Year 2: The Heroes Descend - Chapter 4

The Divine Vault - a secret, closed-off room that lay beneath the King’s Palace.

It was a room that only heroes from other worlds could access and thus no living being in Aangapea knew what it looked like. All they knew for certain was that it contained countless artifacts and weapons for heroes chosen by the Gods to wield.

Despite being a vault filled with priceless treasures, it did not have doors.

Instead, it was isolated from the rest of the world by a golden barrier, preventing any unauthorised access to the valuables inside.

The greatest mages and warriors of every age had tried to find ways through the barrier’s defences, and all of them had failed.

Gathered outside the Divine Vault were the four monarchs, their closest aides and retainers, and a number of high-ranking nobles and knights. They had all gathered to witness the once-in-a-lifetime event that saw each hero choose their Divine Artefact.

Each hero was to enter the vault one at a time and then emerge, before announcing to the crowd what they had chosen.

Nineteen heroes had already revealed their weapons and the twentieth was already inside choosing theirs.

“You nervous, Main Character?”

“Who are you calling a main character, Hajime?”

“Both of you, be quiet,” Kayleigh whispered. “Don’t make a scene.”

“What? You’re not nervous at all then?”

“Not really. You remember what Dante said yesterday, right?”

“The Artefact calls to us,” Duncan repeated. “But aren’t you curious what you’ll end up with?”

“…It doesn’t matter. Whatever we end up with, we have to use, so there’s no point in worrying.”

“I guess, but-”

“Oh! Here he comes!”

Guy Simeon emerged from the golden barrier to the sound of hushed excitement from the crowd. He carried two thin swords, one in each hand, and walked onto the podium.

“I, Guy Simeon, have chosen the Twin Swords Gan Jiang and Mo Ye!”

The palpable excitement in the crowd exploded into cheers and applause.

“…Ever heard of them?”

“No.”

Duncan and Hajime, however, didn’t understand what the excitement was about, nor did most of the summoned heroes.

So far, many had entered into the vault and chosen their Divine Artefacts, some of which they recognised as weapons or relics from Earth’s myths and legends.

Kavi, for instance, had chosen the Rod of Asclepius, a symbol which the World Health Organisation used in their old world. Ewan had chosen Gungnir, the spear of the Norse God Odin and while they didn’t recognise all the others, like the Robe of the Fire-rat that Reis had chosen, they assumed that all of the Divine Artefacts had to have been from their old world.

“Would you like to know more about those blades, Brother Duncan, Brother Hajime?”

“You’ve heard of them, Feng Li?”

“This one has indeed, Brother Duncan.”

“…Um, you know you don’t have to address us that way, Feng Li.” Duncan smiled. “Feel free to just call me by my name.”

“…Then, with your blessing, this one shall refrain from addressing you in a formal manner.” Feng Li smiled and cleared his throat. “Gan Jiang and Mo Ye are swords of legend from the Spring and Autumn Period of my country. It is said that when they were forged, the metal would not properly melt; the smithy claimed his furnace lacked enough Qi to complete the process. In order to restore it, he had three-hundred children blow air into the furnace to rekindle its strength and only then did the metal melt.

“The great Liu Bei told me his grand-sire said that Gan Jiang and Mo Ye had so much Qi infused into them that they manifested souls; new life was born in that furnace. If the legends are to be believed, then those twin swords are alive.”

“What the hell?! That sounds awesome!”

“Hajime, quiet down,” Kayleigh warned.

“S-sorry, but that’s such a cool story. Ah, I really hope my weapon has some cool story to it, too!”

“It may very well, Brother Hajime.”

“Just Hajime’s fine, Feng-chan.”

“Feng-chan?”

“Hehe; you’re not the only one who can give out nicknames, Feng-chan.”

“Next to enter the Divine Vault: Lord Duncan Wilson!”

“Oh, I’m up.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks, Kayleigh.”

“Bring out something impressive, main character!”

“…I’ll try.”

With a wry smile, Duncan departed the raise platform where the summoned heroes were permitted to stand and descended to the golden barrier. Before he stepped in, he waited for the guard at the door to explain the process to him, though he’d already seen twenty of his fellows do the same.

“Do not be overwhelmed by what you see inside. You will find yourself drawn to your Divine Artefact and must only take what that feeling permits you to touch. You cannot leave until you choose that weapon and, once your selection has been made, you are to make your way over to the podium, state your name nice and clearly for all to hear, and then tell us what Divine Weapon you have chosen. Do you understand, Lord Wilson?”

