0003 - Picking a Weapon

I get up out of the single bed that he was just asleep on. Then I stroll over to the cabinet on the other side of the room where there is my mobile phone ringing. A smirk appears on my face after seeing that it is from someone I know and not some scam caller.

I then swipe the green button and brings the phone to my ear. The voice on the other end sounds out of breath with a hint of resignation in it.

"Hey, Ash."

The smirk on my face falls as I notice the tone in his voice. I then respond with a concerned voice with.

"Hello…What's wrong?"

There are a few moments of silence while the heavy breathing comes over the phone. A voice of acceptance then comes over the phone.

"I'm doing it."

I just close my eyes letting out a silent sigh. I then say, trying not to have the worry come through my voice.

"I know how your feeling, but do you really think that's what they would have wanted."

There are another few seconds of silence before the voice on the phone responds.

"I'm probably just being selfish, but I want the pain to stop."

After he stops speaking, I hear a small sob come through. I take a sharp breath while I hear the faint blaring of a siren in the distance over the speaker. I then speak while trying to dissuade him from what I can guess he is about to do.

"Nathan, it doesn't have to end this way, does it? The years they cared for you. Loved you."

I hear more sobs come through the phone as they try to formulate a sentence in their tumultuous state of mind.

"No, it doesn't but I want it to. The longer I think about them the more my image of them is warped by their final days. I want to remember them as the one I fell for not what they became."

I just sit on the edge of the bed while trying to create a something. A quote. A saying. A few comforting words. But none come to mind because I know almost exactly how they feel. In the end I realize there is nothing I could do to dissuade them from their current course of action. I then say in a quiet voice.

"Goodbye, Nathan."

I hear a slight chuckle from him as he responds through tears with.

"So long my friend. I knew you would understand."

I then hear something dragging on concrete and then the rush off air before the line goes dead with that artificial high-pitched tone.

I place the phone next to me on the bed. I then cup m nose and mouth while hyperventilating. After a few minutes, picking up the phone and entering the alphanumerical passcode. I then tap the keypad on the phone app and dial Nine-Nine-Nine.

The voice of an older lady comes through the line.

"Emergency. Which service?"

…

I opened my eyes with a jump at once am sitting up and looking down at my hands. Soon, I realize that this is my next life and not my earlier.

I let out a sigh before getting out of the bed. My small legs slide to the side as I fold the thick blanket. As I get up, I pull the blanket as flat as possible on the bed. I walk over to the heavy curtain in front of the window.

With a strong tug using all my strength I pull the curtain open. I hop up on the windowsill and lean against a pillow on the side while I bring my knees up to my chest as I look out at the stars. I'd already learnt this was not earth since I couldn't notice any of the constellation from there.

There were thousands of them slowly sailing through the empty backdrop. The odd purple ripple of energy traversed the sky slowly like a wave. I didn't know what they could even be, but it was pretty.

I sat there for what felt like hours unable to sleep, just reminiscing about the past. Eventually I just began to hum to myself which then turned to me singing quietly. In Japanese. The higher bits where a bit squeaky but that could be fixed in the future with practice.

"♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪."

(A/N: The song is: Kirameki by Wacci. I did have the lyrics but webnovel was being annoying, so I had to remove them in the rewrite.)

It was one of his favourite songs growing up. It didn't sound as good as when he used to sing it since this voice had no vocal practice whatsoever, but just hearing the song out loud stirred the emotions he had been bottling up for the last few years. He missed them all so much. He began to silently sob as he lowered his forehead onto his knees as the tears slowly fell.

He eventually cried himself to sleep again for a few hours.

…

On the same day but just after noon, he stood in the yard of a garrison where he was currently beginning his weapon training. All throughout the training yard was many men and women all in a variety of cloth and linen clothes sweating profusely while training in their weapons.

These were all the local soldiers whose job was to defend the march of Delius from outside attacks.

Richard the chief of this Brigade, was in charge of tutor ledge. He began by waving me over to a wooden building. After walking in, I marvelled at the hundreds of weapons.

There were, everything from Swords and Spears, to Whips and Clubs. They were some made from wood, but with the majority being made of metal. He then gestured to the whole room and spoke.

"Look around for one that resonates with you, and we'll evaluate it."

Apparently in this world there was not just magic, but some people had weapon affinities and talents. My family mostly gained sword talents throughout its history, but there had been exceptions.

I was meant to choose a weapon that I felt comfortable with and then through a ritual they would evaluate my affinity with that specific weapon. I had decided to listen intently to everything he said since I knew absolutely nothing about this and in my past life anything overtly physical was beyond my forte.

I strolled around the large shed, sliding my hand across dozens of different weapons. I found a War-Bow which piqued my curiosity. It was almost twice my height and when I tugged the string it was so tight, I couldn't even move it.

After placing it back I went back to browsing. This wasn't my first storage place I'd looked through, this was the ninth. The first had been my families Vault and then we'd tried all the garrisons. If I couldn't find one here, my father had said We'd Just have to wait until I'm eight and go get me tested for a talent in the capital.

