“I am Alnea Oathkeeper.”
“Oh, we know who you are,” one of the black cloaked men said, staring at him with a murderous intent. “The abandoned son of the Oathkeeper clan… We have heard quite a lot of stories about you. Honestly speaking, at one point, we had even though of choosing you as our sacrifice… but you already know that.”
“Stop talking nonsense, and let us cut to the point,” Alnea Oathkeeper said. “As agreed, I have come, so let her go.”
“Why the hurry?” the man said. “Since we promised you, we will let her go. But first, I must also see what is so special about you that even the Priests are talking about you.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing much,” the man said. “I heard that you are quite the skilled fighter. That no Novice Attuners are your match, and even some Master Attuners have fallen in your hands.”
“Was one of them someone you knew?”
“You are quite sharp as well… just as the rumours say. But are you truly as strong as all the rumours say?”
“You will know once you try, would you not?” Alnea Oathkeeper said, unsheathing the plain simple sword by his waist, and pointing it to the group of black coloured men staring at him. “Are all of you so scared that you plan to attack me together? That may not be a bad idea… Ten Attuners against a normal human, who does not even have an Aspect. This is going to be an exciting fight, do you not think so?”
“Don’t be too full of yourself, kid. Whether you win the fight or not, you fate is already sealed.”
“That may be so, but it would not be too bad of a fate if I get to kick your ass before returning to the Origin Sea.”
“…You have quite the sharp tongue, kid.”
“So, which one of you is going to come first?”
Alnea opened his eyes, breathing heavily, as his eyes darted around the cave, searching for his enemies, while his hands fumbled to find his sword. His simple, iron—No, not a simple iron sword. His sword was not simple. It was the sword of Farin, and he was Alnea Oathkeeper. A man born in the world of Wanderers. He had no enemies. At least not in the cave he was in.
Sighing with relief, Alnea let himself fall back down to the ground, taking deep breaths to calm himself, as he gathered his Aspects in his hands to light up the cave a little. It had been a long, long time since he had last seen the memories of the other Alnea. More than seventeen days to be exact. The last time he had seen them was the night before he reached the False Rank. So, in a way, this was the first time he had seen those memories after reaching the False Rank.
Maybe that was why the memories had felt so real. Not as real as they used to feel when he had been living them as the other Alnea. But they certainly felt more vivid than his usual dreams. Usual dreams… Since he had not dreamt for the past seventeen days, so could his dreams even be called as the ‘usual’ dreams? On second thought, it was not the fault of the dreams itself that they had not come to him. After all, to have dreams, he needed to sleep first. Something that the bed of Blood Sucking Grass had made sure that he would not get any of, aiding him in his training of replacing sleep with meditation.
Just a night away from the Blood sucking grass though, and before he knew it, he had already fallen asleep. Replacing sleep with meditation… He needed more practice to achieve that goal. Though the sleep that he had just had could not be attributed as entirely his fault either. Their trek in the canyon, his Wandering, fighting with Oren Beasts, his Oath, and then training his Spirit, even one of those things would have been enough to tire him out. When added together, they had been enough to drain him, both physically, and mentally. It was only natural that he would fall asleep.
Not just him, even Cecilia, lying just a hand’s distance away from him, was the same. She too had been tired beyond her limits. Or maybe she just did not wish to meditate. It may also be that she had deliberately chosen to stop meditating, preferring to sleep instead. The smile on her face, illuminated by the golden light of his Aspects, as she roamed the land of her dreams, surely did indicate something like that. In any case, the end result was the same.
Shaking his head with a smile, marvelling at how innocent Cecilia looked at the moment, Alnea picked up his sword, and walked out of the cave. Of course, he did not forget to withdraw his Aspects back into their Aspect Wells. Although using his Aspects to light up his way was convenient, they were not meant to be used for such trivialities. Leaving everything else aside, just the cost to performance ratio was not worth it.
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The light that his Aspects gave off was just because of their intrinsic nature, and not their true effect. Unless, of course, the Aspect itself could be related to the concept of light. But none of his Aspects were. At least not directly. One of them, his first Aspect, was meant to Guard, and Protect, annihilating anything, and everything that came in his way. His second Aspect, related to the linage of Trickeries, was meant for tricking his enemies. No, not just enemies, but everyone, himself included. That was how it had become his Aspect in the first place.
