The Sword of Souls

“Hey, dipshit. I asked you a question. Be glad I am doing that much, and not just stabbing you instantly like the idiot skaven.”

John just sat there, looking up at the petite redhead who was insulting him as she emerged from the blade. John could guess by her torso (she had emerged up to her pelvis) that she was pretty short, probably only coming up to John’s shoulder in height. She had pixie cut red hair, coal black lipstick currently displaying an annoyed frown, blue eyes that seemed to almost glow with energy, tanned skin, a fantastic set of tits and what looked like an amazing ass and thighs. Essentially, she was a short big tittied goth/punk who was also a sword.

“Hey, Skrik, did you bring a deaf moron here or something?”

“No no, he hears good. I think he is just surprised, yes surprised, to see breeder-thing who is sword.”

“Evidently.” The sword lady turned around, looking at Talia. “Hey cutie, drop the blade. I’ve fought warlords twice your size and assassins at twice your skill. You’re not even gonna scratch me.”

Talia had taken a battle ready posture, her own sword prepared to strike and her hand hovering over one of the fire runes. She looked over to John, who just stared in awe of the sword lady. Finally, he was broken out of his stupor by Talia’s voice.

“John, you okay?”

John shook his head and slowly stood. “Yeah, I-I’m okay. Just startled.” He then looked back to the sword, and without a second thought, used Observe on her.

Observe Rank up! Observe Rank 3
Now reveals stats about the target

Mavis; The Sword of Souls
Lvl ???, Ancient Legendary Blade
??? Years Old
HP: ∞
MP: ∞
Strength: ???
Agility: ???
Endurance: ∞
Intelect: 53
Wisdom: 78
Charisma: 87
Libido: 72

John’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Infinite HP and MP? Unknown strength and Agility? She was fucking god-tier, probably even above that! What the hell was she?

“Hey, dipshit. You done using your observation magic?” Mavis said dryly, breaking him out of his thought process.

“Y-you could tell I was-”

“Using observation magic, yeah, duh. I’m just that awesome and powerful and also annoyed by a little shitbag who thought it would be cool to come up and grab my handle. Now, I will ask again, what the fuck do you think you are doing, and additionally, who the actual fuck are you?”

John straightened himself a bit and adjusted his glasses. “My name is John Newman. Over there is my girlfriend Talia Nevergreen.” Talia nodded, not taking her eyes off Mavis. “I am Gaia’s chosen mage and-”

“Yeah, gonna stop you right there. See, I don’t give a shit about your fancy titles, or if Gaia chose you or anything. What the fuck are you doing here, and why the fuck were you trying to get all handsy with me?”

John cleared his throat and continued, “And… I’m on a mission to revive Nordic runic magic. Skriskrueel offered to help us through the caverns if we killed his boss, and he also promised us a sword. Uh… that sword being you, Mavis.”

Mavis raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Skriskrueel who seemd to be very interested in anything that was not Mavis. “Skirk, what the fuck?! You can’t just do shit like that!”

Skirk finally looked back to Mavis, seeming quite afraid of the woman. “But, you saids you needed a new wielder to escape caverns. I thought they would be goods wielders, since skaven no work!”

“That’s not how that works, and I don’t need you to fucking help with that shit! It will happen in due time!” She then turned back to John. “As for you, Norse rune magic is dead. Odin outlawed it like… a millennium ago or something.”

John felt a familiar smile creep across his face before he slowly raised his hand and quickly traced Kenaz in front of him. Mavis’ eyes went wide. “... Did Odin allow it to happen again?”

“No, well, not that I know of. My powers allow me to bypass some of the steps for learning runic magic, thus letting me be able to use them. I’m right now teaching Talia how to cast them, and hope to teach more people over time as well as learn more runes to teach.”

Mavis cocked her head to the side, her blades retracting back into her arms as she crossed them over her chest. “And you say that Gaia gave you these powers?”

“That is correct.”

“You sure it was Gaia? It’s not just some ‘oh, my religion says that it was Gaia’ or ‘it’s passed through the family so it does come from Gaia but not directly to me’ sort of bullshit?”

John shook his head. “She has sent me direct messages and communicated with me directly through these messages. And before you ask, these aren’t just general mass email sorts of messages. They are directed towards me and directly about things I am doing.”

