A rustle, followed by a gentle morning breeze caressed Osias. He awoke slowly and ached in pain.

His leg grows more numb with each day. The pain comes in waves, oddly enough.

It subsides briefly, then a vivid throbbing screams from within.

But what else can Osias do but brave the aching?

'If only we still had more of that medicine...' He thought grudgingly.

After a while, he painfully groaned and opened his eyes, alert and aware. If anything, the wave of throbbing only made him wake faster…

Pushing his body up with his arms, wary of further worsening the wounds on his lower half, Osias lurched and looked in the direction of the noise he had been hearing in the brief time he was awake.

There he found his elder brother dismantling a slain Path Beast.

Osias found this one wasn't too deformed in its rise to its Path... It still held a clear resemblance to the beast it once was.

A plump boar covered in a thick coat. Long, coarse bristles underlaid with short brown fur. Perhaps its feral tusks were the only thing warped in its ascension…

'A bush pig, maybe?'

Kiran was beginning to bleed the beast, hung atop a large branch of a hardy tree.

Bleeding a beast could spell trouble, the sensitive senses of others may be attracted to the alluring fallen boar.

But it was a needless worry for them.

Kiran was there, right below the massive boar with his hands stuck deep within its neck, Blood Reave in full swing as he drew the blood down.

"Osias, you're awake! I killed this one just before you awoke. You'll need to learn to procure your own meals in the future." Kiran said as his hand was still below the open neck.

Just as the beast was drained of its blood essence, he called once more to him, "Osias, throw me your sword."

"Here-" He said, drawing and throwing his short sword from its sheath fastened near his thigh.

Catching the sword his elder brother continued the abrupt lesson, "When you skin a four-legged beast, it's easier when you hang it beforehand. Open a cut by its hooves and move along the insides of its lower legs. Then, move to it's neck. Work it on both sides." He said lowly before adding:

"Thankfully it was weak — a First Ordeal. Well-made Ordinary blades can still cut and cleave its body, but you won’t have that problem with this blade.'

Finished with peeling its skin, Kiran moved on.

With a delicate grace, Kiran made a deep incision from the boar's breastbone to its pelvis.

One stroke was all it took for him.

‘He wields my sword like a knife…’ Osias somberly thought. He even used to grip it with both hands sometimes, its weight was unwieldy…

But Kiran continued unknowing of his thoughts:

"Be careful not to pierce it's intestines. The meat would taste foul if you do."

Reaching inwards, Kiran pulled the tract of organs from within. It was clean, not nearly making a bloody mess that Osias thought it would…

As Kiran continued to work, he began to look outside the rigid mountainside they made camp the night before, Osias found that the sun had yet to rise.

The twin moons, however, were faint and dimmed in the sky. Laria and Dirus he recalled in a daze.

'Daybreak. Laria and Dirus's play-time is over...' Osias thought wistfully as his brother continued, his words muffled into the background.

A week had passed since they'd entered the Outer Valleys.

Hiding and running...

Both day and night were harrowing. Path Beasts of all sorts roamed this untouched land.

For Osias to rest leisurely like this was nothing short of a blessing descended upon him by the heavens.

On their Fourth day of traversing the Outer Valleys North, Kiran suddenly froze in his tracks. He stopped as if he graced an indiscernible barrier. His teeth clenched tightly, and his fingers wrapped around the shaft of his spear with enough force to shatter Ordinary weapons.

Osias knew in that moment that he too was at the mercy of whatever Kiran was sensing.

Osias wrapped his head around his carrier and looked at what was in front, only to find Kiran using his free hand to reach within his robes.

But he paid no heed to what his elder brother was doing. Osias was busily faltering under the very air itself.

His mind grew heavy and breathing was made to an arduous task.

Death. Dread. Reverence.

It must be a Path Beast of the Third Ordeal, a strong one at that.

Nothing could be done to elude this Path Beast.

Abasing themselves, the pair simply stood still.

The mere whims of this beast dictated their lives.

But then the dreadful air dispersed, fleeting as fast as it arrived.

Unbeknownst to Osias and Kiran, the beast simply left.

Perhaps it didn't, but regardless it did not feel that their lives were threatened and so they begrudgingly marched forth.

He recalled their conversation after that:

"Brother..." He said quietly, still weary of the possibility of the Third Ordeal still lingering.

But Kiran only nodded, then replied to him somberly, "Take it to heart, Osias. There are no guarantees that I can harbor you from danger. Not here."

Then Kiran returned his free hand to his side and continued the cold march...

