The bar was loud enough to rattle the walls, but Ashen sat alone with a mug of ale, barely touching it.
Laughter burst around him, mugs slammed together, someone shouted about winning a bet, but it all washed past him.
He stared at the froth slowly fading on the surface of his drink. 'Still can't believe I'm actually in this time period…'
The thought came and went, leaving a mix of disbelief and acceptance tangled together until he couldn't tell them apart anymore.
It had been a couple of days since he was stranded in this chapter of history, and he hadn't stayed idle.
The first thing he'd tried to do was look for Alice, but even that couldn't be done before he knew who he even was.
People called him "Ash," talked as if they knew him , and acted as if he'd always been there even though he knew none of them.
Ashen didn't take long to guess that whatever had placed him here had arranged an identity for him.
So, despite having the same body, he had different circumstances here.
First, this "Ash" was a diligent soldier who excelled but not overly so. His relationships with the others could also be described in the same vein—he had good associations with everyone but was close to no one.
Ashen had gathered all of this from his acquaintances' ramblings and talks, coupled with some good leading questions from him.
And like him, this "Ash" preferred to use a spear, but excelled at gathering info and spying, which was no problem for Ashen since he could play both roles with his current skillset.
But the real blow was something else entirely.
It was the absence of something he relied on heavily.
Something he'd come to see as part of him.
The system.
In hindsight, this outcome was foregone and should have been obvious, since Ashen already knew that the system was still dormant during this period.
But having to go without Lucid Dreamweaving, SA, and the trusty Trance skill that had saved him more times than he was willing to count was very discomforting and almost borderline maddening.
He knew that every skill still existed within him somewhere, but without the assistance of the system, he had no way of activating them.
So for now, until he figured out a way to go back to his time, he had to live with only his spear and the silently working Vital Drift.
Speaking of going back, he'd also figured out the cause of this "time travel" really quickly after he got his bearings.
It was undoubtedly the work of his innate ability, Beholder's Eyes.
If the booming "Behold" word that he'd heard before getting thrown here wasn't evidence enough, then everything that happened after sure was.
The Beholder's Eyes' main function was Truth's Gaze, which opened a Fragment of History where a pivotal moment is unfolding or is about to unfold.
There were many conditions for this, mostly abstract.
First, the ability could only be triggered with the help of a companion whose destiny is 'closely intertwined with him'. The companion would also be dragged alongside him to the Fragment.
Second, the trigger itself was random, or as the system in the description put it, "occurs only when fate aligns," whatever that meant.
The third and final condition was the simplest but hardest to achieve: having enough mana for constructing the fragment.
But Ashen's oversight was that he'd subconsciously treated the Whisp's mana not as his own, so he hadn't considered it an option.
For the Beholder's Eyes, though, that was free fuel as far as it was concerned. It was just waiting for the other conditions to be fulfilled.
The fated person was obviously Alice in this case, and the reason why it didn't trigger on the first meeting was probably because "fate haden't aligned yet."
After Ashen figured out the reason for the series of events, he calmed down and began planning, knowing that Alice was also somewhere in this Fragment of History, likely in the same situation as he was.
His first goal was to find her. After that, he could start planning how to get out of this situation alongside her while reaping the most benefits.
The Beholder's Eyes hadn't thrown him in here for nothing, after all.
And he didn't forget that the innate ability had a sub-skill called Fate's Reward that awarded a boon to both him and Alice, depending on how they acted.
He also didn't dare forget that death here was as real as in the real world, so he never let his guard down.
So he spent the first week integrating with the Pride army, all while looking for Alice or any woman who would look remotely close to her, either in appearance or personality.
His integration into the army was seamless. No one noticed anything strange, and he even participated in two skirmishes against Narkals during that time.
Fighting with only his spear left him feeling bare, but he was slowly adapting to it. Going back to his peak would have to wait until he left this Fragment, though.
The only solace was that he wasn't the only one this way. The whole army, and every other human, was in the same boat, for that matter.
Ashen was fascinated with the ease with which they controlled mana to reinforce their weapons and bodies.
He'd finally gotten a glimpse of why humans were able to hold on despite the prolonged disappearance of the system.
That, and the enormous number of Esperrian soldiers drafted to fight alongside them.
But all of this was for later. All of Ashen's attention was put on finding Alice first and foremost for now. Everything else could come later.
Unfortunately, after another week of looking, he had to admit the possibility that she wasn't present in the Pride army at all.
Distress started creeping in at the thought that she could be anywhere on the planet, and that reuniting with her would take years of looking instead, but soon he shook the possibility away.
'The Fragment of History only triggers on a pivotal moment, which is obviously the war between the Narkals, humans, and demi-humans in this case.'
'If so, then she has to be among these three actors of this historical moment. And since she's not among the humans, that leaves the Narkals and demi-humans.'
Ashen had no real method to investigate the Narkals without getting run over by their sheer numbers. Not to mention the champions that he still wasn't able to deal with, especially in his current state.
That left the demi-humans, and luckily, he'd found a way to go to that side.
He only hoped that she was on that side. Otherwise…
Crinnk—
Ashen stood up from his table, having finished his drink, and left the bar.
Catching rumors had been one of the reasons he frequented them, and it had borne fruit, since the method of reaching the foxes, and hopefully alice, depended on the validaty those rumors.
He walked slowly toward the center of the camp, where the general's tent rose above the others.
☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾
(Author's Note: Below is the description of Ashen's innate ability, Beholder's Eyes, in case some of you forget its details and are too lazy to scroll back.)
(๑'ᵕ'๑)⸝*
Beholder's Eyes
Once mere remnants of a god's vision, these eyes have been reborn through the union of divinity and truth. Their nascent will now hungers not only to grow, but to know.
Current State:
Boundless Evolution: The eyes grow according to their host's will and actions, adapting infinitely. Their roots in time and fate still shape their path.
Truth's Gaze: When suffused with enough mana, the eyes may open a Fragment of History, a construct of a pivotal moment where destiny turns.
Fate Resonance: Truth's Gaze triggers only in the presence of one whose destiny is tightly bound to the host. This companion is drawn into the fragment alongside them. The trigger is not immediate; it occurs only when fate aligns.
Worldstride: Within the fragment, the host may act by inhabiting a key figure of that era or manifesting in their own body to bend events to their will.
Fate's Reward: At the fragment's end, the host and companion receive a boon, shaped by how far they altered the course of that history and its effect on the fate of the possessed, whether for better or worse.
Fatal Consequence: The fragment is no dream. Pain is real, and death within it claims the body and soul alike. Those who fall here leave nothing behind.
"Eyes that no longer merely see; they behold. What they witness, they may change. What they change, they must survive."