PERSONAL AWAKENING

The jungle disappeared, replaced by the tropical paradise that was Dallion’s domain. A deep sense of warm calm filled the air, reminding all that this was a temporary shelter from reality. However, even here, elements of the external threats were seeping through. The sky, usually deep blue, now had several black clouds floating about.

“You worry too much,” a familiar voice said.

Turning around, Dallion saw Nox confidently walking towards him. The crackling was definitely not a cub anymore. Twice the size of a housecat, one could describe it as a small panther or a fully grown lynx.

Once Nox got within two feet from Dallion, he leapt up, landing on Dallion’s head. The action was measured and didn’t leave any scars. Also, since Dallion’s body trait had improved quite a bit, he barely felt the weight.

“I bet we’re looking really silly right now,” Dallion said, uncertain of what to think.

“Who cares?” the crackling managed to curl up on his head without falling off. “You’ll fight soon, anyway. And even before that—"

Before he could finish, a blue flame firebird appeared, flying circles around Dallion.

“You’re back!” Lux said. “You’re going leveling! Right? Right?”

“The moment is gone,” Nox hissed and leapt off Dallion’s head, back on the ground. The crackling then stretched, gave Lux an annoyed look, and walked off.

Some things never change, Dallion thought. Maybe it was better this way.

“Yes, Lux,” Dallion said. “I’m going to my next trial. Be me wings.”

The firebird flew into Dallion, surrounding him in blue flames. Blue wings of fire emerged, lifting him into the air.

Losing no time, Dallion summoned his gear, with the exception of the Nox dagger. The brief distraction had done him good, but now it was time to get back to his leveling trial. The good news was that he knew what the trial included. Before the sudden change with March, he had attempted to pass it a few times. The bad news was that he hadn’t succeeded so far.

There’s no guarantee you’ll have the same trial, Nil said. Your circumstances have changed and with that, your fears as well.

“If anything, that’s precisely why I think I’ll face exactly the same trial,” Dallion said.

Only time will tell. In any event, you have one major advantage. You get to choose where to hold it.

That was true. Dallion could choose a location beneficial to him. Of course, that would be cheating, and the only firm thing about cheating within his realm was that it never was to his benefit. The more rules an awakened skipped while leveling up, the more difficult he made things further on.

“Lux, let’s find a cave.”

To be certain things weren’t too different, Dallion chose the entrance of the trial to be a few dozen feet beneath his last trial. As expected, there was a door there already expecting him. After making one final check of his gear, Dallion summoned the Nox dagger, then opened the door and walked inside.

You’re in the halls of destiny.

Defeat your hidden fears and shape your future.

The blue rectangle emerged. Giving it no notice, Dallion walked right through it. The rectangle instantly broke down to particles that faded in the air. Just as before, Dallion kept on walking further and further in. No more than half a minute had passed when drawings started appearing on the walls. The drawings were quite amateurish, but still managed to tell a story of what was going on. The interesting bit was that they weren’t describing events in Dallion’s domain, but rather what was going on outside. The tower, the furniture, as well as the alligators were clearly defined as was Dallion. In addition, there was one other figure: the Crippled Star.

“Has this sort of thing happened before?” Dallion asked, looking at the final picture: him facing off the Star in the desert.

This is your imagination, Nil said. This is what you’re fearing is going on.

“You have to admit, it’s pretty close.”

Of course it would be, dear boy. You lived through that.

“I’m not talking about the alligators. I mean the Star. This was his land. It would be expected for him to appear at one point. Wasn’t that the reason you didn’t want me to set foot here?”

The echo didn’t answer.

Shaking his head, Dallion continued forward. Soon enough, the pictures ended, along with the corridor itself. To Dallion’s surprise, there was no door, just a dead end. However, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what he had to do.

“Time to sharpen your claws, Nox.” Dallion drew the Nox dagger and struck the wall in front.

A spider web of cracks formed. Light bled through the cracks, no thicker than a sheet of paper. One solid kick later and the entire wall crumbled to pieces, revealing a large and extremely well-lit hall.

That was rather new. However, the trial Dallion had to face wasn’t. In the middle of the hall, sitting comfortably on a wooden throne was none other than Veil, a pair of large swords on his lap.

“I knew it would be you,” Dallion said.

The relationship between the two was complicated. Growing up, Veil had been everything Dallion wasn’t: strong, brave, assertive, and, most important of all, awakened. Being a Luor, he took full advantage of the fact, bullying Dallion as often as he saw him. Thankfully, that wasn’t much, since the former village chief kept a constant eye on the awakened members of his family.

Later, when the two of them had been volunteered to join the hunt for the chainling, a friendship had formed, eventually resulting in a vast change in Dherma. Unfortunately, afterwards, things had gone poorly, resulting in a rift once again. The two didn’t hate each other, but they weren’t especially close either. Still, Dallion liked to think that things could change again at some point.

