The Metal that Cuts the Soul

One more story from my Power of the Pen days back in 8th grade...

 

“We ain’t afraid of you alchemist!” a thug spat at me. I glanced at him and he backed up, I could see the fear in his eyes. “I heard you were hired to come after us, mercenary eh?” he said. I didn’t respond. I pulled a full metal ball out of my bad. The circle of thugs around me backed up. I closed my eyes and focused as the thug leader turned to run. Without opening my eyes, I threw my right hand after the escaping criminal. A bright silver chain and spike shot out after him and magically wrapped around his neck, slicing him up at the same time. He screamed as he died, and I smiled. I pulled on the chain and it came back to me and was a metal ball in my hand again.

This was my God-given talent, alchemy. I could manipulate any type of metal to my will. Change what metal it was, or change its shape, anything I wanted. The metal ball sparkled as it bounced in my hands.

“I could let you all go you know...” I said and they winced as I spoke to them. “Just point me in the direction of the money you stole and you’re free to go,” I told them. The sun was about to set I noticed, as a breeze blew through my pure white hair. Fools, they charged at me.

In an instant the first wave of them went down. I concentrated and my ball separated into tiny beads and fired in all directions, hitting my foes and shooting through them like bullets. As the second wave came upon me, I moved fast. The beads became a ball again and the ball became a sword. Turning on my enemies I swung my blade. My sword devastated my foes like a tornado of death and destruction. The fled before my onslaught like sheep before the butcher. I could feel the adrenaline pumping and the blood pounding in my ears. This is what I loved, the thrill of the fight. I used it to wash away the pain of my past.

 

At last all my enemies lie dead before me. I searched the rubble but I couldn’t find the money I was sent to find. Out of nowhere, I heard a dragon’s roar and some shouting. I raced towards the sound. It led me to a small hill. Already what I was looking for was fading in the distance. There were two bandits and a treasure chest riding atop a black wyvern. I turned away, tears welling up in my eyes, for I knew where they were headed. The black wyvern, a symbol of an evil I’d been avoiding.

 

The rain poured down my face and the thunder boom in the sky as I stood in front of the great big castle. On the big iron gate was a large black wyvern burned onto it. I punched it and the door creaked open. There was a person waiting for me right inside.

He stood in front of a giant tapestry of a black wyvern, wearing a long, flowing, black robe. As he turned around to face me, hatred welled up from deep inside me.

I charged recklessly at him, swinging my chain and spike. My enemy wielded a huge broadsword and swung it deflecting and breaking my chain.

“My my, little brother, you’re even weaker than before,” he said mockingly.

“Shut up Sephar!” I roared collecting my pieces of metal with my mind. I formed it into a blade and charged again. He blocked my slashes and shattered my blade. Sephar kicked me in the stomach and choke slammed me against the wall.

“You...you stole a quarter of my family!” I shouted at him. At this I punched him and hit him in the jaw, making him drop me. Throwing three lightning fast punches, I caught him in the stomach. “Quarter of my flesh, quarter of my blood!” I screamed as I stood over him with a clenched fist. All of a sudden something happened. My shattered pieces of metal shot together, as if they were drawn together by a magnet. I relaxed my clenched fist and held it open to receive my magically floating ball.

As soon as I touched it, I knew it was different. It was a silvery color, much like the normal reinforced silver I used to transform into my weapons. I instantly knew what I was holding, but it left me in a state of shock. It was aetherium, the strongest and most magical metal on the planet.

“So you’ve got you little toy back,” Sephar grimaced, “You’re still not strong enough to beat me...” With these words he got onto his feet. Not wanting to give him a chance to attack me, I charged him, changing the aetherium into a sword.

“I shall show you the strength of aetherium!” I screamed as I swung my blade. Sephar brought up his two-handed sword to block my blow. Just before our blades met, my blade shifted. Half of my aetherium blade went up and around Sephar’s broadsword and reconnected on the other side of it. His eyes widened in fear as my blade came crashing down on him.

I sliced straight through him, but he didn’t have a single scratch on him. Nonetheless, he was shaking, and with good reason. Aetherium was a liquid metal, which was how my blade went around Sephar’s. And it was also that metal that can cut the soul. I had used the aetherium to target the true thief of a quarter of my family, of my brother. The evil inside Sephar’s heart. 

Finally he stopped shaking, and the evil inside him had dissipated. I caught him as he fell. I held him close, for I had won back the quarter of my family that evil had stolen. As I carried my brother out of the castle, I looked back at it and wondered whether I had been good, or evil. But I pushed the thought away from my mind. I was the warrior that straddled the fence between good and evil. My brother over my shoulder, I trudged home.

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[Gabriel]

AMAZING, WONDERFUL, MAGNIFICENT, CHEFS KISS