He raged through the ship in a blindness of raw pain and rampaging memories, his aura roaring within his core, and his heartbeat pounding against his ribcage as though it was some enormous beast seeking to be let loose on the ship.

He had no idea where he was going until he arrived there, however, his private training room, as he had begun to think of it, wasn't empty as it should have been.

"Nar! I've been waiting for you!" Viy said, stopping mid swinging her spear to grace him with a smile. "I have a… What in the Pile happened to you?"

Nar stared at her in surprise, unsure of what to do, and for a moment, the storm within him spun with hesitation. He didn't want to speak about what had just happened, and he didn't want company either. Right now, the last thing he wanted was people.

So he took a step back, intending on disappearing back into the maze of corridors that made up the Scimitar's innards, and escape somewhere else, anywhere else where there was no one.

"Oh, no you don't!" Viy snapped, and in the blink of an eye, she had reached him.

The long, dark haired human woman latched onto his arm, her spear falling to the floor behind him, and she yanked him into the room, closing the door behind him with a smooth and swift kick.

"What happened to you!" she demanded.

"Let go!" he snarled.

"No! Tell me!" she shouted back, gripping him even tighter against her. "What happened to you? I can feel something, and given that I've got shit senses it must have been bad! Did someone do this to you? Tell me! I'll fucking kill them!"

The passion of her anger startled him, her eyes dark with the promise of violence, and it snapped him out of the torrential pour of dark memories that howled within him. They didn't stop spinning within him, but at least they slowed down somewhat from their dizzying pace, and he managed a shaky breath. Suddenly, he stumbled back against the door frame.

"I got you! Come on," Viy said, pulling him further into the room. "Sit down. Here, by the window you love so much, eh?"

Nar allowed himself to be pulled and supported, and then seated by the wall spanning window. Outside, bright white clouds covered the view, hiding the walls of the Labyrinth from them and leaving only the split path of blue trailing behind the ship as it cut through that enormous cloud bank.

"Nar, you're scaring me," Viy whispered, holding onto his hands. "What happened? Please, tell me!"

Nar's throat tightened, and he felt a burning prickling him from behind his eyes.

He inhaled sharply. He wouldn't give that woman the satisfaction of making him cry, no matter what she had just put him through.

"I went to the chapel," he said, through clenched teeth. "With Rel… And the priestess showed up out of nowhere and she did something to me… She got inside my head."

"She what?" Viy breathed, her grip tightening. "What do you mean?"

"She made me see it all again," Nar hissed. "She made me live it all again. The Ceremony. The bridges. The cannibals. The cubeplant. Unclean. My parents… Everything!"

Viy's jaw dropped, shock, then horror, competing to take over her expression, her mouth dropped in a half-formed o.

"It was like being there again. Like going through it all again. All those years… I could feel them all again, and not quickly… No! It was like living my whole life again! And I could feel when they burst, Viy… I could feel it on my face again. In my eyes! My nose! My mouth…"

Viy leaped forward and pulled him into a tight embrace, crushing his face against her.

"You're not there, Nar!" she said, holding him tight. "You're here with me! You're free! And all of that shit is gone! You hear me? It's all gone and left behind in the dark!"

He breathed against her, too stunned by the suddenness of her hug, and couldn't do anything other than to nod at her words. His mind reeled, threatening to unravel from everything that had just happened within that one hour, an hour that had been years of all the darkness he had lived and endured throughout his life…

"Do you hear me, Nar?" she whispered.

"Yes…" he breathed.

She let go of him, but kept her hands on his shoulders. "It's all in the past, Nar. You hear? Everything stayed back there. Down there."

Nar nodded. "Yeah. I know… I'm sorry, I just…"

She squeezed his shoulders, still kneeling in front of him.

"Why the fuck are you sorry?" she asked, shaking him gently. "It was her fault! That-That bitch! How dare she do this? Get in your head? Without permission? And force you to… To… I should just …"

Nar pulled on her hand, preventing her from getting up.

"It's fine," he said, his voice now hoarse. Tired. "It's fine."

"Nar!"

"Let it go, Viy," Nar said. "Just… Let it go. It doesn't matter, and she's practically Rel's master… I don't want to cause any problems."

"Ugh!" Viy said, but she did sit back down.

