Aiden & The Holy Sword by Nick Venom (parable of the sower read online txt) 📕

“What’s your name?”

“Aiden,” He responded.

“Do you think you’re strong enough to handle a holy sword?”

Aiden nodded, a hint of anger hiding in his eyes. “I will be,” Felicity looked over at Adoel who permitted her to use her power. She then began her chants to grant Aiden a holy sword and skills. However, a holy sword didn’t appear in front of her. Instead, Aiden’s makeshift sword was chosen. It rose into the air and began glowing. Felicity and Adoel watched, dumbfounded, as the sword continued to glow brightly before dimming. The sword floated back into Aiden’s hands with no visible change. 

Aiden gripped the sword tightly and pointed it at the heavens, unsure of how it changed but satisfied to have it. 

The process of granting skills remained the same. Three lights appeared in front of Felicity and rose in the air before descending towards Aiden, colliding with his body. The lights didn’t damage his body. 

“You’ve been granted Undercover, Locate, and Divine Hope. Undercover is a stealth skill, Locate is a teleportation skill, and Divine Hope is your strength skill!” Felicity declared. Aiden nodded, looking down at his palms with amazement. He felt stronger.

Adoel opened a portal in front of them and motioned for Aiden to walk through. He nodded and went through the portal with the goddesses following after him. On the other side was a vibrant and lively village. The village’s inhabitants turned their attention towards Aiden. The elder of the village soon appeared to talk with the goddesses. After some explaining, the elder nodded and went up to Aiden.

“I am Kirby Gunn, I welcome you to Hemlock!” The elder, a short hunched over man, declared.

“I-I-I’m A-Aiden,” he stammered.

“It’s time for us to depart. We’ll be back to check up on you. For now, we must return to file a report and catch the culprit of the massacre.” Adoel announced, opening another portal. Felicity turned around and waved to Aiden before going through the portal. Adoel wished Aiden good luck before disappearing through the portal. He was on his own, surrounded by strangers.

“I will avenge your deaths,” Aiden muttered under his breath. The first thing he wanted to do was to train himself. He wanted revenge against the demon lord that claimed his parents and the entire village’s life. “Until then, I will wait patiently.”

TBC…

Aiden was approached by a girl around her age along with her brother. The girl styled her black hair, with dark purple extensions, into a ponytail as she approached Aiden. Her brother---a pale, freckled, messy sand-colored hair child---looked at Aiden with disgusted eyes. His sister, on the other hand, shared a different look, which was filled with amazement. The parents of the siblings then approached Aiden and crouched down to meet his height. They looked him in the eyes with caring eyes. The mother extended her hand to him, taking his hand and intertwining it with her´s. ¨We´ll take care of you,¨ She remarked.

Aiden then broke into tears.

A week had passed. Aiden moved in with the Greys and began his second life in Hemlock, the village that had accepted him. Even so, Aiden wasn't friendly with the others, instead, keeping to himself. He didn’t mind the adult Greys, Tye and Blake Grey, and even the daughter of the family, Mia Grey, but he disliked Emile. Emile Gray wasn’t a bad kid to any degree, but his stuck-up attitude and snark irritated Aiden. Emile acted as if he was some big shot and superior to Aiden. Aiden wanted to cut his throat, but Mia wouldn’t let that happen. She always watched him, not out of fear but curiosity. She watched him like a hawk.

Aiden ignored both children of the Greys while tolerating the parents. He spent his time training while the parents worked and the children walked around aimlessly. However, Aiden didn’t act like the other children of the village. He wanted to become stronger. Strong enough to defeat a demon king.

Aiden woke up---a week after being teleported to Hemlock---and peered out of a large four-foot-tall window. Outside, he noticed Mia wandering around aimlessly. He then turned around and went down from his second-floor bedroom to the ground floor, escaping through the unlocked backdoor to avoid being caught by the Greys. He knew that Mia waited for him on the front lawn, avoiding her and Emile---who he couldn't locate. 

He ventured into an empty clearing with one lonesome oak tree at the center of it. Laying against the tree was a makeshift dummy, stuffed with everything he could find---grass, weeds, cotton, feathers, and other forest items.

He approached the dummy, taking it off the tree, and straightened it, planting the circular bottom firmly on the ground. He brandished his sword and raised the hilt to his ear, pointing the blade´s tip towards the dummy's head. ¨Divine Hope,¨ he muttered before charging towards the dummy. His sword then began glowing, overtaking the entire sword. It clashed with the dummy and tore a clean small five-millimeter hole. He took a few steps backward and raised his sword in front of him. He repeated his words again, getting the same glow but weaker. 

