Chapter 6: Memories from the Past & Hopes for the Future

Sophitia Alexandra greeted her husband cheerfully the instant he got home. His name was Rothion, and he was a successful blacksmith. He even made a special sword and shield for Sophitia, although she never got the chance to use them.

The two of them had been married for at least five years now, and they had two children. The four of them lived a quiet, peaceful life together in Athens, Sophitia's hometown. Their lives were fairly normal, and not much out of the ordinary ever occurred. However, several things would happen today that would change that.

The first thing happened when Rothion came home. He entered the house and greeted Sophitia with his usual, "Hello," and, "How was your day?" and so on. The subject soon changed, and he began to tell her about the mysterious customer he had earlier that day.

"He didn't ask me to make anything for him," Rothion said. "The guy just came in, said he had something that might interest me, and he gave me this." At this point, her husband pulled out an unusual piece of metal. She couldn't quite place it, but it somehow looked vaguely familiar . . .

"I have never seen anything like it before," he went on. "I only wish I had more of it. The man left before I could ask him where he got it. Oh well. I would really like to make a sword or something out of a material like this. Do you realize how sturdy it would be?"

Sophitia, who was not really all that interested, nodded in agreement. The little piece of metal didn't seem to be all that important. At least, not yet anyway.

Before Rothion could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. He disappeared for a moment, and when he came back he said, "Sophitia, do you know anyone named Kilik or Xianghua?"

She had never heard of Xianghua before, but she had met a man by the name of Kilik several years ago. "Yes, I know Kilik. Why?"

"The two of them are standing outside. They want to speak with you."

Sophitia went outside, and sure enough, a man and a woman were waiting for her. The man had a scar on his cheek and a jewel hanging around his neck; he was undoubtedly Kilik. He looked the same as when she had first met him. "Hello, Kilik," she said. "It's nice to see you again."

"Hello, Sophitia. I would like you to meet Xianghua," he said, gesturing toward the women beside him.

"Hello," Xianghua said in an upbeat tone. "It's very nice to meet you."

Sophitia shook her hand. Her grip was unusually strong; Sophitia couldn't be sure, but it seemed as though Xianghua was discontent with the fact that she was already acquainted with Kilik.

"What brings you to Athens?" Sophitia asked. "Just traveling through, perhaps?"

Kilik shifted his weight uncomfortably. "No. We are here on a little more . . . urgent business."

"Oh?"

"You see, we need your help," Xianghua said.

"And why is that?"

Kilik looked right at Sophitia. He almost looked nervous, but he finally said. "Sophitia, Soul Edge has returned."

There was a long, awkward pause. Sophitia stared hard at Kilik, and then at Xianghua, and back at Kilik again. She shook her head and said, "That's impossible."

"No, it's not," Kilik insisted. "In fact, it's very possible."

"I destroyed it. It's gone."

"That's what I thought too," Xianghua said. "I shattered the second half of Soul Edge, but Kilik is right. The evil has returned."

The evil couldn't have returned. It wasn't possible. Sophitia knew it. Several years ago, she had received an oracle from Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and forge. She was told to go out and find a demonic weapon called Soul Edge, and destroy it. She left right away.

After a while, she met up with an Asian woman named Taki, and together, the two of them found one half of the sword. Unfortunately, it was in the possession of the pirate, Cervantes. Taki slew him, and Sophitia shattered the sword. Unfortunately, she was injured by the flying shards, and she had to return home.

While she was recovering, she met her future husband, Rothion. Using a special ore blessed by Hephaestus, he crafted a sword and shield for her. They were named the Omega Sword and the Elk Shield. As soon as she was better, she took her new weapons and went off to find the second half of Soul Edge. Not too long afterwards, she discovered it had already been destroyed (she now knew by whom). Sophitia then returned home.

A couple years passed, and she married Rothion. She never did get a chance to use the weapons he had made for her, and they now laid to rest in the Hephaestus Shrine.

So there was no way Soul Edge could still be alive. With her own eyes she watched it break into hundreds of pieces, many of which hit her and nearly ended her life.

"Look," she said, "I really don't have time for this. Do you have any idea what I went through? I almost died, okay? When I broke the sword, the pieces hit me and I almost died. It wasn't one of my favorite memories, and I don't appreciate the two of you coming here and reminding me!"

