A Curious Sword

Eager to start learning, Jack asked Laena to teach him kata first. Curious, she asked why and he simply explained while shrugging:

"You haven't slept yet, and from what I grasped of your personality I'm pretty sure that you will start meditating right away when I give you the method to do it, leaving me alone to practice again."

The elf laughed at his words, indeed finding some truth in them. She then lead the skeleton a little further from the tent in order to avoid waking up their young companion. When she drew her sword and showed the first moves, she noticed that the undead was simply staring at her weapon. Her ears dangerously started swinging around while a feeling of frustration slowly invaded her.

"You could at least try to seem interested in what I'm doing you know." Laena angrily grunted.

"Oh, my bad. I was simply amazed by the fact that when I gaze at your beautiful sword, I can't help but notice that the one in my hand looks like a crude lump of iron." The ancestral being simply stated, unfazed.

His comment had an unexpected effect as he could almost see the elf's nose growing up from pride while she showed him her blade, probably expecting it to get more compliments. He admired the steel's quality, glaring at the sharp edges like he was trying to cut them with his mind.

Then, his gaze moved down to the handle where he saw a sturdy looking cross guard made with a jade-like material. Laena's feminine yet rough hands were tightly gripping the handle, revealing some white leathery cloth through her fingers.

Yet, all those things were nothing but decorations in Jack's mind. What truly interested him was the lingering mana waiting in the blade which was strong enough to intrigue him. Asking if he could try the blade, Laena simply scoffed at him but enjoyed his respect for her precious weapon.

Wielding it was completely different from seeing it and the undead happily chuckled when he felt the sword's different types of mana resonate with his. He could feel some metal, wind and fire mana and understood that the smith who forged this truly poured his heart in. He then laughed slightly, looked at the elf and told her :

"Young swordswoman, how did you got this weapon exactly?"

"Why would you want to know that?" Laena grunted, wary.

"Because this sword is magic." The undead stated while the elf was staring at him with a dumbfounded look.

Her mouth was wide open while pearls of water rolled around her cheeks. She seemed to mumble something but Jack didn't understand it and neither was he focused to hear what he wasn't supposed to. After ten seconds, she finally got her calm back and deeply thanked the skeleton with a small smile appearing on her tearful face.

"Are you sure my sword is enchanted?" She asked, seemingly hopeful.

"Well, seeing is believing you know." The skeleton smiled, raising the two handed sword above his head. He then brought the weapon down on a nearby tree, raising a gust of wind with his movement.

The wood cracked, rumbled then the whole pine tree fell down, raising a gust of sawdust. Laena was simply staring at the huge mark in the ground, deep 30 centimeters near the now stump with a clean bevel cut.

She then gazed at the undead who was simply standing there, his two hands on the guard of the sword which was planted in the ground. The blade was spotless as it seemingly was easy for it to produce this kind of power.

"Do you trust me now?" The undead asked in a cheerful tone.

"Y-Yeah... How did you do this exactly?" The elf said while taking back her weapon in her arms, hugging it like her child.

"I simply stimulated the blade's abilities. The smith poured his whole heart in it and left some lingering elemental mana. To stimulate it you need to resonate with the weapon but don't worry, I'll teach you how to manage it." Jack saw stars in her eyes and gently patted her. She seemed to enjoy it but still moved away, red of embarrassment. "Now, will you tell me where does this sword come from?"

"Somebody once told me: 'Nothing is free in this world'." She said playfully.

"You win there, young elf. Ask me one question and I will answer as truthfully as possible if it doesn't endanger your life." The undead replied in a serious tone. His sentence cooled down the elf as she understood that he wasn't lying. Pondering, she started to think and asked slowly :

"You told us that you are immortal, how did you manage to get imprisoned then?" The light of the moon washed away, replaced by a deep red hue around them. The soul fire was burning intensely, setting his skull blazing in bloody flames.

Jack turned his head, looking at Laena and the elf saw that there was something in his skull, deeper than the soul fire. A deep black hole from which your gaze couldn't escape, trapping you until you reach it's end. The otherworldly voice of the undead shook her out of her illusion and she heard him hissing :

"I can't answer this question fully, but I can tell you part of the truth. When you end alone against the world and the power you sought wasn't made for destruction but creation, being immortal can't save you. Furthermore, this immortality is no gift, it is simply a curse from the gods that I earned since I overstepped the boundaries they set."

The world around them was bending to the wrath of the ancestral being and turned into a realm of chaos, destruction and pain. Laena could see the same illusions as last time but now they seemed much more real : She could smell the metallic odor of the blood, feel the icy touch of death and hear the tortured ghosts wailing.

Falling to her knees, she saw the hellish world recede in Jack before he offered her his hand. He seemed to have calmed himself, the raging fire staying in his skull. He then said to the shaking young elf :

"Seems like I can't control my emotions for now. Excuse me for the incomplete answer but your life would have been in danger if I pushed a little more. Let's change the subject shall we? So, how did you get your sword?"

Laena took a few deep breath, quieting herself down then explained to the undead while they were walking back to the tent :

"It will be a long story, let's settle down around the fire."

