Charging through the void once again, October clutched his bleeding shoulder in agony. Corridor upon corridor passed around him as he continued running, his memory of the reason behind his running slowly slipping away. The only thing he thought of, was escape. Twists and turns stood before October, but he didn’t stop for even a second to think of which way. Somehow, he knew the correct path.

After a half hour of panic and running, the corridors disappeared. He came upon an open bridge, black sky flecked with stars above him. One, lone man stood guarding the other side of the bridge. His teal-flame aura ignited once October made his way closer.

“I trusted you…Siegfried!” October screamed. “We came to Gristkhal to stop Gilgarian, not advance his research!”

Siegfried turned to his former friend, wicked smile writing disaster on his lips. He pulled his flame-engulfed, teal blade from its sheath and walked towards October.

“Those blind to the ‘Divine Way’ will never understand, old friend.” He said. “Besides, I’m done experimenting with a failed test subject. Goodbye, October.”

Siegfried rushed with blinding speed, plunging the tip of his blade into October’s healthy shoulder. The pain and anger boiled within October’s heart, turning his eyes a deep crimson. He gripped the blade with his bare hands, pulling it out of his shoulder with a deep, animalistic growl. Once the blade was free, he sent a fist directly into Siegfried’s surprised chest, sending him flying backwards. The rage was becoming too strong to contain for him. October’s aura exploded with a roar befitting a dragon.

“I trusted you Siegfried…I- “he struggled to say. “I…I loved you!”

Siegfried clutched his head in pain. Black lightning erupted from it as he howled into the night. Clutching his sword tightly, he lunged for October with the intent to kill as if he were a wild animal. Out of nowhere, a two-handed sword with runes embedded into its blade came falling from the sky. As Siegfried struck with a downward slice, October jumped and retrieved the blade. The runes blazed brightly at his touch, igniting with violet flame. With two strikes, October sent a cross-shaped manifestation of his rage hurdling towards Siegfried. He prepared himself to block the assault of energy by holding his sword horizontally in front of himself.

“Is that it, October? Your power is nothing before me!” he yelled.

As Siegfried struggled to hold back the blast, October placed his sword on the magnet sitting on his back. Wincing from the pain in his shoulders, he pushed his energy and aura to its limit, gathering it in both of his hands above his head. Once he had all the energy he could muster, October began an assault of thousands of individual energy blasts as red as the dragon flame that burned in his heart.

Siegfried laughed and raised his sword into the air. A dragon, made wholly of Siegfried’s teal energy, burst forth. Lightning crackled off of its scales with every twist and turn as it bared the fangs of a true storm in anger. All of October’s energy blasts were eaten by the ethereal dragon as it charged him. In a matter of seconds, it engulfed him in flame that felt cold to the touch. Too cold for any mortal to handle…

October fell from the sky, hitting the ground with enough force to create a crater in the stone bridge. A pool of blood soon left his body through the many opening that were created from the energy blast. Tears streamed down October’s bloody face like two waterfalls, mixing with the blood to burn his eyes further. He tried to raise himself up to continue the fight, but his limbs wouldn’t respond. Crying more heavily, October attempted to speak between coughs of blood.

“We came here to stop Gilgarian, Siegfried…don’t you remember?”

Siegfried levitated over the edge of the crater, spreading his ethereal dragon wings. He hovered over his old friend, looking down on him with disgust in his eyes.

“Stop Gilgarian? October, Gilgarian is trying to save this accursed planet! Humanity is a blight which must be erased in order for it to survive, you’re fighting for the wrong side!” he yelled. “But I don’t expect you to see that, you always did have a very narrow view of the world.”

Siegfried gathered an orb of teal energy in his left hand.

“Goodbye, old friend.”

He released the energy in a beam engulfing October, eradicating him until he was the very dust that humanity had begun as.

******************************************************************************

“October, wake up!” Siegfried said as he nudged October.

Pushing Siegfried away, October jumped in fear at the sight of him while wiping the streaming tears from his eyes. Concerned, Siegfried reached out to his friend.

“Oct, are you doing okay? This is a little concern- “

“I’m fine.” October said, pushing Siegfried’s hand away. “Has Miyu finished?”

“Y-yes, just a minute ago.” Siegfried answered, concerned for his friend. “She wanted me to wake you, there’s a ritual that we both must go through to bind our weapons to us.”

As he finished explaining, Miyu emerged from her forge with white hair clinging to her brow from the sweat acting practically like glue. In both of her hands, she held sheathed swords. In her left, she held a longsword with a slender blade and horsehair dangling off of the hilt. In her right, a massive sword that was twice the width of October himself, being the widest of the trio. The sheathe of the blade had an opening which revealed inscribed runes into the blade.

“The runes and magic lie dormant for now, I just need you two in order to get this ritual under way.” Miyu explained.

“What exactly does this ritual entail?” October asked, cautious of the word ritual.

Throwing their blades to the respective owners, Miyu readied herself for a long explanation. Unlike Siegfried, October dropped his blade straight to the ground from the sheer weight of the steel.

