“Other than yourself,” I thought to myself, smiling. After addressing the captured soldiers, Grim was talking to the village guard, along with Fred and Parshtel. I caught up with Elbir and Kazena.
None of us knew what to say. We had started our journey together months ago. We slowly acquired powerful weapons, which we wanted to live up to. Now two of those weapons weren’t merely powerful. They were legendary. People were willing to follow you blindly just because you had one of these. This village all of a sudden had three. What do you say to each other after that?
“You alright?” I asked them. They both nodded. They looked dazed. We stared at each other for a while. Elbir finally managed to get words out.
He patted my back. “You did well, kid. Killing Major Morgan—you will become a legend… if the news ever reaches out,” he added the last bit with a half-smile. That was true. Our battle today would hopefully not get out. We didn’t need any attention, if the village was going to survive.
“Thanks, Elbir,” I said. It was almost laughable that he was calling me a legend, with the weapon he wielded. I suddenly realized what Elbir had accomplished. “I see you have exacted your revenge on Azrial. Are you feeling… satisfied?” I asked, ignoring his comment on my “legendary” exploits.
He let out a sigh of relief. “Yes… It is over. One of my brothers is avenged. After years of pursuit…” he was silent. He said in a low voice, mostly to himself. “Now there is only one beast brother that remains.”
I couldn’t fathom the relief he felt. I was so happy when I was able to kill the assassins, after only a few months of pursuit. He had pursued Azrial for years and years, without stopping, without giving up.
The opposite of that was Kazena and Karn, both of whom had no pursuits, no reason to be here other than to help us and meet Grim. Now, this journey helped Kazena discover something else. The fact that she had owned a legendary weapon all her life.
“So… how was your first battle with your legendary sword?” I asked simply.
She was still dazed. “It was interesting… I… don’t know what to say… it feels quite surreal… I will say one thing… your master seems… extremely knowledgeable.”
It was true. Grim. The wielder of the legendary blade, the Varta blade. It was ironic that a man of his size wielded such a small blade. But legendary it was. He was basically an immortal. It made so much sense. His idea of fun being diving into deadly waterfalls, the rapid healing from injuries attained during Olmot’s assassination and his imperviousness to the Blue Haze poison. There was a lot I had to talk to him about.
Then I suddenly realized something—There was one person missing. Karn. He was nowhere in sight. I asked Kazena, “Where is Karn?”
Kazena bit her lip. “He went in behind the archer group to take them out. Suddenly, they sent about a hundred infantrymen into the forest. I think they were sent after Karn. But neither the hundred men nor Karn returned. I think we should go after them.”
That was worrying. If he went too deep into the forest, he could encounter a lot of things he wasn’t prepared for. He was a man who had never travelled in a forest. He was probably lost, in what was one of the most dangerous forests in the land.
“How long has it been? I will go after him. But we need more people. It is too dangerous for anyone to go in alone.”
“You were going in to save little old me? How touching!”
I looked around to see where the voice came from.
“Up here dummy,” Karn said. He was perched on top of the tree. He seemed wounded.
“So, my friend,” I said with a smile. “You want to stay on top of trees, or come down and stand with the rest of us mortals.”
He smiled too. “I would if I could. And I don’t think I will be standing anytime soon.” Kazena and I went on top of the tree to help him down. He was injured. He had broken quite a few bones. Both his shin bones were broken, and so were quite a few of his fingers. He told us what happened. It seemed he had strayed into the Blue Haze zone, and survived. The effects he felt were familiar, but still different. The mind expansion was definitely new. It probably had something to do with his mind reading abilities. Maybe Blue Haze helped him, while creating fear in his mind as well.
We helped him with some basic first aid and bandages. It would have been great to have Flora nearby. But I figured she was helping the villagers right now. I was hoping I could meet her soon.
But the first person I had to meet was Grim. There were a lot of questions I needed to ask him. I waited for Grim to get done with processing the captured soldiers. The soldiers were asked to stay put near the bar at the southern end. The archer group from the village stood guard. Although the soldiers had surrendered quickly, the process of their integration would take time. Till then, we would have to keep a close eye on them.
Grim finally came to us, grinning. He looked at me and Elbir.
“My students! I am so proud! Let me talk to you, one by one.”
He turned to me. “Firstly, my young student—I am so glad you survived, have thrived and done so well. You even made friends. I am glad to see that you were able to avenge Olmot. Your skill with the sword I gave you is admirable”
I was so happy to finally talk to him.
“Thanks. I did it. I avenged him. The assassins are dead. One was buried under tons of rubble. The other… well, you saw what happened to the other. I am glad I am back now.”
He looked happy. “Just in the nick of time. You and your friends helped turned the tide of this battle. Will you introduce us? There is a lot for us to catch up on.”
I turned to Karn. “Sure, Grim. This man is Karn. I met him as I exited the northern exit. He was one of the potential for the Final 100, when he ran away. He has saved my life multiple times. Interesting thing about him—He can read minds. We definitely have been in many interesting albeit dangerous situations together. Last fact about him: He just survived going into and coming out of the Blue Haze territory, all by himself!”
