Chapter 8 - Eternia
#8 of Country of the Forgotten
Chapter 8 - Eternia
Leo took a few more steps into the vast room before something shined far away. He stopped to see if it was a warning but decided to move on since nothing occurred. Taking a few more steps but stopped when something shined above him but still in his range of vision. Soon, there were small dots appearing and disappearing as Leo gazed at the wonders in awe for each shimmer that he saw, he could depict a small image. The room soon became dark and the shining dots became what could be the night sky yet inside the vast room. The empty room is actually a planetarium used to track locations of other planets and worlds by standing in the midst of a holographic model of a section of space, one at a time. Nothing holographic appeared but Leo didn't take that into consideration as he walked into the false space.
"Take no step further or you shall perish," said a warm voice in his mind.
Leo stopped and looked around to see if he could see who spoke those words. Looking around frantically didn't do him any good as he came to realize that is was all in his mind. Something or someone spoke those words but through the use of telepathy. Taking a single step brought him to some strange edge as he struggled to regain his balance after discovering no land beneath his step. The empty space lit up and Leo could see what was in the space he could not walk upon. Dim lights lined the wall that Leo was standing above as he looked down and saw nothing.
"Wait," spoke the warm voice once again.
Leo did what he was told without any question of whether he was being led into a trap or not. Small platforms floated into the air and rested a few inches apart from each other. The closet was about a foot away from the walls edge. No thought entered Leo's mind as he took one step onto the platform to make sure it was okay for him to place all of his weight upon. Luckily for him, all of the platforms held regardless of what he did.
"Okay, I don't know what's going on here but I'll just have to go with it," thought Leo as he crossed the great gap on the platforms that were provided for him to use.
Slowly, he crossed each platform that was neither hot nor cold. It was thin and about two feet wide and two feet long. Such durability amazed him as he leaped from one platform to the next, throwing all of his weight along with gravitational force onto the platforms that wouldn't budge in any direction or break. Half way across the abyss, Leo jumped a little too far and missed the platform landing but grabbed onto the edge just in time. The force underneath the platforms was different from above. The force pulled at his body and wanted Leo to fall to his doom. Just trying to get back up onto the platform was difficult without the pulling force.
"Just great, I'm about to be torn to pieces," said Leo aloud getting his other arm to latch onto the platforms edge.
Using most of his strength, Leo had a grueling time getting up on the platform. It was difficult due to the magnitude of the force until he realized he could swing his body to and fro.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?" said Leo bleakly as he swung his body into a large arc before doing a back flip up onto the platform.
It wasn't the best of back flips but it wasn't the worst either since he isn't plummeting to his demise. Landing with a loud thud and a sore bottom, Leo rested a moment before getting up and continuing on his way after he figured out which way he was supposed to go with the help of the warm voice that passes through his mind. The traveling seems pointless if you're stuck over a large hole but that did not crush Leo's determination. He finally made it to the end as the room was coming to a close. Two double doors were near each other, one marked "DANGER" and the other "STORAGE". Walking up to the door with "DANGER", Leo could feel the resonance even stronger against this door and knew that what he desired was beyond it.
"Here goes nothing," muttered Leo as he pushed against the two doors as it opened up.
The doors swung in and hit the metallic sides with a soft bang. The air was cold and the feelings of powerful bindings could be felt. In the darkness, Leo could feel the general direction he should go but hesitated to do so. Slowly walking through the door and proceeded at a small angle to the right, the darkness enveloped him as the doors closed behind him. The only recognition of closing was the light on the floor became a small slit before disappearing entirely.
"Great, I'm lost in the dark. At least I have night vision so it all works out," said Leo aloud but the night vision never established. Leo is in total darkness.
"See with your feet and ears," recommended the warm voice.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," thought Leo as he resumed on his walk.
After a few minutes, Leo began to notice how odd the ground felt since it was smooth in some places and rough and bumpy in others. It took a while for Leo to understand what that meant. Rough and bumpy steel meant that he was moving off the smooth path that led him to the bound sword.
"I wonder how he's doing with those weird things. Probably done with them and bored as hell now," thought Leo.
Outside, just as Leo made that thought, Gilbert was dooming around for his life because the small circles got smart and dodged every attack thrown at him.
"I hope he's having better luck than me!" shouted Gilbert.
