Insignia Chapter 6: Captain Phillips Part 2

The room was dark except for a single lantern placed in the center of the table. The woman removed her hood to reveal a shockingly​ beautiful face that seemed young and filled with like. She had jet black hair that was was straight as it could get and gave the appearance of silk. It shone in that lantern light making her hair appear even more elegant. She had a long nose but it was to point or big and very pronounced cheek bones, and a gentle jaw line that led to a slight pointed chin. She resembled no human I had ever seen. Then she ran her fingers through her hair bringing​ it straight back and it revealed the pointed tips of little ears. She wasn't a human. She was an elf! I only knew that because my encyclopedia of a brain through the information forward.
"You're an elf..?" I asked her.
"Ah, so you know of my race." She said smiling putting her hair in a ponytail. I just nodded my head.
"Very well. Give me your hands."
"What for?" I questioned.
"I'm going to tell your future of course." She said like I should've know. "You know every great hero in history had some kind of telling as to what his future would hold. Whether it was a classic fortune telling​ such as this or a sign from the heavens."
"Are you saying I'll be a great hero?" I asked becoming more interested.
"No, I'm saying if you are to become a hero you'll need your fortune told. Now give me your hands." So I did and she grabbed them with her long nimble fingers. She rubbed her finger tips up and down my palms and fingers with her eyes closed. Then she made a "hmm" sound and opened her eyes.
"Stand." She commanded. I did and then she stood walked up to me and looked me up and down. She stood a little shorter than me. The without any warning she grabbed my face and kissed me hard. I couldn't help but kiss back. She pulled away and with a tear in her eye she said "a kiss from an elf for good luck. May it serve you well." Then she shooed me out of the room and was walking me to the door.
"What of my fortune? What did you see?" I asked her worried​.
"Some things are better left untold." Then she turned me toward her, put a finger over my heart and said this will be your greatest ally, but also your worst enemy. Guard it well Gael. Now go. Delilah is waiting on you." With that she pushed me out the door. Delilah was standing there blank expression staring into the unresting sea of people.
"Woah." Was all she said.
"Yeah." I replied contemplating what the elf meant by what she told me. Greatest ally and worst enemy. Then I put my hand over my heart. Delilah turned to look at me. Her eyes said something they never had before, but what I couldn't tell. Whatever that woman told her made her see me differently. I couldn't tell whether it was in a good or bad way though.
"What is it?" She said putting her hand on top of mine.
"She said something.. and then she kissed me.." I said looking off toward the gatewall. I could sense Delilah burning into me with her stare and she slowly pulled her hand away.
"Well then. I'm glad you had fun." Then she walked off quickly into the crowd. What was that about? I glanced behind me before I went searching for an inn. The door. It had vanished. Along with the sign. All that remained was a gray bricks wall. What the... Was all that real? It felt real. The kiss, the smell of dust, and the baubles all seemed as real as you could get, and I knew I wasn't dreaming. Delilah was there to so it must've been real. Ill have to talk to her about this. But first I gotta get some sleep. I took off in search of an inn or anything and I often found my self at market stalls looking at the massive variety of wares. I looked at things from exotic cuts of fish that if not cut perfectly to the inch it would kill you as soon as you ate it to a sword at a stall that was said to be able to cut through any other sword. The man was demonstrating cutting through swords and he spotted me.
"Hey there young fellow, yeah you with the two swords. Would you try your blade against mine? I'll make you a wager. If your sword doesn't break in two hits. You can take your pick of any in my collection. Each sword is guaranteed to be made of the purest steel and holded for days before even being forged! So what say you? Will you take my wager?"
"No thank you sir. My late father made me this sword. I'd rather not have it broken."
"Sir, if your sword breaks I'll personally repair it as I'm the one who crafted all these. And even if it breaks first swing I'll still let you choose a sword." That caught my interest. I was confident of father's work. There's no way this man could match Father's steel in only two blows and a new sword would be nice.
