Riven remained standing before the weapon rack for several moments after the strange voice disappeared, as he slowly looked over Sky Cleaver once more before tightening both hands around its worn shaft and attempting another experimental swing.
WHOOSH!
The halberd swept awkwardly through the air, with most of its weight once again concentrated around the enormous weapon head, forcing Riven to adjust his footing slightly as the momentum pulled his arms farther than he had intended.
’Still feels strange...’
Riven thought, as he repositioned his hands along the shaft before attempting another swing, followed by a thrust similar to the one he had witnessed the green-eyed god perform within his strange vision.
Naturally, his own movements looked nothing like what he had witnessed.
The thrust came out reasonably straight, however, when Riven attempted to transition into a sideways swing immediately afterwards, his hands failed to move along the shaft correctly, causing the halberd head to dip awkwardly before he managed to regain control.
Yet strangely enough, despite having absolutely no idea how to properly wield the weapon, Sky Cleaver still felt better within his hands than any of the other halberds he had inspected.
The balance remained unfamiliar, and Riven knew that it would probably take considerable practice before he could comfortably use such a weapon in actual combat, however, there was something about the worn shaft beneath his fingers that simply felt right.
Perhaps it was because of the vision he had just witnessed, or perhaps there was something about the weapon itself that he could not properly understand yet, but Riven no longer felt interested in inspecting anything else within the treasury.
"Guess I’ll choose you then."
Riven muttered, as he lowered Sky Cleaver before turning towards the distant entrance of the royal armory.
However, after taking barely two steps, he suddenly felt the weapon shift within his hand.
"Hm?"
Riven immediately stopped.
The long shaft of Sky Cleaver began rapidly shrinking before his eyes, with the strange dark material contracting towards the weapon head until the nearly two-metre-long halberd had reduced itself to something barely larger than the blade mounted upon its end.
Within seconds, the enormous polearm that should have been inconvenient to carry through the castle had transformed into a compact weapon that Riven could comfortably hold within a single hand.
"Oh..."
Riven muttered in surprise, as he raised the shortened weapon closer towards his face before turning it around curiously.
There had been absolutely nothing written upon the faded plaque regarding such an ability, although considering that whoever had recovered Sky Cleaver apparently knew neither its name nor its previous owner, Riven supposed there was little reason for them to understand everything the weapon could do either.
Curious, he tightened his grip around the shortened shaft while imagining the halberd returning to its original form.
SHING!
The weapon immediately expanded.
Riven barely had enough time to move his other hand into position before the shaft extended to its full length, with Sky Cleaver once again resting between both hands exactly as it had moments earlier.
His eyebrows rose.
Then, deliberately imagining himself putting the weapon away, Riven loosened his grip.
Almost immediately, Sky Cleaver contracted again.
"Hahaha..."
Riven chuckled softly, as for the first time since entering the treasury, genuine excitement appeared upon his face.
"So you can do that too."
He muttered, before experimenting with the strange ability several more times.
Whenever Riven firmly gripped the weapon while intending to use it, Sky Cleaver immediately extended to its full length, while the moment his thoughts shifted towards putting it away, the shaft contracted until the halberd became small enough to comfortably clip against his waist.
The transformation seemed to require no Aether from him whatsoever.
More strangely, Riven did not even need to verbally command it, as the weapon appeared capable of recognizing his intentions through physical contact alone, although he had no idea whether that ability would function similarly for anyone else who attempted to wield it.
Regardless, the discovery removed one of the greatest inconveniences that had bothered him about choosing a halberd.
Carrying a full-length polearm everywhere would have been irritating, especially within the Imperial Academy where he imagined himself moving through classrooms and buildings regularly, yet Sky Cleaver’s ability allowed him to carry the weapon almost as conveniently as a noble carried a sword at their waist.
Satisfied with his decision, Riven clipped the shortened weapon against his belt before finally walking towards the exit.
The enormous treasury door opened once the guards outside noticed him approaching, as after stepping through, Riven was escorted back through the same ridiculous number of security checkpoints he had crossed while entering.
Only when he reached the final checkpoint did an elderly bookkeeper sitting behind a wooden desk gesture for him to stop.
"Your selection, Young Lord?"
The man asked, opening an enormous leather-bound ledger before dipping his quill into a bottle of ink.
