The Fatebound Monarch

Anna stared at Yabin with no amusement on her face.

Yabin, feeling Anna's stare on herself, let out a chuckle as she continued.

"For Symbol Branch, you simply have to learn the predefined symbols and shapes… and fuel them with your star essence."

Anna nodded at Yabin's explanation and waited for her to continue to the next… she could not practise this branch because of the crack in her star core.

"For Intent Branch, you will have to do what you did to read the True names, but you have to will what you want the rune to do."

Yabin's eyes glowed darkly, and the night sky liquid within the jade bowl dripped out of the bowl and began to collect at a single place on the floor. Yabin looked at the collected liquid and suddenly her presence changed… her presence became vaster, purer and much older.

She was in her spiritual state. A state where one's being becomes much purer and closer to the fundamental laws of the universe.

It was the same state Anna was in during the process of understanding the True names from the book.

Yabin, however, entered that state within a blink… as if it was just a child's game.

Anna stared at her with wonder as she thought.

'She is the saintess of the tower of night for a reason, after all.'

Involuntarily, a smile appeared on her lips.

As she was thinking of all of this, not even a blink of time had passed.

Suddenly, the night sky liquid on the floor moved and began to draw a weird symbol on the ground… the symbol held no right or wrong, it was like a scribble drawn absent-mindedly, but Anna knew that was not the case..

She knew that he symbol held meaning… it was just that she did not understand it.

'Am I even supposed to understand this?' she questioned in her mind with a thoughtful look… the actions one does within the spiritual state or the state of mind clarity are understandable to those who are within that state, but to those who are not in the state, it will be nothing more than meaningless movement.

Anna had felt it firsthand, so she knew that those symbols were simply what Yabin wanted them to be.

The night sky symbol on the ground suddenly brightened with a silver glow before it became faint. Yabin's presence turned to how it was before the process of scribing the rune.

She looked at Anna and gave her a faint smile before she circulated her star essence into the faintly glowing symbol, and just as it did so… a snake slithered out from the location of the rune, the snake had a bright green colour.

It slithered on the ground and coiled itself on Anna's feet.

Anna looked at the snake with interest. She knew it was not dangerous for her… Yabin was the one to call it after all.

The snake looked into her with its dark green eyes before it burst apart into small green petals. The petals floated around Anna before entering her body.

Her body began to glow with a faint green for a few moments before it dimmed down… Anna felt all of her fatigue relieved, and she felt energetic once again.

"This is the Intent branch… You enter the state of clarity and let your intent guide you into drawing the needed rune; however, it is considered the hardest because one needs exceptional training to enter the state of clarity on command." Yabin added as she walked towards Anna.

She placed a hand on Anna's shoulder and spoke.

"Battle clarity and mind clarity are the same yet different… in battle, your sense of survival makes it easier for you to enter clarity… but it is not the case when you try to enter the state on your own whim."

Anna gave her a solemn nod before asking.

"What should I do then?"

Yabin moved her hand from Anna's shoulder and clapped. Just as she clapped, the dark walls of the chamber brightened as the faint runic symbols drawn on them began to glow bright silver.

"You first have to make yourself able to enter battle clarity on your command."

Anna looked at the wall and suddenly… the world around her changed.

She was no longer standing within the wide, empty chamber beneath the tower of night. She now stood within a wide grassland surrounded by tall trees on all sides.

"What…?!"

She looked around the wide grassland with a frown before her eyes fell on a sword embedded in the ground. She walked towards the sword, grabbed its handle and took it out.

Just as she did so, the ground shook and the rustling of leaves echoed throughout the forest.

Anna narrowed her eyes and looked around in vigilance.

Suddenly, the sound of rattling was heard from the right side. Anna turned around and saw skeletons with pieces of rotting flesh covering their body coming out of it. They wore leather armour and wielded rusted swords… that was no issue; however, the only issue was their number…

Ten such skeletons came out and were running towards her. Anna involuntarily called out to her threads; however, they didn't materialise. It was like something or someone was blocking her from using her threads.

She let out a sigh and took a battle stance as she shouted.

"I will make sure your bones do not come out again."

Just as she said, a skeleton reached her, and it swung the rusted sword at her with an unreasonable strength. Anna grunted under the weight of the sword strike, but before it could attack again, she cut it in half.

Much to her surprise, it was still moving. She looked at it in disgust as it tried to drag itself towards her. She lifted her foot and crushed its head.

The bones stopped moving before they crumbled and vanished. Anna looked at the incoming skeletons with a dark look.

"They are strong… stronger than a Seeker."