How the hell am I supposed to wield something with such weight?

“This ritual is not that difficult, but I’ll need your full cooperation. To fully bind your weapons, I’ll need a drop of blood from each of you. This will ensure that the only person that can wield these weapons, is the one whose blood was infused.” Miyu explained.

“And why, pray tell, is my weapon so ridiculously heavy?”

Miyu smirked.

“You’ll see.”

After pricking both of their fingers, Siegfried and October let a few drops of blood fall to their blades. Nothing changed, causing October to become impatient.

“What, exactly, is supposed to be happening?” his temper becoming more and more heated.

“Look closer and you’ll see.”

Both Siegfried and October, in unison, brought their faces closer to the blades. Miyu put her face in her hands in frustration.

“Humans…completely hopeless.” She sighed. “Don’t physically look closer, you morons. Use your energy.”

The two closed their eyes and stretched out with their auras. Feeling every living thing within a ten-yard radius and being the humans they are, they struggled to sift through the various energies all lighting their own small flame.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You both need to focus, you’re reaching everywhere except for where you need to reach.” Miyu explained, getting impatient.

After several minutes of concentration, Siegfried and October narrowed down their sights to their weapons which each blazed their own respective flames. Siegfried’s shown a bright teal color, and October’s blazed with a blood red flame.

“There you go. But there is one final step to solidify ownership.”

“Which is?” October asked.

Miyu pulled three chairs. One for herself, one for October, and one for Siegfried.

“You have to tame them.”

“Tame them? What exactly does that-“ October was interrupted mid-sentence by Miyu’s magic once more, transporting him back inside of his mind.

******************************************************************************

October rubbed his back after being thrown into his own mind rather violently.

“Stop doing that!” he yelled into the abyss above him.

If you had been more cooperative, the process wouldn’t have hurt so much.

October’s anger began to rise.

“Maybe if you had made sure I was ready, I could’ve been more ‘cooperative’!”

Just follow the path I’m laying out so we can be done with this.

A thin road of blood-red stained glass stretched out before him, illuminating a long path with no real end in sight.

“Why is it that I have to do all kinds of walking in these visions you make?”

Because every time you speak, I feel as though I’m walking with no real goal in sight. That’s how tedious this is to me, now hurry up!

With a sigh, October started running to get through this vision as quickly as possible.

This weapon better be worth the hassle or Siegfried will never hear the end of it.

In the far distance on this long road, October could hear the roaring of something massive. The closer he ran towards it, the more violent the ground shook from its rage. But as October neared the end of the path, no beast could be seen. Just a large circular platform with his sword floating mid-air, surrounded by smoke.

“Finally, and end in sight!” he yelled as he rushed in and grabbed the blade.

At his touch, the blood-red stained glass grew bright. It illuminated the entire platform in an eerie red light. The path he came from shattered into the abyss, forming a large spherical barrier around the platform.

Of course, it wouldn’t be this easy…

The smoke that had surrounded the blade grew to the size of a ten-storied building, forming an unmistakable figure. A shadowy claw swiped in October’s direction.

“Holy shit!” he yelled as he dodged out of the way. “This is your idea of a test?! The damn thing is one-hundred times bigger than I am!”

If you want a massive amount of power, then you need to be able to contain that massive amount of power. No power is won easily.

“Easily?! This is damn near impossible!”

Look at your weapon, dumbass.

October brought his sword in front of his face, seeing the scarlet aura that it emanated. He felt an intense heat radiating from it, as well as a low hum of power slightly vibrating the blade. Seeing and feeling this, his worries about the coming battle melted away.

By the way, don’t die in there.

“Wait, why? Isn’t this just a vision?” he asked, growing steadily nervous.

Well…sort of. This is happening in your mind, so if you die while in your mind…let’s just say that you won’t be moving or even thinking anytime soon.

Dodging another swipe, October yelled into the abyss.

“And you thought that telling me this now instead of earlier was a good idea?!” He dodged another swipe, another, and another after that. “Whatever…complaining about it now is only going to get me killed. I have to focus.”

That’s the spirit.

The shadow dragon roared into the endless abyss above, shaking everything around the two combatants. A darkness coalesced in its throat, as if a bonfire made solely of smoke was lit inside of it.

“That’s not good…” October said, raising his blade into a guard motion. This activated a barrier around himself made of his own scarlet energy. Mere seconds after, the dragon let loose a billow of flame matching the shadow of its exterior encasing October. The weight of the flame kept pushing him farther and farther down into the platform, nearly crushing him. October’s strength began to flicker like a broken light, his energy began to falter the longer the shadow flame pressed down on him.

Damnit, this can’t be the end…it can’t be!

A memory revealed itself to October, a memory of his childhood with Siegfried.

Whenever you need my help, just call for me. I’ve got your back, Oct, no matter what!

I won’t let this be the end, the entire world is counting on me!

With renewed strength, October pushed back against the flame with his barrier. He formed an energy blast with his left hand and let it loose, colliding with the flame.