“It was about time you came back,” Veil smirked. “What happened? Got lost on the way?”

“You know what happened.”

“Really? Because you passed by Dherma a while back and didn’t even bother to pass by.”

“There wasn’t time. Or maybe you’ll tell me that I was supposed to make some?”

“I won’t tell you anything you don’t already know. And don’t you dare pity me. I know you saw a lot of spooky stuff when you came here. Maybe my grandfather was aware, maybe he wasn’t. What difference does it make? I’ll still kick your ass.” Veil stood up, gripping both swords firmly.

So much for small talk, Dallion thought, and drew his harpsisword.

In theory, there was no way for Veil to win. He was capped at level twenty, had no guard skills and no familiars. All he did was focus on his attack skills. However, that was also what made him so dangerous and one of Dallion’s internal fears: shouldn’t he have focused on one trait while leveling up? While it was true that having multiple skills allowed for interesting and powerful combinations, focusing on one skill and trait to the extreme allowed perfect specialization. Veil’s attacks were stronger, faster, and a lot more complex that Dallion’s. Furthermore, they seemed to become more lethal as the fight went on.

Each successful strike—regardless if affecting Dallion or an instance of his—doubled the damage of the attack. Dallion had found that out during his first attempt. He had foolishly relied on Lux to restore his health after a few hits from Veil, but soon enough the damage had grown to the point that even the firebird couldn’t do anything about it. To make matters worse, the speed of the attack increased as well as a result of the skill’s bonus.

The second thing Dallion had learned was that each wound Veil received also doubled his attack strength. This, unfortunately, included successful usage of music skills. That was what Dallion had learned during their third encounter when he had tried to defeat Veil with music alone.

Finally, there was one more thing that an all-out-attack with two swords was capable of: strike ricochet. The skill made attacks entirely unpredictable, allowing Veil to change the trajectory of a strike to the point that he could do a ninety-degree turn without warning.

Naturally, Dallion had asked Nil why he couldn’t learn to perform these skills. The answer was that they were only available if a specific skill was the focus of the person. Veil had deliberately kept all his skills other than attack up to ten, allowing him to take advantage of the specialization. Dallion, in contrast, had gone for a full development… at least that had been the initial intention. Now, not only had it turned out that he’d never be able to achieve it, but also that he’d never earn the special skill bonuses. Deep inside, his fear was that maybe he had made the wrong choice. The only way to prove that he hadn’t was to defeat Veil using any means at his disposal.

“Not this time,” Dallion drew his whip blade.

“You said that last time,” Veil laughed. “Props for being determined to see this through, though. You always were good at that. You’re not bad at fighting, either, but you’re just as good at creating barriers you just can’t pass.”

“What does that mean?”

“In a sentence, you think too much. It’s helped you at times, but it’s also made things more complicated. If it weren’t for that you’d have leveled up much faster.”

Dallion knew that to be untrue. While a better attitude early on went a long way, leveling up past level forty was exceedingly difficult. Maybe there were a few awakened who were “born to be great” but other than those extremely few exceptions, every level was a fierce battle. Truth be told, Dallion wasn’t sure he’d manage to level up this time either. As Vend liked to say, the goal was to gain information that would help later on.

Nox, split and swarm him, Dallion ordered.

The Nox dagger disappeared, replaced by eight cat-sized Noxes that leapt to the floor around Dallion.

“That again?” Veil shook his head. “The swords are indestructible.”

“That’s true.” Dallion had tried that as well during his second fight. At the time, he believed that getting rid of Veil’s weapons would grant him an instant victory. No doubt that would have been the case if the weapons hadn’t turned out to be immune to Nox’s claws. “But nothing else is.”

COMBAT INITIATED

Confusion appeared on Veil’s face. While the trial echo was created based on Dallion’s knowledge and experience, it didn’t seem to read his thoughts. Nox, on the other hand, understood precisely what he had to do. Six of the crackling’s echoes rushed at Veil, but instead of attacking him, they landed, claws extended, on the ground around him. Six spiderweb cracks formed, combining in such fashion that the ground beneath Veil’s legs turned to rough sand.

This was the moment Dallion was hoping for, thrusting the whip-blade forward.

Gleam, cast an illusion so you don’t cut him, Dallion ordered. And then entangle him!

The weapon extended, darting forward past Veil, then twisting around. The blond managed to raise both his swords to guard himself against the attack, no doubt believing that the sword would slash him. Instead, the weapon kept on moving around and around, like an unbreakable cord.

Not losing a moment, Dallion drew his hammer and did a point attack right at Veil’s chest.

FATAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 500%

A red rectangle emerged as Veil was thrown back across the hall, right into the wall. The impact was so loud that it echoed.

Just one more, Dallion thought, following up with a second point attack. In his mind, he had already won. There was no way Veil could survive two point attacks. However, just as the second attack was performed, Veil managed to loosen the whip blade around him and do a vertical line attack.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by VEIL.

Attack has no effect.