Burst: -Swords to the Skies- Read online

  Burst

  -Swords to the Skies-

  By Adam Wan

  Prologue

  The kingdom was in the state of fear. His attack was a part of something bigger, something that was out of this world.

  "Sora!!!"

  Those words were shouted from the dry mouth. It was partly interrupted by my panting as I ran to catch her. He was taking her away, far away.

  What would you do if someone you care about was in danger? Would you do anything to save that person, or just let them go? That choice would hard for some, and maybe easy for others. That choice... was the choice that I faced many times before, and may still do.

  My battle... I thought that it was about to be over, but it turns out that... it was just the beginning of a battle that would last for decades.

  Everything was going well before it all started. So well, that I thought that I would have a great time. I achieved my dreams... I was happy... Until he showed up.

  How did this start? Did it start back when I achieved my dreams? Well, let us return back in time. Back when I was a child, back when I was still a little kid in this kingdom.

  Chapter 1: Dreams

  A vast open land filled with different terrains. The terrains include forests, mountains, snowy lands, ocean and so on. The people who live in this land were under the rule of the king, this is the Kingdom of Cielo.

  The land of luscious green forests, rocky and snowy mountains, they were all under protection of the Knights of Cielo. The knights own a pair of hologram like objects on their backs; Wings.

  These wings allow them to do many sorts of things. For example, they could use them to boost their speed on the ground and most importantly; Fly. Flight was something a kid would dream of doing.

  Flight would feel weird to us since we do not have wings. We must be able to control something we do not have, which would be pretty hard. You must also be able to keep yourself balanced, in control and much more.

  But, kids still dream of flying. It might be because of how cool it would be to see the world differently. It might also be because they want to run away from the ground, be free, no one would catch them.

  There could be a lot of different reasons for the reason that they wish to fly. Become like fairies like in fairy tales, become a dragon like in folklore; many reasons. I too was like them.

  When I was a kid, I wished to be able to fly. It was not because I want to see the world in a different perspective nor was it for the thrill. My reason for my wish was to be the person associated with the wings; knights.

  I wanted to protect the kingdom, I wanted to wield a sword and defeat evil villains. I wanted to be a brave knight, not because of the wings. It was because of the meaning of being a knight.

  One sunny afternoon, I was running back home from the market. I was told to buy some groceries by my mother, and so I did. In my hand was a basket filled with the items my mother ordered.

  Running in the field back home, I heard a sound in the sky. I stopped in my tracks and turned around and looked up at the sky.

  The beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds floating in it had a sight that amazed me. I saw knight flying up high, leaving colorful trails in the sky like magic dust.

  Then, each of them boosted and disappeared from my view. As they boosted, a loud boom was heard along with a blast of wind. The wind made the grass that was far down below sway.

  I was amazed. My eyes widened and my mouth was open; I was hooked. The fresh smell of grass entered my lungs as I froze there.

  I snapped myself back to reality and ran back home immediately. The only thought that was circling around in my simple child brain was "I want to be a knight! I want to be a Knight!", it repeated and repeated nonstop.

  The door was opened, I ran through and went to my mother. She was washing the dishes in the kitchen at that moment.

  "Oh, your back!" said my mother with a smile.

  "I want to be a knight!" I said.

  "...."

  That was were it all started. My mother entered me into a Knight's Academy. I was trained to become one there.

  I finally got my wings, it was light blue in color. I learnt that it was pretty hard to summon, but I got used to it.

  To summon it, you would have to think of the wings and feel it. When you feel that it was there, you could look behind to check. Usually, it would be there. Learning to control it was even harder. It took me a whole month to learn how to balance it.

  I was also taught swordsmanship. Other than the normal attacks, there were skill that should be learnt. Some were for swords, some were for your wings, some might be for both!

  I learnt skills like "Rapid Fire", "Sonic Boom", "Speedster" and many more. You could even make your own skills. Your imagination was the limit.

  There were also skills that required magic in order to be used such as the "Heat Blast" attack. Magic was a transformation of your body energy into magic power.

  But in order to be a knight, I would have to win the Knight's Tournament. A game that was the fight of the fittest. The best of all would become the Princess of Cielo's personal knight, a dream for many people.

  I am Cel Alt. It was the year 2357 in Cielo, I was 16 years old. My time for the tournament has arrived. "Knighthood here I come!!!"

  A/N

  Hello, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. The rest of the book, excluding arc 5, were written when I was still in the early phases.

