The Legend of the First Sword - Chapter Two

Chapter 2 - Preparing for the Ceremony

"So, how was your trip to Mytoc?" Abroc asks as they walk south down the road. They have a large grassy area to their left and the Dal river to their right. They are heading to one certain spot. Since they were teenagers, they have always trained at this particular spot.
"It was boring," Elize replies with a tone of unexcitment.
"But what about your parent's museum?"
"I've seen my parent's open several museums, this one is no different."
"Now where is Tol and Kathryna off to?"
"They are heading to the Shadow Lands to start their search for the mythical Zahda prophecy tablets."
"What?" Abroc asks and Elize chuckles at him.
"As you know, Zahda was the founder of the Shadow Dynasty. Many consider him to be the greatest Etira ever. They say he was strong, wise, caring and very powerful. He was also rumored to be able to see into the future. Every prophecy he saw he wrote down. Two rumors exist about how he recorded the prophecies. He either wrote them down in a book along with all of his collective knowledge in rune study and alchemy, or he inscribed them onto stone tablets. My parents believe that they know where those tablets are." Elize explains and Abroc listens. They are approaching a series of trees to their right. That is their spot.
"Life has been boring for me this past two months without you," Abroc tells Elize as they step off the road and walk towards the trees.
The area has between ten to fifteen trees, all spread out. They walk to the center of the tree circle and take their positions a couple of yards from each other.
"What do you remember about magical energy?" Elize asks Abroc as he walks to his spot. He turns around and stares at her for a few seconds.
"Magical energy is the energy that exists inside all of us," Abroc holds his right hand out and acts like he is holding a ball. He feels the energy inside of him and he pulls it up to his shoulder before pushing it down his arm to his hand. Suddenly, in his hand is a ball of water. The water is hard and is in a perfect sphere. "Magical energy is an Etirian's greatest weapon, something that requires years of practice to fully master but everyone with it can master it. We don't know much about it but we thank the Goddesses everyday for this blessing." Abroc finishes as he watches the calm ball of water.
Elize smiles and nod. "A blessing we can not do without. If an Etirian runs out of magical energy, it's death. Remember that," Elize warns Abroc who nods. She has been warning him of that danger since their powers first developed when they were teenagers. "Only with practice can anyone hope to control their magical energy. The races are each blessed with different elements. The Mystic's are born with water while the Demon's possess fire. The Shadow's have control over the ground and the Xiris forms air. Each culture teaches a different form of control and manipulation. Now, let's begin our training."
Elize and Abroc stare each other down before Abroc hurls his waterball at Elize, who easily sidesteps the attack. She forms a ball of fire in her hand and points it at Abroc. A red beam flies out from her hand. Abroc holds his right hand out and a shield, made of water, appears in front of him. It is taller then him and the fire beam slams into the center. Elize forms another ball of fire in her other hand as the fire beam struggles against the shield. Her fire beam disappears and she quickly points her other hand at Abroc. Several smaller fireballs fly out and slam into the water shield. They continue to hammer against the shield as Abroc brings his left hand up and fires a blue beam that cuts right through his shield and sails through the air towards Elize. The hoards of smaller fireballs are useless against the blue beam and Elize quickly switches from them to a beam. The red and blue beams slam into each other and push back and forth. Abroc is struggling to try and win but Elize is having no problems holding her ground. She always was stronger then Abroc. She pushes more energy into her beam and it splits his beam in half. It travels down the split beam, straight for him. He cancels his beam and dives out of the way. He rolls when he hits the ground and stops on one knee. He looks at Elize and is hit in the face by a fireball. That almost knocks him over but he stands up and rapidly fires three waterballs at Elize. She sidesteps the first one, leans away from the second one and counters the third one with a beam of fire. Abroc forms a smaller waterball and throws it with a curve as he jumps out of the incoming beam's path. He continues to control the waterball as it flies towards her, looping around the red beam. Elize stands her ground and hits the waterball with the back of her hand, sending it flying away.
