Alex slowly felt the weird sensation of dizziness and nausea as he fought off the blackness as he starts to come to. He briefly tries to open his eyes and struggles to focus, as the gray fuzzy edges recede. The first thing that crosses his mind is that he isn't asleep in his cell. Then he recognizes his balance does not feel right and it confuses him. It takes him a few moments to realize that he’s being carried face down and not waking up as he would normally.

He can’t remember getting knocked out, but he does remember the smell of burnt wire and swimming pools. His senses begin coming back one at a time almost as if his brain is going through some kind of reboot. First, his sight activates, although not working properly, and then his hearing clears, causing the buzz of noise to register. He notices someone is talking, but he can't quite make out what they are saying. It seems as if the world is underwater, everything is moving in slow motion, and all the sounds are garbled.

After a few more moments, his self-awareness starts to kick in, as he begins to piece together what happened - and then pain rushes in. His chest feels like it is on fire and something keeps banging into it. He slowly realizes he is being jostled while being carried across the shoulders of someone else. As he becomes more aware of his entire body, it feels as if all his skin is raw. There’s a hand gripping his wrist and another gripping his leg to keep him in place, and it hurts.

The initial whirlwind of confusion begins to subside, but the misperception remains for some time after, and his senses remain out-of-whack. The pain is inhibiting his ability to think clearly, focus, and accurately process information, however, the voices did become clearer.

“Where do you think the gob got the knife?”

“Who knows? Did you see the way the blade flashed?”

“Yeah, never seen anything that bright before. Even from some of the higher-ranked swordmasters. Have you?”

“No, I never have. I can’t believe that the stupid gob had that much power in him.”

“Well, there’s no way to confirm that now that its core’s been destroyed.”

“Yeah, to lose two premium merchandise on the same day to the same ape doesn’t look good. The higher-ups are going to be upset about the lost profit.”

“Well, that’s Elicyne’s problem, not ours. I just hope I don’t get my bonus reduced to cover the loss.”

“I can’t wait to see what happens when Brypeiros returns. He’s going to be livid at the amount of his valuable merchandise that’s been destroyed.”

“If he returns you mean. He’s clearly been sent away to allow Elicyne to take control.”

“You think? He’s not as good with the merchandise as Brypeiros. If they leave him in charge the profits will certainly drop.”

“I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

There is a pause before the second voice continues. “Do you think he’s a berserk? I mean he broke the staff on the head of that giant gob, which would take incredible strength. He then shattered the core of the second gob with a single blow.”

“Well, he’s certainly dangerous, that’s why he’s heading to the pit.”

“I mean, if he is a berserk, then that would make him valuable too. It would also explain why he is being specially trained by Mistress Lyrei. We would certainly get a big bonus as a result.”

”If he is a berserk, they wouldn’t have put him with the rest of the merchandise. They would have used him to breed or at that special center to create more berserks.”

“Is that the one the big gob came from?”

“Yeah, that’s the one, but the gob was a reject.”

“I hear you get an extra bonus and some great benefits if you get assigned there.”

“It’s not for me. Once you get assigned it’s nearly impossible to get moved anywhere else. Dwarf stop there this is the cell.”

The door they stopped next to clicked open and Alex is carried into the cell. He’s carefully lowered onto the floor and it's painful.

“Remain strong; you can make it through this.” A voice whispers and he looks up to see it’s Hordric who has been carrying him.

“Alright, dwarf let’s get you back to your cell.”

Hordric turns and exits the cell and a guard steps in front of Alex handing him his orange bottle. “Here, drink this now.”

He saw a second guard stood outside of the door looking away. Alex struggles to lift his hand to take the bottle and then barely manages to open it. He begins to drink the slimy fluid and it tastes even more sickly than normal and as it enters his mouth, he has difficulty in not spitting it out. He manages to swallow it and then proceeds with caution, taking small sips, careful of his loaf coordination. He is aware of the bright light within the cell and it is making him feel even worse. After he finishes the bottle he hands it back to the guard as his stomach seems intent on rebelling.

