by Adam Wan
Hullanic quickly got his blue feathered hat on and got to his carriage. He patted the horses heads and opened the door, bowing down with respect.
"The carriage is ready, Your Highness!"
We walked forward to the carriage. We entered the door and went to sit down on the seats that were inside of the carriage.
The seats were soft and were red in color. The fabric was able to reflect some light that came from the windows and the doors. I sat down next to Sora at the back seats while Spica and Ayla sat in front.
Vergus, who just got in, looked around with a weird expression on his face. He looked left, at me and Sora, then looked to his right, at Spica and Ayla. The carriage was full, there was on one place that he could sit on.
"Where am I going to sit?" he asked.
"Go and sit in front. The view must be amazing. The wind would be cooling off too" I said.
"Oh, alright. See you!" said Vergus as he stepped out of the carriage.
Vergus went to sit next the Hullanic. I was able to see him and Hullanic through the window above Spica and Ayla's heads.
"We're off" said Hullanic.
"Here we go!" shouted Vergus.
The carriage started to move. I could hear the cracking of the stones beneath us as the wheels rolled over them. The horses made loud nays as we moved. There was a slight feel of bumpiness too. We were finally heading to Rouden Province.
...
I felt the wind blowing against my cheek as I was waking up from my nap. The bumping of the carriage started to more noticeable as I regained consciousness.
I opened my eyes and saw Spica sleeping soundly on Ayla shoulder. Ayla's head was leaning against the wall. She had her mouth wide open, I could see her drool spilling from her mouth.
I looked out of the window over their heads and saw a sleeping Vergus. He seemed to be sleeping with his head against the carriage. The window slightly big enough to see his sweaty back.
I notice that I was sleeping on Sora's head, which was placed on my right shoulder as she sat on my right. I lifted my head gently, trying not to wake her up.
I looked out of the window and saw a forest that was slowly nearing us. The tree leaves were dark green in color. The fresh air from the forest was entering my lungs, making me feel at peace inside.
"That must be Rouden" I said silently.
I took the book out of my left pocket and looked at the map that was on the second and third pages. I looked at the mark that marked the location of Callias.
"Near Rouden village... It's Southeast on this map. It doesn't seem that far away from the village and the village is not far from the edge of the forest..." I thought.
"Woah!" shouted Hullanic.
His shout not only startled me, it startled everyone because he stopped the carriage from moving. Making the carriage halt out of a sudden. The carriage shook as it stopped.
I caught Sora, who almost fell forward from the sudden halt. "What happened?" she asked as she looked at me. "We're here, at Rouden Province" I replied.
The carriage wobbled back and forth for a while. The wobbling minimized after a minute or two. I heard the coachman, Hullanic get off the front along with Vergus.
He opened the door to my left. I let Spica and Ayla get off first before exiting the carriage with Sora. Once Sora and I were out of the carriage, I took the book and showed it to Hullanic.
"Where are we on this map?" I asked.
He looked at the map closely and scratched his head. He kept on looking and pointed at the forest edge that was northeast of the village.
"We should be around here. This is one old now, it most be from the Bloody Era" said Hullanic.
"It's a 300 year old map. We'll be back after a while. It might be nighttime when we come back though" I said.
"Thank you!" said Sora.
"Thanks for the ride" said Vergus.
We walked into the deep forest the book in my hand. We were walking towards the village's location.
"So... What's our plan?" Vergus asked out of a sudden.
"Hmm... Ayla will be our long distance archer" I said.
"Perfect" said Ayla.
"Spica and Sora will be our support" I continued.
"Ok" said Spica.
"Why am I support?" Sora asked.
"You two are able to use healing magic. And you are better at it, dear. And of course, you could attack just not too much"
"You're worried about me, right?" asked Sora.
"Partly..." I replied.
"Alright, I'll support you guys" she said.
"Thank you..." I replied.
I was actually worried about her. I wanted to keep my newly wedded wife safe. We literally just got married last month. But I knew that I could not stop my wife, Sora from doing anything.
"Vergus and I would be the offense" I continued my sentence.
"Fine by me" said Vergus proudly.
"By the way, the support could support us in anyway you want, you could switch with the offense for a bit while the other support heals the offense, or anything else" I added.
"So, we could do a lot of things, right?" Dora asked.
"Pretty much" Vergus answered just as I opened my mouth.
...
"Woah"
Sora unintentionally let out as she halted her walking feet. Everyone else, including me, stopped walking as well. The reason for that was that we have reached the place that was the old Rouden Village.
