Mom...?

Mom…

The voice was soft. Gentle. Familiar.

Soren felt it seep into his mind like warm honey, its sweetness clinging to the edges of his thoughts. He knew that voice—his mother's voice. He remembered it. Every inflection, every soothing lilt.

And yet… he kept his eyes shut.

Something was wrong.

The forest had fallen into an unnatural silence—not a single rustle of leaves, no distant calls of hidden creatures. Even the wind that had once whispered through the branches had stilled, leaving only the cold air pressing against his skin.

Soren was curled beneath twisted tree roots, his back pressed against damp earth. He couldn't see anything. Wouldn't see anything.

But the urge to open his eyes was growing.

Then—

"Soreeenn…"

The voice was closer.

"Why are you hiding from your mother?"

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through his skull.

Aeternis.

Soren barely had time to react before words flooded his consciousness, spilling into his thoughts like ink splattered over a pristine page.

You.Weak.Death.Do.Nothing.

The chaotic fragments clashed violently against his own thoughts, turning his mind into a battlefield. His own reasoning splintered—irrational, erratic, as though some unseen force was twisting his perception.

But… that was Mom.

He could tell her to hide with him.

Her voice returned.

"It's safe, sweetie. Open your eyes."

This time, the warmth was gone.

The words were strained. Stretched. Distorted.

The voice that had once been his mother's was no longer human.

Soren stiffened. It felt as if cold, invisible tendrils were brushing against his face, curling around his eyelids, prying—urging—pulling.

He didn't even want to resist.

Then—

Aeternis fought back.

A surge of foreign thoughts—strong, overpowering—slammed against the invasive force. Aeternis's will clashed with the entity's grip over Soren's mind.

For a heartbeat, everything went silent.

Even the wind had stopped.

And then—

Right by his ear—

A voice.

Not his mother's.

Not human.

A shattered, shrieking distortion.

"OPEN!"

The force behind it was overwhelming.

Soren's body convulsed—his limbs nearly giving out, his mind fraying at the edges. His body almost slumped forward, his eyes dangerously close to obeying.

He was going to lose.

His grip on reality was slipping—his mind on the verge of shattering.

And just as his eyelids threatened to flutter open—

THUD.

A deafening tremor. A shift in the very fabric of the forest.

The mist staggered.

For the first time, it wasn't pulling. It wasn't whispering. It was distracted.

THUD.

The sound reverberated through the earth—deep, ancient, mind-numbing. Like the very statues of gods were being forced into place, their weight alone shaking the world.

THUD.

It was getting closer.

And it wasn't coming for Soren.

It was coming for the mist.

The ground beneath him trembled violently—pebbles launched inches into the air before landing against his skin in the suffocating dark.

Then—

The cold withdrew.

The sickening, icy tendrils that had wrapped around his body peeled away.

Without hesitation, Aeternis snapped.

"The gods have brought you a miracle, you imbecile! Stop lying there like a bestowment urn and RUN!"

Soren's breath hitched.

His eyes flew open.

He was still curled under the colossal roots of the ancient trees—but the mist was gone.

Or rather, it had shifted. Its presence no longer suffocated him.

Something had taken its attention.

Soren didn't care what it was. This was his opening.

He scrambled to his feet—

THUD.

The impact nearly sent him crashing back down. The earth rippled beneath him, an unnatural tremor that nearly stole his balance.

He didn't dare turn back.

He ran.

As Soren sprinted through the forest, the battle erupted behind him.

High above, deep within the canopy, flashes of light and deafening bangs shattered the silence. Every few seconds, the entire forest lit up, as if struck by lightning.

Soren risked a glance over his shoulder—

And froze mid-stride.

The mist had coalesced into a colossal mass, swirling violently like a living storm. But that wasn't what stole his breath.

Beyond it—partially hidden behind the colossal trees—was an eye.

A single, monstrous, golden eye, burning with an unnatural yellow glow.

Its gaze was locked onto the mist, unblinking, focused.

The sheer scale of it was incomprehensible.

The rest of its form remained obscured, concealed behind the towering trunks, as if the very forest itself was struggling to contain it.

Then—

A shadow moved.

Soren's breath caught as something immense shifted behind the trees.

And then—

The mist lurched.

An enormous, lustreless fist—ancient and unyielding, its surface looking as if it had been forged from the ruins of a forgotten temple—swung forward.

It collided with the mist—

BOOM.

The impact was cataclysmic.

The entire canopy bent and shuddered under the sheer force. Leaves and shattered branches exploded outward, and for the first time, the sunlight broke through.

The shockwave rippled through the forest, moving faster than Soren had time to process.

He barely had a second to react before the invisible wave of force tore through the trees, shaking the very ground beneath him.

Twisted branches, torn from their trunks, were hurled into the air like weightless debris.

Soren's eyes contracted.

He realized—**too late—**what was about to happen.

The air collapsed inward.

Then—

The shockwave slammed into him.

His body was launched backward, the wind knocked from his lungs. He barely had time to brace himself before he crashed spine-first into a tree.

The world spun.

For a few moments, everything blurred—his vision darkening at the edges.

Then, pain blossomed across his back, jolting him back into reality.

Soren gritted his teeth, gasping for breath.

He wasn't dead.

But he wasn't sure how much longer he'd stay alive if he kept watching this battle.

Aeternis yelled, "Did someone tell you to watch? Go already!"

Soren picked himself up and forced his legs to move. The flashes of light and booming impacts behind him didn't stop—each thunderous crash rattled through the ground, shaking his steps. He didn't slow. He didn't look back.

He just ran.

***

By the time he was far enough, the thunderous claps had faded into distant echoes.

Soren slumped against a tree root, chest heaving, lungs burning from the relentless sprint. He had been running for nearly an hour. His legs felt like lead.

Still, his mind raced.

The first monster… was it using my essence to estimate my next move? That would make the most sense. Unless it was absurdly strong and actually had an ability to see the future.

But then, there was the mist.

That thing wasn't just an illusion. It was a mind hex. A compulsion. It didn't just try to fool him—it tried to force him.

Soren clenched his jaw.

I have to be more careful about mind attacks. They're vicious, cunning… and more common than I thought.

First, on the trip with my family.Then, the trial.And now, here.

It was happening too often.

His grip tightened around Aeternis.

He couldn't afford to let it happen again.

Soren knew he had to find a way to resist mind attacks—or break free from them entirely. It was just one more problem added to the list.

His gaze dropped to Aeternis, resting in his palm.

"How do I counter mind attacks?" he asked.

Aeternis scoffed. "Items, a stronger soul, or relics. There are many options, but unsurprisingly, you qualify for none."

Soren exhaled through his nose, biting back irritation.

"Could you stop with the condescending nonsense? I've been awakened for, what, a week? No guidance, no prior knowledge, and all you do is sour my mood—or nearly get me killed. Even that last tiny monster turned out to be more trouble than expected."

Aeternis answered in a snarky tone. "Want to make a deal?"

Soren's eyebrow twitched. "Is this some kind of 'deal with the devil' crap? Because if it i—"

Aeternis cut him off. "No, no, you misunderstand me. Let's make a deal. You treat me as a dignified, Divine weapon, and I will graciously hold back on my accurate assessments of your incompetence. How about it?"

Soren stared at the dagger, momentarily stunned.

Wait a second… is this dagger…

Retarded?

Without giving Aeternis a second to think, Soren snapped, "DEAL."

Soren pushed himself up from the ground.

Aeternis, almost puffed with pride, declared, "This agreement is thus sacred, and I shall hold my end of the bargain."

Soren exhaled. "Yeah, yeah. Now we just need to find a way out of this place—without running into anything else that wants to kill me."

Aeternis happily interjected, "And thus, you have me! Fear not, for I shall guide us to salvation."

Soren watched as his left hand—controlled by Aeternis—dramatically lifted and pointed to the side.

"That," Aeternis announced, "is our path to freedom."

Soren scratched his head. "…That's the direction we originally came from."

For a brief moment, Aeternis went completely silent.

Then, in a voice that reeked of forced confidence, he said, "Ahem. What I meant was the opposite direction! Your feeble body seems sluggish after I have already exhausted so much of your essence. Clearly, a mere mortal's body is difficult to calibrate. So—that way!"

Soren's hand jerked to the other direction.

He sighed. He had no confidence whatsoever in Aeternis' sense of direction.

But it wasn't like he had any better options.

"Fine," he muttered.

Aeternis, unbothered, soared into another grand declaration.

"Forefathers, bear witness! As I, the world-ending divine blade, and this hapless boy embark upon a journey through peril and anguish, we shall be ever victorious!"

Soren dragged a hand down his face.