I woke up with the first rays of sunlight. Lucius was asleep and Asher was reading one of his leather-bound notebooks.
"Good morning, Asher."
"Sleep well?" He asked. I shrugged. Nightmares and mories that didn't belong to had kept on edge the whole night. Asher, however, didn't need to know that.
"I'll go train so," I said and left the campsite. I didn't go too far – my first stop was a nearby stream of water, where I washed hands and face. Then, I headed for the opening we'd gone to yesterday evening.
My mind was a ss, and I didn't know how to fix it. The only thing I did know was that we had to find a cure, a solution to whatever was going on with .
That's when I realised. I rembered yesterday's conversation!
It struck suddenly. It had been one of my biggest fears as I fell asleep – that I wouldn't rember anything once I woke up.
Feeling just a tiny bit more relieved, I raised my hand, my palm facing straight ahead. Swordplay was all good and well, but that alone wasn't going to be enough. As the sunlight burnt my eyes, I focused on the faint, almost non-existent morning breeze.
How did this work again? The phoenix' soul helped a great deal when using my flas, but I didn't have that kind of help when it ca to using the primal core of wind.
I faintly rembered unconsciously creating wind so ti ago. When was that? I couldn't quite rember. Well, the ti didn't really matter, did it? I closed my eyes and focused my mind; I felt the movent of magic through my body, the subtle touch of the faint morning breeze as it gently blew my hair and tugged my clothes.
What if, I thought to myself, that sa wind passed through my extended fingers and gathered in my palm? I felt the cool breeze touch my skin, was it working?
I didn't dare open my eyes, instead, I took a shallow breath and let the wind slowly but surely gather in my open palm. It was more difficult to control than the flas, perhaps because I was more used to the flas, or maybe because the wind was, intrinsically wilder and freer.
"Kai?" I heard Lucius' voice so ti later. I wasn't sure of how much ti had passed. My concentration shattered and the small wind vortex in my palm scattered and disappeared. Despite that, I felt satisfied. For once, I had actually done sothing without outside help.
"Good morning, Lucius." I said with a faint smile. He smiled back, though I could see it was fake. He was wary of , and rightfully so. "Do you happen to rember what we talked about yesterday?" He asked, almost sheepishly.
I chuckled. "Yeah, I was surprised too. I rember everything we talked about, or at least I think so." I hesitated. "Why don't we go over it, just in case?" What if I had forgotten so portions of it? The thought hadn't occurred to until now.
I recounted yesterday's discussion to Lucius as we made out way back to the campsite. Thankfully, my mories did seem intact. Sighing a breath of relief, we dug into our breakfast. It didn't take us long to finish eating. Once we were done, we packed up our belongings, covered up the firepit with so dirt and finally set off.
Both Asher and Lucius seed as relieved as I was – the simple fact that I could still rember yesterday's conversation ant that not all of my mory was being manipulated.
We flew the entire day and only landed on a nice hill to set up camp for the night. We were mostly silent and lost in thought. Asher was trying to figure out who or what could have enough power to manipulate my senses and mory like this.
"It might be that hooded woman." I said as we finished our dinner. Asher hesitated. "Why do you suspect her?"
I made a vague gesture. "I don't think it's Aelith and I honestly can't think of anyone else." If only we knew more, then we could co to so more reliable conclusions.
Lucius shook his head. "If she has such power over you, she would have never allowed you to stop her armies like she did on that peak."
I flinched as I rembered that fight and the tragedy that happened at the end of it. "You have a point." I mumbled. I shook my head and sighed. "Alright, ti to go practice a bit." Sitting here doing nothing was only going to cause to beco more depressed.
"I'll join you." Lucius said with a little bit of excitent in his voice. Asher chuckled. "Let watch then."
It didn't take us long to find a suitable spot not too far away from the camp. After getting rid of our cloaks for ease of movent, Lucius and I took our place across the grassy field.
"Ready?" I asked, my heart beating faster with excitent and anticipation. Lucius grinned and nodded as both of swords materialised in our hands.
