A small contest

Kelric sighed while lying in bed.

" I'm bored."

Even though the flowers and the trees shone brightly under the sun, Kelric wanted to stay inside. The comfort of his soft blanket kept him in. Usually Kelric isn't lazy. But on warm days like this he would rather stay out of the sun.

"I wonder when Ragnel returns. Hopefully not today it's too warm."

"Well, it is his turn to look for materials so I can't complain. At least next time it'll be my turn."

Kelric thought to himself as he sank deeper into the bed.

Kelric and Ragnel have been holding small blacksmithing competitions against each other since they were young. Back then they were both really bad at forging weapons, and that has sadly stayed the same since then. Even though they aren't the best they still enjoy doing it.

Soft footsteps could be heard walking through the hallway. Kelric's room found itself at the end of the hallway, so possibly the footsteps weren't going towards him. He could always hear any and all sounds outside his room. Through his years of living there, he still hadn't decided if it was a good thing or not. He got a bit scared. The footsteps were coming closer. "Maybe it's my neighbour?" He thought as he tucked himself deeper."O' great Elstra, please don't let it be the priest.'' The priest is Kelric's biggest enemy, he always asks him to go mop the floor of the church.

The steps got louder and louder as they approached his room. Suddenly they stopped.

The silence became loud. Only slight creaking of the bed's frame could be heard.

BOOM!

The door burst open and fell to the ground. Sending pieces of wood everywhere. Kelric quickly hid under his blanket. As he poked his head out and saw who it was he screamed:

"WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT, RAGNEL!"

" I'm back with the materials, ya twerp! Get ready to lose!" Ragnel shouted confidently.

"That's not what's important right now! This is the fourth time already! I can't keep affording new doors! And you know Sheil gets angered easily!" Kelric shouted back.

"Well... on the other hand kicking doors down is really fun. You should try it sometime'' Ragnel said with no regard for the door.

Kelric sighed "if you lose this competition you will fix my door, otherwise I'll fix it myself. Deal?"

"Heh, I like it. You got yourself a deal!"

Kelric got out of his bed and stepped onto the wooden floor, accidentally stepping on the door with one foot. He pulled away his foot immediately. A small sharp pain rushed through his leg. He had stepped on a sharp piece of wood, luckily it wasn't bleeding.

He quickly grabbed shoes and put them on. Just so nothing would stab him again. He crouched to pick up the door and a cramp shot up his leg. The cramp didn't last long so it didn't distract him. He picked up the door and placed it against the wall. Ragnel looked at how Kelric struggled a bit and laughed.

Kelric didn't notice. He then walked over to his desk, opened the drawer and grabbed his mom's amulet. The sun reflected through the green gem at the center of the amulet and blinded Kelric for a moment. He proceeded to put the amulet around his neck while he walked out of his room towards the hallway.

"So, what materials did you find?" Kelric asked Ragnel curiously while walking down the hall.

"About that. I only managed to find some basic steel." Ragnel said while laughing at himself.

"You only found basic steel? Not even some good steel?" Kelric said disappointed. " How did that take you 2 weeks to find?"

"Haha. Ha... you could say I got a bit lost, but I would say I was thoroughly searching the woods." said Ragnel while walking down the stairs at the end of the hallway.

"Ragnel? Did you break down Kelric's door again? I won't fix it again this time!" said the woman behind the bar angrily.

"I told you Sheil was going to be angry!"

Said Kelric while making sure Sheil couldn't hear it.

"It'll be fine." Ragnel said as he walked out the door.

The sun shone brightly into his eyes and a gust of wind flew by.

"Why did you return on the hottest day of the week?" Kelric mumbled to himself.

"The steel is at my dad's place." Said Ragnel while nodding at his dad's smithery.

Kelric followed Ragnel while admiring the peacefulness of the village. Because of this, he thought back to the monster incident with his parents. He quickly wiped those thoughts away and continued to follow Ragnel into his smithery.

"Your steel's on the right, go take it" Ragnel said.

