Princess Bella Salae, otherwise known as Clammy, hated meetings. They reminded her of home, of her princess training, and of her father. Clammy hated her father. He was never abusive or rude, but he also was not a good man. Clammy had been to her fair share of executions and brutal punishments, some of which were undeserving. She had seen firsthand the atrocities her family has caused, the lives they’ve taken.

Slaves were among the worst. An entire industry made from controlling others, forcing them to do harsh labor or sexual acts. It was especially worse for the non-human races. Elves were treated as trophies, Beastkin as animals and devils as points of conversation. Clammy wondered how her father and mother could ignore these things? How did they not see rape or pain? How could they live with themselves?

But her father was never cruel to her or her siblings. There must be humanity somewhere in him, right? She would ask herself. But then again, if there was, she would have already been found. If there was, she wouldn’t have run away in the first place.

Clammy thought her father was the way he was simply because he’s scared. Scared of losing power, scared of being overthrown, scared of failure. It was a failing many men had, but for a King to be anything less than perfect, people were going to die. That was the simple the reality of it. Clammy hadn’t realized it before their trip to Esmel. She always figured that people in power were resolute.

Maybe it was her innocence. Maybe it was her holding on to the stories her nanny would tell her at bedtime. The stories of honorable knights and benevolent Emperors. Where good triumphs and evil withers. The same stories many others hold dear, not because they are childish, but because they symbolize better days.

But those stories mean nothing while walking through the remnants of a battlefield.

And it was then, walking around the warehouse, that her previous thoughts and feelings about her father made sense to her. He was just a man, a man with shortcomings. A man with absolute power but with insecurities, nonetheless.

But her father didn’t matter. Not now, at least. Not when the fate of an entire city falls to her and her friends' shoulders. She knew she hadn't done much in Esmel and it bothered her. Max and Vel had been pulling the weight of The Humble Titans. Max had already proved his worth a thousand times over, but what had she done?

She was the lowest level in their team, the least experienced, and the most childish. Sure, she had a rare and powerful class, but she was weak. The worst part about it all, was that she knew it. She knew that she was useless, she knew that the others probably saw her as a burden. The comic relief. The outcast. Where would she even be, if not for Max? Dead in a forest somewhere? Bled out while others fought for her escape?

She was tired. She hadn’t been sleeping well. She thought it was stress, but why would she be stressed? Before today, there had been no danger. They had traveled to Esmel and looked around. That's it. There was no great battle where her friends and mentors fought for their lives. There was no street of dead bodies.

How am I going to sleep tonight? After all that's happened today? She thought as the war room discussed spies. She had paid enough attention to get the general gist of what has been happening.

Everyone’s sorry, they are going to do better, except for one. It had been narrowed down to three, but the answer was so obvious. Wasn’t it? Clammy didn’t understand how the others didn’t see it. But then again, she didn’t make the connections until today, until she saw all of the deaths.

“The spy is [Arbor] Salvia.” Clammy said, interrupting whoever was speaking.

Everyone went silent and looked between her and the flower [Arbor].

“What?” Mr. Flowers said. “How could it possibly be me? I’m a healer! I don’t harm!”

“Flowers.” Clammy said, void of emotion. “People were charmed. Guards that couldn’t remember who ordered them to move bodies, and a warehouse guard charmed into drinking at a tavern. Unless one of the others has charming capabilities, then it's you.”

“Wha- why do you think I can charm people?” He was getting nervous.

“Flowers are often used as alchemical ingredients. Some even have hallucinogenic or memory inhibiting properties. Just like the one you are named after. Salvia.”

“Why are we even humoring this child? It's obvious she has no idea what she is speaking of.”

Salvia looked around for help. But the cast of doubt was already thrown.

“Well, do either of you two have charming spells? I can have a guild orb brought up if need be.” Honeygreen said.

Guild orbs were the crystalline balls used to determine if a new patron had a banned or illegal class. They were used as a simple lie detector. They had a few weak points, namely being that they only worked with class-based system questions. Honeygreen only brought the orbs up as a bluff.

The orbs can’t be used to ask about spells. After all, spells were volatile and countless evolutions of the same spell could occur. Honeygreen hoped that mentioning the orb would cause a mistake.

“I have none other than basic calming and sleep spells.” [Arbor] Thistle said.

“I have the same.” [Arbor] Mertle added.

Everyone looked to Salvia.

“Of course, I have charming spells! I’m a healer, I sometimes have to operate on unconscious people!”

It was a solid defense. It was common knowledge that healers had knock-out spells, as they had been nicknamed. But Salvia messed up, his nerves had gotten the better of him.

“You're right.” Honeygreen said, surprising everyone. “Thinking like this will get us know where. We have time since Buzluc has to regroup, let's reconvene tomorrow. I think we owe our guests a night's sleep anyway.”

As the [Arbors] started to leave, Honeygreen made eye contact with Max signaling him and his companions to stay. Before he left, [Arbor] Xylem agreed to give Max a few lessons in space magic.

“Good work Clammy.” Honeygreen said after the others had left. “I didn't think of the connection between Salvia and the mind-controlled guards.”

