chain mail armor. 

One of the men was dressed differently, in black silk robes over his armor. He sat astride a horse, hanging back while his soldiers went forward towards the door of his house. 

Othenial felt a chill on his spine. He recognized the man. It was Sergeant Spiker, the infamously cruel leader of the Watchers. Tales of his horrible abuse stretched far and wide across the kingdom. 

He was an absolutely gigantic man, strongly built. To top it all off, he sported a gigantic brown beard, giving him the impression of one of the savages down south. 

Othenial saw him turning around, and barely ducked around the side of a house before the Sergeant saw him. 

Breathing heavily, he started down the dank alleyway between two houses. He heard the jangle of coins in the purse his mentor had given him. He was going to put as much distance between the Sergeant and him as possible, then book an inn.

Some time later… 

When Othenial got settled into his spacious room and actually got a good look at what was in the purse, he found that there was not just money inside. 

A small note, written on old parchment. It responds to you. Written in Aurelis’ handwriting.

Would it kill the guy to be less cryptic? Othenial thought to himself. 

Sighing, he put the purse in the pack he had purchased, next to the ample supply of food and water he had also bought. Tomorrow, he would rent a horse and take a ride to the next town, Rema. If everything went to plan. 

Sitting at the desk, he let himself go for a while. Tears gushed out of his face. What was he now, a fugitive? All for what? What was going to happen? 

Still sobbing silently, the teen stumbled over to his bed and buried his face in the hard pillow, his shoulders shaking. 

Somehow, after seconds, minutes, hours, he didn’t know, he fell asleep. 

But not for long. A sudden knock at his door jolted him awake.

Othenial wiped the remaining snot from his nose, stumbled over to the door in a daze, and opened it. 

It took him a moment to realize who he was looking at. A tall, broad man, still in his armor and robes, even at this late hour of the night. 

“I always prefer to be polite,” Sergeant Spiker said.

Chapter 3 comes out on Sunday, July 21.

Chapter 3: Spiker

Othenial, thank his wit, wasn’t slow. He grabbed his pack right off the table and swung it over his shoulder in less than a second, grabbing the hammer out of its side pocket as he did so. 

Sergeant Spiker laughed. It was an ugly sound, like the scraping of the metal. “That thing isn’t going to help you against me.” He drew out a long, thin sword from the scabbard at his waist and thrust it out at the boy. 

On instinct, Othenial threw the hammer right at the sword. It hit the weapon and somehow tore right through it, hitting the wrist of the Sergeant. 

The hammer continued to press forward, violently throwing Spiker up against the wall. Just as quickly, it automatically flew back to Othenial, who managed to catch it just in time before it bowled him over, too.

Othenial was about to make a mad dash out of the room when he suddenly felt a heat on his palm. 

He turned to look at his hand in astonishment to find that the hammer was glowing. When it stopped, the stone seemed seemed sharper, and clearer. A thin gold outline now ran around the edges. 

Othenial remembered the note. Quite the response. 

A groan sounded from the man on the floor. It seemed that bones had definitely been broken. 

“You’ll… never escape…” the man wheezed. “My men are… everywhere,” 

Now Othenial dashed out of the door. 

He didn’t take two steps down the hallway before, in fact, one of the Watchers appeared. 

He withdrew a sword that was not as nearly as nice as the one Spiker had threatened Othenial with. “Stand down,” he send without any fear in his voice. 

Othenial ran right up to him and smashed the hammer against the poor man’s head. He crumpled to the ground, a trickle of blood leaking out of the side of his head. 

Othenial really hoped that he wasn’t dead as he burst out of the inn’s front door, where two more men lay in wait, swords raised. 

Othenial charged straight at them. They faltered for just a moment, their faces a picture of macabre shock, before swinging their swords in anticipation. 

At the last moment, he slid underneath them, and the two of them stabbed each other through. 

Stifling a laugh while simultaneously stifling his horror, Othenial dashed off to the stables, where several more men lingered in wait. 

The men took notice. The nearest swung his sword, grinning. 

Not knowing what else to do, Othenial swung his hammer right back.

