It was once said there was thirteen special swords that were scattered across the world. Each one holding their own great power and their own great curse. And none of these swords were supposed to be together, all of them were supposed to be in separate places to prevent evil from finding them all. But for whatever reason three of those special swords were together and could not be separated...
Ressera Lockeheart woke up from a strange dream while clutching his pillow so hard that his little knuckles had turned white from the pressure. He blinked in surprise at himself once he was fully awake. He couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about or what had woken him up, but it was morning and he was hungry.
The sun was shining brightly outside and birds sang. Ressera opened up his window and took a deep breath of the morning air. It looks like it's going to be a good day today!
Ressera would have gotten dressed at this time if the smell of bacon and eggs hadn't wafted into his room. "Breakfast!" He cheered as he raced downstairs in his pajamas.
Downstairs he found that his older brother Ra was already at the table impatiently waiting for his meal. "There, Res is here so let's eat already!" Ra whined to the hunched over wrinkled white haired man that was withholding his and his brother's meals.
"Now, now Ra we can't very well go and eat without Reeku now could we? That would be unfair to him."
"But Grandpa he's asleep! How could he care if he isn't even awake?!" Ra retorted.
Yalen Lockeheart laughed at his grandson's impatience. "Res could you please go wake up your brother Reeku, I doubt Ra can wait any longer." Yalen asked Ressera.
"Sure!" Ressera raced back upstairs to his little brother's room. He found Reeku just the way he'd expect him to, dead asleep tangled up in his sheets.
"Hey REE! WAKE UP!!" Ressera yelled very loudly into his little brother's ears.
"AHHHH!!!" Reeku woke up with a start and fell off his bed and onto the floor. "Res! Why'd you do that for?! I was sleeping!"
"Well then if you don't want to eat then I'll tell Grandpa that and we can eat your share of the breakfast." Ressera laughed and sprinted downstairs.
"Breakfast?! Hey wait up Res! That's not fair!" Reeku ran after him.
Breakfast turned into quiet a battle of forks as it usually did with Lockeheart family. There were four of them in total. Yalen Lockeheart, who lived his life as the mayor of the town and a caretaker for his three grandsons Ra, Ressera and Reeku.
Ra was eleven, Ressera was nine and Reeku was six. The three of them had been staying with their grandfather ever since their father disappeared four years ago after a shipping incident at the town's harbor. When they couldn't find his body they assumed he was dead. None of the three boys knew their mother since she had died when she had given birth to Reeku.
Though they had much death in their family already at such young ages, Ra, Ressera and Reeku were happy kids living with their grandfather Yalen. Yalen made sure that the three of them were as happy as they could and always tried to provide the best lives for them as he could.
Reeku burped right after he finished his breakfast. "Ah that was great! I'm stuffed!"
"Reeku it's not polite to burp at the table." Yalen pointed out.
"Well Ra does it!"
"BUURRP!"
"See I told ya!" Reeku huffed.
"Now, now neither of you two should be burping like that at the table. You don't see you brother Ressera doing it now do you?" Yalen lectured them.
"BUUUUUUUURRRRRRPPPPP!" Ressera burped out loud louder then his two brothers had.
Yalen sighed in defeat. "That's it I give up!"
The three brothers snickered.
"Okay boys go wash your hands. And seeing how all of you are still in your pajamas go get yourselves dressed!" Yalen ordered.
"Yes Grandpa!" All three said in unison and ran off.
Yalen shook his head and laughed. If I didn't have those three around life would certainly be boring.
Though it was the summer and the three brothers didn't have school they couldn't go outside and play like other kids their age. Or at least not today that is. Reason is that they promised their grandpa that they were going to helping him do some tiding up around the house. They didn't have to do it for the whole day, just a few hours so it wasn't that bad.
Ressera didn't mind helping his grandpa at all since today they were going to be tiding up the basement and because Yalen was a bit a historian he had lots of interesting things down there.
Yalen knew that the boys wouldn't be actually doing any cleaning, but that was okay, the real reason he wanted them to come with him was because he wanted to give the chance to look through some of things he had collected.
With a lit candle in hand Yalen led his three grandsons down to the basement of the house. All three of the brothers coughed from the dust in the air as Yalen lit the lanterns around the room.
"Okay boys let's get to work!"
So the four of them set to work. Reeku despite the fact that he was only six was actually doing some cleaning, while Ra on the other hand was making a gigantic mess looking through everything. And Ressera spent the whole time following Yalen around asking questions.
"So what's that chicken statute thingy?" Ressera pointed over to a small statute sitting in the corner of the room.
"That's no chicken Ressera. That's Tiba, and he's a very strong demon." Yalen answered while dusting.
"A strong demon? But he's a chicken. So does that make him demonic chicken?"
"Hmmm.... Demonic chicken..." Ra's mouth watered. Even though they had just had breakfast Ra was hungry again.
Yalen laughed. "Just be thankful that Tiba isn't here to hear this. He'd be very upset and would probably want to eat you." Yalen poked Ra in the stomach.
Ra rolled his eyes.
"What about those? Are they swords?" Ressera went to reach of the one of the swords hanging above a mantle. But being as short as he was he wasn't able to reach for it.
