"And what now... leaving sword to me as a gift would be certainly a nice gesture... a Champion without a weapon. Ts... though it would be more prudent to not say 'Their' name... who knows who is listening..."
Valkorion muttered as he sat down in front of the altar of the Astral and pondered. This was a rather hectic day with very different outcomes from what he had initially anticipated, and most probably, only time would show whether it was a good one or a bad one.
Nobody could tell right now, as it was too soon; perhaps in the future, he could certainly say whether it was a good one or not.
Still, he was rather in a good mood for the time being because he obtained the connection to a being that was previously an Ancient God. If the Ancient Gods in this world were the same as the ones in the Lord of the Mysteries, it could be either a good or bad omen.
Depending on the particular Ancient God or situation.
In the canon of the Lord of the Mysteries, the Ancient Gods didn't advance according to the Pathway System but were born directly for some unknown reason. "Their" characteristics were a mix of Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics from other Pathways, or even more than one.
"They" are known for "Their" madness, cruelty, violence, and bloodlust because, in most cases, "Their" characteristics are from non-neighboring Pathways.
There's a significant difference between Ancient Gods and subsequent True Gods, but this doesn't mean that "They" are weak. "They" might even be stronger, or rather, it was a general consensus that the Anciet Gods were stronger than the True Gods of the current era.
Not to mention, during the time of the Ancient Gods, 'They' meddled in mortal affairs much more compared to the True Gods of the current era, who were mostly only observing how things were developing and acted when it was only necessary.
Still, it was clear that the Astral was obviously Ancient God, not only from the time 'He' was but also from how he presented 'Himself,' not to mention his Domains rather varied and were not most probably from the same Pathway group.
As Valkorion was pondering over there, suddenly, the entire place started shaking, and under his shocked eyes, a rock started growing from the ground. It was like melted stone was bulging upward and soon enough cooled down.
From the top of the molten stone, there was a sword pommel reaching out; it strongly reminded Valkrion of the scene from stories when King Arthur drew out the Excalibur from the stone, as the King was promised.
Valkorion looked at the sword pommel rather warily for a moment before he stepped forward and put his right hand on the sword pommel and grabbed the handle of the sword as in that moment, he felt himself freeze in place.
It was a very weird feeling, though rather familiar in fact, because it was exactly the same feeling that he experienced when he was meeting with the Astral, as 'His' mere presence was enough to put him in place and essentially render him useless as long as 'He' wished.
It was evident that this weapon was very powerful. Sealed Artifact from the bygone era that somehow appeared in front of him not long after he complained about the lack of proper weapons, so it was rather suspicious for Valkorion.
'Valkorion.'
'Valkorion.'
'Valkorion.'
He heard someone whispering his name; it was a female voice, but at the same time, it was rather inhuman, as if it was being spoken by some powerful being who was whispering his name to his ear.
'With the future unknown.'
The more he heard the unknown female voice whispering, the weaker he felt, and at the same time, he also felt like some tremors were running through his body. Like some kind of vibrations were going through his body, and everything around him started spinning at a very, very fast speed.
'The Immortal... one of the Noxii... one of the Valyrian... both... the one that will bring the new Ere... still... are you really worthy of it, Valkorion?'
Suddenly, he felt a ghostly presence around him, as he felt some kind of pain through his back like he was being stabbed by something, yet there were no wounds or anything; he was basically exceptionally healthy.
Aside from the pain that was getting stronger, he didn't feel anything, but the feeling was freezing cold; everything was going numb, and his eyes were slowly closing as he almost wanted to let go of the sword because he had a very strong feeling that death was near.
In the last moments, as he wanted to let go of the sword, his eyes suddenly opened wide, with his right hand gripping the weapon as much as possible as he attempted to draw it from the stone with all of his power.
'Yes, determined indeed... worthy of the challenge and your lineage if also sufficient to wield the weapon... Very well, young human mortal, the sword is yours... until the day we meet again and either the sword returns to the Unseelie Court, in the name of Queen Mab.'
Suddenly, the female voice disappeared into nothingness, probably as fast as it came into existence, and Valkorion managed to draw out the sword from the stone, not realizing the fact that both of his hands were severely bleeding from the power that he was using to pull out the sword.
Some of the drops of blood also fell onto the blade of the weapon, as they were absorbed by the metal like they never were there in the first place. For the time being, Valkorion sighed loudly, either from the satisfaction that he managed to pull out the sword or from sheer relief that it was all over.
The phantom pain was still all over his body, even though the weird presence of the woman's voice was already long gone. He observed the sword, which had some kind of runes engraved upon the entire blade, with intricate design and a big runic cross close to the handle of the sword.
'Excalibur... Sword of the Promised Victory.'
Excalibur, the Sword of the Promised Victory in the Earth's legends and myths, is the strongest and most majestic holy sword and symbolizes King Arthur. It was often associated with his ideas and was often a symbol of his heroism.
Not to mention, it was also called the most powerful sword in myths and legends.
As he was holding the Excalibur, it was clear that the sword was a Sealed Artifact, not that he would be able to use its power because that was nigh impossible with his meager strength and power as a Low Sequence Beyonder.
At least, he had right now a weapon that should be able to easily content with the Valyrian Steel and other metals, perhaps contenting even with many other Sealed Artifacts when he encountered such an enemy.
That was certainly a positive.
This was also a weapon that would be able to accompany for a very long time.
Another positive thing.
He knew that this was most probably either a gift or some kind of investment from the Astral, or else, he wouldn't be qualified to wield such a weapon. Something deep inside his mind was telling him that if this was a similarly powerful weapon like in the Earth's myths and legends, then it would certainly be a very powerful Sealed Artifact.