Sword

Sword

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The phenomena that shapes reality in accordance to one’s very own knowledge and experiences as well as the assimilation of accepted beliefs.

That is Truth.

—Collected Journals of Nygus, the First Artrick

Entry #93

43rd of Rising Lotus, 2999 E5

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The endless blanket of bright, gray clouds smothered the sky. Silent and unmoving, only the faint light of the star beyond them breached their wall.

A raven soared just under it, its feathers ruffling with the wind. Its green eyes observed its spacious surroundings as it twitched its head in different angles.

Whoosh!

A blurred figure in black zoomed past it and descended for the world below. The turquoise bob of hair fluttered violently with the airfoil, her coat and clothing ruffling in tandem. Boots together and gloved hands at her sides, her green eyes remained open and unfazed despite the barrage of air she continued to pierce through.

She shot her arms and legs out to her sides, abruptly slowing down her descent. Flipping to an upright position, a shimmer of light flashed. Shing. A sword flipped out in front of her and spiraled in the air. Bang! She bashed it at the hilt with a kick and sent it flying, a missile aimed for the horizon.

Frozen in her fall, she watched the blade disappear in the distance. She then burst into a cloud of black feathers. They shot forward as the cries of dozens of invisible birds followed, surfing the winds as a speeding blur until they reached the flying sword. The woman then reappeared crouched on the blade with another burst of feathers, her arms extended behind her for balance as she leaned forward. She slowly stood up straight, hands coming up into her coat pockets as the sword carried her.

The wind calmed, becoming as peaceful as the woman’s closed-eyes.

Croak-croak. The raven flew in from behind, coming up to her left side.

“Zaxus,” she said, “I’m in position over Tharz. Standing by for the go ahead.”

“Excellent, Xaterra,” a male voice said through the com device in her ear. “Yes. You are go for Operation Veiled Star.”

She opened her eyes. “Acknowledged.”

The raven dove for the complex city below.



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Hundreds of people walked the metallic streets that ran in between skyscraping structures. They ventured in and out of shops and stores lining the sides, each store having its name as a projection over their doors. Humanoid droids stood outside restaurants, offering samples for passersby.

A young boy holding the hand of his mother pointed to one of the dozens of floating screens above the streets, the vibrant advertisement of a toy catching his eye. Another group stood by as a hover bus slowly landed in its parking zone. Every street flourished with activity.

Stairs led to a maze of walkways on upper floors that lined the sides of buildings and structures. Bridges connected them to opposing sides. Looking up from the bottom floor introduced all eyes to a complex web of paths for crowds to travel by foot. The city presented like a massive mall that reached for the sky above.

Hover vehicles traveled through invisible streets in between buildings or zoomed through the highways of the more open districts.

The raven soared next to one of the hover cars, keeping up with its breakneck speeds. The man in the vehicle glanced at the raven, giving a quirky expression before it made another dive. It swiftly descended through the openings between dozens of bridges and walkways, dodging slow-moving hover vehicles and floating screens. With a sudden flick of its wings, it leveled itself and glided through a long, dark alley. The white light of the exit brightened as it closed in, and with a flash, the raven soared into a massive opening in the city.

The raven slowed its glide and observed its surroundings, its head flicking in different angles. All surrounding buildings gave at least a football field’s worth of space to a single structure--a castle of metallic alloys of shimmering platinum and vibrant gold. In the space in between, a cloudy mist made an effort to blanket the frost-covered sides of the plateau that made up its footing and the plummet into the frozen water below. A single wide bridge led from the city to the front of the magnificent structure.

After the brief scan, the raven pivoted and drifted for the castle….



***



Kara’s golden eyes opened halfway and glistened the whitish light blooming from the arched windows. The left side of her face sunken within the red silk of her pillow and tangled mane of hair matching her eyes in color nearly smothering it, she closed her eyes once more before slowly pushing herself up. The strands of her hair dangled along her white cheeks as they broke their embrace of her pillow. Her bed sheets rolled down her back. Sitting up and facing the window to her right, she gave her body a moment and let her vision clear.

The red carpet continued the theme of the bed chambers. Red and gold dressers and desk, golden chandelier and red drapes hung around her bed. All scintillated with pristine, as if hardly ever touched and meant to be displayed in a museum.

Kara looked down and pulled up the strap of her night gown with a yawn. A dark flicker of movement from the window then caught her attention. Her tired eyes looked and found themselves locked with the blurry, dark frame of a bird standing on the sill.

