On a night like any other down in the Sanctuary, Kagami asked Walnut about elves. Elves were a fantasy stable, he wanted to know if they existed in a fantasy world like this.

To that question, Walnut’s expression darkened. He took Kagami by the shoulder, his fears apparent by how his voice quivered just from elves being mentioned.

“Why? Did you see one?”

“No. I was just curious though.”

Walnut blew out a sigh, falling back to his favored armchair. He took his flask, taking a bigger swig than usual. Then he wagged his large finger at Kagami.

“Don’t scare me like that.”

“Are elves that scary?” Kagami asked.

“They sure are.” He took another swig of his flask. “My grandpa told me a story about them. Told me one elf mowed down an entire army. Unlike us humans, they’re not cursed. They can still use spirit energy without the need for keys. Not only that, they live long.” He stared at his open hand as if he were holding an image of the horror he described. He looked up at Kagami. “If you ever run into one, you should run.”

#

There was no way in hell that Kagami would ever run when an opportunity like this came. Not when an elf was in front of him. He wanted to know if the stories were true. He ended up stretching, while the elf watched him with dispassionate interest.

“What are you doing?” The elf asked.

“You’re strong aren’t you?” Kagami finished his legs and moved to his arms. Grabbing the shoulder and twisting his hips. “I can smell it. I’m getting my body warmed up to fight you.”

“There was nothing in your files about you smelling strength. I will add that in your file.” Her tone flat. “Your actions are odd. They don’t match anything that I know of Cedar Oswell. I guess it’s true that you lost your memories.”

Kagami arched his back, feeling a couple of pops and snaps. “I was told that you should run away when you’re faced with an elf, but I need to know how strong you are. IF I ran away here, then how could I face my wife?”

With his stretches done, Kagami put his left foot forward, his right foot turned outward. He formed a claw with his right hand and kept his left hand inside his guard. Sensing the fight was before her, the elf walked towards him as if she were walking normally in a busy street going from one point to another.

Sweat formed on his temple, and his eyebrows furrowed. He licked his lips. There was no opening he could exploit. In his old body, he had no need to make an opening, his whole thing was might made right. Kagami didn’t have that convenience in this world.

He was still weak, so he tried to copy the person he knew was strong. He emulated how his wife moved when he had taken her sword away from her.

She had moved with the grace of a fish swimming in the river and succeeded in striking him and retrieving her blade. She smiled in triumph, tapping the sword on her shoulder. The man had blinked for it was the first time someone had succeeded in taking back what was there’s.

Before it threatened to bring a tear to his eyes, Kagami turned his attention back to what needed to be done. To rescue the young boy from the spider and elf.

The elf vanished from his sight. She was below his sight, Kagami felt her presence. His outstreched hand caught her wrist, but it made no difference. It was like trying to bend a thick iron slab. The power behind that slender arm could not be stopped. Her blade sliced towards his side and Kagami took a step back, not fully able to avoid it. The tip cut through his precious shirt and waist, a line of red formed and bubbled, but was shallow and not enough to spill his gut.

He was surprised. How had such a small body produce such power? There wasn’t enough muscle in that tiny body to do that. It reminded him…of his wife.

The elf watched him closely, her face did not change, staying frozen like a doll’s. She brought her sword back and attacked him once more.

Kagami wasn’t prepared for her attack. He stumbled back, the sword hummed above his head where his neck would have been. Her eyes shifted down and she brought her sword down. Kagami rolled out of the way, and the blade cut through the stone floor like it was made from butter.

The more he observed the elf, the more and more he felt the sense that it was like his wife’s powers. The times he had asked about it, she would give him a knowing and proud smile, pressing her finger to her lips.

“That’s a secret.”

The sound of the elf wrenching her blade from its stone brought him back to the present. Kagami prepared himself for her next attack. His body was weak and slow, if he moved his body in the way he imagined, it would crumble under the strain of doing so.

Yet, he trained. Trained hard. He wasn’t even close to what he wanted, but no one ever waited until you became strong enough. Fights happened whenever.

Kagami took a deep breath, and this time he started the exchange off. He feinted low, but she didn’t fall for it and brought down her blade. Kagami spun in place, smacking the flat of the blade with the back of his hand. Her gut was open and Kagami took it.

His fist slammed against her ribcage, but he was the one to falter.

Pain bristled up his arm. She was hard. It was like she had been made from diamond or something.

The elf smacked his temple with the flat of her blade. His vision shook and then he felt himself being yanked by the feet. He fell face forward, and his nose crunched like an eggshell. Hot blood flowed through his broken nose.

