"Sgithe...?" Avaln's words slipped through, feeling a mighty killing intent dawning on him.
He recognized it as such, for he had felt it before. It had been an instant, not even a whole breath... but ten years weren't enough to erase the feeling from his body.
No answer could be heard, yet his eyes could not deceive him. The person in front of him had the same long purple hair, scarlet eyes, features and figure. Even her clothes were the same, made of that dark material he couldn't recognize.
Killing intent flared, and Avaln found himself jumping to the side as a spear point rushed towards where his forehead had been. As he did, he recognized that move…
Snake bites the neck.
Could it really be her?
Before he could shape his thoughts, a shiver ran down his spine as he lifted his gaze and saw Sgithe rushing in again, shadowy spear at the ready. He jumped to the side instinctively, yet this time there was no pause for breath, as she plunged the spearhead on the ground and shifted her momentum into a kick which struck him right in the chest, sending him flying ten feet away.
His soul Avatar shook, disorienting him. He tried to breathe, yet lacked any strength to do so.
Before he could think about what to do next, he managed to glimpse a pretty figure falling on him, driving a blade straight through his heart in a swift and detached manner. Her spear spinned, his blood made an arc, and the pain quickly turned dark.
When Avaln opened his eyes again, he was back at the room grandma Mira had arranged for him. His hands instinctively reached for his chest, yet found no gaping whole in it.
He sighed with relief, but quickly felt something was wrong.
Using his seventh sense, he examined himself, yet found no problems with his body, so there was only one option left, he thought.
His soul. After all, he had received the injury while inside it.
Closing his eyes, he hurriedly went through his secret refinement art: The Ten Thousand Petal Lotus State. If he recalled correctly, there was an entry about how to recognize and control soul injuries. In fact, it wasn't long until he found the information he was looking for…
He focused on his essence, controlled his breathing… and sensed the cause of his discomfort. Just as he thought, there was a gnash in his soul, yet to his relief, it was quickly being repaired by his own essence circulation. Another one of its many benefits, no doubt.
What was that? Was his next thought.
That was definitely Sgithe, or at least, she looked like her… and moved like her. He was certain of that.
But how?
His eyes still closed, Avaln found the soul puppet's discipline inside the Dún Scáith spearmanship records, yet found no clue as to how it took Sgithe's appearance. The instructions were clear: it required the insight only found through combat.
He had only ever watched her fight, and even his memories had eroded somewhat.
And so, in his mind he recalled the steps previous to the soul puppet's sudden change, how when he realized he wouldn't be able to train with it, he thought about the many things he'd like to achieve, and how these inevitably took him to her.
And that golden snowflake. Was it somehow related to the activation of a soul puppet?
He wouldn't know. He had never activated one of them before.
Then why did it feel so familiar?
Just as the answer seemed to come within reach, a few knocks on the door cut his thoughts.
"Master Avaln?" A female voice called out.
There was only one person in this world who called him that.
He took a deep breath, and let that doubt settle in a corner of his mind; his soul needed to heal before he dared to go inside his Tower of Babylon again, as it was unknown if the soul puppet had gone back to his wooden figure, or if he'd need to start dodging the strikes of a merciless Sgithe as soon as he took a step inside. Hence, that mystery could remain a mystery a while longer.
Besides, it had been a while since he last saw Rei.
He came out of the room and said hi, to which she bowed and replied, "Good morning to you too, Master Avaln. Grandma Mira told me to come get you. It seems Uncle Jeff finished the modifications you asked for."
Avaln nodded. "Lead the way."
A part of him was still quite reluctant to get comfortable with how she referred to him, but given her principles and how adamant she was when he made an attempt to get her to stop, he couldn't but sigh internally.
So, they made their way towards the forge as they talked about small things. Rei seemed to be fine after a few days of rest, and had mostly recovered. She thanked him again for having brought her back to Gale, at which Avaln waved the importance away, for that had been his wish also. She seemed quite comfortable with him around, and he thought it probably had to do with him wearing a shirt again.
"Did you hear? It seems Old man Jeff is forging a weapon for the outsider…"
"Why are they treating him like he is so special? What's he gonna do?"
"It seems he is going to help protect the village…"
"Him? Really? He looks weak in the bones, if you ask me."
"I bet he had something to do with the barrier giving us problems."
"We should pay him a visit…"
"Shut it, idiot. What if he hears you?"
Avaln sighed, and shut off the murmurs around him to focus on Rei, who suddenly fell quiet.
"Something wrong?"
She took a breath to answer, her gaze cast downwards and her hands joined in front of her. A lock of pale blue hair was perturbed as she said, "Master Avaln, you don't need to stay if you don't want to."
He lifted an eyebrow at this. "Do you think I'd stay if it wasn't in my plans?"
She met his eyes. "I just fail to see what Master could gain from staying… "
Avaln crossed his arms, suddenly conflicted. Then, after pondering about it for a while, said, "Rei, do you think I'm a fish?"
She blinked a few times, startled. "Sorry?"
"Do you think I'm a fish that jumps at the first bait someone lays in front of me?"
She shook her head, and gestured the possibility away. "N-No! Of course not! I'd never…"
Avaln waved her concern to the side. "I don't mean to blame you for anything, nor for you to feel sorry. I understand your cause for concern; I also have ears, you know?" A gentle smile emerged in his features. "Thank you, and don't worry. I'm staying out of my own free will, for I really need a place to stay for a while to get everything in order before returning to Greenleaf."
