A man of average stature was standing a few feet away from Kharon. His foot steps reverberated through the quiet room. He sat next to Dorn who offered him a glass as he began drinking a bright yellow liquid.
Kharon who had jumped a few meters away from his sit stared at the figure with clear disdain. Aidan quickly stood up and offered a helping hand towards Kharon who took it as he was pulled up. His usually pale face had turned a faint shade of red.
"Who are you?"
The mysterious man continued to sip on his drink before he looked straight at Kharon. As soon as their eyes met, Kharon stumbled and was quickly caught by Aidan as his mind was suddenly filled with flashes of random sounds and images. He didn't bleed or feeling the maddening pain he was becoming accustomed to when he saw glimpses of his past. However, he became unable to do anything. He was trapped watching a myriad of contradicting images.
'I can't move... This feels similar to what the Hollow King did, my mind feels open... Am I not safe even in my own head? Just how powerful is that man...? And why do I keep getting attacked by arcane wielders?'
There were flying pigs, dancing flowers and many other chaotic sounds and images of things which could not easily be comprehended; Cold sweat rolled down his face as he was forced to endure this disorientating torture.
"Kharon, are you ok? Talk to me!"
Aidan words fell on deaf ears as Kharon's unfocused gaze remained unchanging. His eyes were glazed over; but his pupils were in a strange state of constricting and relaxing. He seemed to be in a trance of sorts...
Aidan's hands began to glow with a bright yellow light as he gently placed them on Kharon's head, but to no avail. As the intensity of the light increased, he suddenly heard a soft, cheerful voice behind him.
"Your friend is not hurt, so you are just wasting your aether. He is in an illusion of mine."
Slowly, Aidan's focus shifted towards the man who was busy staring at an empty glass. He was wearing a dark blue suit which contrasted with his long ginger hair. His soft facial features made him appear young, but the wrinkles on his face suggested otherwise. His eyes gleamed a faint glow as they shone a bright shade of green.
"Remove the illusion right now."
"That is no way to speak to your elders, is it Aidan?"
"I said, remove the illusion."
The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before Aidan felt a light tug on his shirt.
"Can you stop squeezing me? I can barely breath..."
Kharon quickly freed himself from Aidan's grasp as he stood up before offering a helping hand to Aidan who took it. They both sat back down before looking at Dorn who seemed unperturbed by what was happening.
Before Kharon could utter a word, he suddenly heard a faint sound coming from the door as a floating tray of food made it's way towards their table. As soon as it landed on the table, the different meals started to float towards those who had ordered them.
Kharon stared with an inquisitive look as he asked, "Aether recognition runes?"
Aidan who was about to take a bite of his risotto quickly answered, "Yes, the dishes float towards the aether signature of whoever ordered them. The runes used are similar to those in soulbind tokens, however these ones are temporary."
"I see you are still the same as always Aidan. Constantly overexplaining for absolutely no reason. You could have just said yes."
Aidan looked at the man with visible annoyance as he took a bite of his meal. Kharon looked at the two who were silently eating their meals before he took a bite of his. The risotto was very flavourful and seemed to offer him a strange sense of clarity with every bite he took. He could also feel his aether being slightly augmented as well.
'I can feel my mind relaxing with every bite! So this is why Aidan recommended this dish, it helps with mental clarity and aether augmentation or those it help replenish aether? Regardless it's quite good. I wonder how the other dishes taste...'
Kharon shifted his gaze towards a large plate filled with little, orange muffins as he took one before slowly sinking his teeth into it. It had a very sweet taste and he could feel his body temperature gradually increasing.
'This is perfect for cold weather. I wonder if this is common in the Frostbound North... Maybe I will visit it one day. If I want to regain my memories I may have to travel to different cities. But I will have to go alone...'
As Kharon continued to eat his food, he suddenly thought of a question.
"Um, sir who are you and how do you know Aidan?"
The man shifted his gaze from Kharon to Aidan as he pointed at Aidan with a fork.
"Why don't you ask your friend? I know he loves to explain, so I will leave it to him."
Aidan sighed before he looked at Kharon.
"This man is Vincent Lodge. A powerful runic master who taught me when I was younger. He is fairly close to my family because of the runic research he does. So our paths have crossed quite a few times. He is also a tier 3 wielder of the path of imagination."
'So I was correct. The path of imagination is truly formidable, then again every path is formidable in it's own way. I wonder just kind of abilities the paths of nature and reflection will have. I will have to fight essence beasts that can pose a serious threat to these men one day... And yet I can't even put up a fight against them... Should I even be meeting such powerful people? I am meant to be elusive and quite aloof with the people around me...'
"So, he is one of the few who studies arcana and goes down an arcane path? I am curious as to how he utilises his arcane abilities in tandem with his runic abilities."
Vincent looked at Kharon with a blank expression before smiling.
"I see Aidan has found someone who can put up with his rambling... That's good. If you are so curious about how arcana and arcane abilities work together, you should come train under me. I have heard of your strange path from Dorn and would love to study it. And don't worry about me telling anyone, I wouldn't want to see such a promising young man locked up somewhere. Your strength and mental fortitude is outstanding."
Kharon slightly tilted his head before shaking it.
"Mental fortitude is not something I have a lot of. And as for strength, I barely have it. I stuggled to survive against a tier 4 essence beast without dying. If it wasn't for Aidan, I would have been turned into red paste by now."
As Kharon spoke, Vincent and Dorn both looked at each other before bursting into laughter.
Dorn shook his head before saying, "A tier 5 wielder surviving for even a few seconds against a tier 4 beast is an impressive feat on it's own. When I was a newly ascended wielder, I had to face a tier 5 beast and I lost. Even though I had spent weeks training and preparing, that preparation didn't do much for me in the long run. What I am trying to say is that, struggling against a beast of your tier is normal. But surviving against one which is above your tier and eventually defeating it is far from normal."
Vincent cut in as he said, "You shouldn't downplay how impressive you are. I saw a glimpses of your memories and I have to say, you are extremely powerful. You have been a wielder for just over a week and you can defeat a tier 5 beast which you know nothing about on your own while you didn't know how your own abilities worked."
Kharon's face slowly turned red as the seasoned fighters complimented him.
Dorn looked towards Aidan before saying, "Aidan was quite an impressive fighter when he ascended, but you should have seen him after he defeated his first essence beast. He was bleeding all over and was barely conscious."
"Hey! In my defence that was not an ordinary tier 5 creature."
Dorn chuckled as he said, "You are right. It was probably one of the most powerful ones I have ever seen and it had unfamiliar powers which didn't belong to it's path or any other path we knew. It was tainted by something. I have only ever encountered two such essence beasts."
Kharon's eyes slightly widened as he asked, "There are special essences beasts that are stronger than they should be with additional powers? Is it because of the arcane obelisk?"
Vincent finished his drink in one gulp as he said, "Yes, it's very rare but we see essence beasts that are stronger than they should be. However, they aren't tainted by the arcane obelisk but by something else. The number of such beasts has been increasing in recent years..."