"Nice one. I thought I put more energy into that attack then that," Abroc comments. To deflect a magical attack away, you must charge your hand with more magical energy then the incoming attack. It's largely just guess work, because you have no idea how powerful the incoming attack is.
"Your form has improved Abroc."
"But I'm still not as good as you."
"With practice, you will easily pass me."
"Nah, I don't think so. You've always been better then me, you're just a natural," Abroc tells her with a smile as he walks up to her.
"It's because you don't practice! I'm good solely because I'm constantly practicing," Elize hates being complimented, she finds it embarrassing. "Anyway, our spar is over."
"Okay," Abroc simply replies before he starts walking towards the road.
Elize turns around and tells him, "That doesn't mean you can go fishing. Tomorrow is the Ceremony of the Sword and I'm expected to host the celebration."
"You want me to help prepare for the party?" Abroc assumes and Elize nods. She walks up to him and together, they start walking back to town.


"I've heard that you have been teaching school lately."
Abroc nods his head as he replies, "Yes. I've been enjoying it too. Some of those children are smarter then some of the adults in town," They both chuckle at that statement. "They always ask questions and I hope that never changes." Abroc looks at Elize and asks, "Speaking of questions, I have one for you," She looks back at him, waiting for the question. "What exactly is the Ceremony of the Sword?"
"The Ceremony of the Sword is a holy event where the Sword of the Goddesses chooses it's carrier," Elize explains but it all goes right over Abroc's head. "That is right, Myid does not receive the paper. A few years after the Grand War, the Goddesses demanded proof that we could remain peaceful. They sent down a rock from the sky to our town. From this rock, our local blacksmith was given the order to forge a sword from it. This sword is being called the Sword of the Goddesses by the Church. The Church of Eia and Ter has explained that at the Ceremony, they will pray over the Sword and the Goddesses will bless it. Afterward the Sword is to 'pick' the person who will undertake the journey. The Swordcarrier is going to visit the four Elemental Temples, one in each of the four lands. After praying at the Temples, the Swordcarrier's next stop is the Holy Isle of Batinna..."
"Where is that?"
"That's the center continent. The Swordcarrier is to place the Sword inside a pedestal that the Goddesses created in the center of Batinna. This entire process is to represent peace throughout the lands."
"Hmm...sounds kinda fun. How does the Sword go about picking it's carrier?"
"I not really sure but from what I have heard it is going to the strongest, holiest mortalis at the Ceremony."
"How did you end up being the host of the Ceremony?" Abroc asks as they pass by his house.
"When I was in Mytoc, High Priest Paher visited me and requested that I host the Ceremony."
"He'll be praying over the Sword?"
"No, High Cardinal Lonica will be during it but Paher will be there."
"Well, I'm not going to be picked. I'm neither the strongest nor the holiest mortalis in Myid. I hope you won't be picked either."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want you to be gone that long. Two months was too much for me," Elize smiles at that comment. "I have no other friends and it's boring being alone."
Elize chuckles before saying, "I agree. So that means that if one of us is picked, the other one will just have to come along." Her and Abroc smile at the statement as they enter the town. The town is located towards the center of the continent, which the Mystics refer to as Myst. The town is warmer than the northern towns but it still tends to be pretty cold at times. It's usually a quiet town, with a population of about two hundred people. Recently however, it's been very busy, due to all the people visiting for the Ceremony of the Sword. The town is built in between two large hills. With the only in and out of the town is the dirt road that runs directly down the center. The lower classes, known as lower-bloods in Mystic society, lives around the center of town, mostly in wooden houses. On the side of the largest hill, overlooking the city, lives the higher-bloods. The higher-bloods all live in large stone and marble constructed homes. The town earns all of its income from travelers. Myid is the only town before the long walk to Mytoc, the capital of the Grand Mystic Republic. The many people who travel to Mytoc stop in Myid to rest for the night, restock supplies and to buy souvenirs before they continue their journey. The higher-bloods own and run the inns, while the lower-bloods farm, herd and fish. Instead of walking forward, they turn left and start walking up the hill. They pass several large, stone houses before they reach Elize's house.
