The Soul Sword

"A heart that loves is always young."

~Greek Proverb

Six years prior

It was late afternoon when Miles decided to head home. He had been down at the pond for most of the day, playing games and swimming in the murky water with his friends. Now that he was finally tired out, Miles had decided to leave, and so gathered up his dry clothes and began the trek back to his house. It was mid-summer and the air was hot, with few breezes to bring down the temperature. The grey-cement road that Miles quickly moved along, was sizzling from the heat and touching it with bare-feet caused a burning sensation after only a second of exposure. As he looked around, Miles noted that all the houses that lined the road looked fairly similar to one another. They were mostly two-story, with white or grey paint and a black roof. All of the lawns were bright green and neatly cut, making them appear to be a much cooler surface than the road was. Miles knew that if he walked across everyone's lawn, however, he would get yelled at a dozen times and so, stuck to the scorching pavement.

As he continued his journey home, however, he came to one house that was different than the rest. The district Miles had been traversing was a wealthier one, and seeing any kind of house that looked out of place was odd... and this house was odd. It was only one story, with peeling white paint and brown fence that ran along the perimeter. A giant oak tree grew within the fence, near the road, casting a large shadow that Miles quickly took refuge under. Being curious about the old house, however, the young boy decided to press his face to a crack in the fence and peer around the lawn. As he spied on the stranger's lawn, he saw that it wasn't as green and luscious as the other lawns were, and instead consisted mainly of dirt, with a large doghouse to one side, that was falling apart. As Miles wondered how such a poor looking home could exist in a such a prestigious neighborhood, he suddenly heard a loud barking sound and felt his body get knocked backwards, onto the ground.

As Miles stood, facing his attacker, he saw that a large dog had knocked down the fence he'd been peering through and pushed him over in the process. The canine seemed upset that the boy was so close to his territory and looked ready to attack. Backing away slowly, not taking his eyes off of the animal, Miles tried to make his escape. At first it seemed as if the dog wasn't going to leave the yard, and Miles would escape unharmed, but then at the last second, just as Miles started to turn and run, the dog barked and bolted for the boy. Miles instantly tried to sprint away, but the dog was faster and jumped at his back before he could get too far. As the fierce animal bit and clawed at the defenseless boy, Miles shook his body around, flailing his arms, trying to knock the creature off of him, but to no avail. At the last moment, however, just when it seemed as if the dog had won the struggle, a large rock came whipping through the air, and slammed into the canine's head. The beast yelped and fell to the side, allowing Miles to scramble to his feet.

As he looked around, he saw a young girl, about his age, standing in the middle of the road, holding a few stones in her hand. She had long black hair and bright blue eyes, that could be clearly seen from twenty feet away. Before Miles had time to thank his savior, however, the dog crawled back to its feet, snarling and growling at its two adversaries. Not wanting to be shown up by a girl, Miles quickly searched the ground around him for a make-shift weapon. The best he could find was a long stick that had fallen from the great oak tree beside him. Lifting the small branch from the ground, he held it before him as if it were sword. The dog then charged the boy, yapping and howling its challenge. As it jumped through the air at him, Miles swung the branch at the beast's stomach, knocking it to the ground and snapping the stick in two. Taking this as a sign that he should leave, Miles took the opportunity to escape and ran out into the road, next to the girl with the rocks. "Run, we gotta get out of here!" He shouted, tugging at her shirt.

"He'll just chase us." She said, motioning towards the dog who was slowly getting back to its feet. "We gotta scare it off first." As the canine tried once more to charge at the young kids, another rock flew straight towards its head, stopping it dead in its tracks. The rock wasn't thrown by the girl, however, as Miles had presumed. Instead, the rock lifted itself into the air, then levitated above the girl's hand for a moment, before flying directly at the beast. This process continued, as well, as another stone hovered in the air for a second, before striking the animal in its side. Finally, the poor dog showed signs that it had had enough, and limped weakly back into its yard.

"That was amazing." Miles commented. "How'd you make those rocks float? I've never seen anything like that!" The girl let the rest of the stones fall to the ground before she turned and started walking down the road. Miles followed.

"I'm magic." The girl said.

"You're magic?" Miles repeated, almost in disbelief. His parents had told him that certain people in the world were magical, but he'd never actually met someone who really was, until now. "That's so cool." He added. "How'd you get to be magic?"

"I dunno." She shrugged. "I was just born this way. My parents told me one in every four people are." She kicked a few stones along the pavement. "Normally my magic doesn't work that well, though. I guess its easier when I'm scared."

