‘’The Sword of a Thousand Arcs''

No matter how much I look at it, it looks completely unusable, but I’m separated from Evander, and I’m surrounded. ‘Dammit, this isn’t good.’ I take my stance, wielding something as fragile as glass to defend myself. ‘It’s all or nothing…’ I think that at loud as I charge head-on.

6 days ago, Lamia Market…

I buy a few apples, put them in my bag, and head to the next stall. Evander asked me to do some shopping he forgot to do before we leave, while he’s arranging the horses or something. He’s trying to get a new carriage, despite the tragedy that happened before we got here. ‘At least we’re getting somewhere.’ I buy some extra clothes, so I won’t need to wear the same thing day in and out. ‘Hygiene is important as well…,’ I tell myself as I grab a few bars of soap. I continue my stroll through the buzzing market of Lamia. A lot of people walk around, buying and selling. It’s a peaceful scene to look at. It feels like everyone is smiling. ‘Need to watch my money…’ There have been reports of pickpockets lately. I keep my purse as close as possible. ‘The queen sponsored me well at least…’ I hurry back to Evander.

The currency of Illuminia is simply Coin, unlike Edelweiss, who trade in copper, silver and gold. You can purchase a lot of things with just a single Coin, so I presume that the value of Coin is very high in comparison with silver and gold. The other convenience it has is that Coin is so light, that you probably wouldn’t even notice you purse being stolen. Not that you’d have to worry about that, because I get the feeling you could leave your house unlocked, without having it being robbed empty. I am sketching that image for basically every location at the moment, since Lamia and Rotson Village were the most peaceful things I have ever witnessed, and the landscape really boosts up that thought. This is at least what Evander told me. He sent me to get more of a feel about the world I have landed in, is what his words are. Since I don’t know how like the back of my hand, I will trust his words on it.

I return to Evander, who’s already prepared a simple carriage. ‘Ah, Brandr, you’re back. Did you buy the essentials?’ I hand him the bag. ‘And did you deposit the money on the bank?’ He never told me that.

‘Uhm…was I supposed to?’ I ask him, and he finally realized he didn’t tell.

‘Ah, sorry. You didn’t know. Well, you’re carrying a large bag right now, right?’ I nod. It fills my entire backpack, so I had to leave my stuff here with Evander, while I carried the money with me. ‘Well, since it’s so much, you’d better save it at the bank, since almost every city has one, and they’re all connected.’ Evander explains to me happily, but I don’t really understand the connecting part.

‘Connected? Do you have tunnels running through or something?’ He starts laughing as I ask that.

‘Brandr, you’re in the magical kingdom of Illuminia. We don’t build tunnels, we use magic.’ He seems to be enjoying himself. ‘Every bank has a good amount of money with them, and they will communicate any new info through long-distance communication magic,’ he tells happily. He seems to know a lot…or that is probably just common knowledge from an Illuminian.

‘So, everyone can use magic in Illuminia?’ I ask him. He scratches his head, probably pondering how to explain it to an absolute dimwit like me.

‘Yes and no. I’ll explain it to you on the way to the monument since it might take a while to explain. Just take this with you, and once you show it to the clerk, they will recognize it immediately.’ Evander hands me a bracelet with weird engravings in them. I am completely lost right now, but I don’t question the logic.

‘Well, I’m off to the bank then…’ I quickly run back after he gives me some directions. I start picking up speed while running through enormous crowds. Before I know it, I stand in front of the bank. ‘It’s huge…’ Like the library I visited today. ‘Whatever…’ It’s not that I’m staying much longer here. I enter quickly, only to be held back by an enormous line. There are at least 20 people in each line. ‘Damnit, this is going to take long…’ I stand in line, but quickly run out of patience. Back in Edelweiss, not only weren’t lines so big, but I never had to wait in any, since I was top priority. Father was very close to the king after all.

I look around the bank a bit while waiting in line. The brown, wooden interior, along with the green painted walls, and red curtains feel the same as the court hall back in Edelweiss. The red-brown design looks beautiful, but does make it feel cramped, especially since there are dozens of people walking around in this place.

After waiting for what feels like an eternity, I finally get my turn. I approach the well-dressed female clerk behind the counter. ‘Yes, how can I help you?’ Geh, the fixed sentence of every clerk.

