Burst_Swords to the Skies

by Adam Wan

  "Who's meal is that?" asked Ayla who was pointing at the meal besides me.

  Some of the meal was spilled on the seat. The sauce had a spill on the left of the plate. The steak on the plate was shaking and jumping around slightly as the carriage moved.

  "It's Cel's. You could eat it, he wouldn't be eating it anytime soon anyway" I said.

  "Thank you! I'm starving!" said Ayla as she took the plate and started digging in.

  "Didn't you just ate?" I asked.

  "It was quite a work out back there. I ran up and down those damn city stairs just to shoot a couple of times!" said Ayla.

  "Haha" I let out a short laugh.

  We returned to Cielo that night. I had a meeting that I had to attend soon. I was anxious for answers to this case.

  "Where are you Cel?"

  CLO 28: Saving Her

  Like a leaf that was blown away by the wind, Riery was kidnapped by an unknown person in the forest.

  We were following the trail that was left behind by the culprit. The trail was left behind by a magic spell. I find the "Trace" spell useful because I was able to find criminals in town whenever there were any.

  The golden colored magic dust was twinkling as the sunlight shone upon it. The shade casted by the trees gave a cool atmosphere as we traversed through the woods.

  In the distance was something that made my eyes widen. My moving feet halted at the spot, Vergus halted as well and asked "Woah, woah. What is it?"

  I simply raised my right hand and pointed straight ahead. Vergus, who was standing on my right looked forward and was shocked as well. A gasp was let out unintentionally of his mouth.

  It was the sight of a giant tree, it was slightly obscured by the leaves but it was pretty clear. It was 20 times bigger than any other tree that we knew of in the forest. The treetop was like a skyscraper. The leaves made a giant shade around the tree.

  The trees were unable to grow under the shade, causing a large empty area without any plants growing there. It was also pretty dark there too, there were only some tiny areas where light entered through the gaps in the leaves.

  There was a door hole in the tree. Outside was a person that we did not know, he seemed to be guarding the place. It was dark inside, I could not even see what he was guarding. The trail leads inside of the hole, it meant that Riery was inside.

  "Stay down. Riery is inside. That guy must be a guard, we need a way to get inside" I said when I pulled Vergus's shoulder down to make him crouch with me.

  "Mnf! Mmmf..."

  It was a sound that made us let out a short gasp. It was Riery's for sure. We needed to act fast!

  "Vergus, you sneak on that guard and take him down. Once you do, I'll enter the tree. Sounds like a plan?"

  "For sure. I'll move to the right of the tree and sneak on him there"

  "Alright, hurry!"

  Vergus ran off to his planned area. I kept my eyes sharp and focused. I was ready to charge in anytime.

  I saw Vergus walking slowly and quietly towards the guards. "That was pretty quick" I thought because he got to his planned place pretty quickly.

  He then quickly placed his left hand on the guards mouth, there was no sound. He then drew out his sword and hit the guy's head. The guy seemed the be rendered unconscious.

  I quickly got out of hiding and activated Crystallite. With my sword at waist level, I ran across the empty shaded area and into the hole in the tree.

  I saw a passage inside, there was a barely lit place deep down it. I quickly ran down the passage with my sword still in hand.

  I slowly saw what was in the barely lit place. I saw a man there, the trail led to him, everything else was not clear. I ran even faster, my panting could be heard echoing slightly.

  I stopped my feet and pointed my sword at the man who had his back facing me. I said "Let her go!" out loud.

  The man turned around and faced me. In his hand was a whip, I gasped at the sight. I looked up and saw Riery.

  Her hands were tied to ceiling, which was basically the tree. She was standing on the tips of the toes. Her mouth was gagged with a piece of cloth that was tied tightly to her. Her eyes were closed and had tears flowing from them.

  "Let go of your weapon, or else" said the man as he drew out his sword and placed it near her neck.

  Riery's eyes opened wide. She also let out a scream but it was muffled by the gag. She also shook her head slightly.

  I placed my hand at waist level and dropped my sword. It shattered when it hit the ground. It gave off a brief flash of bright light as it shattered.

  "Hehe" the man gave a short laugh.

  He quickly took his sword away from Riery's neck and swung it at me.

  "Clang!*"

  "Huh?!"

  The man was shocked when he heard the clang. I reactivated my sword and locked blades with him. I unintentionally smirked.

  "You did not expect this, right? Well, you're done for" I said.

  "Ha!" the man gave a short shout.

  He took a knife out of his right pocket in an attempt to hit me. The knife was slightly longer than a normal knife.

  "Clank!*"

  "What?!"

  He was even more shocked that I activated Oblivion just as he swung it passed my left arm. The knife was knocked away from his hand.

