The Secrets of the Sword

There weren't always dragons in the valley, they swarmed the villages leaving no survivors, only blackened skeletons of what they were. Sometimes if you were lucky, you survived, but most of the villagers were brutally slaughtered. Cil woke up to a deafening roar he shot out of bed and ran to his window. To his dismay he saw flames billowing from the stone thatch houses and people screaming in terror. His door was kicked open and his father rushed to his side “Cil run! Take my sword and my ring go... get out of here! "Cil nodded he was too terrified to speak. He ran out the house rushing through the village and out of the gate, he looked back to get one last glimpse of his father who was fighting one of the dragons then he saw something that chilled his soul. The evil beast spat bright purple flames at his father who in that moment disappeared he craned his neck to see him again but alas he couldn’t, Cil feared the worst, he ran and ran till he was on a hill overlooking the smoke and flames that was all that remained of his village. Tears fell uncontrollably down his face as he watched the fire destroy everything he knew and loved; he sat down on the cold hard ground and began to cry. “What am I going to do now” he thought.

Cil looked down as his sword started to glow then with a tremendous bang of blue light the sword was gone and, in its place, stood a bright blue ghost. Wearing pure black robes, a midnight black mask and two katanas strapped to his back with two daggers made of obsidian clutched in his wispy hands.

Cil stumbled back in shock as the ghost spoke in a raspy voice “I am Allias assassin of the Dark I am here to serve you” then he flew towards Cil and looked at him as if inspecting him” you are not Ragin?

"No, I'm his son he gave me this sword to keep me safe... Or so I thought so... I guess... you... now answer Me?" Replied Cil. The ghost shrugged and said,

"Your will is mine master " With those words Cil set off down the narrow path heading to the foreboding forest. As they walked Cil wondered who Allias really was, and can he trust him?

It was nightfall when they came across a cave, luckily it was not inhabited. Cil was hungry and cold, Allias disappeared for a few moments and reappeared with a pair of dead rabbits he had caught and said “eat”.

Cil who was busy making a fire, when the rabbits were cooked Cil offered some to Allias who gave a small smile and said “dead... remember? Besides Master... you need it more than I do.” it tasted delicious and soon lulled by the crackle of the fire and the quiet night, Cil fell into a deep sleep feeling safe in the knowledge that Allias was watching over him.

When Cil woke, the sun was shining, the fire had long since gone out and was lightly smoking, Allias was leaning against the cave wall picking his teeth with a knife. "Can we go now I feel we may be unsafe out here in the open master " Allias said excitedly.

“Ok let's go," said Cil. He grabbed the last of the rabbit meat and added it to his pouch for later. They climbed down from the cave to continue their journey through the woods. After what seemed like hours of silence, Cil started to feel uneasy “this is creepy " he whispered to Allias

who replied, “I do not think we are alone anymore master.” It started to feel like they were in a maze. They walked until they reached a grove. In the middle stood a huge oak tree with loads of ghostly figures hanging by the neck from each branch. "Someone's been here before us I think” said Cil with shudder.

“I’m surprised if took you so long to notice, your father would’ve known a while ago, they’ve been around us for the last 20 minutes” said Allias with a gruff reply, Cil looked down at his boots.

"What do you mean" he asked uneasily. At that moment, a huge dark figure loomed towards them.

"More victims yum" the figure said menacingly. It wore a long black jacket down to its leather boots, the skin was a pale orange, with slimy ink black tentacles protruding from where its neck should be, on the end of each tentacle was an orange head! "Come food” he roared and lunged at them. Allias threw himself at the creature as they engaged in combat, he swung his knives and continued to duck and weave from each blow the demon tried to land,

Cil watched in amazement Allias was incredible for a dead guy! Allias then yelled at Cil “oi it's not a stage show get in here and aim for the heads!!”

Cil then drew his bow and shot an arrow at the beast's many moving heads, he missed, Allias rolled his eyes thinking to himself... “This boy is hopeless” as he lunged his sword up into the demon's gut spewing black inky blood all over the ground. “Let's see how the boy does” he threw himself at the demon and missed, hitting a tree he turned back into sword. Cil seeing this was filled with a boost of adrenaline and fired a perfect shot right between the eyes of one of the heads, the head flopped on the ground and the beast continued to bleed.

The creature swiped and growled at Cil, but he dodged and dived out of the way of the blows. He felt a sense of urgency and was scared he may not get through this. Cil remembered from hunting lessons in the village height was good for catching and killing prey, so he ran to the oak tree trying hard not to look at all the hanging bodies and climbed up to the thick branches the beast lunged for Cil’s foot missing it by an inch.

From the tree he aimed his arrow again waiting for the right moment he felt like time was going slowly. He fired the arrow and hit his target.

At that moment something extraordinary happened, the ghosts in the trees stood behind him and swooped over his head straight for the demon, who was now severely weakened by Cil and Allias’s blows. They could finally have their revenge; the ghosts covered the demon in their bodies. He writhed, wriggled, and howled as they dragged him down to the ground and with one last whisp of black ink he was gone. Allias watched from inside the sword seeing how Cil handled the fight he thought... “we may yet win this maybe he is his father's son after all.”