Kagami looked up to see that the spider had spat its web at him. It’s mandibles opened, and a victorious screech blasted him. The spider spun him into a cocoon and the last thing he saw was the kid’s scared eyes as he witnessed Kagami’s loss.

#

“Mission has been complete.” Ariel conveyed her message in her master’s aura thread. “He has been captured, and will be shipped to you.”

“He gave you no problem?” Her master asked.

“Measuring his physical prowess, I would compare it to a gorilla. I would say his chances of awakening are high.”

From the thread, she could feel her master’s relief at that assessment.

“We still require more. The Harvest will begin soon. The Queen has not kept up her bargain. She has sent less and less.”

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“I see. With the Spear Man we got yesterday, and the Prince, we still require at least three more.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. The mercenary I interrogated has told me that there are three companions that can use Aura. I’ll need you to go there to persuade the Council.”

“Yes,” she accepted.

“Now, for your other report. Did you feel anything from fighting that man? Any emotions?” Though she couldn’t tell from his tone, she could from his thread the anticipation he felt when he asked her this question.

“None.”

“That’s unfortunate. You’re still emotionally stunted.”

Ariel turned her gaze towards the cocoon. She felt a spark, and saw a lick of flame coming from the Prince.

“I apologize, Master. It seems the fight isn’t over yet. I felt a spark of Aura from the-”

The cocoon lit on fire. The rainbow glow was both ominous and pretty.

“-Prince.” She finished her sentence.

The Prince erupted through the cocoon as if it were an egg, reminiscent of a phoenix. His fist struck the spider’s underside, blowing a hole through it. The spider cried its death song, and with its innards gushing forth like a new spring, it fell.

The Prince was burning. He turned his attention to the young boy, burning the cocoon with fire. The rainbow flames that engulfed him did no harm to the young boy. She looked over the Prince, seeing that his thumb and neck were wet with blood. No doubt, he had killed himself.

The boy at first screamed in surprise.

“You’re alright.” The Prince reassured the boy. “It’s not burning you.”

“Ah!” The boy quieted down. “You’re right, it doesn’t hurt. It feels like…jumping in a pond?”

She could confirm now that the Prince had awakened. Aura clearly gushed out of him.

The Prince gave a low hearty chuckle. He looked nothing like a regal, prideful prince. Just a fairly ordinary man.

“Is that how it feels for you? I wish it was the same for me.”

“What does it feel like for you?” The boy asked, curious.

But the Prince did not answer, instead telling him to wait a moment. His easy going smile, dropped as he met Ariel’s gaze. She continued to observe him to gather combat information. Something within her chest toiled. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Her white grip on her sword, a replica of a Sword of Light, tightened.

The thread she talked to her master with floated in the air between the two of them. The Prince seemed to have spotted it, because his gaze flicked up in the air where it floated.

“I have a new report to make. It seems that he’s partially awakening when-”

The prince’s hand flicked and snapped the thread. Her communication broke with her master’s.

“Hey. Who are you talking to?” The thread in his hand dissipated.

It took her but a moment to assess the situation. She pointed her blade at him with the intent to eliminate him. He wasn’t going to die, so she would make sure to slice his limbs off, leaving only his torso.

#

Within the dark tunnels that no one but fools entered, there were sounds of a clash. Two wisps of light that danced within the darkness and a scream of a boy that made made a foolish man who observed this run off in fear that he would be next.

Kagami felt strong. He felt power course through his revived muscles, the rainbow flames that enveloped him shimmered like broken glass hit by sunlight. While it didn’t move to the speed he liked, his body was following the movement etched from his previous life.

He didn’t understand how he was able to move like this right now, but he knew he could now and that was all that mattered.

Even though he was able to keep up with the elf, she did not seem to show any sign that she was being pressured. She regarded all of his attacks with calm certainty, weaving through his fists with a grace of a dancer. Kagami could feel it, she was waiting for the moment when this flame would burn out like a candle at the end of its wick.

He readied his fist, but a premonition of his hand being cut stopped him midway, and he instead stepped sideways, and the blade passed by him cutting the ground like butter.

Kagami moved to break the blade with a kick, but the elf incredibly caught his charged foot with her own, and kicked him aside like plywood. Kagami hit his back against the wall and the elf had followed him. With no way to dodge, Kagami aimed to exchanged his arm for a blow to her body.

At that moment, the flame fizzled out and he felt power leaving his body. His fist slowed down to a crawl and the glowing blade came hurtling down on him.

No. Not yet.