  You will see a lot of inconsistency throughout this whole book due to it being my improvement platform. I improved my writing over time in this book. It starts to get better by Arc 4. Arc 3 was my least favorite arc.

  Arc 1 was the original story. It was the one I wrote when I just started writing. Please hang in there. You should be able to find consistency from arc 4 onward. Just hang in there for these few beginning arcs. Thank you.

  Chapter 2: Begin

  "Goodbye"

  I said as I hugged my mother tightly. As I was doing that, I filled my heart with feelings to drive me on my journey.

  "Good luck" said mother full heartedly.

  I walked to the door and opened it. Making a silent creak as it opened. I got out of the home and looked in for a final time. I saw my mother waving with a warm smile on her face. I smiled back before shutting the door and walking away.

  A sudden memory entered my mind as I walked on the path near the forest, it was a horrible memory from my childhood, the memory seeing my own father die in front of me.

  "Dad!!!" shouted a young child with a shaky voice. That child, was me.

  I shook my head to try and put it at the back of my mind. I could not help but think that the reason I wanted to be a knight was partly because of father's death. Subconsciously, it became the main fuel for me to fight for all these years.

  ...

  When I reached the school, I looked up and checked the clocktower on the other side of the main building. It was 10 a.m. in the morning, the tournament starts at noon.

  I admired the wooden planks of the roof that were neatly placed and the white concrete walls. There were flowers placed along the walls, making a colorful scene.

  Suddenly, I heard galloping and naying from behind. I turned my body around and looked for the source of the sounds.

  On the light brown colored dirt road, emerged a few black carriages that had a variety of horses pulling them. Some dust flew from the back, making a cloud as they went.

  The carriages seemed to be the ones that would take us to the castle's arena for the tournament.

  I stepped back slightly, giving way to the carriage to, probably, stop here and take us to the castle. A sudden call ensures me that it was the carriages that would take us there.

>   "Students! Your ride has arrived!"

  Sir Heilberg shouted to the students waiting inside the school building. His shout startled me, making my heart pound pretty quickly out of a sudden.

  The students walked forward and stood near the teacher. I slowly approached them just for them to know that I had arrived.

  The ground shook as the first carriage came and stopped in front of us. The coachman jumped of and opened the door for us.

  "You, you, and you, then... you... Oh, Cel! You too!"

  He said as he picked the students to ride the first carriage, and I was chosen out of luck. And as always, his sudden words would startle me.

  We lined up and entered the carriage. I sat on the back-right side of the carriage, allowing me to witness the castle through the window on the right door.

  We waited for a while to let the rest of the students climb aboard. After at least 10 minutes, the carriages started to move forward.

  The carriage was rattling and felt wobbly. Some became dizzy in the carriage I was in. I could feel the stones and other stuff being rolled over by the wheels through the vibrations.

  I admired the beauty of the world that passed by. Luscious green trees that had birds with colorful feathers flying around, the blue sky that was full with wonderful white clouds, and the colorful and bustling castle town that was filled with civilians doing their own things.

  ...

  After a while, we saw the sight of the grand castle on the dirt road that led to it. Tree leaves and branches covered the area above our heads, making a cool ambience. Sunlight entered through the tiny gaps in the leaves.

  The gate opened, allowing us to enter the castle grounds, for the first time. Screeching was heard as the gate opened inwards.

  I was amazed by not only its sheer size, but its beauty and elegance. The walls were pearly white, free from any stain whatsoever. The red roofs reflected the bright sunlight that shone down upon this world. The door had golden outlines that made it look grand.

  ...

  We got off just outside of the arena. When I got off, I looked at the path we took from the castle. The path was decorated with colorful flowers on each side, showing how wonderful of a place it was to live in.

  I turned my whole body around and looked upwards at the massive arena walls. The pillars were of a classic design and the walls were made of a slightly yellow colored stone.

  I looked down and saw people heading into the main entrance. I followed them inside the building to see what they wanted us to do.

  ...

  The teacher walked in front of us and clapped his hands to get our attention. He cleared his throat before he started to talk.

  "You shall be dueling with wooden swords. And if it breaks during a duel, you lose, ok? Now, the 8 of you would be placed into 4 groups. In each group, you'll 1v1 your opponent. The winner continue to the next round. And remember, this is first strike"

  The rest would be straightforward. First strike means that the one who lands the first hit would win, which was common sense.

  I would be dueling Alias in the first round. He specializes in two handed sword skills. Its good for landing hits that had more force. The disadvantage of this was that you do not have the freedom nor speed that one-handed skills have.

  ...

