You... didn't die ?

Time slowed, as you waited for your impending doom. You wondered why this Argos guy sent you here, but it was probably not to die like this, was it ?

But something was strange, weren't you supposed to die ? Why were you still alive ? You needed to know why, and you saw why right after opening your eyes.

The one you came to save was standing in front of you, his right arm stretched in front of him, with a kind of dark smoke around his hand. What was impressive though, was the black chains holding the elemental's arm right over your heads. You could see crimson red marks around his upper body, where the chains were, and you smelled again that smell of grilled meat... So it came from him.

He then said, in a calm tone :

"Well, that's my savior right here, what a sight. Lucky you, I wasn't as weakened as Shirayuki was, or else you would be dead by now. Even with that, I guess I owe you and that vixen over there. Now get up and go back to Shirayuki, I'll just need a quick second."

You didn't need to hear it twice, as you got up and ran away from this monster, even with your wobbly legs, as Rei did the same. You turned back to watch what would happened only when you got close to Shirayuki, and what happened next would deeply impress you.

Atsura, the one you just saved, was only slightly moving, his arms in his back, as the elemental was throwing multiple rocks at him with its free arm, before he jumped, so high that he landed on the elemental's bound arm, slowly walking on it, up to its head, as it tried to hit him with rocks still.

Right after he got onto the smallest rock of them all which was serving as the elemental's head, and it was still bigger than you, the elemental stopped trying to get Atsura, as if he had vanished, instead turning its head towards you three, before tryinf to throw rocks at you. But he couldn't even throw one, as Atsura snapped his thumb and index finger, after what a dozen of black knives on chains stabbed the elemental's head, getting somehow really deep inside it.

That seemed to work wonders, as the elemental's rocky body started falling apart shortly after, all the while Atsura jumped from its head directly onto the ground, making his way towards the three of you before simply saying :

"He didn't need much to die, just some stabs to its core and it broke."

You didn't know what to say to answer that, and neither did Rei, as the both of you just watched him, flabbergasted by his demonstration of pure strength.

Seeing the lack of answers you had, he then added :

"Well, holy chains don't really weaken me that much, however they do burn me quite bad while locking away my powers when I'm in contact with them, so it wasn't hard to deal with this elemental when Shirayuki got rid of them."

This statement seemed to confuse Rei more than anything though, but she still wasn't saying a word, so Atsura finally said :

"Now, time to reward you two, since Shirayuki and I both owe you something, we'll both give you something."

And this was finally something you understood, a prize for risking your life ? You hoped it was a good one with the amount of work you did put in that.

As Shirayuki went to Rei, Atsura got closer to you, sighing heavily as a strange, silvery ingot appeared out of a black cloud inside his hand, before he handed it to you.

"That's what's known as Abyssal Alloy, with one ingot you can make quite the powerufl weapon or staff. If you choose to make a weapon with it though, I recommend you to get some Ethereal Wood in the Ghost Forest south of Noldrin, you'll see why later."

"Huh, thanks ?" You answer hesitantly as you took the ingot. It felt really cold, but much lighter than you thought, and you didn't really know what to think of that, before Atsura added, putting a hand on your shoulder with a slight grin :

"And hey, dear savior, for my last gift, you'll just need to call my name when needed, and I'll come, using any mean possible. Let's say that's your gift for saving my life, while the ingot was your quest reward or something, since Shirayuki told me that you were questers. Oh, and the ring is made out of pure silver."

You wondered why he said that about a ring, before he retrieved his hand from your shoulder, where he left a ring that you grabbed right after you noticed it. It was cool in your hand, and getting a closer look at it, you could see that it was indeed made out of pure silver, with an emerald embadded on it. You didn't expect that for sure, but seeing as it was like a gift, if you used Atsura's words, you couldn't just refuse it, could you ? So after thanking Atsura for that, you put the ring on your right middle finger right after putting the Abyssal Alloy ingot inside your bag, then Atsura walked to Rei, as Shirayuki got closer to you, before saying calmly :

"I must thank you, Adam, as your help was invaluable. Now, here is your reward for this help."

You didn't say a word, waiting for her to give you your reward, but as she raised her hand and touched your forehead, you couldn't help but take a step back in surprise, saying :

"What are you doing ?"

That made her chuckle lightly, before she answered :

"There is no need to worry, for I shall give you an helpful ability. Now, calm down."

When you finally relaxed (it didn't take long), she once again touched your forehead with her hand, before warm energy started to spread inside you. She pulled back her hand when you couldn't feel the energy anymore, before saying :

"Here, I gave you the ability to see other's "informations", like how the receptionnists at the Adventurer's Waypoints are able to read yours. It is simply called Knowledge, and you will be able to see the full informations of someone as strong or weaker than you. Try it on me, please."

At least that was clear, so you didn't need to ask anything, and you didn't even need to say the name of the ability, as when you looked at Shirayuki while thinking about this ability, informations popped up right before your eyes :

Shirayuki

Species : Kitsune

Class : UNAVAILABLE

"Wow." You simply said, before asking. "But who are you two to give things like that ? Firstly, Atsura comes and just gives me an ingot that appeared out of thin air and a ring, now you give me an ability that just lets me see other's infos..."

She takes a moment to think of an answer after hearing your question, before finally saying :

"Let's say we are wanderers, in search for the ones who are able to shake the foundations of this world."

She then smiles softy at you, before walking out of the cavern at the same time as Atsura, getting farther and farther away from you by his side and with each step, until the both of them finally disappear of your sight. It is only then that you look at Rei, who is blushing for some reason, before saying :

"Now what ?"