Chapter 2 – Journeyman
A rush of cold wind blew across his face. He hadn't felt such a feeling since the last time he was his normal self again, so it was refreshing to be able to feel such small things again.
The breeze tickled Siegfried, waking him from his slumber. He slowly got to his to his feet, and stretched his arms and legs. It had been such a long time since he'd been able to sleep. For the first time since taking the Soul Edge, Siegfried had been able to sleep. He woke up only to the peaceful morning, and not to a pile of dead corpses, with blood splattered everywhere. He felt truly rested for the first time in his life.
He ran a hand through his golden hair, and looked up into the sky. It was so clear and blue, with a few fluffy white clouds in the air. It was a stark contrast to the rain and thunder that has enveloped the ruins yesterday, during his battle with the fallen warrior from the Far East……
Siegfried walked over to a small patch of earth. A small wooden cross was sticking out from it. Siegfried had buried the unfortunate man, shortly after regaining himself. He knelt by the grave, and began to do something he hadn't done for a very long time………he prayed.
"I'm sorry………" he murmured, half to himself, half to the dead warrior. "I'm sorry for everything that I've done. My father………all those people………all dead, all because of me………"
Tears began to stream down the young knight's face. The guilt was welling up inside him. The memories of all those faces, the screaming voices………all because of him, and that blasted sword………
He turned around. Soul Edge was still stuck in the ground, its eye closed. Siegfried silently cursed the thing. How could one weapon cause so much pain and misery? His eyes narrowed, turning into a glare. He had to destroy it….
He turned back to the grave. "For you, and everyone else……I will get vengeance. I will send that blade back where it came from!" He stood up, his mind and his destiny clear.
He looked once again at the sword. If he was going to destroy it, he first needed a weapon to so. However, he couldn't leave Soul Edge here………to let it into another's hands would be disastrous. The problem was, how could he take it without it possessing him again?
When he'd taken it, he'd grabbed the hilt. It seemed that was the one place that it should not be touched. If he held it by the blade, he should be alright. Above all else, he could not become Nightmare again.
He cautiously walked up to Soul Edge. Even in the morning sun, it looked sinister, like a sleeping beast. He knew he had to be extremely careful………there was no telling what else the sword was capable of. He didn't know for sure that gripping the blade and not the hilt wouldn't possess him.
He gulped, and gingerly stretched out his hand to touch Soul Edge. The eye didn't open, and the blade was within his reach………
Take me!
Siegfried snapped his hand back. The eye on the sword opened, and cast a threatening glare at him. It knew he was trying to outsmart it.
Take my hilt, and my power! I can give you what you want………
Siegfried closed his eyes, desperately trying to block out the deep, murderous voice. Yet, his hand began to reach for the hilt………
"I want the power………I want souls………" he thought, beginning to succumb to the sword once more. His fingers were inches from the hilt………
Yes……… take me………
Siegfried suddenly gave a cry of anguish. He snapped out of the trance, and forced his hand onto the blade of Soul Edge. He tensed, preparing to feel the pain and agony wash over him once again and the sword possessing every part of his mind and body.
However, it never came.
Siegfried had been right! Only if he touched Soul Edge's hilt could it possess him! He gave out a sigh of relief.
You will regret this, fool! cursed the sword.
"Wrong. You can't hurt me anymore." replied Siegfried, a grin plastered across his face. "I can resist you, because I've known the evil inside you."
The sword let out what sounded like a high-pitched growl, and then the eye closed once more. Soul Edge was in Siegfried's hand, dormant.
He hitched the sword onto his back, sliding it into the grooves on his armour, where once either his Requiem or Faust was. As long as he didn't touch the hilt, he would be fine.
His next task was to find himself a weapon that could destroy Soul Edge, or if not that, at least so he could defend himself. Siegfried was completely unarmed save for his fists and Soul Edge. He wasn't much of a fist fighter, and it would be a cold day in hell before he grasped the hilt of Soul Edge again.
