In the middle of nowhere, there is a village. The village is protected by a giant guardian beast. The guardian beast is in the shape of a snake. The beast exists to protect the people of the village and is completely friendly towards them. Everything is completely peaceful in the village. Most of the residents are content with living their peaceful lives in the village. However, one starry-eyed fourteen-year-old. Wanted something more, something exciting.
Karina was five foot nine, she was taller than the average woman in the country. Karina had shoulder-length blue hair which she commonly had in a braided ponytail. Her eyes were the color of an emerald illuminated by the sun. She had peach-colored skin with a little bit of a tan. She had explored the nearby woods her entire childhood, so she knew it like the back of her hand. Though most people never left the village, there was no rule against leaving. Karina was bored of the slow daily life as a member of the village.
She would often skip out on chores when something piqued her interest. When she couldn’t skip out she would do the task as quickly as possible. This resulted in her being able to quickly chop down trees. She could quickly carry a large amount of logs to wherever it was needed. Despite her young age, she is considered one of the stronger and faster members of the village. She was fascinated by the books about the heroes saving the day and exploring the world. She was currently skipping out on chores and reading whilst atop her home’s roof. “I wanna go on an adventure. Even if I end up as a nameless adventurer. I just wanna see the world.” Karina spoke her thoughts aloud in hopes of manifesting the possibility.
“Legend has it there is a sword with unimaginable power, that is harbored in a remote village. The villagers made an ancient pact with a goddess that prevents them from misusing the power of the sword. Those hailing from the village are completely incapable of using a sword no matter how much effort they put in. This isn’t an issue as they are said to be peaceful and don’t use weapons. The exact location of the sword is only known to a select few. The name of this legendary weapon is Volingaud. Just saying the name gets my adventurous heart going.” Karina excitedly said while she was reading a book about the legend. “As much as I’d love to be the one wielding the legendary sword. I don’t think I’m the hero the world needs and there isn’t a threat that needs the power of that sword to beat. We are in an era of peace, which isn’t that bad as that means I can have a nice and relaxing adventure with my future allies without worrying about the world being destroyed.”
Before Karina knew it, the sun had begun to set and she skipped more chores than she originally planned. Which caused her to panic, but only a little. She quickly climbed down and through her room’s window. Then she returned her book to her room’s bookshelf. She walked down the wooden stairs to arrive at the family room.
Her parents awaited her and they had their arms folded. They looked at Karina with disappointed looks in their eyes. Her dad had blue eyes while her mom had the same emerald green as hers. Karina’s passionate fire dimmed down as she met their gaze. “Sorry Mom and Dad, I got distracted reading and I skipped more chores than I meant to.” Karina apologized.
The disappointed look faded from their eyes and it was instead replaced with a warm smile. “More than you meant to huh? You goofball, whatever will we do with you.” Her dad smiled while rubbing the top of Karina’s head.
“We understand you are passionate about adventure, but you need to be responsible enough to take care of yourself in the outside world.” Her mom spoke to her in a gentle tone.
“Outside world? Does that mean you guys are going to let me go on an adventure?” The passionate fire had once again returned to Karina’s eyes.
“Whoops, I guess I ruined the surprise huh.” Her mom laughed at her own mistake.
“The surprise is ruined, but yes once you turn eighteen we were thinking about letting you go out into the world.” Her dad smiled. “So long as you stop skipping so many chores.” Her dad jokingly added. They ate dinner together as a family.
Once morning rose, Karina had woken up on time despite normally sleeping in. Her being up surprised her dad as he wasn’t used to seeing her up so early. After she ate breakfast, she went into the main area of town to hang out. The other villagers greeted her but were just as surprised as her dad seeing her up so early.
The village, like most of the world, had people of all kinds. Some were human, some were half animal half human, some were humanoid animals, and others were different races like dwarves or elves. They were all residents of the village, so no one cared about each other’s differences. The world was at peace and the current king of the country was a good man, so peace was probably going to last for a while.
