Chapter Thirteen

Edge of the Grand Wilderness

Winter Wolves Martial School is located at the Land of Archlord Chrystia, another independent city like Trênt. The city was created by the Archlord herself to shelter all of the members of The Fallen, once the biggest armada to ever sail across the skies. No one could rival their supremacy when it comes to aerial battle, not even the dragons. But when the Old Gods disappeared, they lost their cause therefore losing their numbers. The city was once exclusive for Valkyries, winged humanoid creatures who were abandoned by their former masters, the Old Gods. When The Age of the Old Gods ended, the Old Gods themselves decided to not intervene with Herald, all connections was lost. Even to their most loyal and humble servants.But as the trade needed expansion, they accepted any race within the cities so long as they help with the trade. Centuries later, Chrystia, the unnamed City became one of the most developed City of the all Nies as half of it's population are mainly dwarves.The trade widened and is now one of the greatest allies of the City of Trênt. As Chrystia's population increased, the spiritual masters who migrated to the city increased as well. One of them is Hiro, the White Wolf, at the age of twenty he reached the pinnacle of the fiftieth spiritual realm. At thirty he became one of the most known spiritual master as he single-handedly won the Battle of Chrystia, another story for another time. At forty he founded the Winter Wolves Martial School and rivaled the Northern Royal Academy by standards. He was now at the pinnacle of the ninetieth spiritual realm, one of the five humans to ever step the realm towards immortality.

As Skye finished his book about the history of the Unnamed City he looked over to Selena who was busy cultivating, she never took cultivation this seriously during their first week together but for some reason the girl has changed. On the other hand, Kieran was riding on top of the carriage, whistling a tune he never heard before. He also had a two-tailed fox with the size of rabbit in his lap. Selena loved the fox but couldn't garner the courage to ask Kieran to pet the spiritual beast. Aside from that, Kieran retrieved all his things from the inn he was staying in before he was ambushed. Then they proceeded on their journey. He might've have noticed that Skye finished his book and unknowingly signaled him to come over at the top of the carriage. With their bond he noticed that something was bothering him.

"What's the matter?" Skye queried as he sat beside Kieran. "Huh? Nothing" Kieran replied. "We gotta get used to knowing how each other feels, we can't lie to each other remember?" Skye reminded him. "Yeah, it's bothering to have someone know what you feel all the time" Kieran whined. "Same here, but we gotta get used to it". "Nuh uh, just up until the Winter Wolves" Kieran said. "Yeah, till Winter Wolves" Skye mused as his friend have no clues they'll be attending the same school. "So, are you gonna talk about it?" asked Skye once more. "You never asked me to cultivate with you? Why is that?" asked Kieran seriously. "I just thought you wanted to cultivate on your own" Skye replied innocently. "You experienced, what I experienced when we cultivated together. It was explosive!" Kieran said while acting like he's out of his mind. "I know, but I don't know how to ask you. Why didn't you ask me either?" Skye asked. "Well, first off I didn't have time to ask because you may have started cultivating on your own and joining you suddenly may come off as rude. Next is your super shy about everything! So how could I know if you just want to seclude yourself. Dude, you gotta lighten up. I'm your friend, you could tell me anything!" Kieran replied. "Then tell me what your cultivation path is?". "Ethereal Flames, yours?" he asked back. "Eternal Ice.. Could it be that your path is the twin of my path?" asked Skye. "I thought you were smart, you just realized that?" Kieran chuckled.

"Whatever, we gotta cultivate together then". As the two assumed their meditative pose, they started cultivating on their own. Their cultivation speed somewhat increased but nothing like their prior experience. "You're doing it wrong" Dejvra suddenly flared to existence and coiled around Skye's neck. "Dejvra! Where have you been? You've been silent for two days now" Skye chirped as he rubbed the dragon's head. "I told you the magic we performed will exhaust me. I had to rest" Dejvra almost purred at the touch. Kieran find it amusing that the mighty Devourer act that way towards Skye. But Skye is still a mystery to him, he had this vibe that attracts people towards him. "So what are we doing wrong?" Kieran asked. " You're just cultivating beside each other not synchronizing with each other" Dejvra lectured. "Do you understand why your paths are twins even if they are opposite elements?" the dragon asked. Both boys shook their heads.

"It's because Skye absorbs the yin essence while you Kieran absorbs the yang essence. Normally, a water element cultivator absorbs the yin essence while filtering out the yang essence thus slowing down the process but with twin cultivation path like yours. With correct synchronization you simply absorb the essence without filtering the other one out because your partner will do the work for you" Dejvra explained. "Are you ready to try?" he asked. Both boys nodded. "Pick one essence first, use your bond. The bond is there for a reason" Dejvra instructed. Both boys tried to figure how to communicate with each other first using their bonds but failed as they don't know what they were searching for. "I can't find a way to communicate with him using the bond" Skye said annoyingly. "Hold hands" Dejvra commanded. "What?" both boys exclaimed. "Now!" Dejvra said sternly. Both boys reluctantly joined hands. "Now what?" asked Kieran. "Feel each other's existence, act like your one of the same. Be one" Dejvra said calmly. The words were hypnotizing as both boy's meditated while trying to comprehend it's true meaning.