“I do.”

“Then, I wish you the best, brave hero.” The guard bowed to him, then stepped to one side. “May the Gods smile upon you.”

“Thank you.”

Duncan took one final, deep breath before stepping into the barrier.

Immediately, he felt a strange, slimy sensation as he passed through the golden wall, before he found himself in a large, circular room with a roof that stretched hundreds of metres high.

There were multiple floors, side passages, chambers, tables and stands scattered throughout the vault, each overflowing with unknown treasures and artefacts. Even though no one but the summoned heroes had been inside for hundreds of years, there wasn’t a single speck of dust, rust or sign of decay anywhere.

Every artefact, weapon and piece of armour shone beautifully in the light of the many candles and magical orbs decorating the vault.

“Okay, so…now I just wait for that feeling, or do I have to look around first?”

Even though two-thirds of them had been inside the Divine Vault, no one had talked about how the selection process went. Instead, everyone was too interested in their Divine Artefacts and excited to see what they could do. Kayleigh had tried talking to a few of them, but they largely ignored her.

“Maybe they just don’t like her, or maybe they’re not allowed to talk about it?”

Duncan sighed as he slowly made his way through the ground floor, giving quick glances to his side as he walked, not sure what he was supposed to do to find his Divine Artefact.

I don’t feel any compulsion or anything dragging me one way or another, and I don’t hear any voice directing me, so I guess I’d best just look around and hope something happens.

Duncan bitterly laughed as he looked up at the ceiling.

“Even if I say that, how long will I end up spending in here?”

When the others had entered, some had taken less than a minute to emerge; others, like Guy or Dao, had taken almost twenty minutes.

“I really hope I’m not stuck in here longer than that.”

So, with no other choice, Duncan began his journey through the Divine Vault. After surveying the entirety of the ground floor for a few minutes, he started ascending the stairs, stopping only briefly on each floor to catch his breath and to see if he felt anything drawing him deeper onto that floor.

By the time he reached the twenty-third floor, he was exhausted and hadn’t made any progress.

Even if I do find it now, I’ll still have to climb all the way back down! He groaned loudly, which echoed for almost a minute before disappearing into a faint whisper.

Eventually, Duncan reached the top floor, the fortieth, and then he felt it.

The feeling of someone grasping on his heart, tugging it gently towards them, urging them to walk that way and only that way.

It was a little unpleasant, but Duncan didn’t mind.

If anything, as he drew closer and closer to the source of that sensation, his heart felt happy as warmth bloomed in his chest.

The sensation drew him to a room with a thick wooden door that opened before he touched the handle.

Inside, there was but a single Divine Artefact.

It was a silver bastard sword engraved with twenty-four runes, twelve on each side of the blade, floating in the air, seemingly without anything to hold it in place. It gently spun on an invisible wind as its runes glowed various colours.

“This is…my Divine Artefact.”

Slowly, Duncan walked towards the sword and then grasped its handle.

Immediately, energy flowed into his fingertips, racing through his entire body, instilling within him great knowledge and power.

And then, before he realised it, Duncan was back on the ground floor, right in front of the golden barrier.

“…Thanks for that,” he whispered to his newly acquired sword.

Duncan stepped through once again, ignoring the disgusting slimy feeling of the barrier, and emerged on the other side. The crowd shared the same hushed excitement as they had for all of the previous heroes as Duncan moved to the podium.

Then, with a loud, booming voice, he proclaimed, “I am Duncan Wilson, and I have chosen Angurvadal as my Divine Weapon!”

***

“So…what’s Angurvadal from?”

“I have no idea.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s a sword, Hajime. It slices things and stabs things.”

“That’s not what I meant! I mean, look at it! Look at how shiny the blade is, how cool those symbols on the side of it are! Duncan, when you touched it, it must’ve told you something, right? Right?!”

Kayleigh pulled Hajime away by his collar and frowned. “Did it tell you anything but its name?”

“…It’s not like it told me, but…more like I know how it works, or something.”

“What does that mean?”

Duncan looked down at his hand. “When I picked it up, it’s like the knowledge on how to use the blade flew through me, I guess. I knew its name, what each rune on the blade means and how to activate them.”

“The Elder Futhark Runes.”

All three turned their attention to Brenda who was carrying a sword equal to Duncan’s in size but not in splendour. Hers was a much more curved, vicious looking blade that almost appeared demonic in nature.

