Roht Gonash

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One year has gone by, since Iono opened his channels and entered the Foundation stage. This past year has been slow for him. His body was immature, so any physical exercise , although not completely useless, did not give the expected results.

Iono was frustrated of such a development. He knew that there was nothing he could do but, even so, he didn't like feeling helpless. He was up, every night, for a whole year training. His lack of sleep was so much that, although a toddler, he had permanent black circles under his eyes. Because of his channels, and a lot of food, he didn't really feel tired as much as stressful.

The only thing that was expected, was him saying his first words, which was "I am sorry". This was said while his parents where putting him to sleep, and it was what Iono have been wanting to tell them for all this time. They didn't know why he said what he said, but they didn't care. They were ecstatic he could talk.

The only saving line from his perilous situation of non-development, was his parents love for him, that only grew stronger with each passing day. They were always worried, because they were not blind. They could see the black circles under his eyes, and the were afraid he might have some sort of sickness.

They called for a doctor to have Iono checked, only for him to say that Iono, was not only completely healthy, but even better than possible. This baffled his parents, and for a long time now, they have been struggling with what to do about his unprecedented condition.

Iono knew that they were worried so he decided that since the results aren't as expected, he could at least stay up every other night, instead of every night. Although regretful for him, since he wanted to grow stronger as soon as possible, his love for his parents, and regret of the future, made him come to this decision.

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Six months later, Iono's eyes were back to their sparkling colours, and his parents were obviously happy. He was now two years old, and today was his birthday, so his parents were throwing him a small party.

It was a small gathering that happened in the middle of the village. It was a relatively small village, given that it was new, with the houses all being just simple one-floored stone structures. In the middle of it, there was a small square, that had a stone fountain, with the statue of the Dragon of the East pouring the water.

The gathering took place around the fountain, and of course the whole village was invited. Given their status, Iono's parents were sort of the rulers of the village, and so Iono was the young master. There were tables full of down to earth delicacies, and also some entertainment, comprised of two people using mana to create mirages and rainbows.

After a lovely celebration the crowd dispersed, and the lovely couple returned home, with a baby with a grouchy look on its face. That baby was Iono, and the reason for his face, was that he thought this was a waste of time. It was too early for him to go out on his own, and so he could only spend whatever time he had, inside the house.

"I mean, celebrating is fine and everything, but, I need to get stronger. I have to. I don't even know if the time flow is different. If it's not, that means that every wasted second in here, is a wasted second outside. I don't know if it's that's the case or not, but I'm not willing to risk it.", Iono thought while doing his night exercise.

It was apparent that although, he made a decision in the spur of the moment, he knew nothing of the situation he was in. He could only speculate. It wasn't as if he could actually talk to Kyomu. It was a dagger. The best decisions he can make, are the ones with the least drawbacks. That's the only solution to an unknown situation.

At one point, he stopped doing push ups and closed his eyes. He called upon the dagger resting in his chest. Kyomu floated outside his chest, and was vibrating. The unknown sounds, that the dagger emitted, once again filled Iono's head. He looked at the dagger thoughtfully. "Hey can you speak?", he asked out loud. " If so tell me, what is happening. Are my speculations correct? I can't be actually back in time, can I?", Iono asked while looking at the vibrating dagger.

There was no answer, only noises. Voices, sounds that came from the deepest of the trenches. When you stare in the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. When suddenly, all the noises stopped. Iono didn't notice at first, but after a moment he caught on. His breathing became rapid, and he waited patiently for something to happen.

Silence.

Everything was so quiet that you could hear Iono's heartbeat clearly.

"Roht gonash"

A whisper came from the dagger, like an ethereal maiden speaking, but it seemed like it came for all directions of the room. The voice was sweet, but terrifying and carried an echo. Iono's eyes widened and he stood there unmoving. "Roht gonash? I don't understand. What language is this? Ahhh this is so frustrating! Kyomu, speak to me in my language."

But the silence didn't last long. The voices returned, resulting to what Iono called, gibberish.

"Is it me? Am I the one at fault? Or is this dagger being a tsundere?". After a long sigh, he put the dagger back in his chest and fell asleep for the night. Little did he know, he just made his first step into ascension...