Chapter 2 Sword of Sight

Eliza and Emma had been best friends from birth. Their parents met at the hospital when the girls were born. Eliza, although small, has a very demanding presence. On the other hand, Emma is softer spoken and observes what is going on around her.

A few days before Christmas break, Eliza and Emma decide to huddle by the wall while at recess trying but failing to stay warm. Emma, being the observant one, noticed a brick buried down at the bottom corner of the wall, behind some rocks, that looked like it had some writing engraved on it. They quickly dug away the rocks to see what the brick said.

When two step back and wait, they can use their hearts to change fate.”

A little confused, Emma asked, “What in the world does it mean, and why is it just buried here?”

“I have no clue, but you know who has been here for like ever and might know! Mr. Lee!” exclaimed Eliza.

When another student asked to go to the nurse, the girls decided to sneak in behind her. They go running around the halls looking for Mr. Lee.

While running a little ahead of Emma, Eliza yells, “Let’s go down the East hallway, he hangs out in the art room when he doesn’t have class!”

The girls looked in the art room, the music room, and the library, but came up empty. Just when they were giving up on finding him, Mr. Lee walked out of the Office.

“Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee! We need you to follow us, we need to show you something and see if you know anything about it.” Eliza said impatiently.

Mr. Lee followed the girls outside and down the side of the building. Eliza pointed to the bottom corner brick and asked him if he knew what the phrase meant.

“Girls, I don’t see any words. If you are messing with me again, then you got me, and I am freezing. Now go play and I’m going in to get warm.” Mr. Lee said over the chattering of his teeth.

As Mr. Lee was heading back inside, he got a call over his radio to come to the office, his daughter was here to see him.

Completely confused, Emma asked, “Why couldn’t he see it? Its giant letters written in brick, kind of hard to miss!”

A few minutes later Mr. Lee, followed by his daughter and friends, came running out of the building looking for Eliza and Emma.

“Girls, there you are. Can you please come inside to my room; we need to talk to you about the brick?” Mr. Lee said with some urgency.

They all headed inside and found Mr. Lee’s classroom. Mr. Lee pulled the door closed and had A.B. close all the blinds.

“Ladies, this is my daughter Annabeth and her friends. They have found some similar bricks at their school and know a little about them. They want to talk to you.” explained Mr. Lee.

A.B. started the conversation,“Ok, this is going to be a lot to take in and it’s going to sound crazy…”

Kay added, “First off, you will be the only two people that can see the words on the bricks. Only those who are worthy of being the chosen can see it.”

Eliza quickly interrupted her, “Wait chosen… chosen for what?”

In her most ominous voice A.B. said, “Well… to save the world!”

Kay jumped in, “I thought we weren’t supposed to freak them out, remember!”

A.B. corrected her previous statement, “To be preventers of some mildly bad situations that may or may not end life as we know it… better?”

Quickly Eliza responded, “NO not really, but we are in… what do we need to do?”

Emma seemed like she was going to jump out of her chair with excitement. She looked around at everyone and then finally blurted out, “Do we get like superpowers… can I fly or go invisible or something!”

Remi looked at Emma a little puzzled and said, “No, no powers like that, but you do get a really cool sword that gives you the power of sight. It is being protected by an Ancient Protector that looks like a giant eagle. It will most likely be a statue of your school mascot holding a sword.”

Eliza thought for a minute, “... I don’t remember seeing an eagle statue around the school. I know years ago my dad said they took it down because someone didn’t like our mascot having a sword.”

Mr. Lee began talking, partly to himself but everyone was listening. “Last I knew they put it down in the basement, but last year they sealed off the entrance to the basement. I heard there was a sinkhole in the floor, and they decided it wasn’t safe to enter anymore. I have heard rumors that there might be another way in, but it could just be stories of bored custodians.”

They decided they had to try. Everyone followed Colt into the custodian room. As he looked around, he found a bookcase and noticed a breeze coming from behind it. As they moved the bookcase, they uncovered a hole broken into the wall with a tunnel that led off into darkness. As they slowly felt their way down the tunnel they came to an opening. The room was dimly lit and was clearly not part of the school. The walls were massive and made of natural stone. It was an underground cave, there were many of these around this part of the country. The group noticed a big worn door on the other side of the cave. As they approached the door, they realized just how big this door really was. Alioth turned into his 7-foot-tall Protector form and still struggled to pull it open. Again, another long hallway. This hallway went from natural limestone walls to more modern steel plated walls with lights every so often. Finally, they came to a door that said basement exit. This must have been an emergency exit, for just in case someone got locked in. I guess they forgot about it when sealing off the basement. Colt warned everyone, “Remember, they sealed off the basement because the floor is unstable, be careful where you step.”

