"The Sun! Finally!"

Like some spirit straight from the underworld, a cloaked figure emerged from the dense fog that was surrounding the the entire land of Alfheim.

The piece of cloth that was wrapped around his upper body was all torn up, and wasn't offering that much of a protection anymore. The only remnants of his past armor, greaves and gauntlets, were dented and covered by lacerations marks.

Each of the boy's heavy footsteps were accompanied of a metallic sound made by the contact of his boots and the rocky ground, troubling the decades old silence of these parts of the Edge, the border of the world.

In his memories, there used to be a city that once stood tall on these very grounds. Bekhailopoulos, the proud city of iron, dedicated to the ascended mortal Akanai and built around the portal linking this world to those further down the Path. Such a strategic position had made it a traveling and commercial hub, and the citizens were proud to call it home. Maybe even too proud sometimes.

Now its former territory had been half covered by the fog and there was nothing on it beside the eerie skeletal frame of the old palace in the distance, rocks and the smell of sanitized death.

Even then, Enok preferred that smell to the one he had to deal with for months in the void between worlds, traveling through the fog. Thinking about what he had just escaped made him shudder.

The boy was visibly exhausted but he had not been the one to express their happiness.

A blue ball of light, the size of a fist, was merrily flying around his head and tied back curly hair. A closer inspection would have revealed that the light was actually emitted by a glass orb.

"Man, I really thought we were goners for a minute... Do you think you'll be ok?" it asked on a joyous tone.

"I will be fine" he replied, wincing, "the Ki of this place is pretty weak, but most of my injuries should be healed after a few days of rest."

The boy lifted his head and scanned the cloudless horizon. They were on a cliff towering a forest almost divided in two by a river that seemed to disappear somewhere between the tall trees. Beyond the forest, the ground didn't seem able to bear life and nothing was growing on it. It was a barren rocky desert, even along the river, for kilometers until the first sign of civilization : the beginning (or the end, more likely) of a paved road. even further away, he could see the distant shapes of sky islands, floating landmasses particular to this world.

"Do you really need that much time?" The orb asked.

Since she had gained the simple ability to emit sounds and move around on her own, among other things, Kaja rarely used telepathy anymore and took every opportunity to voice her opinions. But they hardly mattered in this case.

Not that she didn’t know. Thankfully, Kaja acting childish wasn’t strange to Enok anymore, he attributed the habit to her once having been so close to mortals. However, he still wished she would speak properly.

"Yes it does, Kaja," he sat down on the ground, crossing his legs and joining his hands,"I will have to climb down this cliff and go through this forest to look for food... Did you somehow forget I had a human body?"

The orb slowly landed on his head, disappointed.

"Stop trying to play it cool dude. I can literally feel whatever you feel... Also, I just really want to see how everybody has been doing all this time, you know?"

"That is not entirely true, and I know," he closed his eyes, " just tell me if anything moves."

While it was true that the two of them shared an unusual bond, saying that Enok was playing it cool actually was only half the truth. He had been kept out of the Path, their world, for almost eight hundred years and had just rejoined it... Every fiber of his being was trembling with excitement and anticipation... And some dread. He had still not felt an ounce of Mantra, the power of the gods, since he had been freed.

But he was also in great pain because of wounds and several broken bones that made walking and even breathing hard. despite what he had said, he wasn't “fine”. but since she could not feel what he physically felt, he wasn’t going to complain to his younger sister.

Maintaining his meditative stance, Enok focused on absorbing the surrounding Ki, life force of the world itself. It was an invisible form of energy that was present anywhere there was life and in anything that was alive and unbent.

Even though it was the only of the three mystic vapors (Mantra, KI and Ether) to still be active, most creatures lived their lives without even knowing its existence. However, some where taught how to harness its power and could gain abilities far surpassing the limitations of their species.

The strength of a thousand. The speed of a lightning bolt. The wisdom of your elders. Depending on how you used it, the possibilities where endless.

And directly absorbing it was one of the most efficient ways of doing so. One who could was called an aurosei, a master of aura.

One of the various advantages it procured just happened to be heightened regenerative abilities. Slowly but surely, Enok could feel his various injuries heal by themselves, starting with the internal ones. The pain faded and breathing became easier, as he manipulated the Ki to support and heal his body.

"Enok!"

His trance was suddenly broken by Kaja's call. The blue orb was frantically bumping against him.

"I’m awake", he said, as he was regaining a sense of where he was, "how long has it been? Hey, knock it o-"

"A day!" She answered with a merry voice, "but never mind that, look!"

In the distance, a cloud of dust had been raised. something was coming their way, and that thing was...

"... People?" Enok slowly asked.

A fairly large group on horses. Mainly males, and at Enok’s surprise they were of different races. Humans, orcs and even beastmen... Had peace between species been established during his... Absence?

"Yes people! What are you waiting for? Let's go meet them!"

"Wait. They are armed Kaja. These people are warriors... Something is not right."

The orb stopped moving, its light dimming.

