He felt like he was falling forever. He almost let his eyes close.
The endless embrace of darkness was overwhelming, he could not see, and nor could he smell. The only thing he could hear was the ringing. It grew louder. Yet he continued to fall. He had already been falling for what had to have been at least 10 minutes. His eyes kept drooping. But he forced them back.
'A damn mind trick.'
He despised attacks on the mind. He grit his teeth slightly and bit tongue a bit to keep his eyes open.
The essence of power in the world is the will of a being. And the will of whatever was lurking in the darkness was overpowering him.
He grumbled and looked up, there was no visible light. His own body was shrouded by the darkness, a comforting feeling almost. Which he quickly shook away.
'If only I could exert my will properly in this damn body...'
To master one's will, it took them days of calibrating their body, along with just having the strength to do so.
'Unlucky...I'm so damn unlucky...'
He gripped the dagger tight and attempted to start calibrating his body, focusing the very small will he had contained within. And peered within his will, he looked within and saw his will was like a flowing river, but it was scattered across his body, unfocused, unchanneled.
He bit the inside of his cheek, drawing a bit of blood. The pressure being exerted on his will only got heavier as he fell further and focused on controlling his will, exerting his mind even further as he tried to guide it and calibrate it fully.
The flood of energy throughout his body was extremely hard to tame. Especially by trying to force it in place.
'There's no time for this...'
He gave up on trying to calibrate it fully, and simply forced it into place temporarily.
He gained a burst of strength and exerted his will onto the area around him. Sparks of red light burst out for a few moments and the darkness started to recede. An unshaped will was weak, but the will being exerted onto him wasn't too strong as well.
'Finally some peace and-'
His thought was interrupted by something cracking beneath his feet. And as the darkness receded, he saw shards of yellow ivory scattered under his feet.
'Bones...'
The sparks of red light retracted back into his body and his will weakened along with his body.
Bones littered the floor, both human, and not human.
'Seems I've found the den...'
The cave he was in was surrounded by moss, just like the peak of the mountain, lush and green. Yet the air was thick, the smell of rot. The smell of plague.
'That damn bird is close bye...'
He took his steps carefully, the bones cracking under his feet, some even piercing through, getting a slight grunt out of Aldr.
He picked up the intact bones, and felt around for sturdier ones.
'Might as well collect these. Might need them.'
After a while of walking around he let out a sigh and slumped up against the wall of moss. Holding a human skull in his hand.
"Hm, poor you, succumbing to that thing's mind games..."
Of course he didn't get a response.
'Have I gone mad?'
He tossed the skull into the darkness and took a deep breath, and then began shaping his will once again. The torrent of energy within his body had turned a thick and pure vermilion red. Carrying no intent or focus, simply wandering aimlessly throughout his body and soul.
Though sitting on a pile of bones in his undergarments wasn't exactly the most comfortable situation, he had to take the moment of respite before entering into battle with whatever was waiting for him in the dark.
Shifting his will into the proper paths was as hard as it had always been, no matter how much experience one had. His sweat drooped down his forehead as he clenched his teeth together, trying to keep his mind intact. The endless flow of his will was colliding with his brain as he attempted to guide it through his arms, legs, chest, and head. It had to be properly calibrated through every vein, every organ, and every inch of his body.
And he had to do it quick.
'It must've noticed by now...'
His will was flying out in red sparks. If the creatures of the dark didn't sense him earlier, they must have now.
His teeth grinded against each other as he sharpened his will across his body, calibrating it into everywhere he could. Before he heard bones start to crack. Echoing off the cavern walls.
'Shit.'
He kept focusing on guiding his will, he was so close. Yet the sounds only drew closer, and he wasn't able to speed up any further.
"Oi. Snap out of it."
Aldr was surprised, and slowly opened his eyes to see a man. A human. With green blood painted across his chest. He was tall. Wearing a brown sleeveless tunic with straps on them that held various things. Along with a makeshift belt of the same nature, brown tattered pants, and a tall pair of leather boots, with a hood over his head. His figure was quite imposing, tall and wide with muscles bulging out of his arms.
"This isn't a place most people just wander into and survive. You got lucky."
The man set down the giant bone club he had in his hands and let out a sigh. As Aldr focused.
"Could you...give me a few moments?"
The man raised his eyebrow and studied Aldr for a moment before turning around and going silent.
It only took about 20 more minutes for him to finish guiding his will. Opening his eyes and standing to find the man looking at him again.
"Who are you?"
The man had a stoic gaze, scars ran across his face, meeting his fiery orange eyes.
"You can call me Aldr."
The man chuckled.
"A good name, now...what are you doing here practically unclothed?"
"They were drying off."
The man picked up his bone club.
"I have no name anymore. But if you'd like, just call me Hunter."
Aldr noticed the odd trend, both humans he had met so far did not have names, anymore at least.
'Does anyone in this damn world have a name?'
Aldr simply nodded and focused back to the bone pile he had created next to him.
"One moment. Hunter."
He picked up the pile of bones and took a deep breath before exerting his will onto the bones. Although the sparks had given him that skill, without will and the intent to use it, it was useless. As will was made up of 3 major factors, concentration, intent, and shape. Concentration involved the amount of will, the will's pure force. The intent was how it was meant to be used, like killing intent, which empower the will. And then the shape, used to shape the will or to shape other things, to shape the will would be the shape of flames. With the intent to burn. A low concentration would be a measly spark. But a high concentration would be a raging inferno.
Aldr channeled his will into the bones, watching vermilion sparks fly, as he produced the intent to forge, using his mind to force his intent onto his will and shape the bones into the form of a blade. The lower concentration of will was making the procedure arduous. And sweat began to pile down his forehead.
But it was worth it, as minutes later, a sleek sword forged of yellow ivory laid in front of him. And the sparks began to form words.
[Created Item: Bone Blade]