Preparing (Solo)

{OOC: Six days prior to the events taking place in the “Death and Rebirth” thread.}

James stared into the flames that dance in the fire place, the light dancing across the polished marble floor of his library. He stood in the middle of a tiled mosaic of a gothic styled compass rose each of the four points spiraling off with a different element. Five-hundred years I have guarded the blades of legend, they have not seen blood since the day I was first sealed into this body. Now they must taste a dragon’s blood once more in order to save my friends and this world from the wrath of a dragon.

James smiled as he looked at the four blades displayed in the mosaic, for about twenty feet under where he was standing their counterparts were sealed away from the world to keep their powers from influencing the world around them. Durendal the Indestructible, the blade of air points to the north; Clarent, the coward’s blade, the blade of fire points east; Joyeuse the Great, the blade of earth points to the south; while Excalibur, the king’s blade, the blade of water points to the west. These blades were all forged at the beginning of time by a power greater than any even a dragon can comprehend, never since their creation were they all four together with their powers unsheathed. Surely that amount of raw primal energy can seal the beast that lurks just beneath my conscious mind.

Flexing his claws, James took a step back and ran them around the center of the compass rose design till they found a purchase and with a grunt he lifted the massive piece out of the floor. Air hissed as it met with fresh air for the first time in a century. Tossing the heavy capstone aside James looked down at a latter that descended straight down, There is no turning back now, either way I look at it these will be needed to either reseal me or kill me. Grim thoughts crept through his mind as he hauled the four sealed cases up containing the blades and laying each case on top of the sword they represented.

Forty-five minutes later James had sealed the chamber once more and looked over the four metal cases, laughing as he did. To think, these four small swords are the prize of my hoard, not the gold or the jewels or even Abraham’s Skull.