Growls and screams sounded across the grassy hills that were painted green with life. Luge no longer smelled the rusty taste of blood nor the screams of battle; all he could sense were the changes in the wind as multiple Glitches attacked him. Luge opened his eyes to find his arm already dealing with the interference. He looked around; all of the Glitches seem to be attracted to Maiko, the reason being... her red hair. "Why the hell are they all attacking me!?" Maiko complained as she punched a hole in each one that came at her.
Luge sighed in relief and wiped Glitch blood off his blade with a white handkerchief that 'always stays clean' embroidered by his father. "Father..." Luge stared at the small reflection in the shiny adamantine blade...
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"Mother!" a small blonde-haired boy carrying a wooden sword in his right hand enthusiastically rushed through the red-carpet-covered hallways, "MOTHER!"
"Young master!" a woman called out to him, wearing a maid's attire, "You're going to fall if you continue running like that!"
"MOTHER!" Luge kept on running.
He turned a corner, only to bump into something and fall to the floor. "Owww..." Luge scratched his behind, "What happened...?'
"Young master! See what I told you! Now, let's go~~ahaha!" the maid's tone suddenly jumped and Luge finally opened his eyes, his behind still aching.
A tall man with handsome portions of everything stood above the little boy. He was wearing a black hat and coat, his hands were covered in black gloves, and his eyes were circled with dark shadows in addition to a few grieving wrinkles on his face. "Uh uh uh... I'm sorry for the young master's behavior," the maid's voice shook, "Please excuse us."
"He wants to meet his mother right? I am heading to meet her right now... so maybe he can follow me...?"
"Uh uh uh but sir..." the maid shivered at the look of his eyes, "Okay, I will leave the young master to you..."
The maid rushed off to where she came from and the boy looked at the man. "C'mon, boy. Stand up. You're going to meet your mother right?"
The boy quickly stood up and brushed his backside before following the man. There were moments of silence between the two as they walked to the Queen's chamber. "What's your name, boy?" the man finally broke the silence with a melancholic tone.
"Uhm... It is Lumiere. Lumiere Gerechtigkeit," the boy answered naively; the man stopped for a while before continuing his walk.
"How about your name, mister-"
"We're here," the man ignored Lumiere and knocked on the heavily decorated wooden door.
Lumiere made an annoyed expression as he heard his mother called them inside. The man opened the door and Lumiere quickly rushed to his mother's bedside. "Mother! Mother!" the boy jumped up and down, "I finally managed to perfect the first form!"
The Queen smiled as she rubbed her son's blonde hair to his son's pleasure, "Good job, Lumiere."
"Ahem..." the rubbing stopped and Lumiere became annoyed at the man.
"First, he ignored me. Now, he interrupted Mother's rubbing. How rude!" Luge thought as he turned to his mother who wasn't smiling anymore.
"You're going there... aren't you...?" Lumiere's mother asked with a grieving tone.
"Yes... I'm sorry..."
"Don't be... Those things killed Nyarin after all..."
Lumiere was confused; the room has gotten tense. "Who is this person?" Lumiere thought.
"You know you won't come back if you go there right?"
"Yes..."
More silence. Lumiere was too afraid to move; he had never seen his mother with so much sorrow. "I see our son has been doing good..." the man looked at Lumiere, provoking confusion.
"Yeah... he really loved learning the rapier. Thinking of teaching him?"
"No... I already gave you the book... and also, teaching him would just ruin his mindset..."
"So... why are you here...?"
"Just want to see you and my son one last time..." the man approached Lumiere and began rubbing his head with his left hand while his other hand caressed his mother's blonde hair and wiped away her overflowing tears.
The man then took out a small chest and a key before placing it on the Queen's bedside table. "What's this...?" the Queen asked the man.
"One day... a hero among heroes will be summoned here... I want you to give it to him when you meet him."
"How will I know?"
"The Orb will be the one to decide. All you have to do is keep it safe."
The man then turned to Lumiere and kneeled down in front of him. "You love the rapier, huh?" the man softly asked.
Lumiere slowly nodded and the man's arm disappeared into a hole before pulling out a hilt embroidered with diamonds and adamantine along with a wild sheath of embroidered gold connected to it. The man then held it horizontally in front of Lumiere's eyes before disconnecting the sheath from the hilt, revealing a shiny metal blade. The man then stood up and did an 'en garde' pose with it and some slight jabs. Finally, he threw an apple he pulled out from nowhere and as if it were on a table, sliced it into paper-thin slices. The man threw the slices he made into his mouth before pulling out a white handkerchief and wiped the juices off the blade. The blade returned to its sheath and the man kneeled down once more, this time, placing it into a wide-eyed Lumiere's hands along with the white handkerchief.
"Huh... what!?" Lumiere realized the rapier the man used was in his hands, "This is yours, mister."
"It was... Now... it's yours... son..." the man stood up to leave.
"Mister!" Lumiere stopped the man from leaving, "You're my father!?"
"Yeah..."
"What is this rapier called? And... why is there a handkerchief...?"
Lumiere's father chuckled before finally answering his son, "That blade is called the Rapier of Life. As long as you wield it, you will not die of any mortal causes except old age. The handkerchief is a special one that never gets stained; it is quite useful in battle."
"But... why me?" Lumiere asked once more, "Why not Mother? She's a better rapier user than me..."
The man smiled at him and Lumiere finally recognized that bright warm face... the face of his father when he was just born. "You will definitely be better than her one day, Lumiere. Now, I have to go-"
"Don't go..." Lumiere still held onto the man, this time tearing up, "Mother said you're not coming back once you go... so I won't let you leave."
The man smiled at him and kneeled down to rub his hair. "I won't ever leave... After all... this blade..." Lumiere's father pointed at the Rapier of Life, "Is a little part of my soul..."
The man paused to wipe some forming tears in his eyes, "Just know that... wherever you go... Your father will always be with you..."
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Tears fell onto the blood-stained grass. "Damn, I'm reminiscing about Father again..." Luge wiped his eyes with the handkerchief he used to wipe his blade.
Luge looked at the handkerchief; it was as pure as it was when his Father gave it to him. "It really is a handkerchief that always stays clean..."
"OI! LUGE!" Luge turned to a fuming blood-covered Maiko, "WHAT ARE YOU STANDING THERE CRYING FOR!? I NEARLY DIED BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT HELPING ME! YOU WANT A HOLE IN YOUR BODY!?"
Just then, Luge heard a scream for help from a little girl. Luge and Maiko searched the battlefield and saw a little girl who was screaming... and a Glitch! Luge immediately sliced up the Glitch just as the girl noticed it into bite-sized pieces that missed the girl, only bleeding a few seconds after it collided with the grass. "Oi, girl! It's dangerous here!"
"Big Brother needs help! He is fighting a bad man!"
"A bad man?" Luge wondered; it has been long since he spoke baby language.
Just then, he realized what the girl meant and rushed to the direction where the girl came from. "OI, LUGE! NOW, YOU'RE LEAVING ME WITH BABYSITTING, YOU BASTARD!"
"Bastard? What's that?"
"It's a word that shouldn't be said. It's a bad word. Don't say it. Forget I ever said that."
Meanwhile, Luge dashed around the ruins of the village. "Hiro! Don't you dare die on me!" Luge's mind shouted as he searched the ruins.
Finally, he found a distressing sight. "Hiro's..." Luge stopped his movements as he watched a wounded and exhausted Hiro panting in front of a mostly unscratched humanoid Glitch, "Hiro's losing!?"
======= TO BE CONTINUED =======