By His Blade | Story by Andrew Blank | Artwork by Hannah Blank

Sevan woke suddenly, springing out of the bed he was in. Before he could even take in his surroundings he felt a huge surge of pain that made him fall to the floor. The pain brought clarity back to his mind, and he remembered why he was in such a state. There was a mirror near by, and Sevan saw himself.

Sevan had short blonde hair. He was average height, and was skinnier overall with his greatest strength being his speed. What he lacked in strength he made up for with momentum, using his whole body to outdo his opponents. His weapon, the halberd, made that even easier for him. It was clear none of that had helped him though, because as he looked, his armor was torn up and had blood stains on it. Things had not gone well for him.

He had been in a battle deep into enemy territory, massively outnumbered. His commander, Lemeth, had ordered a retreat. Sevan, being the most experienced of them, decided that he would cover the retreat from the rear. While everyone else escaped, the enemy overwhelmed him and cut him off from the others. He fought desperately, unable to even keep track of where he was as he fought off monsters and men.

Eventually Sevan created a gap and escaped, but in all the fighting he was wounded, so he couldn't go far. He saw a village and decided to try and hide out there, without even the people of the village knowing he was there. The problem was that he was bleeding profusely and it was borderline impossible to not leave a trail for the enemy to follow him here. He had no choice though and snuck into the town.

It was a simple place, not too many buildings and not too many people. The buildings were mainly made of wood with some stone and the people appeared to just be going on with their lives. He couldn't fathom how they seemed so at peace considering the battle that was happening so close to them. Sevan looked around for a building that seemed more secluded and limped over to it. It was harder and harder to move as he went, his body finally feeling everything he was suppressing to get through the retreat. As he went he suddenly felt his vision blacking out and then nothing, until he woke up here.

With understanding returning to him he began scanning his surroundings all the more thoroughly. Walking over to a window and looking outside, it dawned on Sevan that he was in one of the houses he had seen. He had retreated during the night and now it seemed as though the sun was already going down again. He must have been asleep for almost a full day, in a town that as far as he knew would align with the enemy he just escaped.

That doesn't make any sense, Sevan thought, I am wearing a uniform, they would know I am not with them. Why would they take care of me? I should be in chains or dead, not laying in a bed with bandages around my wounds. Upon further inspection, as he was figuring out where he was, Sevan realized that the wounds which had flared upon his waking were not to the severity he'd remembered; he was almost entirely healed. He may have bandages, but something far more powerful and efficient had clearly already been done. When he arrived he felt as though he might have died, now while he didn't feel perfect it wasn't much worse than a normal training session with Lemeth.

As he was processing all this, a man entered the house, looked at Sevan and continued towards a table that was nearby. He seemed calm but Sevan sensed some unease as he observed him.

“So, you're finally awake,” the man said, as he put down the bag he was carrying on the table.

“My name is Arden and this is my village. You are welcome here as my guest.”

Sevan was surprised to hear what Arden had to say, so far as he knew this village should see him as the enemy. Yet here he was, being given hospitality and help?

Seven took a step towards Arden, “ I appreciate you doing this for me, but why are you being so kind to a stranger?”

Sevan observed Arden closely knowing he had most likely been far too blunt in his question but not being able to take it back.

Arden after taking a few seconds to think answered, “When someone is in need, it is simply the right thing to do to help them. We do not know you, nor what brought you here, all we saw was a wounded boy that we could help. And so we did.”

It was so simple, and being honest, Sevan likely would have felt the same way if put in a similar situation. But here? This village was under the dominion of Alvade, an empire that did not hold to such moral standards. In fact with everything Sevan knew, they should have killed him or sacrificed him to some dark god of theirs.

Sevan had been so taken aback that he hadn't answered for a long while and so Arden said, “Where are you from boy? You seem taken aback that we would be willing to help someone.”

Sevan didn't even try to hide his surprise at the current chain of events. “I am an enemy of Alvade, I came here to fight along with my master and his other disciples. I ended up here when things went poorly. I only intended to hide here but passed out instead. I was left to your mercy and you chose to heal me of all things. So yes, I am surprised by all of this, from everything I know of the people of Alvade, I should be dead!” Sevan yelled.

Arden simply stared at him for awhile giving Sevan the chance to think through what he just said. He realized that he had revealed everything without any consideration at all of the possible consequences. Sevan had always been a good fighter, Lemeth had always praised him for his skill with a halberd, but he was terrible when speaking to others. Normally it would just create awkward situations or annoy someone. In this case it may very well get him killed if he isn't careful.