“Thank you?” She replied, unsure. “But I thought you cleared him? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have let him leave.”

“Ah. No. I let him leave purposefully. I think it’s time for us to be proactive, and if Salvia leads us to Mallor, I think it's worth the risk.”

“Oh!” Clammy said regaining her spunk. “You are going to have him followed? Catch him in the act?”

Honeygreen nodded. “Indeed. I would have had Wepish already following, but…”

He left the rest unsaid; the message was clear.

“It is a shame.” Vel whispered.

“It is.” The old man agreed. “There is a battle coming. Can I count on you five to be there for me? For my city?”

Everyone looked at each other. The two teachers shared a glance, while the students conferred. They quietly talked it over, but the answer was the same as before. They were going to help; they were going to defend the city. While they were not as gung-ho to jump into battle as before, they each knew they had to stay.

The scene from earlier in the day played in each of their heads. Hundreds of bodies lay limp with grotesque sores and scarred skin. Bodies that just moments before had been alive. Maybe that was what was getting too Clammy. Not that they were dead, but how fast they died.

“Do you have a training hall we can use?” Clammy asked.

“Training? Sure, a few floors above this one.”

Clammy didn’t like being weak. She didn’t like being powerless. She didn’t like watching others fail, but she knew that was inevitable. She would just have to be there to pick up the pieces. Today was the day Clammy grew up. A city sat on her and her comrade’s shoulders and she sure as hells wasn’t going to let the others do all of the work.

Reep and Bishop were the first to arrive in the training room, after Clammy. They left Max and Vel talking with Honeygreen. Both could feel something was off with Clammy. They had noticed her acting weird the last few days, and with the atrocities they saw today, they couldn’t be too careful.

Bishop alone has known his fair share of soldiers or adventures that have taken their lives after seeing a real battle. While he didn’t believe Clammy to be suicidal, but he didn’t want her to be alone.

Clammy stood in the middle of the room, iron weights rapidly rotating around her. The scene gave the newcomers pause. She was spinning the weights much faster than ever before. Bishop smiled, he understood her now. She wasn’t suicidal or depressed, she was angry at herself. Angry for not being stronger, angry for not being smarter. Angry for reasons she could improve on.

She’s going to be hell to deal with in a few years. Bishop thought.

They watched as an iron weight launched with frightening speed. It was nothing unusual for her, after all she had been doing similar things with small rocks. But what shocked the onlookers was not the weights, but the rest of the room.

Whether it was subconscious or purposeful, Clammy was increasing the gravity in the rest of the room significantly. Clammy had previously found that manipulating gravity in an area was difficult. Compared to individual targets, area-based gravity spells simply cost too much mana. But as the field of gravity expanded further and further out it was obvious that that theory was wrong.

“Clammy.” Bishop said coolly, resting a hand on her tense shoulder.

She snapped out of her focused trance to look at the big lizard. He was within the range that she was rotating weights around, meaning he moved fast enough to dodge past them. But that wasn’t what scared her.

Reep was kneeling. The power of her gravity field had put enough weight on Reep to drop her to her knees. She didn’t mean to, she thought she was alone. She hurt her friend, she coul-

Bishop held up his hand, breaking her out of the start of a panic attack.

“Reep is fine. We know you didn’t mean it. It’s okay, calm down.” He cast a calming spell.

Reep trudged over, weak in the knees.

“That was amazing Clammy!” The older girl screeched, out of character.

Both Clammy and Bishop were taken back.

“Never mind, I spoke too soon. You have broken her brain.” Bishop smirked.

“I will be held accountable, please execute me Bishop.”

Bishop laughed.

“Clammy, you know that you were affecting us with a gravity field from the door over there, right? And that you were spinning those weights faster than I’ve ever seen you spin something before?” Bishop said, completely serious.

“Wh-”

“It’s true. You made me kneel from all the way over there with an area of effect spell. I think you might have just had a breakthrough.” Reep added.

“Breakthrough? I don’t think I did anything differently... “

“Battle trance.”

“Battle what?”

“Battle trance. A state of mind where you are completely focused, allowing you to do unimaginable things. Trust me Clammy, if you can master trance weaving, you will become an unstoppable force on a battlefield. Far stronger than I or Vel, even.”

Bishop's words shocked both of the girls.

“How did I do it? I don’t remember…”

“That is very common for trance users. There are a few types, but I’m pretty sure what you entered was called the reactive stage. The theory is that you reacted to your emotions and were able to enter a trance. It is by far the most powerful baseline trance with no training. But it is also the most destructive. You saw what you did to Reep.”

“Yes... I’m sorry Reep, I didn’t mean it.”

“I know. No harm done.” Reep gave her a soft smile.

“Since you are now confirmed to be a trance user, we can start training the other stage: Active. Reep you can join us, just know that some spend their whole lives training to enter a trance but can’t.”

“I understand.”

“Well then. If you two are ready, we can begin. Both of you try to land a hit on me. Work together, but I will be hitting back so watch out.”

All three smiled, glad to be back to training.

