Learn Well

Seraphis hovered before me, their mismatched form shifting as the woman's side took the lead in speaking. "For now, child, you must focus on your first gift," she said, her voice as soft as silk. "It is your foundation, your anchor. Only when you have mastered its presence, to a degree where you aren't shaking after a single usage, will we allow you to pursue mastery in the other two."

The man scoffed. "If you can't even control the first, the other two will be wasted on you." He crossed his arms, scrutinizing me with a soldier's intensity. "Still though, you should at least try to see what they are, what they can do."

I exhaled, rolling my shoulders. That much was obvious. I wasn't about to ignore the other two abilities that had been unlocked inside me, especially when I'd already felt their influence in that fight against the Shade.

While gifts are a "specific" set of abilities, it was known, though not widely, that stronger gifts give more benefits than just their abilities. 

Stronger gifts—true gifts as some called them—did more than just grant abilities. They changed people.

For the "weak", a gift was nothing more than an extra skill or a bit of extra mastery in something, a technique bound by rules and limitations. A swordsman with a steel blade Gift might have a stronger blade than normal, and a mage with a Fire Gift might wield flames hotter than normal, or be able to increase their mastery slightly faster, but they remained the same person at their core.

For the strong? For those truly chosen by fate? Gifts transcended simple ability.

A true gift reshaped its wielder—body, mind, spirit. It wasn't just an ability, it was an evolution. A person with a powerful strength-based gift wouldn't just hit harder; their very muscles would refine, their body would become more efficient, their instincts sharpened toward combat. Someone blessed with a powerful wind-based gift wouldn't just control the air, they would become attuned to it, their movements swifter, their reaction time unnaturally fast, their lungs breathing deeper than normal men.

And for me?

My Echoes of Order wasn't just a power but a transformation.

I could feel it now; the way my mind worked was different from before. The way my hearing sharpened, not just picking up sounds but the patterns beneath them. The way I could sense something deeper in the world, the rhythm of things, the rhythm of my actions, lingering.

And I could see them, faintly. Every move I took, every breath, left a trail, an afterimage of myself, an Echo from that moment.

Closing my eyes, I turned inward, letting my senses sink into the flow of Vis within me.

And there it was.

The Vis Gate.

It wasn't something tangible, not in the way a spell or weapon was, but it existed in that space between perception and instinct, a natural part of my being. The moment I awakened, it had become second nature, like breathing or moving a limb.

I dove deeper, searching for the feeling from that day, the day I awakened. Soon I found it; two familiar energies ingrained in my being.

And then my eyes widened.

'This feeling... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!'

One thing I found strange, but never really addressed, was the change in my appearance as Ravenn. The original Ravenn had short pitch-black hair, with deep blue eyes.

But when I arrived in this world it was different. My silver eyes, and the lavender strands of hair, didn't make me unrecognizable, but only someone who had paid attention to my previous appearance could see who I was without a deeper look.

Looking around, I found Echoes of Order, a silver orb floating a bit away from the others.

'Probably the cause of my eyes...'

It wasn't very uncommon for a gift to change their users appearance, but that meant that the gift had to be powerful, or at least very attuned to the user.

I looked back towards the other two energy masses which were most likely not in orb shape because I had not used them yet. Specifically, I looked at the lavender mass.

Even without touching, or tapping into it, the dark energy pouring off of it made one thing very clear.

"A cursed gift."

This was serious. Cursed gifts were something I hadn't even thought of yet, something I hardly remembered due to how rare they were.

All gifts had a drawback, some small like a time limit, some bigger like mental or physical exhaustion, some had no drawbacks at all other than you needing a strong body to handle them, such as my Echoes of Order.

But cursed gifts were different. They ALL had drawbacks, no exception, and unfortunately, all of them were terrible.

Getting closer to the gift, I reached out and touched it, cursed or not it wasn't something I could avoid, rather it was something I should learn about now.

As I connected with the energy thrumming, a sudden, violent force erupted—a surge of purple light exploding outward. The impact hit me like a tidal wave, sending me hurtling backward through the endless void.

'What the he—?!'

The thought barely formed before my breath hitched, my eyes widening in shock.

From the heart of the swirling mass, chains shot out—dozens, hundreds—serpentine and relentless, twisting through the space before me like living things. They wrapped around me, freezing me in place as I paled.

Before I could fully grasp what was happening, the chains halted—suspended in the endless void. Then, slowly, they began to recede. Some unraveled into nothingness, others shattered like fragile glass, dissolving into the air.

My breath, sharp and ragged, began to steady as I watched them retreat—until only one remained.

It hovered before me, swaying ever so slightly as if watching me just as I watched it.

Then, without warning, it moved.

The chain glided forward, deliberate and unhurried, pressing against my chest. A strange sensation followed—not pain, not warmth, but a deep, thrumming resonance. It coiled around something unseen within me, then sank into my heart, vanishing without a trace.

And then—

A flood.

Information crashed into my mind like a raging storm, knowledge and instincts not my own searing into my thoughts. Energy roared through my veins, filling every inch of me with something new—something powerful.

