New Sword

Ardiel Elrond

Rain was pounding hard on the window of the inn we were staying at in Grassente. To quickly recap, Tariel was found, after which Loueras decided to stay in Grassente for some time before we head off North to a place called Dernol's Forest. Apparently there we can learn to fight low ranked beasts as a start. 

And that brings us here. I was sitting alone in the room because I was the first one to finish lunch, and made my way back upstairs. As I was listening to the relaxing sound of the rain, I was also thinking about recent events, namely, Alec.

Him being a quadra elemental mage was surprising, yes, but my head was filled with thoughts of something else entirely. Thinking about his reaction to my sword occupied me. I was spending my time augmenting mana into it, and then releasing, watching the sword glow and return back to its original state. 

Almost indestructible, huh, I recounted Alec's words in my head as I stared at my weapon. I was confused, and even Vie told me that she knew nothing, although her voice slightly faltered which signaled that she was once again, hiding something.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Just what is with this sword?" I mumbled to myself, expecting no answer.

Alec knows about it, Vie knows about it. Loueras was the only adult I could ask but he truly knew nothing, hence, I was stumped. 

Sure, the sword looked very unusual. It didn't look human nor elven made, so is it demonic, or maybe dwarven. But I doubt dwarves, although I haven't seen one yet, used weapons as thin and fragile-looking as this. 

The demon race was still a mystery to me. For all I know, they could have some pretty powerful things, or they could just be another category of humanoid races like the elves and humans, but with their own littles perks like Helga.

So maybe it was demon-made, but what if it isn't? I mean, would a powerful man like Alec react the way he did, almost with fear, if the sword really was demon-made? So an ancient relic? That could explain why he was so surprised at seeing it, but if it was a relic, it didn't explain his almost fearful reaction when he saw it, and after he heard that some strange hooded man delivered it without showing his identity.

'Are you really not going to tell me anything?' I asked.

'I told you already, I know nothing of this weapon.' Vie replied.

I sighed once again, and rolled the handle of the sword in my hands. 'It's so obvious that you're lying, it's not even funny.'

Vie didn't respond. Whatever voodoo, mind reading, rune casting, undead spirit she was, there seems to be things she was bad at too, and one of them is lying. It was as clear as day that she knew something about this weapon but decided not to tell me, which not only led me down a path of more confusion, but frustrated me too. 

I lifted the blade up to my face, and flicked it. It let out a melodious ring, which lasted for quite some time before settling. It was fine craftsmanship. Light, comfortable to hold, and although the design itself was simple, the white blade was captivating. 

No idea came to mind when I tried determining what it was made of. Mythril certainly wasn't it. Loueras's blade was made of mythril, but it was a mix of white and silver, whereas my sword was almost milky-white. 

The only clue that I had was the engraving on the sword's handle, [VΛ]. The letter V, and then A? Probably initials. Bladesmiths usually put their initials on their swords to signify who made it, so this [VΛ] marking was likely also a signature of some kind of master, which was my only real clue regarding its origins.

I have to make a mental note to myself to see if anyone knows these initials. It would be my first step of finding out the truth about this sword I acquired, which was now giving me second thoughts about whether I should be in possession of it given all the mystery that shrouded it. 

Just then I noticed that the rain outside stopped.

"Good," I said to myself, "I can finally get some training in, or else I'll get rusty."

'We don't want that, do we?' Vie teased. 'Careful so as to not let the others surpass you.'

'Are you doing this to purposefully irritate me?' I asked.

She laughed. 'I'm sorry, don't pout.'

I chortled. 'You like talking to me like I'm a little kid.' I thought back to her, sheathing my blade and making my way to the door.

Vie let out another giggle before responding. 'Well, considering how long I lived, even if you were a hundred you would still be a child to me.'

I opened the door, and made my way downstairs. I was planning to train in the inn's backyard. There was a flat patch of fenced land at the back which was mostly used to store unneeded junk, but which also could serve me as a suitable area to get some practice swings in. 

Making my way outside while ignoring the surprised glances of the people downstairs, I opened the creaky wooden door, and stepped into the backyard. It was littered with old furniture and trash. Old building supplies that were no longer in any shape to be used, an old couch in the corner, nightstands, tables, chairs, and whatever else. Just a pile of junk, in the middle of which was an open patch of land that was not yet filled.

'You think the owner would get angry if I dice some things up here?' I asked Vie as I unsheathed my sword.

'I doubt he will even notice. This place looks like it hasn't been visited for months.'

With Vie's reassurance, I began with a warmup. A couple hundred swings from up to down, then side to side, then some forward strikes.

