Leaving the swords realm wasnt imdiate. Following Nils advice, Dallion spent half a day in a room, picturing the real world at the exact mont he had left. Only after that did he exit the realm. The shock was noticeably less, although Dallion still required a few seconds of adjustnt. That done, he quickly left the room and returned to the basent for his training. However, how could one train after learning so much?
For hours Dallion remained sitting in the empty room, staring at the training item without the will to go inside. Now and again, hed stand up and pace around before sitting back down.
After spending hours both in the realm and in the real world procrastinating, Dallion finally got a sarcastic nudge from Nil, putting things pack in perspective. With the next arena fight hours away, it was best to take Eurys advice and increase his level once more. Before that, though, there was sothing else Dallion wanted to try out.
PERSONAL AWAKENING
Things were considerably livelier once Dallion returned to his realm. The starting room was full of echoes and familiars. To no surprise, the dryad wasnt there.
Wheres Vihrogon? Dallion asked.
Hes locked himself in his domain, contemplating the past, Gleam fluttered. Now you see why I dislike dryads? They think its their role to ta the wilderness. At least everyone else knows better.
You know I might beco a hunter one day? Dallion asked, more in jest than anything else.
Youre different. For one thing youre a dope now.
Hearing her use the word was unusual, to say the least. Clearly, Dallions personality was starting to affect the shardfly.
The Green path? Seriously? Itll be amusing seeing a hunter with that.
Youre saying its impossible?
Not impossible. Ive seen empath hunters, and theyre the scariest of the bunch. Its rare, though. Most of them are just assistants, carrying stuff, cooking, cleaning
That sounded remarkably like being a packrat. Of course, being a packrat for hunters was very different from carrying items in awakened realms. Given Dallions promise to the Green Moon, at so point he was going to find out exactly what it was like the hard way.
After a bit more chit chat, Dallion went to his forging room. There he summoned his sky silver hamr and an ingot of the sa material. It was ti to see whether hed be able to forge his first special tal item.
Just as he was about to start, Nil walked into the room. The old echo remained silent, but it was clear that he didnt want to miss witnessing Dallions progress. As the closest thing to Dallions ntor, he had every right.
Checking on , old man? Dallion smiled internally. Dagger, he thought.
Hundreds of markers appeared on the ingot of sky silver as it lay on the anvil. At first, they were as incomprehensible as always. Through sheer stubbornness, Dallion had managed to decipher the first forty or so. This ti, he wasnt going to resort to trial and error. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the markers.
At first, little changed. So of the markers beca slightly clearer, although still rged with the rest. Pressure appeared in Dallions temples and continued growing. At the point of pain, the markers finally started moving. It was as if Dallion was zooming in on them. Bit by bit, layers beca visible, moving further and further apart. After what felt like minutes, Dallion was able to see all the distinct steps the markers illustrated. It was all jumbled, but at least it was all there. Half an hour later, the instructions were clear enough for him to start working.
Handling the material itself turned out to be no different than any other tal. As long as Dallion managed to strike with the correct amount of force at the correct angle, part of the ingot folded in the desired fashion. An endless series of folds and turns followed as Dallion went on to create the most intricately complicated origami hed seen in his life. Over a dozen tis he ssed up, though thankfully using combat splitting had beco second nature to him, so no permanent damage had been done. However, the pain in his eyes and head kept growing.
Three quarters in, Dallion had to recite the nas of the Moons non-stop, only to ignore the pain. Drops of sweat trickled from his forehead. The closer he got to completing the dagger, the more it was looking like he wouldnt make it.
One strike at a ti, Dallion kept telling himself. And yet, the ti between strikes beca longer and longer. By the ti there were ten left, Dallion had to spend minutes between strikes only to keep his composure. Every neuron scread for him to relax and finish the final steps using normal vision. Sadly, that wasnt an option. Not only did he need the training, but the last few steps of the forging process, while few, remained closely stacked together.
By the ti Dallion was down to three markers, he felt as if hed faint. The whole room was twisting and turning. The light was becoming dimr and dimr, nearly breaking his concentration. At this point, Dallion no longer had the ntal energy to maintain his splitting instances. If he ssed up now, there was no way to undo things.
Two markers. Dallion was just one step away from success. His stomach started rebelling, wanting to eject all its contents on the anvil, possibly putting an end to this torture.
One marker!
Holding his breath, Dallion perford the final strike. This was the point at which his senses deserted him. Dim turned to dark, as all sensation disappeared. The next thing Dallion knew, he was sitting on a throne of wood in a vast garden.
Where am I? Dallion looked up. A ceiling of leaves and branches covered a large part of the sky, only leaving a giant Green Moon to be seen.
You didnt ask about the Eighth Moon, a voice next to Dallion said.
