Chapter 2: For Amy

The front door of the mansion creaked loudly as Amy, a ten-year-old redheaded girl, pulled it open and stepped inside. She gave the house a disapproving look. The door opened once more as Raphael Sorel came in behind her. "Isn't it magnificent?" he asked. That definitely wasn't the word Amy would have chosen.

Raphael, with his hands on his hips, gazed around at the inside of the mansion. He wore expensive, but luxurious clothing, and he spoke with a French accent. He watched his foster daughter walk over to the grand staircase where she wiped the banister with her fingertip and stared at the dust. She looked disappointed. "Don't . . . don't you like it?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Oh, yes," she lied quickly. "Yes, it's . . . it's very . . . nice." Raphael beamed. Amy rolled her eyes. The truth was, she hated it. It was much too big, it smelled musty, and it was terribly quiet. Back in her old village, she may have been poor but at least it was noisy. This place was deadly silent. It gave her the creeps.

"All right then, let me take you to your room," Raphael said, and he started up the stairs. Amy followed hurriedly, not wanting to get separated. Even though she couldn't stand the place, she wouldn't dare tell Raphael. It sounded as though he had gone through an awful lot of trouble to get the house, and if he knew she didn't like it, it would just break his heart. Besides, he tended to become obsessive when it came to her. If she wasn't happy he would never rest until he made things better. Sometimes she wished he wouldn't — she didn't feel like being spoiled.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they reached her bedroom. Raphael left her there so she could unpack, and he went back down to tend to his things. He gave an enormous sigh of relief. He was so glad that Amy was pleased with the house. Sure, it could do with a little bit of cleaning, but it was nice. She was much better off than she had been, and so was he for that matter.

Raphael had once belonged to a wealthy and very well respected family (he had long since cut all ties). He grew up in France with a promising future. Recently, however, things took a turn for the worse. Raphael had a rather . . . negative outlook on life. As he saw it, when there was something to be done he would either do it his way, or not at all. His disrespectful attitude made him a considerable number of enemies.

On day, he found himself arranging a duel with a nobleman after a particularly nasty argument. Worrying that he might get in trouble, he arranged the duel in secret. Because the nobleman repeatedly taunted him during the fight, he completely lost his temper. Not only did he break the rules of the duel, but he also slaughtered the nobleman. It was not long before he found himself on the run, seeking refuge.

Once they discovered the body, the nobles were furious. They immediately sent out guards to find and kill Raphael. Taking with him only his trusty rapier and a great sum of money, he hid in a nearby village.

Everything was fine for a while, but someone eventually informed the nobles of Raphael's whereabouts. Before he could escape, they had the village surrounded. He was trapped, and he knew it. He was willing to fight, but he knew he could not take on them all. At the last possible minute, he ran into the girl named Amy. She helped him by hiding him from the guards. After countless searches, the nobles finally decided that he had somehow escaped. The guards left and he was able to come out of hiding. Amy had ultimately saved his life.

Raphael wasn't sure what to do. He had never been in anyone's debt before. He became determined to repay her, despite Amy's continuous rejections. In the end, Raphael left the poverty stricken village bringing Amy along as his foster daughter. Such a village was no place for a child, he had decided. Especially since the nobles were so close by . . .

It was difficult to find a place to stay. He wanted to keep a low profile in case the nobles continued to pursue him. Because he was on the run, Raphael decided that another act of foul play would not hurt. He ended up poisoning an old man, and then he took possession of his mansion. Raphael did not feel bad about the crime he had committed — the man was old. He was bound to die soon anyway. Still, he was worried that Amy would discover what he had done.

The two of them spent three long (uneventful) months in the mansion. At that time, Amy became very ill. This worried Raphael. He could not take her to a doctor because they might notify the nobles. Instead, he cared for her as best as he could, but her condition gradually worsened. Running out of options, he turned to the mansion's enormous library for help. During the first month of their stay, he had spotted a book about medicine and remedies. At the time, he hadn't payed it much attention, but now he would do anything to find it.

