Chapter 3: The Sword and Humiliation

As Jayce made his way back home, he saw his dad walking down the hill. He assumed that he went to go visit mom. His dad called to him "What have you been up to?" "I went to go train with Hiva." When they met up, they saw a few customers waiting in line at their shop. "I take this as a blessing from your mother," he said as he reopened the shop. The two went to work making shoes for the customers.

At night, Hiva was lying in bed replaying the training in her head. She had told her mom about it but she didn't care too much about it. "Well he has had a lot of training from me, you, and his mother, he was bound to achieve great skill," her mom told her. "But all of a sudden though?" she said to herself in bed. She had a difficult time falling asleep but eventually, she dozed off.

It was around seven in the morning the next day. Jayce woke up to the sounds of screaming from next door. It sounded like Mrs. Avella. She lived two houses down the street from his and sweet old Mrs. Avella sold jewelry. This made her a prime target for robberies. Jayce ran outside to see what was going on. Mrs. Avella was being held at knifepoint by a stranger in dark robes. He was trying to steal some jewelry. He also saw Hiva was there too. She was trying to figure out a way to take down the intruder without him killing the old lady. Jayce slowly crept forward and grabbed a rock and flung it at the intruder's head. He turned around and like a flash, Hiva punched the robber in the jaw and he fell unconscious. Hiva looked up at Jayce and nodded at him with a smile. He assumed she was okay now. "Oh, thank you so much you too, I thought was a goner," she said with deep breaths. "I'm okay now thanks again, this old lady can take care of herself from here," she said as she got up to the door. "Now you two lovebirds take care of yourselves now," she said with a joking smile. They laughed nervously. Jayce rubbed the back of his head. "I apologize again for yesterday I see that you are okay now?" Hiva looked up. "Yeah... I'm fine thanks for your help." Before Jayce could respond, he heard his father calling him. "I think I gotta go help my dad," he said. "Yeah I better get going too, I have to remove this robber from the town and make my mom breakfast," she responded. They waved goodbye and he headed back home. Hiva clenched her arm and looked down at the ground and back at Jayce walking home. She wanted to be more than friends but she was too scared to tell him.

After Jayce helped his father open the store and serve a customer, he went to take a shower. The bathroom was located in a separate building in their tiny backyard. The bathroom had two rooms, one for the toilet and one for the shower. He stepped into the shower stall and turned on the shower. It was cold and Jayce jumped a bit. It took a bit for the shower to warm up. Being in the shower made Jayce calm down and forget all the terrible things going on in the world. He glanced down and saw all the dirt and sweat go down the drain just like his worries but once he got out of the shower he knew his worries would come back just like the dirt and sweat. He turned off the water and dried himself with a towel. He put on new clothes and went back inside. 

It was noon now and Jayce and his dad were helping a customer when suddenly some wood from the ceiling collapsed. The wood landed between two rooms. "Could you get the hammer and nails and fix it please?" asked his dad as he was busy mending a customer's old shoes. His dad tossed the keys to the storage closet to him. Jayce got up and went to retrieve the tools to fix the collapsed ceiling. When he entered the closet, there were lots of boxes everywhere. The storage closet was more like a room but it was smaller than the bedrooms. Jayce grabbed the tools from the shelf nearby. He then went to leave but something caught his eye. There was something beaming in the corner of the room behind a pile of boxes. He tried to figure out what it was but his dad called him and he closed the door. 

Once he was done, Jayce went up to his dad and asked if he can accompany him to the storage closet. He unlocked the door. "I saw something beaming in the corner," Jayce said. He moved a few boxes away and saw a sword and round objects called chakrams. "Aren't these moms, I thought they buried them with her?" he asked with a surprised face. "Well in her will, she wanted her weapons to be stored in the house and not underground with her" his dad responded. "So you just kept this a secret from me and you left them here to collect dust instead of properly storing them?" he asked. His dad nervously shrugged. Jayce looked back at the weapons. "Wait a minute, you said that you saw the sword glow?" asked his dad. Jayce remembered that when mom used it, it glowed red and sometimes it became a flaming sword. "Yeah, I saw it glowed when I came to get the tools" he answered. "That's ridiculous, the sword only glowed when your mother held it." He grabbed the sword to demonstrate that it didn't glow when he held it. He tried to hand it to Jayce so he can hold it too but a loud explosion from outside startled them and his dad dropped the sword. 

