Chapter 12

Sword Bonding

Nearing the end of the second week, Lykan finally found forms of life. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had been feeling and avoiding the nests of monsters as he made his way out of the Great Forest. By now, he supposed he was nearing the lower end part or final rings of the forest. Out here, the energy of the Great Forest Spirit could still be felt, if only barely. This meant the monsters in these woods were still stronger and more advanced than ones would find in lesser forests, but they would never be able to reach the size or power as they could in the center of the Great Forest. Case in point, the spiders here were barely large enough to be swatted with a hand, while the Spider Stalkers of the central forest looked to be roughly based on the same build but were thousands of times larger than these. While Lykan avoided these spiders’ webs as much as possible, he still found that at times it was near impossible to avoid them given that they took up residence in every major path.

Fortunately, a quick swat rendered any would be attacking spider defenseless.

By this point, the gem that was embedded in the pommel of his Great Spirit sword glowed. Or at least to Lykan’s enhanced senses and sensitivity to magic, it glowed. He could almost feel the power within growing and coalescing into a thicker form of energy. Watching the way the energy compounded in on itself helped Lykan realize what he was doing wrong on his own energy usage. Realizing the ancients truly were impressed with their knowledge and way to train a warrior, Lykan couldn’t dream of how blessed he had been to be gifted such a weapon. Sure he had been left alone to drift in the woods without any real weapon. But seeing the blade now and the way it was slowly awakening to his senses, he realized he had met all the requirements.

In addition to infusing the jewel with intense amounts of energy, he had to fuse it to him with his own blood, sweat, and tears. The sweat was easiest as near every day he held it while sweating as he made his way through the dense forest. The blood was the second easiest, as he had cut his hand on a bramble. Realizing the injury and its importance, rather than trying to protect the wound as was his instinct. He instead grabbed the handle of the blade and let the blade absorb all the drops it could from his body. Fortunately for Lykan, his Regeneration Skill kicked in before any serious injuries or infections could occur.

The last one was the easiest and also the hardest. The tears.

To get it, all he had to do was think about the things he missed most. He missed his slow, easy life with the High Wood Elves. While he thought of it as a slow life now, he knew that at the time, he barely took time to rest and relax. Only when he was handed the Meditation Skill and all but forced to relax did he actually take time to slow down and observe the world around him.

Of course, by that point, he only had a few months until his Class day, and he still wanted to evolve his Spear Mastery Skill. So even after being forced to rest, he still had little time. Yet every day was great, mainly because he spent every day with Octavia. He would see her smiling face as they read together. The sweat coming from her face as she tried to endure the martial training fields as long as he would. Then their long walks in the wilderness where she had to learn the basics of being a scout without the powers of a Priestess.

He knew he had been thrust upon her but felt suddenly empty without her by his side. That was part of why he chose to leave so abruptly. He knew that if he stayed, he would only stop both of their lives from progressing. He knew that he had lost someone who meant everything to him. Thinking of Octavia made tears flow, and rather than fight back the tears, he let them flow from his face and into his sword.

In the human world, such actions were seen as unsightly, that one was somehow less of a person if they were reduced to tears. Yet, the High Wood Elves and even the Great Forest Spirit seemed to feel differently. To them, tears were a way of fully piecing yourself together. That until you truly let your emotions go, that crying was a way to get rid of the impurities in your body and mind and reforge yourself into something stronger. To them, tears were the way to truly make yourself into your best form. While crying itself left you weak and vulnerable, doing so meant you were in a way washing away of guilt for the things you had done. For the regrets you still had and the way you wished to make yourself better.

These thoughts and more flooded from Lykan’s eyes and flowed into his sword until the sword was moist with his guilt of loss and sadness. Only once all four elements were combined did the sword begin to become alive in his hands.

The sword itself was still small, still in the shape of a practice blade. But rather than feeling hollow like it had since he first got it, it now felt full. He no longer feared breaking the blade if he swung at an opponent too hard. He no longer worried that it would no longer be able to stand against the enemies that came before Lykan. The sword was like him, seemingly soft and immature on the outside. As it still had the plating of wood from the Great Forest, but deep underneath the plating was a substance stronger than Mythril that could withstand any attack.

For the first time in a long time, Lykan practiced his sword forms. These were the basic steps given by the Gods when he was awarded the advanced Skill of Sword Mastery. While he had some benefits of still having Spear Mastery Mastered, he knew that Sword Mastery would still require a lot of work and practice. The benefits of having a previously Maxed out advanced weapons Skill was that he would still be able to identify the weak spots to aim, the tendencies of his opponents to favor one side over the other. The knowledge of where they are most likely to strike from. All of these core components that went into Sword Mastery were already ingrained in his mind from his already mastering Spear Mastery. Now all he had to do was apply the sword forms to his base knowledge. This was both easy and incredibly difficult. For in a way, he had to unlearn what he already knew to be true.

