The Sage's Vow

8.1 || From the Shadows

THE SHADOWS ATTACKED. Cale's body moved instinctively, dodging strikes and delivering precise ones of his own. The phantom opponents continued to swarm as his blades danced through the air in the familiar patterns of his sword kata.

But while on the outside Cale fought imagined beasts, on the inside he went back to another battle, one that had caused this all to happen.

He easily recalled the fall of his stomach as Josh and Boomer plummeted through the air. Every instinct had pushed him to give chase, to somehow catch them both on Ezraim, but the great imp was hurtling toward them, and Ezraim couldn't outpace the monster.

He hadn't noticed Mateo and Diwa's arrival until sometime after he'd turned on the imp. He hadn't known what he had planned to do, but he'd known he had to do something quickly and powerful to deter the imp so he could rescue Josh.

It shouldn't have been a possible task, and perhaps it wouldn't have been either way. The surge of energy that he had felt when turning on the imp had been so intense, his sense of Ezraim so full. Even thinking back to it left phantom sensations all over Cale's body as it tried to replicate the experience.

He clenched his jaw, spun harshly on his heel, and stabbed a shadow opponent through the chest. The kata ended with him pivoting to the side, facing the way he had started, and bringing his blades down in a double block before coming back up in an x-strike.

His breaths were ragged, but it wasn't from exertion. Although he put his all into his katas, it took hours of repetition before they wore on him. No, this was from frustration.

He had begun the Soulmerge once. It shouldn't have been so hard to repeat it.

Sighing, Cale let his head fall back. The star-lit sky spread out above him, the full moon showering the world with its dim light. Despite how long they'd been in there, the moon hadn't changed its phase once. This dimension remained frozen in the same day that of its creation, yet Cale remained painfully aware of how much time had passed.

Two weeks. They had been in here for two weeks, and he had yet to feel even an inkling of that same sensation as during the imp battle.

Restless energy filled his body, so Cale took a quick moment to observe their surroundings and extend his awareness before falling into another stance. For a realm filled with monsters, night watches proved very dull. Which meant he had to direct all of his energy into katas. He fell into a stance and began a tougher one, all the while reaching out to brush the bond.

It took a few moments, but Ezraim's own consciousness responded. Cale opened his entire mind to his dragon, letting his thoughts and frustrations trickle over.

All the while, he blocked, parried, and struck against the imagined opponents.

It is not uncommon for the Soul-Bound to Soulmerge while in dire need, whether it be their own safety or that of others, Ezraim said.

They didn't send me in here with Samara hoping I would put her in danger, and they don't want me to risk being killed. Cale performed a disarm followed by a quick set of slashes and stabs, but his swings were too hard, his movements too unnatural. He paused his kata, taking a few deep breaths and shaking out his body before restarting it.

It had been a long time since he had to restart any of his katas.

What if you share your memories from your previous Soul-Bound with me? Not all dragons experienced a soul-bound, but with their long lives, those who did experience it had a chance to have multiple soul-bonds in a lifetime. The most he'd ever heard of was a single dragon having four soul-bound humans before they died.