Agoir lays his eyes on the strange machination given to him. It resembles a long stick of metal with some wood. He tilts and scratches his head as he spins it around, observing each inch of it carefully.
"What is this?", he asks.
"So you can speak on your own, after all!", Avanthere begins. "But anyway, that is me."
"Really? Where's your mouth?", Agoir asks again, pointing the end of the stick at his face.
"Don't point that thing at yourself, idiot! Whatever, that's me. More specifically, my physical body that I turned into a weapon for you to use. They called that thing a shotgun in the past. It doesn't have a mouth, because, obviously, it's a weapon. Someone used this against me once, and he was quite good at it. But he's dead, so that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that you can use it as well as he can, so you are going to train. A lot."
"Okay. How do I use it?"
"Now that's the question I wanna hear! See that part with the huge gap? They call that a lever, and that thing on the other side is..."
Agoir concentrates on what Avanthere is instructing him to do. He grips the stock of the gun and puts his fingers through the gap of the lever, pulling on it multiple times. He practices swiftly looking down its iron sights and back. They continue on as the world outside begins to drown in darkness, but they remain within the ruined dungeon, with Agoir slowly getting used to his new companion. Deafening, but devastating and almost effortless to use. The perfect weapon for his vengeance.
"Not bad! Didn't take long for you to get used to it either. I can make a decent ranger out of you! Now, like I said, this thing uses ammunition known as slugs. You don't have any of those and your country is too primitive to use something more than swords and bows. That's fine, I can produce them for you. But, of course, not for free! You need to claim the souls of others since that's what I need to make ammunition. Or in simpler terms, kill them."
"I only want to kill my brother. Nobody else.", Agoir responds, twirling around his gun.
"Said the person who was willing to sacrifice an entire continent just so his brother is killed! Whatever, I never said you need to kill another person. In life, the weak are weak, and the strong are strong. Who ever could have known? But in death, all souls are equal, regardless of who they were before. A dragon's soul is equal to a man's, and a man's is equal to an ant's. You see where I'm getting at? Kill any living creature—even bacteria, if you can—and I can use their souls to produce more ammunition for you. And gain my power back! A win for us both."
Agoir only nods as he lets go of the shotgun and watches it turn into blue sparkles. "Pretty.", is all he thinks of.
"... I'm going to assume you heard all of that and just don't want to respond.", Avanthere asks, its voice sounding a little annoyed.
"Yes."
"I am going to once again assume you're not just pulling a tree from a mountain."
"What does that mean?"
"Why does language have to evolve?", the deity asks itself. "Doesn't matter, just assume it's some foreign saying."
"Okay, then.", Agoir returns before standing up and getting ready to leave.
"Could you at least give more than a two word response? You're going to spend the rest of your life with me, dammit!"
Agoir ventures into the dark corridors of the dungeon once more, Avanthere continuing its rant as he does. While walking, he notices that the absolute darkness is no longer dark nor absolute. It's still difficult to see, but even without a torch, he can see a few meters ahead without trouble. The distance, while blurry, isn't entirely black either. The feeling is strange, almost alien to him, but experience with potions that give similar effects lets him get used to the feeling more easily.
There's a strange, fuzzy feeling when one of the surviving insects crawls as well. He doesn't know their exact position, but he can feel what direction they're from. Like his night vision, it's a strange feeling, only this time, it really is alien to him. The steps he takes and even his breathing is louder as well.
"How's your new senses? Not fully potent yet, no, but better than whatever you had before.", Avanthere asks, having calmed down.
"It's weird.", he replies. He starts to slowly clap, their echoes cancelling out the somehow booming sound of silence. "I don't mind it, though."
"Yeah, you better not. Surprised you never noticed it earlier, but best you get used to it now because there's no way to get rid of 'em."
"You said it's not at its strongest yet. What else is there?", Agoir continues.
"For starters, you'll start seeing better at night than you already are. If my memory isn't twisted, you'll also start feeling the auras of living creatures and can feel their movement too, and some form of subconscious premonition should develop soon enough. There should be a bit more, but those are the most important things your body will get. Oh, and since you're attuned, you'll be able to manipulate magic better."
There are countless realms and countless forces that weave them all to being. Magic is one of the few things that each realm has in common. Anyone can use magic. It exists in every space and every realm. But those who can manipulate the winds of magic are seen as overwhelmingly powerful men who rank above all, sometimes even a king. A man lives with magic, but an attuned is magic. They are so rare, and so powerful that upon discovery, they are immediately given immeasurable wealth and a life as grand as an emperor's, with the sole reason of preventing them from demanding more with their power, as only another attuned could hope to stop them.
Agoir is one of the few incredibly fortunate men who are attuned. Men who can bend reality itself to their will.
