“Stop,” Gael said, coming to a sudden halt.

Thigh-high grass crumpled over and crunched underneath Gael’s boots as his overly large bag of tricks clanked against his back. Hooded under his black cloak, Gael’s yellow eyes darted left and right. Scanning the swaying grass that expanded far across the flat plains and to the distant mountains further west, Gael led us deep into the Whispering Plains, more commonly referred to as the Ghostly Plains.

I didn’t know if rumors of the lands being haunted were true. At least in daylight, the glistening sea of grass looked more picturesque rather than eerie. The area probably got its name from the westerly winds that constantly swept through the grassy terrain, making the area sound like it constantly whispered.

Then again, beneath us was a buried, century-long battlefield, which resulted in countless unmarked graves.

Three out of our party of four obeyed Gael’s command and came to a halt. By default, Nuria stopped as it jiggled on Gael’s shoulder.

“What is it? Why did you stop?” Asked Gael’s curly brown-haired brother, Aeron, standing unmoving behind the giant bag strapped over Gael’s back.

“This should be far enough,” Gael said after confirming that the coast was clear.

Unlike the other three in our four-member party, I had just about enough of following Gael’s orders. From the crack of dawn till now as the sun lay overhead, I showed Gael my benevolence and abided by his pleading request. I patiently remained dead of all movements and did not make a sound until we reached deep into the plains. But I behaved myself long enough.

Swoosh!

I zipped out of Gael’s bag, wind gliding down the cloth along the lengths of my metal body as the expansive blue sky rushed towards me. I soared before stopping in midair to take in the sights. Mountains covered in trees leveled across the horizon to the west, and the stone walls of Western Dwelf City lay far to the east.

Uncomfortably tight, I spun like a cyclone to unravel the long strip of cloth wrapped around my body.

“Finally!” I shouted at the sky, “Free at last!”

My new owner could not stop me anymore!

Breathing in, I exhaled out, “Phwaa!” taking in the earthy smells and damp grass.

Ok, I’m done.

Having my fill of freedom, I zipped back down and back to Gael.

“Phew,” I said. “That was a good stretch. Who knew I’d hate staying still so much? Can’t believe I remained inanimate for so many millennia. I missed out!”

I was long overdue to let loose and utilize my long stiff body. It was time for the real exercise to begin.

“Let’s see,” I said, excitedly slashing the pointy tip of my blade through the air. “These lands have been overgrown with weeds. Should I give them a good trim? Send some to the Void? Time to test out this baby!”

“Wait!” Gael shouted, “What are you going to do?”

Actually, what was I going to do? How was I supposed to invoke my awesome powers? Whatever they were.

Turning and pointing at Gael, I responded, “Hmmm… Good question, my guy. I don’t know. Should I cut open a crack in space and pulverize the army of grass? How did Euliad do it again?”

I flicked and swished back and forth, cutting the air while trying to recall the movements of the half-human-elf, Euliad.

Gael yanked his brother and jumped aside from being directly in line where I slashed. “Not at us! Point away!”

“I know. I know. I told you I cut foes, not friendlies. But unintentional friendly fire is kinda out of my hands.”

“What are you trying to insinuate, huh?! We’ll get crushed if pulled into the Void!” Gael shouted while waving a fist at me.

“…” I didn’t respond. Gael couldn’t take a joke. No need to make the guy any more angry.

“Interesting,” Aeron interrupted, stepping to Gael’s side and standing half a head taller. “So that is the talking sword you found, Gael?”

“Hmpf. You could've just asked me,” I snorted in Gael’s stead. “I am flying right beside you, you know?”

Ignoring me, Gael respectfully answered, “Yes, Brother,” while still glaring me down. “The rude thing has a snarky mind of its own and has a tendency to speak it.”

Huffing, I turned away, not falling for Gael’s taunts.

“I see,” said Aeron, not taking his eyes off of me. “Where did you chance upon it again, Gael?”

“The sword? I found it at the open-air bazaar on the Westside. A wrinkly old man had it displayed on the ground. The sword was entirely caked in grime and with a horribly rusty appearance.”

“Hey!” I shouted. “Untrue!”

“Was it not true?” Gael quipped back.

“…” I was not going to respond to that trick question. I was always great, even with some stuff stuck on me.

“Point proven,” Gael lied, turning to his brother. “Luckily, I religiously studied the notes and diagrams from the Great Gorland’s journal. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed the tiny exposed bit of long-lost Adamantine on the back of the sword’s spine.”

