Sweat dripped down from Tessa’s face and hands. Some beaded up on the tip of her nose before falling off and hitting her lap. She wasn’t sure how long it had been now, but her head now felt light and her muscles ached. A tingling feeling ran down from her neck, along her spine, and down her arms to her fingers.

Why is this so hard…?

The orb that she kept alight in her hands began to dim and flicker. Gritting her teeth, she tried hold on for a moment longer. Her ears pounding slightly as she was hitting her limit again.

C’mon, I’m not done yet…!

Tessa closed her eyes, hoping it’d help her focus and maintain it for a bit longer. But even holding her breath was futile as the orb broke into several small wisps of light and disappeared. Gasping for breath, Tessa leaned back while her arms supported her.

“Wow. You sure are a sight to behold. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone fail this training five times in a row, let alone ten. I wonder how long your streak will be.”

Turning her head to face Hei, she glared at him but couldn’t come up with a retort.

“I know you’re a genuine light-type, but let me know when you’re done so we can work on your actual natural abilities.”

Letting her back fall onto the ground, she laid there and stared at the sky. Wondering if she was even half-way done.

How is this so difficult? Summoning the orb is simple. And I’ve done so many other things at the Academy. But why is this so much harder than when I was learning miracles?

Tessa took deep breaths as she recovered her stamina. She found it hard to believe that she’d already failed ten times, but each attempt was only two to three minutes at best so far. Just how much more was there to go? Leaning her head back to look at her “mentor”, she watched as he yawned and relaxed as he pleased. Acting as though he were a black cat stretching and lazing about in the sun.

Tessa asked, “Is this training actually going to help me at all? I don’t feel any different.”

Hei scoffed, “If you can’t complete this training, you’ll never even set foot at the starting line for your dream. Let alone drag yourself along its road.”

“But this seems pointless. When would I need to maintain my focus on a spell for so long?” she complained.

Hei sat up from his relaxed position.

“Have you ever been in a fight before?”

Tessa was about to respond when he elaborated further.

“And I don’t mean the catastrophe that was your first mission. I mean an actual fight where you never knew when it would end and have to endure until the end.”

She replied hesitantly, “No… I haven’t.”

“Then there’s part of the reason why you’re undergoing this training. Your body isn’t used to being a conduit for more than short bursts, so we’re developing it so you can access more power for longer periods of time.”

“I see…”

“Thankfully, you have forced yourself into being able to control the element at a proficient level. I can’t say for certain how you developed this, but I’m guessing it’s from all you did before arriving here.”

This news was surprising to her. She was glad to know that this training wasn’t pointless, but knowing how hard she practiced at the Academy was helping her right now made her genuinely happy.

Tessa asked, “If I didn’t have the control over light that I do right now, how much longer would this training be?”

She was curious to know how much of a difference her training made. Though she expected it wasn’t much.

“One week.”

“A week?!”

“Yes.”

“Why would it take so long normally?!”

“The duality elements, light and dark, are not normally accessible to most people. Usually, most people gain access to them through becoming priests, forming pacts, or other such connections with other divine beings or creatures of the desired element. And even if you have a natural talent for either of the dualities, they’re still very difficult to train in.”

Tessa was about to ask a question, but paused. She wanted to accuse him of not know what he was talking about, but that felt wrong to do. Especially when she’d already gone through something similar with Torgrak. Letting her head cool a bit, she asked Hei how he understood so much about the light and dark elements.

“May I ask how you know so much about the dualities?”

Hei relaxed a bit, resting one arm behind the bench while holding the other out.

“While I am an air-type as determined by Fate, it is not what I specialize in. Similar yet opposite to you, I wield the opposing duality: darkness. And because of how I wanted to train in darkness rather than follow my natural talent, I had to undergo the training that you’re doing now.”

At the mention of the element, Hei summons a black orb into his hand. Strings of darkness fall and stretch out from the center, but orbit around the orb before returning to it. Tessa stared curiously at Hei, slightly stunned to know that she’s undergoing the same training he did in the past.

