The Red Sword by Kevin Diep (black female authors .txt) 📕

Weird. Irelia thought, then continued on, ascending the flight of stairs.

Finally, which had seemed like hours, they reached their room. There was a door by the side of the staircase that had worn-out metal imprinted letters on the right-hand side of the door. B2

Relief surged through Irelia’s body as she did not have to climb anymore of the knee-killing stairs. Irelia inserted the key into the keyhole that was crushed and worn. With a little twist, the door swung open, and inside was not a pretty sight. There were cobwebs, peeled walls and broken glass everywhere, a putrid smell striking the air hesitantly. Irelia had to take a step back to subdue the utterly horrible stench.

“Ugh!” Runt spat, making a face as he walked into the room, clenching his nose. He peered at every corner of the room, making a quick scan of it. Then, he trotted back to Irelia, where she was still shocked at the discovery of where she would stay throughout the night.

“They’d better pay us if they wanted us to stay here.” Runt snapped, a gaze of pure anger in his eyes. Irelia couldn’t help but agree with her brother. The place smelled of rotting meat and Irelia spotted several mice racing across the sanitary ground. There were loads of dirt sprawled along the floor, and a half-destroyed chair laid in the middle of the room. Irelia, now able to walk into the room, gazed across the littered cell of junk. There was no shelves, no TV and no washroom.

This will be a long night. Muttering to herself, Irelia rested her bag onto the bad. As she did, the bed made a screeching Crrrrrk sound, and Irelia yelped in surprise. Then settled back down.

Silly me. Irelia’s cheeks fluttered red. Scared of a bed. Irelia heard Runt sighing, as he kicked the side of a desk, breaking it from the shattering impact.

“Well, I will be going to sleep early.” Runt said, laying down onto his bed, followed by an uncomfortable creaking sound. His grouchiness was quickly drowned out, stirring into loud snores. Irelia released an enormous yawn, then settled into her wooden bed. Laying on the old bed, Irelia stared up at the ceiling. A large dusty cobweb laid flat on the middle of the ceiling. Irelia tried her best to take it away from her mind. The picture of a legendary blade popped up into her mind, making Irelia smile.

I am going to win the Glorious Blade Tournament! She thought confidently. And I will for sure win the legendary blade! As she told herself, her eyelids slowly drooped, and she fell into a deep sleep.

A horrible, disgusting ring erupted Irelia from her sleep. She got up as quickly as she can and frantically glanced around, looking for who or what made the sound. Runt was beside her, a second before sounding asleep, now got up from his bed and let out an angry roar.

“What is that stupid ring coming from?” Runt screamed, and Irelia shrugged. Runt threw his blankets aside, then climbed out of his bed. The ring continued to sound in the air, as Runt scavenged every corner of the room. He threw every down the floor, making sure every gadget breaks. Just when Runt was about to spill out his rage, a man walked into the room. The same man that was by the counter the other day. He had the same, fierce gaze as before. Irelia tried hard not to give eye contact to the old man.

“The bell rings every morning.” The old man croaked. His voice was of stone-cold sandpaper. It scratches often, making Irelia jump all the time. “You’ll have to get used to it, because I sure did.” The old man chuckled dryly, then limped out of the room. Coincidently, the bell’s nasty cry died down as he did. Prompty, Irelia got up and quickly changed into her clothes. After waiting until Runt was done changing, she walked out of her room and began climbing down the stairs. It was definitely easier to descend the stairs.

As Irelia padded down the winding trail, she gazed out the rows of windows that were beside the tiring journey down the staircase. The sun shone like a brilliant ball of fire, lighting up the whole world. The grass was sparkling green and series of trees grew along the sidewalk. Irelia sighed. Though she had left her home to journey, she will never forget the beauty of Alys. Irelia and Runt had reached the bottom of the stairwell and saw all four mentors standing below them.

“Hi!” Rute greeted Irelia with a warm smile, and Irelia smiled back. Gordon, on the other hand, glared at Runt with cold eyes and said nothing. Zytaria stepped in front of the mentors and gazed at Irelia and Runt.

“It is now your time to train for your journey.” Zytaria gazed from Irelia to Runt. “But first, we shall give you a simple wooden Cybersuit for free.” Zytaria held out his hands, and wrapped around them were two, brand new Cybersuits. Irelia and Runt walked up, gazing at the suit with big, bewildered eyes.

“Now, throughout the journey, you must purchase more durable Cybersuits than these ones.” Zytaria said, as Irelia and her brother frantically got the suits on. Irelia grinned eagerly. It felt good to wear on a cybersuit-something every sword fighter wears. The suit was comfy, warm and felt magnificently powerful on her. She flexed her arms, feeling the suit rhythmically moving with her.

