“A formidable warrior such as yourself ought to be renowned throughout Ironholt, yet I have neither seen nor heard of you. From whence do you hail, Intruder?!” bellowed the Nightwatcher, his voice raspy and hoarse, as though his throat had never been cleared. It was the first time Lorian had heard him speak, and the sound was unexpectedly dreadful—almost as if his ears were being twisted.

  “I am merely a solitary man, I reside where I must. Now answer me, for I have no desire to sy a nameless warrior,” stated Odinus, his voice gruff and impassive once more.

  A vein throbbed on the Nightwatcher’s forehead beneath his mask. He was displeased by the response and felt no inclination to reply to the elderly man. Though the outward appearance suggested a disparity in power too vast to comprehend, the assassin had learned that technique surpassed strength. Thus, he raised his daggers and sliced the air twice, preparing to strike. He vaulted onto the brick wall and began sprinting sideways with astonishing speed, stirring up gusts of wind that scattered dust in every direction. Lorian watched in awe, unable to grasp the physics of this feat.

  As he neared the old man, he propelled himself from the wall to reach the height of the giant before him, swinging his entire body with both daggers held perpendicurly, creating a whirling bde around himself. A bck mist materialized at the edges of the bde as he executed the attack, causing Odinus’s eyes to widen, swiftly filling with fury. It resembled a dark spinning wheel, radiating an aura of death.

  “You are far too feeble to wield the power of Onyx Resonance in a controlled manner,” excimed the old man, tilting his head back slightly to narrowly evade the bde. He quickly raised his hands and seized the Nightwatcher’s right wrist, then his left, completely immobilizing him mid-attack in mid-air. The Nightwatcher’s eyes began to tremble, and his pupils dited as he experienced genuine fear for the first time in years, staring into Odinus’s fiery gaze. The old warrior tightened his grip until the assassin dropped his daggers and grunted in agony. The bck mist dissipated just as the bdes cttered onto the floor, producing an echoing sound. Before the Nightwatcher could attempt to break free, Odinus loosened his hold. As the assassin plummeted, he swiftly grasped his entire face with a hand rge enough to encircle his head. Then, using his sheer strength, he shoved him into the wall with just that single hand, which bore his victim’s entire weight. A loud cracking sound emanated from the Nightwatcher’s spine as it broke, causing him to cough up blood before colpsing to the floor, unconscious.

  The entire confrontation transpired in a mere seven seconds and was so one-sided it felt like an elephant battling an ant. Odinus inhaled deeply and pced his hands together, palms ft, in front of his chest while murmuring a few words with his eyes closed. He then walked with heavy steps toward Lorian, who was completely star-struck and too stunned to speak. He regained his senses and quickly recoiled from the bars in fear, not of the old man, but from the uncertainty of what would happen next. Lorian had just witnessed a murder for the first time and feared he might be next. But something surprised him: Odinus’s stern and frowning expression gradually softened, repced by one of accomplishment and sorrow. His eyes were half-closed, as if he were trying to conceal his emotions. He clenched his jaw before taking a deep breath to compose himself.

  “Fourteen years… fourteen years I have been searching for my old friend’s son, and I have finally found you, Lorian,” the old man said, his voice heavy with despair. “My deepest apologies for the dey, but I can finally grant you freedom,” he continued. Odinus grasped one bar in each hand in the doorless cell and effortlessly wrenched them out. A loud rumbling noise echoed as they were discarded. Lorian gasped as he saw how the bars he had grown up with were deformed. They were the only obstacle preventing him from experiencing the world Henry had described. A rumbling and vibrating sound began to permeate the entire hall. The ground started to shake, and the ceiling began to crumble as pebbles and rger rocks rained down.

  “It’s a trap to keep you confined here; come with me quickly,” the old man said calmly as he walked into the deep darkness. Lorian’s obvious choice was to follow him or perish in the colpsing cave. He pced his first foot outside the cell and felt the air around that limb instantly change. It was warm and comforting. The moment his feet touched the unfamiliar ground, he could discern every variation in height on the uneven surface. His feet had become so accustomed to the floor in his cell that they felt numb and devoid of sensation. But now, everything was different. Every step he took while running after Odinus was like exploring uncharted territory, with no knowledge of what y ahead. It felt so liberating, so unlike his dreams because it felt so real. The sense of liberation seized him, and he craved more; he began running faster and faster, turning into the darkness only to be met by a light so intense it blinded him.

