Chapter 3: Heirs Of Fate 1: In Endless Dreams 1
Abigail was walking alone in the rain with Erebus, sobbing quietly.
"Papa... I'm sorry. If I was stronger... if I could fight like you... maybe then this wouldn't have happened." Abigail thought.
Later, Abigail was in a forest.
"Why... why wasn't I stronger?" Abigail wondered.
Just then, a girl named Francine walked over.
"Hello. Why, you've been crying. Whatever for?" Francine asked.
"Wha..." Abigail started to ask.
"Lost and far from home / I meet a young girl weeping / May I tend her wounds?" Francine asked.
Another girl, a half-fox girl named Prudence, walked up to the two.
"I dunno... it doesn't look from here like she's banged up." Prudence said.
"Um... who are you two?" Abigail asked.
"I'm Prudence!" Prudence replied.
"And I am Francine. What should we call you?" Francine asked.
"I'm Abigail." Abigail replied.
"Then if I may ask, Abigail, what has brought you to tears? Have you lost your way?" Francine asked.
"Wha... no! Of course I'm not lost! I'm just, um... I don't have a home to go to anymore." Abigail replied.
"No home? What happened?" Prudence asked.
"My whole village got smashed. Even my house. My papa tried to help, but they might have smashed him too. It's all my fault... because I can't fight, and my papa... I... I don't know what to do!" Abigail replied.
"Oh, dear. Why don't you take a deep breath and tell us what you saw?" Francine asked.
"I... I don't really know. I was too busy running away. A bunch of soldiers poofed out of nowhere in the place where we lived and..." Abigail started to reply.
"Out of nowhere? Uh oh." Prudence muttered.
"She can only mean..." Francine started to say.
"Yeah. Sounds like poor li'l Abigail's been through the same thing as us." Prudence said.
"Abigail, it's important that you try to remember." Francine said.
"O-Okay... they were messing everything up, so I wanted to fight them. I was too small, though just when I was almost beaten up, my papa came to help. But they were so strong, not even Papa could do anything. He told me to run. I didn't want to, but he begged me, so I made up my mind to run away as fast as I could. I heard someone scream behind me, and that was the last time I saw him. I found a hiding place in the forest to wait for him, but he never came." Abigail explained.
"I'm so very sorry, Abigail." Francine said.
"He left this sword with me, though. What did he call it? Ebus? Erebus? He told me he'd take care of the bad guys and that I needed to protect the sword." Abigail said.
"He gave you his sword? But then how did he hope to fight off these marauders?" Prudence asked.
"Oh, my papa doesn't need a sword to fight! He can turn into a dragon!" Abigail replied.
"Your dad can transform? Mine too! My dad uses a special stone to turn into a giant kitsune. It's really pretty!" Prudence said.
"A kitsune? Wow. I'm not like my papa, though. I wish I could transform... or heal people like Francine. Then he'd still be... still be..." Abigail started to say.
She started sobbing again.
"Aw, Abigail... we know how it feels. After all the same thing happened to us. A bunch of soldiers popped up out of literally nowhere to attack Francine and me. We booked it all the way out here." Prudence said.
"Really?" Abigail asked.
"For all our staves and stones, we couldn't save our fathers either. It pains me to admit, but I was perfectly useless in the assault on my home. Father called out to me several times, but I was napping soundly inside of our manor. By the time I roused myself, our home had already been surrounded by troops. Father fought heroically to give me time to escape. He meant to come with me, but I lost sight of him for an instant, and then... by the time I got my bearings, he was nowhere to be found. I have my doubts that he still lives." Francine replied.
"Oh no." Abigail said.
"Well, death comes to us all. If he has gone to his reward, I'll waste no time with tears. And yet... and yet...I can't help but wonder what might have happened if I were awake. Or if I had not lost sight of my father at just the wrong time. And how about you, Prudence? Were you also separated from your father in your Deeprealm?" Francine asked.
