“I had no idea birthing your system was a team activity.”

“Normally, it’s not, but you and I find ourselves in a rather unique situation.” Kiba responded to Edan. He scratched his chin, looking thoughtful. “I’m not even sure it’ll work.”

“How would it work?” Edan asked, sounding skeptical.

“You let me into your SoulScape and in return, I help guide you to light your spark. It’s better than you trying it blind. Maybe my spirit sense is strong enough to see through your core.”

“First off, that sounds very unwise. Can’t you do a whole lot of evil shit to me if I let you in my SoulScape?”

“Sure. I could wear you like a suit and make you my eternal puppet.” Kiba shrugged. “But I’d still be stuck in a dying body.”

“Secondly, you don't sound so sure about using your spirit sense?”

“Because I’m not sure I can. Only the system knows how your core would react to my spirit. It could work, or it might not, but once again, what's there to lose?”

Edan had to agree, he had a point. Still, healthy suspicion made Edan hesitant.

“You mentioned me getting you off world. How does that work? You know, assuming we live.”

“I have no body and all those who came before you…well, you know how that turned out. There was never a chance to escape, but now that there is…I find myself,” Kiba hesitated, his hands curling into fists before loosening. “Desperate.”

Edan considered him.

“I find the thought of spending another day here repulsive. I will leave with you, or I will die. If you allow me into your SoulScape I will try to help you birth your system. If you do, all I ask is that you let me remain there until I can get word back to my main body.”

Edan nodded, though he was a little shocked that this wasn’t the real Kiba. He couldn’t image what Kiba had experienced, being stuck here for close to two hundred years.

“Ok. So I let you in, you help me control my Vitalis and we light my System, birthing it, what next?”

“You are remade at each grade, your body changed by the system to handle the increase in power and ideals. Your body will be fully healed, and your health topped up. We use that time to escape the pool.”

Edan looked out at the clouds, his thoughts much much further away.

He could die, but then again he was already dying. He could wait and hope to be rescued, but no one knew what had happened to him. Do nothing and leave his life in fate's hands or do something crazy and maybe live.

Live to see Reema and Sanik again. To be the brother to a child they had yet to have. To curb stomb Aser’s face in. To rip the Sects up by the roots.

He had a lot to do and sitting here twiddling his thumbs wasn’t helping.

“Let's get to it,” Edan growled.

------------------------------------

Sanik shielded Reema from a spray of seawater as the waves crashed against the jagged black rocks below them. The pair stood with their backs to the cliff wall along the path that led to the Academies Dungeon.

“We give her five more minutes,” Sanik muttered, whipping moisture from his beard. His clothes were already damp. The leather of his armor was shiny and wet.

The sound of crunching rock made Sanik look up and he let out a sigh of relief. Tali moved cautiously towards them, her bulk made traversing the thin trail treacherous.

“Nevermind. Come on hun, we better get moving.”

Reema was covered in a dark cloak, the edges of the fabric seeming to drift off in whisps of smoke. Just looking at her made Sanik feel dizzy as his eyes tried to shift past her. Without a word, Reema ducked around Sanik and continued on the trail.

The trio grouped up at the landing and with grim nods moved into the mouth of the cave.

They had made it most of the way in when pressure pushed down on them. Sanik fought the urge to draw his rapier, he instead took a slow, steady breath and bowed his head respectfully.

“This is a private domain, turn back.” Came a voice from the shadows. The sound moved oddly around the cave, making it hard to pinpoint.

“You know who I am?” Tali said her soft voice firm.

“I know who you are Genesis Titan, even if we have never met.”

“Then you know I am contracted to the Academy. I have the approval to pass. Let me through.”

There was a pause. Shadows seemed to shift and a low scraping noise reached Sanik’s ears.

“It has been a long time indeed since the Academy granted permission for an unaffiliated D grade to enter their Dungeon.” Even with the echo, it was easy to hear the doubt.

“And yet he is with me.” Tali challenged. “Bravery is easy to come by in the shadows when actions are hidden. Come, show me your face.”

There was another long pause.

“You may continue,” the voice said at last. “Though this will be reported to the Academy.”

Tali’s face remained impassive as she motioned Sanik onward. He slipped past her without turning around and crossed over the line of runes carved into the floor.

“The Academy makes an assassin guard their dungeon?” Reema sneered, materializing from the darkness next to Sanik.

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Tali glanced at Reema out of the corner of her eye as she led them down the sloping hallway.

“You did not get seen?”

“No, if he had made a move I would have stopped him,” Reema replied, her eyes hard and her mouth a thin line. Worry for Edan made her words clipped. “He slipped out, no doubt to alert the Academy.”

“You could not have stopped him?”

“Not easily,” Reema shook her head. “And we don't have time. Did you really get authorization to enter the dungeon?”

Tali ducked a little to avoid hitting her head on the stone ceiling. The sound of their footfalls bounced off the walls and filled the silence before Tali finally responded.

“None were available,” she finally admitted. “The Bwaka and instructors and the Academy administration have been called to the Star Castle. There is to be a celebration.”

Orange light had begun to bleed through the darkness down the hall as Sanik glanced sharply at the Titan's back.

“Celebration?”

“Yes. A disciple of the Four Star Heavenly Sect returned with the core of a graded beast. A great feat for one whose system is unbirthed. The celebration is a reward for his performance in the dungeon. The others are likewise being rewarded”

“And Edan? Do they know?” Reema hissed.

“They know,” Tali said heavily.

“They kn-”

“Honey,” Sanik put a comforting hand on Reema’s shoulder, silencing her. “Calm. We expected no less from them, and it was no small thing for Tali to break her oath. I’m guessing you were meant to be there as well?”

Tali nodded.

