After winning her fight and taunting Rynesh a bit more, Aliana started to lead me and Nalith through the halls.

“Wait, so you could keep up with that fight?” Nalith asked, she didn’t seem to believe me.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, “I can describe how she landed on the air itself and then kneed Rynesh in the head. Followed by throwing him into the same crater he made with my body, thanks for that, was enjoyable seeing some karma there.”

“No problem kid, I’ve wanted to put him into that floor for a while,” Aliana called out from in front of us, her hands already back in her coat.

“I think I’m just surprised because of how young you look, you look like a teenager, how old are you, like eighteen or something?” Nalith asked.

How old was I? I was what, fourteen when I was taken? Spent three months getting ferried to Willowdale, then spent another two weeks at the Zanlis manor. I then waited a week for Ingratus to find me, then spent however many years in that valley…

“Woah, steady there,” Someone said as I felt a shoulder come under my arm to support me. “You ok?”

Looking up I saw Nalith’s face, she seemed to be looking for something. “Yeah. Yeah, just trying to remember something.” My answer seemed to ease her concern as much as it eased my own. “I should be seventeen or so.” I lied. I was fifteen if it was really only three weeks in that valley. I should’ve turned around a week or two ago. What a shit present I was given.

“Seventeen? How long have you been awakened?” She asked.

“It’s been what, eight years? I awakened at nine.” Another lie, I awakened at six. However, I didn’t trust these people, but I was also too capable to say I was normal.

Nalith stopped moving which caused me also to stop as she supported me. “You know the regular person awakens at seventeen or so, right?” I nodded. “You’ve been awakened for longer than I have, crazy, and here I am, nineteen and thinking I’m shit 'cause I awakened at thirteen.”

Looking forward I noticed Aliana waiting for us at her office door. “I’m good,” I told Nalith as I removed myself from her shoulder.

Chuckling to herself she said, “No need for false bravado. If you’re still hurt don’t hurt yourself more by trying to act tough.” Standing straight I started walking down the hall, I wasn’t hurt. “Suit yourself.”

Entering her office I made my way directly to the bed I had woke up on and fell backward onto it.

“Tired?” Aliana asked, closing the door behind her as Nalith entered.

“Kind of, but the bed is just comfortable,” I said, but after laying there I realized my muscles were still imbued. “Yeah, I lied, I doubt I could walk right now without imbuing my muscles.”

“You were just walking though.” Nalith stated, “And you made it a point to finish that without my help.”

“Yeah?” I said. She should’ve been able to sense it, she was touching me.

“Arthur do your little trick again. Nalith just put your hand on the kid and pay attention this time,” Aliana commanded while going to her desk. Listening I imbued my muscles as I sat up, feeling a little lighter once again. Nalith walked over and put her hand on my shoulder, deciding to not argue against Aliana's bizarre request.

Her face seemed uninterested at first, but after a few seconds of contact with me, her face slowly changed into one of confusion. Taking her hand off her eyes darted between her hand and my shoulder then back to me. Then she put her hand back on my shoulder once again.

“Wait, do you have a concealing device or an artifact?” She inquired, seeing me shake my head she turned her head towards Aliana.

Aliana opened her mouth, then closed it tilting her head to the side, “I don’t know.” She stated, “Guess I forgot to follow up, he showed me the night I was supposed to kill him, but I thought he would fit as my underling so much better.”

Nalith looked at me with pity, “You too?” I nodded, trying my best to hide a smirk.

“Wow, look at me, I’m alive and wasn’t killed, woe is me. Get over it.” Aliana said, doing her best to imitate Nalith’s voice, before switching to a more normal tone. “Arthur, this is important,” Looking over at me and making sure I was paying attention before continuing, “How soon would I be able to send you out on a mission to assassinate someone? Have in mind, you would have their schedule for a day or two, and they would only be just awakened if at all.”

Killing someone who just awakened? That should be easy, but after a few moments, I realized. Chuckling to myself I asked the real question. Could I kill someone again? Bringing my hands up to my head I rested my elbows on my knees. Honestly, I’d been avoiding this question. I wasn’t sure, well, I hadn’t asked, and I haven’t had time to ask. Thinking back on the fight, I did try to kill Rynesh. Sure, he wasn’t the greatest person, but he was still someone that I tried to kill during a spar. I wasn’t exactly sure why though, hells, I still thought that I was years older than I actually was.