Yalen picked up all three swords hanging above the mantle and placed on the table in the middle of the basement. And then he motioned for his three grandsons to come closer to get a better look at them. "These my grandsons, are three very special swords. My father handed down them to me to protect and pass them down to my children."
"So you mean these swords were dad's?" Reeku asked curiously.
"Yes and no. You see these special swords chose their owners, not just anybody can wield them. Would you three like to hear the story that was passed down to me by my father about these swords?"
The three brothers nodded eagerly.
"Well then why don't you all take a seat and I'll tell you the tale." Yalen motioned for them to sit down. Once they did he began the story. "Well it was said long ago thirteen special swords were created with a special purpose. No one knows what the purpose but people have their theories. Some say they were created to protect a great king, others say they were created to dispel evil and some just don't have a clue.
But as I said not just anybody can use these swords, so those chosen to wield them are warriors with a special purpose. And even though these swords had their own special power, they have their own bad curse. Any person who wields one of these swords becomes a target to some great but unknown evil. Tragedy has befallen all those before, cutting their lives short. But not after they complete some fantastic feat that benefited many. So their deaths were not in vain."
"How come great-grandpa had three swords? Shouldn't he have been only able to use one?" Ressera asked.
"Good point Ressera. But my father didn't even wield any of them."
"But then why -- "
"Be patient, and I'll explain in my story. Once a sword chooses an owner from then on only those of that person's lineage can even have the chance to be chosen to use that sword after the chosen one's death. But that doesn't mean that just any one of his or her ancestors can use it, only special ones. Well it is also said that the thirteen swords were never supposed to be together. But for some strange reason these three swords remained together despite that.
Years ago my father's older brother, Tirus had heard of these three swords and how it rejected all that tried to wield them. Deciding that number was the key he took his two cousins both from the Lockeheart family with him along for the search. But Tirus didn't want to leave his little brother out of this adventure, so he took my father along, even though my father wasn't violent by nature. He was a peace loving man that didn't fight others, but helped them instead with his white magic abilities.
For months the four of them search up on leads looking for these seemingly phantom swords. And just when they were about to give up they hit pay dirt and found them. The three swords were deep in a cave displayed on a stone pillar. The walls I'm told; were covered with strange carvings that warned of danger and immense evil. There were also carvings depicting a fierce war between two races.
They noted the carvings and approached the swords cautiously. Tirus at first went to the largest of the three swords," Yalen held up the sword on the table with the seemingly massive blade. Of course they could only guess on what the sword actually looked like since it was still in it's sheathe. "And went to unsheathe it but a strong force of raw energy surged through him causing him pain. And he involuntarily dropped the sword. Figuring that the sword did not chose him he went onto another one." Yalen put the largest blade down and picked up the thinnest one. "This sword. And like the first sword it rejected him. So there was only one left." Yalen held up the last sword. It was neither small nor large. It looked to be an average sized sword. "So while he went to try this one his cousins tried the other ones. They had all expected the swords to reject them, but maybe it was the fact that they were all related or that there were three of them or because they all tried at the same time that it worked. The swords didn't reject them. But they just appeared to be normal swords. None of them had any idea what was so special about these swords but the took them with them anyway."
"So what's so special about them? Other then they are just choosy?" Reeku asked trying to pick up the largest sword. But Reeku was a very small child so he couldn't lift it at all.
"Well they didn't know it themselves until they were attacked on their way back home. Some strange creatures attacked them but I really don't know what because my father never wanted to get into detail about the fight. Anyway they were attacked by something and in the course of the battle Tirus' blade came off its' hilt. For some strange reason a blade of light took the place of sword's original blade."
"A sword of light? How can light be useful against something?" Ra asked skeptically.
"Well it shone brightly, but believe me it's anything but normal light. From what my father told me they can cut through practically anything and it has magical properties to them. Because you see these according to legend these swords were once people."
"What?!" All three of them said at the same time.
"Yes that's the reason why they are sometimes referred to as the thirteen soul swords. It is said that these thirteen swords are the souls of thirteen dead warriors that gave their lives for their people while battling a great evil. But again that's just speculation, no one knows for sure about the true origins of these swords. So as I've said my father was the one that passed down the swords to me, because after doing many great things with these swords Tirus and his two cousins died during a fight. With what I don't know. But the swords were handed down to him because all three of them had been used by one of Lockeheart blood, so only one from that bloodline will ever be able to use it in the future. My father never wanted to use any of them so instead he just cared for them and kept his vow to pass them onto his children.
When the swords came into my possession I naturally of course tried to see if could use one of them. But the swords rejected me as they did your father." Yalen picked up the three swords and placed them back on their place on the mantel.
"Well we're all Lockehearts and there's three of us so maybe we're destined to use them!" Ressera exclaimed.
"Whether that's true or not Ressera, those who use these swords live shortened lives. Would you want to use one of them knowing that fact?" Yalen sat down and starred his middle grandson straight in the eyes.
"You said it yourself, those chosen are destined to do great things. So if I was chosen by one of the swords to be its' master then I would be honored because I know that I would be doing something great to benefit others in my destiny." Ressera said with great pride. Both Ra and Reeku grinned in agreement.
"How noble of you Ressera, but like I said also those who use them live shortened lives. So even if you three are the chosen ones you still wont be using them until you much older. You three are still way too young."
All three of the Lockeheart brothers groaned.
Part 1 | Fanfiction