“You’re still alive,” the Samurai stated bluntly as they looked the Udwi up and down, “I had thought you had perished after touching that pearl.”

“What? Why would you think that?”

“You collapsed, stopped breathing, and went still,” they responded, “Those are typically the signs of complete and utter death.”

“I see,” he said, understanding the logic yet not appreciating the way the Samurai had simply written him off.

“It is a good thing that you have woken up so early as well. I was just about to begin digging your grave and give your last rites.”

“I appreciate that you were patient enough to wait before burying me alive.” he deadpanned, “Otherwise I would have certainly been in for a rude awakening.”

“Indeed.”

The Udwi stared at the Samurai for a while, before shaking his head and standing back up. He dusted off all the dirt that had settled on his body before he looked around.

He hadn’t teleported anywhere. This was the same place that he had been when he had fought that monster from before. He was nowhere near those giant chambers nor in that dark abyss he had been tossed into.

He was back in the real world. Which made him wonder about what had just transpired previously.

That place… Was it a location in the tower? Or was that the realm in which the anima of these lands inhabited and all that I had suffered was nothing more than my soul entering such a space? Then that abyss must have been truly a silver of the Usurper’s power, a small realm that the bastard had created in an attempt to trap me and take my powers. Then that means that whole incident…

He closed his eyes and looked back at the Samurai, who had made a little campground around the crater that the monster made previously. A little pile of black sticks were placed in the middle of the depression with leaves and random foliage sprinkled on top. There were several rows of stones of random sizes that were placed in a rifle around this pile, possibly to help act as a guide to keep in a flame.

Without a single bit of hesitation, they proceeded to take out two stones and started to strike them against each other with such force that giant sparks erupted from the impact. They kept on doing this for quite some time until the vegetation caught on fire and the flames began to burn. They quickly put down the two rocks and began to fan the flames with their hands, though they weren’t quite successful with this as they did not necessarily have any good tools to do so.

They ended up doing so by blowing on the red blazes as harshly as they could to get the flames to burn even more. Their attempts didn’t go quite well as the fire could not go upwards even more due to the fact that there wasn’t enough power behind those bursts to get the flames to spread further.

The Udwi kept an eye on the actions of the Samurai for a while. He waited for a bit longer to see if they could make any ground with their actions, but nothing like that happened. The red sparks still stayed centralized and never intensified, none of them spreading or getting stronger at all. Thus, he intervened.

He called upon the spirits to help bring the fire up. To his utter shock, he did not need to negotiate or put in as much energy into the request as before. Instead, the anima complied with nary but a drop of his being, compiling without any conflict.

The updraft came and expanded the flames, bursting the fire to spread throughout every single last bit of the vegetation that were laid in the crater. There was a burst of heat and flame and the Samurai had to jump back a little bit in shock, before relaxing and looking back at him.

Their eyes had a little hint of surprise that bled into understanding in a split second. With that, they simply went ahead and set up a little sitting place nearby the now vigorant fireplace for both of them to rest. They set up a few giant rocks, before sitting down on one of them without much fanfare.

He stared at the sight, before silently walking on over and sitting down as well. He breathed in and out as he got ready to scoot closer to the fireplace to get warmer, before pausing and thinking of something.

Perhaps what he was about to do was nothing more than the abuse of the trust levied to him by the anima. Maybe what he was going to do would bring punishment for such a useless act or perhaps the spirits would deny his request for how lazy such a decision was. However, this was something he wanted to test.

He called upon the spirits to surround him with some warm air. Thankfully, they complied without much difficulty and he found himself covered in a shroud of hot air that helped keep his temperature in balance. He wasn’t cold anymore and he certainly wasn’t going to for a good while. That being said, what made him shocked was the fact that he was capable of such an act.

Was this something I was capable of before? No, it can’t be, I would have known about such a thing. After all, I did create fires earlier and I cannot recall the spirits being able to transfer over the heat and maintain it. The fact that they’re able to now sustain such a thing is new… Hm. I wonder…

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Without dispelling the spirits already at work, the Udwi called upon some new spirits to send a constant plume of wind at a nearby patch of silver grass. However, they were not meant to cause any damage or destroy the landscape, but simply to start making the foliage so cold that they would freeze. He wasn’t confident on whether or not this would work, nor did he care. No, the point was to test to see if this was possible.

