“What is this..”
Helgi was looking through the data he had stolen, muttering the entire time at the bizarreness of the information.
The computer screen in front of him showed a highly detailed, 3D scanned image of a small ornate dagger.
The rest of the files were all references to ancient texts that mention some form of blade in a variety of contexts.
Most of it was references to folklore.
“The sword Kladenets, a sword from Russian folklore, a self swinging sword which always shows itself to the hero in their time of need.”
“The sword of Dyrnwyn, helping the wielder with its flames when drawn, and engulfing them if unworthy.”
The list kept going, even mentioning several supposedly real swords.
“The sword of Laban....None of this makes any sense..”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair.
“What the hell do all these random swords have to do with this...”
Taking out a lit cigarette, he slowly inhaled and exhaled a cloud of grey smoke, swirling around the bright screen.
“If only Yuri was here..He understood all this history crap better than anyone.”
He remembered how Yuri once found the prized legendary crown of a certain country's king. Which was supposedly lost to time, by researching his way to its location according to ancient texts and rumours.
“And then he took it while flaunting it in that country's face.”
Chuckling, Helgi finished his cigarette.
He always wondered why Yuri always went after these sometimes worthless artefacts, when he could have been making so much more money by stealing things with actual value.
But Yuri always shut him down, saying money was just a means to an end, and his entire goal, wasn't to become rich, but to become infamous.
He flicked the burnt cigarette on the ground without extinguishing it. It kept slowly releasing a tiny stream of smoke, while Helgi looked up at the ceiling, his face lit up by his computer screen.
“Hmm” He made a quizzical face.
“Now that I think about it, this data didn't mention any rumours of any sort, just references to texts, unlike Yuri's...”
Slowly sitting up properly, Helgi looked at the screen.
“From this data it seems they were researching its origins..but it doesn't say why..maybe Yuri was doing the same. That may be why he needed that dagger. So then, if i find the origin of this thing..perhaps I can find a lead to Yuri..”
Clicking through the data, none of it had any particular good source or lead.
“Nothing is that easy huh..then I will just have to do what Yuri would do. Look around for rumours..but where to start..if I had to choose.. the oldest point of documentation..the sword of Laban, found in the old holy city even before the start of our calendar..It's as good a start as any.”
–
Helgi stood in front of a beat up truck which he had driven to his destination.
Behind him was nothing but sand and rock, but in front. The old holy city, from which most of the worlds religions originated, stood proudly.
Even after so many years, it stood here in the middle of nowhere, albeit fairly beat up.
“Hmm, well then, let's start this investigation!”
Throwing his jacket over his shoulder, he headed inside the ancient city.
But within five minutes of walking inside the city, gunshots went off around him.
There was yelling and someone was tackled down to the ground, before being apprehended.
Not a minute later, a group of priests began disputing something trivial about the city. Being from different sects, they naturally disagreed, and it was especially so when it was about their prized holy city.
The priests drew blades and small hidden pistols, starting a death match that quickly spread through the city until a full scale war began between the various sects, with explosions and gunshots filling the air.
“How the hell did this damn city survive for so long anyway!?!”
Helgi yelled to himself over the noise of battle while running inside a random building.
The roars of crazed battle were loud enough to be heard even inside, although the noise was muffled, which Helgi was thankful for.
“Now how am I going to find rumours and information..”
He sighed loudly, taking out his phone to light the room he was in.
Upon turning on the screen of his phone, a haunting face beyond his wildest fear was lit up just inches away from him.
“AAAH!?”
He recoiled in horror and jumped back, his back hitting the door behind him.
“How rude, young people today..”
A slightly hoarse voice muttered.
Slowly lifting the screen to better light up the room, he found that instead of a horrible creature, it was an old woman that had surprised him.
“Oh..just an old woman..hey sorry, don't sneak up on me like that”
He sighed in relief.
“I've been standing here since before you came in the door, young man. It's your fault for not noticing, besides, how rude to just yell in my face like that, in my own home.”
