Hiya readers!

Due to  popular request I tried writing my story in First Person. Tell me which one you like best :)

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Allow me to tell you a story. The story of two boys, both young and full of life, facing the strange and weird ways of their world. It is not a pretty story, mind you, but it is my story and I can guarantee it that it's worth telling.

This story takes place in Halram, the militaristic kingdom that has fought its neighbors for centuries. The country was in a state of never ending war and because of this a lot of sinister activities started to take root in the country’s foundation. Theft, death, rape, it was all common place in the capital city of Halram, aptly named Capital City. Heck, these activities were common in all crowded places of the country. Human being were treated as livestock, women were sold on the black market for pennies. It was a world where the strong thrived and the weak were trampled.

Luckily enough, our heroes don’t live in such a crowded place, but in Sophia Village. It was once a renowned city of learning but due to a catastrophic fire it was burned down to the ground, only 52 residents remained. With that fire, however, most of the rotten filth ran out of the city with their tails between their legs, never to return. It might seem odd, but this was one of the very few places in the country where ‘peace’ actually had a meaning.

But that’s enough about the setting, I think you’ll find our two heroes much more interesting. Shall I continue?

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This tale begins on a beautiful sunny day, it was truly the perfect representation of an ideal summer. The grassy plains shone bright green, the flowers adding spots of vivid color to the endless ocean of lime. The foliage swayed back and forth as the wind rushes through their bodies. The insects were flying from flower to flower to collect as much nectar as possible to fill their bellies.

In somewhere in the middle sat a boy, silently observing the scene in front of him. His short blue hair swayed with the winds and his white pants were flapping in every direction. He sat there, motionlessly and shirtless, eyeing all activity in front of him as if to absorb every little detail. His dark blue eyes were focused on everything and nothing at the same time. His tanned skin shone brightly in the sunlight. 

This boy, it’s me.

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind from any distractions. I stood up and placed my hands in front of me, pouring spiritual energy into them as I do so. As I do so I summon my Soul, a heavy long sword with light blue blade appeared in my hands out of thin air. The air around it was frigid, the sword radiated an aura of ice that contrasted with the heat of the sunlight shining on my face. I gripped the golden handle, not even noticing the intricate patterns nor the green jade like gem that protruded from the hilt’s end.

I compensated for the sudden change in weight. I assumed a stance where I could react to any sudden movements, right foot forwards. I listened to my surroundings and heard to sound of the wind rustling through the grass, the bees buzzing from flower to flower. I took in my surroundings using only my ears, and I dare say I did it fairly well.

I opened my eyes and started my training. I lifted my sword and placed my left foot in front. I swung down, cleaving empty air, and rotated my entire body halfway. I took another step, backwards bit in the same direction, as I raised my sword again as fast as my small body could handle, still turning as I do this. After completing a single rotation I had raised my sword again in a fluid motion and I continued to attack the imaginary opponent in front of me. I became an icy whirlwind of steel that reflected the sun’s light in all directions.

After repeating this pattern a few times I returned to the defensive position from earlier and prepared for my next sequence of attacks. I’d trained both of these attacks quite rigorously and was able to pull them off without much difficulty but I still had to train them. My enemy would exploit any openings I leave.

I took a few breaths and stepped forward again with my right foot. While doing so I lunged forwards with the tip of my sword, thrusting forward. I stopped mid motion and raised the hilt of my blade to create a defensive surface in front of my body with the blade. I then thrust again and repeated the same actions a few times.

At this point I was starting to get tired, sweat was pouring down my spine and the sun wasn’t making things any easier. Even the cold aura of my Soul wasn’t enough to cool me down.

So I decided to take a rest. I struck my sword into the ground and sat on the ground. I sat cross legged, closed my eyes and breathed deeply, I entered a state of meditation. After a few seconds the blade vanished into thin air and its essence returning to my body.

As I sat there I noticed something odd, something was approaching me at a slow pace. It was obvious the approaching entity tried to conceal their presence but evidently they failed.

I kept quiet and just sat there, pretending not to notice anything. As it came closer I couldn’t help but smile, I was going to scare the heck out of her. The moment the lurker was at my back I yelled at the top of my lungs:

“BOO!”

“AAARGHH!” exclaimed the visitor in a girly voice. I could heard her fall to the ground with a soft thumping sound.

I turned around and looked at the little girl. . She, too, had blue hair cut off at her shoulders. She wore a simple one piece dress that made her look cuter than any other girls her age. Her big blue eyes looked at me as if ready to start crying.

This is my little sister.

“Ragnar, you’re so mean! At least you could have pretended to not notice me!” she said with a quivering voice.

I laughed and said, “And miss out the chance to mess with you? Dream on!”

“But my dress is all dirty now! Dad’s going to get mad at me.” She stood up and showed the back of her dress which was clearly stained bright green. “I’m going to tell Dad!”

“But Mia, that’s all your fault! You should always be ready for the unexpected. Let that be a wise lesson to you on how to survive,” I said as I stood up. I patted some dirt from my pants and looked at my sister. Even though I was only 1.5 years older I was so much more mature than her. She was still an adorable little 9 year old while I was obviously a manly and heroic teenager.

