Way of the Knights

Chapter 733: 733

The eruption of the star continued. 

There are almost no life remaining on it’s surface. The lands rise and fell, the oceans were over turned, volcanoes erupted, there’s storms everywhere. It was a complete chaos. It was frightening sight, typically people would try everything in their power to leave since a destroyed star will ultimately explode. Not Raven though…

There’s no need to panic, Raven’s body was strong enough to remain intact and relatively harmed even if a star was hurled and exploded to his face, at most he’ll just treat it as a minor inconvenience. 

Additionally, it’s not like the star will explode. The situation was good despite what it looks like. Raven can see the ‘Acacia’, ‘Gaia’ and ‘Aegis’ runes are fusing with the star’s core and helping with the condensation of it’s intact consciousness. 

Raven also feel the strong pulse of life within the star. It’s vitality was skyrocketing and the Spiritual Energies are gushing forth like geysers. 

The star let out a blinding brilliance shortly after. Raven continued watching with rapt attention. Despite the brightness, he can see the star re-arranging itself. The space became even more stabilized, the atmosphere changed for the better. The lands were shifting and the oceans were parting. 

He saw the star expanding rapidly, it only stopped when it became ten times larger than what it was before. 

After the expansion, there was a brief moment of respite. Raven felt the proverbial ‘calm before the storm’. After what seems like weeks or months, the final hurdle arrived. 

Dark clouds surrounded the star, hymns of Laws started baptizing the lands and oceans below. Thunder quenched and tempered. There loud explosions and ear-shattering sounds of thunderclap. 

The storm lasted for what felt like years before letting up. Right before it went away, the dark clouds gave their final blessing. 

And Origin Spring Rain…

With every droplets of water touching the soil, life bloomed. Creatures emerged out of the lands and seas. They all stared at the clouds and basked under the rain. 

There was a peaceful silence. 

Shortly after, Raven felt a powerful fluctuation emanating from the very core of the star. He heard a loud buzz next to his ears which caused him to smile. 

After that, light came and the clear jingle of mystical Laws descended and swept through the star’s surface. Raven felt Order from these Laws which made him realizes that the star chosen to align itself to the Divine Realm. 

He can feel a tiny thread reaching out to his consciousness. Feeling this sensation, Raven sighed and shook his head. 

“No, young one. I can’t be your parent.” He muttered with a wry smile. He can feel the disappointment of the star. “I was only sent here to assist you. Somebody has better plans for you…at least that’s what I would like to think.”

“You are an Independent Star now. You’ll eventually understand why I can’t remain here.” 

Raven felt the sadness and silence of the star in front of him. It’s consciousness was already intact, as time goes on, it will grow and understand why he can’t act as it’s ‘Parent’. 

It was then that a strong brilliance blossomed from the depths of the star. Raven furrowed his brows as he didn’t know what the star was trying to do. 

Moments later, an orb of light appeared from the star. It shot and stopped in front of Raven. Once the orb is there, the star sent another buzz to him. 

“For me?” Raven raised a brow. “You don’t have to do this you know?”

Another buzz sounded. 

“This is…mine to begin with? Uh…” Raven was confused. The star told him that this orb was something that was his to begin with, it’s just returning ‘it’ to him. 

Raven hesitated before touching the orb of light. When he did, he felt a really strong reaction.

Without his consent, the Brush of Wisdom flew out of his consciousness and landed in front of him. The light of the orb disappeared and revealed what was hidden beneath. Raven opened his palms and saw that he was holding a turquoise quartz crystal. 

The brush let out a fluctuation and the crystal suddenly floated. Slowly, the two fused together with Raven watching on the sidelines. 

“This is really…” He smiled wryly. “Your acting on you own again.” He said, addressing the brush correctly. 

At this point, Raven could somewhat understand why the star told him that it’s present to him was his to begin with. Indeed it was technically his. As it turns out, the star was keeping a fragment of the Scepter of Wisdom. And since Raven had the largest fragment so far – which is the Brush of Wisdom, he was technically its owner and thus the crystal belongs to him as well. 

“Were did you even get this?” Raven asked the star as he let the brush finish doing its own thing. 

The star sent him another buzzing sound which translated to:

‘I can only remember snippets of what happened. I was still in incubation when I got hit by something. It was this crystal. I remember feeling the sheer amount of power it held. I remember feel greed. I think I swallowed it or it fused to me automatically…I can’t really recall. But I do know that I was trying to siphon nourishment out of it but it backfired.’

‘That’s the reason why you saw me in that state. The crystal proved too much for me to handle. Then you appeared and helped me…’

“Ahh…” Raven nodded in understanding. 

Well, in hindsight, Raven can’t really blame the star for trying to swallow the scepter fragment. It’s consciousness just followed it’s instinctual desire, it wasn’t very smart back then. 

When Raven appeared and helped the star heal and stabilize, the star isolated the crystal and didn’t touch it anymore. Instead, it just relied on Raven at the recuperation stage. 

Now that it grew to an Independent Star, it didn’t hesitate to give the crystal to him because – just like what was mentioned earlier, he owns it anyway, plus getting rid of it will lessen the worries of the star. 

“Well, thank you.” Raven smiled after a brief pause. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

After some time, the brush finally finished fusing with the quartz crystal. Now, it has fused with two crystals. The brush returned to Raven’s consciousness, the place it considered its home. Raven can only smile wryly as he observed how carefree the brush was acting. 

Once that’s over, Raven gave the star one final look. 

“Make full use of the gifts I prepared for you as well.” He said after a long deliberation. “Be brave and bold, experience will be your best teacher.”

“Once I finished all that I have to do. I’ll visit you. Hopefully you can still remember me by then.” Raven smiled. The star sent another buzz saying…

“I’ll never forget you.”

Raven nodded and waved his hand. “Farewell for now, Young Star.” 

After he said that, Raven transformed into a beam of light and disappeared from the star’s perception. 

There was nothing but silence around the area. The space beast who was watching as everything unfold, let out a woof of farewell to the star as well. Now that Raven finished his task, the agreement between him and this furry thing ended as well. There was no need for farewells for them since the memories of the Space Beasts aren’t so good in the first place. 

Now it will return to venturing the Outer Worlds, living it’s life to the fullest. 

As for the star, it fondly recalled everything it could remember about Raven. It took a careful glance of the gifts he left. The star etched the advise Raven left for it as it began planning out the life it wanted to create. 

When Raven opened his eyes, he felt dizziness all around him. He took a deep breath to collect himself and stood without moving for a bit, waiting for the dizziness to go away. 

Once he adjusted, he saw that he was back at the Obelisk Platform. The Trial Administrator was there for him, looking at him with a friendly smile. 

“How long did I take this time?”

This was the first thing he asked since when he was at the 2nd Trial, he stopped paying attention. 

“There? A little bit over 2,000 years.” The Trial Administrator stated like the amount was nothing. 

“Damn, I’m a geezer then.” Raven chuckled. 

“Well, only a year passed here so don’t worry too much.” 

“Eh? Wait, wasn’t the ratio -…”

“We did you a favor since its too time consuming, someone placed an enchantment in the area you were at. Don’t worry about it, they’re not going to deduct it to your final rewards.”

“Speaking of which, your rewards will remain hidden. Finish all trials and you’ll know what to receive.” 

“I understand.” Raven sighed. He has some questions but he decided to keep it to himself right now. “I’ll rest for a bit before taking the 3rd Trial.” 

The administrator nodded and disappeared. Once Raven was alone, he set up his tent and his bed. The moment his body hit the soft mattress, he immediately fell into slumber.

A slumber that will last for a really long while…