“I see. Good job, Gael. Master Gorland’s personal journal is priceless. Keep the piece of our family heirloom safe.” Aeron said, gripping hard onto something hidden underneath the chest area of his baggy gray robes. “It is too bad we do not have all of our family's inheritance. If we had at least the entire map, we could find Master Groland’s rumored hidden foundry and then clues to our family’s legacy.”

“We will, Brother,” Gael comforted with a pat on Aeron’s back. “We’ll take back the stolen piece of the map.”

“Agreed. And then we will also rightfully take back everything else stolen from us. The Gaunts Family will pay for what they’ve done, including that traitorous piece of talking armor, Goliath. ”

Clenching his jaw, Gael coldly added, “And also those godforsaken Dungeons. They will see blood for killing our parents. I’ll make sure of it, Brother.”

Patting Gael’s shoulder, Aeron said, “Leave the dirty work to me, Gael. Focus on your craft. Make our parents proud.”

“I’ll help you, Aeron!” Gael insisted. “I’ll create an army of golems! Our family will rise again!”

Aeron smiled, ruffling Gael’s hood. “Haha! Thanks, Little Brother. Work hard. I await your battalion of golems armed with talking swords and talking armor.”

Hmmm… I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on the private conversation, but since the duo talked in front of me, they must have insisted I listen in.

Golems, was it? Wasn’t one of Father’s assistants a golem manufacturer? They also mentioned a family inheritance. Stolen maybe? Or partially lost? But how did Father’s journal end up as part of it?

I thought about probing them for more information but decided to do it later. Honestly, I was not enthusiastic when the topic of my Father came up. Besides, I had more urgent matters at hand.

To take care of those important matters, I interrupted their little family moment of plotting revenge.

“How about helping this talking sword first, New Owner? The two of you mentioned my father’s journal. Are there clues in there? Does it say anything about how my siblings use their abilities?”

“His father? As in Master Gorland?” Aeron said with a surprised tone of voice.

Seemed like Gael glanced over a few details. Aeron’s yellow eyes narrowed and peered sharply at me. The cutting gaze was uncomfortable, but not necessarily of greed. They were dissecting me apart, calculating my every worth and determining my use.

“What is the meaning of this, Gael? How come you didn’t mention this before?”

“Ah! Apologies, Brother. We discussed so much last night, and I forgot to tell you. Let me tell you now. The talking sword is Master Artificer Groland’s last creation, his magnum opus, the failed sword, Ultimus.”

Gael’s last bit confused me. I knew not of this, ‘Ultimus.’

“Who?” I asked. “Ultimus? Whose name is that?”

“Yours,” Gael replied, flabbergasted. “Didn’t you know? That was the name the Great Gorland gave you.”

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A million thoughts spun in my mind. Father called me many things, terrible things, but he never called me by a given name. I always assumed I wasn’t given one because Father hated me.

“Lies!” I thundered with seething anger. “Father never gave me a name!”

Gael flinched. “…But that’s what he wrote down.”

“That can’t be,” I said while trembling. “He despised me. Loathed my entire existence!”

“Well… He did express that too. But Master Gorland did give you a name: Ultimus.”

Ultimus… The one word clung in the air and lingered in my mind. I had a name, a tossed-out piece of garbage like me. A real name. Not just nicknames.

An endearing name was something I always wanted. Desperately craved, even. But upon hearing my long-time wish, I couldn’t help but be bitter.

A name? After all these years? Che. Whatever, I don’t care. Yet, the name Father gave me still echoed in my mind, teasing me with bitter happiness. No! I shoved it aside. I decided I didn’t like the name he gave me.

“My name is not Ultimus, Gael. Call me Voidcutter. That’s the only one I will acknowledge.” Swishing in the air, I shook off any thoughts of my father. “Enough of that. Shall I, Voidcutter, now send this grass into the Void?”

“…Alright, Voidcutter.”

Took Gael a moment to say one word, but he agreed to everything.

“But away from us!” Gael exclaimed, jabbing his finger in the far distance away from him and his brother.

“Sure,” I said, but I was still clueless how to proceed. “Um, any ideas how?”

“Haaaa… Darn sword, gave me a scare for nothing. Hold on. Let me check to see.”

Shuffling his hand somewhere inside his black cloak, Gael took out a laminated journal and flipped through the many bookmarked tags to a specific page with cluttered writings and hand-drawn pictures of swords.