Mavis turned away from John and tapped her fingers on her exposed thigh. “This one? Really, Gaia?” he could hear her mutter to herself before turning back to him. “Alright dipshit, listen up cause I am only gonna say this once. You, and you alone, are going to walk forward. You’re gonna touch my handle. Then, and only then, I will decide if you all deserve to join the skaven on the floor or not.”

Talia interjected before John could get a word in, “Why the hell would we do that? If you decide to kill us, John would put himself right in kill-range.”

Mavis gave her a cruel smile. “Ask your boyfriend, cause I am sure he saw how strong I am with his observation magic. He knows that if I wanted you lot dead, it wouldn’t matter if you were next to me or hundreds of feet away.”

Talia looked to John, who nodded in agreement. “She’s got infinity for some of her stats and unknowns for others.”

Mavis smiled at John the same cruel smile. “That’s what happens when you are god-tier. Now, hurry up and grab the handle.”

John took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, before slowly approaching Mavis. She just kept the same cheshire grin plastered on her face as he walked closer and closer, and John could see her fingers turn into blades before turning back into fingers. He shifted his focus to her handle, noting the intricate carvings and runes that were engraved into it.

“Go ahead, I won’t bite,” Mavis said teasingly.

John took one last breath, unsure if it would be his last ever, and reached out with his right hand to grab the handle.

The moment his fingers made contact, the world around John began to spin and blur. Only he and Mavis seemed to stay solid as the world churned around them, causing him to close his eyes out of nausea. After a moment or two, he hesitantly opened his eyes, expecting to see the world still spinning like a deranged carnival ride, but was surprised to find himself in a room that he had never seen before, yet somehow he felt a sense of familiarity to. It was about the size of John’s living room, with a single black couch on one end and a TV opposite of that. Mavis had disappeared, but at the moment John was more confused by the room he had been teleported into. He turned to look behind himself, and was greeted with an impossibly tall bookshelf, extending so far into the sky that John was certain it must have no end. Despite its size, however, it was quite empty with only less than twenty shelves being filled with books and movies.

John took a few steps back, only to bump into someone. He turned to see Mavis, standing with her back to him, currently reading through one of the books that must have been on the shelf. John could see over her shoulder that the book had a familiar picture on the rightmost page, that being one of him, his mother, and his father standing in front of his house when John was very very young.

“You were a cute baby,” Mavis said, slowly flipping the page. “Oooh, but dad didn’t wanna stick around. Tough luck, Johnny boy.”

“What the hell… gimmie that!” John dashed for the book, only for Mavis to disappear the second John would have grabbed it. She reappeared on the couch, no book in hand, propping her feet up on a table that suddenly came into existence. “Awww, did mommy never teach you about please and thank you?”

“Yeah, but she also taught me not to threaten people with ****, which I am pretty sure you have done several times.”

Mavis shrugged. “Fair enough. But then again, I never had a mom or dad to teach me about the intricacies of when to and not to threaten with ****. But usually, no one cares if the sword has good party graces or not.” She then turned one of her fingers into a blade and began to pick at her teeth.

John grumbled, but chose to ignore her in favor of looking at where they were. “Where even are we? Where did you take me?”

“Don’t you recognize it?” Mavis said with a sly grin.

“No… well… I kinda do, in a weird way.”

“Good. It would be weird if you didn’t recognize your own soul.”

John’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Th-thhis is my soul?” He looked around at the room which seemed to suddenly come more into focus. Later, John would not be able to explain how it changed, but would best describe it as when he first looked at it, his brain registered, “This is a room,” and left it at that. Now, his brain began to absorb every detail, as if those details instantly came into being. He looked at the room, seeing the black painted, windowless walls, the red carpet that was the color of fresh apples, the soft lighting coming from the sconces dotting the room. The bookcase behind him seemed to shift as well, now incorporating various art pieces on its dark oak shelves. John turned back to Mavis who too was looking around at the room.

“Very nice design by the way. It reminds me of the soul room of one of my previous wielders, though with less modern tech.” She turned to John and patted the seat next to her. “Come, let’s talk.”

