Lifeless Chapter 3 Part 1

Lifeless

Chapter 3 – Spring 5 Year 1

.~.~.~.~.

Jake stood from his stool in front of the furnace, weighing the weapon in his hand, testing its balance. It was a katana he had just finished making, long and curved slightly, the steel reflecting the light the furnace threw across the room. He had not polished it yet, so it wasn’t perfect, but it sure felt good in his hand. Heavy, but not too much so, and the handle was heavy enough to counter the blade’s weight so it wasn’t uncomfortable to hold.

All in all, he was very proud of it. He swung it a few times to test it, and it cut through the air smoothly. He smiled subtly; he was proud of his work. The hilt was black, made with a tough tortoise shell and the handle was wrapped in a perfect criss – cross pattern with a white cloth. He put it down on the table, pulling out the things he needed to begin polishing it to a strong luster.

“What do we have here? You’re done with it already?” Tanya said from behind him, leaning heavily over his shoulder, arm around his neck.

“Hey, get off ‘a me, human! I’m not an armrest!” Jake protested, pushing her off and hurrying off to the side. Personal space, personal space!

“All right, sorry, love. I just wanted to get a good look, and you were taking up all the space in front of the table.” She grinned and chuckled, turning back to the katana on the table. She picked it up, examining it. She murmured to herself quietly, mumbling things even his sharp elven hearing couldn’t quite pick up as she scrutinized her work. He scowled as she tossed the blade lightly, probably to test its balance, and held it level with her face to check the angle and if the blade was warped at all. She lowered the blade, giving Jake a small smile. He merely raised an eyebrow, arms crossed impatiently.

“Hey, this is pretty good, kid. Feels good in my hand.” She backed off a little, swinging it around at invisible targets. “I’m impressed, Jake. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good.” She let the blade turn in her hand so that the handle was facing up, and handed it to Jake.

“Hn.” Jake grunted in response, taking the blade back and laying it on the table again. Of course it’s good, I made it. He smirked internally, busying himself with polishing it.

It was the best thing he had made all week. Good thing that tomorrow was a holiday, he would finally get the chance to go out and test it.

.~.~.~.~.

Spring 5 Year 1

Red, orange, yellow, brown. A few specks of green. He was surrounded by color everywhere; every tree looked like a painter had splashed them with bright watercolor. He knew by the color that he had to be in Messhina Valley, the dungeon of the fall season, but he couldn’t place where. The river flowed silently beside him, but this was a section of the Valley that he had not ever set foot in, at least not in his recent memory. He shivered. It was eerily silent. The world seemed to be on standstill – there wasn’t even a breeze, which was highly strange.

He spun around quickly, scrutinizing his surroundings. Why was it so quiet? And what was this strange feeling? It was almost like he was being watched, he could feel it. But there was no movement, no sound. He listened for a selkie, any kind of spirit, but without any wind, and with the river being so quiet he could sense none. There were just the trees, still as stone. Just what was watching him, what was causing this feeling?

He felt around his sides, breathing out in relief when he felt a sword at his side, its sheath hooked to his belt. It was his katana, freshly polished and deathly sharp – he had spent a good amount of time sharpening and polishing it to perfection the day before.

He pulled the sword out as a precaution, moving around stealthily, ears perked and eyes alert for any sound or movement. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing. Just what was going on?

An abrupt scream echoed around the forest, so high pitched and shrill he squeezed his eyes shut as his ears burned from the sensation. His heartbeat quickened in panic – who just screamed?! Someone was in trouble!

“Who’s there?” he shouted, eyes darting quickly around. Another scream and he spun on his heel, heading in the direction he heard it coming from.

It was across the river, he just knew it. He ran alongside it, the water churning violently along. He wondered when the current had gotten so strong – and for that matter, when the wind started blowing again – but that didn’t matter, all that mattered was who was screaming and why.

He wasn’t the generous and helpful type, but even he, cold hearted as he tried to be, couldn’t leave whoever was in trouble alone to be killed by the monsters.

He heard another scream, closer this time, but there was still no bridge. Just where had it gone!? He quickened his pace, running full speed along the river in a panic, heartbeat wild.

His eyes caught a flash of blue and white; a figure laying on the ground. He skidded to a halt, nearly falling into the raging current of the river.

The figure was a man, dressed in blue and white, with a mop of messy red hair on his head. He just barely realized who it was before everything went black. Kyle?!

.~.~.~.~.

Jake awoke to the sounds of Cecilia in the next room, talking quietly to his father Egan. He sat up, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. What a strange dream…it was so surreal. He never dreamed about the humans in town, either… and it was so… real. That new human, Kyle… he was laying in a pool of blood. He could still smell it, sour and metallic. It burned his nose even still. Just what had he seen, and why? Why did he dream about Kyle dying?