He then noticed that he didn't smell very nice. It had been a seriously long time since he'd bathed, and of course, Nightmare had never cared for that sort of thing. He decided to go and clean himself, before going anywhere. It might even refresh him………
About an hour later, Siegfried was washing himself in a small pond located in a clearing of a nearby wood. It had been about a mile's trek from the ruins, and he liked it because it kept him hidden from any uninvited guests. He knew that fools still searched for the Soul Edge, believing that it was a sword of salvation as he once did. They would not hesitate to take the sword from him, by force if necessary. He would sooner die than let that happen.
Cool, refreshing water ran down Siegfried's body. If one good thing had come of being Nightmare, he'd been buffed out a bit. He was far stronger than he was before he took Soul Edge. It was probably to do with so much fighting……good exercise. However, Soul Edge itself had left him his stronger physique as a parting gift. Just as it had left its former owner, the pirate Cervantes de Leon immortal, it had given Siegfried a powerful physique. Using a heavy Zweihander sword would be absolutely no problem for him now.
The pond was one of the more tranquil places he'd been to. It sure made a change from all the times he was Nightmare. The only places he ever went to were villages………and they weren't a pretty sight after he'd finished with them.
He shook his head, wanting to block out the memories. They were going to haunt him forever…………
He then noticed his reflection in the water. He bent down, taking a closer look. The pond was crystal clear, and he could see all his features perfectly.
His long hair flowed down his back, and his eyes shone like sapphires on the water. The scar down the right side of the face was the one thing that ruined his otherwise perfect appearance. He'd received it during his battle with Soul Edge itself, seven years ago………
Siegfried was still taken aback at what lay before him. It looked like a demon………it was part skeleton, part flame. It wore the clothes of its deceased owner, and its white skull grinned evilly back at the young knight.
"What are you………?" gasped Siegfried. Whatever it was, it was the last obstacle between him and Soul Edge. He wasn't about to lose now! He swung his Faust into the ready stance, and prepared to meet the creature's strike.
The demon growled horribly, and rushed at Siegfried. It held two very twisted looking swords. The blades looked normal, but the hilts looked like something else………something alive. One of them had an awful shape embedded in it, the shape of a person screaming in pain.
The swords sliced down towards Siegfried, narrowly missing him by inches. Siegfried retaliated with a vicious swing from his Faust, but the demon threw up the swords in a defensive posture, stopping his attack. It then thrust the swords in an outward direction. Pushing Siegfried's weapon back into him and making him lose balance.
He regained his balance just in time, as the malevolent creature charged him. He barely got his Faust up in time, and was too late to block both swords. The left one sliced up the right side of his face, through his eye.
"Aaaaggghhh!" Siegfried flinched, stepping back. The cut hadn't gone through his eye, thankfully, but it burned with a searing pain. He wiped away the blood to avoid his eye becoming filled with it, and faced the being once more.
"I will avenge my father's death! And I won't be stopped by you!" He rushed at his foe…………
Siegfried rubbed the scar. That too, would be with him for the rest of his life.
He stood back up and walked back to the edge of the pool, where he'd left his armour and underclothes. Clean and refreshed, he felt like a new man after he was dressed again.
He picked Soul Edge up by the blade, from behind a bush close by. Anyone could have taken it while he was bathing, so hiding it was necessary.
He took a deep breath, and began to leave the clearing, when a thought came into his mind.
"Faust………"
His first weapon, the one he'd had since as long as he could remember. The last time he'd seen it was in a place called Athens, which was a long way to the south east of Germany. He'd visited there a long time ago, and he remembered that he'd come across some kind of temple. He'd fought a girl there………and had left the Faust there.
As for his Requiem, he'd lost that when Soul Edge had possessed him for the second time.
He strode out of the clearing, knowing now what his next destination was. He only hoped Faust was capable of destroying Soul Edge………because if it wasn't, what was he to do?
This one seems a little subdued to me………but it will get better later on ;)
Chris the Phoenix Knight
