As Steven runs over to help you, I sit in the back of the van. In a flash, a familiar shape is infrint of me.
"Hello, Tobias. Thought I'd visit your realm instead of you visiting mine. Your friend is going to need a place to stay, and quickly. A few minutes for here, another friend of mine owns a Hotel. Just tell him you are sent from me and I bet he'll fix you a room or two." The Truth says, with a friendly smile.
In minutes, we're in the lobby of the Prideful Lion Hotel, a five star facility if I've ever seen one.
"You're friend'll be fine." The owner tells me. "I'm Victor, master of Force. Retired Alchemist. Owner of the Vector Spells." Telling me more and more information, he leads me outside into the courtyard, which he immediately makes clear of residents. He pats a bench, signaling for me to sit down.
"Ya know, kid, the Truth isn't half bad of a guy." He tells me.
"I'm quite familiar with that idea. He's been teaching me the entire way." I respond.
After a small gap of time, Victor looks at the sky and mutters "Are you sure? Fine." Turning back to me, he says, more confident. "I'm one of the Divine Traits. All diving beings have their own versions of Saint and Taint. Taint is broken into Seven Pieces: Pride, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Lust, Sloth, and Gluttony, which mortals call the Seven Deadly Sins. Saint is made into: Joy, Diligence, Faith, Love, Courage, Peace, and Justice, or the Seven Divine Virtues. Divine Beings can entrust those traits to a champion, such as myself. When I was being trained, the Truth was reminded of when he was a man, and eventually gave me the secret of the Vector Spells, his favorite list of spells from when he was Mortal. Knowing I had a very powerful Saint, he gave me one of his Seven Sins, Pride. However, being one of these attributes isn't good. The Savior was gifted with all of the Truth's Virtues. When the Savior became greedy for power, he asked the Truth for Greed, and was given it. However, being over half of a God, he imploded with Arcane Essence. That is our history. Prometheus has the same attributes, which he can lend out. Your friend will probably get one, but you never know." He explains, as I sit patiently.
"I'll teach you— no, I will give you all the knowledge I possess of the Vector Spells if you can beat me in a simple challenge." Victor finishes, a smirk on his face. Waving his hands to opposite sides of the circular courtyard, two Ebony plates appear in the shape of arrows, pointing at the opposite one. Flicking a bit of gum to one of the plates, the gum is bounced off towards the other plate with a high velocity.
"This is how the Truth tested me. What you do is you stand behind one, I stand behind the other. We both step on the plate. In the air, we get mere moments to attack each other with a sword. We've got healers here that would take my place as Pride if I didn't exist, so we'll be fine." Victor explains, pulling out an Ebony Rapier, used for fencing. I summoned my sword and stepped behind my plate.
"Tobias, use the wind. Once you are in the air, it is your battlefield." A voice called out to me, not strictly the a Truths, but a bit deeper, perhaps emotionally injured.
"Ready?" Victor yelled, getting a simple reply of yes. "Go!"
It only took a moment for it to end, but it felt longer, he clearly had more experience, as his Rapier tore hole after hole in my shirt, gushing small bits of blood. However, at one point, I managed to send my lightning sword through his lower abdomen. Forcing him to majorly bleed. Once we landed, medics came in and healed us in no time.
With a bandage around his stomach, he looked at me with a wild expression, as if I hadn't almost gutted him like a fish. Without a word, he handed me a leather bound book, entitled "VECTOR". Reading it thoroughly, I learned the Alchemy he used to create the Vector Plates, or so they were called. Apparently, Vector was all about creating a massive amount of forwards momentum without requiring much energy, which reminded me of Nuclear Fusion, where atoms crashed at the speed of light, creating mountains of energy almost out of him air.
"Just so you know," Victor said, "The Truth is waiting." Touching my forehead, Victor forced me into sleep, bringing me to the Truth's home.
"Good job today, Tobias." He said, honestly
"Thanks, but this felt like a side quest. Where is the Elemental Katana?" I asked, annoyed.
"I can't give it to you yet, as it's previous owner hasn't died. However, I have a just as large gift for you. You have an immensely powerful Saint within you, so I can entrust you with one of my Sins. I name you, Tobias, Son of Storms, Wrath of the Truth. I can imagine your friend is having a similar dream. Also, I'd like to bring you to a friend." The Truth exclaimed. Summoning a dark blue portal the size of a door frame, the Truth walked through, ushering me in.
On the other side wasn't what I expected. Prometheus, a minor but existent deity, sat in a wicker chair on a stone tablet. The tablet included a large circle, with a star inside, and odd runes around the star's points. A Pentagram, I thought.
"Yes." Prometheus responded. "A Pentagram, given it's reputation for devil summoning because what it does is extremely similar. This damn ring, right here, is what makes a Philosopher's Stone."
Once I looked closer, we weren't actually at the scene, and neither was Prometheus. In some dungeon somewhere underground, the ritual would begin. Several dozen prisoners were gathered onto the Pentagram, most praying to whatever deity they believed in. Red light filled the chamber as a team of Cultists chanted. In an instant, it happened. All bodies within the circle were molten, evaporated, or both. Within the center of it all rested a crimson jewel the size of a fist, a new Philosopher's Stone created.
"An evil process indeed." Prometheus said, reading my thoughts. Scooping his hand into the holographic version of the Stone, he brought out a sliver of one crimson gem. "Here," he said, "You'll need this soon, to dispatch an enemy."
The dream fizzed and I awoke.