“Give me a day or two to get myself situated. That good?” I needed time, time to think.

“Sounds fine, just remember why you came here in the first place” Aliana responded. Then she looked back down at the desk and started to sort through various documents.

“So kid, you good?” Nalith asked, sitting down on the bed beside me.

I thought for a moment, was I ok? “No, I don’t think I am,” I whispered, barely making a sound She was quiet for a while, and I wasn’t sure if she heard me.

“Nalith, can you come around at noon tomorrow? I’m going to have you take Arthur through some movements, if he does well I’ll drop off his mission details and he’ll go. Sound good?” Aliana asked, cutting through the silence.

Nalith lingered for a moment, not saying anything, before saying, “Sure thing. What about until then?”

“Sleep, train, I don’t care. Go have some free time. Now shoo kitty,” Aliana said while shooing her towards the door.

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” Nalith said, throwing her hands up into the air. “I hate that nickname,” She said under her breath.

“Sound good to you kid?” Aliana questioned after the door was closed.

“Sounds fine, but until then, I’m sleeping,” I stated while taking off my shirt before going under the sheets and putting my head on the pillow. Actual sleep for the first time in literal years? I was a little nervous about what I would see.

Going to sleep, I fully expected to see nightmares, but I wasn’t sure what they would be about. However, when I fell asleep, I was again in the valley. I was beside the same river I crawled out of all those years ago. The valley walls stretched high into the sky, with the sight of trees just above.

I felt the wind pass through, carrying the smell of the oak trees above. The grass swayed in the wind, and the sound of water flowing and trees rustling filled the air.

It was peaceful, and since no pain-inducing poisons were going through my system, I was actually able to take it all in, sitting down and just watching the silvery liquid flow throughout the valley.

“I’m not scared” I mumbled aloud to myself, I wasn’t scared of the valley. That’s what I realized after sitting there for what seemed like hours. Smiling, I continued to sit there until I woke up.

Waking up, I felt less rushed, having time to just sit and think helped. Removing the sheets on top of me I swung my legs over the side and picked up my shirt.

“Morning,” I heard Aliana say. Looking over, I saw her sitting at the desk, going through pages. She wore a black shirt and had a purple trench coat lying on her desk. You slept better than last time. Nalith should be around in a bit to take you to eat and then through some basics.”

“Food sounds good,” I said. I meant it, I hadn’t eaten in what felt like years.

Standing up I got myself off the bed and straightened up after stumbling.

“Most people lose a lot more muscle after the coma. Any stiffness?” Aliana asked, getting up from her chair and making her way over to me.

Stolen novel; please report.

“A bit, but I’m better than yesterday, walking without imbuement would’ve been impossible.” Nothing like what I could do before I went into the coma though.

Walking a little I made my way toward the center of the room, and when there I sat down. Extending one of my legs out I reached for it, stretching myself. “I should’ve done this yesterday before getting dragged everywhere.” I felt sore after moving again.

“I’m sure you were using ether to loosen yourself up, but yes, you’ll get back in shape faster. The less you use it the better in the long term.” Having made her way over she started to scan me over.

“Want me to stop hiding my ether?” I asked, I wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for.

“You can do that? Please do, it’ll make my job easier.” She said, looking shocked but then showing me an uneasy smile. I thought she had figured that out, guess throughout my entire coma I kept cycling.

Slowly I stopped absorbing ether, it felt weird. Cycling ether meant keeping your input and output the same, but to hide it, you can also diminish the amount you were currently using, bringing your output as close to zero as possible. Most people assume that raising your input is impossible, in theory, it would work and does with certain artifacts and technologies, but doing it without external aid was deemed impossible. So who was Ghezin? How did a random Kythrax who was captured know how to do something most people thought was impossible?

“Freaky kid,” She muttered, as I switched to my other leg, “It’s up to whether or not to keep your ether signature hidden. Personally, I don’t care, and if others even notice you can always just tell them to come to me.’

Well, although I would prefer people know less about me, I would also like to constantly use ether as it helps with the development of my ether veins. “I’ll keep it hidden,” Continuing my stretches I started to cycle ether again.

