Quest for Justice by Sean Fay Wolfe Page A

help, Steve,” replied Jayden. “We have axe fighting to do first.”
    Stan’s stomach did another flip as he thought of the pressure surrounding his mastery of the axe, which Jayden pulled out of a chest in the enclosure.
    â€œThe key,” said Jayden, holding up the axe and demonstrating proper form, “is to let the axe guide you. It knows what to do. You are not the master of the axe. You are simply its modest guide.”
    â€œOh, brother,” grumbled Kat under her breath. Jayden proceeded to explain the basic mechanics of axe fighting, which Stan understood surprisingly well.
    â€œTo help you appreciate the art, each of you must pass achallenge.” He called out, “Yo, Steve! Toss me four pumpkins, stat!”
    Crazy Steve may have been old, but he was strong. He picked up four pumpkins growing in the field and tossed them all to Jayden in two throws. Jayden put three of the pumpkins in the chest and then pulled out something Stan had never seen before. It appeared to be a large block made out of snow. Jayden took out another. He put one snow block down toward the back of the empty lot, and put the other on top of it. He turned to Stan, Charlie, and Kat.
    â€œYour goal in this exercise is to get across this red line.” He gestured to line of red dust behind the pile of snow that Stan hadn’t noticed before. “You also must kill the enemy that I am about to create.”
    The three new players all started talking at once.
    â€œWhat do you mean, create ?”
    â€œWhy isn’t the snow melting?”
    â€œAre you going to make a Creeper or something?”
    â€œHow does that work?”
    â€œWhy isn’t the snow melting?”
    â€œHow are we supposed to survive without armor?”
    â€œThis honestly can’t be safe!”
    â€œWhy isn’t the snow melting?!”
    Jayden waited for the questions to die down before he continued. “I’ll demonstrate, and all your questions will beanswered. Charlie, could you come here, please?”
    Looking scared stiff, and with good reason, Charlie walked over to the tall pile of snow. Jayden tossed him a pumpkin and said, “Now, Charlie, when I say go, put that pumpkin on top of the snow pile. Got it?” Charlie nodded, looking confused. Stan shared his puzzlement. He had no idea what Jayden was about to do.
    Jayden stood at the opposite end of the enclosure from the red line and pile of snow and pulled an iron axe out of the trunk. He stood with the axe at his side, got in a fighting stance, and said, “Ready, Charlie? And . . . GO!”
    Charlie placed the pumpkin on the snow pile, and immediately fell backward screaming, a look of horror and amazement on his face. The pile of snow with the pumpkin had turned into some type of animated snowman. Sticks had sprouted out of its sides, and it was hurling snowballs that it seemed to procure from nowhere rapid-fire at Jayden, who was running toward the snowman. Jayden was agile—not one of the snowballs hit him as he charged the snowy beast.
    Then, as Jayden reached the snowman, he jumped in the air and did a sort of midair twirl, just dodging one of the snowballs, and his axe sliced through the bottom chunk of the snowman. Another twirl saw the middle section cleaved in two, and with another jumping spin the axe sliced clearthrough the pumpkin head. The snowman was seriously damaged, not throwing snowballs anymore, and seemed to be struggling just to stay upright. Jayden was ruthless, though, and with one last jump into the air he delivered an almighty blow with the axe straight down on the snowman’s head. The entire pile of pumpkin and snow fell to two sides, snowballs rained onto the ground, and the pumpkin burst apart and split into nothing but seeds and a few pieces of orange flesh.
    Completely ignoring the gaping mouths of his three students, Jayden wiped the snow and pumpkin guts off his axe and calmly walked across the red