She grumbled slightly.
“Ah sorry..”
“So, Never been here before have you?”
She asked curiously.
“Ah, how did you guess..?”
“Well besides the obvious blonde hair, you seem fairly frightened by the battle outside”
He shifted slightly.
“Well not as much frightened..as just surprised it suddenly broke out like that. I'm more of a do things without causing trouble type of person.”
“A law abiding young man, good, not too many of you out there these days.”
She nodded approvingly.
(Ahaha...not precisely..)
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“But don't worry, these types of things break out every now and then. These people are so hot blooded, you would think they would try and behave themselves if this city was so important to them. When these types of things break out, people usually travel underneath the battle, avoiding it and continuing with their lives.”
She explained to the confused Helgi.
“Beneath the battle..?”
“Yes, you know how some cities have most of their streets underground due to the heat. Well this is the same, we use it even when it's peaceful outside. The people outside are all part of religious sects, even the stores. But beneath, it's all us, the common folk, living in this city”
She seemed somewhat proud of that fact.
“I see. That's good to know, I figured I would have to wait until this all settled down before I could resume my business”
“Don't worry, don't worry, this granny can show you around, in exchange you help her out with her shopping”
She smiled slyly.
“That sounds like a good deal”
He accepted, hoping to become friendly enough with this old woman that he might find some clues.
He was led through a small back door, which led to a staircase leading down.
Beyond the dusty staircase, was the life if an entire city.
The inside of the underground space didn't need any special lighting. The light from the neon signs and the lights from inside the stores were more than enough to brightly light up everything and everyone.
It was impressive that something the size of several busy night markets, existed beneath the most stale battle fought city on the planet.
Helgi ended up carrying the equivalent of an entire house, while the old woman took advantage of the situation and made sure to do all her shopping for months to come.
“Well, are you going to ask what you want to ask?”
She asked him while they were slowly walking back to her home.
“You knew I had something to ask?”
“Of course I knew, I'm old. Besides, you either look like you have a question or you really need to go to the toilet, either way, speak up”
“Mhm..well I might as well. What do you know about the sword of Laban?”
He asked cautiously.
“Hm? I expected it to be about something serious, but you're asking me about history? Just because I'm old doesn't mean I know history!”
She snapped.
“Although, I do happen to know a few things about that, as much as the next person, why would a young man such as yourself be interested in that kind of stuffy history?”
“To be honest. I'm not, I have never much cared for history, history doesn't earn you money and doesn't get you respect.”
“Then why do you ask?”
“Because..although I never cared for history. My friend did, my friend does..”
He looked serious while carrying the incredibly heavy load, the weight not even registering in his brain, which was too busy thinking about something far more important.
“I see..”
The old woman scratched the back of her head.
“I was going to tell you what everybody else knows. But I guess I can let this one thing slip. That sword, they say it was first found on a rock, in this city. No one knew where it came from, only that one day it was just there. Texts dispute about who found it first, but they all agree that it was found there.”
“A rock..? What rock, where can I find this rock? Will it be easy to find with all this fighting above ground?”
He was ecstatic at having found a lead.
“Don't worry, don't worry. The battle above ground won't impede you, after all, the rock is underground”
“Underground..?”
“Well it's been a while, and the earth moves with time. Eventually the rock ended up slowly sinking underground, becoming buried”
“Then..I can't find it?”
He asked with disappointment.
“Well, no one from the sects has ever managed to find it, but that's more due to them being to unwilling to dig in the city.”
She could feel his disappointment.
“However. I might happen to know where it is”
“What do I have to do in exchange for you showing me”
He knew this kind of deal wouldn't just be given out of the kindness of someone's heart.
“How about..you tell me more about this friend of yours, while I show you the way there, that seems fair”
She nodded.
“Are you sure? Well alright.” He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
“What do you want to know?”