Swords, bows, shield and maces... They were all carrying their drawn out weapons, and pushing their horses to gallop as fast as they possibly could. could it be that they were coming for Enok and Kaja?

No.

They weren’t organized in any way, and the ones with the slowest horses were left behind, drifting further and further away from the core of the group. But more importantly, the way they kept looking over their shoulders was just reeking of desperation.

They were running away from something and apparently seeking refuge in the forest.

As that thought crossed his mind, something appeared at the horizon. Something tall. Something fast. The thing that was terrifying the riders enough to knowingly push their foaming horses to death.

At least three meters tall, it had two sets of long arms along its torso, two of which were brandishing oversized machetes. Its body was covered of dark metal plates, except for what seemed to be a lens covering most of the face area on a round helmet. Despite its size, it was running at great speed toward the riders on two hooved inverted legs, the ground cracking at each step... And it would soon catch up with the slowest ones.

On top of a cliff kilometers away, seeing the scene that was unfolding thanks to his aura improving his perception, Enok was but sure of two things. The first one was that a massacre was about to occur. The second was that he had no idea what that creature was, and that realization was what was shocking him the most.

"You have to do something" said a resolute voice next to him.

It was Kaja. The orb was levitating at eye level with Enok. As if it was trying to convey its owner’s determination, bright as ever. He gave it a side glance and fixed his posture.

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"Listen Kaja... Not only do we have no idea what is happening, it would also be taking a great risk for no reason", he replied as he closed his eyes again.

"Are you saying it's probably stronger than you?", she asked with a chuckle.

There she was going again. This annoying sister of his had a knack for pushing his buttons and putting both of them in dangerous situations. But he wasn’t going to let her have her way this time. What was at stake was too important.

"That's not the point. We had a plan, and traveling across worlds without dragging any attention was pretty much the main part of it," he replied, and as he put a hand on his abdomen he added, "that, and I’m still injured. Gravely so."

But the floating orb was apparently not going to give up so easily. As it started enthusiastically bumping into his head again it said "I know you can at least use your sword's ability one more time! And since when do you even care about the odds? I mean, sure, you are human right now. But remember that time you defeated the four mad f-"

"Enough."

The hitting stopped, and silence fell. But before long Enok broke it and said with his fists clenched "the past... is the past. Right now all that matters is that you get back to the end of the Path safely."

"I do not wish to see you lose yourself doing it Enok. I told you: I know how you feel. No matter which form you take, no matter how much time passed... You are the King of kings... And there is no king who wouldn't want to protect his subjects facing an unknown threat."

he sighed and opened his blood red eyes.

She continued, “I do not expect you to save any lost soul across the Path, Enok. But closing your eyes to the first group of mortals you meet being slaughtered? That’s too much.”

"Good. Because you know I lost myself long ago already," he finally replied, standing up.

***

"Tump... Tump... Tump..."

Regular like a clock. It was the sound of her approaching death.

Why hadn’t she listened to her father? Why did she have to be so stubborn about going with the others? Hell, she had been one of those who Had argued that an expedition was their only option... That their clan had lived as weaklings for too long and that it was time to seize their luck... Ha, all of it seemed so insignificant now. So many had lost their lives already.

"Tump... Tump... Tump..."

In the distance, she could see that some of her allies had reached the forest. In the back of her mind, she knew she would never make it there in time. But she kept beating her horse nonetheless. Despite her leather armor, and the fact that she was drenched in sweat, she was cold. Her vision was so blurry, was she crying? In this moment. all she was sure about was that the sound was getting closer and closer...

"Tump... Tump... TUMP..."

It was there.

Uncontrollable, primal shivers went down her spine and her body acted on its own as she jumped off her sprinting horse. As she was falling, she looked back, and time seemed to slow down.

The odiran primer was right behind her, its massive metallic body fending the air and its gaze locked down on her. Her horse had already been sliced in two clean halves, and arced trails of blood was following the movement of one of the giant machetes. It occurred to her that the movement was in fact a full circle and that the blade was coming for her again. She would die before even reaching the ground.

As it was about to cut her, the only thing that crossed her mind was "... Did it really have to kill me with the one that has horse blood on it?"

At that exact moment, a deafening sound nearly made her lose consciousness, the sound of two metals hitting each other with extreme force. The machete now vibrating was suddenly moving away from her as the watcher struggled to keep its balance. Between the two of them, a short ornamented sword was slowly spinning on itself after its collision with the machete.

Flames burst out of nothing, surrounding the sword and for a moment it seemed as if they were alive. But then they merged together and actually took the shape of a figure holding the weapon. The next moment, the fire had dissipated and a dark skinned male human wearing a more-than used-up cloak had replaced it. He was obviously not even a grown man yet.

Right before she hit the ground she caught a glimpse of his red eyes.

“A demon,” she thought.

And then everything faded to black.

***

Now that he was in front of the iron clad warrior, Enok had to admit that he looked even more imposing than he had assumed. And that, even if he had one knee down after losing his balance to the surprise attack and having rolled to absorb the fall’s momentum.

