Leander's arm still hung in, his eyes blankly stared into the space where the sword had just been, where it had just disappeared into blue sparks that left nothing behind. The subtle light given off by the blue sparks was gone, and now only the light of the burning forge cast a dark shade on Leander's face.
"What, where did you…"
Leander's gaze grew dark.
Suddenly, the heat of the forge had become insufferable.
Moving to the stairs with measured steps, Leander exited the basement forge. Returning to the ground floor, Leander's gaze locked onto Riku.
'Eating his damn stew.'
As Leander walked directly up to Riku, Riku looked at him with a smile.
"Ah, back so soon; how did it-"
Grabbing Riku by his tunic, Leander pulled him up from his chair, knocking his bowl of soup out of his hands. Leander's pale knuckles grew taught over his bones as he pulled Riku close until their faces were only inches apart. Despite the situation, Riku's gaze lazily flicked to the spilled soup. Riku grabbed Leander's wrist.
Riku's expression was calm despite Leander's sudden act of aggression.
"What's the matter with you? You should be singing my praises, not ruining my meal."
Leander simply responded.
"What did you do to the sword?"
Riku sternly answered.
"I fixed it."
Pulling Riku an inch closer, Leander asked again through gritted teeth.
"We had just made a deal that we would end the evil in this world. But when I picked the sword up, he just turned into blue sparks and disappeared. Explain what you did, you bastard."
Tilting his head, Riku's mouth opened with a dumbfounded expression.
"You ruined my stew over that? You idiot, that was supposed to happen."
Leander's anger faltered at Riku's words. His grip loosened on Riku's tunic.
"Wh- what do you mean the sword was supposed to disappear? How does that make sense?"
Pushing Leander's hands off of him, Riku adjusted his tunic.
"That was the binding enchantment, you fool! The moment you touched the Aegis Series, it bound itself to your soul. I didn't fully repair the sword – just the binding enchantment. That way, it could be drawn into your Soul Sanctuary, where it will restore itself over time."
Leander absentmindedly took a step back as he took in this new information. So, the sword wasn't gone? It was in his Soul Sanctuary. Without waiting for further words from Riku, Leander closed his eyes.
Opening them, Leander looked out across his Soul Sanctuary.
It was just as he had last seen it in the garden of Melaine's castle. Strings glowing with an ethereal light wrapped around his soul; some of the strings were still frayed from the voice in the mist.
Leander's soul burned with an ethereal effervescence, its prismatic rays illuminating the depths of his Soul Sanctuary with an overwhelming sense of power. In this space, he felt truly alive – whole, as if he wasn't missing a piece of himself.
The clouds that orbited his soul – like planets circling a distant sun – continued their aimless drift. Some remained stationary while others floated forward at odd angles, following unseen currents. Yet, what captured Leander's gaze was not the familiar motions of the clouds – it was the presence of something entirely new within his Soul Sanctuary."
Where there had only been three things: Leander's soul, the clouds and the boundless space beyond the clouds. Now, something new.
A weapon thrust into the surface of every cloud. Thousands of weapons of every type, some Leander could recognise, others he had never seen before. Each weapon was forged from the same brownish-red metal, and somewhere in their structure, they all contained a glass sphere and a long fabric wrapped around whatever hilts or handles they had.
Not daring to take a step forward, should he fall victim to the unstable nature of his broken soul, Leander reached for the closest weapon to him, which was a spear. Spinning the spear so that it pointed upward. The fabric draped down onto his fingers. The glass sphere was positioned beneath the blade of the spear.
The sword's – Leander was unsure how he should refer to his new companion – eye softly glowed its familiar blue light within the sphere. The crack was still noticeable on its surface, but it now glowed with a similar light to that of Leander's soul.
'Perhaps this is what Riku was referring to. Within my soul, it will repair itself over time…'
The sword spoke.
"I'm sorry for not speaking sooner, I got… distracted."
Tilting his head, Leander followed the sword's eye. It was looking at his soul; in fact, every eye within every glass sphere was looking at Leander's soul. A subtle frown appeared on Leander's lips as he followed their gaze up to his soul.
The damage that had been dealt to his soul rendered Leander weak. With his soul in this state, Leander would never be able to use anima again without breaking his soul and ending his life.