  "Nope" I said while shaking my head slightly.

  He backed off in fear, the distance between us widened. I raised Crystallite up above my left shoulder and hit the man on his head, he was knocked unconscious.

  I quickly approached Riery and took her gag off of her. "Cel..." was the only thing she said before she passed out. Then, I cut off the ropes that tied her up and carried her out of the tree.

  Outside, I ran with her on my back. "Vergus, let's go. Oh, could you take that guy inside with us?" I said as I was running out. "Wait up!" he said running into the tree.

  After he got the guy, we ran through the forest. We followed the path we took previously. The path we took had distinct trees that had minor marks to them.

  CLO 29: Return to Cielo

  She was in the villagers' care. We were waiting anxiously for her return. She did not seem to be severely injured on first sight but who knows?

  Aside from waiting for her, we were waiting for the punishment for the person who kidnapped her. The guard was left out there, we did not have any other choice. We needed to hurry and get Riery to the village anyway.

  We were waiting in the dining room of the chief's home. The window was open, allowing the wind to enter the room and cool us down.

  I had my right foot tapping on the floor. My back was leaned against the back of the chair. Vergus was walking around the room in circles.

  Suddenly, the sound of the door opening made me turn around and face the door. Vergus looked at the door too. It was Roulen, the chief of the village. He entered the room and sat down next to me.

  "The kidnapper shall be punished. Riery is just woke up. She has some external bleeding and bruises on her back. She should be alright. Thank you for saving, I owe so much from you. What could I do to repay you?"

  "You're welcome..."

  After saying that, I was suddenly silent for a short while. I was thinking about his question. The answer would be something that would change the village's lifestyle.

  "Could you have some people explore the rest of this world?"

  "Hmm... Huuh..."

  He sighed as he thought of an answer. I was a little bit worried about the answer and his reaction. The reason I asked was for Riery. It was my chance to fulfill her wish. I also wanted the village to grow.

  The door opened and everyone turned and faced the door. The one opened it was Riery. She had a blanket on her, it covered most of her body. I could barely see the bandages she had.

  "I'll get something to treat you two" said the chief as he stood up and left the room.

  Riery approached me and halted near my chair. I got up and stoop in front of her. I noticed that she had tears pouring from her
ocean-like blue eyes.

  Suddenly, she hugged me tightly. I unintentionally let out a "Oof" as she pulled me in for the hug. My uniform was getting wet from her tears.

  "Thank you... Thank you for everything! Cel... Vergus... How am I able to repay you... I thought that it was the end of my life, until you showed up and saved me... I thought I was going to die! I don't want to die...!" she shouted while crying.

  I never thought that she would hug me so tightly. Her tears were from her sincere feelings. She really was scared, which was expected from anyone.

  "You don't have to do anything. It was the right thing to do. I could not bear to know that someone might be dead because of my own actions" I said.

  "But..."

  She raised her body and looked at me. The blanket that covered her fell to the floor, revealing her bandaged body. I was stuck in a really bad position.

  I turned around to Vergus and said "Vergus, could you..." while pointing at her blanket. He quickly took the blanket and covered her again.

  "No need... I mean it" I said.

  "But..."

  Just as she said that, her father returned with a tray that had cups placed on it. At that moment, my heart was pounding because he saw us in this position.

  Riery turned around and was shocked. She immediately stopped hugging me. Roulen simply walked pass us and placed the tray on the table.

  "Don't worry. I heard the conversation" said Roulen.

  "Ok..." I replied.

  After a while it was time for us to leave, it was almost sunset. We should be able to get out of the woods before and just after the sun completely sets.

  "I'm sorry that no one would accompany you two" said Roulen.

  "It's fine! No problem!" said Vergus.

  Riery had tears in her eyes. I felt a little sorry for her. She really wanted to repay us. Though, even I could not decide on what she could do to repay us.

  We did not even need someone to accompany us if we knew that there were marks on the trees. I did not know why they even wanted us to be accompanied.

  "Bye!" said Vergus waving his hand up high as he stepped back slightly.

  I looked at Riery who was staring at me. She was a little surprised when I looked at her.

  "Riery, don't you mind about repaying us. I don't want you to feel bad about it" I said.

  I turned away from her and said "So long, Rupin Village. Thank you for everything" as I waved my hand slightly.

  "No, thank you" said Roulen.

  I sighed and then continued by saying "You're welcome" with a smile.

  I turned away from the village and walked away with Vergus. The villagers' voices were heard as we entered the woods. It was time to return to Cielo.

  CLO 30: Uniting

  <>

  I had just finished my paperwork. I had also attended that damn boring meeting too, which was where all the paper came from. The meeting took most of my time yesterday.

