Dalzrenth was impressed by this young boy's dregee of mana control. He had demonstrated it both in battle and in subduing two benevolent swords. His teacher must have been quite skilled.
"Impressive mana control." Dalzrenth praised the young boy.
Voice 1 "I too are in agreement."
Before he could reply to Dalzrenth's praise a second voice chirped in. He was unfamiliar with the second voice and looked around to see where it came from.
The disembodied voice spoke again, whispering to him and stretching out the words it spoke.
Voice 1 "I've been waiting..."
Voice 2 "For you." As a second voice chirped in to finish off the sentence.
Eli understood the sitaution, the voices weren't coming externally but internally projected directly into his mind, he had a guess on who it could have been. Eli spoke out in his mind projecting his voice towards the two disembodied voices.
"What do you mean you have been waiting for me?"
Voice 1 "Ask..."
Voice 2 "Again."
Eli repeated the question but again got the same answer from the two voices, so he chose to move onto a different question.
"Who are you?" He asked
Voice 1 "I am what you came for."
Voice 2 "I am what you hold."
The two replies confirmed Eli's guess.
He was unsure on how he was meant to address the two swords though so he went ahead and asked. "What are you names?" He waited for a few moments but they didn't answer back. He asked again, again the question fell on deaf ears.The swords chose not to answer his question that is if they could at all.
All the while, Eli's silence unsettled the great dragon. He saw Eli just standing there, his eyes drifting into space. He called out to him.
"Boy! Are you fine?"
Eli snap back to reality from his trance. "What's wrong?" Eli replied to his question with a question.
"Are you conversing with the swords?" Dalzrenth asked.
"Yes. Why? Am I not meant to?" Eli quickly asked.
"No, its quite fine. Infact this is great news. It means they definitely have acknowledged you. Do they still speak to you?"
Eli shook his head. "They were till I asked how I was meant to adress them as."
Dalzrenth had an idea why that may have been. "That's because you have not passed the trial fully yet. Sure you own them now but to truly gain their full servitude and power is through by name, the only way to do that is through a pact."
"Well? How am I meant to initiate such a pact."
"Through blood, specifically your blood. Unhand both blades, cut both of your palms and grasp both the swords to initiate the blood pact. You will know the pact is complete when they reveal onto you their names."
The two swords were dull in colour now in terms of their aesthetic, not as vibrant as it was before.
Eli did exactly as the Dalzrenth said. He placed both the swords on the ground and moved out his own sword, cut across both of his palms and put back his sword into its sheath. He then grabbed the two swords and as soon as that happened they grew hot.
The room that he was in changed around him. Eli found himself standing atop a boat on top an expanse of water as far as the eye could see, not a single cloud was in the sky and he thought he could feel what he thought was the sun.
'How was he in such a situation you may ask'
Even he was unsure.
What was unexplainable to him though was the urge to gravitate to something under the water. However this great expanse of water was pitch black, he could not see what was below. Eli knew this had to be a trail. He tried to use his mana but he had none, 'how strange" he thought over.
He took a deep breath and jumped off the small boat he was on and dove under the water. He looked around in the water, barely being able to see infront of him till he was fixated on a weak light source being emitted deeper in the darkness.
He swam towards it but noticed he wasn't getting closer, the more he swam the more weight he felt pressed on him, he still made no progress. He decided to turn back as he needed to breath, but he found it an impossible task.
He was still calm but knew the situation he was in had no solution.
He didn't know which way led to the surface. He was completely enveloped by the darkness, till he heard a voice, whispering/projected directly into his mind.
"Answer my riddle and you shall know my name." There was a slight pause before it talked again. "That which is needed to create me is the only thing that can destroy me. what am I?"
Eli thought for a bit as he looked for an answer. He quickly guessed, time was not on his side. "Is it light?" As soon as Eli said 'light' there was a bright flash as he found himself on the boat again, tachi floating infront of him.
The white sword floated infront of him, closer and closer it came, when it came close enough it impaled its-self into his head and revealed to him its name.
The surroundings changed again to show charred streets and half blown buildings, fires raged uncontrollably, it was a sight of pure destruction.
He walked around for a bit, the houses were destroyed and the fires roared in the background however there was no signs of a battle, blood nor sign of any life too.
He walked a bit more further towards a fountain the only structure left undamaged infact it was spewing out water. It was the one odd thing he found.
When he got closer a sudden shadow appeared it cast everything infront of him in darkness, he looked up to see a sword the size of mountain gently lower itself infront of him, crushing buildings and the fountain as it closer got to the ground.
He looked up at the tall blade, dark in colour stretching to the heavens, wide in width too.
A voice emitted directly from the sword. "Finally you arrive, are you prepared for my trial?"
"Yes" Eli answered back.
"I am more valued than gold, I am endless in war. What am I?"
Eli thought for a bit. "What could be more valued than gold but endless in war?" He looked more closesly to the place he was in, the last guess he made was due in part thanks to his surroundings, it seemed to play a role in the riddle before and yet again it played a role in this one too as he came to a conclusion.
"Blood you are blood, more valued than gold but flows endlessly in times of war." Eli confidently told the sword.
As soon as he did he found himself back in the original room with Dalzrenth. The pact was complete, he knew both sword's names.
(What may have felt like substantial time passing when he was doing the trails was only seconds in the room he stood in.)
He noticed the swords were no longer in his hands,infact they were nowhere to be seen and he was alarmed, was the trial not finished? He looked to Dalzrenth for answers.
Dalzrenth simply told him "Call to them."
"Lazarus sword of Bloodlust, Tyrhung Light's Hope, answer to me." A crossed star circle, big, blue in colour appeared next to Eli's feet from it Lazarus appeared from the ground and so did Tyrung only by their handguards, exposed above ground the rest was under the ground.
Eli grasped them by their handguards as he unsheathed them from the ground as you would draw a sword from its sheath.