With a sigh, Nar leaned against the window, letting its coolness seep into his body, and the side of his face, and he cast his eyes to the shifting wall of white outside the window. His aura still raged within him, black and white setting to boil, and he reached out to it.

It's okay… he thought, closing his eyes to touch the raging, shrieking ball of light at his core. We're okay now, hmm? Relax. You saved me, and were okay now. Thank you.

After a few breaths, his heartbeat and aura finally eased, and Nar opened his eyes again to find Viy still staring at him, concern oozing from her tightly wound expression.

"Thank you," Nar said with a grimace. "My head… Everything was a mess."

"No shit!" Viy said. "That fucking piece of trash! Who does she think she is? And why did she even do this?"

Nar shrugged. "She said there was some bad stuff inside me. Something I had to let go…"

"And forcing you to relive through everything, with no warning and no permission, is the right fucking way of doing it?" Viy asked him. "Fucking Pile, Nar! Even I can tell you that's not the right way!"

"Yeah…" Nar said, shaking his head. "Thanks, though. You pulled me back."

She tutted. "No worries… I'm just glad I was here."

"Yeah, me too," he said, managing a half-smile for her. "But why are you here?"

"Oh, yes. Right," Viy said, looking away. "I, uh… I got a favor to ask you. Remember? From before the confluence?"

"I do. And sure. I'll do anything as long as it's not getting introduced to some friend of yours."

"What? No, no!" she said, laughing. "But don't worry! I'll track down the COO for you… Lay down the groundwork and all that for you to swoop in and reap in all the rewards!"

Nar just sighed at that.

"But no, it's a real favor," she said, squirming at his side. "Will you… Will you train with me?"

Nar blinked at her. "I… What?"

"No? Too much?" she asked, crestfallen. "I know it would take time from your own training and…"

"No, stop!" Nar said, waving a hand in front of her face. "I'm just surprised! Of course I can train with you! I just… Why?"

She passed a hand over her hair, combing through the thick braid that kept her long hair in control. "Well, my affinity is finally doing something… I got a new skill."

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"I… I know," Nar said. "I'm sorry. I saw it last night when Kur and Gad were discussing our party formation."

"Oh, really? That makes it easier then!" Viy said, her face lighting up. "And don't worry! I fully expect everyone to know about it! How else are we going to make it work as a party?"

"Right..."

"But yeah, I'd been thinking about it before, but the [The Weight of Guilt] sort of just confirmed that I need it, you know," she said. "My master has also been sort of hinting at it, but I don't think my fighting style is good for fighting inside a formation. Well, at least not our current one."

"Yeah, I can see that," Nar said, leaning his head against the glass and looking up at the ceiling.

Cutting through hordes of cannibals. Mowing down through an army of spiders… Thinking back to those instances when Viy had truly let loose, in her beautiful, violent and wild, awe-inspiring way, Nar couldn't help but agree that none of that would ever happen while she was stuck at Gad's side, or kept to the center of the party as Kur had intended for her.

She needs to be set free, Nar thought. No wonder Kur is stressing so much about it. She needs to be let loose, by herself… And with a DPS path at that. No hybridness for her.

"Yeah… But the problem is, I'm not a hybrid like you," Viy said, echoing his very thoughts. "And my master said I would never be one either. So, I need to fight in some other way. Some other way where the enemy can't reach me."

"I know. And I've seen it," Nar said.

"You have?" she asked, startled.

He snorted. "Who do you think chased after you when you let loose?"

"Uh…"

"Twice!" he said, raising two fingers. "Or was it more times than that?"

"Sorry…" she whispered, looking down.

"It's okay," Nar said, patting her arm. "Point is, I've seen it, and I agree with your master. Whenever you really go at it, it's really something to see..."

She flushed and turned her eyes down, but Nar smiled at the pleased expression she tried to conceal.

"Anyways," she mumbled. "I need more training. Like-like real training! Sparring and fighting! So that I can learn to protect myself when I'm out there, and there's only so much I can do by just waving my spear around. And I could ask one of the other apprentices but… Nobody is like you, Nar. You're the best fighter amongst all of us!"

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Nar whispered. "But, if I'm good enough, then I'll do it."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes sparkling. "Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Nar said, grinning. "Only so much I can do by waving my sword around too, you know."