The spear was easy to Master as its length and size made it great for striking at opponents from a distance. While it had its disadvantages in tight spaces, it was still an effective weapon when wielded by an expert. Now he had to forget his Abilities with the spear and adapt. No longer could he expect to win with an increased reach. Now he had to focus on the forms he had been given and apply them to his opponent’s weak spots.

He had practiced on a few would-be predators. Ones that tried to sneak up on him while he had his back turned. His Energy Sensing alerted him to the presence of such predators easily.

Growl!

With a snarling leap, a large tiger lunged forward, only to find its claws striking air as a sharp pain bludgeoned its sides. At this level, the sword was more an instrument of bludgeoning an opponent rather than slicing, but it helped force the forms into Lykan’s mind.

Battered, the beast shook itself as it quickly turned back toward Lykan, only to find that its front left leg was unable to move as freely as it had before.

Lykan, for his part, turned himself profile to the beast, offering as little of his frame to focus on.

The beast charged forward, while the beast was fast, naturally as fast as any human. Lykan was still quicker, his blessing of the Gods allowing his body to move and flow easily away from the beast and strike swiftly.

Thwack!

The sword came down and bludgeoned the front right paw of the beast. The beast landed, only to find that both its front paws collapsed under its weight. Normally jumping was easy for the beast, but now its body cried out in pain as it tried to right itself. Had the sword been sharper, such a blow would have easily sliced the limb off. As it was, the limb merely cracked and shattered from the blow. Still, the beast was unable to rise.

Shaking his head in disgust at the sight of the poor beast that still tried to rise, Lykan moved forward and, with a quick strike, struck the beast squarely in the head. The beast collapsed in a heap, though Lykan could still see forms of life in the beast.

Frustrated that he couldn’t even offer the beast a quick, painless death, Lykan shook his head in disgust and then made two quick strikes.

Thwack, thwack!

The sword was now firmly planted inside the cranium of the beast, each blow striking the same spot until even the reinforced cranium of the creature shattered and broke under his powerful strikes.

To Lykan’s surprise, a portion of the wood that had been surrounding the blade broke away. At first, a feeling of dread filled him as he wondered if he had been too quick to use the weapon he thought that was even now fully bonded. Yet, his fears were for naught as he saw the glowing dense stone that lined the ancient building lying underneath the layer of bark. Excited, his first impression was to go and peel off the rest of the bark, but he quickly shook himself, realizing that the blade needed to grow, just as he needed to grow into using the blade. To force the blade to fully evolve into its next form before its time would be too much. Just as he knew that, he couldn’t be forced to evolve too quickly as well.

Where would I be without my five years of training with the High Wood Elves? With such a thought running through his mind, he sheathed his weapon and began preparing the meat as he had been taught. He made a prayer to the Great Forest Spirit that some of his harvest might be shared with the High Wood Elves. At his prayer, nearly three-fourths of the beast was removed. What he was left with was a finely cut parchment of leather from the creature and enough dried meat to have five high-quality steaks.

“Thank you,” Lykan said, realizing that the Great Forest Spirit had blessed him and would make good on his request to share the meal with his friends and family? He wondered about how deep of a bond he truly had with them and thought that, yes, family would be a great word for them as they had been like a family to him. Even Ghane, for all his misguided hatred, had been like a brother. A brother that you would gladly never talk to again once you left the house, but a brother nonetheless.

Not wishing to prepare the meat now, he took the meat, wrapped it in the cured leather, and placed the entire package in his backpack. With that task done, he continued walking. As always, he practiced walking, scanning for threats, and channeling mana into his sword. He half wondered if the sword would fix its outer shell with the energy or not.

***

While Lykan was traveling and bonding with his legendary sword. Octavia was diligently re-learning to be a Priestess. She had been barred from interacting with the Great Forest Spirit for so long that she had to relearn the basics. She had to first focus on meditation, making it, so the accessing of the source was by reflex alone. This was easier said than done.

Worse, while she felt like she had regained a part of herself, she couldn’t help but feel that she lost part of herself when Lykan left. Couldn’t he have been made a Priest? The Great Forest Spirit clearly favored the boy over others. Similarly, she wondered, Couldn’t my Class have been changed to meet his? But sadly, she knew she was to be a Priestess, just as it was clear from meeting him that he was a Wanderer through and through.