  Alias and my name was called, I stepped into the large arena. The diameter should be around 25 meters, which was really big compare to the 10x10 carpet used in practice. The distance between me and Alias was around 15 or more meters.

  The audience was watching from the stands surrounding the grand arena. Everyone looked like ants because of how far away they were from me.

  "10... 9... 8..."

  The countdown had already begun. I placed my sword at waist level and slightly bended my knees. Alias had his sword in both of his hands, his legs were spread apart slightly.

  "3... 2... 1..."

  It was time to execute my plan for defeating him the easy way. My heart pumped my blood throughout my body at that moment. I could even hear the beating of my own heart.

  "Go!"

  I dashed forward with the wing skill, "Sonic Boom". I made a cloud of dust as I stepped on the ground with my feet.

  My plan was simple. If a weapon was hit at a certain point at a certain speed, it would do something dangerous.

  I raised my sword at my bottom-right and quickly raised it for a horizontal cut. He did "Throw Down", perfect for my plan as it was a skill of immense force.

  Clunk. I twirled 360 degrees right after hitting his sword. I landed behind him as I waited for the sound that confirmed that my plan worked.

  Cung, Cunggerrr. "What?! It broke?!" said Alias in shock. I stood up and said,

  "Its a weapon break"

  The crowd roared loudly, clapping was heard alongside it as the announcer shouted,

  "Cel Alt won!"

  ...

  Next was my duel against Surial, he was good at mid air combat, which was not something that I specialize in. I specialize in fast ground combat with a one handed longsword.

  "3... 2..."

  I did not have a real plan against him but I knew what he had a hard time dealing with, fast combos.

  "Go!"

  As expected from him, he immediately flew up, leaving a large dust cloud behind. I bursted up as well, moving forward towards him while raising my sword over my shoulder.

  I was about 5 meters away from him, I could feel the wind blowing against my hair as I flew. He swiftly strafed to his right and had his sword at his top left corner. His sword gave out a pink glow, which meant that he was ready to attack.

  I quickly twirled my body 360 degrees in a clockwise direction, hitting sword as I twirled, preventing his attack.

  After the twirl, I placed my sword at waist level and quickly did the skill called"Rapid Fire". Slicing my sword to the top left and then cutting horizontally almost immediately. From only those two swings out of the total of 20 swings the skill had, he already lost.

  ...

  It was my final fight. I walked forward from the door, step by step, there was a cracking sound from beneath my feet as I walked. The crowd cheered loudly as me and my opponent entered the arena.

  My opponent was Cyan, one of the top students in my school. He was a great one handed sword user. He utilizes his strafing skill to overpower his opponents, meaning that I should pay attention to his movements.

  "3... 2..."

  Once again, I heard that countdown. I watched his body carefully and was ready for any tricks.

  "Go!"

  He stepped right but instantly changed his step to the left. He was trying to trick me into thinking that he was going to strafe to his right. He failed to do so.

  I strafed towards him with my sword placed near the left of my hip. He had his over his left shoulder. We were moving at a quick speed with the help from our wings.

  Clonk. Our swords met with great force. I used that force to bounce myself away from him, landing 5 meters away from him.

  I ran forward and flew upwards in a loop-die-loop. I felt my speed increasing as I flew, feeling this wind crashing against me. Nearing the end of the loop, I did "Sonic Boom", boosting my speed as my feet touched the ground.

  Cyan had his sword in a blocking form but it would be of no use. The speed would increase the force, which meant that it was the end for him.

  I hitting his sword with mine, making a burst of dust from the ground. The force caused him to be knocked back around 15 meters.

  His sword was cut in half. He lifted his head and looked at me with an expression that was full of rage. His breathing became deep, he looked like he wanted to kill me at that moment.

  "Cel won!!!"

  The audience stood up and cheered, clapped and whistled. I noticed that the king stood up and walked away from the stand with a light smile on his face.

  "Cel Alt. Please enter the castle to see Princess Sora Ryea"

  "The princess?! Its a dream come true?!" I thought hap
pily.

  Chapter 3: Royal

  I was going to meet the princess. "Please follow me" said the guard, he escorted me into the castle.

  The castle was huge, the halls were lighted up brilliantly. The royal carpet was soft, the sculpture on the walls, the chandeliers... It was magnificent. I entered a giant hall, it was filled with paintings of the kings, queens and many more. "Please wait here" said the guard, "K" I replied.

  The paintings had golden frames, the frames were shimmering from the light from the chandelier. I saw a painting of how the kingdom was founded, it was a masterpiece.