<>(Zack)<>

"Zack?" Nik says as I enter the dining hall with a yawn, Gold happily eating bacon. Lots of bacon. "Did you try leaving?"

"No," I yawn again. "I'm so tired."

"Where you up late?" He asks.

"I ended up not falling asleep," I answer. "I've gotten used to having someone else sleeping close by, and it felt weird being alone."

"Ah," he says. "How much do you have left for Champion of Darkness?"

"I'm pretty much there," I take a seat.

"Why don't you acquire your Demonic Aspect while you're waiting for the storm to subside?" He suggests. "It takes around a full day for the change to occur, regardless of what it is. During that time, you'll be asleep. Have you decided on what you're going to pick for your Demonic Aspect? I know you've mentioned wings in your future, but not Demonic Wings."

"Demonic Voice."

Nik stares at me for several long minutes.

"That… doesn't take all that long to form, actually," he says. "You'd probably be able to acquire it with just an hour's sleep."

Demonic Voice allows for instilling terror simply by speaking. It amplifies all fear-inducing Skills used with it.

"It was an agonizing hour of being awake," I tell him, and he stares at me. "I was awake. It was painful."

"And you didn't take on Champion of Darkness yet?" He asks.

"Huh?"

"You need sleep," he tells me.

"Yeah, I know," I yawn. "Probably going to try again after I eat breakfast."

"Alright," Nik says.

We eat in silence, Gold consuming even more bacon as we do, then I return to my room and toss and turn for awhile. Eventually, I guess I manage to get some sleep, because I wake to Gold shaking me nervously.

"Huh?" I look at him, and he tilts his head to the side. "Thanks."

Gold nods, then leaves. I get out of bed and stretch, then change and head to the dining hall, where Nik is eating lunch. I join him.

"Have a nice nap?" He asks.

"A little," I yawn. "I don't think I got much."

"Let me try asking my question again," he says. "And you didn't take on Champion of Darkness yet?"

What?

Oh.

"Heh," I snort. "Too tired to have even processed that earlier… or that I could. One sec. Aaand there! Champion of Darkness!"

Nik laughs, then congratulates me, and Gold beams at me as he brings out a pitcher of water.

"Going to work on Blood Priest, now?" He asks.

"Nah," I say. "I'll get that after manage to finish Champion of Darkness. I can gain thirty Levels from the bonuses. Factoring in that you start off at Level 1 for each Tier, I only need forty-five Levels total, or fifteen extra. I'll gain several of those, probably, just getting the Skills to the necessary Levels. Odds are, I'll be able to take on the Santa Boss as well, meaning I'd be able to skip whatever's left. There's also the Snow Chief to fight. I'm sure that if I can kill the Ice Lord, I can kill the Snow Chief."

"You only survived that encounter because of Normar, Zack."

"Yeah, yeah," I wave a hand dismissively. "Please remember that I killed the Turkey Patriarch on my own and even punished someone for trying to steal from me during that."

Nik stares at me, thinking.

"Yeah," he says. "You could probably kill it, especially with your new weapon."

After we finish eating, Nik and I move to one of the training rooms to spar for a bit, using wooden training swords. When he hands me one, I stare at it, flashing back to when Bryce and I would spar.

That was a lot of fun.

"Zack?" Nik's voice pulls me back from those painful memories.

"I miss him."

"Would you rather do something else?" He asks.

I attack him, and he blocks my sword. He pushes me until I'm soaked in sweat and completely exhausted, barely able to move, and at that point, I just lie on the ground, doing my best to catch my breath.

Once I finally recover enough, I head out and wash my face, then make my way to the library to read until dinner.

The next day, Nik trains me a lot, pushing me hard the entire day to the point I pass out immediately upon lying in bed.

The future me scans the field from his perch atop a wall. It looks like a City's wall, and through the dream, I can sense the powerful magics of the City Barrier. Yet something tells me that this City has fewer residents than Maelnor.