The spirits obliged. The winds began to blow towards the silver grass, making them sway from the force. Bit by bit, small shards of ice began to grow on the surface of these plants. They began to spread further and further at a slow pace until it began to pick up rapidly and in a few seconds, every single one of the blades of grass were turned into a frozen stiff ice sculpture.

His eyes widened. With that, he commanded the spirits to reverse their actions and send in heat from the ambient air just to make sure this wasn’t a fluke. This change took a little bit more time, but in the end, the ice melted off the silver grass and they were back to normal.

At least, for a little while. Then they began to slowly shrivel up and dry up from the excess heat that was coming from the winds sent from the spirits.

The Udwi couldn’t help but be amazed by this change in his abilities. Such a thing was brand new for sure as he knew for a face he wasn’t capable of any of these before. What had changed from then and now? There was only one thing he could recall: the fight with the Usurper.

The white shining orb that he absorbed after he had vanquished that snake. The moment he felt all better and his soul was rejuvenated. Perhaps this was the divinity that was being talked about? Then that would mean he was far stronger now in terms of mystic capabilities and his connection to the anima.

So that meant the Usurper wouldn’t be at full power as they had shared their powers with others. Thus, if the Udwi took on other warriors of that snake, then he could absorb more of those spheres and get even stronger. He could then use that power to take over for certain and more than ever, use all of that to wipe out the British from the entire world without any worry.

He’d have to make sure he would get the finishing blow. Either that, or touch the black sphere first. Yes, he’d have to put in some work to ensure he’d be the one to succeed, but he was confident in himself.

What worried him the most was the repercussions from constantly getting stronger. True, he’d be able to defeat anyone that came his way for a while, but that didn’t mean he was the biggest fish in the pond. At some point, the other warriors would figure out how to get stronger just like him and they’d start targeting him. Perhaps he already made a mistake and got the eye of the Usurper far too quickly and now the bastard was sending as many soldiers over to retake the divinity that he had stolen.

Whatever the case, he’d have to tread even more carefully now. Especially since he was in unfamiliar lands and this whole area seemed completely out of place with the hellish landscape he had gotten a bit accustomed to. Where there was beauty was danger and with how these lands have treated him, he would have to be even more wary than before.

“Something on your mind?”

That question from the Samurai made him jump far more than he would like to admit. He turned around only to find the other warrior staring at him with lifeless eyes, any sign of emotion wiped out from those dark orbs. He took a moment to collect himself, before closing his eyes.

“Not particularly. Why do you ask?”

“Because you have seemed a bit off after touching that pearl. Before, you would have likely ran away by now or have done something stupid. Right now, all I can see you doing is looking at random patches of grass and looking away in the distance with a dumb look on your face.”

The Udwi scowled at that. He didn’t have a dumb look.

“You’re doing it again.”

“I don’t believe you understand what a dumb look appears.”

“Perhaps.” The Samurai relented, before shrugging. “But you seem almost aimless and lost. What is it?”

He opened his mouth to reply, before closing it. Something about the way the conversation started and the way this discussion was going put a bad taste in his mouth. He wasn’t certain why, but there was one thing that did concern him.

“Why exactly are you asking? The last time we met didn’t exactly end on good terms, did it not?”

“What do you mean by that?”

He gave an unamused stare at them, unsure of whether or not they were playing games or being dead serious. He honestly could not tell, not with the mask covering their facial expressions and their eyes giving away zero emotion at all.

“Didn’t the last time we met, it ended with me telling you to leave me alone? In fact, I believe I told you specifically not to follow me. So answer me this: why the hell were you able to reach me so fast?”

“Oh. Is that your concern?” The Udwi nodded at the response, making the Samurai cock their head. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Okay, if you weren’t following me, then how did you get to my position without much difficulty?”

They went silent for a little while with that. Then, they blinked before their eyes lit up for a split second with realization.

“Oh, that? I wasn’t going for you at all. I heard the noise of numerous trees breaking down once more and I rushed on over to find a worthy fight. I didn’t realize that you would be there.”

To that the Udwi had to give way. After all, that was a good point. That fight with the monsters did create a lot of noise, something that could have been heard by the Samurai. Thus, he was at an impasse.

The problem came with the way they seemed to still be sticking around instead of going on their way. That implied they wanted something from him. Why else would they start a conversation with him if not for the reason of getting some information out?

He could stay silent. That was an option. And yet…

He had to admit, being out here by himself for quite some time was lonely. Having company that wasn’t trying to kill him was a rarity and he could use the conversation. So, he decided to indulge.

“Is that so? Then what do you plan to do from here?”