Miles was still amazed by the curious young girl. "You were actually scared back there? But you took that dog down, easy. You coulda taken like... like, ten more of them down!"

The girl laughed. "Probably not. But maybe one day I'll be able to take down ten of them. When I get older, I wanna go to a college on the mainland and learn more about magic, so I can become a mage. Then I'll be so powerful, I could take down, like, twenty!" She looked over at Miles and stopped walking. "My name's Adria, by the way." She told him. "What's yours?"

"Miles." He replied.

Adria smiled. "You have a funny name."

Miles felt embarrassed. "Sorry." He mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring down at his bare-feet.

"You don't have to apologize for your name, stupid. I think I have a funny name, too." Miles looked up and defended her, saying, "No you don't! Adria's not funny!" He told her. "It's... it's really..."

"It's what?" She asked.

"It's really pretty..." He said.

Adria stared at him for a few seconds. "You're weird." She commented.

"Oh." Miles replied, not sure of what to say.

After a few more seconds of them staring at each other awkwardly, Adria asked, "Will you walk me home?"

"Walk you home?" Miles repeated. No one had ever asked him to walk them anywhere. Especially not a girl. "I guess so." He said.

"Alright, good." She replied. "But you gotta hold my hand."

"Hold your hand?" Miles remarked, completely taken back.

"Yeah, if you're walking someone home, you have to hold their hand... it's like the law." Adria told him.

"Oh... okay." He replied, as she grabbed his hand. Miles had never held a girl's hand before and just stood in the road, stunned for a second.

After quickly growing impatient, Adria tugged at the young boy's hand, leading him down the road. "Come on! My house is this way. You can meet my dog!" She told him, excitedly.

Present day

"There we go, now we're waking up." Albin said. "Come on, Miles, wake up! Wakey, wakey!" As Miles opened his eyes, staring face to face with a large white rabbit, a trickling sense of déjà vu ran across the back of his mind. "Let's get going, before more demon's show up! There are way more in this area than I originally thought and you are definitely going to get yourself killed!"

Miles sat up, rubbing his head, as a splitting head-ache cut its way through his brain. "What are you talking about? I took down that last demon, easy."

"What am I talking about? What are YOU talking about?! Vinum almost killed you. For a few seconds I thought he actually did! You're lucky to be alive! If it weren't for my magic--"

"Hey, can you calm down? My head's killing me, and you yelling in my ear isn't making it feel any better -- what rank was that demon?"

"What rank? I don't know, he was thirty-seven or something -- why does it matter?"

"Because thirty-seven is the highest rank I've taken down so far. That's a new record."

"New record?" Albin repeated. "Is this some kind of game to you?"

"Yeah, kind of." Miles told him.

"I can't believe you! This journey could change the entire course of history, depending on whether or not you succeed, and you think it's a game?! You almost got killed, yesterday!"

"Almost got killed, is another way of saying, I didn't get killed." Miles told him. "And you worry too much."

"Because you don't worry enough!" Albin yelled, his whiskers twitching violently. He pulled the wizard's hat off of his head and paced around furiously.

Miles scratched his own head. "Did you say 'yesterday'?" He asked.

"Yes." Replied Albin. "Yesterday. You killed Vinum and Bardus, yesterday. You've been passed out forever." It finally dawned on Michael that it was mid-day now and no longer evening.

"Wow, I've been sleeping for a while." He commented.

"A while?! You've been asleep for half a day! You almost died of alcohol poisoning! And that whole time you were asleep, we could have been attacked by demon's and killed!"

"But --" Miles interjected. "We weren't attacked by demons and killed -- so it all worked out in the end."

Albin pulled on his ears and screamed through his teeth. "Can we please get going?"

"All you had to do was ask." Miles said.

☽☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽

After traveling for a few more hours, under the heat of the sun, they finally reached the port town of Casus. The city was very much unlike Domus, the town that Miles was from. Instead of large cement roads, they had only narrow cobblestone pathways. The houses were small and crammed together, and made primarily from wood. There were hundreds of shops, both indoors and out, selling goods anywhere from food and clothes, to swords and axes, to potions and herbs. Thousands of people crowded the streets of Casus, some busily moving from one place to another, while others gathered around street-performers who were breathing fire or levitating boxes. On the far side of the city was a huge bay, with thousands of docks and boats, jutting out into the water, providing the only passage to Solum.

