I wake up in my mother’s arms. I am panting quite heavily, not sure what is going on.

My mother has a weird expression on her face “Azreth, what happened?” She asks. I’m not sure what to say, but then “Where is the titan…the three flames…the mountain?!” I ramble incoherently.

“Azreth, we were barely a second inside the portal. I’m not sure what you are going on about.” She says.

I suddenly remember the wound on my chest; I grip my chest tightly, trying to feel the pain. But there was nothing. Was that all a dream, impossible! No, it definitely wasn’t. But, were we there only for a second inside the portal?

My mother has a confused expression on her face. “Don’t worry about it mother, I guess it was a dream.” I lie. At his moment my mother frowns “What? How can someone dream for barely a second and that too inside the portal?” “Anyways, let’s head down towards the market.” She then decides to drop the subject.

I can’t concentrate on the rest of the journey. I feel groggy, like I almost died out there.

We arrive at the marketplace; there were various kinds of shops selling books, meat, fruits and vegetables, jewellery, clothes, weapons, antiques, cooked food etc.

The smell of roasted meat permeated throughout the entire marketplace.

The entire marketplace was buzzing with the sounds of people laughing to haggling with the sellers.

My mind it’s all over the place, the various events that transpired kept on playing again and again within my mind.

My mother she saw the uneasiness in my eyes. She probably laid it down to me seeing a large crowd for the very first time.

After some time, we arrive in front of what seems like a very large antiques store. We step inside and walk towards the counter.

There was a young woman with beautiful features standing there. She looked at my mother and let out a loud shriek.

“Aleara, is that you? I haven’t seen you for quite a while!” She says excitedly.

“Yes, Tylene it’s me. How have you been doing?” replies my mother.

“Whose child is that?” asks Tylene.

“It’s mine of course” “His name is Azreth” “Azreth, this is my childhood friend Tylene” Says my mother to me.

“Greetings Aunt Tylene” I say to her with a slight bow.

“Oh, what a well-mannered child you have raised Aleara” Tylene commends my mother.

I look around the shop and find that it was quite spacious with many ancient antiques spread around.

“Mother, can I go and have a look around?” I ask my mother.

“Sure, but don’t break anything.” says my mother with a stern voice.

I look around the shop and find various swords, shields, talismans etc. These items seem to be quite expensive as there was no price tag less than a hundred gold. This must be one of those upmarket antique shops.

My mother seems to be good friends with Tylene I guess.

As I am looking around the shop at the very corner there is a young girl with an even younger boy in her arms. She seems to be about 4-5 years old. The boy seems to be about 1-2 years old.

I walk up to the girl and introduce myself “Hi, I am Azreth and what might be your name young miss?”

The girl flinch’s her eyes and the young boy chuckles with a laugh “Who are you and what are you doing here?” she says with a reserved voice.

“I came with my mother as she seems to be good friends with the lady behind the counter” I reply.

“That lady is my mother” “Anyways, my name is Lyra and I am 4 years old.” She says with some pride.

I’m not sure why she is prideful for her age.

“This is my younger brother Mikhail and he is a year old.” She announces with further pride.

I pat Mikhail on his head and he lets out a laugh. He seems to be happy, now I would also like a younger sibling as it might be some fun.

“I am 3 years old” I say to Lyra.

“Ha! See I am bigger than you” She responds.

I’m not sure whether this is some kind of competition or not.

“Come, I shall show you around the shop, But first take Mikhail in your arms as he seems to like you.” She then proceeds to thrust the baby boy into my arms.

I take him into my arms and he starts giggling with his drool spilling over my shoulder.

She then starts walking back towards the counter and I follow suit.

“Mother you have finally appointed someone as my personal servant” she says to Tylene.

“I’m not your servant and I just met you. Why can’t you be my servant?” I scowl back with a frown.

Both my mother and Tylene have an amused expression on their faces and then they both start laughing wildly. It’s not really funny or is it.

“My, Lyra has grown up to become a beautiful girl” Says my mother.

