Chapter 26
A/N: IMPORTANT!! I finally finished my exams and started this super hectic pre-summer holiday. Miss you guys so much xoxo. Again, there are a lot to say. The first scene of Nando, Sergio and Iker are moved to Chapter 28 since it looks better.
First of all, football ofc. Congrats Barça for the win in UCL! I got quite angry with Gerard tho. He should have shown some respect for their rival. However, I don't think La Roja fans should whistle him. He is part of our family and we should always show support to our players (*glares at plastic Madridistas). Also, congrats for Spain's win against Costa Rica and Belarus! La Roja is simply amazing #VivaEspana. Cesc looks like Batman with the mask on lol. Hope he'll get well soon! And I burst out laughing when some staff tried to kiss Iker (wow Sese must be jealous). Oh and SILVA SCORED A GOAL!!!! GOALOLOALOALAOLAOAL!!!!!!! I FEEL SO PROUD OF MY BAE DAVID!!!
Okay let's get back to this book. About the #FootyAwards (literally the best idea ever). Thanks so much @thenbhdwatch!), I may not participate this year because the due date would be July 18-19 and I want to wait until this book is completed :-( Unless I can join two years (which will be unfair). But I'm definitely joining in next year and I'll go for #FootyAwardsStoryLine :-D
Secondly, #Wattys2015. The due date of the Wattys is in November (I guess) and I think I'll be participating :-) Well, football fanfics don't really get to be noticed a lot in the Wattys but it is worth a try.
The main point is that I have to finish the writing challenge first if I want to join in #Wattys2015 and #FootyAwards :'(
Oh and don't forget, please share the link of Fabrication//Football One Shots by @bojankrkic on Twitter with the hashtag #MyWattysChoice. She is fabulous as well as her writing. Also, thanks so much for supporting my book. Your comments always make my day and they mean a lot to me
This chapter is probably the longest thing I've ever written in my life. See if you guessed right from the previous chapter ;) And it shows how much I love swords haha (Who loves swords here as well?) Enjoy!
Andres' Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
"Greek keyboard?" Andres frowned, "How can I get a GREEK KEYBOARD without my phone?"
But in anyways, he decided to picture out his computer keyboard, he could see the image and letters vividly, "Q. W. E. R. T. Y. U. I. O. P. A. S. D. F. G. H. J. K. L. Z. X. C. V. B. N. M."
"Then what should I do?" Andres mumbled. There seemed not to be a use of the keyboard, "Maybe it isn't 'keyboard' after all. Ugh this is so hard."
"Please press the red button in order to type in the password."
"Red button? Where is..." Andres shifted his head towards the hole on the wall. There was a red button on it which Andres hadn't realise before. Having pushed the red button in, Andres saw the brick wall behind him parted and appeared a Greek Keyboard formed with bricks.
The first row of the keyboard read, ";. ς. ε. ρ. τ. υ. θ. ι. ο. π."
While the second and third row read "α. σ. δ. φ. γ. η. ξ. κ. λ." and "ζ. χ. ψ. ω. β. ν. μ." perspectively.
An idea came up from Andres' mind. He picked up the carved brick and compare it with the English keyboard.
"λλαβτοοφ ροφ...ι".
".llabtoof rof...I".
"I...for football."
"...live?" Andres thought. The sport had meant a lot to him and he considered it as his life. He was sure that was the password and he couldn't come up any alternatives yet.
"L."
"I."
"V."
"E."
"λ."
"ι."
"ω."
"ε."
Without a doubt, he typed in "λιωε."
"Password incorrect. Please try again."
He wasn't living for football, or rather the whole concept was wrong?
Andres thought a bit, "Oh yeah... I forgot to turn the phrase around."
"llabtoof rof evil I. The password is 'evil'." The word "evil" made Andres shiver, reminding him of King Skull.
Andres typed in "εωιλ."
"Password correct. Gate opens."