Her house is four stories high and is made completely out of white marble. A black, metal fence runs around her three acre property, which is larger then the nearby houses. It has fancy columns that wrap around the house on the first floor. They are holding up the second floor patios. Large windows are on the walls throughout the four stories and most of them have their curtains pulled back. The roof is black and it points towards the sky. The house is built on a raised, stone foundation, requiring a small pair of stairs to reach the door. The door is big; about three feet taller then Abroc and Elize. The door is made of wood and is painted white to match the house. Elize and Abroc walk up to the door and it suddenly opens.
"Hello Mistress Elize and Mister Abroc," Butler Gohal says as they enter the house. Gohal Fersco is a short, elderly man and has been Elize's butler since she was little. He has snow white hair and a snow white mustache. He is wearing a dark brown, long-sleeve shirt made of wool, with matching pants and dark brown, leather boots. Gohal is in charge of the other servants; like the gardeners, the chefs and the maids. All together there are around thirty servants. With Elize alone most of the time, she usually has no need for that many servants. All her servants live in a three story, stone house in the backyard. The Felkin Estate is the only one who gives their servants a home, everyone else just forces them into the basement or a small room. In Mystic society, servants are near the bottom of society. Only Demon's have less rights then them. Servants are lower-bloods who were sold due to money related reasons. A lot of it is due to debt, so the creditor sells the debtor into servitude. Some times the lower-blood sells themselves, because at least they will have food. Mystic nobles are always looking for new servants. Higher-bloods are constantly beating, whipping and killing their servants but the Felkin Estate has never laid a hand on any of their servants.
"Hello Gohal," Abroc says as Gohal closes the door.
"Hello and how are you this fine day, Mister Abroc? Come to help prepare for the Ceremony?"
"I'm doing pretty good and yes, I have. Elize wants me to help out."
"Or is this just an excuse for the two of you to spend more time together?" Gohal teases but neither of them reply. "I am sorry, I have overstepped my boundaries."
"No, it's alright Gohal. You have known us since we were both little, so it's alright for you to tease us," Elize says as Gohal walks in front of them. The lobby is impressive, with a grand staircase in front of them and several archways that branch off to the various rooms. A lush red carpet covers the marble floors, while a regal beige wallpaper covers the marble walls. The top of the stairs split off at three large windows. The second floor paths are identical looking: three doors and a pair of stairs in the corner before the doors.
"Gohal, we are heading to the kitchen."
"Mistress Elize, shouldn't you let the chef's do the cooking?"
"No, that's alright. I want to do the cooking," Elize insists. Elize and Abroc walk forward and take the first archway on their left. As they leave, Gohal bows and says, "As you wish Mistress."


Elize's kitchen is big; with about twenty counters, two open-fire stoves and copper pots and pans of all sizes. The carpet and wallpaper stop at the kitchen, leaving the marble floor and walls exposed. The floor and walls are polished to the point that they shine.
"If the Ceremony is tomorrow, why are we cooking today?" Abroc asks as he walks up a counter. Elize walks up a stone, double-door refrigerator and pats it a couple times.
"This is called cold-storage," Elize explains as she opens the door of the refrigerator, "This is a recent invention and it allows us to preserve food for longer periods of time." The inside of the fridge is filled with food and Elize starts pulling some of the food out. Eggs, milk, various kinds of meat, vegetables, fruit and fish, plus butter. She moves onto a cabinet and pulls out a range of spices. She closes the cabinet and they begin cooking.
Elize starts cooking pieces of meat, while Abroc works on some fish.
"Elize, what is the museum your parent's opened about?" Abroc asks as he seasons the fish.
"It's all about the Etirian Empire, plus it's the final resting place for all of their artifacts concerning the Empire," Elize explains as she cooks the pieces of meat on a grill over a fire.
"What was the Etirian Empire like? Was it really as fantastic as the legends say?"
