CHAPTER - 148

  Narrator: Selene stared at the sword in front of her, hypnotized.

  It wasn’t just any blade: it looked like a blackened mirror, barely reflecting the dim light in the room.

  The color was a deep, absolute black that swallowed every glimmer as if it refused to return it.

  On the finely carved black hilt, unknown initials stood out, accompanied by zigzag engravings that resembled a dragon’s body coiled around the sword.

  Those winding lines were marked with a bright red, as if drawn by blood itself.

  Selene grabbed it with both hands.

  The moment her fingers touched the hilt, a shiver ran through her.

  The aura of the sword climbed up her arms like a wave heavy and dark.

  It was like holding a piece of solid night, and the pressure it exuded was enough to make her knees tremble.

  She tried to lift it, gritting her teeth, but the blade’s weight was disproportionate.

  Despite her training and strength, it felt as if she were trying to lift a boulder.

  The sword wobbled, unbalanced, and she struggled to keep it upright.

  She bit her lower lip, frustrated.

  “Why can’t I wield you?” she whispered.

  “What’s wrong… with me?”

  Dav, who had remained silent until that moment, was watching her.

  His eyes shifted from Selene to the sword.

  Something came back to him, something he had read days before in a dusty book from the Royal Library of Precious Artifacts.

  “Some blades do not answer to strength, but to will.

  They choose a single master.”

  He calmly stepped closer and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Try to make it yours,” he said firmly.

  “Become its master.”

  Selene looked at him, confused.

  “And how, exactly? It’s not like there’s a manual for this kind of thing…”

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  Dav raised a hand, offering a half-smile.

  “Try to focus. Sit. Close your eyes. And pour your aura into it.”

  Selene nodded, still unsure, and sat cross-legged, resting the sword on her knees.

  She closed her eyes and began to breathe slowly, trying to clear her mind just like Dav had told her.

  He, in the meantime, lay down on the ground, resting an elbow on the floor and his cheek on his hand, watching her carefully.

  “Empty your mind, Sele… focus… force it to accept you.”

  Selene let go of every thought. Then, suddenly, it was like falling.

  The world vanished, replaced by total emptiness.

  She was immersed in a black abyss with no end, a void so dense it felt tangible.

  She felt an oppressive weight, as if thousands of invisible eyes were watching her.

  “Where… where am I?” she murmured.

  “What is this place? Why do I feel so… watched?”

  Suddenly, two enormous eyes appeared in the darkness.

  One was blood red, the other an icy blue.

  They stared at her with a devastating intensity.

  Before them, Selene felt small, minuscule… an ant.

  Sword: (darkly feminine) What do you want? Who are you?

  Have you come to strike me again with that damned hammer?!

  Selene: (surprised) What? I’ve never… what do you mean?

  Sword: (irritated) What I said! Those blows, those clumsy hands…

  they tried to forge me with violence!

  Selene: (hands behind her back) I wasn’t the one who forged you, and I’ve never hit you.

  (Funny face) I’m just here to understand why you won’t accept me… why you refuse to be wielded.

  Sword: (voice turns higher, almost silly) I don’t want to! Leave me alone.

  Go away!

  Selene: (looking down) He… won’t be happy.

  The one who forged you. Dav.

  Sword: (arrogantly) Then bring him here.

  Let’s see if he has the courage to face me.

  Narrator: Selene opened her eyes with a gasp. Her breath was heavy.

  She told Dav everything, every word exchanged with the sword, every sensation she had felt.

  He listened silently, then gave her a look and gestured for her to hand him the blade.

  “I want to see it with my own eyes.”

  As soon as he touched it, he closed his eyes and let his aura flow into the blade.

  Dav found himself in the same void.

  The darkness, the silence, and finally, those same two colossal eyes.

  Sword: (irritated) So you came!

  You dared strike me with that filthy hammer and now you think you can use me?!

  Dav: (lifeless eyes) Oi.

  [One word, but in his tone there was something terrifying.]

  Dav: Know your place, brat just born.

  Narrator: His voice was void of emotion, his eyes as empty as the darkness around him.

  The aura he exuded wasn’t just black: it was the absence of all light, death itself made energy.

  The sword’s eyes trembled, shrinking, as if afraid they’d be annihilated.

  Sword: (terrified) W-What are you?! I won’t let you wield me!

  [Dav raised his scythe. The blades of the weapon gleamed in infernal red and black, and his presence darkened even the abyss.]

  Dav: (cold): Then disappear.

  [He prepared to strike.]

  Sword: (screaming, childish voice)

  WAIT! PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO DISAPPEAR! I JUST CAME TO LIFE!

  Narrator: Dav stopped the blade a hair’s breadth from the face of the girl now standing before him.

  She was no longer an abstract presence: she was a young girl with black hair and mismatched eyes: one red, one blue, crying.

  “Then stop throwing tantrums. Be useful.”

  She swallowed hard, clenching her fists, then nodded.

  The sword, with a trembling voice:

  “Alright… master.”

  Dav annoyed, staring at her:

  I’m not the one you must serve.

  He stepped back, his lifeless eyes still fixed on her.

  “The girl from before will return.

  She will wield you. And I hope for your sake I won’t have to come back here.”

  The girl lowered her head, meek and submissive.

  Selene felt the sword as light as a feather.

  When she gripped it, it was as if it had always belonged to her.

  END OF CHAPTER - 148