The Sword that Binds (Book of Worlds 1) (2 page)

Sarena was almost glowing with pride. Her grandfather didn’t give praise often, she would normally have to work stubbornly for days at a new technique before he would even grudgingly give his approval. She could have attacked any one of those openings she had seen to end the fight, but she went for the strongest point in her father’s defense instead. It was the best way she could think of to prove that Heartseeker had chosen her. She knew nothing less would work to convince her father.

Adralin ground his teeth together while glaring at Sarena. Without saying a word he brushed past her and headed toward the door, ignoring the shallow wound on his shoulder. When he reached the doorway he paused for a moment. “We are entertaining guests tonight, the third prince is visiting and I expect you to be there for dinner. Dress appropriately.” He said without looking back, then walked out the door.

When the door closed behind her father, Sarena looked back to her grandfather and grinned. “That felt amazing! I knew that the sword was supposed to make you strong, but I never knew it would feel like this! But grandfather, why didn’t you warn me about the burning sensation?”

Sarena’s grandfather raised his eyebrows and replied, “Burning? What are you talking about? I know the handle feels a bit warm at first, but I wouldn’t call that burning.”

“Well not quite burning, but it was far more than a little warmth. And not just the handle, my entire body felt like it was heating up,” Sarena shook her head as she answered. “Could it have something to do with the blade glowing blue instead of red?”

He frowned in thought for a moment before responding, “I’m not sure, I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before. I made up the story about it glowing blue for my father. Regardless of what color it is, we both know you are his daughter and his treatment of you is ridiculous. He didn’t need another excuse to try and get rid of you,” He paused for a moment and then nodded as if he had thought of something. “I’ll look in the family archives to see if there’s any mention of it.”

Sarena felt a pang of concern. If her father found out about that then she would never hear the end of it.

“I hope you can find something. I don’t want to imagine what he will try and do if he figures out you lied to him for me. I bet he’s going to be searching the archives the same as you.” Sarena said.

Her grandfather had a glint in his eyes as he smiled and said, “Well I’ll just have to do something about that myself if need be. Now I’m a bit curious Sarena. What made you think attacking your father’s strongest point was a good idea?”

Sarena laughed as all the tension drained from her body.

*****

T
yrus awoke to utter darkness. He looked around himself for a sign of anything, but the pitch black void was endless. He tried to remember how he had arrived there, but no matter how hard he focused, he couldn’t remember anything before the darkness. His mind wasn’t working the way he told it to. Sometimes he would see flashes of color that formed vaguely familiar shapes, but he could never seem to tell what the meaning of them were. The feeling of powerlessness was making him more and more frustrated.

Information flooded into his mind as more and more images flashed by. Knowledge that made no sense to him swam in his head before fading away to the back of his mind.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been floating in that endless space when it happened. There was a strange feeling of warmth reaching for him, so faint that he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not. Hope rushed through him as he realized he might be rescued. Before he was able to react though, the warmth started to fade. He frantically tried to latch onto it, but his mind seemed to work so slowly in the black space. The feeling disappeared into the void, leaving Tyrus alone with his thoughts once again.

No! How could I have let that chance go to waste! I...No, I can’t let this get to me. If it happened once, it will happen again. Next time I’ll be ready!
If he admitted defeat here then he would lose his mind. Instead he would focus on what it would be like to be free.

Tyrus could feel time passing by slowly, waiting with hope in his heart for the warmth to appear again. Whenever he felt his determination slipping he would focus on that memory. It kept the fire in his heart going, but over time even that wasn’t enough. All that he had was the fading memory of the warmth, repeating in his mind constantly.

Just need to be patient. The warmth will come back.
He wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but it was important.
Must...be ready.

The memory of the warmth repeated in his mind again, but this time it wasn’t anywhere near as blurry, as if he was reliving the moment all over again. It was so realistic that Tyrus awoke from the daze he had been in for so long.

Wait! It-It’s real! It’s happening again! This is my chance!

Tyrus stretched, reaching for the warmth, almost expecting it to fade as it had in his memory. But it didn’t. He felt himself latch on to it, and before he was able to celebrate the world around him changed.

The darkness around him seemed lighter, and he could feel a presence nearby, a grey and green shape, one that he knew he was connected to. Moments later two others were there as well. The first one was a roiling dark cloud of anger and hate in the shape of a human, while the second was calm and held affection towards the one he attached to.

What happened? I’m not free? How do I know all these things?

Tyrus felt the dark cloud preparing itself to do something, and watched as the aura shifted. Certain areas of the aura seemed to weaken while others strengthened, and Tyrus reached through the link he had made and tried to give that green and grey aura the knowledge of those spots. The world started to move around him, and he felt himself rush towards the enemy. Bracing himself for the impact with that cloud, he felt a long, thin, greyish color move to intercept him. Yet when he struck it he passed through it as if it didn’t even exist, and continued on to scape against the dark cloud. The colors within it shifted wildly, and the hatred seemed to fade slightly.

What’s going on? We attack it and it seems happy about it? Are the things I’m feeling wrong?

Tyrus was confused and felt the world around him shifting again. Everything except that grey and green presence disappeared. He focused on it, trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing.

The aura itself was shaped the same as a human. His mind could sense the aura itself, and translated it into an image for him, once again giving him knowledge that he felt he shouldn’t have. He could recognize the shape easily enough. It was at the edge of his mind, a memory of a time long lost to him where he could actually
see
, but for some reason he couldn’t remember more beyond that.

He tried delving into the aura near him, pushing his senses through the link, and could suddenly see much more than he had expected. On the inside of the aura was a whole other world. The green and grey was gone, replaced by golden beams of light that stretched out spreading through the limbs and body. With that realization he immediately had a thought and stopped delving the aura to return to himself.

