The Mimic Blade

by Jesse Wilson

  She was dropped to the ground, gasping for air. Looking up she saw red mist coming out this and all of the other minions. They were reverting back into their original elven forms. The one in front of her started to fall backwards to the ground she was too weak to attempt the fall from happening.

  She watched as Shane caught her from hitting the ground. “Thanks,” Melissa said to him as Shane lowered her to the ground carefully. “No problem, it looks like this one is over,” Shane said to Melissa and helped her stand up.

  You're still awesome, even if you did get beaten up,” Shane said to her. “Yeah, guys like scars or something like that,” she replied and still was trying to catch her breath over the whole thing. “Let's go over and see what just happened,” Melissa said as she turned to see Pen standing over a rapidly physical form melting away, revealing a green skinned humanoid beneath it.

  Where Tinea had impaled Sholtan had been nothing at all it was well above the head of the host.

  “That's Sir Anio, ogre knight of the eastern kingdom. It figures he'd be the protector of Sholtan given their weird obsession of physical power, but good people over all,” Pen said and grabbed him before he could fall to the ground and hurt himself.

  “You're alright, buddy, take it easy,” Pen said to the unconscious knight. Shane looked at the blade that was laying there beside him and reached for it. “Don't touch it, Sholtan could take you over and it'd all start over again,” Melissa said and was worried.

  “Don't worry about it. I am a blade of my word, just put me away like we agreed,” Sholtan said, Shane, trusting the blade put his hand around the handle and tried to lift it, but a seven foot blade was more than he could lift. Sholtan, sensing the man was about to give up and didn't want to embarrass him, lifted off the ground just enough to make it look like he was doing it all on his own and shrank by three feet in length at the same time.

  Shane did his best to hide his surprise and act like he was doing it all himself. Everyone was a little impressed.

  The scabbard appeared in front of the blade and Shane pushed it inside. The lock on the side clicked once Sholtan was all the way inside. Tinea took the blade by the middle and lifted it easily.

  “Now we should put you somewhere special so no one else will find you until we get all your friends taken care of,” Pen said, trying to think of a place. “Just put me in the void, Tinea here knows how, we all do. I'll be fine there,” Sholtan replied to him and Pen felt bad for the blade, sure it almost killed them but now it seemed like it was a good guy.

  “I have a better idea,” Pen replied to him. “We will bring you to a place no one would ever look for you,” Pen said and looked at Shane who smiled, knowing what he was thinking.

  “You and Melissa find a magic shop somewhere near here. I am sure with the situation that's going on no one will be there, so take what you need. Shane, meet me at the hollow in twenty minutes,” Pen said and continued.

  “Tinea, let's go, I'll lead the way,” Pen said. “Sure, let's go,” Tinea replied and took off into the sky with Sholtan in tow.

  “Magic shop, sure let's go find one. Elves are known for their high quality magic after all, it's a thing,” Melissa said and the two of them started to walk away from the fallen knight.

  “Do you think Sir Ogre back there will freeze?” Shane asked her. “No, I'll cast a basic heat shield on him, it should keep him and the others fine until they wake up,” Melissa said and Shane smiled.

  “Soro,” she said and a light shimmer of heat surrounded the Ogre and the other fallen elves on the street, the snow melting around them almost instantly.

  “This is why I love you, always thinking of everyone else, you're awesome,” Shane said and the two of them began walking down the street, away from the ruined battlefield.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Pen was flying through the cold air. The city didn't look any in better shape than it did when they started this. Smoke was rising from several places in the city creating a haze for the sunlight to shine through.

  “What is the hollow?” Tinea asked him. “You can read my mind, and you have to ask,” Pen replied to her. “Well I don't like reading it all the time, I like to do things the old fashioned way,” she replied to him.

  “It was my place I liked to go as a kid, it's deep in the central park in my district, after my dad disappeared I spent a lot of time there, it's where I met Shane, too, before I got him the job,” Pen replied as he scanned the area looking for it.

  “That's a sad story, you mean they never found him,” Tinea asked him. “No, they didn't, but that's what happens to famous knights who venture too far out into the Distance, they disappear, twice was extraordinary but three times was tempting fate. He said he had a lead on something that would change the world but, of course he disappeared,” Pen said, fighting off the bad memories.

  “Ouch, well, how about this, after this is all over with we can go looking for him, I mean unless you like being a dishwasher and all,” Tinea said to him. “In fact I kind of do like being one, all of this hero stuff never was for me,” Pen replied to her.

  “I don't know, most of being a hero is basically showing up and so far, you've done quite well, got to say I'm impressed. Most humans would have run away. I've seen many cowards over the centuries,” Sholtan joined the conversation and continued.

  “Also, you didn't break me, I am thankful for that,” he finished. “Wait, you can die?” the thought had not crossed Pen's mind at all. “Yeah, if a blade is broken it's done, but only another blade can break another so please be careful with me,” Tinea agreed with a hint of worry in her voice.

