Adam walked back toward the barn, Finn beside him hummed lightly to himself. Caius and Ava were outside, Caius’s swords drawn and Ava glowing a soft green. Adam yelped when Caius brought a sword down across Ava’s arm.

Adam started to run, startled at the sudden change. What had happened since he and Finn were gone that had caused this?

“Caius, stop!” He called. “Whatever happened I’m sure…” He trailed off as the two looked at him. Ava’s arm appearing completely unharmed.

“Don’t get all worked up soldier boy.” Ava said. “We’re just doing some tests with our abilities.

Caius flashed a grin at him as Finn strolled up, munching on one of the stalks of corn. “So, you get it all out of your system?”

A small spark of lightning burst from his sword and arced straight toward Finn. Oddly, Adam wasn’t affected by it. He could see the lightning pass right over him, even slightly perceive the strength of it as his hair stood on end. Finn had been caught off guard however, and yelped as his arm seized at his side where the little lightning bolt struck him.

Finn’s arm quit shaking a moment later as he clinched his teeth. “Well, that was rude.” He said when his jaw unclenched.

“You two look like you found some trouble. Well, Adam does. Finn looks like he pushed you into it.” Ava said, stepping next to Caius, the green glow over her skin now faded.

“He has a habit of doing that does he?” Adam said, looking over at Finn who just gave him helpless shrug.

“He did quite well. And that armor sure can take a beating. He doesn’t have much of a concept of his own vitality though.” Finn said.

“My own what?” Adam asked. He had heard them throw the word around but had no idea how it could apply to his situation. He felt fine. He had a few cuts and bruises from the seemingly endless barrage of titanic ants, but nothing that would affect him long term.

Caius looked toward Ava. “Care to explain? This is your area of expertise after all.”

She narrowed her eyes at Caius but eventually shrugged. Without a word, she walked straight up to Adam, hands held behind her back. She looked over him, seeming to study the bruises on his body, mostly located on his shoulders and sides. Adam stood there awkwardly, still not having put back on the shirt that Caius had given him after Finn cleaned it.

“Can I…” Adam began to say but was abruptly cut off.

With surgical precision, Ava pulled a dagger from the waist band at her back and plunged it into the center of his chest, ripping straight down toward his stomach. A tearing pain erupted from his chest as blood poured from the wound.

Adam looked up at her, horrified at the betrayal. He felt like he was going to vomit but had the distinct feeling that it would just fall from his stomach and onto the ground in front of him. His eyes darted from side to side at Caius and Finn who looked on, sympathetic expressions on their face.

“Why?” Adam asked. His voice raspy. He dropped to a knee - hands pressed firmly over the open wound in the center of his chest. He honestly couldn’t believe that he was even still alive at this point. He was sure he should have bled out by now. At the very least passed out.

Ava walked around him. “Breath, Adam. Focus on your body. Feel your vitality coursing through you. Or lack thereof in your current state.” She said, her voice quiet but firm. Like she was giving a lecture to a group of middle schoolers. “Concentrate on how much damage was actually done. Surely a wound like this before would have killed you. But now?” She trailed off, allowing Adam to think.

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The shock of being stabbed by who Adam thought was someone he could trust had passed as he now realized this for what it was. Another training exercise. Oddly, the more he focused on his own body, the more he realized he wasn’t as wounded as he thought. His chest throbbed and his stomach burned as if he had swallowed a burning log, but it wasn’t incapacitating in how he expected it would be.

Adam stood with a soft grunt. As he did, Ava slashed at him again, her dagger a silver blur that sped toward him. Adam reflexively put his hands up and the knife pierced his left palm.

“How much more can you take?” Ava asked. Her voice as calm and cool as if she was simply teaching history. “Another few slashes to your extremities? A stab to the throat? Where is the line?”

“You’re a bunch of sadistic lunatics.” Adam spat, blood splattering on the ground in front of him. Even in all his years training with the SEALs, they never did anything like this to him. He had come close to drowning a few times but that was the farthest he had been pushed. This was the equivalent to being shot point blank.