He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down. It was just a dream, and meant nothing. So why was he so panicked, why did it that image pain him so much? Why did he care? He heard Cecilia and his father talking quietly in the kitchen, and he only listened for a few moments before he realized they were talking about cooking – it sounded like Cecilia had discovered a new recipe and was excited to try it out later that evening at the de Sainte – Coquille’s for dinner – and decided to ignore it in favor of glancing at the clock. Six in the morning, on the dot. He got out of bed, stretching. Today was finally the holiday, so he didn’t have to go to Tanya’s for his training. He had the whole day to test out the weapons he had made over the week, and he was feeling rather excited, weird nightmare aside.

He dressed quickly, walking out of his room into the small kitchen. Cecilia was busying herself at the stovetop, cracking what looked like eggs into a skillet while Egan was sat at their small dining table, sipping some tea and staring out the window. Jake pulled out a chair and sat down next to his father.

“Good morning, Jake.” Cecilia said over her shoulder, shaking the pan she was cooking in. “Did you sleep well?”

“Fine.” He responded curtly, standing up and grabbing a cup from the cupboard next to her, filling it with water from the tap. That was a lie, but he really wasn’t in the mood to tell her that, and have to deal with her fawning over him – because she would. Plus, the dream was so odd, so unusual for him… she would probably take it wrong if he explained it to her. Knowing her, she would probably think it was somewhat prophetic, and then involve Kyle, which he didn’t want. He had absolutely no interest in any contact with him, and some silly dream wasn’t going to change that.

“So what are you going to do today, Jake?” Egan asked, taking another sip of his tea as Jake sat down with his drink.

“I made a few new swords this week, so I’m going to go into the dungeons to test them out.” The contents of the skillet sizzled harshly as Cecilia continued cooking, humming quietly as she worked.

“I see. Well, be careful.” Egan smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. Egan was, by human standards, rather old at over a hundred, but he probably only looked like he was in his early forties due to his elven blood. It showed every now and then, but not very often.

Jake was only a half – elf, so he could only hope to live half as long as his father, depending on how his human and elven blood mixed. It was a thought he had every so often, and often cursed it. Why did his human blood have to be such a pain in the ass?

“Yeah yeah.” Jake replied offhandedly, sipping his water and looking out the window. It was still rather dark, but the sun was just peeking over the horizon, painting the sky bright blue. Today was going to be a clear, sunny day, which he was thankful for. It would do him no good if it rained.

“Breakfast is ready!” Cecilia said cheerfully, placing a plate in front of him and his father before sitting down herself.

Jake ate in silence while Cecilia and Egan chatted, mostly about food and cooking. It was all they ever talked about, so Jake had gotten rather good at ignoring them. He wasn’t interested in cooking himself – if it was edible, he’d eat it. No big deal.

Although he wasn’t shy to admit (at least to himself) that he’d rather eat Cecilia’s cooking than anyone else’s.

“—Right, Jake?” Cecilia asked, her fork clinking on her plate.

“Huh?” Jake blinked, looking up from his food. He’d stopped paying attention a long time ago, and he arched an eyebrow in a mix of annoyance and curiosity.

“I said Kyle is pretty nice. He has been doing a lot of jobs for people around town recently, and he does a pretty good job. Look!” She leaned back, rifling through her apron pocket under the table for a few seconds before she brought her hand back out, holding a large sparkling red gem. “I asked him to go into the forest yesterday and get me a Ruby, but with one restriction – he couldn’t hurt any monsters. I would just feel terrible if anything was hurt because I wanted one. And he did it! I was so happy!” She smiled, setting the glimmering jewel on the table. Jake eyed it disdainfully.

“Why didn’t you just ask me? Why bother asking him?” Jake snorted, forking his scrambled eggs around the plate.

“Jake, I knew you would end up getting angry and attacking a monster, so I knew I couldn’t ask you.” She retorted, and Jake flinched. “Besides, I had something I wanted to give him, but I wanted to make sure he was the right person to have it.”

Jake blinked, scowling at her jab.

“Ah, the pet glove, right? You wanted to give him that so that he could tame the monsters to help him on his farm.” Egan said thoughtfully, twirling his tea cup in his hands.

“What? You gave him the pet glove?” Jake said, dropping his fork on his plate. “Why? That human would never be able to use it!”

“And how do you know that? Didn’t you feel anything from him when you met him? He’s definitely different, Jake. I think he would do very well.” Cecilia retorted, taking a bite of her breakfast.

“He is quite different.” Egan piped up, and Jake shot him a dirty look.

