Blades: Power Quest

Blades:
Power Quest

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     A Long Blade from a Blade Warrior disappears into the chest of a defenseless family man. His wife screams ‘No.’ All four of his Young Ones start crying. They rush to their father. Their mother rushes to Loonic and Avvia and pushes them out of their living room. These Blade Warriors start killing the other three members of this family.

     Just after a Blade Warrior kills the mother of these Young Ones, they go after the two Young Ones: one male about sixteen, and the other female about twelve. Brodim and Taarina come running into this house. While Brodim goes to the aid of the male, Taarina goes to help the female.

     Brodim and Taarina try to stop these Blade Warriors from killing these two Young Ones too. But they don’t succeed. They do a great job in using their Long Blades to stop them from killing them, but after a long fight both these Young Ones end up being killed too.

     The Blade Warriors run out of this house after they kill these last two family members. Brodim and Taarina start to go after them when Taarina hears something from another room. “Who’s here.”

##

     Loonic and Avvia are cuddling and hiding behind a Sleeper when Brodim and Taarina enter this Sleeper. “It’s okay,” says Taarina. “They are gone. You can come out of hiding. We are here to help you.”

     “How can you help us?” Loonic asks. “You are Young Ones just like us.”

     “We are not your usual Young Ones,” says Taarina. “When we saw these Blade Warriors come into this house, we got here as quickly as we could. But we were too late.”

     Brodim and Taarina help Loonic and Avvia get up. “Why were those Blade Warriors here?” Taarina asks.

     “Why did they kill the rest of your family?” Brodim asks.

     Loonic looks at Avvia first. “We don’t know why they showed up here or why they killed the rest of our family.”

     “I think you do,” says Taarina. “We can’t help you if you don’t tell us they were there.”

     Avvia looks at Loonic and shakes her head. “I don’t know if they can help us or not. But I think we need to tell them why those Blade Warriors were here”

##

     “Why are you helping us with this quest?” Loonic asks.

     “Because that’s what we do.” Taarina walks next to Avvia while they walk through a Wooded Area. She looks back at Loonic walking next to Brodim before she answers his question. “We travel around Nouthe helping those who need help, especially other Young Ones.”

     Avvia stops walking and looks at Taarina and Brodim. “How are you going to help us?”

     “By protecting you while we look for The Power of Life and Death,” answers Brodim. “I’m great with a Blade. But Taarina is even better than me. If these Blade Warriors show up, Taarina can probably kill them before they kill you.”

     “These Blade Warriors will be back,” says Taarina. “We’ve been following them for the last week. We knew they were up to something. But we didn’t know what that something was until you told us why they were at your house.”

     Brodim, Taarina, Loonic, and Avvia start walking again. They are constantly looking all around them, especially Brodim and Taarina. Both have a Short Blade in each hand and their Long Blade hovering slightly away from their backs. Suddenly, Loonic stops when he hears something behind them.

##

     While Taarina protects Loonic and Avvia, Brodim circles around to see if anyone is following them. Taarina is constantly looking all around her while she walks around Loonic and Avvia who are standing back to back. “Don’t worry, Brodim is the best at not being seen.”

     A few minutes later Taarina heard something from the trees near her. She stops walking around Loonic and Avvia and looks where the something came from. Taarina starts whistling a pattern of whistles. She stops whistling when someone begins whistling the same pattern back to her.

     Brodim steps out from among these trees into a small Open Area. “What did you see?” Taarina asks.

     “It’s what we both thought would happen,” answers Brodim. “We are being followed.”

     “How many Blade Warriors are there?” Taarina asks.

     Brodim looks at Loonic and Avvia. “I saw only six Warriors. But I heard probably a lot more near them. You can take out these six without any problems, but since we don’t know how many more there are you may need some help with the other Warriors.”

     Taarina looks at Loonic and Avvia. “You two head for where The Power of Life and Death is. We will be there as soon as we deal with these Blade Warriors.”

##

     “How are we going to deal with these Blade Warriors?” Taarina asks.

     “The usual way,” answers Brodim. “You kill these Blade warriors as quickly as possible while I see how many more there are. When you are done killing them, signal me and I will tell you where I am and how many more Blade Warriors we need to kill.”

     Taarina doesn’t respond to Brodim. She just steps into this Open Area among these trees and starts killing these Blake Warriors. At first, she uses her Long Blades against these Blade Warriors. After all, All these Warriors are trying to kill her at the same time.

     Blades click against each other as Taarina twists and turns to connect her Long Blade against theirs. Each click sends electrical strings out of her Blade into their Blades, then them. Enough strings kill them. One after another these Blade Warriors begin shaking wildly until they start to shake to death.

     After Brodim sees another Blade Warrior move no more, he starts looking for the other Warriors near them. He barely starts walking among these trees when he hears something getting closer to them. “I don’t think I need to find these Blade Warriors.”