‘Uhm, I would like to make a deposit on the name Evander…He asked me to deposit this amount for him.’ I show her the bracelet and drop my backpack on the counter.

She checks the bracelet from behind the counter and gives a nod as confirmation. ‘Evander was it, right? Give me a moment…’ She takes the bag and let’s someone else take it with them. I didn’t think this would work out with the bracelet, but it did in the end. ‘Thank you very much, the depositing has been succeeded. Until next time.’ I walk away, tired from all the waiting and worrying. I drag myself to Evander.

I finally get back, and get greeted by Evander. ‘So, how was the line?’ He asks me the most annoying question of all.

‘Enjoyably annoying for you.’ I can see him smile at my answer. I quickly pack my bag with all the things I have.

‘So, are you ready?’ I nod at him, and get on in the carriage, since he’s going to ride. ‘Then, let’s depart.’ We leave, and I look back one more time. I take a last glance of the keep of princess Astra. Time flies fast…

The sun beams down on my face as we travel down the road on our simple carriage, which I presume would be used for trading. It’s enormous, able to fit two people, as well as all the cargo we need to survive for months. Because of the baggage we’re taking with us, we had to get three horses attached, but that does help with the speed of the travel. It feels like we’re going twice as fast. I look to the side of the carriage, eying down on the magnificent plains that stretches down as far as I can see. Minimum activity can be spotted from the farmers in the distance, working on their crops and whatnot. It feels incredibly tranquil and peaceful, making me wonder why on earth something like Abyss would want to ruin something like this. My heart and mind just feel at ease wherever I look. This world is so beautiful, I doubt that I could have even the finest of artists in Edelweiss recreate something like this on a canvas. It’s something you have to see with your own eyes in order to appreciate its beauty.

‘Say, Evander. You haven’t forgotten, did you? About the magic and stuff…’ I remind Evander, who’s currently handling the steering of the carriage.

‘I haven’t…but…’ Evander starts rubbing his beard as he ponders. ‘Well, I need to think were to start.’

‘I see…’ Silence. A deafening one at that. I feel a bit claustrophobic for some reason. Like the tension is dropping on both of us. ‘Aha…say, can someone like me use magic?’ I start with the obvious question I want answered. I always wanted to fly on a broomstick and cast spells through my hands and wand.

‘You’re thinking about something stupid.’ I quickly disperse the image of my flying on a broomstick out of my head.

‘N-No…why would I do that? Hahaha!’ I laugh uncertain. He is looking at me like I am some sort of madman.

‘How can I best abridge this…? It isn’t something as simple as chanting a few abstract words and having godlike powers fly out of your fingers…although that can be achieved with a LOT of training.’

‘Everyone can use it?’

‘Yes. Everyone is born with the ability to learn magic.’ He lets go of the handles, and lets the horses go on autopilot. No, I don’t know how he does that. He truly is a magician. ‘One cannot just use magic though, because of the off chance of killing the user.’ I gulp loudly as I hear that. ‘Let’s see…let us take my staff as an example for a moment.’ He grabs his walking staff and start pointing from it from the tips of the stick to his palms. ‘Magic is all around us. It is an energy that is comparable to air, but not quite like air. We don’t breathe it in like air, and it’s dangerous to use it directly from the air because of its purity. That’s why we must create items like this staff, that acts like filters for the magic. Our bodies don’t have magic in them, so we aren’t used to the density of pure magic. These filters make it possible for our bodies to take the magic in and use them.’ He starts circling with his finger around his chest, and then points from his chest towards to palm of his hand that holds the staff and directs it to the tip of that same staff. ‘Like I said, we don’t have magic in us, and thus we cannot use through our bodies, unless you go through immense training by basically altering your body into a complete magic tool. But if you haven’t done that, one’s body can only function as a storage for the filtered magic. Because its only a storage, you must use that same magic tool in order to cast the magic out again. Of course, with everything, the more you train, the more magic you body can hold, the more magic you can release at the same time if your magic tools capable of that of course. Practice makes perfect, after all.’

Evander looks at me, while my brain is malfunctioning. An overload of information on a complete alien concept. ‘Uuuhh…’

‘Well, you’ll learn about it sooner or later. So, don’t try to think to much about it, since that was just the absolute base level of knowledge on magic,’ Evander says as he starts laughing out loud like the old man that he is.