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Lyra then proceeds to blush and cover her face. “Lyra, do you recognise this lady? She is your mother’s best friend.” Tylene says to Lyra.

Lyra then shakes her head.

“I had last seen her when she was about a year old, of course she won’t remember me Tylene.” says my mother.

“Oh, and who might this be” my mother brings her face close to Mikhail.

“He is my son, his name is Mikhail” says Tylene with a hint of pride.

My mother then proceeds to take Mikhail from my arms and plays with him. He lets out a loud chuckle. Mikhail seems to be a really happy baby.

“Lyra, why don’t you show Mikhail around the shop?” Tylene says to her daughter.

“I was going to do just that, but Azreth must give me a piggyback around the shop.” Lyra pouts to her mother.

This woman must be crazy I think.

“Mother, I think I will be fine on my own” I say to my mother.

Lyra frowns on the verge of crying and then she really starts crying. This woman in an instant gives me a headache.

“Ok…Ok, stop crying. I will give you a piggyback. Wait what’s a piggyback?” I say to Lyra with a dejected expression on my face.

She then immediately stops crying and then immediately jumps upon my back and latches on to me.

“Well if you can’t be my servant, you shall be my personal horse from now on” she says aloud.

Both my mother and Tylene start laughing loudly again. I’m not sure what’s so funny about this situation I find myself in.

“You are really heavy Lyra” I smirk at her.

She then proceeds to pull my hair. “Am I still heavy now?” she says with a vicious expression on her face.

“Ouch…er…No, you are the lightest person in the world” I sigh in defeat. This only tends to further increase her prideful expression.

Carrying Lyra on my back, she takes me around the store showcasing different antiques and their various uses. I start to get bored from her long incessant explanations and let out a yawn.

“Getting bored huh…let’s go the basement where there are many useless antiques. While down there we might even catch a glimpse of the ghost!” she says excitedly.

“Ghost…What ghost, a spirit maybe, not sure about a ghost though” I say.

As I carry this woman towards the basement, she then hops off me. Oh, my aching back! I must get back at her.

As we enter the basement, it is in pitch black darkness. Lyra lights up a flame and that significantly lights up the room.

Then I start to feel cold…really cold. “Lyra, are you feeling cold?” I ask her. “No I don’t. Ha! Scared already” she haughtily replies.

I can feel all the pores in my body opening up and the frost seeping within, unsure as to why this phenomenon was happening to me. My mind is going numb; I can’t hear the chattering of Lyra as the frost is blocking my ears to all the sounds in my surroundings. I fall down on my knees with blood sneaking out of my mouth.

Lyra looks at me with a frightened expression. She mumbles something as I can’t seem to hear her and then she proceeds to run out of the basement.

I look around the basement and I see there is a sheathed sword at the back of the room. I realise the frost is emanating out of the sword as I can see blue waves coming out of it and attacking me.

I gather up my strength and trudge towards the sword. Suddenly, there is black smoke surrounding me. I no longer feel cold anymore; in fact as soon as the blue wave collides with the smoke, the wave then dissipates into the surroundings. I’m not sure what this black smoke is or where did it come from.

I can feel the smoke drawing energy from the surroundings and revitalising my body along the way. As soon as the black smoke touches any of the antiques; the antiques starts to break apart and then dissipate. All the antiques in my immediate surroundings were converted in to nothingness.

As I approached the sword it grew agitated, I tried to control the black smoke but it would not listen to me. I willed it to stop and then it did.

I picked up the sword and tried to unsheathe it. No matter how much strength I used it would not budge. Then I decided to try something, I tied to will some black smoke on my right hand and then gripped the sword.

The black smoke covered the sword in its entirety and then it finally unsheathed itself.

The blade had a pitch black radiance, it felt that everything in the world was beneath it and that it is destined to devourer all creation. Beneath the grip of the sword there were some words written ‘Eternal Blade’ I said them aloud and then suddenly the blade disappeared as if it never existed.