Dark Dawn

Rascal - Origins [Part I]

"Holy Hera!" I exclaimed, "This thing actually wor--" then the sword blew up in my face hurling celestial bronze everywhere.

"That didn't sound like it went too well," Kendall laughed, walking into my laboratory. "That doesn't look like part of a TARDIS, what was it?"

"A sword. I'm experimenting with a new design. Based slightly off of the lightsaber."
"A lightsaber sword?"

"In a way yes. I took what the Jedi got right and applied it, and took what they got wrong and threw it out."

"What did they get wrong?"

"Well, for one, the materials are too hard to obtain. My lightsaber has materials from at least three different planets. It would take months to fully construct a brand new one. Then there's the lack of crossguard."

"But don't some of the newer lightsabers have crossguards?"

"Yes, but they're weaponized. Which is really silly. That'd be like substituting the crossguards on your sword for daggers, absolutely useless and more dangerous to operator. A standard metal crossguard would work a lot better. Weaponized crossguards for a lightsaber means that you need more energy, more energy means that you need a larger quantity of rare resources. So it all ties back into the attainment of supplies."

"I don't get it. How is it different from a normal sword?"

"Because its blade appears at the will of the user. With a lightsaber it requires the push of a button. Way too dangerous. Anyone could ignite it. This sword is enchanted. The celestial bronze blade appears only when the user mentally summons it."

"How does it know who the designated user is?"

"Enchantment. I had to cut a few corners though, so a direct relative could use it too, but that won't make too big of a difference."

"So you mean anyone in our Camp Half-Blood cabin could use our weapon?!"

"Oh, gosh no, that would be horrendous. It's enchanted to your non-godly parent's bloodline."

"That makes sense. How many of these have you made?"

"Three so far. Technically four, but that one just backfired."

"Was something different about four?"
"It wasn't enchanted. Anybody would be able to use it."

"Why wasn't it enchanted?"

"I didn't have access to anyone in the bloodline of the intended recipient."

"You're making these for specific people?"

"Well, of course! I can't just design them all to work for me. I've tested mine a few times and it works very well." I pulled a silver hilt from a drawer in the work bench beside me and held it in my left hand.

"Woah!"

"Yeah, it's pretty fancy. I took a few liberties in designing the hilt." The sophisticated hilt had a leather covered handle and rounded off smoothly at the bottom. Engraved at the center of the crossguard on one side were the letters RCP and on the mirror side there were three V's.

"What do those letters mean?" Kendall asked.

"The three V's stand for many things. One of the meanings, and my favorite, is Veni, Vidi, Vici. It's a reminder to always make combat brief and to always win. The other three letters are my initials. Rascal Caleb Pond."

"That's so neat!"

"You think that's neat, just wait until you see yours."

"Mine?"