‘T-That was the base level…’ I feel discouraged only thinking about it. I decide to close my eyes, so I can let it all sink in. I feel tired from that explanation anyway.

6 days later, road to Rakenia

I grab the map out of my back and check our route again. ‘So, after we get the sword, we head to Rakenia, right?’ I crawl towards Evander, who’s still riding.

Evander doesn’t even turn around to answer my question. ‘That’s right. After that, we head to Perinia Village, and then to the capital of North Asonia.’ I look at the map again. Illuminia is divided into 13 provinces. I would like to hear the story about that, but I decide to ask that later. That’s what I thought, but he suddenly starts explaining it anyway. ‘We’re currently in the Province of Lamia, where the capital of Illuminia lies. After that, we head to the bordering province: Plains of Lamia, with Rakenia as province capital. Every province has its own capital. All the capitals have their own banner and own leaders.’ It’s like 13 city-states became one country, rather than make an alliance.

‘The capitals are: Lamia, Rakenia, Essasia, Lecaria Plains, Lecaria Harbor, Deepmonth, New Asonia, Umesia, Thornroot City, Silanki, Oasia, Aracia and Queusia. We won’t travel to every single one of them, but we have to make a lot of stops in capitals and villages to replenish our stock. It's going to be a long journey.’

'Say Evander, why aren't the Four Stars together in the first place? I don't see a point in scattering them...' Logically, it's a stupid thing to do.

'Well, you've got to ask the Great Hero what went through is mind back then, since it was his decision.' He starts to give an explanation again. It seems that he likes explaining things. 'When the Great Hero saved Illuminia from Abyss, he wanted to scatter the Four Stars, since he told the Queen back then that it would be very dangerous, and evil-doers might try to steal the stars. So, the Great Hero scattered the Four Stars, their location only known by a few, like me and the royal family. Well, that’s what I would think at least if I were in his shoes. Maybe he just wanted to make it more challenging for the next Hero or something, hahaha!' He starts laughing like an old man again, which okay and all, but something bothers me when he tells me all these stories.

'Evander...how do you know all this?' Now that I think about it, he always knows the things that happened far in the past, with a bit more detail.

'I studied history, and I have good ties with the royal family due specific reasons.' That sounds like a complete answer, so I just leave it at that.

……………………………….

……………………..

………..

As the sun starts to set down on us, we start to arrive at a very small village that lies off the road that leads towards Rakenia. Next to the very few houses that dot the village, it’s only attraction that stands tall are the church, as well as the statue that stand in the middle of the village, presumably of the Great Hero himself, which are lit up with countless of lights for some reason. It looks really cute, but the moment I want to ask Evander about this village, since I’m sure he knows something about it, I notice how stern his face looks.

'Brandr, we're picking up speed.' He gallops the horses, which throws me to the back of the carriage.

'Gah- wait!' I try to find a strong hold before I get blown away. He's entirely concentrated on the village. ‘Evander, what’s happening?!’

‘Abyss! They’re at the village!’ My heart starts pounding the moment I hear the word ‘’Abyss’’. I look up the sky, and see dark clouds again, which serve as the spawning ground of Abyss if I remember correctly.

'Wait, wasn't that light supposed to hold them back?' They've started to break up, and closing in on Lamia. 'I have a bad feeling about this...' I really don't like where this is going…

We ride into the village, which is completely engulfed by a thick mist, and halt in front of the giant statue in the middle of the square. I want to jump out, but the moment I see the ground, I stop my jump mid-air, by quickly holding onto the ledge of the carriage, and climbing back inside. 'Evander, what's with the ground?' I'm too scared of the ground to hop off the carriage again. The entire ground is black. They give off a strange feeling. It feels terrifying to look at, like it’ll swallow me whole the moment I jump down.

'Let's go, Brandr. The sword won't bring itself.' Even though he sounds the same, his face is worried and stressed out. I decide to get off after all, but I don't feel anything from the ground. I'd expected it to pull me into another dimension. Evander runs towards the church, and flings the doors open, and start walking a bit faster. I quickly rush after him. We enter the church, but nothing seems out of the ordinary, next to a giant altar that stands on the podium. It’s an altar with a display case for a weapon, but the case has been opened, and there is nothing in the display. I start to get nervous.

