Ethan’s boots crunched loudly on the loose gravel of the road as he walked, holding a torch out in front of him. The moon and the stars were bright enough to provide ample visibility, but Ethan wanted the extra light.

“Be careful,” David has warned him before he left the small roadside inn. “Don’t go looking for a fight, Ethan. Don’t do anything stupid.”

But a fight was exactly what Ethan wanted. He had put a heavy cloak on over his armor, disguising the metal protection and his seaxes. He wanted to be seen as not a threat, he wanted to get jumped and ambushed.

David had explained everything that transpired while he’d been gone. Where Sam had ended up, Alera’s return with news of Tae-Won, her and Leah’s conspiracy, Miguel moving out of the guild hall.

If Miguel wanted to live above the Greenbriar, that was fine with Ethan. Even if Tara was only an NPC, their relationship was important to Miguel. It was a small piece of normalcy in their prison.

But the other three, their betrayal burned deep within him.

He’d been shocked to learn that Alera’s disavowing him and his friends was only a ruse, but it wasn’t enough to forgive her. She’d broken his heart, stomped it into the dirt. He could work with her to find Tae-Won, but there was no going back to what they’d had before.

Leah, on the other hand, he understood why she’d done it. Kim Tae-Wan was the most important person in the game world, or the real world, to her. He knew how determined she was, knew there was nothing she wouldn’t do to rescue her husband. If Ethan hadn’t been so deep in his own depression, he might have been able to see that her little gestures in the weeks before he’d left had been meant to comfort him. Instead, he’d ignored them as he drank to numb himself.

He’d known Leah too long, been through too much with her, to let a breakup come between them. He reasoned as he walked that if Alera was so willing to jump at the chance to hurt Ethan so publicly, then Leah had actually done him a favor.

Even Sam’s betrayal wasn’t that unexpected. Kevin was one of the few that Sam knew in the game, it made sense that he would run to the Knights of Aether. If he could, Ethan would try to fix that relationship.

The road ended at a fork in front of him. It didn’t matter to Ethan which direction he picked, he planned to walk for an hour or so and then turn back around to head to the inn.

“Hmmm.” Ethan pretended to ponder loudly as he debated which direction to take. In an appearance of absentmindedness, he fondled the coin purse, making sure sure was displayed prominently on his belt. It only had a few gold, but he’d put a large handful of gravel in the leather pouch to give it the appearance of fullness. “I don’t know at all which direction I’m supposed to take.”

He’d been pacing the same route for over an hour, letting his thoughts run free. The roads in the game were generally safe areas, monsters in the woods wouldn’t usually attack players when they were traveling. But NPC bandits would. That was what Ethan was hoping for.

It had been over a month since he’d fought anything that would present an actual challenge to himself. Hunting deer and boar when he dared to venture outside of the walls of Grassmere went down easily in one or two hits from a seax or an arrow. He was itching for a fight. A way to release the anger and rage that had built up in the day, filling the hole that had been a pit of emptiness inside him.

“You look lost there, friend,” a gravelly voice came from the side of the road after Ethan had travelled nearly a mile from the fork. “You out here by yoreself?”

Ethan turned and saw a large man step out from the bushes on the roadside. The man who spoke appeared to be unarmed, but his two companions both held large axes casually over their shoulders. Finally, he thought gleefully to himself.

“P-please,” Ethan stuttered out, trying to sound nervous as he grabbed at his coin purse. “My friends went ahead of me! They were supposed to be protecting me, but they said I was lagging too far behind!”

The big man took the bait, Ethan saw his eyes glance down at the bulging sack of nothing on his belt.

“Well ‘at weren’t right nice of them, were it?” He smiled, showing a mouthful of rotten and broken teeth. “Tell you what,” he crossed his arms over his barrel like chest and jerked his head towards his companions. “You give us ‘at there gold, and we’ll make sure you find yore friends. Ain’t that right, Velda?”

“Aye,” the woman, Velda, Ethan had initially mistaken for a man. Her hair was cut almost down to her scalp and her face was smeared with mud and dirt.

“B-but this is all the gold from my village,” Ethan lied, gripping the bag tighter. “It’s to buy medicine for sick children!”

“Oh, well we wouldn’t want to take gold from sick chillins,” the first man spoke, putting his hand over his heart in what Ethan could tell was mock sincerity.

“Wait, I thought we was going to rob this bloke and then kill him afore dumping his body in a lake, Stegal?” The third person spoke slowly, his voice low and confused.

“Morton,” Stegal sighed, “I told you, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. I was just trying to throw this sap off guard.”

“Oh, good,” Morton grinned and gripped his wooden axe handle tightly. “I likes killing saps.” He was clearly not the brains of this little group.

“N-no please,” Ethan continued his stuttering act as he reached behind his back and gripped the handle of one of his seaxes with his right hand.

