The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 37: Weighed and Measured

I have had better ideas in my lifetime. However, when you’re backed into a corner with no way out, you grasp at any lifeline dangling in front of you. For me, that lifeline was the ancient weapon I had guarded all these years. It was such an elegant beacon of salvation too. The scythe’s curved edge was sharp enough to cut into anything or anyone in my way, and it radiated a ghastly green glow that seemed to drip right off the end. The dark wrappings along the staff of the weapon were barely worn, and the claws at the base were still filed into precise points that could be inserted into flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter. Despite its age, it was in immaculate condition preserved by the ancient power it contained.

I don’t remember taking the blade in my nakedhands. It was just there. I was only made aware of its presence in my graspwhen my entire body felt like it was being poked with a thousand small needles chargedwith an overwhelming amount of energy that nearly brought me to my knees. Everymuscle in my body clenched and I held on with an iron-clad grip, refusing togive up now that I had come this far. The sensation spurred a distant memoryfrom my past. When I had first started out as the blade’s warden, I had once riskedtouching it without any gloves or protection. I was curious and naïve.Immediately, I was overcome with a wave of ancient energy, stabbing at my skinand pushing through into the very core of me. Frightened by the force I hadencountered, I immediately dropped the weapon and hadn’t touched it with mybare hands since. Until this day.

All around me, voices began building on oneanother. I recognized them as the whispers I had heard before all speaking atonce and creating a tumultuous sound in my head that I couldn’t alwaysunderstand. However, instead of just noise, I could now pick out and understandindividual voices. I had always thought of them as antagonistic entities tryingto scare me. Their words now made it clear that this was not so. Their crieswere for freedom from the bleak prison they found themselves in after Dhuumtook their lives. They remained trapped in his scythe, adding to the strength ofhis power. They were simply an energy source to the ancient god, and the souls nolonger wished to be.

The assault on my body as the scythe’s powerpermeated my skin eventually subsided, and I was able to take in a relievedbreath and let it out. It felt cold in my lungs, as if I was breathing in thecrisp mountainous air in the highest elevations in the northern Shiverpeaks. Thechill filled my chest and moved down into my limbs until my entire body was consumedwith a heavy cold. I looked down at my hands. Just as I had suspected, frost andice had encased them, creating a pair of glacial gloves. It didn’t bother methough. In fact, it felt like it was a part of me now, and I found myselfsettling into the sensation like it was a second skin.

There was a shift in the air, and I suddenly felt weightless. Black writhed all along my peripheral vision, and even though I couldn’t see it, I could feel the dark shrouding all of my head like a hood. Pressure began building all along my shoulders. I found myself struggling against an invisible grasp that seemed to be pulling me away from the here and now. I looked over at Quint, intending to reach out for help, but my body made no move. Even though the shadow obscuring most of my vision, I could see his eyes. They had gone wide with surprise and another element that I wasn’t used to seeing when he looked at me.

Fear.

He backed up, clutching the axe I had givenhim for safe keeping, and to use if necessary. By the look in his eyes, I wonderedif he would use it now. I stared at Quint, waiting to see what he would do as duelingthoughts on how to handle him fought against each other. I wanted to beforgiving and leave him be, but the ancient power coursing through me hadjudged him to be guilty and was already dead set on carrying out the sentence. Istruggled against the murderous thoughts and mentally begged the blade’s ancientpower to refrain from harming my former adviser. Despite his transgressions, Ifelt we had at least come to some sort of understanding that shouldn’t resultin a final solution.

I tried to open my mouth and tell Quint toleave, but all that came out was, “YOU!YOU WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDINGLY FOR WHATYOU HAVE DONE—IN DUE TIME. SHE HAS WILLED IT SO. THEY ALL WILL BE JUDGED.”

I remember my shock at hearing the sound of myvoice when those words came out. It was my voice, but then again, it wasn’t. Itwas as if the blade itself was speaking through me, using my mouth and vocalchords. My thoughts also started to change. I felt them grow sharp and decisiveas my feelings and ideas melted together with the blade’s energy. There was aclear distinction between right and wrong, clearer than I had ever felt before,and no room for anything in between. Any sort of mixed feelings dissipated. Compromisingthoughts were gone. There was only good and bad; right and wrong; innocent andguilty.