Keeping on the smooth path for about ten minutes brought into Leo's vision a light coming down from the ceiling. Deciding to run to the light was the worst idea Leo thought off in the darkness when he ran off an edge by pure chance after five running steps.
"Shit," thought Leo as he momentarily floated in air before falling slowly.
The light didn't seem to be getting any bigger as he fell but it soon turned out that it was only a ledge about two feet high so it wasn't a deadly fall. The ground below Leo was smooth so he was still on the right path when he decided to walk quickly instead of run. The light progressively grew bigger and soon enough he was close enough to see that it shined upon the bound sword which he thought looked completely lame.
"That's the lamest sword I have ever seen. I thought it would be all crazy looking," said Leo approaching the sword.
"Looks can be deceiving," said the warm voice.
"Okay, who the hell is talking to me?!" shouted Leo at the top of his lungs.
"Who else than the 'lamest sword' before you," answered the warm voice.
"Okay, now I'm going crazy if there is another sword that can talk," said Leo.
"You're not going crazy. At most you're entering denial," said the warm voice.
"Okay then, who are you?" asked Leo standing before the sword and examining the bindings.
"I am Eternia, the sword of...well...I don't really know," answered the warm voice.
"How can you not know?" said Leo in disbelief poking different areas of the chains.
"I become what my wielder wants me to be so I can't really define myself as I would like to," answered Eternia.
"Okay, so then...what do I do?" asked Leo.
"You have to be really stupid not to know. Remove this stupid chain, it makes my blade sore," answered Eternia.
"Let's see what I can do then," murmured Leo as he grabbed hold of a loose portion of the chain and began to pull on it.
The chain held fast and couldn't be dislodged. The most conventional thought that Leo could think up was to just keep on pulling but that soon failed to work. The thoughts of bow cutters and pliers seemed like a good idea but that soon proved to be one of the worst ideas because he has no access to either instrument.
"Concentrate on your abilities and use that," said Eternia.
"That's worth a try," said Leo plainly as he rested his right palm on the left chain and closed his eyes to concentrate on only the chain itself.
The atmosphere around his hand became cold and grew colder as the chain tried to fend off the mystic assault but that didn't stop Leo from enacting his abilities.
"Chains that bind the innocent break free from those who cry. Drop all strength and become a regular entity as the world destroys your core. Extrucate," murmured Leo.
The cold air became warmer as the magic grew in strength to succumb the resistance. In his mind, Leo could hear the chain scream in agony as its core is being attacked relentlessly and the magical bindings falling apart. As the chain weakened, it loosened its grip around the sword until it became a regular chain that fell to the ground without a single sound. All that remains are the straps but those fell quickly when Leo tore them off since it was nothing but leather.
After the straps fell to the floor, Eternia leaned forward slightly before Leo grabbed hold of the hilt and thought that everything would be super in some way like blinding light followed by a super special sword. Sadly, nothing happened. Eternia did nothing special at all when Leo picked it up.
"I thought you're supposed to change based on the wielder's preference," said Leo slightly annoyed and pissed off.
"You're ignorant if you think it happens just like that," answered Eternia.
"Oh well, guess I should get out of this thing now," said Leo walking away from the light but the room immediately lit up as a large ring of bodies became visible.
Leo could see the flooring now but knew if that "DANGER" meant danger which could lead to immediate death. The ring of bodies are soldiers dressed in all black with a helmet similar to the helmets worn in Halo but it was flat and without a mouthpiece. Each soldier was holding a long spear with a very long point at the end of the shaft that is about four feet long.
"Great, I'm about to die at the hands of weird looking soldiers," said Leo looking down at his feet with a stupid expression.
"If your resolve is strong enough, then you will live. I guarantee that," said Eternia.
"Thanks for the support you no good piece of shit," said Leo.
Someone in the ring shouted at full strength that came to Leo's ears as "AH!!!!" but that wasn't the case if the ring started to move in and become life threatening. Each person moved with astounding speed that Leo only had about 30 seconds to think of something or else die at the spear points.
"If my resolve is strong enough?" thought Leo until it finally occurred to him what Eternia was talking about.
The soldiers were close before Leo understood what Eternia meant and it is probably too late for him to live at all as one of the spears grazed the back of his shirt. Somehow, everything moved extremely slowly for Leo as he used the power of Kanis Falthelum to slow down time. He still moved normally without any problems and brushed the attack away before any major damage is done to his body. Holding the sword before him, pointed up, Leo thought about his resolve.