They ran outside to see what the explosion was. They both stopped at the entrance when they saw it was GhostStrike who appeared at the entrance of the town. They both saw that his head was burnt and he seemed angry even though his bowling ball head didn't express much emotion. He looked to the left and to the right slowly. He let out a growl. "I'm angry and I am going to take it out on you poor worthless folks maybe, you guys can calm me down." By this time, everyone had peered outside to see what had happened. "Hey, you already took our resources yesterday so leave us alone!" yelled Dober. He ran the hunting store next door. "How dare you speak against me you stupid hunter!" yelled GhostStrike. He aimed his arm cannon at him and shot out a bowling ball. It missed as Dober dodged it and went back into his shack. GhostStrike was about to shoot another until Dober came out shooting with his shotgun. He thought he was doing damage but the bullets were just going through his robe. GhostStrike laughed. "Pathetic." He aimed his arm cannon at Dober's arm and shot a bowling ball at it. He yelled in pain and dropped his gun. "Not so tough without your gun huh?" GhostStrike said mockingly. Dober tried to run back into his house but GhostStrike shot another bowling ball at him which hit his leg. He fell hard on the floor grasping his injured leg. "You're a weak gunslinger," GhostStike said. He floated back to the road. "I can't believe I still have to be stuck with all of you worthless bums just because my boss won't expand my area!" he exclaimed. 

He turned around and saw Jayce peering out at him. He floated towards him. "Hey loser, how does it feel to be the only child of a legendary hero but yet you will never be like her because you are poor, weak and a shoemaker like your dumb dad." "Please leave us alone," his dad said. "Who asked you to speak?" GhostStrike yelled. He struck him in the stomach. Jayce's dad laid on the floor. Jayce tried to help him up but he was breathing hard. He looked back at GhostStrike. "I bet she's ashamed of being a mother of a child who is not heroic like she was," he said in a haunting voice. GhostStrike teleported to the other half of town. Jayce was panicking. He was worried about dad and was aching from what GhostStrike had said to him. Then he remembered Mrs. Avella was a retired nurse maybe she can help. He ran towards her house fighting back tears. She was still peering outside trying to figure out what GhostStrike was doing over there. He ran up to her. "Please Mrs. Avella, my father was struck in the stomach by GhostStrike could you please help him" he cried. Her eyes widened and she quickly got her medical kit from her storage closet and met Jayce at his house. He was thankful that she still had medical supplies as she helped injured travelers. She went to work on healing Jayce's dad on the long table. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, GhostStrike was terrorizing Mr. Scrayton. He was on the ground crying while GhostStrike bullied him. He looked up cautiously. GhostStrike looked at him and laughed. "What a wimp." He aimed his arm cannon at his head and shot a bowling ball. Mr. Scrayton screamed until he realized that the bowling ball missed. GhostStrike continued laughing. He started to float away and Mr. Scrayton slowly got up. As soon as he got up fully, GhostStrike shot a bowling ball directly at his forehead. Mr. Scrayton dropped dead. "What a pathetic specimen," he said as he continued down the street. 

He floated past the handyman's shack. GhostStrike looked inside but saw nobody even though the door was open. He shrugged and continued down the street. The handyman was at the other side of his house waiting for him to get close enough to attack. He was armed with a mallet. Once GhostStrike was close enough, he struck his mallet at the arm cannon. It left a dent on it. He struck at it again. GhostStrike just stared at him. He tried to do it a third time but GhostStrike swung his other arm cannon at him across his face. He collapsed onto the ground. GhostStrike picked him up and threw him at his home with such force that the wall broke. He shot out a barrage of bowling balls towards the shack until it collapsed. He looked at his dented arm. "Well it's been fun everyone you really brightened my mood," he said. He glared at Hiva's house. "Now there are only six homes left in this miserable town." He laughed as he vanished from the road. Hiva let out a sigh of relief that she and her mother were left alone. She then went to help Grent and Mr. Bunkle in retrieving the dead bodies of their fallen townsfolk and prepare to bury them.

Jayce's dad woke up from his slumber. He blinked a few times for his vision to adjust. He saw Mrs. Avella standing near him. "What happened?" he asked weakly. "Your son came to me to help heal you after you were struck by GhostStrike, he didn't aim high enough to break ribs or hard enough to crush your stomach," she said. "Thank you so much for helping me" he looked around the room "but where is Jayce?" Mrs. Avella looked down. "He is in his room, he seems to be upset about what GhostStrike said to him. "I need to go see him," he said as he tried to get up but failed. "No, you need to rest," Mrs. Avella said.