"Sophitia, we didn't mean to —"

"And my recovery wasn't smooth either. Oh, no, it wasn't. Those days were horrible . . ." Teas began running down her face. The very though of the incident was just too terrible. "You have no idea," she cried. "I really don't need people like you coming here, joking around about something that —"

"We are not joking around," Kilik said insistently.

"We are telling the truth," said Xianghua. "Please believe us."

"I can't."

"But you have to! Look, I didn't want to believe it either. Kilik will tell you that. But this isn't about what we want to believe, it's about what we have to believe."

Sophitia started to protest, but she cut her off. "No, hear me out. Soul Edge is back. We came all this way just to see you, because we though you, of all people, would believe us. We thought you would help us. No one else will understand, but you have experienced the evil before. You, just like us, know how terrible it can be. This is our chance to wipe it out for good, but we need your help."

Sophitia was shaking her head furiously, "No, I can't help. I have a family now. I have two children. They need me here. Even if Soul Edge really was back, there is no way I could come."

"But we came all this way!"

"Then it looks like you wasted your time." There was another pause as the two women stared fiercely at each other.

Kilik broke the silence by saying, "Come on, Xianghua. Let's go."

"But Kilik . . ."

"It looks like I was wrong," he said. "She is not going to help us. Let's go." He started to walk off. Xianghua followed reluctantly.

Sophitia was not sure if it was an attempt to make her feel bad, but she didn't care. She slammed the door shut without a moment's hesitation. She didn't even bother to say goodbye. As soon as the door closed, she sank into a chair, feeling miserable. They're wrong, she kept telling herself, they're wrong.

Rothion walked into the room and saw her wiping the tears from her eyes. "Honey?" he asked uncertainly. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she replied hurriedly. "Nothing is wrong." Feeling her husband staring at her, she got up. "I'm going to check on the kids."

What an awful day. It couldn't possibly get any worse. How dare they come to her home talking of such horrible things? What if one of the children heard them . . .

Sophitia paused. She thought she could hear something in the children's room. She ran there as quickly as she could to find her two-year-old son and daughter rolling on the ground, fighting each other. "Stop that!" she cried, desperately trying to pull them apart. It appeared that they were fighting over some sort of toy; Sophitia wasn't sure what. It was hidden from view, clenched tightly in their hands. Eventually, she was able to separate them, and it fell to the floor. Much to her surprise, it was the very same piece of metal that her husband had brought home earlier that day.

Sophitia shooed them from the room and picked up the metal fragment. It was glowing violently. Had it always done that? Suddenly, a pain like none she had felt in several years shot through her body. Her body collapsed to the floor; her old wounds burned savagely.

The next thing she knew, she was no longer in her home. She was standing in some sort of cove, but she was not alone. Taki was with her.

Taki was wiping blood off her dagger-like swords. A dead pirate lay several feet away. A familiar sword was laying at Sophitia's feet. It was Soul Edge. She spoke: "This blade has caused too much suffering. It must be destroyed."

"I agree," Taki had said.

"I will do it, I guess. After all, it was you who killed the pirate." She raised her sword above her head, and using all of her might she brought it down.

Taki saw what she was doing. She cried, "Wait! Stop, Sophitia! Don't —" But it was too late. Her sword connected with the evil weapon and it broke; pieces were flying in all directions. Some of them plowed into the pirate's body, and others plowed into her. Taki was able to get out of the way just in time, but Sophitia was not so lucky. She screamed with pain, blood was running down her chest. Taki quickly went to her side. "It's okay," she said, "it's going to be okay . . ."

Sophitia was back in her house. She looked up at the metal. There was no denying it now, it was definitely a part of Soul Edge. What else would make her relive that terrifying moment and cause her old wounds to ache? Everything was beginning to make sense now.

But her children . . . why had they fought over the piece? Unless . . . unless some of Soul Edge's evil had rubbed off on her the day she was injured. And now she had passed it down to her children!

"Hey Sis!" a voice said from the hallway. "Rothion told me you were in here. I just wanted to drop by and say —" Cassandra, Sophitia's younger sister, walked into the room and froze once she saw her. Her sister was laying on the floor with her hand to her chest. "Are you okay —"

"Get out!" Sophitia screamed. She didn't want Cassandra to see her like this.

"But I —"

"Go!"

