In the Northern parts of the Kingdom of Kendro, reside a small town in the province of Skir named Gail. There, a young man no older than eighteen lay on the green grass of his village, his black hair spread out on the ground.
“Rapl Tsukumo!” A voice cried out, not phased, the young man simply moved his body a bit, dodging the incoming rock, “Damn your gift.”
“Chill out old man, I’m just enjoying my life here, can you just leave me at it?” The young man remarked. Rapl Tsukumo, the son of two great warriors, now a troublemaker in his small town.
“Your enjoyment is causing trouble in my farm, my animals are scared because of you!” The old man shrieked, again lifting a rock to throw at Rapl, but this time, the young man stood up as he walked away.
“Fine old man, I’ll go away.” And as he said this, a rock came at him in record speed, but yet again, Rapl dodged it, “See you later.” He waved, opening his eyes finally to show a bright blue eye, and instead of a pupil, it had a cross with circles at the end.
This was a gift, a power randomly given at birth. Each gift is different, for Rapl, he was born with the gift known as an all-seeing-eye, giving his eyes maximum vision and even the ability to look into the future.
As Rapl walked through his village, the stares and gossip surrounding him was something he was used to, afterall, he was a troublemaker. Yet this didn’t affect him, confidently walking through the village until he reached a bakery, where he laid down a wad of cash.
“Diffin egg sandwich please Hena,” he asked as the woman put the sandwich he wanted in a bag.
“Here you go Rapl. When are you going to get a job, young man?” The woman asked, Rapl pulling out the sandwich from the bag stared at her.
“I don’t need to, afterall I got my inheritance early,” he remarked as he walked away, the woman just stared at the boy a bit concerned.
“I don’t think that’s something to be joking about.” Rapl arrived at his abode, it was a medium-sized house that was placed on top of a hill, as he arrived, he yelled out.
“I’m home!” He remarked, “I went to old man Kentrin’s house today, he got angry again, but when isn’t he right?” He said, an ever present smile plastered on his face, “Miss Tekeo’s Diffin eggs are a bit different now, do you think they changed where they got them?” Rapl walked to a memorial where two pictures were laid, a woman and a man with black hair, smiling, “What do you think? Mom, Dad?” Rapl asked, yet no answer was replied.
Kenjiro Tsukumo and Irene Taulus, two champions of the great war, a war that pitted the entire world against the Empire of Zan, and its Emperor, the Lich. During the last major battle of the war, the battle of Nerio.
Kenjiro and Irene were cursed by the Lich to die at the age of thirty-four, and due to the power of the Eternal Demon King, there was no spell that could subdue it, and so the curse fulfilled its promise, taking the lives of two champions, and leaving the ten-year-old Rapl to fend for himself.
As the next day came, Rapl woke up early. Still groggy, the young man walked outside to buy his usual snack, but while walking down the hill, Rapl tripped.
As he came tumbling down the river near his home, he laughed, “That was idiotic as hell.” But then he heard something crying out for him.
“You there!” A voice called, “Over here!” Rapl tried to follow where the voice was, but after following it all he saw was a rock.
“Talking rock? Are you an imp?” Rapl questioned.
“No! Below the rock, lift the rock please.” As Rapl did what he was told, there he saw a blade.
The blade was gold as gold can get, with blue and red stripes on its hilt, “Woah,” as Rapl picked it up, the blade began to talk.
“Thank you, I've been stuck there for a few decades now.”
Perplexed, Rapl questioned the blade, “Who are you? What are you?”
“I am Sisyphus, blade of the great hero Ender,” the blade remarked.
“ENDER!?” Rapl shouted out, “Prince Ender? The man who almost defeated the Lich?” At this statement, the blade paused for a second, as its voice seemed to get a bit emotional.
“I see, they still remember you, your majesty.” The blade remarked, but it quickly got its composure back, “State your name boy?”
Shocked Rapl blurted out his name, “R-Rapl Tsukumo.”
“I see, well Rapl where are we currently?” The blade asked.
“Uh, well currently we're in the province of Skir of the Kingdom of Kendro.” Said Rapl, then yet again the blade paused, thinking.
