Infallible Oathbreaker 28 Intuition

These tiny ripples had an effect on the way Darius thought, or rather, on the way he perceived the world.

The young man suddenly felt a sense of Deja vú. He was sure that he had experienced this sensation before but in a more aggressive manner. That's when it struck him.

"...!"

The hammer! When he had held the hammer for the first time during the second test. That's when it had occurred, a similar sensation of something changing within him, except that change had been much more violent, much more aggressive. Its effects had been quite obvious and straightforward.

This change, however, was at the opposite end of the spectrum. It was gentle, subtle, and hard to notice at first, but after some introspection, Darius noticed a few details.

His intuition! It was almost as if he had gained a sixth sense. Anything and everything he gazed at would give him a strange feeling. One that could only be felt and not properly explained, be it when looking at inanimate objects or the old man before him.

As he gazed at the old man, Darius felt an odd sense of security. One that was easy for him to identify because he didn't feel it often. Darius felt no malice from the old man. On the contrary, he felt as if this unfamiliar old man had his best interests at heart.

When Darius s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the hammer, a different emotion struck him. Violence, anger, power, thunder, fire, familiarity, patience, tolerance, and wisdom: all of the above were felt by the boy as he stared at the hammer.

At first, Darius wondered if perhaps the old man had done something strange to him, but that thought was quickly struck down by his sixth sense, like a person rubbing off a stupid idea from a drawing board.

Darius consciously wanted to be wary against the old man, but subconsciously he felt, or rather knew, that he shouldn't be, as if it were illogical.

The old man looked on as Darius kept looking around himself like an idiot. He saw the internal conflict within the young man but did not interfere. He wanted Darius to approach him of his own volition. The fact that Darius's intuition had so quickly swayed the young man intrigued the old man.

The elder was a good judge of character, and Darius seemed like the cautious type. However, he had chosen to trust a stranger due to his gut feelings? The old man found this laughable. He guessed that the curse being loosened had something to do with this. He kept looking on, curious to see what the effects brought onto the young man were.

After a while, Darius took a deep breath and calmed himself. He shrunk and stowed his anvil as he always did. Then he sat on a nearby chair.

"You know I grew up in a simple village," Darius mumbled while gazing at a wall. The old man walked closer to the lad and sat near him. Clearly, the boy had a story to tell, and he was more than willing to listen.

…

"There isn't much to say about the place. What matters was the way I lived there."

The elder perked his ears as his eyes shone with a child-like glimmer. Darius had stoked the elder's curiosity quite well. Darius was far from ordinary, so a tale of his beginnings was well worth his time.

"I was too handsome; thus, the others shunned me with envy. The end."

Darius clapped and nodded as if he had spoken like a wise sage from times old.

"Ehem." The elder was momentarily stunned before he managed to let out an awkward cough. "Young man, surely you jest."

"Jest? Old man, I just told you my most traumatic experience, yet you dare claim that I was jesting?" Darius defensively crossed his arms over his chest and put on a grumpy expression like he had been severely wronged and demanded justice to be served.

The elder's face scrunched up so much that Darius bemusedly thought that the old man's current expression would be similar to one he himself would wear upon eating a bad lemon.

The elder knew quite well that he had been taken for a ride, but what could he possibly do in this situation? Intimidate the boy? Well, that could work, but the elder did not want to destroy the "good" impression Darius had of him. In fact, the elder desperately wished that at some point Darius would treat him like a grandfather. After all to hitch his star upon such a talented young man...

Darius was smirking on the inside. He had finally gotten one over the old man. He finally felt in control of the situation. The past few days had been out of control: he had been tossed into crazy situation after crazy situation, all the while with his meager little life hanging in the balance. Insanity aside, Darius was not happy about not being in control of these events.

This old man had barged into his room with his hammer in tow. This in addition to the fact that he had taken control of the initial ceremony meant that he was someone of high standing. The only question was why was he interested in Darius?

The first person of high standing who took interest in him had endangered his life, resulting in his current predicament. So Darius, disregarding his intuition, decided to take a step back and advance slowly. His first step was figuring out the old man's agenda.

"Now that I have told you about my grueling and pain-filled childhood, it is the elder's turn to inform me of something."

"Hmm?" The old man raised a brow in suspicion. Something about Darius taking the initiative didn't sit right with him.