Whenever you need my help, just call for me. I’ve got your back, Oct, no matter what!

The same memory repeated in his head, giving him more power.

“I don’t need this blade to overpower you, I’ll do it myself!” October yelled as he dropped the blade and put both hands into the energy blast, magnifying it beyond what this dragon could handle.

Once the flame was fought back and the energy blast damaged the beast, October retrieved his blade and rushed the shadowy apparition with all of his might. He extended his aura further, turning his eyes the same blood-red. Overflowing with power, October infused his energy into the blade increasing its size and effectiveness against the dragon’s scales as if it was a knife through butter.

“Let’s see if you’ll survive this!” October yelled, just briefly before unleashing a flurry of slashes with near Zen-like calm.

The dragon roared from its impending doom as October scaled the whole ten-stories of its being.

“You’re finished!”

October slashed downwards on the beast’s head, pushing the blade further downwards until he had slashed through the shadow dragon’s entire body. One final roar left the dragon’s now cleaved throat before in fell to the floor of the platform with an earthshattering crash. Billows of smoke exited through the gaping wounds before the entire creature evaporated into the abyss. October looked down at his new blade in awe, before a blinding light distracted him. Once he could see again, he noticed he wasn’t standing in the abyss anymore. Well, he was, but the walls of the black abyss fell as though they were panes of glass shattered on the ceiling of the Femian Church.

Congrats, you beat him.

“Does that mean...”

Yes, that sword is bound to you and only you. Those that aren’t you won’t even be able to lift the damn thing, use its power, etcetera, etcetera.

“Amazing…this blade almost seems alive. I can feel as though it has its very own heartbeat. And the raw power…”

That wasn’t the blade’s power that you felt.

“What do you mean?” October asked, sheathing the blade into the platform.

The blade merely channels your power, it doesn’t magnify it. Humans don’t truly have the capability to channel their inner Ki, so it would seem as though the blade made you more powerful. But in reality, that was one-hundred percent your own power.

October gazed at his own hands.

“My own power…amazing.”

Yes, yes. That’s all well and good, but if I don’t pull you out of that collapsing vision, your mind will be lost with it. So here we go!

“Wait, why didn’t you-“ October was interrupted once again by his old enemy…elvish magic.

******************************************************************************

“You have got to stop doing that so unexpectedly…” October said, grasping his newly aching head. He looked around and noticed that Siegfried wasn’t around. “Where’d Sieg go?”

“He said that he had some training to do before the tournament. So, he left to do just that.” Miyu explained.

“The tournament, isn’t that two days from now?”

“Sure, if you’re talking about two days ago. The tournament begins in two hours.” Miyu said with a laugh.

Startled, October jumped out of his with his sword in hand.

“I’ve been in that vision for two days?! Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”

Miyu sighed.

“What the hell are they teaching kids in school these days? The ‘vision’ that you were in has a different time progression than in the conscious world. For every one hour that you spend in there, one day passes out here.” She explained, while handing him a magnet attached to a sort of harness. “Here, it would’ve taken far too much time to craft a sheath for that massive blade, not to mention unrealistic to try to unsheathe it in the heat of the moment. You just strap this to yourself and the sword will stay put.”

October laughed while putting the magnet on.

“There’s no possible way that this will- “

October nearly stumbled over from the impact of the sword hitting the magnet. He moved, jumped, and deliberately tried to throw the sword off of his back, but it stayed right where he set it. Miyu put her face in her right hand and pointed to the door with her left.

“Just get out of here before you’re late. I’ll be watching you both in earnest, use my weapons well.”

October sprinted out of the shack and back towards the coliseum.

Damnit, I hope I make it in time.

By the time he had arrived, the tournament had already begun. Scores upon scores of citizens in the crowd roared with mixed reactions of cheers and boos, approval and disapproval, all with their own individual thoughts on the current fight. Ignoring the fight, October ran directly to the participant’s section. He looked everywhere for his friend, but could not find him.

Damnit, he must be the first fighter. Might as well check in as quickly as I can and catch the rest of the fight.

After finishing the pre-fight registration, he sprinted back into the arena to catch the fight between Siegfried and his opponent. The Elvish swordsman, clearly weary from the battle, charged Siegfried recklessly, swinging like a madman. Siegfried deflected his final hit and sent the hilt of his blade into the combatant’s chest. He then held out his left hand and snapped his fingers, causing an explosion of mist to expand outwards. October closed his eyes and attempted to find his energy signature, but found nothing.

He’s not expending any energy? Damn, he must be doing this so that I can’t learn his moves.

Opening his eyes, October accepted the futility in his actions and decided to simply wait until the mist cleared. Within seconds, Siegfried’s opponent went flying into the edge of the arena, landing on his side and clearing the mists from the battlefield. After the referee watching over the fight had established that the combatant was indeed unconscious, Siegfried was declared the winner.

“Surprised it took you that long, Sieg.” October said aloud, smiling. “You’ve developed a new technique, so I suppose that I have to as well.”