I walked past a bronze tipped spear that had a piece of green cloth tied just below the head on the shaft. I paused and looked behind it on the racks. Behind it, there was a tall tower shield It had a metal outline and looked scary being almost as tall as the Bow. I pulled the spear out with some difficulty and stared at the shield it had some intricate patterns on it, but it still didn't seem like something I would ever use.

I pushed it aside with a grunt as I turned my head back to the wall. I coughed as the dust bellowed, covering my white tunic.

A spider scuttled away and hid in a crack between the floor and wall a bit further to the side. Leaning against the wall was a black sword sheath. It stood at around my height, and I just wanted to pick it up.

I grabbed it by the pommel and began to drag it towards exit. Richard stood leaned against the outside wall of the shed. I had moved the spear and shield back to their place with some effort. I then exited the shed with the sound of the sheath dragging on the ground being drown out by the sound of metal scrapping and sweaty muscle-heads wrestling.

Richard stood leaned against the outside door frame of the shed and just tilted his head as I dragged the sword out and fell on my knees while panting heavily. He just shook his head while a chuckle escaped his lips.

"So, you found one did ya?"

I just nodded while trying to catch my breath. He just picked up the sword now laying on the ground and swung it a few times then did a thrust. He then put one hand on the sheath and pulled it a few inches away from the guard. After a few seconds of looking at the blade, he turned towards me and spoke.

"If you want to wield a sword, then you need to get a lot stronger boy. Nice find by the way."

I just instinctually raise my hand in a thumbs up. While I lay on my back the panting now less severe. I looked over at Richard's waist and looked at his weapon. It was a mace, the head was the size of a grapefruit. It was hade of six semi circles connected in a hexagonal star pattern making it look like a sphere. It was attached to an about Two-foot Pole that had a leather with an orange hue. It was so heavy that I couldn't even budge it when he let my try.

He just glances at me shaking his head before saying.

"Come. Let's go test um."

He then begins to walk in the direction of the noise from the training ground. I stand up but wobble slightly from exhaustion. I really need to get fitter. I then sprint slightly to catch up with his gentle stride.

As we approach the training ground, I notice that there are five people standing within a circle with a

diameter of about ten meters. In the centre is a feminine figure with long green hair tied in a rough bun. Her dark chocolate face has a blank expression. She is wearing thin gambeson and thick sackcloth trousers and bare feet.

The other four are in full body thick gambeson of different colours. One looks to be a woman while the other three are men. Three of them have spears and large shields. And one of the men has two staffs. The woman in the centre only has a sword which the blade is curled into a circle.

"BEGIN."

Came a shout from an older man who was standing to the side of the circle. Instantly the woman in the middle pushed her arm out. With her thumb still gripping the handle of her sword all her fingers let go allowing the sword to unspool. I'd seen one of these before but never someone use one of them. Instantly the sword shot out of its place and went straight before flopping on the ground like a wet noodle.

The green haired one raised her hand above her head bringing a tug along the length of the sword. This type of sword was called an Urumi, and it is fought to have originally come from another continent.

In the same second since the fight begun all four the opponents raised their shields and weapons. She began to flick the sword. It made a whooping speed as it began to gain speed. It length was roughly two and a half metres long.

She began to pick up speed as she moved her feet in a circle while her right arm went back and forth creating a bubble from the blade. As one of the spearmen approached. She created a flick from her wrist and the tip of the sword went straight at the man who just raised his shield to where it sat just in front of his face with his spear held above his head.

The Urumi slammed against the shield the tip of it being blocked by the spear. The man took a visible step back from the built up momentum colliding with his large frame. The other three took the opening to charge.

The large spearman still stunned by the attack back up a few feet. The green-haired swordswoman realizing their tactic. twisted her whole body bringing the tip round as the middle collided with the other spearman's shins. He fell flat on his face.

As the Spearwoman and the Dual-Staffman came within a meter of her the tip wrapped around the Spearwoman's head. As it collided, she flopped down having been knocked out by the momentum.

The green-haired Swordswoman dropped as one of the short staffs swung in an arc for her head. She raised the guard of her sword now pinned under the collapsed Spearwoman. The other staff on a downward swing was blocked by the cross-guard.

She wrapped her legs around the Staffman's knees. He collapsed as she brought the blade of her Urumi to his neck. She froze as she felt a cold blade on the side of her neck.

She lowered her head before chuckling and getting up while shaking her head. She lends a hand to the one she pinned down. As all five of them get up. The large man who took all the momentum from the whip is still a bit shaky, but all the others are fine.

The entire fight only lasted ten seconds at most. I the turn my head to Richard and ask.

"Why did they all gang up on her?"

Richard just responds while still looking at the fight, the wrinkles on his face seeming more pronounced.

"Well, about a year ago she got a high affinity with whip-swords and your father had that one specially made for her. The entire design for the sword is meant to allow one too to face multiple opponents. But as you can see, she still needs practice. Also, none of them have activated an Aura so their fight is nothing to marvel at."

I just contemplate what he is talking about, but soon my mind is shaken from my thoughts when, he gestures for me to follow him to a stone building on the opposite side of the compound to the weapon shed.

(A/N: Google some clips of the Urumi Sword. It's an Awesome Weapon.)