Just like sitting on the banks of the Hallat, meeting Bertram brought Randidly right back to his early days on Tellus. But his strained nostalgia was pushed to the side as both came and sit down at the table at Islinda’s invitation.

The woman was Ikaas, Helen’s cousin. And Randidly was surprised to find out that the two were married and had three children. The oldest was seven. Randidly glanced sideways at the stone-faced Islinda and then back at these two. The reason that Helen’s mother lived out here in this homestead at the edges of the Central Domain was that Bertram had been named the High Eastern Prospector, which meant that he was in charge of the expansion.

Not that Randidly was particularly close with Bertram during his earlier, but Randidly still felt a small flash of pleasure to know that this former acquaintance was thriving.

After the short introductions, both listened to Randidly stumble through the news that was twisting a knife in his gut. Somehow, saying the words out loud was so much worse than his interaction with Islinda, when she had simply known the point of his visit immediately. The words tore through the soft flesh of his esophagus on the way out, leaving Randidly raw: Helen was dead.

Helen is dead. Randidly exercised his significant Willpower to prevent her twisted and broken corpse from appearing in his mind’s eye.

“Well damn,” Bertram leaned back in his chair, earning a creak from the wood piece of furniture beneath him. Next to him, Ikaas was sniffling with her hands covering her face. The silence of the room became heavy and grey, Randidly’s own affliction infecting the surroundings with his words. Islinda continued to stare down at her tea. By this point, the liquid had cooled.

Bertram again broke the pained silence, putting his forearms on the table. His brown eyes looked at Randidly, then at Islinda, and then back again. “I’m so sorry for your loss. She was your spear attendant right? And your friend as well.”

We were close. But… she wasn’t my daughter. Randidly released a choked sound. Being here was even worse than he imagined. Not only did he have to deal with the hole inside him left by Helen, but now he was hyper-aware of similar wounds in others.

But Helen’s mother had been right about one thing; hearing someone say ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ to him was much more difficult than expected. He squeezed his eyes shut, preventing himself from shedding tears here.

“Damn,” Bertram said again. He shook his head. Ikaas’s sniffles were steadily turning into sobs. He squeezed his wife’s shoulder and then stood abruptly. His eyes went back to Randidly. “Well, let’s not just sit here then. Randidly, would you like to spar? That’s the best way I know how to work through grief.”

“Uh? Sure…” Randidly blinked several times, surprised by the sudden request. Then he followed the burly man out of the house and into the yard. Bertram took Randidly around past the other two thatched cottages and out to a rock shelf along the edge of the mountain. The wind danced amongst their legs, tempting them to walk up to the edge of the sheer cliff. With no fear of crashing to the ground below, Randidly followed that impulse.

The view was breathtaking. Light filtered through the fat grey clouds that clustered up against the mountain peaks above and cast their shadows on the valley below. Even he couldn’t help but let out a breath as he stood at the edge as the ground fell away as though the ground had been scooped out by the hand of a god. The natural architecture drawn by the movements of tectonic plates really couldn’t be replicated.

“We need to restrain ourselves somewhat, sparring here,” Bertram said lightly as he reached down and touched his toes. He gestured to the mountain. “Otherwise the whole shelf will shatter and slide down to the valley below. Madam Isa… would not be pleased.”

Randidly nodded and began rolling his shoulders. Truly, he needed a distraction from how Islinda must be handling this. Yet the process of warming himself up was not as simple as he had thought. His grief and focus on refining his images meant that his body felt almost foreign to him as he loosened his muscles.

Randidly produced a training spear from his interspatial ring and grasped ineffectually at the shaft with his metal left hand. The spot where he squeezed his bicep still sizzled ineffectually as the broken lines of the Engraving could no longer contain the energy he pumped through the metal limb.

Randidly grimaced and began to rapidly adjust the Engraving along the arm, to at least get some fidelity back in his fingers. Bertram didn’t pressure him, contenting himself with a thorough stretch of his own body.

Soon, he at least had a mishappen but working hand. Randidly flexed his metal fingers and then gripped the training spear, careful not to catch the uneven edges of the eroded metal on the shaft. He began moving through some basic spear forms to get a sense of his current state. Of course, Randidly hadn’t taken time off training his body; he used his Fatepiece regularly to push his own limits.

The last fight I had… Randidly spoke into the hollow of his ribcage, feeling the words bounce between his bones. The spear felt so incredibly light. ...was against Velio Dunn? That… seems so long ago...

However, strengthening his body was not the same as training in the spear. He drew the tip of the weapon through the air, watching the small ripples of wind and ground swirling around his weapon. What he saw made Randidly’s lips curl up in dissatisfaction.

Part of it is my high Stats and the focus on Skills and images, but simply focusing on the spear… Randidly chewed on his lip. Even through the haze of grief, Shal’s prodding to seek perfection in his pursuit of the spear flared to life. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

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“You ready?” Bertram asked. Then he forced his mouth into a grin. “Difficult circumstances, but we cannot dwell. Besides… this is our third duel, yes? We can consider this to be the decisive match to determine the better spear user.”

There wasn’t even a shred of competitiveness in Randidly’s heart as he looked over at the sturdy body of Bertram. His opponent took a tall and proud fighting stance, waiting for him to do the same. Randidly’s heart was bleak and grey as the clouds overhead, but he still shifted into a position to match his opponent.