“Well, you're his friend, describe him to me”
“Hmm..Well he's very..eccentric. He sometimes gets way too excited when it comes to his interests. He's reallyyyyy bad with women. It's not that he's bad but he just likes to say what's on his mind..way too much. He also has one hell of a sweet tooth. I can't stand the sweet stuff, but it seems he never gets enough of it. He's very strange, he isn't a bad person, but when he is focused on his goal, it's the goal that he sees, nothing else seems to matter.
He also likes historical items way too much. One time I saw him sleeping with an ancient suit of armour..”
Helgi smiled awkwardly and shook his head.
“I see, he sounds like a very interesting person.”
“I don't know about interesting. But he is very unique. And it always ends up with me helping him all the time..he never even bothers saying thanks..sometimes I wonder if he even considers me a friend or just a useful thing to have around..”
He sighed loudly.
“If you are all the way here for his sake, that means that you at least consider him important, and I'm sure he feels the same”
She smiled softly at him. Her wrinkles making her face look like dried leather.
“Yeah..”He avoided looking at her face.
“Well, let me show you the rock, before it gets late and the underground market fills with too many people”
She quickly led him through the market, through tunnels, rooms and corridors. Each one gradually containing less people.
Until they finally arrived at a part of the underground space that wasn't fitted with a proper floor and looked more like a cavern than a tunnel or corridor.
They entered the cavern. The inside of it was lit up by strange luminescent mushrooms growing along the walls, lightning up images along the walls, depicting mighty warriors wielding swords, each one looked extraordinary in some manner. From spewing flames to giving off light, they all depicted as having strange powers.
The middle of the cavern housed a giant rock, the size of a bear.
It was an average looking rock, compared to the rest of the cavern, it looked like nothing special.
“This rock is said to have been the one where the sword was first pulled out from. Yet no matter how hard I looked, there was no hole big enough to fit a sword anywhere on the rock, so who knows if this is the real one or not”
She shrugged while Helgi looked around the room.
His attention shifted away from the images and towards the rock.
It had to have some sort of clue.
He used his phone to light up the rock better and as she said, there was no hole large enough to fit a sword.
(But what I'm looking for isn't a sword..! It's a dagger..!)
Changing his outlook, he suddenly found a small hole inside the rock, large enough to barely fit the small dagger according to the 3D image on his files.
He slowly stuck his finger inside the hole and felt around for anything, but it was completely empty, just a hole and nothing else.
“Nothing...”
He took out his finger and sighed.
“Hm? What's that on your finger?”
The old woman asked.
Looking closely, he found something glittering on his finger.
Small tiny shards of metal.
“From when the blade was pulled out, it scraped against the inside of the hole!”
He moved his phone to light up the inside of the hole, and found it glittering slightly, filled with tiny pieces of metal from when the dagger was presumably roughly pulled out.
“I guess I should collect a sample..the properties of the metal might help me find another clue if nothing else..”
He slowly started trying to dig up the tiny pieces of metal with his little finger.
“Young man, be careful, you can get-”
“Ow!”
Pulling out his finger, he looked at it and found it to be bleeding profusely.
“Ah..see, I warned you. Careful, some of the metal might get into your bloodstream”
Taking out a napkin, she covered his bleeding finger with it.
“Ah it's just a little cut, hmm..say did you notice something strange about these images?”
He glanced at the images of men wielding swords.
The mushrooms beneath them began to slowly increase in brightness.
“What the..?”
He suddenly felt his body becoming very warm. Then hot, almost unbearably.
“What's going on..!?”
He breathed out. It felt like he was inside a sauna.
“I feel..dizzy..”
He breathed out and collapsed over the rock.
“By the goddess!”
The old woman swore.
“The fragments of the blade!? They were really enough?”
“I need to do something..! Listen young man! Once you wake up, you will find yourself somewhere very strange! Look for the church of Freiya! Then everything will be explained! I'm sorry young man! You were unlucky enough to have good blood! I will pray for you!”
The was the last he heard, before his vision filled with the images of men wielding swords. He felt his mind and body twisted and turn. He felt his blood curl up inside him.
Then he felt nothing.