Unfortunately, he was raised by a merry band of bandits who were incapable of helping him better his skills as an attuned, and as such could only create small fires, heal minor wounds, and do anything that a normal, third-rate wizard can. But to the bandits who were his only family and friends, he was like a saint. He could make campfires, make clean water, save money and effort on medical care. He was nothing short of a blessing to them, and gained popularity and good standing because of it. Of course, being the younger brother of their leader helped his boost in fame—or infamy—, but even if they were not related, he would have acquired a good amount of followers on his own.
But as a warlock, he can call upon the strength of his patron to boost his power as an attuned. With his patron being one of the most powerful and feared deities in history, there are few beings that could dare hope to lay a single scratch on him should he fully master his power.
The two continue an almost friendly banter, with Avanthere trying to make Agoir curious enough to ask about its past, but Agoir is Agoir, so this only ends up angering it instead. It continues for a long time, for as long as it took Agoir to find the exit to the dungeons, and by the time he does, the moon is already standing tall above the world, lighting up the forest in front of Agoir. The trees are exactly 10 meters away from each other, but with an erratic pattern in their locations. The Blind Forest, the locals call it.
Despite being a flatland with a sky as clear as crystal above it, the branches of the trees are longer than five men placed head to toe against each other, and the leaves are so thick that not even a single light particle can pass through the dense roof of the forest, causing total darkness underneath, even when the sun shines its light upon the lands. The forest itself is easy to traverse, but as even those who can see in the dark are blinded within its woods, there has never been any large expedition or effort to map out its layout, making it the perfect spot for small bandit camps to hide, provided they can survive the environment within.
"Hm. That's a little weird.", Avanthere comments "... This is the part where you ask me what I find weird."
Stolen story; please report.
"No thanks.", Agoir returns.
"I hate you. Whatever, what's with this forest? This wasn't a forest last time I was here! It was just a bunch of houses!"
"I don't know."
"Of course you don't, you bastard."
Agoir ignores the conversation and walks towards the Blind Forest, seeing nothing but black inside. He stops a few feet away from the outer trees and squints his eyes, but still nothing.
"What are you doing?", Avanthere questions.
"I can't see anything."
"What do you mean you can't see anything?"
"I can't see anything."
"Yes you can! You can see in the dark!"
"I can't see anything."
The two continue back and forth as Agoir walks around the forest instead. He can feel a few pairs of eyes staring at him from the forest, but the leaves of the trees that are theorized to be magical in nature are blocking his senses from being fully effective. Agoir wields his shotgun with both hands just in case, not stopping for the strange sounds from the trees.
"... What the hell is wrong with you? Prepare.", the deity commands after a minute of pure silence.
"What?"
"What do you mean, 'what'? By Delion, how are you still alive!? Creature coming from the forest, six-hundred feet! Prepare!"
Having no reason to doubt his patron's advice, Agoir faces the forest, still not seeing anything, and gets into a stance and aims blindly at the impossible darkness.
"Wrong direction, more to the right. Aim lower, creature is bending its back to run faster, or something like that. Ninjas did that in my time, apparently. Never saw one, but it's probably true. Try not to kill it too fast, it's using a sword, so practice your reflexes. If you can't feel someone with malicious intent from so close then at least show me you can dodge."
He questions this, but not a second longer, he can feel fast yet subtle movement from the forest. He ponders whether he should shoot the moment the person takes a step out of the bushes, but he has no time to continue as from out of thin air, all he can see is the tip of a sword. With nothing but instinct, he dodges right as the sword makes contact with his forehead, giving him a small wound as he tilts his head and takes two steps to the left.
"Slow. Get faster, damn it.", Avanthere comments.
Agoir pays no mind to his patron as he dodges a few more thrusts aimed at his chest, but trips and falls onto his back when his assailant sweeps his feet with their own. While down, he gets a good glimpse at the person for just half a second before he's forced to roll away from another thrust. The person is a bandit. Female, which is a rarity. Her hair was brown and clothes a dark shade of linen with a few leather straps. She is skilled at using her estoc and is Agoir's superior when it comes to combat. Even as a bandit, Agoir never got into one-on-one fights often as his bandit clan had a strong emphasis on companionship above all else, which includes never fighting alone. Had it not been for Avanthere, there is no doubt in his mind that he would be dead.
He tries to regain his balance after standing up as swiftly as he could, barely dodging the bandit again, this time a long horizontal scar now appearing on his shoulder.
"You are going to die. Faster."
Ignoring the deity more, Agoir begins observing the bandit's body movement and stance to try and predict her moves. He is successful, but he ends up reacting to them slower despite this revelation, and as a result gains more wounds. Slash marks on his arm and leg, and a stab wound to a non-lethal spot on his chest. The woman is starting to breathe heavier, getting tired from the constant attacks, but still has the upper-hand on the rather inexperienced Agoir who is trying his best to dodge the attacks or deflect them with his shotgun.
"Do I have to tell you everything!?", Avanthere yells, its cacophony of a voice sounding heavily annoyed. "You're attuned! Attuned! You can manipulate magic! Use it to make yourself faster, you dumbass! What the fuck do they teach these days!? How has the human race not gone extinct if you don't know this!?"