The two stood still like that for quite a while, as though to fool the other into forgetting about their existence through sheer patience. But then Bertram stomped his foot and charged. Randidly’s Grim Intuition instantly scrutinized his opponent and gauged his Stats. Then he lowered his own physical prowess to match Bertram.

Randidly’s right hand tightened on the shaft of the training spear. Even now, these Tellus staples felt familiar. His heart beat solidly, a reassuring undercurrent of blood through his body.

Step forward and fight, Randidly told himself. And so he did.

Randidly’s spear swung upward to knock away Bertram’s attack. But the large man moved with surprising grace, twisting his weapon to the side and then transforming his strike into a sweep. Randidly stepped smartly backward and then stepped forward again after the strike whizzed past his stomach.

Bertram whipped around the butt of his spear to strike at Randidly’s temple. The man was suppressing his Skills, but a flickering image of a mountain circulated through his every movement. Randidly examined his image closely, too; this was a man who was dependable and solid.

He couldn’t help but be somewhat impressed by the improvement from the Bertram in his memory. During the intervening time since the two had fought, he had clearly sharpened his image to an incredible degree. The amount of clarity in the image he subconsciously manifested Randidly had only ever seen from Aegiant and Shal on Tellus.

But unfortunately for this solid man, Randidly’s horizons were not limited by only Tellus.

Randidly’s right hand twitched and brought the head of his weapon slicing upward. Swirls of natural energy empowered the strike as their weapons clashed. Randidly felt so, so light without the force of his body driving his attacks forward. He felt like he was skimming through the air as he moved. Bertram grunted and took a step backward from the impact between the weapons. His mouth twisted into a smile as he created some distance. “Heh, as expected. You’ve improved.”

And yet when it mattered, it wasn’t enough, Randidly sighed. He lowered his training spear and stepped forward to continue his attacks. If he was going to do this, he was determined to get some exercise in the process.

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 324!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 369!

As he attacked, his heartbeat began to wander away from its even cadence. He suppressed his Skill use and just used the restricted motions of his body, but each step quickened his heart. Despite himself, a strange heat began to circulate through Randidly’s veins. He thrust his weapon forward and had the strike deflected by Bertram. When Bertram lowered his stance and unleashed a powerful stab, Randidly flicked his spear and dispersed his opponent’s force.

His spear glided through the air just like Randidly did. Yet the fragile materials of the training spear began to hum from its near-perfect cuts.

Whipping his weapon around, Randidly felt Sharpness subconsciously activating again and ruthlessly smothered it. Yet even without the Skill, he felt the ferocity of his attacks rising with each movement. His stab slid toward Bertram’s weaknesses as the man was forced back along the stone shelf. The two weapons clashed once more.

Claaaaaanggggg!

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 325!

Randidly was slowly overheating; his eyes narrowed and he gave himself over to the vicious impulse to lash out. Even the grief was steadily pushed out of its entrenched position around his heart by the heat. Bertram’s expression grew increasingly serious as he brought his spear up and around to defend himself from Randidly’s attacks. Although Randidly kept his Stats suppressed, he couldn’t or wouldn’t hide the ferocity that grew within his muscles.

Randidly stalked forward, his spear seeking to bite into the body of Bertram.

“Haaaaa!” Bertram stomped his feet, no longer suppressing his image. Instead, a mountain towered in front of Randidly. From peak to bedrock, a massive monument of stone was perfectly replicated. This was the true power of the man who had become the High Eastern Prospector. No matter how Randidly looked at this foe, he couldn’t detect any weakness; any attacks would clatter harmlessly against the stone edifice.

However, the heat flowing through Randidly couldn’t be denied. If there was no weakness, he would simply use his singing spear and carve a Path. Randidly gnashed his teeth and attacked with renewed vigor. The restraints remained in place: he did not use his own images or full Stats. But the head of his spear cut more and more quickly through the air. His hands were on fire as he wielded the weapon.

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 326!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 331!

Soon, Randidly’s barrage of attacks began to force Bertram back even when he utilized his image. Imagined stone chipped and cracked under the assault. Very quickly, the man began to bring his Skills directly to bear in order to keep up. But still, Randidly glided forward, the avatar of a blade whirlwind. What he lacked in images, Randidly made up for in battle experience against some of the most deadly foes in the Nexus. And when that wasn’t enough, he used aggressiveness and daring to forcefully suppress Bertram.

The humming of the spear wasn’t just the resonance with the natural world, but also Randidly’s emotions. He had no other way to handle them, so he channeled them down into his spear. His body moved without thinking, shifting away from his usual style; he completely ignored his ripples of natural energy.

Randidly’s attacks used the buzzing emotions to sheer directly through natural energies and attack.

Randidly felt liberated by this expulsion, but also slightly deranged. His blood sang for violence. Everything had narrowed to the pounding noise of his heart and the foe in front of him. Randidly lashed out and struck, spun and slice, stabbed and advanced.

And then, as he was striking, a thought managed to slip its way through the heat and reach him. This style of fighting… this desperate violence… this is Helen.

This was how she sparred against me, even when she couldn’t fight against either my Skills or images directly… This is her intensity.

God, I miss her.

Rather than extinguishing the inferno that consumed him, this realization only caused Randidly’s determination to soar to even greater heights. And now that he identified the source, more and more the aspects of the Depths of Horror began to manifest in his movements. Except in Randidly’s version… he was the beast that lurked at the bottom of the sea of blood.

His left eye rapidly darkened to black as the Stillborn Phoenix surreptitiously manifested. Pale light spun and drained into the dark abyss as the center.

Synchronicity detected!