Private Tales The Soul of a Sword

[Ederick Stone]

Boy, you think i'm stupid? I'm not buying no stolen goods!
​

It was a hot day.

Ederick could feel the sweat drip off of his forehead, and onto his light-blue clothing.

Alliria was typically lovely that time of year; when all of the flowers bloomed within the iron and stone walls that kept the merchant city safe, it made the whole world turn bright. All dark seemed to flee before the light of the sun on days like this. But, unfortunately, on this particular day, Ederick needed money, if he was to make his way to Elbion. And he only had one thing he could sell;

His father's sword.

He'd found an armourer not too far in from the main-gate of the city. The place was littered with all kinds of blacksmiths, weapons merchants, and merchants in general. But Ederick had neither the brains nor know-how to look for the right place to go. He simply went to the first place he could find. 'Chaulgren's Finest Wepons Salesman'. Yes, weapons was spelt incorrectly on the large, obnoxious sign that stood outside. It was an old building, crafted from cheaply found wood, made from the cuts of lesser-woods. From looking at it's structure, it was a miracle it was standing up straight.

The whole city was claustrophobic. To be so young, and at his short stature, everyone seemed to be giant in comparison. He'd heard stories of the Dreadlords too, and the Academy in Vel Anir. Even though he knew that place was thousands of miles away, it scared him to think people younger than him were learning to kill.

Terrifying.

But, as he entered the shop, hoping to sell the sword, the merchant was not having it.

"But- I- I didn't steal it!"

"What are you, 12?"

"15 actually..." He muttered under his breath.

"I don't care what age yur' at boy, i'm not buying no stolen goods! Merchants council'll crack down on me- again!"

"But I need this money!"

"I don't care!"

"Take it!"

"I said NO!" The man shouted, as he struck Ederick out of the shop, his strong, thick arm practically sending him flying. Ederick hit the floor, hard, a blood nose to go along with the scuffs on his clothes.

His father's sword lay bare on the floor, in all it's understated beauty. It wasn't a particularly beautiful weapon, but the blade was impeccable, sharpened and honed to absolute perfection.

Now I need to find someone else, dammit.

 

[Wakasugi Touma]

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
― Mother Theresa​

Such a big city....
It was the only real thought that was kicking about in the stranger's head, walking down the path many trodden before. Someone had suggested that he paid the grand city a visit, how much of a spectacle it was on the continent. The bladesmen was inclined to agree, though he wouldn't be as enthusiastic about it; it reminded him much of the bigger cities of his native home. Sure the architecture was wildly different, but the feeling was the same.

All the more reason to keep moving...

Might have been just any o'l ordinary for the red headed fellow. But, as always, things around here were not as simple as that. Such line of thinking only occurred to him when a young boy came flying into view, quite literally.

He even almost unsheathed his sword and chopped him in half like a fruit, had his consciousness not been able to wrestle away control from his instincts. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, relieved in the fact that he did not just add another young tally to his conciseness.

Opening his eyes, the red haired stranger took a secound to observe the boy. He was certainly bleeding, but it didn't seem like anything mortal, so at least there was that. The lad was actually kind of clean...well, as clean as you could be for being thrown on the floor. Admitably, the bladesmen had seen worst wandering the continent, and they weren't always on the floor either.

Regardless, the kid was hurt, as the red headed stranger took a couple quicken steps towards him. Within a matter of moments, he was bending over the boy, covering the sun that had been blazing across the lad not a moment ago.

"Are you hurt?" Was the only thing the soft spoken man said, a concerned look on his face. The baldesmen probably already stood out to the boy, what with his robbed clothes and his weapons. Still, he was showing concern...which probably the most amount of kindness the boy was going get for the current moment...

 

[Ederick Stone]

He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve, smearing it with his blood. Ederick thought it weird; he'd never really been hit before. His father certainly never hit him, and it hurt a whole lot more than he thought it would. Then again, he didn't know what to expect from people in Alliria.

