“No.”
Sierra stopped, already halfway to the exit. She glanced back over her shoulder, expression cautious. Perhaps she’d misheard him?
One look at his stoic expression revealed that she had not.
“Alarion-”
“How is she even here?” Alarion asked over Sierra’s objection, looking past the girl to see Valentina watching from the edge of her desk, a familiar coin rolling between her fingers.
“She showed up two days ago, asking to see you. Quite an unusual request. Most wouldn’t want to waste an opportunity like this just to retrieve another participant.” Valentina’s words suggested that she had no idea why Sierra had come, or that Alarion was on a schedule. “Since it isn’t likely to interfere with the challenge, I saw no reason to deny her request.”
Sierra bristled at the words, and it was easy to understand why. Elena, ZEEK and Valentina had all stressed the value of the challenge dungeon. For Sierra to be ordered to waste her only opportunity, simply to retrieve him? If anything, her attitude was subdued.
“Your time here is up; I have been tasked with retrieving you. You can gather your things and collect your reward, but we need to-”
“Stop. Please.” He held up a hand to forestall Sierra’s comments as the girl looked ready to explode. “I am not leaving until I have finished the challenge or hit a wall.”
“Alarion-”
“No!” This time the word was firm. Unambiguous.
Sierra’s mouth hung open in surprise, forming and discarding sentences as she parsed what he was saying. The Alarion who’d entered the dungeon didn’t use the word no. Not when ordered. He was stubborn, yes, but he was pliant to the demands of his tutors. If they gave him an open-ended task the results could be… unpredictable, but when he was ordered to do something, Alarion obeyed.
Until now.
“And when will you be ready?” Sierra asked at last. She recognized a losing battle when she saw one.
“I have completed five challenges. There are three more ahead.”
“Unacceptable!” Sierra snapped. The harsh word made Valentina shift on her perch, and Sierra rapidly adjusted her tone in response. “That is wholly unacceptable. You were permitted thirteen days, no more.”
“Unacceptable or not, this is my decision,” Alarion answered, his voice measured and calm as he refused. “They want me to be strong. This is how I become strong.”
“I am not asking you-”
“But I am telling you.” He persisted. “I am learning new skills under the watch of a literal God. I would be an idiot to let this go to waste. I will leave when I am finished. Not before.”
Alarion became keenly aware of the mace held tightly in his grip. He’d grown by leaps and bounds since his arrival, but Sierra was strong to begin with. Just how much of that gap had he closed?
Was he about to find out?
Sierra eyed him steadily. There was a soft click in the air as her jaw popped amidst her grinding teeth. “Are you a liar then? You swore-”
“I swore nothing.” Valentina’s persistent nagging about his benefactors had caused Alarion to re-evaluate the events that had brought him here. If he was certain of one thing, it was that he’d never made any promise. They’d never even given him that agency. “They told me that I had a deadline. I never once agreed to it, let alone swore to obey it. You of all people taught me that I should not make promises that I can not guarantee I will keep.”
He’d expected the words to infuriate Sierra, to drive the confrontation to a violent end. Instead, they sparked something behind her ice blue eyes. Curiosity? Amusement? A thin smile touched her lips, then the girl snorted with laughter in spite of herself.
Valentina and Alarion exchanged confounded looks before Sierra explained, “That was a very Vitrian answer, Alarion.”
“So-”
“I can not stop you,” the girl sighed with a glance to Valentina as the tension of the moment deflated. “Unless I can appeal to-“
“Absolutely not.” Valentina said flaty.
“Then perhaps your better nature, Alarion? You might escape punishment with that reasoning, but the Governor will not look favorably on my failure.”
That gave him pause. He knew well enough that Dar could be a cruel, even violent man. How badly would they punish her for his decision? More importantly, was he willing to live with the consequences?
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Will the punishment be severe?”
“Most likely reputational. You will turn a wholehearted recommendation of my duties into a conditional one. Anything beyond that is hard to guess.” Sierra answered. When his expression showed how little he valued the idea of reputation, she added, “If I told you that I would be killed, would that change your mind?”
“If it were truthful, yes. But if it were true you’d have said as much.” Alarion countered to Sierra’s dismay. “I made the decision hours ago, during my last challenge. There is nothing you can say or do that will change my mind. I will tell them as much.”
“Small comfort.” Sierra scowled.
“Still better than none at all.”
With that Alarion lifted his arm, wrist cocked at a slight angle as he offered the Vitrian apology she’d taught him. Sierra smiled wanly, hesitating for just a moment before she lifted her own arm to meet his. As apologies went, it felt hollow to do so while still committing to the misdeed, but the thought behind it was everything.
Alarion’s arm passed neatly through Sierra’s as they touched, her wrist turning into motes of dust under the slight pressure, then reforming just as quickly on the other side.
“What-?”