“He is just a stupid human, just like all the others. He’s not any different.” Jake snorted, picking his fork back up. “What a waste, you shouldn’t have given it to him.”

Cecilia frowned at him from across the table, but he ignored it in favor of his breakfast.

He finished quickly, leaving his plate at the table and heading back to his room. All the weapons he had painstakingly worked on the past week were propped up against the wall in a row – a claymore, katana, something else, something else, and something else. He carefully strapped them to himself, one by one, and stalked out the door.

“I’m leaving.” Jake huffed, giving the large Ruby still on the table a dirty look. That human… he was bad news. He was trying to worm his way into Cecilia’s heart, he could tell. He wasn’t about to let it happen – Cecilia was his.

“Bye Jake, be safe!” Cecilia said brightly from the sink, smiling cutely. Jake looked away quickly as he felt his face heat up a little, walking down the stairs quickly, and his weapons clanging together loudly.

“Yeah.” He called back.

The air outside was brisk and crisp, normal for a spring morning. He could smell the salt coming from the ocean spray, and it refreshed him.

He knew he had a small crush on Cecilia – she was the only one like him, after all, and she was so nice to him no matter what he did. But he wasn’t going to let anyone know, not yet. But he wasn’t going to let that stupid human get his hands on her, either. It was on.

He took the long way to Shooting Star Path, through Cherry Blossom Square, like he liked to do every day. Walking in the early morning hours was one of his favorite things to do – it was so peaceful, so quiet. It helped him to relax and organize himself, before he went out to do whatever labor- intensive job he had set himself up for that day, be it his blacksmith training or his training as a warrior.

Cherry Blossom Square was empty, like he expected. He strolled through, not in any hurry. Petals littered the ground, swirling around his feet in the light breeze, his weapons clanging together with every rhythmic step. The North Square was peaceful too, he didn’t even sense any movement coming from the new barn Kyle had had built with approval from Byron – that was a big deal around town, so of course Jake had heard of it, from Cecilia a few days before. Apparently the human wanted to tame and keep monsters, which had stirred up a few of the townspeople’s worries – how did they know that Kyle could control them? What if one got loose and started rampaging the town? What if one of them attacked someone who couldn’t defend themselves, like Cammy or Roy or Mana (Douglas pitched the biggest fit, if he recalled correctly) or Julia (who had no experience in defending herself and didn’t have even the first clue on what to do if a monster appeared) or Rosalind (Herman would be outraged if his little girl got hurt, even if she had a better chance than some of the other girls) or Dorothy or Alicia or some other girl? Jake would have Kyle’s head if Cecilia was hurt, he knew that. He doubted the human even had the ability to try such a thing, no human he had ever met had the ability (or the want, for that matter) to tame a monster.

But he had gotten a pet glove from Cecilia, she had blabbed on and on this morning about how he went in to Trieste Forest for her and got a Ruby for her without hurting any monsters, after all. So he had the ability, at least. They would see if he could use it right, though. Jake growled silently, eyes narrowing dangerously. Kyle was after Cecilia, he just knew it. Well, he wasn’t about to let that happen….

He walked down Shooting Star Path, stopping at the crossroads. What dungeon did he feel like going into? Padova Mountains held the strongest monsters, and the crisp winter air sounded like a nice idea – but he wouldn’t be able to spend a great amount of time in there, dressed as he was. Trieste Forest… the monsters were too weak for his taste – and he really didn’t want to deal with the long – range Orc Archers when all his weapons were various types of swords. Blessia Island was on the other side of town, so that was automatically out – besides, who wants to work in the summer heat, much less of their own volition? He only really went there unless he had something to do or was missing the summer weather when it was the dead of winter in town. So the only choice could be Messhina Valley…

He turned to the left, down the path to the Valley, but for some reason he paused. He had a strange feeling…. What was it?

Then it came to him – it was the same feeling of foreboding he had felt this morning… in that strange dream. He shook his head – he was acting silly. It was just a dream. It wasn’t like he was going to walk in, get lost, and then find Kyle bleeding on the ground… right? He couldn’t recall ever being prophetic… he never had the knack for it, even though he knew that some of his kind (elven side) held such abilities. Some humans did too – although their powers were more show and trickery than the real thing, case in point – Alicia. She was hardly ever right, and she knew it – so she always tried to MAKE her fortunes come true. Jake had almost threatened to disembowel her when he found out that she had read Cecilia’s fortune once, and it had read that she had to beware of stairs, and then made it her mission to try and make Cecilia take a fall down a flight or two.

He checked all of his weapons to make sure they were all there, took a deep breath, and walked in. No silly dream was going to prevent him from doing what he liked to do – fighting.