Chapter 3 (part1)

I walked further into the armoury and looked around at the weapon lined walls, there was just too much choice, how would I be ever to pick just one? 

"If it helps," Tinu said, drawing my attention to him. "You can't pick up weapons that are already owned by someone else." 

"How come?" 

"Grim creates each weapon using your own unique soul energy, and somehow he knows what weapon suits you best even if you don't." 

I was getting used to understanding the limitations of my soul memory so I didn't even have to ask for an explanation this time. 

"I thought you said I could pick one?" 

Tinu shook his head. "No, I said you'd find your own weapon here."

"So how do I find it?" 

"You'll just know," Tinu smiled. "And failing that you could always just hold your arms out until you don't phase through something!" He chuckled. 

I shot him a dark look to show my annoyance and turned back to the weapons. I thought about holding my arms out like he said, but I didn't need to, something pulled me towards the back wall, almost as though it were calling to me, like a missing part of myself. I walked in a sort of trance to the back wall. There, hanging in the middle of the wall, was a scythe. 

I soaked in the irony, looking at a weapon similar to the one that had killed me, was Grim being cruel when he created this scythe for me? Or did he truly think that a scythe would be my fated weapon, so to speak.

It looked different from Grim's own scythe, this one didn't resemble a spine but it's shaft was still curved, it's curved blade was noticeably sharp and pure white while it's shaft was pitch black and shone purple like obsidian. 

I reached out and grabbed it with one hand, as I pulled it down from the wall I could feel my power surge within me, I even felt it surge around the outside of my body, like an aura, my hair began to dance as though in a strong wind but I didn't panic, it's almost like I shot it a dark look and it just complied, backing down before it could unleash it's raw power. 

Could this scythe really be the key to controlling my magic? 

I looked closer at the weapon that was now in my right hand and noticed the black shaft, that was as long as my body, had strange engravings covering it, though I had no idea what these pictures meant, the blade had the same sort of engravings on along the top curve, they almost looked like a lost language, or at least a language humans had never encountered before.

"Whoa!" I heard Tinu exclaim, causing me to turn and face him. "That never happened when I found Xiomara." 

I smiled softly and stroked my hair behind my right ear. "That was my magic, as soon as I touched this scythe it tried to unleash itself," I replied with a wide smile. "And I managed to hold it back!" I added excitedly, jumping a little in the process. 

I could see he was impressed by the expression on his face. "Nice," He said with a slight nod. "You'll be pulling rabbits out of hats in no time!" He chuckled. 

I laughed, even though the joke wasn't good, this was a big and exciting moment for me. It's a shame Grim wasn't here to witness it, I wonder how he would have reacted.

"Is there somewhere I can test my scythe wielding skills?" I asked, unable to hold back my excitement.

Tinu nodded and tied his sword to his back using straps from its leather covering. "Follow me," He smiled as he nodded. "Another member of the legion will be there too."

"Really? How do you know they'll be there?" I asked as we walked out of the armoury. 

He breathed a soft and short laugh. "She's always there, she was a fighter in life so she's always training when not out on a hunt," He turned back to me with a grin. "But then what else would you expect from a Viking?" 

I followed him through the black courtyard in silence, I couldn't believe I was going to meet a Viking, I also couldn't believe that she hadn't already moved on, she must have been here for hundreds of years, if not more, a part of me felt bad for her. 

We walked to the left side of the hall where there was a set of stone steps going down, following them down lead to door which, in turn, opened up to a vast underground training area. 

Fire burned with no visible source on the wall to serve as light and strange mechanisms filled the room, most of which I had never seen before, all of them designed for training purposes. There was more than one member of the Legion training down here but there was only one who seemed like she could fight forever without rest. The blonde haired woman, who seemed to be more or less my age, eighteen, was wielding a sword in her right hand with a golden hilt and a round wooden shield lined with metal around the edge, and even down the front, ending with a circular bit of metal which stuck out a little, in her left, the shield was big enough to cover her entire torso and yet she continued to move with ease, it didn't even seem to slow her down. She was fighting against multiple wooden manikins that attacked her from all sides, each of them wielding swords, she blocked each strike against her with her shield and cut the manikins in half with her sword as a counter, only for them to repair instantly and continue their attack. 