With an eerie creek, they opened the door to a dark and stale smelling room. The air rushed out of the room like it was waiting to escape some unknown beast waiting in the darkness. It sent chills down Emma’s neck. Remi used what little magic she could still do to make a glowing orb that was bright enough to show most of the enormous room in front of them. Everyone went in different directions making careful and deliberate moves, as to avoid openings in the floor.

Eliza was the first to shout, “I found Big Bird and he has a sword!”

Emma was the first one to make it over to her and she added, “Well he looks a little tougher than Big Bird… and his eyes… They are like looking into my soul. They look like balls of fire from the depths of a volcano.”

“Ok guys, so do we just take the sword and get out of here?” asked Eliza.

“Does it say anything on the sword or somewhere around the sword?” A.B. questioned.

Emma looked closely, “I see something… can you shine your magic light bulb over here.”

When two with one heart see, they decide the way it should be.

Kay looked at A.B., “I think we should tell them what happens next…”

“I knew it couldn’t be as easy as just taking the sword. What do we have to do… do we have to eat something weird or do some weird tasks?” probed Eliza.

The girls looked at each other then began to tell them that once they pulled the sword, they would have to fight a giant eagle ancient protector.

“So, we need to work together to kick Big Bird’s tail feathers?” Eliza laughed nervously.

“His name is Aetos Dios, not Big Bird. He is known as the messenger of Zeus himself. He has been trained personally by all the Greek gods. Do not mock or underestimate him.” warned Remi.

Eliza and Emma took a deep breath and approached Aetos Dios and reached out towards the sword. As the girls embraced the sword and felt its power, they began to see their battle play out in many ways, but only one showed them how to beat Aetos Dios. The girls immediately went into their battle positions and knew exactly what they needed to do. As Aetos stepped down, they sprang into action. They knew every step to avoid and exactly when to dodge his attacks. Finally, Emma saw her opening, she jumped up from behind Aetos and struck him with the butt of the sword. Aetos stumbled and fell to his knees.

“I see I am finished, and you have out matched me. I surrender and ask for your mercy.” Aetos announced in defeat.

Eliza looked around at everyone and then back at Aetos, “Stand great protector. We need you to stand and fight with us.”

Unfortunately, after such a battle more of the floor had caved in. The group had to take turns crossing a narrow piece of floor to get back to the door. One by one they walked across, everyone made it ok until Eliza started across. The narrow piece of floor began to crumble under her feet, and she had to act fast. Her power of sight kicked in and she could see exactly what move she needed to do next. First, she jumped to a nearby ledge barely big enough to hold her, but it held firm. Now she grabbed on to a cord hanging from the roof and swung across to a small piece of floor close to the door but missed her footing and fell. Aetos managed to fly over and reach out and grab her hand just before she fell. It was clear now that he was on their side. They all made it back to the school and went back to Mr. Lee’s classroom.

The four girls huddled up and clearly were having a heated discussion. They would look up every now and then and then go right back to the huddle. After about 15 minutes they finally join everyone else at the tables up front.

A.B. began, “Dad, we have been talking and because of your knowledge of historical stuff and well it will make it easier for us to travel having an adult with us, we would like to ask you to come with us.”

Emma added, “Plus we would all feel better having someone looking out for us like you always do.”

“You will have to keep your corny jokes to a minimum though!” Eliza quickly threw out there.

Mr. Lee pulled out one of his many maps and laid it across the table. Remi began to mark off the places where the last three swords would be found. She began telling them what swords were left as they looked at the various locations. Now the group had to decide which sword to go after next, the Sword of Speed, the Sword of Fire, or the Sword of Chaos. They all agreed to hold off on the Sword of Chaos; it just sounded intimidating. After some debate they decided to go after the Sword of Speed next. It looked like they were headed to Coeval, three days of traveling ahead of them more depending on this snowstorm moving in. They loaded up Mr. Lee’s truck and hooked up his 5th wheel and headed out across the country.

As the group got close to Coeval the snow began to come down so hard it was like a scene from Star Wars when they jumped into lightspeed. They pulled over in a nearby parking lot to let the storm pass. Once the storm began to let up, they realized they were in the parking lot of Coeval High School. Due to the storm hitting so fast, some students had already made it to the school before they canceled. Everyone was trying to figure out how they would get home on these icy roads.