“Just as I recalled,” Gael muttered as if he confirmed what he already remembered by heart. “Alright, listen, Cutter of the Void, from what I’ve read, you should look closely at the great ores that make you. Observe what they do. Amplify it. Then manipulate it to your will. Hope that helps.”

“…The hell? What do you mean?”

“Darn sword. How would I know what the Master Artificer meant? Just closely observe the Stone of Vanishing Void composing your body and do what it does!”

“Che, why didn’t you just say so?”

My sight focused onto the blade of my body. The light of the sun overtook the glowing marks along the mosaic pattern, but I could still feel them—the Vulcrum Ore that awakened.

I peered closer, deeper into the intricate lines that formed a complex pattern akin to the infinite galaxies in the night sky. My attention was drawn into the rhythmic pulsing of the melded blueish-black particles.

In a trance, the infused Stones of Vanishing Void called out to me, pulling at me and everything around me. It was as if my mind split in two. I was one with my body, seeing from within, and yet outside, watching from the surroundings.

With a blooping sound, realities melded, I sank beyond the surface of my blade and embraced the metal fibers of my being. Oddly, my physical body also literally slipped through what felt like a membrane of sorts. Heavy air, almost like liquid, seeped around the edges of my blade before I was completely enveloped.

Sunlight glistened on the sea of swaying green grass, but the world I now saw blurred behind a distorted reality. It was as if the world was submerged in viscous and opaque water. And below this barrier of water was an endless, black abyss.

“What is this place?” I unconsciously asked Gael who stood next to me as I floated in the unknown. “Is that thing below us the Void?”

“Argh!” Aeron grunted. “What the heck is going on?!”

“I don’t know, Brother! It’s probably the sword!”

But Gael and Aeron didn’t respond to my questions. They looked rather funny in their precarious predicament, panicking in an awkward squatting state while trying to keep themselves standing upright.

“How strange. I think some invisible force is pulling down on you two, Gael.”

“Shit, what is this?” Aeron cursed, struggling to slide one foot over the flattened grass. “Everything suddenly became heavy. It is hard to move.”

“Hey, Sword!” Gael called out to me. “I mean, Voidcutter! Where are you!?”

Seemed like they couldn’t hear me or see me. But I could hear them just fine. Seeing, however, was a bit off. The question was how? It was as if I entered a sub-dimension on the same plane of existence.

Gosh, I hope I don’t get stuck here.

The harder I focused the darker the surroundings became. It was like the Void came closer.

I started to strain in order to see the brothers clearly. This strange place I slipped into warped their appearance as if I watched them through ripples in water. I found it rather funny, actually. At times, they appeared to be squeezing down into plump munchkin versions of themselves. Other times, they stretched long like skinny sticks.

“Are you doing this, Voidcutter!?” Gael shouted, “If you are, stop!”

“How would I know?” I responded, even though Gael did not hear me.

As I focused on the brothers, suddenly, the surroundings darkened like night, and I felt a strong tug from within my blade.

“Gah!” I grunted in surprise, faltering in the air as I slipped to the ground.

Energy rapidly drained out of me, and Gael and Aeron immediately plopped straight down to their hands and knees. Struggle as they might, the two could not budge, let alone stand up.

“Arghh,” Gael groaned. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. “What’s going on?! Is it a vengeful ghost!?”

No, it was not a vengeful ghost. It was likely me, a sword. For some reason, I sensed that I was the culprit smooshing them to the ground. But not going to lie, energy-depleting out of me aside, it was kind of fun.

“How curious,” I said, wanting to know more. “I wonder if I could touch Gael in his distorted form? What would happen?”

I flew closer, but it felt like swimming through mud. I had to push myself a little harder to move forward. Unfamiliar with the environment, I may have pushed myself a bit too far…

“Holy crap!” I shouted, piercing straight through Gael's head. “My guy! Are you okay?!”

“Voidcutter!” Gael exclaimed. “If you’re doing this, STOP!”

“Oh, thank the Great Spirt,” I said with a deep breath of relief. “You’re not dead.”

“Pu, pu, pu…” Nuria squirmed like a pancake on the back of Gael’s head.

“Don’t fall off Gael, Nuria!” Aeron shouted. “You’ll start a wildfire!”

I needed to figure out whatever was happening. Fast.

Scooting back, I thought maybe the extra space would lessen the strange pull of gravity, but Gael and Aeron continued grunting under the heavy pull on their bodies.