She rubbed her eyes, vision still off. With another look, she found only the faded reflection of herself staring back at her from a mirrored room upon the window screen.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Her gaze shot to the door south of the bed.

“Your Highness!” The muffled call of a woman. “You better be awake and ready in there. Captain Wurlett has been waiting for you.”

Her eyes widened with panic. She looked to the dresser next to her bed. The clock shimmered upon it. “9:13?” she read. “Not again.”

“I’m coming in!”

“W-Wait!” Kara leapt out of her bed, sheets flying. Her bare feet hit the carpet with a thud and she bolted for the door, reaching out for the turning door knob. “Not yet! I—”

The door swung open, nearly swiping her hand with it. Wind rippled through her hair and gown as she froze in place. She stared into the red tuxedo standing in the doorway for a moment longer before her eyes made their way upward. They met with the cold, harsh frown of a middle-aged woman looming over her.

The woman took a moment to look her over, hands on her hips. “Hair in shambles. Drowsy face. Nightgown. You’re only just now getting out of bed, aren’t you?”

Kara chuckled and folded her arms. “Actually, Mrs. Claudus, I awoke quite early this morning. I merely found myself stricken with the urge to complete much of the requests and paperwork I neglected the night prior.” She shrugged. “I suppose I’d forgotten to get ready for the day in my spurt of productivity.”

Claudus’ eyes wandered to the empty desk on the right side of the room.

“Please send my apologies to Captain Wurlett. I will be with him momentarily.”

“Hmm,” Claudus scanned the room and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see any paperwork around.”

Kara looked over her shoulder and back at her room for a moment. “I’d only just finished and had it all sent off just before you arrived, of course.”

Claudus smirked. “Hmmm, you and your brother both were always terrible liars.”

Kara sighed, slouching with defeat as Claudus walked past her. “Honestly, I don’t think I was convincing even myself with that charade.” She turned sideways to her and watched her scan the room. “I am truly grateful you’ve come to check on me Mrs. Claudus, but you need not worry over the cleanliness of the room this morning. It is just as spotless as it was last night.” She folded her arms. “Besides, I do not wish to burden you all with a meager task I can accomplish myself.”

“Like waking up on time?”

“Hmph,” Kara lightly laughed. “Still quick with the sarcasm.” Her eyes looked down, her expression preoccupied. “But as I said before, you all have my sincerest apologies. I saw no reason to have you all ready me for the day when I can do it myself, so I wanted to relieve you all of that burden. That’s why Ms. Talia is not present.”

Claudus looked back at her.

“Still, I’ve managed to make things worse by being behind schedule, which I am sure does not make things any easier for you all.”

Claudus sighed. “21 years in and you still can’t help but feel like you’re constantly making the world harder for everyone else. I know I speak for everyone when I say that none of this is a ‘burden’, Your Highness. Now, please, the more time you spend apologizing, the further behind schedule you will become.”

“No need to worry, Mrs. Claudus,” said a slightly muffled, male voice from behind Kara.

Kara turned to a man in the doorway clad in silver armor standing two heads over her.

The silver plates over his fitted black garb shimmered, the gear designed to be as equally protective as it seemed light and mobile. Glowing red eyes locked onto her from behind the eagle-shaped full-faced helm.

The armor clanked as he straightened up to attention and placed his right fist over the left side of his chest. “Your Highness.”

Kara’s brows furrowed with bewilderment. “Captain Wurlett. What are you—”

“Your enemies will not wait for you to be ready,” he said, relaxing. “Summon your weapon.”

Shing!

Red flashed upward in front of her. She leapt back step, dodging the slash of his glowing saber. Eyes widened, jaw open with shock, she watched him hold the blade for a second over his head. He slashed downward, another flash of red. She hopped back further to avoid it.

“Captain—” She ducked under a horizontal slash as he advanced.

Claudus walked over to the desk as Kara staggered backwards, dodging attacks. “Just don’t ruin any of the furniture in here,” she said as she sat in the chair and folded her arms, watching.

Kara’s lower back hit the foot of the bed, her retreat halted. He reared back the saber and pointed it for her head. She shifted her head right as it sheared passed her cheek. Her hand gripped the bed sheets. Whoosh. She threw up a wall of red silk between them. Feet sliding as she lunged around to his left, she lowered her body and kicked the back of his knees.

Shing!

