Light and Scarlet comet

Gen kept running for a few more minutes and reached his destination, Luno's weapon store.

In front of the store, there were some weapons, armor, and utensils on display. You could see several people stopping and taking a look at the products, and next to them were two attendants who accompanied them to answer their questions.

The two attendants looked to be about sixteen years old, with dark skin, black hair, and sand-colored eyes, both about the same height as Gen, and both were wearing a store uniform.

Gen walked toward the door of the store, and upon seeing him, the two approached him and said, "Good morning, Gen."

"Good morning, Doni, Good morning, Toni.", Gen replied and said, "I came to pick up my order."

"We know.", Toni said.

"It is inside with our father.", said Doni.

"Thank you. I will be going then. I am in a bit of a hurry.", Gen said and then entered the store.

Trim trim trim

As Gen entered the store, he heard a voice greeting him, "Welcome."

He then turned around and saw a young woman who looked to be about nineteen or twenty, with dark skin. She was about one meter and sixty-five, with straight black hair that reached halfway down her back and sand-colored eyes.

When she approached and saw that it was Gen who had entered, she said, "Ah, it's you, Gen."

"Good morning, Lapis.", Gen replied and then asked, "Is my order ready?"

"Yes, my father finished arranging everything yesterday. He is inside the workshop. Let me call him for you, come with me to the counter."

"Okay.", Gen said and then began to follow her.

The two soon arrived at the counter. Gen put his backpacks on the floor to rest, and Lapis stepped over and said, "Give me a moment. I'll call him."

"Okay."

"Before I go, do you want something to drink, Gen?"

"No, thanks. I just came from the Desert Rose. I'm quite satisfied."

"Oh, I see. Has Lina told you about tonight?"

"Yeah ..."

"Hm, why are you like that? Did something happen?"

"You better call your father first. It'll take some time."

"Okay, I'll be right back."

As he was left alone, Gen stood observing his surroundings. The inner part of the store had better quality products and more specific weapons and utensils.

After observing for a while, Gen decided to go toward the part where the weapons were, more specifically, the spears. Gen always spent some time in this part when he came to the store.

He started looking at them one by one, picked up a few that interested him, and took a few strokes, but immediately after that, he thought, 'Too light. The handle is too short.', or 'The material is not good.', until he came to a spear that interested him.

Its handle was red with notches that looked like sparks covering it. Between the blade and the handle, there was a drawing of a starry sky, and on the blade was written its name in red, 'Scarlet Comet.'.

Gen stretched out his hand to pick it up, and as he did so, if you looked closely at the spear, you could see that it was trembling a little.

As he picked it up, Gen took a swing with it, tried a few more strokes, and thought, 'This spear is very well made. The weight is good, the size is good too.'

He was getting ready to take a few more swings when he heard a voice ask him, "Do you like it?"

As Gen turned around, he saw that Lapis had returned with her father, Luno.

He was the owner of the store. He was about the same height as Gen, with dark skin, a little darker due to the amount of time he was exposed to fire, brown hair, and sand-colored eyes.

He also had well-defined arms, which was to be expected of someone who forges for a living, and over his clothes, he was wearing a black apron that had once been brown.

Gen smiled and said, "Good morning, Mr. Luno, it's a great spear."

"I'm glad you like it because it's your birthday present.", he said with a smile on his face.

Hearing this, Gen was surprised and said, "Mr. Luno, are you serious? Just looking at this spear, I can see that it must be extremely expensive."

"Don't worry about that. This spear has never been for sale, it is a family heirloom, but since my family has had this store for generations, it has never been used in combat."

"It is an heirloom? I can't accept it then. It must be very important to you."

"Gen, don't worry, just accept it. Weapons were made to be used, not to be stored gathering dust, and besides, you will probably need it since you are going 'there'."

Hearing this, Gen looked at the spear in his hand and then turned back to Luno and said, "Thanks, I'll take care of it."

"You're welcome. Now, about the rest you asked for.", said Mr Luno and bent down to pick up a bag from the floor.

He then said, "It's all here. The total was four silver coins."

Gen took the coins from his bag and gave them to him.