The brick wall in front of Andres collapsed. He coughed through the smoke and dust. Until he could see a sword shine in the dark through his blurred vision. Under the sword there was a note, written, "by whose stripes aye were healed". The blade of the sword was split in two parts, which looked like glacial blue ice, between them was an empty edge. A glowing crystal was inlaid at the end of the grip as the pommel.
"This is your reward."
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Prophet of Destiny
Type: Sword
Element: Ice
Special Power: Heal
---
Xavi's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
Xavi wondered what was that three-digit-alphabet password.
"Da-di-da di da-di-da-da, da-di-da di da-di-da-da, da-di-da di da-di-da-da..." The rhythm of the sound of the music box kept repeating in his mind. He thought for a while, realising there was something odd im the rhythm, as if the rhythm was telling him some messages. Perhaps that message was the hint of the three-digit-alphabet password.
"Da-di-da di da-di-da-da..." Xavi mumbled, "Is this some code?"
He began to understand the phrase with the morse code. The sound of "Da" was apparently longer than "Di", the Morse code of the phrase would be "-.- . -.--"
Xavi was quite good in Morse codes. He remembered a lot since he had been reading detective books such as Shelock Holmes. Now he could manage to decode the password. Maybe he was destined to do this.
"-.- is K."
". is E."
"-.-- is Y."
"So the three-digit-alphabet password should be 'KEY'."
Xavi was thrilled as he climbed up the ladder. His palm clutched tight at the alphabet lock and started to turn each letters. At first, he could barely see clearly whether he had reached the letter "K". After working on the first wheel, he tried out the second one and the last one.
"KEY" It read. Xavi had to be right this time. He hold on to the shackle, and carefully pulled down the lock. He pushed up the wire netting, opening the way to the secret passage of the vent. Xavi climbed into the vent. The secret passage was darker than the locker room. The midfielder crawled along the secret passage, probing the metal walls in his way. Several minutes later, he found another wire netting below him. Knowing that it wasn't locked, Xavi shoved open the wire netting, leading him to another dark room.
Xavi leaped down the vent and discovered that there was something glowing inside the dark room. Xavi looked closer, it seemed to be a sword with a tiger head as the pommel and carvings of tigers all over the golden fuller between the silver edges, as well as fire sparks shimmering around the sword.
"Congratulations, Xavi. You managed to escape from the locked room. Here's your reward."
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Frenzy
Type: Sword
Element: Fire
Special Power: Explosion
---
Additional notes:
A .-
B -...
C -.-.
D -..
E .
F ..-.
G --.
H ....
I ..
J .--
K -.-
L .-..
M --
N -.
O ---
P .--.
Q --.-
R .-.
S ...
T -
U ..-
V ...-
W .--
X -..-
Y -.--
Z --..
---
Cesc's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
Four trolls, three liars, two questions, one truth-teller. Cesc took a deep breath. At first, he was planning to randomly pick a troll out, rather asking and guessing. But if he did this in random, he would only have 25% of chances to get it right, that's means he would have 75% of chances to be shoved off the mountain. On the other hand, if he kept guessing, he would have more chances to survive.
He had to guess it.
He paced back and forth, not knowing how to ask it. It had already been more than ten years when he actually came up with a logical idea.
"Um... A troll, do you think B troll is the truth-teller?" Cesc asked A troll. He wasn't sure if he had questioned the right thing.
"Yes," A troll answered. As he had said, the trolls would only answer yes or no.
"Oh then B troll must be the truth-teller!" Cesc thought, "But wait, only one of the trolls tells the truth. If B troll is the truth teller, A troll has to say 'No', since he is one of the liar. If A troll says 'yes' and B troll is the truth-teller, both A and B troll is the truth-teller, and that's not possible. That's means both A and B troll are liars, thus the truth-teller is either C or D troll."
Realising he wasn't that stupid, Cesc smiled with triumph.
"C troll, do you think A troll is the truth-teller?" Cesc continued to ask.
"No," C troll replied with a shrug.