The power of the blade then made its move totake over completely. It dug its dark claws in, pulling me down into a shadowyabyss where it intended to keep me while it was in charge. Having been reducedto a mere passenger made me feel helpless. I fought for control, but that onlyresulted in pain and exhaustion. It was like I was fighting against a web ofchains that tightened around me every time I struggled. When I stopped, thechains simply let go. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t break them. I hadno choice. I let the blade’s power assume its roll.

It was an odd feeling floating there in theblack. It was a weightlessness, not only of a physical sort, but more of aweightlessness of my heart. My burdens simply vanished, and any trace ofresponsibility I had to the blade disappeared. I had no cares in the world. Nodeaths weighed heavily on my heart. No stress, no anxiety. The black voidbecame a blanket of security where nothing could harm me and nothing mattered. Apart of me knew it was a dangerous state of mind, but I also didn’t care.

Suddenly, I felt a force pushing me upwardstoward the passageway’s ceiling. Knowing it was impossible for solid mass topass through other solid matter, I panicked and willed myself to go back down. Itwas like swimming against a tide far stronger than myself. I failed at gainingany ground, and the black void I was encased in continued lifting me upwardagainst my wishes. Curling into a ball, I held my breath, bracing myself forimpact with solid earth. I was surprised at how smooth the transition was, asidefrom the distant sensation of something rough rubbing against my skin as Iascended. There was no hard impact, no weight, no pressure. I simply floatedupward, leaving Quint alone in the passageway to process what he had justwitnessed. I could only imagine what was going through his mind right now.

I emerged above in the middle of what was onceour home, but was now merely rubble engulfed in flames and ash. Smoke hungheavy in the air, shrouding many from my vision, but I still knew where everyindividual was. I could sense them. I could feel their life forces beating awayout there in the courtyard, their rhythms entwining with each other. Some were heightened,some fading. It was an elegant symphony of life and death, and the thought thatI was soon to become the conductor excited me.

Looking around at the skeleton of the hall, Irealized I had seen this before. Years ago, when I had returned to my aunt anduncle’s farm, I had found it reduced to a pile of charred debris. It was then Idiscovered our family’s book and my mission as the blade’s warden began. My newlife had begun in that fiery mess. Would my mission end in one too?

The chaos of battle spread out before me, and Isurveyed the scene looking for my friends. They were still tangled with Inquestand hired rogues, trading blows and weapons’ fire in the courtyard. As my eyeslanded on an asura Inquest, my first and only thought was, GUILTY. I then spied a tall norn dressed in dark wrappings with nodistinguishable markings: GUILTY. Anasura with twisted rows of hair and feathers on her collar: INNOCENT. An Inquest golemancer: GUILTY.  In a matter ofseconds, I had judged them all, innocent and guilty.

I thrust the bottom end of the blade into theground twice, eliciting loud, heavy thudsthat cut through the sounds of battle. The fighting ceased. All eyes turnedtoward me as I stood there in my shadowy cocoon.

“YOUR DEEDS HAVE BEEN WEIGHED AND MEASURED. THE GUILTY HAVE BEEN JUDGED AND THE VOID NOWBECKONS FOR YOUR ARRIVAL.”

“Just who do you think you are to passjudgement over me,” an asura Inquest huffed as she waved a pistol in mydirection. Once I would have considered the weapon a threat, but now I paid theweapon no mind. It was simply inconsequential.

“Who are you? Wait—Nienna, is that you?” Dee asked as she squinted through the smoky haze. She stumbled towards me, bewildered by what she saw. I wanted to assure her it was okay, that I was still here, but the shadow form I had become encased in silenced my words.

I felt my arm raise, and I held out thescythe, sweeping it out in front of me toward the crowd. “THOSE WHO ARE GUILTY NEED TO MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR GODS AND PREPARE TO MEET YOUR FATE.”