She remembered the stories he told. Even when told by the light of false modesty, it was clear he had accomplished a lot. The fact that the Great Forest Spirit all but confirmed his stories, as the Great Forest Spirit will suffer no lies stated at its table. High Wood Elves all knew the penalty for lying at the table of the great one, so the fact that he told of his exploits for five years at that very table showed that his words were true.

Even now, Octavia couldn’t help but feel her mind being pulled away from her lessons and toward the memory of Lykan. He had grown so much in his short time there. He had gone from being a thin boy who felt more like a burden to be around to his being a man that Octavia instinctively wanted to follow.

Seeing her distraction and waning resolve to continue training diligently, the High Priestess came up with a plan.

“Priestess Octavia,” the High Priestess said, holding a thick book in her hands. It was a leaf from the great tree, one that Lykan had translated early on. The title of the book was Lovers’ Greeting, and it was a book about how Priestesses of old could share their nights with their lovers who were in the field. The story was mostly a love story that showed how it was common for Priestesses to not only seal their fate to another but how they could use the power of the Great Forest Spirit to bind them.

“I thought I would give this to you later, but you seem to be at a point where you need motivation now,” the High Priestess said, handing the book over.

Octavia instantly recognized the book as one that Lykan had translated during his five years of being here. Seeing the book, she remembered the countless hours he had put into such projects. Then after reading the story, she felt a pang of sadness fill her heart. She truly missed Lykan, but did she love him? Was this a test to see how much she cared about Lykan? So many questions flooded her mind that she could not fully understand why the High Priestess would bring such a book to her.

“I…I…” Octavia, normally very composed with her speech, was suddenly at a loss. She had no clue what to say or what the High Priestess was getting at by showing her this book. It was a good story and a sad one. Two lovers were separated by war and only able to see each other for three days, during the three days of the full moon. During those days, the Priestess’ power would be strong enough that if both remained faithful to each other, they could meet and express their love for each other regardless of the distance they were separated. Each night the power would pull the Priestess back to the protection of the Great Forest Spirit, while the warrior would be in hostile lands.

“The story is more than that.” She paused as she tried to contemplate the best way to express what she was trying to get at saying. “The spells in the back work. The entire story is just a way to see the practical use of the spells. In fact, there are three spells that are listed in the back.”

Hearing this, Octavia realized there were, in fact, words in the back. A whole section that Octavia had skipped over as the ending was too sad. The warrior died in battle, so every time it was a full moon, the Priestess would find her true love’s grave and spend the nights with him. After the ending, she had no desire to read on. The thought of such heartbreak moved her in ways she could never think possible.

“What are they?” Octavia asked, a puzzled look on her face.

“They are everything a Priestess needs to find their love. The first spell is Heart’s Resonance. That spell lets the Priestess find the heart that truly resonates with their own. This is what the Priestess used every month to find where their true love was, and if they were still faithful in their heart,” the High Priestess said.

Hearing this, Octavia’s heart began to beat rapidly. This spell would be proof to her, this way, she would know for certain if he had feelings for her as well. So much could be solved by this one simple spell. Yet as soon as she felt the relief of having such an Ability so close at hand, her mind quickly tried to tear it apart for being too good to be true.

“But the spell only works on High Wood Elves?” Octavia said, remembering the Priest who fell in love with a human. That was a second side-story that humans were bad and male Priests would often abuse their powers for love. Reading the story, it was clear that the author likely saw the decline of the High Wood Elves long before it actually happened. Octavia was almost pulled down that philosophical rabbit hole when the High Priestess broke her concentration.

“That is true, but do you know of the marking I gave him? His gift from me before he left?” the High Priestess asked.

Hearing this, Octavia paused for a second as she thought about what the High Priestess was saying. Then continued. “Yes, it was a soul marking that permanently marked his soul as being a friend to the High Wood Elves,” Octavia said, remembering the comment.

The High Priestess shook her head. “That is what I said to the boy, er man,” the High Priestess said, trying to remember that the boy had fully grown up before their very eyes. She had missed the day that it fully happened, but after the day, it was clear to see that he had easily made the transition from boy to man. To still think of him as a boy and refer to him as such would be to belittle the hard work and effort he put into every day that he was here.

“The spell did more than just mark him as a friend. It was blessed by the Great Forest Spirit, meaning that for all intents and purposes, he is a High Wood Elf. Any progeny he had would at the very least be considered Half-High Wood Elf and be allowed to seek shelter and refuge here,” the High Priestess said.