'Say, Evander. Weren't there supposed to be some guards around here. Or at least a keeper or something?' That's what the Queen told me. Someone should grant me the sword without any problems.

'Brandr, pull out your sword.' I get confused.

‘My sword? W-What are you-'

'Now!' Evander suddenly starts shouting, so I quickly grab my sword. Since it's a great-sword, I should be able to fight a lot easier. Or so I thought...

'What the hell?! It's too heavy!' I can barely lift it up. If I put it above my head, my arms start shaking like crazy, which is weird, since I can wield a steel great-sword just fine.

'What's wrong, Brandr?' Evander finally pays attention to my struggling.

'Can you cast some lightweight spell or something? This thing is heavy as heck?!' He looks pale all of the sudden.

'Y-You can't wield it? You said you were better with two-handed weapons!'

'Yes, when they're not THIS HEAVY!' He groans. Why is it my fault? It’s their fault that they have useless material like this.

'Let's just go quickly. There is nothing here. We’ll just have to look around for anyone.' He starts walking out of the church, and I follow, dragging my sword over the ground.

‘I doubt I'll be able to use this effectively, though…’

We step outside, only to encounter this. 'Wha-!' I think I stepped on something. I look closely, and see a body. 'Everyone's...dead...' Around us are at least 5 corpses, and 2 weird things. I know the mist was really thick, but there is no way we wouldn’t have noticed the bodies that were lying here.

‘Abyss…’ I hear Evander say something softly to himself.

‘A-Abyss? Isn’t that like, super bad? Our main enemy has beaten us in getting to the sword!’

‘Brandr, stop panicking, and prepare yourself! They’ve arrived…’ I try to ready my sword, but no matter what I try, it’s still heavy.

I can probably make a swing or two with this thing before I get tired… That’s not good at all. The one-handed sword from the village was already heavy, but I could handle it, but this is still another league. I see something in the left corner of my eye. A shadow, as big as a human. I face it, but when I look at it, my body shivers, and I stay frozen at my place. ‘That’s…a…human…’ It’s a man, probably somewhere around his mid-twenties. ‘That’s Abyss?’ I can’t fight humans. I thought they were monsters. In my frozen state, I fail to notice the human charging onto me.

‘Brandr, what are you doing?!’ Evander grabs my by the collar, and throws me aside. I dodge the axe by a hair’s breath, and I get shaken out of my state. I stand back-to-back with Evander. I finally notice that we’re surrounded. Nobody moves, they just stand there, making a circle around us. Like they’re waiting for something…

Something moves on my right. I quickly turn my head, and see another human with a big, rusty sword. Evander goes pale by its sight. ‘That’s…’ I take a look at the sword. Don’t tell me…

‘Evander, that sword…!’ He only nods. That rusty old thing that looks like it’s going to break when you hit it against a parchment is the Sword of Thousand Arcs. ‘Wait, that thing is my weapon?! I refuse to wield something that can’t even cut butter!’ It’s a completely worn out, rusted great-sword, but a big person could wield it one-handed. ‘Damnit, the Queen is toying with me…’ but while I think that, the human swings his sword, and a dark, concentrated matter comes out of it, like in a story book. ‘Crap!’ I duck away, but when I try to stand up again, some weird creature attacks me, so I have to dodge that as well. I slowly get pushed away from Evander. ‘Damnit, Evander!’ I swing my far too heavy sword around, and get a lucky strike on a skeleton-like creature wielding a short sword. I get a quick idea. I drop my sword, and quickly run my way through the other creatures.

‘Brandr, don’t!’ Evander’s warning comes too late, as I grab the sword that fell on the ground.

