“Once, long ago, there was a warrior. Cearbhall Máire. He was strong and ferocious, destined for greatness. His ultimate task: end the life of the evil warlord AAAAA, a task that he carried with pride. He was so certain he would be the victor in their eventual battle, reckless. He was not ready, and armed with the “Star-crossed Blade” he rushed into the fight. He won, despite this, but only barely. He knew this would not be the end of AAAAA, and he swore on his dying breath that so long as his name lived, so too would the destiny of destroying AAAAA once and for all.

Maybe it does sound silly, but over the years, people evolved, and so too did his name. Even so, there it stayed. Unfortunately, so too did AAAAA. It was only a matter of time before AAAAA resurrected, and swore to exact his plans once and for all. Due to the progression of the modern world, it may even be easier for him than before. It’s left to Cearbhall Máire’s last living descendant to stop him. Finlay, it is up to you, and ‘Star-crossed Blade’ to put an end to AAAAA and his minions.” He finally ended the tale. The dark eyes of his dared a glance toward me.

“... You’re right. That sounds silly. Absolutely and completely utterly ridiculous.” I answered, roving the story over in my head. Briar seemed to deflate a bit by my rejection.

“Ridiculous as it might be,” I suddenly felt a hand clap against my shoulder, startling me. “It’s your life now. We need to prepare you soon as possible so that way you don’t die and then we all die.” The woman returned.

“What? No- no.” I crossed my arms and waved them in front of me, no-how-no-way style.

“I can’t fight-”

“-Obviously-”

“-And I’m comfortable living my life normally just the way it is, thank you. I don’t want any part of your… Fever dream you’re living.” I stood, shouldering my bag that I was surprised I hadn’t ditched yet. Camilla, hellbent on continuing her harassment it seemed, didn’t release my shoulder, and pulled me backwards into her.

“You won’t be living your life at all if you keep saying no.” She practically hissed, and I jerked my shoulder out of her grip.

“You told me I could decide if I came. I did. I can leave if I want.” I turned to face her directly, sure now that if she was serious about her crazy story that she wouldn’t actually hurt me since she’d apparently need me alive for evil warlord murdering. She relented with a grunt and a glare toward the wall.

“Finlay- at least if we can’t convince you, allow us to try another way? There might just be someone who might be able to prove this.” Briar stood from his seat as well, and began walking toward the door. Camilla put her hand on my shoulder again, pushing me toward where he went. I removed myself from her reach again.

“Would you- stop grabbing me! I’m going!” I snapped at her, she lifted an eyebrow and raised her hands in mock surrender. I huffed, and followed after the old man.

“Now, I know I just banned you from this room, but that was before I knew just what was going on here.” He said as he began opening the door with that soft glow inside again. “If you were to agree, you would stay here while you trained.”

“Joy.” I said dryly. Briar walked toward the display case while we followed him into the room. “I thought we were going to meet someone.”

“We are. One moment Finlay.” Briar worked at unlocking the display case. Finally removing the object inside. He turned, holding a large pointy fork thing with a few ribbons tied to the end.

“This… Is the Hilt of the Star-crossed Wrath. Take it, please.” He held it out to me, and stayed there until I accepted it from his grasp. It was kind of heavier than I expected. I looked at it, it was angular, and furlined on the handle. There was a glowy bit at the top that seemed to be coming from nowhere, and a gemstone in the center.

“Pretty. This is a hilt? I thought it was like a weird, giant-fork-thing, at first.” I turned it over in my hand this way and that. Looking at it. I was musing over where the source of light was coming from between the two prongs when suddenly an unfamiliar voice began to shout.

“Did you just call me a fucking fork?!”

I froze. I continued holding onto that-thing-for one second too long before I realized where the voice came from and I panicked, the hilt flung from my hand and onto the ground a few feet away as I took several steps back.

“Hey! Watch it!” It continued shouting as it clattered onto the floor.

“No. No. No. That did not just happen.” I pointed at the offending object, “That’s not real.”

“What? Did it speak to you?” Briar went back to retrieve the dropped hilt. When he looked back up it was with wide, excited eyes.

“Did it sp- yes it spoke to me it yelled at me for calling it a fork.” I complained, taking another step back when Briar approached, holding it out again.

“Finlay, this is good! It means you truly are, without a doubt, the one to wield it and defeat the warlord AAAAA!”

“No, no. I’m not taking it. I’m not a part of this. There’s going to be no warlord fighting for me. I’m going home. I’m going to continue being normal without playing any sort of part in some stupid ancient prophecy with a talking sword. That’s it! That’s final!” I turned around, bumping into Camilla on the way, who was reaching for something nearby. I gave her one last glare before shouldering passed her and out the door. My backpack slapped against the doorframe in my rush to leave.

“Finlay- wait!”

“Let him go. He’ll be back.” The woman sounded confident.

“I can hear you! No! I won’t! I’m not coming back!” I kept storming off, further enraged by them talking about me. I unlocked the staff only door, and stomped out into the cold. The snow had picked up, and was drifting into the alleyways more than it had earlier. The night was quiet, it must have been really late. I sighed, and walked out into the street nearby. I needed to use my chilly hands to look up the closest route home-careful to avoid alleyways this time.

I began to run after a point, I didn’t want to show up so late that my mother worried. My mind flashed back to Briar saying my mother might not have told me even if she knew. Was that true? Did she know about this? I couldn’t let myself dwell on it too long. I didn't want to dwell on it too long. Finally I made it outside my apartment building, no more incidents from modern gladiators or creepy stalkers- “AAAAA’s minions”, my mind supplied. I made my way up to our floor, and to our apartment. The door was locked so I had to use my key, I was hoping it was quiet enough to not alert anyone.

“Finlay?” Someone called from within the apartment, it sounded like mom. I winced.

“Yeah, I’m home.” I shut and locked the door, and walked through the apartment to find her sitting on the couch, her arm was propped up so she could look over the back better. The TV was flashing images on mute, and my mother looked tired.

“What kept you? You didn’t come home at the usual time.” I had to walk past her to get to my room, on my way I leant down to give her a kiss on the forehead.

“Sorry, bus broke down, I didn’t have good service. I didn’t mind the walk.” I lied, I didn’t want her to know about the day I’d had.

“Oh, I wish you’d be careful. It’s cold out there, you’ve turned all pink.” She followed me with those sad eyes of hers as I made it to the hall.

“Yeah. I’ll take better care tomorrow.” I stopped by the wall, debating whether to ask. “Ah, mom? What happened to dad? Who was he?”

She looked surprised by the question, and hesitant. Suddenly I decided it best not to ask. It doesn’t matter, I want no part in whatever he was about.

“Never mind, sorry. Just a random thought. Don’t worry about it. Goodnight mom, try to sleep well.” I walked on, hearing her quiet ‘goodnight’ as I shut the door behind me in my room. I sighed, exhausted from such a chaotic day. I dropped my backpack, my hat and scarf, my coat, all of which I’d normally put away where they go. I sat at the edge of my bed to pull my boots from my feet, bending reminded me of all the places I’d been hurt during the day, and I groaned before flopping backwards into bed. I only just remembered to plug my phone into it’s charger, and I closed my eyes and fell asleep to a soft glow reflecting on the ceiling of my room.