The moment when Olive received his father's permission to keep he sword, he had already decided on what he was going to do with it.
First, he wants to learn about the sword. Not just inspecting its appearance and randomly guessing where it's from, but learn it thoroughly. And to do that, he has to go somewhere near the city's outskirts. To a place where he was able to learn about an old relic.
So the moment before the hour hand reached ten, Olive had already changed his clothes and set off from the penthouse.
The long minutes waiting in the elevator to reach down has been his usual routine every week in the past years, and today was no different. Except, instead of the car drove by Eddie — or the other drivers — he went his way to ride a public transport the moment he set foot on the parking lot.
The guard greeted him as Olive exited the parking lot, which he greeted back with a nod. Around him, pedestrians were on their way to fulfill their weekend plans the second he stepped on the sidewalk. Some were wearing suits and were entering the buildings around — even the Lockson's Tower — to do their jobs, office workers perhaps. While some were wearing their stylish clothes and entered a mall for some shopping.
Some laughed, hearing their friend's jokes. Some were eating, and some were walking with their partner, one of their hands holding on to another. The young bloods were taking pictures of their food, served from a popular restaurant in the city. There was also a long queue outside the restaurant. The sound of bustling cars filled up the atmosphere, their honking noise leaving people with a subtle frown on their faces...
Olive walked past a couple of buildings away from the Lockson's Tower, away from the mall, away from the office, and away from any of the trending stores. He took hundreds of steps before he finally saw the bus stop on the sidewalk.
With a smile, he went to the bus stop and sat down with the longsword on his lap.
The longsword on his lap was currently wrapped with a thick cloth. He was not stupid enough to walk around with a weapon on his arm, so he did his best to hide it. Scaring the bus driver and the passenger was not on his bucket list today after all.
Olive waited half an hour for the bus to arrive. When it did, he allowed others whom was sitting beside him earlier to enter the bus first. As the last person entered it, he finally took a step up the bus, paid the driver, and searched for an empty seat, which was not easy, given how full the bus was with people. He searched and searched, in the end though, no seats were found, so he just stood with his hand holding the strap.
The bus drove around the city casually. Every time it took a turn, Olive would try to suppress the pull of inertia without success. Each time the bus stopped, people would exit the bus and went on to their next destination. And each time it did, one or two new people would enter the bus.
From the city's center, the huge vehicle drove to the city's second layer, where the buildings around it grew shorter in height.
The bus drove and drove...
With that, it finally arrived at Olive's destination.
The stop button was pressed, making a sound of a chiming bell. A signal for the bus driver to make a stop.
***
...Olive watched as the figure of the bus grew smaller and smaller, further down the road it went with a neutral face. Most of the people who had stepped out with him earlier were already dozens of meters away from him.
Then, he looked left and right, hurriedly took out his cell phone from his pocket, and opened a map. There, a route was shown from where he stood which he quickly followed. The route brought him to small shops around the outskirts bringing him left and right. Having walked for a while, the route finally ended. Olive lifted up his head and was met with an ancient-looking shop in a secluded shopping district. The old paint was peeling, its color long faded.
Above, an old sign was put up, its letters barely hanging on. It says:
Neil's Antique Shop.
Since the early 21st century.
Olive hesitated for a while. Was this shabby–looking shop really the right one? Before he planned to go out, Olive had done his research to find a good antique shop, of course. It was safe to say there were a couple of them around Twilight's center, but most of it was either too untrustworthy or too crowded. So, he searched for an antique shop that was both reliable and less suffocating than the web browser could find in Twilight. And this was what the web browser showed.
'Should've expected this... Sure, I don't expect anything fancy or anything. But still.'
Olive thought of going back for a moment, what could an old antique shop like this with barely any people around do to help him after all? But for an unknown reason, he stepped in anyway.
The bell chimed as the door creaked open. Inside, Olive saw a couple of old antiques on the shelf being arranged further apart from each other. Deeper into the store he went, the more antiques Olive saw being displayed on the shelf. Once he had walked aimlessly for a while, he finally stopped to properly view what was being displayed, hoping to bump into the owner.
A symmetrical, three–pronged star with a circle at the center. Its size was no more than the size of a palm, with multiple of its kin being displayed next to each other. Most of it also consists of multiple shapes, but the three–pronged one being the majority of them. None of the colors were the same; there were a blue one, a red one, a purple one, you name it.
Reaching for one of the multiple antiques on the shelf, he studied it half–heartedly. Oddly enough, Olive found out that the three–pronged object shaped like a star, would spin the instant he either pushed or pulled it.
'A mechanical part?'
This thing was really weird. Olive had never seen anything like this being used in a mechanical–related subject. And more than that, why would the shops display a mechanical part?
'Ah... so confusing!'
Olive was still figuring out his answer when an old fragile voice suddenly called:
"Having a look there boy?"
