You are in a small sealed room.

Gertha Seene’s destiny has been sealed.

There was something ominous and sad about the rectangle. Dallion felt a chill just looking at it. So that’s what happened to someone who lost their powers. He had heard the explanation several times, but this was the first time he saw it in person.

“How?” Dallion’s mother asked.

It had been decades since she had last entered this place. The memories had been so painful that at one point she had stopped trying. Eventually, years later, she had almost forgotten how to enter at all.

“A guardian told me,” Dallion replied. That had been another valuable gift he had received from the guardian of the well, along with the cub.

Apparently upon defeating Aspion, the village area had lost its owner. However, since Dallion was the last—and only— person to have defeated a structure guardian of major significance, he had been granted certain powers. In the past, Aspion had abused those powers to put echoes in all the villagers. Dallion had no intention of doing anything of the sort, but he was one thing he was definitely going to try—unseal his mother’s awakening powers.

“This is your room?” Dallion asked. While still a level one, the place was far more elegant than his own room. Clean and tidy, it had no door, just a single object placed on one of the small walls—a golden lyre.

“This was my room,” the woman sighed. “I haven’t been here in so long…” she made her way to the lyre and reached for it. The moment her fingers touched it, the golden surface of the instrument turned to stone.

“You tried to defeat a guardian with that?” Dallion was more than impressed.

“I was young and reckless,” Gertha whispered, her fingers sliding along the lyre, but not touching it. “Fighting isn’t the only way to win a battle. But you are right. The lyre wasn’t a good match. I tried and failed, and now my skills will be nothing more than a sculpture.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Dallion smiled. “Nox, come out.”

Several seconds passed. Dallion’s mother looked at him with uncertainty and concern. Realizing that, Dallion couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, all because the stupid cub didn’t respond to its name!

“Come out, crackling,” he sighed.

On cue, the creature appeared on his shoulder like a black silhouette. So much for making a good impression. Now, the only thing he could do was complete the task he had come here for and hope that it would be impressive enough for his mother to forget about this minor hiccup.

“Mom, where did the door used to be?”

“You want to unseal my awakening power?” A glimmer of hope resonated in her words, along with fear of disappointment. “I… thank you, but it’s not possible. Your grandfather told me a long time ago.”

“It’s not possible for him.” Dallion smiled. There was no point telling her the real reason. Thankfully, that was what the crackling was for. “But it is for me.”

Before Dallion’s mother could speak, the cub leapt off of Dallion’s shoulder and ran to one of the plank walls. There it paused for a few moments, sniffed the stone surface, and without effort walked into it forming a thin outline of a door.

Useful cub, aren’t you? Dallion thought. Now it was all up to him.

“I want to attack,” he whispered. Three red markers appeared on the wall, each on a spot of the outline.

One weak spot for each level? Dallion wondered. From what he could remember, the ring guardian had been level three the first time he had faced it. If the same one had defeated his mother, that meant that each seal was as strong as the being that placed it.

“Here goes.” He took aim with his dartbow and squeezed the trigger. One by one, the areas around the markers shattered like shards of glass. When the last one was gone, the entire wall within the outline crumbled to dust.

Gertha Seene’s destiny has been unsealed.

A blue rectangle appeared in the air. As it did, the lyre regained its previous texture, becoming an object once more.

Wow I really did it! Dallion beamed. He had hoped he could achieve this, in a way he knew that he could, but seeing it filled his heart with joy. Everything was back to how it was supposed to be decades ago.

“Mom, you’re an awakened agai—” he suddenly stopped. “Mom?”

The woman hadn’t budged from her spot. She stood there, still as a statue, her hand gripping the lyre on the wall. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just… I never dreamed the day would come again. After all these years, I’m…”

There was little Dallion could add. Seeing his mother cry, even in such circumstances, made him feel uneasy. When he was younger, he’d often run away when it happened. Now things weren’t that different.

“Crackling,” he said. The puma cub emerged from the wall and ran back to him. It was time to go. “I’ll leave you alone for a bit, Mom. If you can just give me an exit. This—”

“Wait.” Gertha took the harm from the walk and walked to him. “You have no idea what you’ve given me.” She wiped the tears off her face. “After all these years I’m finally myself again.”

I think I get the gist.

“I know it’s not much, but let me give you something as well.” She held the lyre in front of him.

“You’re giving me your skill?” Dallion struggled to stifle his gasp. The gamer in him was overjoyed at the prospect at receiving a third skill, a rare one at that. The son, though, refused to accept it. “I can’t take this from you. You just became re-awakened…”

“I’m not giving it away, I’m sharing it with you.”

Dallion still hesitated.

“If the Seven are against it, your fingers will pass through,” the woman encouraged Dallion. “There’s no need to worry. Nothing bad will happen to you, or me. Consider it a mother’s gift.”

A mother’s gift… Dallion looked at the lyre. It was exactly as he imagined a lyre should look—golden and beautiful, as depicted in every cartoon and comic he’d seen. He reached out and grabbed it, half expecting his fingers to go through it as if it were from air. To his astonishment, it felt solid.

MUSIC skills obtained.

You have broken through your sixth barrier.