Mythical Artifacts

Chapter 4: Hidden Treasure

The announcement the day before had been pretty simplistic, but I wondered if there was more to what they were telling everyone, which made it all the more complicated for me. As I thought about it, the only thing I had concluded was that if I got my hands on The Sword, I would protect it with my life, no matter what  I could have in exchange.

It seemed as if nobody slept. There was no telling how easily The Sword could be found, so a lot of people resolved to find it no matter how many hours of unrest it took. While I played a variety of games rather often in search of The Sword, I knew that I — of all people — would not find it, so I didn't strain myself.

I sighed, shaking it off. Get my mind off of it, I thought. I kept trying to convince myself that it was as simple as it seemed. I felt like I wanted to punch something as I sat at my desk, staring at my writings. I managed to calm myself enough to continue my story.

"I took a stride toward her. 'Tessa, don't . . . please!"
She turned to look at me, her eyes dull; she seemed so lifeless, so wretched, yet she was doing this anyway. . . . 'Goodb—'
'No . . . don't say goodbye, Tess. Please, don't. . . .'
'I have to,' she whispered. 'Goodbye, Ethan.'
I miserably stood there, alone, watching her walk away."

It was dramatic; I liked it. No matter how the story actually ended — whether they would get together or not — I knew that it was going to be exciting to get there. I continued writing until the end of the chapter.

"Good enough," I said to myself, getting up from the desk. I looked around my room, wondering what to do. I didn't feel like searching for The Sword, as it generally did nothing for me, so I stalled and went downstairs for something to eat.

I'll never find The Sword, I thought, so why bother? It had been nothing but tedious when I went looking for The Sword, and the chances of me getting it were beyond possible. Then again . . . if I made that club or whatever it would be, we could team up and find it. Then I remembered that teaming is not allowed in almost every game . . . so there'd be no point in any guild or team in search of The Sword if we weren't looking together.

I felt trapped in a corner; I wanted to make a team but I couldn't find an actual reason to . . . but maybe I wouldn't even need one. Maybe the idea of having others by your side, selfless enough to not keep The Sword for themselves . . . I thought. 'Cause then they might think that there'd be a bigger chance of them ending up with The Sword, and the reward—

"THE REWARD!" I cried suddenly, my hands falling onto the dining room table for support. "If I could argue that the reward would be split between us . . . then they'd agree!" As I thought about it more, I found arguments against myself: But I should be honest instead of making up some appealing reason. I sighed, frustrated with myself.

Resolving to do it later, I just set it aside, thinking I could just figure it out the next day.

When I woke up, I forced myself out of bed and got changed. Time to search again, I thought, feeling tired of all the playing I had been doing in search of The Sword.

I ended up in the Duels lobby, ready to play The Bridge. I liked the game, and I was fairly good at it, so I played it in my spare time, typically by myself. I had a skill of knocking people off while still staying on myself — which I would also use in Bedwars — so that I won more games than I lost.

The first game was fairly easy, going up against someone who seemed new to the game or something like that; my second game, I lost, but only barely; my third, they left after I scored three goals without getting any against me; and my fourth, I just barely managed to win.