Kelric went and grabbed the steel and wished Ragnel good luck for the competition, as he left to go to his own smithery.

"I hope you lose, I don't want to fix your door." said Ragnel while smiling.

Kelric entered his smithery and placed down his steel on a table. He sighed and said to himself: "I wish you were still here dad." The smithery has been empty ever since his dad died. Everyone who worked here quit and went to another smithery. The smithery was old. It was owned by Kelric's grandfather, then his dad, and now him.

Kelric walked over to the forge on the right side, avoiding the anvil in the middle. He grabbed some coal from a bag on the side of the forge, filled the forge with coal, and lit it up.

While waiting for the forge to heat up he thought about what to make. " should I make a spear or should I try to make a sword again?" Kelric looked over to the steel on the table "He did get me enough steel to make a sword, so a sword it is."

Cough Cough

''Augh. It's really dusty here. Maybe I should clean up a little.''

He thought about it for a moment.

''But cleaning is really boring.''

He walked around a bit, thinking about the disadvantages and benefits of cleaning.

He walked around a bit more, and another bit more. 5 minutes had passed and he still hadn't decided to clean yet.

10 minutes.

15 minutes.

20 minutes.

30 minutes.

He hadn't realised yet that the forge reached its peak temperature a few minutes ago. He walked past the forge and the warmth hit him like a cannon. He stepped back and snapped back to reality.

He hadn't come here to clean or to walk around, he came here to make a sword. Once he realised this he flew over to the steel and grabbed it.

He brought it over to the forge and put one end of the steel rod into the forge.

He tapped his foot on the ground to not get bored while heating.

Once one of the ends of the rod was flaming red, he brought it over to the anvil, where he started hitting the heated part of the rod many times until it became flatter. Kelric had to go between the forge and the anvil, heating and hitting it many times until it reached his desired shape.

After repeating the process many times, Kelric fell to the ground with a big smile on his face. ''Phew. Haha. I made a sword that actually looks like a sword. That doesn't happen often.''

The sword he made resembled a short sword but without the guard. He didn't make a guard on purpose, because he didn't know how to create one. Many people have offered him help in creating one but he always refuses, because he wants to find his own way. The grip was still made of steel, which is dangerous. So he looked around for some leather to wrap around it, so it wouldn't fly out of someone's hand. After a few minutes of searching, he concluded that there wasn't any leather at the smithery, so he would have to go get some.

He swung the door open as he exited the smithery. He was hopping through the streets, ready to tell everyone about his great sword he made. When suddenly something fell from the sky. Kelric was ready to run away from the thing that fell from the sky, but when he looked back he saw...

''A rock?'' He said while walking towards it. He got closer and tried to pick it up, but when he nearly had it a strong wind blew him away. He fell to the ground and bumped his head. ''What's with this rock? Could it be a gift of the gods?'' He pulled himself back up and rushed towards the rock. He braced himself for the wind this time but nothing happened. He raised an eyebrow and grabbed the rock.

He then held the rock to the sky to inspect it, but it still looked like a normal rock. He squinted his eyes a bit and it still just looked like a normal rock. Since he didn't want to think about it anymore he put the rock away and focused on his main goal again: getting leather. There were many shops in town, so he weighed the odds that a store would have leather. The outcome of that was: Malo's Goodies, the store that sells almost everything. The shop was located on the other side of town next to the church. Which meant he had to go on a little walk but he didn't mind that at all. After a moment of walking, he entered the shop.

The smell of all the goodies mixed together entered his lungs immediately. The smile on his face widened as he enjoyed the familiar feeling of this place.

"Holdin' another competition, Kelric? " the shopkeeper asked.

"You bet, I need some leather to finish my work. Got some?" Kelric responded.

"Of course I have some, how much do ya need?"

"Enough to cover a sword grip."

"Craftin' a sword this time eh? I'll go grab some leather in the back"

"Thanks, Malo" Kelric said as the shopkeeper went to the back.

