Artifact of Divinity

The clockwork drops to the floor with a thud, eerie silence emerging only after. Harold tightly gripped the shoulders of the motionless clockwork. Its hardwood exterior felt more solid than ever with his grasp. "Tell me more about my mother, please!" 

"I don't know what Artifact stone you were given, but I must not let you use it!" Sirus said, charging in at Harold with his halberd aimed directly at him. Mina warned Harold, saying, "Watch out!" 

Seeing the incoming attack, Harold stood up. "I am not delaying this any longer! This is my only chance of winning!" As Harold intakes the Artifact stone within himself, he feels a strong pressure bounding against his soul. His chest grows with more weight, causing him to kneel to the ground. The stone shines brightly before dissipating within his body. Meanwhile, in this fusion, a powerful shockwave pushes everything away from Harold in the vicinity. Sirus and Mina are thrown backward; Sirus crashes into a wall while Mina wails, and she is sent into a barrel full of water. "GWUAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" she says, flailing her arms in the air.

Harold takes a steady breath; something new has been born inside of him—he can feel it. "Is this my Artifact?" he questioned himself. "But now... how the heck do I use my Artifact?" He remembered how a little kid could easily summon out their Artifact first try without any hassle, but for Harold, this wasn't the case. "Don't tell me it was a fake!" he screamed, grasping onto his face. 

"Nope, it wasn't." A tiny voice stated. Looking at the voice, it was a tiny orange bird. "E-Eh? Did you just speak?" 

"Yeah, I just did!" It spoke in tweets, in an expressive face unfitting for a bird. Harold poked it, curious about the bird's reaction. "Who are you? Why are you talking to me?" he asked, repeating the same poking action. In response, the bird pecked at Harold's finger, causing it to bleed. "Ow!" Harold reeled back his finger, pressing against his wound. "What was that for?!"

Angrily waving their wing at Harold, the bird screeches at him. "Don't just poke me for no reason!"

"S-Sorry I'm just curious!" Harold apologized to the angry bird, which managed to loosen their temper. "Anyway, since you managed to awaken me, that means you now must fulfill your destiny!" The bird said, aiming his feathers at him. 

Awakened him? Destiny? The words confused him. "What are you talking about?!" 

"You managed to awaken me, the bird of hope—Konge! That proves you are worthy to become king!" 

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Hastily dodging a sudden attack from Sirus, Harold sets his gaze back on the battle. He clenched onto his wound, feeling the pain surge through his body. Sirus aimed his halberd at Harold. "Don't get distracted, kid." Sirus proceeded to tap his halberd on the floor, erupting another wave of water to come hurling at Harold.

Harold tried to dash again, but he winced as a result, feeling the prolonged bleeding worsen. "Am I really cooked?!" he held out his hand, watching the blood drip from his palms. The wave coming towards him was double the size of him and coming at incredible speeds. He didn't have enough time to dodge to the side, nor enough space either. 

That's when time came to a standstill. Harold glanced around, seeing the bizarre sight. "What's going on? Everything stopped..." 

"That's because of the power of your Artifact. Though I cannot keep time stopped for long." 

It was the bird again, Konge, landing on his shoulder. "Now, let me set this straight. You're going to perish if you don't awaken your Artifact."

"But how?! This entire time I had no feel whatsoever! Unlike others, I didn't immediately get a sense of how to activate my Artifact!"

"That's because your Artifact is different. It's something worthy of a king. You need hope; that's the essence of activating it. It was once an Artifact that brought hope to millions; now it's your turn to reawaken that power again!"

"Hope?" Harold looked at his pitiful self. He was currently fighting a police captain to the death and losing badly. Not to mention all of his weapons were broken, and he was gravely wounded. There was no hope for Harold. Yet Konge said otherwise.

"I can sense doubt within you, Harold, but you must listen to me. No matter how harsh the road is, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel! You just have to believe me."

Konge's determined eyes were full of resolve. "If you want to live, all you need to do is hope!" 

Harold clenched his fists. "That's right, there's no point in giving up now. All these years, I've never given up on finding my mother. Now that I've been told that my mother is still out there, I'm one step closer to finding her. All because I never lost hope."

Waving his arm to his side, he could feel an Artifact emerging. "So, what's making my heart waver right now?!" Fragmenting from thin air, his Artifact formed. It was a longsword, formed with a bright yellowish glow. As his blade had emerged, time resumed. 

Seeing the wave right in front of him, he raised his Artifact and surged all imaginable energy he could gather into the blade. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll bet it all on this one attack!" The radiant sword shines brightly, a yellow light covering the entire city street. 

Seeing the bright yellow light that stretched far into the sky, Sirus was stunned. "What the fuck."

As Harold swung his blade down, his blade emitted a cluster of light that smashed into the wave and extended to Sirus, plowing him directly through four buildings. Smashing each building in a ragdoll, he ends up in a whole other district of Argon City. Barely able to stand, he clasped his broken mask over his face. His body had many shattered bones and wounds gushing with blood. Civilians in the vicinity ran away as fast as they could, seeing the massive damage that was unleashed. "I didn't expect him to have such a powerful attack right off the bat... I'll have to retreat for now." 

After releasing everything into that one attack, Harold was on the floor, gasping for air. "Oh god... that was way too much." Analyzing the aftermath, he saw Mina lying on the floor, coughing up water. As he stood up, he could feel his body was considerably heavier. "Is this due to me over-exerting myself with an Artifact?" As he heaved his body towards Mina, he crouched down to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

Mina, not moving an inch, saw Harold loom over her. Then her face scrunched up, letting out a puddle of tears. "WAAAAHHHHHH, I WAS SO SCARED I WAS GONNA DROWN!" 

