The One Unworthy of Legends

Scarlet pulled the door closed behind her, her tail wrapped around her waist to not get pinched. Her cat-like ears flicked with the change in draft and her nose twitched, the room was dark and musty. Scarlet crossed through the kitchen and scaled the stairs which opened to a hallway on the second floor, a window was open at the end of it. The curtains fluttered as the moon shone light into the otherwise dark corridor. The floor creaked as she headed for her room, She pushed the door open, and with a snap of her fingers the candles of her room lit. "Basic fire magic, good, you're less disappointing than I'd thought." A voice reached her ears causing them to swivel in the direction of the window, she reacted immediately, drawing her sword. "Who are you?" She threatened, but her composure lessened as her sword disintegrated, the dust trickled through her fingers. She glanced at the pile of dust on the floor with confusion before turning her eyes to the window. "Me?" The voice was laced with sarcastic surprise the curtain fluttered revealing only his legs hanging over the window sill. Suddenly the curtains blew with a gust of wind and his face could be seen. Shadowed in the night, his smile was pure white, glowing. He was a handsome man of about twenty or thirty, with beautiful black hair and deep blue eyes. "I'm a messenger, I guess you could say, or a creator, maybe an author. Doesn't matter really cause you'll want what I have to give." He stepped into the room and the window snapped shut, he could be seen clearly now. The man wore no armor, but instead, he wore an expensive-looking garment. It consisted of a jacket worn open over a shirt, a thin piece of cloth hung from the neck of the collared shirt. "There's a great beast coming, it needs to be defeated or it will destroy the town." The man spoke casually. "Not that big of a deal really, but personally I'm bored, so I'm going to give you the chance of a lifetime" He smiled mischievously, straightening his collar. "I'm no h-hero, you should go to the adventures g-guild." She stuttered, taking a step back, he was getting closer . "Ah," he paused, "I do apologize, I'm getting carried away." He stopped and took a step back. "Ah, Scarlet. Such an interesting specimen, especially for a story." He smiled, "you have a fire in you, but yet are afraid of being near others. No quarrels with a fight, but a conversation will bring you to your knees. I've been watching you, you'll be an interesting protagonist." Her ears twitched nervously at his words, her tail lashed angrily. "Who are you?" Her voice steadied, his distance calmed her nerves. "Oh scarlet, you're all too brave with just me, but ooh if I'd brought friends we could have a party." He had a devilish smile. "But you'd probably sit in the corner hiding your face the whole time." "Are you mocking me?" She asked anger boiled, how dare this man break into her home and mock her. "Oh no dear, I think you're amazing, wasting away in this room all alone, terrified of repeating-" he paused, "Only ever leaving to hunt for money, only ever spending on food and more days in this room." He turned and pulled a sword from thin air. It must've come from a spatial magic known as 'Safe', but he didn't chant, it simply materialized. "You know, you're too perfect for the role." His smile vanished. "You have some monsters to kill child." "W-what, no way I can kill what you're talking about if you know so much about me then yo-" "Yes I know, just a kitten, so weak, that's why you'll train." He held out the sword. "This is a hero sword, well it's the hero sword. It's generally called the soul caliber sword, but across history, it's had many names associated with it. King Arthur, Hercules, Perseus, Robin Hood, Karna, Beowulf, and many others. It's a weapon that changes shape to fit the user's needs. It's a weapon that creates heroes" "So it just makes you stronger?" She asked, her eyes searching him. "Of course not, if you took all of its power at once it would rip your body apart. You must slowly draw out its power over the course of your life, in other words, you must train with it the more you kill the stronger it'll become. It's called The soul caliber sword because it fuses with your soul when you use it, it feeds off of your soul and strengthens your soul in return. It both consumes and revitalizes your soul at the same time, but in order to revitalize it requires heroic actions and killing of powerful beasts, things that have a lot of blood on their hands." He turned to her with a serious face. "Which obviously would mean if you were to take the sword and never use it, it would consume you and you would die. Take the sword and become my hero." She stepped forward and reached out, gripping the handle, a flow of energy was released and all the candles went out. As Scarlet's eyes readjusted she looked around the room, the man was gone, and her hand was bleeding. Pain throbbed in her palm, and she could've sworn she felt a heartbeat. The sword had drawn blood, she could feel it sucking on her soul, a vampiric sword. Did he lie to her, entirely, maybe just a little or would everything he said ring true. It didn't matter because soon she would find out, a beast was coming he said, she would kill it and become a hero. And the next hero she wondered, would he list her name? Would she be worthy of his list of heroes? In the end, it didn't matter, it doesn't matter because this wasn't for becoming a hero. . . it's redemption. Scarlet drew the sword from its sheath, it was very plain but he said it took whatever form made sense, too flashy of a sword would stick out. But he was right about one thing, she thought, I'm a timid scaredy-cat, is it even possible for me to become a hero. "It doesn't matter, starting tomorrow, I'm going to start killing as many beasts as possible. That would be the quickest way to find out if he was telling the truth as far as the sword." And if it's true, if I become a hero, maybe then I can forgive myself. A few faces flashed in her mind and a deep regret began to rise to the surface, she pushed it down and wiped the tear that had started its trek down her cheek.