Viy laughed and leaped to her feet.

"Come on then!"

"Now?" Nar asked.

"Yes?" she said, confused. "No?"

Nar snorted and shook his head.

"Alright."

He got up to his feet and pulled out his sword as he stepped to the middle of the room, and to his left, Viy mirrored him, leaning down to collect her discarded spear. As one, they turned to face each other.

Crystal, Nar thought, facing her for the first time ever. How is she so damned far?

His sight was drawn to the spear tip aimed directly at his head, while Viy herself stood behind it, at a much safer distance than Nar was used to in his sparring sessions in the Blades Hall and with his master. And if the pullies and the raimels had been a lesson on how lacking he currently was in extremely close combat, it looked as though Viy was about to be another such lesson, just in the complete opposite way.

How in the Pile do I even reach her? Nar wondered.

"Don't hold back!" Viy told him. "Whatever we do here, it can save our lives out there. Or the party's. All of that crazy stuff I've seen you do, that I know you can do… I need you to use it against me."

Nar nodded.

"Alright," she said, grinning. "Here I come, then!"

Her spear thrust forward, aiming for his neck or upper chest. Immediately, Nar moved to block it, and then, in a move almost too quick to follow, Viy stepped to the side, swiped her spear in a blindingly fast dash and hammered down on his sword, pushing it down and out of the way.

Nar tried to recover his weapon, but he was too late, and he caught sight of Viy dashing forward, ready to skewer him. The only thing he could do was jump backwards, out of reach of her spear.

"Oh, I failed," Viy said, pouting. "I was sure I was going to get you for that first time."

"What in the Pile was that?" Nar asked, his heart racing. "I didn't even know you could do that with a spear!"

Viy grinned. "Me neither! But come and see what else I've learned!"

Cautiously, Nar stepped forward once again and circled around her, seeking an opening. However, Viy's spear tip never allowed him in, and it followed slowly after him, always standing between him and his target.

Hoping to catch her by surprise, he dashed forward, pushing against the spear tip. However, Viy quickly pulled the spear back, regaining control over it, and thrust it straight at his chest. Nar was forced to parry it out of the way, but once again, the spear didn't go far, and all that he managed to achieve was step back out of danger and back into the same impasse.

"Damn!" he breathed. "This is hard!"

Viy chuckled. "The Master of Polearms says that the spear is the king of melee."

"And she might be right," Nar swore under his breath.

How in the Pile do I get past that?

While he mused for a course of action, Viy stepped forward again, closing the distance to him this time. Once again, his reaction was to block the spear thrusting into his gut, but this time, Viy's weapon seemed to snake around his sword, beating it down, and in one smooth step, she pushed the spear up towards him, forcing him to step back once more. But she wasn't done, and she thrust with full commitment, holding the very rear of the spear with just one hand.

"Gah!" Nar said, getting his sword to push away the thrust just in time.

However, now she was open, and wasting no time, Nar dashed to hit her.

With a smile on her lips, Viy lifted her spear single handedly, and blocked him with the spear's haft. His strike was strong, yes, but she let it fall alongside the haft of the spear, absorbing it, and in the meantime, she had taken two quick steps and pulled back her weapon, her distance regained, and thrust her spear once more at Nar. And back and forth they went across the training room.

Viy's spear was relentless, and Nar sought to match it with his own fury. However, as he separated from her, minutes later, after another unsuccessful attack, he had to admit to himself that Viy had the advantage. Were it not for his [Instinct] warning him, and his superior [Reflex] and [Speed], she would've ended the fight multiple times already.

Her spear thrusts were blindingly fast, surprising him time and time again by how fast her much longer weapon could move and reach him. And while he had seen her fight before of course, he had never been on the receiving end of it, and he had seriously underestimated how fast that spear could be.

It weaved from thrust to counter, to thrust, to slash, to thrust once more... And he had quickly realized that her primary means of trying to finish him off was by thrusting, with slashing meant to wound or push his sword aside, but it was like facing a knife strapped to a long pole that could double up as defense and attack as well, and it was almost as though it were two weapons instead of one that he fought against.

