Bells Of Liberation

In Wakanda's Throne Room

In the middle of the throne room stood the woman who saved Mykhalio's life. She stood with his unconscious body next to her, lying on the ground, whilst the council discussed what to do with the boy.

"We have no obligation to take in this boy," said a council member.

"How do you think this makes us look?" another council member argued.

"We should not accept this boy born into the primitive world into our home," said another.

"He's just a child," a council member said, bringing the others to silence.

"What could a child possibly do to harm our land?" The council member continued, hoping to slowly change their fellow members minds.

"Permission to speak?" the woman who saved Mykhailo asked.

"Yes, Okoye," the man in the center seat said; he was quiet the whole time, no doubt making an assessment on his own.

"This is not just a regular boy; when I found him, he was dead with his limbs broken and with a bullet hole inside of his head." Okoye said

The council members were intrigued. They looked at the boy, who looked like there had been no harm done to his body in the slightest.

"When I took the life of his captor, who was disposing of his body, his bones started to snap back in place, and the bullet hole in his head guided itself out." Okoye said this while holding up the bullet that had come out of Mykhailo.

The council members were in shock but soon regained their composure and looked at the boy, who was resting peacefully on the ground.

"My King, this boy would be a great asset or our biggest mistake. We could train him to be a warrior to protect you, My King." Okoye said while bowing to the man, who was sitting comfortably in his chair.

"Do we know how old this boy is?" The Monarch asked while rubbing the arms of his throne.

"No, we do not, sir, but by the looks of him, he looks to be about 13 or 14 years old, My King." Okoye said while looking down at the boy.

"King TChaka, please make the right The council member's words were cut short by King T'Chaka standing up and making his decree.

"We will let this boy stay here. He is to undergo harsh training to be able to prove his usefulness to the throne. If the boy refuses, drop him at the border where you found him." T'Chaka said it in an unshakable tone.

Immediately after these words were spoken, the boy's eyes shot open as he sprung up from the ground, no doubt examining his surroundings.

Okoye armed her spear at the boy, who was standing up and staring at her. The boy did not say a word and just stared at Okoye with his pure black eyes.

"Take him to the underground of MT Bashega," the Monarch said while taking slow steps towards the boy.

"He'll be an unforgettable warrior."

________

Underground of MT Bashega

..

Okoye and her fellow Dora Milage warriors were escorting Mykhailo through the underground tunnels of MT Bashega.

As they were slowly arriving at their location, you could hear the cheers and screams of excitement that were coming from the large, primitive-looking gates.

"Good luck in there, boy." Okoye spoke softly to Mykhailo, who was showing no emotion towards being there right now.

Okoye hugged the boy, whose face now displayed emotion. He was shocked; he never expected the woman to hug him.

The gate started glowing purple with writing as it started to open. Inside the gate was a colosseum; you could hear the cheering coming from inside. Mykhailo was being led to the entrance of this place.

They entered the colosseum, but instead of going straight to the arena like Mykhailo was thinking, they were led to a different side of the colosseum where there was no fighting.

In this area of the colosseum, there were people of different ethnicities chatting to each other while putting armor on and grabbing weapons.

Mykhailo turned around to look at the women who had led him to this place, but they were nowhere to be found.

Mykhailo turned back to look at the people who were getting dressed in armor and noticed that they were mostly separated into different groups.

Before he could continue observing his surroundings, his thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice.

"A new one." An abnormally large man said, This man stood at an impressive height of 6'7 with tattoos on every part of his body, but the most notable one was a dragon etched on the right side of his face.

The man was intrigued; this was the first time someone had looked at him without fear gleaming in their eyes.

He crouched down at Mykhailo's level and asked, "What is your name, boy?" Mykhailo got the feeling that he should not defy this man, so he responded seconds later. "Mykhailo," said the boy while maintaining eye contact with the big man.

The man laughed at the bravery of the boy and then said, "Mykhailo is too boring." In between his deep chuckles, the man rubbed his bald head and spoke with a hysterical grin.

