Back at the beach, Daniel found Caspian to still be largely unresponsive. He’d hoped that getting him out of the hospital might have lifted his spirits a bit, but he instead gave no reaction to his newfound freedom. Daniel told himself it was just the drugs as he helped Caspian over to a tent so that he might sleep it off. Daniel was exhausted too, but he forced himself to shower and wash off the blood before he fell into his own tent to sleep.

It was hard to tell how long he slept for since it was almost always sunny on the beach. There was a clock in the main tent, so he didn’t lose complete track of the time or the day. But right now, that clock felt like it was miles away. Daniel was content to lie on his bed for a little longer now that things had calmed down. He’d have to avoid Earth for longer than he’d planned, but Adam would just have to fend for himself. The pair still had just over a week before Dain and the others were expected to arrive at Fordham. That would be plenty of time for the medication to leave Caspian’s system and get him ready for the monster hunt.

Daniel was about to turn over when he heard a rustling sound. He wondered if Caspian had forgotten how to get out of the tent. Zips were a new concept for him and, given the state he’d been in, Daniel couldn’t blame him being confused. After another minute of rustling, he got up to go and check on Caspian.

The tent had become unstuck from its poles and had rolled onto its side. The rustling grew louder and more frantic as his friend fought with the tent until the whole thing collapsed on top of him. The material pressing down on him just made it even worse, so Daniel hurried over to help.

“It’s okay,” Daniel said, as he found the entrance and got him out.

Caspian hid his gaze from the glare of the light as he stepped out, but his eyes seemed a little more focused today. They sat down on the beach and watched the waves for a few minutes until Caspian finally spoke.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was having a nightmare.”

“What happened?”

Caspian scowled. “Does it really matter?”

“No, not with the nightmare. I meant after I left the apartment.”

“Didn’t Adam tell you?”

“Adam tends to forget things or leave things out,” said Daniel bitterly. “Which is another reason why I left him back there.”

Caspian frowned as he worked hard to remember. “Do you have anything to drink?”

Daniel nodded and got him water from one of the coolers he kept stocked. He let Caspian take his time.

Finally he said, “it started with me showing off, which incidentally is how a lot of my bad stories start. I was summoning different ghost blades to Adam, which then escalated to throwing them and damaging your home. Which I’m sorry for, by the way.”

“It’s okay. Keep going.”

“I saw a flying contraption pass us by that I wanted a better look at. Next thing I know, some metal carriages collided with each other in the street and there were men in uniforms shouting at me. I started to fight them off, but I was some hit by some kind of painful paralysis that burned. They took me to a room for questioning and then another room with different people asking different questions. I didn’t understand any of it, but the second questioner had a calmer tone to them. When they took me to that place where you found me, I tried to escape. Broke a man’s jaw and took his keys, but I reached a door with no lock on it that wouldn’t open.”

The door that required a keycard. Of course, he wouldn’t have known that was a thing.

“But there were too many of them and I’d already used up all of my essence trying to break free from the burning paralysis device.”

“It’s called a taser,” said Daniel. “I’ve been hit by one before as well. There’s not a lot you can do when your muscles lock up like that.”

Caspian nodded. “It was hard after that. They injected me with substances or forced me to swallow small pills. I think it was supposed to be medicine, but I wasn’t sick, and all that stuff did was make me feel worse. I still feel it even now. Like my head is wrapped in wool and it’s taking more effort for me to form thoughts.”

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“That will pass,” Daniel assured him.

Caspian didn’t look like he believed him, but he was too worn out to argue. Suddenly, Daniel had a thought that perhaps essence might help the healing process.

“Hey, turn on Aura Sight,” said Daniel.

Caspian did and gasped. “This is like a high-level zone. Where did all this essence come from?”

“I don’t know. It’s always been like this. You should refill your core. It might speed up the process of getting the medication out of your body.”

Caspian refilled his core and then burned some of the essence to promote healing.

“It’s a little better,” he admitted afterward.

“So what do you want to do? We’ve got to wait a couple of days for my power to recharge before Alarstardes.”

It turns out that the thing Caspian finally wanted to do was spar. With essence back in his body, he was practically itching for it. But first they needed to get that restrictive essence cycling bracelet off of Daniel. They sat down in the sand and Caspian had Daniel close his eyes.

