“You heard the voices again, didn’t you?” she asked.
I froze. “How did you know?”
“I sensed a foreign presence once again,” she said. “Similar to the change I felt back in the Lumina Knights Headquarters. All this was caused by one of the voices, then, wasn’t it?”
“I…I’m not sure.”
“Was it like back then, when you heard multiple voices in your head?”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t make out what the voices were saying back then,” I said. “This time I had an actual conversation with one of the voices.”
She thought for a few seconds. “Did you recognize it?”
“It sounded a little similar to the one I’d heard back when I talked to the Lumina Knights Head Council.”
“This situation is quite contradictory, though,” she said. “After the event with the council, I’d assumed the voice was your enemy, but now it almost seems like it’s…helping you.”
“Yeah,” I said. The Valdar would have killed me if it weren’t for the voice’s help.
She sighed. “None of this makes sense.”
I don’t think it was meant to, I thought. I diverted my mind to the other question I had. “I’m still confused about who these Valdar are.”
The Moon Elf looked at me. “They’re beings who shouldn’t have been here.”
“Okay?” I asked. “Are they special beings? They didn’t seem…normal.”
“They’re more like dark spirits with physical forms,” she said. “Creatures that can exceed the capacity of life. They neither bleed, nor feel any pain.”
“Figures,” I sighed.
My hand moved through the air, and I accidentally opened my Ga’em menu. I was going to close it again but then saw that my Player menu icon had a notification on it, a small square with a number inside.
I recalled that the Ga’em sometimes stifled prompts from showing up, stowing them away as notifications and displaying them later instead. It apparently did that to prevent screens from showing up at inconvenient times. What did I get? I tapped on the icon.
TRING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Valdar Squadron (Lv 23)!
This is going to be a problem. Reward: 21000XP. Reward: Warrior’s Restoration Potion (x10).
DING!
Congratulations! A bonus has been unlocked! You have single-handedly taken on a Valdar squadron and defeated them. Bonus reward: 6000XP. Bonus reward: 30000 Sol.
DING!
Congratulations! Your level has increased!
Level 18!
Sure, you leveled up, but do you actually feel good about it? You gain 16 stat points to spend on your skills. You also gain a 100% advancement to the skill of your choice.
Nice! I thought. I should probably upgrade my Swordsmanship skill soon.
Skills could be upgraded in two ways, either by using the Skill Advancement points that I earned while leveling up, or by practicing the skill over and over again. Using Skill Advancement points was, of course, much, much faster. I’d initially put off using it because I wanted to save those points to upgrade a better skill, but I’d earned enough at the moment to warrant spending a few on my Swordsmanship skill.
I opened my Player menu and viewed my Stats.
Unassigned Stat Points: 16
I quickly allocated my points. I was confident in my distribution now that I’d already done it a few times. My first concern, though, was about how I’d ended up Resurrecting in enemy territory.
Don’t need that happening again, I thought, and I put some points into my Luck stat before anything else. I used the rest of the points to even everything else out, bringing every stat up to 10.
Name
Zoran
Level
18
Health
90→100
Constitution
9→10
Mana
100
Intelligence
10
Stamina
60→80
Endurance
6→8
Strength
16
Wisdom
5→10
Agility
11
Dexterity
6→10
Charisma
4
Luck
9→13
I selected my Skills menu next. The title said Skills, but below it, and aligned to the left, was a smaller piece of text.
Skill Advancement Points: 400%
Perfect. I grinned and looked at the rest of the screen.
Skill Name
Level
Buffs
Analyze
Level 2 (86% to next level)
None
Tracking
Level 1 (5% to next level)
None
Herb Lore
Level 1 (5% to next level)
None
Swordsmanship
Level 3 (2% to next level)
Strength +6%
Agility +3%
Heavy Weaponry
Level 1 (3% to next level)
Strength +1%
Defense +1%
Hand Combat
Level 1 (15% to next level)
Strength +2%
Agility +3%
Dexterity +1%
Night Vision
Level 1 (32% to next level)
None
Stealth
Level 1 (23% to next level)
None
There was a plus sign next to each skill—a button to help add points to each one. Of all the skills I had, Swordsmanship was the one that was most useful, and so I tapped on the plus sign next to it, letting the skill reach 100% two times over.
DING!
Congratulations! You have advanced a new skill
Swordsmanship Level 4!
Just keep swingin’
Effect 1
Strength increased by 3.5% when wielding a sword
DING!
Congratulations! You have learned a new special move.
Heavy Swing!