  I got out of my chair and stretched my whole body. I let out a small "Haa..." as I stretched. I then made a long yawn. Afterwards, I wiped the sleepiness off of my eyes.

  The morning light entered the room from the window behind my back. There was a purple curtain but it was not in use. Straight in front of me was a dark red door with a golden doorframe.

  The carpet was red, which was typical. My desk was dark brown and was sort of shiny. The tablecloth was red in color and had golden outlines. There was a golden colored emblem of the kingdom on every corner.

  My table was slightly curved outwards from my position. There were bookshelves on each side of the room. The room I was talking about was my study.

  When I was standing in my study, I thought of Cel again. I missed him so much and was really worried about him. The meeting kind of made me put those feelings are worries aside since I had to focus on the meeting, but I was bored and sleepy anyway. Though I did catch what was reached in the meeting.

  Tears filled my eyes and flowed down my face. I wiped the tears that were overflowing with my hands. I was sniffing too.

  The back of my hands and the edges of my sleeves became wet from my tears. I tried to hold back my tears. "You're a strong girl... You're a strong girl... But not as strong as Cel... He managed to save me back then..." I thought.

  I started walking from my chair and out of my study. As I walked, I had my eyes closed and occasionally opened them to se where I was. It was to hold back my tears.

  Outside, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. Then, I breathed a blast of air out of my mouth. I then opened my eyes and nodded to myself. I started to walk down the hallway.

  When I approached the main hallway, a guard ran towards me in a panicky manner. He was saying my name over and over again. I halted my walking to let him say his words. I stopped running and breathed quickly.

  "Your Highness! Huh... Huh... The castle... is under attack!"

  I was shocked to hear that. The first thing I thought was "Where are you, Cel? I need you", it was a cowardly thought. I could not rely on him forever.

  "It's a giant wave of those crystal things!" the guard added.

  I ran off, I was running for the main entrance to see what was happening. I could see the wave out of the window though. The sight made my eyes widen. It was the sight of hundreds, if not thousands of those creatures.

  "Get the king away from here! Put anyone else in a safe place too!" I shouted as I ran.

  My feet made a tapping sound as I ran down the hallway. I was wearing an official uniform, it may not be for combat but it was easy to move in. It was a short red skirt with an outer coat that was knee length. The sleeves were long but easy to move in.

  I exited the castle and saw the knights fighting the hoard of creatures attacking the castle like an army invading another country.

  I activated my sword, Ecilea and charged in as well. I ran quickly and entered the battle. I began my fight with my first strike, a horizontal cut.

  It killed 3 at the sane time, they shattered as I continued killing the rest. But there was something different about these creatures, they seem more intelligent.

  One of them attacked me, it knocked me back. It strafed and avoided my attacks like how a human would. I did "Linear Line" to slice it in half, it shattered immediately.

  Suddenly, I was knocked to the ground by a group of them. I was about to be hit by at least 7 or 9 at once. They all raised they're hands and then...

  "Chh!!!*"

  I heard shattering when my eyes were closed. I was wondering of what happened. I opened my eyes to see a sight I never thought I would see.

  It was a man dressed mainly in black. His hair was black as well. In his hands were two swords, one was white and the other was black.

  "Cel...? Is that you?"

  CLO 31: Invading

  <>

  Sora asked a question that was expected from her. It was pretty simple to answer. "Cel...? Is that you...?" said Sora sitting on the ground.

  I looked back at her and gave her a smile. I gave her the answer she wanted.

  "Sora. I'm back"

  She stood up and hugged me tightly. Her light brown eyes sparkled and then bursted into tears. I hugged her back as I whispered "It's ok, I'm back... I'm here for you" into her ears.

  "Where did you go? What happened? How did you come back?" she asked.

  "Vergus and I were fighting a crystal thing and we suddenly appeared in a forest. We found a remote village there and they helped us find the way out. Once we're out, we searched for the portal. The men you sent out found us..."

  "Wha-?"

  "Thank you" I said as I patted her head.

  "Now, let's hurry and fight together. We can't just stand here like this" I added.

  "Mm!" she nodded.

  Sora and I ran into the army of creatures. The shattering got louder as we ran. A big amount of them actually got into the castle. The guards should be fighting them at the moment.

  I raised both of my swor
ds over my left shoulder and sliced at them. Sora quickly did a flurry of thrusts at them.

  Vergus, who was already fighting, attacked them from the east side. His attacks were precise and were well executed.

  Sora slashed at multiple creatures beautifully. It was like she was dancing gracefully on the dance floor. The creatures shattered from both her left and right.