As he scraped his sleeve however, something blocked out the sun that shone in Ederick's eyes. As he looked to his right, a man was leaning over him;

He'd never seen a man wearing such strange clothes before. But what struck him was how similar they were to his father's old robes, which he kept in a compartment beneath the floorboards, like he was trying to hide something. They looked quite beautiful, he thought. He also looked strange, not odd or anything, but unlike any other man he had seen before.

Apart from his father.

Perhaps he was from the same part of the world? It wouldn't be surprising, since when his gaze travelled downwards, he noticed two swords, one far shorter than the other. He backed away on the floor slightly, a little shocked by this realisation, before he got himself up.

"Y-yeah, i'm fine..." He said, sheepishly.

He made a shocked expression, realising he'd left his father's sheathed weapon on the floor, part of the blade was exposed; long, and with a slight curve, with a strange, wave pattern working it's way across it. He quickly picked it up, and held tight.

Wait, maybe he knows where I can sell it... maybe he'll buy it!

"Hey... uh, you" Realised he didn't know his name.

"You want this sword? I'll take anything you got!" Money, he was indeed desperate for.

Wakasugi Touma

 

[Wakasugi Touma]

Back home, this attempt to sell him a sword might have been seen as an insult, considering the bladesmen already had a pair of swords visibly displayed on his hips...The boy might as well have just have said: "Your sword is of a garbage quality, mine's better"...but this was not home...so the only thing the bladesmen could do was give out a sigh, shaking his head.

Whatever the intentions the boy had to offer up the sword was probably the opposite reason that the red haired man was thinking of. Probably best not to jump to conclusions...

"Thank you...but I'm afraid I already have a weapon of cho..." The bladesmen was just about to turn down the offer, until somthing about the blade caught his eye. It was certainly a saber of sorts, given the way it curved, but...this certainly didn't seem like any saber he'd seen on this continent. If anything, it held a resemblance not to dissimilar to the red hair's own weapon. While it was not impossible to find a similar weapon upon this continent, it wasn't exactly what most would call a common sight to find another "katana" or "tachi" like weapon in any old armory.

It was what the bladesmen said, as he lifted his hand off of the grip of his own sheath sword to grasp onto the boy's sheathed sword. Lifting it out of the boy's hand, he took a moment to examine the weapon over, before placing his dominate hand on it's hilt and unsheathing the weapon to examine the actual blade.

"Where did you aquire such a weapon from?" The swordsmen asked calmly, though his eyes were more drawn to the craftsman of the weapon. The eyes of the red haired man was intense, an inquisitive look plastered on his face, as he attempted to deduce a make and origin for the blade.

 

[Ederick Stone]

Where did I acquire such a weapon?

He almost makes it sound special...

He gave the weapon a long look, after the mysterious man spoke. He seemed to handle it with much care.

It was strange. He had always thought it to be an ugly thing, but maybe that was just due to his hatred towards his father. It was unlike any other sword he had seen before, the blade, long and curved across. It had a small cross-guard, built of a wrought metal of some kind. It's handle wasn't very interesting, but seemed to have a thin, wire-like brown thread tied around it in various patterns. Wasn't like any broadsword he'd ever seen, or any long sword for that matter. It also had some strange symbols carved into the scabbard, but Ederick had no idea how to read them, and they didn't look anything like any language he'd seen before.

He still didn't see it as special, anyway. He'd always thought it was just a different style from a different land.

"I foun-" He paused. Did he have to be dishonest with this man? He didn't see why, he certainly seemed nicer than the shop-keeper.

"...It was my father's. He used to be a warrior, or... something." Didn't really know what else to say. He knew almost nothing of his father's past. He never spoke of it. Never.

"Why, do you know of it?"

 

[Wakasugi Touma]

"I can only infer as much..." The red haired stranger said, bring the blade out fully from it's sheath, turning it over to get a good look at all it's angles. It wasn't the most decorated of weapons, but even a simple blade in the hands of a master could cut through much. Besides, it wasn't the blade itself that really caught the eyes of the wandering swordsmen, but rather the context to which it was in.

