The Revenant of Shadows

It had been weeks, three to be exact.

Allen's recovery was progressing well...Shardu expects him to wake up soon.

Minor injuries and damage to his body were repaired whereas the more severe ones were partially healed,though still bedridden and unconscious.

But who could blame him?

His body needed rest...constant tension tends to make the body and mind weary, not to mention Allen ,who was constantly on the move punishing his body. 'Surviving,' I believe that is what he would call it.

The tension in Gray Codex's enclave was mounting - soon one would need to pick a side.

There was talk of some 'bastard' unleashing what was best left to slumber. Though there were no further talks on the topic.

Cryptic. Typical suppression: chances are that the chattering mouth was silenced, maybe for good.

Elders were convening: talks, possibly to soften the imminent blow. Nothing could be done to avert whatever disaster that was about to ensue.

Questions were asked - to the sudden flux of arcana, typical to one's awakening - seems word got out.

Irvin had been wondering, of what turned out to be about his 'sparring buddy' he has been a 'no show' for a while now... maybe he tucked his tail and ran. Not everyone has the guts to stick around when storms are brewing.

In Shardu's 'Bleeding lab' there were bouts of coughing...

"Its about time laddie...thought you would never wake up"

Allen groaned as he groggily woke up, shielding his eyes as he scanned the imediate sorrounding, spots Shardu on his work bench, tinkering with some contraption.

"Where am I ? What happened ...arhh..."

"Boy! Stay down, you wound will open ...I'm not about to deplete my coin trying to treat you again! You owe me an explanation "

Allen could barely sit...groaned through the pain and sat up nevertheless. He looked at Shardu expectantly

"Well, You showed up halfway to your grave... apparently you had quite an encounter" Shardu muttered raising his arms up in defeat

"Now tell me what happened."

Allen paused for a moment ..trying to recount what transpired... winced,then a frown...it all came back rushing.

He went on to recount it to Shardu.

"That ought to happen...you were careless, getting to cocky eh? " Shardu commented half mocking half showing pity.

" You owe me quite a lot kid. Coming in with several doses of venom when one could kill ye' ...dealing with that would be simple but you just had to awaken, destabilizing everything ...you were a dead man breathing."

Shardu further went to recount how things turned out, the consequence and outcome.

"Just know that you owe me big time and I plan to collect"

Now that it was mentioned; Allen went ahead to examine himself.

Flexing his fingers; there was quite a change...he felt his arms, body pulsing with energy.

Did he also appear and feel lithe.

He felt like a coiled spring ready to snap and break whatever and whoever stood in his path.

'Perks' of awakening.

He had seen the awakened - like the Sunctum hounds, bladesingers- who could do superhuman feats as easy and natural as breathing...simple to them but miraculous to commoners ...he never thought he would get there.

Not to mention ascendants who could whip out spells and the sages who commanded elements.

A path has been shown ...maybe if he grows strong enough,just maybe, he wouldn't have to always worry about survival.

"At leats recover first then You can do whatever...don't go punishing your body just yet." Commented Shardu with a snicker.

Honestly, Allen could barely stand let alone test and train his body. Not yet atleast.

Hours passed, then a day, then two.

Allen couldn't stand doing nothing ...he had to find something to keep him busy.

He had to know about progression of power now that he awakened...too bad such information was kept from the grasp of the public common populace.

He had to ask someone... Surely The Gray Codex would have some sort of library right? Being that they are a bunch of scholars after all ...at least most of them are.

Later in the day he asked shardu about the power progression.

"Ye too green, lad, basically its the mundane, awakened,Ascendants, Sages, the fabled sovereigns and Monarcs, then the realm of gods, the divine."

"Not that you can even find substantial recorded information above the ascendants, such is kept close."

Shardu rummaged through one of his rustic chests...came out holding a small booklet...old,dusty, and torn in most places than not.

"Here, this might help you"

The book was titled 'Arcane paths'

So it turns out there are the mundane 50% of population: peasants,farmers, commoner, some foot soldiers some nobles are mundane

Then the awakened- start to sense ambient arcana would need to saturate their bodies with arcana to form a core : generally soldiers ,adveturers,mercenaries

Ascendants-have peeked at true power...they refine their cores as they advance

Sages- well ,they are forces of nature. Capable of great destruction. Focus on comprehension of laws .

Sovereigns - legends of the old ...capable of influencing the world through sheer will.

The book said nothing about further stages, but obviously the the numbers of individuals became lesser each stage up .

Then it hit him,the chasm between the mundane and pinnacle of power was unimaginable.

He couldn't help but shudder ...delusions of power that he had in the past were all shattered ....there was an abyss to cross.

The call of power was irresistible ....Allen had been given a taste and now he craved more.

Days passed as Allen was lost in thoughts and dreams of

grandeur.

He could now move freely ....without groaning on each step taken.

Now he had to scope out his gains from awakening and the hell Shardu put him through.

Allen headed for the spine,,,a series of winding stone halls, a flight of stairs he arrived at the destination in mind.

The spine was almost empty...except a few people engaged in spars ...some in their lonesome, training.

"Well ,well, well ....look who decided to show up."

Someone behind him...he could already tell who it was, Irvin of course.

"Decided to come after bailing out for weeks?" Irvin asked, with an undertone of sacarsm.

"Held up somewhere." that was the reply that Allen managed to grunt out, brushing past Irvin who then already got infront of him ...facing Allen.

"Colder than ice eh' ?" Irvin retorted with a smirk rushing to catch up with Allen.

"How about a spar?" Irvin asked

No reply ...just a grunt...paced to the platform and steadied...fingers occasionaly wrapping and unwrapping around his right shortsword: rustic, chipped iron shortsword.

Irvin gracefully jumped onto the platform his figure splitting into three just before his feet touched the ground.

The three rushed forward ...a pincer Allen barely had time to react making a backflip.

Wide smile on all three figures of Irvin.

"Neat" ...the sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Allen had to be proactive or else....

A few exchanges, parry, dodge... a chance with a side step Allen went for Irvin, in the furthest right ...a feint ...abrupt stop and slashed towards the one closing in ...the figure went out it a puff of smoke grey-purple smoke.

"Someone is feisty today ...what did the alchemist feed you?"

The spars continued to the dead of the night...or is it day? Nobody can actually tell ;being inside the closed off underground enclave.

The perks of awakening were nothing close to what Allen expected.

Brilliant ...Powerful ...it felt euphoric.

The energy pulsating within his muscles, like a compressed spring ready to snap at any moment and unleash destruction.

The stamina...ahhh... Allen felt he could run a marathon and still have wind in his lungs for a second one and a third.

After the long intense spar ...Allen started to feel the burn and soreness of fatigue...suprisingly, Irvin was still standing ...with his chirpy and sarcastic retorts.

"Hmm...It seems you aren't so bad after all"