'You can't use my methods on me and expect it to work, Voice,' Lucian continued thorough the one sided brawl, 'Don't take advantage of my little wife's existence to make me succumb.'
Voice had tried it all before. Enticing Lucian with power and promises of glory. Threatening him with the eternal suffering of his soul, with the loss of all that he held dear.
The boy would always find a way to mirror back whatever was thrown at him.
'You are weak,' some would say, to which he would respond with, 'Everyone is weak in the face of a god, so what's your point?'
Lucian's defiance did not come from ignorance. He was well aware that the Voice was not a being to be trifled with. But so was he, in the sense that he was also a being with a will, and his choices, even if they seemed limited, were his to make.
'You think this is funny?' Voice asked, 'You're getting beaten up by a couple of amateurs, and you're laughing about it?'
'You called me weak, so I'm proving you right, the smartest Voice to ever exist, my savior, the reason I'm still alive, the reason I am who I am today,' Lucian thought back, 'Enjoy the product of your own creation, all powerful being who can't control a mere boy.'
Voice cursed, a string of words that Lucian didn't understand. 'I will teach you how to fight,' it offered instead of an apology, 'A real lesson.'
Lucian's eyes softened into a smile, 'I thought you'd never ask.'
The older brother aimed a kick at Lucian's stomach, the impact sending him sprawling to the ground.
He coughed, a wet, rattling sound that made the brothers hesitate.
"Is he... still laughing?" the younger one asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Lucian was indeed laughing, a low, raspy sound that was more of a chuckle than a full-blown laugh.
The older brother seemed to have had enough, "We are leaving. This is over."
"What? No! He's not getting away with that kick!" the younger one protested.
"He's insane," the older brother said, dragging his brother away, "Let's go."
Lucian got to his feet, his body aching all over, "Come on, now. The lesson is not over, or are you two scared of me?"
The brothers didn't turn back.
"Scared of someone who moves like a girl?" Lucian's laughter followed them, "What about the money? I still have the money! Come back here, or I'll tell everyone you ran from a girl."
The older one turned around, his face red with rage, "What the hell is your problem?" he asked, walking back towards Lucian, his fists clenched, "A hay head like you shouldn't be wasting your time on the impossible. It's a dead end."
Lucian needed an excuse to appear stronger than most hay heads without raising suspicion. He needed a story to go with his physical condition. If he was too strong, people would ask questions, and he didn't have the answers.
Patience. That was what he needed to show Voice. It was the one thing that the ancient thing lacked.
"Everything is possible with enough money, no?" Lucian replied, not moving from his spot, "And a little bit of hope." He added, watching the two as they got closer.
"So what if you did have the money? You think you can just... buy your way into knighthood?" the younger one asked, a cruel smirk on his face, "Is that your grand plan?"
They already lost their hopes and dreams. They were just like him once upon a time, but at least their chances were higher than his. He had none, yet he was the only one who had the audacity to still believe.
"I eat thrice as much as you," Lucian said, removing his shirt, revealing a body that was surprisingly well-defined for a hay head, "I can run for a whole day without stopping and carry a hundred pound crate on my back. The only thing I'm missing is a teacher."
The bruises from their kicks and punches were already starting to form, a patchwork of purples and reds on his skin, but underneath it all, his organs were fine.
All the traveling, all the heavy lifting, all the exposure to the harsh weather had taken its toll on his body, but it had also forged it into something else.
His body had died and came back to life, over and over again, until it became the proof of Voice's will. Not Lucian's. Voice's.
"Power of the mind," Lucian said, pointing at his own head, "The body can do incredible things if the mind believes it can. That's my secret to how I achieved so much, with so little."
He finished, looking at them as if he was trying to sell them a miracle.
"Boss, what are you doing?" Jax entered the backyard, his sight widening as he took in the scene.
Lucian stood shirtless in the center of the yard, rain plastering his hair to his forehead, two mercenaries looming over him.
"Boss?" The two brothers looked at each other, then at the dye that got washed off from Lucian's hair, "You couldn't be the Land Contractor everyone's been talking about, right?"
Jax walked over to Lucian, ignoring the brothers completely, "What in the name of all that is holy are you doing?" he asked, his voice urgent.
"Right on time, Jax," Lucian tilted his head towards the new arrival, "I brought some sparring buddies for you, to make sure you don't get out of practice as well."
Lucian used his shirt to wipe the rain from his face, his muscles flexing as he moved, the rainwater tracing patterns on his skin.
Jax ran a hand through his own soaked hair, looking from the brothers to Lucian's bruised torso, "Why did you let them do this to you?"
"I started it, I kicked first," Lucian said, as if that explained everything. Not that he wanted to tell them that he let them humiliate him so he could humiliate Voice in return. That was his little secret. "It was a fight. They fought back."
The brothers gave him a look that said, 'It was definitely not a fight' and 'This guy is crazy' all at once. This was beyond them. The stories they heard about the Land Contractor did not include this kind of behaviour.
A gentleman did not start fights with common thugs, and a rich one did not let himself get beaten up by them!