The future me has one foot resting on the wall, the other hanging over the edge. He ignores movement behind him, as if someone is scaling the wall, despite its height. Instead, he continues to watch the valley, keeping an eye on the forest.

I shift my view around to see who's scaling the wall just as they reach the top, jumping up and landing on the edge, twenty feet behind the future-me. It's the kid healer from my other visions, the one I know in reality, who hasn't died yet.

He has an annoyed look on his face as he approaches the future me, then draws his staff and whacks him on the head. The future me turns and looks at him, and amused look in his eyes.

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"What?" He asks, and the healer continues to stare at him intently. "You were still sleeping, and you looked cute and peaceful. I didn't want to wake you."

The healer huffs, then sits beside the future me, who then looks back out across the field. The two of them share sandwiches, eating in silence, yet I sense that they're communicating somehow.

"It's almost time," the future me says as he finishes his sandwiches, then stands. "Please don't heal me during this fight unless I actually need it. I'll probably need to return damage multiple times. Only do it in the instant before I would die, okay?"

The healer huffs, but looks reluctant. Then, the future me frowns, shifting his gaze to look directly at me, and the vision ends.

I sit up with a start. That time, it felt like the future me was forcing me out of there. And roughly, too. He seemed really annoyed.

Why? He should know that it's not like I'm trying to do that, considering he's me. I highly doubt I'll get amnesia if my memories of reality persist into the Boundary when they shouldn't.

So what the fuck is up with me forcing myself out of the involuntary dreams of the future very roughly?

Deciding I won't have answers for awhile, I get out of bed and stretch, then make my way to the dining hall for breakfast. As we eat, Nik informs me that the blizzard's subsided, and it's safe to leave. I nod, finish dinner, then make my way to the doors of the Dark Temple, opening them.

And immediately jump back to avoid being buried by snow. There's, like, ten feet of it outside the doors.

"I said it's over," Nik laughs behind me. "I didn't say you'd be getting anywhere."

I glare at him, then look at the snow, focusing hard.

"I'll do it," Nik laughs again, stepping forward as an aura of heat forms around him, the snow within it evaporating almost immediately. "Let's go."

That makes it a lot easier, and since we're not being pelted by the wind, we can walk a lot faster than we did on our way into the Dark Temple during the blizzard. It doesn't take us longer than normal to reach the main area of the City, where magicians are already hard at work clearing the streets of snow.

Jackson's forge is running already, and it takes him eight minutes to come up to the shop after I enter.

"Hey, Zack," he greets me.

"Hey, Jackson," I respond. "Working on Nathan's gear?"

"Mending your breastplate," he shakes his head. "I was just finishing it up, and will get started on the rest of yours once I head back there again. It'll be around three to six hours, depending on my customer rate and how long it takes me between customers. Special Ores need more time, even when sped up."

"Thanks," I say. "I'll see you in a bit, then."

Jackson nods, then I head out, wandering through town for a few hours. As I'm considering making my way back to the forge, a woman bumps into me, then freezes where she is. I stop and look at her curiously.

"You know," I say. "The fact that I have been standing here for eight minutes now means you bumping into me is entirely your fault. It's quite rude to not apologize."

She turns and looks at me, and I perform a quick assessment of her. She's dressed in a light robe, underneath which, I can see various knives, daggers, and pouches, including a few of what look like smoke bombs.

She's a rogue.

Did she just try stealing from me? I didn't feel her hands on me.

"My apologies," she says. "I was just distracted, and-"

"By what?" I ask. "Is there a Skill that allows you to steal without physical contact? Did you ignore my Primary Class being Champion of Darkness? Or is your Appraisal not yet high enough to view one's Class?"

"I-" her eyes widen as she scrutinizes me. "You're a Champion of Darkness? How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

Her eyes widen even more as her mouth opens in shock just a tad.

"Envious that one so young can go so high?" I smirk. "So, I'll trade you. You tell me what you did when you bumped into me, since your hands didn't probe my body – and yes, I know they didn't – and I'll let you keep your hands. I'm in the habit of removing them from people who try to steal from me, so I feel it's a fair trade."

