Selene smiled at Meelara before a shudder ran through her body. The air was still freezing cold, and she was exhausted. She hadn’t even noticed the notifications.
“Right,” Meelara smirked. “You’re spent. Check your gains, and then go to sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
“Yeah,” Selene stifled a yawn, bringing a hand in front of her mouth. “Probably for the best.”
“I’ll ask about what she needs when I wake up,” Selene added internally.
She willed her Status to appear, along with the notifications.
[Ding! Level up! You have reached level 4.]
[Stats allocated: +4 STR,+4 VIT,+2 INT, +2 AGI.]
Name:
Selene Parson
Race:
Human
Affiliation:
Earth
Stage:
1 - Niflshade Initiate
Level:
4
Stats:
Strength(STR)
12
Agility(AGI)
10
Vitality(VIT)
10
Intelligence(INT)
7
Wisdom(WIS)
5
Charisma(CHA)
3
Skills:
Shadow Strike
Novice
Chill of the Grave
Novice
Spirit Echoes
Novice
Selene nodded with a satisfied smile on her face, yawned, and settled back against the wall, but closer to the fire than before.
“Good night,” she said and fell asleep almost immediately.
----------------------------------------
Meelara watched as Selene lay down, and frowned as she almost immediately fell asleep. Her breathing turned even, and calm as Meelara started muttering.
“Perhaps… Perhaps I shouldn’t have told her. It could go to her head. I’ll have to help her stay on the Path, and not falter,” Meelara shook her head and turned back to the exit. “Too many have fallen to vice and desire. If she’s really going to enact change, true change, for the betterment of all, then she needs to remain good at heart.”
As the head suffused the space again, Meelara relaxed. She sat in silence, watching.
----------------------------------------
Selene dreamed of a huge hall. It was impossibly large, with more tables and benches than she could count. Food and drink sat on the table, but there was no one in sight. At the end of the hall was a podium with an empty throne.
The view shifted to another long hall. This one was less extravagant but decorated beautifully. There were several open doors, leading out into an idyllic meadow under a blue sky. At the end of the hall was another podium with an empty throne.
Shifting images floated by her, never giving her the time to examine too deeply, but they all shared the imagery of an empty throne.
Finally, the floating around stopped, and she found herself in a palace of clear white ice. Indistinct, translucent forms kneeled in supplication towards an imposing black throne. Pillars held up the high ceiling. Every surface was carved with elaborate designs, though Selene struggled with understanding what they meant.
Behind the throne, she saw carved a large wolf and a flight of ravens around a tall, pale woman dressed in black.
A whisper sounded from the air around her, gradually growing as if several people joined in.
“SEEK”
The image faded into a white fog and disappeared.
----------------------------------------
“Alright, girl,” Meelara said as they stood on the rocky mountain slope. “We’re going to train for a while here, have some lunch, and then move on. From now on, you’ll be pushed hard. Every evening, I want you to train for a little bit in veiling your Spirituality, and then levelling up, along with fortifying your foundations. Got it?”
“Yeah,” Selene nodded and raised her hands.
They stood around a hundred metres from the forest, and there was a lot of moss, and small shrubs under their feet, which provided a rough, uneven footing as it grew over loose stones.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Selene took a breath and dashed forward, a slight smile on her face as she channelled her Spirituality.
----------------------------------------
“What is it that you need me to do?” Selene asked as they walked. She was sore all over from the beating she’d received, but she also felt the satisfaction of a good workout. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Ahh,” Meelara grimaced and didn’t meet Selene’s eyes. “I think it would be better to wait. The less you know, the less it will affect your Path. When I think you’re ready, or strong enough, I’ll explain more.”
“Alright,” Selene frowned but nodded. She kept walking in silence, ignoring the small fry that hid as they passed but kept an eye out for anything stronger.
----------------------------------------
Selene pulled the sword out of the lizard’s head and wiped it clean while looking at the wound on her left arm healing before her eyes. She turned to look at Meelara and saw she’d finished with the other three. She sat on one, and looked at Selene with a smirk, chewing on some leftovers from lunch.
“Well done, girl!” she said as she stood up and approached. “You’ve gotten a lot better.”
Meelara walked past the smiling Selene and placed her right hand on the lizard. Through Spirit Echoes, Selene saw a flow of energy pass from the beast into Meelara and frowned.
“What was that?” Selene asked.
“Oh, right,” Meelara scratched her head and smiled crookedly. “That was credits… You see, the physical credits are a manifestation of the remnants of a dead Path. Once you learn to veil your Spirituality, and the next step, you’ll be able to draw the credits into yourself, and the System will keep a count. It’s made an economic sub-system where it qualifies and quantifies the amount of energy you draw into credits that are used as a currency. This way, it’s always possible to make a profit from fighting.”
“Huh,” Selene looked on. “What about the ones I found?”
“Oh, yeah,” Meelara smirked. “Marlik, the tracker, and Prents, the guard, were good fighters, but they were terrible at control. They’d been struggling with veiling, and controlling their Spirituality, so they couldn’t draw the credits. They could only keep the physical ones in a pocket.”
“Right,” Selene frowned. “Alright, then.”
“Let’s keep going,” Meelara waved her hand. “We’ve got a few more hours to walk before we settle down for the night.”