With a sigh of relief Cil climbed back down, A muffled yipping noise stopped him, Cil turned but couldn’t see anything. He climbed back up the tree and saw a sack hanging amongst the leaves it was wriggling and yipping, pulling out his stone knife reaching into the branches, he cut the bag down. He cuts the string holding the bag closed and out popped a beautiful soft head with huge emerald, green eyes and long soft ears, “Hello there little fox are you ok?” Cil asked, it yipped again. Cil put his hands inside the bag and brought it out. It was pure black all over apart from a bit of white fur that was shaped like a star. “I'm going to call you Rionagg "Cil decided. The fox yipped excitedly like he liked the name. As Cil climbed down Allias rushed to his side “Not too bad boy with a bit more training maybe we can do something with you” Allias said with a grunt of approval.

"This was a set up "roared Cil. Allias brushed the comment aside as he wiped off the dust from the fight and said “I brought you here to make a staff to fight with unless you're expecting to shoot and aim when the enemies are close so shut up and follow me “ Cil nodded and followed still angry at being told off “Close your eyes, open your mind and choose the branch that speaks to you and that will be the wood you make your staff from” commanded Allias Cil obeyed, he closed his eyes and sat down on the ground and facing the tree. He waited but nothing happened... He scrunched his eyes and still nothing... He waited for what felt like hours until he felt a sharp smack to the side of his head from Allias who said, “I thought it would be obvious you're supposed to concentrate” he stomped off leaving Cil sat on the ground rubbing his head. Cil closed his eyes again “empty your mind, empty your mind how the hell am I supposed to empty my mind?!” he said angrily. Cil tried once more to close his eyes and think about his father, he remembered their last fishing trip to Lakeside where they sat quietly by the river with the sun in his face... Except wait. That’s not the sun. Cil opens his eyes and sees near the top of the tree a thick branch that seemed to have a shining aura.

Cil climbed slowly back up the tree the branch was still shining he reached for his knife and with his hand on the tree quickly realized he didn’t need it; the branch came off easily as if it was meant for him

Alias was waiting at the bottom of the tree for him “ah I see you’ve finally started your journey, use your knife and remove the excess branches BUT do no more, protect your staff” Cil picked up his new staff and was surprised to find it was actually very light Alias grinned to himself and Rionagg yipped happily. Cil jumped down and Alias said “go search the area and see if you can find anything useful” Cil nodded lent his staff against the tree and began to search the grove where he saw broken wheels upturned wagons and carriages and the skeletal remains of tents and campfires littered the grove. It looked like a wasteland of forgotten and abandoned things. He saw an upturned carriage almost still intact, and he strode towards it. When he opened the door, a skeleton fell out and landed on him he shouted in alarm and leaped back in the background he could hear Alias chuckling to himself. Pink with embarrassment he climbed into the carriage and saw it had been hollowed out and he realized this must be where the demon slept, he spotted a green cloak hanging on a rafter, he saw a pouch with a jewelled dagger holding it to the wall he looked inside and saw it was full of money from what Cil could only presume was from the people who the demon had slayed, Cil thought he could sell the dagger for some money at a local village he slipped it and money into his pocket and wrapped the cloak around his body and headed back out to the oak tree.

By the time he got back to the tree it was nearly night, Rionagg was nowhere to be seen but Allias had set up a shelter under the tree “did you find anything good” he asked,

“I found a green cloak and loads of money” replied Cil with a grin

“that's good, "said Allias. Cil started to build a fire by snapping twigs and using nearby moss, he asked Alias

“So how do you know my father "Cil asked. Alias sighed and replied

"It was a long time ago in the bronze age when I was still alive, I was a teacher for your great grandfather Nathi who was a warrior of the best sorts under my teaching but alas the good warriors don’t live wrong he was struck down by a unworthy archer he left a heartbroken wife and a fatherless child who grew up to be a great female archer who, when she drew her bow, she never missed her target. Eventually in a couple of years she had a child by then I was too old to teach so when the war came round, I was struck down like a dear to a hunter, on my dying breath I prayed to Succelos that I was to never die but to keep training all your ancestors and future generations. Succelos granted my wish and as my soul drifted to the isle of Avalon Succelos grabbed my soul and encased it in my own sword I was returned to earth, and my sword was given to your great grandfather then to your grandfather then to your father and now to you. The reason I said you're not like your father is because he was honest and kind and was not a fighter, he was too kind... I guess that kindness was his downfall but now I am your teacher eventually I will be passed down to your children. That is why I'm here and how I knew your father” a loud yipping sound echoed from the in the cave and Rionagg bounded into the cave with something in his mouth he dropped it in Cil’s lap and Cil picked up a dead harpy eagle Alias chuckled and said with a grin “Dinner is served.

Cil sat in silence for a while pondering what Allias had told him, he had ancestors who were warriors? Why hadn't his father told him any of this? What was he going to do now? Where were they going? All these questions went round in his head until he felt they pained him. He closed his eyes and went to sleep with Rionagg curled in his lap, when they awoke it was barely daylight and the fire had smouldered to nothing... The bird was rolling around in his stomach and he felt a bit sick... “Allias. Where are we going?” he questioned. Allias looked at him and sighed as if it was a huge inconvenience “we need supplies Cil so I'm taking you to the town of Cliff hollow , we can sell that jewelled knife you found and pick up some Armour you are going to need it” Cil was getting a bit irritated with Allias’s attitude with him and he snapped back “ well I'm deeply sorry I didn’t think of that you said you were going to teach me to fight yet here we are going shopping!” Allias was taken a back at Cils sudden boldness and he laughed

“I am going to teach you to fight but if you are going against me... you need new Armour... I don’t hold back”