"My resolve...is to live for the people who have given their lives for the better cause," said Leo.
"Are you sure?" asked Eternia.
"Yes, that is my resolve," said Leo.
The blade began to twist and bend in many directions as it sprouted out a similar weapon doing the same transformation. The blades extended to 6 feet long with the hilt an extra inch making the swords 7 inches long over all. The hilt's guards disappeared as the blade widened to about 4 feet wide. The blades turned completely black but white markings appeared on both sides of each sword. Points extended from the edges the blade duplicate and curved down to resemble a small scythes blade. The original blade remained flat but it exploded to be similar to a five faced quarts.
"So this is what I prefer," muttered Leo.
Time quickly resumed to its normal pace as he began to parry the stabbing and slashing spears points. His speed was blinding that no one knew what was going on as dust rose into the air and obstructed the vision of those around Leo. The clashing of metal could be heard as well as an occasional snapping of the spears long shaft.
"You move recklessly," said Eternia after Leo snapped a spear in half using the five faced sword.
"Well, that can't be helped," said Leo jumping high into the air as he left the dust cloud.
The soldiers that were not near the dust cloud saw Leo exit the hiding space and threw their spears with amazing strength for it sliced through the air as if it was nothing. Bringing both blades down in an x followed by rapid slashes, the spears broke either in two or into many pieces. Floating where he was, Leo didn't have to think about his next course of action as he dived into the crowd of defenseless soldiers and began hacking away at whatever his blades can reach. Blood spurted from cuts and gashes on the soldiers' arms, back, and legs. Fatal wounds were inflicted due to the curved points on the replica sword as his movements began to slow down and become more graceful and flowing like a never ending river. The blood curved in the air as it filled with the screams of soldiers either trying to run away or charge at him with something that was long. The dust cloud gave way and those stuck in the dust saw where the new battle was and moved towards that one. By now, half of the defenseless soldiers were lying dead on the ground with guts spilling from open wounds around the stomach, heads cut off and brains exposed on the ground, as well as dismemberment of arms and legs. Those that lost body parts were still alive as they struggled to crawl away from the massacre.
"This doesn't seem like a good resolve at all," said Eternia as the charging spears men drew closer.
"It doesn't but it does look like it to some extent since I don't know if these people killed anyone," responded Leo deflecting a spear using the replica blade followed by a stab through the head using the five faced blade.
"But still, isn't this going too far?" asked Eternia.
"Not when you're about to get killed," answered Leo ducking as a spear swung above him.
"There's a difference in killing," said Eternia.
"I know but it's just hard to distinguish between the right one and the wrong one in the heat of battle," said Leo leaping far away from a spears man.
"If you say so," said Eternia.
Things have gotten far out of hand as the soldiers began to back off slightly due to the fact that about 90% of their original fraction has been killed by one person with unexplainable abilities. Leo took this to his advantage to finish off everyone in one swing but immediately decided against it as he lowered the swords pointing to the ground. The soldiers took this dropping of the guard to their advantage as a sign of surrender and charged to kill Leo on the spot with the remaining 10% where only 1% refused to charge. The 9% were instantly killed before they even took a step because something within their heads exploded which was the case as their heads indeed exploded. Portions of the brain flew in many directions as blood splattered every where around the remaining 1%, who at this point, are too scared to do anything now.
"Run while you have the chance," said Leo.
The 1% quickly turned around and fled as far as they could from Leo until they were tiny dots in the distance in Leo's vision. The blood soaked ground was soft under Leo's feet as his arms are covered in blood and most of the back and front of his body. Blood spots scattered on Leo's face as it dripped down the side of his face onto the ground. Lifting the blades that were still dripping blood and placing it upon his shoulders, Leo turned around and walked away leaving bloody steps on the clean ground.
"What will you do now?" asked Eternia.
"What do you think? I'm going to save his sorry ass cause I think he's still alive right now only on the verge of death," said Leo.
Outside once again, Gilbert is still flying for his life but with many cuts that are bleeding but not enough to be fatal. He was smart enough to avoid getting into any corner as he flew over open land and high above the city.
"How much longer will this last?" thought Gilbert as he made a sharp right turn over the great plains near the city.
No matter what moves he makes, even with the Ice Phoenix's help, the small circles followed the same path flawlessly and steadily grew closer but only attacked using an unlimited supply of lasers.