False Serenity III

Lucian walked through the door of the room that was assigned to both him and Brodin, "Hm." He said as he looked at the simple room that had two beds across from each other, "Cozy." 

The owner of the Nose Ring eagerly took them in and gave them the key to the room, his unwavering kindness was a bit excessive and odd. Everyone that they had seen on the way to the room gave them kind smiles and didn't break eye contact. 

This rubbed Lucian the wrong way, as it did to Brodin. The two Traversed knew something was up and that they had set themselves up for a tricky situation. It was already nightfall and they were expected to stay in the room, 

"What's the play?" Lucian asked as he walked over to one of the two beds, "We rest for now?" 

"When's the last time you've had good sleep?" Brodin asked as he shut the door

"I don't know." Lucian said as he sat down and stretched his arms, "Didn't sleep much ever since we met." 

"I know." Brodin said

Lucian was right; he hadn't had a good night's sleep since he ended up on this world. Lunaris's rough training didn't leave him much time to close his eyes and slumber, but he had some naps here and there. Even after the massive storm that aided him in escaping him for the first time, he didn't sleep much, he was a bit concerned or anxious that he would've been captured in his sleep. That was back on the cave where he was acquainting himself with Lucy. 

"Lucy.....I wonder if I can manifest her again....." Lucian thought to himself, "And that Golden Wyvern, what was it's deal? What corrupted him? It's....well, no point in complaining. There's a point where I need to address my power. I need to learn to control it. I have a vague idea of how to put it to use...." 

Brodin sat down on his bed, "There's no doubt we're being surveilled so let's just sleep for now." He said as he rubbed his neck, "I'm used to being a light sleeper so if anything happens in the room, I'll find out." 

Lucian nodded, "I imagine a soldier would always be alert." He said

"Yes." Brodin said, "As for you, get some shut-eye, I think you deserve it." 

Lucian shrugged, "Don't feel that tired, honestly." He said as he laid down on the bed, "But I'll try."

There was a sudden knock on the door, which startled Lucian and he sat right back up. 

Brodin raised his eyebrow, "Yes?" 

"Devin, Roy, I have great news!" The Owner's voice said, "I received word that tomorrow, the Mayor will be in the Market! So do make sure you get there at sunrise sharp! It's in the Town Square, you won't miss it. He'll give you two the jobs you're looking for!" 

Brodin nodded, "Thanks, we appreciate it." He called, "We'll be there, of course." 

He stood up and walked over to the door, snapping his fingers and summoning a strange circular device, planting it on the door. 

"Have a good night then!" The Owner said as his footsteps were heard walking away 

Lucian narrowed his eyes, "Well...." He said as he noticed Brodin placing his finger on his lips to shush him

Suddenly, the circular device emitted a small green light and it spread all over the room as if it were scanning it, creating a light field. 

Brodin then walked over to his bed, "Should've done that right away, sorry." He said as he sat down, "With that, we won't be overheard and if someone were to walk in, I'll be alerted. Comes in handy." 

Lucian nodded, "Artificer, alright." He chuckled, "Is this the reason the King wants you so bad?" 

Brodin shook his head, "My power grants me the ability to be a great Artificer, yes, but my relationship with the Bull King is complicated." he said, "I rather won't get into it." 

Lucian laid back down, "I get it, if you won't want to talk about it, I won't pry." He said as he looked up at the ceiling, "What's your power? Conjuration magic?" 

"Sort of." Brodin said, "We'll be companions for a while, so we might as well trust each other. I know you have the Dragon Calamity so it's fair you know of my power. Just promise me you keep it to yourself. Its potential is so great that someone like the Bull King is obsessed over it." 

Lucian nodded, "Who am I going to tell?" 

"The world is vast, there is so many people that could sway you to their side." Brodin said, "False promises to return you back to our world." 

"I don't give a shit about false promises. I want guarantees." Lucian said, "But don't worry, while I don't accept that I'm stuck here, I can accept that it'll be a while before I go back." 

Brodin looked at him, "Quite the mentality you have. It's good." He said, "You keep thinking like that, it will give you the drive needed to survive this conflict. And trust me, it's very real. You and I both have been plunged into a serious War. The insanity hasn't arrived yet, but this is merely the calm before the storm." 

Lucian nodded, "I understand." He said, "So....what's your power?" 

"I'm a Graced One." Brodin said, "I have a Grace, a powerful and stable magical affinity. Although, it's power isn't like a Calamity, it's potential is as good." 