He turned his senses inward and focused on searching within his own aura, only to be disappointed. There were the same golden beams all around him, stretching through the darkness. But they definitely were not in the shape of a human. They instead created a latticework that seemed like a shell, except long and tapering to a point. The beams within himself were far larger than the others had been. There was power running through them, rushing towards the point that connected him to the human. At that point there was no golden beam, but a fragile looking blue vine that seemed to creep into the aura and wound itself around one of the beams within his savior.

I guess that means I’m not a human. But maybe I was at one point?
He thought in disappointment.
This must be how we are connected. They must be relying on me to give them power. If that’s the trade I have to make to stay out of that void then I’m getting the better end of the deal! I don’t even need that power for anything to begin with.

Tyrus was both satisfied and dismayed when he stopped inspecting his aura.
Anything
was an improvement over the void, but he was still trapped.

He pulled back to the real world, his mind going blank at what he felt. All around him were countless auras, and his perception of them was far more accurate than when he had first woken up. He could sense both the dark cloud and the calm aura from before. The dark cloud’s hatred and anger had lessened, but were still the most prominent emotions he could feel. They were directly next to his own human’s aura, while the calm one was on the dark cloud’s other side. What had truly drawn his attention and set him on high alert though, was the aura he sensed on the other side of his grey and green ally.

It was pitch black with disdain and hatred. Evil intent was cascading off of it, almost attacking the auras around it. He could feel his partner’s aura trembling, and anger was rapidly welling up within it, even though they were trying to suppress it. Tyrus could feel his own anger instantly rush to the forefront of his mind in response, after so long being trapped with nothing and nobody to vent his anger and troubles on he couldn’t control it. At the back of his mind he knew the anger he felt wasn’t normal, but it was beyond him to stop at that point. He couldn’t let this threat stand. He had to act.

“Y
our father isn’t going to be very happy with you if you plan to wear that to the dinner,” Sarena’s grandfather said. He was standing next to the door to the great hall, waiting for her to arrive with a wide grin was on his face as he spoke.

“It belongs to me now, and no Garland is ever far from their weapon. That’s what you taught me isn’t it?” Sarena said while looking at the sword at her waist proudly, wearing a plain brown leather tunic and matching trousers. She would have preferred a shoulder harness herself - the sword was too long to fit comfortably at her side - but she hadn’t had time to arrange for one before the dinner.

“Well spoken,” her grandfather said while nodding. “While I doubt he will see it that way, you are well within your right to do so. Although I’m not sure the prince is going to be pleased either. Going by the rumors, he’s a spoiled brat that doesn’t know his own place. Or I suppose he knows it too well. Nobody is willing to offend the great prophesied
hero.
”

Sarena frowned while looking at him. “You shouldn’t say that grandfather, not here. Anyone could be listening, and not everyone within the keep is so loyal that they wouldn’t snitch to the prince for a bit of coin. And whether the prince likes it or not, I
am
from the Garland line, and no Garland is ever without a weapon. Even the king allows you to keep your sword in his presence doesn’t he?”

“Yes, yes. You are right of course. Now enough of this, we have a long and boring dinner to get through," he said while chuckling. He turned to the door and opened it, striding into the great hall proudly. If Sarena didn’t know any better she would say he was in the prime of his life still, not over sixty. The old man was still better with the blade than any other in the entire keep, and possibly the kingdom.

Sarena followed after him and walked toward the head of the table. The great hall was set up with one long table that stretched almost the entire length of the room, platters of food resting on it the entire way down. Altogether it was enough to seat and feed almost one hundred people, but barely half of that number were seated there tonight. They rarely used the great hall for anything besides festivals and feasts, and even then it was almost never entirely filled.

The great hall was near the center of the keep, which meant there were no windows to let light in. Torch sconces lined the wall, while low hanging chandeliers were situated down the center of the room, casting a dim flickering light. Suits of armor were spaced evenly along the wall, with banners and tapestries between them. It was one of the most decorated rooms in the austere keep.

Seated at the head of the table was her father, glaring at her as she walked towards her seat. Her grandfather would be seated to her father’s right, while to his left would normally be Sarena, but since the third prince was here tonight that seat would be for him, with her being one seat further down. She sat down and glanced at her father, waiting for an outburst about the sword at her waist. She had no doubt that he had seen it. Contrary to what she expected though, he did nothing but continue to glare at her for a moment before smirking.
That
was worrying. Anything that could make him happy enough to hold back a scathing remark could never be good.

Soon enough the large double doors at the end of the hall opened and a group of soldiers entered, positioning themselves along the wall periodically, surrounding the entire hall. Sarena’s father stood up and motioned for the rest of the hall to follow. Within moments a short man in a ridiculous striped outfit entered and began to introduce the prince to the hall.

“Make ready for the prophesied hero! Third Prince of the Realm! Future slayer of demons! Single-handedly won the battle of Veridia! Savior and saint...” The tiny man droned on for at least a full minute about all of the prince’s supposedly heroic achievements.

Ha! And I’m sure that he managed to fight off ten assassins on his own when he was only three...And didn’t that war end before he was born? Was he commanding from the womb?

After what seemed like an eternity to Sarena, the striped man stepped to the side and bowed so low that it looked like he was about to fall over. Behind him so pompous she knew he had to be the third prince stepped through. He was young, and of average height, with a generous stomach and flaxen hair that loosely fell over his ears. Dressed in a purple and gold outfit that should have embarrassed even the most confident of men, he strode into the hall and somehow managed to look down his nose at every person within. His otherwise bland face was made even more repulsive by the sneer that was a permanent fixture. When the prince finally arrived in front of her father, he stood and waited, expecting something from Adralin. Silence reigned throughout the room as the two stood staring at each other.