Alice swung her axe and bisected the poor, defenseless training dummy. Its reinforced leather head rolled across the sand and came to a rest before my boot.

She spun it around, revealing the edges of sharpened ice coating the blades.

“Looks like a proper fantasy weapon now. New trick?”

Alice planted the axe into the sand and released it. The ice rapidly melted and stained the earth below while she raised her palm and showed me the wisps of cold swirling between her fingers.

“Is this how it feels to wield your fire?” she asked.

“Possibly. Does it feel like it's a part of you? Another extension of your body but with a mind of its own?”

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, pretty close.” I ran my fingers against her blade, feeling the cold leave the metal as my skin stole it away. “I’m not sure I like the idea of sparring against this. Regeneration or not, I like my limbs.”

“Then melt it.”

She grabbed her axe again, and the ice regrew. The glacial edges added another inch including the spike atop. I called to my mana and willed it into my arm. The flames extended from my palm and I pushed my magic against hers.

Steam rose and one side melted before her mana fought back. Like rabid wolves, they pushed and pulled entangled in a fight for dominance.

As Alice looked over, I smiled apologetically. In a rush, my mana burst through and overwhelmed her ice. It crushed it beneath a tide of flames that evaporated the water and sent the steam high.

She fought back, the mana trying to establish hold over the metal but I cut off her pathways and maintained the barrier.

She released her axe and sighed. “Annoying. But makes sense.”

I released the weapon as well and watched the remnants of water evaporate. “You got a good stat boost and passive, but I had the opportunity to level my mind stats more.”

‘

“Doesn’t change my feelings. Still disappointed.”

“Yeah well… I’ve learned some things and yet nothing at all.”

“Bad talk?” she asked, shifting to lean across one of the ropes attached to the inner ring. “Or good but lacking?”

“Both? Mostly the latter.”

Alice gestured for me to continue and I matched her by leaning on a different rope.

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“Where to begin? She’s like me… Like Elias and the other people we saw talk to Grim at the portal. Confirmed the eye color and even the bit about the white hair and fur.”

“He said it was stress,” she muttered.

“What?”

Alice pointed to my hair. “His excuse for why he had so many white patches of hair. Said it was stress. I believed him because he never lied. Or so I thought.”

What am I supposed to say to that?

“There’s a good chance he was under an Absolute. Or a few. I think almost everyone is. Remember how hard it was for Devon to tell us about the journals?”

“Except for you.”

“Except for me,” I admitted. “No idea why. Although, she wasn’t too surprised or shocked by that fact. Said he had to be experimenting again. And he’ll grow bored of me yet; his newest toy.”

“I don’t think she knew I wasn’t turned by Grim though. She said it weirdly, but I think… She assumed I was the same as her, rather than Elias giving me his legacy,” I continued.

I watched her reaction to mentioning Elias’ name but she was just as cold as Elizabeth. That was good, it made the next explanation easier.

“There was more.”

“What?” she prompted.

“She slipped up and said the seven of us. Not six. There’s me, Ripper, Krulg, her and Quinn. I think she counted the guy we saw wrapped in black roots before she corrected herself.”

“But that still leaves one more. Elias?”

I shook my head. “I thought that too. But then I pushed her on that and she answered. After struggling against an Absolute. She said that I already knew them. I think she meant alive.”

“So there’s a sixth.”

“Yeah. Any ideas?”

Minutes passed in silence as Alice stared at the ground. I waited, it was subtle but she was deeply concentrating. After a while her face lost the subtly and began to scrunch in annoyance.

Let’s change tactics.

I grabbed her axe and lazily swung in a diagonal swift aiming for her hip. She dodged and secured both hands along the shaft, sandwiching mine between hers.

A tug was met with a firm grip denying my prize, so I released the weapon and stepped back. Sand flew as I hopped to one foot and shook my wrists.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

My foot pushed into the sand and I threw a left hook. It wasn’t a good punch; I failed to twist my body and I aimed for her ear. Predictably, she dodged that attack as well and smacked the offending limb with her axe.

It stung but she held back.

“It’s someone I know. I don’t know a lot of people and there’s no way for her to know if I do.” I darted forward and threw another punch but switched to a kick as she raised her guard. “That means she knows somebody that we both know. Knows them well enough to say that.”

She winced as my shin hit her thigh. Before I could move back, her knee hit my ribs and pushed me away.

“Or she’s wrong. Mistakes happen,” she replied.

I ducked as knuckles cut my ear. My forearm pushed into her neck and I snapped another kick against her thigh, causing a stumble. As I moved to capitalize on the weakness she gripped my collar and rolled.

Oh dam-

My back hit the ropes and I crashed into the sand, the annoying grains swarming my nostrils before I rolled onto my side.

“Every damn time.” I spat the few bits of rock that landed on my tongue before I closed my mouth. “Who rolls? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you roll and launch a monster in the air.”

Alice stood up and brushed herself off. “You’re bipedal. And you favor overcompensating whenever you kick. Stop leaning so extremely. Bad habit.”

That bad habit of mine was me adjusting to kicking a monster in the disguise of a young woman. But fair play to her, I deserved to be punished for falling for the same trick.

“Alright. You need to switch your legs more, or the next time I kick that thigh, I’m going to bring you-”

“Devon.”

“Devon?” I repeated.

She stood up and wiped sand from her hair. “Devon. That’s who she was talking about.”

I joined her and brushed my hoodie free. To the side, her axe began to come loose from its spot in the sand. She snatched it free and slipped it into the clips of its sheath along her back.

“We have to find him,” she demanded.