Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

I keep testing Kraken for a few minutes.

I start with simple movements, guiding the blade with both hands to understand the weight and the reach. It follows every change without delay. When I ease the force near the end of a cut, the metal adjusts its own balance. When I shift the angle from the hip, the guard settles into my grip before my fingers have to correct.

Then I begin letting go of it.

Kraken completes a horizontal arc, spins around its own axis, and comes back with the grip aimed at my palm. On another try, I abandon a rising strike to move in with my shoulder. The sword continues alone along the discarded path, flies two feet over my head, and returns from the side.

Veric watches all of it in silence.

Rhayne studies Kraken with her arms crossed, while Oliver keeps a careful distance. The sword seems to accept their presence, as long as nobody tries to approach the grip.

That’s a limit I’ll still need to test with care.

I hold Kraken again and let the point drop. "That’s enough for today."

Veric looks at the state of the plaza. "You just started."

"And tomorrow we have a battle. I’d rather learn the rest without wrecking my arms in the middle of the night."

Kraken tilts the guard slightly against my wrist. I can’t decide whether it’s approving the choice or wants to keep going.

I look at the others. "Good luck tomorrow. Rest well."

Oliver puts his big hammer in his inventory and nods. Rhayne gathers the Battle Ribbon, stepping closer to Veric as he stows the case and the chains brought from the vault.

The two of them leave the plaza together.

I follow them for a few seconds. Rhayne says something low, and Veric answers without looking back. No reason to interrupt or ask.

Oliver points toward the lodgings. "I’m heading back to the Bear Pelt inn." He turns to Zhang Xi. "Want to come with me?"

Zhang Xi folds her hands in front of the gray tunic. "Thank you for the kindness, Oliver, but I’ll stay a little longer."

Oliver looks at me, then at Kraken. "All right. Try not to cut the Academy in half."

"No promises. For you, big guy."

He lets out a laugh and goes.

The silence returns when his footsteps fade down the access corridor. Only the lights around the dry fountain remain, and the distant noise of the Academy sections still awake. The insects singing tonight carry a certain peace.

Zhang Xi waits until we’re alone. "Be careful, Dryden."

I look at Kraken. "With her or with tomorrow?"

"With you."

The answer comes with no change in tone.

Zhang Xi moves closer to the fountain, keeping her eyes on me. "You’re walking through places where help, interest, and threat can share the same spot. The people around you offer things for reasons they rarely show in full."

Rahul, Rae, Dean, and the Deepwarden cross my mind.

The window at the Deep Asylum came out of an old wound, an unfinished negotiation, and an amount of influence I still can’t measure. Kraken is now in my hand after rejecting generations of Veric’s family. Tomorrow, powerful people expect something from me inside the Oathring. She’s right. It’s a lot happening at once.

"I know where I’m stepping," I answer.

Zhang Xi tilts her face. "Maybe. Even so, watch where you put the next foot."

There’s no judgment in her voice. She doesn’t try to steer me away from the risks or demand explanations I can’t offer. She only points at a problem and lets me decide what to do with it.

"Thank you."

She accepts it with a small smile.

I pass Kraken to one hand and hold the other out to her. "Since you decided to stay, will you grant me the honor of this dance?"

Her smile widens. Zhang Xi sets her hand over mine.

I lead her to the center of the markers we used during training. She lets go of my hand and stands in front of me, the gray tunic falling loose around her legs.

"I’ll attack a few times," I explain. "Don’t show aggressive intent. Just step away when you feel you need to, the way you always do."

"You want to find out if it’ll attack me on its own?"

"I want to find out what it considers a threat. Your inner peace never threatens anyone, even in combat."

Zhang Xi nods.

I start with a distant cut, keeping the blade out of her reach. Kraken follows my intent without trying to correct the trajectory.

On the second movement, I cut in a lateral arc and release the sword before entering Zhang Xi’s space. The blade continues for a fraction of a second, then shortens the arc and spins back into my hand. It could have completed the cut. It chose not to.

I test a few more variations.

In one of them, I think about advancing on the right while my body retreats. Kraken leaves my hand, runs the trajectory, and passes in front of Zhang Xi with the edge angled outward. She doesn’t have to move.

When I try to repeat the same movement with firmer intent, Zhang Xi takes a step to the side. Kraken tracks the escape but breaks off the pursuit before I decide to cancel the attack.

The sword understands my intentions and their alternatives. It also judges the target.

After a few more tries, I catch the grip when Kraken returns and end the test.

We sit on the edge of the dry fountain. I rest the sword beside me, keeping a hand near the guard. Kraken stays leaned against the stone, still for the first time since the case was opened.

Zhang Xi studies the blade under the plaza lights. "It’s an interesting sword."

"That’s a gentle way to put it."

"It seems there’s life inside it."

My gaze goes back to Kraken.

Until now, I’d accepted the system’s classification. Conscious Relic. A weapon able to choose a bearer, read intentions, and act alone.

The word Zhang Xi used opens another possibility.

Life.

The Gatekeeper had also existed inside something many would judge to be part of a macabre structure made of souls. Turtarex carried a presence, a memory, a will that went beyond the visible body.

What if Kraken didn’t only hold consciousness?

What if there was life in that sword?

I pick it up and study the metal more closely. The asymmetric guard stays still, but the eye engraved on the pommel catches the light when I turn the grip.

That’s when I find the runes.

They’re marked around the pommel and at the base of the blade, near the guard. Small, deep, and old, almost fused into the dark blue metal. I don’t recognize the language. The symbols don’t match the records the HUD showed either.

"Can you read it?" I ask.

Zhang Xi brings her face closer. "No. It looks ancestral. From before humanity."

I run a small amount of OXI to my fingertips. The glow crosses my skin and gathers at the thumb.

I pass it over the runes, forcing the system to analyze the inscription.

The symbols light in sequence.

A line runs along the pommel, crosses the guard, and reaches the base of the blade. The glow lasts a few seconds before fading.

Nothing happens.

No translation appears. No new description is added to the HUD.

I pull my hand back.

Then a different light shows inside the metal.

It starts near the guard and moves up the center of the blade, thin and deep, far from the blue glow Kraken showed during the bond. The sword shifts against my leg.

A message fills my vision.

[Lost Connection Detected.][Would you like to restore the connection?]

I look at Zhang Xi. She saw the light too, though she couldn’t see the message.

I lower my eyes to Kraken. The sword tilts the pommel against my hand.

[Restore Connection?][YES / NO]

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