*Lydia's POV*
"How about a trip to Adis?"
"Adis? That city in the desert? That isn't even in the current borders of Elias." I frowned.
Alex nodded. "You're right. But we received information that a certain weapon is located there."
"So, we're stealing a weapon then?" Sereen crossed her arms.
"Yes! The sword of light. Years ago, some gifted managed to extract parts of their gifts to seal it in certain weapons. The sword of light is one of these weapons. The sword has the ability to create light." Alex explained to us.
I frowned, wondering why we had never heard of these kinds of weapons but Anna was one step ahead. "That's so cool! Why did we stop doing that?"
Alex sighed. "At first it seemed as if nothing was wrong. But after a few years we found out that by extracting a gift from someone, even if only a small part, it takes away their life force. Almost everyone who got their gift extracted died in the next five years."
"Oh..." Anna cringed.
I sighed. "But the weapons still work? and one of them is in Adis?"
Alex nodded. "Yes. It's located in the pyramid of Adis."
Sereen's eyes widened. "We're going to rob a pyramid? Aren't those full of death traps?"
I grinned. "Sereen our life is a giant death trap. I think we can handle a pyramid."
Sereen was about to say something when Lawrence entered the room holding a bunch of maps and books. Alex smiled, "Ah there you are! Lawrence has maps of Adis and a book on the sword of light."
Lawrence nodded and laid the maps down on the table in front of us. He started explaining various routes we could take and what was known of the pyramid itself. He also spoke more about the weapons created by the gifted. I got distracted when I noticed Alex' claymore sitting besides his seat. I narrowed my eyes at it.
"Alex?"
"Yes?"
"You said almost everyone died within five years. Did they try it on you?" I looked into Alex' dark brown eyes. He glanced at his claymore and then back to me before nodding.
"My claymore is indestructible." Was his simple explanation.
"Wow..." I heard Anna as she looked at the claymore.
"Did it affect you in any way?" Sereen asked, switching her gaze between the claymore and Alex.
Alex grimaced. "I was fine for the first two years. But after those years I became paralyzed. My entire body was paralyzed for around fifty years. I was fine after that though."
I frowned. Alex' mental state isn't the best. I know he tried to kill himself many times. Being paralyzed for fifty years must have been devastating for him. Alex put his hand on my shoulder, probably sensing my worry. "I survived. It wasn't easy, but this was years before I even became the king's advisor, the kingdom was safe and so was I."
"You always survive." I muttered. Alex gave me a warm smile and I shook my head and smiled back at him, not wanting him to worry about me.
---
After getting all the information we needed and having dinner, Sereen, Anna and I went on our way. We reached Adis around 3AM. We arrived at the pyramid and used the instructions Lawrence and Alex gave us to open it. The first thing we faced was darkness.
"Uh... did anyone bring a torch?" Sereen asked and both Anna and I shook our heads.
"And we're supposed to be the top assassins of the order." I said while rolling my eyes.
"I can see perfectly fine!" Anna exclaimed as she entered the pyramid without worry.
"Wait Anna there could be traps. And not everyone has the gift of sight." Sereen said as she stopped Anna from going in further.
I grinned. "Sereen you don't have a gift at all."
Sereen glared at me. "Yet I risk my life for your sorry asses every day so shut up."
I chuckled. "Anna can you guide us through?"
Anna nodded in excitement. "Yep!"
Anna grabbed Sereen's hand and Sereen in turn held my hand. We entered the pyramid. The first part of the pyramid was a maze, and it took forever to get through since Anna has no sense of direction. When we finally got out of the maze, we entered a room with lit torches.
"Oh, thank the goddess I can see!" Sereen sighed in relief as she let go of our hands.
Sereen's relief was only for a second however, as she saw what else was in the room besides torches. There was a deep abyss below, with a couple of steps sticking out of the abyss, forming a path.
Sereen's face lost all color. "I'm not doing that."
I rolled my eyes and jumped to the other side in one leap. "It's not that bad." I grinned as I raised my arms.
"LYDIA I SWEAR TO THE GODESS YOU BETTER COME BACK FOR ME YOU KNOW I HAVE A FEAR OF HEIGHTS I'M TERRIFIED OVER HER-" Sereen continued to yell profanities at me as I rolled my eyes. Anna was making her way across the abyss.
When Sereen had finally finished yelling at me I jumped back and helped Sereen across. When we had all made it, we continued down the pyramid. We took one of the torches with us so we could see.
Eventually we reached a dead end.
"Great. What do we do now?" Sereen asked, still annoyed from the events at the cliff. I wonder if she has realized we need to go back the same way?
"Kick the wall!" Anna said with determination on her face.
I rolled my eyes and gave the wall a soft kick.
"Uh... Punch it!" Anna then suggested.
"Anna we're not breaking through a wall by punching it. We're some of the best assassins in the order please come up with something better." I said as I narrowed my eyes at Anna.
Anna looked at the wall in confusion. "What if we... shoot... it?" she said with a sheepish smile.
I rolled my eyes and Sereen sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how we got these positions in the order." Sereen said as she slapped her own forehead.