“I’m sorry about Wepish.” Max said to Honeygreen.

“Thank you. It is a shame what happens because of others' failings. But that is life.”

Max nodded. He understood unexpected and unwarranted events all too well.

“But enough of your pity. Life goes on. What did you want to talk about?”

“Can you tell us more about the tomb? I know it's a hard topic for you, but at this point we need all the information we can get.”

Max hasn't forgotten about Tiodepth. His inner self had been calm since Head priestess Burk’s scan. Even after Honeygreen had mentioned Tiodepth to be a dead God. It annoyed Max that everything about his life on Nava was shrouded in mystery. He needed answers now more than ever, and one of the few people who could give them had been silent.

“Truth be told Max; I don’t know much more. Besides some information that I won’t tell you, there isn’t much.”

“What about where your wife disappeared?” Max cringed as he said it, but it was important. “Is that place reachable? Could Mallor-”

“No.” Honeygreen said firmly. “That… Gate has long been sealed. No one but me can enter, and even then, it would be difficult.”

“But what about these tunnels? Can there be an artificial entrance?”

“No. Even if Mallor could make it to the gate, the gate itself is sealed.”

“That’s a relief to hear.” Max wanted out of this conversation.

Max and Vel took that as their cue to leave. His wife and the tomb seemed to be a touchy subject for him. It was understandable, however. The place where a god told you to protect is the same place that took away the love of your life. Anyone would get grouchy.

The two sat in the training room, watching the others. Bishop was expertly dodging lightning arrows and hammer swings. He wasn’t even breaking a sweat while the two girls panting with frustration. Max chose not to join. He had already exerted himself enough for the day.

“What do you think, boy?” Vel asked.

Max exhaled. He had been thinking a lot. It was getting to the point where his thinking was getting the better of him. Emi shifted on his lap, drawing his focus. She hadn’t left his side since they reunited. While endearing, Max couldn’t help but feel sad. If he died today, Emi would have been left alone. Sure, the others would take care of her, but it would be like a child losing a parent.

“We are in over our heads.”

“No shit.” Vel snorted.

“I’m not just referring to Esmel. For me, it’s going to happen regardless. It's obvious that someone has a plan for me. Coincidences and unfortunate events are going to happen around me until I die. That much is apparent. I just hope the others realize before it costs them.”

From Max’s gaze it was obvious he was referring to his teammates. He watched them battle with emotionless dead eyes. Vel had seen those eyes. She’s had almost the exact same conversation with Lester at one point. She chose to handle it in the same way. Vel’s hand slammed the top of Max’s head.

“What the fu-” Max screeched in pain.

“Regardless of what is happening around you, you still have them as teammates. Both of them owe you their lives and both of them never expect you to cash in on it. If they choose to leave you, it would be the dumbest mistake they could make. Have some pride.”

“But they can die. Easily it seems.”

Vel shook her head. Disappointment clearly showing.

“Yes, Max they could. Death is a part of life here. If they didn’t want to be adventures, they wouldn’t have joined your team. They would have done what that Orc couple you saved did and traveled home. Trust in them, Max. Trust in me.”

Max went silent. He didn’t want them to die. He didn’t want the chance of them dying. But he was also a selfish man. He didn’t want to be alone.

“I just want to go home.” Max whispered.

Vel didn’t have an answer to that. The most powerful man she had ever known failed at the same quest. She could rehash her point about making a new home, but it was obvious that Max wasn’t ready to think about new homes.

Vel had to remind herself that Max was not used to this world. He had adjusted fast in the beginning, but as he sees more and more a hatred is going to form. A hatred for what? Who knows? Vel knew who Lester hated. Who he blamed. But Max was still young, his hatred had only just been pollinated.

As the two of them sat, Max took out the items needed to make memory globes. This was the first free time he had gotten since he learned how to make them. He had a long list of important experiments he wanted to try, but now was not the time.

Instead, he made globes of the battle with Buzluc. He wanted to review the footage and learn from it. He also made a globe of [Arbor] Xylem opening the Space Safe. Max wondered if this memory was worth anything on the black market. Seeing how a person could open a Space Safe might be worth a lot to someone.

Max smiled. Why am I so interested in a life of crime?'

The next globe was his memory of Tiodepth. It broke upon completion. He didn’t know why, but it pissed him off. Why couldn’t he look at the monster? Why couldn’t he make a globe of him? It was his memory. Do memories hold that much power?

Vel watched as Max slumped after the broken globe. She wondered just what kind of memory could break a globe. Do memories hold power? She asked herself.

Max tried again, but this time with the memory of Goddess Ofes. The orb cracked again. He tried again with Seetrin, the Unicorn. It worked, but there was a faint fuzziness around her, obscuring her details.

Max dropped into his meditative world. He could feel his emotions controlling him, and he decided that the calm harmony of the infinite beach would be best for him. But the calm didn’t last long. His mind raced thinking about his time on Nava. All of the coincidences, Max felt abused and controlled.

He decided it was time to do something. The crushing depths do not affect you. Max scoffed remembering his blessing. He walked into the water, deeper and deeper.