Your proficiency in the Swordsmanship skill has earned you a new special move. Focus your power and attack your enemies with one defining swing. Attack causes 200% max damage of the weapon. Aftershocks from the strike cause residual damage to nearby enemies.
Mana Cost
10
Casting Time
N/A
Cooldown Time
5 minutes
Range
5 yards
Effect 1
10% chance of bleed damage
“Oooooh,” I whispered. Didn’t know I could learn special moves through this as well.
I still had enough Skill Advancement points to level up my Swordsmanship skill two more times, but I didn’t do it. Better save the rest up for later.
“Zoran,” Freya said. “About what happened with the Valdar…”
“Yeah?” I dismissed my prompts.
“Are you sure you don’t possess an arts skill? That attack you used against the Valdar seemed like it was a spell of some sort.”
“I don’t have such a skill,” I said. “I just checked. I can show you my Skills screen if you want.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like I don’t trust you. I just wanted to make sure.”
“I understand,” I said.
“I guess if you have voices speaking in your mind, it makes sense that you don’t need an arts skill to do whatever you did back there.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “This has happened quite a few times already.”
She perked up. “What?”
“No, nothing like what happened right now with the Valdar,” I said. “I meant I’d heard those mumbling voices a few times already. One of them helped me out one time before, by giving me a spell to use. Still can’t figure out what it was.”
“Do you remember the word you used to cast it?”
I shook my head. “It was a while a
go,” I said. “The word has slipped from my mind. However, other than that one incident, I’ve heard the voices randomly a few times as well.”
“When was the first time you heard them?”
“Right as I woke up in the forest with no memory of—” I clasped my hands over my mouth.
The elf’s big silver eyes blinked. “What was that about your memory?”
My hands turned clammy. I messed up, damn it!
I had two options now. Lie to her, and possibly lose her trust, or tell her everything. I’d initially held back on telling her because I wasn’t sure how much I could trust her, but it didn’t really seem like that was of concern anymore, especially since we were allies now.
“Well…,” I said. “I don’t really have any memories of who I am.”
She smiled. “I know.”
“What?” I blinked.
“I didn’t know for certain, but I figured that was the case.”
You figured? I stared at her. “How?”
“Just small things,” she said. “Remember back when you told Raffyr you were not from around here? To a normal person, your face might have looked like you didn’t want to tell us where you were from, but I could see deeper than that. The real reason you didn’t tell us wasn’t because you didn’t want to, but because you didn’t know yourself.”
“You figured it out just from something like that?” I blinked.
“It’s scary how much small things can tell us about a person, isn’t it?” she chuckled.
Kind of like the way your hidden identity tells me a lot about who you are, I thought. Then again, she’d gauged a lot more about me than I had about her.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not going to push you away just because you didn’t tell me about your lost memories. I understand it can be a tough thing to bring up, especially to someone you didn’t really know properly till just a while ago.”
“Thanks.” I smiled.
“Also, the friend that we’re going to meet soon might be able to help you with your memory as well.”
My eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Probably, but I can’t make any promises.”
“That’s fine,” I said, smiling widely. Ever since I’d first woken up in that forest, my lost memories had been the biggest thing on my mind, and even getting one step closer to retrieving them would be a huge relief.
“We should probably get going, then,” Freya said.
“Wait, what?” I blinked. “I thought we were staying here for the night.”
“We were, but then the Valdar attack happened. The earlier I see my friend, the better.”
I nodded. I understood a part of what she was saying, but I was still missing the important detail of why the Valdar attack was a big deal. I’ll ask her later, I thought.
“Let’s leave.” The Moon Elf picked up her longsword and slid it into the sheath on her back. I stood up as well and followed her as she walked away. We headed deeper into the forest, treading along a narrow trail.
All the while, I wondered who this friend Freya talked about was. I wondered what type of a person they were and why she seemed so confident about their ability to help. I was excited to meet them, though, and it wouldn’t be false to say that almost all that excitement was because Freya said they might be able to help me with my lost memories.
We walked through the darkness. My mind conjured up hallucinations of the men of shadows emerging from within. But I wasn’t afraid. Somehow between when I’d first woken up and now, my unease with the dark had changed. I felt closer to it, as if it were more of an ally rather than a foe.
Should I be concerned by that? I wondered.
A while of walking later, the trees around us turned thicker, their barks wider, and their leaves darker. The branches contorted into weird shapes, as though they had been turned inside out. The vegetation grew denser, with green vines and creepers covering every inch of the air above.
Well, that certainly isn’t calming, I thought, and I stuck right behind Freya. This wasn’t a place I wanted to get lost in. Sure, I was Level 18 now and had a proper weapon, but I still felt like this forest was going to throw out a beast I had no hope of putting a scratch on.
