Lane was crouching on the ground.
Stoney spoke:
"The place your power comes from is will. Now close your eyes and try to feel your will."
Lane closed his eyes and slowly tried to feel his will. Stoney continued speaking during this time:
"Lane, what we call will is a constellation system. Every star you see represents the connections around you."
As Lane focused, he began to see his own will. It was exactly as Stoney had said. It was as if he was looking at a massive constellation. The image was so large and bright that there was a very powerful star at the center, while different colored stars revolved around it.
Stoney continued explaining:
"The star at the center is always you. This is the foundation of your will. If you add another central star there, you will lose your will. This place represents your self. A man who adds someone else's self there is a man without will, do not forget that."
Lane understood what Stoney was trying to explain.
Stoney continued:
"The colored stars around you are the stars that your will is based on and that keep the self at the center standing. The green color represents your sense of justice, the blue color your inner calm, the red color your love, the white color your conscience, the yellow color your ambition and power, and the last purple color represents your awareness."
Lane really was seeing all of those stars. Each one had a certain size. However, three things had caught his attention. As if he had noticed what Lane was stuck on, Stoney continued speaking:
"I know the questions you are going to ask. Those colored stars are connected to different central stars, and they represent your connections with other people. From that, they shape your will. Remember, will is shaped by the influence of the people around you; it does not form on its own. If you are among people who have devoted themselves to knowledge, you too become interested in knowledge. If you are among people focused on sports, you become an athlete. If you are among those who waste their time, your will becomes like theirs."
While listening carefully, Lane asked with his eyes still closed:
"Master, I had three questions. I found the answer to one of them. But can I know who those selves belong to? Because I cannot distinguish them. I cannot understand whose self this is."
Stoney answered:
"To discover each self is an enlightenment in itself. At the same time, it is the answer to the questions your mind cannot determine. And yes, you cannot know who that self belongs to until you find the answer. That is why you must develop your will and strengthen your power of observation."
Then Lane asked his final question:
"Master, then what does the black star represent? I currently have a small black star, and even I cannot make sense of it."
Lane could see the black star in his own will constellation, but he could not give it a name. Because it gave the impression of no emotion at all.
Stoney frowned slightly.
"A black star? This is the first time I have heard of such a thing from you. I need to research it. I will tell you when I learn about it. I do not know either."
Lane nodded.
"Okay."
Stoney answered as well:
"Go wipe your sweat and all that. Let us get moving. We must reach Sinkar city in two weeks."
Lane immediately left there to wipe his sweat.
Stoney, on the other hand, fell into thought when he was left alone.
"A black star... Was there such a type of star? I need to talk to my master about this."
Lane wiped himself off, then mounted his horse and came to Stoney's side.
"Master, I am ready. We can leave now."
Stoney nodded, mounted his horse, and they set off together.
Throughout the journey, Lane was practicing both the spear techniques he had newly learned and his constellation training. Stoney also personally trained him from time to time and entered one-on-one duels with him.
Two weeks later...
Lane and Stoney had reached Sinkar city.
The city was the capital of the Greyford Kingdom in the south of the continent. To its east stretched the ocean; its back side was surrounded by high mountain ranges. To the north were vast forests forming the border with the Westmoor Kingdom. Sinkar was in an extremely strategic position for the Ardent Empire. A great part of the western side's fish needs was supplied from here. This had made the Greyford Kingdom very rich. The kingdom had also advanced its military structure to a high level and was the only kingdom that possessed the largest sea galleons.
When Lane saw the architecture of the city, he was truly astonished. The houses here had been built not in a horizontally spreading manner, but in narrow yet very tall forms. The bridges, on the other hand, were extraordinarily high; some of them almost exceeded the height of the houses themselves.
Unable to hold back his curiosity, he asked:
"Master, why is the architecture here like this? Especially the bridges, are they not very high? We are quite high above the ground right now."
Stoney answered:
"The reason those roads and bridges are so high is because the royal palace is at a high place. Also, those roads do not go around the mountain, they pass directly over it. And a dam system has been built under the lowest part of those bridge roads. This is one of the things the Greyford Kingdom made together with the dwarves through their own discoveries."
Lane liked this structure very much. All of the columns carrying the roads had been placed under the protection of formation magic. Moreover, every hundred meters small defensive magic towers had been built.
Lane thought inwardly:
"This place is like something out of fairy tales. Too bizarre, too strange... but I can use this information."
They kept walking. At last, they stopped in front of a house.
Looking around, Lane asked:
"Master, what place is this? We came quite far down. Because of the height of the walls, even sunlight does not fall here."
Stoney said:
"We are staying here today. This is an old woman's house. And I am warning you especially, stay away from conversation as much as you can. Tomorrow we will meet the royal family."
Lane nodded, but he shivered slightly. He thought inwardly:
"For some reason, a voice inside me is saying some bullshit is going to happen here."
He stood beside Stoney in an uneasy manner.
Stoney knocked on the door. No sound came from the house. Then this time he struck the door harder and shouted loudly:
"Hey, old witch! Open the door!"
Five minutes later, the door opened on its own.
Turning to Lane, Stoney said:
"Come on, let us go inside now. Stay by my side and do not leave my side."
Lane entered behind Stoney.
The moment Lane stepped inside, everything around him suddenly turned dark. He could not see anything. Then Stoney disappeared as well.
Lane shouted:
"Master... Masterrr..."
His voice struck the void and came back, but no answer came.
At that moment, an image appeared before his eyes.
He was in SkyDrane Castle.
