Morning – South Star forest.
Around forty kilometers from Ordial.
The sun was beaming down onto the land, its rays breaking through the treeline above our carriage, gently illuminating the forest. Inside the carriage, I was sitting in the middle, my eyes closed and focus steered on the passing environment around us. While Avy was in charge of manning the horses, me and Odale decided to get in some training for sorcery.
The beginning for learning sorcery, is to first learn to 'feel' the magical energy in the environment around me. To sense it and then visualise it. According to Odale, only after I've managed to do that, will I have any chance to actually learn it. Without being able to sense or visualise the magical energy in the area around me, how was I supposed to bend it to my will?
"Don't lose your focus." Odale stated, noticing my slight twitch.
"Concentrate, Lord Faofa. Losing focus for even a second will negatively impact your ability to sense magical energy."
"Easier said than done…" I commented in my mind, before trying to regain my focus on the environment outside the carriage. I could hear the Ancient One snickering gently to himself, which made me slightly annoyed – both because it felt like he was laughing at me struggling and that his snickering was causing me to lose my focus ever so slightly.
"Ancient One, try to remain silent… You're not helping to make this easier."
Ahem– My apologies… Master. The Ancient One tried to stop his laugh, drowning it in fake coughs and attempts at sounding 'professional' once more. I took in a deep breath, before exhaling heavily. With silence in my head once more, I was able to focus a bit easier once more.
Though, that didn't stick around for long.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped. Causing me to open my eyes and throw a look back at Avy. "What's going on? Why'd we stop?" I asked. Avy didn't reply at first, simply twisting around a map in her hand that had been given to us by Gidou. After a moment of staring at the map from multiple different angles, she sighed and looked at me and Odale inside the carriage. "Nothing, all is good. I'm just ensuring that the road we're currently going down is the right one."
She replied, before folding the map and placing it to the side, picking up the reins afterwards and gently tugging them, causing the carriage to move once more. Exhaling gently, I turned back around, shaking my head. "Well… There goes the tiniest bit of focus I had left…"
Odale chuckled lightly.
"It's completely normal to have a hard time keeping your concentration. After all, it is no easy thing." He stated, before putting to the side the book he was reading while guiding me. "Let me share a small trick with you, Lord Faofa." He stood up, before moving closer towards me, getting down onto his knees in front of me.
"What trick…?"
"One that will help improve your concentration a bit." He stated, before placing his hands together and resting them onto his lap. "I called it a trick, but more accurately, it's a meditation technique that I was taught by my master back when I was… Well, alive."
Meditation technique…?
Can't lie, I was never big on the whole 'meditation' thing… Someone I knew loved doing it, but I personally never got it. However, if Odale claimed that it could help improve my concentration, even a little bit, then I suppose it was worth giving it a shot.
Shuffling a bit, I took the same sitting position as Odale, putting my hands together before resting them onto my lap. After I had repeated what Odale had done, he nodded before lowering his head a little bit. "Now, in order to execute the technique, you'll first need to steady your breathing. Relax, take a breather and slow your breathing." Odale stated, before executing exactly what he said. Within a few moments, a faint, gentle aura encased his body.
"Next, channel your own magical energy into the center of your body. After that, spread it through your entire body." Odale continued, his voice a lot slower than before. Thanks to 'Enlightened' – or I suppose I should say 'Ancient One', because it was technically a subskill under him – I was able to observe the magical energy flow inside of Odale's body.
And it was rather fascinating.
Like water, a portion of Odale's magical energy gathered at the center of his body, swirling together into a single sphere. Then, after it had grown to a significant size, the sphere dissipated, spreading out across his entire body. Within a few moments, it filled his entire body – creating what was basically a silhouette of Odale, made up from his own magical energy.
Odale kept up this state for a couple of seconds, a gentle aura leaking off of his body as he did, before eventually breaking it, the magical energy inside his body that he had formed into the 'silhouette' breaking apart, before remerging with the rest of his magical energy. "The result should allow you to 'control' your inner spirit better. This technique is meant to allow you to use your magical energy to sort of 'suppress' any and all dark things that may be gnawing at you — whether it be bad memories or complicated feelings."
Odale explained, before taking a more comfortable sitting position. "Now, you try it, Lord Faofa. Just follow all the steps I told you and it should help you steer your concentration better."