"Is C troll the truth-teller?" Cesc thought, "If C troll is telling a lie, he should say 'yes', because A troll is certainly a liar, and then D troll will be the truth teller, since A, B and C troll is the liar and one of them must be the truth-teller. If C troll claims that A troll is not the truth-teller, just like the situation now on, C troll is telling the truth, then A, B and D troll are be the liars, which is possible. But what about D troll now? I haven't asked D troll yet but I can only ask two questions. D troll can't be the truth-teller, 'cause only one of the trolls is the truth-teller and C troll has already told the truth, D troll is a liar."
"C troll," The striker finally announced, "You speak the truth."
"Are you sure?" C troll asked him back.
"Yes," Cesc replied with a nod, "I'm very certain."
"Congratulations, Cesc! You guessed it right," C troll grinned, "Follow me."
"Are you telling me to follow you so that you can push me off the cliff?" Cesc frowned.
"No, of course not!" C troll laughed, "How come you be so suspicious?"
"I just suddenly feel like I can't trust anyone anymore," Cesc sighed. He realised he had sounded like Gerard or Fernando, instead of the true himself.
"Don't worry," C troll led him down the brown brick stairs and arrived to a platform, "I will do no harm, I promise."
The troll said something, something he didn't understand, like some curses or voodoos. Cesc grew more suspicious, though he hated that feeling of worrying something unnecessary, something like only Iker would do.
The platform started to shake before it began to rise up. It stopped to move when it reached to another brick platform covered by mist. The troll led him into the mist and there appeared a wooden box. The troll grabbed Cesc's hands and placed them onto the box.
"Open it," C troll told him.
Hesitantly, Cesc slowly slid his thumbs under the wooden lid of the box and lifted it up. Inside the box there was a sword glowing with a emerald green blade carved with the name of the sword, Oblivion, in Greek, "λήθη", and a cedar brown grip twisted with vines.
"This is your reward."
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Oblivion
Type: Sword
Element: Wood
Special Power: Shield Protection
---
Gerard's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
"Have you got any ideas, Gerard?" Pi asked, "Always remember, 'Odd left, even right'."
"Um... I'm not quite sure whether my idea is right or not," Gerard replied with a shrug, "I can try."
"Do or do not. There is no try," Pi answered firmly, "There is no way back if you have chosen the wrong way. Once you have passed an intersection, rocks will fall from behind and will block the way back. That's means you cannot go back to the previous intersections to try again."
"How do you know that?" Gerard discovered there was something wrong in her speech, "And also how do you know the 'Odd left, even right' thing?"
"I don't know. It's just in my head. I guess I have lost some memory after I ended up in this cave."
"Such great explanation," Gerard said sarcastically.
"Gerard," Pi sighed, "I know it's hard to believe a stranger who is probably lying to you but please, just once."
"Now you're begging me to believe you," Gerard was completely annoyed, "I supposed to be believing in you before I figured out the way to get out!"
"The way to get out of the cave? How?"
"The way to get out is yourself! Your name, Pi, is the tip to escape from this spooky cave!"
"I don't understa..."
"Oh yeah? You don't?" Gerard snapped, "π! The maths one! How come the tip of escaping is your name while you don't know it? Actually you know that. You know how to get out of this damn cave but you just want to harm me. You only want me to fail and be trapped inside this hell forever! Once if I got wrong, you will only leave me alone in the cave and save yourself out with your stupid magic, or kill me after getting out of the cave, or perhaps there isn't even a way out of here! I've encountered a fairy, similar with you. My teammates put so much faith in her when we first met her. However, she only wanted to hurt us all and eventually, two of our teammates died because of her, while one of them almost died. So do you think I can trust any fairies or whatever creatures right now? Never in my whole life!"
"Gerard!" The Peacock Fairy yelled back, "If I had known the way to get out of this cave, I would have escaped. Maybe I actually know it, but as I told you I may have lost some memory. And why I need to harm you? Hurting you doesn't give any benefits for me, instead it wastes my time. I don't harm, I don't kill, I don't even hurt a fly. Also, I can't use magic in the dark so don't expect that I can escape from here by magic power. I can only read minds now. Moreover, about your thing, I'm sorry for your loss, but I want you to know that not all fairies are villains, instead most of them are kind to others."