Divine Hope was a skill that grew stronger the more you´d practiced it. Aiden needed to practice Divine Hope enough to reach the next threshold and acquire a new skill. Unfortunately, Divine Hope would begin to diminish after a certain amount of time. Fortunately, he was making results, extending the efficiency of Divine Hope.

The other two skills under Aiden’s belt were Locate and Undercover, two skills he relied less on. Locate was a teleportation skill that he didn’t completely understand while Undercover was a stealth skill. He half-cared about them, deciding not to train the skills as seriously as he did with Divine Hope.

As Aiden continued to train, the elder of the village---Kirby Gunn--approached him. Aiden didn’t detect his presence at first, instead, focusing on cutting through the dummy.  “Hey, Aiden, how’s your training?”

Aiden lowered his sword and turned to look at Kirby. “I didn’t notice you were here.”

“Yeah, you seem absorbed into your training. Do you mind me asking about your skills and that…” He pointed at the sword. “...holy sword?”

“Holy sword?” He repeated.

“I’m not stupid, Aiden. I can recognize a holy sword, I used to wield one.” Aiden remained silent, glancing down at the sword. “I’m guessing that the goddesses that brought you here, granted you these skills.” He turned around. “I don’t know the exact details about your situation, but I can tell it wasn’t a smooth situation.”

“Yeah,” Aiden whispered, lowering his head.

Kirby turned around and looked at Aiden. “Raise your head, you’re a fine young man. How I see it is that the goddesses entrusted you with a holy sword to complete your revenge. That or out of pity, but let’s go with the first option. Besides that, what are your skills?”

“Divine Hope, Locate, and Undercover.”

“Undercover sounds like a stealth skill, but I don't know about the other two.”

“Divine Hope is a strength skill and Locate is a teleportation skill,” Aiden explained. 

“Oh,” Kirby turned towards the tree, raising his cane. “Two of them to be exact. A low-tier healing skill known as Regeneration II and a one-time skill called Takedown.” Kirby whacked his cane at the tree, somehow denting it. He then raised his cane and pointed it at the dent, chanting something under his breath. A light red magic circle appeared at the end of his cane. The dent was slowly healed by the magic circle. It disappeared after being used.

“What’s a one-time skill?”

“A one-time skill is a rare skill that you can activate once a day. It takes twenty-four hours to recharge. I don’t know how many people with one-time skills, but mine’s a strength skill. Takedown grants me enough strength and speed to topple an opponent with ten times my strength.” Kirby explained, waving his cane carelessly. 

“What if you don’t use Takedown for a week? It doesn’t save up?”

Kirby shook his head. “One-time skills have a cap of one. If I never used Takedown for an entire year, I will still get one a day.”

“You have experience with training your skills? Can you train me?” Aiden asked with hints of excitement in his eyes. Kirby opened his mouth to deny his request, but accepted after taking one look at his face.

“We’ll start tomorrow.”

Aiden didn’t notice Mia’s stares from the edge of the clearing, who was watching them with curiosity hiding in her eyes. “I’m too weak,” she whispered. “Can I get stronger?”

TBC…

Kirby began training Aiden by establishing his foundation. Instead of skipping right to his skills, he decided to focus on building his foundation. If he couldn’t control the mana within his body and build upon it, then everything would collapse like a house of cards without the bottom layer. 

He instructed Aiden to connect the mana flowing throughout his body. Without it, his mana would flow like a river with rocks obstructing its path. However, if he connected the lines, then it would flow naturally; no rocks obstructing it. 

Aiden sat cross-legged and connected the tips of his fingers, forming an ace with his hands. Standing over him was Kirby, observing him. One mistake and Aiden could destroy his mana lines, which would affect the efficiency of his skills.

He closed his eyes and imagined a river stream, flowing naturally. As his mind ventured down the river stream, rocks began forming in front of him. 

Suddenly, his sword appeared in his hand. With one slash, he decimated the rocks in front of him. Another set of rocks then materialized in front of him, decimating them without a second thought. This continued for three more sets of materializing rocks before the river looped up with the beginning, establishing his foundation. 

Now with the foundation set, Kirby began training Aiden’s skills. For this lesson, he brought in two kids he had been training; Eryn and Payton, siblings with black hair and tanned skin. They wore matching loose white tee-shirts and dark blue joggers. 

They approached Aiden and bowed their heads, showing respect to him. They had straight faces, devoid of emotions.

“These are two of my apprentices. They have already established their foundation. However, unlike you, they haven’t been granted skills by the goddesses. They will in two years from now. Until then, they will continue their  swordsmanship and close combat training.” Kirby explained, handing the siblings a training sword. He handed Aiden once, asking for him to use it instead of his holy sword. Aiden obliged, wielding the practice sword. 

“Oh, before we begin, let me