The only danger was a few scumbag people and monsters. However, without the monsters, a lot of adventurers would be out of their jobs. The monsters in most areas weren’t particularly strong, so there wasn’t much to worry about. Karina made her way to part of the which was still under construction.
The workers had tapped off the area from civilians, to prevent injury. They carried big logs of wood and heavy carts of stone. “Hey you there, be careful, this place is under construction.” One of the workers said in the distance. However, upon looking again he realized that it was Karina. “Oh it’s you Karina, I’m surprised to see you up this early. Would you mind helping carry the materials from the woods to the construction site?” The big guy asked Karina. Karina gave a thumbs up and walked towards the woods where she met up with more construction workers who were preparing the materials. After she greeted the workers, they told her which materials to bring over.
Karina left carrying a bundle of four large logs. While she made her way back to the construction site. “I wish she was this motivated to help us with our work all the time. Despite her young age, she has some incredible strength. But we all know her heart doesn’t beat for manual labor.” The worker commented to his buddy.
“You got that right, but I do wish she was a part of our team. That girl makes our work go so much faster when she is helping.” The other worker laughed. The pair just happily chatted while doing their work. Karina helped the workers for a bit and thanks to her insane stamina and strength they ended up getting all the materials they needed to the construction site before lunch. All trees that were used had saplings planted in their place.
Once lunchtime began, Karina said her goodbyes to the workers and went to eat lunch. While on her way to grab some food at a cafe, she met up with her friend Thomas. Thomas is a couple of months older than Karina and he was raised in a family of clerics. He and Karina have been neighbors forever. He manifested healing magic at an early age, and because Karina often got injured due to her recklessness he was able to hone his healing abilities far more than most clerics. The young man had short fire red hair and ruby red eyes. He was only five foot six, so he was shorter than Karina.
“Hey, Tommy.” Karina Greeted Thomas.
“Hey, Rina.” Tommy returned Rina’s greeting. “Wanna grab lunch at the cafe together?” He asked Rina.
“Sounds good, I was on my way there anyway. Now I’ve got a friend to eat with me.” Rina smiled, as she pulled Tommy along by his wrist towards the cafe. The cafe was a building with a dark wood frame. It was owned and run by Mary and her family. Mary was an older lady whose hair had long since turned gray. She and her wife, Catty started the business together decades ago. Catty is two years older than Mary and also a cat lady. They live upstairs above the cafe with their two adopted children. Their children also help with the cafe during their free time.
After sitting down the pair began to talk, but were interrupted by Catty asking for their order. They gave their order and their food and drinks quickly arrived. Once they were all situated they continued chatting.
“Tommy, my parents are going to let me go out into the world and adventure when I turn eighteen. I’m so excited.” Rina said all giddy from excitement.
“I figured it would happen at some point. They know they can’t keep you here forever. It’s either they let you go or you’ll end up sneaking away and make them worried.” Tommy sighed. “If possible I’d like to go with you. Someone’s gotta make sure you get healed up whenever you decide to do something reckless.” Tommy let out a light laugh.
“That sounds like a great idea Tommy. I’ll need the village’s best healer for my party, but it'd be nice to have a friend to come along with me.” Rina smiled, accepting Tommy’s offer to join her party. They happily ate their meal together and then split up after lunch to do their own thing.
Rina went to the edge of town and what awaited her was the giant white-scaled snake that protected the village. “Hey Sylvia, how’s it going?” Rina asked the massive snake. After jumping to the top of the head and sitting down.
“Oh Rina, it’sss you, the village is sssafe from monstersss. Ssso it’sss rather peaceful. Actually, I have a presssent for you.” Sylvia said as a ball of light came out of her mouth. The ball of light hovered into Rina’s hands. Once it landed in her hands the light disappeared and the gift was revealed. The gift was a pair of white gloves. However, they weren’t ordinary gloves. “I made thessse usssing my scalesss and ssshedded skin with a touch of magic. Thessse glovesss will protect your handsss from any steel edge.” Slyvia explained. The gloves were white and had a protective layer of the guardian snake’s skin as well as scales on the knuckles. It was both protective and flexible which was perfect for a brawler like Rina. Rina put them on and they fit perfectly. She had a big grin as she punched the air with them on.