Anxiety started to gnaw at my state of mind. Panic started to take over. “Crap! Crap! Crap! How do I turn it off?”

The brothers began panting for air. The heavy pull on their bodies pushed their limbs into the ground, which began to sink into a crater. I needed to stop this weird power of mine. Now.

Think! How did this happen?!

The Vulcrum Ore composing my body!

Looking at the piece that started it all, I submerged myself into my body. Connecting deeply with the fibers of my being, I now sensed where all of my energy was being sucked into: the infused Stones of Vanishing Void.

“Stop!” I commanded, snapping off part of my supply of energy.

And poof, like magic, Gael and Aeron stopped sinking into the ground. Exhausted, the brotherly duo folded over onto their sides with their limbs still stuck in the dirt. They swallowed mouths full of air, gasping after being choked out of their breaths.

Strangely, as my energy stopped feeding the ore in my body, the distortions cleared a bit and became bright as day again. Gael and Aeron appeared more normally shaped as if I was looking at them through completely calm water. The two brothers now looked more like their correct forms, no longer distorting between the shape of a dwarf and elf. But the biggest difference was the pitch-black darkness below me; the Void was much further away.

Hmmm… I pondered to myself. I found out a few things about my new power. I hypothesized a theory—I could control the distance of the Void. The closer the Void is to my intended target, the stronger the pulling effect on their body. That, or I manipulated the area between the real world and the Void.

But this space—this place in between the Void and reality… What was it?

“Voidcutter!” Gael called out to me after successfully pulling himself out of the ground. “Where are you?!”

Turning to his brother, Gael asked, “You don’t think the sword ran away, do you, Brother?”

“You didn’t bind it to you?” Aeron said in disbelief.

Shaking his head, Gael said, “I couldn’t.”

Completely disconnecting from the Stones of Vanishing Void, I gave Gael a jump scare, blooping out right beside Gael’s head. Note to self, don’t re-phase in anything solid.

“Ta-da! I was here all along! Technically.”

The lengths of my body were stuck inside the bag on Gael’s back. Thank goodness, I was not infused, but I definitely stabbed through.

“Oh, whoops. Sorry, Gael,” I said, trying to discreetly remove myself from being impaled through Gael’s bag. Slipping out, I added, “You said you were also called the Weaving Migrant, right? You’ll patch that right up, no problem, my guy.”

“No problem?! You were mere inches from my head! Didn’t I tell you to be careful!?”

“I did! I was! But I didn’t know exactly what was going on. It just sort of happened. It's a different world in there.”

“Alright, alright,” Aeron said, calming Gael down. But suddenly, yoink! My hilt was grabbed hard. I was yanked before Aeron's glaring yellow eyes. Looking at me with a judging glare, Aeron asked, “Are you remorseful, Sword? You could have truly harmed my brother.”

The shame hit me hard.

“I- I am,” I said as the tip of my blade drooped down from the air. “I am sorry, Gael. I didn’t mean any harm. I’ll be more careful.”

“Good,” Aeron snapped, releasing me with a tossing push. “Had you harmed him, I would have done much more terrible things to you. Understand that your actions have consequences. I expect more for a sword that has lived for thousands of years.”

“Yes, sir,” I reflexively said, hilt bowing down as if reprimanded by Father.

“Alright, alright,” Gael quickly jumped in. “I’ll forgive you. Just be more careful, ok? That ability is no joke.”

“Agreed…” Aeron said, his calculating yellow eyes never leaving me.

“I’m very sorry, Gael. I will ingrain it into my being,” I apologized but kept my distance from Aeron. His yellow eyes kept gleaming at me with unknown intentions.

“We’ll have to adjust our plans, Gael. Especially those planned for the Dungeons. All that just happened changes everything. With some training and fine-tuning, the sword can greatly help us.” Turning to me, Aeron stated, “I heard you owe Gael a favor, Sword. Two now, that you almost killed him.”

I gulped, sensing a foreboding feeling from the deep yellow eyes that wanted to consume me. “What’s it to you? I don’t owe you anything.”

“True, but what if Gael asks you to do as I say?”

“Please, help us, Voidcutter,” Gael begged.

Crap, what was I supposed to do now? Refuse?

“Fine. But only because Gael asked.”

“Good. Let’s hone that ability of yours. Glad you will be helping us out, but prepare yourself,” Aeron decreed. “There is much to do.”

For some reason, I felt like I was just snubbed into the two brother’s scheme.

.