The Arena

7: The Forbidden Sword

I went up to Nanylix and he told me to choose my sword. The wall to the left of him had the swords hung up, along with one table in front of it full of them.

I looked over the swords. They looked fairly similar, few changes in length, shape, most likely weight as well. I took one off the wall that looked like an average knight's broadsword, and I almost dropped it. Even with my strength from growing up on the farm, It was way too heavy for me. I put it back on the wall, and continued looking while Nanylix called a few others to look for theirs, too.

Then I noticed one chained off in the corner of the room. It had a wide triangular blade, probably not good for piercing, but for slicing, with a hollow center. It looked like it was made from steel. It's handle was wound up with leather.

Nanylix noticed me eyeing it. "No, no. I'm afraid that one is off limits. No one has been able to wield that sword. It was forbidden from any use after it had killed 30 people who had attempted to use it. It kills the user instead of the opponent. Stay away from it."

I nodded. Why would they keep a sword that kills its user? I shook my head and continued looking.

I looked through so many swords, and I couldn't find one that seemed balanced. They were either to long, too short, too heavy, too weird, etc. Everyone else seemed to find theirs rather quickly, I didn't understand why, other than the fact that every single one I tried didn't seem right, this was also a huge decision that would effect the rest of what may be my short life. 

I looked back in the corner. I was almost as if the sword was mocking me. I don't understand why or how, but I could almost feel it beckoning me. Saying, "Try me, I dare you".

I didn't like being tested.

Curiosity got the best of me and I gave in.

I walked over to it, Nanylix didn't see me due to the fact that he was looking down at his list of names calling over a few more people. I reached out my hand, I wouldn't be able to get it down with all the chains holding it, but I at least wanted to touch it. And I did.

The moment my had touched its blade, It exploded with blue light and sent me flying backward, crashing into the wall behind me.

The room went silent as all heads turned to look at me. 

Nanylix walked up to me, stopping right in front of where I was hunched over, clutching my stomach in pain. I had landed on a shield on the floor, which ended up going into my gut, knocking the wind out of me.

I braced myself for the punishment. They were going to kill me weren't they? I could already hear the sigh of Zarbeck playing in my head.

But Nanylix laughed. A big, loud laugh. The rest of the guards let out some nervous laughter as if they had no idea what was going on. Has Nanylix ever laughed before?

But when their laughter died out I heard the guards whispering. I only caught bits and pieces. Things like, "Did you see that?", "It's never done that before...", and "It glowed?".

"Well, kid, aren't you spirited? I like that, you're not afraid to find things out for yourself. A good way to learn lessons, and also a good way to get you killed. That was definitely something that I have never seen before. It has only ever hurt people when they tried attacking with it. And never has it ever glowed or sent them flying!" He turned around and unchained the sword.

How come nothing happened to them when they touched it?

"Tell you what, I will let you have the sword as your weapon, that is if you want it. You can take it to the training deck if you want to test it out. Y'know, just to make sure it won't kill you out there." He held out the sword for me to take.

"Woah, there! No. No, no, no, no!" A guy stepped out from the crowd. "This guy isn't special! Why are you giving him that sword? Anyone here could do that. I could do that without the whole 'crashing into walls' part, too!" He walked up to Nanylix and took the sword from his hands. Nanylix stood there, looming over him like a giant, but he didn't say anything.

The sword didn't do anything. Instead, it just sat there, making this guy seem like an idiot.

The crowd started laughing.

"No! No! You will not laugh at me!" He yelled. "Just watch, you'll see!" He turned and pointed a finger me. "You will regret making a fool out of the great Derek Jones!" and then he stormed off. I couldn't see completely, but his guard tackled him in the hallway.

"Oooookay," Nanylix said after a few seconds of awkward silence (Well, Derek was screaming in the hall, so it wasn't really "silent").

I turned back and nodded my thanks as I took the sword from Nanylix.

It let out a blue glow again, but this time it didn't send me flying. Instead, the blue light swirled around my arm, burning my skin. I yelled out it pain and fell on one knee. My heart was pumping harder and harder. I could barely breathe. It was like I was being suffocated, burned alive, and slowly drained of my blood all at once. The room started swirling, and my vision got blurry.

I could see two figures running towards me. Tyler and Makayla would be my guess.

I could hear snapping in my arms, like my bones were collapsing under a great pressure. Blood started spilling from my mouth, and my ears were ringing. I could hear muffled yelling. Makayla's voice saying, "Somebody help him! He's dying!" My heart felt like it was going to burst. I tried to drop the sword, but I couldn't. It was like it had welded my hand shut. 

I had almost collapsed when it stopped. I was breathing heavily, the taste of blood was overpowering. My brain was foggy, along with my vision. Pain was shooting through my arm. My heart was still beating fast, but starting to even out. The blue light was gone, except for in the hollow part in the sword where it lay, completely tame. It was like it completed the sword, filling in the hollow part. Like a missing puzzle piece. 

Makayla held my arm with one hand, her other placed on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" her voice was still kind of muffled, and the ringing in my ears hadn't faded.

I gave a faint nod as I wiped the blood dripping from my mouth.

Zarbeck finally came over and helped me up. I couldn't stand fully on my own. My knees buckled as soon as Zarbeck let me go. Tyler tried to catch me, but ended up falling with me.

"Get him to the Red Sector immediately. You can try out that sword when you're fixed up." Nanylix handed Zarbeck the sword, the glow faded as soon as it left my hand.

I lost consciousness as Zarbeck nodded and carried me out limp in his arms.