Ignite the Sun

The pill tasted different than Calen expected – in the sense that it didn't taste like anything, although its texture reminded him of fine ash.

He decided to sit on the ground in case this one came with some sort of side effects, but a few minutes later it was clear there were none.

"Did it work?" He asked Nickolas.

Of course he could feel that his body got stronger, but masters of aura could inspect physical bodies at a level not possible for others.

"Uh-huh." Nickolas nodded. "I must admit that I wasn't expecting something like this – your body is now on par with someone who just grasped aura."

"How will this work if I ever actually understand aura then?"

"Well, unlike magic aura works multiplicatively and is always proportional to your power, so you'd become much stronger."

"Cool." He chuckled. "Too bad I'm nowhere near understanding how to use it – but speaking of aura, do you think Tharion will be able to help Cassian actually use it?"

"It's possible, after all he was already starting to slowly understand it in Asharil. Even if Tharion doesn't unlock it for him completely, I have no doubt that he'll be using it in a month or two."

"Let's hope he has some special methods of training then, his aura would be much more useful tomorrow than in a month."

***

Cassian expected that Tharion would lead him to the floor with the altar, as it had by far the most empty space, but instead he led him down to the catacombs.

"Who were these people?" Cassian asked as they walked through the rows of stone coffins.

"Brave idiots who decided to mimic what I do and put the life of other's before themselves. I tried to dissuade them from doing this many times, but when I understood there was no convincing them I simply blessed them to help them survive."

"It takes real courage to put yourself in harm's way when you're not immortal." Cassian commented, and then immediately regretted it when he realised that he inadvertently belittled the Guardian.

Tharion didn't seem to mind though, in fact he seemed to agree with the statement.

"Every deed performed by a mortal is infinitely more meaningful than the same thing done by a divine power."

They reached the ladder leading to the secret room which once hosted the champion weapon.

"Why are we going in there?"

"You'll see."

When they entered the chamber it looked exactly the same as the last time, save for the fact that tge statue was holding a different sword – one made of stone.

"This place symbolises the connection between me and you, and as such there's no better place to train."

Cassian looked around with a skeptical expression.

"I understand what you're saying, but this room is a bit too cramped to properly train."

"You might have forgotten who I am."

Tharion clapped his hands once and the space around them rapidly expanded until the chamber was big enough to fit a small village.

"This should be enough." Tharion took out his sword and gestured for Cassian to do the same. "First we'll go through all abilities of that sword of yours – or at least those that you can use now."

Cassian frowned.

"How many things can this sword even do?"

"It can do anything you can think of and more still, but the bulk of those things will become possible only once you've mastered aura." Tharion stated. "For now the sword has three main abilities – you've already figured out the shape-changing so we're going to skip it and move on to the next one."

As if to demonstrate, he suddenly moved his sword-holding hand to the side and let it go; the weapon traveled for a hundred meters before burying itself in the stone floor.

Tharion twisted his extended arm slightly and the sword retraced its trajectory backwards, landing firmly in his hand.

"Blade control allows you not only to retrieve your weapon in case you lose it in the middle of a battle, but also enables some basic ranged attacks before you can properly utilise aura. Try it."

Cassian obediently threw his sword away – the toss wasn't as impressive as the one performed by his teacher, but it did create A decent distance between him and his weapon.

Next he focused his will on the sword and recreated the summoning gesture, but nothing happened.

"Try to imagine there's a string connecting your palm and the hilt and then try to mentally retract the string." Tharion suggested.

Cassian did as instructed – and there was a reaction.

At first the sword only slightly shook, then it started dragging itself along the floor before finally starting a short and shaky flight back to his hand.

"Good. Now repeat it until you get a hold of it."

So he did.

Again and again.

It took almost fifty tosses, but by the end of it his retrievals were as fast as the one Tharion presented himself.

"It's time for the most important ability of your sword." Unexpectedly, he sheathed his own weapon. "This one is a bit similar to the Vowkeeper Calen got after the ritual, but not completely."

"How do you know about Cal's ability and the name we gave it?"

"Sy told me, like most other things about your group." Tharion shrugged. "As I was saying, the abilities are somewhat similar – his activates whenever he makes a promise and he receives a passive boost from each of the vows he keeps, while yours operates on oaths you take."

"Any oath?"

"No, you must specifically swear on your blade – when you do that the words of the oath will become engraved on it's surface. Additionally, unlike the effects of Vowkeeper, oaths sworn on the Oathbound will provide you with help only when you actively work to uphold one of the oaths."

"What sort of effects the oaths have?"

"Depends, they're usually somehow reflective of the particular vow you made."

"And what happens if I break one of them?"

"You will receive severe backlash, one that would kill you in your current state – hence I advise against swearing oaths without thinking them through."

To Cassian this meant one thing – he has to come up with oaths that would be nearly always applicable and very difficult to break.

He'll think of something eventually.