Using the forest with its densely packed trees and their branches as protection from the Red Sun, the relatively bloodied group was making progress towards Castle Agar.
Rykel and Lady Eryn were the only ones remaining in a normal condition as the former led the latter along, with only small nicks on Rykel's chainmail as proof that he was somewhat involved in battle.
Solstice now had access to his new special sensory ability, which was quite nice! Solstice no longer felt like a useless generic human, he felt as if he was finally something more, but it would take some time getting used to. When Lord Rykel had lifted the "blockage", all the information regarding his Gift flooded his mind.
His earlier suspicions about his fate being unique and powerful were also correct, as he was granted a Divine Gift, meaning that his Gift is one directly tied to a god, one of the God's powersets, in his case, that god was the Solstice God.
It was mainly a passive ability, and could technically be used actively as well. To put it simply, it could omnidirectionally sense/feel anything so long as they're within range of this ability and exist within the "World". He could also glean further detailed information from anything within range if he were to actively seek and focus on what exactly he was trying to break down.
As what the "World" meant, it seemed to simply imply anything related to Matter, Energy, Space and Time. So, anything existing within the "World", or affecting the "World", he can sense it so long as it was within his radius, which was currently 10 meters.
That was just his Gift ability, apparently he also now carried a little bit of the Solstice God's blood, meaning he also inherited a bloodline trait. In the perceptions of other beings with sensory abilities, Solstice is viewed the same as a random object, or could view as a natural occurence/element of the "World". This made it much harder for other beings with extrasensory capabilities to sense him normally, with the exception being if the person or entity were to outclass him greatly, or they directly and greatly tried to focus on him. Although the Red Sun surely outclassed him, he believed that he was almost completely invisible to its targeting when scrutinized under its gaze simply due to the distance, meaning that he was the only person a part of the retinue that could safely move around, and observe at all times.
This trait also granted him an extra unique sensitivity to spiritual phenomena, and the presence of other "Worlds" beside the one that he is currently residing in. As far as his understanding went, other "Worlds" probably meant other realms.
Truly, this trait and Gift were fantastical, and excited Solstice. However, the amount of sensory information he was being bombarded by he could not fully handle, making him feel sick and loopy. Luckily, it seemed that the potency of his Gift was being subconsciously limited to a level to where he was only sensing surface level information, being limited to only feeling the contours of physical things within his radius.
Lady Eryn, was still in her semi-unconscious state, so it was decided that Rykel would carry her on his shoulders until they made it to Castle Agar. Anyone who saw Rykel as the young knight, a mere boy who was better fit to be a squire, would be very surprised to see him carrying another human while bearing the weight of wearing his armor for so long. The heat was another thing that was barely bearable, especially wearing all that armor, it would feel like they were slowly being cooked alive, luckily there was plenty of shade that made it a lot easier to endure.
Of course, Solstice knew Rykel was no mere young human boy, or even if Rykel was truly human at all, but the other human comrades hadn't a clue of Rykel's true nature. Solstice thought that, maybe their superhuman ally, Sir Bloodworth, had a slight suspicion. Solstice caught him glancing at Rykel from time to time as they continued to travel and if Solstice noticed this, Rykel surely noticed that behavior as well. Whether Rykel was a untrustful ally or not was not fully determined yet either, there was a chance by the end of this, he would become the final obstacle to finish Solstice's Chain Trial, but for now, Rykel has not given Solstice an outright reason to earn his full distrust.
This break for Solstice gave him some much needed time to start thinking about his new abilities.
One thing that came to mind, theoretically, he didn't really need his eyes and the sense of sight they provided to get around anymore! Which was a fantastic boon, considering he didn't know if he would ever wind up in a situation where his sense of sight would be detrimental or unavailable for him, he could simply substitute it.
Another benefit, being able to sense and feel everything through this medium, allowed him to react to any changes within his immediate area, granted, only if they happened to be within his ten meter radius, but that would greatly increase his speed of reaction too. It was also worthy of note that his sensory ability seemingly couldn't be obstructed, at least not normally, as it could pierce through walls, trees, or whatever might be seen as an obstacle to his senses.
While many people would rely on a supernatural sense reactively, Solstice was thinking of ways to apply it proactively.
Where he was currently at with it, he was only feeling the contours of everything. Solstice was thinking that if he was able to increase his tolerance, he could allow himself to start feeling precise information, to which he could actively apply during combat.
One such example would be to focus so intently on how things moved in relation to the atmosphere. Another example, would also be able to feel certain muscle groups tensing or relaxing from his opponent, thereby providing him with precise information to accurately guess what type of attack would be thrown and where. To be able to feel something so subtle would require much mental concentration but this would be proactive in a defensive way, Solstice also thought about how he could turn it offensively as well.
Using the same application for defensive measures, he could very well use this precise information to measure the balance of his opponent and measure which side is appropriately guarded and which is not. This would then allow Solstice to discern and enter any pockets that his opponent may have thought were not present and exploit them, of course, Solstice would need the adequate footwork and timing to enter these pockets.
He could also use this for utility purposes, Solstice could also use this to tell if someone was desperately trying to hide a lie, as their heart rate increased, the blood flow and its speed increased, therefore also a very slight increase the energy and heat their body emitted, which would then make very subtle changes to the atmosphere around the person.
Of course, if they were a very good liar, this way of detecting lies probably wouldn't work.
Trying to feel such minute changes in the atmosphere and temperature sounded nigh impossible to Solstice, at least for now, but with time and practice, he felt like he would eventually be able to do it. At least for the time being until he trained it to be so exact, it's still a great additive to his reactive capabilities, with some added utility uses.
