Heiji

“There’s nothing wrong with being ordinary”

“It won’t get any worse”

“You are truly the unluckiest of us all”

If “being unlucky” is a spectrum, then there must be someone who’s the most unlucky of them all.

Someone, who, through his entire life never had anything good happen to them.

Family? Died in an accident.

Friends? None.

Education? Kicked out the first day.

And all those examples fit me, Yanase Kata.

I’m fifteen years old.

And my life was a true hell.

But let’s start from the beginning.

I came to life in a small town called Eltergard in Luguna, the biggest kingdom in our world. My mom told me that everyone was happy that I was born.

“Did you know you were called a White Prince by Roka?”

My mom once told me that Roka, who’s the mayor of our town, called me a prince. I fell in love with that nickname, and I tried my best to make it stick.

All my tries were futile though.

“Have you heard? The White Prince tripped while carrying a barrel!”

“What could I expect from a failure like him? Bad parents, bad children.”

They just wouldn’t stop. But what could I do? I did my best to prove them wrong, but it always backfired. Still, my life was pretty okay.

My sixth birthday came, and it all fell apart.

“Stop! Who’s there?”

I heard a guard screaming at the top of his lungs and running towards our house.

A guard? What’s happening?

I quickly jumped out of my bed and saw him.

No one knew his name.

No one remembered him, except for me.

For a second, I thought I was dreaming.

A man covered in shadows was holding a pitch black sword, directly at the neck of my mother, Kao.

Mom?

“Give me your son! I will let you live! I will pay! I will protect you!”

He screamed with his deep, loud, raspy voice.

“No way! He’s mine!”

Kao jumped far from the tip of the blade.

I never saw her move like that.

She took a knife from the counter and threw it at the mysterious figure.

“Really, is that all you’ve got, fifth descendant?”

He laughed, while looking at my mother.

Fifth descendant?

Who even is that?

“I see. You leave me no other choice,” he said looking directly at my eyes, “we will see each other in the future. Be ready.”

“I love you.”

Those were the last words I’ve heard from my mother, who was stabbed to death by the cloaked gentleman.

“Mom?”

I ran to her corpse, while the mysterious figure disappeared into thin air. After that... nothing was ever the same.

Now, without my mom, I had to survive.

Obviously, the whole town rushed to our house.

They tried to help me.

It felt like they wished for my death.

The food I got was disgusting, it felt like a poison.

What could I do?

After all, I was just a small kid.

Days went by, and I turned eleven.

It was finally time to take part in an “Arcane Trial”.

Everyone in Luguna is born with mana.

Its amount depends on your blood.

Nobles often are luckier, and get more of it.

“Kata, we have high expectations of you,” the priest said.

Really? I don’t think there’s anything special about me.

I took a breather, did two jumps to wake myself up a bit.

“Bring it on!”

The priest took a blue orb shining with magic. I felt it deep in my heart. I never felt magic before, but looking at that object, it was obvious. That’s the feel of magic.

“Now please place your hand on the top of the Arcane Detector”

I did what I was told, and waited.

A minute passed.

“Is it always that long?”

I asked, being impatient.

“Wait, my dear child.”

Two minutes passed.

I was already bored of waiting.

“Don’t tell me,” the priest screamed, “you have no magic at all!”

“..What?”

Isn’t that, like really bad?

And like that, once again, my life turned into a nightmare. I was ostracized. The villagers was wary of talking to me. The rumors were getting bigger and bigger.

“Have you heard? We have a magicless kid in Eltergard?”

“Isn’t it the first case ever? Maybe he’s special!”

“S-special? Special needs, probably.”

That’s when I realized.

I wasn’t necessarily unluck,

I was the first one.

I tried doing the easiest magic tricks that even newborns sometimes do, but to no results.

“I am really useless,” I screamed to a wall, extremely depressed.

I lost my will to live.

“Why would anyone care about a guy without magic?”

That’s how I spent my last four years.

Malnourished, illiterate, and forgotten.

As I was laying on the ground, I heard screams.

“They’re coming!”