"Apparently so. The tablets concerning the Empire suggests they were far more advance then us. They had the ability to construct giant flying ships, medicine was far beyond our understanding and everyday living was made easy thanks to the use of makas."
"Makas?"
"A maka is an automatic tools that assists us mortalis. Here is an example. If we lived in the Etirian Empire, I would set these pieces of meat on a maka, tell it what type of meat they are and how done I want them. It would set the temperature to the right level and all I would have to do is flip them over when it told me to. That was one type of maka, there were hundreds if not thousands more.  Some were as big as this room, while others could fit in our hands. They even had maka-powered boats."
"What could they do?"
"Instead of rowing everywhere, you just turn the maka on and it's power would sail you forward. All you would have to do is control the rudder."
"Makas were probably also used in construction, right?" Abroc asks as he starts cooking the fish.
"Yes. The Etirian Empire was able to build towering buildings thanks to the makas. They could lift heavy objects up great heights and place them where they need to be. The makas were an amazing invention that have sadly been lost to the void of time."
"Now your parents intend to open a Zahda museum?"
"Yes, someday," Elize replies as she places the meats she's been cooking onto a plate. She grabs some more pieces of prepared meat and places them in skillet. "To do that however my parents would have to unravel the greatest mystery in Etira."
"What do you mean?"
"Zahda is a legendary figure and some say mythical figure. We really know nothing about Zahda. What we do know is that he was born sometime before the fall of the Etirian Empire and afterward he was a roamer. He traveled to the various different lands, learning all he could from the four races. He united the Shadows together to rage a war against the Demons. Depending on your personal preference towards the Demons, the story of why the war started is different. He had a traveling companion who wrote about their journeys and what little we have recovered from his journal, suggests that Zahda had a secret lover. Their love affair was so secretive, his nameless friend wrote that if anyone else found out about Zahda and her, it would be the end of both of them. Eventually his lover was killed by some rouge Demons and in his anger, Zahda declared war against the Demons. Most of the records of that war have been lost but the founder of the Demon Empire, Raksha Fireheart, fought in the war. His personal accounts are all that we have left. He explains that Zahda led the Shadow's personally and he used magical energy and rituals so horrible, so unforgivable, that Raksha claims to have had nightmares about them for the rest of his life. The war lasted one year and saw the Demon's pushed back to their last city, Demisca. There, with the might of the newly formed Shadow Dynasty about to crush the last remains of the Demons, Zahda called a truce. The Shadows returned to their land and the Demons started repopulating theirs. Zahda gave the Shadows one ultimate law, they must remain isolationist, before he disappeared." Elize switches the meats in the skillet for uncooked ones.
"If he did such horrible things, why do people praise him so highly?"
"Because to many people, the act of exterminating the Demons is not a bad thing. Others simply do not believe it. They believe that Zahda was a scholar or a priest, that he had no lover, there was no war, that is was all a big misunderstanding or that Raksha identified the lead Shadow wrong."
"Did he write the prophecies after the war?" Abroc asks and Elize nods her head.
"The rumor is that he had thousands of prophecies but only wrote down eleven. These eleven are suppose to be Etira shaking. That's why he hid them."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to tell people about them, so that they can change them?"
"That's the trick with prophecies. Maybe it is because he told people that the prophecies came true. Though there is that chance that by not telling anyone, the prophecies would still come true. He must have saw something that suggested to him that he must hide them away. He had another secret too, it is called the Book of Rituals."
"The Book of Rituals?"
"Zahda carried a journal with him and recorded all the dark runes, all the forbidden alchemy and all the powerful magical energy knowledge he could gather. The Book of Rituals is the product of that research. The Book is described in only one tablet and it says it's an unholy book that allows any mortalis, of any skill, to rival the Goddesses in power. It also states that as much as he wanted to destroy the book, the scholar in him kept preventing him. The Book of Rituals even supposedly has the ability to bring people back from the dead."