“You’re to be held until the overseer decides your punishment for destroying valuable merchandise.” The guard states before turning and leaving the cell, then the door bangs shut.

Alex moves over to the hole in the ground and activates the water nozzle. Catching the water in his hand, he takes a few sips and then spits into the hole to try and remove the taste from his mouth. He looks around the cell; it is half the size of the cell he’s normally held in. It appears to be less than a meter and a half in each dimension, not even large enough to lie down in unless he lies on the diagonal.

He dowses his head in the water and this helps clear his mind. He’s beginning to get things back under control and contemplates how long he must have been unconscious. He decides it couldn’t have been long, definitely not more than an hour. He settles into the corner next to the hole and looks down at his chest, noticing there is a hole burnt into his tunic. He struggles to lift the tunic and inspect the area that is still hurting. He sees a brown burn that is exactly where the incision scar is at the bottom of his sternum. The burn extends through the entire surface layer of his skin, causing the wound to become stiff and hurt when he tentatively touches it.

His fingers continue to slowly explore the area around his chest wound. It is extremely tender and quite a large area feels extremely sore. As far as he can judge it’s still all in one piece with no holes, and that is something to be thankful for. He looks more closely and discerns that the skin around the burn has begun to blister and become extremely red. He knows that's due to the delicate nature of burn wounds, and that to prevent infection, he needs to keep the area clean and bandage it properly. This also helps the burn to heal quicker. All he can do is take some of the water from the nozzle and clean it as gently and as best he can. He eventually wedges himself into the corner and falls asleep.

Alex abruptly wakes when there is a loud bang followed by clanking, yelling, and screaming. This continues for some time before it ends. He later hears footsteps approach his cell and he scrambles to kneel. Just as he manages to do this, while grimacing in pain, he hears a guard outside his cell.

“I hate working in the pit, especially as something always seems to happen, usually it's some merchandise just deciding to injure themselves.” The guard continues to complain as his voice fades into the distance.

Alex moves back into the corner and checks his burn. It looks a little better, but blisters filled with fluid have formed around the edges, so he must have been asleep for a while. He settles back and listens to the constant noise and it makes it extremely hard for him to fall back asleep. It’s not just the buzzing sound of the lights, which are still on; it’s the other merchandise that seems to constantly be banging, clanking, and shouting in anguish or anger.

After a while, he contemplates why he was attacked in the canteen. Was Kracc crazy? He must have known that the guards would lock him up in the pit as a result. Where had he got the knife? It was a well-made weapon and not one improvised by any of the merchandise. Maybe the knife could be traced. But then who else is involved? That is as far as he got: not very far, but then he didn’t have enough information and he undeniably isn’t in any condition to make brilliant deductions.

Alex settles back and starts focusing on his prana. He attempts to feel the prana as it flows around his body and to control the speed of the flow, but it's infuriating. Controlling the movement of the prana is simple enough, just targeting it to a part of his body with a mental direction and we're good. It's the control of the flow rate that's the problem. He can't reliably control the prana, even when he thinks he has it, the control slips and the prana instantly flows to the target area.

For a while, he decides to just let the prana flow where it wants and observe the movement. He notices the prana seems to be concentrating around his core and only a very small amount seems to be flowing around the rest of his body. This is different from how the prana felt when he observed the flow as he was being guided by Mistress Lyrei. During that time the prana flowed and did not seem to concentrate anywhere other than when he directed it to do so. He also now discerns small fluctuations in the prana as it seems to be absorbed into both the core and the area surrounding it.

Alex loses track of time until he hears a guard outside of his cell again and he hastily crawls forward and kneels. The cell door opens and a guard stands in the doorway holding an orange bottle of basic with a black ring around the top. He then tosses the bottle to Alex, who catches it.

“Don’t talk. You have two minutes to drink it.”