“Who’s coming?”

“The one who killed Ms. Yanase!”

My mom? Is it him?

“Who killed Ms. Yanase? Wasn’t it her kid?”

“I don’t know! But I feel it deep in me, it’s coming!”

Before I could blink my vision turned red.

It’s hot!

I was heating up and flames rose everywhere.

I jumped and ran out of my house.

“It’s his fault! The dead prince!”

Dead prince? This is the first time I’ve heard that.

“Get him!”

Everyone started chasing me.

They thought it would stop the fire.

I never fought anyone in my life, but with the adrenaline pumping up I punched Roka, who attempted to stop me.

He fell to the ground, and blood spilled from his head.

“Why? Why are you like that?”

“I’m like what?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I did nothing wrong!

“You killed your mother, and now you want to kill us.”

“What? Are you out of your mind?”

I kicked him once again and ran.

After a couple minutes my legs felt extremely tired. It wasn’t prepared for the escape.

I tried to push myself harder, but I fell.

When I opened my eyes, I saw darkness.

Where am I? Why is it dark? I can’t see anything.

I don’t know how long it was since the fire started, but before me there was a sword shining in all colors of the rainbow.

“Are you inviting me?”

I said out loud, not expecting a response.

“Yes, you’re the only one who can wield me.”

Maybe I should trust it. I don’t think I have any other choice.

I came up close to its pommel, and grabbed it.

“Yes! Yes! Do it! You’re the only one who isn’t repelled! Please! Pleasee–”

I took a deep breath, and used all of my strength left to grab it and pull it out.

It fell directly on my lap.

Two moments later, it turned into liquid and went directly to my body! It felt wrong, but I couldn’t resist it.

It came all the way into my insides.

My tired organism was giving up, and I took a nap.

Eventually, when I woke up, I heard this voice again. It was chilly, but inviting. Now though, I couldn’t determine where it was. Was it behind me, in front of me or…

“I’m here!”

“Where?”

I looked right and left, but to no avail.

“Position your hand like you're grabbing a sword,” it said invitingly.

Without thinking I did what it said, and the blade appeared in my hand.

The blade was beautiful.

It shed light to the cavern, waking up all bats and other lifeforms.

“Well, we are destined to be together, whether you like it or not.”

“Destined together? Are you crazy?”

“Don’t even try to badmouth me, I can hear your thoughts!”

..huh?

I didn’t know what to do with myself.

Not only something came to my body, but it reads my thoughts too?

“What in the world are you?”

“I’m Heiji, nice to meet you.”

Heiji jumped out of my hand, or rather, lunged itself like a spear.

“You are the first one who has been able to wield me. I’m glad.”

“Really? Why though?”

I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“No shot, you’ve really heard nothing about Sword of Annihilation?”

I shook my head in disagreement.

“No, never.”

The sword laughed, in whatever way the sword can laugh.

“So you see, I was made as a sentient weapon against humans. They made it, so–”

“Who’s they?”

I asked, trying to find the culprit.

“I don’t know! Also, don’t interrupt me. As I was saying–”

“I’m sorry.”

“Again? Well, whatever” said Heiji in a disappointed way, “they made it so when someone with magic touches me, they evaporate in an instant. But they forgot one crucial detail.”

“Which is?”

“Every human is based on magic. It is the essence of all. As such, no one could wield me.”

..What?

“But here comes you. You can wield me. I hate my creators, even though I fear I know about them as much as you do, nothing.” he said, jokingly, “want to get stronger?”

“Yes!”

I stood up, and tried to make a strong pose. In hindsight, I looked especially dumb, like a clown.

Heiji lunged back into my hand and pointed towards an exit.

“Come with me, let’s get revenge on those bastards.”

And with that, I somehow ended up with a so-called Sword of Annihilation. But there’s a problem. I’ve never heard of it, I don’t know anyone relevant and I can’t fight!

“Look, there’s a green haired maiden there! Let’s go, maybe she can lend us some intel.”

Heiji screamed in my head, and without a choice, I had to follow him.