Sword Mage

“Ok, I get that it’s cool and all, but seriously, there’s gotta be better ways to spend your time.”

Adri didn’t look up from the blade she was sharpening. None of the guys she’d brought home after a long night had ever been quite impressed with her homemade forge and collection of handmade weapons. This latest guy’s condescending tone was nothing new.

“I mean really, what’s even the point? They’re never going to look nearly as good as one you can get online.”

“I don’t really care about how they look,” she finally replied, testing the edge against her thumb. “The important thing is if it works how I need it to.”

He scoffed. “Yeah? What else do you need them for except to look pretty in those pretty hands?”

She felt his fingers permitting themselves to run freely down her spine, coming to rest right where her shirt had come slightly untucked. Grinning, she turned to face him, leveling the broadsword at his throat. “Well, I use them to get rid of men who have outstayed their welcome, of course.”

With eyes so wide they might fall out of his head, he backed quickly to the door, tripping over everything in his path. With a final slam, she could hear him careening off down the hallway.

Chuckling, she tossed the sword onto her bed. Worked like a charm every time. Sterra said it was more due to her gaze than the weapons; they always said the eyes of a warrior are far more fearsome than an earthly weapon.

She glanced towards the clock. Almost time. With a sigh, she shed the clothes she’d worn to the club and began wrapping her chest. Once she’d put on something a little more practical for the tasks ahead, she sat back on the threadbare stool. Lifting the broadsword again, she tested the balance. It was slightly off.

“Fuck,” she grumbled, swiftly dropping it to grab one of the first pieces she’d made. 

It was much shorter, only about the length of her forearm and half the weight. It was one of the few “perfect” blades she’d ever made, honed until everything was just right in order for her to wield devastating blows. She’d wanted something bigger for tonight, but there wasn’t the time to make the necessary changes. Soon she would be on her way.

Another glance at the clock showed just enough time to possibly sharpen a knife or two. Pressing her foot to the pedal, she whetted the thin blades against the stone, careful not to let them warp. The chimes started just as she was slipping a third knife the size of her pinky into the straps holding her chest in place. 

Time to go.

She slid her sword into the scabbard hanging at her side and looked to the center of her tiny studio apartment. The changes were subtle at first, a slight shift in the placement of the plants that covered the apartment. A moment later and that covering became quite literal, fronds and leaves moving to create a circular gate. Stepping onto the tightly woven green, the smell of forest hit her nose. Sweet, earthy, with just a bit extra thrown in to prick the hairs on the back of her neck.

Someone… something was waiting for her on the other side of the portal.

Sword raised to strike, she stepped through.

“Aunty!” A mane of chestnut-balck curls whacked her in the face as Sterra hurled into her arms, seemingly oblivious to the blade that could have pierced their chest if they were just slightly further to the side. They looked up at Adri, eyes shining. “I missed you!”

Smiling, Adri ruffled the curls so like her own. She wasn’t actually Sterra’s aunt, exactly. She was actually their some-obscene-number-of-greats grandmother. But that was a bit much of a mouthful, so “Aunty” it was.

“Did you manage to sleep at all?” Sterra asked, bringing her back to the present. Or the future. Whatever. The thought still hurt her head sometimes, despite coming here every night for nearly two years.

She shrugged in response to her descendant. Fatigue weighed on her face, dragging the bags beneath her eyes nearly past her nose. Sleep wasn’t something she exactly had time for anymore.

Sterra was immediately stern. “You need to start getting some sleep! I can’t give you a boost every morning. It’ll eventually take a toll on your body. You might eventually not be able to ever sleep again!”

Not wanting to look at them, Adri turned to the surrounding forest. “You alone? I could’ve sworn I smelled some other magic…”

“Don’t change the subject! You know I’m always careful when I come to bring you through. Maybe you’re hallucinating because you haven’t slept in who knows how long!”

“Yeah, well it’s a little hard to find the time when you live two daytimes a day.”

She instantly regretted her words. Sterra’s gaze fell to the grass, shame written into the pores of their young face. It had been them who first called Adri to help against the growing black magic that threatened the newly sprouting Earth. A vision had come to them in a dream, showing Adri as the one who could save them all. But she still needed to maintain her life in her current timeline in order to find the person with whom she would bear the child who would eventually lead to Sterra and her family. Sterra knew that all too well.

“Hey,” Adri murmured, wrapping her arms around the kid. Soon she’d have to start calling them a grown adult, as tall as they were now. “I’m sorry. I don’t blame you. None of this is your fault. It’s just how things are right now.” She pushed them to arms length, a sly grin spreading along her lips. “Besides, it’s not so different from my college days, though the swords I fought during those nights were a tad different…”

“Oh, I can’t with you,” Sterra laughed, shaking off her hands.

They walked to the village hand in hand, heads held high as though that would ward off the stares of the people. Very few approved of bringing Adri to fight their battles. Most of them were still convinced her presence wasn’t needed, despite the number of times she had saved their lives.

Finally, they reached the lookout tower along the wall. Arton hopped down from his post upon seeing them, a blush darkening his already dark features. Adri did her best to ignore it.

“How do things look so far today?”

“Sur-surprisingly-ly calm,” he told her. “V-very li-little dis-sturbanc-ces so far.”

“Excellent,” she clapped, leading Sterra towards the barracks. She always felt better facing the day if she could get a good workout in before having to deal with any monster goo, but there was rarely time for that. She planned to take full advantage this morning.

A man with frighteningly pale features waited for them, arms folded. “I see you’re back again.” As if he didn’t see her every single day.

“It’s nice to see you too, Adrian.” It never was. He was the worst in the entire village. Once the advisor to the chief, he had been demoted after convincing her to hang Adri right before she saved them all from a void that nearly sucked up the whole village.

Not bothering to return his glare, she continued into the training area. For about an hour, she hacked up dummies that Sterra enchanted to fly at her. Finally done, her only friend jogged off to get them water while she sat to check her blade. It was still perfectly sharp. Good. 

“I still don’t understand why you bother with those toys,” Adrian said with a smirk. “This is the age of magic. We have no more need for such barbaric means.”

“And yet,” Adri huffed, pushing sweat-matted hair off her forehead. “You still call me to fight your battles instead of letting me dream peacefully every night.”

She walked off the training mat, leaving him scorching red. The truth was, she just couldn’t get a grasp on magic. Sterra mused that it was because she was from a time on Earth when magic was still very suppressed. Whatever the case, it hardly mattered. Maybe her magic sucked, but she was damn good in a sword fight. And everyone in this place knew it, regardless of what they thought of her.

The horn blew as she stepped outside. Eyes snapping up to the sky, she scanned the grey clouds for the first signs of attack, sword already in her hand.

“Adri!” Sterra came to a crashing halt by her side. Opening their fist to reveal glitters of magic dancing between their fingers, they nodded. “I’m with you.”

*While writing this, I had the thought to make it into a full length novel! Let me know what you think!*