Burst_Swords to the Skies

by Adam Wan

  I looked up at the sky. I flew up and took a brief look around the area. All I saw was an endless land of trees. With a sigh, I flew back down. I sat back down again.

  Thinking even more an image of a face appeared in my head. It was the face of the beloved, Sora. I gasped the moment I saw it in my head. "Sora? Where are you? What about our wedding? Help me...!" I thought looking around aimlessly.

  I got myself together. "Stop, Cel. Think straight... I got find a way to get out of this place and I better do it quick" I thought pulling myself together. I was breathing in and out, calming myself.

  I heard movement, it was the sound of rolling in the grass. I turned to Vergus and saw him turning around as he woke up. He sat up and wiped his eyes. "Hi" he said with one hand wiping an eye. He then looked left and right, he seemed confused.

  "Where are we? What happened?" asked an oblivious Vergus. In fact, I too was oblivious to what happened.

  "I don't know where we are. All I know is that we fought that crystal thing and then I had no memory after that" I replied with my arms crossed.

  "Hmm... Even I don't remember a thing after that... Man, I'm thirsty though"

  "Same here but I have no idea where any river, lake or stream is"

  I stood up and looked to my right. I heard some sounds that seemed like chatter and water flowing in the distance I was not sure but we should at least try, there should be water if there is a settlement. I was not sure about how to get out of the place.

  "Let's search this forest. I think I'm hearing something in this direction. It could be a village" I said pointing in the direction of the source of the sounds.

  "Let's go there then" said Vergus as he stood up. He took his sword and returned it to its scabbard on his back.

  We walked off into the woods. We were walking into the unknown territories of the vast forest. I should be ready for anything. Though, I was wondering "What is Sora doing right now?"

  CLO 21: Location

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  The swords made a sharp clang as they hit the crystal creatures. Hearing a crack every time the crystal body was hit. If the attack was strong enough, it would instead caused a loud shatter like how glass does when it breaks.

  I am Sora Ryea, princess of Cielo and daughter of King Arrendale the third. I was heir to the throne of the kingdom of Cielo.

  I slashed at them, causing them to shatter into dust that would float in the air. The air was filled with this dust, it was hard to breath at time. The dust would disappear after a second or two though. But the creatures keep dying.

  Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance. The sound was accompanied by the shattering of the creature that seemed to have self destructed.

  I was wondering "Huh? Why did they blow up on its own?". I thought that it was the same everywhere else in the city.

  "Return to the carriages. We'll wait for the other groups there" I said as I walked towards the carriages.

  "Where's Cel? I gave him and Vergus freedom of movement during this battle. So, they should come back soon" I thought on the way to the carriage.

  After a while, the other groups arrived. I saw Ayla but Cel and Vergus were nowhere to be seen.

  "Hey, did you see that?" asked Ayla.

  "See what?" I asked. "Every creature exploding by itself" she replied, "Oh, yes. It was pretty strange" I replied. "Yes, it was" said Ayla.

  We waited for a while, everyone was having a meal. Greg was counting the amount of men we had. We do not usually go to war so we do not lose men often.

  "Your Highness! We lost two men!" said Greg.

  I was inside my carriage eating my meal. Cel's meal was placed next to me. I felt a little sad to hear that we lost some people.

  It was sad knowing that the person who died had a family. Parents, children, siblings, spouses... All of them would mourned the loss of the knight who was someone they loved.

  "Who are they?" I asked after swallowing the food I was chewing on.

  "Sir Alt and Vergus"

  That answer made me stand up unintentionally. The meal was spilled on the floor as the plate smashed. I was in complete shock at that moment. I could not believe it. My heart was starting to beat really fast.

  "Cel? What? Why? How? Is this for real? Is it true?!" I thought. I could not imagine a life without him. We were about to get married the next month.

  "Actually, they did not die... They... Disappeared..." Greg added.

  "Disappeared? How? Where are you, Cel?" I wondered. Hearing that they disappeared was a relief but I still have no knowledge of their whereabouts.

  A disappearance was strange, it was also unlikely that Cel was killed and took somewhere else. It was also unlikely that he got lost because Vergus was with him the last I saw him.

  But I should at least try and do something. The least that I could do was to search the whole city for those two. Which would take some time.

  "I demand a search through the city. We have to find those two" I ordered.

  "Yes, Your Highness" said Greg.

  "What should I do if we can't find them... I would have to return to the castle soon... Should I have knights searching for him in Ayrus? What should I do?!" I wondered and thought carefully.