Standing sideways to her like an immovable statue, he held the tip of his saber near her throat with his left hand. The sheets slid off the upper half of his helm and to the ground, those red eyes still fixed on her. Her brows furrowed and teeth gritted, the glow and heat of the saber bouncing off her flared face.

“Resourceful,” Wurlett said. “But you are facing an armored and trained opponent. It is not so simple to knock such an enemy off balance with the sweep of a bare leg. If you’d summoned your weapon, you probably wouldn’t be dead right now.”

“I’ve only just been granted the Crown Sword. I need a moment to focus.”

“A luxury the enemy will not afford you!” He kicked aside her leg with his left foot and slid his right toward her. “You will have to learn-” He switched blade hands during the movement and slashed downward with the weight of his body “-to draw upon it in the heat of combat!”

Still crouched, she shifted right to avoid the strike, the heat of the saber once again swishing past her cheek. With her hands to the carpet in front of her, she pushed to her feet in the next second. Whoosh. The wall of red silk appeared between them again. Her eyes widened at the encroaching darkness.

Thwack!

The silk smashed against her chest, sending her back a few feet. “Ugh!” She crashed against the wall and slid to her bottom. Crack. The unlit, black blade of the saber stabbed in the wall inches from the left temple of her skull. A few short strands of hair fell on her shoulder.

“Tch.” She looked up at Wurlett with a glare, his tall silhouette darkened from the blooming light of the windows behind him.

He began walking to her. “Do not neglect the fact that whatever advantages you use on the battlefield can be used by your enemies as well. That makes twice now that I’ve killed you.” He stopped a couple of feet before her, his shadow casting over her. “But I can tell you haven’t neglected your training. You were able to successfully dodge my haphazard swings with little to no warning.”

He kneeled down and pulled out the saber from the wall.

Kara watched him retract the blade and attach it to his hip. “I find it hard to tell if you are complimenting me.”

“I was, Your Highness.” He held out his left hand for her. “It is the duty of a teacher to not only identify and remedy their students’ flaws, but to identify their strengths and accomplishments so they can be used to aid in the tempering of their development.”

She locked eyes with him for a second longer with a frown before taking his hand.

As he pulled her to her feet, Claudus asked, “So you’re done then?”

“Yes,” he said, looking over his shoulder. He came to attention and placed his fist over his chest again, still facing Kara. “I apologize to you both for the intrusion.”

Kara folded her arms as he continued.

He relaxed and looked down at her. “Your tardiness at today’s training has put us in a shorter window than I intended for the day and I wanted to establish a baseline.”

“A baseline?”

He turned from her. “Today I wanted to see where you were in your training before we began the actual regime tomorrow morning. Your performance has given me… somewhat of an understanding.” He folded his arms and lowered his head and continued as if thinking out loud. “You’ve proven to have some of the fitness and fundamentals from prior instructors and could possibly hold your own in a straightforward fight, but you lack the battle sense that comes with the elite guard. Hmmm…. We may have to delay the rest of my measurements for tomorrow after all.”

“I imagine the use of live weapons like just now will be the regular. I thought you’d take my head a few times there, for sure.”

“Today was the exception.” He turned and faced her sideways. “It will not be the regular, I assure you, Your Highness. I merely theorized the heightened stakes that come with the perception of death’s hand would give me more information about your current level in a shorter window. Given the disadvantage you were in, you did better than expected.” He started for the door. “I shall not waste anymore of the time you’ve already slept through. You will find me in the throne room once you’ve dressed yourself.”

Kara watched him shut the door behind him before meeting Claudus' gaze. She closed her eyes with a relieved exhale. “That certainly woke me up.” She held up her hands in a shrug. “Truthfully, I am excited for the training. He fought as one of my Father’s Paladins, after all. But I fear this may take some time to get used to.”

“Come now, Your Highness. From what I know of Captain Wurlett, this was the worst of it.” Her eyes looked behind Kara with a sigh.

Kara followed her look to the laceration in the wall.

“I just wish he hadn’t thrown his sword at the wall. Despite my rather emotionless face, I feared he would burn down the chambers flailing that thing around.” She stood. “But you heard him, Your Highness. He is still waiting for you. I imagine he’s gone to the throne room to save you the trip of having to walk there from the training grounds.”

Kara puzzled her chin. “That is rather considerate. I doubt he has any extra training planned in the throne room. At least, not at this level.” She began walking to Claudus. “Then let us not waste any more of the time he’s afforded us.”

“Ms. Talia and the others are already on the way.”