Author Note: I know the new names will take some getting used to, so for the next few chapters very kind and helpful people are going to post the names in the comments. Please upvote it to keep it on top for those sorting by votes, thanks :)
Later that night, when Lucian approached the western gate of the Clarke Estate's property with Theo, formerly Nine, he found his friends waiting for him.
Tyr, Tess, and Delia were already waiting by the gate, and signalled them over as they approached.
It was almost sunset and would be night soon, but that was no longer an obstacle for any of them, each with their own methods of navigating the dark.
After traversing the woods for a while, conversation becoming more lively as they went, Theo proposed they stop at a clearing, and Delia conjured her flying smallsword to sever the few branches that intruded on the clear sky above, throwing them all to the center of the clearing where Tyr used them to prepare a campfire.
Lucian withdrew the large gourd and sat it down a small distance from the would-be fire, causing Tyr and Delia both to stare at it curiously. Not one of them here had seen a natural gourd so large, it was impossible by mundane means, but this chaotic world was filled with unique and amazing phenomena, ever since the advent of flux.
Lucian heard a loud snapping noise and turned to see a tall tree falling away from them.
"What are you doing?" He asked Tess with a hint of amazement in his voice.
"We need a seat!" She called out as she pulled the large tree over to them, creating a thick trail in the dirt below.
"Good call, I'll help." Tyr said, having mostly finished with the campfire and leaving the rest to Theo.
After it was pulled into place, Tyr realised it was too long, and so he chopped with a bare hand to crack and split the tree in two, pulling the other half to sit opposite the first around the fire.
Lucian could only shake his head at their ingenuity. He hadn't thought of it before, but why not take a tree as a seat?
With a flick of his wrist, Lucian produced a pulse of lifeforce which swiftly ignited into golden flame in the campfire.
While the others began shearing away branches on the long tree, Lucian decided to test it's durability and leaned back on it.
Immediately he felt the bark snapping under himself and stood straight again, once more applying the lightness technique.
Having spent the past two years developing his own technique in which he condensed blood all throughout his body, Lucian had become far heavier than his silhouette would imply. This was despite the magically condensed blood not weighing nearly as much as it should.
Normally he had no problems maintaining the lightness technique for all hours of the day, he had even trained himself to do so as he slept, but he planned on getting drunk and wanted to avoid an embarrassing accident ending with him lying on his rear.
Looking around for a moment, he found a large and long rock in the distance, more like a boulder, and left the warmth of the fire to go retrieve it. The stone was not flat, but it was large and durable.
Lucian conjured his bloodbond from the Knight's pin and formed a long, razor sharp sword of incredible hardness with which he severed the stone in two, before pushing the upper half away to reveal a flat top.
"That'll work." He commented to no one in particular.
When he returned to the campsite, dragging the large stone behind him, the others were already taking their seats and talking loudly.
Thudding the large stone on the ground, Thirteen took his seat and joined them.
For an hour they talked about everything they considered doing in the next year. Tess mentioned the Valley of Mist and her excitement about exploring it, while Theo mentioned how interesting the Hungry Woods sounded, as a sentient forest.
Tyr mentioned that he could earn a lot of coin joining a military campaign as a Knight of Demia, while Delia considered returning to her old home and seeing what was left. She had known her parents and had only been considered an orphan very briefly after their deaths, and so she held a strong attachment to home even now.
"What about you Lu?" Tyr asked.
"I think I want to go to Heavensfall and see the Shards. And I still don't like being called that"
Tyr went to speak, but Tess beat him to it.
"You need to relax Lu. Not everything is about cultivation. Go on an adventure, explore and fight! If you go to Heavensfall you'll be stuck doing the same thing you always do, only to regret it later."
Soon Tyr spoke as well, "Lucian, the Shards are dangerous. You've not had to deal with that kind of assault before so starting with Heavensfall is a bit…"
"It'll be fine" He reassured them. "I know what I'm doing."