This was only one part of his combat and utility competence, he still needed to get in shape and learn actual fighting technique, increase his tolerance to raise his sensory level, but unexpectedly to him, the future was looking quite bright for once.
Eventually, that ten meter radius, Solstice would turn it into his own personal absolute control zone, where everything and everyone in that area was under his "watch". That was without the prospect of expanding that radius even further as well!
Even with these great ideas for application, flaws were still ever so present.
A flaw that was present in every sensory ability, one that Solstice was already experiencing the effects of, was sensory information overload. If there was too much provided data for Solstice to process mentally, his mind would numb and it would become hard for him to control himself.
Because Solstice could sense anything within his radius so long as it existed with the 'World', having the image of the area not only constantly projected in his mind to analyze, but it also almost felt like he was touching everything in his radius, making his skin crawl at the uncomfortable sensation.
All of these could be exploited by a cunning enemy. Solstice could combat this somewhat by simply increasing his tolerance to these issues, but he wasn't sure he would ever be immune, too extreme of any of these things would still hinder him.
"What are you thinking about so intensely, Drifter?" It was Rykel, Solstice remembered that he was invited into a conversation with him, but he wound up lost in thought.
"The future." Solstice glanced at Rykel, his expression was that of someone who was curious.
"Something troubling you Drifter?" Rykel probed further.
"Yes and no. It's about my new perceptions. I welcome them because they are quite the boon but the overwhelming sensory information is giving me a stubborn headache." Solstice gave an acceptable answer.
"Ah…unfortunately I have no shady medicines to give you to solve that."
"Do you have shady medicines?" Solstice asked blankly as they continued walking.
"I was saying that in jest you fool." Rykel chuckled. As Rykel's laughter fell away, an inky jet black liquid leaked from his nose, like a nose bleed.
"Rykel, your nose." Rykel's expression quickly changed as he wiped the substance away in a hurry with a cloth. The sudden reaction surprised Solstice, he could tell that Rykel's mood turned sour and he had a good guess why.
Solstice didn't know what that inky black blood could mean, but maybe the superhuman flail knight knew what it was, and the superhuman had always kept glancing at Rykel since their departure. For whatever reason the flail knight was slightly suspicious of him, Rykel did not like that he had slipped up, there was a chance the flail knight had seen the black blood.
Solstice looked away from Rykel and towards Sir Bloodworth who was in front of them along with the other knights. His face was forward, as he kept the position of being the forefront of the group, still walking as he normally did, not showing signs that he had seen Rykel's leaky nose.
Solstice was already somewhat suspicious of Rykel's true nature. All of his interactions with him gave him an image of an eccentric guy. That did not mean that Solstice could trust Rykel.
The goat-like eyes he had shown Solstice, his knowledge of many things, lifting Solstice's "blockage", his superior physicality, referring to himself with the title of Lord and his overall care-free demeanor in a shitty situation were far from considered normal.
Then again, not much could be considered normal when it came to all things having to do with the Wyrd.
Which is why Solstice gave Rykel the benefit of the doubt, but if he needed to hide some things from the other humans who were supposed to be allies, especially since Solstice was deprived of basic knowledge regarding the Wyrd, it could be that Rykel was far from a slightly creepy, eccentric ally.
It could be the opposite, Rykel could be a super creepy, eccentric enemy!
Walking side by side with Rykel, Solstice could feel the sour mood permeate the air, he was not very talkative anymore, which was uncomfortably different to the chatty side that he was used to.
Solstice turned his attention back to his newfound power, his extrasensory ability, which was currently giving him a mean headache. The throbbing pain was worse earlier, especially when it was first tapped into, luckily for Solstice it subsided a little bit. Just because it was painful, and only increased in pain when concentrated on, did not mean Solstice shouldn't train.
His journey to honing it down to feel minute details started now.
This process, pretty much consumed all of Solstice's train of thought, the only other thing he could somewhat consciously control was continuing to simply walk forward and entertain small talk, the rest of his mind was occupied in attempting to grasp details presented to him by his new perceptions. Focusing on the information provided by his newly awakened senses really accentuated his headache, it would take him time for his mind to be assimilated with the constant flow of information.
A few minutes went by with no trouble, it was then that Solstice knew his trial was at its very end, because they exited the cursed forest.
There were beautifully pristine white marble walls in front of them, which were a part of Castle Agar. The main gate was roughly half a kilometer east, they didn't really need to worry about the Red Sun, they did not have to travel much further at all.
'Just a little bit more.' The surviving group was ragged, bloody and tired, no one wanted to speak and to save their breaths for a nice comfy bed behind the safe walls. Or at least, the knights, Lady Eryn and Rykel were, Solstice was to be sent back to his real body, in the real world.
One hundred meters, one hundred meters was how far away the entrance gate was to them, their journey bound to be over. Guards armed with crossbows manned the ramparts, looking upon the tired escorts. Sir Bloodworth caught the attention of a small group overhead the gate, and threw a hand signal to them. The group of guards immediately went into action, opening the gate for them to enter, but instead, many guards were positioned in front with fighting spirit.
"I guess I can stop acting now." A body flew in the air towards the castle guards, which they hurriedly caught, it was Lady Eryn.
'That was Rykel's voice.' Solstice dashed to the side, or at least he thought he did, but his legs didn't move, instead he found a hole in his stomach. Solstice's longsword dropped to the ground as he could no longer find the strength to carry it and he looked at Rykel, who was no longer a mere squire boy playing knight.
'Isn't he afraid of incurring a deity's wrath….?' Solstice acutely remembered that detail that Rykel had mentioned to him. Solstice's thoughts were fleeting, and so was his remaining strength.
Rykel was not an ally, or human.