  “Good to know, anyway the park is down there. Do you see that big tree down there, that's it,” Pen said and pointed towards it.

  Tinea began to land in the clearing around the tree and touched down in a minute. Despite all the chaos around the city, it was quiet here.

  “I like it here, it's a nice place,” Sholtan said to them. Pen walked forward and put him inside of a massive hollow place in the tree.

  “There, you'll be safe here I think,” Pen said and looked on the inside of the walls. Pen and Shane's name were carved into the inside of it. This was an old meeting place for them. Tinae didn't let go of the other blade yet.

  “One more thing to take care of before we call it a day,” She said and red streaks of energy flowed into her hand as she held on. “I am copying your power, not all of it of course but it'll be close,” Tinea said to him.

  “Hey you earned it, I hope it does you some good,” Sholtan replied. Pen on the other hand felt like he could literally do anything, he felt like he could bend steel with his fingers. “Wow, this is great. Your power is awesome,” Pen said and made his hands into fists, he could feel the power.

  “Yeah thanks but don't let it go to your head. Strong does not mean invincible,” Tinea reminded him, Pen quickly drew back his confidence. “You're right, now we should wait for Melissa and Shane,” Pen suggested.

  “Why, you know they'll only get hurt if they tag along,” Tinea said and Pen knew that she was right. “Yeah, but they might get hurt anyway. I'd rather protect my friends if I could instead of leaving them out here alone,” Pen replied to her.

  “Careful kid, your hero is showing through again,” Sholtan said with a laugh.

  “Fine, we'll wait for them to show up, in the meantime, all the forces of evil and chaos will only get stronger while we sit here and do nothing,” Tinea replied to him.

  That made Pen feel regret about this choice, but he was sure it was the right one he had to give them a chance.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Shane and Melissa made their way to a magic shop, but she didn't know this one. Bob's Old Magic Shop, was painted in bright blue across the sign on the top of it.

  “An elf named Bob, seems a bit strange,” Shane said as he read it. “Maybe its short for something, who knows,” Melissa replied as they walked to the front door and pushed it open as it was unlocked. When they
walked in they saw all kinds of strange items on shelves.

  Melissa had no idea what they were despite all of her training she wasn't so adept at identifying items. There was a golden ring in a display case that had strange writing on the band. She reached out to open the case when a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her cold. The man's touch was hot, almost burning.

  “That is the one ring you shouldn't touch, it has bad news written all over it. It'd spell your doom,” the man said, she was startled and drew back at once. Shane didn't see him either until he was there. The man was tall, thin and had burning blue eyes that seemed to burn with their own light if you looked at them with an angle. He was dressed all in black. He was not an elf, instead he looked more like a human but something was off.

  “Welcome to my store, my name is Bob, what kind of deals can we make today?” he asked them in a voice that was too calm for the situation at hand.

  “Uh, well, we were looking for items, it's kind of a special situation and we need to protect ourselves from the dread knights,” Shane said to him, didn't want to admit that he was going to attempt to steal from this place. “Oh, well I see. I saw something about that on the television, those are nasty looking things,” Bob said, but neither of them saw a television in the shop.

  “So, alright, you need a good defense, follow me,” Bob said to them and began to walk away. Neither of them felt good and following him felt like being more led into a trap than anything else but they did it anyway.

  Bob lead them to the back of the shop through a door, and before them were four items that had no reason to be placed like they were on a wall.

  “Each of you can choose one item, then you must leave to do whatever it is you're going to do, first is a scythe, it's called Slayer. It kills things, belonged to a horseman of ancient times, a friend of mine. The more it kills the stronger it and you get. Over here is Violence, belonged to another horseman. A giant red blade that really only shines in the thick of battle, worse the fight the stronger you get,” Bob said, not looking at either of them.

  “The third one is Wither, it's a nasty little whip that drains all kinds of energy and gives it to you from the people it hits and trust me it's hard to miss with this one. Last, but not least is Misery, a bow with unlimited arrows, arrows that spread a magical sickness to anyone you call a target,” Bob said with a smile turning back to them.

  Melissa didn't have to think very long about it, but she did think the names were a little generic. “I'll pick Misery, my elven relatives would never let me hear the end of it if I picked anything else,” she said to him. Shane thought a little more about the choices. “I have no training and I am really bad at killing things, so let's go with the thing that doesn't miss, Wither,” Shane said to him and was sure about his choice.

  “Excellent choices, both of you,” Bob said with a smile, walked behind the table picked up Misery, it was a black bow with a bone white string. It was covered with faces of people who were frozen in misery, but if she looked at it another way it just looked like a fancy design, it was hard to tell. Bob tossed to her and she caught it, it was lighter than it looked.

  “Just pull the string back to make an arrow appear, pretty simple instructions,” Bob said to her and then he tossed the whip to Shane.

  Wither, instead of being caught when he reached out for it curled around his arm immediately, it looked and felt like a snake.

  “Aw, look, she likes you. Lucky you, she ate the last one who picked her,” Bob said with a smile that didn't comfort him at all.

