The Fallen Curse

Safwane managed to understand the reason why the man was so frustrated about the rifts and why being the leader of a clan, he did not have any subordinates.

"There are signs that a rift will appear soon... it could really end this world..." Ilkay said, clenching his teeth, visibly frustrated.

The young man knew that if even someone as powerful as Ilkay feared the rifts, he would have no chance of surviving.

"And what are the rifts like?" Safwane asked curiously.

"They are... like completely different worlds, when you enter one you do not know when you will come out of it again, a year, two or even your entire life, until the divine beast is killed, nothing can come out of that immense place" Ilkay explained as he took a more relaxed position.

Safwane stood up from the trunk.

"We'll talk more another time, let's train," said Safwane, worried about the man's words.

He put the bandana back over his eyes, darkness filling his thoughts and senses again. But this time the young man had a clear motivation, to survive he had to be stronger.

First, the training focused on fully knowing his body and amplifying his other senses, that part was essential for the independence of his sight.

Second, the young man practiced his martial arts movements and the sword, which together with the additional weight he used, made him know his range of movement and strengthen his body.

Finally, observing the environment without using his eyes, this was the most difficult part, he had to get to know what was in his environment, and to force Safwane to get used to it, the man forbade him to eat anything unless he had hunted it himself. Safwane spent days listening to the murmur of the wind, the creaking of branches, and the whispering of hidden creatures. It was slow and frustrating work, but also a life lesson.

And so two weeks of hard training passed, Safwane after spending days of complete hunger, was finally able to observe his surroundings with the bandana on, although there were things he still didn't notice.

During this training process he had not only been training that, he had also trained immersion and lightly trying to reach enlightenment, which had not made any progress.

Safwane and Ilkay were having a battle.

"...Remember that the fight is not against one person alone, think of extreme cases." said Ilkay as he blocked a blow from the young man.

Safwane, exhausted, threw a punch to the man's side, who grabbed him and pulled him.

But before Ilkay could land a blow on the young man, Safwane had used that jerk to throw a knee to the man's stomach. The attack caught Ilkay off guard and he was going to hit him, but suddenly Safwane's knee fell to the ground.

"I told you that you must not use your singularity!" shouted Safwane angrily.

"Do you think that in the battles of the future your opponents will not use their singularity?" asked Ilkay mockingly.

Safwane frowned.

"I know..." said Safwane frustrated to know that those words were true.

"Well, I guess you are still ready, I will give you your last test, follow me" said Ilkay turning his back to the young man.

Safwane followed him confused, he knew that this test would be difficult.

He was heading towards the waterfall, the path to it was tense and the silence was noticeable, after Ilkay had the waterfall in front of him, with a snap the falling water left a path to what looked like a cave.

Safwane, who had to swim to get to the place, was surprised to see what was inside.

"Was that your family?" Safwane asked sadly.

There was a huge drawing of Ilkay next to what should be his wife and son, the man could not hide his sadness and simply nodded.

The cave was empty and cold, the only thing that filled that place was the huge drawing and a large box that was underneath it.

Ilkay opened the box.

"This will be my last test, student... survive and become strong" said Ilkay as he looked inside the box.

Safwane approached the man's position with curiosity, the inside of the box was elegant and contained an elegant black outfit and a dark katana.

"Take them, it's our clan's outfit, and my son's katana" said Ilkay.

Safwane understood that he was offering him the clothes, but the katana was very precious to him, he didn't want to accept it.

"Safwane, I don't use that katana, it will just wear out, and I want you to have something to remember this training by." said Ilkay while giving the young man a forced smile.

"Okay, I'll accept it" replied Safwane with his head down.

Ilkay smiled.

After Safwane changed his clothes and picked up his new weapon, the man helped him out of the place without getting wet.

"Now I'll send you up, but first take this" said Ilkay offering a badge to the young man.

"What is this?" the young man asked.

"It's our clan's insignia, by showing this no knight should stop you" the man explained lightly.

After those words, only the farewell remained, silence fell and neither of them knew how to say goodbye.

Ilkay smiled, this time warmly.

"If you don't die we will meet again, Safwane" said Ilkay mockingly as he lifted the young man up.

