Lucius sat opposite the two soldiers, the small, round coffee table resting between them as warmth radiated from the crackling fire in the wood stove. A few minutes passed as Garrick let the flood of emotions wash over him before he pulled himself together and turned his attention back toward Lucius, a gravelly and strained voice spread across the room as he spoke.

"I need to k-know what happened."

Lucius winced slightly when he heard the request. The last thing he wanted to do was share the gruesome details of the woman's death with her distraught husband, but it didn't seem like he had much choice. He answered Garrick while trying to keep the details vague.

"She was... in the tower when I entered the Abyss."

Garrick sat and listened, the hands resting on his thighs clenched tightly into fists as he saw through Lucius' intentions.

"I need to know the exact details," he demanded.

Lucius glanced over at Tiber with a look of unease but Tiber simply nodded solemnly, signaling for him to continue. Lucius let out a deep sigh as the memory of that day was dredged to the surface of his mind.

"If that is what you really want, I'll tell you. Just don’t shoot the messenger."

For the next twenty minutes, Lucius recounted the story in its entirety—from finding the anomaly outside the farm to the screams he heard outside of the tower, and finally to the parasitized summoner’s magical attacks that ended the woman's life. The color drained from Garrick’s face as the tale unfolded, his face growing increasingly pale as he clenched the cloth of his pants to stop his hands from shaking.

Every moment was obvious torture for the bearded man, but he endured until the very end, before dashing into the bathroom and emptying his stomach into the toilet after Lucius finished speaking. When he walked back into the room, he stood facing away from Tiber and Lucius, pulling his hood down tight over his head as he spoke.

"I want to be alone. I'm going back outside."

Tiber and Lucius stayed silent as Garrick left the cabin. The door closed behind him, only to open a few minutes later when Roland returned. Now that Garrick was gone, Lucius had a question of his own. He looked over at Tiber as he asked it.

"I’d like to know how it happened. How did she get stuck in the Abyss?"

Tiber looked up when he heard the question, then nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

"I wish we knew... That was the worst part about the whole thing—not knowing..."

Tiber rubbed his forehead as he stared at the floor. The man’s shoulders seemed to take on the weight of an additional burden as he began to explain what had occurred in the past.

"We entered the anomaly together as a 12-man unit. Once we reached the other side and did a sweep of the area I left Garrick's wife, Julie, and one other soldier to guard the anomaly while we attacked the summoner. Everything went smoothly; we killed the bastard and rushed back through the portal. When we did a headcount back on Earth, we realized that Julie still hadn't come back through the portal. She had been right there, waving us through the portal as we returned, but she never came through after us. Garrick was about to head back through the destabilized anomaly after her, but the portal closed too fast. There was nothing that could be done, and I never learned what happened to her until today."

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Roland listened to Tiber's recounting of Julie's fate, shaking his head as he saw the stress on Tiber’s face.

"You can't keep blaming yourself. Now that we know she's really gone, I hope we can focus on the people who are still with us. Julie would want that."

Tiber cleared his throat and nodded at Roland's words before walking over to his sleeping bag.

"Let’s get some sleep. Half the night is already gone. Lucius, you can have the last watch. I’ll wake you up when it’s time."

With those words, everyone made their way to their own sleeping area. Lucius laid some blankets on the couch for Maryanne and Whisper while he slept sitting up in the chair beside her. It seemed like no time at all had passed when he was awoken by a tapping on the side of the chair he was sitting in. Lucius opened his eyes to see Tiber standing over him, speaking quietly so as not to wake everyone else.

"Wake up, kid, it’s your shift. There’s only two hours left until morning. Just keep an eye out for Abyss creatures, and wake us up if something comes along that you can’t handle."

Lucius rubbed his eyes and nodded groggily, reaching over to wake up Whisper before he left.

"Whisper, wake up. I’m going on guard duty. Keep watch over Maryanne while I’m gone."

The purple bat fluttered up to the back of the couch above Maryanne, waving to Lucius as the young man stepped out of the cabin. The air was dark and cold, especially when the wind blew, but the stars, moon, and the magical glow of his ring spread enough light that he could make out his surroundings. After a few minutes of adjustment, he was able to see quite well.

Lucius walked around the cabin casually as he gazed into the dark forest, staying keenly aware for any signals from Sense Danger. With a few hours of free time to kill, he decided to test out his new talent. Lucius pulled Matriarch's Fury from his ring, waking up to a large dead tree nearby. The first thing he wanted to do was test his speed without using the talent, so he tossed a stone into the air and swung his sword as many times as he could at the decaying bark before the stone reached the ground.

The starlight glinted off the sharp blade as it sliced through the air back and forth rapidly. The young man’s arm became a blur of motion as he unleashed his full speed in each attack, though he used the least strength possible to avoid destroying the tree and losing his training target. As the stone hit the floor he stopped, looked up to see that the bark contained eleven fresh slices across its front.

"Not bad."

Lucius walked around to the back of the tree, holding his sword in the ready position as he tossed the stone into the air and activated Flicker for the first time. The chirps of the insects in the forest around him seemed to stretch out, as if someone had put the bugs in slow motion, while the stone drifted through the air incredibly slowly.

Lucius burst forth with an incredible display of speed, astonished at his own ability as he attacked the tree once again as swiftly as he could. When the sounds in his surroundings returned to normal and the effects of Flicker ended, there were too many overlapping slices on the tree to count. As he looked away from the tree he suddenly realized the stone was still falling through the air. With widened eyes, he reached out his free hand and caught it.

"Incredible..."

The next moment, Lucius felt a welling up of fatigue spreading through his body. Not enough to really slow him down, but it certainly was not pleasant.

"Looks like Flicker uses stamina to power itself..."

Lucius paid careful attention to his the feelings inside his body, trying to gauge how many times he could use the ability before growing too exhausted.

"Hmm, my limit is probably less than ten uses right now, maybe even five."

Lucius spent the next two hours practicing with his sword. He used his boosted creativity to visualize different creatures and imagine how they might attack him, moving his body and sword to counter as best he could. He also practiced different swings, cutting through the air from different angles while jumping or diving. Finally he practiced his aim while using Piercing Throw. He got so lost in his practice that, before he knew it, the sun was rising and the forest around him was being illuminated by the light of dawn.

Through effort, you have raised Sword Fighter to level 5.