"A 300 year old village" I said quietly.
We saw a sight that was of Rouden Village, now an abandoned village. The village houses had moss all over them. The fences were mostly on the ground, broken. Some roofs have collapsed, leaving the dangling wooden beams.
The village was Cielo Ryea's home, he lived there for a long time before taking over the world. The place was abandoned, which was pretty sad. The place was a historical site, it was sad that the inhabitants left the village.
"We should be near the place" I said as I took the book out and looked at the map.
Besides the village's name, the depiction of the village was there too. The depiction was clear enough to look at, even if it was 300 years old.
In the middle of the village was a mossy fountain with a mossy statue. The statue was of a bird, its beak was pointed at a certain direction. The water was drained, leaving the dry concrete fountain floor.
There was statue on the map as well. I tried to find out where the place we were searching for was. I looked closely and saw a clue on the map.
I noticed that the beak of the statue pointed towards the location of the sword. I looked up from the map and looked where the beak was pointing at in reality.
The beak pointed at my 10 o' clock, or my northwest. That meant that the location of the sword was northwest from us, if the beak did not change where it pointed. But it was not possible that the beak would change where it pointed by itself.
"We should follow where the beak points" I said.
Sora, who was looking at the map, looked up and looked at the statue then looked back down, she then noticed what I was talking about.
"I get it" said Sora.
"Let's go!" said Vergus as he ran off to the statue.
After Vergus ran off, Spica and Ayla started started to walk to the statue at a slow pace. I held Sora's hand and started to walk there as well.
From there, we walked in the direction that the beak pointed. The sounds of our footsteps were heard as we walked down the stone pavement.
The sounds of the plopping footsteps slowly turned into the sounds of footsteps on the grass as we walked away from the stone pavement and on to the grassy ground of the forest.
...
The light that got through the gaps in the tree leaves turned blue in color, the surroundings suddenly got quiet. The chirping of the birds and swishing of the leaves disappeared.
On our sides were trees that made an empty area for us to walk on, it was like a natural road or even hallway. The leaves seemed blu
e because it was the only color that I could see at the moment.
We reached an empty plot of land. The tree leaves and branches covered the places. The blue light shone upon an object that was on the ground, not only on the ground, but stabbed in it.
We stopped walking and widened our eyes as we saw an amazing sight in front of us. The sight even made some of us gasp in amazement.
"C-C-Callias?" Sora let out as she stepped forward slightly.
The sight was of a sword that was as black as coal. There were vines wrapped around it, it looked like something from a fantasy book. The crossguard was a simple one but it looked great on the sword. It reminded me of Oblivion but slightly more older.
We approached the blade step by step and entered the plot of land together. The sword suddenly glowed brightly, blinding us with a white light. All that I could see was nothing but the color white.
...
The white color was fading away, bit by bit. I shook my head as it faded. I eventually saw what place we were in, not that I recognize it though.
"Where are we?" asked Spica.
"What happened?" asked Sora.
Those were the exact same questions that were in my head as I turned my head and body around to look at the amazing work of architecture that was done to the place that seemed like the inside of a grand sized church or temple.
The place was two times the size of an average church or temple. The length of the place was at least 30 meters long, the width being 20 meters or so while the height was 15 meters.
The roof seemed to be made of gold and had silver beams. The floor and walls were made of pearl, there was also golden beams supporting the roof from the floor. There were golden statues of birds standing proudly on pillars placed throughout the grand place.
The front and back of the placed had huge statues of knights in full armor with their swords on the floor. Between them was a symbol of a birds wings that were made of gold on the front and the coat of arms of the kingdom, also made of gold.
In the center of the room was a giant symbol on the floor that I could not recognize. The symbol was golden and shiny, it seemed like an ornament of some sort.
We approached the center of the room to have a closer look at the beauty that was on the pearly floor. But before we made it to the center, a flash of light in a shape of a being appeared on it.
"Woah!" shouted Vergus.
"Fallback!" I shouted as I jumped back and gazed at the thing.
The light disappeared, revealing a stone knight that looked like a statue. The knight was 3 times bigger than any of us, just like how it was in the book.
"Spica! Take the book!" I said.
I threw the book towards her, she raised both of her hands and caught the book. She quickly placed the book into her pocket and activated her sword.
I activated my swords and started to charge at the being. Vergus drew out his sword and ran off to help me. Ayla jumped back and took her bow out, which was on her back the whole time.
