The beholder.
Nothing escaped his gaze. From the flicker of a grin on Jake's face to every individual feather on the arrow aimed at Fae.
They were one. His heightened sight was hers—perfect synchronicity.
In an instant, the ground split open. A rupture from which emanated pure dread, a bottomless abyss.
From its void a tendril emerged, deflecting the arrow while slamming itself into the ground, cracking it deeply before being reeled back into the darkness it came from.
Fae didn't even flinch.
Alexander turned toward Jake, his cold gaze set onto his eyes.
Jake's superior look fluttered, as he witnessed the infinite depth of Alexander's darkness.
Sweat ran down his back, his hand slightly shaking as he tightly clutched the pad in his hands.
Alexander then felt a hand on his shoulder, slightly confused as he could still see Fae coming his way, and without the Will Breaker's sight anything beyond him was complete and distant darkness.
"Don't waste your time with him."
Alexander turned to his right, meeting the smiling face of another participant.
He wore something that looked like a mage's robe, holding a short staff made of intertwining wood.
His brown messy hair paired with his slightly tired eyes betrayed his lack of sleep.
"The name I received was 'Silver's vow', but just silver should be fine."
Alexander could see Jake ignoring the situation, going back to barking orders left and right.
Fae was back beside him, his heart slightly appeased by her presence.
"I'm Veil," he replied.
"It's clear he had you going with those using projectiles on purpose. I'm guessing he hoped you'd go up there yourself…" said Silver.
"Yeah."
"I don't understand why they've been treating you poorly. I mean, I know, the 'cultist' thing, but I don't understand why it's a big deal."
Alexander locked eyes with Silver, who quickly looked away.
"You probably felt it, just now, didn't you? It feels like your breath was taken away, as if something slithered over you and tried to overtake you."
Alexander's eyebrows both raised.
Silver slowly turned his head, his eyes matching Alexander's once more.
"Not… that big of a deal…"
Silver's body twitched slightly, as if shivers kept running down his spine despite his attempts to hide it. He even forced a smile through, an attempt Alexander found commendable.
The crosses slowly faded from Alexander's and Fae's gaze. The heightened perception left with it, but the darkness faded.
Silver looked instantly more comfortable, standing upright without the little twitches.
They both walked to the back of the group, while the others underwent their test.
"I heard, you're a cultist, right?" said Silver.
"That's what they call me."
"And she is too?" he asked, pointing at Fae.
"She's my companion. I found her in my inner path."
Surprise flashed in Silver's face, a reaction shared with those at the back of the small crowd who overheard him.
"A humanoid companion? That's… extremely rare. I mean, not rare… unheard of."
Alexander laid a hand on Fae's head.
"I was lucky," he said.
"Yeah. And the way she moved… You're both already quite strong, and if you're here it means you're still level 1? You'll probably start B rank, and go up to A the moment you level up a little…"
"A-rank? I doubt it."
"You shouldn't. Beast tamers, summoners and necromancers all innately have higher ranks. The advantages of having a companion is immense. Most people going through their inner path would jump on the opportunity to get one."
Alexander glanced at Fae.
It was true, he remembered reading about it when scouring blogs and internet posts about dungeon runners.
Companions were rare, extremely so, and those who had the number's advantage easily made it up the food chain.
"You get stronger, she gets stronger… The first humanoid that isn't just a raised corpse, it's truly amazing."
Silver then paused, tapping his lips with his index finger.
"She isn't a raised corpse, is she?" he asked.
Silver's tone was one of amazement, wonder and curiosity, something he admired if anything.
The first person to treat him decently, besides Sunder.
"She's not a corpse, no signs of decay at all. She doesn't have any heartbeat, however."
Silver nodded, looking to the ground deep in thought.
"Her legs are quite interesting, I wonder what kind of technology this is… It has to be mixed with magic somehow. Maybe she's not alive, yet is kept alive with a curse that's keeping her body intact? But then someone would have to keep supplying her with some sort of mana. If you're not a necromancer, and found her in your inner path, the most likely scenario is one of a beast tamer, but she isn't a beast… and isn't alive… unless she doesn't require a heartbeat…"
Silver's train of thought was going directly from his brain through his lips, saying any thought out loud as they came to him.
There was no malice, nor any venom in any words he said, something differentiating him from the likes of Jake.
Fae was a blessing, but he had no idea where she came from.
"What's your archetype?" asked Silver, after a long series of thoughts.
"Specialist," replied Alexander.
"That's the usual archetype that has companions…"
"What's yours?" asked Alexander.
"Ah, I'm a support," he replied.
"That's why your attacks were so weak, against the dummy."
Silver's strikes were almost invisible, like wind whips that snapped on the dummies.
He noticed them, the moment Fae was done with her own strikes. Barely anyone else did, understandably.
Silver wasn't at all offended.
"Yeah, those wind strikes are the only offensive spells I have. It's quite hard as a support to rank high, my archetype requires someone else to receive my buffs, which in itself is complicated to measure depending on the buff."
"Well, at least you'll rank up swiftly, I doubt any guild would turn down a support."
"We could team up, if you want," said Silver.
Alexander frowned, taken by surprise by the spontaneous offer.
Running dungeons required to form a group, it was impossible to tell in advance what one would encounter in a dungeon. The only thing the Adventurer's Guild could do was measure its difficulty.
Having an ally would prove useful, especially if it was one that didn't look down on him.
"Even if I'm a cultist?" asked Alexander.
"That word has no meaning to me," replied Silver.