Comna Sword

The sound of screams echoed from the hall as Medly, the princess, and heir to her country's throne, sat silently in her room humming. Turning, she dips the tip of her paintbrush into a jar on the long table overflowing with containers before continuing her work. Her focus was on the portrait of her parents, not on the commotion going on around her.
The castle goes quiet right before a quiet knock on the princess’ door. Waiting a couple minutes, the door cracks open as a man peers into the room. Black, Medly’s devoted servant and mage, quickly closes the door behind him. Looking around the crowded room, he stepped past the paintings of men and women whose eyes followed. Seeing his princess sitting at the easel, he sighed in relief. He rubs his blood-stained hands on his black robes before he kneels in front of Medly. “Madam Medly,” he says in a low husky voice, “a demon has entered the castle.”
“What of it?” She snaps, not looking from her work “it’s obviously gone or you would be other there slaying it.”
“Sir Multi has slain it, madam. However, by the time he had reached the monster…” He pauses, not sure how to proceed.
Medly turns towards him, her dark eyes burning “out with it Black!”
His voice continues to shake, “by the time either of us made it to your parents… the demon had already killed them. I’m sorry, madam.” Looking up at her, her eyes were wide as a strain of her long black hair fell from behind her ear.
“Leave me…” she whispers, turning away from him.
“What my-” Black begins but stops. He stands and bows low, “very well, my Queen.” As he makes his way to the door, he stops “tomorrow the country will be informed… be ready.”
“My parents…” Medly began; staring at the table as the door clicks shut. Wiping her paint covered hands on her gown a smile spreads across her face. “I am the Queen,” she laughs, grabbing a fresh brush “now, I can finally have some fun!”
Walking to a shelf, she grabs an old musty book and slams it onto the table; sending several containers crashing to the ground. Throwing the book of maps open, she keeps muttering to herself, “where to begin, where to begin, where to- there.” She stops on a page illustration of two islands, “Comna Sword, you will be my first playmate. Hope you are prepared.”
※ ※ ※ ※
The atmosphere was charged with energy as a teenage boy stands with his hand extended out. Small arcs of electricity jumped back and forth between his fingers before he thrusts his shoulder sending a bolt of lightning out in front of him. The bolt strikes the ground sending clumps of grass and dirt flying. He sighs, annoyed, looking at the small wooden table that had three bottles lined up in a row. The ground around the table was filled with craters and scorched grass. Annoyed, the teen grabs a rock and throws it at the bottles but misses.
A man laughs at him, “Egg, if you can’t hit the bottle with a bolt what makes you believe that you could hit it with a rock?” His annoyed expression causes the man to laugh even harder as he gestures to him, “come here.”
“My aim isn’t that awful.” He moaned.
Even at sixteen, Egg was almost a foot taller than his mentor, Mitch Lancaster, who was currently leaning on the other side of the fence. Mitch was one of the country's leaders or Alder and was recognized as the father of technology for Comna Sword. Before he came to fight in the last Civil War Tournament, Comna Sword was only known for resources and shipwrights. After the war, Mitch used his inventions to make the country the most technically advanced in all of Percusus. Which was incredibly impressive since he was only eleven years older that Egg was.
“I made these for you,” Mitch said, reaching into his suit jacket that laid across the fence and pulled out a pair of silver gloves.
The gloves were made from sort of metal fiber that Egg was sure Mitch had invented just for him. On the back was the Comna Sword crest, a sword striking down into the earth. Egg looked up, “these look incredible.”
“Remember the goal is to hit the bottles and not damage the table.” Mitch called out, “if you do, then you get to tell Mily.”
Egg stopped in his tracks, giving Mitch a nervous look. Mily was Mitch’s wife and was an Alder as well. She had been way training her own student, Adam, for the last few months. He had not had time to get to know Adam but he missed Mily.
Taking a deep breath as he holds his hand up, pointing at the bottles. The tips of his fingers begin to tingle, slowly building pressure. He watches the crest on the back of his hand begin to glow. The light from the crest spreads out to the tips of his fingers through small, clear tubes. A lightning bolt blasts straight towards one of the bottles, breaking it.
“Yes!” Egg and Mitch both yell.
“Mitch! Mitch, I did it!” Egg shouts, hopping up and down. “These are incredible! Thank you so much!” Reaching down, he begins to take pull the gloves off but as he does.
“Wait,” Mitch starts, “in the future, I think you should wear the gloves whenever you use your powers.” Just then a beeping noise comes from Mitch’s jacket. He reaches his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small black disk that had a small light blinking. “Carry on; I need to get this.”
Egg turns back to the bottles as Mitch runs across the lawn. Taking his time to aim, he shoots the next bottle sending glass pieces flying. Celebrating, he heard Mitch call from the house.
