The Eyes Of Men: A Collection Of Short Stories

Shields

Long ago, in the center of an ancient city, there stood a massive tower, which was built as a symbol of progress for the community, but it would later become an omen of terror. During a time of turmoil, the people of the city opted to trade their independence for the prospect of order against chaos. So they built the tower for governance, consolidating all authority into one impenetrable shield that they called Ruler, then they placed it for safe keeping within the tower's steeple. This shield, glamorous as it was, made whoever possessed it invincible, and its immense power attracted the desires of a horde of demons who craved control. So they seized the tower to use its position of authority to prey upon the fears of men, pitting them against each other, and then they traded promises of security for more power, until they had devoured all that was once good within the ancient halls.

Beneath the tower, there lived and worked a sword smith, who toiled away making weapons for the demons' armies, hammering steal into tools of death. Until one day the sword smith discovered a secret power of own, locked deep within himself. He had been hammering all night by the glowing heat of the burning embers, when a young girl, dressed in white, approached him. He thought that he should've been startled by the girls presence in this place, but he wasn't; there was something comforting about her. Then she raised her hands towards him as an offering, and when she opened her palms, she revealed a bright ball of light, self-contained as though she had plucked it from the stars in the sky.

The sword smith didn't know what to make of it at first, and then the girl spoke, "Be not afraid smith," she said, "you have been chosen for your unique virtues, to take back the tower and liberate the city from the terrible reign of the demons." She explained to him that because the demons were impervious to normal weapons, his swords needed to be composed of the noblest virtues of a leader.

So she pressed the light up against his chest where it passed through his skin and bone harmlessly then began to fill-up the cavity inside until the sword smith was beaming with light all over. It projected from his eyes, ears, mouth, and finger tips, lighting up the darkness of the corridor until all shadows were cast-out in white. She then pulled from his heart the five pieces of himself necessary to defeat the demons, and infused them into the molten steal. These virtues were: honesty, integrity, enlightenment, morality, and hope—it was hope that would be his most spectacular of all the swords. Each sword would be customized specifically for killing each demon as he advanced up the levels of the tower.

Once the final sword was completed, he made his way up the stone dungeon stairs toward the first level to slay the demon that resided there; this demon's name was Deception. The sword smith entered the great hall of the first level and drew his sword ready to strike, but Deception knew that all men were vulnerable to lies, so he just laughed at the sight of the sword smith.

"Foolish smith..." he chuckled with fire in his yellow eyes, "you can't defeat me with honesty, for the minds of the common people that you must lead are simple and incapable of grasping truth." His words made the sword smith feel small and vulnerable. "How can you lead the city if the people refuse to listen to the truth, for sometimes truth can be a very ugly thing indeed... sometimes truth needs to bend to be shaped into something more palatable." As he spoke, his face shifted shape to that of a young beautiful woman, then shifted back again to the hideous sneering demon. He laughed deeply as the sword smith struggled for an answer but found none.

"You and I both know that without the Ruler shield, you have no hope of defeating me," the demon said, "but if you were willing to part with one of your fine swords, then I would allow to you pass to the next level unharmed." The sword smith thought about this proposal for a moment—if he were to perish now on this first level, then his cause would die with him—furthermore, if only he could just reach the Ruler shield, then he could return later and kill the demon with no risk at all to himself—after all, he would still have four more swords at his disposal. So he gave the Demon his first sword of integrity then continued up the stony stairs of the tower.