Jayce was sitting in his room thinking about what GhostStrike said. He was right he will never be like his mom. She killed her first monster when she was around seventeen and had defeated many enemies well before Pyranical showed up. She even helped to mend governments after economic troubles. She was loved, brave, and legendary while he was just the son who will probably never be her successor. He genuinely believed his mom was ashamed of him for not even attempting to do anything despite his training. He didn't even use the sword that she probably left for him. He felt miserable and wanted to cry from the guilt of not upholding his mom's legacy and not doing anything to stop Pyranical. 

Hiva came into his home and saw Jayce's dad laying in a chair. He saw Mrs. Avella and asked what happened. "GhostStrike struck him in the stomach but he seems to be okay now he's just resting." She looked around the room with a worried expression. "Where's Jayce?" she asked. Mrs. Avella pointed towards his room. "He's okay physically but not mentally." Hiva peered into Jayce's room, he had his head down and was sitting at the opposite side of the bed. "Hey, may I come in?" she asked softly. He nodded and so she slowly went to sit by him. "Could you tell me what happened?" Jayce wiped away a tear. "GhostStrike told me, my mother would be ashamed of me because I am her only child and I am poor and weak, I believe he is right, I mean I had a lot of training but I'm not doing anything with it so it's just going to waste." He brushed away another tear. "I feel guilty for not continuing the heroism that she started, I just feel miserable" Hiva brushed away a tear from his face with her sleeve. "Jayce, your mom doesn't expect you to be her just because you are her child and she was a hero, she wants you to be your own person and not be bogged down by the fact that you are not a hero like she was" Jayce still looked down. She scooted closer to him. "Tell you what, tomorrow I'll teach you some more skills to improve your fighting spirit," she said. He nodded slowly. "Did he do anything to you?" "No thankfully, but Mr. Scrayton and the handyman were sadly killed," she said. Jayce looked at the floor a bit. "Thanks for being here, you are an amazing friend you know that but I have a question for you," he said. "What is it?" she asked. She looked straight into Jayce's brown eyes. "If I were to pursue GhostStrike and maybe journey to find Pyranical, would you accompany me?" Hiva blinked a few times she wasn't expecting that question. "Uh, I would like to but I have to take care of my mom, not to mention the store and the morning patrols." I see," he said. Hiva looked surprised. "Please tell me you're not thinking of doing it, I don't even think me and you could take down GhostStrike, you don't have to prove anything." He sighed. "Alright, I'll drop the idea." Hiva hugged him. "You are important to me and I don't want to lose you."

"What have you been up to you floating bowling ball?" the figure asked. "Nothing" GhostStrike responded as he tried to fix the dent in his arm. "Tell me!" the figure yelled as he threw a fireball at GhostStrike. It nearly missed. GhostStrike told him what he had done. "Don't worry boss, they still haven't figured out my weak spot" he said. "Didn't I told you I want to see the poor, weak people slowly suffer and die and yet here you go speeding it up!" The figure yelled. "Why do you think I only force the healthier, wealthier city folk to be my slaves huh, cause I know those poor people can't handle forced labor. Before GhostStrike could say anything, the figure cut him off. "Fine, I'll let you expand to Cespion village but the witch will be angry about losing one of her towns that she patrols." GhostStrike was happy but before he could say thanks, the figure told him to leave before he changes his mind and torches his head again. 

It was around four in the evening in Blanto. Jayce's dad was still ill but he was feeling a bit better. Jayce was still a bit depressed but he felt better thanks to Hiva. Both Mrs. Avella and Hiva had gone back to their homes to tend to their duties. When his dad was sleeping, Jayce had grabbed the key out of his pocket. He kept it just in case he decided to go with his plan. Suddenly he heard a boom from outside. GhostStrike had returned but this time nobody wanted to confront him not even Dober. He spawned at the center of the town and not at the entrance as usual. "Hello again weaklings, I just expanded to Cespion village starting tomorrow but don't worry I'll still come and visit" he laughed and spun around, shooting bowling balls everywhere. None of them hit anybody but it damaged a few houses. "I estimate you guys will be extinct in about two months, assuming I don't just kill you all before then," he said. He vanished but his laugh was still echoing. "This was valuable information," Jayce thought. Though he wasn't one hundred percent sure he was going to go through with the plan.