“Egg! We’re leaving!”
Looking back, he sees Mitch carrying a bag out of the house. Grabbing the table before he runs back to the house. He stands in the main hall of the house as a bag is thrown into his arms. “Where are we going?” Egg asks following his mentor into Mitch’s workshop.
Throwing a couple more things into a case, Mitch mutters shoving his student back out the front door. “We are heading to the Council Hall.”
Egg’s eyes go wide while Mitch locks the front door before heading to a small shed that was on the side of the house. With a loud cha-chunk, Mitch drove a carriage out of the shed and stops next to Egg. During the last year that Mily had been away, Mitch had spent all his time either teaching Egg, doing his Alder duties and building this. He had taken the old wooden carriage and extended the front to house a motor that he had created. It was not the prettiest invention, but he swore that it would ultimately replace the horse-drawn carriage.
※ ※ ※ ※
The trip from their home in Woolhope would have taken almost a day by horse but with Mitch’s invention, the trip only took several hours. Egg remembered the long trips to the capital when all Mitch had was a horse and small carriage. They sat in silence for the majority of the trip while Egg watched the fields of flax and sheep pass by. Slowly, the countryside became littered with houses the closer they got to Starfall, the capital of Comna Sword. The city was built around a bay and even from several miles away he could smell the ocean. After a while, Mitch turned onto a less used entrance to the city so that he would not interrupt the daily life in the town. The people in Woolhope were used to the weird sounds and things that came out of Mitch’s home but in Starfall, people tend to stop and stare.
Eventually, Mitch pulled the carriage up to a large brick building with ivy covering large patches. Egg smiles as he watched his mentor straighten his bowtie before almost running to the front door of the building, he was jittery yet excited. It had been several years since Egg had visited the Council Hall but as he entered the building, it looked the same as the last time he was there. The foyer was dark, having only two small windows by the front doors that cast long beams of light from the later afternoon sun. Mitch stands in front of the double doors to the Council Room, taking a deep breath as Egg watches him expectantly.
Opening the doors, they walked into a round, three-story room with a wall of glass windows that when opened blew ocean air through the building. Wrapping around the edges of the walls were a pair of grand staircases. In the middle of the room was a large round table with the Comna Sword crest carved into it. Sitting around the table were two men that looked up the moment Mitch and Egg entered. The first was a tall man just shorter than Egg with black rimmed glasses and a long black cloak. The other was about the height of Mitch with long hair that was covered by a blue beanie that matched his worn sweater. He knew who the cloaked man was instantly, Alder Ruin the Great Genius of Comna Sword.
“Hey look! Other people!” The shorter man nearly shouted as he jumped to his feet and rushing over to them. He grabs Mitch’s hand, “Hiya Alder Mitch! It’s a pleasure too finally get to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you as well,” Mitch says.
Egg noticed that the man was only a few years older than he was. The man grabbed ahold of his own hand and shook it vigorously. The man’s grin and sparkling blue eyes seemed to be contagious as both Mitch and Egg had huge smiles.
“Dylon!” Ruin spoke in a stern voice.
Dylon ignores Ruin, as he runs out of the room, through the door on the west side. The hairs on the back of Egg’s neck stood on end as Ruin looked him up and down, studying him. Turning to address Mitch, “Egg has grown since the last time I’ve seen him. Is he still having problems with the access discharge and targeting?” Followed by Mitch nodding.
Standing there shocked that Ruin knew that he had problems with his powers, Egg began “How did you-”
Bang! One of the side doors opens revealing Dylon with a plate full of cookies. “I hope you like cookies!” Placing the plate down on the table, he looks up at Mitch and Egg, “want one?”
Mitch turns him down but Egg grabs one. After one bite, he shouts “these are amazing! You’re a great baker.”
“Thanks! I'll make another batch later.” Dylon beamed as he leaned around him, looking at the door that had just opened.
The group turns to see a smiling woman with a curvy figure and auburn hair that seemed to match the color of her eyes; which were magnified by her glasses. Standing by her side was a short man about her age whose long hair hung down past his beard. Strapped across his back was a long two-handed sword. The moment that Egg turned he knew exactly who they were, Mily, the great cleric, and next to her, her student, Adam.
Not waiting for anyone to greet her, Mily rushed across the room right into Mitch’s arms. “hello, honey bunny.” she giggles, giving him a quick kiss. “I will be glad when we can come back to the main house. The vacation house is nice, but it’s not meant to be lived at.
"How is the training going?” Mitch asked eagerly.
“Good…” she began, “we will need to do some… repairs to the vacation house at some point. Taking Adam up there was the right choice, I’m not sure the house in Woolhope would have survived all of us.”
“It's fine; my dear,” Mitch says, holding her before turning towards Egg, “You remember Egg?”
