Before Ahmed and Mazel was the wolf den, they stared at it with mixed expression, bits of gratitude and melancholy, mostly for Mazel who had lost a lot of people.
After a minute of silence the two faced each other, they had no qualms with each other and could even say they were acquainted but... neither knew if things would remain the same.
"I'll be on my way exploring, do you want to accompany me?" Ahmed proposed, he had a brief read of Mazel and was sure that the guy would never propose it but would also not outright refuse when offered.
Mazel just like Ahmed also had a brief read of the other, as per his observation Ahmed wasn't a bad guy, he was just too laid back but would step up if need be, so he found no issues with the request, plus it wasn't like he would propose it.
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea, we'll just wander around, wherever fate takes us." Mazel readily agreed.
This was how the two begun their journey through the forest, where they faced beasts of all kinds and nature, stumbled upon natural treasures and escaped from varying traps.
The two travelled for quite a bit, a little bit over three months had passed since the awakening realm was opened while only two had passed since the two youths met, Ahmed was steadily progressing towards the end of the rope in cultivation.
He had also finally tapped into his Talent, well talents to be specific, Mazel had given him a proper briefing on what Talents were and he was impressed by the youths intel.
Talents also had seven divisions in terms of rarity, they started from common to Uncommon, to Rare to Epic, to Legendary, to Mythical and finally Celestial.
Then there was the divisions in terms of ranks, they started from E-rank and scaled all the way upto SS-rank, that was the highest known to date.
Ahmed had a rather Uncanny Talent called the Mind Talent, it was an Epic Talent which overally boosted his mental faculties while also adding a bit more extra capabilities in and around the workings of the mind.
It was currently at the C-Rank due to his extensive dedication to upgrading it, once the awakening was over, Talent became fixed, they could no longer increase unless very special and specific circumstances allowed it.
The second Talent of his was an Uncommon one, Hard Body, it well made his body hard, more resistant and in an overally good shape, it wasn't as great as the Mind Talent but he wasn't complaining so...
Talents were weird, they thinned the lines between affinities, physiques and bloodlines with little to no care, that backed with the Awakening Realms flexibility would allow smart and fortunate awakened to become monsters, after all within the Awakening Realm, the awakened can if fortunate find and assimilate new talents into them.
In Mazel's case he had chanced upon a Darkness Talent, mind you he already had an affinity towards darkness this made quite a terrifying within the said element.
His natural talent was the Dark Spirit Body, it was an Epic rated talent that increased mastery and control over darkness, it went as far as allowing its user to turn into darkness itself, absorb and generate it.
Mazel discreetly kept this to himself, he would be a fool to reveal something so precious to others, plus he was looking for something that would make him even more of a monster.
Ahmed had half the mind to search for talents too, if he were lucky he might have found something good, if not then having one Epic and one uncommon rank talents wasn't too bad.
Over the two months the two had developed greatly as warrior, at one point in time the two had started sparing with each other, Mazel with his noble, refined and tenebrous style while Ahmed used his savage, brutish and unpredictable style that had no apparent form.
They adapted to each other, despite neither using their main arts, Ahmed had never touched his Blade Monarch Arts while Mazel had never touched his Tenebrous Saint Arts.
They had learnt a lot about each other and their respective backgrounds, Mazel was the Scion of the Azazel Clan, a Fallen Angel Clan that is quite influential.
The Fallen Angel clans were few but strong, mostly because of the names that sat in the upper echelon.
Lucifer Morningstar, The First Demon Emperor in all of Demon Lore and History, the non-divine being to go against a Diety, the Origin of the Source of Pride.
His accolades were many, he was respected by many, feared by many, loved and loathed by many more, he however vanished from the face of the world like many notable historical figures, their lives and deaths unknown.
Beelzebub, also a former angel that fell with lucifer, Origin Source of Gluttony, Gula. The right hand of Lucifer, a being stronger than a Demon King but beneath a Demon Emperor.
Leviathan, another Fallen Angel, a comrade of Lucifer, Origin Source of Envy, she had dominion over the waters and would have attained the divinity of it but, just like Lucifer she too suddenly vanished.
There was also Belphegore, another fallen, Origin Source of Sloth, most tended to forget about the saod Fallen most even assumed him to be a demon which he was not, well technically.
You see demon kind was split into three, there was the Fallen Angels, Demons and Devils.
Fallen Angels were once Angels who obtained vices, whether directly or indirectly, vices were earned through Sins, corruption amd corrosion.
The Sin part was self-explanatory commit a sin as an angelic or as a neutral being—in most cases spirits— and you fall, pretty simple, the First Fallen came to be through this method.
The corruption part was when an angels holy-side or the neutrality of a spirit was encroached with the darkness of sin, this was how the second generation Fallen came to be, Semjaza, Azazel and Belial.
Then there was the Corrosion part, this was when a demon subdued the holy-side of an angel or the neutrality of a spirit with their own darkness, some notable clans had used this method to counter the angels.
Devils unlike the Fallen were former spirit or spirits born from the negative side, they were mischievous tricksters and also had quite the presence within the demon ranks.
Mazel was born of a Fallen Angel Clan, the Azazel Clan, son of the current Patriarch his mother was from a Devil Clan which was why his Darkness affinity was absurdly high, this was a boon and a bane, due to his high darkness Mazel was unable to have the light affinity of his Fallen Angel bloodline.
His darkness was so potent that it swallowed the light whole, he had formerly been saddened by this mostly because he thought he was unworthy of being a scion of the Azazel clan without having the signature affinities.
His father had however consoled him after all, the man himself did not have both affinities but a variant one, unlike other clans the Azazel clan was lax in some matters.
Whereas Ahmed Reeves was the son of two unawakened humans who were descent from mixed bloodlines, despite his heritage both his siblings awakened and were either under a Faction or House which was limiting in its own way nut still they had their own lives.
Ahmed was now on his way to find his own path he had the option of joining his siblings in being subordinates of others or being his own person all in all it was a decision only he would make.