ALL NOVEL 8
I paused mid strike as Apocolyptia now stood before me. She stood in the same pose as she did before with her sword in her hands facing downward to the ground. She had an amused smirk on her face. I didn’t make any effort to hide my surprise.
‘We meet again, child.’
‘What are you doing here? Or is it what and I doing here?’
‘When a blade made from Fairyite is drawn for the first time, a fairy may choose to imbue the blade with its power. You have drawn the blade so I have come. We are not yet bonded so I must bring you here.’
‘I thought the blade received the blessing from the bonded fairy.’
‘A common misconception. It is most likely that she will because it is the fairy has the most at stake with their bonded human, but any fairy present nearby can imbue the weapon.’
‘So why help me? I’ve trapped you here by refusing to bond with you.’
‘We have resonated and I have taken interest in you. I will be watching you through you trials. This is my way too keep you safe as well as me entertained.’
‘So I don’t need to bond with you to imbue the weapon?’
‘No, no. Think of it as a loop hole. I cannot give you my power directly because we have not bonded, but I can imbue a portion of my power to the sword. A sword which you can be coincidentally bound to. Think of it as a preview of what could be. It will be just a piece of the power you could possess.’
‘Ok. So how do we do this? Do I need to give you the sword so you can cast a spell on it?’
‘Just complete the strike you were about to perform earlier. As you strike me with it it will absorb some of my essence. Then you will return to your world.’
‘Will you be all right?’
‘In this form we are immaterial. We cannot be killed with a blade. Do not fret.’
‘Well…then again, thank you.’
I again readied my stance to strike. The fairy lifted her sword to her shoulder and spread her wings too an impressive wingspan. I hesitated for a second as I took in the magnificent view. She spoke one last time.
‘Remember, if you ever want to complete our bond, just call for me. I will be here watching you.’
I stepped forward and struck to center mass. As the blade passed through her, her form smeared like a dense fog. I heard the crack of thunder and I was back in the workshop.
Thoooom! Chrakow!
Where the dummy had once been only a small, splintered, wooden stump of a pole remained. A slash had gouged into the ground and continued to the wall where the wind pressure from the strike had blown out a diagonal hole the size of a person.
I looked at the blade in my hand and it had transformed into something resembling Apocolyptia’s blade. It had changed to a black blade with small serrations. The blade had become a tad bit longer and the curve was more pronounced. On the guard was now the red and orange eye gem that adorned the hilt of her blade. The hilt now had five rubies that were a dull maroon color. The first one initially glowed slightly but then quickly dimmed.
Along with the blade, the scabbard was changed as well. It had turned completely black with strange metal runes carved all around it. The base where the blade enters was a dull metal color shaped like angel wings. The tip of the scabbard had a metal skull facing out of the tip.
Around my wrist was a wrap of grey cloth similar to the cloth that covered the fairy’s eyes. There was even the same ink eye across the dorsal part of my hand. There was a small flash and then the sword transformed back into its original form.
I sheathed the sword and sheepishly turned to face Miss Cinder. I was worried as to how she would take the destruction of her workshop. Her face was initially one of shock but that quickly melted away to pure bliss.
‘Holy Crap! Did you see that! You slashed the sword and it was like, Boom! And the sword was like, Shing! And it changed! I thought you didn’t have a fairy! And, I made that sword! Me! My sword destroyed my workshop! AH! My workshop! Now I have to beg Victoria for funds to fix my workshop again! Oh, no. Oh, man. She’s gonna be pissed. But hey, the sword! Let me see it!’
At a loss for words after that tirade, I handed her the sword. She unsheathed it and looked over the whole weapon. Everything looked the same as it was before the change happened. She stood examining the blade for a moment.
‘Wait…what happened to the blade?’
‘Nothing? It looks normal to me.’
‘No, Fairyite steel has a rainbow metallic sheen to it like oil on the surface of a pool of water. This blade is now a dull grey color. Also Fairyite is packed full of magic, but I can’t sense anything from this weapon anymore. ’
She took the blade over to a contraption that looked like a large ring with a crystal embedded on the top and placed the blade through the ring.
‘See! No reaction. It’s like all the magic stored up in the Fairyite all got expended in one go. Oh, no wonder my workshop is trashed! Well, if that’s the case then I’m lucky no one got hurt!’