"Well, not exactly. At least, I didn't see him there. When those spooky soldiers hit, I ran this way by myself. But you know, I did see my dad's torn-up scarf in the fort on my way out. For all I know, he croaked in battle trying to protect me from those guys... though of course, I never saw a body, so fingers crossed! I like to think he's still alive out there, looking all over the place for me." Prudence replied.
"Hey, your right... we don't know for sure if they are dead or not. But what do we do now, though?" Abigail asked.
Suddenly, a few of the soldiers that had attacked their homes appeared. Abigail gasped.
"There they are! Those spooky soldiers! Their probably the same ones who hurt my papa!" Abigail said.
Prudence growled.
"GrrrrRRR! I'll make them regret busting in on MY Deeprealm!" Prudence said.
"Prudence, don't! This can't end well for you!" Francine said.
"Says who? You never know until you try!" Prudence asked.
"I'm confident that I do know. They have the advantage of numbers. Plus, of the three of us, your the only one worth anything in a fight. Abigail's too small, and I won't do much damage waving my staff around. I'm a poet, not a soldier. And my muse is telling me to run away." Francine replied.
"But..." Prudence started to say.
"Your father risked his life to save yours. You must honor his sacrifice." Francine said.
Prudence sighed.
"Gaaaaaah! Fine, you win. But what about those guys fighting over there? Shouldn't we help them?" Prudence asked.
She pointed over to two boys, one of them named Dil, and the other named Harold. Dil attacked one of the soldiers with a crescent moon shaped light purple colored bow, but missed.
"Oops... missed again. Guess I should have had more practice before taking my dad's sacred bow into battle." Dil said.
"We're outnumbered, Dil. Let's cut our losses and go!" Harold said.
Abigail, Francine, and Prudence ran over to them.
"What are you two thinking? Your putting yourselves into great danger!" Francine asked.
"That's what I keep telling Dil, but no! He keeps insisting that..." Harold started to reply.
"If you need to go, Harold, then go! I'd hate to see you get hurt because of a risk I decided to take." Dil said.
"What's this your on about? I'm not leaving you behind, dagnabbit! It's over, Dil. They won. Even our fathers were no match for these guys, remember?" Harold asked.
"Oh no. Not these guys too." Abigail thought.
"Our fathers... your right. I have to save my father! And that means beating these soldiers. Here goes nothing! Haaah!" Dil replied.
He attacked one of the soldiers with the bow, but missed again. Dil sighed.
"I blew it." Dil muttered.
"Aw, come on! Give it up already! You can't handle that bow!" Prudence said.
"Rub it in, why don't you." Dil muttered.
"You have to see by now that these foes are beyond your abilities. Before taking aim / You must know your own limits / Pick your fights with care." Francine said.
"Yeah, I know. I know! But what do you want me to do? Run away? It's not that simple!" Dil asked angrily.
"We run, or we die. Seems cut and dried enough to me!" Harold replied.
"Thanks, Harold. I get it. I just feel like I'm so close to figuring our the trick to this bow... just because I've missed every shot so far doesn't mean I won't nail the next one! I just have to keep believing, and the Blazing Yumi will do it's thing eventually." Dil said.
"What's Blazing Yumi?" Abigail asked.
"That's this bow's name. It's a sacred weapon my dad left me. It used to be a weaker red colored bow called Noble Yumi, but it evolved into this. I haven't hit anything with it yet, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up! I won't rest until my dad is safe!" Dil replied.
"Oh." Abigail said.
"So no, I'm NOT gonna run! I know if I keep trying, I can make this bow work! Go ahead and watch me!" Dil said.
He attacked with Blazing Yumi again, and this time, he killed the soldier he was fighting.
"Dil! By plum, you did it! You gave them a taste of the Blazing Yumi!" Harold said.
"Heeeeck yeaaaaah! I did it! I! DID! IT! Did you see me do it? Just like Dad used to do!" Dil said excitedly.
"V-Very impressive, but it still doesn't turn the odds in our favor." Francine said.