After I got that out of the way, I began practicing patterns of the elven sword style. My blade flowed from one attack into the other as I imagined scenarios in my head, and the best possible way to deal with them. Then I did the same thing with defensive tactics.

I got to say that over the course of our travels I got much better at this sword style. It was difficult to master, given that you needed to memorize dozens of patterns and how to react to specific strikes to make your blade flow. And once you got that, you needed to implement it into practice.

At first all my movements were choppy and hesitant as I tried to remember what comes after which. Neither did I perfect the flow of my sword, as my strikes and blocks did not flow into each other because I used the wrong combination for my opponent's, who was usually Loueras, specific swing.

He says that after some time, the style becomes instinctive, and I will no longer need to think about or memorize the patterns and combinations of strikes and blocks which will be effective at both repelling my opponents attacks, and maintaining a never ending barrage of my own. But since I am still in the early stages of harnessing this technique, I still need to think, though I have noticed some improvement.

I practiced with Loueras using my wooden sword, which I stuffed away into my backpack after I got a real one. It kind of became just useless cargo, but at least it can be something to remind me of home. Yes, I really felt that Elvedriel was my actual home, and yes, I did already feel a little homesick. It may be weird to think of this new place as an actual home. I myself expected to never really feel this way about it, and stick to the house I lived in in my previous life. 

But Elvedriel became a haven for me. Beautiful, safe, where I had a family and met friends. It was the complete opposite of the life I lived in. My new home sparked a sense of warmness in me that I never felt to my old home. A sense of belonging and happiness.

I smiled as I thought this, and continued with my swings. My training session was mostly shadow sparring, where I imagined Loueras in front of me, and repeated the same patterns of blocking and striking that I did when we actually fought over and over again until my arms got tired.

Then I got into some shadow boxing, engaging in a series of punches and kicks against my imaginary opponent.

'You're getting better.' Vie complimented me as I was sitting on the ground, catching my breath. 'But how about testing out that new sword you got, hmm?'

I chortled at her suggestion, and said aloud.

"Sounds like you're more eager to chop things up than I am."

'It would be a lie to say that I am not intrigued in what that sword is capable of in your hands.'

"Yeah, that's true." I responded as I picked myself up from the ground, and grabbed my sword in the process.

"Although, there isn't much here to chop up beside rotten wood and rusted metal." I said while looking around the place. Even a cheap iron sword would have no problem slicing through the junk that laid around here, so it was definitely not material to properly test out the capabilities of my mysterious weapon.

'Well, that's disappointing isn't it?'

There really was nothing here to test my sword on, so yes, it was quite disappointing. After seeing this sword's unusual qualities and hearing from Alec that it can become indestructible, of course I would be eager to test it out. 

I looked around once more, and saw a few thrown away floor lamps. Their poles were made of metal. If I can just line them up and slice through them, it would be an ok test for now, I thought.

That is exactly what I did. I carried all of the floor lamps to the center, and lined them up side by side. The idea was to slice through them horizontally and see if I would be able to go through them all. Well, it was quite the obvious question, that if I imbue mana into any sword I would be able to go through them, but my curiosity lay somewhere else. I just wanted to see how the sword felt in my hands, and how easy it was to cut through things.

This was obviously not a test for durability or how sharp it was, but mostly to get a feel of it. I collected about five floor lamp poles, and positioned myself in front of them, like a drill sergeant in front of new cadets.

I grabbed my sheath with my left hand, and the handle of the sword with my right hand. I wanted to make a cool swing by unsheathing my sword and swinging through right after.

Then an idea popped into my head. What if I don't imbue mana into it, and swing it as is.

'That would be a more fair test against this…rusted metal junk.' Vie admitted.

So that was the plan. Imbuing mana into it would be unfair. I wanted to see how it would perform naturally.

I got into position, hands on the sword, and not using mana at all. Not for imbuing the sword, and not augmenting my body with it. 

Breathing out, I swiftly took out the sword, the movement flowing into a horizontal arch that sliced through all the poles like a hot knife through butter. 

The top pieces fell to the ground with a clang, and I stood there dumbfounded. I expected some kind of resistance when my sword came into contact with the metal, but I felt nothing. It was no different than slicing through air, like the floor lamps weren't even there to begin with.

I didn't even hear a sound when my sword came in contact with the first lamp. It was almost completely silent, with just a whoosh of air. No clanging or ringing noise of metal clashing against metal.

I stared at the sword in my hand. It sliced through five pieces of metal, albeit rusty but still, with so little effort I didn't even feel the contact, and so silent I only heard the blade cut through the air with a whoosh. It was as if it cut through the metal before it even came into contact with it, but something like that was surely impossible without the use of magic.

"Just what the hell did I get?"