The Overlords

Chapter 1

            The sword was beautiful, for the blade was shined and sharpened expertly. The hilt had a black gem in the center of the hand-guard, and the pommel was perfectly weighted. "Kade, that has to be your best one yet." Anna remarked, as a large grin began to spread across her face.

            "Yeah," Kade responded, "I just hope the guy likes it."

            "He's gonna like it, he has to. You've poured your heart into this sword. Especially with your arm." As Anna finished her sentence, she nodded to Kade's robotic right arm that cut off at his shoulder. Kade had recently lost his arm in an accident involving his forge. He was making a sword for another special buyer, and as he was pouring the molten metal, the warning bell rang. In his startled moment, Kade had swung his arms upward and the metal flew out of his cast iron bucket and onto his right arm. The buyer of the sword from the accident, whose name to Kade was merely E, was also a smith, but he worked with robotic prosthesis and auto parts. As an additional payment for the trouble his sword-request had caused, the buyer made Kade a new arm, for the metal burnt his flesh beyond healing capability.

            Kade's accident was relatively recent, so he was still getting used to his new arm. "Anna," he said, "that means so much to me to hear that from you. And you're right, I put a ton into this sword. I'm still getting used to the weight of my arm." As he finished, Kade gave his arm an uncertain look. His arm was made out of steel, which was very hard to find on the planet of Garn. Kade was never sure how E was able to find enough steel to even craft an arm, but it was rumored that all of E's products were made of steel. The arm was hardwired into his nerves in a way Kade would never be able to explain. He just called it "magical science" whenever someone asked him about it. However, since the arm was connected to his nerves, it couldn't come off. Kade started to walk over to Anna to give her a hug, but an ear-piercing sound began to go off, and it brought painful memories to the mind of Kade. It was the warning bell. "Anna, you have to move, quickly now!" Kade yelled over the warning bell, urgency in his eyes. The bell sounded whenever an Overlord was approaching the town. It's purpose was to prepare everyone for the Overlord's visit so that the he or she would be pleased.

            "I'm going, I'm going," said Anna, "I would expect that you would be used to this by now."

            "I know, I know," Kade continued to yell, with a short-lived mocking tone in his voice, "I always get worried when the bell goes off." Kade ushered Anna to the hiding place he had in the bottom floor of his shop. It wasn't much, just a four-by-four room with a small light fixture on the ceiling. The special part of it was that that the boundaries of the room were sealed in a magical barrier. Anna had made it herself, for nobody else in the town of Yeen could have done it. She was the only one who had magic in her blood. Every other building that Anna could be seen in had a similar room, all protected by the same type of barrier. It could prevent the room from being seen on the outside, unless she permitted the viewer's eyes to see the hatch.

            Kade rushed away from the door, for he wanted to see if the Overlord who was coming was his eagerly awaited customer, for today was the deadline for the sword. He quickly glanced at the tall box that read, 

                                                                         "JUST IN CASE - E", 

that was leaning up against the wall next to Anna's safe-room. Before he exited his shop to race to the town entrance, he looked at the poster at the front counter of his shop. It read, 

      "MAGIC IS NOT PERMITTED ANYWHERE UNLESS APPROVED BY THE OVERLORDS. IF                                YOU SEE ANY SIGNS OF MAGIC, REPORT THEM TO THE NEAREST MAGIC-GUARD."