Sitting up and turning to face her mentor, she wanted to know more.

“I’m doing the same training as you did?”

“Well… not exactly. In contrast to you, I didn’t have a mentor. So I spent a lot of my time experimenting and brute-forcing my training. What I’m having you do now is a refinement of what I underwent long ago.”

Hei sharing how this method is one of his own creation fascinated Tessa.

“How long did it take to refine it? And is it the only way for me to improve?”

“It’s hard to say just how long it took. I lost count after a hundred and sixty-three years. But I spent that time learning how other people trained in their elements and culminated my research into as efficient of a method as I could. Which is what you’re undergoing now. As for if this is the only way, it isn’t. There are other means, but they won’t be as quick as you desire.”

“So this is the fastest way for me to progress…”

Tessa’s right hand came up to her chin as she thought about it. She was a bit bewildered by how Hei was giving her access to such a refined method of training herself.

“You mentioned learning from other elements. If they were to use your method, would they have to do what I am now?”

“Yes, and no. Unlike the dualities, the primary elements would require slightly different methods. Fire would require you to keep a flame constantly burning. Water needs to be kept in an infinite flow without interruption. Air must keep a contained storm from going out of control or stopping. And earth must be kept from compressing itself into stone.”

Tessa’s eyes couldn’t help but shine as her mind accepted all of this new knowledge. The different means of training in each element fascinated her.

“What of darkness, force, or null?”

Hei let the orb in his hand disappear.

“Force is strange. To establish a solid connection with the element, you would need to compress raw arcane energy into a sphere over the allotted time. However, you cannot allow it to compress too quickly. Otherwise, it may cause an accidental detonation and blow up in your face.”

Hei paused for a moment, crossing one leg over the other before continuing.

“Null, on the other hand, cannot be trained by any well-known method. Not even mine.”

“Why?”

“Null-type spells and miracles are very rare and often very powerful. Because of this, they’re kept under lock and key. And those that do have access are often forbidden from using them outside of emergencies.”

“Is there any way to tell if someone can cast a null-type?”

“Not really. However, you can often assume that powerful organizations and families keep at least a few null-type spells and miracles close at hand. But other than that, it’s next to impossible without seeing for yourself. Even I have only seen a handful of them between both mortals and monsters.”

“I see…”

Tessa’s mind couldn’t help but happily absorb even more of Hei’s knowledge. Back in Unity Academy, her professors either skipped past these two elements or quickly mentioned them before never bringing either up again. But here, learning with Hei as her mentor, it felt as though she’d only been smelling roses or keeping her head in the clouds. Suddenly, the world of spells and miracles grew to include so much more.

“Oh! And what of darkness? You didn’t explain that one yet.”

“Ah, yes. My element.”

Uncrossing his legs, Hei got up and walked around in search of a tree with a sizeable shadow. Once he found one, he stopped in front of it and gestured for Tessa to come over. Standing up and dusting herself off, she walked over and curiously watched as Hei continued.

“Darkness isn’t as straightforward as the others because of its more control-oriented nature. To develop a solid connection with the darkness element, one must be able to create, maintain, and perform with shadow puppets.”

Pointing with his left index finger at the shadow and then out into the light, Tessa watched as the shadow stretched out and took on a fairly simple appearance. It looked like a very simplified caricature of a man with two arms at its side. With a subtle move of his fingers, Hei had the puppet wave to Tessa.

How cute!

She couldn’t resist waving back, forgetting that it was a manipulation of shadows.

“I’ll also show the coming phases of your training while we’re at it. Once you’ve got the first part of your training done, you’ll then have to learn how to control it.”

With a quick snap of his fingers, Hei now had the puppet playing a silent trumpet. Even having it change playing from the left to the right and back seamlessly. Tessa stared in awe at how easily he could control it.

“Once that’s done, it’s a matter of expanding the number that you can summon and control.”

