Fade To Black, The Curseborn Saga, Book 1

Chapter 6 - Warmth & Pride

Caim's eyes shot open. Though his breathing was steady, his heart was still racing. His left hand was clenched tightly as if holding something dear, but upon opening it, only cool air filled an empty space. He took a long, deep breath, slowed his heart rate, and smiled wildly, revealing two sharp fangs.

The first light of dawn burned softly on the distant horizon, and the trees of Neverend stirred before the breeze. For a good long moment, Caim took in the distant sunrise, remembering the feeling of the bell in his hand. They had done it. What had felt like a blink of time, had in reality, taken them the entire night.

Storm was to his left, still floating, with his face hidden beneath his hood. He, as well, slowly opened his hand, as if what lay within was more important than his own life. Yet there was nothing in his palm but the memory of a great weight.

"I can't believe it . . ." Storm whispered. "We did it."

Despite his pure exhaustion, Storm felt like he had just emerged from a thousand-shade meditation. Taking a long, soothing breath, he found his focus. It was not meditation they were emerging from. It was not anything so tranquil and peaceful. They were emerging from the world of Inner Depths: a sleeping world within one's own mind. It was a world that, in many ways, was unexplainable, one born of their emotions, fears, and memories.

Storm toyed with the thought in his mind. He had never fully understood what it was or how it worked, but he thought of it as a separate world within one's mind that one could enter, if they had completed the proper training for the technique.

Storm understood only a few things about the strange practice. He knew that Inner Depths was a world that all sorians had sleeping within their own individual minds, yet most were unaware of it, and were thus unable to find it, let alone enter it. It was highly probable that the vast majority of sorians did not even know it existed. It was a place of overwhelming difficulty to reach, and was only accessible through cycles of rigorous training and the passing of certain stages. He also knew to the best of his knowledge that the creator of the technique was their own grandfather, and that it had taken Storm himself nearly two full cycles before he had glimpsed his own world for the first time.

They're so different, he thought, thinking of his own world in comparison to Ronin's.

Storm suppressed a shiver as he recalled the catastrophic state of Ronin's world. It had been so real. He could still nearly feel the scorching heat of the flames, the bite of the ice, and the sharp of their blades. A few more seconds and they would have succumbed and fallen. It would have meant their deaths, or perhaps, something even worse.

Storm glanced down at their three swords poked into the ground. He figured that the weapons were the link and connection between them to the world they had entered. He remembered Ronin telling them that all of their swords had to be touching, and felt the answer taking shape in his mind. Not only did one need complete mastery of oneself, and the technique, but it seemed also the touch of something that linked them all together.

Storm looked at Ronin, his faded black cloak hanging from his shoulders in a kingly fashion. His eyes were still closed, as though lost in a distant meditation. His gaze ran over a tattoo on Ronin's chest, a light crow circling above a dark one.

Storm pondered the true extent of their grandfather's ability. Accessing one's own Inner Depths was one thing, but pulling others into your own mind was another thing entirely—a technique that only their grandfather had mastered. Despite their long and difficult training, neither Caim nor Storm had ever ventured into each other's worlds. But that didn't matter to Storm.

They had done it.

They had beaten the old man.

A sudden feeling of mirth surged through his heart and mind. After so many cycles of training and fighting and failing, they had finally completed their final test. Storm felt his smile widen, taking in the moment of triumph. At last, he was a fully-fledged swordsman, once and for all.