"We're cute girls!" Anna exclaimed, making Sereen slap her forehead again.
"Anna please do shut up" I spoke as I leaned against the wall.
We were silent for a while, all thinking about ways to get through the wall, before Anna spoke up.
"So... are there any guys you like in the Order?" I raised an eyebrow at her. I wasn't expecting that.
"Anna we're on a mission." Sereen said as she frowned.
"Aw... come on! There has to be someone!" Anna grinned as she looked at Sereen.
I smirked and got close to Sereen's ear. "Chris" I whispered.
Sereen blushed slightly. "N-no way! That guy is so immature. I'm not starting that. Besides, he's annoying."
"He's just trying to impress you, Sereen. Everyone knows Chris has a crush on you." My smirk never faltered.
Anna had an enormous smile on her face. "You two would be so cute together! And we need people to start dating before we all die out."
I snorted. "Anna then why don't you start looking for someone?"
"There is no one who has my interest." Anna simply raised her arms before smirking, "What about you Lydia?"
I rolled my eyes. "I have no desire for a guy in my life."
Anna grinned more. "That didn't answer my question."
"IS IT LAWRENCE?!" Sereen suddenly yelled and grinned.
"What? No! Lawrence is a good guy but he's way to stuck in his books. I don't like him like that."
"Aw man... I thought we had her." Sereen slumped against the wall in disappointment.
I rolled my eyes. "I already told you I don't want or need a man in my life. It would only be a distraction and a weakness. I can't afford either one of those right now." I explained.
Sereen rolled her eyes and Anna shook her head.
"Come on Lia! It can't be that bad. Love gives strength too. And besides, Sereen and I could be considered a weakness too if you bring it that way."
"It's different. With the two of you there are no weird hormones that affect your decision making. I love the two of you and I would do anything in my power to protect and help you but I will always make the most logical decision."
"I suppose you're right..." Sereen said looking at the ceiling. Anna nodded too.
I sighed and put my hands between my head. That's when I suddenly realized I was now sitting down against the wall that was blocking our way. When had I sat down?
I got up, thinking about how stupid it was we were wasting time on boy talk, but as I stood up my hand pushed against the wall which made it open. I fell forwards, almost falling on my face by I quickly recovered.
Sereen and Anna quickly got up as well and stared at the room in awe. We reached the heart of the pyramid it seems, as the room in front of us was filled with treasure. Gold, silver, crowns, coins, jewels. And in the middle of it all, the sword we were looking for.
"You've got to be kidding me?" I muttered not believing our boy talk helped us on our mission.
"Wow..." Sereen whispered as she made her way into the room.
"YAY! We got it!" Anna yelled as she ran up to the sword and grabbed it.
Sereen and I looked at Anna who was holding the sword with pride. She handed it to me as she was already carrying her heavy obsidian bow and I attached the sword to my waist.
"Let's go before the torches run out." Sereen stated.
I nodded but froze in place when the word torch ran through my head once more. "Wait... how did the torches get lit in the first place?"
Sereen's eyes widened as she realized. "They were already lit when we came in..."
Anna narrowed her eyes. "We're not being followed."
I agreed with Anna. "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Sereen nodded. "let's proceed with caution." Anna and I nodded in response.
Making our way back to the entrance was easy. After Sereen yelled some more about the steep abyss we had to jump across, we managed to get through the maze faster than before. Mostly because we now had a torch and Sereen and I actually know how to work with directions unlike Anna.
When we exited the pyramid, we were greeted by 20 guards or so.
"The information must have leaked somehow." I stated calmly
"I knew it was too easy." Sereen got out her knife and got into a fighting stance.
Anna grabbed an arrow from her quiver and I grabbed my bow as well.
It didn't take long before we beat the soldiers. I brought Anna up higher on the pyramid so she could back Sereen and I up from the front lines. I used a mix of shooting and just using my arrow as a knife.
When we defeated all of them, we shared some glances at each other.
"Who could have leaked the information?" Sereen asked.
I raised my arms in confusion. "I don't know. Not many knew of this mission..."
"Let's go back to Raebershire before more people come." Anna said and both Sereen and I couldn't agree more.
---
"Maybe they expected us to go for the sword." Sereen said as I gave the sword to Edith. She and Alex were both in Alex' study when we returned. We had reported to them what happened and both Edith and Alex were surprised.
"That sword has been hidden for years. I thought it had been destroyed years ago. I don't think people would remember such a thing..." Alex spoke up, he had been deep in thought.
"Maybe it was the rest of the treasure?" Anna tried.
I sighed as I thought about the ambush as well. I noticed Edith staring at me and made eye contact. She gave me a warm smile and I rolled my eyes as I already knew what she was going to say.
"It's not your fault Lydia. No need to blame yourself."
I hate it when you read me Edith.
Edith chuckled, clearly having heard me.
"I could have realized as soon as I saw the lit torches. I didn't."
Sereen grabbed my shoulder. "No one got hurt Lia, it's fine."
I sighed. "whatever, I'm going to bed." And without listening for a response I was out of the room.