The Battle of Centarium

Aeysu opened his eyes, exposing them to the rich glow of the early morning sun. He rubbed his neck and shoulder to shake off the tense feeling he was used to at the days beginning, then threw himself out of his cot.

Taking small weighted steps, he walked outside and adjusted his ragged tunic to its most presentable position, which wasn't presentable at the least. Standing at his door, he tried to think of an excuse not to leave. His eyes fluttered for a moment as he thought, then with a shrug, he surrendered the idea.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice." He half halfheartedly admitted, beginning his daily, and lengthy, walk to his father's store. Aeysu's father had been running the store for years, and although his stock was third rate, 'Laydrin's Customer Produce & Wares' was like a loose knit family to some. Treading the familiar stone road, he analyzed the sights that he had grown to love. Women looking at jewelry they could scarcely afford, men packing crates onto horse drawn wagons, and children playing war games with sticks and imaginary magic. All of it leading to the defamed building that was Aeysu Laydrin's family store. A miniscule number of people, all with contrasting blouses and jackets that discern their particular druthers. He took a moment to count the people inside before waltzing indoors, and eventually totaled at eleven. With a small whistle, he envisioned how overworked his father must be, rushing to fulfill their clamored requests.

Aeysu pushed open the door, and tried to glide past the congregation of customers without shoving them into any apple stands. It was only a few seconds after he pushed past that he saw the overweight outline of Berlamag, his father.Grasping at weeds and tobacco with his fat hands, dry juice on his apron from a squashed peach, and his long grey hair flowing with his quick movements as he rushed to finish each transaction.

"Aeysu!" He chided over the ruckus of the near mob behind them, "Aeysu I need you to go to Orlamar's and catch me a basket of fresh fruit."

Taken aback, Aeysu started to voice that he'd only just arrived, but was piped down by a dictating look in his father's eyes. So, with a plagued expression, he stomped out the door and began another multi-mile stroll to Orlamar's farm. Orlamar, a middle aged farmer, came to Berlamag for help a few years back. Without help and farm supplies, he would be incapable of keeping his goods. So with a quick handshake and a weekly cut, Orlamar was the new produce supplier for 'Laydrin's Customer Produce & Wares'

This was good for business, Aeysu knew, but it was an annoying prospect to him. Instead of helping run the store each day, he often times found himself plowing fields and picking weeds. Painstaking work for a shop keep. "Leave the farming to the farmers" was a phrase Aeysu found himself snorting more frequently than not.

Aeysu quickly got the abundance of fruit, and raced his way back as quickly as possible without tipping the weight of the basket. His boots clanking on the ground was a pleasant distraction from the pain in he legs, but not pleasant enough to dull the ache. Upon his return he carried out his daily routines.

Getting request for apples, get apples. Customer needs sandals? Look in the crates for sandals. Simple, straight to the point, and easy to remember. Just the work that Aeysu loved. As happens every day, dawn eventually went dusk, and dusk turned to night.
As Berlamag was closing up, he waved for Aeysu's attention.

"Are ya' feeling up ta one more adventure tonight?" He asked, his usual saying for 'there's things to get done'. Aeysu watched curiously as his father banged the locks shut on the door.
"What else is there to do? Its too late to work the farm or the shop." Aeysu continued, "The only stock that's not put away are the basins, an' we keep those out half the nights."
Berlamag sat on a small wooden stool out front of the shop, which made a louder creak than something its size should have.

"Do you remember Mr. Neobus?" He grunted as he pulled a pipe from his dirty jacket. Aeysu answered his father with a quick nod, Mr. Neobus lived on the opposite side of Balconad, the city that they lived in. "Well he said hes got some new swords n' such he'd like to sell. Hes gonna leave for Morlah in a couple days or so. Was wantin' ya to." He paused a brief moment to light his pipe, " was wantin' you ta pick em' up tonight."

With a descriptive look in his eyes, Aeysu was handed a large pack with two straps on either side, and was sent on his 'adventure of the second rate swords'. Slicking his golden blonde hair behind his ears as he cruised, and in desperate need, he felt at least, of a bath. Strolling through Balconad in the night had its advantages however.
Even though all the children were now playing war games in their dreams, there were still sights he could gaze upon. The dim lights of the lanterns, hanging in the fronts of houses and trees, and the ominous feel of the empty stone path beneath his feet. Aeysu continued walking until he reached where he believed Mr. Neobus lived, and to his disappointment, found the place was now empty. Lanterns long burnt out, door broken down, and not even hints that a soul could be within.

Swearing under his breath, Aeysu turned on his heel to step away.

"What a cumbersome way to end this lil' walk." He drawled at the empty house now behind him. Then, without any precaution, he hit the ground in agony. There was a screaming, a scraping whistle in the air. As if the world's largest nails were scrawling down the world's largest window.

Aeysu couldn't bring himself to look for its source, simply due to the sharpness of the pain in his head. There, on his knees and clawing at his ears, was the first time he thought he might die. Even with this revelation, the sound didn't dull. In fact, the sound increased in volume, as if it were impatiently awaiting his response and resorted to shouting.
Then at the drop of a coin, the pain stopped, and it was that exact moment he heard a clam but stern voice say,

"You okay there, boy?" Aeysu froze, then flipped his body over and started to crawl away from this man in the shadows. 'Had he caused that sound!?' He wondered, sheer fright in his eyes.
The man stepped out of the shadows, revealing his great black tunic and trousers, his top of the line boots, and his half curious face. It was Mr. Neobus, exiting his presumed abandoned home, with a hand on his chin and wood chips in his short black-gray hair, he looked at Aeysu with a mocking gaze. "I only asked a question, boy.", he piped out, half laughing, "No need to crawl all the way ta the black land."

