Are you excited? No? Well prepare to be!
Crystal kneeled before her father, Lord Dustin Taryn. Her eyes were fixed on the stone floor, in respect for her father. She had done this a hundred times before, and would do it a hundred times again. "Rise, my daughter and heir," Lord Taryn said.
She obeyed and rose. Seeing her father again on the throne, she could only feel respect for him.
"My daughter Crystal, it is time for your first test of skill," he said. He rose from the throne. His gilded, green robes shifted, and she noticed something—the sheath where he kept the Crystal Blade was empty. "You are to retrieve the Crystal Blade from the top of the mountain, where its twin has also been kept for almost a century.
"I failed, as did my father, and grandfather, to retrieve the second Crystal Blade from the mountain. You will soon learn, as I did, that mountain is home to some of the most dangerous Grimm in the world. Now go, and retrieve the Crystal Blades."
"As you wish, father," she said, bowing. She turned and left the throne room.
She walked along the hall to the armory. She had not brought her weapons to the audience with her father, for it was improper. She made it to the steel door of the armory, and entered. Inside were weapons of every sort. She grabbed several different weapons—dual cutlasses, a halberd, a claymore, an Estoc, a battle axe, and a multi-shot crossbow with bolts—all of which she was a master of. This would be enough preparation for her battle.
Using the halberd as a walking stick, she walked up the mountain. She kept a constant watch of her surroundings, as a Grimm could come from anywhere. She was ready for almost anything—she had learned to use the "almost" from experience.
Her weapons—save for her halberd—were placed all over her combat suit. Her cutlasses were sheathed at her belt. Also on her belt, her battle axe and crossbow were clipped onto it, as well as a quiver of crossbow bolts. And her longswords were sheathed on her back. It was only until she acquired the Crystal Blades, then she wouldn't need the weaponry.
The one thing she did not have was her father's love, she thought. Ever since Crystal's mother died, he had been less emotional, and more focused on her training. She had come to respect him as an authority figure, not a father. From what she had read—from the books in the estate library—she knew that the relationship between father and daughter should not be like this. Of course, there was nothing she could do about-
Right at that moment; a Grimm attacked her from out of the brush. She swung the halberd, shattering the Beowulf's skull—or whatever was in their head. She hadn't been looking out, but now she would be.
Behind her, another Beowulf leapt at her. She wacked it with the staff end of her halberd, and turned around to finish it off with the blade.
She waited for one of the Beowulfs to jump her. There were Beowulfs at her 1'oclock, 4'oclock, 6 and 7'oclock, and at her 9'oclock. She was surrounded.
The one at her 7o'clock leapt from its hiding place. She swung around, raising her halberd in defensive. It broke the halberd in half, but that didn't stop her. She jumped back, and threw the broken shaft of the halberd at the Beowulf and it went right through the Grimm, killing it instantly.
Another Grimm—her orientation had changed, so she didn't know which angle it was coming from—jumped at her, and she threw the remaining half of the halberd at it like an axe. It hit the Beowulf right in the chest, but it wasn't dead.
She drew the longsword, and cut its head off. Pity was not something she should spend on soulless creatures like the Grimm, but she had to finish it off or else it would become even fiercer than before. It was necessary.
A pair of Grimm charged her, and she jumped over their heads. She landed on the back of one of the Beowulfs, and stabbed it in the spine. She then flipped over to the next one, and kicked it with both feet. Then she threw the corpse of the Beowulf's ally, and it knocked it over. Distracted, the Beowulf had no defense against when Crystal sliced it in half.
There was only one more Beowulf, who she pursued. It was an older Grimm, and had spikier and thicker armor. She slashed her sword at it with all her strength. Her sword shattered on impact.
The Beowulf swiped at her with its claws, and she was sent pack several paces. Her aura and armor protected her, just barely. She needed a different approach.
She drew the Estoc. It was an underappreciated weapon. It was a longsword, but it had no edge to it, just a point. It was designed to pierce the armor of warriors—or Grimm.
She charged and stabbed the Grimm in the torso, and it went limp. Seeing this, she withdrew the Estoc, and put it back in its sheath.
She then continued her journey.