“Thank you,” Sanik said sincerely.

“It was an easy decision, honored father.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that,” Sanik muttered.

“But you are father to my Bwaka. Your son will be Va. You are to be honored.”

Sanik knew a fight he wouldn’t win when he saw it so he let the matter drop as they entered the first floor of the dungeon.

--------------------------------------

“Well, that was easy,” Edan said to Kiba as the other man stood in the darkness of Edan’s SoulScape.

“You’d be surprised how much is governed unconsciously. You don’t normally want people in your SoulScape, so you unconsciously prevent it. You wanted me here, so getting in was easy.” Kiba looked at the cracks running through the darkness. “Good thing too, I doubt you’d survive it if I tried brute force.”

The pool of golden Vitalis under Edan’s core continued to rage on. The waves crashed together with titanic force sending mist laced with fire and lightening off in all directions. Edan’s core had cherry red spots on it, bright against the sotty background, from where it had been heated by stray tongues of flame.

“Gold, aye?” Kiba said, his brows drawing together as his eyes went to the turbulent mass of Vitalis.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Kiba said. “This is bad,” his form drifted closer to the once-green bead. Edan noticed the fire had little effect on him. In fact, they almost seemed to drift towards him as he passed.

“Can you sense the spark?” Edan asked hopefully.

Kiba closed his eyes, his hand reaching out to rest against the surface of Edan’s core. Edan felt a tingle up his spine. A spark jumped from the core to Kiba’s hand and he jerked it back, hissing. Turning to Edan, he was all smiles though.

“Yup.”

“Ok, talk me through this.” Edan rubbed his hands together. He hoped Kiba didn’t see his fingers trembling from nerves. “And promise you won't possess me.”

“Kid,” Kiba motioned to his body. “This is what my main body looks like. Why would I be interested in using yours?”

A flat look was all Kiba got. Laughing he waved his hand in the air dismissively.

“Fine. You have my word, Kid. No possession. Happy? Good. Now, listen to me carefully.”

Edan had read a ton of books on breaking through or birthing your system. The theory behind them all was the same. You take Vitalis from your Vitalis pool and slowly feed it into your core. Of course, your core should be free of impurities by then so you could see through its crystal clear casing to the spark within. Once the Vitalis met the spark, you needed to form a bridge and feed it with the rest of the Vitalis in your pool. This would jump-start its growth and eventually, the spark would break out of the core’s protective casing.

That was the theory. How do you go about it? That was a bit more complicated. Some suggested smothering the core with Vitalis, allowing the energy to seep into it. Others suggested funneling a constant thin stream in the hopes of wearing out a point in the core’s surface.

Kiba’s advice was much more straightforward.

Edan first tried to skim off a layer of Vitalis from his raging pool, but the crashing surface and surging waves made it difficult. Kiba suggested pulling some of the mist from the air. It took more concentration, much more, but eventually, Edan had control over enough to draw a sizeable cloud towards him.

Concentrating, Edan collapsed it in on itself, turning it from a cloud to a small puddle of liquid gold. The transformation happened in an instant, taking almost no effort.

Letting the bubbling excitement fall away with everything else, Edan isolated himself within his SoulScape. Sounds faded. Worry ceased to exist.

All that remained was the Vitalis and the guidance of Kiba, a man he had only just met and yet one who he was trusting his life to.

Every point of willpower Edan had earned, every bit of wisdom and intelligence he had struggled to obtain, all the Spirit he could muster, all bent towards a single goal.

Slowly, the puddle of gold shrunk. It was now a gold drop. Further still, Edan shaped it. Condensing it until all that remained was a needle, thinner than a strand of hair.

His focus was absolute. Edan didn’t feel the pain lancing through his mind. Nor did he feel his heart skip a beat and his meager health points begin to drop as the effort pushed his body to the limit.

If his endurance had been a little lower, he might have collapsed. If his willpower wasn’t up to the task, the needle would never have formed.

Edan grasped the needle and placed it against his core. His actions were almost gentle. The sharp tip stopped, resting against the soot-covered shell.

Kiba’s voice came like a gentle whisper, adjusting Edan’s aim. The tip of his needle moved minutely.

Edan held it there for a moment. Reverent.

A distant part of Edan knew he could die. Not everyone survived birthing their system. None with an opaque core. You risked missing the spark and breaking the core. But Edan had no choice. It was now or never. Edan’s Body had been pushed beyond its limit, and his Soul threatened to collapse at any second, but his Mind was steady.

This was what he wanted.

Without so much as a crack, the needle pierced the outer layer of his core. Edan drove it forward under Kiba’s instruction. Slowly. So slowly.

Edan felt something he couldn’t explain. He was insignificant. He had touched on something so powerful, so vast, he could never hope to understand it.

Edan didn’t need to hear Kiba’s words to know he had touched upon his spark.

There was a moment of stillness as the needle made contact with the infantile system. Edan held his breath.

Then there was a pulse; Edan heard a tone ring out. Deep enough to shake his inner world.

A system was being born, shocked to life by the needle-thin spark of Vitalis. Pure energy jumpstarting it. The light grew within his core until it could be seen through the dark exterior. Cracks appeared along the surface of the core, light spilling through as it sought freedom.

Edan heard another tone ring out.

The core shattered.

Light spilled forth, burning away the darkness within his SoulScape. His pool of Vitalis was sucked upwards, long tendrils of thick golden energy crackling with fire and electricity reaching like fingers of a grasping hand towards the small spec of light now free from its containment.

There was a patch of darkness within the light of his system that refused to be consumed. It hung suspended like the heart of a star and Edan thought he saw roots wrapped around it, unnatural hunger gripped him, but then the light grew too bright to look at and Edan saw no more.