  He had questions about these things, but asking them now after a generous offer might seem in bad taste. He just kept his mouth shut.

  “What is the cost of these things?” Melissa asked and Bob shook his head, “Oh no, don't you even worry about it, just bring them back when your done and we'll call it even,” he said with a smile. “Sounds fair to me,” Melissa replied to him and the two of them turned around and started to walk back out of the shop.

  Bob didn't follow them out.

  “That guy was pretty nice over all, I liked him,” Melissa said. Shane shook his head. “I am glad you did, he and this whip gives me the creeps, let's get to the hollow,” Shane said, still nervous about this thing that wrapped around his arm. As they got outside. “We'll need a car to get there, how about this one,” Shane pointed to a blue, mid-sized car that was across the street.

  “It'll do,” Melissa said and they walked over to it.

  “There is a serious lack of people around here. You think they are all in hiding or what?” Shane asked her.

  “I don't know, but less people is better than more of them don't you think,” she replied and opened the driver side car door and got in, surprised it wasn't locked. She put the bow in the backseat. Shane got in the passenger side and shut the door.

  “It's a little cramped in here,” he said as he fumbled around looking for the seat adjuster, found it and slid the seat back. Melissa put her hand over the ignition and sent a small spark into it, the engine started right up.

  “Hey, what are you doing with my car!” A man came out of the café the car was parked in front of, screaming. “Taking it, it's an emergency, we promise we need it,” Shane shouted out the window as Melissa took off down the street leaving the man stunned at what had just happened.

  “Normally I'm not so eager to steal anything but as you said, it's an emergency, you need to point the way because after this I have no idea just where it is we are going,” Melissa said to him.

  “Don't worry, you know where Pen lives, we need to get back to that section and then I'll guide you the rest of the way there. In the meantime, I'll look out for scary sword people who want to kill us,” Shane said and began to do just that.

  The pair of them drove down the street took a left and stopped, a column of fire and people running from it was coming in their direction.

  “I think we found one,” Shane said as Melissa slammed on the brakes to avoid running anyone over. Shane looked over at the fire, the flame was no kind of fire he'd ever seen before. It was a spinning column of fire that was constantly changing colors. Red, bright green, blue and even pink for short periods of times.

  “Well I'm impressed,” Shane said as Melissa put the car into reverse and pulled back around the corner to keep from hopefully being seen.

  “We need to go back,” Melissa said, she was worried about this. Shane watched as a troll ran around the corner, then he watched as the man was hit in the back with a line of purple flames. Instead of burning him to cinders, the man stopped running, screamed for a few seconds before the purple flame covered his whole body, then he turned in their direction.

  “Arket, we have more interesting targets over here,” the victim said, no matter what his voice sounded like before all it sounded like now was like the constant hiss and crackling of fire.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Too late, punch it,” Shane said, pulled out his cell phone and dialed Pen's number. He had no idea if that would work or not but he had to try. Melissa spun the car around and put her foot down on the gas. Pen actually picked up.

  “Where are you, it's been a half hour,” Pen said, worried about them.

  “We are being chased by a blade called Arket through Pamid, we need your help,” Shane said in as a calm voice as he could as to not distract Melissa from the task at hand.

  “We're on our way, Tinea says don't fight Arket, run and we'll find you,” Pen said and hung up. “Pen says to run away,” Shane said to her. “Not a problem,” Melissa replied to him. She turned another corner, sliding the back end around when suddenly in front of them stood a seven foot tall woman.

  She was covered in wavy, bright orange armor. Melissa slammed on the brakes. Arket pointed her blade at them and unleashed a stream of green fire at the engine.

  “Get out,” Melissa said as she grabbed her bow as fast as she could from the back seat, opened the door and jumped out. Shane did the same thing and rolled away from the car just a
s it exploded. Melissa had armor on, it protected her from the landing.

  Shane didn't have any protection like that and he heard the arm he landed on snap. Melissa watched as the flames from the burning car flowed right back into Arket's body as she walked towards them.

  “An elf mage and a human nobody, but you have interesting toys, where did you get them?” Arket asked as she kicked the burned out husk of a car out of the way. Neither one answered. “Tough mortals, well, I'll amuse myself for a little while here,” Arket said and motioned to her nearest flaming minion to come closer.

  “Burn the boy, make him scream and she'll tell me what I want to know,” Arket said to the burning troll. “Yes, of course,” she said and walked over to Shane. “No, you wouldn't,” Melissa tried to object as she stood up.

  “Sure I will,” Arket replied. Shane's eyes grew wide with fear as the troll covered in blue fire came closer to him.

  “Alright snake thing, let's see what you can do,” Shane said, sat up.

  Wither reacted to his words, uncoiled around his good arm and allowed him to find the handle. He swung the whip over his head and shot it towards the flaming minion. Wither wrapped around the thing's ankle as if it were attacking it, Shane didn't aim for any specific target when he attacked.