The knight slashed its large sword towards me, the sword let out a white trail as it sliced through the air. I placed my right hand, that held Crystallite at my left waist and sliced upwards, hitting the blade of the knight.
The sword jumped off of my sword like a spring allowing me to attack its leg. My right hand that was over my right shoulder from the previous attack sliced my sword down at the leg.
The leg let out some stone-like fragments when I slashed at it. The knight let out a deep scream and then tried to hit me again.
I raised both of my swords and crossed them to block his sword. The sword swing was so powerful that it smacked me down to the ground. I was on my back, still blocking the attack with my swords.
"Cel!" Vergus shouted.
He ran to its leg and slashed at it multiple times. The sword was raised from my swords as it got up from the pain, if it could feel any pain.
When it got up and was about to attack Vergus, its chest was hit by a bomb arrow that was accompanied by a boom. The chest had flames and smoke coming from it. Some debris came out of it as well.
I tried to get up from the floor, I struggled slightly but eventually got up and jumped back. Magic dust surrounded me, I felt like I was in less pain than before. I turned my head around and looked back at Sora.
"Feel any better, honey?" said Sora.
"Yup. Thanks, dear!" I said.
I turned around quickly when I heard a sudden shout from Vergus.
"Gahh!" he said.
He was hit by the sword and was knocked to the wall. The knight was hit by another bomb arrow by Ayla before it could hit Vergus with its sword again.
I quickly ran towards it and jumped up high, high enough to be able to hit his torso. I raised my right hand over my left shoulder and did "Dual Blades" to the area between his stomach and his chest.
I hit him there and down his body multiple times, left then right at a quick speed before I landed back on the floor. I jumped back and did a backflip as Ayla hit it with another bomb arrow.
The knight raised the sword in his left hand up high and sliced down horizontally. I let out a gasp and quickly crossed my swords again. Again, I was smashed to the floor by the amount of force it used.
"Cel!" everyone shouted as they saw me on the floor again.
"Everyone! Weaken it by hitting it together with your skills!" I shouted as I held its sword.
"Alright!" said Sora.
"Got it!" said Vergus.
Vergus jumped up and did "Vertical Slice" on his left arm. His sword let out a yellow glow as it slice vertically really quickly, it was a one hit skill.
Spica jumped up and hit it with her "Triple Triangular" skill on its right arm that was still trying to hit me. He gracefully jumped up and hit it once, then jumped on its hand and hit it again. Finally, he jumped on its elbow and sliced it again.
Sora was shouting as she went under its chest and did the "Rapid Fire" skill. The knight lifted not only his sword but its whole body and even its head as it yelled loudly.
I quickly jumped backwards and deactivated my swords before I landed on the floor, I landed in a slightly crouched position.
Sora jumped back as well and came to heal me. Spica came back and healed me and Vergus. I took a deep breath as the magic dust circled around me.
After they finished healing me, I activated Crystallite and ran off towards the knight. I yelled as I placed my right hand near my left part of my waist.
The sword emitted a red colored glow, no, it emitted fire. The skill was called "Inferno", a fire skill. I sliced my sword horizontally at its chest, flames were cut through its chest and blew out like an explosion behind its back. The knight was moving backwards from my attack.
My left hand activated Oblivion and placed it next to my right side of my waist. It gave off a white glow as it sliced through the air and then through its chest. It was the skill called "Freezing Blizzard", an ice skill.
The knight's body turned into ice when it was hit with my attack. It does not stop there, I sliced it with my right, which was using "Inferno". Then, I switched to my left hand and kept alternating between them.
The knight was burnt then immediately frosted, it was then burnt again. I kept on hitting it with two skills on at the same time. It was something that was not done before, from what I knew at the time.
"Woah!" said an amazed Sora and Spica.
"What is he doing?!" asked Vergus.
I halted my feet and raised my hands up in the air together. With the two different skills in my hands, I sliced both of them down at once. Making an the knight crack slightly.
The knight walked backwards two or three stepped and then kneeled down on the floor. It blew up in a flash of light, again, blinding us. All that I could see was white again.
...
We heard a voice talking, the voice was of a male.
"Good job to those who passed this test. You deserved this sword of mine. This sword was given to me by the leader of the Firaga
race. I actually got a set of armor that was as black as the sword. Just to be clear, I never chose the color black, the Firaga did.
Besides my sword, I'll give you the sword called "Frysta", the sword belonged to my friend whose name was written on the last page of my book. Farewell, this was from Cielo Ryea"
"Cielo?" I asked silently.