"What?", Agoir lets out.
The bandit raises an eyebrow at this, but does not slow down on her offensive as it's clearly wearing down Agoir faster than it is her.
"I JUST TOLD YOU! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, 'WHAT'?! ARE YOU DEAF!? ARE YOU JUST THAT STUPID!?"
Agoir does not fully understand what it means, but tries to do as his patron says anyway.
And it works.
Somehow, and someway, he becomes faster. Just by "making" himself faster. The increase is not by much, but just enough to help him avoid most of the bandit's attacks. It was almost as if time was moving just that tiny bit slower. He still gets hit, but far less often.
"Finally!", Avanthere yells. "Do I need to hold your hand like this every time you get into a fight!? This is your quest, your quest! You're supposed to learn on your own, damn it! Not have me lead you like a lost child! I am going to lose my mind because of you. Whatever, you're still slow, but... argh! Damn it, just kill her and get this over with."
He gladly obliges and after blocking a thrust with his shotgun, dodging another sweep and leaning to avoid a slash, he swiftly points the end of his shotgun at her abdomen, and not as much as a heartbeat later,
Bang.
The bandit is blown backwards from the sheer force of the shell's impact, and in an instant, the spot where she was standing is replaced by fine, red mist as her body, now with a large hole through it, rolls lifelessly on the ground twenty feet away. The end of the gun smokes as Agoir's face forms a faint smile. "Cool.", he says, pleased with himself.
"That was an awful performance. But you can shoot, and that's better than nothing. Still, not good enough! I missed it earlier, but job's not done.", Avanthere observes.
"But she's dead."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. That's an illusion. I myself did not realize it until you shot it, so I won't blame you for that. Yet."
Agoir glances at where the body should be, but finds no trace of it anywhere. Not even the river of blood that was left behind.
"How did it hurt me?"
"If it was a normal illusion, then you would be as safe as a dragon's den because me being here nullifies any psychic damage, so the caster probably used some spell to make light hurt, or something stupid like that. [Solidify: Light], or whatever."
The warlock senses movement from the trees once more, and prepares for battle, now more confident with his speed.
A voice echoes from the forest, clearly originating from the bandit. "Ha, ha! Man, you actually killed me! But that's too bad, Silver Spear scum! I've studied your moveset and know how to kill you now! Should've just accepted a quick death!"
The moment Agoir blinks, she has already sprinted out of the forest and is preparing a swift stab at his throat.
"[Minor Illusion]!", she screams, and in an instant, her right arm holding the estoc and was previously in front of her chest and doing a thrusting motion is now preparing an overhead slash.
But to Agoir, that new arm is translucent and he can still very clearly see the bandit's real arm. He takes a step to the side, avoiding the thrust entirely while the third arm passes through him harmlessly. Her face, while covered with a bandana mask, is visibly shocked. She jumps backwards and tackles a more defensive position as she stares at her foe.
"How the hell...?", she quietly asks to herself.
She remains still for another second before beginning another assault. "[Ability Boost]! [Solidify: Light], [Minor Illusion]!", she yells as she sprints towards Agoir and two more arms appear from out of thin air, all of them going for a thrust at his head, torso, and leg.
And then she feels air flowing in and out of her body.
"H... Huh? W, what..?"
She stumbles backwards and falls on her back, blood flowing from out of her mouth and soaking her face in it, suffocating on it.
Meanwhile,
"—and she has the NERVE to announce her spells!? What is that fucking logic!? Why would anyone TELL THEIR OPPONENT WHAT SPELL THEY'RE USING!? What has been happening to this world while I was asleep?! Why!? How?! Who made that a thing!? Why the fuck would you just say it! That's just asking for a [Counterspell]! For preparation! For bloody everything that will kill you! What kind of fucking bandit clan is she from?! Back in my days, bandits were strong! Powerful! Feared! They had enough experience to know NOT to do this! They—"
Agoir chooses to ignore Avanthere's rants and walks towards the bandit's body, now lifeless. Like her own illusion before her, the corpse's abdomen has a gaping hole that's smoking a fine, red mist. But that's not what he's looking for. On her clothing's shoulder is a patch with a symbol. An axe splitting a skull in half.
"The Skull Axes. Weird name. Small clan. Close by, though.", he mutters while Avanthere goes on with his speech.
He pulls on the lever of the shotgun and back to reload it before letting go of the weapon. It then softly explodes into dark blue sparkles as Agoir makes up his mind.
Leaving the corpse behind, he lights the tip of his finger on fire to serve as his torch as he treks into the abyss of the Blind Forest.
----------------------------------------
[Solidify] is a spell that causes non-solid objects to become solid. Obviously. It was originally made to turn water into a solid object that soldiers could march on without creating ice, but has since been used to create invisible walls with [Solidify: Air] and cause illusions to physically hurt someone with [Solidify: Light]. Other less common uses include [Solidify: Fire], [Solidify: Lightning], and [Solidify: Sound].