The bladesmen would take a quiet step back, taking the time to commit to a couple of experimental swings. The handling was alright with this thing. By no means perfect, but the ronin had seen worse quality weapons then this. Even his own weapon could be improved in that regard...but perhaps it was the imperfections that allowed for more...creative elements to a fight.

"...this blade is within the same class of weapons as my own...which in it of itself makes it unique upon this continent..." The ronin would speak, bring the sheath to his side and unsheathing the blade in a...certain manner. Once he was certain that the weapon was covered, the swordsmen held the weapon back out to the young boy. "...I would hang onto it if I could...you'd not be able to find many around here that could truly appreciate it's potential."

 

[Ederick Stone]

Ederick found this man strange. Everything from the way he stood to the way he spoke seemed completely foreign to him. He had the weight of a Warrior, much like his father. And, although he didn't like to dwell on it, his physical similarities were striking enough to illicit his curiosity.

He found the man's interest in his weapon unusual. Sure, many weapons smithed in the continent looked strange, or could be of different styles. But to think such a weapon was so specific to such a far away land seemed odd to Ederick.

He'd never even used a broad-sword before, let alone... whatever it was.

"How am I supposed to know how i'm gonna appreciate it's potential- I've never even fought with a sword before!" He argued.

"It would be wasted on me..."

 

[Wakasugi Touma]

"Perhaps...but it would fare no better in the hands of anyone else around these parts..." Most people on this particular continent would have used the weapon as any other saber, most likely haphazardly swinging the blade like a stick. Truly it would be no better in his hands then others, especially when many of the methods and schools to wielding this one blade did not even exist here.

Touma held the blade out again, hoping the young man would take it. After all, it was disrespectful to take another's blade, perhaps even dishonorable...

"At least with you, you have the potential to learn it's ways...your young after all...plenty of time to find someone to learn it's ways...think of it as an investment...if you manage to master it, or even just become capable...you will reap the benefits ten times over..."

Teach a man to fish, was the saying around these parts....though admit-ably, the methods to this particular fishing method was far and few between around here...in the fact, the only one that could really instruct the boy...was him....

Perhaps that was a ridiculous notion...

 

[Ederick Stone]

He spoke like a man who had clearly seen a lot, despite not being that aged. There was wisdom in his words, and advice that asked to be heeded within his syntax. He'd be a fool not to take him seriously.

He looked at the sword again, offered to him by the strange swordsman. There was something about it... something he couldn't quite place his finger on. Like it had travelled a very long way, just to end up in the hands of someone who hadn't a clue what to do with it. He'd only ever seen his father use a sword once when protecting their farm, and it did look stranger than anything else he'd seen before. Then again, he was just a child. What did he know?

Very little, clearly.

He quickly reached out for it and pulled it into his chest. He nervously shifted around, as if he felt he had no purpose being there.

"...If what you say is true, I don't think there are many people in Arethil who could teach me what to do with it." He observed it again, solemn.

"You're the first person i've met who... you know, knows what it even is..."

 

[Wakasugi Touma]

"First person, perhaps...but I doubt the only one..." The man with two blades said, releasing his grip on the weapon, before folding his hands. Maybe not around here He thought. The swordsmen was sure that there were more people out there that were more then capable of utilizing the curved blade.

Then again, he had been traveling for a while...and he had yet to meet anyone whom shared were learned in any schools of swordsmanship or schools similar of. Most blade work he's seen among this continent were either sloppy or were of schools meant for blades that were more common. The sword he held was far from that.

It be a difficult challenge indeed to find someone else that could use the blade...but was it impossible? No....If he was here, there were bound to be others....

"Regardless...there's no point in despairing...you wouldn't get far with that kind of attitude..." Look who's talking. "...I suppose the best thing to do now is to take stock of what you have...and by the looks of it, just that blade and the clothes on your back...what is it you do these days? Making money?...Or do you seek somthing else?"