Grim was clearly intrigued. “Pleasure to meet you, Karn. Thank you for saving the life of our young friend here. Impressive to know that you survived the Blue Haze on your own… also haven’t come across a mind reader in a long time… There are many discussions we must have.”
Karn tried to get up, but couldn’t. “It is an honor to meet such an accomplished Azmoq smith. I would shake your hand, but I have too many broken bones.”
Grim smiled, but didn’t reply.
I then turned to Kazena. “This is Kazena. The twin swords have been in her family for centuries. She ran away with them to escape her family’s oppression. And she is the one who stole the Spear sword too… from the most secure vault in the Valantian Imperium’s chambers.”
Kazena still seemed a little dazed. It was almost as if she was embarrassed to talk to Grim. “It is an honor to meet you, Grim,” was all she managed.
Grim was even more intrigued. “Family that held the twin swords… so we hail from similar backgrounds.”
That was my segue to ask him about the Varta blade. But before I could, Grim turned to Elbir. “Finally, my old friend. It is great to meet you after so long. It is surprising to see a Yerin like you travel so far. Especially you. Where are your brothers? And what happened to the hammer I forged for you? And of course, how is my favorite Yerin, Dag Heyat? Is Buuzmeq keeping him happy?”
Grim seemed really excited and happy to meet Elbir, a man who reminded him of the good times he must have had with the Yerins.
Elbir was elated when Grim started to talk to him, but I could see he was becoming a little morose listening to Grim’s questions and seeing Grim’s excitement about Dag and the Yerins. “I am so happy that I got to meet you again, master. My brothers, my hammer, Dag and Buuzmeq—I think we should save that conversation for later.”
Grim took the hint. He paused and then nodded. “So we shall. I should have picked it up. You aren’t using your hammer. We will talk later. As you might have guessed, there are m
any important things we need to discuss.”
“Yes,” I jumped in. “Let’s start with the legendary sword that you have. How did none of us in the village know? You’ve have had that sword for years, maybe even decades….”
Grim intervened wryly. “Try higher… centuries. Stop, young one. I need to tell you all… a long story.”
All of us were looking forward to listening to this old immortal being, who I figured from his last statement, was many centuries old. No one was more interested in his story than me.
Chapter 45: Grimm’s tale
I am actually about four hundred years old.
I have been around from the time this village was founded. I was one of the founders. Kid, I had told you some of the reasons for the long lives of villagers here. There are a few more reasons, which I had not mentioned. I will go into it now. Let me start from the beginning, from a time the Valantian Imperium has tried hard to erase from everyone’s minds.
I was born around the time of Valantian Gregor. The continent was named differently then. It was called Oronia, as it had been from before the time of the seven great kings. It was a different time. The golden age of the seven kings had long ended. The kings themselves were still around, but were a sniveling, squabbling bunch. The continent did not have any real centralized authority. The countries, or even, the districts and cities mostly governing themselves. It was chaotic. But, ironically, it was still peaceful. There were battles raging all the time, but they weren’t large. It was mostly small portions of various armies fighting each other. The common man was completely unaffected. They didn’t care about the fight between random groups of people calling themselves soldiers. The living conditions were similar, down to even the taxes. The battles changed nothing for majority of the population.
The seven kings of that time were spread across the globe. They didn’t really care about the world they supposedly ruled. They only cared about their own decadent lives. Theirs was a world within the world, without the world. And contrary to popular belief, the swords weren’t lost. They were still with the seven kings. They just did not care enough to tell anyone.
There were a select group of people, close “friends” of the kings, who had been plotting their downfall for a long time. That is another story by itself. Anyway, the short version is that these “friends,” successfully spread the rumor that the swords were lost. Ayasiddh’s contribution to the royal families, by then, had unwittingly became the symbol of their legitimacy. So these rumors reduced the legitimacy of the seven kings’ rule.
Valantian Gregor was an important man in the existing chain of command. He was the prime minister of Oronia, which gave him a bird’s eye view of everything that was happening. He was extremely popular with the people, as he was able to prevent some large conflicts from getting out of hand. He was smart, charismatic, and a brilliant administrator.
He got together with the “friends” of the seven kings, and plotted a coup. They used the Decennial meeting of the seven kings, when they got together on Hephaeson, an island to the east of Oronia, to kill the seven kings. The kings were so lost in their own world, that they didn’t even carry their swords with them. Sadly, it was extremely easy to bring down a leadership system that had lasted for more than 500 years.
Valantian was a clever man. He knew the other plotters only included him in their plot because they realized his execution ability and his appeal among the people. They would, at some point, realize that they didn’t need him. So he got rid of the other plotters on the same day that they killed the seven kings. He also got to anyone else close to the seven kings’ power. He single-handedly managed to destroy the entire world’s power system, throwing it open to conquest, after over 500 years of stability. Now, every squabbling city, country and village dreamt of conquering the world. The era of seven kings was over. And blood began to flow.