She rushed back over to me and put the weapon back on the rack. She then ran over to a desk and grabbed a pen and a notebook and started scribbling frantically. She continued to do so as she walked back over to me.
‘So, describe to me what happened? Do you actually have a fairy and are hiding it for some reason?’
‘Um…No. So apparently any fairy can imbue it, but the closest is usually your personal fairy. That’s what the fairy said anyway.’
‘What was the type of fairy that you saw?’
‘She…said she didn’t want to be named.’
I had already gotten an odd reaction from Miss Wintry when I said the name of the fairy. I didn’t plan on giving up that information any more if I could help it.
‘Named?! So the fairy had a name! Holy Crap!’
‘Wait, what?’
‘Fairies don’t usually have names. Only the upper echelons of their kind get names. That why we usually refer to a fairy by its type. If a named fairy imbued this sword then it has become quite the powerful weapon.’
‘So how do I turn it back into that black form again?’
‘Well normally you would pour your magic into the blade enough to trigger the shift. It looks like this shift pulls directly from the blades internal energies though. Once the blade was sucked dry it couldn’t hold the new form. My guess is when the blade recharges you can change it again.’
‘So how long would that take?’
‘A week or two on its own, I guess. I don’t really know. This is sort of unprecedented. If you had magic you could sacrifice some to feed it, but you don’t. You could try to take it to magic rich areas to help it absorb background magic faster. You could aaaallllso leave it here and I can do some more experiments to learn more.’
With that last sentence she contorted her face into a puppy dog frown and brought her prosthetic arm up with her other hand into a pleading position. Ignoring her I continued on.
‘So where is a magic area I can bring the sword to?’
‘Aw, you’re no fun. Well, realistically the Wilds are brimming with magic energies, which is why the Revenant are there. I doubt you are going to be allowed to go out there without being rooted though. The closest place you have access to is probably the training grounds, actually. A lot of magical energy gets wasted there.’
‘Perfect. Well the lunch period is almost over and the choice is obvious at this point. I’ll take the sword for now. How about I come back tomorrow during lunch and we can look more into it. ’
I walked over to the table and picked up the sword. She frowned again and tracked the sword with her eyes as I walked through the new hole it the wall. It was the closest exit so I figured, why not? I was almost clear when she called to me.
‘Sam! Wait! I almost forgot!’
I paused as she ran over to me. She held out an intricate two inch metal locket with runes etched into it and a green marble embedded in the center.
‘This is an item locket. You can store your sword in it so you don’t have to carry it around. Just hold the sword up to the green gem and focus on it and it will store it. Then hold your hand over the gem and concentrate on the item you want and it will come out.’
‘How many items can it hold?’
‘About seven pounds or 35 items. You can store your outfits in there when you finally get a battle outfit. It will actually automatically switch clothes for you. That is…if you’re not still cursed.’
My cheeks flushed at the reminder of my outfit. I stared a moment at the short chain attached to the locket.
‘I’m not really a jewelry kind of person. Is there another way to wear this thing?’
‘Sure, the girls find all sorts of creative ways to wear the thing. Ah, here!’
She pulled a longer more substantial chain from the leather apron she was wearing. It was still silver but looked more like a rope. She wrapped it twice around my hip, keeping the first loop tight but letting the second one hang looser on my left side. She attached the locket to the second loop so it rested on my hip.
‘There, that’s about where the sword would be. Try it.’
I held the sword on my hip and, sure enough, the weapon rested nicely against the locket. I focused my mind on the green orb and the sword vanished from my hands.
‘That was surprisingly easy.’
‘I do my best, milady.’
I took a stance like I was about to draw my blade and focused on retrieving the sword. I felt it pulling out and in one quick motion I grabbed the hilt and drew the weapon, striking the air. I then sheathed the sword and relaxed and called the katana back into the locket.
‘That is very convenient.’
‘So Coooool. Anyway. The Fairyite won’t be able to gather magic as quickly in there, so remember to take it out when you want to feed it. Also, don’t forget to feed yourself. It’s almost the next period and you still haven’t eaten.’
‘That won’t be a problem. Thanks for everything. The blade is magnificent.’
‘Thanks for the praises. Take care of yourself. You've made some obnoxious enemies already. Stay sharp.’
I waved and started to walk back to the school. I made a mental note to stop by the apple grove on the way. I heard the forge master yell to me one last time as I walked away.
‘And remember to come see me tomorrow!’