Freya suddenly stopped in her path and brought up her sword. I stepped back just as she sliced a curtain of creepers to our right and pushed them to the side.
“This way,” she said and walked through. I followed her quickly, pushing the creepers aside with my hand. The moment I stepped through the green curtain, my eyes lit up, in complete awe of the sight before me.
Bunches of glowing flowers lined a pathway in front of us, their shining petals of green, blue and purple giving the forest a mystical beauty I had not expected to see.
“Stay close,” Freya said and walked along the path. I followed at her heels, and my eyes wavered between the lights all around me.
A small house quickly emerged before us, standing between the dark trees and under the darker leaves. We walked up to it, my heart beating faster than it should have. The black wood of the house contrasted beautifully against the glowing flowers of purple and green that sprouted from the ground around it. The whole place had a haunting beauty, and I was completely mesmerized.
Old wood creaked as we stepped onto the porch. The Moon Elf didn’t knock on the door. Instead, she just threw it open and walked right in. I stood at the entrance for a second, wondering if this was okay.
I don’t have another choice. I walked in as well.
Musty wooden floors showed the age of the house, and the cobweb-covered walls didn’t do it an aesthetic favor either. A sole doorway stood in the room I was in, and an orange-green hue came from within it. Freya promptly walked to the next room, and I followed her through.
Squeaking came from my right and I turned. A fireplace sat fixed to the wall and a lady in a rocking chair sat right in front of it. Her neck cranked, and she looked at us.
I could immediately tell from the pointed ears that she was an elf. She was dressed in night-colored robes that hung loosely over her black-skinned body. She ran her long fingers through her white hair, twisting her locks. A single strand fell over her emerald-green eyes as she gazed at me.
“Hello.” She smiled. “It is good to see you again, Zoran the Eternal.”
***
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I stared at the green-eyed witch. “Why do you know my name?”
“You’re not the only one who has an Analyze skill, you know,” Freya chuckled.
“Oh.” I blinked. Other people could use that skill on me too, couldn’t they? I thought.
The dark-skinned elf chuckled. “Though what Freya says is true, I do not need to use an Analyze skill to know your name, young one.”
“What?” Freya’s eyebrows scrunched.
“I have seen this young man before,” she said. “When he first woke up in this forest with no memory of who he was.”
My eyes widened. “You saw me when I first woke up.”
She smiled. “Indeed, I did.”
“Then that Spring of Healing—”
“Is the one you healed yourself in before the wolves came after you. Yes.”
Wolves. A shudder passed through me, but my mind knew better than that. I’d grown a hell of a lot stronger now. What had happened back then wasn’t going to happen again. I focused on what the elf had said, that this was the forest that I’d first woken up in. I wasn’t sure of how crucial such information might be, but I was certain it wouldn’t prove to be useless either.
Freya tapped the wooden wall. “Ijyela, why did you not tell me about this before?” she asked.
“There was no reason to,” Ijyela said. “Where and when I met Zoran does not affect you or this situation in any way.”
Freya opened her mouth, but said nothing.
“Ijyela, do you know how I ended up here?” I asked.
“I do not,” she sighed. “It was a few days ago when I randomly sensed an odd pre
sence close to me.”
Maybe that’s connected to my mysterious aura situation, I thought. I’ll ask her about that later.
The elf went on, “I ventured out to see what the presence was and I found you in the forest, battered and unconscious.”
“But you didn’t approach me.”
She shook her head. “I wanted to, but that presence within you felt very suspicious, so I let time pass, wondering if I could gain any answers by just waiting.”
“And?”
“You woke up before I could figure anything out, and you know the rest.”
“I see,” I said quietly. So far, between what she, Freya, and the Nymph Mother had said, one thing was very clear—there was some kind of odd aura that I was emitting, whether willingly or not. I had no clue what this was or why only these three had sensed it so far, but I was certain now that its existence wasn’t helping me in any way.
“I was quite regretful when I realized you had been killed by the wolves,” Ijyela said. “I had hoped I’d have longer to study your existence.”
“You don’t say,” I mumbled. Great, I’m a test subject now, I thought.
“It was quite a coincidence when Freya came to me,” she chuckled, “asking me to help her track a friend with a presence similar to what I’d sensed around you.”
Ah, so that’s how Freya knew where to find me, I realized.
“That’s enough chitchat,” Freya said. “Ijyela, we have more important things to talk about.”
“Such as the voices in his head?” She looked to me.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 12
