"It's all strange, isn't it?" The attendant said in alarm. "Normally, to pass through the Second Boundary, one accumulates progress and responsibility. The knights know this, that's why their apprentices pass through faster than everyone else – and they know the best ways to make progress too, because they have the liberty to train rather than struggle merely to survive."
"That's quite right," Claudia said, tolerating her attendant's repetition of facts that she already knew, for she was in the same space in her head. She had to go over what she knew just to make sense of the situation. "Progress is gifted to all equally, with the only conditions being talent and struggle.
The Second Boundary serves as a limiter for those mortals that choose the path of progress – it opens them up to new strengths. It is my acknowledgement of those who have walked the path that I preach, so in turn I give them a blessing. I warm their backs so that they can push forward even more urgently."
"The three conditions necessary to reach the Second Boundary: suffering, progress and responsibility," the attendant said. "Yet never has anyone's suffering surpassed their progress and their responsibility so completely… It's as though your love does not reach him."
Claudia pursed her lips sadly and let out a sigh. "For such a young boy as well… It is quite unnatural that such a thing should occur. Progress, as decreed by my divine weapon, always follows struggle and suffering. For suffering to fill one's life so completely and for them to still be as determined as this boy is…"
"But that is not where it ends, is it?" The attendant said. "The only thing that can block a Goddess' divine weapon is the weapon of another God or Goddess of equal power."
"Ingolsol," Claudia murmured, anger filling her violet eyes. "His hand in yet another mortal's suffering. Will he ever tire of such base evil?"
"He's been cursed," the attendant said with a nod. "It seems it was when his village was attacked and his family was killed. There was a thick enough aura of despair for Ingolsol to act, all in the area he touched are now dead."
"As are all who are afflicted with his curse," Claudia said with a sigh. "They either fall into the sea of despair and kill themselves, or the despair consumes their soul entirely and they begin to kill others. Either way, through Ingolsol's cruelty and my weakness, they never survive. And yet this boy has…"
The attendant had an unhappy look on her face as she said the next words. "We cannot offer him your blessing, can we, Claudia? For a person of the Second Boundary – who would normally be immune to such curses – to be afflicted with it… If he were to lose himself, he'd become quite the monster."
Claudia pondered a moment, a finger on her chin. Her attendant had learned to fear that pose, for it always led to the worst decisions. "Please no…" she said. But it was already too late, her mind was made up.
"It is the mortals that give us power, my dear. It is they that choose their paths and what they believe in. I will believe in this boy. Grant him my blessing and offer him the gift," Claudia said firmly, giving the command with regality.
The attendant sighed. "As you wish… But for the gift… He has no progress to speak of – I cannot gift him a skill in any area."
Claudia smiled. "Then we will give him something better. My beloved Dominus retreated into the Black Mountains, did he not? Let us guide the two together. I am sure, of all people, Dominus Patrick will see his value."
Her smile faltered for just a second as she made that declaration. "Though… the adjustment period after one has broken through the Second Boundary is always painful. They are always forced to give up much of what is important to them before the evolution will finally settle. I only hope he can endure such suffering."
Beam gave the statue one last respectful nod before he continued on his way back home.
Finally, his road home met with the forest and he entered.
He admired the setting sun as he walked through the tall trees, enjoying the breeze on his bare skin as he walked with his dirty shirt slung over his shoulder, and his sandals in his hands, enjoying the cool earth beneath his feet.
This was his part of the wood, his territory.
Well, not in actuality. In actuality, this was the village's forest, and the territory of the local lord. He didn't own a bit of it. Not even the hut that he lived in. It was all merely rented, and merely enough to get by. But in moments of quiet like these – and it was often quiet around these parts – such trivialities didn't matter.
"Mm…" he could smell smoke in the air. It seemed someone was still in the woods. Possibly cooking up some game that they had managed to catch throughout the day. He paid it no mind, and merely ascended the steep muddy slope towards his house, casting an eye to the nearby stream and its gently flowing water.
At the top of the hill though, he could only note that the smoke had thickened. And with that, there finally set in a panic. After a day of things otherwise going normally, something had finally exceeded his expectations and reignited emotions that he hadn't felt in quite a time.
He quickened his step and rushed towards where he knew his hut to be.