Shadows and echoes Pt. 1

Dave slowly opened his eyes as the alarm clock rang. It was 4:30 AM, and the sunlight was barely starting to show.
"Er... why do you wake up so early anyways?" said a feminine voice besides him.
"It's... it's too complicated to explain..." he said, "but wait, who the hell are you?"
"Hell I knew you drank a lot, but to forget everything that happenned..."
He sighed heavily, slowly stood up and walked towards the bathroom.
"Do you want me to explain what happenned?" said the unknown lady, putting on what she had left of her clothes.
He stopped by the mirror, looked at that messy long hair of his and didn't even try to replace it. He liked
the look it gave him, and it also helped hiding that big scar on his forehead.
"Honestly, I'd prefer not to know... I'm sure I did something terrible..."
He heard footsteps besides him.
"I thought I had locked that door" he thought to himself.
"You didn't even close it" said a voice much more high-pitched than that of the girl he woke up with.
"mayb- wait, what?" He turned around, but the room was empty.
"argh... it's happenning again... gotta take them pills or else I'm gonna end up turning nuts."
"Wait, just -what- is happenning again?"
"nevermind... I think you'd better leave now... I... wouldn't want you to feel bad because of me"
"But why would I? you saved my life twice last night!"
"yeah maybe I did... wait, I -saved- you?"
She bowed slightly and looked at him
"yes, twice. and I could never thank you enough for that"
"Then, if I did save you, maybe you could help me settle a few things" He was suddenly feeling like there was a
way out of the hell he's been through all his life.
"I'll gladly give you all the help that I possibly can give you. But I'd want you to explain one thing to me first."
He looked her in the eyes and didn't even answer.
"So will you tell me or not?"
"well I'd tell you if I knew -what- you wanted to know..."
"yeah... well... why is your place so messy? and why are there swords lying everywhere?"
"well, my place is messy because I don't care about cleaning it."
"and...?"
"and for the swords... well, let's just say I need them and keep it at that, ok?"
"you... -need- swords? in 2020?"
He sighed yet again and walked towards the kitchen, ignoring the question he had been asked.
"you know, I'm only asking a simpe question..."
"and I don't even know your name, how could I trust you?"
"Alicia. The name's Alicia"
"Well, Alicia, the answer to your question involves a lot of risks, and even only knowing about it would greatly
endanger you"
Right as she heard that, she grabbed one of the swords and started doing tricks with it at an impressive
speed. She swinged it around, made it spin between her fingers, turn around her wrists, and no matter what she did,
it never changed her speed. As she finished showing off, she stopped the sword half an inch from Dave's throat.
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't look quite convinced.
"Well, that might be pretty impressive, it's still useless."
"But I can take people on and win too. I'm not afraid of danger, It actually makes me feel alive."
"pfff... ok... I'll tell you the whole story... just don't panic ok?"
He sat on a chair and got a bottle of whiskey. "you want some?"
"Right after waking up? ...not for me, thanks"
He shrugged, and then drank all of the bottle without even taking a time to breathe.
"ok... well here's what happenned at the very beginning... back in about 1300, there used to be a clan of warriors.
Each of these warriors possessed a very rare talent. They were the only ones who could use their souls as
energy. Thought each of them had their own way of doing so, and they all had a very distinct fighting style. What's
even more impressive is that none of them actually trained at fighting, they had it from birth, like instinct."
"yeah I know about that story. They were blood-thirsty criminals that organised tournaments between their members
and the winner was the only one left alive... Didn't the last one of them burn in some kind of cathedral about
10 years ago?"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath "well that's the official story. The truth isn't far off either, but
there was a bit more to it than what you might have heard. Actually, there was a certain rule in the clan that
was that none of the members had to express anything towards another member. not even friendship. But some
of them decided not to follow that rule. There was a man and a woman that actually loved each other, and they had
a kid... This actually started a revolution, and every member of the clan departed. A lot of them became criminals:
murderers, hired killers, mad scientists... if it hurts people, then some members did it"
"but I don't get what's the link with your swords here..."
"actually... that kid... is me..."
"oh..." she said as a tear fell down her eye.
"what, you think it's sad that I ended up breaking a senseless tradition?"
Without even answering, she got up slowly, raised the sword she had in her hand, and pointed it at Dave.
"My... My whole f-family was murdered b-by those b-b-bastards... do you have any idea what it does!!??" She
screamed
"then we're in the same boat. my parents were killed in front of my eyes in that cathedral fire..."
"just... how do you expect me to believe you? you're the spawn of hell itself!!!"
"If I wanted too harm you, I'd have done it already... I'm not the same as those killers you know of"
"oh really?... REALLY!!???" She burst out in tears, dropped the sword and moved towards Dave, holding
him in her arms
"listen... I... I'm sorry for your family... If I had been there..."
He stopped talking as he noticed she wasn't even listening, she was crying too loud. He just held
her tight and waited. After a short eternity, her crying finally slowed down
"Ok, for now, I'll trust you. And I... think I know where we could start..." She said, drying the tears that fell down her cheeks