Alex opens the bottle and drinks the contents as quickly as he can. It still tastes sicklier than he remembers, it’s easier to swallow than the last time, but he still struggles. After he finishes, he holds the bottle up to the guard who steps into the cell and takes it. The guard then leaves and bangs the cell door shut without saying anything else.

He returns to the corner and centers his attention again on the prana in his body. He watches for a long time as the flow of prana splits between his core and his stomach. The prana seems to be speeding up his digestion of the basic. He knows he needs the nutrients and proteins to build muscle mass, but that does not seem to be happening. It appears that the nutrients are being focused on the need to heal. There also appears to be a degree of cannibalization from other parts of his body as the prana flows.

He continues to observe and immerses himself trying to understand what is happening. He decides to begin to draw more prana into his core and then notices that it still seems to be leaking into the surrounding tissue. He concentrates on his core whilst trying to gently probe with his fingers to discern what is happening. As he nudges his chest, he realizes that his core seems less solid, and the occasional sharp pain makes it feel as if there is a multitude of jagged edges in his core. As he continues to draw more prana and sense what is happening, it appears that the prana leakage is both making some of the sharper while also slowly dulling others.

He then just chooses to let the prana circulate around his body to heal, rather than trying to direct it. He feels it’s better this way. He does not understand how to use prana to heal and if he interferes he might not benefit as much. Letting the prana flow he believes it will both fix his injuries, but also strengthen his body, giving him more benefit than if he weren’t injured. After he reaches the decision he relaxes and slowly falls asleep.

Alex is dreaming, he is reliving the blow that killed Drosz. He could see the look on the face of the half-goblin he is about to slay. It felt like he could read Drosz's entire life in his eyes, but realizes he is in a situation where he’s no choice but to kill him. He jerks awake with a start as he dreams of the blow landing and hearing the crack as the neck breaks.

He wakes suddenly and leans forward, shaking as he thinks about the faith, he’s lost in his own humanity. He feels that he’s betrayed his credence of not slaying others as he’s been forced to kill. He begins to mumble "How could I have done such a thing? Am I a monster now?"

After a while, Alex calms down enough to begin to meditate. He realizes that he is finding it easier to achieve the right state of mind to feel and to a limited degree control his prana. He watches his prana flow for a while and contemplates whether this is how you use prana to heal? By not forcing it or even directing it? Does prana contain the understanding of what to do and you just need to allow it to do so? He feels that prana has no physical form, it’s just energy. Yet it can be found in every part of your body and you can control it like a muscle. Is all you need to do is become one with your body, and then direct your prana and it will naturally know the correct path?

He then recalls what the overseer did to begin to heal the injuries to his wrists when they extracted the nanobots. He tries to remember the feeling of the prana as it flowed from the overseer into his body. He is not certain of what exactly happened, however, he tries to replicate the way the prana felt and flowed. He feels a warm energy rush from his core and infuses his skin as some of the prana is absorbed, and he forces the flow of prana to the outer reaches of his body. Then there is a sudden intense pain in his chest and he has to stop forcing his prana. After a short while, he observes the prana flowing back to his core. There isn't much to do, but wait, aware of nothing but the gradual build-up of the pain in his chest.

As his concentration beings to waver, he exits his trace and decides to examine the wound. He notices that some blisters have popped open, giving the burn a wet weeping appearance. Some have already started to develop a thick, soft, scab-like tissue over the wound. He gets the impression that it is healing faster, or is that wishful thinking?

He notices that the level of pain he’s been feeling is greatly reduced and now is mainly concentrated on the wound. He decides to perform a kata and so stands and positions himself in the start position. He remains motionless as he focuses on the moment, turning his attention inward, and blocking out all distractions. Alex commences the pattern of the simplest kata that he knows to ensure he does not accidentally cause his body any more injury. As he gradually completes each of the individual movements, his confidence grows and he begins to put more effort into each punch and block.