“Oh, Egg!” She pulls Egg into a hug, “I’ve missed you so much, sweetie! When did you get this tall?”
Egg picks her up spinning her in a circle which caused her to laugh “Hi Mily, it has been so quiet at home without you.” He notices Adam walking past them, who gives him a nod before sitting down. “Is he ok?”
She nodded, “you know him, the strong, silent type. However, I got him to open up a bit.”
Dylon walked over to Adam with the plate of cookies, “Want one?” He holds out the plate as Adam takes one. Taking a bite, he nods his approval to Dylon.
“A man of few words, I guess” Dylon laughs softly, but Adam doesn't respond.
“I'm glad, you all are here!” a voice echoed from the second floor.
Everyone looked at the stairs as a man in a black military jacket with gold buttons walked down followed by a girl with blonde hair about Egg’s age. It had been a while since Egg had seen Alder Evan, the Great Paladin. He now was sporting a full beard and with long black hair that had a streak of white. Hanging from his side was the Comna Sword, the blade that the entire county was named after.
Clearing his throat, Evan began “Thank you, everyone, for coming on such short notice.” He looked towards Mily and Mitch, “Now, if everyone could please be seated we can be started.” Once, everyone was seated he continued pointing to the young woman “before we begin; let me introduce my student, Midna. This is the first Comna Sword council meeting that students have been invited to attend and I welcome you.”
“Oh shit,” Dylon interrupts, “we’re gonna see the Comna council at its finest!” Evan glares at Dylon, who gives him a smile and holds up the tray of cookies. “Cookies?”
The Alder sighs taking a cookie, “Ahem… we have a problem. Last night, the king and queen of Medria died.” The other three Alders react in various stages of shock as Evan continues, “Their daughter, Medly, has become the new queen. Today, during her speech to address the people of Medria, she declared that they would go to war with us.”
“You can't be serious,” Mily exclaimed, wrapping her black cardigan around her. “Why would she do that?”
“I don't know… our countries have been amicable since last Civil War Tournament; that is why I want to send a team.”
“If you are thinking about suggesting our students,” Ruin states, “they are not ready, Evan.”
Stroking his beard, Evan said “I know but they are our only choice. If one of the four of us would go that could through Comna Sword into chaos on the brink of war and our army is needed in case; we need to defend.”
“So what? Mitch interjects. “We are just going to send our inexperienced students?”
“I wanna do it,” Dylon interrupts, “it makes sense."
“I want to go too!” Egg jumps in the conversation.
Mily turns to Adam, who was already looking at her, have a silent conversation. He nods to her as she declares, “Adam is in.”
“For those are nervous about this situation.” Evan began, “let me tell you this, the council’s official stand on the matter is that they are going for recon only. This is an intelligence mission only, use of abilities are limited to those that can help active the goal and for defense. Now, by a show of hands, who is willing to send them?”
Evan holds his hand up followed by Ruin and Mily. Mitch glares at Evan and finally responds, “only recon?”
“Only recon,” repeats Evan, Mitch raises his hand reluctantly. “Seems like we are all in favor. Get anything supplies that you will need for the mission; you leave in two hours.” The Alders and Student begin to stand as Evan holds his hand up. “Ruin, Mily, and Mitch if you don’t mind. I would like to speak to you in my office, privately.”
※ ※ ※ ※
The Alders and their students stand at the closest shipping yard to the Council Hall where a ship was being loaded with crates.
Evan stands before the group, “All right, this ship is will be going around the Medrian coast as it heads to Dameron. Stay low until the captain retrieves you then you will row to Medria. The trip from the coast to the capital, Canvusaw, is a few days journey. Keep your ears open and try to get into the castle to check on Queen Medly… whatever you do, do not get caught.”
Dylon smiles, “that's all? That’s easy, bro.”
“Maybe but if you are captured. Well, we might not bring you back. Hope you all understand that risk.” says Evan looking each of the students in the eyes.
Egg walks towards the ship with the others after giving Mily one last hug as Mitch pulls him to the side.
“Egg, you do not have to do this. None of the Alders will think any less of you.” His mentor whispered.
“Mitch… why are you trying to stop me from doing this?”
“Egg, I just… I don't want you to do this. You barely can handle your power, and you're only sixteen!”
“Mitch, you have been training me for a reason. This should be it,” exclaimed Egg. “You were not much older when you fought in the Civil War.”
“I know… I know.” Looking defeated, Mitch sighs “just be safe, Egg.”
“I will Mitch. Thank you.” Egg and Mitch hug before he joins the other students on the ship.
Now the voyage begins; Egg sets off to Medria with Dylon, Midna, and Adam. Who knows what's in store for our heroes! Find out next time.