I find myself back in the same room I was in this morning. Sitting on the side of the softest bed I'd ever slept on, staring into nothingness at the wall across the room.
I had a lot on my mind. Not much else to it.
My conditions are perfectly fine right now, too. I had a servant, for now, and I think Hale got one too. My room is much nicer, as well. My clothes are clean, my body's not injured and I'm also cleaned up.
But I still couldn't believe Tenna was gone.
Now that I had a moment of peace, quiet, and solitude. I think it started to come down on me like a wave.
I sigh and move my hands to the back of my head, gently untying the silk.
I lower it down to my line of sight and just stare at it.
It was a surprisingly dark color. I couldn't see through it like normal silk, and it was like light couldn't escape it.
Which makes sense.
Abyss Wyrm silk. Fresh from the Abyss.
I rub the side of my head and put the silk on the nightstand next to my bed, putting my arm over my eyes and lying down on my back.
I began to think a bit more. The grey world came to mind.
'If those are Cronus's memories…'
Perhaps there's something I can do.
I want to get stronger, sure, but I want to understand more than just what I know now.
The stars in that world. The void I was thrown into when I was pulled into the Cronus orb.
They're the same colors as the ranks of stray beasts.
Green, cyan, blue, purple, red.
I only saw a couple of white and grey stars, too.
'Do they resemble difficulty?'
That thought made me shutter. The one I entered was green, and yet I experienced that much pain and came out gasping for air.
'What of the other ranks, then?'
"Ugh."
I groan and turn to my side, my hair cascading down in front of my right eye.
I didn't see any black star colors in there… is it because Cronus itself was a dark rank? Did the world not hold stars of the same rank as their original owner?
Or was there a second level of hardness, and it happens to be dark rank?
Rubbing my face, I toss and turn in bed, grumbling to myself.
Then there was the issue with my left eye. I'm technically a cripple with it gone.
Half-blind.
I can't fight like this- well, I guess I could try.
I wasn't exactly sure what the wording was for it, but with one eye, everything seems so off-balanced. Objects mostly seem closer than what I actually feel.
I turn to my side again toward the nightstand.
A couple of things were laid on top of it other than the silk I just put down.
The tanto– I think it was called, and my destroyed blouse.
I don't know why I kept it, but I wanted to. I guess it was because it used to be my favorite shirt that wasn't a hand-me-down back at the tavern.
"…"
Cronus.
I need to go back to those memories.
…Maybe some other time, though.
I hop out of bed and look for some footwear to put on. Then I grab the silk and tie it around my head again. After that, I grab the thin dagger that Trinity gave me.
The tanto, and apply it through a slot in my pants on my hips.
Doing so, I step out of my room, the wooden door creaking a tiny bit as I walk out. I close it behind me and glance either way down the hallway.
There's a few more doors that line the walls, and they told me Hale's room is just across from mine.
I look down the way I went with Ayra earlier, and turn the opposite direction, heading down that side of the hall instead.
It's cold in here, not that I mind, though. It's also surprising how much stone everything is made out of. It's like they wanted this castle to withstand an invasion.
That makes sense too, though. It's on the very edge of the royal domain in the Xyren territory.
'Oh, right… so I'm in the royal domain now, huh.'
I always thought I'd head here one day, away from Tenna, but not the way that I did end up leaving there.
I sigh as I walk up to some stairs. They spiral upwards, and there's more light in the stairwell that they circle.
So, walking up the stairs, I just continue.
No goal in mind, just wanting some fresh air, and maybe clear my head.
Finishing the walk up, the cool night air hits my face.
'That feels nice.'
It makes me smile a good bit. A new hallway is above the one I just walked out of, but this one has the windows open.
It has a set of doors to my right that lead to some gardens.
I walk through them and take a deep breath.
"Huu…"
I look down at my hands, recalling that I gained a new body.
'Right… how did I forget that?'
I glance up from my hands and look around the garden.
Ugh, I'll get lost. I need to ask someone if there's a training ground here.
I want to test myself out.
I see a maid dusting some of the window curtains a little ways away from me, I smile as I jog a little bit toward her.
"E-excuse me…!" I'm really stepping out of my comfort zone here…
She's wearing a white and black uniform, a little blue bowtie on her neck that sways with the movement of her shoulders. Her hair is a dark brown, she looks young, perhaps in her twenties? Thirties?
"Huh?" She turns to me and reels back a barely noticeable amount, "Ah! You must be that one-eyed boy that everyone's been talking about."
I slow to a stop just before her, "Huh…? Everyone…?"
She nods with a warm smile, "Yup! The servants said that when you arrived, they'd never seen a young kid so injured! And missing an eye, too! They said you looked like you'd been through hell and back, haha!"
'Because I probably have.'
The people here have probably never experienced a dark rank beast, much less a god.
Not that I would wish it upon them, though.
'No one should suffer through that.'
She giggles to herself, I think she recalled what everyone else said I looked like before.
"Oh… anyway, what is it you need, sweetie?"
I blink and take a breath, "I-is there any sort of training ground? A practice area? WIth wooden swords or a training dummy?"
"Oh! Practicing swordsmanship, young man?" She glances down at the dagger on my hip.
"Ah-hah… yeah, I guess…" I look away in embarrassment.
She points behind her, "Down this way and take a right then a left. It's an open space with sets of wooden dummies and all that."
I nod and give her a small bow, "T-thank you."
She gets back to work as I walk past her.
Heading down that way, I put a bit more pep in my step. I could feel a bit of excitement growing as I took the directions she told me to.
Soon, I entered a large room, it was in the shape of a circle, rows of wooden weapons and fake arrows on one side, the other holding racks of real ones. The walls are still stone bricks, but some parts have pillars that head to an open ceiling, the silver moon shining just through the center.
I look at the dagger on my waist and decide not to use it for now, just to stick with wooden ones in case I mess up.
'Mostly because I have no idea where to start, really.'
So, I head over to my left and grab a few dummies, dragging them out toward the center of the circular training room and leaving them there.
Then, I grab different wooden swords of varying sizes. None of them felt too heavy, so I just grabbed a bunch in my arms and dropped them on the ground.
"Okay…"
Let's see here… I want one to match the size of my dagger, I guess.
I look through the pile of weapons and compare them to the sheath of my weapon. I find a couple that matches its size and smile as I stand up to my feet.
"Alright, let's see here…"
I check the size and thickness of it, of course the wooden one is much thicker than the actual dagger, but it'll do.
Stepping away from the pile, I adjust how I hold it in my hand.
'Like this…?'
I start off holding it in reverse, my fingers bending around the hilt and grip.
Looks cool, but doesn't exactly feel right.
'Or…'
I flip it back around to a normal grip and point it at the dummy.
'This looks and feels stupid.'
"Uhh…"
'Hm.'
I don't know how to hold this.
Like at all.
'I'll just try different things and see what works.'