“Ready? Go!” said Axel. The Boys stood on their hands once again and started down the sidewalk. The boys had gotten so good at walking on their hands that they could look around like usual and talk along the way. When the boys made it to the behemoth, the hill that had stumped the boys for years, they took a second to compose themselves. Starting up the hill slowly and one by one, the hill's steepness knocked Axel off balance fairly quickly on this particular day. However, Spliff, already ahead of Axel, was making significant progress. Axel stayed silent, and both boys' hearts started racing more and more as Spliff advanced up the hill. As Spliff passed his record, he was about halfway up the hill, which had both boys starting to believe that maybe today was the day they would finally triumph over the hill known as the Behemoth. Not long after, though, Spliff's muscles began to shake. Climbing such a long and steep hill would have been too much for most adult men's arm muscles, and Axel and Spliff had already walked just shy of a mile before they started up the hill. Eventually, his muscles could take no more, and Spliff collapsed, face smacking the ground and body folding backward so that his feet were almost touching the back of his head. When Axel realized that Spliff wasn't seriously hurt, he erupted in laughter, initially making him angry, but soon he was laughing along at his awkward fall.

  “New record,” Said Axel

  “Yep!” Said Spliff. “It won't be long till we’re both up that hill one day.”

  “So what do you wanna do today?” Axel asked cheerfully.

  “I've been thinking, said Spliff. “If Brace won't teach us swordsmanship, then we should just learn on our own. Let's go to the woods, choose some sticks, and have a sword fight.”

  “You're on,” Said Axel. “Let's go now and choose swords.”

  On the southeastern side of the town, close to Axel's house, was the entrance to the town where Axel and Spliff lived. The only main road was here, by the sign that welcomed people into the town. If followed south, the road would eventually lead to the closest city, and if taken north, it would eventually reach a dead end, as there was not much around the town where the boys lived. It was at this entrance to the town where Axel and Spliff would pass a group of girls their age while entering the forest to find sticks to play with. At the time, neither Axel nor Spliff thought much of the girls being there. It was unusual, but the boys were too excited about their upcoming stick fight to say more than hello.

  “Well, both look for sticks for an hour and then meet back here in an hour,” said Spliff at the forest's edge.

  “Okay,” said Axel, “that sounds good.” The boys went their separate ways to find the sticks they would use for battle.

  After an hour, the boys both found excellent sticks for sword fighting. Both were of appropriate length and had two cut branches on either side of the handle to serve as handguards. After heading back into town, the sword fight began.

  “On guard,” said Spliff.

  “Bang,” “Bang,” “Bang.”

  The two sticks clashed rapidly and skillfully, with no intention of hurting each other, but both attempted to land the first blow on the other. The two moved back and forth while swinging their sword at each other's sides. They took turns on offense and defense as the fight flowed naturally. Eventually, Spliff would be the first to strike. Parrying Axel's attack and creating a loud pop sound while Axel's weapon was thrust to his side, and was taken out of his control. Despite Axel still holding on to his weapon, Spliff had enough time to land a blow on Axel freely, which he used to hit Axel in the leg with almost all his force.

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  “Wack”

  “Ouch!” Yelled Axel. His pain had made him so angry with Spliff that he disregarded caution and rushed at Spliff. Sensing that Axel was willing to take things further than himself, Spliff ran away from Axel, laughing at his victory in striking Axel first. When Axel ended his pursuit, and Spliff looked down at his weapon, he realized that he had hit Axel so hard that his stick had broken.

  “That was too hard,” said Axel. “I get a free shot on you.”

  “No way,” said Spliff, “But I broke my stick. Let’s go back to the forest to get another one.”

  “Fine,” Axel said.

  Then, Axel and Spliff reached the intersection of the welcome sign, the road, and the forest. Spliff noticed the group of girls a ways down the road.

  “Hold on, Axel,” Spliff said quietly yet nervously. “Who is that?” Standing before the girls was a strange-looking man. He was wearing ragged clothes and a long cloak.

  “I’ve never seen that guy before,” said Axel, who was now hiding behind a tree with Spliff.

  “Something’s wrong,” replied Spliff. “We should go get Brace.”

  The two boys ran toward Brace's house. Though they were sure they hadn’t been seen, they both felt something terrible would happen. Though Brace lived across town, it was only about a mile away. The boys were incredibly fast, able to run a mile in just over four and a half minutes, thanks to human evolution since the days of Earth.

  The longer they ran, the more uneasy and uncomfortable they became. By the time they reached Braces' front yard, they were convinced something bad was about to happen.

  “BRACE!” yelled the boys approaching Brace's house.

  Brace heard the boys from inside his house and ran out to meet them. “What's going on?” he said nervously. He could tell something was wrong by the way the boys called his name.

  “At the welcome sign,” Said Spliff, “A staring man is talking to some girls in our grade.”

  Brace wasted no time and ran toward the spot with his sword at his side. The boys couldn't keep up with Brace's speed, and Brace was out of sight after a few seconds.

  When Brace found the strange man, all four girls that Axel and Spliff had seen were tied up and on the ground with ropes in their mouths so they couldn't scream. Before Brace could speak, the man reached for his back and unsheathed a large axe. Brace unsheathed his sword and continued running toward the man until he was in striking range. The man swung his axe with all his might at Brace's head. Brace threw his shoulders, neck, and chin backward so they were just out of range from the man's attack. Then, in an instant, as the Axe passed by Brace, Brace threw his body and lunged his sword forward, piercing the man through the neck. The man coughed up blood, fell to his knees, then to his stomach, and died within seconds.

  When Axel and Spliff arrived, the man had already died. The two boys looked at the corpse in horror. The wound and the way the man's body had fallen in an unnatural position were both particularly horrifying. Brace thought of telling the two not to look, but changed his mind before saying anything.

  “Go get the town mirror.” Shouted Brace to the boys as he untied the first of the girls.

  Axel and Spliff failed to process Braces order and instead stared at the lifeless man lying in his blood.

  “NOW.” Shouted Brace.

  Axel and Spliff did as they were told, and a crowd soon arrived to witness Brace and the body he had killed.