Underwater

That night I didn't get back to the cabin, nor did I for the days following. Merlin had started to teach us separately. He tried to get me to forgive Odysseus, but soon gave up on that idea when he felt the bloodlust oozing from me at the sheer mention of his name.

Of course it was impossible for a Damocles to have actual bloodlust, but we were taught from a young age on how to fake it.

Time started to slow down. Everyone trying to talk to me was promptly ignored. Nobody even tried to apologise. They thought I'd give in and start to believe they were right if I experienced a little solitude. These bastards didn't realise solitude was my preferred state.

Only Hali was allowed to talk to me.

At first she didn't know what was going on, but then, when I told her everything that happened, even telling the ugly of my family, she remained silent only for a little before giving her opinion.

"It's not my place to judge family matters, I don't belong to your House after all… but he did cross a line… I don't see you putting your nose in anybody's business. Hell, you never even asked me of why I was travelling alone in a ship!"

"It's because if you were, you had your reasons and that's nothing I should concern myself about."

"Exactly."

She then invited me to share her room, but I refused and told her I was completely fine alone and outside.

The bow of the ship had become my new home, as far as possible from the captain's cabin. I started to change my routine.

I'd study with Merlin's in the morning when everyone else was training, much to his displeasure. In the afternoon I'd sleep and only workout deep into the night.

Petunias started to bloom in my new home, a testament of my feelings.

I had not faced anybody from the crew and soon they even stopped trying to force me to their bidding, at least, they stopped after I threw a few men out of the ship.

They were able to save themselves, but from that moment on, no one but Hali had the courage to show up.

Even he didn't try to show up.

I would see him from afar with dark circles under his eye, but he never approached me.

So much for not abandoning me.

That night, looking at the starry sky, I felt a strange pull downwards.

There was something underwater that was calling me.

I immediately thought of my new skill, draconic astrolabe and run to Merlin.

"Do you have something to make me breath underwater for an unlimited amount of time?"

"Dimitris don't you think this is a bit excessive?"

"I'm sorry, I must have forgot the part where I asked for your opinion."

"Sure I do, but I won't let you stay underwater just to avoid everyone. Can't you see the state of the garden? You're killing everything just standing here! You need to let go!"

"My petunias are looking just fine. I'm not trying to avoid nobody underwater. I felt the pull from my astrolabe."

"Whatever's the case I can't let you go alone."

I was starting to get irritated.

"Very well, I'll just jump and figure things out on my own."

I made a beeline out of the greenhouse and left a confused Merlin behind. I started teleporting my way out of the ship and once on the deck I started to remove my clothes to jump in the water.

Just when I was about to throw myself in the depths of the sea, someone pulled me away from the border making me fall back.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF? DID MY ACTION HURT YOU SO MUCH?"

Odysseus was screaming out of his mind.

I slapped him away and teleported him away from me.

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm doing what I want and that's not die."

I snapped my finger, a huge fire wall was erected between Odysseus and me, but it was soon extinguished by an intruding Merlin.

"Are you just gonna go without knowing what awaits you and if you will even be able to reach your destination?"

"Yes, I don't ever ask twice for a favour. You refused and there's no one else that can help me."

"What about me?! I swore to protect you!"

Odysseus interjected only to be shut down in a second.

"You? Why should I ask you for help? So that you can get a better view of my back and stab me? No thanks."

Odysseus started to tear up, but it was Merlin who tried to defend him.

"That's unnecessary Dimitris, he was only acting for your own good."

"Oh right how could I forget, the kingmaker! You found a new King Arthur so you don't need me anymore yes? That's why you keep protecting him and defending him."

"…"

"I see, I was right."

I stepped on the ledge and turned around to look at the sea.

"It seems I also forgot my hubris, after all, House Damocles is to stay unseen."

I didn't spare a look behind me and just jumped, but as my feet touched the water, time stopped.

[Long is reacting to your skill: draconic astrolabe]

[do you wish to enter Long's dwelling?]

"Yes."

[time refraction will take place. 1 day in Long's dwelling = 1 hour real world]

"Thank god"

My body dissolved into motes of light and I found myself in an underwater cave as big as a small village, it actually was a small village, just completely void of life.

There, in the center of the cave stood the skeleton of a snake.

The closer I got the eerier the entire situation.

The roof of the cave was clearly water, the silence almost unnerving but when I reached the remains of the snake, the sense of unease I was feeling, completely dissipated.

"Welcome to my dwelling."

An ethereal voice came from the skeleton, but for as scary as such a thing would usually be, I felt a strange solace in hearing its voice.

I turned towards the skeleton that now had bright green lights in its eye sockets and bowed slightly.

"Thank you. My name is Dimitris Damocles. I greet the owner of the house."

"I salute Dimitris Damocles, the Defiant. I am Long, the dragon of rain and rivers, owner of the house and your next spirit circle."

"What the fuck?"

I blurted out without even thinking of keeping a facade of well behaved kid.

"Now that's better isn't it? There's no need to fake a behaviour that doesn't reflect our inner self, after all Dragons can see the heart."