Mr Luno put the coins away and said, "Well, now all that's left is for me to give it to you. Hold on, I'll get it.", and then went inside his workshop.

Being alone with Gen, Lapis asked, "Where is 'there'?"

Gen knew he couldn't escape this question when Mr Luno talked about it, and then decided to tell her everything at once, "Well, let's start with what you had asked me earlier, about what had happened."

Gen then started to tell her what had happened earlier in the restaurant and about the place he was going to.

Hearing everything, Lapis bombarded him with questions, "You kissed Lina?! How come you're alive? And you are going to the ruins of the sands? You had planned to die at the age of twenty, and I didn't know?"

"Calm down, Lapis, breath. I've been preparing for this for three years. It's going to be okay."

"Does Lina know about this?"

"Of course not. If Lina knew, she would have locked me in the bar until she convinced me not to go."

"What if she comes by and asks me about you? From what you said, she's probably looking all over town right now."

"If she comes by, buy me some time, tell her I made an appointment to come by later, and ask her to wait."

"Okay, but you'll owe me. When Lina finds out I lied to her, there'll be hell to pay."

"Deal."

Soon after that, Luno came back from inside his workshop with another young man. He looked to be around twenty-five and was very similar to Mr. Luno.

He had brown skin, a little lighter than Mr. Luno, black hair, and sand-colored eyes. He was a little bigger than him and was also wearing an apron.

Seeing Gen, he said, "Happy birthday Gen."

"Thank you, Lano."

Mr. Luno has five children, they being Lano, the eldest son, Cris, the eldest daughter, Lapis, the middle daughter, and Doni and Toni, the youngest brothers, who are fraternal twins.

Of all his children, only his eldest daughter does not work with him, but with his wife, Mrs Karla, at the tailor shop, which happens to be Gen's next stop.

Mr. Luno and Lano were carrying a white package a little larger than Gen. They placed it on the table and began to open it.

Inside the package was a completely black, rusty spear.

Mr Luno then said, "I tried everything, but I couldn't get any of the rust off it."

When Gen saw the spear and heard what Luno had said, he looked at the spear with melancholy for a while. He then sighed and said, "No problem, thanks for trying anyway."

He then took his new spear and went to wrap it with the black spear, but when he touched it with the other spear still in hand, he generated an unexpected reaction.

The black spear began to float and made a loud noise. Everyone was startled and put their hands to their ears except Gen.

The noise to his ears didn't just sound like noise but like a cry of anger and sadness from someone whom his closest relative had abandoned.

Gen then, still holding the spear, said calmly to it, "Stay calm. I won't abandon you. I will fix you no matter how much time passes."

After Gen said this the noise continued a little lower, and then he said, "Please Light, trust me."

Soon after that, the noise stopped, and the black spear stopped floating.

Seeing that the noise had stopped, everyone looked toward Gen, who was holding the two spears. He was still looking at the black spear, and after a few seconds, he put it back on the table and wrapped it with the Scarlet Comet.

Looking up, he saw that everyone was looking at him with looks that asked for answers, but he changed the subject, saying, "I better go. It's getting late."

Lano and Lapis were about to ask about what had happened, but before they could, their father said, "That's right, you can't waste the daylight. Good luck, and come back well from there."

"Thanks.", said Gen, and then picked up the bundle and hung it on one of his shoulders. He then picked up the backpacks from the ground, and with his one free hand picked up the new backpack and started toward the door.

"I'll go to the door with you.", said Lapis to Gen and started to follow him.

As they walked away, Lano turned to his father, but before he could say anything, his father said, "No use trying to force him to talk about what happened. He clearly wanted to avoid the subject. Who knows, maybe another day he will explain it to us. Well, let's get back to work."

He then started walking towards the workshop.

Lano looked in Gen's direction for a moment, then turned and began to follow his father.

Gen and Lapis walked in silence to the door, and after they went out, Gen said, "Goodbye, Lapis."

And Lapis said, "Goodbye, Gen, and happy birthday, since we won't be meeting later. Take care."

Gen then said, "Thank you, I will.", and then walked towards the tailor shop.