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“Athine, hold the sword in one hand and cast a spell with the other!” My mother, Raelin, was always barking orders. It was always practice and then practice some more. Didn’t she know how bored I was? I had been practicing for eons to protect a land that was at peace. I could cast magic with my eyes closed and my fighting skills were second nature to me. Why did I need to practice so much if my skills were already honed?
“Mother, this is useless. No one has attacked Olympus, Draosia, or Ximira for several centuries. Why must I keep practicing to be a protector of the lands with these poorly made weapons? They break when I use them. How can I possibly fight with this stick?”
“Athine, you are a goddess of war born from three different bloodlines. You must to live up to your legacy. That is why you have to keep practicing. I do not know why the weapons keep breaking. Maybe if you focused more on using your Sh’cersay and less on your poor attitude the weapons would perform better.”
Ah yes, my ever present poor attitude. Perhaps it was borne out of sheer boredom. I had no desire to be a warrior protector. That was supposed to be my mother’s job. Yet, she kept trying to make it mine. Something about a vision or prophecy; I never really paid attention.
“Athine, stop day dreaming. Andraste and Sabrina will be here tomorrow for your A’samrad. Do you want to embarrass your grandmother by not completing the rite of passage? As a potential ruler of Ximira and maybe even Olympus you are expected to do well. Anything less would be an embarrassment to the bloodlines; all three of them.”
“Embarrassment? Potential ruler? Has anyone asked me if I cared lately? I practice day in and day out just for the possibility that I may be ruler of a humdrum, peaceful country. Maybe if I did fail the A’samrad you all would let me be. I have no desire to be a ruler. I do not care that my entire family is of noble immortals that love to rule. I want to see other worlds. I want to live a life of adventure.”
How much clearer could I get? I had no desire to rule any of these lands, yet they all hoped I would rule one day. Any of my other siblings, cousins, aunts, or uncles would love to play this role. I was meant for so much more, but alas no, becoming a “ruler” keeps being dumped on my lap. I secretly wished I could fail the A’samrad and become an embarrassment. That way I could go off on an adventure and discover what lay beyond the walls of our palace. I knew there were harsher worlds out there ready for me to conquer. I just had to get out of this world to find them.
~~~***~~~
IT WAS NEARLY DAWN and my mother and I were in the training yard waiting for the A’samrad to begin. It did not take long for Andraste and Sabrina to show up. The sun was barely peeking through the clouds when I saw them in the distance climbing the hill.
“Greetings, Athine.” Andraste bowed towards me while trying to contain the utter enthusiasm she was exuding.
Sabrina then stepped forward with a look of disdain on her face. She bowed towards me and spat, “So I finally meet the goddess that everyone back home talks about. I hope you are as extraordinary as they claim.”
Sabrina and Andraste were in complete contrast of each other. Andraste was the perkiest goddess of magic and war that I had ever seen, while Sabrina was surly and brooded. Although they looked different, both were extremely beautiful. Andraste was flaxen haired and alluring like sculpted ice. Sabrina was a dark contrast to her. She looked like a harbinger of death and destruction with her pale skin and dark hair. She was stunning to look at, but she had a deadly edge to her at the same time. Other than my grandmother, Sabrina and Andraste were the only other members of my mother’s family that I had met. Apparently, relations had been strained for many years after my mother chose to come to Olympus. My grandmother was not at all happy that her daughter had run off with a stranger to take on a fate that did not have her approval. Over time, the tensions lessened, especially after I was born. Perhaps that is why my own mother is so very strict with me. Sometimes I think that maybe she is trying to make up for her own desertion; to prove that she really was trying to protect her homeland.
Regardless, these two were here now not just for a family reunion, but for a test of my skills and my mother’s ability to train me. I could tell that one of them would be ecstatic to find out that I did not live up to the hype over my powers and the other would be heartbroken. Suddenly, I no longer wanted to fail the A’samrad. I no longer wanted to make my mother look bad. I wanted to show these two strangers that I was indeed all they had heard of and more.
“Greetings, family from afar. I am eager to take part in the A’samrad so that you may be witness to my progression and send word back to my wise and faithful grandmother.” I managed to murmur just as my mother had wanted.
“Superior outlook on this exercise, Athine, I commend you on your enthusiasm. As the goddess of magical warfare, I will first test your ability to wield Sh’cersay in a defensive manner.” Andraste almost bubbled when she spoke. The happiness coming from her made her seem so likeable, but I knew she was a deadly sorceress when needed. My mother had made sure nobody would take me off guard. She had indeed prepared me for this battle. It was not two seconds into this distracting speech before a bolt of Sh’cersay shot towards my head. I had heard Andraste chanting, but I didn’t expect it to come that fast. I certainly did not think that was a very fair shot, but I guess nothing is really fair in war. I countered the move with a back flip and blasted a bolt back towards her. She looked shocked and in pain when it hit her; she did not seem to have time to counter the move. She slumped down to the ground clutching her arm. I was not sure if it was a trick or not. I looked over to my mother for guidance, but she was already running to Andraste. This definitely was not something they had planned.