For a mont, neither of us moved. Then, we dashed at each other at the sa ti. Mirroring each other's movents, we feinted our overhead strikes, instead opting to strike from the left. I was the one who backed down and feinted that strike too, instead choosing to defend.
Lucius' sword hit mine with a loud clang and with that, our dance began. I blocked his relentless assault with nothing more than basic movents. I furrowed my brows as he leapt back, sowhat out of breath.
"Damn, Kai. Why the hell are you using magic?" The young swordsman said, glaring at with so annoyance.
"I'm not!" I said, glancing at Asher for confirmation. The blonde sorcerer nodded. "Kai hasn't used any spells yet."
"Then how co are you so damn fast?" Lucius asked.
"I don't feel any different than before." I said as I opened my status panel. "Well," I mumbled as I glanced at my level.
'Kai Friseal – Level 95 Soul Keeper | Exp: 56980/120000 - - Souls 100/100 2000 - - Mana: 2090
Fallen Grace Lv. 5 | Death's Scythe Lv. 5 | Dark Bolt Lv. 5 | Soul's Respite Lv. 5 | Keeper's Haven Lv.5 | Explorer | Crystal Sage
STR: 20 – CON: 11 – DEX: 100 – INT: 100 – WIS: 100'
"I did level up," I added. "But none of my stats are higher or anything."
Asher and Lucius both approached and checked my stats. "That is weird." Asher mumbled. "What about the developnt path?" He asked after a short while. I hesitated, then opened that panel.
'Sacrifices taken' Was written in pale blue text, just like before. Underneath, a long list was written in fine text. I scoured the list for anything that seed familiar, but they were mostly nas I faintly rembered from the mories of the souls I'd taken in.
"That is odd." Asher mumbled. "But it doesn't say anything about a path being chosen or developnt being in progress."
"Well, whatever happened, Kai is way faster than he was before." Lucius sighed. "Anyways, let's continue." He took his place again, sword in hand.
"Are you sure, Lucius?" I asked, still sowhat confused. Wasn't he pushing himself a bit too much?
"Yeah!" He grinned. I shrugged and took my sword in hand. As I was about to dash forward, a low rustle sounded from the treeline. Lucius said nothing, but I could see his posture change.
"Get out of the bushes, Astrid." Asher said with a sigh.
"Again?" The young woman shouted as she stepped into the opening.
"Oh, it's you." I said, lowering my guard just a little. I rembered her, both from that ti she and Asher were spying on us and from when I'd faced off against her team in the tournant.
She glanced at , Lucius and Asher, then shook her head. "Before I ask what the hell you two are doing here, Asher, how the hell did you know I was there?" She stared at the blonde sorcerer, wide eyed.
"Have ever thought that maybe sneaking around isn't your forte?" Asher asked with a skewed smile. "You couldn't be more obvious if you tried, Astrid."
I could see her clench her fists with anger. Asher was, as always, great at annoying people. "So," I chid in before she had a chance to blow up on him. "What brings you here?"
She sighed. "A dumb quest wanted to check up on a certain cavern that was important so centuries ago." Her shoulders dropped. "But when I got there, the entrance had collapsed and there was no way inside." She opened her interface and quickly navigated to the quests panel. "And the stupid quest didn't even acknowledge that! Now I have to go all the way back to the village, talk to the guild, have the Ereth there manually complete the quest and hope I get so decent rewards." She stopped montarily to take a deep breath, then continued with her rant.
"Um," I chid in again, hoping she'd calm down a little. "I'd suggest you be careful around here." I glanced at the sky. "Demons were sighted in the vicinity and I don't think you could take them on just yet."
She flinched. "Demons? Oh no, don't worry." Her annoyed expression left its place to worry. "I have no intentions of ssing with demons." She sighed and glanced at the sky. "Anyways, do you mind if I spend the night at your camp?"
Asher chuckled. "Sure, co along." He glanced at us as we nodded. Leaving her to fend for herself at night felt just wrong and if sothing happened to her while we could have prevented it, I'd never forgive myself.
"Great!" She chuckled. "In that case, there is sothing I need to talk to you about." She said that, looking straight at . "But dinner first!" She grinned.
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