Where the two weapons met, the sword was not only inexplicably blocked, but a huge wave of force pushed the man backwards a step. 

Emboldened, Othenial swung out his hammer in front of him in a wide arc, and the men in front of him toppled like ninepins. 

Before they could recover, Othenial dashed inside a stable, saddled up onto a horse, and was off into the night.

Chapter 4 comes out on Sunday, July 28.

Hammer head !!!!

Chapter 4: Rema

Othenial rode hard through the night, and every time he felt himself dozing off, the image of those soldiers after him burned in his mind, and he jolted awake and kept going.

By the time the sun broke over the horizon, Othenial was about to collapse from exhaustion, and he was as hungry and thirsty as he had ever been, but he had finally made it over to the next town. 

Rema wasn’t exactly a big town. In fact, it was barely larger than Eskatar. The fact that it was close to a river, though, meant that there was a port, which meant that it, at least as far as Othenial was concerned, it was gigantic. 

In a half-asleep daze, the boy left his horse in a bigger stable than the one he’d left, left some coins on a desk, staggered up to a room, hit the cot, and enjoyed some of the deepest sleep that he had ever experienced in his life.

“What? What do you mean, he GOT AWAY!” 

Sergeant Spiker bowed his head and winced. Sure, he had been healed, but the king always made sure that it was never enough. 

The king got up from his throne and furiously paced back and forth, muttering to himself, while the four members of his court watched him. 

Abruptly, he stopped. His head jerked upward. 

“Would the court jester please step forward?” the king called in a loud voice. 

A short figure clad in bright colors of red and green stepped forward, the golden bells on his knit cap jingling softly. 

“Court jester here, at your service, sir!” he declared, bowing deeply at the foot of the throne. 

“Intel has it that our prophecy-ordained foe has made it to Rema. Go there and wreak havoc on him!” 

“As you wish, sire! Gehehehehehe!” And the jester disappeared in a flash of light. 

“Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” cried the king.

When Othenial pried his eyes open and looked at his watch, he found that it was past nine, much later than he usually would have woken up. 

Groaning, he dragged himself out of the bed, put on a change of clothes, washed his face, and staggered out the door and out into the sunlight.

The relief didn’t last very long.

The street-level view of Rema was just as how he remembered it: almost like his own town, except larger, faster. Already, he was feeling nostalgic for his hometown. 

Unfortunately, Othenial couldn’t really appreciate the view. Standing - no, floating in the middle of the street was a short, odd-looking man dressed in robes of bright red and green. He wore a somewhat insane smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Geheheheheh!” the man cried. “What a fun game of hide-and-seek! But now I’ve found you, so to speak.” 

“Who are you?” Othenial asked. It was a logical question.

“Who am I? Am I? I am everyone’s favorite magical jester! Puppet and puppeteer! Performer of a show! I am… Tagonet!” the jester declared with a flourish. 

One word stuck out to Othenial. “A jester? Then you really are a fool! Magic is outlawed in Morcium!” He felt pretty good about himself for beating the jester at his own game. Although, now that he thought about it, that was the… fourth law he had broken now? Fifth? 

Tagonet unexpectedly laughed. “Geheheh! Don’t you see? Of the king, I am a liege!” 

Othenial stopped dead in his tracks. What a hypocrite, he thought.

“And now, it’s time for me to put on a show for our willing audience!” Tagonet declared with a gesture to all the people staring at the spectacle. 

The jester began to chant. Suddenly, in the port behind him, water began to bubble, rocking ships back and forth. 

And in a sudden motion, a gigantic swell of it erupted, smashing everything in its path. 

As Othenial looked closer, he saw that it wasn’t a wave. It was made of water, but it wasn’t a wave. 

A gigantic, fifty-foot water serpent stared out at the crowd, its eyes flickering and hateful. 

“And now you die, like a piece of mud caked at the bottom of a person’s shoe!” Tagonet cried with glee. “Ta-ta!” 

And the jester disappeared in a flash of light as the serpent reared up.

Chapter 5 comes out on Sunday, August 4.