“Heh,” Stegal laughed at him as his companions advanced on Ethan. “Give us the gold, and we’ll at least make it a quick death.”

“But the children!” Ethan gave them one last chance to flee as he gripped the bag of rocks in his left hand

“Don’t care bout no chillins,” Morton chuckled as he lumbered towards Ethan, his axe held ready. “Just want the gold.”

“Just wanted to make sure,” Ethan grinned, dropping his scared act. He ripped the bag free and threw it into Morton’s face.

“Argh!” The bandit shouted, startled by his target’s surprise attack. The tiny rocks did nothing but shock him, but it stopped his advance enough for Ethan to charge forward.

“Get him!” He heard Stegal shout as he slammed into Morton.

Ethan's sudden impact, combined with the distraction of the thrown bag, caught Morton off guard and Ethan was able to shove him to the ground.

A clang echoed in the darkness as a heavy impact landed on Ethan’s armored shoulder. Velda had hit him with her axe.

“Bad move,” Ethan turned and threatened her, drawing both of his seaxes. Her attack had hurt, but his armor had protected him from the worst of the damage.

He easily dodged her next attack and slashed down onto her arm with both blades. Bone cracked under his blades as chunks of bloody arm fell onto the ground.

“AHHHHH!” Velda screamed and she collapsed to her knees, clutching her bloody stump.

“At least it’s going to be quick,” he repeated Stegal’s threat as he plunged his seaxes into her neck and down into her chest.

Velda’s screams ended abruptly as she fell in a heap on the ground.

“Fire! Fire!” Stegal’s panicked command rang out from behind Ethan and two arrows slammed into his chest.

“Ugh.” Ethan winced from the pain and the impact, one of the arrows had pierced his armor just under his rib cage.

He saw Morton struggling to his feet as Stegal tried to back into the safety of the woods.

“No you don’t!” Ethan shouted as he imbued his seaxes with the power of fire. The thin metal blades began to glow orange and tiny flames licked along the angular backs of the seaxes.

He slammed his blades into the ground, a line of burning stalagmites erupted forward towards Morton who was struggling to get off the ground. The jagged rock formations threw his body high into the air. It landed hard with a thud.

He leapt high into the air, landing behind Stegal.

The leader of the bandits swung a massive fist at Ethan’s face. Almost lazily, he sidestepped the punch and hooked his left arm around Stegal’s forearm, pressing it to his own body. With a powerful jab of his right hand, still holding his seax, he broke the bandit’s elbow.

“ARGHH!” The burly bandit screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. Before Ethan could finish him off, two more arrows pierced his leather chest armor.

“Ungh,” Ethan grunted as he pulled the shafts out of his chest and activated both of his self heals. Instantly, the pain lessened and he felt moderately restored.

The pair of archers had come out from wherever they’d been hiding to protect their leader, finally giving Ethan sight of them.

Fiery rage seethed through his body, unchecked by the calming influence of the Vættr of Water who’d abandoned him. Flames danced across his body as he charged down the two men frantically firing arrows at him.

THWACK! THWACK!

Two more arrows punctured his armor, but he didn’t even notice. The boiling anger racing through him numbed him to the pain.

Kill! Hurt! BURN THEM! His rage clouded his mind and he wanted to hurt these two men with their pitiful arrows. He wanted to inflict the same pain on other people that he’d been feeling for weeks.

THWACK!

Another arrow found its target before Ethan reached his foes.

“AARGH!” He roared in anger as she slashed out with his seaxes. He felt little resistance as his first attack disemboweled the first archer. The smell of burning flesh and screams of terror and pain filled the calm night air as one of the men fell to the ground.

CLANG!

An arrow bounced off his left pauldron, the sight of his companion bleeding out caused the remaining archer to miss.

Ethan turned and hurled the sword in his right hand at the bandit. The burning blade flew through the air before stabbing into the archer’s neck.

“Ugh,” the dying archer choked on his own blood as he too, fell to the ground. Ethan finished him quickly with a downward thrust of his remaining blade.

Strong arms wrapped around his body before immediately releasing him

“Ahhhh!” Morton screamed as the intense flames of Ethan’s burning rage burned through his thin cloth shirt. “My arms!”

Ethan turned around and slammed his fist into the side of Morton’s head. The big man went down instantly.

“ARRRH!” Ethan roared and jumped onto the fallen man’s body. “Die fucker!” He shouted as he gripped the man’s head and dug his thumbs into his eye sockets. The soft tissue gave way immediately.

Ethan couldn’t hear the dying man’s screams over the blood rushing through his ears as he crushed Morton’s skull with his rage enhanced strength.

With a sickening crunch, the man’s skull caved in his hands.

“Stay back!” He could head Stegal shouting from not far to his right as the only remaining bandit tried to crawl into the safety of the forest, still cradling his broken arm.

