Chapter 232: SUDDEN VOICE
Soon, Logan reached the foot of the mountain. Then he started running toward a specific direction. Once he arrived there, he started looking around.
"Where is it? He said it would be here," He whispered while searching for something. Suddenly, a horse’s neigh echoed faintly from behind the trees in the distance.
He shot forward, found the horse, and mounted it swiftly, without a second thought.
He pressed his heels lightly, guiding the horse toward a direction Lucas had told him about. With a snap of the reins, it reared high and then surged forward in a great leap.
Clop! Clop!....Clop! Clop!
The horse sped forward at its highest speed. Logan was leaving no room for its comfort. "Wait for me, mother. This time, I will ensure that no one ever dares to even think of harming you. I will make them pay.
But suddenly a female voice echoed in his head. "If you charge like this, you may die."
Hearing that voice, he was startled. The sudden shock made his body off balance and threw him off the horse. The horse stopped after reaching a certain distance ahead.
"Who is it? Show yourself," Logan shouted while searching for the source of the voice. He looked around, gaze sweeping over every corner, but no one was there.
"Maybe I heard it wrong. Stress and pressure are catching up to me, I guess." With that, he started running toward the horse again.
But just then the familiar voice rang again. "If you are not careful enough, it’s not pressure and stress but death that will catch up to you."
Logan stopped abruptly before looking around again. "Fuck. Who are you? And why don’t you show yourself?" Logan’s voice snapped.
"I am already late and now this?" He cursed inwardly."
The voice came again. "Nothing will happen to her until you reach there. But once you reach there, you won’t be able to avoid what’s waiting for you. Do you want to ruin this special chance that fate has offered you?"
This time, Logan’s heart panicked a little. "I know there is no ghost. But what the hell is this?" His thoughts raced. Finally, he asked again. "Where are you. Show yourself."
"I am right here, where you have placed me." The voice spoke in his head again.
"Where I have placed you? I never even met you."
"Come on now. You sure seemed excited when you picked me up earlier," the voice said.
Suddenly, something clicked in Logan’s mind. He remembered something. He lightly clenched his fist and thought about the ring that Noah had given him, pouring out the sword. And soon it did. It appeared before him as if it had materialized out of thin air.
As he raised his hand, it fell into his grasp.
He looked at it carefully. It was a great sword, he felt. But only a sword, nothing else. After staring at it for a while, he mustered the courage and asked, "Is it you?" Though he asked, he hadn’t expected an answer.
But freaking the shit out of him, it actually did answer. "Yep. Took you long enough."
"Argghh." A light, short scream left his mouth as he threw it away instinctively.
"Damn it! What hell is this thing?" Logan cursed.
The melodious female voice turned harsh this time as the sword slowly lifted itself and started hovering in the air. "I was helping you. And this is how you repay me? Humans sure are unkind."
"Who are you? Or what are you actually? How can you talk inside my mind?" Logan shot a barrage of questions. Adding up both his lives, nothing would beat this for being the weirdest thing ever.
"Don’t be so rude. At least say sorry before you ask something for throwing me like that."
Though it didn’t have any face, Logan felt like it actually pouted. Controlling the surging tension and shock, he somehow forced out two words. "I’m sorry."
The female voice chuckled. "That wasn’t that hard, was it?"
Logan suppressed the turmoil of emotions inside him and asked calmly. "Now, can you please say who or what you are? How can you talk, even being a sword?"
"For your first question, I am Audrey, a sword soul. For your second question, I can talk because I can. Though I am a sword, I am alive."
The answer didn’t help ease Logan’s mind. Rather, it jumbled up everything even more.
"Forget I even asked how you can talk. Earlier, you said going there like this might cost me my life. What did you mean by that? Are you telling me I shouldn’t go, and just let my mother die?" Though Logan wanted to know more about how a sword could talk, now wasn’t the right time. He was in a hurry to save his mother.
"I never said you shouldn’t go. What I meant is that charging in head-on would be foolish. They have your mother, and the one who took her already knows of your strength—maybe not its full extent, but enough to be cautious. The moment you barge in, she’ll become their leverage against you. They’re not looking for a fair fight; they’re after what you carry, and they’ll take it by any means necessary."
Hearing the sword’s explanation, everything became clear. Logan wasn’t a fool, but in a situation like this, who could think straight? Only one thought pounded in his mind... how to save his mother.
"Then what should I do?" Logan asked, his voice tight with impatience.
"I can help you with that," the voice replied calmly.
Logan froze, eyes narrowing. "Help? From a sword?" He thought before asking, "You can help? How?"
"Spirit Zone."
Logan blinked. "Spirit... Zone?"
"Yes. Within five hundred meters, I can sense every living thing—every heartbeat, every subtle movement. I can’t see their faces, but I can tell what they are doing, not exactly to the point but almost close."
It paused for a bit before continuing. "And as you already suspected, there will be plenty of them on the path you were told to follow. They’re waiting, keeping an eye, and the moment you arrive, they will send word ahead. But...."
It stopped again to make sure Logan was getting everything. And after a breath, it started again, "If you ditch the horse and run, I’ll guide you. Whenever I sense someone, we take them down. Once you reach your destination, save your mother before anything else. After that... fight to your heart’s content against the one who dared lure you there."
Logan’s eyes widened. He had been listening to everything, trying to make sense out of it. "Something like that... is actually possible?"
"Yes. Even you could do it, if you truly knew how to use magic, if you learned to harness that vast energy inside you."
A chill ran down Logan’s spine. His voice trembled. "You... you know this magic we use is only an imitation, don’t you?"
"I do."
Logan instinctively was alerted, fists tightening. "Then you must be with them, the monsters who invaded our planet!"
"No. It’s true I’m not from this planet, but I am not from theirs either."
Logan’s mind reeled. "Not from here. Not from theirs?" His mind was in a total mess. But he still asked, "Then... There are... other planets?"
"Yes. But ask yourself... do you really have time to unravel all that now?"
Logan clenched his fist. A storm of questions still swirled in his mind... about magic, planets, and the strange soul within the blade. But above all, one thought drowned out everything else.
"I need to save her first. No matter what." He thought. He never had a doubt about his ultimate goal in this life. He exhaled sharply, steadying himself. "I’ll find out later. For now... I want to save my mother first."
"Good. That’s what I thought you would say," Audrey’s voice echoed, calm yet firm. "Then let’s move."
Logan raised his hand as the sword flew back to his grasp. He started at it for once, then slung it across his back.
He turned toward the direction he had been riding the horse earlier. And then.....
Whoosh!
Air split around him as he sprinted, every muscle powered by the strength of an Ultimate Grandmaster. His speed was no less than a horse’s... no, faster. Each stride devoured the earth beneath him.
But though he sprinted toward where Alice was taken, doubt still tugged at the edges of his mind.
"Will this really work?"
Behind him, Audrey’s voice lowered, almost like a whisper to herself. "You took long enough to reach me, Aiden Ferith. You’ll have to grow stronger quickly... or our universe is done for."
The words never reached his ears. His focus was fixed straight ahead.
The forest whipped past, the night air burning in his lungs. Soon, the looming silhouette of his destination crept into sight. At most, two kilometers remained. His heart hammered faster with each step.
Then suddenly, Audrey’s voice rang again.
"In the middle of that field. Do you see that tree? Two heartbeats. One hidden in the branches... the other lying in wait on the ground."
Logan’s eyes sharpened.
And then....
His body blurred off the road.