Thinking back to that 'encounter', Osias still felt as though he graced against death by simply being in the vicinity of such a being. Returning his view to Kiran still gutting the boar he still wondered how close they were to death back then, 'Did it not bother to contact us? We didn't even see its appearance...'

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Kiran began to portion the fallen boar with his sword, its blade moving seamlessly through the thickened flesh, even cleaving bones when needed. Osias didn’t think he could do the same thing so easily.

'Kiran is strong, without a doubt.'

Powerful he was. More so than the many Blood Warriors of the same level under the Red Sky that Osias have come to know — The Second Bloods they were called accordingly. Kiran might’ve been stronger than even some of the elders and the Third Bloods in some way perhaps…

Of course, Osias hasn't witnessed the full extent of their powers. And he rarely made contact with the handful of Third Ordeals under the Band, so he couldn’t be certain.

But Kiran was different, and also puzzling.

'How did he become like this?’

Osias's mind wandered back, far far back.

He recalled the time when he first started having his 'sessions' with the Band Leader.

It was difficult to narrow down the exact age he was since it was so early in his life, but the Band Leader must've just finished Kiran's own tattoos at the time.

'It's hard to know. Too far long ago, but was brother always so... distant?'

Osias watched as Kiran finished preparing the boar-like Path Beast, already packing their belongings and discarding the beast's waste.

He gathered what was left of the hunt and grabbed Osias's wooden carrier. Kiran approached him and fastened him in once again.

"Here-" Kiran said, grabbing Osias and throwing him across his back.

"Secure the latches and we'll be off."

"Mm."

Just as they began to embark on the final day before approaching the Gracious Heron from Garm's old tales, the sun began to crack the horizon. The brilliant sky blushed with hues of pink and gold, officially heralding the new day.

'Laria and Dirus, they dance with the stars.

Weave clouds in their play and flight.

Spill silver and gold, spreading soft light.

But Dawn gently whispers, that their playtime must end,

The Sun sweeps the sky, their dear father and friend.

"Good morning," they murmur, as they fade from the view,

"Rest well," he says, "I'll see you both soon."

The sun warms the day, the moons dream away,

In the cycle of night, and the brightness of day.

Laria and Dirus, with their father's warm ray,

Forever they dance, in a sky's endless play.'

Kiran and Osias stood side by side on the rugged mountainside, their breath visible in the crisp morning air. The world beneath them was still slightly cloaked in the shadows of night, but from their lofty vantage point, they could see the sun slowly waking from its slumber.

"A gold morning, brother," Osias said with a stifled and weak laugh recalling the children’s story.

"Mm," Kiran replied curtly before marching ahead. He weaved through the jagged terrain, never seeming to lose his footing.

Seeing as Kiran began to move briskly, invigorated by how close their meeting with the Heron draws, Osias reluctantly asked as he whipped his neck around:

"Brother... I never asked you, but what is your Second Ordeal Ability?"

Kiran didn’t respond immediately, but Osias added more without pause:

"Did you use it at all yet?"

With a little pause, Kiran simply nodded and let out a sigh.

"I guess it is only natural for you to wonder."

With a slight pause, he continued:

"True Extraction. That is the name I awoke to upon completing the Second Ordeal. It is different but also complements the Innate Ability we share — Blood Reave. The main difference is that it requires me to expend essence to activate, a heavy amount as well." Kiran lingered for a while, then answered again:

"I also must make direct contact, unlike Blood Reave. But I am sure it will change in the future… Returning to its use, I use the true extracted blood essence differently from the blood absorbed from our Innate Ability."

"Here-" He said reaching into his chest.

Osias whipped his head around and saw - what followed Kiran's hands was a small stick.

"It is difficult to control and keep at bay consciously if its shape is complex. I also constantly have to expend my essence this whole time to keep it... conjured. A negligent amount though."

Kiran said, deeply considering his words.

Suddenly the small handle exploded into a monstrous-looking spear. Shaped and modeled drastically similar to the one Kiran wielded this whole time.

"The strain on my essence is tolerable. But I still allocated a small amount of blood essence from the fallen Path Beast to be fed into this spear with True Extraction. Meanwhile, I have a significant portion absorbed with our Innate Ability to offset the cost of using True Extraction along with maintaining it."

"I believe the true strength of our Blood Path is balance. Constant battle. Persistent and ceaseless death. Fuel to feed into our strength. Perhaps this ability is a representation of that."

Osias simply nodded. He too concluded that in an elongated battle was where their Path truly revealed its prowess.

"However, we are not without our strengths if faced with few or a single overwhelming opponent."

