PKOTA) Chapter 1 Part 1 (Patreon)

--AN) Real Title: The Princess Knight of the Apocalypse. This is a new novel that will be slowly written. Genres: apocalypse/magic/fantasy/adventure/kingdom building. There is no rebirth or system in this novel. The magic system has yet to be decided, so I am open to ideas. Comment below if you have any ideas for me.--

“Hah!” The blade of my sword once more cut through the air. The morning dew was still fresh, making for a perfect time to practice my swings. I had been learning how to use a sword, not in a tournament sense but for actual fighting, since I was very young. My father, who passed away two years ago, was a swordsman through and through.

My mother used to yell at him all the time for corrupting her daughter, but I couldn’t help my love for the sword. Sadly, nowadays, I can only use my backyard as a place to practice, but it was better than nothing.

Both my parents died when I was fourteen. They left me their house and everything they had saved up. I get a hefty allowance every month to cover all my bills, and thanks to my aunt, who lives out of state, speaking up for me, I have been able to live on my own since.

It was slightly lonely. Luckily, my aunt was nice enough to contact me once a week. My bank account was also pretty decent, with a few hundred thousand. But even though I had a comfortable living arrangement, swordsmanship was just something that was not needed in this modern era. But I never once stopped practicing.

“It keeps getting hotter…” I frowned slightly. It was already October but the temps the past few days had been gradually getting higher and higher.

I watched the news, but they just reported that we can expect to see a mid-fall heat wave. Of course, there are also some news stations blaming it on global warming. But this is just strange. At least to me, anyway.

I can be said to be kind of paranoid at times. After losing my parents, I am always worried about the what-ifs. This was why when I saw such a heat wave hitting us like this, I ordered a lot of supplies.

I had a finished basement downstairs, along with a panic room. It was one of those basements that were fully underground. My father was a kind of survivalist, so he had the entire basement done up in a way that had ventilation and everything you could think of to make things work. Even my roof was covered in solar panels. It could be said to be a place that could still function even if the power went out. There was even a separate heating and cooling system in the basement.

I guess growing up with my father, who was always preparing for anything possibility, kind of rubbed off on me. “Jade! Are you back here?”

The person who just called out to me is my best friend, Momo. Her real name was Monica Steward, but everyone called her Momo. She lives next door with her parents. Her mother is always sending over food which is really kind of her. Her cooking is also very good and saves me money at the same time. I really appreciate all they do for me. I always keep the things people do for me in the back of my mind so I can one day return that favor.

“Yeah, I am here,” I answered back as I sheathed my sword and wiped the sweat from my brow.

“You are still practicing your swordsmanship even in his heat?” Momo asked in surprise.

“Yeah. But it’s getting too hot. I will need to move to the basement starting tomorrow.” I replied, lifting my shirt to wipe my sweat once more, only to get whistled at by Momo.

“I must say, girl, one thing about swordsmanship is that it keeps you in shape. But I wonder, you have a perfectly flat stomach. How do you not get any muscle build-up with all the practice you put in every day?” Momo always made people think she was lesbian, but only I knew this girl was a die-hard fan of hot boys. Her room was filled with pictures of actors to boy bands like BTS. Young and old, she did not care if they were even the slightest bit good looking she would fan girl over them. I have no idea how many times I have had to listen to her lectures about who was hot and who was not.

“I do not do much for other exercises. I only use the sword, so my muscles are toned for the sword and only the sword. The rest of my body just gets the good side and not the bad side. By doing so, I do not get fat and stay in great shape.” I never wanted to become a muscle woman, which is why I never touched weights or anything like that. I only handled the sword so only certain muscles were being used all the time. But the exercise was very good for my body since I was moving the entire body, not just my arms.

“Plus, I do yoga as well to keep my body flexible, or else I would never be a good swordsman.”

“Swordswoman! You’re a girl, not a guy!” Momo always corrected me on this, but hey, what can I say? I loved the sword. I even slept with it! Although I would never tell anyone that.

“Yes, yes, swordswoman. I understand.” I waved my hand, ignoring the girl as I walked towards the house. “Oh, right, Momo, is your basement above ground or below ground?”

“Hmm? I think it’s partially above ground.” Momo replied, which made me remember there were some windows above ground. They were not all that visible, but they were there.

“If the temps keep going up, bring your family over to my house. My basement starts like five feet underground.” My basement stairs were really long. The basement had a height of ten feet and spanned the wide of the entire house. It had quite a few rooms as well, so it was a perfect place to stay cool. I had never seen the temps go above sixty and below fifty degrees.

“You really took on all your father’s traits. This is nothing but a small heat wave. It will subside in a week or so.” Momo may be right, but for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel something was off.

“At any rate, I plan to get more solar panels for the backyard, just in case.” I could set it all up myself, so it would not be much work. The panel downstairs had an extra junction box ready for more solar as well. It seemed my father never did finish his setup.

“You will grow old and wrinkly by the time you turn eighteen!” Momo teased, but I couldn’t care less. I mean, I would rather be safe than sorry. I wanted to follow my gut feeling.