Stake Your Heart

Nature's Hero

Ren and Sparrow were tasked to retrieve the fragment high in the heavens. Mikey gave them a tool that would be used to ascend enough so that they could make it, he called it a "jetpack". 

"You sure this is gonna work? Something this advanced doesn't sound possible..."

Ren put his bag down and got the jetpack out, he strapped it on him and made sure all of the buckles were tight enough so he wouldn't slip out.

"Well we are gonna have to trust him, don't worry, I have a failsafe in case we end up falling to our deaths," Ren said

"That doesn't make me feel much better..."

"Not like we have any other plans or ideas, grab on"

Sparrow grabbed him and held tight, she blushed at the sudden impact, but the feeling was quickly worn off as Ren activated the jetpack and it shot them in the air. They were going quite fast and Sparrow almost fell off, but Ren held onto her tight and made sure she didn't go anywhere.

Once they pierced through the clouds, they could see what seemed to be a cloud village, there were shops and different types of buildings made out of clouds, 

Ren turned so that they could fly towards it, however, the jetpack started losing fuel, and they started falling. But instead of falling through the clouds, they instead landed on them.

"Whoa!" Sparrow yelled as she got up, she jumped up and down a few times.

"This is...a little strange..." Ren said doing the same.

Once they realized that these clouds were not gonna break no matter how much force was put on them, they decided to walk towards the town, it wasn't very hard to get there. 

The town was bustling with cloud folk, they managed shops and inns, and it was kind of wholesome for such a secluded town in the sky. They looked at Ren and Sparrow with kindness. It doesn't seem like they got many human visitors to their town.

They asked around and got the location of the temple, which was at the northern end of the town. They explained what they were doing and their mission, and the townspeople seemed to support what they were doing and quickly led them to the temple. It was a religious place for worship.

Once they got inside, the room with the fragment was the one right after the entrance. They walked into the treasure room and got the fragment. As Ren opened the treasure chest, the townspeople returned to the town to resume their daily activities. Leaving Sparrow and Ren alone.

"That was pretty easy," Sparrow said.

"Yeah, we didn't have to take out an entire monster camp this time," Ren said

They both left and walked towards the exit.

As they walked out, something knocked Sparrow back into the temple, shutting the doors behind her.

She banged on the door, they were locked. 

"Ren! What's going on!"

He ran up to the door and tried to pull them open, they would not budge.

As he tried to get the door back open, he heard something behind him, however, before he could turn around, he was sucker punched in the face. due to the blow, he fell over, his vision was blurry, however, he recognized who stood over him.

"You've been quite the nuisance."

Ren scooted away from him, he went up against the wall. Akeldama slowly walked towards him.

"Trying to reforge the very thing that destroyed me. Smart old man, very clever..."

Ren got up, he felt a weird sense of disappointment and dread. He looked at his hands and they were trembling.

"Of course, I had to take care of him." He reached behind him and almost out of thin air, held up the head of Sparrow's father, Faendall.

Ren tensed up looking at the gruesome sight, Akeldama rolled the head over to him. As it came towards Ren, he scooted back quickly against the wall.

"I didn't have much consciousness until recently, I was just a hovering void of destruction. But now, I have consumed so much power that I can think now."

He looked down at Ren, he towered over him. 

"I'm going to give you a choice."

He aimed his hand at the door of the temple, the doors opened quickly and Sparrow flew out, he grabbed her and held her in the air.

"You let me continue my rain, I will let you, this one, and all of your other little friends will live. But if you get in my way, I will kill you all."

Sparrow's face was strained, he was holding her too tight and it was hurting her. She tried to summon different types of magic to get him off her, only to be denied by his own magic.

"Don't do it, Ren! Y-You can't stop fighting!" Sparrow said

She was kicking him but it did nothing. He didn't even move or flinch as she hit him again and again with her foot.

Akeldama squeezed her harder, making her scream in pain. Ren balled his fists in anger because of this. Akeldama was NOT about to humiliate him and Sparrow by acting all high and mighty. He was going to at least try and fight back. It would be better than living in fear.

"Make your choice."

Ren drew his sword, he was ready to fight.

"Very well then!" Akeldama said as he threw Sparrow a few feet away, she didn't move and was presumably unconscious, he rushed at Ren, forming his own sword.

They clashed together, Akeldama's force overpowered Ren and he started scooting back. Ren hopped in the air and tried to hit him on top, only to be blocked again. He tried to kick Akeldama in the head only to be blocked as well, Akeldama backhanded Ren and sent him flying a few feet.

Ren shot back up, shaking off the pain. And continued rushing at him.

"Stop trying. This isn't getting you anywhere." 

He denied each of Ren's blows, finally knocking his sword out of his hand. It went flying and the blade stuck into one of the clouds. Akeldama laughed and started walking towards Ren.

Ren was very fatigued and tired, he dropped to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. 

"I tried to tell you."

Ren reached for his sword but Akeldama kicked him in the head causing him to fall backwards.

"I made you a deal, that would have prevented all of this. And you denied it, foolish. So...you forced my hand."

