Brotherhood

Mythical Sword

We woke up at dawn to­ go to Redhill woods and retrieve the sword. The house was silent when we left.

Adrian parked the car at the wood's entrance. We got out and picked our backpacks and start hiking side by side. With each step, the woods became denser. We were surrounded by gigantic pine trees and silence that I decided to break.

"How much longer do we have to walk?"

"I don't know. It depends on how fast you can walk." Adrian smirked.

"Ah. Ah. Very funny," I replied dryly. "Is it still far?"

"You sound like a child asking her parents 'Are we there yet?'," he said trying to sound like a little girl.

I glared at him and he finally gave me a real answer, "No, not very far now."

I was relieved when I realized that he wasn't lying. After five minutes we reached a lake. The lake where the sword has been kept all these years. Just the thought of seeing it filled my veins with adrenaline.

I was close now. Close to my ancestors. Close to ending this once and for all.

We stopped near the shore and took our clothes off and put on diving suits. I was already dipping my feet in the water when he gave me the device that would allow me to breathe underwater.

We slowly entered the water and started swimming. About five meters from the shore Adrian dived and I followed him. We swam underwater for a few minutes until we reached a small hole in a big rock. Adrian lit up his underwater flashlight and swam through the hole.

I tailed him.

The small hole led to a complex maze of underwater tunnels. I was amazed by Adrian's capacity to remember the path to the sword.

We kept swimming and suddenly I felt fresh air on my skin. Adrian was already standing on a boulder in front of me. He helped me up and we start walking on dry land again. We finally reached the last gallery and there it was.

The silvery sword was resting on top of what could be a pedestal, ready to be picked up and return to where it belongs. I walked closer and took the sword in my hand to inspect it. It was beautiful, just as Adrian described it, but something didn't feel right.

Maybe I was overthinking things, maybe I was delusional, but I thought I would feel the same I felt when I picked the family's daggers back at home and it was not the case. The majestic sword just felt ordinary in my hands.

 I looked up at Adrian, who was studying me with interest.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing. It just doesn't feel like I expected. Almost as if it wasn't the right..." I let out a sigh. "Well, I guess that's my fault for imagining things and expecting something special." 

"It's not. I don't know how you did it or what kind of feeling your talking about, but that's actually not the real sword. It's just a replica in case someone followed. The real sword is here," he explained as he removed a rock from the wall, creating a hole in it.

He put his hand in the hole and retrieved what was probably the real sword covered by a black cloth. He placed it on the pedestal, took the replica from my hands and gestured me to remove the cloth. 

As I uncovered the silver blade I immediately felt what I was expecting and hoping to feel.