Mythshaper

Chapter 15: Natural Awakening

“Are you feeling well?” Eran asked.

“Mhm, yeah?”

“Then why are you walking so slow?”

Because I was coming up with a believable excuse about the bruise and torn cloth so that Mum wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Regrettably, I saw no way out of it. Maybe if I sneaked into the house and changed my shirt before she noticed… but that was almost akin to lying.

“So, when did your Da start training you in swords?” my friend asked. “I heard from my Da that your Da is a swordmaster.”

“He has never,” I said, crossing my arms on my chest as we neared home.

“Truly?” Eran said, incredulous. “For a moment, you really were like a true swordsman, you know?”

“Mhm,” I hummed, wondering about that. I got no certain answer to explain that single moment of brilliance. It was as if all my attributes worked in perfect alignment, enabling me to something greater. Maybe it was somehow related to my past life. Maybe I was a swordsman back then, and some of that spark returned to me during the fight, like how sometimes I got weird words and questions crawling up in my mind.

I shook my head. Whatever I was in my previous life wouldn’t help me now. I had hundreds of unanswered questions to prove that.

“That reminds me,” I asked, “aren’t you and Priam the same age? How did he awaken his Path when the ceremony is still a year away for you?”

Perhaps he had done it in a big city like Kleron, where the ceremonies were held twice or thrice a year, unlike in Karmel’s once during the winter solstice.