Harold had remembered earlier how she got flung into a barrel. He also remembered how she tried to sacrifice herself for him. Her courageous attempts to shield him from Sirus, even facing imminent death, were admirable. Harold then lifted her. Her golden, silky hair blew in the wind as he lifted her; she stopped crying, as she was in awe of the sudden action. "Plans changed, I'm going to have to take you back to my house."

Mina began to tear up again. "N-No... please don't tell me your plan this entire time was to snatch me away and ravish me!"

Harold's grip tightened, making her wince. "You dumb brat, I'm too injured to take you to a shelter right now!" he yelled.

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As he arrived home, his father, Shannon greeted him, working on his clockwork creations as per usual. Shannon, seeing them, immediately dropped his tools. "Dear heavens! I'll get out the healing potions right away!" As Harold shut the door behind him, he slumped down against it, gently putting Mina down in the process. As Shannon came back with the potions, Harold's gaze widened. "Father, that's the deluxe healing potions! You spent a ton on those!" Potions that were known to be the best of the best were commonly used by nobles but rarely obtained by people of their status. Shannon smiled, handing them both the potions. "Don't worry, your mother wanted me to use this for situations like this. Now drink quickly before you guys die!"

As Harold popped open the cap and gulped down the potion, he saw Mina trying hard to raise and take the cap off. As he finished his potion, he set it aside and opened Mina's for her. Finishing the potions, they both could visibly see their wounds regenerate swiftly and effectively, surprising them both. Even the teeth that Mina had lost earlier came back. 

"Now, what happened for you both to be in this situation and who is this lady right here?!" Shannon said, pointing at Mina. "H-Hi, my name is Mina." Mina said, awkwardly, in response to Shannon.

Harold stood up and stretched. "Nothing much; she's just a slave that was getting abused and I stepped in to save her."

"Y-You what?! Stealing a slave is a crime, you know!" 

"Eh, no one would notice, probably."

"Harold, I told you to control yourself!" The words were very familiar to Harold. He has gotten into so much trouble, even if Shannon told him to behave. At this point, it felt quite pointless to even argue. Not to mention, he brought home a random slave. Shannon, seeing the hopeless face of Mina, sighed. Walking over to her, he kneeled at the frail girl. "Nice to meet you. I'm Harold's father, Shannon. You said your name was Mina, right?"

Mina nodded in silence. 

"How old are ya', Mina? I'm 48." Shannon said, with a bright smile. Reluctant to answer at first, Mina says her age. "I-I'm 16..." 

"Wow, you're just as old as my son!" Shannon said, looking at Harold. 

Harold sighed. "Stop trying to make some childish conversation with a random girl you've just met. You sound stupid right now, father."

Shannon bonks his head with a wrench. 

"Why not I get you something to eat? You look like a stick right now!"

Her face lit up at hearing Shannon, which prompted him to go over to their fridge and give her a leftover sandwich. "Here, take this." 

Harold, seeing the sandwich, pointed it out. "Ah, dad, that's my sandwich I was saving for later-"

Shannon bonks his head with a wrench. 

As Mina takes the sandwich and bites it, her pace increases. Soon she begins to devour the sandwich like a rabid dog starving for meat. As she finishes, she immediately bows down to them. In return, this sudden gesture took aback both Harold and Shannon; someone bowing down to them is something that could never be expected of them. "T-Thank you both, I'll never forgive this kindness!" She could've never expected two people could show her this much generosity as a slave, nor even give her an opportunity like this at all. She was grateful for them, especially to the man who saved her. "By the way, my savior, I wonder about something." She said, looking at Harold.

"Yeah, what?" Harold replied, his arms crossed. 

"Why is your dad calling you Harold, I thought your name was Ark-" 

Harold quickly covered her mouth and began to drag her upstairs to his room. "S-Sorry, dad, she must be very tired; as you know, she was a starving brat from the streets! Don't pay her any mind about what she has to say!" 

Later in his room, Harold shut the door and locked it. "Listen, don't go around and say my name is Ark! That's my vigilante name! If anyone catches wind that I'm Ark, they'll have me arrested and killed!" 

"Vigilante? Why are you a vigilante? Isn't it a dangerous job?" Mina asked in response.

"Well yeah, it is. And after what happened today, I'm probably not gonna do it for a while." Harold took off his boots and set them aside on his bed. He then proceeded to lie down. 

"As for why I am a vigilante... it's because I just can't stand seeing so many unjust things run amok!" 

"Wow, so you're like a superhero!" 

"Yeah, but I also have other reasons to be one as well. But they're not that important." Harold said, gazing at the moon.

Harold turned over in his bed. "Now, I'm about to sleep; I'm tired. Do you need anything to sleep on? I can try finding something for you, but I'm unsure if we have anything."

Mina balled up in a corner and laid on her side. "Don't worry, I'm used to sleeping like this in the cold... I'll be fine." 

Harold shrugged. "Suit yourself."

As a few minutes passed after resting his eyes, he heard noises from Mina's direction. Turning over, he sees that Mina is shivering while she is asleep. Her voice echoes in his mind, saying, "I'll be fine." That voice kept replaying in a loop as she shivered. Then his patience snapped. "God damn it!"

Harold got off his bed, carrying his blanket over to her. Gently placing it over her, Mina's expression softened into a more relaxed face. Snuggled in, her shivering stopped, and her gentle soothing breaths were all that remained in the room. Harold, seeing her comfortable, let out a sigh before going to his bed. 

Feeling the chilly wind, he sneezes. "Damn, it's cold."