In comparison, his third Aspect was a rather normal one. The kind of Aspect he had often read about. It was neither too strong, nor did it have any special abilities. It just gave him the ability to garner the power of darkness to bolster his attacks. Like what he had done with his sword earlier when fighting against the Black Lightning Panther. It was also the reason why he had chosen the Aspect despite there being many other Aspects which were stronger, with many fantastical effects, that had been vying to become his Aspect. The advantage of harnessing the powers of darkness within the Night Canyons was too much to ignore. In any case, one of his Aspects, in a way, was indeed related to light.
However, he was not in need of dispersing light. The canyons were dark enough as they were. And he was not in a mood to drain his Spirit Power either. He would have use of it soon enough. So, instead of using the light of the Aspects to find his way, Alnea used the dim light coming in from the small slit between the rocks some thousands of metres above him to make his way in the darkness of the canyon. It was easy, considering how the person he was looking for seemed to be just absorbing all the light around her, shining in a faint white hue, as if she was existing in a completely different world than the canyon.
“What happened?” Yuri said, just as Alnea neared her, sitting down by her side. “Cannot sleep?”
“…How long have I been asleep?”
“Probably around two to three hours?”
“…Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You had a rough, and tiring day,” Yuri said, still staring into the darkness. For some reason, which Alnea knew, she refused to look at him. Even the way she was talking seemed a little distant. And that made his Heart ache.
“So did you,” Alnea said, trying not to let his emotions show in his voice. “You were supposed to swap places with us, and get some rest.”
“It’s alright,” Yuri said, still in her bland, and polite tone. “I would have just meditated anyways. I can do that here. Besides, you two deserved the rest more than me.”
“This is not about who deserves more rest, or what is more efficient. Like you asked me to trust you, you also need to trust me. You need to—
“You know how much I trust you,” Yuri said, finally turning her face towards him. It did not have its usual smile. But it was not solemn either. If anything, it was more forlorn, and disappointed. Whether that disappointment was with herself, or with him, he did not know. But that did not matter. Yuri was sad, and that was enough to make his Heart feel constricted.
“My family, the reason why I came looking for you, my Roots, my conviction, my memories, I have told you everything about me… Is there anything more that I can do to show you how much I trust you?”
“…I know you trust me, Yuri. I—
“Then do you not trust me?”
“I do, you also know how much I trust you. Just like I know everything about you, you also know everything about me. You—
“Then why did you take that Oath?”
“…I have already answered that question, have I not?” Alnea said, stretching his hands out to grasp Yuri’s hands in his. “I want to share your burdens. I want to see you smile. I—
“So, you took an Oath? Do you want to die so much?”
“I won’t die as long as you share your burdens with me, would I?”
“What if it is exactly my burdens which become the cause of your death? What should I do then?”
“You came to asking me to help you change fate… Your burdens cannot be more difficult than them, right?”
“My burdens… they are not as easy, and simple as you think they are.”
“It does not matter what they are,” Alnea said, squeezing her hands, while looking directly into her eyes. “I took an Oath to help you no matter what kind of troubles you may be in the first day we met. Or have you forgotten about it?”
“I don’t need your—
“Whether you need the help or not, those were the exact wordings, if I recall. It would not have mattered whether I had taken this Oath or not. Rather, by taking this Oath, I will be able to make sure that you will share all your burdens with me, even those that do not wish to share. So, if you look at it from a point, then this new Oath of mine might just have saved my life. Are you not glad that I took this Oath now?”
“…You are absolutely crazy,” Yuri said with a sigh, as she took her hand away from his. But Alnea did not mind that. Rather, he felt a little surge of joy, as he heard the usual taint of mirth, and in her voice, along with a taste that he did not know. It was a taste of happiness, and satisfaction. But beyond that, he could not guess. Still, he knew that Yuri had finally recovered. That she was not sad anymore. And that was enough.
“Hey, as they say, it is only the crazy Wanderers who become great, and achieve success on their paths.”
“…And the biggest fool.”
“Proud to be one.”
“But you are my fool.”
There was no need for them to say anything else. Neither was there any need for them to do anything else. Just sitting next to each other, while staring into each other’s eyes, with big, wide smiles on their faces was enough. Unfortunately, they were not at their homes. They were in the Night Canyons, where even the ground they were sitting on could become their enemy in the next moment. And so, though they were a little reluctant, they went back to watching the darkness around them, while continuing to pour Oren into their rings, waiting for the day that the rings would wake up, and give them the right to use more of its abilities.