She smiles.

"That would require you being able to catch me."

With that, she moves faster than I can, releasing one of her smoke bombs and throwing it into the ground. It explodes, filling the air with smoke. I wait it out, knowing she's already gone.

Shrugging, I make my way to one of the quieter areas of town, reaching a tavern that hasn't been used in years.

There, I walk around to the back of the building, slipping between a trick wall, then descending the steps below, my Crimson Guide illuminating the stone passage. It has several trick floors, spiked pits, dropping walls, and other various traps, but they aren't that difficult for me to pass through or notice before they occur.

How do they deal with wanna rogues who die in the passage? Do they just burn their bodies away? How many people die to the traps?

I reach the end of the series of tunnels and ascend the stairs, then open the door that awaits me there.

Lanterns are lit, illuminating the massive wooden room well. There are a series of workbenches scattered throughout, though most are covered with a layer of dust. Several bookshelves stand against the walls, filled with books or jars of items and ingredients. Ladders and stairs lead up and down, doors set into various walls.

The presence of illuminated lanterns indicates its current use. Unlike last time I was here, when it was dark and I had only the Crimson Guide to brighten the place up.

I walk over to a table, dust it off, then jump up and sit on it, facing a specific set of stairs. Then, I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Until the would-be thief from earlier descends those stairs. She freezes when she sees me, staring.

"Hi," I smile at her. "I don't believe you introduced yourself earlier, though I know you know my name, and my status as a Dark Knight. That's a bit rude, you know. You should at least tell me your name, after you tried to steal from me."

"Tara," she says. "How did you find the entrance?"

"I've known where it was," I tell her. "So. Are you going to answer my question from earlier?"

She stares at me for several long moments.

"I'll trade you a Spook Treat for the information."

She scoffs, then stares when I pull one out of my Inventory.

"I've never seen an Inventory act like that before," she says.

"It's not the System-generated one," I tell her. "I'm… special. I have an extra Inventory – one where food doesn't go bad. I think I've figured it out. There is a thief Skill that allows you to steal from people. However, it doesn't steal something off their body, but rather, from their Inventory. The reason you froze after bumping into me is because it didn't take anything. My System-powered Inventory is completely and entirely empty, as I keep everything in my personal Inventory, which doesn't have a limit on space. At least, not one I can imagine myself ever filling, even if I stuffed a few Dragons inside of it."

Actually, that might fill it. Depends on how large the dragons are, though. And how many I decide to make a 'few'.

The Spook Treat disappears back into my Inventory.

"Since I figured it out," I say. "Your face betraying the truth, I have no need to give you the Spook Treat. I could sell it to some noble for forty or fifty gold, considering how long it's been. Plus, I've already just given away three of them. I got the full reward, since I killed it solo."

Her eyes widen, informing me that my gamble worked. She doesn't know much about me, nor who I really am in this town. As a result, she has no idea that I provoked it into its true form, increasing my reward, so right now, she only believes that I had five, meaning I have two left.

"Well," her expression shifts. "How can I believe you on that? How do I know you didn't just get a hit in while stronger Adventurers took it out, then got the lucky proc on the reward for one of them?"

I make public my Title of A Special Kind of Slayer, then three seconds later, switch it over to Holiday Breaker. After that, I pull out two Spook Treats, allowing her to see them. I sense her movement before it happens and send both back into my Inventory.

She stops with her hands right in front of me, where the two Spook Treats were just moments before.

"Nice try," I smile at her. "I was serious about cutting off a guy's hand, too. He tried stealing part of my reward for killing the Turkey Patriarch when he realized I was actually going to kill it solo."

The moment I say that, her expression changes to one of pure wariness and she jumps back several times until she's almost forty feet away from me.

She's heard of me.

"You're the one who cut off my brother's hand?" She asks. "He told me it was a bratty Dark Knight, he didn't tell me-"

"That child was your brother?" I laugh. "Oh, that's awesome! Brother and sister, both thieves! Tell me, lady – what do you have that could talk me into not removing your hands?"