Scythe woke up very early in the morning. Seeing the purple flame in the middle of the room, but something about it looked solid and vaguely human. After standing up it singled to come into the fire. Scythe still waking up, walked right on in.

From a castle to a grassland, surrounded by nothing but flat land, a blade sat right in the center. Everything smoldering ashes. “Scythe, that is the blade I promised to you, you have managed to restore my power, the first part is done. Now it is stage two, pick up that weapon.”

“Wait, say that again?” Scythe was confused

“You restored my power.”

“Uhh, how?”

“This castle was once my fortress. I made power wells across all of my fort’s. I had a different name once, but now even though I have forgotten who I was, I still have my instincts. I survived thousands of years in the fox cave. And I feel I’ll know who I was after restoring my power with these Wells of Ruun.”

“What’s a well of Ruun.”

“Here let me show you.” the figure leaned down and placed its fingers on the ground. Scythe was filled with energy.”

“That was new.” Scythe was fully awake, his body almost crackling energy, “But where are we?”

“This is my home,” the figure snapped, and the land reshaped itself, the horizon was quickly filled with trees, bushes, even its lifeforms. “Time is not what you think it is anymore.”

“I don’t even understand you.”

“If luna taught you, you know time can go at different speeds, based on The Relativistic Law.”

“How did you know about that?”

“We of the higher dimensions can visit other smaller dimensions, learning all their history into us is only a small time. Those humans got quite far but were too shortsighted, but understanding the universe, that was impressive, for lower dimensions.” The figure raised it’s hand to its face, “I’m leading this for too long, let’s be brief, three things, one, a new form of magic, in a much purer state, two, improving you and your sword skills, and three, this magic can cause changes.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Get that sword,” the figure pointed, “and prepare to fight.”

“Okay.”

The moments started to flash by, Scythe lost track of how long it was. Then everything slowed. “What was that?”

“Just a bit of my power, do you still feel good?”

“Yeah, how long passed?”

“Three months.”

“What, that was all the time to apply to the guild.”

“Wait, three months passed in this dimension. In your dimension, not even three seconds have passed. The farthest I can go is 5 months, to a second, I can’t go deeper until I gather more power.”

“Let’s go for five months. I want to be the best.”

“The best? I know things that can kill you with a breath. If you want to be the best, you have a long road ahead of you.”

“Lets just train.”

“Okay.” the figure snapped again, time skipped into scenes but remembering all the fights, wounds, timing, countering. Everything was clear, for only a moment. “If we go any longer, it could get worse, your body has aged slightly.” the figure returned,” time to be over.”

“What.. oh… how long was I gone?”

“about 23 seconds, you learn kinda fast, the last person took over 2200 seconds, the moment she returned, she was different. So you are way too responsive to Ruun. you barely aged a day, but that first batch of energy is close to wearing out.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’ve seen too many people puke, and it should happen about now.”

“What do you mean?” Scythe was fine, “I do want to sleep.”

“Even stranger”

“What”

“You’re not sick. Then...” it stalled

“What's the problem.”

“Who are your parents?”

“I don’t know, I was raised by Luna and Sol.”

“And you're not a fox, did your parents leave you anything.”

“A silver necklace…”

“... and a jewel that looks like an ocean.” the figure made many hand motions, and a little bit later, a sigh. “Well, fuck.”

“What now?”

“Nothing, just go back.”

“What?” Scythe was pushed back into his room. Still with the sword, now looking at the blade it was a midnight black, with black leather with royal purple stitching. It had even more heft than a six-foot blade, but only 47 inches long. The guard angled upward, used for fluid combat. It gave massive amounts of Ruun to Scythe, who felt energized, but back in his younger body, he didn’t have the physical strength to contain it, from a few years of practice. The energy returned to the blade, Scythe returned to his normal body. And a sheath formed around the blade. Scythe fell on his ass. And the blade stayed still. “I need some rest.” Scythe fell asleep before he reached his bed.

The next morning.