Something feels off. The feeling when something tries to rip your arm off with brute force, while your still consciousness. ‘Ah-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ It hurts! Nothing could hurt more than this. I want to cry so badly. It feels like my flesh is being peeled off rapidly, layer by layer, while someone is smashing my arm to pieces with a sledgehammer. I try to let go, but for some reason, my hand won’t open. Weird, black marking crawl from the sword up my arm. I try to open my hand as fast as I can. I feel my control coming back, but my hand feels glued on. My arm starts to feel weird, like it doesn’t belong to me. I completely forget my surroundings, as my vision starts to fade away. The scene becomes black around me. ‘Gah…ah…help…me…’ The human with the axe charges onto me and swings his axe. I close my eyes, but feel a heat surrounding me suddenly. I open my eyes, and see flames kill the human. The entire body burns, but it’s nothing beautiful or perfect. It looks very grotesque. His body is opening, while the dirty, black flesh reveals itself to the naked eye. I throw up. It looks utterly disgusting. The markings have well reach my neck by now. I feel weird, but not necessarily bad. It’s a very dark feeling, something my more pessimistic side longs for. I want to embrace it, accept it. I feel my sight blurring up again. I close my eyes, and I feel like the feeling is going all over my body before I quickly wake up again. The one, who wakes my up, is Evander. He hits me with his staff, and I feel my hand released from the sword.

‘You fool! He swings his staff above his head, and slams it to the ground, the entire ground starts shaking, and I feel my body lifting up. I fly a few meters in the air, and then fall hard to the ground, like everything and everyone else. When I hit the ground, I start to crawl to my own sword as fast as I can and wield it again. I don’t care if it’s heavy anymore. My body feels fine, like nothing happened. The pain in my arm is gone, and my vision is as clear as ever. I need to complete my objective today. I set my target, the man with the Sword of Thousand Arcs.

‘It’s not a human, it’s not a human.’ I keep that fact in mind, repeating it to myself over and over. ‘Abyss is made from monsters!’ I charge, putting all my strength in the battle. He swings his sword over me, making another wave. I quickly slide underneath it on both my knees, and stand up again. I make a jump, but don’t swing my sword around. I just keep it in front of me. I clash with my opponent. I just keep pushing him, and my opponent is pushing back again. We’re just measuring power, while Evander is keeping the other monsters in bay. I notice that I’m stronger than him. I drop my sword, and grab it mid-air, swinging it upwards. My opponent dodges it, but gets thrown back by the force of the strike. He slices down, making another wave, this time vertically. I quickly roll to the left and charge head on. I will put everything in one big attack. So I need a good opening. He swings again, this time horizontally at my chest. I can’t dodge this, so I block. The wave is as strong as it looks, since I get blown back without warning. ‘Gah!’ I fall on my back, and another wave head vertically towards me. I roll away to the right, barely dodging the attack. Magic is a pain in the ass to deal with. There is no way I will be able to fight him one-on-one like this. He’ll just keep me at an arm’s length, unfairly spamming magic attack at me like some kid throwing rocks. I need to catch him off guard. Like the metaphor in my head, I quickly grab a loose rock from the ground, and throw it at him. ‘Hey, you idiot! Catch me!’ I run away, while taunting him by throwing everything I find on the ground. Rocks, branches, loose arms…… ‘GAH!’ I quickly let go off the arm, shake the filthy feeling of me, and resume running through the town. It chases me constantly, while attacking me from a distance. I use the few building around me as cover, and run between the houses, until I stumble on another small square that has a fountain. I quickly run behind it, only to realize it has already caught up to me, as it stands on the other side of the fountain. ‘Hah…hah…hah…I guess I cannot outrun you constantly…’ It starts clicking like a madman, as if responding to my remark, as quickly starts running around the big fountain. I quickly start running around it as well, the opposite way. We’re almost level on speed, but it slowly is catching up to me, mainly due to the big, heavy sword I am carrying with me. ‘I have to get rid of this!’ I slow down, and the moment its behind me, I start splashing the water from the fountain in its face to blind it. Luckily it also uses eyes for his vision, so by blinding him, I get a few seconds to get away. Shaking of the water of his face, he starts running around the fountain again, only to be unable to find me.

It starts clicking again, trying to find me in the distance. I use that opportunity…to fly out of the fountain I was hiding and kick him in the back which he has turned towards me. It falls to the ground and let’s go of the sword in the process. I quickly jump on top of him with my sword and let it sink into his head. It starts convulsing rapidly, as I try to dig my sword deeper. I throw up in the process of this grotesque and icky action. It feels highly unpleasant to do this. After a few seconds, it stops moving…as his body dissolving into a black goo. I quickly roll of him and let go of my sword. I try to catch my breath as I lie down on my back. ‘Hah…hah…hah…’ I blink a few times, but when I get look around, I see more monsters of Abyss approaching. ‘Tch, they also followed me. I wonder how Evander is doing…’ I quickly grab the Sword of Thousand Arcs from the ground, and ready myself for battle.

