When his vision returned to him, Reivan found that the situation had changed greatly.

They were all still roughly in the same place — he wasn't sure, since pretty much every place in the mountain was surrounded with trees just like where they were at the moment — however, there were much more people around him than before.

There were four extra people — three men and one woman — all of whom he'd never seen before. The three men were holding down Freed with various methods at the moment, sealing off the spirit beast's movements.

One of them was holding the end of a tightly taut rope made out of vines that emitted brown light as it wrapped around the avian spirit; another had cold mist constantly being released from his body and causing Freed's body to be covered with a layer of frost; the last male knight was holding a spear that seemed to be made of bright blue lightning, ready to skewer the struggling falcon. As for the only female knight present, she calmly stood right next to Valter, her long blonde hair fluttering in the wind.

'Knights...?'

From the very familiar military regalia wrapped around their bodies, Reivan could immediately tell that they were Aizen's knights.

"Ack!" Reivan winced in pain as his ears were bombarded by a high-pitched screech. Luckily, the pain didn't last long, as light softly pulsed around him, forming a protective dome.

The female knight — who was holding out a hand that glowed with golden radiance toward him — spoke with a voice filled with frigid might as she glared at the miserable Freed.

"Freed has continued to ignore our warnings. For now, let's kill it," she said. The female knight then sent a look toward the purple-haired knight right next to her. "I'm assuming that's acceptable, Master?"

Valter heaved a weary sigh but still nodded, albeit reluctantly. "I'll make sure to calm him down while he hibernates."

Assured that he would not face resistance from one of Aizen's strongest knights, the male knight holding a spear made of lightning nodded.

It was at this time that Zoro suddenly came flying out of Reivan's body and quickly enlarged as it constricted the falcon. Zoro, a fragment of the World-Devouring Serpent, opened its mouth wide as it sucked in a deep breath.

Despite the fact that such a weak creature was the one wrapped around it, Freed's eyes shook with fear as its struggle intensified. However, with the combined restrictions of the knights, it was unable to resist, no matter how weak the serpent actually was.

Strange expressions crossed the four knights' faces, but they seemed to unanimously decide to watch how the situation played out — most likely because Zoro was a member of the royal family's "bond".

Valter was different though. Perhaps he'd sensed something from his mental link with Freed, because he was equally as panicked as the unfortunate fowl. "Y-your Highness, please stop..."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Reivan's eyes widened at the scene. Everything had just happened so fast, that he'd had little time to process it. They'd just been talking, and then suddenly Freed was insanely angry at him, becoming the first entity to have negative favor for him. Then after that, the scene had changed to whatever it was now, with Freed restrained.

'It's because of the true name thingy, isn't it...'

Even though he frequently mocked his own intelligence, he at least trusted himself to connect the dots, especially since they were staring him in the face.

'Does knowing a spirit beast's true name have some sort of effect on them...?'

He'd read a vast amount of fiction during his life as a recluse in the hospital. In some of them, knowing an entity's true name basically gave you complete control over them, while in other stories it simply allowed you to cast certain spells on them. It was all over the place, so Reivan couldn't be sure if it was any of the effects he knew of, or if true names had completely different effects here.

'Wait a minute, this isn't the time for this...'

"Zoro, stop!" Reivan urgently yelled at his not-so-little friend. He didn't know what someone as weak as Zoro would be able to do to the Ascendent Freed, but he wasn't willing to find out — especially since Zoro was an Archon Fragment and not a spirit beast, creatures he'd only recently figured out were two very different entities.

Zoro abruptly stopped whatever it was about to do and looked at Reivan with an aggrieved expression — or that was what it looked like to Reivan, but the others seemed to think that the snake was angry at being interrupted, judging by how everyone, even Valter, was now eyeing the serpent a bit warily.

'I'll get you some yummier food, alright? Don't eat Freed.'

Rolling its eyes in doubt, the massive serpent licked its snout in regret as it sent one final look at its potential prey before flying back toward Reivan, shrinking into a manageable size along the way.

'Geez... what the hell were you about to do to it anyway? That's a friend, okay? I just accidentally pissed him off because I'm an idiot, that's all.'

Reivan chuckled in exasperation as he stroked Zoro's black scales, causing it to narrow its eyes in apparent pleasure.

Seemingly feeling apologetic, Zoro hissed meekly before draping its body on Reivan's shoulders. It then hissed something incomprehensible to everyone — even Reivan. Despite it being such a weak creature in comparison to most of the beings present, the snake's hiss shook the hearts of all who heard it. Afterward, it relaxed its body, lazily resting all of its weight on Reivan.

Even if his reptilian friend seemed to eye the current situation with a lethargic gaze, Reivan didn't miss the hunger in its eyes as it stared at the incarcerated falcon.

 

 

'What the hell...?'

The sudden notification made Reivan send a glance at the restrained falcon, only to find it averting its gaze from him and trying its best to drag its body away. It ultimately gave up on that, transforming into a stream of black light, zooming through the air to sink back into Valter's chest.