Bird song woke Scythe from his slumber in his bed. He looked at his previous sword. It was wrong, all wrong. Getting up and washing his face. He grabbed the old sword, remembering how it adjusted to him once before, he wanted it to do it again. Searching through his memories, he put Ruun into the blade. And it adjusted once more. Now just like the figure's sword. Someone knocked at the door twice, “Hey, your dad told me to wake you up… god, I will punch him.” Astela chatted.

“I’m already awake, and dressed, you can enter.”

“Ok, your dad told me to train you, and so I will. Bring that sword after you get some practice armor on.”

“Okay, I’ll follow shortly, Scythe moved to his closet, where his coat and armor was put. Putting it on. “Hey, flame?”

“Flame? Well, I guess I never did tell you my name, you may call me, Phae.” Phae spoke.

“Fae?”

“You’re close, but with more Ph” Phae spoke.

“So Phae, what happened was a dream, or was it real?”

“Well, there are dreams that can feel real, but that was just a dream.” Phae diminished the idea, “I don’t have that level of power yet.”

“Okay.”

Getting outside, some clouds were glowing a range of colors with the help of the rising sun. Astela was staging her practice gear, she stood to wait. Scythe walked up to her, waving, “Morning.”

“Morning, you seem more awake now. So I am confident about my skills, so you can use your sword.”

“I wouldn't say it’s mine, just that I’m borrowing it.”

“Zander said you were surprisingly modest.”

“Uhh…” Scythe scratched his head, “Thanks, I guess.”

Off a dime, Astela readied her blade, “draw your sword. Time to practice.”

“En.” Scythe nodded, drawing his blade, Scythe dropped down, same as the dream.

Cross blade strikes, grunts, and thwacks were heard in the training zone. Slowly a crowd gathered. Watching and making bets on who will be the first person on the ground.

Time continued to pass, slowly both Scythe and Astela became exhausted, each blow matched the others. By the time Zander woke up and found out, it was over. A win for Astela. “Kid, who taught you before me?”

“Well, Irgo did.” Scythe spoke from the ground.

“Here,” Astela let down her hand and pulled Scythe up, “I could tell, but there was something else in your fighting style. It almost made me go life or death with you.”

“You would win that, for sure.” Scythe spoke through his ragged breath.

“Keep up your practice and you might win, your attacks didn’t have much power behind them, but the onslaught… oh, that could cause some trip up for fighters like me.”

“Well thanks then?”

“Stand tall, you fought longer than I expected from you, Zander said slight training, but what you showed was years of work and coordination. You are only fifteen or so right?”

“Yeah. at least I think so, I don’t know how long I was a slave for.”

“That… would make things difficult.” Astela muttered, “We are going to do this daily, are you fine with that.”

“Yeah, maybe some stretches beforehand, I’m a little stiff.”

“Hey Scythe,” Zander jumped in, “How was the first day?”

“Good. It was strangely fun.”

“He did well.” Astela complemented.

“Scythe you go on to anything else you want to do, I have to discuss some things with my sister.”

“Sure.” Scythe walked off, but as he walked off, he heard a bit of a conversation. “So how is he?”

“He is older than you think, he always stayed light on his feet, his power, it’s almost a…”

“Oye! Kid,” A guard waved, and ran up, “You dropped this.”

The guard handed Scythe a necklace.

Scythe grabbed at his neck, now noticing his necklace was gone, “Oh thanks, I didn’t notice at all.”

“I was just watching close, I barely noticed it myself. You gave the knight-captain a run for her money.”

“I wasn’t close, she would’ve won.”

“Well, it was still a good fight to watch.” The guard jokes, “well good luck, she can become different when she is teaching.”

“Thanks.”

“No worries kid.” the guard waved and went to his post.

“Scythe, come here.” Zander spoke aloud, “Want to go to the guild today, Astela thinks you are ready.”

“I uh… I don’t know…” Scythe pondered.

“Well grab your stuff, and let’s go.”

“Okay.” Scythe just went with the flow.