"I'm going to call you Mickey." The man said that, not noticing how insane he looked when he laughed and the fear the other participants had looked at him with, they didn't dare make eye contact with the man, fearing that he would go on a killing spree like he usually did.

"What is your name?" Mickey asked if he could feel that the atmosphere had changed when the man started talking to him; he could tell that everyone in the room had feared this man and figured that he could provide great protection to him.

"Everyone just calls me Mad Dog, but you can call me..." The man took a dramatic pause, like he was revealing he had cancer during Thanksgiving in a Tyler Perry movie, and then, after 2 whole minutes of anticipation, he simply said

"Mad Dog."

Mad Dog let out a hysterical laugh and buckled over on his knees full of laughter while looking at the boy's face full of unamusement with a tinge of boredom.

"Why is that funny to you?" Mickey asked

"Everything is funny to me, little Mickey," Mad Dog said while wiping the tears that were rolling down his face due to laughter. Then he grabbed Mickey by the neck and pulled him close.

"I sense something deep and malevolent inside of you, boy." Mad Dog said with a bright smile, "I will find a way to bring that malevolence out and teach you to harness it after all; I sense you are like me."

Mickey grabbed Mad Dog's hand, which was slowly starting to put pressure on his neck, and pulled it off with an inhuman amount of strength that shouldn't be possible for a 10-year-old boy to have, or even anyone, in fact.

"Do not touch me, Mad Dog." Mickey said, trying to make his voice deeper to sound more intimidating, but Mad Dog didn't care; he was too busy in shock at the boy's abnormal strength. Not soon after, Mad Dog broke out into a grin and said "You are going to be a great stu-" His words were cut off by the sound of bells going off throughout the colosseum. Mykhailo let go of Mad Dog and looked at everyone clamoring to get their armor straight and grab their weapons, no doubt preparing for a battle.

"Grab a weapon. Mick, armor is for pussies." Mad Dog said this while keeping the same grin he had after Mickey's display of unnatural strength. Mad Dog picked up the iron mace that was closest to him and started making his way to the main arena like the rest of the participants, but not before turning back to Mickey, who was waiting for him.

"Hurry up, you little shit, or I'm going to go have fun without you," said Mad Dog with a yawn. Mickey was torn between two options at the moment: A Scythe and A longsword. He needed to decide which weapon suited him better.

Mickey picked up the scythe with intent to examine it but was dragged out by Mad Dog, who was grumbling about him taking too long. Mad Dog dragged him to the arena, where every single participant was waiting to go out and fight.

"Are you ready, Mick?" The tall man asked while rubbing his hair into more of a mess than it already was and waiting for the bells of chaos to start with the utmost anticipation. "Make sure you stay near me until the final bell rings out, Mick. I can't let you die, yet I have so much to teach you." Mad Dog said

"DING,DING,DING." The bells of violence rang as the gate blocking the entrance to the arena slowly opened. When the gate fully opened, all the warriors rushed out into the arena except for Mad Dog and Mickey.

"You know what? I've changed my mind." Mad Dog said while looking out at the murder that was happening in the arena, "If you can survive on your own until the Bells of Liberation sound, then I will no doubt take you in and train you to be a monster." Mad Dog sighed then continued, "I might like you a lot, kid, but in the arena we do not know each other. If I spot you, I will kill you. So if you want to have a higher chance of living to see the next day then,"

"Steer clear." Mad Dog said, then rushed out to the arena, swinging his mace around and causing havoc everywhere he appeared. A gleam of excitement flashed in Mickey's eyes as he watched the insane man swing his mace into someone's face as their tongue and blood spewed out. 'Maybe this is the path to revenge,' Mickey thought.

Mickey shook those thoughts out of his head and made his way to the arena, dragging his scythe behind him. As soon as he stepped foot in the arena, he was met with his opponent. Mickey analyzed the man in front of him. His opponent was using a spear that was approximately the same length as his scythe. Before Mickey could finish analyzing his opponent, the man thrust his spear at him.

The spear was aimed at his shoulder. Mickey managed to dodge, but not before getting slashed in the arm by the spear. Mickey ignored the pain in his shoulder and used all his strength to swing the scythe at the man.