"Well fuck, you could have saved me the embarrassment. And what's this thing about you being my next spirit circle?"

"Hahahaha, it was fun, but I'm truthful about the spirit circle. I will train you for the next 3 months that should be enough to get your Archana to sufficient levels and your body to bear my spirit circle. It will be a terrifying training, but I know physical training doesn't scare you."

"That's given."

"Dimitris, the hardest part of this training is something else entirely."

"What about it?"

"You developed too fast, your demonic arm is taking full control of your emotions, you've been under constant stress, it's understandable. I'll teach you to have a still heart, to relate safely with your emotions and more importantly, completely tame that demonic arm."

"It can't be… this arm can't be the reason of my resentment. What he did, what they all did is wrong. Even Merlin is just trying to create a new Arthur for fun."

"Dimitris, you are both right and wrong, I won't go into details because it'll be part of your training, but let me clear this up. Arthur is a constellation, and is staying in Avalon with the real Merlin. He is currently beating him up because Merlin didn't tell you the truth."

"How would you know?!"

"Dimitris, you know it too. Merlin didn't make the vow to take Odysseus as a disciple, he did that with you."

"…"

"Let's start with the physical training, yes?"

"Yes please, kill me with training, I can always heal myself."

"Perfect answer."

_____________________

The first day of training was nothing out of the ordinary, Long had asked me to perform my routine to make a plan of action. Just this time I could go all out with my spear and Archana without the risk of hurting someone or destroy something by mistake. At the end of my physical training I sat in a lotus position and started cultivating the blood of the GodKing.

That was the first time I got a reaction out of him.

"Oh? It seems your understanding of Archana is quite high."

"I'm not sure, but I'm usually able to understand nature and its components fairly easily. More so then Archana, I understand lightning…"

"So you took the roundabout way…"

That's all he said and then left me to my work.

The day came to its end and I was called back to the center of the village.

"Here's what I understood. Correct me if I'm wrong. You're training revolves around developing the ability to exert control over every fiber of your body, increase your stealth and speed, but you don't really do anything to increase your pure strength and stamina. You train like a thief, an assassin. Why?"

I was a little confused, I knew very well what my training consisted of, in my past life it was clear that strength had its limits and was better to develop one's control over their own body.

"I'm not sure about where the issue lies…"

"The issue lies in the fact that you are a spearman, not an assassin."

"I still don't get it, there's a limit to where strength can get you…"

"Dimitris Damocles, you are wrong."

I didn't utter a word, I didn't know why, but I felt like I was missing an important piece.

"Strength COULDN'T get you nowhere, but things have changed right?"

With such a clear hint, everyone could understand where he was going to with this.

"I'm a Demi-god… the fact that I didn't notice any foreseeable change is because I didn't try to adapt. Fuck. Fuck, I'm so stupid."

"Don't worry, nobody tried to explain this to you. It's understandable since you come from a place with no mana and aura."

"How do you know so much? It doesn't make sense to me…"

Long pondered a moment, weighting what and how much he should tell me, I knew there was something big hiding behind these powerful creatures' extinction.

"We dragons were cursed Dimitris. Our eyes can see far beyond the real world. That's all I can say for now. It's too soon for you to know."

"Of course it is."

We then finished our training plan, at least the physical part, and proceeded to say goodbye for the night.

Long had given me nutrition pills to eat during our training and had prepared a place for me to rest.

Calling it a resting place was a bit of an exaggeration, but the bare minimum was enough for me either way.

The training session began the next morning, and I was shocked to experience firsthand how I wasn't able to keep up with it.

Completely different from my past experience, all the training was revolving around pure strength.

All my muscles were screaming with pain and just as I was about to heal myself, Long stopped me.

"You're not dying, why should you heal?"

He was right. I was becoming weaker and weaker, to not be able to cope with such little pain was an embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, let's continue."

Days continued to pass, but time wasn't something I could keep up without a day-night cycle.

I trained until passing out, woke up and begun again.

Only when all my muscles were completely torn apart was I allowed to heal myself, just so I could continue training.

After building up enough strength, Long told me to pick up one of its bones and run around the village until I passed out, at first I thought he was making fun of me, but when I tried to pick up one of his ribs, my back almost broke.

It was heavy. The heaviest thing I've ever tried to lift. It took me sometime to secure it around my shoulders, but once that was taken care of, only running remained.

I don't know how long I had been running, at a certain moment I was sure I had lost consciousness, but when I regained my sigh I was still running.

Long said it was the first time he saw someone able to keep up training while unconscious, he stopped me and forced me to rest.

Deep inside the cave, on my resting post, I was looking at the water ceiling and images started to come to my mind. That night images of my "childhood" replayed before me.

_____________________

"How was the first night of emotive training?"

Long's inquiry woke me up, that was emotive training?

"Am I to relive all my life?"

"You are smart after all."

"I'm not sure if you know… the Damocles have a method for removing trauma, will I be safe?"

"You will not, but that is the only way."

"Fuck."