Valantian was the only worthy leader present in the continent. He was well liked and was extremely able. It also helped that he had complete access and control of the continental army and infrastructure. He waited. He waited for the continent to get blood soaked. He waited for them to want a savior. He waited until most armies were exhausted fighting among themselves, falsely thinking that Valantian was satisfied with just Ganolfan and hence hadn’t risked his forces on the main land.
Once he felt the time was right, he swooped in and destroyed all large forces on the mainland. He was hailed as a savior, a great man, the man who prevented the continent from imploding. He was able to bring the entire continent under his rule in less than three years. It had taken even the first great kings more time than that. But Valantian had the advantage of hindsight, and the support of the commoners, who revolted from within cities to help him invade. They cheered for the man who they thought had united the mainland, not knowing he had destroyed it in the first place.
Valantian was the talk of the continent. He was a god. But he knew this glory would fade. He wanted to make his mark permanently on the continent. At the absolute pinnacle of success, when he could have been the king of this continent till he died, he chose not to become a king. He had learned a lot from the years of the original seven king’s rule. You needed multiple, talented administrators who could govern a large area. A single man with all power in his hands could never be effective.
So he created the Imperium of leadership, and he spent a lot of time making sure that the Imperium’s election and progress was smooth and meritocratic, to ensure stability at the top. The people were ecstatic. They chose to forget the continent’s old name and ways. Instead they willingly let it be forged in Valantian’s vision. They gave up complete control of their lives to the Council of leadership and renamed the mainland Valantia, in Valantian’s honor. His dream was complete. He would forever be remembered as a great man.
But in all this time, for all his success, he never got his hands on the Swords of Legend. The plotters he had gotten killed had never told him that the swords were still around. No one in the new regime realized that the means of truly securing the legacy of Valantian forever was just around the corner, waiting for someone to grasp it. The swords were soon lost to the Imperium for hundreds of years to come.
Now, the fate of the swords themselves. When Ayasiddh had gifted the swords, he also had one of his students accompany each of the swords and stay with the kings to help them learn more about the sword. The student was also in charge of taking care of the sword. These students, lived for years with the kings and became some of their best friends. They explored the mysteries of the swords together. And when the kings passed, the students became mentors to the next generation of the kings. And so, they continued to live with the kings.
Slowly, some their progeny established themselves as a vital part of the functioning of the kings, and de facto caretakers of the swords. Over centuries, many from these families came to be included in the Order of Seven as masters. Others went on to occupy important administrative positions around the world. Only a few continued to study Azmoq. My family was one of those.
My grandfather was Ayasiddh’s student. He was the creator of the weapon you wield, young one. The Dhronari. His name was Dhrona, and it was the best weapon he created, so he named it after himself. My family was devoted to taking care of the Varta blade, our original responsibility. I was introduced to the Varta blade by my father, along with the other six swords created by Ayasiddh. The other families weren’t so diligent. Most had stopped caring about the swords. It could also have something to do with their normal lifespans. My grandfather was one of the original students. His son, my father was around him for centuries to gain his perspective and appreciation of the swords. I had a similar advantage.
By my time, the other families were in their 15th – 20th generations. They weren’t as devoted to the swords. In fact, many of them stopped believing in the powers that their swords wielded. They believed in the legends, but not the fact that they had access to the actual swords. This made it easier for the conspirators
to create the rumor that the actual swords of legend had been lost/stolen over the years. When multiple members of the original families confirmed these rumors, rumors became the truth. After the death of the conspirators, through the completion of a weird loop, everyone alive believed the swords were lost.
With the change in regime came the destruction of the old power structure at the hands of Valantian. Many of the descendants were kicked out of the positions they held. Many of them fell onto hard times. They had to sell these swords as Knick knacks, some cheap. Many lost the sword they held to theft.
My family had a different problem. While Valantian wasn’t aware of the fact that all the swords were real, he did know my father had lived a long life. If there was one thing that he suspected, it was that the Varta blade under his control was real. So we escaped during his conquest on the mainland, under disguise, carrying some of the knowledge captured about the swords.
As we moved through the mainland, my father, who was finally succumbing to age, told me to find a village or town that was out of Valantian’s control. And wait for the right time, to return with the Varta blade, and the knowledge that laid only with us. Till then, I had to continue studying Azmoq and the swords in secret. Although Valantian did not know about the swords, he did know about Azmoq. And he knew he had to control all means of Azmoq production and smithing. To never allow anyone who might rebel against him to gain access to it. He was rounding up all the Azmoq smiths in the continents and transporting them to Ganolfan, where he made them work for him and the Imperium.
After my father’s death, I travelled across the mainland, gathering a few friends, who were running from Valantian’s quest for consolidation as well. They were specialists at various trades, some of which Valantian was after. We reached the edges of the forests that we are surrounded by right now, called Vanyamay at that point of time. We decided to settle at that spot, given that there was nothing for hundreds of kilometers around that spot. The town soon became a haven for those escaping from the new leaders. It came to be known as Nuevida, “the new beginning,” in an old local language.
Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium Page 46