Rael and The Art of Creation

Hand in hand, Selene and I walked along a straight path for what felt like an eternity. I tried keeping track, but my mind kept wandering. Surprisingly, neither of us spoke a word; we focused on staying vigilant, not wanting to get caught off guard by a sneak attack.

The sun had journeyed from its peak at high noon to the softer glow of evening, casting an orange tint on the already golden leaves of the towering trees. The scenery hadn't changed since we left the meadow with the obelisk.

No beasts attacked us. Nothing even came near us. It felt more like a casual stroll through a park than a dangerous journey.

"How are your mana reserves?" Selene broke the peaceful silence with her melodic and serene voice. Her tone was much softer than her usual energetic self, and I felt glad she could relax.

I checked my mana core. It was a brighter yellow than before. Perhaps I refined it more while doing all that makeshift practicing? I mused but didn't keep Selene waiting.

"I'm completely full. I'm surprised it recharged so quickly!" Seeing my mana core in this state improved my mood drastically; many of the scenarios I had planned for now seemed much easier to manage.

"Lucky! I'm only about 75% full. I'll have you know I have a pretty fast recharge rate compared to others, so seeing you beat me just makes you more of a monster than I thought!"

I chuckled a little. "Haha, to be fair, my Unique is a little bit unfair."

"Oh~, trust me, I know! I'll be honest with you, my Unique is called Cosmic Warden. It gives me control over space and a secondary ability for self-strengthening magic. I can pull mana from space at an outstanding rate, as long as it exists. It's already unfair, and then there's you with your Unique! Ugh, so unjust!"

She's so adorable, haha! I kept my thoughts to myself, not wanting to upset her. She was already—cutely, mind you—dealing with the unfairness of my abilities. Instead, I said:

"My Unique is called True Creation Magic, and just like it sounds, it gives me access to True Creation."

"Can I ask what True Creation means?"

I stopped walking, causing her to look at me. "Why couldn't you? You just revealed your Unique to me, so it's only fair I match that trust," I explained.

"A-Ah. You don't have to, you know—" She seemed surprised by my openness, as though she hadn't expected me to trust her so readily.

"Too late. Anyway, to answer your question, it refers to the aspects of creation: Transfiguration, Alchemy, and Projection."

"What the hell... Did you get blessed by some divine being or something?"

"..." I looked away awkwardly. I didn't know how to respond! How did she guess so closely?!

"I was joking, but seeing your reaction, I must not be too far off! That makes me feel better, then. If you're an apostle of a god or goddess, your strangeness makes sense." She relaxed her posture in relief.

"Oh yeah? And if I wasn't, then how would you feel?"

"Salty that you had better luck than me. I'd probably be completely petty!" She pressed her index finger to her lips and seriously declared her pettiness.

"Phahaha~" I couldn't help but laugh. She was just so real for that.

"Hehehe~" She joined in, and our laughter echoed through the golden forest. A slight breeze passed over us, but neither of us thought much of it. We kept laughing for a solid minute or two before noticing something strange.

"Hey, Rael. We were in a forest just now, right?"

"Yeah?" I wiped my eyes and opened them to see why she seemed so alarmed. The golden forest was gone! In its place stood another obelisk, its runic text identical to the one before. This obelisk, however, was not surrounded by flowers or trees. Instead, it sat at the center of what looked like a martial arts tournament ring. The paved stone gave it an arena-like appearance.

The evening sky had shifted to a cloudy gray. The sun's position was hidden, but its light filtered through the clouds. The breeze became more frequent and colder, and the entire atmosphere felt grim.

"Did we complete the first trial without realizing it?" I asked, raising my guard to its maximum.

"That's the only explanation that makes sense. But what were the conditions, though..." She whispered the last part, but I heard her. I thought about it as well, but couldn't come up with an answer.

Since we weren't going to get an answer, I walked up to the obelisk and put my hand on it. Fortunately, it wasn't too far, so the restriction wouldn't act up and make it hard to even approach it.

"Come on, Selene! I'm sure we will figure it out later, so let's just keep going ahead."

Hearing my words, she shrugged and quickly walked over to me and put her hand on the obelisk. The two of us, like the first time, poured mana into it, and the runes began lighting up—this time in a grayish color—while changing into English.

Selene beat me to reading it, "Two veils lifted, the abyss between them unravels. Bound in unseen threads of trust, they move as one toward the unseen dread. What was separate now echoes in unison, a harrowing symphony only they can hear."

What... I was dumbstruck. I didn't even think that these clues or signs could become so cryptic.

"What do you think this means?" Selene pulled me back to focus, and I gave her my breakdown.

"Two veils lifted, and with our sudden shift here, that can only mean that because we shared an important secret with each other, we passed the first trial. This is proven by the start of the second line, but its last part is quite worrisome. The third sentence, particularly the end, clearly means 'an experience only we share.'"

"..." She looked at me, mouth agape.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Are you some scholar as well?"

"No. I just have a brain."

"...!"

"Nope, not this time!"

"Tch! Don't think I'll let that insult slide."

Selene tried to jab me in the side, but I caught her hand with my left. She clicked her tongue in aggravation, but I wasn't going to let her get me this time! However, I guess maybe I could have worded that differently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. That good?"

She stared at me, deadpan. "You know, normally you don't do that after an apology."

"Well, I'm not really sorry!" I smugly patted my chest with my free right hand. This only served to get her riled up more!

Teasing her is kind of fun! I shouldn't do it too much though, I don't need her to get some strange revenge. I let go of her hand, and she stared me down like a hawk. But she just puffed her cheeks out a little and turned away. She didn't say a word, and I didn't make her. Her face also had a slight tinge of pink, but I thought it best not to mention it.

"RAAA!!!"

A loud roar broke the silence and added even more tension to the already grim atmosphere.

"Do you still want to hold hands while we fight?" I asked, quickly prepping myself. There was also something I completely forgot about that I didn't see.

"I know I said it might be for the better, but also, I know that it would be quite uncomfortable, now that I think about it."

"Well, seeing as you don't have the spear anymore, it won't be that hard."

She cast a glance at me with her sky-blue eyes. "Do you just want to hold my hand again?" She sounded quite amused.

"And if yes?" I matched her amusement.

"Then it would be my honor to help such a desperate individual!"

"Hah! Never mind now, we have a bet to complete, no?"

"Tch! Now that I think about it, you didn't let me jab you, so I take my hands away from you!"

Pang~!

Before I could quip back, a large white wyvern landed on the ground. Then soon after, four green ones swept down from the air and matched their white counterpart's position. Each one of them had golden markings going around their bodies, but the white one had more intricate designs.

"The white one is definitely the leader," Selene explained before I could even question it. But it also didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The way the green wyverns stood at an appropriate distance and seemed to be waiting for the white one to move made everything all too clear.

There was just one little problem...

I-I can't lie... these dudes are quite scary... ha... ha... I'd been handling a lot and masking it well, but I think I was starting to reach my limits.