"The training objects in this room are enchanted, if it wasn't already obvious." Tinu explained as we watched her.

"Can they actually hurt us?" 

He nodded. "They're all equipped with weapons like ours, so they have the potential to fatally wound us if we're not careful," He pointed to each side of the room where I noticed more of the hooded figures like the ones who came to us when we left the hall, I never would have seen them if Tinu hadn't pointed them out. "The Crows here use their magic to heal our wounds, they also control the ferocity of the training devices."

The Order of Crows were quite mysterious, the fact that they never showed their faces and blended in with the shadows were only part of it, I wonder what else they do to serve Grim. 

"You said they had weapons like ours?" I was a little confused. "I thought we couldn't touch the weapons of others." 

Tinu nodded. "We can't, the blades, however, can," I still didn't quite get it, and I think he knew that. He smiled before continuing. "We use bladed weapons to reap demons, demons were once human souls, basically, we can't touch the handles of the weapons but the blades can cut us, they're made from the same metal as Grim's scythe." 

I nodded as I finally understood. "Okay, I get it now." 

Tinu and I walked towards her, though she didn't stop her training. 

"How many's that now?" He asked as she sliced another manikin in half. 

"I don't count," She replied, not even sounding like she was out of breath. "You know that!" She did, however, sound annoyed, I'd even go as far to say she was angry. 

Tinu just laughed at her response. "Why don't you take a break for a second? I want to introduce you to the knew Legionnaire."

The girl gave a heavy sigh. "Fine!" She replied bluntly, cutting down a final manikin and sheathing her sword into the scabbard on her waist. The manikins stopped instantly and retreated to the back wall. She turned around to face us and I could see what she was wearing, it looked like she was wearing a mixture of armour and clothing, her torso was covered with a leather breastplate, lined with fur on the inside of the armour and fused with chainmail on the outside, she had fur-lined bracers on her wrists and under her bracers and breastplate she was wearing a blue dress which reached down to her knees, she also wore black trousers to cover her legs and fur-lined leather boots, around her waist was a leather belt which wrapped around her twice and also had the scabbard to her sword attached to it. 

She detached her left arm from the huge shield and stood it in front of her, she seemed to lean on it as she looked at us expectantly. 

"Astrid, this is Delia." 

"And I'm meeting her because...?" Astrid asked without taking her eyes away from Tinu. 

"She made the castle shake." He replied, crossing his arms and looked rather impressed with himself for some reason. 

Astrid turned to look at me, she smiled and let go of her shield, which fell forward, causing Tinu to move back, after he held his arm out to push me backwards, so it wouldn't slam down on our feet. 

"The metal lining her shield is made from the same stuff as our weapons, so even that could hurt us." He explained. 

I nodded and looked down at the shield. "Good to know." 

"So you're the witch?" Astrid asked as Tinu and I stepped to each side of the shield.

"And you're the Viking." I replied, looking up to her

"Shield Maiden," She corrected me. "But yes, I am the Viking," She looked down at my scythe, she laughed a little as looked back up at me. "He made you a weapon just like his?" 

I held the curved shaft of the scythe in both hands and nodded. "Why's that so funny?"

"It's not really," She replied as her laughter subsided. "I just love the irony." She put her right hand on her waist while her left arm relaxed by her side. 

I didn't even have to guess that Grim had told everyone he had to reap me but it didn't bother me. Surprisingly enough, I think Astrid was actually being nice to me, even though it seemed like she was making fun of me. 

"Why do you even need a weapon? Can't you just use your magic?" She asked curiously. 

"I can't control it yet, hence the shaking castle." 

She laughed. "Do you even know how to use that thing?" 

I shook my head. "That's why I'm here." 

"I was gonna help her out." Tinu said proudly. 

Astrid looked and scoffed. "Please, the way you wield that sword, she'll end up using it like a hammer or something stupid." 

"You think you could train her better?" Tinu argued back, sounding quite offended by her comment, his cloudy eyes even seemed darker somehow. 

Astrid nodded. "Damn straight I could!" 

Tinu suddenly calmed down and smiled. "Then go ahead." 

I soon realised I had no choice in the matter but saying that, the only one of the two I had seen fighting was Astrid, and the way she moved with that shield of hers was incredible, almost graceful in execution, from that alone I'd say she was the best one to teach me how to fight. 