“Not everyone is a military freak as yourself,” the little girl said and she stuck out her tongue.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Oh Mia, how naïve you are…” I sighed. This was Halram Kingdom, a country that is constantly at war. I was going to protect the village and everyone I cared about. To do so I’d have to become strong, stronger than any enemy I might face.

“I watched you for a bit from afar. You seem to have gotten much better with your soul sword,” Mia had already calmed down a bit.

“Off course! I train hard every morning just to get better with it! How could I not improve?” I had been doing this kind of training for years. Every morning, before the rooster woke, I’d start my daily routine of push-up and pull-ups. Afterwards, I would always move to a quiet and remote location to practice my swordsmanship. My body had formed very fine muscles in the process and I was already very handsome for my age.

“But why a 2 handed sword? Isn’t a one handed sword easier to handle?” asked the girl. I had been training like this since before she could even remember, but she never actually understood her brother’s thinking.

“A claymore might not be as easy to use as, let’s say, a cutlass, but it is far more destructive. It can cut through enemy armor much nicer and can also provide a defensive surface to protect myself.” I had researched weapons for a long time and had come to the conclusion that longswords were the best.

“Uhu,” the girl nodded. Her brother knew everything about weapons so she didn’t doubt it. “And why did you make it blue?”

I let out a small laugh and replied, “That’s just for style. I chose to make my sword in the ice element because it just suited my looks.” I pointed at my eyes and hair.

My sister thought about that for a moment, she could understand that the last part very well. We were the only ones in the entire village, except for our father, to have blue hair. Visitors always pointed it out and called us freaks. Mia had cried herself to sleep on a number of occasions as someone made fun of her hair color. But as we grew older, we grew to accept our difference.

I not only accepted it, I was flaunting it proudly.

“That’s really cool!” she exclaimed. 

Literally, I thought, but I kept my mouth shut. That pun was just too bad.

I sighed and placed my hands in front of me again. I concentrated my energy into the form of my sword and summoned it once again. It appeared in the blink of an eye and the air around us cooled down instantly.

Mia looked at the sword for a second and asked, “Would it still be this cold in any other shape?”

I hadn’t really thought about it. I had experiments with various shapes and weapons, but the cold was only a recent addition. And since I didn’t know, I decided to try it out. I concentrated on the shape of the sword, imagining it in the shape of an axe, and the sword lit up in a bright blue light. It started to change shape. Little by little the outlines of an axe could be seen and once it was done changing form, the light disappeared. I now held a double sided axe with a golden handle and light blue head, the head featuring some golden designs on it.

“So cool! This axe looks really pretty, why don’t you use this one?” my sister proclaimed.

“Because an axe gets stuck too easily,” he replied. “An axe might have more attack power, but it just gets stuck after every strike. A sword swings much more fluidly.”

Mia had never seen combat but she imagined the splitting of firewood and she could sort of grasp what I was talking about.

“You’ve asked me these questions before though. Didn’t you know this already?” I said and I made the axe dissolve again. It was kind of heavy.

“Teehee, I just forgot,” said Mia with an innocent smile meaning she just didn’t really care for the answer.

“Anyways, Ragnar, let’s go visit Ymil in the bookstore. I bet he’s lonely!” the girl was hopping up and down.

“We should let him be. He’s at work,” I replied but I was already getting up to go.

“You wanna go play with him too, just admit it,” said Mia cheerfully and she ran back in the direction of the village.

Off course I wanted to play, I was only 11 years old, but I wanted my sister to think of me as a grownup. “Yeah yeah…” I said and followed Mia. But as soon as I started to run my competitive side got the better of me.

“The last one at the book store is a fat little piglet!” And I sprinted past my little sister.

“Hay, that’s not fair! You’re older!” And she started to run as fast as she could. 

My sister is kinda cute, isn’t she?

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And that’s it for my introduction. I’ll be taking care of my side of the story but I’ll leave Ymil’s side up to him. I can’t really claim to know everything he’s been through, now can I?

Oh, I don’t think I’ve explained this yet, but the Soul is something everyone on the planet receives upon birth. It is a gift that our beloved Mother Earth has bestowed upon humanity as she saw how the cavemen were having trouble surviving. It is a spiritual tool that can take on any shape until we turn 16. Kids can freely summon their Soul to help them around with daily chores or to just play around. Knives, swords, books, dolls, you name it. As long as you can imagine it, it can take that shape. It’s a really handy tool as it is stored in our mind, its ‘essence’ floats around in our subconscious until we summon it. Just think of it as a Swiss army knife that is even more compact.

Sadly enough, as you grow older it becomes increasingly difficult to change its shape and when you turn 16 you lose the ability entirely. It’s not a bad thing though! The shape it settles in is chosen by your subconscious, or your future depending on the theory, but it never takes on a shape the owner would be dissatisfied with. And because they lost the ability to change its shape, the Soul a person has will become stronger as he or she trains to use it.

I, for one, hoped that my Soul would settle as an ice blade, much like the one I was using just now. I mean, they are so cool (no pun intended)! If I could master the ice element I could freeze my opponents before they even reach me, that’d be an instant victory for me!

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