6 A Drop of Falna

Time quickly passed as Blake's days were broken into parts. He spent the morning studying language, math, and basic knowledge. After lunch he would do weapons training with Athena, then he would have the rest of the afternoon off.

He would always try to avoid studying before, but Blade found he enjoyed Athena's lessons. They were difficult and rigorous, but interesting and challenging. He learned after several days that Athena was much more knowledgeable than he had first believed, as she had given off a gruff demeanor with her tendencies for drinking and violence.

Throughout their lessons Blake found himself trying to stump Athena with the most difficult questions he could think of, but she would always answer him without skipping a beat. She explained difficult subjects in a way that anyone could easily understand, because of Athena's teaching, he learned more in weeks than he would have in months with the Zeus familia's tutors.

He commented on this on one occasion, asking with an innocent tone. "How are you so smart? I thought you were a war goddess."

Athena sat down from the book she was teaching from to address his question, she did so with a coy smile, saying.

"I'm not a one-trick pony, I'm known as a goddess of wisdom and craftsmanship." She grinned at him as she said with a tame snarl. "I'm a goddess of war too, but most people think of Ares when they think of war."

She rested her chin on her fist as she said. "His realm of influence covers the battle aspects of war, while mine is more the strategy aspect."

Blake nodded before scrunching his brow as he thought about one of the other attributes she mentioned, asking with surprise.

"You're a goddess of craftsmanship?"

A memory sparked in his mind, a flashing memory of when one of his father's friends was showing off a weapon he had recently bought. He showed it to Blake, even letting him hold the blade. The man-made a point to mention the familia it came from. It had an engraved crest in the blade, displaying two crossed hammers surrounded by flames. A name came to his lips as he remembered the crest.

"Like Hephaestus?" He asked, looking at Athena with curious eyes.

Athena chuckled, saying "Not quite, I think she would beat my head in with her hammer if I compared my craft to hers. No, I specialize more in weaving and everyday items."

She pointed to the thick dark red drapes hanging next to the window. "I made those for example."

Blake stared at the drapes in awe, they were a beautiful shade of crimson that was made with a thick, heavy material. Even to his untrained eyes, they seemed like an item that would sell for a relatively high price. He assumed they, like many things in the mansion, were simply bought with excessive riches. He took a mental note of that before they continued through their lesson.

After lunch, they went into tactics and monster study. The latter subject was one Blake loathed at first, hating the thought of spending some of each day learning about monsters. He made this evident to Athena during one of these lessons.

"Why do I have to learn about monsters? Why can't I just train with a bow or something I'll actually use in the dungeon?" He exclaimed with exasperation.

Athena was visibly angered by Blake's complaints, prompting her to ask.

"Ok, let's try this. Say you're in the dungeon adventuring on the seventh floor and you come across a purple moth, what do you do?"

Blake was silent for a moment, before answering with uncertainty.

"Uhh….attack it, I guess."

Athena picked up a dust-covered tome from the shelf and blew it off, sending a cloud of dust over Blake. He coughed and swatted at the dust, as she continued.

"You killed the moth easily, but were covered by a poisonous mist." He looked with wide eyes as she continued to explain.

"After a few minutes you begin feeling nauseous and your vision becomes blurry. The symptoms will go away, but you can hear other creatures coming your way. What do you do?"

He tried sputtering a response, but she cut him off saying.

"You need an antidote, but you neglected to bring one, thinking you'd be fine without it. You knew you were going to the seventh floor, but you didn't know what you needed to bring since you didn't know what kind of monsters were on that floor."

She walked slowly in front of Blake explaining with explicit detail. "You turned towards the sound of strange clicking, but your vision is too blurry to see what it is. The noise draws closer, you try to fight, but are overwhelmed by a cluster of Killer Ants. Dozens of ants cover your body, you can feel them scampering over you like a wave. You feel dozens of pincers impale every part of your body. You die slowly, your screams and the sound of flesh being torn from the bone reverberates through the cavern as you're being eaten alive."

Athena looks at Blake after her vivid description of the scenario, his face was pale and he looked gaunt. His eyes were still wide as she leaned in to say.

"Get it? If you don't know what you're fighting…..then you'll die. Is that still what you want?"