He held his sword up to Ren's neck.

"At least...I tried... Which is what... Others will try and do... To stop you..." Ren said panting

"Which is what makes them as foolish as you, and I'll kill them, just as I am about to do to you."

He readied his sword, and just as he was about to pierce through Ren's neck, a spectral barrier with a symbol was put between Ren and the sword. Ren looked at the symbol and recognized it.

"Fairy magic...?"

"Hm?" Akeldama said

Before he could react again, two yoyos wrapped themselves around Akeldama, trapping him in place. Two demons ran up and bit Akeldama, also seemingly holding him in place. Metal binds went around his legs. As well as roots coming from nowhere and wrapping around his arms. Finally, spears of light rose out of the clouds. With all of these in place, Akeldama was thoroughly trapped in place.

A flask of unknown liquid dropped down and covered the place in smoke, once it cleared, Ren kneeled down with Sparrow in his arms. Accompanied by Fayetta, Bridget, Mikey, Eden, Hailey, Fayreach, Charlie, and Kit.

"Can't do anything without me, can you Ren?" Bridget said

"What are you guys doing here? How did you even find us?"

"Please... loud explosions and light coming from the sky is sure to attract a few people," Charlie said

"We brought the fragments!" Eden said

"Never mind that, We have something to deal with," Mikey said looking at Akeldama.

"Aw yeah, its ass-kicking time," Fayreach said punching his palm.

Akeldama laughed, "You think all of you can defeat me? You are ALL foolish, you will be destroyed like everyone else who gets in my way!"

What looked to be a shard of Cortana formed and hovered above Akeldama's hand. However, it looked different than the others, it was dipped and dark, and had a purple aura around it.

"This is what you're looking for? Well, give up on your little goose chase of sword fragments because this one is inaccessible to you."

The fragment disappeared and he broke out of his binds. "Now face true fear!" He said rushing at all of them.

Ren gently put down Sparrow and rushed at him as well, along with everyone else. Akeldama seemed to be a fair match for all of them, they were able to get a few hits in but not much. He was fast and powerful, seemingly blocking all of the blows.

The battle raged on until Akeldama finally got a hit on Ren again. He fell and blacked out.

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Ren woke up in the white void again. The one where he saw Alfon, he looked around and it seemed a bit different than before. It looked like the market from Monad's kingdom. 

"It's good to see you again" 

Ren turned around and saw Alfon standing there, not much has changed, but it seemed he was more spectral than before.

"Alfon" Ren smiled

"It seems you're in a bit of a bind...However, you cannot give up. After all, all of Cortana's fragments are within the same vicinity. They should be reconciling soon."

Ren felt the sword on his back pulse, he grabbed the handle. It, however, did not feel like his regular sword. It felt much more put together and heavy, after unsheathing it, he saw that it was not his regular sword. He was holding the Cortana.

"The blade answers to you, Ren"

"Do I have it in the real world?"

"You will soon, just hold the handle in the air, and the blade will call all of its fragments, even the corrupted one. However, once Akeldama is gone, the sword will disassemble itself and will stay like that until properly forged."

"R........e......n....."

A voice was heard in Ren's head, or it might have been outside, he couldn't tell because it didn't come from anywhere.

"Your friends are calling to you."

"I'm useless to them, they have all the cool powers and I am only a kid."

"That's what makes you different, you are the kid that will put a stop to Akeldama and his damned schemes."

Ren looked down, he did feel useless, more than useless. He couldn't save Sparrow, and now he isn't going to be able to save the rest of his friends.

"The sword chooses you, Ren. It only chooses those whose destiny intertwines with it. You as of now, are the only known person in the world to have access to its full power. Now if you think that's useless then I dunno what to tell you."

Alfon walked up to Ren and put his hand on his shoulder.

"They need you now, so you must go. Do not worry my child, this is not farewell. We will meet again, however, our next meeting will be much more important than the others."

Ren smiled as the white void and Alfon began to fade as his eyes slowly opened in the real world.

"Thank you Alfon..."

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"Ren!"

He opened his eyes and saw Bridget kneeling over him. He looked around, the others will still fighting Akeldama, but this time they looked to be losing. Their attacks were slow and easily dodgeable. Which Akeldama took full advantage of. 

"What's with you and always falling unconscious or something, jeez you need to get a grip!"

Ren nodded and got up, he rummaged through his bag for the Cortana's handle. Once he found it he grabbed it and turned to Bridget.

"Let's end this fight the right way," Ren said smiling

"About time you said something actually smart" Bridget smirked

Ren lifted the handle into the air, and as if it were magic, each fragment that his teammates collected was being summoned to the handle, first, it was one fragment, then two...then three.

Akeldama started getting weaker, he fell to his knees. Everyone took this as a sign to get a hit in, however, he put up magical barriers. And no matter how much they hit the barriers. They would not break. 

The fragment that Akeldama had, broke out of his body and shot in the air, heading right towards Ren.

The final fragment attached itself to the sword, it was uncorrupted. And there, in Ren's hand, was the legendary sword that they have been trying to rebuild, Cortana!