"Freed...? What are you..." The purple-haired guardian knight spluttered in a daze as he reached up to hold the spot that his bond had disappeared into.

'Hey, you little... you really scared the shit out of Freed. Why'd you go and do that? You dummy.'

Zoro just silently attempted to placate Reivan by rubbing its snout at his cheeks, which somehow worked. Reivan sighed as he pushed his noodle-ish friend away.

'Fine, fine... nothing really bad happened. If we ignore how terrified of me Freed is now, that is. I'll let you off for now, but I expect a proper explanation... or at least, the most proper explanation you can manage later, alright?'

With a hiss of understanding, Zoro also disappeared, returning to his usual napping spot inside Reivan's soul.

Soon enough, Reivan felt his friend sink into the embrace of slumber, making him inwardly shake his head in exasperation at the snake's somewhat self-indulgent actions. He then scanned the shocked expressions of everyone present as they stared at him.

"I don't really fully understand what happened either..." Reivan scratched the back of his head awkwardly before putting on an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for troubling everyone..."

The male knight that had used vines to restrain Freed earlier shook his head. "There's no need for apologies, Your Highness."

"True. We were merely doing what we were supposed to." Smiling, the knight with the lightning spear saluted in the Aizenian way, causing all of the other three knights to follow along with him. "Well, since the situation has already de-escalated, we'll get out of your hair."

As the three male knights turned around to leave in different directions, the knight who'd used frosty mist to freeze the rampaging falcon turned around and regarded Valter with a cold glare. "Sir Valter, with all due respect, please keep your bond in line. Our order expects a certain amount of intelligence from a creature that has lived for more than a thousand years."

"Of course..." Valter nodded, humbly accepting the rebuke. "I'll be sure to have a talk with him as soon as possible."

"I will hold you to that."

With those final words, the ice knight vanished just as quickly as he'd arrived.

Now, only Reivan, Valter, and the blonde female knight that had called Valter "Master" earlier.

"Rutina. It's good to see you." Valter greeted with a smile. "I thought you planned to spend a few weeks with your family by the east coast?"

"That was the plan, yes. I've even secured an assignment that places me near the coast, guarding against anyone coming from the east. But before I left, I wanted to visit a few friends first." Rutina pointed behind her with her thumb, somewhere in the sea of trees. She then looked at the guardian knight with a troubled smile. "I must say, though. This was not how I envisioned our next meeting, Master."

"I... did not expect this to be our next meeting either."

"Well, I know you didn't mean anything bad... but I highly suggest you do something about Freed before more loyalists hear of this."

"I know. Thanks for the concern." Valter nodded in understanding.

"I'm always going to be concerned about you, Master Valter." Rutina covered her mouth, hiding her giggle. She then looked towards Reivan and dipped her head instead of saluting before she chirped, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Reivan! My name is Rutina and I am Sir Valter's second disciple! Since you are also under his tutelage, you can also be considered my junior. I know not how often we will meet, but let's get along!"

Reivan was inwardly surprised by the stark contrast between Rutina's current demeanor and how she acted in the previous situation.

'She seemed so... serious earlier, but she's all bubbly now. Is she bipolar?'

Still, Reivan didn't think it was a bad thing. He smiled as he nodded. "I also want to get along with Senior Rutina."

"Hehe. I just got called 'Senior' by a member of the royal family." Rutina smirked. "There are people who'd want to burn me at the stake for this!"

"Please follow proper decorum when—"

"It's fine~ even Prince Reivan doesn't mind." She looked toward Reivan with her emerald green eyes. "Is it fine, Your Highness?"

"I'm completely fine with it."

"See? Master? You're too uptight. Maybe that's why you haven't Transcended yet?"

Valter frowned deeply. "Say that again."

'Yikes. Everybody's just twisting the knife into that particular wound today... me included.'

"Whoops, look at the time! I gotta go!" Rutina flew up into the sky, obviously trying to escape after throwing shade. She sent Reivan a beaming smile while waiving her hand. "Goodbye, my cute little junior. When you've grown up a little more, make sure to take me out somewhere, okay? Master doesn't seem to want to take me in after all."

Valter's eyes widened as his jaw grew slack, unable to come up with words fast enough.

With a dull flash of golden light, Rutina disappeared, leaving a stunned silence behind.

Left alone, the prince and his guardian knight stood there awkwardly for a moment before Reivan turned to face Valter.

"Sir Valter, earlier, I think I discovered something I shouldn't have... I'm very sorry." Reivan bowed. "It feels like I've wronged you quite a lot in the short time we've been together."

"No, no... it was a lack of foresight on my part." Valter shook his head as he hastily waved off the young prince's concern. "Even though I knew you had such an ability, I failed to realize what things you would accidentally discover when using it... and how others would react to your possession of that knowledge."

"By the way... may I ask why Freed got so mad about... y'know. Is it harmful to him in any way if I know?"