He looked to Tess before continuing, "And I won't spend the whole year there. I'll go visit… home, first." He said with slight hesitance. "I'll see how Headmistress Helga is, and… well I'll know when I get there."
"Well, then." Tyr stood from his log and moved to the large gourd of nameless monkey liquor, picking it up with ease and presenting it to them all with a wide grin. "I suppose we should get started."
The light had become a fiery orange in the sky as the sun set, and Lucian produced a series of shallow drinking bowls from his Knight's badge, passing them around.
Tyrius moved to each of them, pouring their drinks.
He grinned in a teasing manner as he poured each of them to what would be the very limit if the bowl was held upright, forcing everyone to balance it perfectly, lest the liquor spill on themselves.
"You're the devil." Delia said with an intense frown as her eyes remained locked on her balanced bowl, slowly moving it to her lips.
"Ah, no drinking yet. We need a toast!" Tyr added as he moved on to Tess and Delia was left frozen bent forward to drink.
Once everyone had a dangerously full bowl in hand, Tyr poured his own and sat the gourd down on the ground. Lucian and Tess both smiled, looking at the intense concentration shown clearly on Delia's face, and feebly hidden in the eyes of Theo.
It was blatant teasing by the three Knights with control attributes, but it was all fun among friends.
Lucian raised his bowl up above his head as quickly as he could without inertia taking his drink away, and proposed a toast. "To adventures to come!"
Tess and Tyr followed swiftly, while Theo and Delia mimicked the action just a bit slower. In the end though, nobody spilled their drinks, and after exchanging a glance with each other, they all drank.
Five sources of coughing echoed a few seconds later, when the bowl's contents were sufficiently shallow so as to not spill. Thirteen once again experienced that harsh and potent taste, knowing now that this drink was harsher than most.
When he looked around, Lucian confirmed that Theo did not rush for his waterskin as he had all those years ago, and Tess did not appear nearly as off put by the first drink as she had the last time. Tyr could be seen pouring more, and Lucian licked his lips in determination. He knew from the smile that still hung on his friends face that Tyr was not planning to let anyone stop before him.
**
A few hours later, after everyone had drunk their shares, Tyr looked to Lucian through eyes that were somehow both dull and intense.
"Lulu… It's time we settle it don't ya think?"
"Sure thing… Tyr...ella?" To say Lucian's mind was working at its peak would be a vast overstatement.
He had defeated Tyr, or rather, Four at the time, in all three of their past fights, though none had been easy. Tyr was eager to retake first place right before they graduated, and there was a very real chance he would have. After all, neither of them ever held a complete domination over the title and it changed hands between them constantly.
But Lucian had recently become far better at manipulating his bloodbonds, and had also condensed his 11th lifeblood just before the third to last battle they had.
Tyrius pulled the large gourd over to them.
"The winner is decided by drink." He slurred as he filled their bowls.
"To the winna!" Lucian shouted.
"To the winner!"
They each threw their heads back and drunk, before exhaling each.
"You're not very smart Four." Lucian said with a grin as he mistook his friend's name.
"I'm a life cultiv… fighter. I can do this all day."
"It's already night though, and I train my willpower, this is nothing." Tyr replied slowly.
Pouring again, they drank another bowl.
Tyrius played with the large gourd and listened to the sloshing to see how much was left, before grinning at Lucian and pouring again.
**
"Go Lucian you got it!" "Go Thirteen!" Tess and Theo each called, the latter mixing up the names.
"Go Tyr! Drink drink!" Delia shouted.
The two threw their heads back once more, taking longer to finish the bowl now compared to when they started.
With a breaking noise, Tyr threw his porcelain bowl to the ground, looking at Lucian.
"Wha? O'er already?" Lucian slurred with a smile of assumed victory.
"It's gone. We… drunk it… all." Tyr replied.