I gazed at Odale for a little bit, before nodding and taking in a deep breath.
Closing my eyes, I lowered my head down a little, before starting with the first step – Steadying my breathing. Just relax… take a breather… and slow your breathing.
I executed the steps in the exact order – allowing my body to relax gently, before taking in a deep breath and then letting it out. Then, lastly, I began to slow my breathing, which proved a lot harder than it seemed. Odale made it look really easy, but it was surprisingly tricky, as it felt a bit like I had to find the right balance between 'slow breathing' and 'potentially suffocating myself'.
Well, Odale is a Supreme Lich, which does not require—
"I got it, thanks. No need to explain."
I know perfectly why Odale had it so easy. I didn't need a lesson on it.
After a bit of trying to find the right breathing speed, I eventually managed to hit it, managing to slow my breathing enough that my body remained 'relaxed' while at the same time, it didn't feel like I was trying to suffocate myself by holding my breath. I could feel a gentle, faint aura enveloping my body – it felt a lot like a second layer of outer skin had just appeared around my body.
It was a rather… Odd feeling overall.
Feeling a bit like I was inside another organism or some kind of gooey latex suit, however I quickly got used to the odd feeling, by mainly trying to ignore it. Noticing the aura, Odale nodded in approval. "Very good. Now, try to feel your own magical energy and move it to the center of your body. It can prove a little tricky, however it is possible. Just don't panic or stress over it if it takes a bit to get going – simply try again and again."
With Odale's advice, I moved onto the next step.
I had already felt my own magical energy before – whenever I used any of my skills, it usually used my own magical energy, so realistically, how hard could it be?
I began focusing. At first, I couldn't feel or sense anything at all. However, rather quickly, I managed to pick up on faint traces of my own magical energy inside my body. "Just gotta focus more…" I thought, keeping my breathing slow all the while trying to grasp more and more of my magical energy.
As the feeling of my magical energy inside me grew stronger and stronger, I began to slowly try and move it to the center of my body – which once more, felt very, very odd. It felt a bit like I was using my own arms to 'scoop' my magical energy like water into a bowl, before pushing it somewhere else. It was… a funny feeling and also surprisingly difficult.
Moving your own magical energy around your own is quite hard. I can aid you if you—
"Please don't break my focus Ancient One."
I cut him off. While it was probably foolish of me to 'deny' aid from him, since he most definitely would be able to make this entire process for me much, much easier to do, at the same time, it didn't feel right to rely on the Ancient Ones' help to do this.
After all, who knows what could happen. What if somehow, someway I get 'seperated' from the Ancient One in the future? If I purely rely on him for things, I won't have any experience with doing this stuff myself, and will be left vulnerable.
Once the Ancient One went quiet again, I continued pushing the magical energy inside my body around. I got closer and closer to forming a rough sphere in the center of my body using a portion of my magical energy, however right before I could finish it and pull it off — a sudden, very sharp feeling of pain struck my chest.
I completely lost focus, coughing heavily.
It felt like a sword that had been lit on fire was driven through my chest. "Lord Faofa, are you alright–?!" Odale stated, moving forward a bit, catching me before I fell against the ground.
I continued coughing, breathing heavily. "What the hell was that…?" I thought, before looking down at my right hand. It felt weird. It felt like there were two different energies currently flowing through my body – battling it out. My entire body was starting to feel like it was burning up. It wasn't a dissimilar feeling to whenever the corruption in my body spiked up.
The carriage stopped suddenly, before Avy leapt inside and rushed to my side – seemingly having heard the commotion. "Hey, hey! Faofa, you alright?" She looked at Odale. "What happened–?!"
"I-I do not know! I showed him a meditation technique that was supposed to help him with concentration, however right as he was about to execute it successfully, he started coughing and reacted like he was in pain." Odale explained, holding me from falling to the ground.
My body felt heavy now.
I could feel my consciousness slowly fading.
"Damnit…! Come on, let's lay him down." Odale nodded, before the two of them laid my body onto my back, putting my arms against my sides. I only remained conscious for a few more moments, before their voices and the blurry images of them looming over me faded – with both Avy and Odale looking quite panicked.
"God damnit… Seriously…?"
….
A fire ignited inside Faofa.