“You wanted this,” Ethan growled, dropping the destroyed remains of Morton’s skull. “You attacked me!”

His rage, unleashed and unchecked, burned through his body. In the back of his mind, he heard Hertha’s words. That untempered by the influence of Vewa, it would consume him. He ignored his Master’s teaching as he advanced on his final foe.

“Ethan! No!” A familiar voice called out forcefully to him as a dazzling radiant bolt struck him in the back. “This isn’t who you are!”

David stood behind him, his gleaming Paladin armor reflecting the red hot flames of Ethan’s burning rage.

“They attacked me first!” Ethan shouted at his friend. “I’m just finishing what they started!”

A golden, ethereal hammer manifested in David’s hand and shot forward, finishing Stegal in an act of mercy.

“And now it’s done,” David said flatly, walking closer to Ethan. “Turn it off and I’ll heal you.”

“He was mine!” Ethan roared in anger, “they attacked me!”

“You provoked them,” David said calmly. “I let you because I knew you needed to blow off some steam, but you’re taking it too far.”

“Provoked them?” Ethan laughed incredulously. “I was walking through the woods. They came out of nowhere.” Flames continued dancing across his body. “Did I provoke Paul? Is that why he took Tae-Won? Why we got banned from the Raid Clan?” He stepped slowly towards David.

“Did I provoke Alera? To make her rip my heart out?” Ethan clenched his fists at his sides. “I am tired of being beaten down for just being me!”

The emptiness in his chest was gone, replaced with seething anger. All the thoughts and feelings that had been forced down by the weight of his depression burned through him like an out of control inferno.

“Don’t do this, Ethan,” David warned him, holding his hands out in a gesture of peace. “This isn’t you.”

“Did I provoke you into coming to find me?” Ethan’s heart was racing, his breath coming out in ragged pants. “I was fine where I was! I didn’t need you to come rescue me!”

Ethan swung his fist wildly at his best friend’s jaw. David fell down to one knee.

“Ung,” David grunted, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“That’s the only one I’m going to give you, Ethan.” David said calmly. “I’m letting you-“

“You’re letting me?” Ethan shouted, clenching his fists tighter. “I was keeping you safe! From me! I’m the dangerous one, not Paul! Everything that happened was because of me!”

“It was not!” David yelled, getting back to his feet. His eyes glowed as his holy mana began surging through his body. “Paul and his guild did all of this! You don’t have to play the victim when we are all!”

“ARGH!” Ethan shouted as he swung again at David.

This time, the Paladin was ready. He grabbed Ethan’s forearm and twisted him around, pulling his back against his armor.

“Be cleansed!” David shouted, laying a hand glowing in golden light on Ethan’s head.

Ethan’s rage disappeared, the flames that had engulfed his body extinguished. He collapsed to the ground, his continued rage having suddenly ending sapped him of his strength.

He curled into a ball amidst the dirt and brambles and cried. War Shaman Hertha Korisdottir’s words came back to him. “Untempered, the influence of the Vættr of Fire will consume you. You need the balance provided by the Vættr of Water.” He had failed her by losing that connection. The day by the lake, this was what she’d been trying to prevent. The uncontrolled burning of his rage consuming him.

“You better now?” David asked as he knelt beside Ethan.

“No,” Ethan sobbed as he rolled onto his back, with the fire inside him extinguished, the hole grew again. “But I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Not if we want to get Tae-Won back,” David answered him grimly before sighing. “I already told you, I’m not going to hold your hand or baby you through this. I need you to get together whatever you can, just long enough to rescue Leah’s husband. After that, well we’ll just have to see.”

Ethan pushed himself off the ground and back to his feet.

“I’m sorry I hit you,” he admitted as David stood up.

“That was the only time you get to,” David rubbed his jaw and wiggled it back and forth. “The only time you get to lose control.”

Ethan felt his stomach drop. David’s words were the same ones his father had used when he’d lost control and hit his brother years ago.

“You don’t get to take out your anger on your family!” His dad had shouted while his mom cradled his brother. “If you think that’s allowed, then you can find yourself somewhere else to live!” Ethan had been sixteen at the time. His brother was only eleven.

“It won’t happen again,” Ethan hung his head in shame, repeating what he’d said years ago.

“Good,” David nodded and placed his hand on Ethan’s chest “I heal thee.”

White light shone from between David’s fingers as warm energy courses through Ethan, healing the arrow wounds.

“Thank you,” Ethan said, stretching his chest and arms as his freshly healed body relaxed. “What happens next?”

“We go back to the inn,” David nodded in the direction he’d come. “We have four more days until we get to Playa, you need to figure out how to keep yourself in control.”

“I can do that,” Ethan promised meekly. “This won’t happen again.”