The Heathen

The old man had left Aos to study while he once again disappeared into the forest, but before leaving he told Aos that "Although times have gone well so far, the tides of war will soon reach our shores... The very trees speak in hushed tones of what will soon arrive."

Yet, before Aos could question him, the old man had already been long gone from her line of sight. Aos continued to train diligently day and day out.

Aos eventually noticed that her meditation had begun to free her of fatigue. Once she reached a deep state of meditation the very energy she was siphoning began to fuel her. Gradually in the days after this discovery, Aos began to slowly replace her sleep with meditation. At first, she would only train for a few excess hours after sundown. Slowly stretching this she began to meditate for longer and longer. Eventually reaching a state of no sleep. Only meditation and tome study.

Aos became so enthralled in her constant training that the days began to blend together. No longer noticing nor caring for when the old man would come and go.

Her deep focus and constant training led to equally fruitful results. Without noticing Aos had flown by the second section of the tome of nature and nearly completely memorized the tome of runes.

Aos had often found herself having to brush of layers of snow which had built up during her meditation. The long hours of meditation blitzing by as they went unnoticed by Aos. She had also noticed that the well of nature energy that the old man had enlightened her about had been constantly growing in energy. It now brimmed with energy which began to permeate throughout her body.

Suddenly, when Aos was about to begin her study of the last section of the tome of nature, the old man approached her and stated, "This is the next section is the hardest part. I will need to truly guide you."