The next few days were surprisingly peaceful. Despite the fact that he had another person living with him, Azrael enjoyed the feeling of waking up to a freshly swept and cleaned house every morning, with breakfast already on the table. He did not, however, enjoy the way in which he was woken, which usually Alena poking him until he got up.
As a countermeasure to protect his sleep ins he instructed her to spend one hour every morning practicing her knife throwing and another hour meditating. In the end he usually woke up while Alena was knife throwing, so he joined her for the meditation until breakfast. He felt bad eating breakfast without her.
His rune circle was also coming along well. Running tests on multiple stone plates he had managed to build functioning rune structures for physical reflection and magical absorption. While he was still working on the means to power the whole formation, the magic absorption should theoretically absorb mana from a spell to integrate it into the barrier’s mana structure. This meant that theoretically, the more mana was thrown at it, the stronger the barrier would become. Theoretically.
The afternoons were spent devising new training for Alena and some light sparring. He even got a new skill, which progressed quickly due to muscle memory and the frequent sparring.
[Dagger Arts]
Even the smallest blade can fell the mightiest king.
Your proficiency with all small blades increases with the skill level.
Alena was also gaining proficiency at an astounding rate, although that may have been something to do with the benefits of [Lord’s Domain]. His title [Teacher] had also kicked in after a few days, showing that he had surpassed Alena in [Dagger Arts] by at least five levels.
The day came however when Alena decided that she wanted to move to the next stage of the training.
“Fight-strong-now. I-fight.” she signed.
He sighed, it had barely been what – a week since she had started? Her Thief code had improved a lot, but her dagger skills were nowhere near ready for an actual fight. He would have to show her how vast the world was.
Looking out into the autumn forest he pictured various scenarios, before coming to a conclusion.
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“Follow me” he said “But stay quiet.”
Slipping into [Stealth] he began to walk, making sure that Alena could still see and follow him. In his head he was quietly humming a tune.
“ ~ We’re going on a boar hunt.
We’re going to catch a big one ~ ”
At least he hoped it was a boar. A wolf might be too dangerous for Alena to be around with her current skills and a deer would be too big for her. He shrugged. It would be a good learning experience either way.
***
Alena followed Lord Azrael, her master, through the forest. Despite warnings from the village chief and other villagers not to get involved with him she had still decided to accept the oath. She knew it was dangerous, no oath made on one’s true name was to be taken lightly, but she wanted revenge.
The men had invaded their village and slain Martha, the old lady that had fed and clothed her in the place of her parents. The sight of Martha, falling lifeless to the ground, still haunted her dreams. She often woke up in tears. Feeling fear, shame, guilt, anger.
She was willing to give her life for revenge. Accepting an oath on her true name was nothing compared to that.
She looked at the Lord, his figure seeming to blend into the surroundings. Her eyes slipped past him as if he didn’t exist, despite her knowing exactly where he was. She touched the oath bond between them, feeling him. His side radiated power, dominating the link. She followed him through that.
He was different from the villagers. She could feel it. All the villagers could. The village chief called it the ‘divine spark’, a gift from the gods to their chosen. The other men that called themselves ‘players’ had it too. Why were they chosen? Why, when they had killed Martha?
Nearly bumping in her Lord and master she found herself crouched behind a bush.
His fingers flashed “Stay here. Watch.”
She nodded and he vanished once more. Through the oath-link she felt him move away from her. Feeling him circle around, she finally noticed the boar that was snuffling around between two trees. It was big, bulging with muscles and used two big tusks to rip up the ground. She fingered her two daggers, suddenly feeling a lot less confident.
The Lord shimmered into existence, seemingly appearing out of a tree. Before the boar even had a chance to notice him he had already plunged a dagger into its hide, using it to hold on, while he slit it’s back legs. It tried to buck him off, but to no avail. Flickering for a moment he appeared on the boar’s other side, slitting its other hind leg. The beast tried to gore him with its tusks, but couldn’t turn its head far enough. A moment later both of its front legs gave way as they too were cut.
The boar fell to the ground, debilitated. Her Lord called her over.
“Kill it.”
She drew her daggers and hesitated. The once proud boar that exuded danger lay there, sad and weakened, unable to do anything as its life drained away. She balked as she watched it struggling. She felt sorry for it.
“Kill it” he repeated.
Her Lord, her master had commanded her, yet she could not do it. Unlike the other men it had never done anything against her. The way the boar’s beady eyes seemed to look into hers. It was in pain. Her hands shook.
The Lord slit through its neck, putting it out of its misery. It stilled.
Nervously, she touched the link between them, expecting disappointment. Instead, she felt a deep sense of understanding. Tears welled up in her eyes and she fell to the ground sobbing. She didn’t know why. It might have been because she had failed to follow his command and take the next step, to take a life, or it might have been exactly because she had witnessed the ending of an innocent creature.
Despite all that her Lord and master just stood by her silently, his presence both like a strong shield and a warm blanket. Strong, reliable, calming.