Aliana returned to her desk while I stretched, and eventually, Nalith came in. By this time I was almost done stretching and I waved to her from the floor. “Hey kid, weird spot, you ready to go?”

Pushing myself off the ground I stood up, albeit a little shakily, “Yeah, lead on,”

Nalith started guiding me through the halls, showing me anything I would ever need to know; offices, living spaces, infirmaries, and anything in between. Eventually, she led me to a mess hall where we stayed a while so I could try to eat something.

Deciding to keep it light I just ate bread of some kind, it tasted good but my stomach couldn’t handle the solid food. Deciding to tough it out I imbued it with a little ether, numbing the pain.

“That’s certainly a solution,” Nalith said after I told her about my problem, we already started to move towards the next room.

“It’s that, or I don’t eat, and after three weeks of not eating, I think my option is better,” I stated, “So we going to do those movements now?”

Not turning around she said, “I already saw them during your fight yesterday, but I don’t know if your ether control is better than my own. In the end, we’ll probably end up sparing.”

Nodding we continued moving through the halls in silence, eventually making it to the training hall. It wasn’t as big as the one I was in the other day, but it still had quite a bit of space. Its floor was made of wood, and the walls were made of stone bricks. It was mostly an empty room beside the occasional training dummy. Looking around I saw that there was a weapon wall, covered with many different kinds of weapons. Spears, swords, knives, axes, hammers, staffs, and bows were the majority. “Do you know how to use any weapons?” Nalith asked, seeing me shake my head no she continued, “Well, there is a good amount of different kinds of weapons along the wall if any catch your eye just ask, otherwise just stick to hand-to-hand.”

After thinking it over I said, “I’ll stick to my hands for now. No point in spending a day learning something new when I might be fighting tomorrow. Though, I am interested in learning another time.”

“So I’m going to ask a few questions and ask you to do some things for me.” She said, “Imbue only your left arm for me.” Doing so I waited, while she watched. “Oh, I forgot your ether is hidden, huh.”

“Sorry about that,” I said while stopping the cycling but kept the imbuement.

“Well, that makes this easier, can you raise the amount flowing into your arm?” Doing so I raised my ether, strengthening the arm more and more. Eventually, I got to a point where it felt like I was clenching my entire arm, I could move it, but I couldn’t put in any more ether. I also didn’t think I could maintain it for long. I felt my soul empty at a pretty fast pace, so I stopped the imbuement.

“That was my max,” I said panting, trying to get some air and ether in my body. I wondered how strong I was and how much I could do with that much ether.

“Impressive, I’m certain you couldn’t do that for long though. So in all, you have good control. Now, I’m going to do something, I’m going to need you to either resist.” Nalith said, taking a few steps away from me before closing her eyes.

Nothing happened for a while, and then all of a sudden, I felt a wave of ether crash down on top of me forcing me to fall to the floor.. The ether came at me, invading my veins and pushing my ether towards my soul. Realizing what she was doing, I started to push my ether out, forcing her ether outside of my body. Switching my focus, I began to absorb ether, hiding my presence so it was harder for her ether to attack me.

Then a thought struck me, Is this what Zanlis felt, that oppressive force? No wonder he couldn’t do much, he didn’t have time to react, Hells, I would’ve had difficulty doing anything if I couldn’t hide my ether signature.

Feeling the Nalith’s ether lessen, I heard her call out, “I can say you passed with flying colors, good job, I’m impressed you stopped the suppression so fast. Wait, you good kid?” She had a look of concern on her face.

I don’t know what my expression was, thinking of Zanlis, his butler, and Quinn, someone who I had just sent off.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted to express myself. Ever since the moment I woke up, I’ve just wanted to let it out to someone. I’ve been pushed from one thing to the next, and the only time I’ve had to think about anything was a dream.

However, I wasn’t going to trust someone from an assassin's guild to keep my fears, “Fine, just fine. Are we done?” I snapped.

Looking at me, Nalith’s expression didn’t change. After a few moments, she said, “Yeah… Yeah, we’re done,”

Turning away, I left the training hall and headed towards Aliana’s office. Nalith didn’t follow me, at least not closely. I hated all the second-guessing, not sure whether or not I could trust anyone here.

