In a World without God

A wind-splitting sound echoed through the trees like a beast’s howl, and the forest’s small animals held their breath and watched. The sound came from a sword, curved like a fang, slicing through the night.

On the steep mountain path behind the warehouse, among the dense trees, Ed swung his sword. The weighted curved blade drew a clean semicircle. The arc of his footsteps was like the track of a typhoon. His body was the pivot of a spinning top, the eye of the storm. These were the teachings of Karayan, Bosha’s teacher.

Ed was practicing his swordsmanship. The feel of the sword in his hand, the movement of his muscles as he swung it, and the sound it made were unmistakably things he knew.

Ed was clearly conscious when he’d reshaped the trampled bread. He was acting of his own volition. But he struggled to understand why he had done it or remember what he felt at the time. It was as though his mind were all foggy.

Ed was puzzled about how he’d used the Magick to restore the bread. Bosha’s Magick couldn’t have achieved that sort of thing; he’d never thought of learning those applications for it.

Ed stopped swinging his sword and tentatively tried to gather his Magick. Blue energy wrapped around his palms, and a sharp ice arrow formed in his hand. It sprung from his palm and flew outwards, striking a nearby tree. The area where the ice arrow had struck was suddenly frozen solid as if plunged into winter.

What is going on?! wondered Ed.

Ed loved being able to use Magick, but it felt like there was a new part of him that he didn’t recognize. He kept getting visions—images or memories—that were not from his life, nor Bosha’s. The thought of it made his chest tighten.

He concentrated on his swordsmanship to distract himself. Tree branches fell to the ground as Ed’s blade swept through them. Suddenly, he heard a loud crack through the bush behind him, as though someone had stepped on a stick accidentally.

“Who’s there?”

“Uh, hello?”

A boy with silver hair appeared between the trees. He was holding a load of bread.

“Enri, why are you here?”

“Well. It’s…” Enri frowned. “It was you, wasn’t it? The bread? I saw you through the window earlier.”

“So?”

“I wanted to say thank you and…”

Enri held the bread out to Ed. He hadn’t even taken a small bite.

“You didn’t eat much while hanging from the frame, did you? I’m sorry, it’s all I can give you. I’m embarrassed.”

Ed stared at Enri. Once Ed was in the warehouse, Yug had secretly brought him food. It was Enri who hadn’t eaten properly.

“Wasn’t this your dinner?”

“Well, yes. But it’s okay. I ate before.”

“You’re lying. Why?”

Enri’s eyes shifted from side to side, embarrassed to be caught in his lie.

“Because,” he cleared his throat. “Because it’s more valuable.”

Ed didn’t understand.

“What?”

“It’s more valuable. For me to give it to you to eat.”

Ed stared at Enri blankly.

“My father said so,” Enri finally met Ed’s gaze. “He said it’s pointless to live for myself. He said life shines when you give to others. I know it sounds funny coming from the scion of a witch, but…”

“No,” Ed said quietly. “It’s not.”

When Ed shared the cart with Enri, he thought of Enri as a lost ghost, but it seemed he was a true descendant of Le Fay—the real Le Fays, the ones Ed remembered from Bosha’s life.

“You agree? Then you’ll accept this bread? My life will end in ten days, but I want to do something meaningful before then.”

“Why will it be over in ten days?”

“In the upcoming Festival of Saints, my opponent is Sir Taric. Taric’s brother, Lord Galak, killed my brother during the last Festival of Saints in a callous way, but Sir Taric said earlier I would suffer worse than that, so I should prepare.”

In the system of the Festival of Saints, killing someone does not go unpunished unless that person is the offspring of a witch. Then, the audience cheered. The children of witches deserved to be punished. They deserved to be tortured alive.

Those who cheer about this know nothing, thought Ed.

“No one is born a bad person. They all have their reasons. Try to understand them, Captain Bosha.”

Ygraine always said to try to understand others. But none of those who worshiped her as a saint ever followed through. It’s the same now as it was then. Humans are despicable.

Ed took the bread from Enri. He chewed roughly and swallowed. Within seconds, the bread was gone.

“Thank you, Enri. For the bread.”

Ed suddenly raised his sword, pointing it at Enri, who immediately stepped backward with fear. Ed spun the sword around so that the handle faced Enri.

“Take it,” said Ed. “Your life is not over in ten days.”

“What do you mean?”

“You will defeat this Taric. I’ll make sure you do.”

“You will? How?”

Ed thought back to Bosha’s childhood. The young Bosha had been desperate to survive. He once smeared himself with dragon feces to hide his human scent and chewed on the bean worms that crawled under rocks.

Why would a Goddess allow such things to happen to a small boy?

After Bosha met Ygraine and realized she was Lutea, he couldn’t question her about it. He knew she’d hang her head and say she was sorry, that it was all her fault.

Life is a gift from Lutea, and humans always ruin it, thought Ed.

