Fan Fiction ❯ Family Inheritance: The Sapphire Blade ❯ Chapter 3

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

It was a restless night; Aiden’s consisted of many dreams – of his parents, of being a hero, killing Kale, saving the town – that disturbed him throughout his sleep. And Kilik seemed to have had the same problem, he told Aiden about some of the parts that he remembered in his dreams. But for Brin, she did say she had dreams, but she didn’t say what they were about for some reason...
After the three rolled their sleeping bags up, Brayden appeared with a backpack, “Put your sleeping bags in here. You’ll take this with you on the trip; you’ll find it has necessities like food and clothes.” Each of them did as they were told and put the sleeping bags in the backpack. Aiden strapped his sword to his back while Kilik did the same with his quiver.
“I guess I’ll try and carry the backpack, hopefully it’s not too heavy...” Brin picked up the backpack, surprised that it was very lightweight.
“I think you’re forgetting that I’m capable of many things, that includes making something lighter and easier to carry.” Brayden said.
“Where did you go last night?” Aiden asked.
“To go and check on the town, help fix some of the damage. I also found that some were kind enough to extinguish the flames at your house. And I also found this in the ruins.” He took out a photo of a man and a woman and handed it to Aiden.
“Mom and dad...” Aiden said with a mildly sad voice as he gazed at the picture. Kilik and Brin standing on either side of him to see what the picture was, their faces gave sad expressions at the sight of it.
“You should keep that; let them watch over you even when they aren’t really here.” Brayden suggested.
“Yeah... I will.”
“Oh, and I think I have some clothes that will be better for traveling.” He raised his walking stick into the air for a second, and then pointed it at each of the teens separately. Their clothes were changed; all three of them were similarly dressed. They had a long sleeved shirt with a closed vest over them, pants, boots, and a brown belt. However they were in different colors; Brin’s vest and pants were dark red while her shirt was a lighter red. It was the same for Kilik, except he wore green.
However, Aiden had a black vest and pants, and a dark blue shirt, along with brown gauntlets with silver plating on top of each. They were impressed with the new clothing, except Aiden had a request for his, “Can I have an open vest?” Brayden looked at him with amusement.
“Certainly.” He said, and with a point of his stick, Aiden’s vest was now an open one.
“Thanks.” Aiden said with a slight grin as he put the picture of his parents into his pocket. Brin attached her dagger to her belt, and swung the backpack over her shoulders.
“Can I learn to use that kind of magic?” Kilik asked.
“It’s not magic.” Aiden pointedly interjected.
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know, but magic doesn’t exist, we’ve went over this before.”
“Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” Kilik argued, “Besides, how do you explain all the stuff Brayden’s done?” Aiden couldn’t find an answer to this, and Brayden cut in.
“Your brother makes sense, Aiden, but if I still haven’t convinced you that magic exists, maybe your journey will change your mind...” Again, Aiden didn’t reply. Maybe magic did exist, but then why hasn’t he ever seen any before? He didn’t want to believe magic existed, he didn’t know why, maybe because it was easier, or maybe because he didn’t want to be wrong. Either way, he wasn’t going to admit it now.
“Just forget it.” He said, “We need to go, the sooner we start, the sooner we get to the South and I can end this whole thing.” He began to walk toward the door; Brin fell in line behind him, followed by Kilik.
“Be careful you three, and always be on guard, you never know who might try to attack three traveling teenagers...” Brayden’s voice trailed off as the trio left the temple. They traveled south through the streets of their torn up town. People were still outside repairing damage, some heads turning to get a glance at the three teens, but no one said anything.
It didn’t take long to reach the end of the town, where they followed a dirt path that led to the large forest they’d have to travel through. They took their last look at their home town, and then took their first steps into the dark forest.
The three teens traveled for a few days, setting up a tent for them to sleep in during the nights. Animals barely ever appeared to them, only a few of the small ones, most were probably hiding.
It wasn’t until a few days later, after they were deep in the forest, that they ran into some trouble. The sun was almost completely blocked by the trees, there was little light to guide them, but it seemed that Aiden knew exactly where to go even though he’s never set foot in this forest. He also sensed the danger looming near them somehow.
While they were walking, Aiden had a feeling that he was being followed. He couldn’t explain how he knew, he just did… After a few minutes of disreguarding the feeling, he took a glance behind him – there was nothing. But with a second glance, he saw a single leaf fall from the trees above. He didn’t look up, but instead looked at his brother, and Kilik returned the look. Aiden made a gesture that he hoped Kilik would understand. He slightly jerked his head and glanced toward the trees above them, and Kilik gave a small nod.
In the next instant, Kilik had his bow aimed and an arrow shot fast up into a tree. There was a gasp and a dark figure fell from the trees and landed on its feet. Aiden already had his sword drawn, pointing the sapphire blade at the figure. Kilik had another arrow loaded in his bow, and Brin hesitantly withdrew her dagger after having no clue what just happened.