With a jump, Olive let out an embarrassing cry:
"Waaargh!"
Bang!
Without him noticing — not that he would, even if he tried — his body accidentally hit the shelf, causing all of the antiques displayed on it to fall uncontrollably.
Olive looked at the old woman not far away from him with panic in his brown eyes. His long eyelashes hesitantly fluttered.
"S–Sorry about that, let me put this up again."
He tried to put the antiques back again, but failed miserably each time.
"Oh, no... crap! Come on... come on. Yes! Argh! This is so embarrassing..."
The old woman though, watched Olive failingly putting the antiques on the shelf with an amusing smile instead of being somewhat angry. She chuckled.
"It's okay boy. Just leave it be. Barely anyone comes here anyway, no one is going to see it even if I leave it like that."
Olive looked at the mess, feeling a bit ashamed.
"Umm... okay I guess? Sorry for the mess I caused."
The old woman laughed again.
"How many times do I have to say this, child? It's fine. That aside, what brings you here?"
Straightening his clothes, Olive answered:
"Ah, yes, I was hoping that you could take a look at this."
He showed the longsword that had been with him since, with both of his hands.
This time, without trying to arrange the stuff on the floor, Olive finally saw the old woman's appearance. She has a wrinkled face, her grey hair was tied in a ponytail, and her body was skinny and frail that Olive couldn't help but compare her to a stick. But something about the fragile old woman caught his attention that he couldn't help to explain how. After pondering it, he finally noticed it. Her eyes, it was a beautiful shade of gold. When Olive looked at it, it felt as if he was looking at a pond of shimmering gold trapped in an old woman's body.
Not just that, the old woman was... was... she was taller than him too...
'Damn it...'
The old woman studied the longsword covered in a thick cloth first, before finally taking it and putting it close to her face. Too close.
"Studied it?" The old woman said, as a curious hum escaped her mouth, her golden eyes narrowing, still looking at the sword. Her lips suddenly curved upward.
"That I can do. Because, fortunately for you, I'm very knowledgeable with relics — especially swords. Follow me."
She walked toward the counter, beckoning Olive to follow her, who shook his head but followed, nonetheless. When they arrived at the counter, she sat down behind it and opened up the cloth, revealing the jade–white sword.
She raised a brow.
"Boy, are you sure this is an antique?"
'Yeah, make sense.'
Olive had somewhat expected this kind of reaction. The sword was too good–looking to be called an antique, so this kind of reaction was to be expected from anyone. He wouldn't have believed it if people told him it was some sort of ancient relic. Except one thing...
"Yeah, that's what I had thought also. But the runes written on it were too real. I'm sure you'll understand me when you unsheathe it. Hopefully..."
The old woman's golden eyes lingered on Olive for a second, then, looking down, she unsheathed the sword.
"Oh my."
As soon as Olive heard that, a sense of excitement bloomed on both his face and heart.
"What is it? Is it really some sort of ancient sword?"
There was no response for a while. However, when she spoke, there was a strange mix of tone in her voice.
Wary? Scared? Curious? Why would she be scared and wary of it? If it were curious, he would understand.
"Just a second boy... let me take a look at it."
Shrugging, Olive let her study the sword in peace.
***
'This has taken surprisingly long.'
It felt like an eternity waiting for the old woman's answer. And Olive was bored, with only the odd three–pronged object working as his entertainment. That was when it clicked.
'How long have I held this thing without me noticing it?'
Turning toward the old woman, he asked.
"Err... can I ask you something?"
The old woman looked up from the sword after studying it for a long time.
"Go ahead."
Receiving her consent, Olive showed her the three–pronged object in his hand that was shaped like a star.
"Why would you display mechanical parts on your shelves anyway? I mean... sure, it's old and I don't see people using it, but I wouldn't go as far as calling mechanical parts an antique."
The old woman blinked. Then she did something that Olive least expected her to do. She laughed.
"Oh boy! You're so funny! A mechanical object he said!"
Then she laughed some more, leaving Olive mortified.
When it finally died down, she finally spoke:
"This is not a mechanical object child. People back then called it a fidget spinner. It was used to ease your stress and worked as a toy."
Laughing some more, she continued.
"I assumed you already know how it's done?"
Olive rubbed the back of his neck.
"By spinning it?"
The old woman nodded with a smile.
"That much was obvious, wasn't it? Anyhow, are there any questions you want to ask before I continue looking at this sword?"
Olive thought carefully. Then that was when he realized something.
"Yes, I do. I still don't know what to call you, so it would be nice if you would tell me your name... please."
The latter was added so that it would sound more like a request instead of a demand. With the hope that it would sound more respectful to be exact.
Hearing that, the old woman's eyes grew slightly.
"Wait, I haven't introduced myself yet? How silly of me! Pardon my manner boy."
She then said with a smile on her face.
"You can call me Lilith..."