Skye entered the state of enlightenment and felt something was connecting him to Kieran. Like a transparent thread of fate. He grasped the thread ever so slightly and felt Kieran closer to him more than ever. So he pulled and pulled and then suddenly he felt one with Kieran. On the other hand Kieran was still meditating when he felt something tugging him closer to Skye. He never even doubted and let Skye took control and suddenly their existence faded. They were now one. A part of each other. They were no longer Skye and Kieran. They are one of the same.

As the two delved to their realm, what they saw was beyond imaginable. They saw a vast realm of ice and fire. The dark eternal ice acts like a catalyst to the unextinguishable flame. The paths intertwined without contradicting each other. The two elements merge like they were something of the same. "That's my cultivation path" Skye said while pointing to the dark ice path. "No, this is our cultivation path" Kieran corrected. "Yeah! So should we cultivate now?" Skye asked. The two boys were now oblivious of their surroundings.

Cultivating without a worry in the world. Their cultivation speed nearly quadripled as they entered the state of being one. Dejvra and Crato couldn't help but smile at the achievements. "Your child is a monster" Crato spoke directly to Dejvra. "Yeah?" Dejvra replied proudly. "It shouldn't be that easy. No one should comprehend anything that fast" Crato complained. "Tell that to the Goddess of Wisdom" Dejvra said while smiling widely. "What? The child is a demi-god?" exclaimed the holy dragon "Why didn't you tell me?" Crato added. "I have no obligation to tell you, now guard the kids I need to recover" Dejvra said while delving back to his own realm. Crato just looked at Skye dumbfoundedly. "The child is a demi-god. An ancient one at that" he whispered to himself.

Hours passed by while the duo is cultivating and just like that the caravan stopped. "We rest here for the night! We'll move at first light!" shouted the guard's commander. Both boys slowly opened their eyes as they decided to stop their cultivation session and train their bodies before eating dinner. They went to their wagon to retrieve their training gears, donned their weights and started their run. Selena waved at them, telling them today she will prepare the dinner on her own. Both boys nodded their thanks and proceeded with their training. The boys took off and raced each other till they reach a good training spot. " I think this a good enough spot." Skye claimed "I normally do light stretching first then a hundred laps of running. Then excercises like weightlifting. After that, archery and sword art. Heavy based stretching then hundred laps of running again. Do you wanna follow my routine or should we create a new one?" Skye asked. "Sure! But let's add sparring instead of sword art and I won't do archery" Kieran said. "Okay" he said as both boys started doing their hundred laps.

As they finished the excercises both boys decided to finally move on to sparring. "So how does this sparring work?" Kieran asked. "Okay, so since I skipped sword art, how about no using essence and pure swordmanship. I kinda suck at this so go easy on me okay?" Skye said. "I'll try" Kieran smiled while materializing his dagger then shifted it to a katana. Skye materialized his twin scimitar and assumed to defend against the dashing Kieran. Kieran made a slashing motion as Skye crossed his twin sword to block. Kieran was ready for this so he immediately reduce the force he used in motion. As Skye felt there was no impact at his scimitars, he knew something was wrong. After Kieran lightly tapped the scimitars he proceeded with a stabbing motion and tried to hit Skye's vitals. Skye was quick enough to dodge at his side and threw one of his scimitars towards Kieran catching him offguard. Kieran blocked the scimitar almost immediately but Skye already made his move and kicked Kieran's side. Kieran received the impact but didn't even lost his balance and made a quick swipe ripping Skye's shirt. Skye tumbled forward retrieving his other scimitar. The first moments was close but as Skye announced, he was never suited for close combat and Kieran outclassed him in this skill. Skye didn't even bother with being outclassed by Kieran but gave his best in the sparring. Kieran gave him some tips but had his fun by beating Skye single-handedly. Skye however has a different idea on mind other than losing and made his final struggle at the last moments.

He threw both his scimitar at Kieran who was caught off-guard and panick-blocked it with his katana. Skye made his move and instead of kicking Kieran, this time he tackled Kieran to the ground. Both boys laughed and struggled as a wrestling match began. Skye with the surprise attack had an advantage and manage to execute a perfect triangle choke against Kieran. Kieran caught on quickly and dismantled the choke by having a better leverage at their current position. He then utilized his favorite move a pentagram choke. Skye struggled for a bit but made use of his superior strenght while in human form and wiggled his way out of the choke. Both boys tried their best to use their favorite moves but failed to do so as both of them was on guard. The boys wrestled for more than quarter an hour when they realized they still have to train. Both boys were panting so hard when they decided it was a tie for now. "That was super fun! We should include that in our training session" Kieran chirped. "I one hundred percent agree" Skye said as they started doing their stretches. After finishing their training session they decided to get back to the caravan. Skye and Kieran was happily chatting on their way to the caravan when a massive lightning lit up the skies whilst an explosion was heard. The two look at each other and dashed at the same time. Their bond shared their mutual feelings and it tells them one thing- Danger.