The Echo of a False Hero

Elias walked into the tower at the top of Ashwood, remarking to himself that he had been here too much in the past couple of weeks.

Elias saw Kaela looking towards the shrine basin in the middle of the room before glancing towards one of the corners, where a shadow formed into a veiled woman.

What were her powers? Morphing into shadows? The ability to erase her presence?

Elias's eyes flickered back to the matriarch, whose amber eyes fell onto him.

"I must say I'm impressed. Taking down a monster by yourself is something that does not happen usually." Her amber eyes scanned Elias's face, which remained neutral.

"Thank you for your words." The boy did not feel like he had won a great victory. If anything, he had scraped by with the skin of his teeth and some luck. If his shield had not been there as he landed, his death would have been guaranteed.

"I heard you gave a description of the monster to Velyian as well. Maybe if the monster reappears, even with a different interpretation, it will save some poor soul from getting mauled." Kaela sighed before stating, "You're now a Voidwalker of the Ashurn clan. You will work with other Voidwalkers on missions as well as attacking rifts that appear. However, based on your description of your newfound powers, your role may change from an ordinary one."

Elias's eyebrow slightly raised. "Please elaborate."

"Your status as somebody who has a sigil and is accepted by Ashurn has improved morale, fake or not. You've stated that you can copy some abilities and techniques?"

Elias nodded his head. He felt the pulsating of the voidshard in his chest before stating clearly, "My ability to copy the power of others is weak compared to the main ability, the power to copy techniques. Although the weaknesses have not fully come to me."

Kaela nodded. "A useful first power, for sure. Its versatility will surely treat you well. However, if we send you on a mission right now in your current state, you will die for sure. What you need now is some more combat ability to help you survive. Blessed Voidwalkers in Ashurn usually train for two years straight before they are sent on their first mission. You will also do this, unless you are proven to be capable enough to quit before that time period, which has only happened a couple of times." A sense of pride came up on the face of Kaela, nearly causing Elias to roll his eyes.

Just say it's you.

Kaela's eyes flickered before she sighed. "We can't afford to give you many privileges, as we do not trust you fully quite yet. However, since Ashurn has accepted you and you have survived an encounter on your own, we have accepted that you have the potential to be an elite Voidwalker and therefore have set something that will help you a lot."

Elias frowned. "What is it?"

"A teacher. One of the most powerful Voidwalkers we probably have, and someone who can utilize the Ashborn techniques more than I can. She won us many great battles against the church and royal family, all the way to her coming into retirement due to an injury. As such, you will treat her with greater respect than you are giving me now. Her name is Rhaegon of the Black Ash." Kaela had a sense of majesty, commanding like a natural king. But Elias did not know what it was, but he did not feel respect for the matriarch. He bent his head and stated, "Thank you."

The veiled woman blended into the shadow as Elias caught this and frowned. He looked towards Kaela, who had noticed the boy's confusion.

"Let us walk. I will walk you to her."

Elias nodded his head as he began to walk with the matriarch down the watchtower. When they finally got outside, she started to explain.

"A piece of advice if you want to live for the next two years: do not mention the veiled woman in front of her. If there's one thing that pisses her off, it's that." The majesty of Kaela faded as she snorted, almost in laughter. "They hate each other more than a cat and mouse, even when Rhaegon was young."

"Young? How old is the veiled woman?"

Kaela's smile dropped. "Hundreds. At least three generations back, although I do not know the full extent. She's been the right-hand woman for my father, grandfather, great-grandfather at least. That's all I will say. Now come on."

They walked behind the watchtower to a training ground that had swords and spears of craft that Elias recognized as the work of the blacksmith shop he used to watch. The dark, ashen steel of each weapon illuminated in the sunlight as Elias felt a suppressing aura.

His head locked onto the source.

Rhaegon's skin was a deep, weathered bronze. Scars and calluses littered her body without shame. Her hair, dark brown, had been overtaken by streaks of silver, cut short and uneven, as if grooming was an afterthought to survival. It framed her sharp, angular face, the lines of her jaw and cheekbones giving her a gaunt yet resolute appearance. Her remaining eye was a striking ember-orange, burning with an intensity that made it difficult to meet her gaze for long. The other was concealed beneath a strip of dark cloth tied firmly, as if she had long since stopped caring about the wound it hid. Her build was imposing, not just in height but in sheer presence. Broad shoulders, a frame thick with old muscle. Even with one arm, she carried herself as if she were unchallenged, as if her missing limb was nothing more than a forgotten detail in the grander scheme of things.

She let out a deep groan as she watched the two arrive in the training field. Elias felt her eyes scan his whole body, letting out a shiver.

Her aura was suppressing, to say the least. Elias felt like he could not move easily as he stepped with the matriarch towards the tall woman.

Her movement was flawless as she flicked her wrist, sending two daggers aimed directly at their heads. Elias couldn't even move as Kaela grabbed hers by the leather and blocked Elias's for him.

He would have died if not for Kaela right now.