####

     “You are always trying new spells, seeking any sorcerer or creature who may help us bring our father back.” Brodim and Taarina are walking among these trees again.

     “Do you blame me?” Taarina asks. “Don’t you want our father to come back to us?”

     Brodim stops walking and looks at Taarina. “Of course, I want him back. I just don’t think we will be doing it with The Power of Life and Death.”

     “You are probably right.” Taarina starts walking again. Brodim runs to catch up to her. “But we need to keep trying. I’m going to keep trying to bring him back even if you don’t want to do it anymore.”

     “Of course, I want to keep trying too,” says Brodim. “I just don’t think this is the way to do it.”

     Taarina stops walking again. “Where are we going again? Is this the right direction? I don’t think we are going in the right direction.”

     Brodim looks around them slowly. He starts walking in the same direction as before. “Not only are we going in the right direction, but we have almost caught up with Loonic and Avvia.”

##

     Loonic and Avvia stop walking when they hear something behind them. They start shaking and shivering. “No signal. It must be the Blade Warriors following us.”

     Just then they hear the signal. They try to return this signal. Brodim and Taarina step out among several large trees. “Good try,” says Taarina. “But only Brodim and I can signal each other this way.”

     “I don’t care if we can signal you or not,” says Avvia. “I’m just happy it’s you and not any Blade Warriors.”

     “The Blade Warriors may still be a problem.” Brodim and Taarina sit down next to Loonic and Avvia. It’s a tight fit in this small Open Area. That’s why they keep twisting and turning trying to get a better seat. “The Blade Warriors may still be looking for us,” says Brodim.

     Taarina adjusts in her seat again. “We didn’t see or hear any more Blade Warriors. But we still think they are following us.”

     “How far are we from this Power?” asks Brodim. “The sooner we get to it the better. If there are Blade Warriors following us, we need to get to this Power first.”

##

     “You haven’t told us too much about this Power of Life and Death. Who created it?” Brodim asks. “And why did they create it?”

     Loonic and Avvia stop walking among the trees. They look at each other. Then they look at Brodim and Taarina after Brodim and Taarina bump into them and they fall back onto the ground. “We have already told you all we know about The Power of Life and Death.”

     “Tell it to us again,” says Taarina. “We can’t help you if we don’t know everything there is about this Power of life and Death.”

     “We don’t know who created it,” says Loonic. “I don’t even think our parents knew who created it. But I think I know why it was created. The Power of Life and Death can bring the dead back to life. Once back alive, they can never die again.”

     Loonic and Avvia help Brodim and Taarina get off the ground. They start walking among these trees again. “We also don’t know how our parents are connected to this Power.”

     Suddenly, Loonic and Avvia stop walking. They point at a large opening in front of a mountain. “We are here. This is where The Power is.”

##

     Brodim leads the others into this large opening. Loonic and Avvia are right behind him in a single line. Taarina has her back to the others while she protects Loonic and Avvia from the rear. Walking in a single line is the only way for them to walk down this opening.

     Taarina and Brodim have their Long Blade out and are ready for any Blade Warriors who may show up there. “We can barely fit in this opening. I don’t think we need to worry about the Blade Warriors coming after us unless there is another way in here.”

     “There is no other way in here,” says Loonic. “That’s one of the reasons why The Power of Life and Death has been hidden so long.”

     Brodim and the others stop walking just after they leave this opening. They are now in a large Open Area. “Is this where The Power of Life and Death is?” Brodim asks.

     Loonic and Avvia point to the center of this Open Area. “The Power of Life and Death is right in front of us.”

     “I can’t see anything.” Taarina looks at Brodim. “What about you? Can you see The Power of Life and Death?”

##

     Taarina starts walking toward the center of this Open Area. “I can’t see it either. No wonder no one has found it until now.”

     “Stop. If you keep walking you will walk right through The Power of Life and Death.” Loonic and Avvia start walking toward the suddenly stopping Taarina. “I don’t know what will happen to you if you go through it,” continues Loonic. “It may kill you.”

     Loonic and Avvia step in front of Taarina. They reach out with one hand and grab a side handle of a large gold and silver sideward stripe vase goblet. This goblet appears with their touch. Brodim steps up next to Taarina. They can now see this goblet too.

     “Thank you for helping us find our Power,” says Avvia. “After the death of the rest of our family, we were going to get our Power. Without you, we may not have found it first.”

     After dipping a finger from their other hand into this goblet, they put their fingers in their mouths and suck the clear liquid from the goblet off their fingers. Their exposed skin begins to glow from head to foot. Now we have The Power of Life and Death,” says Loonic. “We don’t need you anymore,” continues Avvia.

Word Count = 1,977