“I love them! They feel great and it feels like you’re protecting me while I wear them. Thank you so much, Sylvia!” Rina happily exclaimed.
“That’sss good I hope you will ussse your time before you leave to get usssed to them.” Slyvia happily said. Rina joyfully chatted with Slyvia while riding atop the snake’s head. After they finished talking, Rina went home to do some chores and then ate dinner.
Elsewhere in a different remote village where an ancient sword sleeps. The village is at a cliff’s edge surrounded by waterfalls and the villagers are peacefully enjoying their day. The king’s guards are stationed in the village to chase away fools attempting to steal the sword for themself. The guards are no slouches as they are specially trained to deal with humans.
However, the exact location of the sword is only known to a few people. Only the primary guardian family is privy to the exact location. The knowledge of the exact abilities of the sword has been lost, as the sword hasn’t been used in a very long time. The current guardian family was a family of four: The father, the mother, and their two children, Carel and Lui. The father and mother were in their forties. The father was a dark brown-haired, tall guy with golden yellow colored eyes. While the mother had light red hair with vibrant red colored eyes. She was around the same height as her husband. They were childhood sweethearts and learned how to fight from the same master. Although they were both pacifists and hadn’t wielded a weapon in years their skills have long since rusted. It was an era of peace and the sword’s power discouraged monsters from approaching the village.
Most residents of the village could no longer fight, except for two people. Carel and Lui, the current generation of guardians. Lui was a teenager who had short red hair was average height and was above average strength-wise. He had the same golden-colored eyes as his father but didn’t inherit the height. He also is easily spooked and hates fighting against people. Carel was the fighting ace of the family and the entire village. She was tall, and muscular, had long wild red hair, and wielded a large battle ax which she was blessed with by a guardian beast. She received the large battle ax which was far too large to be considered a human’s weapon after beating the guardian beast in a bare-knuckle fistfight. The fistfight lasted three days and three nights. In the end, the beast could not continue brawling. Carel was just practicing punching an ancient tree that mere steel couldn’t even scratch.
The peace was interrupted when a tall man with short black hair wearing jet-black full-plated armor without a helmet arrived. He arrived with a legion of monsters following behind him and several mysterious figures behind him. The king’s guards were instantly slaughtered by a mere wave of his sword. They had made the first move and had paid dearly for it. “How rude, they didn’t even let me begin speaking.” The powerful man sighed after easily dispatching the king’s guards who attacked him. “Now, where is the magic blade known as Volinguad? If you do not tell me where it is, I will flatten this entire village until I find it.” The man spoke with authority. Many of the villagers began to panic, as they believed this was the end. The king’s guards which had always protected them were slaughtered so easily. The people in a panic began to whisper about the whereabouts of the guardian family. Not long after the people began to wonder, the entire family arrived. The father and mother were in the front while Lui was in the middle and in the far back by the twin statues was Carel. They were all seemingly unarmed despite confronting the man.
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“Even if you were to destroy the entire village you would not find the legendary sword here. While the people who know of its location are here, the actual sword is not.” The father spoke to the man with a calm and collected tone.
“Who might you be? Well, considering how your family was the one to come up to me. I believe it is safe to assume that you all are the guardian family. Now tell me where the location is or I’ll kill everyone except for you.” The man demanded, and his army readied themselves and awaited his command.
“Even if you were to do that. I would not tell you and I would fight till my dying breath.” The father responded with absolute confidence.
“I would just keep you alive and torture you until you told me. Or perhaps I could ask that one behind you.” He pointed to the visibly shaken Lui. Lui was trying to maintain a strong front, but his fear leaked out. The man raised his sword and dark energy surrounded it. He then quickly cut off the father’s right hand. The man’s sword went clean through the father’s wrist and thanks to some dark energy the wound was instantly cauterized to prevent bleeding out. “I will kill your family limb by limb until you tell me the location of the sword. Tell me the location of Volingaud if you don’t want that to happen.” The man threatened.
