Chapter 7: Awakening
4 YEARS LATER
*CLANG*
The sound resounded across the wide room, along with the sound of earth cracking.
A dark-brown-haired boy grimaced, holding a dagger up in the way of a crimson sword, his bones rattling from the sheer force behind that blow.
"You know, you could soften your blows." he snarked, massaging his arm after jumping away.
"That's the whole point of this training." she shot back, tightening her grip on her sword, and lunging forward.
The boy shot her a deadpan look, and instead of moving away, he moved closer to her, taking her by surprise.
She shook off her surprise fast enough and focused on the boy, trying to predict his movements. She noticed a twitch in his right hand and moved accordingly to intercept him.
The boy smirked, she had reacted just as expected. He brandished his dagger, angling it above him. The navy-blue-haired girl prepared for a downward strike in retaliation.
The boy ducked down, surprising the girl, and aimed at her side with both his daggers.
The battle came to a standstill when he stopped less than an inch from stabbing into flesh, suddenly aware of the crimson blade hovering over the ridge of his brows.
Sighing, he lowered his daggers, "A draw, I can live with that."
The girl smiled smugly, extending her arm towards him, "I've still got one win over you."
"Yeah, not for long," the boy grumbled, grabbing ahold of her hand and getting back on his feet.
"We'll see about that." sheshot back.
Someone cleared their throat, drawing their attention, "Fayden, Caera, I have an assignment for you."
"Are we finally going on a Relictomb?" the boy, now identified as Fayden, asked hopefully.
The woman nodded tersely, "Yes, the two of you are to reach the nearest ascension gate as soon as you can. Your licenses are in your rooms, along with your equipment."
"Yes, Master," we spoke in tandem and walked away.
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Minutes later, the two returned to the arena. Fayden was dressed in a blue shirt, black combat trousers, and a black and blue long coat. Two daggers hung behind his waist, a quiver strapped over his back and a retractable bow was placed at his belt. Caera was dressed similarly, bar the coat, and had a single sword sheathed behind her back.
The lavender-haired woman nodded approvingly, "Good, I have faith that you to will be able to clear the Relictomb without issue."
The boy smirked, "Of course, we haven't trained our asses off the past few years to be beaten by some mana beasts."
"Do not let your overconfidence cloud your judgement," she reprimanded the boy, whose smirk faltered.
"I'll be fine, Master. If needed, I'll remove the seal." I reassured her, raising my arm to show the black band that restricted two of my elements.
"Do not be too dependent on your quadra-elemancy," she warned one last time before turning and walking away.
The boy sighed, he could take care of himself dammit!
"Wanna have a competition?" he asked his companion.
She smirked, "Most kills?"
He returned the expression, "Hell yeah."
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"That's seventeen," Caera stated as she cleaved through a monkey-like creature.
"That's the twentieth for me." Fayden replied, letting his arrow fly off and embed itself into another one of the beast's forehead. He was sitting atop a rock tower, which this area had plenty of.
"How did you even get that many?" she asked, beheading another beast.
"Sniping them from far away helps." Fayden shrugged, retracting his bow and unsheathing his daggers as he prepared to jump down.
"That's cheating," she grumbled.
"Nope, I'm just better than you," he shot back, a smirk framing his face.
"Our spars say otherwise."
"..." Fayden stared at her neutrally, "Fine, I'll give you that one."
She chuckled in response.
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This went down dangerously fast!
'Focus on the battle.'
I am!
"Why are there so many of them suddenly?!" Caera exclaimed in frustration, cleaving through multiple of the monkeys with her crimson blade.
"Hell if I know!" I shouted back, hacking through their vital spots with my dual daggers. I can't even use my bow down here.
"We need to get out of here!" she shouted back, unable to see where I was.
"Yeah!" I ripped off my seals, and let the mana flow out of me. All around me the earth rose up, the water froze and the lightning rumbled.
The monkeys froze, and rushed to me, sensing the danger.
"Watch out!" Caera cried out in alarm.
Tell that to the monkeys.
I let my mana flow out, and the area around me exploded in the four elements, scorching, freezing, dismembering, and crushing the monkeys as the wrath of four elements was unleashed.
A mesh of blood, bones, flesh, and rock was the only thing left when I was done.
I stumbled forward as pain racked my sternum, and was fortunately caught by Caera before I could fall.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, I just need a few minutes to refill my core." I waved her concern away, trying to absorb mana from the atmosphere.
'There's not much mana here.'
"Yeah, make that a few hours."
_______________________
In the end, it took me about four hours to refill my core to an extent where moving around didn't feel like I had knives jutting into my sternum.
We decided that it would be best to leave the Relictomb. Before one of us got seriously hurt. But the issue was, where do we find the descension portal?
With me in this condition, there was no way we could fight another horde. We had to move carefully, using the tall earthen spires for cover. I relayed this to Caera, who nodded back in reply.
"Which direction should we go in?" She asked, looking around us.
I glanced around, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
"There's nothing too weird out here," I muttered under my breath. A particular spire caught my eye, in addition to being taller than the others, it emanated a faint purple glow. Aether.
"That one, that's our destination." I pointed towards it.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded, "Yeah, trust me."
She hesitated for a while, "Fine."
And thus we began moving, having no idea that we were being watched.
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We had been walking for hours with no distractions, no beast tried to attack us. It was too good to be true.