The Ancient One held the fire, before looking around him. Darkness. Pitch black darkness. The atmosphere felt heavy and distorted – like something was watching him from every side at once.
Hm… This is certainly….. Not a good sign.
He commented, before exhaling. Oh Master… What am I going to do with you? He shook his head, before moving forward in the darkness, using the flame he was holding as a source of light to navigate the darkness. He had seen this phenomenon before.
In fact, one could say, he was very, very familiar with it.
Almost… Too familiar.
It should be around here… Somewhere… He quietly commented to himself, before noticing that what he had been searching for was not too far to the right. A spinning orb, with vein-like connections that spread through the entire darkness. With the orb, was mixed in magical energy — Faofa's magical energy – creating a 'tangle' of sorts.
There it is. Ancient One exhaled before putting the flame to the side, the flame floating there gently, while he himself stepped towards the orb. Gently touching it, he examined and analysed it. Hmm… As I had expected. It would appear that the corruption from it is much deeper rooted inside Master than I had thought. The Ancient One went silent for a moment, thinking about it. Then, after a bit of silence, he exhaled again.
I'll suppress it for now. However, I should ask my Master to search for a way to rid himself of this root, otherwise who knows what will occur. He stated, before placing his hands together. Then, after a bit of nothing – golden chains burst out from his back and quickly tangled themselves in the veins of the swirling orb, wedging themselves in between the veins and Faofa's magical energy.
Once they were fully wedged, the Ancient One grabbed hold of the chains, before pulling them all gently. In an instant, the chains separated the veins from the magical energy. Then, before the veins could tangle themselves with Faofa's magical energy again, Ancient One quickly tangled the veins with the golden chains, finishing it off by tying the chains tightly around the orb itself.
In fast succession, the golden chains tangled themselves with the veins that spread through the entire suffocating, pitch black darkness – freeing the magical energy that had been tangled with them previously.
Once it was all done, the Ancient One took in a deep breath, before moving the now untangled magical energy all into one spot, before sinking it into the 'ground' beneath him.
There, that should serve as a temporary solution to the corruption. However, who knows how long it'll last. This root has already grown far too large for me to destroy, and it'll only continue to grow bigger. I must keep a close eye on this for now.
The Ancient One commented, before flying up into the 'air', looking down at the darkness below. After a few moments of silence, he turned around, before looking around for any potential 'exit' from this darkness. Not seeing one, he simply shrugged. I'll make my own then.
After that comment, the Ancient One raised his left arm up, before performing a chop – splitting open a 'gate' out from this darkness and back into the place he usually was in. Throwing one last look around the darkness, he moved through the 'gate' he had just opened, closing it after himself to ensure that none of the darkness spilled into 'his' space.
….Outside.
Evening. Near the Southern Mountain range.
I slowly opened my eyes, my head hurting ever so slightly. "I… What happened…?" I rose up to a sitting position, looking around. I was inside the carriage. By the look of the sky outside, it was already evening. Late evening. I could hear the gentle crackling of a campfire just outside the carriage, with shadows of what probably was Odale and Avy sitting near it. "I guess after I passed out they moved the carriage off the road to rest… They're a lot more caring for me than I thought."
It should be a given, considering that they're your friends and companions. Ancient One chimed in. I remained silent for a bit, before shaking my head.
"What even happened to me? Why did I pass out? Did… Did I do the technique wrong?" I looked down at my chest, grasping it gently. The sharp pain that I had felt still was lingering ever so slightly, creating this uncomfortable feeling in my chest, however for the most part, it seemed as though the inside of my body had calmed down.
No, you were executing the technique correctly.
"Then why—?"
The corruption root inside you reacted to the sudden change in the flow of magical energy inside your body. It reacted and immediately tried to intervene, merging with it.
Merging… with my magical energy?
Wait — 'corruption root'? The hell is that…?
The thing that has caused you the corruption overloads in the past. It's a phenomenon that occurs to those that are exposed to the Evil, which currently resides in the Abyss. Due to your close… Bond, so to say, with Arabor – who is essentially the heart of the Abyss – you have a much deeper connection to it than most others. Ancient One started, before exhaling gently.
This connection allowed for the Evil that dwells in the Abyss to enter your body and plant a root in it.
"Great… So I'm essentially a host for it or something?" I asked, shedding a slightly cold sweat.
Not exactly.