“First, we shall do some basics of attacking.” Rute unsheathed his sword he had in the sheath at his back and gave it to Irelia. Gordon picked up a wooden sword he had laying on the ground and handed it to Runt.

“Attack me.” Rute said, gazing at Irelia. Irelia reluctantly did what he said. She slashed her sword at Rute, but Rute quickly blocked it with a parry. Irelia can’t help but feel anger rising up in her body. She cussed in her mind when Rute blocked her attack. It was weird, since she was still a newbie. Why did she get all mad?

“Now, I will strike and you have to block it.” Rute brought his sword down slowly and gently. “Remember to use your arms t-” Before Zytaria could finish, Irelia already got her sword in parry, letting Rute’s sword bounce off easily from her’s. Rute’s eyes widened in bewilderment. Then, in an awkward feeling,, Irelia felt her eyes shine like fire through coal. She felt power surging through her body as she raised her sword and sliced it down through the air, going straight for Rute’s delicate skin. The speed of her sword was the speed of lightning, whishing through the air, moving so fast it seemed invisible. The sword went directly at Rute, and as Rute’s stumbled back, shocked at what might hit him, a loud voice erupted through the air.

“Stop!” Zytaria gripped onto Irelia’s arms, as Irelia limped them. Suddenly, she snapped. Irelia’s mind became a dizzy mess. Her eyes were closed and she dropped her sword out of her hand.

“What...what just happened.” Irelia barely made out the words, as she barely had any energy to speak. She laid into Zytarira’s arms as a headache started to sprout in her head. Then, with a panicking sweat, Irelia started to drift off into what will be a horrible nightmare. As she did, she heard the anonymous, isolated words from her mentor:

“I think she’s the one….”

A warm swirl of air left the grains of black, staining shards of coal explode into the smoky air. Dor felt a little spark of anger fiddle inside his body. He was so close to finishing his collection of used coal back in his room, under his wooden bed. Now, the last pieces of his collection were drifting freely into the air, free to the world. He sighed. It has been awhile since his father appointed him a new task. Throughout the week, all Dor did was build some gadgets to sustain his boredom. Dor was a talented blacksmith. He built all crazy items that were supposed to be rated A-class. He once built an armor chestplate out of nothing but plain paper. It may sound awesome to have this kind of power at first, but Dor hated it. He didn’t want to be the only kid that wields this sort of power.

Dor fiddled around some stones he had in his hands, and quickly, strangely, he began predicting the dimensions of the two rocks in his hands.

The first rock appears to be smooth, which can be used into armor. The second rock is dull and a bit fragile, which is not good but can be used as decorations. The dimension of the first rock seems big, but not too big. It will be good for making into daggers. The…

Dor shook his head. He did not want to think all the time. He sighed, and gazed across the table onto the small wagon-toy he made yesterday. He touched the lever on the wagon’s back and the wheels began shifting, then rolling as if it was being pushed on clean grass. Dor dropped the wagon as his dad burst into his room. His brows were heavy with sweat and he breathed heavily, his shoulders rising up and down as he did.

“Kam is almost dead.” He said, wincing as he did. Dor shot up from where he sat, and followed his father out of the balcony. As he ran, he heard the helpless cries of their goat, dry and weak, out in the front porch of their wooden house. Dor’s father slammed open the door, as Dor saw the malevolent sight of their goat. There was an ugly gash swiped along his side, bleeding endlessly, and the goat looked like it was close to dying.

Kam was a goat Dor and his father found while searching for some resources to make a suit of armor. The goat was hiding under a tree, shivering so bitterly that you would be able to see it doing so a meter away. His father wrapped his coat around the goat and carried it him, to safety. Seeing Kam like this right now sent a chill down Dor’s spine. Kam was always a cheerful, friendly and happy goat. He’d never suffered like this ever in his life before.

“I’ll get some paper to stop the bleeding.” Dor’s father sounded like he was about to burst out crying. He hurried off as Dor pressed his hand onto the wound, feeling blood ooze onto his hands. Desperation filled his eyes, as he used as much force as he could to stop the bleeding. The goat wailed, now sounding softer. Then after a few seconds all that came out was a little rasp of desperation. Then, as if the darkest days had arrived, Kam limped. His breathing stopped and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The tension in the air hung like venom. Dor didn’t breath...he couldn’t. He felt a tiny droplet of tear forming around his eyes.