“What? You thought this was going to be easy? That we we’re just going to go around hitting things and hope for the best? You’re a boy who’s in over his head.” Ava retorted. “If you think this is bad, wait until the Eldari sink their teeth into you and you still have to stand at the front to make sure Finn doesn’t get his chest caved in. It doesn’t matter if your arm’s been torn off. You’re the front liner. You must be able to take an evisceration and keep going without hesitating. That armor of yours will break. The question is whether you will break after.” She pulled another dagger from the small of her back and planted it in his right quad.

“You think this is helping me?” Adam screamed back. He lunged at her, but mentally braced himself for the leg that had been stabbed to give out. It didn’t, and he was left standing awkwardly in front of her as he gingerly tested out the wounded leg.

“You’re hesitating. If you do that in battle, the rest of us are as good as dead. Your primary job is to make sure Finn and I don’t take too much damage because we can’t soak up as much as you. Your vitality even surpasses Caius’s. Can’t you feel it? Sense how much more you can take? How the wounds may slow you down, but won’t hinder you like before?”

Adam paused and looked inward. For the first time, he had the vague sense of what she was talking about. He found himself just wishing he could have a health bar like in a video game to make things easier for himself. Unfortunately, one didn’t pop up for him, but he could sense that his vitality had only dropped about thirty percent. Which was astonishing considering the amount of blood he had lost and the injuries he had sustained.

“You are to be the shield that protects the rest of us. How are you to do that if you don’t know yourself? Know how far you can be pushed before you break.” Ava slashed at him again, this time with a blade she pulled from her fanny pack. It was slender and jagged and coated in a thin green film that hissed as it sliced across his arm.

It barely felt like more than a papercut at first. Then, a searing pain crawled up his arm. Adam looked down to see veins of black budging on his arms and winding their way up to his neck. He focused on his vitality again and noted it dropping rapidly. His strength waned and he felt dizzier by the second. He stumbled forward, his vision blurring as the burning pain coursed through his heart and was sent through his entire body in a rush.

“Get up.” Ava called. “Or is this how you would act in a battle. How you would protect the rest of us. What if that same blade was coming for Finn. Surely, he would succumb before you. My healing may not even be enough for him. All because you lacked the will to fight through.”

Adam pulled his hammer from his fanny pack and swung at Ava in a wild arc. She sidestepped easily, the hammer slamming into the ground next to her that sent dirt flying. A small smile appeared on her face a second later.

“Ahh. There it is. You’re going to have to do better than that though.” She sprang forward with the dexterity of a cat, slashing across Adam’s torso and spinning behind him. He tried to move out of the way but stumbled beneath his weight and had to catch himself with his hammer. “Faster, Adam. You can give more.”

Adam shook his head and gritted his teeth. He jumped toward Ava with his hammer raised over his head. He let it drop, mentally commanding the shaft to grow larger as he did. The sudden change in size took Ava by surprise as it connected with her shoulder, a sickening crack sounding out at the impact. She grunted, but a soft glow enveloped her shoulder after.

“Is that all you have?” She taunted.

Adam couldn’t speak. He felt an ember of rage spark to life deep within him. His vision shook and his head throbbed, but the wounds became a distant afterthought. He rushed her again, swinging his hammer with increasing ferocity. She dodged and weaved through the attacks. No longer having the space to return with an attack of her own. A growl escaped his chest as he pressed her.

He could feel his vitality decreasing. Feel his very life slipping away. The more his vitality dropped, the less in control of his own thoughts he became. Adam was consumed by the need for Ava’s blood. An almost primal hunger gnawing at him. He caught Ava off guard and swept her legs out from under her with his hammer. She fell beneath him and he raised his hammer once more, both hands holding the shaft as he extended it to the full length.

A distant growl sounded in his mind. Urging him on. Encouraging him to drop the hammer as hard as he possible could. He gripped it tighter, veins in his biceps like thick cords of rope protruding from his skin.

“Adam.” A voice called from behind him, but it was like a distant echo to him.

He looked down at Ava, not really even seeing her. He tried to move, to bring the hammer down with all the force he could manage, but found his body not responding any longer. Extreme pain enveloped his mind as he fell to his knees, the blood frenzied rage that had consumed him evaporating in an instant. Adam’s chest heaved as air came in ragged breaths, every inhale a battle.

“And there it is.” Ava said gently. “The breaking point.” She stood and put a glowing green hand on his back as waves of relief pulsed through him.