The Red Sword by Kevin Diep (black female authors .txt) 📕

His hands shook, still pressed onto Kam’s back.

“No…..” Dor’s eyes widened in grief. Kam and Dor had been so close since Dor found Kam. Losing Kam was just like losing an arm or a leg for Dor. Tears began streaming down Dor’s face as he pressed it against Kam’s cold wooly body. Dor’s father sat there, mouth open, not knowing what to do. He took a deep breath, then murmured quietly.

“It’s all my fault.” Face red with guilt, Dor’s father padded towards the goat, grabbed a small blanket, and laid it on the goat’s body. Dor made out the shape of the goat, now concealed inside the blanket. The goat looked surprisingly small, it’s ribs poking out like needles from a ball of knit.

Kam has a dimension of a square-shape. If you were to smelt it, it would- DOr shook himself back to reality. What was he doing? Was he going nuts?

Dor’s father carried Kam away, setting it down on the lush green grass. He lowered his head, then walked back towards Dor. His eyes were filled with sorrow. Suddenly, a question struck Dor’s mind like lightning.

Who or what wounded Kam? Suddenly, anger starting rising in his body. Who would dare hurt Kam? Dor gritted his teeth, anger flaring in his eyes so ever intensely. His anger calmed down, when Dor’s father faced him.

“I have a new task for you.” Dor can hear the grief in his father’s voice, making a sound of utter sadness. “I need you to make an iron cybersuit for a friend of mine. He’d requested for it a long time ago.” Dor’s father tried the best he could to try to sound normal. But he was lacking some skill. Dor’s mind raced furiously. He began going over the materials needed to make the armor.

About 16 iron ingots to created the armor chestplate, add the technological plate inside the chestplate. Increase fire power to maximum, then decrease after five minutes. Use a hammer to mend it to the right spot, with the hammer in a 60 degree angle. Make the armor into a giant rectangle…

Almost at once, Dor rushed towards the smelting table, and began working. His hands reached for Iron ingots, and unbelievably got five. Then, he dropped the ingots into a pot and began melting the precious, silver metal. Multitasking, he began grabbing leather out of a cubbyhole that had the words imprinted on it. Grabbing the pot, he started shaping the iron into a chestplate. He grabbed the leather and glued it onto the chestplate, making a design. Making the last changes to the armor, he completed a what was supposed to be a 6-hour long smelt into a 2-hour one. Smiling proudly and brightly, he brought the armor to his father. His father nodded and went outside.

“I will be going to deliver this to my friend.” After that, Dor’s father padded off, an essence of eerie coldness followed by. Dor sighed. He felt an awkward feeling the pit in his stomach. It was an evil, despicable feeling, pricking up his mind like cold, venomous fingers. Dor sent a shiver down his spine, and jumped when a voice yelled in his ear.

“Hi Dor!” Dor spun around, almost staggering down his floor. A girl smiled brightly at Dor, eyeing him like a kitten. The girl’s hair flowed down her shoulders, making it seem cute and pretty. Her eyes were the colour of hazelnuts, shining a deep orange in the sunlight. It was Anna.

Dor and Anna met when they were just little kids. Dor and Anna had always been very close ever since, as she had always helped Dor smelt and create items. Dor was always grateful for her. A really strange feeling always puffed up in his body when Anna was around. He knew that he liked her alot.

“So, why are you here?” Dor asked her, Anna still having her smile on.

“I just came here to check if you needed help on anything.” Anna scanned her eyes across the little room Dor was in.

“Not anymore.” Dor shuffled back to the crafting table and began fiddling with some metals. The metal he was holding on was pure platinum. Carving it carefully, he was slightly disturbed by his concentration, not knowing that Anna had leaned by his side.

“You’re working harder than before.” Anna said. She watched carefully as Dor began making the block of platinum into a small, mini sword. He swung it in the air,then setting it back down onto the rusty, ancient table.

“There is nothing I can do here.” Dor’s eyes settled onto a picture hung on the wall. His eyes focused on it and on the picture was the image of his mother, a lady who’s passed away a long time ago. So long it felt like centuries ago. Dor’s mother was a really caring lady. Dor had the distinct memory of her sitting on a rocking chair with Dor sleeping on her knee. She sang a soothing lullaby that always seemed to lull Dor to sleep. At that time, life to Dor was happy. It seemed almost impossible to think that Dor had enjoyed his life back then, since he was in a disastrous hell right now.

“Hey! I have an idea!” Anna snapped Dor out of his thoughts. “Why don’t we go outside and see what we can do?” Dor simply nodded at her. Anna slipped right out of the room and flew into the crisp, fresh air and lush, green grass. Dor walked slowly outside, shielding his eyes with his hands from the harsh sunlight. Anna laughed playfully, then stopped short as she came across a tree. Dor followed her to where she stood, and gazed admiringly at the giant colossus tree. The tree was huge. It’s branches stretched out like fingers with a few dozen leaves dangling from each branch.

