Standing Transfixed Before Might

"Empress?" Erik could no longer contain his curiosity upon entering the town, Katania had walked off to secure rooms and dinner for them.

"Hm?" Empress responded absently clearly ensconced in her own thoughts. "Do higher beings live on this continent?" he had been wondering about this for a while, the reason for that was because there would often be stories about people going missing and being devoured by magical beings. However, it was quite a common occurrence for people to be defeated by monsters and beasts, so it would make sense for such exaggerations to become commonplace. But now Erik wasn't so sure. Empress considered how much she should reveal, but thinking further on the matter she decided it wouldn't cause any harm to allow a little boy access to information, Knowing wouldn't change anything after all.

"In this world I'm able to sense many mid level beings, among them being devils, dwarves and pixies. there are 100s of different races and individual species. But what you want to know of, yes, there is one. A Phoenix," she said with a slightly reverent tone.

"What's a Phoenix?" Erik had no idea what they were but Empress spoke of them with more respect than she did the others.

"A bird," she said, her tone flat.

Erik was extremely unsatisfied with this and immediately opened his mouth to argue, but Empress was not forthcoming.

Erik continued to prod her for information until Katania returned and even then, Empress maintained her vow of silence.

And Erik, feeling extremely frustrated glared daggers at her as they headed towards the inn.

They didn't spend much time there, only briefly entering their rooms to drop off their packs. Returning to the streets they wandered around for a while, for a secluded place walled off by mountains like Liddella Town, the streets seemed to be quite lively at this time of day, as they passed a market which was actually just a long street lined with stalls on either side they could see merchants attempting to hawk their wares.

Erik's prior sullen mood was forgotten as his eyes shined at every item resonating an aura. Empress was giggling silently to herself at this. To her, these items were akin to farts and equivalent in value to that of a common pebble. That is to say, none at all.

Nevertheless, this did not stop people from happily bartering large amounts of gold and resources to purchase them.

In Empress eyes, these people were fools.

They continued to make their way down the street, Katania's feet seemed to already have a determined destination as she wove her way through the packed crowds. Erik's head was seemingly on a swivel as he gazed in delight at every item that he saw on display. Katania had a finger hooked into his collar for safety reasons, however she didn't expect the boy to suddenly dash off as he did, easily slipping from her grasp. Her neck snapped toward his direction as she watched him disappear into the crowd. Heaving a great sigh she went after him, maintaining her regular pace. She found him in front of a stall facing an elderly man, Katania tried to sense his cultivation and found him to be at the upper stages of a grade 5 spiritual realm, relaxing slightly she noticed the man was quite small and seemed to be unaware of their presence as he lay on his side and moved his fingers through the air as if he were writing something. After catching up to him Katania noticed what had caught Erik's attention. It was a rusty, chipped sword with a gleaming silver handle wrapped in a strange material, however, this wasn't what was so interesting about the blade. Instead, it was the powerful, yet barely perceptible aura that emanated from the weapon. Erik's eyes were positively glowing at this stage, his hand moving unconsciously towards the hilt. Right before he could touch it however, the old man shot up, and sitting upright he slid his gaze over young Erik's outstretched hand.

Then, revealing a small cracked smile he spoke, "Ah...it seems you are interested...in this weapon?" his eyes twinkled, "good, I shall tell you about it. This is the sword of Botun, an Elvish lord, you wouldn't know about him," he paused, smiling, but Empress' eyes were also shining at this, "it was broken in a battle against the Malven- A race of terrible creatures, with scales like bone and eyes as green as the deadliest poison." the old man shuddered slightly, this was not lost on Erik, "It was reforged by the Troll Grandmaster Forger Zunalrim Dibrae, an existence whose name resounds throughout the 7 Creations, and imbued with Troll magic- wards, it is said that the wielder of this blade shall be protected from all injury...if it accepts you as its master." The old man fell silent and resumed his prior actions, lying on his side and tracing in the air as if he were writing something.

Erik's excitement could not be contained, looking as if he were about to begin shouting Katania clasped a hand over his mouth and held him aloft, wriggling in her grasp, his desire for the sword so great he kicked at the air like a tyrannical child. "how much?" she asked fiercely, as she struggled to keep ahold of him. The boy really was too strong for his small body. The old man remained silent. Katania frowned, "Is it not for sale?" she asked with a hint of frustration, she did not enjoy being toyed with. The man smiled but apart from this he gave no answer. Katania had had enough, she reached for the hilt of the weapon, deciding to determine its value herself. However, she was stunned to learn that, try as she might; she could not touch the weapon. It was as if a barrier kept her from taking it. Katania felt extremely unwilling in her heart, she could not accept this, she was a grade 1 Heaven realm cultivator! She emitted her aura and once again extended her hand towards the weapons hilt, the pressure from her aura resonated throughout the surrounding space, many people collapsed to the ground around her, including small children. people began to flee to escape the range of her aura, even the old man behind the stall was no exception, fear filled his eyes as the belief that he had provoked a calamity dawned on him. Despite this Katania was still unable to breach the barrier surrounding the weapons hilt.

When suddenly Erik's hand reached out and snatched the weapon from the display and held it aloft, his eyes shining with unmitigated happiness at his treasure.

Katania was so shocked her aura instantly dispersed, and as people began to rise from their fallen positions on the ground another phenomenon appeared. It was the sword!