As Albin and Miles pushed their way through the crowds, the pair almost appeared to fit in with the large amount of strange people and creatures. Although Albin did get his fair share of double-takes from many passersby, he definitely wasn't the strangest creature around. There were woman with cat ears and tails, tiny dragon-like creatures that rested on the shoulders of some men and even a man with no facial features whatsoever. Regardless of the fact that Miles had already visited this strange place once before, he was still amazed at all the magical things he saw. Maybe if he had payed more attention in school, he thought, some of this stuff wouldn't seem so strange to him.

"Come on! Step right up! Watch as I amaze you with magic spells, so mysterious, you'll wonder how they are even possible!" Yelled a man from atop a stage, to an audience below.

"Excuse me young man, but would you like your fortune told?" An elderly woman asked Miles, as he passed by a booth she had set up on the side of the street.

"No, thanks." Miles told her as her kept on walking. "It's not really my thing. Plus, I think I've kinda got my destiny figured out already."

"Suit yourself." She told him, as she went back to offering the future to other people passing by her.

A man, standing behind a table in his outdoor shop, called out, "Yes! This is the weapon of the future! It is called a 'gun'! Many of you have not seen such a powerful device, before, but you will see many more of these in the times to come! This 'gun' can take a man down in one shot, from a hundred feet away! And for only a reasonable amount of cash, you can have your very own! Protect yourself from thieves, wild animals, ex-wives, bandits -- anything that may cause you trouble!"

As Miles and Albin continued to push through the city, they passed by even more interesting things; a fountain were people threw their money away, wishing for fortune, fame and wealth; a man, swallowing swords and fire, hoping to earn enough tips to buy a meal and bed for the night; a scantly dressed woman in an alley, offering to show anyone who passed her, a 'good time' and multiple men throwing dice and playing cards, betting the last of their money, in hopes of winning a fixed game.

"Here we are." Albin finally said, as he led Miles into a large shop, near the Bay of Casus. Outside the store was sign reading, "Shick's Ships". Inside, the shop was devoid of people, save for a large man working behind the counter, with an anchor tattoo on his arm. On one wall of the store, there were multiple framed documents, hung neatly in place and on the other, there were a few photographs of the store, the bay and a few large boats in the harbor. "We'd like to charter a ship, please." Albin told the man. "Straight to Solum, as soon as possible."

The man working the counter, presumably "Shick", leaned over it and stared down at the rabbit-like man whom was addressing him from below. "Who are you s'posed ta be?" The man grunted.

"I'm not 'supposed' to be anyone. My name is Albin Perry Veneficus, and me and my friend would like to charter a ship, please." Albin straightened his raggedy trench-coat and tried to sound official, which must have been hard to do, since his ears weren't even long enough to reach the top of the counter.

"Sorry, but no one's sailin' anywhere for awhile. Come back another time." The man informed him.

Albin didn't leave, however. "I don't think you understand. Me and my friend here need to leave as soon as possible. We're willing to pay heavily, if necessary."

"No, Alan, I don't think YOU understand! I own the whole shipyard here and I say that no one is leavin'! Ya got that?!"

"First off, my name is Albin, not Alan and may I say, your manners --" Miles cut him off, knowing that Albin wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Why aren't you letting any ships leave?" Miles asked the man.

"Because," The man began, with annoyance growing in his voice, "Two days ago, some fuckin' cur stole all my goddamn money! Every cent of it. And I'm not letting any one out of this harbor, until I get it back. You see, I've got this whole town's economy under my thumb. If there aren't any trade ships coming in and out, no one can restock their stores, and no one's gonna make any money -- so now, I've got the whole goddamn city looking for this criminal. Soon enough, he's not gonna have anywhere left to hide and until that happens, no one leaves Casus." The man snorted and scratched his scraggly beard.

"How do you know he just didn't take the money and run off to some place on Insula? What makes you think he's still in the city?" Miles asked.

"Because he didn't just steal a cash-register full. This sonuvabitch cleaned out my whole basement. He took at least ten bags full of money. It's not easy to just walk out of the city with that much cash on ya. Someone woulda seen 'im. So I know he's here. And if he ain't? Then everyone in Casus is fucked, until someone finds him!" The man slammed his fist down on the counter. Miles grabbed Albin and led him out of the store, quickly, before the man got anymore upset with them.

"Well, it's pretty obvious what we have to do." Albin said, looking out at all the dormant ships in the bay.

"Yup." Agreed Miles. "We've gotta catch a thief."