28 Intuition (1/2)

These tiny ripples had an effect on the way Darius thought, or rather, on the way he perceived the world.

The young man suddenly felt a sense of Deja vú. He was sure that he had experienced this sensation before but in a more aggressive manner. That's when it struck him.

”...!”

The hammer! When he had held the hammer for the first time during the second test. That's when it had occurred, a similar sensation of something changing within him, except that change had been much more violent, much more aggressive. Its effects had been quite obvious and straightforward.

This change, however, was at the opposite end of the spectrum. It was gentle, subtle, and hard to notice at first, but after some introspection, Darius noticed a few details.

His intuition! It was almost as if he had gained a sixth sense. Anything and everything he gazed at would give him a strange feeling. One that could only be felt and not properly explained, be it when looking at inanimate objects or the old man before him.

As he gazed at the old man, Darius felt an odd sense of security. One that was easy for him to identify because he didn't feel it often. Darius felt no malice from the old man. On the contrary, he felt as if this unfamiliar old man had his best interests at heart.

When Darius shifted his gaze to the hammer, a different emotion struck him. Violence, anger, power, thunder, fire, familiarity, patience, tolerance, and wisdom: all of the above were felt by the boy as he stared at the hammer.

At first, Darius wondered if perhaps the old man had done something strange to him, but that thought was quickly struck down by his sixth sense, like a person rubbing off a stupid idea from a drawing board.

Darius consciously wanted to be wary against the old man, but subconsciously he felt, or rather knew, that he shouldn't be, as if it were illogical.

The old man looked on as Darius kept looking around himself like an idiot. He saw the internal conflict within the young man but did not interfere. He wanted Darius to approach him of his own volition. The fact that Darius's intuition had so quickly swayed the young man intrigued the old man.

The elder was a good judge of character, and Darius seemed like the cautious type. However, he had chosen to trust a stranger due to his gut feelings? The old man found this laughable. He guessed that the curse being loosened had something to do with this. He kept looking on, curious to see what the effects brought onto the young man were.

After a while, Darius took a deep breath and calmed himself. He shrunk and stowed his anvil as he always did. Then he sat on a nearby chair.

”You know I grew up in a simple village,” Darius mumbled while gazing at a wall. The old man walked closer to the lad and sat near him. Clearly, the boy had a story to tell, and he was more than willing to listen.