"Dil! Do that again! Can you teach me how you did that? If I believe in my sword, do you think it'll work for me too? Will that help me fight? Can I save my papa then?" Abigail asked.
"Uhhhh... wait, is that Erebus?" Dil asked.
"You know about it?" Abigail asked.
"My dad says that's the sword that'll save the world. One of those "only the chosen one can wield it" sorta deals." Dil replied.
"Oh... but I'm not the chosen one. This is Papa's sword, not mine. I... I couldn't help him. I just had to stand there and watch him fight. I couldn't do what you did." Abigail said.
"You've got it all wrong, Abigail! I was just like you a little while ago. I couldn't do anything to help my dad either. I was so mad at myself... but moping over the past won't help us now. We have to move on. Think about it, Abigail. What do you want to do to change things?" Dil asked.
"Um... I want to fight. I wanna beat up these guys my papa was fighting and rescue him. And that's why... that's why I wanna learn how to use this sword." Abigail replied.
"Then let's give it a test swing or two. We'll keep trying until it works. You'll get it! After all, I speak from experience!" Dil said.
"You think I can do it? Do you really think... I can fight the spooky men?" Abigail asked.
"I don't think so, Abigail. I KNOW so!" Dil replied.
"Thank you, Dil!" Abigail said.
Suddenly, Blazing Yumi started glowing a darker purple color, while Erebus started glowing purple as well.
"Whoa, what the heck? Why's Blazing Yumi glowing?" Dil asked.
"My sword's shining, too! Dil, what's going on? Did I mess up somewhere?"
There was a flash of purple before the glow around Erebus and Blazing Yumi faded. Blazing Yumi looked the same, but Erebus was different. It was radiating a sky-blue aura, and the second to the top slot of the blade was illuminated sky-blue.
"Erebus is different now!" Abigail said.
Dil grinned.
"Nice! I saw the beam of light shoot straight from Blazing Yumi into Erebus. I think your sword has tapped into my bow's power! I have no idea how that works, but I'm not about to question it." Dil said.
Suddenly, more soldiers showed up.
"Yikes! Where'd all these soldiers come from all of a sudden?" Prudence asked.
"Are they here because of my sword?" Abigail asked.
"They could have just as easily been drawn to the burst of light it emitted." Francine replied.
"Or maybe it's got them scared. Could be they've come to get rid of it before things get worse for them." Harold said.
"It's okay, Abigail. Just believe in yourself. Your ready for this, I know it. Take a deep breath and lift your sword high. Even if you miss, I got your back." Dil said.
"Okay, I'll try! Alright... I'm coming, Papa! Please, Erebus... help me fight them off!" Abigail said.
She attacked and killed a soldier.
"Attagirl, Abigail!" Dil said.
"It worked! Thank you, Dil!" Abigail said.
"Haha, thank yourself! We've got these guys licked!" Dil said.
Abigail nodded.
"Yeah!" Abigail said.
Harold frowned.
"Alright, then. Change of plans, apparently. No more running. We fight as a team." Harold said.
"Harold? But you said..." Dil started to say.
"Running now would put us all in danger. What kind of fool do you take me for? Besides, I told you I'd protect you, remember? My sword is yours, my lord." Harold said.
"Harold... thank you! Your the best!" Dil said.
"Urrrghh... sorry, Francine! I can't back down from this fight!" Prudence said.
"What? Prudence, you..." Francine started to say.
"I haven't felt right since I ran away from my own Deeprealm. With Abigail's help, maybe we can finally make a stand against them! Plus, I just wanna see if I can go the distance in a real fight! I've never been in a tooth-and-nail brawl before, so this is such a great chance!" Prudence said.
"I see... very well. You've forced my hand. Not to worry, I think. Four front-line fighters should even the odds. And I suppose I can help, too. If you need healing, you may rely on my staff." Francine said.
Abigail laughed.
"Yay! Here we go! We have to believe our parents are okay! We're gonna save them all!" Abigail said.