No matter how much I look at it, it doesn’t look useable at all, but I’m separated from Evander, and I’m surrounded. Damnit, this isn’t good. I take my stance, wielding something as fragile as glass to defend myself. ‘It’s all or nothing…’ I think that at loud as I charge head-on.

I run op one of the monsters, and kick him. I quickly run towards the next one, and try to kick as well, only he evades it, and I have to block his attack, with this blade of all rustiness. The moment our sword clash, I fear the worst, but the blade doesn’t break. It only CRACKS TO THE VERY BASE! ‘Dammit, Queen! This is absurd!’ I quickly back off, and run back, all the way to the statue of the Great Hero. ‘Heck no! I’m fighting with this useless sword!’ I get surrounded again. ‘Somebody, please help me…’ I’m definitely am going to die here. If only…

If only what?

What if you use the power?

You have once forgot?

The time to strike is now…

This voice… Isn’t this the voice that spoke to me when I arrived here? No, it’s different… An unknown voice, but I remember it somehow. It’s a man, with a strong voice.

Never forget,

You heritage.

Your root.

You can defeat them.

All you need to do…

‘All I need to do...?’

All you need to do…is to stop fearing!

He’s making absolutely no sense at all, and in multiple ways, but for some reason, I nod. ‘You’re right…I cannot continue fearing my enemy. They might look creepy, but there is a time that I have to stand up to them. How can I defeat an evil that I fear?’ My body feels warm, and my mind is calm. I cling on my sword. The monster I defeated comes to mind. Magic…filter…around me… ‘Yes…this is plenty…of our power………together…’

I raise the sword to the sky, and the sword starts to illuminate a bright, yellow light. All the monsters are blinded by its shining light. ‘Rise, and serve once again, Sword of Thousand Arcs!’ The sword reacts to my voice, and shines even brighter. The shape starts to change, and its cracks disappear. A sword, marked by four symbols at its base, and a beautiful, pure white metal appears. This is its true form. The true form of the Sword of Thousand Arcs. I quickly remember the monster wielding this sword again. ‘The sword…already has the power of the stars, but it’s not complete. It needs the Stars to grow in strength.’ It’s a magical sword indeed, but I don’t need all the stars to destroy the opponent in front of me. They’re still blinded by the illuminating light of Arc. I take my stance.

Focus... I calm my mind again. Magic is around me…and it’s usable for everyone. Even for someone like me. The Arc starts lighting up. I wait…… ‘Now! ILLUMINATING STRIKE!’ I slash as hard as I can, and a big wave comes out of Arc, but instead of black, it’s beautiful yellow, with warmth a hot as fire. It slices right through my enemies in seconds. All the monsters fall to the ground. ‘I-I did it!’ I leap of joy. I can, right?’ I finally notice that Arc is surprisingly light. I can swing it with two hands at ease, although one hand is still a bit hard. ‘I should search for Evander first…’ I almost sink through my knees, but I use the Arc to keep myself standing. ‘No time to rest…’ I quickly run around, and see Evander sitting on the ground, with at least 10 other creatures lying dead around him. It’s still a bit gruesome to look at, so I try to put my focus on Evander, which makes me notice that Evander is acting weird. ‘Evander, I’m back!’ I quickly run towards him, but when I look at him, his face looks strange, and so does the rest of his body. ‘E-Evander? What happened to you?’ His skin looks scared, and broken, and his eyes contain little life.

‘Ah…Brandr…’ He tries to stand up, but he’s clearly struggling with it.

‘I haven’t been using large quantities of magic at one go for a long time, so my body isn’t keeping up anymore…’ I quickly run towards him, as he suddenly passes out. I catch him as fast as I can, but his weight is too much for me. It takes a moment, but I eventually get him on my shoulders. He wakes up again, but for a moment only. ‘Evander…I cannot carry you by myself…’

‘It’s okay, just help me. I can walk……’ I support him as we struggle to walk towards the carriage…