“I am so sorry Andraste, are you injured? I did not mean to harm you. Mother had told me that there would be safeguards during this test so neither of us would be wounded.”
All I could do was apologize as I tried to help Andraste up from the ground. I could see blood running down her arm and onto her beautiful gown. I was quite certain that my magical abilities should not cause dire harm to a goddess. We were immortal after all. The magic of our bloodline was not usually for offense. Yet, the stronger your Sh’cersay became the closer you were able to use it as a weapon.
“Never apologize for what happens in the A’samrad, Athine. We knew coming here that you may have tricks that we have not encountered. It seems you have an exceptional gift with your magical abilities. I am wounded, but it will heal in no time.” Andraste chided me in the bubbliest tone possible. I saw her wound slowly beginning to heal, but not as quickly as an immortal’s wound should heal.
“Given that Andraste is injured, I think we should move on to the weapons part of the test,” Sabrina murmured.
“Yes, I agree, we should move on to the next challenge,” my mother said. “Did you bring an official weapon of our homeland Sabrina? Athine has a very bad habit of breaking the Olympian weapons. I was hoping if you brought one from home that maybe she wouldn’t be able to break it.”
“She breaks immortal forged weapons?”
“Like twigs,” I interjected.
“Let me see some of these weapons you have trained with Athine. I will inspect them and see if there is a problem with the artisanship. Perhaps they have given you weapons created by humans instead.”
I opened the small storage area where I kept my broken weapons. If I did not know any better, I would think that Sabrina was merely interested in inspecting Olympian forge work. However, I did not want to question her. Why in the world would they give me human made weapons? My father was the god of war and the head weapons expert was my uncle. He had certainly tried to design something strong enough for me, but every time the weapon would break.
“There is amazing craftsmanship on these tools; they all have beautiful attention to detail and are made with the finest of metals. I suspect that the problem is with your magic, Athine. The Olympians do not possess the type of magic we have and therefore it would be impossible for even your uncle to forge something that your magic would not bend. My father had the same problem with his children who could manipulate the Sh’cersay. Every weapon I would try to use would crumble like dust. That is why I brought you something special just in case.” Sabrina quickly opened the large package she had been carrying when she arrived. Inside it laid the most curious weapon. It was not quite a sword, not quite a spear; it gleamed like no other weapon I had ever seen.
“This is the finest weapon I have made to date. I had been saving it for just the right warrior. I was going to present it to you if you passed your test. However, there are no weapons for you to test with at this point; I see no choice but to allow you to use it. This gives me great hope that you will pass with excellence. Please, Athine, princess of three realms, take this weapon and name it. Claim it as your own.”
I took the beautiful weapon from Sabrina. It was light and yet felt substantial in my hands. It made the most wonderful humming noise when I touched it. I was not quite sure what to name it. I had never had a weapon long enough to name it; it was almost as if the weapon were speaking to me. “Sayel.” I heard it whisper in my mind.
“Here me now, this weapon shall be my own and I will call it Sayel.”
Everyone paled when I uttered the name of my new weapon. Even my own mother looked weak.
“What is there something wrong with the name?”
“Athine, where did you hear that name? What made you want to name it that? Is it a name you have heard before?” My mother cautiously asked.
“No, it’s simply what the weapon asked for me to call it.”
“You can communicate with your weapon?” Sabrina asked.
“I don’t know. I just know it began to hum and told me that its name was Sayel. Why, isn’t that what the weapon is supposed to do?”
“Not really, Athine. It seems that you have gotten yourself a Ser’urn’el, a spirit weapon. Sayel was a great warrior in the times before your grandmother; she was the founder of our tribe and she was the one that created Ximira. She carved out the lands and the people. She tamed the wild. It has never been recorded in any time after her death that she became a Ser’urn’el. This is a great honor for you, Athine. You are marked for greatness if Sayel has chosen to possess your weapon,” Sabrina explained.
“So, my weapon possesses the spirit of a dead immortal? How exactly did she die? I thought immortals could not die?”
“Immortals can die daughter, but it takes something very powerful to kill their spirit. Sayel died protecting the land. Legend has it that she was killed by an evil spirit from another realm; a dark spirit with no regard for anything other than power. Sayel gave up her life force rather than let the evil spirit take her powers for its own plans. I guess you can say she was not killed, but rather she moved on to our spirit realm where her powers would be safe from this dark spirit,” my mother explained.
“The fact that she has decided to come back to this realm and to be a spirit weapon is an omen that something very bad draws near. Sayel has chosen you to be the protector. Of what, we are not yet sure. It could be of Olympus or perhaps even the world. We will need to leave for Ximira immediately and call the council of M’yerter.”
“Athine, you have definitely passed your A’samrad. While we are in Ximira, you will receive the rites of passage. There is no doubt in that,” Andraste smiled.
For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted was adventure. I wanted to leave Olympus. I wanted to be free. Now that I was actually embarking on an adventure I was no longer sure this is what I wanted. For years I had laughed at my mother for telling me the ancient predictions that I would be the one to protect us all. Now, with this magical weapon, I wondered if maybe she was right.