Arden finally spoke after awhile, “ This village may be across the wrong border, but we do not share the same mindset as our emperor. Nor do we share the mindset of your king now that I have an idea where you are from. We are a simple people and if we can, we want to simply be left out of it all. But common decency will not allow us to ignore someone in need.”

Sevan was the one who had to do some thinking now as he had never even considered there would be people on this side of the border who weren't evil. Sevan considered himself a blade to be pointed in the right direction, and anywhere in Alvade should have been the right direction. Now he was forced to rethink that.

Sevan forced himself to look straight at Arden, feeling a sense of shame for his general way of thinking.

“Arden, thank you for helping me. I likely would have died without you,” he said with a slight bow. He then decided to confirm what he saw before Arden came in. “How long have I been asleep?”

Arden started rummaging through his bag and said, “You have been asleep for almost an entire day, your wounds were very serious. It is more a wonder you even survived at all.”

Arden, after looking at everything that was in the bag, sealed it and moved to hand it to Sevan. Arden while putting the bag in Sevan's hand pointed to a closet nearby saying, “Your halberd is in there, this should be everything you need to get back to your kingdom and safety.”

Sevan took the bag and looked at Ardan confused, as he tried to process what Ardan meant. Before he could think about much, Ardan continued, “I know it isn't ideal, but you must leave now for your safety and ours. There are men looking around for you. We have kept you hidden so far, but it is only a matter of time until they find you. This is not a large village and there was too many of them for me to count before they dispersed everywhere. You have only been safe because you are in my home, that will not last.”

As everything Ardan said sank in, Sevan understood exactly how much danger everyone was in. It wasn't just Sevan in danger, but everyone here if he was found here. His trail must have led the Alvadian army straight here without leading anywhere else, and it didn't sound like only a small unit was sent to finish him off. He could only be grateful that something was done about his overall wounds. With all this in mind, Sevan needed to find a way out of here without anyone seeing him, and stealth had never been his strong suit.

“Do you a plan to get me out of here? I saw how small this village is, and if there are that many soldiers it wouldn't be hard for them to guard all the exits,” Sevan said dreading whatever the answer might be.

Ardan sighed and said, “We had a plan, but you aren't wrong that every path out of here is under guard already. Whoever was sent to chase after you is not taking any chances. The best way I can think of is simply letting you run into the trees and hope for the best.”

“So I am pretty much doomed then,” Sevan said with a forced grin. “I understand, you can't reveal that you helped me so this is the only option that makes any sense for you.”

It wouldn't be fair to expect them to do anymore than they already had. It was now up to Sevan to make sure that no one here suffered just because he happened to run this general direction. If anything, Ardan just expected him to do exactly what got him here in the first place, just less hurt. Sevan had other thoughts though.

“I wish that running was a good enough option, but I know the Alvadian empire far too well. They would destroy this village and everyone in it just out of suspicion that you helped me. I only have one real option,” He said as he strode towards the closet. He picked up his halberd which Lemeth had given him so long ago. It was old, with all kinds of inscriptions written on the crescent blade and even up the shaft. None of it had any real meaning to Sevan, but Lemeth had treated the weapon like it was important in some way.

Sevan turned and looked to Ardan. “The only way out of this is for me to fight, even if there are too many, escape isn't an option. But if I don't fight.... no one will be safe,” Sevan could still still feel some throbbing in his wounds, but the pain was manageable. It would have to be for what he was about to do. He started walking towards the door trying to muster up some of his usual confidence, but finding it difficult. He had already lost once, and he didn't have anyone to save him if things didn't go well.

Ardan moved and barred Sevan's way. “What kind of plan is that? If you lose, they may very well still destroy this village, and we are the ones that fixed you after the last fight, so we have an idea how your plan will go.”

Sevan stopped and thought about it for a second, Ardan had a point that he hadn't exactly come up with an amazing strategy. Unfortunately, there was no time to sit around thinking, and while he might be right, Ardan also didn't have any better ideas.

Sevan continued forward and pushed through Ardan. “Ardan, I appreciate everything you have done, but you need to leave this to me. If all goes well, no one here will have to lift a finger and the empire won't even know you helped. All I have to do is defeat every enemy here, or die and hope they are more merciful than we expect them to be. Don't get involved anymore than you already have, in case you have to rely on that hope."