Before the father could warn Lui to not say the location. “It’s in the left statue over there!” Lui panicked and told the location out of fear.
“Thank you, young man. I respect that you attempted to dissuade me from destroying the village by saying it wasn’t here. However, all your willpower went to waste. Every group has a weak link that can be taken advantage of.” The man explained as he shot a blast of dark energy at the statue and to reveal the sword. Volinguad’s beauty as a sword was unparalleled. It was a pristine silver-colored blade. He sheathed his sword and then quickly went for the Volinguad, but before he could grab it. Carel grabbed the sword and struggled a little to hold it then shattered the blade with her bare hands. She then tossed the pieces off the cliffside. The man commanded his minions to retrieve the pieces. All of the flying minions went for the pieces.
Carel grabbed a piece of the stone wall, then crushed it into small pieces, and launched the small pieces at the minions, which instantly killed the ones it hit. However, before she could kill the rest the man came at her with his armored fist. “Ho-ho here I thought this village was simply full of weak pacifists. If you are able to break that blade even without its full power unleashed, you must be quite powerful. It seems I’ve found a gem within the trash.” He said while swinging his fist at Carel. However, Carel was unphased and parried the fist by moving it aside with her palm. She attempted to go after the minions, but the man kicked her with a mighty kick which sent her flying into a mountain across the cliff. “Don’t tell me that’s all it took to take you down. I was looking forward to fighting you and tearing you apart.” He let out a disappointed sigh.
“You crazy bastard,” Carel mumbled, before the dust settled she grabbed a large chunk from the mountain and launched it at the man at high speed.
“That’s more like it!” He roared as he broke the stone apart with a punch. He then quickly leaped towards the mountain to continue the fight at a closer distance. Before he landed Carel hit him with a palm strike to the gut. She immediately followed it up by grabbing him and then throwing him down to the ground. After he was knocked down, she went for a stomp to destroy his ribs. However, he rolled to the side and dodged the attack. The attack did destroy the part of the mountain they were standing on. They both landed inside of a cave inside of the mountain.
“You are quite strong and brutal! Are you sure you are from this peace-loving village?” He laughed, he was clearly enjoying himself. “I suppose I must get serious then.” He pulled out his large sword from his sheath. The blade’s jet-black color combined with its large size gave it a stronger presence than the average blade.
“You already have such a nice blade, why would you have any need for Volingaud?” Carel sarcastically asked the man. She glared at the man and awaited his next move.
“The Volingaud is not simply just a blade, it is a blade capable of cutting through some of the hardest defenses. It holds an unimaginable power, though I am sure you must already know that.” He said as he readied his sword.
“So that means you ain’t leaving until you get your hands on it. How unfortunate. If I can’t dissuade you from going for it. Then I must kill you here.” She touched the ring on her right middle finger.
“I admit that you are quite powerful, but how do you plan on doing that unarmed?” He remarked. He was also curious about what she would pull in an attempt to kill him.
“By manifesting my weapon of course. Did you think I wore this ring for fashion purposes?” The ring transformed into its true form, a large battle ax. The ax was much larger than the typical ax. Most would consider it a foolish endeavor to lift let alone wield the massive ax. Once the true form was revealed, she gripped it with two hands and readied herself.
“How interesting, so your weapon was concealed. I’m liking you more and more.” He happily exclaimed. “My name is Vargin the soon ruler of the world! What is your name, mighty warrior?” He introduced himself and awaited Carel’s answer.
“Like I would you that, you insane sicko. I shall end your delusions of grandeur here!” Carel retorts. She gripped her battle ax tight with both of her and swung down at Vargin. He dodged, but she had stopped it before it could collide with the ground. She then swung it upward and nicked his cheek. She followed it up with horizontal swings which he was able to parry with his sword.
“You wield that massive ax quite fast, you truly are an exceptional warrior.” He said pleased. “Why don’t you become my subordinate? I will be ruling this world soon, and your strength is quite commendable.” He offered Carel a position within his army.