"I still don't believe in you..."
"First of all, do you want to get out of here? If you do, think about it, who can help you out? This is not a task which can be done by your own. Only I can help you out. So why not trust me? If you don't trust me, you'll never get out of this cave. I am your last hope, Geri. When you grow desperate, you have to believe in the ones who may help you, otherwise you can never get a solution. I know putting faith in someone you don't know is risky, you don't know what will that person do to you, but would you rather be trapped in a cave forever or take the risk to get out? Sometimes you have to trust your last hope."
Gerard went silent. Her last sentence reminded him of King Skull.
"Think about it," Pi told him.
"Okay we'll go," Gerard sighed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't snapped at you like this."
"It's okay, I don't really mind it," Pi smiled, "I know it's hard for you. Let's talk about your idea first.
"π=3.141592654..." Gerard said, "According to 'Odd left, even right', we should take the left road first, then left, then right, then three lefts, then two rights, then left, then right, and we can see the world again."
"Okay let's do this," Pi announced, walking forward with Gerard. In front of them, there were two holes, which were described as the intersections. They walked into the left hole, which led them into another room similar to the previous one also with two intersections. Behind them, huge rocks started to fall and blocked their way back.
There is no way back.
"This time we walk left," Gerard said, grabbing Pi's soft hand.
After walking left, they arrived in a similar room again. Rocks blocked their way back.
"It's looks like the place kept repeating," Pi looked around, as if she was observing if there were any odd things inside the cave.
"We walk right," Gerard said shortly.
Pi was correct. The scenes kept repeating, while the rocks kept falling behind, the only thing that changed was they had to choose different directions.
The rest of route should be "left, left, left, right, right, left, right". When the Spaniard and the fairy were walking along their last route, Gerard's heart was pounding hard, this was their last way, soon they would know whether Gerard was right or not. If Gerard was correct at the first place, they should be out of this cave after walking along this route, else they would be trapped forever. Gerard could feel Pi's rapid breaths. She was as nervous as he was, squeezing Gerard's hand tight. The route was like never ending. Their heartbeat was speeding, until strong light pierced into their retina...
Blue sky, white clouds, nourished grass, Gerard was correct, they had got out from the cave. Pi pulled out a smile of relief, tears welling between her eyelids, "We've made it. Thank you, Geri."
"No, I'm the one who should say thank you," Gerard said and returned a grin.
"This is your reward," Pi said, performing magic with her delicate hands. Gerard panicked what would it be before he remembered the Peacock Fairy saying that she would give a weapon for him.
"This is not an ordinary sword anymore," Pi announced, "I've added my magic power inside. You can perform magic with this sword."
The sword had a black plain grip and a moon-shaped golden cross guard. The blade was made of steel and after the Peacock fairy had given the weapon some magic power, it began to glow in aqua blue and was surrounded by sparkling purple magic dusts.
Gerard let out his biggest grin ever. Fairies aren't really that bad after all.
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Aponia
Type: Sword
Element: Soil
Special Power: Magic
---
Fernando's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
He remembered when he was little, he read a book which said that when you encountered a shark, hit it in the eye. Should he do that? There were too many of them. If he hit one of them, the others would definitely counter-attack. So hit-and-run was not a great idea after all.
He decided to run like a rat, without being noticed. This was the best idea he could come up but it was quite illogical.
He leaped up, took a deep breath, and dived with only a little splashes. Deep under the clear water, he swam as fast as he could. He turned back and saw six sharks chasing him about 200 metres behind, well, at least better than all.
Fernando's arms and legs felt sore, and especially his chest. He needed oxygen, but six sharks were still behind him and he couldn't swim up again. Why didn't he thought of that in the first place? He couldn't breathe underwater. He would be dead for sure if he stopped breathing for another minute. One minute left and he would die from drowning. He looked back again and realised the Sharks were still there, only more closer to him. Despite the fact that his lung was desperate of air, he didn't care much, since the sharks were going to bite him in no time.
