As Kharon pondered the meaning of what had just transpired, he suddenly screamed in agony as he was assaulted by a maddening headache.
His vision turned dark and blurry as he saw flashes of a chaotic scene. A flash of light that seemed to illuminate the whole world, a myraid of winged beings flying through a blood-red sky, the screams of women and children as they were ruthlessly cut down...
Kharon saw all these scenes in a flash, they were gone as quickly as they had arrived. He could feel something wet flowing in his nose as he wiped the blood slowly making it's way down his lips.
After wiping the blood, Kharon realised he was lying down on his back, the cold floor of the mauseleum providing him with some much needed respite after what had just happened.
He slowly stood up as he began thinking of what he had just seen. It seemed to have been a war of sorts. A mystical one at that, considering what he saw.
Kharon was unsure of what to make of the new knowledge he had received, but he was convinced that he had somehow played a major part in that war. He didn't know how someone as weak as him could have done anything significant considering the level of power that each person participating had weilded but he was sure of himself.
He decided to focus his attention on the powers he had received after the ritual. Maybe it would allow him to fight and kill the bloodlusted creature that was still circling him with it's piercing gaze; which had become even sharper.
As Kharon scanned through his memories, his face which had been filled with a bright smile at the prospect of gaining new, powerful abilities slowly changed into a strange grimace as his eyes widened in horror.
"Veiling, Past Recollection, Erased Presence, Hidden Hand and Silent Craft...?"
Kharon said these words slowly with a long pause before bursting into laughter.
"Ofcourse I was given such weak abilities.", he said in a calm tone. "What was I expecting from the path of mysteries. Flaming swords? Light rays?"
Kharon continued talking to himself for a while before becoming silent once more. He wasn't really as upset as he was pretending to be.
He wasn't fully sure but suspected that the wolf-like creature could understand what he was saying, and was trying to misdirect it by acting upset due to the seemingly weak abilities he got.
The abilities he had gotten sounded weak but were extremely dangerous if used correctly. Veiling was an ability which allowed the weilder to "veil" anything they wanted as long as they were strong enough. If he wanted Kharon could veil the obsidian slate and change the contents written on it or even change it's colour if he wanted.
The obsidian slate wouldn't really change, but the illusion would fool anyone who saw it. And Kharon was sure that this ability would only get stronger as he ascended.
Past Recollection was a misleading name as it didn't allow Kharon to recall memories from his past. Instead he could extract memories from others. However the memories he extracted were random and tended to be secrets hidden by the individual. The more important the secret, the more likely it was to be revealed to Kharon.
Erased Presence wasn't an ability but rather a passive trait possessed by a weilder of the path of mysteries. This makes their presence almost imperceivable to other weilders of the same tier or below. While making them invisible to mundane people unless they wish to be seen by them.
Hidden Hand, despite the name; which suggested having a third, invisible arm, was an ability which allowed the weilder to levitate and control objects without physical contact. Kharon was unsure of the weight limit but he was sure that lifting the Obsidian slate was not out of the question as the ability seemed to scale with his own physical strength but was stronger by several fold.
And finally, what he considered the best ability; Silent Craft. It allowed the weilder to create an invisible object or weapon which only they could perceive. It could also be paired with Hidden Hand for deadly attacks which enemies would never see coming...
Kharon laughed at his joke before turning his head towards the creature. He was surprised to see that it had stopped circling him and was standing on guard, as if ready to fight.
A smile slowly creapt onto Kharon's face as he decided to go and fight it.
Fighting would be a great way of testing out his new found abilities, so why not go against the enemy that was patiently waiting for him. If he was unable to defeat this creature even with his new found powers then how would he fair later on if there was to be a stronger creature?
Kharon took slow steps towards the outer ring of the runic circle until he was a step away from the creature. He breath in and exhaled slowly as his eyes turned a shade of light purple, similar to that of the creature's before he lunged at it with terrfiying speeds.
His body had been augmented a great deal after the ritual and his processing speed was off te charts. Before he could barely out run the creature despite having a head start but now, he was keeping up with it and was maybe even faster.
He used Veiling to misdirect the creature, by making it seem like he was aiming for a punch on it's nose, while he actually going for it's eye. The creature somehow managed to dodge the illusion and still reacted to the finger accelerating towards it's eye.
It quickly leapt back with a glint of pure rage before it started howling.
The howl wasn't very loud, but it made Kharon sway as his senses were suddenly dulled. His vision had turned dark and he became unable of hearing anything. While his other senses were affected, it wasn't as severe as the worsening of his sight and hearing.
Before he could react to the sudden shift in his senses, Kharon suddenly felt a sharp pain on his left arm; he had managed to take a single step back and put on his arm to try and defend himself but he didn't expect that the creature would attack him as quickly as it did.
He could feel his hand slowly becoming numb as the creature continued to bite down on it, his bones had began to fracture under the force exerted from the creature's bite.
Kharon was scared that he would die of blood loss because of how much blood he had used during the ritual, but he knew that someone like him; an arcane weilder wouldn't die of something as trivial as blood loss despite his low rank.
Kharon used his right arm to punch the creature's maw which caused it to loosen the grip it had on his arm. He then kicked it under it's stomach which sent the creature flying a few meters away.
His left arm hung limply; blood continuously flowing from the deep gash left behind by the creature's sharp fangs. Kharon decided to try and end the fight as quickly as possible. He would have other opportunities to test out his abilities in the future. But he had to survive and see that future come to fruition.
As the creature lunged towards him, Kharon came up with a plan in a split second and decided to use Veiling again.
This time he made himself stand still, but the creature didn't fall for this obvious ploy and stopped a few feet away before closing it's eyes and angling it's body directly towards Kharon.
Kharon had predicted this outcome and had stepped a few feet back, waiting for the creature to see through his first plan and fall right into his second one.
As the creature lunged again towards Kharon; this time at his real body. Kharon used Silent Craft and created a sword, but instead of holding it, he used Hidden Hand to make it levitate in the air.
The creature had already committed to it's attack so it couldn't dodge the attack in mid-air, especially because of how the delay in which Kharon summoned the sword.
The creature skewered itself onto the sword as it's stomach was sliced straight through, with the sword coming out of it's back. The creature's body just hung in the air, quickly losing a lot of blood as it's life was slowly snuffed out; it's light purple eyes turning dull and grey before closing forever...
Kharon was estatic as he had managed to defeat the very thing which had almost cost him his life. But while feeling happy about it's victory, he couldn't help but feel sad and a bit guilty. He didn't know why he felt this way as the creature had attacked him first and he was merely defending himself but it still felt wrong to him.
As he thought of this, Kharon realised that he hadn't released his ability so the creature's body was still in the air. He slowly stepped up to the creature and released the sword he had summoned while catching the creature's carcass and lowering it to the ground.
He then slightly bowed before turning his end towards where the Obsidian slate had once been before realising that it was gone...