"Very well then." I said unsheathing the sword and handing it to the man. The man handled the sword with such care you thought it would've been a baby. He examined the sword and said "people people. This here be the finest sword Ive ever seen, but I assure you my own blades are second to none!" Then he placed the blade on a stand of wooden blocks. One at the hilt and on at the tip of the blade. Then he turned around to his stall grabbed a blade and unsheathed it. The blade was equal length as my hand and a half sword in every aspect the swords were similar. Except for the blades. My swords was double edged and straight. The man's blade was single edged and curved giving it the look of a snakes fang. The man called the blade a katana. The word itself sounded peculiar. Then the man took the blade in two hands bent his legs and held it to his right side. The point if the blade pointing straight up. Then he turned his hands moved them above his head. The blade becoming horizontal. With a "HIYA" he brought the blade down in a diagonal cut so fast a barely saw the blade through the swing.
CLANG
My sword fell in half between the wood blocks. My eyes widened with surprise. Then the man began to speak.
"See people not even this young man's fine sword can match my elegant blades." Then people rushed around me looking to buy the man's blades. I just stared at the ground mourning the loss of father's sword. After the crowd died down and it was getting closer to dark the man came up to me and said.
"A deals a deal remember. Come take your pick." He motioned toward his stall. I grabbed each and every blade on his stall and felt it in my hands, but they all felt off either in weight or hilt. I just shook my head saddened. I began to walk of and the man said " Wait hold on. I have one more." He pulled a blade from under the counter of his stall. " This blade.. one day something came over me as I was working the forge. I began to craft something without knowing what I was crafting or what for. I spend five years going on like this feeling as if some divine power was controlling me. I tended the metal for four of the years. Folding the metal more times than I could even count. Then I spent an entire year shaping the metal. Blisters formed upon my hands and bled and bled but I couldn't stop. Then one day I just stopped, and I realized why. It was complete. It came out perfect and because of the blood the poured into the molten metal the steel took on the color of crimson. And this is the result." The man unsheathed the blade from it's bamboo scabbard and revealed a blade so elegant so sharp it could've been used to cut a boulder in half with a single cut. Then the man lifted the blade and handed it to me. Just as he said the blade was dark crimson and a single silver edge ran s long the end. I held it for a moment. It felt perfect everything about the blade was perfect. The man noticed I took a liking to it and said.
"Her name is Chang'e. After the moon her self." Then he pointed to silver lettering on the blade. "This say Chang'e in my native tongue."
I sat examining the lettering then a sense of guild started to grow inside me. "I can't take this, you poured so much time into it. It would be wrong for me to take it from you." The man just shook his head.
"No, when I finished the blade. I was spoken to in a dream. The voice said to me 'The blade I've helped you create is meant for greater things. Things that will have yet to come. In another five years from now. You will go to Port Zaran. There you will sell your swords. Except. For the one I've helped you create. Then a young mind with a fine longsword will arrive at your stall. Bestow upon him Chang'e. For it will be with that blade he saves us all from certain Doom.' so here I am. Bestowing upon you the blade I've spent ten years crafting and looking after. I'm truly glad the day has finally come."
Two fortunes in one day. We this has turned out to be an eventful day. I looked at the man and a question pooped in my head. "It's not all about the sword is it?"
"Huh?" He replied
"When you cut my sword in half like it was butter. It's not just the sword is it. It also had to do with that stance and type of cut you used. It works in part because if the elegant sword but the cut has to be elegant as well correct?"
A smile touched the man's face.
"Figured it out so easily did you? Well yes you are correct. I was also told by the god or whatever possessed me into making that blade. That I was to transfer everything I knew about using the katana into a book in the common language. I finished said book. Only last month." He tossed me a thin paper back book. " It makes me proud to have had some part in the times to come." Then while I was looking down at the book he disappeared into the crowd along with father's sword and for some reason I couldn't remember what he looked like only thing I could remember was his voice. It's a shame about father's sword. Now I only have one of his swords left. I'll have to take good care of it. I fashioned the katana to my left hip and went back to my search for an inn.