The Evil can occasionally overwhelm you, whenever the 'corruption' levels spike up high enough, however for the most part, you are able to resist it. The Ancient One corrected me before his tone turned a little more serious. I managed to untangle your magical energy from the root veins and placed a suppressor on them for now, however, this is only a temporary solution. Master, I urge you, you have to find a way to rid yourself of this root somehow.
The root will only continue to grow stronger and stronger, if left to be, it'll eventually take over your entire body.
Haha… Lovely to hear.
So, I essentially have a super powered disease inside me that is trying to kill me… Great, just fantastic. No offense to Arabor, but if I had known that making that pact with him would have such consequences, I perhaps would have thought twice about it before making the pact.
Taking in a deep breath, I exhaled heavily, before getting up. "I'll figure something out. Maybe you can monitor the root for now–?"
Already on it.
Don't worry Master, I will do everything in my power to slow its growth.
"Thanks…"
I guess sometimes, he can be quite useful after all. Afterwards, I stretched out slightly, before climbing out of the carriage and moving towards Odale and Avy, both of which were sitting near the campfire – Avy seemingly already asleep, while Odale was reading the same book that he had been reading while guiding me in the carriage.
"Has Avy eaten?" I asked, before sitting down next to Odale.
The lich looked at me, closing his book. "Lord Faofa, good to see that you've awakened. Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah… Sorry to make you two worry."
He shook his head. "No need to apologise. I should have been more careful in teaching you the technique." He stated, before looking at the campfire. "I did not realise that the things that gnaw at you were so strong. The technique failed because you were incapable of suppressing those negative spirits inside you completely."
I raised an eyebrow at first, however simply nodded and acted like I understood – even though he was technically incorrect in the reason as to why the technique failed. After a momentary silence, I exhaled.
"I'll just have to make due without the technique. Thanks for trying to teach me it though."
"...Of course." Odale nodded gently.
I then turned my attention to the crackling fire in front of us, staring at it for a bit. "This spot is quite the way off the road we were on, isn't it? After we rest up, how will we continue our journey forward?"
"It is. After you passed out, we wanted to find a spot to settle down and take care of you until you woke up, however the road we were taking only led down a rather thick forest ground. So, we decided to take a bit of a lap."
"Lap?... How big?"
Odale looked towards the carriage, before with a wave of his hand causing the folded up map to fly over to him. Catching the map, he unfolded it, before showing me it. "This is the road we were on and as you can see, while it is technically the 'shortest' it simply leads us through a dense forest." Odale traced the road with his fingers, before pulling it away from the map.
"Now, this is where we are currently. And this is the road we intend to take as a 'lap' around. While it is a lot longer, it will allow us to essentially avoid the thickest parts of the forest, making the overall journey easier."
He traced the other road, which to my surprise… Led into a mountain range.
"Are you sure this is a smart idea to take such a detour through a mountain range…? Remember Odale, we are carrying supplies that are intended for the Yiinao Adventuring guild branch in the carriage." Odale shook his head, folding the map up. "Do not worry, Lord Faofa, everything will be just fine. That mountain range has been around for ages – and I remember going to it a lot when I was training under my master. I know the mountains like the back of my hand."
…Usually, that'd inspire confidence, but considering that Odale is at least two thousand years old, I do not exactly fully trust his knowledge of the mountains, as it is… well… outdated, to say the least.
After exhaling, I looked at the campfire again.
Thinking about it for a bit, I shrugged. "Alright… I suppose I'll trust your judgement. Just note, if something happens in the mountains, the blame falls onto you and Avy."
"Haha, noted." Odale replied, placing the map inside his coat.
The two of us sat next to the fire for a while, simply talking about all sorts of things with one another. Eventually, we decided to start taking shifts in keeping night watch, with Odale agreeing to take the first shift. Taking him up on that offer, I sat down next to Avy, slightly leaning against her, resting my head against hers.
"I hope she doesn't mind." I thought, closing my eyes.
Within mere moments, I fell soundly asleep – leaving Odale the only one awake.
The Fire Prince watched Faofa and Avy for a short bit, before chuckling and shaking his head, picking up his book once more, before flipping it open, quickly flicking through the pages until he landed at the spot where he had stopped. Then, he resumed his quiet reading session, all the while listening to the gentle crackling of the fire and the faint, calm night sounds.