“I’m gonna have to decline. I would rather die than serve some crazy asshole.” She replied, while still swinging at him. “I’ve still gotta pay you back for cutting off my dad’s arm.” She angrily told him. He swung his blade down on her, but she blocked it with her battle ax’s handle then pushed it back and went for a horizontal swing. However, he avoided the attempt by jumping backward. “You know you are annoyingly agile shouldn’t that big armor of yours slow you down? Are you even human?” She sighed expressing her annoyance.
“You swing that ax like it’s a small pole, do you have the right to say that?” He chuckled “Although unlike you I can swing my sword with one hand while you need two hands.” he said, as he began a flurry of blows against her ax in order to drain her stamina. Carel does a heavy swing that she expects him to dodge, but he blocks it with his sword and lets out an audible grunt. She continued the pressure and while she got carried away with hitting his sword. He redirects her ax using the edge of his blade to trap it in the ground.
“This ends here!” He roared, as he attempted a horizontal slash to decapitate Carel. There was no possible way for her to lift her ax in time to block it. Instead, she simply stepped in and attempted to punch him in the gut. However, he sloppily blocked her fist with his blade’s handle. He was knocked back by the pure force behind her punch. The blade’s handle was chipped from the impact of her fist.
“How in the world did you manage that? You truly are something else. If it wasn’t for the protection of my deity then my blade would’ve been destroyed.” He was truly astonished and respected her strength. They continued to clash their weapons against each other. The strikes grew ever more fierce as sparks began to fly out. Neither side was relenting, it was completely even. Suddenly, she is hit by a fireball from behind. She drops her ax, and while she is distracted he goes in for a vertical slash. She attempts to dodge backward, but the mage assisting him makes a wall of stone behind her. He managed to cut off her right arm as she instinctively held it up.
“I thought you respected warriors? Yet you called in extra help.” Carel scoffed at him. Her arm was causing her to bleed out.
“Well, I do respect true warriors. I know that I can never truly be one as I play dirty. Give up and submit, become my subordinate and I shall repair that arm of yours. You can no longer wield your ax the way you are now. If I’m gonna use your strength I’m going to need you to be able to wield your ax.” He said all confidently, believing he had won. He also had dropped his guard and wasn’t as cautious now that she wasn’t wielding her ax. He had even taken his eyes off of her for a moment.
“Sir, watch out!” His supporting cloaked mage shouted. Carel swung her ax with her remaining left arm. However, he blocked it with his sword at the last moment. Carel had stood up and held her ax with just one hand.
“I was trying to make you believe I could only swing this ax with two hands. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capitalize on it too well. Even us warriors have our tricks.” She smirked. “You are gonna have to kill me if you want to stop me!” She roared. She was swinging the ax even faster than before. In the middle of her swings moved her ax’s head towards her so she could lace the edge with blood. She then launched the blood at the man’s eyes, but it only got in one of his eyes. He was only partially impaired, but it was enough to worry the mage so they attempted to attack Carel with magic. However, Carel kicked a piece of the wall the mage had created toward the mage which was a direct hit. The mage was knocked unconscious and couldn’t help Vargin. Carel swung her ax with far more flexibility than before. Vargin was struggling to keep up, he was fully on the defensive. In order to mess with his rhythm, Carel mixed in kicks. She slammed her ax down and used the pole to help her kick from awkward angles. She swung around the pole to give herself more speed and power behind her kicks. She also used a one-armed handstand atop the pole to kick down on him. With a massive swing of her ax, the cave’s wall had been blown away from the wind pressure.
She could see her family and friends cheering for her now that the wall was destroyed by her attack. She smirked and tried even harder to beat Vargin. She made a big swing with her ax again, but this time she let go after it made contact with Vargin’s weapon. While he was momentarily stunned, she upper-cut his jaw. He was sent flying upward into the sky through the ceiling of the cave. She leaped and followed him upward and then swung down with her ax. The impact of him slamming down into the mountain made a large crater on the surface. His chest armor broke upon impact, but he survived. While Carel was falling downward, a mysterious cloaked figure appeared next to Vargin.