"Nando, think of something!" He thought to himself. He must get rid of six sharks first in a minute if he wanted to survive.
He swam under some coral reefs, where behind him a shark hit its nose on. One shark done. Five sharks remaining. 40 seconds left.
He went through a cave. Fortunately, there weren't any terrible sea creatures inside. Moreover, two sharks lost his track due to not knowing he had hidden himself in a cave.
Three sharks done. Three sharks remaining. 25 seconds left.
Deep down the sea, he saw a sunken ship. Seaweed and coral reefs covered the entire ship, seemed like the ship had worn out a long time already.
Just as Fernando swam into a cabin through a window of the ship, one of the sharks got its nose stuck in the window frame. Fernando got out of the ship quickly through another side of a window, escaping from the shark.
Four sharks done. Two sharks remaining. 10 seconds left.
With tears welling in his eyes, the freckled striker felt nauseous. His chest hurts like hell and he needed oxygen immediately, after 10 seconds he would be dead due to lack of oxygen.
9 seconds left.
Two sharks were still behind.
8 seconds left.
He saw light on the white sand of the sea, shining in gold.
7 seconds left.
He swam towards the light.
6 seconds left.
One of the shark's jaws were getting near his legs.
5 seconds left.
The shark attempted to bite his ankle. Fortunately it failed to do so.
4 seconds left.
Fernando got near to the light.
3 seconds left.
Another shark made an attempt to bite his ankle. Again it failed to do so.
2 seconds left.
Fernando stretched his arms as far as he could. But still he couldn't reach the light.
1 second left.
Just as the shark attempted to bite his leg, Fernando grabbed hold of something inside the light. Everything froze and the light shimmered everywhere. The Spaniard finally felt fresh air entering his lung. The light faded and he was no longer under the sea. He was on the land and he was holding onto a sword.
The sword had a silver blade with an Arabic carving, "ساتييسو", meaning Satyesu, the seeker of truth. On the rain-guard, there embedded a sapphire, which was known as the core of the sword, the place that released the power to the blade. At each ends of the cross-guard, there was a moon-shaped metal made claw, while a starfish pattern was on the pommel.
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Truth Seeker
Type: Sword
Elements: Water
Special Power: Flood
---
Sergio's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
"Just let it go."
Sergio sniffled as the horse stood beneath the ladder. Sergio climbed on its back, and tried to stand up, balancing himself.
"Novillero," He told his horse, "I'll think of an idea to save you out of here after I got up."
He then reached the ladder and started to climb, until he reached the top. The abyss was seemingly bottomless yet he could still make it. Once he got out from the abyss, he found himself on a dead volcano. He found a rope next to him, which perhaps could save his horse from the abyss.
"Novillero!" Sergio yelled, tossing the rope down into the abyss. "Catch the rope!"
But then he realised the rope was actually useless, as it was impossible for the horse to take grip on the rope with its hooves.
He hadn't come up with an idea before it was too late. A fire, red coloured, ripped out the whole abyss, burning everything inside into dirt.
"Novillero!" Sergio screamed, loosening the burning rope on his hand, but he didn't say anything after that. He was left with only astonishment.
"Sergio?" A sound uttered from the back of the Spaniard. Sergio hoped it was Novillero.
"You got out of the abyss," Hephaestus smiled when Sergio turned around, "Congratulations. This is your reward."
"What?" Sergio stormed, "I just lost my beloved horse, and now you're giving me a reward? What does that mean?"
"Your horse isn't involved in your quest, silly," Hephaestus giggled, "It's used to distract your decision of escaping of the abyss. If you have helped your horse out, you would have been burned by the fire."
"Are you teaching me a lesson of not helping others? If I see a beggar on my way to the Valdebebas, shouldn't I give him a coin? Or leave him alone, as you said, he might distract my way to training and make me late? You know what I mean. I know you know that," Sergio taunted, pointing at Hephaestus' chest. He could actually be very caring and benevolent sometimes, "This is so wrong!"