  It was a hard decision to make. If I could, I would be thoroughly searching for him in all three worlds! But I have princess thing to attend to at the castle. There were meetings that would take place two days after today.

  I cleaned up my mess with some cloth. It was a shame that my steak was wasted. Cel's dish was uneaten but I could not just eat it. It would not feel right.

  I was sitting on my seat after cleaning up the mess. I turned my head around to my left and looked at Cel's dish and wondered "Cel, Where are you?"

  CLO 22: Rupin Village

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  The chatter got louder and louder as we went deeper into the forest. The calm sound of a river flowing was heard as well. I was assuming that the river was located near the village.

  There was a faint scent of food too. The smell seemed to be of a freshly baked loaf of bread. The stove's coal was smelled too, it was a bitter smell. It was the smell of black smoke.

  A view was obscured by the trees. There were leaves in the way as well. But through the tiny gaps in the trees and leaves was a view of a village.

  We walked through the woods, past the trees and the fresh and green leaves. We got closer and closer to the view. The image got less obscured as the leaves were not blocking the view as much. When we were through of the woods, we saw what the sight was. It was a village.

  The village's homes were made of wood. The small lower part of the wall was made of grey stone bricks that were stacked a top of each other.

  The villagers wore simple clothes. The clothes were the clothes that the poor would wear in Cielo, but it seemed to be a normal thing to wear here. I saw the villagers standing around and having a chat and the children were running around playing chase.

  There was a flowing stream separating us from the village and over it was a wooden bridge that allowed us the way to cross the stream.

  "A village!" said Vergus with a smile.

  I unintentionally gave off a faint smile as I looked at the village. The place looked pretty peaceful and it seemed fun to live there. The reason I smiled was also partly because of Vergus's smile.

  "Let's go" I said as I started to walk off and cross the bridge.

  "Wait... What language do these people speak? What language should I use? I know that Ayrus and Cielo speak the same language but I don't have an idea where I am" I thought.

  When I came to Ayrus for the first time, Spica spoke to me in a language that I was familiar of. It turned out that everyone spoke that language. It was the main language other than traditional Ayrilian, which I only heard during the visit to the village that night.

  I always wondered why all three worlds talked the same language. Was it the same language given to us by the creator of these worlds?
I have no idea. I would just keep it in the back of my head.

  With that thought in mind, I crossed the bridge and made it to the other side. I heard the footsteps on a wooden surface, which was Vergus crossing the bridge.

  The villagers stared at us. I felt a little uneasy due to the attention from everyone in the small village. I was frozen, I did not know what to say or do.

  "Chief! We have visitors!"

  The words were shouted in a language I knew. Now, I knew what I could do. The language was Cylian, the main language of everyone in the three worlds.

  A man in his 40s stepped out of a wooden home and walked toward us. His clothes were like everyone else but he had a necklace that was made with colorful materials.

  A young girl with short and brown hair stepped out of the door too. She was shorter than the chief by 20 or more centimeters.

  The chief stood in front of me. His height was the same as mine. The girl stood behind him, presumably because she was his daughter.

  The girl wore a grey and white shirt with black pants. Her skin was fairly pale with slight signs of tan. Her eyes were blue, which was a rare eye color. It looked like the water in the ocean.

  "Where do you come from?" asked the chief.

  "I'm Cel Alt from the Kingdom of Cielo"

  "I'm Vergus"

  "Hmm... Never heard of it but it's fine. We are cut off from the rest of the world. Information does not reach us and we never explored the rest of the world before" explained the chief.

  "We're lost in this forest" I said.

  "We should be able to help" he replied.

  "So, where are we?" Vergus asked.

  "You're in Rupin Village of Ayrus"

  I never heard of the name before. But at least I knew that it was apart of Ayrus. That piece of information was needed the most.

  My wings could not fly for long now, so they would not be of much use. They could only fly for a few seconds now. My power over my wings were limited now.

  All I needed was a way to get out of the place and find a portal to Cielo. I would need to know where we were on the map and the location of the nearest portal.

  CLO 23: The Moonlight

  The sky was turning more orange from the cool blue color. The sun was setting and darkness would cover the world with nighttime. A new day would be upon us when the sun would rise up again in the morning.

  The meaning of this part of the cycle was that it was time for us to stop our daytime activities. Meaning that if we wanted to find a way out of the grand forest, we would have to wait until the next day.

  There was a short moment of silence in the village. The silence was interrupted as the village chief placed his left hand on my right shoulder.

  "It is getting dark. You two may stay here for the night. You shall be aided by my daughter, Riery tomorrow morning. She knows the way out of the woods" said the chief as Riery walked forward.