It really was the truth, for the spear was more of an experiment rather than a reward. He had a theory he wanted to test, and that artefact had become the best subject to try it on, and given his proficiency in runes, defending the village was something quite easy to do. From demon boars at least.
"Master Avaln comes from Greenleaf?" Rei inquired, as it was the first time he had mentioned it.
"Sort of…" He replied ambiguously, "I've got family there, but I wouldn't say it's my home. It never felt like one, or rather, I don't really know how a home feels." He scratched his head at Rei's saddening expression, and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to tell you the tragedies of my life. It's just that when I talk to you I let my guard drop somehow. I guess sharing danger helps with that."
The corners of Rei's mouth twitched, and she quickly turned to face ahead. "I-I see. I guess Master is right."
Avaln wondered what he had said for her to react like that, but before he could find an answer, an old voice called, "Hey kid! You are here."
Old man Jeff was waiting for him. "I hope you didn't just make me almost waste my best work to the date for some fashion nonsense."
Avaln gave a knowing nod. "Is it really finished?"
"It's been finished for a while already, but the old man here was freeting like a maiden about to make her debut, polishing and reviewing and…" grandma Mira appeared from inside the forge, shaking her head. Then, her usual kind expression appeared. Or at least, it was usual when she talked to him.
However, Avaln couldn't help but wonder what she was doing there, a question which she seemed to be expecting, as she shrugged and quickly added, "What can I say, I'm quite curious about what those drawings are supposed to do."
An almost excited smile took a peak from the corners of Avaln's mouth. "I'm curious as well."
She raised her eyebrow at this, but didn't comment. She knew better than to pry into someone's motives or means.
However, Jeff took it in the worst possible way. "So you were just playing with me, weren't you?!"
Grandma Mira let out an exasperated sigh. "Now you sound like a maiden. Aren't you embarrassed?"
The Old man's bronzed features visibly blushed, as he crossed his bulgy arms and buffed towards the elderly woman. "Better than to be a four year old child asking all the time 'Is it finished yet? Is it finished yet?'"
They kept bickering back and forth for a while, to which Avaln couldn't but cock his head to one side, not sure of how to stop them, yet one quick glance at Rei's smile was enough for him to desist. It was easy to forget that for her, such a scene was probably something she thought she'd never see again.
However, the nostalgia in her features was quickly replaced by something far more scary. Her smile, too wide, her eyes not sharing the joy…
"Grandma Mira, Uncle Jeff... "Her voice, calm. Almost too calm. "Aren't we making Master Avaln wait for far too long?"
As if suddenly lashed by a whip, both of them straightened their backs and stopped arguing. Their movement was so natural Avaln suspected it wasn't the first time they heard Rei's serious tone, and that maybe, the sixteen year old girl by his side somehow held more authority than them combined.
"Y-you are right, little Ri. Let's get this over with." Said grandma Mira, hiding her flustered features with a modicum of success.
"L-Little Ri, I'm sorry. This witch just knows how to push my buttons... " began the old smith, yet one glance at Rei was enough for him to add, "Y-yes, I agree. Let's get this over with."
And so, he gestured Avaln to follow him inside. The ivory spear laid on the table, its exquisitely shaped blade now decorated with the encircled rune Avaln had drawn on the parchment three days ago. Without ceremony, he examined the figure and nodded, satisfied.
"This is astounding work, Master crafter. How were you able to carve it without damaging the edge?" Avaln couldn't help but ask.
The smith released a hearty chuckle. "I'm glad you recognize my meager skills. I might be just a Nascent artefact crafter, but I dare say my attention to detail is way higher. Besides, you did say you wanted the figure to be just like it, so I used some tools I made from the rest of the demon boar to work on it."
"More demon boar bone?"
The smith touched his nose twice with the tip of his fingers, then nodded. "Exactly. Sometimes using the same material helps. Besides, if you look at it closely, I collected the powdered bone to fill the carving, so that the blade wouldn't lose too much resistance. I did the same with the ones along the shaft."
Smart. Avaln thought. By using tools made from demon boar bone, he made sure that the leftovers were all bone as well, and could use them to fill the carving. The spearhead might not be as resilient as before, but thanks to that technique the loss wasn't important. The corners of his mouth twitched, finding artefact crafting quite interesting. If his experiment proved fruitful, he might take some further steps into that discipline in the future.
"Well, it's now or never." He said, then sat and held the spear with both hands, relaxed, as his seventh sense swirled and probed the weapon, locating each of the almost identical five runes.
Those were transfer runes.
The idea had taken form as he went through Sgithe teachings: essence needed to flow, it was its nature, and also its source of strength. Avaln knew it better than anyone, so he thought: what if he could create an artificial circulation inside the spear?
Its demonic essence was bound to disappear given a time, as it was static, and any contact with the world would slowly release it, yet what if the essence itself didn't find the need to?
His transfer runes could be the key, he thought. They had a bad efficacy when he needed to convert the essence attribute, but in this case, all he needed to do was to move it around, not even to another body... and as his essence began activating the different runes in sequence, his suspicions became fact.
Under the scrutiny of his seventh sense, he saw it flow from one rune to another, until it formed an ellipsis inside the shaft, and as the process continued, Avaln couldn't but open his eyes in surprise.
He could feel it.
There was something spreading through the weapon, as if enhancing it, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
And he saw one problem quickly appearing. Even if the essence kept circulating almost naturally, he needed to activate the runes constantly for it to work, which in the long run just wasn't feasible.
There had to be something he could do. His gut was telling him so.
And then, the idea came to him, as smoothly as the fall of a feather.