||"Your sacrifice has been accepted."||
Right after the memories replay ended, the mirror of souls vanished, and the familiar voice echoed in his mind, breaking him away from his sorrowful thoughts and actions.
||"You were willing enough to sacrifice what you held dearly in a bid to save your life. To fulfill my part of the deal, your wounds would be healed now."||
Almost immediately the voice ended, a strange sensation washed over Draven.
The sensation was new, gentle and also refreshing.
The stinging and burning anguish from his wound began to reduce noticeably.
Draven could not see how the wound was closing, but he sure could feel the sensation of his skin crawling back together, repairing.
The migraine and other discomfort as a result of the wound gradually disappeared.
After about a minute, Draven was whole again.
It was unbelievable.
Draven moved his hands to touch the point where the wound was a few seconds ago and he felt nothing, not even a single itch.
Draven's eyes widened right away.
"Thank you so much..."
He offered sincere gratitude to the unknown being that had rescued him from the claws of death.
||"Gratitude is insignificant. Your recovery came from your own sacrifice. If anything, you should be grateful to yourself."||
Draven nodded his head, he understood this voice in his head.
It did not heal him out of kindness or goodwill, it only did so because he offered something of equal value. Their exchange was nothing short of a simple trade.
||"Your display of willingness earlier has greatly impressed me. If you're willing to offer yet another sacrifice, I would bestow upon you a tool to guarantee your survival in your corrupted world."||
Draven fell silent for a few seconds upon the offer before responding, "But I do not possess anything significant enough to offer as a sacrifice. What I sacrificed earlier was the only thing that held value to me and now that it is gone, I have nothing."
"But I would not want to miss out on this offer. I do not want to live an ordinary life any longer, especially now that the world doesn't allow ordinary anymore," he continued, making his interest known to the unknown entity inhabiting his mind.
The world outside would no longer allow an ordinary person like him to survive.
He had seen the monstrosity of the undeads.
He had watched humans being devoured and had also seen them turn into one of the mindless undeads.
Heck, if he had not encountered this voice, he might have already become one of those disgusting creatures.
Hence, Draven made up his mind not to be normal again.
This voice was his only choice at escaping his fate, and Draven does not want to lose it.
For a few seconds, there was no response from the voice.
Draven began to panic from the silence, he imagined that the voice had let go of him as he could no longer offer it sacrifice.
But it was the contrary.
||"Interesting."||
The voice left a single remark that sparked hope once more in Draven's heart.
||"You have proven yourself more interesting. My unshaken heart has been moved by your tenacious will to become extraordinary."||
The voice paused.
||"Thus I shall leave you with a gift, two gifts actually."||
Draven's eyes lit up as his interest piqued.
||"Sadly, our conversation is limited due to restrictions I cannot reveal to you. Anymore than one minute from now, your heart would explode."||
Draven shivered. My heart would explode? he repeated nervously. He also wondered what the hidden restriction was.
||"Stretch out your hands."||
Without hesitation, Draven stretched out both hands.
Then the next second, the mirror of soul appeared once more.
The same mysterious hand extended from the depth of the mirror of soul, this time moving gently and slowly. It resembled an adult's hand but had pale white skin and it ended with long, clawed fingers resembling the hand of a demonic being.
Nevertheless the appearance of the hand was not as mysterious and ominous as the single item in its grasp.
It was a dagger—but not an ordinary one. Its entire body was pure black, with intricate lines running down the blade like veins. A strange red aura pulsed from it, growing clearer and more visible as the hand drew closer to Draven.
The mysterious hand extended till it was above Draven's outstretched hands and then it gently dropped it. After dropping it, it retracted back rapidly into the mirror of souls and they both vanished.
But now, Draven's eyes were glued to the ominous dark-bladed dagger in his grasp.
||"This is the Soul Blade, forged by the greatest celestial weaponsmiths. Its craftsmanship is grand, yet it pales beside the mysteries and powers it conceals. This is my first gift to you, Draven Blackwood."||
Draven listened to the voice while his eyes remained glued to the ominous weapon.
The ominous aura wrapped around it earlier had disappeared but the Soul Blade was still ominous.
Draven felt a strange connection to the blade almost instantly. Hearing the explanation of the voice, the connection deepened.
"Thank you."
He gave sincere gratitude.
This time he had obtained this mysterious weapon without giving anything in exchange. It was a gift meant to be appreciated.
||"Your words of gratitude are unimportant, Draven Blackwood. However, it would delight me more to see you grow and unlock the true powers within the Soul Blade. The powers even I am unaware of."||
Draven nodded his head with determination, sounding a voiceless promise to the unseen.
||"Our conversation would end in a few seconds. The second gift would appear right after our conversation ends. Do you have anything to say?"||
Draven nodded his head, "How do I address you? You never revealed your identity."
||"Sadly, even if I wanted to, you can't know my identity as it would bring more danger than understanding."||
Draven's mood dampened a little bit.
He had received a lot from this voice and yet he did not know it, not even its name.
||"Remember — Your world is corrupted, the corruption in your world would only grow more powerful as time drifts by. More dangers than the waking dead would arise, and only the strongest would survive. Till we meet again."||
Draven felt a sudden emptiness as the voice disappeared from his mind. It was as though he had lost something so endearing, yet so strange.
Also following the disappearance of the voice, the world suddenly erupted in even more chaos.
But at the same time, the second gift made its appearance as promised.