The Six Blades

Chapter 3

"Where have you been living?" Dawn was spilling out questions before I had a chance to answer them, "Did you find a good place to stay? Have you been taking care of yourself? You been eating well? Have you been getting in trouble?"

"Whoa, hey, hey slow it down," I was just sitting there barely hearing what she was saying, "I've been in Vagen, that's where the Mystic guild is, I explained this before I left you guys."

"You've been in Vagen this whole time? If I had know that I would have came with you! You know I would have," Dawn wasn't going to stop any time soon, "I have passed through there so many times, I could have at least said hi,"

"Dawn come on!" I had to interrupt her from going on, "I told you everything when I was leaving everyone." This was true, though most of them probably don't remember it all that well. " I remember telling you guys, 'I am going to join the Mystic guild in Vagen,' I said those words,"

"I don't care, after you left so did everyone else." Dawn lowered her tone, remembering when this had happened. "The last one to leave was Emily, we decided it would be easier if we split up to earn money, she said that she would be back, but I haven't seen her since." Dawn started to tear up, "I want everyone to come back, it hasn't been the same without you guys,"

"Yeah, I know." It felt terrible leaving them, they were family to me, but we weren't earning enough money to all live together. "But right now isn't the time we should discuss this," I grabbed the knives from my belt. "Do you remember the legend of the Six Blades?" For a second, Dawn hesitated but then she remembered.

"Yeah, the blades would morph into the wielders favorite or preferred weapon, the wielders sealed away an evil sorcerer from corrupting the land, why?"

"These are those blades, the King of Vagen gave them to me when The sorcerer broke the seal."

"You mean the legend is true?" Dawn was confused, " Is that why Vagen is filled with smoke?"

"Yes, I was barely able to get out of there alive, I believe that the sorcerer is staying there for now," I paused, looking toward my old home, "I was told not to come back until I find the new members of the Six Blades,"

"Is this where I come in? You want me to help you find them?" Dawn smiled, "I'll gladly come along."

"It'll be like the old days," I went to gather up the knives once more and the one started to glow once more, this time I paid more attention to it. I picked up the small knife and it glowed bright. The blade changed size and shape, I shielded my eyes and when I opened them again, I was in the sky. I was standing in mid air and when I looked down I saw my body laying there motionless with Dawn trying to wake me. I tried to call out but nothing came. I looked around and then saw an angelic figure form from the clouds. I couldn't speak nor could I move freely. When she had came into full view she smiled and parted her lips barely, a voice of silk came out.

"Alexander, you are one of the few able to awaken the blades power, you have been chosen by the Goddess to exile the evil that threatens her land, accept her blessing," Almost as fast as she appeared, she vanished. Once more a bright light made me shield my eyes and I woke back on the ground with Dawn leaning over me.

"You had me worried!" She yelled at me as I got up, " You were just sitting here and then next thing I know, you are on the ground passed out, give me a heart attack why don't you."

"Sorry," I rubbed the back of my head as I sat up, "I did not know that would happen either, so it was a surprise to both of us." I looked over and saw the knife on the ground. For a moment I just sat there and stared at it, then I leaned over and picked it up once more. In an instant, the blade grew into a long sword. The blade was white with golden markings. It's form was like no other I had ever seen, it curved and straighten, built for quick and clean cuts. I looked shock at the blade for a while, then turn to see Dawn as shocked as I was.

"Alex," she paused and looked at the blade a little longer, "You are one of the chosen." I looked at the blade once more, when I go to return it to its sheath, I takes the form of the other knives. I pick up and put the other knives on my belt and turned to Dawn.

"Where should we start?" I looked at Dawn, hoping she had met some people on her travels.

"Well, I'm not one for tracking people down, that was always Emily's thing," Dawn shrugged.

I thought for a second,"Good idea, let's go find her," I got to my feet and helped Dawn up. "Any ideas as where she would be?"

"I don't know, somewhere that has a lot of coin available."

"What about Jaland, a lot of outlaws hang out over there, that is probably where she would earn the most coin?"

"I guess that's our only lead for now, lets get going," Dawn and I went to our horses and started for Jaland. It's about a week long trip from Vagen to Jaland, in order to get there, we have to travel through Mountains and many different passages, but Dawn claims that is we travel through a few bandits forts, that we can shorten the trip by about two days, "You're the adventurer, lead the way."

The first day was a long one, not all that much happened, we went hunting and caught a rabbit and a goat. We talked over dinner and got reacquainted, and I remembered why we were so close. She was one of the few people who were able to understand me, not very many people understood me and why I did things a certain way, but she usually got them in an instant. That night I slept under the stars, I didn't bother setting up my tent, I was too tired to even try. I laid my head back on a log and fell asleep while kind of talking to Dawn. I wake up to see either Dawn didn't set up her tent, or she already packed everything up already and didn't wake me up to help. I look up to see her on her horse waiting for me to get up

"About time sleepy head," She looked down toward me, "It's time to get going."

"Yeah, yeah," I mounted my horse, "I see you still don't like waking me up in the mornings,"

"Umm, you need your sleep, mister I stay up all night long."

"I get enough sleep, don't worry about it." I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "Alright, where are we going?"

"We are going to pass through our first bandit camp, it shouldn't be that hard if you actually wake up," I let out a laugh and we started back on the road. The Bandit camp blocked a passage that cut straight through the mountains. As we approach the gates that they had built to block the entrance, I heard a call from one of the towers.

"What's your business here? You here to pay the coin we demand?"

"No, we're just passing through," I got off my horse and walked to the gate. One of the guards grabbed his bow and readied and arrow, I saw this and walked back to my horse, "You wanna know something," I turned to look at the bandits holding my hand out and "the only problem with your gate is that wood burns," I launched a fireball at the gate, igniting the whole thing. The bandits ran down behind the walls and out of sight.

"Looks like you learned some new tricks while we were separated," Dawn laughed and grabbed her sword, "Lets finish this quickly so we can find Emily," I waited for the gate to weaken, then I ran and slammed my body into the gate, breaking it open. I look up to see three men charging me with weapons drawn. I took care of the first two, and Dawn got the third one. I looked up to the wall and saw three more with bows drawn, I dive for cover as arrows hit the ground where I was standing. I look over to see Dawn pick up a bow and some arrows from one of the dead bandits. Within a few seconds she shot each one of them down. I give a sigh of relief and begin to relax a little bit. Dawn gathered a few more arrows from around the camp and walked over when shes finished.

"You alright, you seemed to have a little trouble there?" She sat down next to me.

"I'm fine just recovering from Vagen, that thing got me pretty good." I closed my eyes and laid my head back for a moment, trying to regain my breath. I didn't realize how heavily I was breathing until then, just from that little fight I was exhausted. Just then, a sharp pain shot through the side of my neck. I gripped where the pain was coming from, but as quick as it had came, it was gone. I wait for it to come back for a but it never did.

"Are you sure?" Dawn gave a worried look.

"Yeah, it's nothing," I stood up and walked back to the horses, Dawn right next to me. "Let's get going. We still got quite the travel before we get to Jaland"