Kelric looked around the shop while Malo was away, but nothing caught his eye.

Malo came back with the leather and waited at the counter to give it to Kelric.

"How much do I owe you? " Kelric asked

"Nothing if you win." said the shopkeeper while laughing.

''Are you sure?''

''It'll be fine.''

Kelric walked out of the store while holding the leather in one hand and waving at the shopkeeper with his other. While walking back to his smithery Kelric noticed Ragnel was waiting at his smithery.

"You still not done, ya twerp?" Ragnel said annoyed.

"Almost, give me a few more minutes to wrap the grip in leather." Kelric answered.

Ragnel sighed and stepped aside to let Kelric into his smithery. " I'll wait here until you're done."

Kelric walked straight over to the table, where he put his sword on. He grabbed his sword and started tightly wrapping the grip with leather. His sword was now finished. He clenched his fist and smiled. Rightfully so as this was one of his best works ever. He jumped out of joy, when he felt the rock from before shake in his pocket. "I can't believe I almost forgot about this."(Author actually forgot about it.)

He grabbed the stone out of his pocket and inspected it once more. Suddenly the amulet, which he got from his mom, started glowing. "Is this stone connected to my amulet somehow?" He stepped forward to grab his hammer to break open the stone. The amulet stopped glowing. He stepped back and the amulet suddenly started glowing again.

He realised his own stupidity, it was just the sun reflecting through the amulet. The amulet wasn't shining, the sun was. Disappointed, he put the stone on the anvil and hit it as hard as he could. The stone burst into pieces. "It broke. Maybe it wasn't special after all?" He collected as many pieces of the stone as he could find and inspected them. It still looked like an ordinary stone. He grabbed a bag and put the pieces in, maybe later he could find a use for it. He decided to keep the stone a secret. He grabbed his sword and went outside. He was ready to brag about his sword, but instead Ragnel caught Kelric off guard by saying: "That sword looks like shit."

Kelric quickly remembered the comeback he had prepared."If mine's shit then what atrocious thing could yours be?"

Ragnel was silent. He thought about it for a moment but ultimately ignored it. ''Anyways my sword is still at my dad's, I'll go get it."

Now that both weapons were crafted, the contest was actually going to start. This was the moment to prove themselves to the other.

They decided to go to their usual spot, The Military training area. While they were approaching the gate, Ragnel yelled at the person who seemed like the one guarding the entrance. "Oi! You there! let us in!"

"Calm down Ragnel" Kelric said.

"Still the same as ever. You know I'll always let you guys in!" said the guard while laughing.

''Ragnel hasn't learned that yet.'' Kelric said while also laughing. The guard opened the gate and let them in.

The training area looked like a courtyard but instead of greenery, it had rough ground and was filled with training dummies and sweating men.

As they entered the training area someone immediately walked up to them. "You guys holding another competition? Mind if I'm your judge this time around"

"COMMANDER ARTOLD?" both of them yelled while struck by confusion. Sweats of stress dripped from their foreheads.

After the Monster Incident happened, where Artold was hailed as a hero, he rose up the ranks and became the commander not soon after. The previous commander was kicked down from his spot and became the second in command.

"No need to be so on guard, do you want me to be the judge or not?" Artold said.

"It would be an honor, commander Artold!"Kelric said as ragnel was still unable to speak.

"Hmmm, interesting." Artold said as he snatched Ragnel's sword out of his hand.

Ragnel wanted to say something, but he didn't because he didn't dare talk back to the commander.

Artold placed two fingers near the beginning of the blade. The blade slowly fell to the side where the rest of the blade was. "A bit unbalanced, but this is better than I would have expected from you.

Ragnel still didn't dare talk back to the commander and stayed silent.

Artold then walked over to one of the dummies. People walked out of the way for him while both Kelric and Ragnel quietly followed him.

Artold then swung the blade fiercely at the dummy. The dummy was barely damaged. But that was expected of the dummy since it was made to endure a lot."Sharpness isn't all too bad" Artold said as he inspected the blade's sharp edge. "Your blade was only damaged a little, well done."