Cassandra started to leave, and she nearly tripped on something lying on the floor. She picked it. It was a strange piece of metal, but it looked very familiar. She had seen it before.

"Please, go!" Sophitia begged, so she left, taking the fragment with her.


Cassandra ran up to the Hephaestus Shrine. She knew all too well that she held a piece of Soul Edge clutched in her hand. A couple years ago, she had watched some Asian women remove several shards from her sister's flesh. Sophitia had claimed that she had destroyed the malevolent sword, but it appeared that it was back.

She reached the altar, through her head back and screamed, "Why are you doing this to my sister? How can you claim to be an almighty god? Answer me!" Her voice echoed on the walls, but no answer came.

Cassandra was panting; the shrine was at a high elevation, making it a little harder to breathe. She sank to her knees to catch her breath. All she had wanted to do was drop by her sister's house and say hi. But when she got there, her sister was in pain. That stupid shard was making her suffer. If only there was some way to help her. If only she could but an end to the evil.

She looked up. There, on the altar, were her sister's old sword and shield. The holy sword and shield. She stared at them for a long time, thinking. Maybe . . .
"That man and that women, are they still here?" Sophitia asked hurriedly.

Rothion blinked. "I'm sorry, who?"

"Kilik and Xianghua, are they still here? I need to talk to them."

He shook his head. "No, they left a while ago."

Sophitia swore. She started pacing around the room. Could she catch up with them? she wondered. Could she find them before they got too far away?

"What's wrong?" Rothion asked his wife.

She sighed. "Rothion, I'm really, really sorry about this. I don't want to have to do this to you. But I have to leave."

"What? Why?"

"Because . . . Soul Edge is back."

"How is that possible —"

"Just trust me," she insisted. "It's back. And I have to stop it. You can take care of the children, can't you?"

He hesitated. "I don't . . . well, yeah, I suppose so."

"Good. I really am sorry, but I have to leave now. Time is short."

Sophitia said goodbye to him, and she headed for the Hephaestus Shrine. She was going to need the Omega Sword for this. It was time for her to destroy Soul Edge once and for all. But this time, she was fighting for her children. She had passed her cursed blood down to them, and they would never be free of its evil until it was destroyed.

Sophitia entered the shrine and stopped dead in her tracks. The Omega Sword was gone.
"I can't believe she wouldn't help," Xianghua said. "After all, she knew what the sword is capable of; she fought it before."

"I'm surprised too," Kilik admitted, "but there is no use worrying about it. It looks like it is all up to us."

"What do we do now? Where do we go from here?"

Kilik pulled out his piece of Soul Edge. "We use the shards," he explained. "They glow brighter the closer they get to other fragments. I suggest that we follow the trail and collect as many as we can, before they fall into the wrong hands. And then we look for Nightmare."

"Okay. That sounds good to me. I . . . what the —"

A figure suddenly jumped out in front of them. Kilik hastily hid the fragment, and Xianghua placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, just in case.

"Who are you?" she called.

The man stepped out from the shadows. "I'm so sorry that I startled you. I really mean no harm," he said.

"Who are you?" Xianghua asked again, a little more insistently.

The man bowed. "My name is Raphael Sorel. I couldn't help overhearing that the two of you are searching for legendry weapon, Soul Edge. You see, I seek the sword as well." He pulled out a fragment and showed it to them.

Kilik and Xianghua exchanged glances, not knowing what to think. Before they could answer, he went on. "Seeing that we have a common goal, I would be honored to join your group."

"Uh, you do realize that the sword is evil and must be destroyed, don't you?"

Raphael nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes. I know all about that, of course."

"I suppose you could travel with us. For a little while anyway," Kilik said.

"Splendid!"

"That is, of course, if it is okay with you, Xianghua."

Xianghua wasn't so sure. There was something about the man that she didn't like. She couldn't quite figure out what it was, but somehow it didn't seem right. She shrugged. Maybe it was just a feeling, and nothing more. "All right, you can come along."

And the three of them walked off. Kilik and Xianghua were not aware of the evil they had just allowed to join them. True, Raphael did want to find Soul Edge, but as long as he could do something about it, there was no way he would let them destroy it. He was overjoyed that he had found them. They could track down the fragments! He could let them do all of the work, find the shards, and then . . .

Raphael grinned. It was so easy to take advantage of people these days. You could always use their kindness against them.