“Sir we have gathered all the pieces of Volingaud like you asked.” The cloaked man said while presenting a cloth that had all the pieces they could find. Vargin grabbed the hilt of the blade and it repaired itself instantly. Carel had landed when the blade was repaired and saw it in its complete form again.
“Unfortunately all your efforts were wasted and I got the sword in the end.” He laughed. He sheathed his original sword and raised the now-repaired Volingaud into the air. The powerfully beautiful blade then glowed a faint glow.
“Damn legendary sword, I should’ve known it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of.” Carel cursed the legendary sword for its annoying power.
“I think I shall try it out now,” Vargin said as he swung the blade. Carel attempts to dodge and instinctively tries to defend with her ax and arm. However, an invisible slash cuts right through her ax and partially through her arm. She attempted to swing her slightly destroyed ax at him but he simply cut through her ax and landed a fatal blow across her chest. Carel coughed up blood and went for one final attack against the sword and she managed to knock it back, but he was able to quickly regain control and stab her through her heart.
The moment she was stabbed through her heart. Lui arrived on the scene. “Should I eliminate him as well?” The mysterious man inquired and readied a knife.
“No, we got what we wanted and shall be leaving,” Vargin stated sheathing his blade. He then began walking away and he grabbed the unconscious mage.
“Carel! Carel no! Don’t leave me, I can’t lose you. You are my only sister.” Lui sobbed on Carel’s bloody body. She didn’t have the strength to move anymore.
“Lui, Lui!” She forced her body to yell to get his attention. “I’m afraid this is where we part ways. Get strong for me and surpass my strength. You can’t beat that asshole on your own, so find some companions to help you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry that I won’t be there for you as you grow up.” Carel spoke to Lui in a gentler tone. “You know I’m actually quite afraid of death, that’s why I tried so hard to be strong… Goodbye Lui, tell Mom and Dad that I love them. You must be strong, Lui. I better not see you again anytime soon.” Carel closed her eyes after shedding one final tear.
“Carel, wake up! Please wake up!” Lui shouted and bawled his eyes out. “I promise you that I’ll get stronger and surpass you and I will get allies to bring him down.” Lui roared. Vargin had left the cave and one of his subordinates asked “Shall we kill everyone and destroy the village?”
“No, all of those villagers are too weak to be any real threat. She was an outlier among those peaceful fools.” Vargin stated.
“Do you believe that her brother will rise up and take revenge?” The subordinate asked.
“With this sword, it won’t matter. I shall remember the name Carel once I’ve taken over this world.” Vagin fondly said as he held Volinguad in his hand. Vargin took all his minions and commanded them to retreat.
Lui made it to the village with his head held down.
“Lui, where is your sister?” Asked his mother.
“She died fighting against that evil man. He killed her using the legendary blade.” Lui continued to cry some more.
“Not my baby girl, even though she was all grown up she still had so much of her life ahead of her.” The mother cried.
“Lui, I want you to grow strong enough that you can protect yourself. I don't want to lose you as well because if that man rules the world then it’s going to become far more dangerous.” States the father. He was attempting to stop his tears from falling out.
“We will back you in honor of Carel. We will find anything we can to make you stronger. Carel could have left to do so much, but instead, she decided to stay and protect the village.” The villagers clamored. The father along with several villagers went into the cave and brought Carel’s corpse. Her father held her in his arms with a princess carry. Another villager carried her detached arms. A group of villagers lifted her destroyed battle-ax, as they couldn’t lift it themselves.
“I failed as a father even though I helped you get strong. I couldn't help you when that sicko came into the village.” The father shouted in anguish at not being able to do anything. “May your soul rest in peace.” He softly said.
“Good night my child, I hope your brave soul shall get some rest. Watch over your brother as he will become strong just like you were. No, he shall become stronger and surpass you.” The mother whispered. Lui couldn’t help himself from crying after seeing his sister’s lifeless body.
“She. She told me to be strong, but the tears won’t stop.” Lui choked on his words and his tears forcefully fell down his face.