Sevan reached the door and opened it before Ardan could say anything else. He stepped out into the village and tried to quickly get his bearings. It seemed Ardans house was in the center of the village, which meant he was now surrounded right off the bat. Sevan sighed, this was not going to go well. He moved quickly, trying to get closer to the edge of the village without being seen, not wanting it to be obvious where he was being hidden until now. Somehow he managed to reach the trees and turned around to try and find some Alvadian troops or monsters. It didn't take long to find a patrol, and they were coming straight toward him. Sevan hid behind a near by tree with halberd in hand, poised to strike when the moment came. They came within range but it wasn't time yet, Sevan's goal was to ambush them and try to whittle down the enemies numbers. Just then they seemed to notice the foot prints that Sevan had left behind and Sevan knew he couldn't wait any longer. He lunged out of hiding and brought his halberd down hard on the soldier closest to him, he sliced him from head to toe with the man being dead before he even knew what was happening. The other solider turned to see what was happening but before he could Sevan had already moved toward him and slashed him across this neck so that he couldn't warn everyone else. Sevan had to be merciless and efficient if he had any hope at all of winning this fight.

He decided to leave their bodies there and moved as quickly as he was able. He needed to take down as many patrols as he could before this turned into a bigger fight with everyone against him. With any luck, finding those bodies would confuse them as to where he was and he could take some more of them out. He had to get caught eventually, for the sake of this village that helped him, so this seemed the best option to him.

He found another patrol with their backs to him, and he charged their direction without a second thought. They were standing next to each other and this patrol had one of the monsters with them. This one had clearly infected a wolf and transformed it into something horrific. They must have been hoping to use it to sniff him out since it would not only retain its normal abilities, but even enhance them. The monster started turning towards Sevan, sensing him before the men even had a clue. He wasted no time and went straight for the monster, stabbing straight into it before it could warn them. He ripped his blade out of it and immediately slashed them both in one clean cut, ending them before they could react.

This was going even better than he hoped, five enemies down and without them even knowing where he was yet. At this rate, maybe he actually had a chance. Ardan likely had no experience with war, maybe he miscalculated how many soldiers had actually come here. Sevan was just one man, no matter who his teacher was he couldn't possibly be worth sending a whole army to get him. Sevan moved on to the next patrol he could find and he took them out as efficiently as the last one.

Suddenly he heard a horn, some of the bodies much have been found. It had to happen eventually and he had done more than he thought he would before getting caught. Now they would consolidate and group together giving him a better idea of exactly what he was up against. Just then, Sevan heard a voice from what sounded like the center of the village.

“Sevan! We know who you are and we know that you are the one killing our men! Come out now or these people will face the consequences of your actions!”

Sevan found a spot he could see more clearly and there appeared to be 40 people all gathered in one place, huddled together. What also became clear was the how many soldiers came to get him. There was easily a hundred of them, and that was just who he could see. The only thing he could be thankful for was that they didn't seem to bring very many monsters, with only a few spread out and all being of the wolf variety. Not much of a comfort, but he would take whatever small wins he could.

The man continued, “If you do not come out and face us, all of these people will get what they deserve for aiding an enemy of the empire.”

With that, Sevan had no choice, he knew what he had to do. It could just be a ploy to get him out, but he couldn't take that chance. No disciple of Lemeth could ever just sit back and let this happen. Sevan stood tall and rounded the corner of the house he was hiding behind to face this enemy. The commander who had been searching for him, immediately turned toward him and motioned for his men to surround Sevan. This guy isn't wasting anytime at all, Sevan thought. Sevan decided he wouldn't either, and charged them at full speed. With a huge leap he cut through the man's sword and straight through him to the ground. Without wasting a move Sevan twisted and swung his halberd, sweeping away the men closest to him.

It had started off well enough, he had to try and keep the momentum going, not allow them to pin him down. They had numbers, but aside from Lemeth, Sevan didn't know anyone that could take him down one on one. He had trained endlessly knowing that, one day, he would have to fight and that this sort of situation could happen. Thankfully the commander hadn't moved yet, obviously thinking these men would be enough. Sevan assumed that he would be the biggest threat of them all, so that was fine with him.