He was not exactly at the bottom of the food chain, but Leander was already picking fights with things far beyond his means. It was only due to luck he had survived as long as he had in the short span of time he had been gifted a second chance at life, and Leander knew it.
He had only been able to slay Lewren because he happened to find the sword.
He had only survived meeting Decemtal because Ravenmother had been able to negotiate peace.
He had only survived fighting the Yellow Fox because Narina had appeared at the last moment.
The sword quietly spoke, sounding in awe.
"It's… it's…"
Unable to continue looking at his soul, Leander looked away. His tone was sullen.
"Broken."
"Beautiful."
Leander quickly turned to the sword, his eyes widening in shock, unable to believe what it had just said.
'How could something so broken be called beautiful?'
Before Leander had the chance to question the sword's comment, it continued.
"Leander… your soul… it is magnificent. It may be true that it is damaged beyond repair unless you somehow find the other half. Yet despite its crippled state, even with a few pieces missing, it still glows with such power. I can't even quantify the potency of your soul… How strong were you before your death?"
Raising his head, Leander looked at his soul. Damaged beyond repair was putting it lightly; it had been carved up, torn to shreds, devoured, and almost consumed by… something. Because of the damage done to his soul, Leander was incapable of accessing the power that had allowed him to mark his name in the annals of history as the Hero of Peace.
"I… don't know… As I said, I don't remember anything, but I hear it was quite something."
Looking at the spear in his hand, Leander's brow furrowed as a thought came to mind.
"I don't know if I can keep referring to you as 'sword.' It doesn't feel very fitting considering your… current state."
For the first time since Leander had entered his Soul Sanctuary, the sword's glowing eye turned to look at him. A questioning gaze held within its single eye.
"Why not? It's what you've been calling me, and you favour swords do you not? So, why not? Sword will do just fine, and besides, it will be a while until I am in a proper state to be your blade."
Sword looked at the crack in the glass sphere. Looking at the crack as well, Leander nodded.
"Riku had mentioned as much. How long will it take you to repair yourself?"
"Longer than a short time, shorter than a long time… maybe… I'm unsure. I'll be feeding off a small amount of your anima in the process, and the nature of your soul should expedite the process. So, I actually have no clue."
Leander grew concerned at the mention of Sword using his anima to repair itself.
'Using my anima? But Melaine said I shouldn't use anima or else my soul would fracture and kill me. Although he has probably been siphoning anima since he entered my soul and, well.'
Looking up at his soul again, Leander tilted his head slightly.
'I'm not dead yet.'
"But for now, I think I need to sleep for a while longer. Give me some time to bring my soul out of the critical state it is in…"
As Sword finished speaking, the bright blue of its eye began to dim. All around Leander, the eyes contained within the weapons slowly dimmed until Leander was left all alone within his Soul Sanctuary. Looking at the spear for a while, Leander flipped it, stabbing the tip into the cloud beneath his feet.
Leaning against the weapon, Leander rested his head against the shaft of the spear, taking a few moments to feel the sensation of his beating heart.
"Is he sleeping or something?"
Exiting his Soul Sanctuary, Narina was poking a finger into Leander's cheek. Seeing him react to her actions, Narina's lips opened into a broad smile.
"He's alive!"
Scowling at Narina, Leander put his hand on her face, pushing her away.
"Speak for yourself. When did you wake up?"
Looking up from his new bowl of stew, Riku glanced at the mess Leander had recently caused, having mistakenly blamed Riku for destroying Sword.
"She was awake before you came upstairs; in fact, you spilt my soup onto her when you knocked it out of my hands. Thanks, by the way, apology accepted."
Looking at her again, the furs Narina wore did seem wet, although she was missing any evidence of the vegetables and meat contained within the stew. Seeing Leander's gaze inspecting her, Narina's smile only widened.
"Oh, don't worry about me! I cleaned myself up! The stew was really nice, by the way! You should try some!"
Leander shook his head.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry."
Eating a spoonful of stew, Riku swallowed it.
"How is the sword? I assume the binding enchantment is functioning well. If not, you'll have to summon it out so I can get to work."
Leander nodded.
"Sword is using my anima to fix itself just fine. I was worried at first that using my soul could damage it, but I imagine it's using far less anima than what I've tried to use, so my soul doesn't seem to be affected by it."
Despite all that Leander had just said, Riku only paid attention to one part.
"Wait, wait. You called your sword, Sword? That's the name you're going with?"