"We will meet again then" replied Safwane with a wide smile.

Ilkay could no longer see the young man, the smile slowly faded from his face and he walked over to a log to sit down.

"I'm alone again huh" said the man sadly as he sat down.

His gaze became cold and full of sadness, as he looked into nothingness, he placed his hand on his face.

On the other hand, Safwane had reached land, the blood he had spilled in his fight was dry and the place was still as desolate as before.

Safwane sighed.

'I'm going to that place again' the young man thought dejectedly.

Even though it was a bit far from the place, as it was the only thing there was, Shattered Realms appeared huge and impenetrable before Safwane's eyes.

'Well, I have to put them on to practice a little' he thought as he placed the bandana over his eyes.

The sensation was incredible, he no longer saw darkness when he put it on, but could observe the energy of things and their movements, although clearly this made it impossible for him to observe the faces of others, it was quite effective in going unnoticed.

The clan's clothing was also very comfortable and the katana seemed to be made for him... Safwane constantly thought about the moments he spent with Ilkay, for whom he had never seen any kind of empathy other than his grandmother, it was difficult for him to get away from someone who had helped him so much.

While Safwane was deep in thought, he had already reached the gates of Shattered Realms, that gate from which he had to desperately leave.

Safwane gave a long sigh.

At the gate there were two guards guarding it, who looked at Safwane strangely.

"Who are you?" asked a knight with a tone of superiority.

'Shit... what should I call myself' thought Safwane nervously.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" he asked again.

"I'm... Bread"

The knights looked at each other and let out a few laughs.

"How can there be someone called Bread," said the knight, laughing.

"And what are you doing here... Bread?" asked the other knight, laughing.

Safwane remembered the badge that Ilkay had given him and showed it to him.

The knights gulped.

"We are very sorry... we didn't know he was from a great clan," said the knight, regretful.

"He must have come through the rift, right? There are many enlightened ones just like you who are waiting for her" said the other knight

After those words, Safwane could hear the doors opening, but the young man focused on the last words that had been said to him.

'So it really is close'

When he entered the city, he could see how hundreds of people with a lot of energy walked through the streets, and despite the amount of people there, the city was silent.

Safwane walked forward without any fixed destination, but because he still lacked practice observing with the bandana on, there were times when he took uncertain steps causing him to walk crookedly.

Due to this slight problem he ended up colliding with someone. From the way his energy flowed this was someone very large and robust in body.

"Do you want to fight or what?" said the big man aggressively.

Safwane turned to the man, but of course, he couldn't see him clearly.

"Hey, he seems to be blind..." said a thin man as he grabbed the other man's arm.

"And that should matter to me?"

Safwane and the man became the center of attention, all the citizens or enlightened ones who had turned their attention to what was going to be a fight.

"Hey, why are you so angry? Did your wife leave you or something?" asked Safwane ironically.

The man gritted his teeth.

Without answering the question, he threw a punch at the young man, which was dodged.

The embarrassed man began to throw punches madly, all of which were dodged by Safwane, until he suddenly stepped wrong again causing an elbow to hit his face, quickly Safwane placed his katana to block the attack.

But the man took advantage to throw another punch with his other hand, the young man crouched slightly and with the sheathed katana he hit the man's side.

The attack had been strong so the man got on his knees while cursing.

"You think you're strong now" the man stammered angrily.

The energy inside him began to circulate quickly, which meant that he was going to use his singularity, something that was forbidden in the streets of Shattered Realms.

The man's hand began to turn gray, as if it were steel and with a blow full of rage he directed a punch towards Safwane's face again.

"Stop" echoed the voice of a man on the street.

The man's punch stopped, but it was not intentionally, it seemed as if there was something preventing the punch from moving from its position.

A hooded man appeared in the crowd as he slowly walked towards the man.

"Fights with singularities are forbidden, you know that right?" he asked with a serious voice.

The man gulped, and as if his tongue had been cut off, he quickly left the place.

'Wow, he looks like a running cow, I wish I could see him directly' thought Safwane between internal laughs.

"And why are you smiling?" asked the hooded man.

Safwane made a face of annoyance, as his smile faded.

"Anyway, you have to come with me, it's important."