Abroc and Elize continue cooking for the rest of the day, only taking a break for supper. They ended up cooking a lot of meat, fish and sweets. Gohal and several Chefs have taken over and are finishing up. The cold-storage can preserving almost anything.
"Well, the sun is setting," Abroc states as he stares out a dinning room window at the setting sun. The room is medium size and the red carpet and the beige wallpaper continues into the room. A long, polished wooden table is in the middle of the room, with six chairs around it: two on the left, two on the right and one at each end. The room is filled with windows and the dark red curtains are pulled back. Paintings of different areas in Myst hang on the walls. "Tomorrow we get up bright and early, right Elize?"
Elize is sitting at the head of the table with a empty plate and bowl in front of her. Her spoon and fork are laying on the empty plate. To her right is another set of dirty dishes, those are Abroc's. The meal was simple: cooked meat was the main dish, along with a potranj and the bowl had blue corn in it. Elize takes a sip of her drink, which is a dark purple wine, before she answers his question. "Yes. The Ceremony is starting at two, so we need everything prepared by then."
"What room are we having the Ceremony in?"
"The large ballroom on the third floor."
"Who is all invited?"
"The Church only wants the higher-bloods."
"Well, that gives me time to do some fishing,"
"No, it doesn't. You're attending the Ceremony." Elize firmly tells him.
"But-"
"No. I want you there. You know I won't take no for an answer from you."
Abroc smiles at Elize, he has never been able to say no to her. "Alright, I'll attend. So that means I'll stay the night here."
"If you are done Mister Abroc," Gohal says as he suddenly appears next to Abroc. Abroc jumps as Gohal finishes his sentence, "I can escort you to your room." Abroc looks at him and asks, "I have never gotten used to that. Why do you do that?"
"It is my duty to serve the Felkin family to the best of my abilities,"
"And your abilities are really good," Abroc finishes and Gohal smiles back. "Yes, I'm done, so lead the way," Abroc tells Gohal, who bows and walks towards the door. "Good night Elize."
"See you tomorrow morning," Elize says as she stands up and he exits the room.


Later that night, Elize is sitting in an armchair in her bedroom, staring at a large, beautiful painting. It is of a man, in his mid thirties. He is thin but muscular at the same time. He has long, combed back snow white hair. His blue eyes are inviting yet sharp at the same time. His skin is pale, lacking all color. He is wearing a pitch black suit and tie outfit. His suit jacket has a long tail to it and his tie is placed under his black vest. He is wearing white gloves and black, buckle, leather boots that reach almost to his knees. The buckles are red and there are four of them. He has his left hand behind his back and his right hand on his heart. He is lightly bowing towards the viewer. The background is completely black, while the frame is gold.
Gohal knocks on Elize's bedroom door before entering and asking, "Mistress Elize, what are you doing?" She says nothing as she continues to stare at the painting. Gohal walks up to her and asks, "Still haven't solved the mystery of this young minae's identity yet, Mistress Elize?" A minae is Etirian for men, while feminae is what they call women.
"No. I have no idea who he is."
"Please Mistress Elize, tell me again, why did you decide to paint this picture?"
"I met him once...when I was young, like seven or eight. I was visiting the festival with my parents when I suddenly became separated from them. I became scared and started to cry when he greeted me. He greeted me just like that, with that little bow. He asked me what was wrong and after I explained it, he helped me find my parents again. When I turned around, he was gone. For some reason, that event stayed with me and I painted this picture from memory when I was fourteen."
"Now every night you stare at it, trying to figure out who this minae is."
"I'm going to find out one day."
"Yes...I'm positive you will," Gohal says a little too suspiciously for Elize.
Elize looks at Gohal and asks, "Gohal, do you know something I don't?"
"No. I just meant that with your determination, you will meet him," He explains before he quickly adds, "If you need nothing else Mistress,"
Elize stares at him for a few seconds before replying, "No. I need nothing."
"Then I shall retire for the night. Goodnight Mistress Elize," Gohal bows as he talks.
"Goodnight Gohal," Elize says with half of a wave as Gohal exits her room.