“W-who was that Steve?! W-what do we d-do,” I asked anxiously, my hands shaking violently as we hid behind the desk.

Steve said nothing, only staring at the ground.

“O-oh shit, oh shit, oh s-shit. We’re g-gonna fucking die.”

“Rowan. We’re kids. We’re not allowed to cuss,” Steve whispered.

“D-does that really m-matter right now? W-we’re about to fucking d-die!”

“Have a little faith in me…” Steve said, peeking over the desk.

“Just… breathe slowly, okay? Keep yourself calm.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but instead nodded, before practicing my breathing.

After about a minute, Steve sat back down, looked me in the eye, and said “Okay, I need you to keep an eye on the man. Tell me the exact moment he gets to the door. Can you do that for me?”

“Y-yes…”

“Good.”

As Steve pulled out a disk from his belt, I peek over the desk, seeing outside the window a large, muscular man wearing what looked to be an army uniform. The man walked into a room on the left side of the hallway, which had a sign labeling it as the science lab.

“C-can he see us t-through the glass?”

“No. It’s one-way. The principal must’ve not wanted anybody to see inside unless he gave them permission.”

After a few seconds, the man walked out of the science lab, and into a room on the left labeled as the “Library”.

A red light flashed out of the corner of my eye, followed by a beeping sound. When I looked in it’s direction, I saw Steve with a large piston-like device in his hands.

“Okay, here’s the plan. I place this on the glass, then we wait for the soldier to walk inside, then walk around the desk, only to see the swords. At the same time, we crawl around to the other side, and wait for the piston to smash the glass. We then crawl back to this side of the desk as the man runs to the glass, before we sneak attack him.”

“I-I don’t think we’re ready t-to kill someone…”

“Would you rather I die and you are forced to go back to your father?”

“H-how do we know he’s after u-us? M-maybe he’s only h-here for the s-swords?”

Steve sighed.

“Look. I don’t like the idea of killing someone for the first time either. But do we really have any other choice?”

…

“N-no, I g-guess not.”

Steve looked at me for a moment, before going to the glass and placing the pistol, before running back to me as quietly as possible.

As soon as he got back, the door creaked open, and the soldier walked inside.

“Oh. The Swords of Creation. Was wondering where you went. Think I’ll bring you to Robert once I’m done with these little bastards,” the man spoke, having a rough and raspy voice.

I felt my spine shake against the chasms of my back, but not from the man’s voice.

Not soon after he spoke, I heard footsteps, before seeing Steve sneak to the left side of the desk. I followed him.

Steve waited a few seconds, then peeked around the desk. He immediately pulled himself back, and pulled out a hand-held device with a button on top, kind of similar to a detonator.

The piston device pulled back, before slamming into the glass, shattering most of it as the device quickly transformed into a grey disk that fell to the ground.

The man hopped directly over the desk and rushed to the shattered window, before yelling “Dammit! You’re not getting away you little fucks!”

As he hopped over the glass pane, Steve snuck over to the pane, picking up a large, sharp chunk of glass before hopping onto the pane.

He then leapt onto the man’s back, stabbing him as high as possible. The soldier groaned in pain, before grabbing Steve’s leg and slamming him into the ground in front of him.

I immediately looked back at the swords in the glass case.

C’mon, you have to go get them! Steve’s in trouble, Pemo encouraged.

I… can’t. It’s hard enough to even look at them… why am I so scared of those… things?

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

That doesn’t matter right now! Go help Steve!

Without thinking anymore, I slammed by elbow into the glass case, shattering it completely. I then grabbed the swords, and pulled back, realizing that they were being held by something.

I pulled with all my strength, and the swords snapped out of their restraints. This cause me to fall back into the desk.

As soon as I recovered, I ran around the desk, as close to the shattered window as possible, and holding one of the swords back in my hand like a javelin.

Before I knew it, the sword sparked with red and green electricity, as it slowly morphed into a spear, just before I threw it forward.

The now spear rammed through the soldier’s sides, piercing everything in its way. I blinked, and once my eyes were open again, the spear had completely gone through the man’s hip, tearing him clean in half.

As the man’s top side slid off, and blood started to squirt out of both halves, I dropped to the ground, looking at my shaking hands. And then I puked. All over the corpse.

Once I was done, I looked back at my now puke-covered hands, and that’s when I saw something weird.

My hands were completely electrified with red electricity. But it hadn’t come from the swords. The electricity was shooting out of my palms and wrist.

I shook my hands, trying to get the electricity to disappear. It took a few attempts, but eventually it was gone.

What the?

I didn’t have long to think about it, though, as eventually Steve coughed and gasped for air, snapping me out of my trance.

I picked up the sword next to me, then ran out of the office to check on my friend.

I grabbed Steve’s arm and helped pull him up, as he caressed his neck and said “Fuck. He tried to strangle me.”

“A-are you o-okay?”

“Yeah. I am. Thanks. I… I know it was a hard decision for you.”

