Hello again. Today seemed like a good day.

When I was woken up by a flying Lena screaming "Rain of Pain!" followed by a perfect landing with both feet firmly planted on my stomach. That was when I knew it was going to be a long day. Lena and Julius wanted to go play, but first Julius wanted his tinglewood. I was still half asleep and fully in pain so I gave it to him without much thought.

That may have been a mistake.

See, Tara had mentioned that there were cities nearby getting wrecked. I had just assumed it was Julius doing the wrecking. I mean, it does seem like something he would do if he got agitated. Turns out I was wrong. More on that later.

So they took off into the streets of Papil with basically a super weapon apiece. I think Tara would have cried if she knew that.

Onica decided to follow them to "Keep the city from being destroyed." and Esmeralda followed her. I guess they are feuding over who is the best big sister for Lena. Did they ask Lena? Somehow I doubt it. They were both in full battle dress. Onica with her poisons and myriad of blades, and Esmeralda in full plate armor and with a battleaxe on her back. They both looked quite intimidating.

Once the crazy ones were gone I decided it was time to talk to the cursed tophat.

I had just drug the tinglewood box into the training courtyard where lightning bolts wouldn't damage anything, and was about to open the box when a lot of explosions happened in the distance.

Now, normally I would ignore explosions. But considering I had just unleashed two terrifying forces of nature upon the unfortunate city of Papil I felt obligated to at least check on them. Maybe join in if it looked like fun.

I think I heard Taras head hit a table.

I put the tinglewood box back in my room and put on my awesome disguise. Then I flew out of the misty island and towards the bay. Which is where the explosions were coming from.

A dozen sleek black warships were anchored in the bay. The shattered hulks of the Papil city navy sinking into the hungry waves around them. Small boats were ferrying men from the warships to the shore. On the hightown side of the shore a beachhead had been established and the local guards were in full retreat. On the lowtown side the docks were on fire and explosions swept the shore.

A giant bunny and squirrel were leaping about the roofs of the warehouses. Throwing ice and fire at a man in white armor with a shiny sword. All the ice was swept aside easily as the man waved his pearlescent sword about. The waves and water then drowned Julius' flames. Whoever this fella was he was giving Julius and Lena a hard time. Which is kind of crazy. I saw Onica sneak behind him and with a single leap she buried three different knives, presumably poisoned, into the gaps between the plates of his white armor.

He didn't even flinch.

The his sword swept at an impossible angle, aimed directly at Onicas throat. She dodged desperately and as she landed a wave smashed into her from behind and promptly froze solid. Esmeralda came roaring through the roof from directly below the man and tried to cleave him in half with her axe. Again his arm moved unnaturally, this time I was close enough to hear the snap of tendons and muscle as his arm bent the wrong way to nearly piece Esmeralda through the top of her head.

Lena had hopped down and freed Onica from her icy coffin.

Julius kicked the armored man away before Esmeralda got killed.

I swept down fom the sky and drop kicked him into the ground.

More cracks and snaps sounded out as the man wrenched himself from the dirt and his manged limbs reoriented themselves into the proper position. His previously gleaming armor was dirtied and dented. But his sword shined brighter than ever. Then he shambled out of the crater I had made with him and I saw him clearly for the first time. He was unbelieveably pale. He never blinked, and he never breathed. This man was a corpse. The sword in his hand was lifted and pointed at me.

Ah, it was the sword all along. It simply used the blood in the mans body to puppet him.

Gross.

I formed a sword from tingle wood and rocketed at the offending article. A simple parry and sweep and the arm wielding the ghoulish blade was separated from the rest of the corpse. The body collapsed like the meat sack it was. The sword however quivered and a strand of water plucked it from the air and into the bay.

A swimming sailor, one of those lucky few who survived the destruction of their ships, started to scream before he was dragged under the water. Soon the sword re-emerged in the hands of a new meat puppet. I guess it felt it needed a wielder?

"Mister! No fair! That was ours!" Lena yelled at me as she and Julius returned from helping Onica and Esmeralda.

I pointed at the dozen warships. "You can play with those if you'd like?" I offered. This sword gave me a bad feeling. I wanted to destroy it myself.

Lena pouted for a second. "Humph, fine! Hey Julius, betcha I can sink more than you!" Lena shot off, her squirrel turning into a sea slither before it slipped under the waves. Julius rocketed towards the nearest warship with an excited and determined squeak. His battle bunny already covered in flames.

I watched as one of the ships simply got dragged beneath the surface and another exploded into splinters upon Julius reaching it. Then I turned my attention back to the sword. While I was distracted it had dragged its puppet towards the docks, and had begun butchering the guards who had arrived. I walked over to it and while it was busy decapitating a pleading man I cut off its new puppets arm. Before it could react I grabbed its blade with two tinglewood gauntleted hand and began to twist and burn it.

A high pitched shriek of metal on metall rang through the air. Ice tried to cover me but my flaming cape kept it from getting a grip on me and I felt the blade begin to warp. The shrieks shrilled and trilled wildly and suddenly a massive wave smashed into me. The water dowsed my flames, and I was dragged beneath the waves of the bay.