The two looked at each other through glazed eyes for a while, before Lucian stood. Grabbing the flat stone he sat on, Lucian pulled it between he and Tyr, kneeling beside it, and then threw his elbow onto the stone as if it were a table, his hand forming a grasping gesture in the air.
The ground beneath him shook and the dirt caved slightly as Thirteen threw himself to his knees, and then Tyr followed, throwing his own elbow down onto the makeshift table.
With deadly serious, albeit unfocused eyes, the two clasped hands and immediately exerted all their bodily strength to wrestle the arm of the other. Muscles bulged prominently as the two battled, their arms shaking but not moving much.
This stalemate continued for a few seconds before Tyr's will spilled out from him like a visible aura, pushing his hair and clothes around like a strong breeze, as his eyes began to glow.
Immediately Lucian's hand began to fall, but soon after, his own energy exploded forth; a domain of life emanating from him as his own hair and clothes whipped about. The stone beneath their elbows began to shake and crack as they grit their teeth and maintained a balanced position in the fight.
Soon, Tyr's battle will began to surpass the strength of Lucian's life domain, and so with a thought, vast amounts of energy began to drain from Tyr's body, absorbed into Lucians own as withering took effect.
Tyr roared as he started losing, and soon his aura coalesced into two spectral heads and two arms, the latter of which became superimposed over his own.
Lucian was suddenly wrestling two arms at once and his hand began to fall, so with a roar of his own, he willed his bloodbond to appear at his shoulder, morphing into a third, red arm with black veins that rested itself atop his right and aided in pushing back.
The two of them, each using artificial limbs to cheat, kept their left hands firmly in their laps as if to show they weren't breaking the rules.
Once again Lucian was in the lead as Tyr's hand began to fall, the stone beneath them now shaking violently as pebbles broke free and the surface beneath their elbows cracked like a spiderweb.
With a roar more bestial than anything belonging to a man, Tyr strained as much as he could to resist, and Lucian met his roar and strength with equal ferocity of his own.
Bit by bit, Tyr's arm bent and shook as he fought back, until finally, with an incredible boom and the harsh sound of the large boulder beneath them shattering into a dozen pieces, Lucian threw Tyr's arm down, securing victory.
"Nooo!" Tyr called as Lucian laughed foolishly.
"I am undefeated still!" He called out as the others each gave drunken cheers or boos depending on who they wanted to win.
Following that the others too began to engage in drunken shenanigans, arm wrestling, sparring, even playing tag at one point, something Lucian hadn't done for a decade now.
When finally they all tired, they collapsed where they stood, lying on their backs and looking at the night sky above with silly smiles. It was a rare occurrence they could be so carefree.
Finally, silence reigned for a moment as they all breathed heavily.
Lucian closed his eyes for a moment to savor the feeling, when he heard Delia crawling over to Tyr, a distance from where he lay now. Lucian had finally found out why Tyr never showed an interest in relationships, and smiled as he accidentally peered at the man's bubbling emotion.
His thoughts were interrupted then by a visitor of his own.
"Hey, Lu." Tess called quietly as she shimmied her way over, still laying on the ground.
"I said I prefer Lucian."
"Are you still going to visit Rehall?"
After all the exercise, and having run out of drink quite a while ago, his mind had cleared somewhat by now.
'Right.' He thought. 'Rehall.'
"I suppose. It would be good to see the headmistress."
Tess smiled in his periphery. "Can I come with you? At Least until you leave for Heavensfall. I'd like to see where you grew up."
"I grew up in the estate." He said without much thought. "But sure, I'd love to have you there."
He felt a warmth as Ten grasped the shirt on his chest and rested her head on him. Tess wasn't a subtle person when killing was uninvolved, taking much of Tyr's straightforward nature as her own. So of course he knew. He couldn't not. After all, it was things like love, hate, and depression that stood out so strongly in his senses.
That did not mean however, that speaking the words was not a daunting thought.
Lucian rested a hand over her back and grasped her shoulder as he drifted to sleep, every one of his friends too visiting the plain of dreams.