Having nothing to do was not quite as restful as Avakian had imagined. He was trying to read a novella that he had picked up from the library, but every time his concentration slipped the events of the day prior seeped into his thoughts like a virus.

He imagined the creature's needle-teeth puncturing his flesh. Its tentacles, undulating and numerous, wrapping around his throat, squeezing and burning the life out of him.

Every time he closed his eyes he could see the beast in perfect imitation within his mind, just as terrifying as when he first glimpsed it.

Eyes. Teeth. Wings. Legs. Eye-

"AVAKIAN? You home? Sam said you were injured, and I could get out of work by delivering you a textbook." Avakian heard Ellian shout from the sliding door that served as the entranceway to the dojo.

"Come in!" He shouted back. "Kamatie broke the door, you can literally just walk through."

He heard the muffled sound of a door sliding, and half a minute later Ellian appeared in his bedroom doorway.

"Mornin." She hucked the book onto Avakian's bed, narrowly missing his crotch. "Mind if I stay here for a couple hours? I'm technically getting paid for this and it would be a travesty for me to actually have to do my job."

"...Sure." His response wasn't necessary, Ellian had already relaxed in a corner before he'd said anything and was playing some kind of game on a handheld console.

He sighed, and picked up the book she'd thrown him. The book was a large hardback, decorated with a stylised polyhedron on the front, titled "Introductory Erebology by Professor Samuel Palmer".

He opened the first chapter and immersed himself in the musings of Professor Sam Palmer.

"It is important to realise that Void has existed since the dawn of the universe, despite the common fallacy that it was called into being only millenia ago, as some would have you believe. We have records from the period of Antiquity of physicists who theorised about the nature of this elusive substance. Back then they referred to it as 'Dark Matter', owing to its invisible nature and..."

The book was remarkably understandable, the Professor skilled at conveying his ideas in a concise and informative fashion. So deeply was Avakian engrossed in the book, he failed to notice a second entrance into the dojo.

"Miss Ellian? What're you doing here?" Asked a confused sounding Chiros from the doorway to Avakian's room. The handsome elf-man looked slightly less impeccable this morning, clothes ruffled and stained black in places.

"Working; piss off." She grunted, her gaming device making a sudden beeping noise. "That was my last life you fucker! Now I have to restart the level from the beginning!"

"Well... Regardless of your theft of Academy time, thank you for looking after my housemate." Chiros praised. "Kamatie and I spent the entire night searching the forests for more of those Void beasts. She even let me fight one myself!"

He looked incredibly content at this, Avakian couldn't quite comprehend why someone would want to contend with one of those things of their own volition.

"How many did you find? Did you get them all?" He asked, hopeful that he would never have to see them ever again.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"I killed one. Kamatie killed half a dozen. She thinks they were part of a swarm that migrated in the wrong direction. They don't usually attack normal folk, we think they were probably attracted to the large amount of Void within your body."

Avakian felt his heart turn to lead, sinking into his stomach. He had dealt with many emotions in his short life; curiosity and happiness, fear and pain.

Shame was a new one.

"So it's my fault. The beast was after me. People were hurt because of me." He muttered, his face covered by his hands.

He expected ridicule and derision from his chivalrous housemate, to be met with looks of disgust, and reprehension.

"Ridiculous." Chiros scoffed. "Did you want the beast to attack you? Did you run and abandon your comrades?

No; I heard the reports from Junice. You stood your ground, created a plan and followed through with it, even at the cost of your own wellness."

"Yeah, idiot, I thought you were smarter than this. If I did something that badass I'd be bragging about it for decades." Ellian chimed in, still concentrating on her console. "You know it's true if I'm agreeing with shitwit here."

Chiros glanced at her exasperatedly, before continuing with his speech.

"Avakian; my people are called the Judicar, worshippers of the God Judis. We literally worship justice itself, and your actions yesterday would've made our God proud." He stated, his eyes filled with such resolution and certainty that Avakian actually believed him.

"Although you have to bear in mind that God isn't real and everything is inherently pointless anyways." Ellian chimed in unhelpfully, ruining the moment.

Chiros sighed as if he had heard this rhetoric thousands of times before.

"I'm far too tired to debate theology with someone as sharp as you Miss Ellian, if you don't mind I'm going to be taking a nap." He sloped out of Avakian's room and walked across the hallway to his own.

Avakian sighed, looking up at the ceiling as he considered what had been said. By now he knew Chiros well enough to know that the young man would not lie to spare his feelings, the boy held an immense conviction he didn't think he could ever compare to.

A large crack sounded out from the entrance to the dojo. No prizes would be given out for guessing who just entered.

Kamatie's slow and massive footsteps made their way to Avakian's room, alongside another person who was clearly struggling to keep up.

She entered the room, ducking her 10 ft tall frame under the doorway, and plodded up to his bedside, where he was still laying down. She was followed by a stressed looking Andy, who brightened at seeing him relatively uninjured.

"Avakian! I was told by Dr. K you were badly injured? Are you better already?" He asked.

Avakian made a shaky-hand gesture. "Kind of. My injuries weren't physical, during the fight I depleted my Void reserves, which caused me to pass out."

"Good! You were lucky, I've only ever seen pictures of Void beasts, and even those scared the willies out of me."

Out of the corner of his eye, Avakian could see Ellian tiptoeing to the door in an attempt to leave without being spotted.

Kamatie for her part remained unmoving and unspeaking, playing the part of the stone statue she resembled so much, her burnished-gold eyes firmly locked onto Avakian's torso.

"Is everything alright, Kamatie?" He asked.

"No." She stated simply. "Kornovakalgium is a trained doctor, but he cannot see what I can. Your actions have deepened your existing issue, your time here in the 74th Fold is waning. I would estimate you have no more than 2 months in Aemonsford."

"What? What! I thought you said I had at least a year? What changed?" Avakian panicked.

"During the period when your vital reserves were depleted, some of your innate etchings devoured others in an attempt to stay alive."

"Oh."

What else could be said? Intellectually Avakian had known his time here was limited, but he had shoved those thoughts down deep, content to push his problems onto his future self.

Now that he was his future self, his problems weren't nearly as ignorable.

"I will notify Chiros to clear his schedule, he and I will teach you fighting here directly in the dojo. Sharpen your mind, Avakian, learn your gifts. You will depart with Chiros in 2 months."