The Sword of Glory (Book 1)

Chapter IV - Doubt

As Constance walked home that night, she counted the coins in her pouch (which was ten less than what mother had requested) while still thinking of those five magical power-bringing elements.

The windows to her house were totally dark, and it looked as if it were abandoned quite some time ago.

She knocked on the door, patiently waiting for an answer from either mother or father.

She knocked again, "Hello?" she asked softly.

Complete silence greeted her once again.

Perhaps no one's at home. She thought to herself as she pushed the door open.

She lit a candle near the mantelpiece, and all there was in the house were two dishes with leftover pottage on the dining table. Certainly, both mother and father went out for more drinking.

Another knock sounded from the door, which made Constance turn around in surprise.

"Who is it?"

"It's Donovan." a familiar voice said from outside the door.

"Oh. Come in." she replied.

He opened the door, holding nothing but two sets of armor and weapons. Constance's jaw dropped again.

"Managed to get the stuff for free." he said casually.

"Oh my..." Constance softly replied in shock. "Did you give one set to Eden already?"

"Yes. Her set of armor and her bow is with her. Surprisingly, she's quite good at archery, and I never knew that."

"What did you get for yourself?"

"A dagger. Might not kill much, but I guess I'll try it out. I got you a decent sword, thought you deserved one."

He brought out a sleek, thin sword. The blade reflected the candlelight very clearly and its handle was made of glimmering black stone.

"I, uh, hope you like it..." he said nervously.

Constance's eyes widened to the point where they looked like they'd eventually pop out.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I LOVE IT!" she exclaimed excitedly, running towards the sword and holding it for herself, feeling absolutely glorious. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem." he said awkwardly. "Best sword I could find there."

"Is it really?"

"Well, I'm sure there's better, but it looked the best in my eyes, so I got it for you."

She smiled at him and the sword at the same time.

"Thank you." she said again. "Where's my armor?"

"Oh, right. Here, it's the only armor that might fit your size. It's quite small like you, so I thought it would fit quite nicely on you."

It was mostly made of steel, but there were also leather garments on it to make the armor more comfortable to wear.

"Oh wow." she said to herself. "You really took your time to try and find the best, didn't you?"

"Not really, I told my grandfather about what we're doing in a very subtle way so it's not so obvious, and he provided me the weapons and armor most suitable for our journey."

"It's wonderful. Thank you for all this, Donovan. Also, can you please tell Eden we leave tomorrow at dawn? I'm overly excited, plus I don't want to starve for a week here since I earned forty today when I'm supposed to have fifty."

"Shame I didn't bring my pouch, I could've given you ten more gold."

"No, you don't have to. We're leaving this place tomorrow morning, there's no use."

"Well, if you say so, I guess." he said back. "Speaking of which, I'm gonna head to Eden's to remind her we're leaving in the morning. See you tomorrow, Connie. I hope our journey goes well." he said with a subtle smile, and closed the door behind him.

"I hope so, too..." she said, staring at her sword and armor.

She ate the last remaining pieces of rye bread from the table for dinner, and decided to head back into her dark, unlit bedroom just to search for clues on where the mysterious sword of glory could be.

The page that was in her pocket didn't help at all. It didn't state any location of its disappearance, so the only way for them to find out where it actually is is to venture out into the unknown.

Come on, I can't leave without a reference to point at! She exclaimed in her mind.

But wait, since it was a page torn off a book, maybe more information is held when she turned the page around.

And she did. The second page read:

There were many sayings on where these elements could be located in this story, loads of ideas were made when deciding on where they are, but the most common place that people think one of the elements is hidden in is the tall and menacing Mount Coldhall, the second tallest mountain in all of Brayveth. Located at the very north of Ironoak Empire, this mountain was always rumored to host strange unworldly things, and many local legends take place in this mountain. It's no surprise that maybe an element of mastery is buried deep within the eternal snows of this mountain.

Constance was aware that many people had died from climbing that mountain due to its harsh winds and extremely cold temperature. But there has to be a way for them to get up there!

But really, she might be setting her goals too high. The mountain would kill them once they're at its peak.

But it feels as if it's still not stopping her, as if this journey was actually made for her.

No... it's not. Maybe she wants an extraordinary life just to make her parents proud of her for the first time...

But still, she already has her sword and her set of armor, which means she can't turn back anymore.

And then, the front door banged open, and loud booms of laughter echoed throughout the entire house.

"WE WON ANOTHER ONE-HUNDRED GOLD!" a voice shouted hysterically, which sounded like Andrea, Constance's mother.

"HAVE YOU SEEN THE LOOK ON GEOFFREY'S FACE WHEN HE HAD TO SACRIFICE THAT GOLD TO US? AS IF HE SAW A GHOST!" Johannes, Constance's father, shouted back. They both sounded very drunk. How many tankards of beer did they drink?

"Ugh, wonder what our filthy pile of a daughter earned us today." she said with an exaggerated tone of disgust. "FORTY?! Weak bitch. If I were to be in her shoes, I would've scared passersby with death threats. I would kill them if they didn't buy my fruits. She needs to learn, Johannes."

"If we did that together, selling fruits, we could've earned at least three-hundred!"

"EXACTLY!"

"She's a lazy —"

"Negligent —"

"Very slack —"

"Little bitch."

And they both laughed.

Constance kept listening to them, the words stabbing at her like a knife in the dark. All hope and joy was rapidly draining out. She didn't believe in herself anymore, everything felt blurry and unreal all of a sudden. She couldn't even remember what true joy felt like anymore. Everything just felt... empty.

Maybe she was lazy, maybe she was negligent, and maybe she never had enough courage to get to the elements in the first place.