Fetheion's words kept awake most of the night for so reason. His tone of voice as he spoke, his dark, sorrowful expression… It left worried and anxious.
When I finally fell asleep, my night was plagued with nightmares and mories of the souls I'd taken in.
Co morning, I crawled out of bed and headed to the library. It was empty, but the plates on the low table were what I had co here for anyways. I took so fruit and a sandwich, then left the underground hideout and stepped under the bright sunlight.
I found myself so shade and began eating, only to notice Asher walking towards .
"Glad to see you're alive." He said as he sat beside . He was still sowhat pale – he clearly hadn't recovered quite yet. "It's a bit weird," He said, looking at the far away mountains. "I was used to always knowing where you were."
I nodded. "Yeah…" I mumbled. Despite my hatred for it at first, our ntal link had served us so well over the ti we had it. "How are you doing?" I wanted to change the subject.
He shrugged. "Kind of fine, I think." He glanced at his hands. "I'm almost back to full power." His faint smile didn't reach his eyes.
"That's good," I said after a mont's hesitation. "But that's not why I asked. You seem troubled. Why?"
He shot a surprised look. He wasn't expecting to actually ask, I think. Did he think I only saw him as a tool to use in battle? Did he see the rest of us like that? I took a deep breath and pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind.
"I'm annoyed," He said after a while. "I'm not going to be very useful if this keeps happening every single ti I co across a demon." He glanced at . "Now I fear your magic can have this effect on too."
I flinched – that possibility hadn't crossed my mind at all. "Is there anything we can do about this?" I asked after a mont of silence. He shrugged. "I'm thinking of sothings. I'll let you know when I figure it out."
His gaze was fixed on the grass, gently swaying in the wind. He was lying. I knew him well enough to understand that. I still nodded since there wasn't much I could say about this.
"How were Rina and Alex?" He finally asked as I finished my breakfast. I sighed and shook my head. "They were fine. It took so effort to convince them though." I explained what happened in detail.
"Right…" The blonde wizard mumbled after so ti. "Well… I can't say much about those two but…" His eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Did you try to do anything with crystals?"
I shook my head. "I didn't really get the chance, you know." I opened my inventory – the only piece of crystal was the one Luhen had given . A gift from his friend – his last nto of her. "I'll need to get so crystals first."
Asher grinned. "I'll have so ready for you by tomorrow." He rubbed his hands together. "This will be fun." He said with excitent in his voice as he stood up. "I'm off!" He waved and disappeared in the woods.
I stared after him for a bit, then sighed and shook my head. When it ca to discovering new things, such as new spells, more information about the history of this world and all kinds of other subjects, he would almost beco a different person. It was such a jarring difference than his usual serious and pessimistic self that I was still surprised every ti I saw it.
I sat there for a while, then forced myself to get up and look for Lucius. Fetheion's words about him also weighed heavily on . I wondered – why was he so troubled? Back at ho, he was always serious, but also very cheerful. Even when he didn't succeed at sothing, he'd shrug, say next ti and practice like there was no tomorrow until he succeeded.
So, what was it that had troubled him so much that even a Divine like Fetheion had noticed?
I looked around inside first. I couldn't find anyone – not even Fetheion. I wondered where he was, but quickly pushed that thought aside as my mind was focused on Lucius.
I left and looked around outside. Eventually, I found him by the lake not too far away. He was practicing his sword forms. As I approached, my steps slowed. He was sweaty, his balance was off and his grip on the sword was too tight, limiting his range of motion and flexibility.
As I watched, he nearly tripped and just barely recovered his balance.
"How long have you been at it?" I asked as I walked out of the shadow of the trees. I had to cover my eyes as the sun threatened to blind . A thought gnawed at the back of my mind, but I pushed it away for now. Lucius was more important.
Startled, he quickly turned to face . "Oh, it's you." He said after a mont. "You scared , Kai."
I chuckled, though my expression didn't change much. What bothered him so much that he was so sloppy?
"How long have you been at it?" I asked again. He shrugged and glanced at the sky.
"I don't know… Since dawn. So… Four hours? Five?" His voice was tense.
I approached the lake and washed my face, without saying a thing. "Why?" He asked after a mont. I shrugged. "No real reason – I was just wondering why you seed so tired."
He chuckled. "Ah, yeah. I should probably take a break." He also approached the lake and bent down. I suddenly got the urge to push him into the water, but I resisted.
"What made you practice so much?" I asked as he splashed so water to his face. "Your forms were just fine before."
He froze for a mont, then shrugged. "No real reason," He mumbled, clearly lying. "I just didn't have anything else to do."
I furrowed my brows. Lies.
"Really?" I asked with a slightly elevated voice. "What about getting stronger by levelling up? Isn't that sothing to do?"
He glanced at with a startled expression. "Ah, I did so of that too." He mumbled. Despite his words, I could see he didn't care for levelling up.
"No, you didn't." I said after a mont. "Why were your moves so sloppy, Lucius?" There was no point in dancing around the subject anymore. The young man flinched, then clenched his fists.
"Because I was tired, you said it yourself!" He shouted.
"I know that's not the only reason – why were you practicing for four hours straight?" I pressed the matter further. "The Lucius I know would stop when he realised he wasn't gaining anything."
"Oh, shut up!" He rose to his feet and grabbed his sword from the ground. "Like I have the luxury of ti now!" He shouted. Despite his raised voice and twisted expression, I could see his anger wasn't directed at . "I'm useless!"
I felt as if soone punched in the gut. "Why would you say that?" I asked softly. His expression, anger… everything he did reminded of myself.
"Because I am!" He continued to shout. The startled wildlife scurried away as we stood by the lake. "When was the last ti I did anything useful? In every fight so far all I did was stay in the back and let you and Asher fight! And the only ti I thought I'd be useful, the creature refused to die!"
I hesitated. He wasn't right, but he wasn't wrong either. As a swordsman, his abilities simply hadn't been very useful until now – not because he was weak, but because our most formidable enemies had always been magic users – be it Delthur, the corrupted demon or whatever else we fought.
"See?" He asked as I remained silent. "Even you're not saying I'm wrong!"
I shook my head. "But it's got nothing to do with you," I tried to explain. "What can a sword do against magic? When our opponents can bend reality to their will, a sword can't do much." I continued, choosing my words very carefully. "It's not your swordsmanship that needs improving but your way of choosing opponents is."
I could see from his expression that I was not making my point clear.
"What I an is that you need to choose your opponents according to your own strengths. You can't expect to butt heads with a demon and co out on top!"
"Look who's talking," He said with a half grin.
I laughed. "Well, I did die so I might have learned my lesson." I rembered my encounters with the Demon Lord, Vixia, Delthur and Aelith. "Several tis," I added after a mont. "Now that I think about it, I chose my battles very poorly."
"Then…" He mumbled after we laughed a bit. "Kai, can we have a duel?" He asked after a mont.
I raised my brows. "Sure, but why?"
"I want to see how well I do against a magic user." He said with a faint smile. " and Asher against you. What do you say?"
I wanted that match!
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