Artold waited a moment for a response, but nothing came. ''Still too scared to talk?'' Artold said as he stabbed the blade into the dummy and started applying pressure to the blade. The blade bent a little. Then he pulled the blade back out of the dummy. The blade went from bent straight back to its original shape. "Well, now I'm pleasantly surprised. This sword is better than I expected from you.

I do have one final test, but I'm not expecting anything for this one. A bonus point if you pass this." Artold closed his eyes and began to focus deeply. He stood like that for a few minutes. Then he opened his eyes. "Nothing happened?" Ragnel said confused. "Like I expected this is no elemental sword." Artold said slightly disappointed ."I wasn't expecting one either way." Artold gave Ragnel's sword back "My final rating for this sword would be..." Artold thought for a moment " a 6/10. Well done."

"Hahaha! There's no way you're beating that, ya twerp!" Ragnel said confidently.

"We'll see about that." Kelric answered while giving his sword to Artold.

Artold performed the same tests with Kelric's sword. His sword was a bit more unbalanced, as it fell to the ground faster. The sword did fall toward the handle side as he forgot the leather added extra weight there. His blade was a bit less sharp than Ragnel's, but it didn't get damaged when swung at the dummy. The sword's durability was beter. His sword bent a bit less than Ragnel's, but it also returned back to its original shape. This means Kelric's sword was stiffer.

"It seems you're going to win, Ragnel. Your blade's just a bit better." Kelric said a bit disappointed.

"Of course, I was going to win! There's no way I'd lose to you!"

"Shush, both of you!" Artold Shouted as he closed his eyes again. Artold began focusing again and opened his eyes quickly again while he began smiling.

"Is something wrong commander?" Kelric asked

"This examination is going to be a bit longer, Kelric. You've made an elemental sword"

"I MADE AN ELEMENTAL SWORD?"

"HE MADE AN ELEMENTAL SWORD?"

Both of them were flabbergasted.

"Wha- How commande-"

"Please be quiet for this part of the examination, bringing out an element isn't easy."

A small crowd gathered around Artold as they heard that there was an elemental sword.

Making an elemental sword is usually difficult. Fine materials and an experienced blacksmith are both normally a necessity, but it seems dumb luck also works.

While Artold was bringing out the element the crowds became quieter and quieter until it was nearly silent. Not a lot happened to the sword, it just looked the same. The crowd looked confused. Usually when a sword's element gets drawn out the element is very visible. If a sword's element is fire it catches on fire, if it's ice then it gets surrounded by ice, but with this sword seemingly had nothing changed.

"Are you sure it's an elemental sword?" someone from the crowd yelled.

"Well, the element should be out right now." Artold said confused.''I don't know what's wrong with this sword.'' He inspected the sword more closely. When he touched the blade he could feel it was a bit warm. He burst into laughter "I can't believe it!''

''Can't believe what?''

''This sword's element is so weak that it can only heat the blade up a bit. I guess it could be handy if you're trying to reforge the blade. But then it would lose its element and become useless." Artold began to calm down a bit "Well congrats on your first elemental sword, Kelric." Artold said while giving the sword back. "As for the final rating, I'll give it a 5.5/10 but since it was an elemental I'll give you the extra point. So your final score is a 6.5/10 which means you win Kelric."

The crowd dispersed.

"I won, Ragnel! You know what that means." Kelric said with a mischievous smile

"What?"

"It means YOU have to fix my door."

"Dang, I thought you would forget about that."

"You can't expect me to forget something as important as that."

"Alright. Alright. I'll fix your door" Ragnel said defeated.

"Oh right, it's my turn now to go look for materials for the next competition." Kelric said excitedly as if he was a little kid who got a gift.

"That also means I get more time to fix your door since you won't be staying here."

They both laughed

Kelric was excited for the trip. If only he knew what was going to happen, then he could have prepared for the horrors about to befall onto him.