I looked at the spear impaled in the hallway wall, which was covered by blood, intestines, and bone.

“D-don’t mention it,” I replied, continuing to stare at the spear. I watched as it shifted from a spear back into a sword, still stuck in the wall.

After a moment, Steve walked over to the sword in the wall, and pulled it out, before saying “We should move.”

We began walking down the hallway to the cafeteria, but I could barely feel my feet. Or… any part of my body.

You okay Rowan, Raen asked, uncharacteristically concerned.

No… not really. I’m fucking terrified… shit, I’m cussing again.

Hey, it’s okay. Just means you’re growing up.

Or he’s losing self control, Raen commented.

But… why did I save him? I basically just chose between him and my father… and I chose Steve.

Why do you think, Raen asked rhetorically.

…

“H-hey… Steve?”

“Yes, Rowan,” Steve replied distantly.

“T-there’s something I w-want to a-ask you, if it’s alright.”

…

“S-Steve?”

“Sure.”

“O-okay… w-well… what I-I wanted t-to ask I-Is…”

My heart started to beat faster than ever before.

“Hey, breathe.”

“R-right.”

I did the breathing exercises for about a minute, noticing how my muscles slowly loosened over time, causing the burdens and weight I’ve been carrying to fly right off.

“A-alright… h-here goes.”

“Rowan?”

“W-what I wanted t-to ask w-was… w-well…”

“Hey, buddy?”

“W-what?”

“Duck.”

“H-huh?”

“DUCK,” Steve screamed, pulling me down to the ground with him before a tank shell zoomed past our heads.

The shell went all the way down the hallway, in just a couple seconds, before blowing up the wall at the end.

Steve grabbed my wrist, and we ran to a classroom door on the right, which Steve swung open before we hid behind it.

I tried to step further into the classroom, but Steve gripped my hand tighter, to which I looked into his eyes confused.

“Something’s off. They didn’t immediately fire at us,” he whispered.

…

“Wait. Do you hear that?”

I listened closer, but heard nothing. I shook my head side to side.

“Alright… I think I know the tank drivers.”

Steve put down a sword and took a step away, starting to let go of my hand, but I grabbed his hand on top of the one holding mine, as I stared into his eyes.

“A-are you s-sure?”

“Yes.”

Hesitantly, I let go, and he turned around the door with his hands in the air.

“It’s me!”

A bright light illuminated almost the entire hallway.

Then, a male voice said though what sounded like a loudspeaker “Just you Steve?”

Steve looked at me, gesturing his hand. In response, I slowly peeked my head out, hopefully showing the tank drivers who I was.

“Holy shit! We almost killed both of them,” a different voice, less commanding, screamed.

“Except we didn’t. Everything’s fine, Dylan. Come on over the both of you!”

I picked up both swords, and we walked past the cafeteria, closer and closer to the tank just barely outside, visible thanks to the absurd amount of windows in the cafe.

Then, we stepped outside the school, and I saw that the tank hatch was open and there were two men, one standing inside the tank and the other sitting on the side.

They were both white, though one had green eyes and blond hair and the other had brown eyes and hair. The second one actually looked… kind of average. Like what you’d picture when you think of a stereotypical person.

“Hey Issac, Dylan! Have you met Rowan,” Steve greeted.

The average-looking man looked to me, and his eyes widened.

“No… it can’t be.”

I dropped the swords, pretending to be worried about them hating that I was the one holding them. But, really, I just wanted an excuse to get them as far away from me as possible.

“So… who got possession of them first,” the blond man asked curiously.

“Well, Issac… I actually think it was Rowan,” Steve answered.

“N-no… I’m g-gifting them to you,” I responded quickly.

“But… it’s tradition! Every 100 years, the swords are brought to a random location, and whichever family gets possession of them first gets the right or them until the next 100 years,” Steve argued.

I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued, “I’m not taking no for an answer. They belong to you now.”

“B-but…”

“No, I said—”

“AND I SAID I DON’T WANT THEM,” I screamed, immediately covering my mouth and whispering “sorry” multiple times.

…

“Alright,” Steve said, picking up the swords, “I’ll take them. If that’s what you want.”

“Oh shit…,” Issac mumbled, pressing his middle and index finger against his ear.

“What’s wrong?”

“The camp… it’s under attack!”

“Shit,” Dylan cussed.

Steve started to get on the tank, and was about to hand Dylan the swords in his hands, until he looked back at me.

“W-what?”

“You should take one of the swords. Just in case.”

“W-what? Why?”

“Because… if I die, I need to know that at least you’ll have at least one of the swords to defend yourself.”

“I… o-okay.” I took one of the swords out of Steve’s hands.

Steve nodded in acknowledgment, then climbed onto the tank.

I waited till Steve had sat down, and the tank started moving into the forest, and I waved gently at him.

Steve looked at me waving, and did nothing, until the tank was at the tree line, in which he did a little wave back.

And here we go.