The sword in my hand began to twist and buck. Dragging me through the steadily colder water, and slamming me into various rocks on the bottom. Blades of ice gouged at my tinglewood armor ineffectually as needles of ice tried to slam into my eyes. I burned. I burned everything. The water shifted and roiled around me and it turned to steam and re-formed into water and ice as the sword and I fought for dominance. In the end we may have been in its element. But I had it in my hands. The metal deformed and cracked under my molten grip. Its shrieks grew higher and higher until finally with a sharp *crack* the sword was shattered.

A wave of tingles swept out of the sword. It was different from mine, more refined and cold with a terrible thirst. I could feel as they slowly faded into the background. Losing their unique feeling until finally they could no longer be felt at all.

I wonder if thats how it will feel when I die? Fading into the background of the world. Slowly becoming part of all. Doesn't sound to bad. Still, I think being alive is more pleasant.

When I surfaced the warships were either burning splinters of drowned wrecks trapped in ice on the bottom of the bay. Looks like Lena won. She was in her element after all.

I made her favorite fish dish as a reward at her request.

Onica and Esmeralda were both cleaning up the remnants of the landing parties so we left them to it and went back to Taras. Tara wasn't happy about all the damage but seemed understanding that it could have been much worse. We offered her the treasure in the ships Lena had trapped as an apology. Lena offered I should say. Julius seemed to disagree but he caved after a cuddle session. I didn't really care either way.

After that we had lunch and I got taught a game called poh-kur by Lena. I guess her friend had shown her it. I was terrible at it. Soon Tara and some of her ladies joined. Esmeralda swung by for a game but stormed off after a loss. Onica came by but vanished after a little bit. While she was gone we played some more games with little cubes of wood or bone and more of the painted paper rectangles.

I really suck at these 'games of chunce' as they are called.

Onica came back around dinner time with some news. Some of the captured invaders had been interrogated. No mention of who interrogated them though.

So the story ran like this.

Long ago, a young man had been fishing in a small mountain lake. Suddenly a pair of snow white arms had risen from the lake holding aloft a beautiful sword. The young man had taken the sword and gone to town to show it off. Word spread and soon warriors of renown and mighty princes came looking for this wonderous blade.

They asked to purchase it from the young man, but he was unwilling. So they tried to take it from him by force. This was when the swords magical nature became revealed. For though the young man was no fighter he won every challenge. The bearer of the sword would not bleed, no matter how gravely you wounded him. He would not tire, no matter how long you fought him. And he would not speak, no matter how you enticed him.

It was thought, and all agreed, that such powers came with a price. Silence was not such a terrible price to pay for such generous gifts. And so Artur the White rose to prominence and power in his land. He eventually became King, and still rules to this day. For the sword had a final gift for its bearer. Eternal youth and vigor. He hadn't aged a day since he took his first challenge all those years ago.

Now such a King was the pride of his people and many of his neighboring kings showered him with gifts. Shiny baubles and chests of coin held no allure for Artur. Only one present had ever moved him to personally accept it. A scabbard, encrusted with qems and made of ivory and velvet. This beautiful scabbard caught the kings eye above all else and he wore it constantly at his side.

Then, not so very long ago, the scabbard was stolen. This sent Artur the White into a rage. He gathered his fleets and armies and marched on his neighbors without a word. And so he had perished here in Papil, at my hands.

Cool story.

When she finished we were all riled up from a good story and a fun day. With Julius back and feeling better I was in a festive mood that no number of lost card games could pull from under my feet! Lena started it. After dinner she skipped outside and made herself a little dance partner. As they gamboled about happily in the midst of the luminous butterflys I felt such happiness I simply had to join them! I took off into the sky just above the garden and started to dance and create.

My familiar winged dance partner joined me for a round as slithers and swords swept into motion. I drew arcs of firey ribbons into the air as lions and bears tangoed. Firey elves partnered up for a smooth waltz while smouldering dwarves caroused roughly. Wrecker made another appearance as I had her and her crimson twin dance above the ponds of th garden. Below us the ladies had dragged each other into the garden and they danced beneath the crimson ball. Julius joined in with raucous glee. Summoning hundreds of jigging rabbits he joined in a colossal circle around the garden.

Onica started a slow dance with blades in her hands, she slowly sped up until she was a humming blur of flashing metal and limbs reflecting the firelight. Lena had captured Esmeralda and the short woman was forced to dance wildly around the darden with the excited child. Tara joined in happily, laughing and drinking something while she let out all her stress in a wild dance of abandon. Some of the ladies grabbed drums and flutes, harps and cymbals. A heady fast beat spread like wildfire and ignited the dancers to new heights of motion and emotion.

Slowly things died down, long into the night. Onica and Tara were holding each other up while drinking from jugs and singing wildly and offkey as they stumbled away. Esmeralda was collapsed in a gazebo and snoring. Lena and Julius had retired hours ago, and I was exhausted. I watched the butterflies and moths dance for a while longer and then went to bed.

Ah, I forgot the cursed hat again!

Meh, tomorrow is fine I guess. Not like I need to feed it.

There is still a mystery though.

Where did Julius go? If Artur was the one destroying cities then why was Julius all roughed up and tired?

I guess we may never know.

Goodnight.