Sorin sat in the water thinking about what had just happened.

He could still see the eyes of the woman that he didn't even know the name of slowly losing the spark and luster of life. The shock and agony still on her face with the smell of burning flesh and bowels.

The movies Sorin had watched made those scenes seem so trivial as the bad ass main character just moved on and continued to stack up the bodies.

All Sorin could feel is a cold emptiness inside. He could still feel his blades slicing easily through her flesh as if it were barely there.

"I pulled the strike and everything." Sorin whispered to himself. His sense told him the energy was there and lined up as a barrier. He was assuming wind or air aether so it should have blocked or deflected the blow.

Sorin reflected on the strike itself "Why did I target that specific spot? Even with a deflection, I left no room for it to deflect safety."

Uncounted minutes went by until Sorin heard water splashing from someone walking out into the pool on his side.

"Glernog told me what happened in your group." Chorus spoke and sat down next to Sorin.

Sorin didn't say anything.

"First time taking a life?" She asked.

Sorin looked down and breathed in.

"Yeah. Was never in a position where I had to. I've always been a gentle man content to appear dangerous to keep my wife and son safe. In my military, I was never sent to a combat zone. It was always peace keeping missions after the peace making had been done."

Chorus just listened and nodded.

"I was 44 when I took my first life in service to my people. It was a hostile clan that tried to infiltrate our region. I shot him through the face. To this day still the best shot I've ever made. It was nearly from one side of our arena to the other in distance and slammed right through the eye. I knew it was the enemy as I could see their colors, but it was still one of my own race. Someone took my shift, and my patrol chief took me over to the body. He told me something that I will now tell you. So, take this advice or leave it, it won't hurt my feelings in any way. "People die. Today, tomorrow, decades from now in our own bed we will all die. Do not seek to kill, but do not hesitate to defend yourself and others."

Sorin sat there in the water just thinking. Chorus sat there beside him silently not saying anything. After a few minutes more water splashed as Ardwyn came up and sat on Sorin's left also not saying anything, but just sitting.

This was a concept that Sorin had wrestled with for years. He knew it was not murder. He did not mean any harm to the woman, but it was a training mishap. He had always thought about the day he may be forced to take a life should someone threaten him or his family. He had weapons strategically placed throughout the house should someone break in, and he had to "wrong house" them. His thoughts settled to who is responsible for the death. Yes, his hands were the ones that dealt the death blow, but it was on the command of another. If he had refused, Sorin would have been killed or taken to the mines with a collar and his chances of getting home to his family who may desperately need them.

He knew Brittanie was strong and a force of nature in her own right and she would protect their son to the best of their ability. He taught her how to use the guns and how to read people. She is a northern gal and stubborn as can be. She was a medical professional and could care for injuries. They had bug out bags, food, water and survival gear ready should she need it. However, moving back to the situation currently in front of him, if Sorin let this bog him down and stop him, it would be no different that quitting and abandoning his family. He absolutely would not do that.

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"Do either of you know what her name was?" Sorin asked looking across the pool.

"Lunny. She was from a small town in the 43rd sector of the empire from what I was told. She was formerly bar maid." Chorus finished.

"She kept to herself and didn't tell too much to many so that's probably about all you will get. We don't even know the name of her town or village."

Sorin nodded. He fixed her face prior to the test of his barrier in his mind and let everything else go. He would remember her but would keep moving forward. Responsibility is heavy and he is partially responsible for her death, and he would own that.

"I have a mission to get back home to my family and I can't let this stop me. I will remember her as I move forward."

Ardwyn nodded and clapped him on the back.

"I've been there. I had to defend myself once and shoved a man over a balcony. He landed neck first on stone. He didn't shake it off." Ardwyn began to chuckle followed by Sorin and Chorus.

Sorin looked up at Ardwyn. "Gallows humor?"

Closing his eyes sagely "absolutely, gallows humor. If you have to live with a bad experience you need to find ways to laugh no matter how bad it is. Whether you laugh at the next person you kill or you laugh at yourself, you need to laugh and figure out how to cope with it."

Sorin threw water at Ardwyn and chuckled. "You're a prick dude."

Ardwyn tried to block the water thrown at him and quipped. "Now that you're done being a crybaby .... Chorus you're an old hag. I'm younger than you and I'm 88.

Chorus cleared her throat pushed Sorin forward down and out of the way and swung.

Smack! *

As Sorin came back up looking at Ardwyn he was him coming back up out of the water from his back holding his face as a welt was already forming.

- Meanwhile -

"I had two standouts from my group Sergeant the vampire Ambriel and the human Sorin. I think we are missing something with the human's abilities. The vampire's abilities are not outside the norm of a noble vampire, but the human's has something off about it. It seemed too potent in my opinion."

Sergeant Agron who was sitting in a chair watching different recordings of the training that day pressed two buttons on his display causing it to switch over to Reis's group logs.

He watched the application of aether then paused when the two humans, one being the one mentioned by the corporal. Agron zoomed in and looked at the shield as it destroyed the durable wood practice weapon and burned the conscript.

"I had better hope for that female conscript when it came to the employment of the jian. I had her planned to be assigned to Prince Amaru. Her fighting style and use of the jian would have pleased him."

Agron fast forwarded the footage to the reverse of roles and the double strike of Sorin and the death of the conscript. As the blades came in for a strike, Agron slowed the footage down and pushed it forward frame by frame.

"Reis was there anything abnormal about the structure of his blades?" Agron asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"No Sergeant. I noticed it sliced through the dummy we had placed for each conscript, but I took the ease of cut to what has been previously observed by other flame paths." said Reis.

"What about the wind barrier put up by the other?" Agron asked.

"It was one of the best formed barriers of the group. It even had a wind manifestation making it hard to see and I believe it had a cutting retribution effect this early on." Reis replied. Agron kept rewinding and slowly watching the frames as the swords passed through the barrier.

"I'm perplexed. We need to keep an eye on this one a little bit. Don't devote any extra time to watching, but a little extra attention to his techniques. From what we have found from the gear that was left in the changing room after Lieutenant Laxric oriented him, his world relied on technology and not aether. Perhaps something there has allowed him to modify his techniques. We have had strange manifestations before from rift worlds when introduced to the near limitless system." Agron explained.

Corporal Ries right fist to left side of chest in a salute. "Yes Sergeant. Will there be anything else?"

"No, you're dismissed."