  "Thank you for your kind offer. Where shall we stay?" I asked.

  "You may stay in my family home. It would be troubling to ask for the other villagers to let you stay" said the chief.

  "Umm... May I ask you something?" said Vergus.

  "Yes, you may, young lad"

  "Can we have a drink...?" said Vergus scratching his head with a weird look on his face.

  "Umm, yes. Just follow us inside" said the chief walking back to his home.

  The home was made of wood. It was two storeys tall, pretty impressive for people separated from the rest of civilization.

  "What was it about?" asked a women inside the house. I presumed that she was the chief's wife.

  "We have visitors for the night" said the chief.

  We entered the home. The floor was made of grey colored stone. Next to the door was a rug that seemed well made. The walls had cup like objects hanging there.

  "I'm sorry for interrupting you and your family" I apologized.

  "It's fine! You're welcomed here!" said the mother welcoming us.

  "Thank you, miss"

  "Here's some water" said the chief as he approached us with two cups of water. It was a little unexpected to me.

  "Thank so much for your kindness" I thanked.

  I drank the water from the cup. The second I swallowed some of the water, I immediately felt rejuvenated. My throat no longer felt dry too. The water was slightly cold, it made me feel satisfied in a way.

  "Haa..."

  I let out unintentionally as I finished drinking. I realized that what I did was a little rude.

  "Oh, my apologies. It wasn't intentional" I apologized.

  "You were thirsty. You were lost anyway. We understand your situation" said the chief.

  "Thank you for your understanding" I said.

  "You're room is upstairs. Come down for dinner later. Riery, please show them their way"

  "Yes, father" said Riery in a soft voice.

  She walked towards the stairs on our left. She was walking with her head lowered as she passed her parents.

  "Follow me" she added as she walked in front of us.

  "That was quite respectful" I thought commenting on the way she lowered her head as she walked in front of her parents.

  We followed her upstairs. The stairs made a creak from every step that we took. The stairs were made of wood. There were railings but they were of a simple design. There were also the thuds from our feet.

  Right after the stairs was a door that was decorated with purple flower petals. There was also a sign that wrote "Riery" in beautiful hand writing. It was Riery's room.

  Next to her her room was a door without any decorations nor signs. Riery stopped in front of the door, it was the room that we would be staying in for the night.

  "This is your room. I'll call you when dinner is ready. Please make yourself at home" she said politely and ended with a smile.

  "Thank you, Riery" I said.

  She then walked passed us and went downstairs. The creaks were heard again she went down. On the second floor, the floor would always creak. We would have to be careful to not interrupt the people downstairs.

  The door made a squeak as it opened. Inside were two single beds laids with white bedsheets. A clothes hanger stand was placed next to the bed near the window. Through the window, I saw the forest trees and evening sky.

  The room was dark and I had no knowledge of how to light up the place. As the sun slowly set, the moonlight of the the night would shine upon the land.

  CLO 25: The Night

  I walked into the dark room. Creaks echoed in the once silent room. The dust entered my lungs, making me feel the slight urge to cough but I held it in.

  I felt a weird feeling, it was like a chill to my back. It may have been due to the little amount of light that was slowly disappearing as the sun went down, filling the room in darkness.

  Vergus walked and halted in front of the two beds on the right side of the room. There was a desk located in between both of the beds. It was a brown drawer with a simple rope as the handle. I could see the threads jutting out from the rope.

  Vergus placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head to his right. After a second or two, he turn his head to face me. I stopped my slow walking a stood there.

  "Which one do you want?" Vergus asked.

  "I'm fine with whatever bed"

  "But I don't know which one I should choose... Eenie Meenie Mynie Mo, what bed should I go for?" Vergus said pointing his finger, alternating between the two beds.

  His finger stopped and pointed at the bed on his right. I got the bed that had the clothes stand next to it, which may be a little convenient.

  "It's settled then" I said walking to my bed.

  "Indeed" he replied walking forward.

  I took off my uniform and placed it on the clothes stand, leaving my white shirt and black pants on me. My shirt was slightly wet from my sweat. In fact, my face had some sweat as well.

  "I would need to open the window a bit soon. It's damn hot in here!" I thought as I looked at the windo
w.

  The large window was of a simple design, it was expected from a village like this. The frame was rectangular in shape and was white in color.

  "Knock knock*"

  Knocking was heard. I turned around and looked at the door as the knocking continued. There was a shadow coming from the bottom of the door, meaning that the hallway was lit.