Chapter 36 - 35 - A Blade’s Understanding
Riven sat still, leaning against the massive stone, his body still warm from the remnants of anger, and his breath yet to steady. Crysthalis lay beside him on the ground, its blade reflecting the faint light of the moon, but there was no glint of triumph in that steel—only the blurred, weary shadow of himself.
"You can cut through anything—if you truly understand it."
That sentence echoed again within him like a whisper that refused to leave.
He tried to digest the words, to search for meaning amidst memories, experiences, and the wounds he carried.
Understand?
What was he supposed to understand?
Himself? The world? His sword? Or... the helplessness he’d long buried beneath a facade of strength?
He recalled his dream, that man’s figure—so similar to himself, and yet foreign. The man’s eyes were filled with a certainty, as if he’d discovered something others never could. A single slash... and the world split apart. Yet the swing looked so simple. Light. Calm.
Riven tried to find logic behind it.
"Was it technique?" he wondered. "Or magic? Or perhaps the sword itself was made of something divine?"
But deep inside, he knew that wasn’t the answer.