John didn’t move for a moment or two, his brain struggling to comprehend what the hell was going on. He looked back and forth from Mavis to the room itself, noticing the large stack of books that was near Mavis’ end of the couch that he wasn’t sure was there before. He could see his name on the titles, as well as the names of some gods. He slowly made his way to her, his feet seeming to move on their own, and took a seat next to her. She smiled at him and picked up one of the books, opening it to a bookmarked page.

“Look at this, John.”

John looked down only to see a confusing sight. The book itself had only two pages in it. The picture on the pages looked to be the threads in a weave, with a central thread crossing over several and some of them joining onto the thread, wrapping around it like taffy. The main thread was a bright orange, reminding John instantly of the color of his runes. It continued for a short time, intersecting with several other lines before suddenly coming into contact with a huge piece of golden thread. The golden thread shimmered with absolute radiance and beauty, and was much thicker than any of the other threads touching it. The orange thread went straight through the golden thread, and where it emerged on the other side, John could see flakes of gold sticking to the thread. The thread then continued, a light green thread twisting around it before also being joined by a blackened thread. This was where the image stopped, but John could tell the threads clearly continued.

“Wanna guess what this book is, John?” Mavis asked, the harshness gone from her voice and replaced with a soft kindness.

“It… Is it a book about the threads of fate?” John asked, somehow knowing the answer.

“Correct. Every soul room has one of these books, showing the thread that is our life that the Norns have woven for us. We can never see the end of the thread, but we can always look at how the thread has been woven thus far.” She pointed to the large golden thread. “Wanna guess who that is?”

John thought about it for a moment, before realization slowly dawned on him. “Gaia…”

Mavis nodded. “Hers is the thread that can never be touched. When the world first began, her thread had already woven tapestries on its own. The Norns and the Fates now weave the threads of life and ****, but can only wonder and marvel at Gaia’s thread.”

“You speak like you’ve seen it in person.”

“I have,” she said softly. “Many eons ago, when I was first being forged, I remember waking up at the roots of Yggdrasil. The Norns themselves stood near me, the intricate tapestry of life before me. I cannot remember the images I saw, but I remember seeing Gaia’s thread as the foundation for the rest of the fabric. I remember the Norns looked at me, one of them coming over to help me to my feet. She told me, “A blade of legend with no wielder, a woman of life with no family, a combination we did not foresee.” She picked up a thread, and showed it to me. “This thread is yours. It is a strong thread, one that will touch many another threads. However, we know of another thread that has yet to be spun. This thread will be the one that yours shall tie into.” She gestured to the tapestry. “Look for the thread that touches the foundation of our piece. That is the thread that yours must connect to.”

John looked back down to the picture, seeing his own thread of life go through Gaia’s thread. “My thread…”

Mavis nodded. “I couldn’t be sure at first, so I had to come in here and see your book for myself.” She grabbed John’s hand and **** him to look her in the eyes. “John, will you wield me? Will you become the master I was destined to have? Will you carry the Sword of Souls into battle?”

John was about to say yes, when her hand went up to silence him. “Before you agree, you must understand. I am a sword made to be used by a single wielder. If you say yes, only you will be able to wield me after this till your ****. We will be soulbound, and thus I will always be at your side. But, this does mean that my burdens shall become yours and vice versa. Saying yes will set in stone for you a life full of hardship and battle. My previous wielders have had bitter endings, and I cannot say for certain if yours will be any different.” She removed her hand from his mouth. “You can always say no, and I will let you and Talia leave in peace. What do you say?”

John thought about it for a moment or two, before looking directly into Mavis’ eyes.

“Yes.”

She grinned from ear to ear, “It is settled.” Mavis then grabbed John and pulled him to her, kissing him with intensity and passion, causing John to nearly melt in his seat. He closed his eyes, and the world began to spin around them again.

It spun faster and faster, and John could feel Mavis slowly pulling away from him. He felt something slide into his hand, something that felt like the handle of a sword.

Then the world stopped spinning. John opened his eyes to see an astonished Talia, an excited skaven, and a powerful sword now resting in his hand. In his head, he could hear Mavis speak, but her voice was also joined by three others that John had never heard, but he could tell they spoke with wisdom beyond the gods themselves.