“You’re special,” Enri continued. “You might be able to beat Bosha’s kin, but I can’t. I was never taught how to fight. Taric is a master of Magick. Even if I tried…”

“Then die now.”

Ed pivoted the sword again and held the blade to Enri’s throat.

“Why wait to be tortured slowly? Why not die in peace now? I can make it quick.”

Enri stared at Ed in shock. Ed lowered the sword and threw it on the floor at Enri’s feet.

“The fact that you hesitate now says you still have the will to live. Follow that will. Pick up the sword.”

Enri glanced back and forth between Ed and the sword on the floor. Eventually, he took a step forward and picked it up.

***

Ygraine was a monster. Bosha hadn’t realized it until the war against the witches ended.

Ygraine did not ride a Velox even on the battlefield, for she did not need to. Running with a holy spear and a holy sword, Ygraine was faster than a Velox with nothing on its back. She could run the distance ten Veloxes would have to take turns running, and she did not tire.

Ygraine’s physical abilities were extraordinary. With her unarmored body, she broke through the gates, dodged a hail of arrows from a thousand archers, and punched holes in the city walls that even waves of spears could not penetrate.

How could that be human?

Ygraine was an incarnation of the Goddess Lutea. At the moment of her birth, a holy mark appeared on the necks of the Le Fay people—what people would now call a birthmark.

Those with the mark shared Lutea’s power, including special physical and Magick abilities. This was the reason for Ed’s rapid growth, and Ed predicted it would be the same for any other child born with the mark.

His prediction was correct.

“Charge at your enemy as if throwing your entire weight with the sword. This is the leap of the Black Fang.”

“The Black Fangs? How do you know that?”

“Time is precious. Try to follow along.”

Enri, who had been mimicking Ed’s movements, fell flat on his ass. It was only natural. The leap that Ed had taught him was a foundational move of Black Fang Swordsmanship. Almost every attack in Black Fang Swordsmanship was accompanied by a leap like this. The goal was to lunge at the enemy so fast that they couldn’t react, and decapitate them with a single blow.

It was a complicated move. Over half of those who joined the Black Fangs could not master it and instead used Kaldura swordsmanship.

Ed taught Enri this move for the first time in the dark early evening. He didn’t expect Enri to succeed; he was just trying to assess his physical capabilities and train him accordingly.

“I-I did it! Ed! I didn’t fall this time!”

Within about an hour, Enri had succeeded in achieving the leap without falling. Sure, the move was sloppy, but it was an impressive rate of progress.

Ed was surprised. Until now, he hadn’t realized how much his heritage impacted his abilities. Thanks to Bosha’s memories, he had mastered the Black Fang Sword Technique from scratch. Ed only compared his skills to Bosha’s expertise. He’d never considered how he compared physically with his peers.

“Alright, the next move we’ll learn is the diagonal slash.”

The name of this move was simple, but when executed correctly, it was incredibly powerful. It was the same move Ed had used to destroy Raghad’s sword.

“Like this?”

Enri made a feeble attempt to copy Ed.

“No! More aggressive!”

Enri’s attempt was a good start but lacked the mastery Ed was trying to encourage in him. The Black Fang’s swordsmanship was all about footwork, and Enri needed to master the physical steps along with the movement of the blade. Nonetheless, Ed was impressed. Enri was a better student than he had anticipated and was learning quickly.

Before long, the moon’s pale light dipped behind the horizon, and the sun began to rise. Enri turned to Ed, panting from the exertion of keeping up with Ed’s training.

“I’m sorry. I tried hard to learn everything but only managed those two moves.”

Enri looked at the floor, his expression guilty, as though he thought he was about to be punished.

“The sun has only risen on one day. You still have another nine.”

“But at this rate…”

“You’ll pick it up quicker. Just watch.”

Ed patted Enri on the shoulder. In one night, he’d learned the signature leap and slash of the Black Fang swordsmanship. Ed was confident he’d pick up other moves even more quickly in the coming days. There was still hope for Enri.

Ed picked up a long wooden stick from the floor. It was long enough to use as a walking stick and thick as two fingers. Captain Bosha’s method of training his men was simple. He believed there was no substitute for practice.

“From now on, I will follow and attack you, so do whatever you can to stop me.”

Enri looked at him with a shocked expression on his face.

“From now on?”

Ed nodded solemnly.

“But, I thought it was time to rest?”

“You can rest when you beat Taric.”

Ed knew that if Enri was to survive, he needed to give his everything over the next nine days. He was a boy with a noble heart and hair like Ygraine. He wasn’t a criminal. He deserved every chance Ed could give him.

When Bosha trained his recruits, he used a real sword and didn’t care what damage he did. The purpose of the training was to encourage the recruits to step up in their training. By using a stick, Ed was offering Enri a kindness.

“Be ready.”

Enri looked at Ed, who had suddenly sprung forward, brandishing the stick so it could only be blocked by the signature leap and slash of the Black Fangs.

Enri jumped into action, raising the sword to defend himself.