Riven reached towards his waist before unclipping Sky Cleaver and placing its shortened form upon the table.
"This one."
The bookkeeper stared at the weapon.
For several seconds, he appeared genuinely confused before slowly leaning closer.
"A halberd?"
He questioned, as he glanced towards Riven before looking down at the weapon again.
"Out of everything His Grace permitted you to choose from inside that treasury, you selected a halberd?"
"Yes."
Riven replied calmly.
The bookkeeper scratched his cheek with the feather of his quill.
"Are you certain, Young Lord? Most young nobles favour swords, and if you wanted the additional reach, there were several extraordinary spears inside that collection that would probably serve you considerably better."
He paused before glancing towards the shortened Sky Cleaver once more.
"Especially since I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any prominent noble specialize in the halberd."
Riven understood the man’s confusion.
Barely an hour earlier, he himself had never seriously considered choosing such a weapon, and even now he could hardly perform a basic swing without occasionally losing control of its momentum.
However, after everything that had happened when he touched Sky Cleaver, there was no possibility of him leaving it behind.
"I’m sure."
Riven replied.
"I’ll take the halberd."
The bookkeeper studied him for another moment before finally shrugging.
"As you wish, Young Lord."
He recorded the selection inside his ledger before sliding Sky Cleaver back across the table, as Riven clipped the weapon against his waist once more and continued onwards.
After passing through the remaining security checkpoints and finally emerging from the underground section of the White Castle, Riven made his way directly towards the castle physician as instructed by Duke Drew.
The physician was already expecting him.
"Remove your upper robes and lie down, Young Lord."
The doctor instructed after Riven entered his examination room.
"His Grace specifically asked me to inspect those stab wounds before you depart tomorrow, and I’d rather clean them properly myself so that I can remain assured they won’t become infected."
Riven complied without argument, removing the upper portion of his robes before lying facedown upon the examination table.
By now, the four wounds Diddy had left across his back had mostly healed, with the deepest portions of the injuries already closing beneath the surface while only thin lines of damaged flesh remained visible around the stitches.
"Hmm..."
The physician muttered as he carefully examined each wound.
"They’ve healed reasonably well considering what caused them, although whoever stitched you inside the Castle Gallows certainly wasn’t concerned about leaving scars."
Riven immediately thought about the prison doctor.
That sounded accurate enough.
The physician carefully removed what remained of the old stitching before thoroughly cleaning each wound, washing away the dried blood and grime that had accumulated around the healing flesh before applying medicine designed to prevent infection and reduce the amount of scarring left behind.
Compared to the treatment Riven had received inside the prison infirmary, the difference was immediately noticeable, as the physician worked slowly and carefully while making sure the newly healed flesh was not unnecessarily torn open.
"You were fortunate, Young Lord."
The physician eventually said while finishing his work.
"None of the wounds appear infected, and there doesn’t seem to be any deeper damage that should interfere with your training. You’ll probably have some marks left behind, although if you apply the ointment I’m giving you every evening, even those should fade considerably with time."
"Understood."
Riven replied, as once the physician finished, he pulled his robes back over his shoulders and clipped Sky Cleaver against his waist again.
With his weapon selected and his injuries officially cleared, there was nothing left for him to accomplish before his departure.
Later that evening, Riven returned to his private room and placed the shortened Sky Cleaver upon the table beside his bed, as for several moments he simply stared towards the strange weapon while thinking about everything that had happened over the past few months.
Ashfang Village already felt strangely distant.
Since leaving it, he had crossed the wilderness, entered the civilized world, survived the Imperial Anatomist’s experiments, become a Dawnriver, spent a month inside the Castle Gallows and somehow emerged from all of it considerably stronger than when his journey had begun.
Tomorrow, another Chapter of that journey would finally begin.
The Imperial Academy awaited him, alongside all the expectations Duke Drew had placed upon his shoulders, and unlike the frightened boy who had once been dragged away from his village without understanding where life would take him next, Riven finally felt prepared to face whatever waited for him there.
’Tomorrow morning, I leave for the Academy...’
Riven thought, as he looked towards Sky Cleaver one final time before closing his eyes.
’Tomorrow morning, a new Chapter of my life begins.’
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End of Volume.
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