“She is fine.” Valentina chimed in to soothe Alarion’s obvious distress. “I did not think it prudent to put the two of you in the same physical space. For all the girl’s smiles, I am certain she would have tried to drag you out against your will, if given the opportunity.”
Alarion scoffed at the idea, right up until he saw Sierra’s expression. The girl was sheepish, looking anywhere but at him as she stepped away from their attempt at reconciliation.
He supposed he would have done the same in her shoes.
Sierra broke the silence with a question, “So, What next?”
“Sleep.” He answered. Only one door remained at Alarion’s back, the three gem endurance challenge that he had studiously avoided on his last selection. As the sixth challenge it promised to be more dangerous than those that came before. Delving in while half asleep seemed like a terrible idea. “With luck it should only take a few more days.”
“Then I will wait here.”
“No.” Valentina slipped off the corner of her desk and walked toward Sierra with new purpose. “I have humored you thus far, but if you’re staying, then you have challenges of your own to face. He doesn’t need you hovering over his shoulder, rushing him.”
“I do not inte-”
“I am so sorry Madam, visiting hours are over.” Valentina raised her hand, and Sierra vanished with a snap of her fingers.
“I see now why you’re considering a return to your benefactors. She is very pretty.”
Alarion ignored the jibe as best he could, though there was no fighting the color that had rushed to his cheeks at the implication. “Is she alright?”
“Of course. I severed her connection to this space so she can focus on her own attempts. I’ll allow you two to reconnect after the next challenge. In case you wish to take her up on her ‘offer’ to depart.”
“Subtle.” Alarion mumbled as he set his mace against the nearby wall and unraveled the binding from his right arm. “Was my performance better or worse than expected?”
Valentina spit him with a cool stare, as if inviting him to guess. When he didn’t take the opportunity, she made a dismissive gesture to the heavens. “Mother thought that you would fail. But not me. I had faith.”
Something about the way Valentina spoke and the pointed way she avoided looking up caused Alarion to wonder. “It is a crime to lie in Vitria.”
“Well I’m not in Vitria am-” Valentina paused, her face scrunching up in annoyance as she realized her mistake. “We both thought you’d fail, but mother gave me very good odds on the possibility you might succeed. So, I took the bet.”
Alarion considered asking what it was that a god was willing to wager, but decided against it when he realized he did not want to know. “I should sleep.”
“You should, but first, your reward.” Valentina agreed as she offered him a hefty tome.
> Selica Gareris’ Meditations on Meditation [Uncommon]
>
> Description: Written in 24 A.T.S. this scroll offers a detailed description of basic Kel-Taran Meditation. A cornerstone in the evolution of Thoughtborn, Kel-Taran Meditation is renowned the world over for its regenerative properties and improvements to core mental focus. This text serves as a beginner’s primer and is filled with dozens of diagrams, exercises and core philosophical arguments.
>
> Requirements: Awakened (Any one class level)
>
> Type: Imbuement.
>
> Effects: Instantly gain the skill [Kel-Taran Meditation]. If the user already possesses this skill, instead add one level to this skill. Additionally, review of this book for a minimum of one hour per day will add a 25% XP growth to the [Kel-Taran Meditation] skill.
The young man wasted no time triggering the item, new knowledge flooding his mind and leaving his already aching head pounding as he reviewed his new skill.
> Kel-Taran Meditation [Uncommon]
>
> Description: An offshoot of traditional meditation techniques, practitioners of Kel-Taran Meditation focus on externalization of internal energies. Expulsion of negative energies is practiced to promote rapid regeneration and healing, while the expulsion of positive energies can be used for creative purposes.
>
> Requirements: None.
>
> Type: Active
>
> Effects: While actively meditating the user regenerates all resources at an increased rate of up to 100% + 5% per level of this skill. In addition, this skill can be used to enhance the effectiveness of most crafting skills. This enhancement is greatly increased during the creation of new Thoughtborn entities.
>
> Growths: INT +2. PER +2. WIL +2.
“This would have been nice to have.” Alarion whispered under his breath.
“Perhaps. But putting my thumb so heavily on the scale to correct your misstep would have been cheating.” Valentina admitted as the young man idly flipped through the pages of his new book. “If you’d developed a meditation skill during your challenge it likely would have been weaker than this one, so it isn’t all bad.”
“But then I would have gotten a different reward.”
“That is what you get for cheating.” Valentina shot back. Her weak smile held for a moment before it began to falter at the edges. “Have you considered my offer? Or hers, for that matter?”
Alarion looked to where Sierra had stood only minutes before. “Should I consider it?”
“The sixth challenge is no laughing matter. Most surrender at this point, and the smart ones do it before they start the challenge. I cannot make the decision for you, but you have already made considerable progress.” The older woman shrugged as she finished her thought, “You know my opinion on your masters.”
“I do,” Alarion admitted, somewhat offput by her demeanor. She seemed… distressed at the idea that he would continue. “Let me sleep on it?”
Valentina nodded gently, but they both knew what he meant.
Alarion was not the type to quit.