"Be on your guard Caera, somethings off here," I warned, sliding out my daggers.
She turned back, "What do you-" and her eyes widened as she looked behind me with horror.
Realizing what was happening, I drove my dagger behind me. And sure enough, it found flesh and a horrible screech almost deafened me.
I twisted the knife, sending a small amount of lightning magic through it, and the monkey stopped moving.
"They definitely heard that," as if on cue, hundreds of screeches filled the air and the ground shook.
I took a look at Caera, "Run."
And we did, hoping to reach the tower before the monkeys caught up with us. But if anything they seemed to get closer.
For a moment I debated raising the earth at certain points, but against a horde of monkeys obstacles wouldn't be of any use.
'Agreed, that would only serve to drain your core.'
Yeah, any ideas?
'You remember what happened when you formed your core?'
The… change in looks?
'Yes, see if you can access it.'
I don't know what it is, much less activate it.
'That's your only hope to survive this.'
By now, we could see our destination, an impossibly wide rock tower with an ethereal purple glow around it. From what I could see, there was nothing special about it, bar the aetheric coating.
I made the mistake of glancing back, and I could feel the blood draining from my face.
"Shit!"
"What is it?" Caera asked from ahead.
"They're getting close," I equipped my bow, notching a single arrow.
Hope I have the mana to pull this off, otherwise… let's not think about that.
I took a deep breath in, aiming at the center of the horde, my arrow crackling with lightning, and let go.
The arrow met its mark, lightning leaping off the shaft and electrocuting anyone nearby. The front row of the horde collapsed, but the others didn't pay them any mind and stomped over them.
Well, that didn't work at all.
Disposing of my bow behind my back, I pointed my palm towards them. Wind is usually good for crowd control.
A small whirlwind manifested over my palm, as I imbued more mana into it I could feel my core emptying. I don't have much mana left.
The tornado left my palm, increasing in size as it amassed more wind. This should keep them busy for a while.
I turned back, we were almost there. I glanced back again, just to be met with a feeling of dread.
Two more hordes were approaching from the sides. How many of these fuckers are in this Relictomb?
Using the last vestiges of my mana, I pushed myself forward, twin geysers of wind shooting from my legs.
"Hold them back for a while!" I yelled at Caera as I neared the spire.
I skidded to a stop right in front of it and placed my palms on it. Come on, give me some Aether to use.
But the Aether seemed to fight against me, it tried to pull me towards it.
The fucking fuck?
'Let it pull you in, relax.'
What?
'Trust me.'
I swear if I die because of this I'm taking you with me.
'Of course you are, our souls are bound to this body.'
… To quote you, Irrelevant.
I did as he said, relaxing and letting it do what it wanted.
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3rd Person POV :
Caera could only hold back the horde for so long, but even then some got through. She cried out his name, trying to warn him.
Her heart fell when the monkey reached him, slashing across his torso. But no blood spilled, no flesh was torn. The claw passed right through him, and the monkey fell forward.
Fayden's hand stayed stuck on the rock, his blue eyes having turned purple. He was unresponsive.
Caera sighed in relief, he was safe. She faced the horde, sword in hand.
Her sword rendered flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter.
Her eyes glowed a menacing red.
Black stubs pierced through her temple, growing larger by the second.
A black flame wreathed her sword, and horns grew on her head, extending forwards and backwards representing a small crown.
She swung her sword in an arc, sending a volley of black flames towards the horde.
The flames consumed all it touched, body and soul both.
And Caera gained a few moments of respite.
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Fayden Leywin POV:
The world around me disappeared, and I entered an ethereal plane. Purple figures surrounded me, traversing through each other as if the other didn't exist.
It was like…. like we were in a fourth-dimensional plane. My human mind shouldn't be able to comprehend this plane, but it did for some reason.
I could hear the sound of battle going on somewhere, a familiar voice calling out my name, warning me of something, but it was as if I was a spectator in all this. Nothing that happened here mattered to me, it felt surreal.
The purple figures merged into one, or did they overlap? It was difficult to say.
But when the figure in front of me moved its arm, a trail of hands followed. They overlapped.
The faceless silhouette placed its hand on my chest, runes flowing into my skin. Purple runes.
I panicked, trying to move its hand, but I couldn't move. A massive amount of information bombarded my brain, the runes settling on my skin.
When I looked up, the figure had vanished, and I stood alone.
I blinked once, and the vast emptiness was replaced by the rough surface of rock.
A sting of pain throbbed through my head, the sheer amount of information overloading my brain.
I pressed one hand to my temple, leaning on the spire with the other.
Imagine my surprise when my hand passed right through it, and I stumbled in a spacious room.
'Is the inside of the spire hollow?'
Yep, a perfect place to hide in.
Wait, how did I get inside in the first place?
'Look down.'
Huh?
… What?
Runes glowed through my clothes, over my torso and waist, even my arms.
A godrune?
'Ask questions later, get her in here first.'
Good point.
I stepped back, returning outside "Caera."
She glanced at me, a confused expression on her face.
"Don't question it, just grab my hand." I extended my hand to her.
She nodded, complying, and I pulled her into the tower.
The monkeys tried to follow, but failed, judging by the thuds we heard.
They kept scratching and hitting the wall for a few more minutes, before giving up and going away.
I deactivated my godrune, we were safe now.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone