CH-7: RAVEN CHOOSES

After keeping silent for about eight minutes, Axel finally spoke, his voice quivering- "What if I'm strong enough and despite drinking the potion, I retain my health. After the sacrifice, will I still be alive?" The fear in his eyes was evident, which the conjurer saw through. With an eye- roll, she said in a lazy manner- "Well, maybe you can...maybe you cannot, I'm not making promises young man. But yes, I can assure you, that the psionic potion is so well made, no one can ever guess, it is artificial." Axel frowned at the statement and drifted into thought. He looked back in his original world, where he used to go by the words- "Useless", "Worthless", "Failure", "Burden" and "Personified Disaster". He remembered how all those years no one paid attention to him, not even his own father. Everyone hated him for no reason and he had no friends back there.

 "But at least people notice me here, even if I'm not Odion. No one drives me away and, and I also made a n-new friend who seems like a very good person. If I don't have the psionic, forget about the Dorwine Legion, normal people will also find me useless. With a psionic, I can do so many! Accomplish my mission and...earn respect for myself." - He thought to himself in grief.

"Ok..." he spoke with confidence. "What? Are you really...sure?" The conjurer said in awe. She was confused at his haste judgement, her eyes widened. Again, Axel said slowly- "Yes, I'm sure. I am aware of the possible risks and am willing to take it, even if I have to die..." The conjurer listened and without wasting her words, the she stood up from her chair and went to open a box filled with psionic potions of different colours. Then she questioned slowly-"Which power do you seek?" "Cryokinesis!" He quickly answered. The woman picked up a blue potion from the box and haughtily said-"Two drops will cover for six hours. But do not take more than two drops or else your body will start to wither even earlier than expected." Axel slowly took the bottle from her hand and looked at it curiously, but before he could say anything else, he suddenly...jolted out of bed. He was in his cottage, the moonlight seeking through the open window.

"It was a dream?" He asked himself in despair, sweat smeared on his forehead. Then suddenly, the system window appeared in front of him saying in its ever annoying AI voice- "𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 <𝘈𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤> 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 +10 𝘈 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴.𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 <𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵>" Axel looked at it in confusion. "When did I acquire-" He stopped mid sentence as his gaze fell on the blue potion bottle near his lamp-stand. He was baffled and realized- "It was indeed... reality?" Making such a difficult choice was quite a hellish experience. But he had made this choice for himself and was determined now to make a legacy of himself in the remaining three years of his life.

The next day Axel woke up at dawn, bathed in the old bathtub and got ready for his new day. After eating a sandwich left at the stove, he turned to the potion bottle. Suddenly his heart started palpitating. "Wait...Why am I nervous? Wasn't this my choice?" He questioned himself. Then, he slowly picked up the potion bottle, opened up its cork and carefully placed two drops of the blue potion on his tongue. It was surprisingly sweeter than he expected, almost like honey. "Alright! Time to start training!" But before he knew it, he'd turned the cottage upside down. Frozen crystals scattered everywhere in his house and the stored water completely frozen. His house now looked no less than a mini version of Elsa's Ice Palace from Frozen.

"Maybe, the cottage isn't a very good place for training." He said with a frown. But he recalled that there was big park in the town, where people regularly trained. So without a second thought, he rushed off to town. While on his way to the park, he saw a weapon workshop and that's when it struck him. "SHIT! I ALMOST FORGOT THAT I MUST BE A CAPABLE SWORD USER TO GET RECRUITED!" He grabbed a jute bag from the ground and screamed his heart out, letting out his frustration. Even though people gave him a questioning look, it didn't bother him. So, now before going to the park, his first stop was the weapon workshop.