"I thought you told me my new toy would be fun, 'Matriarch.'" She said that with a sense of gloating, as if she didn't see Kaela as the leader of Ashwood. "Who is this piece of shit?"

"A fake hero. I believe his power will be interesting for you, as somebody who has gained many techniques from fighting monsters and humans alike."

Kaela looked towards Elias with a piece of sympathy before walking off. "I have work to attend to. Have fun."

Have fun? Elias looked towards the tall woman who looked at him like he was a bug. Have fun?

"Do not test me, boy. I do not teach toys that I do not believe have value in entertaining me. Grab any weapon here and come fight me."

Elias looked towards the weapons on the side before getting a spear out of his hands. The moment he turned his back, the woman shot out like a flash, appearing directly behind him. She lowered her head and whispered into his ear.

"Don't trust anything your enemy says, fool." She vertical kicked him in the jaw, causing him to go flying in the air. He spun in the air before she delivered several punches in a short period of time to his chest with one hand, sending him flying against a sword cabinet.

Elias spat out blood as he looked down at his chest. It felt... it felt like somebody with a greathammer had smashed him every time.

"Every time a toy appears in front of me, I have to instill my values into them. Voidwalkers like us have better bodies and better healing abilities. I would be a fool not to use them, boy."

That basically translated to Elias being about to get beaten to death.

Elias barely got himself up as she turned into a flash. Her movements were ungraspable, with a method of shifting and stepping that made it focus on her technique. A voidshard... no... this is some form of movement technique that was possible with her strong body.

Elias guarded his body from her punch, as he was slammed back down onto the floor.

"How uninteresting. Maybe a month in bed will teach that impudent girl a lesson."

Reality fragmented. Rhaegon's eyes dilated as she jumped backwards a bit.

What was that? It felt like the world stopped for a fragment of a second, something only possible to pick up with her perception. Crystalline water flooded around Elias, as the boy felt his body move, before looking into the reflection of Rhaegon, smiling at him. Slowly reaching his hand to the image, the hand of the crystalline Rhaegon touched his.

When Elias touched the hand, he saw the power of 'what he could be,' the possibilities of copying the power. It was intoxicating.

If he reached too deep, then he would be swallowed.

Rhaegon looked at herself. Has she grown that old that she's pushed back by some grass that's barely developed its roots? Pitiful. Such impudence does not deserve her title. It will not happen again.

"You pissed me off, boy." Rhaegon looked at her fist before her eyes locked onto Elias, who was in a trance. The pool of water retracted into him as Elias could feel the voidshard seep into his body a bit more naturally.

But the coil of the void grew.

Rhaegon flickered her body, this time far faster than what she was before. But as her punch was delivered to Elias's kidney, the boy flickered, mimicking her technique. However, he was only able to copy the one that she showed before what she just did.

Elias appeared across the battlefield, away from her. She snorted, looking at him. Blood seeped from his legs as he slumped to the ground.

Rhaegon paused, analyzing the boy's power.

What an interesting concept. In her many battles, she had seen things similar, but not like this. A flawed mimicking ability that allows this uninteresting boy to fully utilize the concept and how to use the power he sees. But the restrictions that she could see so far are that he could not grasp the weaknesses of the ability he uses, e.g., the toll it took on the legs to perform it, and he was inexperienced. If it was her then, she would have immediately gone behind and counter-attacked, however, the boy used it to flee based on the perception that she would have responded faster than he used it.

Rhaegon leisurely walked towards a rapier before picking it up.

"There are many forms of codified fighting styles in this world. Many voidshards grant physical enhancements, and every stage of using a voidshard grants a physical baptism. Higher speed, higher power, higher recovery. Funny enough, this leads to death more times than not as people cannot utilize their strength fully. The Ashborn codified technique, in my eyes, is one of the best. It's what took them to the royal status, all those years ago, and one of the reasons why I came here. You notice my lack of burn scars? That's because I do not believe in any god or ascended being or whatever the fuck people believe in. I only have one god, and that's strength." Rhaegon looked over to Elias, who had his eyes closed.

He seemed like he was asleep. His breathing pattern was faint.

"Seriously? You're going to die from only that?" Rhaegon clicked her tongue as she walked over.

Rhaegon bent over before examining his wounds. They were bad, but they weren't fatal.

Her eyes rapidly opened as she heard his breathing go back to normal. She watched as he flicked behind her, her tongue clicking.

"Don't trust anything your enemy says." Elias repeated the words as he kicked her neck. But he found that instead of her flesh, it was her hand. Looking up, he saw that she had thrown the rapier into the sky and blocked the attack with her hand. She knew he was going to go there before he even attacked?

Elias was sent flying once more. This time, his legs were shattered from the recoil of the movement technique. He groaned on the floor as Rhaegon caught the rapier flawlessly.

"You get full points for that one. Interesting, boy!" She spun the rapier around her hand like a toothpick. "As I was saying, the Ashborn technique—"

She groaned once more.

Seriously? Now he's unconscious?

Kids these days. Even that impudent girl lasted longer.

But he had potential, that's for sure.

Potential to learn from Rhaegon, The Black Ash.