Blinding white light filled the cave. The Essence within the locket thrummed with power that was just waiting for Maya to take. She gave it one final longing stare. Then she thrust it into Cyll’s chest. Cyll cried out as the energy flooded into him.

“There isn’t enough! You’re just wasting it!” Cyll yelled.

“It’s my goddamn energy. I’ll use it how I please!” Maya said. “You taught me how to fight. It’s my turn to help. Now shut up.”

Cyll bucked and thrashed on the floor. White lightning crackled out of the gaping hole in his chest. Maya bit her lower lip and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, the wound started to close.

At the same time, the energy in the locket was depleting fast. The race was on. The wound drew itself together, muscle and tissue reaching out as if they knew their original form. Then the locket sputtered.

It was out of energy. The wound was still about as big as her fist, and Maya could tell Cyll’s heart was still missing. The wounded man smiled up at her from the floor.

“Thank you, Maya. Your kindness is not forgotten, no matter how wasteful it was.”

“I told you to shut up,” Maya hissed. She strained, clenching her hands around the locket as she desperately searched it for more Essence.

She mentally reached out, digging through the metal like a starving dog. Emptiness greeted her. Maya gritted her teeth. Her eyes narrowed as she forced her mind deeper into the locket.

There was nothing. And then, there was. A tiny blip, far in the depths. Unlike the other glowing white energy, this one was black. A savage grin crossed her face as a delicate spark of dark energy formed in her hand.

Cyll’s eyes snapped wide open.

“Stop! You can’t-”

Maya plunged the energy into his chest. With a lurch, Cyll’s wound hissed shut in an instant. He lurched upright, nearly throwing Maya across the room in his haste.

“What have you done?” Cyll whispered in a mixture of shock, horror, and awe.

“Saved your life,” Maya exclaimed. “And you said there wouldn’t be enough energy!”

“At the cost of yours! That was your Life-spark! You can’t absorb essence without it. How are you going to awaken your powers? Besides, I didn’t even know you could give it away without dying,” Cyll said, his words trembling.

“My what?” Maya asked.

Cyll’s eyes widened.

“You don’t even know?” He whispered. “That dark spark of energy – it wasn’t from the locket. It was from you. I’ve never seen one in person, but I’ve heard of them. Everyone has one, and it’s the kindling that allows you to awaken your ability. Without it…nothing. You’ll never have an ability.”

Maya’s world froze. Her ears rung so loud that Cyll’s words vanished in a sea of white noise. Her fingernails dug into her pants strong enough to tear the material. The young woman’s heart thrashed and slammed against her ribcage.

“I’ll never have an ability?” Maya murmured, her eyes glassy.

Cyll’s rough hand clapped down on her shoulder. Maya’s mind snapped back to the present. He was standing in front of her, his deep eyes staring straight into her soul. He’d clearly been saying something, but his words had gone past Maya’s ears.

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“You’ve given me a great gift,” Cyll said, almost reverently. “One that I doubt has ever been given in the history of this world. I didn’t even know it could be given. But that doesn’t mean it’s all over. The world is huge, and there may be some form of replacement for your Life-spark.”

“You mean I can get my ability back?” Maya asked, blinking away tears as she clung to the thread of hope that Cyll offered her.

“I can’t promise anything, but it’s very possible,” Cyll said.

He walked to the pile of gold and started digging through it. A few moments later, he returned with two prizes. The first was a sickle and chain, which he laid before Maya. The second was a triangular captain’s hat, which he held before himself.

“And, if you’re going to look for something of that value, you’re going to need some help. You said you wanted to be a pirate captain,” Cyll said. “I’d be honored to be your first crewmate.”

Maya picked the sickle and chain off the ground. Unlike the first time she’d picked a weapon up, this one felt comfortable, as if it were meant to be in her hands.

“I don’t even have a ship yet,” Maya said, her voice still shaky. However, a thin line of steel had reinforced her tone.

Cyll knelt on the ground in front of her, raising the pirate hat above his head.

“We can find one.”

“We can find one, Captain,” Maya corrected with a weak grin, taking the hat from Cyll’s hands, and placing it upon her head. It fit perfectly.

A wide grin split Cyll’s face and he rose back to his feet.

“Now that you healed me, I can get us out of here whenever you want. I’ve got a little trump card I haven’t been able to use due to my injuries. But, before that, can you tell me a little about the surface? It’s been a long time since I’ve been up there,” Cyll said.

“Can’t say much, I haven’t been far from Ashwind in…a while. Recently, the farthest I went was to a dungeon, and you can see how that turned out for me,” Maya said with a small laugh.

“How big is Ashwind? There was no town near the dungeon when I was last here,” Cyll said.

“It’s a normal city-state. It’s got fortified walls and a big dock. It’s no capitol or anything, but it’s strong enough to warrant respect,” Maya said after thinking for a few moments.

“So…stealing a boat from them isn’t reasonable?”

“Are you kidding? Their boats are huge. If we had ten men it would still be difficult to control one,” Maya protested. “We need to get supplies from Ashwind and then travel along the coast until we reach a smaller port where we can get our hands on something more manageable.”

“Works for me, Captain,” Cyll said with a careless shrug. “Just let me know when you’re ready to get out of here.”

Maya nodded. She made her way to the pile of riches and began shoving it into her pockets. She raised an eyebrow in Cyll’s direction.

“Get over here and help me. I don’t know how long you’ve been down here, but money makes everything run now, and we aren’t going to get anywhere without it.”

“So, how long were we actually in that mind training thing?” Maya asked as they worked.

“Less than a second passed in the real world. But, as far as your mind is concerned, you spent ten years learning how to fight.”

“That’s…amazing. How is that possible?” Maya asked. Some of her previous energy had started to return to her voice as a plan began laying itself out in her mind.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Cyll laughed. “You might be my Captain, but some things are earned. We’ve all got our secrets. Suffice to say I have some small control over the flow of time.”

They finished collecting as much gold as they could carry and stood up together. There was a brief moment of silence.

“So? How do we get out of here?” Maya asked.

“We walk,” Cyll said with a cocky grin.

He slung Maya over his shoulder before she could protest and leapt straight into the air. His feet landed on the side of the deep shaft Maya had fallen down earlier that day. Green energy sparked beneath Cyll and he launched himself upwards. Each step he took emitted a thunderous blast that shook the walls around them.

As Cyll picked up speed, a thin blue net started to form in front of them. Maya squinted at the shining energy as they grew closer to it.

“What’s that? The seal holding you in?” She asked.

“The seal that used to hold me in,” Cyll replied, baring his teeth.

They crashed against the net and Cyll let out a roar. Green energy flared and sparked against the blue lines. Then, with a tearing sound magnified by a thousand, the net ripped apart. They burst through the darkness and launched into the rubble ridden room where Maya had killed the snake only a short time ago.

Cyll landed on the ground with a victorious cry. He put Maya down beside him and ran his hands through the rubble surrounding them, a huge grin spreading across his face.

“It’s done. I – no, we – have escaped!” His cry turned into a cackle as tears of joy streamed down his face.

A very far way from Ashwind, in entirely different places of the world, three warlords felt a chill run down their spine.