"Like Lunaris?" Lucian asked, "I think she's also a Graced One." 

"Yes." Brodin said

"What's yours?" Lucian asked, "Something to do with weapons?" 

"Something like that. It's called the Soldier's Vow." Brodin said, "Basically, anything with the concept of warfare is under my control. But its potential is only limited to my knowledge of it. And fortunately for me, I was a soldier in my past life, and an engineer." 

"And it made you a great Artificer...." Lucian whistled, "Way to strike gold." 

"Don't get me wrong, the effects of the Grace's power is having a great affinity to Artifice Sorcery." Brodin said, "But it took me years to get to the point I am now. At its base value, one would be able to conjure up a simple knife, sword, or gun but the damage will be normal. But it takes training and understanding of your power to add effects to the weapons you create, to manipulate them to your whim, to give them more value." 

Lucian nodded, "Interesting. You can be creative with it." He said, "You can add elemental damage to your gun's bullets, or enchant them to have like an automatic reload mechanic or something." 

Brodin snapped his fingers, "Correct. You're quite smart." 

"I like to think I've always been smart." Lucian said

"All it takes is to have an understanding of your power, Lucian. You can use flames and lightning yes, but that's not you....you understand?" Brodin continued, "What you need to do is to not be afraid of what you have and use it, but use it the best way you know." 

Lucian placed his hands on his chin, "My power is to control anything over the concept of dragons, hm?" He said while in deep thought, "And if Lucy was the manifestation of my Calamity, in theory, I would've been able to control her mid-fight while using my sorceries, right? I was relying on her instincts to fight. But if I have a firm grip on the connection, like you've mentioned, she could be a more formidable fighter....." 

Brodin nodded, "Yes." He said, "But it's not just manifesting a whole wyvern, which by itself is insane, but you can assume a powerful mode that greatly boosts your powers. So you have to think to yourself; how do you distribute that power? How do you make more use of it? I saw that you were able to summon dragon heads that aid you in battle. Not once, but twice. And it's during that mode of yours." 

"Dragon Aspect." Lucian said, "I call it that." 

"Right. During Dragon Aspect, you can basically turn parts of your body into ether and manifest dragon heads." Brodin continued, "What you need to do is to figure out a way to control that. It's like manifesting a wyvern but connected to you. And like I mentioned before, you might be able to manifest your wyvern again and also enter Dragon Aspect." 

"How so?" Lucian asked

"Think of your Calamity as a cup of water." Brodin began to explain, "After your First Seal, that cup was all you had, fully filled. It took up the entire cup to create the wyvern which was quite strong, but it was all of your Calamity. You could still use Sorcery, which was insane to me. But the thing is, your Calamity was limited to the Wyvern. And since you didn't have a full grasp on your ability and your connection wasn't that strong, it wasn't that strong." 

"And when Lucy was injured, she returned to my body..." Lucian said

"Yes, your Calamity returned to you and immediately activated your Dragon Aspect.....the cup was now fully connected to you, but in the form of that mode." Brodin continued, "But now that you've undone the Second Seal, the cup got a bit bigger, and more water was filled. You can theoretically manifest a wyvern again, and attempt to create a stronger connection while having access to Dragon Aspect." 

"Hm....." Lucian said, "But if I can't?" 

"Maybe you'll need more seals to be undone, granting you more ether reserves to do that." Brodin said, "My point is, you need to fully grasp your abilities. For now, your Dragon Aspect is your main form of intense combat, but it'll drain your power fast, I reckon. To counter that, you need to find a way to distribute that new cup of water in better ways." 

"I get it, I think." Lucian said, "If I learn to manifest dragon parts without the need of Dragon Aspect, maybe that'll help...." 

"Precisely," Brodin said, "But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you will need Dragon Aspect to manifest the dragon parts, or even the wyvern. I don't know." 

"No, no, you could be right." Lucian said, "But I also don't know. We'll find out, I guess." 

Brodin nodded, "Yes." He said, "From now on, we need to go along with whatever these people throw at us. Hopefully, we find Michael and leave fast." 

"Hm....." Lucian said, "Yes, that's the plan...." 

"It is." Brodin said

"But if he's right?" Lucian asked, "If the Cult is in fact here and the same one from Oakview? The way you made it sound, we shouldn't let that Cult still be active." 

"We'll deal with it when we get there. If we do, that is." Brodin said, "For now, our objective is to find Michael." 

"He'll tell us what to do."