“The Elder Futhark Runes?” Hajime repeated.

“The Germanic Futhark,” Kayleigh said. “It’s an ancient runic alphabet that has twenty-four letters, or runes, which all mean a variety of different things.”

“Indeed. This one.” Brenda pointed at the one close to the tip of the blade. “Is Fehu. It means ‘Wealth’. This one here is Ehwaz and means ‘Horse’.”

“In all likeliness, the runes on the blade must possess some form of magical power based on their meaning. Duncan, I imagine when you took Angurvadal it bestowed upon you that knowledge, how to activate them and what sort of effect they’d each create. Though, I don’t know exactly what Fehu could give you.”

“Or Wunjō or Dagaz,” Brenda giggled.

“Still, that’s amazing,” Hajime whispered. “Doesn’t that mean that Duncan’s sword could have twenty-four unique effects it could use?”

“I imagine it’d also be difficult to use them all effectively, Hajime.”

Not that any of us have any idea how to use magic, Duncan thought.

“After seeing what everyone else’s has brought, I can’t wait to see what I’ll get!”

***

“Hmm, so, do I just wait here until I feel something, or do I wander around aimlessly instead?” Stephanie mumbled, tapping her chin as she paced back and forth.

“For whatever reason, no one seems to be able to talk about the inner workings of the Divine Vault in certainties; it’s always vague and unscientific in nature. That said.” She smiled. “We’re in a fantasy world with magic and demons.”

Stephanie looked to the top of the tall room and groaned. “I do not want have to scale this whole thing.”

With heavy footsteps, Stephanie explored each floor of the vault one by one until she felt the ‘sensation’ pull at her heart on the sixth floor.

She was drawn to a pedestal upon which a single tome sat.

The cover was a mixture of deep blues and greens, with gold and orange hieroglyphics. Stephanie knew them to be Egyptian hieroglyphics, but she had no idea what they said.

She claimed it and grinned.

“So, this is my Divine Artefact; the Book of Thoth?!”

***

Inside the small, ornate jewellery box, Blake found ten rings resting on a soft, purple cushion. They were made of brass and iron, and each had letters and symbols engraved on them that Blake had never seen before.

Even without trying them on, Blake could tell they were far too big for her fingers, but she felt compelled to try nonetheless.

Much to her surprise, each ring shrank in size to perfectly fit snuggly on each finger and thumb on both of her hands.

“Cool,” Blake whispered, flexing her fingers. However, when she learnt what her Divine Artefact was called, she became confused. “Solomon’s Rings? Who the hell’s that?”

***

Hailey did not have to search far for her Divine Artefact.

The sensation called to her on the ground floor to two items seemingly bound together with their handles.

The first was a grand, silver sword with golden trimmings and engravings.

The second was a steel shield with a mighty dragon on it.

“No way…This is…Excalibur and Pridwen?”

Two of the greatest treasures of King Arthur?!

***

“Oh-ho?! Look at this, beauty!” Yve happily scooped up her bow, spinning a few times and only stopping to pose or draw back its string. “Now this is awesome. I bet Guy’s going to be so jealous!”

Vijaya - the Divine Bow of Indra!

***

“Yahoo! Yes, yes, yes!” Hajime screamed as he jumped for joy. “Tonbokiri - the Dragonfly Cutter?! That’s so cool! Honestly, if I didn’t see Duncan’s weapon earlier, I really would’ve thought I was the protagonist of this world.”

***

Kayleigh was the last to enter the Divine Vault, much to her dismay.

“It’s just like a school presentation - you never want to go first or last.”

Because that’s where the most pressure is.

Whilst everyone else had been picking their Divine Artefacts, Kayleigh had been thinking about what sort of weapon she’d want to receive.

The closest she had ever come to fighting someone was in a videogame or, failing that, in a few heated debates at school. She had never thrown a punch, let alone a slap, and the prospect of fighting on the frontlines of a war distressed her greatly.

At least Duncan and the others seem to be quite enthusiastic about it. She sighed as she remembered Harmonia’s offer. I know what I signed up for, but that doesn’t mean that I want to do it.

If nothing else. Her expression twisted into a nasty scowl. It’s better to have something to work at than nothing at all. Work is work; that’s all this is.

***

After thirty minutes, Kayleigh emerged wearing two massive gauntlets that were crackling with thunder as lightning bolts seemingly danced up and down from her elbow to her fingertips.

“Kayleigh Henson. My Divine Weapon is Járngreipr.”