Eventually, I made my way back to Aliana’s office. “Aliana, give me the mission,” I demanded the moment I entered, looking around I found Nalith talking to Aliana. Guess I had made a few wrong turns. Interrupting whatever conversation they were having.

“Rude, but sure. It’s right here.” Aliana said, getting up from her desk and handing over a folder. “You can read right?”

Picking it up I said, “Depends on the language,” Thankfully it was written in Runicall, reading it over it mentioned how I would have to kill a human female named Jolis Marsone in a specific way, a small smile crept onto my face as I read that she was a slaver who turned against Ingratus. The folder also had a sketch of her. As I continued to read I found a list of places where she was often found, but it didn’t have a place of residence. “Anything I should know?” I asked.

“Just finish it within two days and you should be fine. Nalith, I guess I don’t have a job for you. You can go back to training.” Aliana said, returning to her desk.

Nalith started to leave and while walking past me she stopped and whispered, “You seem to already know, but I’ll warn you once, don’t trust anyone here.” Looking over, I watched her leave, just who was she?

I started to leave until I heard Aliana behind me, “Oh, and if you do succeed, expect to see your slave when you come back. Just a little incentive to do it quickly.”

I stopped and turned around. “I’ve heard it before. Question, though; Do you have another one of your coats that I can borrow?”

She laughed out loud and said, “I do, and I suppose I can give it to you. Can you stay here for a moment?” Nodding my head, she walked out of the room and returned soon after without the coat.

Aliana made her way towards her desk, and then sat down, picking up more documents. “So, the coat?” I asked.

Sighing, she looked up, “Patience.” Not knowing what to do, I made my way over to the bed and laid on it. Laying there I stared at the ceiling, going over plans on how to approach the mission I was just given. “Oh, and she won’t have permission to talk to you, sorry but I can only bend the rules so much.”

As soon as she said that I heard a knock on the door, and then it opened. Nothing happened for a few seconds, just silence. However, I kept my eyes on the ceiling and I eventually heard whomever opened the door crossing the room to Aliana’s desk.

“Here’s what you asked for, Ma’am," a voice said, a voice that I recognized. My eyes widened as I sat up. A familiar female human with grey hair was standing there with her back turned to me. She was wearing a stained white kirtle with a brown apron tied at the back.

I felt stuck on the bed, my legs and voice betraying me, not allowing me to move. The only thing I could think was how much I wanted her to turn around, for me to see her face.

“You can hand off the coat to the boy on the bed,” Aliana said, giving me a little wink.

It felt like an eternity, waiting for her to turn around. Over and over I wished that my hopes would come true, that I could see her one time before I left once more.

When she turned around I saw a familiar set of light blue eyes. My heart burned in my chest when my eyes saw an old bruise under her left eye. She looked tired, her face sunken, and she moved like every step caused her a little pain.

I got up from the bed, moving across the room. When I got close to her I embraced her and held the back of her head with my hand. “Rana… I’m so sorry… Just, just give me a few days, I’ve almost got you.” My voice cracked and broke, a few tears on the edges of my vision. Holding her I could feel how frail she was. I knew she couldn’t talk to me at least, not without hurting herself, not with the slave contract. It didn’t change anything, I was just happy to see her once again.

I didn’t want to let her go, I could feel her sobbing in my arms, her body jerking with each one, but I didn’t know her orders. By all means, I could’ve been setting her up to be hurt by her contract.

Letting go of her I took a step back, looking her in the face. “I’ll be back in two days at the latest, by that time we should be able to talk to each other,” I told her, seeing the tears streaming down her face and the bruise on her face felt like a knife in my stomach. She didn’t respond, she couldn’t respond, but she held out her hands, offering up a brown coat. I grabbed it, and then watched her start to walk out of the room. Before she left she took one look back.

“Thank you,” I whispered, before turning to Aliana, “Thank you,” I said again, but this time in a louder tone.

“Just make sure my investment wasn’t for nothing kid,” Aliana said, then she started shooing me out of the room, “Now get that job done.”

Turning around I started to make my way toward the door, putting on the coat while making my way out the room.

Time to kill Jolis Marsone.