Looking to his right, Dallion saw that a new throne had erged, one even larger than his own. As expected, the throne was occupied by none other than the Green Moon in his standard divine appearance of a ranger.
The Moon Cleric isnt subject to limitations, so he would have told you.
It must have skipped my mind, Dallion replied honestly. Will you be okay if I ask him next ti?
Not really.
Then I wont. For so reason, Dallion felt unusually agreeable.
You will, the Green Moon sighed. Thats why Ill tell you. There is no Eighth Moon. Its a taphor for sothing else.
What?
That youll have to find out on your own. If youre ever able to. The cleric in the sword couldnt. In fact, no awakened ever has. Do you think youll be the first?
Dallion wanted to respond with maybe, but his mouth refused to utter the word. Just as he was about to try again, the branches above him moved aside. The floor lted down, transforming into the peak of a mountain. All seven Moons spun around, each taking the form of a sphere. So felt so close that Dallion reached out to try and touch them.
Theyre watching you, you know, the Green Moon whispered. But youre mine.
What about the Star? Dallion asked. Was he a Moon?
Reality froze. The Moons started pulsing, so slowly, others rapidly to the point that it seed they were flickering.
The Star was never a Moon, a new voice said firmly. The Star is a skill.
As Dallion watched in amazent, cracks erged on all of the Moons. Small at first, they quickly grew to the point that shards started crumbling off the spheres.
Youve co a long way, Dallion, but so had your grandfather, the voice continued. From here on, each step forward might see you stumble and fall. Youll need to be careful.
A sudden wave of fear swept through Dallion, allowing him to partially snap out of the dream. He was still there, but now conscious of the fact.
What can you tell about my grandfather? Dallion shouted, standing up from his throne.
Everything and nothing, the voice replied. He created Star spawn to win a war, but that wasnt what earned him his punishnt. He was betrayed, as were all his companions, for a single sin.
Eight beans of light focused on Dallion, each coming from the quickly disintegrating Moons. Within the light a dallion erged shaped like a perfect hex. Using his forging skills, Dallion could tell it was made of pure sky silver. There were seven holes on itone in the center and one at each of the six edges.
This will protect you. From here on its up to you to see it completed.
Dallion took the emblem from the air. It felt pleasantly warm.
What is it? he asked.
Its an emblem. Keep it safe.
What am I supposed to"
The scene disappeared. The next thing that Dallion was able to see was the floor of his forge floating in front of his face.
What the hell? Dallion tried to stand up. The pain in his eyes and head returned, striking him like a sledgehamr.
Finally awake, Nils familiar voice said, drenched with disapproval. Dallion tried to look up in the direction of the voice, but found that he couldnt even do that. A mont later, his entire body moved upright, turning in the direction of the echo.
Lux? Dallion asked. Now that his senses were slowly returning, he could feel the firebirds fla around him, just as he could sense the familiars concern.
Do you know the last thing a person must do before heading off to level up, dear boy? Nil crossed his arms. Not faint over an anvil while swinging a hamr. Granted, this is an awakened realm, but magic tals could occasionally cause permanent effects. In your case, you could have smashed your hand, which would have impeded your grip in the real world. Good thing that you failed even at that.
My hand? Dallion asked. Right! Before all this weird dream scene happened, he had been forging a dagger. Lux turn towards the anvil.
The firebird complied. The anvil was where Dallion rembered it to be. The sky silver hamr lay a few feet away on the ground. Most likely Dallionhad fainted due to pain and exhaustion caused by his attempt to complete the forging process. The lack of items suggested that he had failed. At the sa ti, Dallion felt that his forging skills had improved.
Looking for this? Nil raised a hex-shaped emblem. That last hit of yours really was sothing. Ive never seen an entire dagger flattened with a single blow. Still, the Moons must have been on your side, for you managed to actually create sothing despite your ss-up.
Lucky , Dallion muttered. So, the dream hadnt been a dream, but rather a vision of sorts, or better yeta dream realm in the domain of the Moons. Similar to the tales of Greek and Roman deities back on earth, they seed to enjoy ssing in the lives of mortals, as long as the mortals had sothing interesting to offer.
Whatever the case, you wont be having this until you get so proper rest, the echo hid the emblem behind his back. And by proper, I an youll spend a few days here resting and sleeping. No leveling, forging, or training. The only thing youre allowed to do is resting and reading.
And if I refuse? Dallion asked. Im weak now, but I should be alright in an hour or two.
Oh, you can refuse at any point, dear boy. However, let ask you this: who wins if you enter the arena half-asleep? Or better yet, how far are you willing to go to beco weaker? As things stand now, youve only peeked at things to co, and youll continue only peeking for quite a few levels yet. As reckless as you are, even you know you need guidance from ti to ti. You can always choose to reject it, but can you afford to?
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