Just then the soldiers backed away and the wolves came towards him instead. There were only five of them, but with the powers they had been given, that would be plenty. One of them pounced and Sevan dashed forward and stabbed it in mid air, tossing it behind him as he went. He kept the momentum and spun the blade barely missing the ground to sweep up and hit the next one. He only grazed it and the wolf lunged forward and bit the shaft of his halberd and held him in place. The other three didn't waste any time and came straight at him. He managed to twist and dodge two of them, but the third got his arm and bit deep. He couldn't break the grip, so he pushed the blade further into its side. Once free, he hit the one that gotten him in the face with the end of the shaft and leapt backward. That one was reeling from the hit when the other two came at him again and he caught them with the shaft of the halberd. Sevan threw them backward next to the other and hit all three with one sweep of his blade. This time he didn't miss and all three of them went down. At times like this, he was thankful for how sharp this blade was, never getting stuck and always gliding through anything he cut. With that it seemed there weren't any monsters left, but the men had taken the opportunity to get around him. With no path out, he quickly decided he would have to make one. They had assumed he would want to retreat with how many were now behind him, but they clearly didn't know as much about him as they thought. He drove in to the men directly in front of him, he was too fast for them to respond properly. It was clear there was a huge gap between them as Sevan tore through them. He went through slashing every one he could and blocking or dodging everything that came his way. Anytime they tried to surround him he would swing his halberd in a massive arc around him to force them away. They had seen what it could do and knew that it wouldn't get caught. One soldier came at him with a sword and shield in hand. He took an over head swing at Sevan that he barely dodged, and he went to counter with a stab in his side while he was vulnerable—but he wasn't. This soldier was fast, and had not only blocked him, but pushed his halberd into the dirt hard. He had clearly hoped to plant it there and disarm Sevan, but it didn't work.

Using every bit of muscle he could, Sevan ripped it out of the ground and smashed his shoulder into the soldier, pushing him off balance. Sevan wasted no time and stabbed him in the chest and quickly spun toward the next closest soldier. He swept his halberd around once more and took out everyone near him, clearly they had thought the soldier with the shield had succeeded and had gotten far too close.

Sevan had reached his destination; he was now with the villagers who had mostly just stayed where they were. He had no idea how many enemies were left, but he had taken out at least a third of them in that charge. He had earned a moment of respite and saw that he was now standing between the entire enemy group and the villagers. He never even saw the commander move, but he must have because he was behind the rest of them.

That didn't make any sense, these people were essentially hostages and yet he had abandoned that position. Sevan didn't have much time to think about it though, the enemy was on top of him again. He blocked them and threw them aside, making another sweep of his blade but being careful not to hit the villagers.

“Run!” he turned to them and yelled. “Why are you still just standing there. They clearly aren't going to be satisfied with just me!” Some of the villagers seemed to respond a little, but ultimately they stayed planted. It made no sense, there wasn't anyone around them, but they just stared at him. Sevan saw Ardan toward the front.

“We can only obey the empire in this, that hasn't changed.”

That seemed insane to Sevan, they had just threatened all their lives to bring Sevan out, and yet they wouldn't move. Sevan didn't have time to think too hard about it though, the enemy wasn't going to give him a break, but he could at least maintain this position. He wouldn't let a single one through him, no matter what it took. He took a firm stance, with the end of the shaft in the dirt, and faced the enemy, daring them to come at him. He could see the soldiers at the front hesitate, taking a step back. Clearly they weren't ready for what Sevan was capable of. To be honest, Sevan was surprised at how much he had already managed to accomplish. It felt like every move he made was exactly the right one. Aside from the monster, none of them had even touched him. Though now that he looked, he was bleeding badly from that bite, but at least for now it wasn't slowing him down so it couldn't be too bad.

The enemy finally found some courage and came rushing at him. Sevan pointed the halberd at them and moved forward. He suddenly felt something from the halberd, and without knowing why, he swept a huge arc from left to right. Energy seemed to course through the whole shaft. It didn't hurt him, but it went rushing out of the blade and killed anyone it touched. It blasted them all away, and just like that the entire front row had been blown back. Sevan was confused, but as if it was pulling him along he went forward and plowed into the enemy. He was moving faster than he had ever moved, and there didn't seem to be any end to the energy that had appeared from his halberd. He was throwing men aside like they were nothing, and they couldn't do anything to stop him. Before he knew it, there was only one enemy left standing; the commander, who somehow didn't even look phased by what was happening in front of him.

The commander spoke again, “I didn't know why I was sent after one man with so many soldiers, but now I get it. It isn't because you matter, but because of your weapon. I can't believe Lemeth would put something so valuable in the hands of someone so young. Understand this, I will kill you and take that weapon for the Alvadian empire.”

Sevan looked at his halberd with a new found reverence for it, only now learning what it was capable of. The energy was still coursing through it, and he took comfort in that, despite having no idea what was causing it. All he knew is that he only had one enemy left, and this village had the chance to be safe. After he left they could simply say that the lone soldier slayed them all with his halberd, and they would believe it, since apparently it was this they were after. Sevan had a lot of questions, but he wasn't going to get any answers he trusted out of the man in front of him. Sevan looked up and saw that the man had started towards him, taking out a sword that looked ancient. It was rusty and broken in places, but like his halberd was covered in inscriptions.