“Alright, Rapl! We need to get to a big city! Since you've picked me up, my mana pulses are going to be detected by a lot of people. I'm sure one of them might be a Zanian scout since we're so close to Zan right now, we need to hurry!”
Frantically, Rapl grabbed the blade as he walked to his house, “The closest city is a thirty-minute dragon ride away, but there is a close Zanian camp near Gail,” Rapl remarked as he shoved all the essentials in a bag as he left his house, picking up food along the way.
“What's got you in a hurry Rapl?” The woman in the bakery asked, “You look like you're going somewhere.”
“I'm going to Dartine, I just need to deliver something,” Rapl quickly remarked as he ran off with the bread the woman made for him.
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He ran to a local dragon rider, “Heyo Rapl, where do you wanna go?”
“Dartine please.” As Rapl was lifted to the air, he began to talk to the blade while the rider was distracted, “Dartine's a pretty secure place, we'll be fine there.”
“I just need you to give me to the mayor of the city, so that I'll be transported to the royal family.”
Twenty minutes go by, as Rapl and the blade were tensed, looking around for any sense of danger. But while maneuvering the small dragon, the rider saw something tailing them, his heart sank when he saw a red flag.
“IT'S ZAN!!” The rider yelled, Rapl's heart stopped as he turned around, there, a flag of black and red was flown, a dragon twice the size of a transport dragon moving at alarming speeds.
“SISYPHUS THEY'RE HERE!!” Rapl yelled. On top of the Zanian dragon was a man clad in black armor, when he saw Rapl he lifted his hand revealing a mace.
The rider of the dragon began to chant a spell, it was a communication spell to talk to the city nearby, “PLEASE SEND HELP IMMEDIATELY!! ZANIAN DRAGON RIDER IS CHASING US WEST OF DARTINE!! PLE-”
Before the rider could finish, his smaller dragon was pounced upon, sending him and Rapl to the ground. With a crash, the dragon rider and Rapl laid on the ground, injured.
The Zanian rider landed, leaving his dragon he walked up to the rider, Rapl fearing for his life, hid behind the transport dragon.
“WHERE IS THE BLADE!!” The Zanian remarked, picking up the rider with his hands, frantically the rider begged.
“Please spare me, I have children.” Yet with a slap, the Zanian didn't relent.
“I asked you a question, you give me a reply.” While this was all happening, Rapl began to think of ways to escape, but as he was doing this, something in his mind heard the cries of the rider.
“I-I'm no hero… I'm no hero, I-" but as he turned to his bag, there laid Sisyphus. He was no hero, but this was the blade of a hero.
“I'm going to ask you one more time, WHERE IS THE BL-”
“OVER HERE ZANIAN!!” Rapl yelled, wielding the blade known as Sisyphus, “HERE'S THE BLADE YOU WANT!”
The Zanian rider let go of the man as he turned to Rapl, preparing his mace, “Let me have some fun Kite, this kid looks fierce,” he said to his dragon.
“You sure Rapl?” Sisyphus asked the young boy, sweat began to trickle down his skin.
“No, but I know it's the right thing to do.” With the speed of a flash, the Zanian rider made his way to Rapl, yet Rapl had already turned his all-seeing eyes on, dodging the attack, Rapl tried to counter with a sword slash.
He hit the Zanian, yet it did nothing, “You don't know kutha?” The rider remarked as he swung his mace again, this time it was too fast that Rapl could not react to it. But then Sisyphus bent, looping around Rapl to block the shot, Rapl was shocked as from the blade, another blade shooted out this attack was barely dodged by the Zanian.
“What was that?” Rapl asked, amazed by what Sisyphus just did.
“I am Sisyphus, a mythical blade, I have the power to do whatever I or my wielder wants to do, I am not just a blade, I can be whatever shape I want to be.” With this, Sisyphus shooted at the Zanian, only being barely blocked.
Thinking ahead, Rapl swung Sisyphus, curving it to go through the Zanian's mace hitting him on the face, getting rid of his helmet, “Dammit.” The rider exclaimed, rushing to his dragon, “This kid's tougher than I thought.”