Lane was seeing his younger self. In front of him was his sister Lyra; they were playing together on the ground. Selara and Kaelric were sitting on the couch, drinking tea and talking calmly.
Lane softened all at once. He could not take his eyes off that beautiful scene. Something he had buried deep inside for a long time quietly rose to the surface at that moment. That image was so peaceful, so real, that for a few seconds he even forgot to breathe.
But then...
Everything suddenly turned crimson.
Blood began to flow from the windows of the room. A dark, heavy, suffocating redness covered everything. Selara and Kaelric suddenly got to their feet. Lyra and the little reflection of Lane began to cry in fear.
Selara immediately ran to the children.
As for Kaelric, he threw himself forward without hesitation and took a protective stance.
At that exact moment, a red dragon appeared in front of the window.
The moment Lane saw it, he recognized it. This was the same dragon from the Dragon Sword.
The enormous creature suddenly struck the castle with its hand. The top floor of the castle was shattered and blown away in a single strike. Then it opened its mouth and drowned everything in fire. The flames began to swallow the walls, the floor, the curtains, everything.
No matter how much Selara and Kaelric tried to protect themselves, it was not enough.
Before Lane's eyes, they turned to ash.
At that moment Lane could not hold himself back.
"Mommm... Daddd...!"
For the first time, he let himself go. For the first time, all the hardness inside him broke. He collapsed to his knees. His breathing was ruined. His hands were trembling. His eyes wanted to reject the scene before him, but the scene would not withdraw.
Then he looked at his hands.
He was holding the Dragon Sword.
Blood was flowing from the hands holding the sword as if it were boiling, dripping through his fingers onto the ground. Then he saw his own reflection on the surface of the sword.
But that reflection... was not like himself.
His eyes had been gouged out.
Blood was flowing from his eye sockets.
His face looked more like a cursed shadow than a human face.
It was as if he himself had done all of this.
As if the thing that had burned his mother and father was not the dragon, but his own hands.
Lane's mind began to shatter. He could not understand what he was living through, what he was seeing, what was real. What he saw was not just fear, but a trauma driven directly into his soul. Every thought inside him tangled together, and his sense of self was cracking.
He could no longer hold himself back.
With trembling hands, he raised the Dragon Sword...
and stabbed himself with it.
He could not even fully feel the pain.
As his eyes slowly closed, his body grew heavier. His knees gave out. The last thing he saw was that crimson hell where blood and fire mixed together.
And he died...
In an instant, the image scattered.
Lane suddenly opened his eyes.
Everything was a pitch-black void.
He was floating.
There was nothing around him.
No sound.
No light.
No direction.
Only endless nothingness.
Lane looked around. The moment he remembered the scenes he had just seen, his eyes filled with tears.
"That scene just now..."
His voice was weak. Even his own voice sounded foreign to him.
At that moment, he saw a gigantic finger approaching him from inside the void. It was so large that Lane was like a speck of dust beside it. Instinctively he tried to escape, but because he was floating in the void, he could do nothing. He could neither fully control his body nor change his direction.
The tip of the finger touched Lane's forehead.
And suddenly it shone.
With that touch, Lane's mind seemed to be knocked back into place by a hard blow. His scattered thoughts gathered themselves. The fear did not disappear all at once, but his mind connected itself together again.
When Lane opened his eyes, he was in the old witch's room.
The woman in front of him was very beautiful. She had hair that stood somewhere between purple and black. She was stirring something over a cauldron. A heavy smell of magic drifted through the room.
The woman turned her head and looked at Lane.
"Hey kid," she said, "how did you get out of my illusion spell? That was a fifth-level illusion spell."
Lane still had not fully understood what had happened. But he had realized one thing:
The witch in front of him was extremely powerful.
And at that moment, looking stupid was safer than looking weak.
Looking at her, Lane said:
"Was it you who cast that spell on me? Were all the scenes I saw lies then? It felt very real."
As he said this, he was not so much answering as he was brushing the answer aside. He was hiding his true feelings, how badly he had just broken down and how he had nearly lost his sanity.
At that moment, the door flew open harshly and Stoney entered.
"You whore, what the hell do you think you are doing? Is this how you welcome your friend?"
Stoney had gone mad. He drew his spear and activated his aura.
The moment the witch saw the situation, she immediately placed her hands on Stoney's shoulders and tried to seduce him. Stoney seemed as if he might fall for it at first, but he immediately came to his senses. In one motion, he grabbed the witch by the throat.
"Hey, I think you left your brain in the cauldron. You do not know what you are doing."
The witch suddenly began to collapse. She was choking.
When Stoney saw that she truly could not breathe, he loosened his hand and said in a hard voice:
"If you do something like that again, this time not only will you stop breathing, you will not find your head where it belongs either."
The witch began coughing on the ground where she had collapsed. Choking, she answered:
"You idiot... what did you expect me to do? Did I not tell you not to come here? What was I supposed to do, I had set up a defensive spell."
Lane still had not fully adapted to the situation.
"There is seriously something wrong in this woman's head," he thought. "But judging by her reactions, this woman is seriously interested in Stoney."
A bad idea came to Lane's mind.
At that very moment, Stoney turned and looked at Lane.
"Hey, you little brat... do not let stupid thoughts come into your head."
Then Stoney extended his hand to the witch.
The witch looked at the hand Stoney had extended. Then she brought her hands to her face, turned bright red all at once, and said excitedly:
"Stoney... you are such a gentleman. I did not know you loved me this much."
Stoney first put on a serious expression, but then his face turned slightly red.
Lane thought inwardly:
"So master is not all that innocent either."