"But the difference is that you and Novillero are both trapped inside an abyss. See, you attempted to use a rope to help him, but it was actually useless. There is nothing you can help him out," Hephaestus said, "Moreover, you have to save yourself out of this abyss first. In this situation, when you can't even save your life, you don't have the ability to rescue others', so why don't you save yourself first. It may sound selfish enough, but think about it, you may only make things worse and cause trouble if you keep trying to help something you are not capable of."
Hephaestus was somehow right. Sergio just nodded, motioning that he had understood, and was handed over the sword with a ruby red blade, carved in Greek, "Το σπαθί του ο Ήφαιστος και ο Προμηθέας, η μανία όλω", meaning "The sword of Hephaestus and Prometheus, fury of all". It was shimmering with red fire, like the fire in his heart, like the fire of glory, like the fire of the abyss. The cross-guard was in silver with tangerine patterns of fire. The grip was also ruby red, same as the blade.
He was happier than ever, while in his mind, the memories of Novillero faded away...
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Hephaestus
Type: Sword
Elements: Fire
Special Power: Fury Strike
---
Iker's Quest
(Refer to Chapter 28)
"I'm sorry," Iker announced, "I love you all. Shoot me now."
Unai's eyes filled with tears.
The knight pointed the pistol towards Iker's head before he realised he had stepped into the captain's trap. Iker had decided to follow Sergio's plan. He leapt up and did a bicycle kick towards the pistol. He didn't know when he had learnt it. He was a goalkeeper and he always thought that it was something he wouldn't do. He supposed he had learnt it from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was his teammate in his club, Real Madrid. The pistol fell onto the floor and Iker snatched it up immediately, while running towards the direction where Unai and Sergio stood.
"How dare you!" The knight grumbled and tried to chase behind the footballer. However, his heavy silver armour kept him from running.
"Wow did I just saw Cris?" Sergio said in awe.
"Calma, calma," Iker teased, "Now I have to unlock both of your handcuffs before that knight comes."
"No, you can do that later. He's coming!" Sergio protested, "Shoot the puta now!"
Iker aimed at the knight and pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced into the armour of the knight, causing a big explosion erupted.
Everything was dark, until he opened the gap of his eyelids. The entire world seemed to be turning around. Beside him there was light.
"Oh crap," he mumbled, the scene was exactly like his nightmare. He looked around for Sergio and Unai, but none of them were here. That makes no sense at all, since he just saw his brother and his best friend before encountering an explosion. Why was he in his nightmare?
"Do you remember?" The voice was familiar. The voice of light, he thought, my dream is repeating.
"Why..." Iker trembled, "Why am I enduring this?"
"Hold this sword," the voice said, "For the Heaven's vengeance of justice."
The light faded.
"Please...please don't be Sara..." Iker begged.
"Concentrate!" The voice roared, "You will recall everything soon."
"Recall what?" The Spaniard asked. There was no reply. All the light surrounded at the sword disappeared, only the sword of metal collapsing was uttered. Having stared at the sword which was lying on the floor for quite a while, Iker removed the marble white scabbard of the sword. The sword had a golden grip and a pommel shaped like lotus. The rain-guard was shaped as a dragon while the two opposite sides of the cross guard was the dragon's arms and claws; In the middle on the cross guard there was a emerald core. The blade of the sword was made with steel, and was craved in in Hebrew, "נבחר אחד, מן נקמת אש נצחית", meaning "The chosen one, from the vengeance of eternal fire".
A figure started to appear in his mind. He vaguely saw a warrior in an armour. Not like the silver knight, the warrior seemed to be kind and he was holding a sword, and under him there was a Psi (Ψ) symbol. His thoughts vanished as the core of the sword glittered. Iker somehow remembered the name of the sword, "Vengeance".
---
Weapon Profile
Name: Vengeance
Type: Sword
Elements: Light
Special Power: Lightning
A/N: So tell me what do you think of the weapons ;)