HETAR

"This sword was once under your father"s care and now, it"ll be pa.s.sed to you."

"What?" I gave Mom a confused look. "It will be pa.s.sed to me now? As in "now"?"

Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Is there any problem with that, dear?"

"Uh, I think, it"s too early, Mom. I-I"m not yet ready for it," I reasoned out as I bit my lower lip.

Mom smiled. "Okay then. I won"t force you. Just tell me if you"re ready."

My head automatically tilted to left because she just said it simply like as if it was nothing. She didn"t force me!

"But I want to see you use this before you go back to Earth."

That made my eyebrows met. "What?" I asked, unbelievably.

"Use this before you go back to Earth," she repeated. Did I hear it right?

"You. Want. Me. To. Use. This." I pointed at the sword. "Mom, I don"t know how to."

"Your Dad taught you when you were still a kid." Mom smiled.

I was puzzled. I couldn"t remember anything about it.

"You can"t remember."

What the h.e.l.l?! How did she know what"s inside my mind?!

"Have you read my mind, Mom?!"

She laughed softly. "No, dear. It"s written on your face."

Oh . . . am I that too obvious? Oh my . . . whatever.

I sighed. "I can"t remember . . . "

She stopped, and cleared her throat. "It"s alright. It"s still natural to you to use it."

And in a split of seconds, what happened that night flashed in my head. My moves, every detail of how I used sword were very swift . . .

"Enough talking."

"c.r.a.p!" I cussed when I felt Asher behind me, pointing a sharp thing that I guessed - it"s a sword. I stood still and give my Mom a meaningful look like I was shouting "Help me."

But she just smirked and muttered, "You can do it. Defeat him."

"d.a.m.n, Asher. Do you want to kill me?"

"Of course, not. But I"ll cut this long hair of yours," he said playfully.

"You can"t do that," I pleaded. Just cut anything but not my hair for G.o.d"s sake!

"I can. Don"t underestimate me." Now, he"s serious. His teasing voice was gone. "In five . . . " He started counting.

My sight shifted to the Hetar sword. I gulped as my eyes roamed on its overall figure.

" . . . four . . . three . . . "

I gritted my teeth as I pressed my eyes closed.

" . . . two . . . one . . . zero—"

I grabbed the sword as I faced him. I caught his sword with mine. He"s smirking like as if he"s enjoying fighting against me.

"It"s a pleasure for me to be your first fight using your precious sword," he whispered as he got closer. His gray eyes made me drowned that"s why I pushed him.

I attacked him but he jumped as he flipped. He landed behind me. I slashed the sword but he caught it. His free hand twisted my right hand to my back as he held me closer – causing my sword to fell on the marble floor. Then he pointed the edge of his sword to my neck.

I could feel his breath on my right ear. "You lose," he uttered.

He"s fast. I admit. But I can"t lose. My Mom is watching me seriously at the corner. She"s standing there waiting for me to defeat my cousin.

"I"m the holder and no one can win against me in battle of swords." I was shocked upon hearing myself say those words.

But I was more shocked when I heard Mom"s voice in my mind! "Your Dad also say that in the middle of fights. You are really like him." I looked again at her direction – she smiled at me!

"I can defeat you."

"Then prove it, Babe."

I hit his face with my head which made him loosen me up. I quickly picked up my sword and attacked him. He caught it again. I tried to pushed him but he"s too strong so I used both of my hands this time.

"How dare you hit my handsome face?" he asked as he touched his jaw.

He"s p.i.s.sed but I was not afraid. Instead, I smiled sweetly and stopped myself from laughing! His nose was bleeding!

"d.a.m.n!" he cussed as he wiped his nose with his hand. "You"ll pay for it, you brat."

Okay. He"s mad. Uh-oh . . .

Now, he was the one who pushed our clashed sword. To end it, I jumped backward. He attacked so I attacked too. Our swords clashed and clashed. It"s too fast to the point that I didn"t know how long we were fighting. Until all of sudden, we stopped and stared at each other. We"re both breathing heavily and sweating.

"Let"s end this."

I nodded to what he finally said.

We attacked at the same time. He swung his sword but mine, I didn"t. I have got another plan.

I covered his strike using my weapon. While he"s focused on trying to pushed me, I quickly twisted my sword onto his and pulled it up. As I raised my sword, his sword was thrown away.

I grabbed the collar of his uniform immediately and pulled him closer. I pointed my sword to his neck.

Finally, it"s done.

Instead of being shocked, he smiled. "Congratulations, Babe," he whispered.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Don"t call me that. It"s annoying."

"Cute." Then, he laughed.

I pushed him away. "Tsk."

I heard slow claps from my Mom. She walked towards us. "Oh my, Scarlette, you"re strong and you smell danger," she gladly praised.

"Aunt Er, your daughter is like a bear. My gosh!" Asher overreacted.

I rolled my eyes. As if!

"I know. Strong like me!" Mom proudly said.

Err, nonsense talking.

I just stared at the sword. I still can"t believe this.

"Mom, this is weird. It"s like . . . it"s been a long time since I"m using swords."

"It"s natural to every legendary swordsman, Dear."

I just smiled. I was giving back to her the sword but she stepped backwards suddenly. The curve on my lips faded.

"Why, Mom?" I asked, confused.

She shook her head. "Only the holders can hold that because that is just meant for them. If other creatures, humans, demiG.o.ds, and even G.o.ds will hold it, they"ll vanished. We will be gone."

This sword . . . is so much . . . powerful.

"Mom, this screams death," I uttered.

"Yes. So, you must be careful."

I nodded. "Where will I put this then?"

"Return it to the place where you took it."

I placed the sword on the center of the room. I positioned it like how it was placed before. It floated again.

"Dear, do you already know how to use your half-G.o.ddess power?" Mom asked.

"Not yet, Mom. I can"t control it," I answered honestly.

"Do you want me to teach you now?"

I faced her. "Mom, I"d love to but . . . can we do it next time?"

She seemed that she didn"t like my answer but she just nodded and forced a smile. "Okay then. But in case you need to use it, just use your mind and please, control your emotions."

~*~

After having lunch with Mom, Aunt Wart, and Aunt Heta, Asher and I decided to go back to Earth. By the way, foods here are heaven! Very yummy!

Hetarnia is like a kingdom in fairytale stories but the difference is that the people here are souls and they all wear white. There are also animals here and for G.o.d"s sake, they"re talking.

"Are you sure that you still don"t want to take the Hetar sword?" Mom asked.

"I"m still not ready to hold a dangerous thing, Mom."

Her eyes screamed loneliness even she"s smiling so I just avoided her gaze. "Fine then. Stay safe."

After bidding our goodbyes, we went out.

I stared at the whole place from the outside. It"s been just two hours since we came here and now, we"re going home.

Asher faced me after closing the gate. "It"s time to go back."

"I know—"

"And you have to sleep."

I wanted to argue with him but suddenly, I lost consciousness.

c.r.a.p!

~*~

And I just waked up that we"re already inside our empty cla.s.sroom.

Wait, what?! Empty?!

"d.a.m.n it! They"re already creating chaos!" Asher cussed as he locked the wooden door.

I also started to panic because there were students that were trying to get in. Lots of them! They"re acting wild! They"re like zombies that wanted to eat us!

"c.r.a.p! What"s happening, Asher?!"

"I don"t know! But there"s only one thing that I know, they started moving."

We stepped backward when we felt that the door was already breaking.

"Who?"

"Durlen and his minions."