His clamped jaw pried open in a defiant yell. His fist regained its strength and speed and as the burning blade bit down on his shoulder, he hit the same place he had hit with as much power as he could muster. A dull sound, like a fist hitting a thick slab of cold iron resounded through the tunnel.

For a silent moment the two stood frozen. His fist stayed glued to where he had hit her and her blade stopped in his shoulder.

Kagami slumped to his knees. He looked to her side, his fist had made no dent. She rose her sword and Kagami felt the pain of losing once more. He did not and would not look away from her. At the very least, he could watch her finish him off.

But as she lifted her sword to its zenith the blade crackled and the light died like a blown candle, enveloping the area in complete darkness.

Kagami didn’t know what was happening, but he moved quickly, jumping back to where the boy was and grabbing him. He screamed in surprise, and not a moment later, he felt something sharp craze his cheek. He clamped down on the boy’s mouth, whispering it was him to calm him down before backing carefully behind the spider’s corpse and then retreating to a safer space.

#

“How surprising.” Ariel assessed her body. A thread materialized in front of her and it wrapped itself around her neck.

“What is?” Her master’s voice resounded in her head.

“I can’t produce Aura. I believe my body has been damaged from him.”

“…So he grows stronger. The Harvest may be a success yet.”

“In my assessment, there is no doubt he will grow stronger,” she said.

#

Since they escaped the elf, the boy had changed the way he looked at Kagami. Rather than looking at him as if he were a strange man, the boy gazed at him with the utmost admiration. They were clearly twinkling as the boy gazed upon him with bated breath.

Kagami didn’t like it. Just the thought of a boy admiring him like so made him tired. He had been through this song and dance too many times to care, because he knew where that road led. It led to the boy asking him for him to teach him.

“You’re so strong!” The boy finally found his courage. “How are you so strong? Can you be my master?”

“. . .”

That was a lot faster than he thought it would be. Kagami stayed silent, but the boy asked again.

“Can you teach me how to strong, master?”

“I’m not a master.” Kagami avoided the boy’s gaze and with a heavy sigh, he slumped his shoulder. “And I’m surely not strong. I couldn’t defeat that elf.”

“That was an elf!” The boy screamed at the top of his lungs.

Kagami frowned cocking his head. “You didn’t see her pointed ears? She was clearly an elf.”

The boy fell to his knees, paralyzed by fear. He clutched his head as if he had the worst headache imaginable.

“What are we going to do? An elf. A monster is here down here with us.”

Kagami huffed and knelt to meet the boy’s gaze. Sensing him, the boy looked up at him. Fear clearly in his eyes.

“It’s alright. The elf isn’t after you. It’s after me. You won’t need to worry alright. You just need to avoid me.”

The boy gave a slow nod.

“Come on now.” He held out a hand for the boy to take. The stood up and continued their walk to the lift. “We gotta take…Ah!”

“Wha-what is it, master?”

“I forgot the bag.” Kagami felt his heart race. “If I don’t get that bag, my pay…”

He turned back to the tunnel they just escaped from. He had punched the ceiling in order to cause a collapse so the elf couldn’t follow them.

“Ca-can’t we just say we were attacked by an elf?” The boy asked. “They won’t-”

“No, they will.” Kagami looked down at the boy. “These are criminals after all. They will never forget a debt owed.”

Kagami had watched it happen before. A man lost a bag, and he had been forced to take much more dangerous jobs in order to pay it back with interest. The precious ores that were in the cave weren’t something that he could replace. They would make him delve deeper in the Well…

“Actually that didn’t sound too bad.” Kagami rubbed his chin and spoke to himself.

The deeper he went into the Well, the weirder creatures that existed. Fighting those would surely get him stronger than an elf and if he took the blame for the boy’s bag, then he would never be asked to do this stupid supply drop again.

Kagami smiled his most wicked smile and laughed under his breath. The boy, not understanding any of what went through his mind, instinctively tried to walk away from him.

Kagami took the boy’s shoulder. “No, that won’t do. If you go too far, you might get caught again. Stay close to me, at least until we get to the lift.”

The boy nodded. He placed his hands close to his chest as if to protect something precious in his arms. Kagami watched the boy as they passed the threshold from the tunnel to the area where the lift was. Cold wind blew across his sweat soaked face.

Kagami stopped in his tracks as he gawked upon what he found. The boy stepped right next to him, clear horror plastered on his face.

What was reflected in those eyes was a massacre. Bodies piled up, cut through by the legs of those spiders. Ore that the workers had brought had spilled and scattered on the ground.

But what his gaze gravitated towards wasn’t the sea of death, but the spotless and empty lift.