  The hall behind him began to colpse even more rapidly until the pathway was completely blocked by fallen rocks. He had to escape quickly, but the light still blinded him, so he took cautious steps up some stairs, trying to follow the sound of Odinus. Lorian felt something soft and fuzzy between his toes and suddenly felt comfortable and at ease. The crumbling noise from the cave ceased as it completely filled with debris. He tried opening his eyes but still could not; everything was a stark white with a hint of orange, a color he knew only from the firelight that illuminated his former world. A wave of heat washed over his body, but it was different from the heat emitted by the torch. It was so intensely hot it almost felt like his fragile and pale skin was burning. He started grunting and moaning from the pain, which slowly somehow transformed into something more pleasant and familiar. The warmth made his legs weak, and he fell to his knees, feeling the fuzziness of the ground on his shins. His legs sank into the soft ground, almost like his mattress. Everything was so comfortable after he grew to enjoy the warmth; he simply wanted to experience this sensation for the rest of his life. Lorian’s eyes began to clear, his vision returning as the blurriness faded, and he was met by colors he had never seen before.

  The verdant green grass, the deep brown bark on the trees, the scarlet roses, and the pink azaleas. Everything was so vibrant and dazzling that he dared not blink, fearing it might all vanish. A torrent of different emotions surged through him, each quickly repced by the next. First, shock at the vast open space, the smell of earth, and the potent scent of pollen. Secondly, he felt an anger tinged with despair as he realized someone had deprived him of this world his entire life. After that, he felt a gratitude and joy so profound he forgot everything else. Beside him stood Odinus, watching as the boy began rolling around in the grass, ughing while touching everything within reach. Lorian then gazed toward the horizon to see the sun beginning its ascent. The sky’s color stretched between pink and blue, appearing endless, limited only by his imagination. There were so many unfamiliar colors everywhere that he had never witnessed, and it felt peculiar as his brain struggled to process these hues into something comprehensible. As his eyes shifted to the sun, he was blinded once more. He raised his arm to shield his eyes from the light and felt the unfamiliar warmth concentrated on the back of his arm, which made him exhale in relief.

  “So that’s the sun,” he said with a smile so wide it strained his face. The sunlight streamed through the boundless sky and reached the ground, casting long and dancing shadows in the tall grass. His eyes, accustomed only to the dark charcoal void of his cell, widened in awe as he felt a breeze carrying the beautiful aroma of dew and earth. He yed on the dirt and grass with his arms and legs outstretched, embracing whatever was to come. Lorian felt content and did not care what the future held. The world had always been there, vibrant and alive, waiting for him to open his eyes. He finally understood the meaning of freedom as the invisible chains that had bound him began to dissipate.

  Odinus felt his heart pound harder, and his throat began to constrict as he continued to observe Lorian experiencing all of this at once after being confined in a dark cell for a lifetime.

  “They will not get away with this,” Odinus excimed, his voice brimming with anger and vengeance.

  Lorian completely disregarded the presence of the rge old man and continued to run around, eager to experience everything he could before life took an unexpected turn and deprived him of this chance to see. Odinus did not wish to intrude and silently watched for an entire hour until Lorian returned, completely covered in dirt from rolling around. They stared at each other in silence, but both knew neither intended to harm the other. He breathed so deeply from exhaustion that his chest ached.

  “Who are you, Odinus? And how can I ever thank you for allowing me to experience the real world before I die?” Lorian asked, a genuine smile reaching his eyes. He held a buttercup flower in his hands, gently rubbing the petals and shivering from the unfamiliar sensation each stroke gave him.

  “I shall answer all your questions, but first, let us go somewhere further away before a guard appears,” Odinus replied, beginning to walk with heavy steps. It felt peculiar to Lorian to hear so many sounds around him, not just the sound of feet touching the ground. His brain seemed to reject familiar sensations, eager to explore the uncharted world and leave the past behind in the colpsed grave. Odinus's words resonated deeply within him. “Further away?” he pondered. Lorian still struggled to comprehend these words. How could there be so much space to roam? How could he simply walk further and further away from his current location? How vast was the world? Would he ever reach a pce with metal bars that would prevent him from going any further?

  “Until we see each other next time, Henry,” whispered Lorian as he gnced back at the entrance to the deep cave that had been his entire world just an hour ago. He knew he could trust Odinus implicitly, and this trust would also allow his newfound aspiration of discovering this world to be fulfilled. Every day, he had observed a different look in Henry’s eyes until he understood the meaning of each expression. But there was a core appearance in them that made him feel safe. It was difficult to describe, but Odinus possessed that same quality. Lorian followed Odinus, grateful to Henry for making him exercise physically in the cell every day. He had been confused as to why the guard had forced him to exercise, and now he finally understood it was to prepare him for his liberation, enabling him to move freely and live in the outside world without struggling to remain upright, thus missing out on its wonders.

