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My stomach grumbled at the mere thought. I nodded in agreement, wondered again if the sword could see me nod, but there was only silence after that, so I just kept on walking.
“The name’s Dustin, by the way. You can call me Dust.”
“Vanitas,” the sword said after a brief pause, as if it was trying to remember. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Huh. I thought you’d have a cooler name somehow. Something like, I dunno – Endbringer.”
The sword sighed. “We’re only just starting to get along. Maybe try to work with me here, be a little less of a twit.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”
There was a pause. “I understand you’re new at your work.”
“Yes. Wait. You mean you’ve been listening in this whole time?”
“From the warehouse? Yes. How do you like your new colleagues?”
“Good people,” I said. “Prudence is super cool. Bastion’s a pain. I’m not sure why he doesn’t like me. But I still have to admit, he’s not a terrible person. Not completely.”
The sword shifted against my chest. It could move too? Huh. Had it done that before? I recognized, instinctively, that it was nodding.
“And your work,” Vanitas continued. “Retrieving artifacts like myself, is it? Do you enjoy what you do?”
“So far? Yeah. I do. I’ve been kind of aimless for a long time, you know? Never was sure what I would want to do for a living. Lots of things I can do passably well, but nothing really held my interest.” I was gesticulating with my free hand, I realized. This was exciting to talk about. I really did like what I was doing. “But this? I have to think on my feet. There’s so much that’s interesting here that spreading myself across so many skill sets isn’t a disadvantage anymore. It’s like this is something I finally like doing.” After a brief pause, I rushed to finish in a single breath. “Also I get to break into places and steal stuff without getting into trouble.”
I broke to consider everything I’d said, aware that it was all true. Was Vanitas just easy to talk to? Was an enchanted sword really acting as my therapist? Hell. Was I making a new friend? So much to process.
Again, Vanitas just shifted against my chest. I took his silence to mean that I could keep talking.
“You know the best thing about this? I can finally go to my father and make him proud of something, for once.” The acknowledgment that I couldn’t do exactly that just yet didn’t take the wind out of my sails. “Things are complicated right now, but I’ll get to do it soon. I just – I just feel like things are going to be better.”
“I’m glad for you,” Vanitas said. “It sounds like you love him very much.”
“I do. He’s all I have since my mom – well, let’s not get into that.” I hefted the sword closer to me, peering at its jewels, gleaming crimson in the lamplight. “You know, you’re really easy to talk to.”
“Oh? Perhaps I’m a good listener.”
“Guess you are. But what about you? I’m curious. Tell me about yourself.”
“Well, as you know, I’m enchanted. Been around for a while now, I’ll have you know.”
“There’s definitely something ancient about you.” I gawped for a second, then quickly followed through. “I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s just, you feel – historic, somehow.”
I didn’t know enough about weaponry or heraldry to have placed anything about Vanitas’s origins, if I’m honest. There was something almost haphazard about his structure, how certain parts didn’t really fit aesthetically. The leather straps close to the pommel looked relatively new compared to the age of the ornate design of his hilt, which was cast, it seemed, to resemble a kind of monstrous creature. A kraken, or something similar. Even his jewels looked newer, so much shinier com
pared to the rest of him.
“No offense taken. I’ve been passed through many hands, that’s for certain.”
My mouth hung open in spite of myself. “Warriors? Knights? Like a whole lineage of them?”
“Not as such. I’ve been owned by those who couldn’t wield or fight with me as well.” Something about the blinking of Vanitas’s jewels felt smug, somehow, when he spoke again. “I don’t just speak, after all.”
“What else can you do, then?”
“Maybe we’ll discuss that later. I suggest you deal with the men who’ve been following you first.”
Chapter 14