Raising his other hand, Hei made two other shadow-musicians join the performance. One beat a drum while the other played a violin.

“And after that is just a matter of expanding how much you can summon, control, and manipulate separately while doing it all at the same time.”

Hei focused his gaze on the puppets and began tapping his toe to a rhythm. Drawing forth an entire orchestra of shadow puppets. Even raising the curtain on a stage to reveal two more.

“And a five, six, seven, eight…”

On cue, the orchestra began playing while the two puppets on stage dance. However, Hei took it a step further and Tessa could hear the orchestra play within her head. All the while, nothing seemed to change around her. The birds didn’t stop chirping and the wind still whistled through the leaves. She watched in pure awe at how advanced Hei’s control was. It was like a dream for her to witness it, and now Tessa wanted to achieve something even remotely similar.

As soon as the play had begun, it ended. The dancers and musicians took a bow while the curtain fell, and it all sunk back into the shadow of the tree and Hei lowered his hands. Letting them sink to his sides as he began walking back to the bench to relax. Tessa, however, stood there stunned for a moment before abruptly asking a question.

“Is what you just showed something I could achieve with light?”

Hei sat on the bench, crossing his legs once again.

“Literally? No. Can you achieve the same level of control? Yes.”

“And I’m guessing there are no shortcuts in this training?”

Hei laughed, “You’re already on the shortest path. Trying to skip ahead would be like playing with fire.”

“I understand.”

Tessa gave both of her cheeks a hard slap before returning to the center of the park and sitting back down. Putting her hands back out in front of her, she started again.

I will do this. No matter how many tries it takes.

Hei winded the device back up and watched as she summoned forth the orb again. Grinning as he watched, though couldn’t help yawning for a moment. And as time passed, Tessa failed time and time again. However, the time that elapsed between each failure grew. It was very slow but steady progress.

Then Torgrak appeared. He entered the park from the same side the Tessa did and stopped at Hei’s side.

“Good day ta ya, fazher of all bastards.”

“And same to you, the avaricious butcher. Has our next mission been determined?”

Torgrak nodded, “Aye.”

The dwarf handed over a sealed folder to Hei. Taking it in hand, Hei broke the seal and previewed the contents before quickly closing it.

Getting up, Hei walked to Tessa’s side just as she failed her most recent attempt. Placing the wind-up contraption beside her.

Tessa looked up at Hei, wondering what was going on.

“Going somewhere, Hei?”

“Only for a moment. Just need to discuss something with our mad dwarf for a moment. Just wind the device back to zero after every failed attempt while I’m gone.”

“Understood. I’ll keep trying while you two handle things.”

“Very good. Be back soon.”

With that, Hei and Torgrak walked off down the path before turning off it and into a thicker part of the park’s treeline. Once isolated, Torgrak pulled out a small device of his own. Pressing a button on the top, he tossed it to the ground as a small barrier now surrounded the two. With that, Hei took out the documents and began looking them over.

Torgrak asked, “So vhat’s the task zhis time?”

Hei grinned, “An extermination mission. Seems a cult has made itself known out in Crimsonvale and taken over the town.”

“Vhat kind of idiots are ve dealing vith zhis time?”

“Minions of Nencog. And seeing that they’ve taken over the town, their leader is relatively powerful.”

“Relative ta vhat?”

“To the shackled? Very. To us, probably won’t take more than a day at most.”

Torgrak chuckled, “Are zhey zhat much of a handful? Or do ya just vant ta take yer time?”

Hei scoffed, “No, nothing so playful. We just have to keep in mind our new apprentice.”

Torgrak laughed heartily. “Ah, yes. How could I forget?”

Hei kept reading over the documents, scanning over maps and reports the Adventurers’ Guild received as part of the request.

Torgrak asked, “Anyvay. Know anyzhing about zhese Nencog minions?”