“That is the biggest tree I’ve ever seen in my life!” Anna’s eyes were huge with surprise. Dor couldn’t help but agree with her. The tree was enormous, stretching endlessly through the sky.

“I dare you to climb it.” Anna nudged Dor on the arm, and Dor flashed an awkward look at her.

“Are you crazy?” Dor exclaimed, then softened as he saw a blistered pain in Anna’s eyes. Sighing, he began to prepare himself. Finding a piece of bark he can cling onto, Dor thrusted himself onto the alpha tree. His arms thrashed around, trying to find a grip and fortunately came upon one. As Dor got his balance, he began climbing the tree. One limb at a time, he felt a surge of energy flowing in his body. On the ground, Dor heard Anna’s encouraging cheers, bringing a strange, warm feeling in the pits of his stomach. Finally, after what had seems like hours, Dor settled onto a branch. He gazed upwards, thousands upon thousands of branches were piercing out of the Tree’s trunk like swords. Back on the ground, Anna clapped her hands proudly.

“Way to go, Dor!” A smile crept around Dor’s mouth from Anna’s compliment. Resting his hands around his head, Dor laid on the branch and began to sit there, rested. Gazing at the sky, a cloud swirled gently into the air. Smaller clouds were at the back of the cloud, trailing it as if it was their mother. Then, as if all at once, the clouds disappeared, leaving trails of tiny fragments behind. A sharp thunder erupted through the air, as Dor began making out a picture of a woman from the fragments of the cloud. As Dor squinted, he saw who the woman was. It was his mother. Almost falling from where he rested, An ice cold sensation spreaded like a virus through his body. His eyes were wide with disbelief as he gazed at the long-forgotten mother of his. The image of his mother seemed to glare down at Dor. Her eyes were blazing with fury. Her essence clung the air like the smoke of defeat. Dreadful thoughts began flooding Dor’s mind at once.

Why is my mother here? Why does she look mad at me? Is she a ghost? Those thoughts drained away as the figure of Dor’s mother began vanishing. Dor laid where he was, his mouth opened to an unanswered thought.

“Dor!” Dor somehow did not notice Anna sitting next to him. She was shaking his hand, her eyes crammed with worry. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Dor shook Anna’s hand off and ignored the sharp pain that flashed in Anna’s eyes. Taking each step carefully, Dor climbed off the tree and dashed back to his house and into his room. He laid in his bed and tossed his blankets aside. A disturbing, anonymous feeling raked his stomach. Darkness engulfed him, as Dor felt a worm of eerie bite it’s way through his stomach.  He missed his mother. Alot. Tears rolled down his eyes at first, then streamed down. A deep sorrow formed in his stomach, as strong as steel, exerting pressure into Dor’s body. Dor closed his eyes. Why did his life have to be such a disaster? Sighing, he forced himself to sleep. He ignored the door opening from his bedroom and ignored the fact that Anna might be eyeing him sadly. The essence in the air was so strong it made Dor feel uneasy. As Dor felt Anna sigh and pad out of his room, Dor began to calm down. Not because of Anna, but because of a warm soothing feeling that suddenly came upon him. A warm, yet isolated voice whispered into his ear, making Dor drift off to sleep. As Dor slept, these strong words rang into his ear and then, slowly, vanished into thin air.

“Sleep, Dor. Sleep.”

3

“What are you doing!?”

Gordons cry striked the air like wildfire, as Irelia winced at the harshness of his thundering voice. On the other side of the practice mat was Runt. His sword fell out of his hands and his eyes bulged in terror. Irelia couldn’t help but feel a need to help Runt. Rute was treating her carefully and Irelia could’ve sworn Gordon almost sliced Runt with his sword. Runt was trembling, as he picked up his sword and began parrying Gordon. Almost instantly, Gordon knocked the sword out of his hand again, making it fly out of the mat. Gordons glare sent Runt writhing down from where he stood. Anger pierced in Gordon’s eyes, as it shone down at Runt.

“What is wrong with you?” Gordon kicked the side of Runt, a disturbing sound followed by. Irelia closed her eyes. Runt probably had broke two or three bones, but what mattered most was how Gordon was mentoring. There was evil that gleamed in Gordons eyes, and Irelia sensed a dreadful tension rising from Runt’s body.

“Irelia?” Rute blinked Irelia out of her thoughts. Irelia tried hard to ignore the despicable yelps of Gordon. A fire of guilt flickered in Irelia’s stomach.

I should be paying attention to Rute right now. Irelia thought, though she glanced worriedly at Runt, who picked up his sword weakly, fear trembling his body.

*                                                           *                                                         *

The rest of Irelia’s day was a dark cloud of depression. Irelia’s overall standing for her training was skyrocketing, yet there was a piercing pain of sadness in the cores of her stomach.