With that, they start to work. King tosses her a wet rag, and they begin to clean the mask. Crew and Pie are by the furnace. Pie spews golden flames into the furnace. The flames cover the inside of it. Though there is nothing inside keeping the flames lit, they burn with intensity.

Crew starts to get the supplies organized and set. Once they are done cleaning, Lahar and King lift the mask. Crew, with one other copy, holds the bowl. The stone Crew fits the mask inside. They both lift the bowl from the handle and put it into the furnace. The golden flames envelope the ivory. They wait patiently for the metal to melt.

They work on the blade through the day. Once the burning metal is on the anvil, the blade needs to be shaped. Crew hands Lahar a hammer and holds one himself. She grabs it and looks at Crew.

With great force he pounds on the metal, shaping the blade and layering metal on metal. He looks at Lahar and points to the anvil with his hammer. She wipes the sweat off her forehead and then lifts her hammer high. She slams on the blade as hard as she can. When she lifts the hammer, Crew swings down on the blade again. Then she does.

They keep the pattern going for quite some time. Beads of sweat fall from her forehead. An uncomfortable feeling comes from her shoulder as she keeps moving, but she chooses to push through this. She won't allow herself to stop for any reason.

The bandages start to come undone. When she grabs them, they're soaked by her sweat. She throws them on the sand. She stares at her scarred hand. The wisps pay it no mind. In fact, Crew snaps in front of her, signaling her to continue. She lifts the hammer again and pounds the metal.

Crew signals her to stop. The blade has its shape. King grabs a pair of tongs and places the blade back into the fire. The flame is cooler than before. A blue light glows from the furnace as a strange symbol appears on the furnace.

King walks up to Lahar with his flame flickering. He informs her that what would be an overnight wait will be shortened. Still, they will take some time to rest. She decides to sit on the sand and wait there and stare into the ocean. King and Crew sit beside her. Pie lies behind her, allowing her to use his body as a pillow as she slowly drifts to sleep.

As she falls asleep, she feels a tingle on her wrist where the bangle is. She dreams of sitting on a cliff at the beach as the sun sets over the ocean. When she looks to her side, she finds Toothpick and Bark beside her. For some strange reason, she doesn't feel any fear; instead, she feels comfort and pride as they stare forward.

She sees Void but feels no fear. Instead, it is admiration as he pets her head. Then she sees it. In the reflection of the crystal, she sees Statue looking back at her. His eyes burn bright, and then his life flashes before her. From when he was a pup playing on the island to when he was in the cave hunting her. She can see herself run and fight back against him. Then a last fleeting emotion as she finds herself back on the cliff with Toothpick and Bark. Joy.

She feels a sudden sensation of something shaking her shoulder. Her eyes jolt open. They focus on the stars in the night sky. She turns her head to see King waking her. He tells her it is time to continue their work.

Through the night and until the sunrise, they work on the blade. King and Crew put the finishing touches on it as Pie and Lahar wait with bated breath. Her eyes feel heavy, and she can feel bags form under her eyes, though they stay fixated on the blade. Once finished, they hand it to her.

The thick, six-inch blade is a shiny ivory color. The handle is wrapped in a brown leather strip. It's lighter than she expected. She twists and turns the blade with ease. The craftsmanship is nothing below professional.

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In her excitement, she unintentionally lets some of the Source flow through the blade. Ivory covers her arm instantly. She recognizes it as the same ivory that covered Statue when they fought.

Her fingers run over the ivory arm. It feels smooth on her fingers, but she barely feels it on her arm. Then she realizes her arm is no longer in the sling. The sling hangs from her neck as she moves her arm around with no pain.

She hears a squeaking sound and looks up to see Doc walking toward them, with Arena rolling next to her. The wheelchair moves on its own, with no help from any mechanical device.

"Good to see your arm's fine," he says. His eyes then focus on her arm covered in ivory. "Whoa, that's new." Crew, Doc, and King walk to Lahar and start to examine her arm. "Come here," Arena says to Lahar.

Once there, he lifts her arm up. Gold streams pour out of his arm and wrap around the ivory. "Phenomenal. Looks like the knife carried some properties from the mask. You all did a great job here."

King hands her a leather sheath for the knife. As soon as the blade is sheathed, the ivory disappears from her arm.

Lahar feels excited. "Looks like I got myself a reward for all I did." She looks at Arena. The ivory vanishes and his eyes instantly jump to her scared arm. Lahar realizes the bandages are on the ground, and this whole time he could see the scars on her arm. He tries to hide it, but his face can't hide his guilt.

"Look, don't you feel guilty for this. It was my stupid mistake that caused this. You had nothing to do with this. Still, I guess I deserved it." Her eyes fixate on the patches. "If I had practiced more, I wouldn't have these ugly scars." Her body quivers as she starts to feel weak. "If I were better, you wouldn't have been hurt, and these ugly—"

"Stop that. They are not ugly." Arena moves closer to her and touches her arm. "Stop thinking that way. I actually think they are pretty in a unique way. Plus, you don't have to carry all that. Everything that happened wasn't all up to you. It was all of us. Plus, you have grown so much. Look at what you can do now. Look at what you have done."

Lahar slightly unsheathes the knife. Ivory covers her hand. Arena places his hand on hers. "Look, I am the teacher here. If anyone failed anyone, it was me. I am still trying to figure everything out myself. We are human, so that means we are flawed. We will make mistakes. That also means we get back up and keep going. We learn from our mistakes and grow."

Lahar sheathes the knife, and the ivory fades, revealing the patches on her arm. "Plus, you took that thing down by yourself. I wouldn't want to mess with you." A soft smile appears on Lahar's face. It's strange for Arena to realize this, but this is the first time he has had to look up at Lahar. Most of the time he has to look down, or they are sitting and staring at eye level. She seems different from this angle.

She turns to King and Crew and embraces them. "I really appreciate this. You guys didn't have to do this, but the fact that you did means a lot," Lahar says, squeezing them. Their flames turn to a light shade of pink. They turn to hide this from her. Lahar then hugs Doc and says, "Thanks for fixing my arm, miracle worker." Doc hides her face as her flame burns an intense pink flame.

She stands up and then feels a push from behind. She turns around to see Pie wagging his tail, waiting excitedly for his turn. She places her head on Pie's as she scratches his fur. "You too, you fireball. All this couldn't have happened without you." A trail of slobber is left on her as his massive tongue covers half her face.

Lahar stands up straight. She looks over her shoulder as she speaks to Arena. "Later, can you set up firing practice for me?"

"Aren't you going to take a break?" Arena asks, looking at her. He can tell she is tired by the bags under her eyes and the fact that she is yawning now.

"Don't worry. I'm going to unwind a bit by reading a bit of the journal I'm on and then get to work."

"There's no off switch for you, is there?" he says, staring at her admiringly.

"Funny coming from you," she says. Her eyes stare at the knife in her hand. "I still have plenty to improve on. All that has happened this past week has proved that to me. Any strides I made were good, but they can also be better."

Lahar turns to Arena. His eyes widen as she speaks. "Why slow down when I have covered so much ground?" A spark ignites inside Arena. He can feel the blood inside him grow warmer as he stares into her eyes when she walks past him. "I'm going to read a bit and then change. See you inside."

Arena sits there, staring into the ocean as the waves crash on the beach. He has a soft smile on his face as he whispers to himself. "I guess that means I can't quit."

On Arena's nightstand, the cube sits. The engravings around the cube give off a faint blue glow. Then, in the next second, the color changes. The engravings now glow orange.