Aeysu's breaths were quick and deep as his looked crazily into the man's eyes, then tried slowly to calm himself. Mr. Neobus gave him an assuring wave, as if saying 'Catch your breath son'. Choking and coughing, he eventually got to the point that he believed he could speak.
"Di- didn't you hea- hear that!?" He blundered out, using his hands to help him get to his feet again.

With a raised eyebrow and a half smile, Mr. Neobus retorted with,
" I jus' walked out ta see a boy wailing on my porch like a man gone mad. If that's what your askin' than-" He was cut off by the aggravated growl made by Aeysu.
"Dont mock! I heard it! It was like swords scratching armor!" Aeysu blurted out, becoming irate and desperate.

Hands shaking and palms sweaty, he continued, "It was like needles in my ears! There's no chance that I'm the only one who.." He slowed down toward the end, then took the time to analyze the houses surrounding him and Mr. Neobus. Not one man, women, or child seemed to have woken from the clatter. Aeysu pinched his eyebrows, and looked back at the man before him.

Neobus was, to Aeysu's surprise, ignoring him entirely. The man seemed to be reviewing the moon or clouds in the sky above, a mysterious look upon his face. "Boy," he began, "tell me what you see." Aeysu, who was taken aback, tried to respond. He was quickly cut of by the sudden stare that the man was now giving him, his blue eyes blooming with knowledge and wisdom.

"I said," Mr. Neobus repeated, "What do you see?" This time flicking his finger to the sky, but keeping his eyes locked on Aeysu's.

Aeysu took one last questioning look before averting his eyesight to the sky, and to his astonishment, he saw something he had never seen. Instead of stars and clouds, instead of the moon and darkness surrounding it, the sky was in a blaze. Blades of fire ripping at each other as if pushed by the winds of a hurricane, clouds of fireballs blowing to and fro without any direction or destination. Yet, no light shown on the world below from this chaos in the sky. No dim firelight that covered the earth, no light at all.

Aeysu couldn't take his eyes off of it, and his breath became sporadic and off beat. Will this be forever? Had the sun ruptured over the world? Was hell literally about to rain upon him? And yet, when he dared a glance away to see Mr. Neobus' reaction, he saw the man lighting a tobacco pipe and smiling.

Aeysu took a step back, taking the abnormal behavior like a strike in the gut.
"Wha-, how.. is this.." He stammered almost unable to keep his balance at this moment of disbelief and amazement.

"Calm yourself, boy. All is well." The man said softly, as if talking to a new born babe.

"What the hell is going on!" Aeysu countered, the agony of the unknown dawning on him, "How is this possible? How can you be so- how!?" Aeysu barely finished, throwing his arms out for emphasis, expressing what his words weren't able to accomplish.

"Its simple.." He started, and stopped smoking his pipe to give him a optimistic smirk, "Because I don't see a damned thing up there." He laughed, and approached Aeysu while packing his pipe into his tunic pocket.

Aeysu's jaw dropped, and he was frozen in a lack of emotion. The shock, agony, fear and all else he had felt in the last few moments of his life was like something out of a war story. Still, Mr. Neobus approached him, with soft steps. "I do, however, see that." He admitted, with an extended hand. Pointing at something behind Aeysu, and smiling at the object.

The only thing that went through Aeysu's mind as he spun around was 'What now'. Nothing on Earth could have surprised him anymore. What he saw was a crossover from what he had experienced in minutes past, a total change from the pain and fear.

It was a single sword, bright and beautiful as anything Aeysu has laid his eyes upon. It was standing upright a yard in front of him, stuck in the stone path. The first this he noticed was the grip, which was a haze of crimson. The pommel was a dark gold colored crystal in the shape of a flame, and the cross guard resembled two dragon heads. The color of the dragons reminding him of the lowest point of the sunset, and they seemed to point towards the tip of the blade.

Aeysu gaped at this wonder of a sword, and felt a tug to draw near it. With a light step we was on his way to touch its beauty, it's glory. For the multitude of seconds it took for him to gently cruise to the sword, he had forgotten about Mr. Neobus, he had forgotten about the noise, he had even forgotten about the blazing sky. All that mattered, was this beauty of a weapon. He stopped a few inches out, and agilely griped the hilt with his right hand. There was a gush of wind, attempting to blow him back, trying to push him away, but he kept his fingers clasped upon the sword. A chorus of voices rang through the alleys, over the houses, and from the still flaming sky above. All in unison, they said the same seven words, "The battle of Centorium has now begun!"

It echoed and boomed with greatness, and then the wind stopped abruptly with a whooshing sound, the sound Aeysu thought a tornado would make if it were to disperse instantly. With that noise, he heaved the sword out of the stones beneath, and brought it gracefully before his eyes. He looked it over once more, and averted his gaze to Mr. Neobus, who was still behind him. With a tug back to reality, he asked"Sir, what is this?"

Confounding himself with the now calm tone in his voice. Mr. Neobus smiled, and waved toward his run down house,"Boy, we have a lot to talk about.", and lead him inside. Aeysu, still gripping the sword in his palm, watched as he clanked and clattered with the broken door, in an attempt to close it.

Upon his success, he turned and with a smile he added, "And please, boy, call me Christian."