He spent hours at a time searching for the book, but it always seemed to evade him. Once, he spotted a book that looked promising. As he pulled it off the shelf, another book fell to the floor. Seeing that he had the wrong book yet again, he put it away and picked up the one he had dropped. The cover was all black with no writing on it. It looked like some kind of diary or journal. He opened it to find that the majority of the pages were blank. The others had pictures of maps, which had been drawn by hand. He flipped through the book and discovered that an envelope had been placed inside.

Curiosity sweeping over him, he opened it and took out a letter. He skimmed through it. It appeared to be centered around the spreading of an Evil Seed, whatever that was. The name seemed familiar, but Raphael couldn't quite put his finger on it. He quickly lost interest, and went to put the letter back in the envelope. That is when he noticed that something else was in it. He turned it over and an odd piece of metal fell into his hand. Perhaps this was the Seed?

Before he could think about it any further, Raphael could hear Amy coughing in the next room. He set down the book and the letter, and he went to her aid.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, trying to make his voice as gentle as possible.

"Okay," she managed to say, but she looked terrible. She was dreadfully pale — all of the color had drained from her face.

"I don't want you to worry. I'll make sure you get better," he said.

Amy nodded. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the piece of metal in his hand. Raphael looked down at it. He had thought he had put it away. "It's pretty," she said. "It looks like a heart."

So it did. He hadn't really noticed before. "Well, I'll let you keep it then," he told her. "For good luck." She smiled at him, with her new good luck charm clenched tightly in her fist. Raphael kissed her on the forehead and went back to the library.
An hour later he was still searching through the endless supply of books. He began to get worried; he really didn't want Amy to die, but he was sure that she would. If only he could find that book. Maybe then he could find a cure for her. Maybe. If not, he might have to risk going to a doctor after all. Even if it meant he would get captured, he couldn't just allow Amy to die. He just couldn't.

"Where is it?!" He asked himself. Surely he would have found it by now. Perhaps he passed it up —

"What are you looking for?" a voice asked.

Raphael jumped. He spun around and saw Amy standing there behind him. He put his hand to his heart. "Amy! You really gave me quite a fright. I was just —" He froze. Amy stood there, smiling at him. She looked perfectly healthy. The color had even returned to her face.

"You're . . . you're all better!" he stammered. What was going on?

"I feel great now!" she said cheerfully. "I think my good luck charm helped me get better." She held up the metal fragment.

"It's glowing!" Raphael noticed.

Amy said, "Yes, it has always done that," but he wasn't so sure that it had. He thought that he would have noticed that before. Something very weird was going on, that was for sure.

Amy skipped out of the room, leaving Raphael there. He felt dumbfounded. One minute Amy was on her death bed, and now she didn't have a care in the world. It was as if her soul had been purified . . .

Suddenly, he understood. The Evil Seed was Soul Edge, the blade rumored to be the ultimate weapon! It occurred to him that the blade possessed special powers . . . perhaps the piece of metal was actually a part of Soul Edge. Maybe that was what healed her.

He looked around frantically at the bookshelves. After a few tense minutes, he found it. The diary with the letter. He studied it intensely. Yes, he was sure of it now. The piece of metal truly was a fragment of Soul Edge. He continued to read.

A horrible thought struck him. What if Soul Edge would fall into the hands of the nobles? With a weapon of that power, the nobles would be unstoppable. But if someone else found the sword . . . someone like him . . . he could put them in their place. An evil plan began to form in Raphael's mind. He could find Soul Edge, and with it he could kill all of the nobles once and for all. With them gone, he knew that Amy would finally be happy.

From then on, Raphael spent even more time in the library studying the letter and the journal. It appeared that Soul Edge had been broken up. If he could find enough of the pieces, he was sure he could forge a new sword. Then he would be free to destroy the nobles once and for all. But he had to hurry — the nobles were probably already searching for it.

A month later, Raphael was ready. He dropped off Amy with one of his friends, and went off taking his rapier and Amy's fragment of Soul Edge. The father he went, the greater his desire for the blade became. He tricked himself into believing that he did not want the sword for himself, but instead he was doing this for Amy.

Little did he know, but Raphael had overlooked one crucial fact: Soul Edge was evil. And in the wrong hands, it was deadly.
Well, how is the story so far? I hope you're not bored. Sorry that there hasn't been much action yet, but I need to get through the main plot first. Don'y worry though --- the next chapter does pick up a little. Oh yeah, don't forget to review!