Aera-Kerr: Dusk of Desolation (Act 1 - free sample)

Chapter 7: Emergence

With Aria leading, both she and Tyrell slowly sidestepped, their backs to the wall, away from the suite, being extremely careful not to make a wrong step and fall. It was about ten meters to the ground below, which consisted of a fenced-off area that held a large spinning fan blade, presumably a component of either the building's HVAC or electrical cooling system.

"What is this guy's problem?" Tyrell asked. "What does he have to gain from killing me to be the greatest Daemon killer?"

"Selfish motives," Aria responded. "Haven't we been over this already?"

Taking a breath, Tyrell spoke. "I still cannot get over someone being so hellbent on taking my life!"

"I'd worry more about how to stop him than why he's doing it!" Aria said.

They made it around to the far side of the building, where they found a roof-access ladder that led almost to ground-level. Aria went first, hanging off the lowest rung that was about eight feet above the ground, and dropping. Tyrell followed after her as quickly as he could.

"We gotta get back inside," Aria said. "I need to get my sword."

"Are you sure about that? Wouldn't it be better to just get the hell outta Dodge while we still can?" Tyrell asked.

Aria narrowed her eyes. "Maybe I should've mentioned . . . it's a powerful weapon, like the Dragon Vein whip. Not to mention, you're really gonna be needing that whip as well if you wanna stand any chance against Marek."

"Ngh, fine," Tyrell groaned. "But just consider what we're up against here."

"You think I haven't?" Aria said.

Without saying much more, they both cautiously made their way to the fire exit that was conveniently right around the corner, where Aria used two of her hairpins to pick the lock. It took a moment, but she managed to get the door open.

"Just be on the lookout for Marek," Aria cautioned. "He could be hiding around any corner."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Tyrell said.

They both crept back up to the second floor via the stairwell that was right inside. Aria took the lead, so Tyrell gave her his sword, as he felt she could handle this a lot better than he could. Peering around every turn became a necessity if they were to survive.

Upon reaching Aria's room, she handed Tyrell back his sword so she could pull out her keycard to open the door. They both went inside, and she opened up what looked like a rifle case. Inside was a sword with a long, narrow silver blade, an inward-tapering crossguard and pommel, and a black handgrip that covered only the upper half of the hilt. The crossguard, pommel, and ricasso were covered in patterns of rune engravings. A scabbard sat adjacent to it in a separate mold.

"I feel like I've seen that sword before," Tyrell said as Aria took it out of its case.

"Not surprising," Aria said. "It's actually a pretty famous weapon, and one of the previous Aera-Kerr actually knew my ancestor who owned it at the time."

"Really?" Tyrell asked.

Aria nodded. "It's Excalibur, the sword of King Uther Pendragon, and his son Arthur, forged by the Mana Sages of Avalon."

"The Excalibur?" Tyrell said in amazement. "This is the legit thing? Not just some bootleg replica?"

"It authentic," Aria answered. "Props and replicas have been laser-scanned from this sword, so they are all very convincing. But this is the real, authentic Excalibur, passed down through my family without anyone else knowing of its mystical power."