“How did you know I was there?” The figure asked, the voice was obviously that of a man. He asked a good question too, Aiden had no clue how he knew the man was there in the trees.
“Maybe you should try being less obvious.” Aiden replied.
“I didn’t make a sound though.”
“Yeah I didn’t hear anything.” Brin admitted.
“Neither did I…” Kilik said, “I just understood Aiden’s gesture and took a shot, I didn’t know if there was anything there.” There was silence at first; there was no logical answer for how Aiden sensed the stalker.
“Forget it,” Aiden said, “That’s not the point, why were you following us?”
The figure stood up to his full height, he was a little taller than Aiden, and as he stepped closer his features became visible. He had smooth, fairly long white hair and wore a white cloak with black designs all over it, and a sword in a sheath was strapped to his waist. “It’s my job, whenever there’s unidentified people in this forest, I follow them and find out what they’re up to. Most of the time it’s teenagers planning to cause trouble.” He shot mistrusting glances at each of them.
“Do you count traveling to the South to kill the new lord as causing trouble?” Aiden asked with narrowed eyes. The man looked at him, probably not believing what Aiden said. But as he continued to stare, his eyes rested on the blade that was pointed at him, and his expression showed that he was shocked.
“Yes that does count as trouble.” He spat as he withdrew his sword and held it with both hands.
“Fine by me.” Aiden grinned as he lunged forward, his new enemy did the same and their blades clashed with a clang. They pulled back from each other and slashed again, with the same results. It continued on as they each took their chances to slice their swords through the air, each time either being blocked or dodged.
Aiden managed to fight with amazing skill, without ever really training in sword fighting. He only learned some basics from his father before, and other times he used sticks or other objects that could substitute as a sword to practice with on his own. But he never could have dreamed of fighting this well, yet another thing he couldn’t logically explain. It didn’t matter to him though, whatever was going on, he was fighting excellently, and he was winning.
Brin was watching the fight in disbelief, while Kilik was watching in amazement, his bow still loaded with an arrow ready to fire. He didn’t shoot because there was a chance that he could accidentally hit Aiden, and his big brother wanted to fight, it was obvious by the way he so recklessly jumped into the fray.
After a few minutes, their enemy seemed to be getting tired; he was starting to back off from Aiden and barely attempting to strike. The man could only block his relentless opponent’s bright blue blade; each of Aiden’s attacks became harder to defend against, until Aiden swiftly kicked his enemy’s hand and the sword flew from the man’s hand, leaving him unarmed.
With a feeling of accomplishment, a wide grin split Aiden’s face as he stared his defeated foe in the eyes. He won, his first sword fight in his life, and he easily defeated his opponent. But could he finish it? Could he actually kill someone? He didn’t make another move as he thought of what he’d be doing; he’d be a murderer…
“Go on…” The man said, “Kill me.” Aiden definitely would like to, but would it be right? He’s never killed anyone, but he wanted to know what it was like. He was going to have to kill sooner or later, if not this stalker, then Kale.
Might as well start now, he thought, but he still couldn’t bring himself to raise his sword. The man’s lips were starting to form a grin; he could probably see that Aiden was having trouble with killing. The silence from Aiden didn’t last much longer though, as his eyes started to fill with defiance, “Fine.” He said.
The slight grin was wiped from the man’s face as Aiden raised his sword into the air. The sapphire blade ripped threw the air and hacked into the man’s chest, and he fell to the ground with blood gushing out of his wound. A feeling of satisfaction mixed with anxiety swept over Aiden, he didn’t regret what he did, he actually felt a sense of pride. He looked at his sword; there was no blood on the blue blade at all. Aiden thought it was weird, but he didn’t question it, the sword was obviously different from a regular sword…
Aiden slipped his sword back into its sheath as he walked over to Brin and Kilik. Both of them had already put away their weapons, they were looking at Aiden with shock. They seemed to be at a loss for words.
“I had to kill him.” Aiden said, “If I didn’t he would have warned Kale.”
“I don’t have a problem with it.” Kilik replied, “You’ll have to kill again anyway.” Aiden was happy to hear Kilik agree, but he didn’t feel he’d get the same response from Brin. He turned to her and waited for her to talk.
“It’s alright…” She said finally, “Like Kilik said, you’ll have to kill again, I guess I better get used to it.” Aiden could sense she wasn’t happy, but there was nothing he could say to make it better, so he just nodded.
“We better get going.” He said as he walked past them and continued to lead the way.
“How did you learn to fight like that?” Kilik asked as they were walking.
“It’s another thing that I have no way of explaining.” Aiden replied. Kilik seemed to think, but couldn’t come up with anything, so he stayed silent.
None of them said much else.