Passive Aggressive

Esquimo and Cordayl are getting settled into their camp. Cordayl calls it an early night and says good night to Esquimo, throwing the blanket over his head.

"Good night, lad. See you in the morning." Esquimo replies, reaching into his bag and retrieving his journal.

Opening the leather cover, he flips through until he finds a clean page on which to record his thoughts.

"My journey with young Cordayl has continued to be delightful for an older man like me. It has been so long since I had the urge to adventure. After losing you, I developed the dreadful feeling that if I ever left, upon my return to an empty home, it would truly break me down.

"So, I have holed myself up in our home, fearing that feeling. I am still fearing it upon my return home one day. But being with Cordayl, I feel a happiness I haven't felt since my years dedicated to protecting the prior king.

"He sometimes reminds me of him in multiple ways. While traveling with him, I find myself just observing and watching his life as if it were a movie, and if it were, it would be great.

"He reminds me of your favorite movie character, Jamous Bondour. Because as strong a warrior as he is, he has a calm and charming personality when it comes to the ladies. It's like he puts them in a spell. I remember this one situation where we…

Cordayl is surrounded by at least 40 thugs and goons, with the boss staring at him hatefully while consoling a crying girl in his arms.

"It doesn't have to end this way, Cordayl. Please marry me, and let me make you happy!" The pretty, sobbing female shouts at Cordayl.

"I don't want to marry you! I met you 2 hours ago. I don't even remember your name." Cordayl shouts again, eyes shifting around with the stirring crowd of gangsters.

"So what? After today, you can just call me wifey!" The girl happily replies.

"NO THANK YOU!" Cordayl shouts back. The girl starts crying again and falls back into the boss's arms. The goons begin to mumble insults and sounds of disappointment at Cordayl's response.

The boss consoles his daughter. Snapping his evil eyes back to Cordayl, he shouts at him, "You break my daughter's heart, and I break every bone in your body, Cordon, or whatever your name is. Get him!"

Upon hearing his father's name, a vein pops up on Cordayl's face. As the mob of goons gets closer and closer, Cordayl activates his power and aggressively reverses gravity, but only for a second.

Although it was quick, the power behind it left everyone within the vicinity feeling like they just got hit with an uppercut.

As they recover from this invisible hit, Cordayl goes on the offensive and starts beating the hell out of these goons. The boss is in shock, watching one man dismantle his soldiers with so much ferocious ease.

Cordayl finally knocks out the last goon and turns his attention towards the boss.

The boss pushes his daughter behind him and slowly walks to meet Cordayl, calmly removing his jacket and shirt.

Cordayl meets him, and the two stand face to face, mugging each other. Cordayl asks him, "What is my name?"

The boss looks at him and laughs, making Cordayl more upset. Finishing his laughter, the boss says, "Normally, I would just slit your throat and repeat my name to you as you bled out so that you would remember me in the next life. But I am impressed with you. If you hadn't crushed my daughter's heart, I would look to employ you."

"There aren't enough pennies in the world to make me work for you." Cordayl retorts.

The boss doesn't like this statement and bears his fangs. "Good, because after today, no one will even remember the name Cordo-"

Instantly, Cordayl increases the gravity upon them. The unexpected immense pressure forces the boss to drop to his knees. Gritting his teeth, the boss tries to fight through the massive force dropped onto him, but he can't help placing his face on the dirty gravel when it increases.

As the boss sits in pain, Cordayl grabs him by the hair. The pull-up vs. the pull-down of gravity almost breaks his neck, but his ears work perfectly fine as he hears Cordayl speak.

"My name is Cordayl. Cor-dayl. If you speak, if you even think of the name Cordon again, I will make it my mission to destroy your entire bloodline." Cordayl promises him.

Cordayl releases the gravity, and the boss passes out on the pavement along with the rest of the goons.

Standing up, Cordayl walks away from the group calmly, as if he had not been part of a fight minutes before.

As he walks away, the boss's daughter shouts, "I'll wait for you!"

"She shouted, "I will wait for you!" Even after he humiliated her father, she was still head over heels for him. That Cordayl could charm a cobra.

"But sometimes, he worries me. He tends to talk to himself a lot. It's not often, but it sounds like he quarrels with himself when he does it. It's not off-putting, but it is noteworthy.

"You would only notice it the more time you spend with him because it only happens when he seems cornered into a situation. For instance, we were at a state fair about a month ago…

"Step right up, folks! Step right up! Be the strongest to punch the bag and win a bag of tickets for you and the misses. Come on, folks!" The guy pitches, trying to attract people to his game. It works as he slowly builds a crowd around him.

"You and you, step on up! You there, young woman with the oily biceps, test your might against this hour's strongest! You too! Come on up!" The announcer points at Cordayl.

Cordayl is shocked when a sudden spotlight is thrust upon him, singling him out amongst the crowd.

Cordayl hesitates, but Esquimo pushes him to the front, encouraging the young lad to join the competition.

As the cheers go up, Cordayl pulls his hood on his head further to avoid recognition.

As each contestant goes up and punches the bag, their power is calculated and displayed on a screen above for all to see. Cheers and applause are given for each contestant's efforts.

The female with the big biceps throws her punch and receives the highest score of the lot so far. She flexes her impressive arms as the crowd erupts in excitement.

The announcer feeds off the excitement as he keeps the crowd hyped up, announcing that Cordayl is the next and final contestant.

Cordayl is nervous as hell, not even wanting to participate in the contest, but he knows he won't be able to back down now.

"When did you become so timid?" the voice asks him. "You're up here shaking." Cordayl hears it laugh.

"Shut up. I don't even want to be up here." Cordayl retorts.

"I don't even want to be up here. Shut up. Damn, you are so scary. It's sickening. It's amazing you don't jump seeing your shadow every time you see it. Little bitch"

"Shut up," Cordayl says, a vein popping up on his head.

"Or what, Mr. Scary lil Bitch? Are you gonna punch me? Yeah, right." The voice scoffs.

Cordayl's jaw clenches. His fist tightens, and the muscles in his forearms bulge as he throws a jab at the machine.

The punching machine is sent skidding through the fair, across the street, and landing into a nearby lake.

Everyone in attendance has their jaw dropped to their chest, in shock at what they just witnessed.

The scoreboard is in smoke, cracked and broken beyond repair, and the announcer is speechless as Cordayl snatches the ticket prize out of the man's hands and quickly stomps offstage.

"I don't know what internal conversations that lad has with himself, but his temper flares, and he becomes much more aggressive. I've noticed that about him.

"Cordayl is a passive young man. He isn't a punk, but he tries to avoid conflict at every chance.

"In the event I just described, after we won the tickets, he wanted to buy a giant goldfish pillow for our travels. A little girl wanted the same pillow, but Cordayl received the last one.

"The little girl threw a tantrum and blamed Cordayl for taking her prize. Cordayl got flustered and just gave the little brat the pillow, even though it was rightly his.