“Rapl,” Sisyphus called out, “Use the mana stored inside of me, use kutha on him.”
“What's kutha?” Rapl asked, the blade snickered, seeing the dragon rider leap into the air.
“FOCUS ON WHAT YOU'RE HITTING CHANNEL ALL THE MANA INSIDE OF YOU AND WITHIN ME ON THIS ATTACK!!” Sisyphus yelled as the dragon rider began to descend, opening its jaws to bite Rapl.
But Rapl dug deep, channeling all the mana not only in his body but also from the blade as he put it on the tip of Sisyphus, as the blade grew, Rapl swung it, slicing not only the dragon, but also the forest surrounding them in a cone shape.
Rapl was astonished at what happened, but suddenly Rapl was grabbed, the Zanian rider still alive, with a furious expression he exclaimed, “I will kill you and take that blade, how dare you kill Kite.”
Rapl, trying to do what he did before, swung at the rider's armor, yet it had no effect, “Dammit, you used all the mana you and I had on that last attack,” said Sisyphus.
As he was at the mercy of the rider, to his utter horror, five more Zanian riders landed where they were, one of them got down from their dragon, “KEIRO!! We need to go!!”
“B-but sir… he killed Kite,” the rider remarked with pain in his voice.
“I know dammit! But we need to get that blade outta here befo-” Suddenly, a fire blast was fired on the group, “THEY'RE HERE!!”
Rapl turned to see a group of adventurers and knights, on their armor the national sigil of a Kendrian knight, he was relieved, but suddenly, Sisyphus was yanked from his hands.
“DAMN YOU!!” The rider yelled at Rapl as he swung at him, Rapl foresaw this as he dodged, “I HAVE THE BLADE LET'S GO!!” The Zanian riders got on their dragons as they quickly left.
“DAMMIT!!!” Rapl yelled out, seeing Sisyphus being taken away, “Why… Why can’t you do anything right…”
Meanwhile, as the riders made it to their camp, they went through a portal, straight to the capital of the Empire of Zan, Nerio. It was night when the riders came, their path was filled with snow as the Capital was under a pretty heavy snowstorm. As they made their way to the royal consulting room, two sword saints were protecting the room, after telling them why they were there, the sword saints let them enter.
There, a man whose height dwarfed everyone, stood in front of a massive table of a map of Zeroth, the darkness of the room only showed off the man’s glowing red orbs of an eye, with each eye, a spiral replaced the pupil. As the riders arrived, the torches in the room were suddenly lit, “State your presence,” he commanded, his voice as cold as ice.
The riders bowed as they saw the man, “Your majesty, your detection was correct, we have retrieved the blade Sisyphus.” From a leather casing, Sisyphus was revealed, this made the man laugh out of satisfaction.
“Well well well, would you look at this, after all this time, the blade of Ender has yet again returned to Nerio,” the man mockingly remarked as he approached the blade.
“LICH!!” The blade venomously called out, his voice filled with hatred, “YOUR REIGN WILL FALL!!!”
“Oh yeah?” He picked up Sisyphus taking a look at it with a smile on his face, “You said the same thing four-hundred odd years ago and what happened? Could you remind me Sisyphus?” No answer was given to the man’s question, so he answered it himself, “Oh right, I killed that damn Prince of Demeos, Ender wasn’t it?”
“I’LL CUT YOUR TONGUE LICH!!!” The blade yelled out, yet the man simply gave it back to the three riders.
“Take this to gamma, I’ll give them a heads up,” he told the riders as they did what they were told, but there was one rider that remained, “What is it boy? Is there something you need?” The man asked.
“Your majesty, while retrieving Sisyphus, I met a boy whose eyes were as blue as the sky, he had a cross for a pupil and he dodged most of my attacks in our battle, I have suspicions that he has a-”
“All-seeing eye?” The man interjected, he patted the rider on the shoulder, “Good job, could you please tell this to gamma, we’ll discuss it tomorrow.” As the rider left the room, with a quick flick of a finger, all the flames of the room were shut out, leaving only the glowing red eyes of the man, “A person with all-seeing eyes? Good, very good.”