With that, Octavia’s mind went blank at the thought. He is a true High Wood Elf, then? Does that mean he also has the life span? She remembered the old stories of how the High Wood Elves came to be. Originally they too were just sentient creatures walking the world until they were found by and marked by the Great Forest Spirit. After that, they were blessed with eternal youth, beauty, and grace as they were given a mission of protecting the Great Forest Spirit’s domain. At the time when the High Wood Elves were first created, the domain of the Great Forest Spirit was the whole world. In fact, many of the first wars were fought and joined by High Wood Elves who had received the call to battle. The story ‘Heart’s Resonance’ even had one such war as its background for why the two lovers had to be split apart. Realizing this, Octavia’s mind asked the most obvious question she could think of, wanting to make sure she understood what the High Priestess was saying.

“The Great Forest Spirit can do that? Pick people at random to be part of his chosen flock?”

The High Priestess shook her head. In a way, Octavia was right, but in reality, she was so wrong it hurt.

“Yes and no. Yes, the Great Forest Spirit can choose others to be part of his flock, as you say. No, it can’t be just random people. The Great Forest Spirit is selective. They took back our families after over a hundred years of penance. Those that didn’t receive the blessing still wander the woods as Wood Elves, of which there are countless groups and tribes that have grown and thrive in the lands beyond. So to dismiss the accomplishments of Lykan so handedly as to say anyone could do such a feat is belittling his accomplishments here. He worked hard every day, adding training, adding to our community with his hunts, adding with his sharing of forgotten words. For you of all people to say that anyone could do what he did is a disservice not only to him but to the scrutiny of the Great Forest Spirit,” the High Priestess said. She had managed to keep her calm to this point. But after hearing the casual words being thrown about by Octavia, a Priestess to the Great Forest Spirit, she felt she might have been mistaking in her reason for coming here. Then she let Octavia know exactly what she was thinking.

“I had thought that you too would see the reason why the Great Forest Spirit chose Lykan. Our numbers grow shorter every year. At this current rate, unless we find more to adopt the ways, we will be little more than a footnote in history texts. By Lykan being chosen, I thought you would see the value and the opportunity the Great Forest Spirit had placed before you. No longer would you need to hide your feelings toward him. He is as much a part of the Great Forest Spirit as any of our kind. Through his veins runs the power and blessing of not just the Great Forest Spirit, but of his Gods as well,” she trailed off, realizing that her words had struck home as Octavia’s face looked sullen from the rebuke.

Seeing the look of shame on Octavia’s face, the High Priestess nodded to herself. “Well, should you want to see if your feelings are reciprocated in any way, I suggest you try to Master the first spell. It can be cast at any time of the month and will let you know if you should try for the other two spells.”

“The other two?”

“Yes, the story said of how the Priestess could teleport during the nights of the full moon to her lover and return back to safety as morning came, right?” the High Priestess said.

Hearing that, the granular details of the story began to click. She had originally thought that such details were just plot devices, but it seemed that the entire thing had been based on fact. Realizing that if the story paid that close attention to detail, then she wondered if more of the story could be true as well.

“If the spells are true, then is it possible…” she trailed off, not wanting to sound like any more of a child in front of the High Priestess.

“Is it possible that the rest of the story is also true?” the High Priestess finished her question as a knowing smile filled her face.

Seeing the smile, Octavia realized that smirk all too well. It was the smile the High Priestess wore when she knew the answer to be true, but she wanted Octavia to find out about it on her own. “If only the Priestess in the book had a name that could be found somewhere in these great halls,” the High Priestess mused aloud as she dramatically tapped a finger to her chin in a mock thinking pose while the book was held tightly against her waist.

Hearing that Octavia reached out for the book.

Seeing that she had fully bound Octavia in a task, for the time being, she handed over the book.

“Read it, practice it, and let me know if your feelings are reciprocated for our newest member,” the High Priestess said. She meant that last part especially. She truly wanted to know if the boy, no the man who had been a boy during his time here, had the same feelings that were stopping Octavia from reaching her true potential. Regardless, this would be a great motivation for Octavia to focus on her studies and reconnect with her talents that had been withering away due to atrophy for these last five years.

As she walked away, she turned back to see that Octavia was diligently searching the first few pages of the book. A smile crept over the High Priestess’ lips as she knew exactly why she was in the story section of the book. Trying to find the name of the heroine of the tale. Good, it worked. Satisfied with herself, she made her way out of the training area where Octavia had up to this point just wasted time.