  After an hour of walking up a rge hill without exchanging a word, they reached a small clearing in the forest where sunlight dappled the ground and a colossal tree y fallen, its trunk snapped. The walk should have been shorter, but Odinus waited patiently as Lorian kept getting sidetracked, exploring each new pnt, animals he had never encountered, and rocks that were all equally beautiful in his eyes.

  “Ironholt… just as Henry described. Giant stone walls to keep the monsters away from the townspeople. It’s strange that we haven’t encountered a single hostile creature. Henry always spoke of them and how dangerous they were, mentioning that only high-ranking warriors or squads of fighters were permitted outside,” Lorian said as he sat on the log. Odinus sat beside him, and it began to creak and sink slightly into the ground under his immense weight. They both stared far down the hill, past a vast roofed forest, to see the rge city.

  Odinus stared at Lorian without uttering a word, simply observing the boy. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but old, tattered wool pants. His hair was somewhat long and dark. His eyes, so rge and gray, were like gazing into emptiness. He had some facial hair just beginning to grow into stubble. Lorian was around 185 cm tall, significantly taller than the average man and still growing. Odinus couldn’t fathom how a boy so malnourished could have grown to such an unusually tall stature.

  “The creatures you speak of are all around us, but they can sense the Resonance within me and understand they should keep their distance. Only a few dare to approach me,” Odinus expined. Lorian looked at him, perplexed, but knew he would eborate ter, so he refrained from asking further questions.

  “To answer your previous inquiry…” Odinus began softly before taking a deep breath. “Your father, Orven Duskbane, was an old friend of mine. He was the most skilled bcksmith on the entire continent. Thirty years ago, I was searching across the nd to find someone to forge gauntlets that could withstand my strength and adapt to my unique power. I failed miserably until I discovered the small shop your father ran in a corner of a perilous street in the capital city. Together, we spent a year venturing into the wonders of the nds to gather the materials needed for my weapons. We fought side by side, defeating monsters that are not even recorded in the Orbis Teratologica bestiary. He was my equal in strength. I never quite understood why a man would do so much for a stranger, unless he was truly a good man through and through.

  “We lived together and became close friends while he worked on my gauntlets until they were finished. I had never seen a masterpiece quite like them before, and I could never have compensated him adequately. I left the city and returned multiple times as I strived to become stronger. He was the greatest companion I had, and that never changed. Fourteen years ago, I returned once more to visit him and found he had completely vanished without a trace. His shop had been repced by a pottery boutique; I asked almost everyone in town, but no one knew what had happened or where he had gone. That was until a pigeon nded on my shoulder while I was training in the woods.

  “The letter it carried read as follows: ‘Greetings Odinus, I am a friend of Orven. I cannot expin the situation, but I have a quest I beg you to complete. Orven’s son Lorian is two years old and has been locked away somewhere by the Ordo Nox. Find him, warrior who I have heard possesses honor and dignity on par with the gods.’

  “That was enough for me to spend fourteen years searching and doing everything in my power to find you, and that is truly all I know. I know as little as you about the situation, but by luck, I sensed the frequencies within you that resembled your father’s, and that led me to that cave,” Odinus said with an emotionless expression.

  Lorian took several minutes to process everything, trying to absorb all the information that had been thrown at him. He never thought he would ignore the birdsong and the scent of the earth, but it was so much to take in, he had no choice. He couldn’t believe Odinus had been so loyal as to spend this long searching for an old friend’s son.

  “I… have a father?” was the only thing he managed to say.

  “Yes, son. I do not know what transpired while I was gone, but it seems he found a woman and you were born. However, what led to his disappearance and your being raised in a cell is something I cannot answer. But, I will dedicate the rest of my life to seeking revenge and annihiting whoever could have been so heartless as to do this to a young child of Orven Duskbane!” Odinus excimed, his voice growing deeper with each sentence.

  “He was the one who taught me the most important thing in the world: ‘If you can be anything in this world, be kind,’” Odinus continued, his voice filled with despair. Lorian didn’t know whether to be happy that he had parents or sad that they were missing. It was at this moment that he set his life goal to find them, no matter what.

  “If power controls this world, then please, Odinus, train me to be as strong as you so that I can overcome any obstacles in my path when I search for my parents,” Lorian said, kneeling and lowering his head.

  “Raise your head, boy. That was my pn from the beginning,” Odinus said with a smile on his face as he noticed the simirities between Lorian and his father, despite them never having met. Lorian smiled at the answer, and a breeze of wind brushed his face, carrying strange and unfamiliar scents. His whole body began to tremble, and he knew he couldn’t bear it if this turned out to be a dream. He felt a colossal hand pced on top of his head, heavier than he could have imagined. Lorian looked up to see the old man smile slightly.

  “Let us begin now,” said Odinus.