At this, the knight shook his head. "We don't really comprehend what True Names mean for spirit beasts, and even Freed has no idea. Perhaps the Spirit Tower's Witch— I mean, Sage King would know."

"Then why..." Reivan's brows furrowed in confusion.

Valter vacantly massaged his chest as he smiled softly. "Because it's his most valuable possession, Your Highness. Something only the two of us knew, ever since we swore an oath to each other back when I was still a child."

Unable to think of anything to say, Reivan stayed silent. There was obviously a story behind the beast's fury, but he felt it inappropriate to pry any further. At least, not until they'd grown a lot closer.

"Your Highness, on behalf of my bond, I apologize." Valter knelt down and hung his head low. "He's not usually like that, I assure you. Please find it in your heart to give him a chance."

"No forgiveness is necessary. Everything was my fault. I should be the one apologizing." Reivan reached forward and tried to pull the knight to his feet. Of course, with his flimsy arms, nothing would have come of it if Valter hadn't played along and stood up.

Having somewhat cleared the uncomfortable air between them, the two smiled at each other.

"Now then, Your Highness." Valter cleared his throat. "I don't think riding on Freed is a good plan at the moment, but if you still wish to take the scenic route, I'd be happy to carry you while flying."

"There's no need for that. I'm not really in the mood to look around anymore..."

The knight nodded in understanding. "Very well. Then shall we ask the Sword Star to take us to him?"

"Sure. But before that..." Reivan's eyes gazed at his knight's chest, where the falcon was most likely watching from. "Freed, I'm sorry. I won't say your true name again, and I'll never tell anyone about it either. I swear it on my name. If you're alright with it, I'd like for us to get along... maybe not right now, since you might still be angry at me... but over time, I'd like for us to get closer as friends... is that okay?"

Not expecting an answer, Reivan closed his eyes and bowed for a moment.

 

 

'Oh... well, it's still in the negatives, but it's a start.'

With his head still lowered and his eyes closed, a smile crossed Reivan's face.

"Freed has heard you, Your Highness." Valter nodded in satisfaction. "He also hopes that the two of you get along... although he wishes for you to not let your serpentine friend anywhere near him."

Reivan chuckled. "Duly noted."

A hiss of protest echoed in his mind in response to his agreement, but Reivan ignored it.

"Thank you for your consideration. It's just..." Valter rubbed his chin and looked to be choosing his next words very carefully. After a few moments, he looked Reivan straight in the eye and said, "Knowledge is power, Your Highness. And power can inspire both awe and fear in others."

Reivan bobbed his head as he ruminated on Valter's words.

'Knowledge is power... and power inspires fear.'

"Fear, Your Highness, is a strange thing. It can freeze someone in their tracks, but it also makes them do things they otherwise wouldn't do." Valter tapped his chest. "Freed has a good heart, I assure you — otherwise, he never would have taken a dying boy as his eternal companion. He was just driven by his fear. I hope you do not hold it against him."

"Never. As I said, it was my thoughtless actions that started everything. I'll try not to let it happen again."

"I'm glad to hear that. And I believe this part about you is very admirable."

Reivan tilted his head. "Which part?"

"The part where you can so easily admit to your ignorance and accept that you've made mistakes."

"That's it?"

"It is a much more valuable trait than you might think, Your Highness." Valter shook his head in exasperation. "After all, the first step toward improving oneself and righting one's wrongs, is to acknowledge that there is something to fix in the first place. It is the first step, but also the hardest step for most people to take. And yet, you can so easily do it."

"I don't think it's as impressive as you make it sound..." Reivan scratched the tip of his nose awkwardly. "But I'll accept your praise." 

'Acknowledging that there is something to fix, huh.'

Reivan took a second to look back on his past life. A life where all of his shortcomings were being constantly shoved in his face, reminding him of everything he had failed to accomplish.

His failure to obtain his parents' love; the failure to keep Kyouka out of danger; the failure to mentally recover from his situation, and actually work towards doing something with the remainder of his life instead of staying in bed for years, indulging in his hobbies; finally, the failure to keep his loved ones' minds at ease.

'Maybe I'm just predisposed to assuming that I've messed up...'

He'd always thought of it as a lack of confidence, but when Valter put it that way, Reivan supposed it could — in a very strange way — be interpreted as open-mindedness as well.

'In that case, I was really good at taking the first step, but always stopped just before taking the second one...'

Even if he was good at acknowledging his shortcomings, did it truly matter if he didn't work to correct them?

The answer was a big no.

Knowledge only became power if it was used. Just possessing it meant nothing.

'Well, I guess that's what second chances are for.'

Reivan smiled at the thought. He then looked toward his guardian knight. "Let's get going, shall we?"

"Of course."

Jingle!

The moment Valter finished speaking, the pleasant tinkling of a bell echoed outwards as the two of them vanished from the spot. There weren't any pits of dark sludge to swallow them, no gusts of wind left behind by rapid flight, and no distortions in space.

One moment they were there, and in another moment, they were gone.

As if they were never there in the first place.