She then narrated her story: She was the last daughter of a small noble elven house of the Toorun Kindgom and she decided to wander around after she finished training with her father in order to see the world through her eyes, not those of a noble lady. And so, on her birthday for her twenty years she went on her way. As a departure gift, he forged her this sword and really weakened after that. Apparently, he forged a weapon for each of his children and left a part of his power inside of them, it was his way of helping the next generation.

"And so, how did you manage to get yourself in such a backwater forest with a team of shady adventurers?" Jack asked, interested in the way the people of today lived.

"I simply traveled like an innocent pampered girl and suddenly found out I was broke, so I took the first quest and.. well you know the rest of the story." the silvery haired elf grunted, frowning and sighing. She was quite surprised when she heard the skeleton comfort her in a tender voice :

"It is fine young elf, you will be safe travelling with us. If you need to speak or have some advice, don't hesitate so ask. I truly hope that both of my students find a way to be happy."He added in a mysterious and depressed tone. "Now, shall I teach you the basic of the magic heart creation?"

She then started meditating until the sunset, but fell asleep in the meantime. Jack simply laughed and covered her with a blanket. He couldn't help but feel like he was back in his prime time when he taught magic to his companions when they were walking through the continent in order to right the wrongs.

'Aaaah, I was so naive at that moment.'

Many things changed from his past mindset, but his attention and kindness toward those he enjoyed was the same. He still felt estranged from the Humanity and was completely indifferent toward them but found that those two disciple were different, they were people to him. His self-analysis was stopped when Evelyn emerged from the tent, saluting him with a small smile on her face. Waiting for their sleeping companion to wake up, she ate in silence and proceeded to continue her exercise under the curious gaze of Jack.

She was already producing some wind mana but it wasn't refined at all and thus the gust it generated wasn't something you could feel. Still, she was on the right way and progressed fast, making the skeleton proud of her.

He also felt that his soul was back in it's original state and it only reinforced his feeling of weakness. Trying to recover parts of his mana circuits or his heart would be his main objective after getting to the city in order to carefully plan his next moves.

It would be pretty hard to find them as they were probably sealed away like him and thus making the localisation even harder. Jack hadn't lost hope though as he knew that he had all the time of the world to get back in shape.

After getting on the road again, Jack explained all the different types of magic to Laena since she couldn't really meditate while walking. She still tried though, but it wasn't really efficient and the only thing she managed to do was to fall after getting her foot stuck in hole on the road.

Their day was quite quiet until they found a river : The girls went berserk and threw a tantrum to get a bath, forcing their trip to a stop even if Jack wanted to go as far as possible from this place in order to avoid the being in the forest.

Since the sun was already quite low, they decided to stop their journey and camp there for the day. Jack finally learned the kata he wished to know and started practicing, slicing and piercing invisible enemies while Laena was meditating and Evelyn practicing. They had a frugal meal as their food stock was getting dangerously low then went to sleep, enjoying their quiet day for once.

However, in the middle of the night this quietness was broken. Jack was simply sitting near the fire when he heard somebody getting out of the tent. he then turned his head and saw the silver haired elf with a huge smile on her face. Her long hairs reflected the campfire light, giving her a mysterious charm to which was added her ears wriggling furiously.

"I condensed my heart !" She said while beaming happiness. Jack's method was truly efficient and easy to understand, making her feel like the years the others passed to create their hearts were jokes.

'Another one this fast ? From what she told me it isn't normal at all... Either I am a talented teacher, they are gifted or the mana density is a new thing. It's not a good news in any way.' The skeleton thought, inwardly worried.

"Well done young one. Have you decided what branch of magic will you study?" Was what he said however.

"Yes, I would like to learn the stellar magic master."She asked humbly.

"Are you sure ? This is a pretty complex subject you know. You will progress slowly and will need to have enormous knowledge in order to reach the peak." Seeing the determination burning in her eyes, he felt quite happy.

"Then so be it. First, you will need to know the basis of gravity, earth and fire magic to be able to understand an ounce of the depth of stellar magic. I once met a master of this branch in my prime, he was a terrifying guy. He could burn like the Sun, fly like a shooting star and hit like a meteorite. Have you ever heard some theories about the Moon?"

Hearing him speaking with this much respect about a stellar archmage made her even more motivated, and she quickly replied :

"No, never. I just know that it appear some nights and disappear the others by following a cycle."

"Studying the stars will be your job, what I'm about to tell you is how it has been created. Millennia ago before my time, some extremely powerful mage would have fought, destroying part of the Earth. The Moon is supposed to be a ball made of the debris created by the fight, or a supreme spell that was never cast because of some reasons. Now go to sleep you fool, we have to move tomorrow and you will have some exercises to do."

After thanking him profusely, Laena disappeared in the tent while giggling like a little girl who got a candy. They then continued their trip, one of the apprentice trying to create wind and the other fire. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and after a good night of sleep, they finally reached their objective : Lindund village.

However, the sight that welcomed them wasn't a lively and welcoming place, far from this. The houses were either burnt down or destroyed, there wasn't a single sign of a living being and the whole place seemed utterly ravaged. The three of them had different reactions :

Evelyn became as pale as a sheet, shaking and seeking refuge in Laena's arms because of her trauma while the elf was crestfallen : She knew what the village looked like, talked to it's citizens and even slept one night there. And now, it was gone. Jack simply grunted, annoyed when he saw the village's church in ruins and mumbled :

"How can I burn it down if it's already destroyed."