She lifted her shield up from the floor and held it in her left hand once more. 

"Come on, Princess," She grinned. "Let's train, shall we?" 

I looked at her silently for a moment. "Are you going to be my partner?" I asked, slightly concerned after seeing what she did to the manikins. 

She shook her head with a rather sweet smile on her face. "I wouldn't want to hurt you too much on your first time."

"Count yourself lucky," Tinu said from behind me. "When she fights she more ferocious than a demon." 

My eyes widened a little bit as Astrid turned to him, her sweet smile turning into a thin grin. 

"Jealous?" 

"Little bit." His voice was slightly higher when he spoke. 

Astrid turned back to me. "Don't worry, we'll start you off easy." 

I sighed in relief. "Good." 

She pointed to the far wall. "Send out two manikins!" She called out beckoning them with a hand motion. 

Before I had a chance to respond Astrid pushed me forward and two manikins ran at me from the wall, both holding swords and ready to attack me as soon as they were able. 

"I'd block if I were you." I heard Astrid say, but just barely, adrenalin was flooding my body, so much that I was stuck to the floor, caught somewhere between fight and flight. When the manikins came within striking distance they raised their swords in unison and brought them down upon me, instinct kicked in and I rose my scythe into the air, I bent my right knee and my left leg straightened behind, bracing for the impact, my hands spread out across the shaft of the scythe so my right was under the blade and my left was at the base. The swords struck the curved shaft and forced me back a little, if I hadn't changed my stance I would've fallen to the ground. 

"Now repel them!" Astrid ordered as I struggled against the surprising strength of the manikins. 

"How?" I grunted as I tried to push them back but to no avail. 

"Change the angle your pushing at, disrupt their balance!" 

I nodded and did as she instructed, tilting the scythe and pushing to my left, throwing the manikins off balance and ridding their blades from my weapon. Seeing my chance I changed the position on my hands so they were closer together and went for the killing blow, but they were sturdier than I thought, as the curved blade of my scythe came into contact with one of the manikins it didn't slice all the way through and it got stuck half way through. 

I struggled to remove my scythe from the manikin's torso but by this point the other manikin had regained it's composure and came at me again, I tried to dodge it while still holding onto the scythe but it still managed to land a hit with the tip of its sword, cutting my left arm just above the elbow, the cut was pretty deep too but not deep enough to hinder my movements too much. I turned the pain into determination and used it to put more strength behind my scythe to force it through the manikin, and this time it cut all the way through, I used the momentum from that to spin and slice the other manikin in half, managing to on the first strike this time. 

The manikins fell to the ground and instantly repaired and the training continued, Astrid yelled out actions I should do and I followed them without question. Each time I cut down the two manikins I felt myself getting stronger, more agile and the scythe easier to wield. Each cut that I suffered only served as more motivation to get better. 

After what seemed like hours of cutting down the two manikins, my movements were more graceful, I could spin the scythe around my hands like a baton and strike swiftly and powerfully. 

Astrid put up her hand to stop and the manikins retreated to the back wall once more, she walked up to me and patted me on the back, which hurt thanks to some cuts I had received from the training. 

"You got some good instincts," She said proudly as I leant forward on my knees and breathed heavily. "I'd say you would've made a good Shield Maiden." She beckoned one of the Crows to us where they began to use their magic to heal my injuries and repair my clothing. 

"She's definitely a quick learner." Grim's voice said from the back of the room. 

I turned to face the direction it came from and saw him standing next to Tinu, looking more proud than Astrid was. At that moment I was so happy to see him that I instantly stood up straight and forgot how exhausted I was. 

"How long have you been here?" I asked, I was almost embarrassed that I hadn't noticed him earlier. 

"A while," He replied with a slight chuckle. "Congratulation on picking up your new skill set." 

I think my cheeks went red, I could feel them warming up. "Thank you." I couldn't really look at him so I turned away from him and tried to hide my face. 

"Fancy putting your skills to the test?" He asked, drawing my attention back. 

Confusion replaced my embarrassment. "Didn't I just do that?" 

"That was training, I'm talking about the real thing," He looked at all three of us. "A demon has risen in the living world, I want you all to go and reap it." 

My eyes widened in a mixture of terror, dread and excitement. My first demon, I felt ready but the thought of it was still enough to scare me a little.