He shook his head quickly, swallowing a dry gulp. She smiled, saying with a grin.

"Good, that's why you need to learn this?"

He nodded his head, not completely trusting his voice after Athena painted such a vivid picture.

She walked over to her desk as they continued with their lesson, Blake was noticeably more invested in the lesson after Athena's explanation.

After monster study, Athena would take Blake outside to the yard, where they would start their weapons training. Her weapon's training was just as, or more intense than her regular lessons. They would begin with some theory, explaining the techniques and form for every weapon they were training with, then he would practice the technique until he could do it consistently.

They spent months learning all of this basic information, even though Blake was quite young, he quickly learned everything that was introduced to him. Athena was silently impressed by the amount of growth that Blake experienced, learning material that children twice his age were first being introduced to. His age played a large factor in his growth, as it was a period of time where children's minds are most malleable and open to knowledge. His young mind was similar to a sponge, soaking up every last drop of knowledge and still thirsting for more.

Although, Athena was keen on making sure he never grew arrogant with his newfound knowledge. Purposefully showing him that there was always more to learn by progressing their lessons whenever she felt his interest was waning. He was never given the chance to be complacent, but instead, was always pushed to new levels of understanding.

Seven years quickly passed, Blake was in his room reading a large book when Athena walked displaying a wide grin.

"Hey, birthday boy! Are you excited?! Let's go!"

He looked up at her grinning a grand smile, he quickly closed his book and followed Athena to her room. He had been waiting for this day for many years, it was a day that he would fantasize about whenever his mind wandered during lessons, or when he had free time with nothing else to do. Today was his tenth birthday, the day he would finally receive Athena's blessing.

The reason Blake hadn't already received Athena's blessing is that she wanted him to wait so that he could think about it and really decide if becoming an adventurer was truly what he wanted to do with his life. Not all people in Orario have to become adventures, but many people who do, die in the dungeon. Adventurers are always exposing themselves to danger, almost always going to deeper levels in search of more money or experience. She wanted him to know becoming an adventurer was what he wanted to do with his life.

He thought about this as they were walking to her room, which was a lot cleaner as a result of Athena using cleaning as a form of punishment. If he slacked off in lessons or did something he wasn't supposed to do, Athena would have him clean in her room. Slowly, the room had transformed from a dump filled with bottles and trash to a more plausible excuse for living conditions.

He laid in the middle of her bed with his shirt off, with Athena sitting over him, holding a needle close to her index finger. She asked him seriously before she continued.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

He thought for a second, asking himself the same question he had been asking every day over and over the past seven years.

Asking "Is this really what I want?"

He already knew the answer and he said so with confidence.

"Yes, I'm sure." He looked forward and waisted expectantly, a few moments passed before he was blindsided by what Athena would ask.

"Why? Why do you want to become an adventurer?"

He turned his head and glanced at Athena, she looked at him with the utmost seriousness, she looked at him expectantly as she awaited an answer. He was forced to think on his exact reason, he thought for several minutes before finally answering.

"I...I want to be able to protect myself." He breathed a deep breath before he continued. "After Freya…..killed my parents….. I can't help but feel uneasy. As though she could come for me at any moment and I would be completely helpless."

He looked up at Athena, his eyes burning fiercely as he said.

"I don't want to feel like that anymore, I want to live a life free from fear."

She smiled and nodded at his response, seemingly satisfied.

He felt a wet drop hit his back, then blinding pain stabbed where the drop landed, shooting electricity throughout his back as if his skin was being engraved by the touch of an invisible finger. He could feel the pattern forming on his back, spiraling from where the drop of blood landed.

His breathing was jagged, he was barely able to remain conscious as he endured the burning sensation on his back. Every second passed slowly, what was minutes seemed like hours to him as he laid on the bed gritting his teeth against the pain. Then the pain faded, but what remained was an emblem.

The emblem was a pair of outstretched wings behind the helm of a spartan, sitting on the horizon of a rising sun. Athena's hand traced the newly formed tattoo, feeling the warm radiance of her falna resting below his skin.

His chest rose and fell as Blake tried to recover his breathing. He looked back at Athena with a tired grin, thankful to have endured the pain. She smiled as she said.

"Welcome to the Athena familia Blake, our familia."