But even with that, something... Felt off. As he was thinking that, his ears caught a clicking sound coming from the armor. From inside it.

Be careful, said Kaja’s voice inside his head, the middle part of his body is somehow independent from the rest. She had left the observing orb and her thoughts were mingling with Enok’s again. He almost butchered that mortal with an impossible spin attack.

The forced halt of the four armed warrior had raised dust that had yet to settle and was partially hiding the forest from Enok’s field of view, but that hardly mattered. Even if the warrior was now between the cloaked figure and the fleeing survivors, the prior clearly had earned all of its attention. The circular helmet’s glass eye was strongly fixed on him. Strangely calm. As if merely waiting for an explanation as to why it had been interrupted in its frenzy.

Enok had seen the circular slash that had almost killed one of the riders after actually killing his ride. But somehow, he knew that wasn’t what was troubling him.

He tightened his grip on his sword, holding it low at his side. There were only two ways out of this mess and they both required him to act fast. His body’s state was getting worse by the second.

“Apologies for attacking you,” he said, loud, “my intention was only to protect the life you were about to end.”

The first option was diplomacy. But if the warrior understood his words, he didn’t show it and stayed immobile. And words spoken by the cloaked boy should be understandable to any soul on the Path.

“These people are under my protection. If there is any valid reason for this massacre, then state it. Otherwise, I would like you to leave. Now.”

Still no reaction. Was he thinking?

Watch out!

Even though Enok’s eyes were locked on him, he almost didn’t react in time to the four armed giant closing the distance between them in a blur and gust of wind.

He bended his body backward fast enough to see a bloodstained machete sweep where his neck was a moment ago. He then kicked the ground and sent his already falling body far enough backward to dodge the iron fist that went to smash the ground, sending rocks flying.

Second option then.

“Deep breath, clear head,” he told himself, “use as little aura as you can.”

He needed space to gather himself. So as he fell, he made a backward roll followed by a quick leap. All it did was giving him enough room to see the second machete coming downward to cleave him in half, already too close to be safely dodged.

“how in the...”

Reaching again into his already low Ki reserve, he made his aura course through his body and imbue his sword. even then, to try to fully block such a blow would be insanity.

So Enok opted for a partial parry. The short sword met the machete. Screeching noise and white sparks were released during the half second the massive dark blade slid against his, guided centimeters off its trajectory and deep into the ground.

Determined to not let go of the opportunity, Enok dived inside his opponent’s guard, glancing to the right for the remaining arm. But there was nothing.

It’s coming from the left! Kaja screamed inside his head.

Dammit. The first slash and everything that followed had been a setup for him to not notice the spinning attack he had been warned against at the start of fight. He guessed it was too late to even look at the fist coming his way.

So he went all in.

He burned all of his remaining ki at once and turned it into strengthening aura. His wounds reopened and his body cried in pain as time was slowed down by his boosted brain activity. A glance to the left, and sure enough an iron fist his own size was there, about to crash into him and break his bones.

But not anymore. He jumped and the ground under his feet exploded as he launched himself above the iron warrior, sword raised above his head.

During the lightning fast exchange, his enemy had not used aura or any form of ki manipulation at all. It meant that he had incredible raw strength and speed, but also that he would be defenseless against his aura infused sword.

Falling on his enemy, his sword went through the metal helmet and kept its course unhindered until Enok landed, and the colossus had been cleaved in two. After a moment, each part fell in loud crashes of iron and rocks.

He let go of his sword and fell on his knees. He tried to ignore his whole body aching.

“Kaja,” he thought to her, “I am going to faint. Make sure to make my body absorb as much ki as you can manage while I’m out. All it has to do... Is keep me alive... Until... I wake up.”

Even thinking was getting hard and his vision darkened.

It had been such a strange fight, Enok thought to himself, his consciousness drifting away. And he just couldn’t figure out why... Had roughly eight hundred years been enough to make everything he was going to see appear strange to him in this collapsing world?

He tried to let a painful groan out but his mouth filled itself with blood instead.

Blood.

Had his silent enemy even bled?

His head felt too heavy to move, but he managed to make his eyes look for his enemy’s remains. When they found them, they got big with confusion and shock.

There was no corpse inside the armor. But it wasn’t empty either. More metal of different kinds, glass bulbs and plastic. Gears, clutches and wires. Glowing stones covered with intricate runes and connected to complex mechanisms.

He had been fighting a machine all along.

As the thought dawned on him, he almost didn’t register something moving toward him. A white spider the size of two fists, quickly moving through the debris. It was also made of metal.

He tried to stand but couldn’t.

Tried to reach his weapon but failed to even make his arm twitch.

Kaja could not move her orb since he had no ki left and it was as if his body had been a statue attached to his brain.

The white thing climbed his leg and got out of his field of view, climbing his back. He felt it stop just above his neck. And then the world exploded in blue lights as it sank its fangs in his head.

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