“A few things, but not much. First, it’s rare for them to take over a village, let alone a town. Usually they just burn it all down, sacrificing their victims all at once to their god.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“A bit. I joined one cult of Nencog a hundred or so years back, but got kicked out. They were mad at me for ‘killing their leader’, or something along those lines. I can’t remember exactly. The ones who took over Crimsonvale could be from the same group, but it could easily be another.”

“Got any ozher fun facts to share?”

“I can say with certainty that it’s also rare for Nencog’s followers to be organized at all. Being a god of chaos, he tends not to care who kills what. He only cares that it’s happening and prefers it to happen for as long as possible. However…”

Hei put his hand to chis chain as he read over one document.

“Remember somezhing useful, soul devourer?”

“According to one report, it seems the cult has gotten rather quiet as of recent. Could be that they’re aiming to summon an avatar.”

“An avatar?” Torgrak grinned through his bushy beard, “Haven’t fought one of zhose in a vhile. Sounds like a good time. Anyzhing else of importance?”

Hei flipped through a couple of other papers that were included.

“A resistance group, highly prejudice religious zealots, failed attempts by spies to infiltrate the city, blah blah blah… Oh?”

“Somezhing pique yer interest?”

“Seems Crimsonvale has been determined too far gone by the lord presiding over the territory it’s in. Due to the number of failed attempts to infiltrate the city, the lord wants it all swept under the rug as quickly as possible. We’re authorized to kill on sight.”

Torgrak let out an evil cackle. His hands clasped together as he mischievously rubs them against each other.

“How generous. It’s hard to control myself vhen I’m having fun.”

“And here’s some more good news. ‘Should the city be determined too high risk and reclamation impossible, the destruction of Crimsonvale is preferable to allowing even one cultist escape extermination.’”

“Rare to be given permission ta destroy a city. I’ll celebrate da occasion vith da first firing of my newest creation.”

“Made another of those eyesores, have you?”

“Aye, but haven’t had a big enough target to test it on until now.”

Hei put the documents away with an annoyed huff. Handing everything back to Torgrak.

“Let’s also use this as a means for the child to get some experience fighting other humanoids. We’ll have to use less than lethal force while she’s present. She’s not much of one for the ‘unsavory’ parts of quests just yet.”

Torgrak nudged his elbow into Hei’s side while grinning.

“Don’t tell me you’re not looking forvard to killing entire families again.”

Hei shrugged, “More like I don’t think I’ll get the chance. We’ll be so busy with our mission that we’ll have to outsource the fun part.”

“Aye, zhat is unfortunate. By zha vay. Vhen do ya zhink she’ll be able ta take her first life? Vouldn’t an accidental kill speed zhings up for us?”

(Yes, that is unfortunate. By the way. When do you think she’ll be able to take her first life? Wouldn’t an accidental kill speed things up for us?)

“Can’t say at the moment, but it’ll likely be a while. If she’s put in a tight spot, she might do it. However, she could end up refusing to, even at the bitter end. As for an accidental kill, that could end up setting us back and I’d rather not delay things more.”

“And vhat of her memories? She doesn’t seem to recall encountering us.”

“I censored them before she awoke in the infirmary. The memories from that day still exist. But unless she forces them to the surface of her mind, the spell I used will keep her from remembering the more… delicate details.”

Hei’s eyes narrowed as his grin turned into an evil smile.

“Can’t risk sabotaging our plan to turn her into… what was it you called our kind?”

Torgrak chuckled, “Fateless. At least it’s better zhan da name ya came up vith.”

“But ‘apostate’ is so much more regal. Guess a dwarf who plays in the dirt all day wouldn’t understand.”

The two laughed to themselves.

“How about a little bet, leaf licker?”

“Oh? And the terms?”

“Whoever gets snapped at by da girl first gets five gold pieces.”

“And you think I’ll lose?”

“Heh! I got a better shot zhan ya, even vith yer silver tongue.”

“Alright. You’ve got a deal.”

The two gave each other a firm handshake.

“May the better unshackled existence win.”

“Aye. I plan ta.”