“First thing you need to do is picture the essence coming into your body like it’s encased in glass. Imagine the essence going inside of a glass ball and once you’ve taken all the essence you can, shrink that ball down as small as you can until the essence feels like it’s tightly compacted. Maintain that tight feeling as you cycle the essence around your body.”

Daniel waited a moment for Caspian to continue with the explanation. When nothing else was given, he said, “That’s it?”

“Well, it’s still tough to learn, but yes, that’s the technique for perfect essence absorption. Moving it slowly just takes practice once you’ve got the hang of it. Now get to it. I’m desperate to start training.”

That sounded very unlike him, though Daniel declined to say so out loud. He could see the logic in it though. Being held prison and force-fed drugs would make anyone feel helpless and, honestly, it struck Daniel as a healthy way to work off his aggression.

Visualizing and performing the technique was harder than he expected. Daniel spent most of the day sitting in that same spot, compressing essence. Any time he stiff or hungry, he’d just burn those sensations away with essence and continue practicing. There was such an abundance of essence around that he was even pretty sure that he could forego sleep as well, though there was no need to take it that far. By the time it got to the evening, even Caspian was considering telling him to take a break, when Daniel heard the familiar click and the bracelet fell onto the sand.

“I did it,” he said quietly to himself.

Just to experiment, he emptied his core and used the glass ball technique to cycle as fast as possible. It took less than two seconds to refill his core perfectly. He was about to tell Caspian when he turned to find him standing there with his rapier hanging on his hip.

“Great,” Caspian said. “Now we can spar.”

“I don’t suppose you know any techniques to help with the training box I’ve got?” He asked, wondering if he could kill two birds with one stone.

“Nah, that’s specifically tied to your Spirit weapon. I wouldn’t know anything about that. Now fight me!”

He summoned a dagger and half-heartedly threw it at Daniel, who was still sitting cross-legged on the sand. Panicking, Daniel summoned his gauntlet and batted the knife away before it hit him.

“You could have given me a little warning. That could have stabbed me!” said Daniel.

Caspian drew his rapier and gave it a couple of swings. “Just trying to prepare you for the real world.”

Daniel punched the air with Army of One and released an Invictus strike that sent a blast of air towards Caspian. It knocked him off his feet and sent him flying back into one of the small sleeping tents.

“You know, I’m the one that saved you, right?” Daniel asked.

“What do you want, gratitude?,” Caspian asked as he got up. “I was in that mess because of you.”

“I told you to stay in the apartment. It’s not my fault you have no impulse control.”

Caspian summoned a tiny blade that was much harder to see and shot it towards him. Daniel moved but not quick enough and he cursed when it left a shallow cut across his arm.

“You have no idea what it's like,” said Caspian.

“I have no idea. I was in Alarstardes for less than a day before getting almost killed twice and then on the second day, a troll nearly tore me apart!”

Another dagger was sent flying, but Daniel blocked it with the gauntlet and pressed closer. Instead of retreating, Caspian strode forward as well. He held his regular rapier in one hand and summoned an identical shadow copy for the other.

Daniel was down a weapon and so he brought Melos out for backup just before Caspian attacked.

“Hey guys, what are we…?” Melos stopped as Caspian walked through him.

“Stay out of this,” said Caspian, before he started a series of probing lunges at Daniel, who backed away or blocked each one with the gauntlet. Caspian was relentless, and more shallow cuts appeared on Daniel whenever he was too slow to dodge or block in time.

“Help!” said Daniel.

“Nah, it seems like you’ve got it,” said Melos, who took the opportunity to lie down and enjoy the sunshine.

The pair continued fighting with Daniel constantly on the defense until he accidentally stepped on a rock and fell backwards. A moment later, Caspian loomed over him, his face twisted with fury. The cold steel point of the rapier kissed Daniel’s throat. It would only take the tiniest amount of pressure to kill Daniel from this position. A fact he was well aware of. For a second, he wasn’t sure if Caspian was going to do it. He dismissed Army of One and held up his hands.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you,” said Daniel. “I came as soon as I could and killed six men getting you out of that place.”

Caspian slammed his rapier back into its sheath. “You should have come sooner,” he said before walking away.