Chapter 3 - The Ring of Truth.

Luudin visibly jumped and whirled, the color rising further in his face. He felt embarrassed and confused. His eyes darted around, searching for the speaker, and they landed on... a cat? He felt his face darken in further confusion.

The cat sat on the lip of the well, staring at him with what could only be described as a bored expression. It was black, with white paws and a white underbelly. A white mark on its head was almost in the shape of a question mark. One of its eyes was a piercing blue, the other a muted green. Around its neck was a collar made of a thick red cloth. Hanging from the cloth was a tiny wrought iron bell.

"What..?" Luudin said.

The cat lifted a paw and groomed its face and one ear and then said again. "The sword is not for you, boy."

Luudin scowled at the cat, his face twisting with anger. "I am not a boy!"

The cat jumped down and approached him "Hence why it is not for you."

"You lie! It... it called to me, I think."

"It calls to those who pass," The cat replied, "draw it from its resting place if you don't value your life."

"Shut up! I know your kind. They lie, manipulate, and deceive. I will not listen to the likes of you!" Luudin said while making pointed gestures at the cat.

He turned his back on the cat and reached out to the sword. Suddenly the cat was on his back, digging its nails in and climbing up. Luudin jumped and cried out in pain and tried to get the cat off his back. It climbed up and curled itself around Luudin's neck. He tried to awkwardly wrap his hands around the cat to lift it off and the cat dug its nails in. He relented and the cat released its hold on his flesh.

"Walk away from here, Pilgrim child." It purred in his ear. "Walk away. Your life doesn't need to change here. The tapestry has no thread that shows you drawing that blade. Your life is mundane, boring, and you should be happy with that lot in life."

Luudin trembled as he stared at the sword. It did call to him. It spoke his name softly, just at the edge of hearing. A fire welled up inside him and he reached out and grasped the hilt of the sword before the cat could protest. It hissed and spat "You fool!" and vaulted from his shoulders.

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As soon as Luudin's hand touched the hilt, a sensation of breaking glass rippled through him as his mind crumbled under the weight of the sword. His memory was suddenly filled with moments that never happened. The thread of the life he could have lived was stitched together with the life he had lived. Dozens of contrasts, comparisons, and turning points in his life and his potential life were highlighted and brought to the front of his perception.

He saw his mother's face for the first time, but she had died in childbirth with him, the first born. He saw his father truly happy, but he was angry and bitter, and sometimes took it out on Luudin. He grew up with siblings, taught and protected them, but they were only a cold absence in his life. He knew people he had never met, loved a sweetheart he had only ever passed in the street. He followed the faith he abandoned and saw what the oaths were truly meant to accomplish.

He was weeping. Crying like he had never cried in his life. One part joy and another hopeless yearning. He wiped at his face with the backs of his hands. In one hand he held the sword. It regarded him while radiating compassion and joy, and Luudin's tears ceased as the sensation washed over him. He looked at the sword with awe and raised it. As he did, the sensation of breaking glass shook the air all around him, except this time the sword's plain, mundane appearance broke away.

What had been a simple longsword with a basic cross guard was now a much more imposing and stunning claymore. The blade was long and slender, and so elegantly forged that a swordsmith could spend their life studying it and never learn how to duplicate it. The guard was in the shape of a wide 'V,' and had a motto inlaid into either side in words that shifted until they read "The Truth of the Blade" and "The Song of the Heart." And while the shaft of the grip was leather wrapped and the most simple part of the sword, it was straight and unyielding.

A moment of stillness passed between them as they regarded one another, sword and master. They became bonded with purpose, with will, whole and undeniable, powerful and terrible. Then they turned at a sound behind them. The cat was hissing at them, its head low, its ears back, its fur standing on end. Luudin swung the sword around to point at the cat, its blade raising a five note melody as it cut the air. With the enchantment of the moment broken, fear, uncertainty, and confusion flooded back into Luudin. A tide of anger rose in him as exhaustion and the emotions of the day caught up with him and he roared at the cat "What is happening here?!"

"What is this?!" He gestured with the sword. "What is happening to me?!"

The cat flinched at his words and curled up on itself, half turning away. Then it said, head held low, "It's the Sword of Cascading Song, the sword of truth."

The cat's bell, which had been silent every time the cat had spoken thus far, rang audibly. The cat's expression changed in an instant and it gave a startled jumped three feet into the air. It landed on its feet with grace and yowled at Luudin.

"What have you done to me, boy!? I will follow you forever. I will make you pay for this. I will destroy you." The bell rang out three more times as the cat spoke and Luudin felt an intense dread. Never make His children speak the truth, and with the power of the sword, he had done just that.