How do I get that out of my face? He thought, stepping back out of reach from a thrust that would have skewered him right through his heart, and a sudden thought occurred to Nar. He freed up one hand from his sword and prepared…

Viy smirked at him. "I know what you're thinking. It won't work!"

Nar smirked back. "We'll see about that!"

For a while, he allowed the fight to ebb and flow, then, when Viy thrust a little further than usual, he reached out with his hand and grabbed hold onto the spear haft. Before she could wrangle it free, he dashed forward, his sword blurring down on her in a diagonal cut… His [Instinct] shouted at him, and Nar leaned onto his momentum to jump further to the side, letting go of the spear, and avoiding the sudden kick that Viy aimed at his side.

"Crystal!" she shouted. "That fucking [Instinct]!"

"You also kick?" Nar asked in shock.

Viy shrugged. "I'm not telling."

Nar shook his head, raising his sword again. Shit! Fine! If I can't take it from her, then I'll just hit whatever's closest!

Viy moved in on him again, and Nar cut down towards her forward hand, forcing Viy to abandon her attack and try to side step him. However, Nar wasn't about to let that go and pressed forward, his blade dragging across the length of her spear, keeping it in place.

Instead of retreating, Viy stepped forward towards his blade, one hand free to stop him. Then the spear tip whacked him lightly across the head, and she twisted her body, the spear nestling against his neck pulling him forward, and her leg kicked one of his, tipping him over. The room tilted, and Nar went tumbling, but as the spear tip came down to finish him, Nar thrust his sword forward, and they both went still.

"Damn it!" Viy said, breathing hard and staring down at the sword tip at her stomach. "I thought that one would definitely get you!"

Nar nodded, panting as well. "It almost did!"

They pulled their weapons apart and Viy dropped beside him, panting as Nar leaned back to lay flat on the floor.

"What in the Pile was all that stuff?" he asked her. "Kicks. Throws. Do you punch too?"

"If I have to," Viy said, pride shining through her voice. "The master says that you need to use your whole body, not just the spear."

Nar grunted. "Mine says the same… But he hasn't gotten around to actually teaching me yet!"

Viy chuckled. "You'll get there. For now, let me have this! You have any idea how hard it is to go against your [Instinct], and the [Reflex] and everything? And you didn't even use your [NPC] against me, did you? And I know you can go a lot faster than that, too!"

Nar winced.

"Come on! I'm trying to get better here!"

"I'm sorry!" he pleaded. "I'll use it next time!"

"You fucking better!" she said, whacking his arm with the butt of her spear. "Or I'll aim somewhere you won't like!"

Nar gulped.

"Also, don't just train me," she said. "Use me as well! Practice whatever it is you're learning now."

Nar nodded. "Guess I will. I need to push my combat cycling to the next stage, as I'm supposed to be able to control the flow down each of my pathways to make the aura flow stronger… I think it's just the normal progression for auramancers, but the master is making me jump straight into doing it with combat cycling…"

"Oh, wow," Viy said. "I haven't really done much with aura yet."

"Too busy learning all of that stuff!" Nar said. "But I can't use the other thing on you... No, really! My master forbade me from trying to use [Aura Blade] without him."

"That's the new ranged skill you're working on, right?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Fair enough, I guess," she said with a shrug. "And yeah, maybe leave that one out for now. I don't think I have anything that can stop a freaking flying blade of aura. Much less from your monster aura!"

Nar chuckled.

"And you should use your new skill, as well," Nar said, sitting up. "Having a skill and mastering a skill are different things."

"Yeah…" she said, looking down at her spear. "But are you sure? It's not very nice, you know? It can make you see stuff…"

"I know. Don't worry about it," Nar told her. "Dying is worse, so just use it, alright?"

She nodded. "Alright. I will."

"But, man. Those affinities are crazy," he sighed.

"I can't wait to see yours!" Viy said, standing up. "I'm sure it's going to be mind blowing!"

"I can only hope," Nar said, also standing up. "Again?"

"Of course!" Viy said, grinning wickedly. "It's not even dinner time yet! We can go all afternoon!"

Also grinning, Nar raised his sword in front of him.

I'll reach you yet, he thought. He just needed to find an opening.

And for the moment, the distraction stemmed the tide of memories that Aedina had dislodged from the depths of his mind...

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