He saw the blade start to glow and understood what was coming his way. He blocked the wave of energy that came at him as best he could, but it didn't work, he was knocked off his feet and thrown into the air. He flew over the people and straight through a wall of nearby house.

Sevan was on the ground winded, covered by debris. He was amazed he had even survived that, but somehow he felt able to stand. He saw the blue energy coursing up his arm and had an idea as to why. He could tell he wasn't fine though, he was hurting all over and couldn't fathom how much damage was done to him. He pushed himself up off the ground, barely able, but still managing to do it. He looked across the town and saw the commander was making his way up to him. Unfortunate that he was still so efficient, he didn't plan to let Sevan have a break. Sevan had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, but he knew he must.

Sevan stood to his full height, and swept his halberd over his head and slashed the commanders direction. It unleashed a wave of blue energy that hit the commander dead on. He stood his ground and blocked it with his sword, but Sevan wasn't done there. He slashed some more and sent more energy his way and started to charge. While the commander was busy handling the energy, Sevan moved faster than he ever had, likely due to whatever his halberd was doing to him. He reached the commander and while he was still distracted stabbed toward his side. Sevan needed to end this fast before he got hit again, he didn't think he could survive another.

Sevan hit the commander, but he managed to dodge to the side just enough that it wasn't fatal. Sevan pushed forward, but the commander had managed to block the energy, seeming to absorb it into his sword. He turned Sevan's direction and did an overhead slash. Sevan leapt to the side, and the energy missed him but it completely obliterated the house that was just behind him. Sevan was amazed at what the commander was capable of, but he didn't even have time to take it all in before the commander was aiming for him again.

Sevan moved to dodge, but realized where he was standing; if he moved the villagers would all get hit, and despite everything, those crazy people were still just standing there waiting to accept whatever fate came their way. Sevan stood his ground and decided to match the commander. He mimicked his moves and energy flowed between the two of them, colliding into each other and dissipating. He kept sending more, and so Sevan continued to match him, throwing everything he had at him and trying to move faster than him.

Sevan knew this couldn't go on forever, one of them would get tired first and it was far more likely to be Sevan. The commander was fresh aside from the wound Sevan had inflicted, Sevan was hurt and had just fought one hundred men single-handedly. Sevan couldn't let this get drawn out; he started moving forward with each slash. Each step hurt, as he got closer to the exploding energy, it hadn't looked like that from a distance but he felt it as he got closer to it. The commander's face showed he was frustrated, but he wasn't slowing down, throwing more and more Sevan's way. Sevan finally got in range and took one giant sweep his way, sending a huge wave bigger than any before. The commander could only block it, and Sevan took his opportunity to slash him across the chest.

The commander looked at him, dumbfounded, but nothing could help him from a wound like that. He fell to his knees, then to the ground, and died. Sevan had won, against all the odds. He stepped forward and made sure the commander was gone, then turned toward the villagers. Ardan was walking his direction.

Sevan smiled at him and said, “It looks like my plan worked, not that you made it easy for me.”

Suddenly his legs started giving out on him and he could feel all the wounds that were inflicted. As soon as the danger was gone, Sevan had nothing left to give. He might even die, but at least he knew that he had done what he needed to do. He barely managed to say “If it isn't too much to ask, could you help me one more time?” Then he fell into Ardan and passed out as all the energy left him and stopped sustaining him.

Ardan caught Sevan and said, “Of course Sevan, we will do anything we can do for you.” Ardan gently let Sevan fall to the ground, and turned to his people, motioning for some of them to come and carry Sevan. “Thank you for trusting me and standing your ground with this boy. We all know that the commander was going to kill us all, and that he was the only way.” He strode forward into the center of the crowd where two people were on the ground panting. “Thank you two most especially for helping him in that fight. He had no idea how, but he managed well enough with the energy you gave him.” They looked up and gave half-hearted smiles at Ardan before passing out themselves.

Ardan spoke again, “Please carry them to their beds, they need rest. While they rest, please gather their things for them. We cannot stay here after this. The Alvadian empire will not be merciful to us, regardless of the circumstances of what happened here. We must put our hope in this boy, Sevan, and his people. We will follow him when he awakes and leave what we know behind. Please continue to trust me in this.”

Ardan looked at them all, and eventually one of them nodded. Soon all of them nodded and started doing as Ardan had asked. They only had a few days at best before the main force came looking for these men and the commander's sword. They needed to be gone before then, and Sevan would have to lead the way.