Knock. Knock. Knock.
Noone's eyes shot open as his meditation was interrupted. He looked around the room but had no way to tell the time within the small windowless quarters. The quiet air made him feel it should be late into the night.
He had spent a whole day and night cultivating energy, but he finally reached his limit. Noone had not been able to absorb any energy for a full hour. His meridians and core were completely suffused with strength and power which flowed through his body like a vapor.
The lantern he had been using burned out – however he had no problem seeing with his divine sense.
"Noone."
From the other side of the door, Sarah's voice echoed into his quarters. He was slightly surprised. Using his divine sense, he could see that she was no longer in her room and the book was nowhere in sight.
He kept his expression carefully neutral as he opened the door.
Sarah stood within the hall, Noone could see that she was alone and from the looks of it – it should be around ten at night.
"I was planning to go into town, come with me?" Sarah was of course asking him, but Noone couldn't help but feel her voice was rather commanding. After sweeping her with divine sense, he couldn't feel any change on her. He wasn't sure if she had yet to change class, or if it was just above his abilities to notice.
Noone and Sarah made eye contact.
Sarah couldn't help but be a little intimidated by his gaze. Noone's eyes had always been a well of energy – almost glowing with some kind of magic. She refused to look away though and continued to stare at him. Noone's eyes widened in surprised, he had found that most people were unable to hold his gaze when he stared.
Whatever power flowed through him had a minor effect of offsetting people's minds. Noone realized that the only people who weren't as affected were those who were confident in their strength or extremely mentally sturdy.
He couldn't help but look at her a little differently. Maybe she already embraced the class change? If not… it probably wouldn't be long given her mental state.
"Sure." Noone finally responded. He equipped his two axes and tied the leather sack of coins he received to his waistband. Normally he would want to focus on absorbing as much of this higher-grade energy as he could, but right now he had hit a wall.
The two walked in silence through the halls, into the courtyard, and finally outside the temple grounds. Noone kept his sight extended as far as he could, but he did not sense anyone watching.
After being restrained by the holy pressure within the temple, Noone couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of stretching his divine sense once they were outside. He looked at Sarah again, but still could not feel any difference.
If anything, Noone could sense conviction from her.
"I suppose she is not that far from me in age? Technically." Noone thought as he looked at the woman walking next to him.
"So where did you want to go this late at night?" Noone asked. His understanding was that in larger cities it would be busy at night, but in a town this size most everyone was asleep by now, needing to wake up early to tend to the farms or their shops.
Sarah hesitated. "I don't know. I just wanted to be out of the temple for a while."
Noone nodded but said nothing. Obviously Sarah had a lot her mind.
Looking at things from her perspective, Noone could vaguely understand how she was feeling.
Noone thought for a while and hesitated before deciding to speak his mind.
"You feel displaced from your home by powers outside your control, in a way that made you feel powerless. Now you want to do whatever you can to take power back into your own hands." Noone's voice was so neutral that Sarah was unable to read anything from it. However, his words were indeed correct.
Sarah sighed.
"I knew I was right to invite you instead of Feylin." She said. There was a melancholy to her voice.
Initially she had thought to invite Feylin to talk to about this, but she felt weird about it. She didn't know if she would be able to keep from telling Feylin about changing her class and her gods. How would he react to that news?
She wouldn't be able to keep this from the rest of the party for long, but why should she? She just… wanted a little more time to make sure that is what she wanted to do.
The two continued to walk through the silent roads, their steps tapping against the packed dirt streets.
"Noone." Sarah stopped. She looked back towards him, a subtle trembling could be seen underneath her clothes. "How do you cope… with this feeling?" Her voice cracked as her eyes watered. Noone wasn't sure how to express it, but he felt a connection with Sarah.
He had known for a long time actually, that she had dealt with a type of loss as well. After hearing the conversation within Jakobson's office most of it made more sense. However, it had nothing to do with him so he never said anything.
He wasn't the only one who has lost a home.
Now Sarah couldn't help but feel that she was being pushed out of another.
Noone sighed. Unsure of what to say.
"You just do." Noone sighed, reminiscing on his own experiences over the past half year. "The world isn't going to fix your problems, and time isn't going to heal all wounds. So, if you can't rely on anything else… rely on yourself." Noone had never needed to give advice before, especially about something like this. He thought about his own situation, using that to try and help.
"How am I coping?" He thought. "I am set on a path of strength, destruction. Probably not the healthiest way to survive, but it's the only thing I can think to do…" He looked into Sarah's eyes, the strength from earlier was now suffused with doubt. "She is on a similar path. We are both just trying to avenge our losses." The tenets written with the book echoed through his mind. Although he already had a 'class' Noone couldn't deny the strength of the words written within.
"I think you should go through with it." Noone said.
Sarah's eyes looked confused, she didn't understand what he meant.
"The oath of vengeance." He looked Sarah directly in the eyes, not hiding anything from her. "It is a path that requires a firm heart. Once you are on it, it will become easier." Noone knew he was revealing a lot of things, but he didn't care. Sarah had never treated him poorly, if all she needed was an extra push – he had no problems providing it. Even at the cost of admitting he knew about the book.
Sarah's heart shook as she stared at the tall unmoving Noone. Sarah felt like she was looking at a statue, stone grey with eyes made of magic. The gentle white light which pulsed from his skin gently accentuating the iron muscles under his flesh.
She wanted to ask how he knew, but figured there was no point to it. What did it matter if he knew or how?
Sarah dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out the small black book Noone had seen before. A pale hand passed the book to him, trembling slightly from exhaustion.
"This is going to be an odd request… but I need help picking a god to follow. I realized that I have too many stipulations from having been in the Order of Life for so long, it is making it impossible for me to be decisive about this." She looked straight into Noone's eyes. "I needed a fresh pair of eyes to make the decision, someone without bias. You come from a place with no knowledge of any gods, so I figure you are the best choice."
Although still shaky, her words were calm. She had clearly thought this through.
Noone was unsure what she meant when she said 'picking a god.' From what he read before, it sounded like a god would appear before her in spirit or something?
He quietly opened the book and began reading. It was small and short, so it did not take long. After the first couple pages explaining the tenets, there was a series of pages each with a symbol on it, explaining the different gods which would tend to appear for this oath.
At the very front of these pages it was reemphasized that whatever god chooses you, you should take them. Being ungrateful would only serve to anger them. Noone frowned and looked at Sarah.
"It says that you should go with whichever deity appears for you…"
"Well that's going to be a problem." Sarah's voice seemed to be on the verge of annoyance, but she maintained her neutral expression. "They all did."
Noone's eyes widened.
"Well." He said. "That doesn't seem normal at all." Despite trying to keep a cool front, Noone was unable hide his surprise. Wasn't getting a deity to accept you supposed to be difficult? Taking a long time of 'etching' the tenets into your heart? How was this possible?
Noone frowned, he began to read through the descriptions of each god silently. Sarah did not rush him and waited. Since handing the book over to him, Sarah decided that she would let fate decide who she went with.
Finally, Noone put his finger on a page and handed it back to Sarah. His eyes were steady. After reading through each god, Noone chose the one which most resonated with him. That was the best he could do in this situation.
Upon reading the deity Noone chose, Sarah only nodded and put the book away.
She breathed deep and held the breath in her lungs, taking in the cool air, and all the smells of the surrounding forest.
A large sigh.
"Join me for a drink?" Sarah's voice finally asked, the only sound in the cool night air. "We have one tavern in town that all the adventurers use when passing through, they should be open."
Noone hesitated for a moment, but decided to go along with it. He wasn't going to make any more progress tonight on his cultivation, he might as well do something interesting.