It lasted only moments before the surge faded, leaving behind a single, undeniable truth.

I had changed. I had grown.

Cursed-rank gifts while not on the level of Paradox gifts, held the potential to surpass them, at a cost of course. They were dangerous, if gifts held sentience, then these gifts would bear no loyalty towards their users.

But this gift...

Hollow Oath.

It was the most dangerous—no, the most cursed—I had ever heard of.

It would allow me to enhance any aspect of myself. Strength, magic, speed, intelligence, all temporarily of course. But it required a sacrifice. An Oath to be followed.

For every Oath I made using this gift, the severity of said Oath dictated the augmentation of myself. A minor Oath such as not speaking for a few minutes, would allow a small increase. But an Oath such as "I will not dodge an attack", or "I will not retreat in this battle" would grant increasingly power augmentations.

'A double-edged sword'.

I could gain great strength, for an equally great Oath.

Content with this gift, I turned toward the final mass of energy. It was different from the other two gifts I could tell. Peering closer at it an image flickered in my head.

Within the mass, I saw someone, something, familiar. 

My eyes widened as I realized what this gift was before I smiled lightly.

"Maybe you weren't so bad after all," I muttered, drifting closer to the gift.

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Seraphis watched the boy's body, at first for a few minutes, and then a few hours. Standing there, they watched unblinking for days, and then weeks. 

At times they would raise a hand, a green glow enveloping Ravenn before enveloping his stomach.

It was only at the three-week mark that they blinked, a smile gracing the woman's face.

"Extraordinary... three weeks to truly realize three gifts. And gifts at such high ranks as well... we have chosen well, have we not?" she spoke, turning to the head next to her.

Despite his efforts to hide it, admiration shone in his eyes for the talent they had stumbled across. Most geniuses took months to realize their gifts, only a rare few doing so in less than one.

"If only he wasn't burdened with such a weak master... he would soar if he had been found by someone more exceptional." He sighed, lamenting their shortcomings.

That was an issue, a conversation, to be dealt with another time, however, as they watched as Ravenn stirred from his standing meditation.

His eyes opened, and Seraphis paused for a moment.

Ravenns eyes, once a striking silver, were now brilliant, lit ablaze with purpose. His hair, previously housing only a few strands of lavender hair, now housed a large chunk of lavender, with the ends of it being the same color.

The biggest difference, however...

"So you have reached the Sparks child? And in just three weeks at that? Marvelous," the woman spoke, eyes shining with intrigue.

"And to think that family of yours tossed you, what a blunder on their end," the man continued.

Ravenn looked at them, conviction burning inside of him. "Teach me," he spoke up.

"Are you sure child? We are a weak outcast of a far superior strand of fairies, burdened by our gift. Would you not rather have another master?" Seraphis tilted their heads in unison.

"Many learn from the strongest as the weakest, learn from someone who has grown past their origins. But you and me are the same. We are both weak. In the weak, there is desperation and hunger. The need to claw your way up. I see that in your eyes. I want you to teach me that hunger. That neverending need to be better, to never settle, never grow stagnant."

"I want true strength."

Seraphis assessed the human before them, searching. And in his eyes, they saw it. A way past their limits. A future for both the human and them.

"Under our tutelage, your path will not be easy. We will break every bone in your body if only to have you grow a stronger toenail. We will run your Vis, your blood and essence to the bone, if only to have it filled with something, one-one billionth of a fraction stronger. Is this what you choose boy?"

"I would have it no other way, master."

Seraphis watched the boy with an amused smirk, mirrored on both faces. With a slow, deliberate motion, they spread their arms, and in an instant, a dazzling array of weapons materialized before them. Torches, whips, crossbows, and hatchets hovered in the air, each gleaming under a strange, ethereal light.Ravenn's gaze flickered from one weapon to the next, his mind racing as he reached out, testing their weight. The heft of a longsword felt unnatural, the balance of a katana too foreign. Short swords, daggers—none of them sat right in his grip. Then, his fingers curled around a slender blade, its form elegant yet deadly.

 It was light, swift, and precise—something about it resonated with him. He stepped forward, performing a few practice thrusts, testing the balance, the way it moved with him rather than against him. It felt… right. Turning to Seraphis, he saw a chilling smile on the woman's face.

A chilling smile crept across the woman's face. "How unfortunate," she mused, her voice dripping with amusement. In her hand, an identical rapier materialized as the rest of the weapons faded into nothingness. "You've chosen one of our specialties."Ravenn tensed as she took a step forward, the weight of her gaze pressing down on him."Even more unfortunate," she continued, tilting her head, "those swings of yours were abysmal. Watching you was like witnessing a newborn struggle to walk."Ravenn swallowed."Three years," the man suddenly spoke, his voice cutting through the air like a blade.

Ravenn tilted his head questioningly.

"In three years, we will send you to Fors' school." His tone was matter-of-fact, leaving no room for argument. "Until then..."Seraphis slowly ascended, their presence looming above him, their blade gleaming with promise and peril alike, as Ravenn readied himself.

"Learn well," they finished in unison, and in a flash, they struck.