Lingering for a while, he returned to his explanation:

"Going back to True Extraction, I call the blood essence extracted with this Ordeal Ability 'external blood essence'. Although the condition for physical contact remains... I can change, manipulate, and harden this essence. Perfect for augmenting or creating weapons and armor."

Osias nodded again. It truly was an ability fit for someone so grounded in combat like Kiran.

"But this essence can hardly leave my touch. My connection wanes, and I must focus. Though I have achieved immensely crude constructs… At first, I have only been able to crudely make my spear. But to keep two or three constructs is difficult, the external blood essence begins to flow, returning to the object most centered in my mind, almost always my spear."

"To keep the forms, it's as if I require a second mind. But I continue to grow my connection. I still train, all so I can truly push this ability to its limit."

"I see."

Osias wondered though:

"But Brother, why do you continue to add more blood essence into this... weapon?"

"Mm. That is another facet of this ability. It grows, Osias… It fiendishly devours and demands more blood essence. It grows harder, more durable, and even sharper. Its weight is perfect, balanced, and fit to wear. Like a devilish extension stronger than that of my body."

Kiran smiled, but Osias could not see from where he was situated and recollected his memories:

"When I first used True Extraction, it was on a captured First Tail from the forces of the Tailed Brothers. Captured and to be used as a blood source for the pregnant women of the band. But I pushed the elders to allow usage of my newfound True Extraction on them. Vicious… it is much more malicious than simple absorption. It truly extracted much more than was capable of simple absorption. I found it best fit on those who died, similar to Blood Reave, as theirs no will imposed on their blood. But the others in the band tortured this captive, his will was already broken. It ripped the broken man of his blood essence, and in my hand was the makings of a handle."

Kiran stifled a chuckle and continued:

"It was like a trick I've seen from an entertainer from a caravan, and I pulled a lengthy blade from the withered body of the First Tail. It was stronger than an Ordinary blade, albeit only slightly. Its modeled counterpart was better, as it was forged from one of the elder's Ordeal Abilities. But then, I extracted from another. It slowly grew in its capabilities."

"Now, just two years of feeding this weapon, it is almost equivalent to a blade worthy of a Third Ordeal Path Finder. It has nothing special - not like the blades imbued with certain traits. But it's simplicity is enough.”

Unbeknownst to him though, Kiran silently thought to himself, ‘It was unfortunate though, I couldn’t come across foes in my isolation…’

As Kiran continued to explain his ability, Osias grew increasingly impressed.

True Extraction seemed so fitting for his brother. It made him wonder if he could obtain such a fitting ability…

Kiran then turned his head to face the side of Osias’s stretched and lurched face, and Kiran's face suddenly turned serious:

"But Osias, heed this warning. Never ask another Path Finder about their Ordeal Abilities. And never reveal more than you have to. It is always best to have your adversaries underestimate your capabilities. Even your allies at times."

"Does that mean you held back some details?"

"Of course I did. You haven't seen them yet, but some Paths leads into the mind of others. Monstrous mental abilities. Vile abilities that’ll enthrall you. I have some secrets I cannot tell, even for you."

"I see," Osias said with a slight frown before asking hesitantly:

"Brother, do you… think I will get something normal? For my First Ordeal?"

Kiran let out a small laugh:

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Osias. The Ordeals are not such a thing to trivialize. Worry first of your preparations before. But even before that, you must be healed."

Hearing that Osias frowned slightly wanting to hear more:

"But even so... Is there no way to know what we can get from our Ordeals?"

"Mm. There is no way. But the Ordeals always have a way of granting something... befitting. It's hard to describe, but you'll never be disappointed, in a way."

Osias expected as much. It seemed like he’d have to undergo his First Ordeal to tell.

But over Kiran’s explanation, he found that his elder brother was talkative today. In a good mood, maybe?

So he decided to ask something that still bewildered him. Something that had been bothering him ever since Kiran took him away.

'Why... Why was I chosen to go along with Kiran? The Band wasn't as large as Three Factions, not even close. But among the other youth - not even the much more powerful Third Ordeals... Why were they not sent along?'

"Brother," Osias said, pausing to find the right words:

"Do you know why I brought along with you? I mean to escape. I haven't even completed my First Ordeal, and you said that there was no guarantee I would even survive it. I haven’t proven myself to the band back then. They even split the inheritance into two for me when you would’ve used to better."

Kiran found the abrupt change in question quite amusing, albeit a little foolish to ask.

Looking infront of him, and away from Osias’s view, his lips were pulled into a slight smile for once.

"My relation to you, of course."