"SPULRT"

The man's body was sliced in half in an uneven way as his upper body slid off of his lower counterpart. Mickey looked at this scene in shock. 'When did I gain such strength?' the boy thought while still stuck on what he just did to the man, but he couldn't afford to stand idly with the threat of being killed always around.

Mickey readied his scythe and ran forward into the fighting. He held the scythe with two hands and cocked it back behind his body, using all of his new-found strength to swing his weapon in front of a crowd of people.

"THUMP'

The whole arena went silent. They were in shock; they did not expect a little boy to chop down one hundred grown men in a single swing. Mickey was tired; he had put all of his strength behind the swing, which probably wasn't the best idea.

Mickey was trying to catch his breath while still observing the fighting. There were still thousands of fights going on, and it seems that only a few people noticed what Mickey did; they looked at him in fear, thinking that if they went over there, it would mean the end of their lives.

"SPLURT"

A sword pierced through Mickey's stomach, causing blood to spew out onto the ground. Quickly, he used one hand to swing his scythe behind him and cut his attacker. His attacker jumped away, dodging Mickey's scythe, while his sword was still lodged in the boy's stomach.

"Boy, that is my sword. I would love to have it back." The man said with a seemingly polite grin that if not for the dead bodies littered around them, someone might've believed in the sincerity of his grin.

"I don't know, it kind of looks like it's mine now, no?" the boy said while staring at his new opponent, attempting to figure out what the man would do next. The man rushed at him with swift speed, launching a kick aimed at the sword lodged in his stomach, but before the man's kick could make contact, Mickey blocked the attack with the staff of his scythe.

'I'm losing too much blood,' Mickey thought while dodging the kicks from the man by a hair. Mickey jumped back the furthest he could and gripped his scythe, attempting to summon the unnatural strength that had allowed him to survive this. He knew that relying on his scythe alone would not allow him to survive this predicament.

Mickey swung the scythe with all the strength he could muster, but the man ducked under the incoming scythe. The man laughed, Boy, it's going to take a lot more to defeat The Grea-."

"SWISH, SPALATTER"

The man looked down and spotted the boy holding the sword that he had pushed into the boy's gut not long ago, but that was not all he had seen; to his dismay, his own guts were hanging out of his belly. The man fell backwards due to the active blood loss.

"I can't believe I lost to a fucking chi-" The man couldn't finish his sentence before his face was stomped on by Mickey. "What a dumbass." Mickey said this while holding his stomach wound and dropping the man's sword. The boy looked around for where his scythe had landed after he had let go of it.

Mickey spotted his scythe buried in the body of a dead woman and slowly made his way through the people who were occupied in their own battles. He didn't get through the crowd of people unscathed; some of the weapons hit him, but mostly on his arms and nowhere near his wound, luckily.

The wounded boy grabbed the handle of his scythe and pulled it out of the corpse of the woman. Something was sending warning signs throughout Mickey's body, screaming at him to dodge. He lunged forward as quickly as he could.

"BOOM"

An iron mace was slammed at the spot Mickey once was: "I thought I told you to steer clear, Mick." Mad Dog spoke. The colossal-sized man picked up his iron mace and smiled at Mickey. One would have found it to be a kind smile if not for the guts hanging off the man's shoulder and his bloodied face, though it looked like he hadn't suffered any wounds.

Mickey shivered in fear at the appearance of the man and readied himself for a battle. He gripped his scythe while holding his wound, seemingly ready for the fight that was to come. "I'm sorry, kid," the man said while raising his mace up, preparing to swing it down.

"DING DONG DING DONG"

"The bells of liberation have sounded. Drop your weapons and cease your combat prisoners." A loud voice with an African accent sounded throughout the arena: "You've gotten lucky, Mickey." Mad Dog said this while looking at Mickey with a genuine smile on his face.

'I can finally rest,' Mickey thought as he dropped his scythe and fell forward into a slumber that he had longed for since the fighting had started. Before the boy's body could hit the ground, he was caught by Mad Dog, who had a proud look on his face.

"I got you, kid."