Chapter 25 – A Broken Weapon

Calron abruptly stopped moving.

This was the first time after his awakening that he felt the presence of the locket again. He thought that it had merged completely into his body, but at this moment he could feel that the locket was still there, lodged firmly on top of his ribs.

He felt faint tremors radiating from it, and was completely lost on what the movement of the locket meant. It was not painful, but it certainly felt strange to have something unknown vibrate inside his body.

Not knowing what else to do, Calron started walking back towards the meat shop where Fatty was.

The further he went, the fainter the tremors became, until they completely disappeared. Feeling as if the locket was trying to tell him something, Calron stopped walking towards the meat shop and instead returned to the place where the tremors initially started.

The tremors once again returned and steadily increased as Calron moved forwards. He used the intensity of the tremors to guide his path, changing his direction when the tremors slowed or moving forward when they increased.

After five minutes of sweating and running around, Calron finally reached the place where the tremors felt as if the locket would soon pop out from his body. Throughout the entire journey, Calron had been running everywhere like a lunatic, going in one direction for a while and a second later, abruptly changing his path again. The people watching Calron thought he was possessed and silently moved away as soon as Calron ran towards their direction.

Panting and out of breath, Calron looked at the shop in front of him.

It was a broken-down and miserable looking place. Calling it a shop was too generous, as it seemed more like a shack than an actual store. Looking around him, Calron saw that he was back near the outskirts of the marketplace, where he had first seen that sweaty man roasting lizards.

Most of the shops here seemed like they had seen better days, but the one in front of Calron was the worst by a large margin! Seeing as he had no choice but to enter, Calron anxiously stepped into the store.

*Cough*

A cloud of dust erupted as soon as Calron stepped inside, evoking a series of coughs.

“Who are you, boy?”

A rasp voice of an elderly woman sounded in the empty store.

“Um, I’m Calron. I just came here to look around.”

Calron hesitantly replied back. He was not sure if the store was open for customers or not.

“Kekeke, look around to your heart’s content, child, but I doubt you’ll find anything of worth. The guards already took away every precious thing I had.”

The woman said in a forlorn voice as she walked towards Calron.

Hearing the click clack sound of a stick against the floor, Calron looked around until he finally saw an elderly woman approaching him from the side.

Her back was hunched as she rested her body’s weight onto the thin wooden staff. It was surprising that the thin stick did not bend in the slightest.

A pair of dull brown eyes stared at Calron, observing his face and clothes.

“There are only some broken swords and other defective weapons left. My husband was a talented blacksmith when he was alive, but those bastards even took away his blacksmithing tools!”

The old woman wistfully voiced to Calron.

Facing the emotionally wrecked woman, Calron felt sympathy in his heart. This woman was already aged, and who knew how long she had left to live, but even in those last few moments of life, she had nothing but anguish and pain.

“Grandma, is there anything I could do for you?”

Calron inquired while gently looking at the elderly woman.

“Child, you are not even ten years old, what could you possibly help me with? My only wish is for that cursed city Lord to die the most miserable death!”

The old woman furiously rasped. However, after seeing the dejected look on Calron’s face, she added softly.

“However, this place could use a good cleanup before I close its doors. Child, these old bones don’t have the same energy they once used to, would you help this grandma out?”

“Yes! Just leave it to me, grandma!”

Seeing the spirited boy in front of her, even the old lady could not help but crack a smile.

“There should be a broom and some other tools back there, so go knock yourself out!”

The elderly woman cackled while staggering towards a nearby chair.

Meanwhile, Calron rushed to the back to retrieve the broom. The tremors had returned to soft vibrations, but Calron had a feeling that what the locket wanted him to find was definitely inside this shop.

Grabbing the broom, Calron immediately set to work. He swept around the place with the energy only an eight year old would have! Seeing him madly sweep back and forth, the old woman would occasionally burst into a fit of chuckles.

As Calron was sweeping, he was paying close attention to the changes in his locket. That was the reason he intently swept every nook and cranny of the place.

Just as he moved to the back corner of the shop, he suddenly felt the locket wildly shaking!

His heartbeat started to rapidly accelerate with anticipation.

As Calron’s eyes surveyed the area, the only items he could find were pieces of broken equipment and weapons. There were several discarded swords with bent or fractured blades, while the rest varied from incomplete axes to broken bows.

Calron felt his spirits suddenly doused with water. He thought that he would find an extraordinary object that was hidden, something that even the guards had failed to see, but he did not expect to see an assortment of rejected weapons, things that even a beggar would not look twice at.

Noticing that Calron had stopped moving, the old widow looked over and saw that he was just staring at the broken pieces of weapons.

“Those were the failed works of my husband and some other stuff he found when he was a young travelling blacksmith. You can take them all if you want, I was going to throw them out anyways.”

The aged woman indifferently said while returning back to her seat.

Who would want this trash? I thought there would be something good here… could it be that the locket meant something else? No, but I definitely sensed that it wanted me to come here. Why doesn’t it respond now?

Calron’s mind unceasingly reflected on these thoughts.

“Kid, I’ll get you something to drink. It’s already been an hour since you started and you must be thirsty by now. Just finish up the back and you can take some rest. It’s not like anyone will come here anyways.”

The old woman’s hoarse voice rasped behind Calron.

Muttering a simple acknowledgement, Calron’s gaze remained fixed at the scene in front of him.

Out of utter desperation, he started touching all the weapons to see if the locket responded in any way. He started with the spears, or what remained of the spears, and felt around for any hidden mechanisms.

Slightly exasperated with no real results, Calron moved on to the next spear.

……………

After a few minutes, Calron had reached the pile of broken swords and he still hadn’t received a response from the locket. Growling in frustration, Calron flung the broken sword he was holding to the ground.

“Ouch!”

Calron yelped after feeling a sting on his finger. The sharp edge of the broken blade nicked him.

A globule of blood formed at the tip of his forefinger, and Calron placed the finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding.

“Damn this stupid sword!”

As he bent forwards to grasp the pommel of the sword, Calron felt an urge to look at the object next to the blade.

It was a simple recurve bow with slightly sharp ends. It had a snapped bowstring, so it essentially looked like a curved stick with two dangling strings. The body of the bow appeared to be made of metal, and covered with small scratches and nicks. Its body was covered with rust and it seemed more like a discarded piece of metal than an actual bow.

Slightly confused as to why a bow would be made of metal instead of wood, Calron picked it up.

*Crackle*

Torrents of Azure Lightning rushed from Calron’s body and wildly fluctuated around the room.

This was the first time the Azure Lightning had erupted with such intensity.

The lightning ricocheted into the surrounding weapons, as a small thunderous explosion burst from each of them until only ashes remained in their place.

Calron was watching this whole scene with a stunned expression. He had no control over the Azure Lightning, as it currently seemed to have a will of its own.

At last, all the lightning gathered and formed into a single sinuous body of bolts that spiraled around Calron like a large electric azure snake! The lightning had actually taken a form!

Feeling the sudden heat from the center of his chest, Calron knew that the locket had awoken once again, and the sound of thunder filled the room.