----------------------------------------
They’d set up camp in a dip, under a fallen tree, and Meelara took watch for the first part of the night. Selene focused on training her veil, before diving into her Inner Space and building her foundations.
She’d moved a bit further away from the fire, to not bother Meelara too much.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the frozen area around her and just caught some fleeting shadows before they settled into the surrounding darkness.
“Alright,” she said as she got up, and moved closer to Meelara. “I’m done. I should have enough energy to last the rest of the night.”
“Good,” Meelara yawned as she stretched her arms and back. “I really need some sleep. Night, girl.”
She lay down a few metres from the fire and wrapped a blanket around herself.
“Don’t let the fire go out,” she mumbled before she fell asleep.
Selene shook her head, and settled down, gazing into the dark forest. She wrapped her cloak around her and prepared for a long night.
----------------------------------------
Days passed as Selene fought, trained, practised, and ate. Meelara continued to train with her every day and guided her towards their destination.
“We’re going to another city!” Selene wondered, barely recalling the cities she’d visited with her parents before the Integration. “Apparently, the natives are better off there.”
Meelara was walking slightly ahead, trusting Selene to watch her back. Selene, in turn, kept a vigilant eye out and regularly turned around to check if something, or someone was trying to sneak up on them.
“I hope so,” Selene furrowed her brows and bit her lip. “Although, Meelara said they’re still treated as lesser beings, second-rate citizens, and such, they’re allowed some freedom, and are actually helping with the governing, or at least administration of the city.”
The sun hung high in the sky, just having started its downward journey toward the horizon, bathing the plains they’d entered in warmth, and light. The plains were interspersed with copses of trees, and Selene saw several small critters scuttering around. Once or twice, she’d seen bigger creatures, but with Meelara at the head, few dared to approach. Those that did, were quickly defeated, though Selene was doing most of the fighting by then.
Meelara kept watch and would step in if needed.
“I’ll need to focus on my behaviour, and demeanour, in that city,” Selene remembered her chats with Meelara. “I’ll have to pass myself off as one of the Invaders, or I’ll be in trouble.”
She shivered at the thought but gritted her teeth.
“It’s necessary,” she argued with herself. “I can’t help anyone, or change anything if I die because some Invader realises I’m not one of them; that I’m a native to Earth.”
Suddenly Meelara stopped, causing Selene to prepare for a fight, and scan her eyes wildly around the area, but she saw nothing.
Frowning, she looked at Meelara, and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she saw her mentor holding a blue crystal the size of a thumbnail which blinked with red light.
Selene saw the frown on Meelara’s face and remained silent, and kept watch.
“What is that?” Selene wondered. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Nothing happened around them, except a few critters looking their way curiously. Selene didn’t stop looking though, not until the red light stopped blinking. At that point, she turned to Meelara and met her troubled gaze.
“What’s going on?” Selene asked.
“Haah,” her companion sighed deeply, and grabbed a handful of red hair, before letting her arm fall limp. “Change of plans. Something’s happened in Vision.”
“Vision,” Selene recalled. “That’s the name of the city we were going to. What happened?”
“What happened,” she asked the question on her mind.
“Not sure,” Meelara answered with downcast eyes, and furrowed brows. “But, my contact says it’s not safe, so it’s gotta be bad… We’re heading elsewhere to meet him, and his crew. Ellard’s Cove is another week's travel south.”
Selene frowned but didn’t argue.
“I’ve got no reason to doubt her,” Selene reasoned internally. “She’s been honest with me so far, as far as I can tell.”
“Alright,” she nodded. “Let’s go.”
Meelara gave her a slight smile, looked around, and at the position of the sun, turned slightly, and started walking.
“Ellard’s Cove is an independent uhh, let’s call it a trading port. It’s rough but doesn’t discriminate. So long as you’re useful, you’re welcome,” Meelara explained.
“So,” Selene asked. “Why didn’t we go there from the start?”
“Because,” Meelara hesitated. “Because it’s a haven for criminals, fugitives, and scoundrels… You’ll see when we get there. It’s not a good place.”
“So,” Selene frowned. “Why are we going there now?”
“Because it’s the only place we can get passage on a ship without official papers,” Meelara sighed and rubbed her forehead. “The area isn’t safe anymore, and my contact intends to leave. I happen to agree. There are other safe places, but Vision was the closest, and easiest to reach.”
“I see,” Selene nodded, and sighed. “Lead the way.”
Meelara said nothing more and walked on.
Selene walked behind and returned to her previous task of watching their back.
----------------------------------------
Selene looked at the bridge beneath her feet, which was now reaching far into the distance behind her.
“I’ve made a lot of progress,” she muttered with a slight smile. “But, every level requires more.”
She turned back forward, looking into the fog ahead, where she could barely see the outline of a huge object. It was towering above her and reaching beyond her sight to each side.
“I wonder if that’s the gates I saw in my dream,” Selene’s smile widened, feeling as if she was nearing her goal. “It should be. I’ll reach level ten when I build the bridge up to the Gate, at which point I have to pass a test or trial, to open it, and reach Stage 2.”
She’d spent some time every night building the bridge and going back to strengthen it. Every time she sparred, and fought monsters, she’d discover some flaws, but as time passed they became less significant.
“I can’t wait,” Selene grinned widely.