Crystal reached the top of the mountain. There she saw the Crystal Blades upon stands mode of stone. The blades themselves were made out of some kind of translucent materiel, except for the handles that were a solid block. The blades were on opposite sides of the plateau. On the ground was the symbol of the Taryn Estate—crosswords with a diamond in the middle.
She walked over the one on her left, and removed it from its place of rest.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and the plateau opened up. A massive Grim rose up out of the ground—it looked like a Poseidon, but they weren't anywhere near water—making Crystal shudder in fear. It was something else.
It had scars and weapons in its hide, presumably from battles since past. It looked ancient to Crystal, with long white spikes populating its back. Perhaps it had been fought by Taryns past; in the same test that Crystal now took. But this was her opponent now, and she would have to either fight it or run.
No! She would not cower as her forefathers had in the face of the opponent. She would fight the great beast, and be victorious!
It roared a terrible roar, and lunged face first at Crystal. She dodged just in time, and drew her crossbow. She loaded it with three bolts, and fired. The bolts merely bounced off its hard scales.
She threw the crossbow aside, and unclipped the battle axe from her belt. She charged at the Poseidon, and swung the axe with all her strength. The first time it did nothing, so she swung it again and again. The battle axe just broke against the Poseidon's tough scales.
Running out of options, she drew her Estoc again, and stabbed it into the serpent. It pierced into the Grimm's flesh—or whatever it had. The Poseidon snapped around, breaking the Estoc.
She looked to the Crystal Blade in her left hand. She knew that her father had used it time and time again to defeat some very powerful Grimm in his time. Maybe she could defeat the Poseidon with the blade.
But she had no idea how to use this, the legendary Crystal Blade—but she would try.
For all his faults, her father Dustin had taught her how to use Crystal Blade in preparation for her use of it. Her aura had enveloped the Crystal Blade when she had picked it up. In order to reform it, she had to shatter it—and in order to shatter it, she had to retract her aura from around it.
She removed her aura around the Crystal Blade, and smashed it against the ground. The green gemstones swirled around, and waited for her to command it into a weapon. She commanded it to form a lance. It fell short of its imagined length, but she decided it was enough.
She thrust the lance into the hide of the Poseidon, making it roar in pain.
The Poseidon attacked Crystal, and she continually evaded it. She resolved to retrieve the second Crystal Blade—to make her father proud. She ran around the mountain, all the while dodging the Poseidon.
She made her way to the other side of the mountain, and grabbed the second Crystal Blade. At that moment, she felt achievement. Her fear of the Poseidon was nil. She took the second Crystal Blade, and faced down the Poseidon.
She shattered and reformed the Crystal Blades into a lance—a full one this time. She then charged the massive Grimm, and pierced the Poseidon's hide again. This time it resulted in a louder scream from the beast, and it dived back into the mountain from which it had originated.
As the plateau closed back up into its original form, Crystal caught sight of what was beneath. A pool of water—most likely where the Poseidon lived when it was not testing Taryns.
She had been victorious! Now she could return down the mountain, to her father.
What oddness that she should look forward to an audience with her father.
Crystal marched into the green, stone room, crystal blades in hand. Across the sat her father upon a golden throne, with green gemstones—not emeralds, but something else, most likely—encrusted into it for decoration.
Crystal kneeled, and addressed her father. "Father, I return with the Crystal Blades." She held up the two blades.
"Both?" he said, surprised. "I am impressed, Crystal, my daughter. I did not expect you to get both."
A spike of anger shot through her, but she did not show it. But her tone did get a little harder. "I have done what our ancestors, yours and mine alike, have both succeeded and failed to do."
"Did I not say I was impressed?"
"You did, father." Her father was not proud of her. She was saddened by this.
His tone then lightened. "And you have passed your first test, my daughter. I am glad."
She smiled. "Thank you, father."
And so, that's that. I don't know what I'm going to do next. I've got a RWBY story called Dynasty in the works, but that's going to take some time. I'm working on Star Wars stuff to.
But mostly, I think I may lessen the amount of stories I write that can be posted on this site (for the reason that they are either not fan fiction, or that they are not written stories). I've got other things that I need to do; other stories to be told elsewhere. But I am glad that I could post what I did, and share these stories with you. Frost35 out.