There was a moment of silence as the battle ended before I heard it. At first, I couldn't tell what the noise was or where it was coming from but I soon realized it was someone clapping.

Everyone was looking around, confused by the sound.

Then just as suddenly as it started it stopped.

No one said anything.

Perrinu, with Bug following her, was the one to break the silence. "Is it over? Did you find Salis? Where is Helnion?"

"Yes, Lady Perrinu. It is over and Salis is safe," Martu pointed at me, "As for Lady Helnion, I know not."

"Salis! You are Safe!" She said as soon as she saw me and started running towards me.

"Well done!" A voice that wasn't a voice came over everyone, stopping Perrinu as she looked to see who had spoken. "To think my army would lose! Such an unexpected but exciting outcome!"

A man materialized out of the haze opposite of Martu's group from me. I didn't have a good view of him from the distance that I was at but even from here I could tell he was out of place. His clothes looked to be of the finest material and they glowed in the dim light. His skin was fair and his hair was more blonde than any I had seen on Calorin and appeared to be clean of the black dust that stained mine.

"Who are you?" Martu asked.

The man ignored him, "Salis. Perrinu. Come here."

Perrinu looked at me then at the man, unsure what to do.

"Stay back Lady Perrinu. We do not know what he intends." Martu moved between the man and Perrinu.

"Salis," The man ignored Martu, "I believe we had a deal and I intend to keep it."

Was this Boss Man's master? If it was, and he intended to keep the deal then this meant he was the one that would get me out of this place.

I jumped off my rock and jogged to the man.

"Salis…" Perrinu said to me as I passed her. She reached for me hesitantly but made no other action.

When I reached Martu's group, with Perrinu close behind, the man continued. "It is a shame about Helnion's injury, but that was unavoidable after she fought my Berserkers. Truly a miracle she survived at all."

"Helnion's injured!?" Perrinu let out a small gasp.

"If it were not for Salis, she would be dead," The man said, "My army would not have lost either. But to think it was the girl Helnion that would have been the most dangerous to my Berserkers. A surprise indeed and a great help into my research. To think they would be so vulnerable to magic-based attacks."

"What test? Why did you attack us?" Martu demanded.

For the first time the man looked at Martu, "Why? The likes of you do not need to know why." He turned to me, "Salis, on the other hand, I will tell, but not now."

"You said you had a deal with Salis," Perrinu said. "What kind of deal did you two make?"

"A good question, especially since it involves all three of you girls that idiot Usui sent here." He looked at me and then back to Perrinu. "The deal was to free you of this place if Salis helped me test my Berserkers, and test them she did."

"You mean you attacked us just for a test!" Perrinu said, getting angry. "What right do you have to come and kill these poor men as you please?"

The man laughed. "What does it matter if I use these men for my experiments. No matter what happens to them they will return to as they were from that those vile pits of black."

"These men still feel pain. Feel fear. Just because they come back does not mean you can toy with them as you please." Perrinu glanced at me when she said this.

"These men are here for a reason. To suffer. They knew where they would go if they killed themselves."

Most of the remaining men had pained looks on their faces when he said this.

"I agree that what they did was bad, but they should not have to suffer more than they have to," Perrinu said.

"Fine." The man said. "I will leave this place alone as soon as I have finished our chat."

Perrinu looked relieved and happy. I thought his agreement was a bit too easy.

"Now that I have some ideas for my next stage of experimentation, I need to move to a better testing ground, and get better test subjects." The man added.

"No!" Perrinu yelled. "I cannot allow you to do that! How many more people are you going to make suffer!"

"My experiments are for the good of all the people of Calorin. A few may suffer now, but they will be born again and remember nothing." The man looked at Martu and the other men, “We must fix this pointless reincarnation cycle."

"Why does it need to be fixed?" Martu said.

"Because it accomplishes nothing. Your spirits simply continue from life to life, body to body, forgetting all that you knew and were as you go along. What meaning does this have?"

Everyone looked at each other not knowing what to say. I, on the other hand, was curious about him not including himself when he was talking, as if saying he wasn't part of the reincarnation cycle. Was he a Great Servant? One of the immortals that helped the Deity? Or was he a Deity himself?

"Which Deity do you work for?" I asked him.

The man looked genuinely surprised. "Salis, I knew you were a smart one. Figuring something like that out proves it."

Everyone looked surprised.

"You are a Great Servant?" Perrinu looked about as shocked as I felt.

"Perhaps."

"Do you serve Dugin? Only Dugin would perform such a disgusting experiment."

"Dugin? That crazy thing? I would never dream of serving such a creature, although her pets have their uses."

"Then who?"

"Who I serve does not matter, child." He looked at everyone. "As much as I enjoyed your performance, it is about time to leave. Kel will notice me if I stay too long, but first I need to take care of some things."

Before anyone could say anything, the man flashed. He appeared in front of Martu and put his hand on his forehead before flashing to the next man. He ended up doing this to all the men excluding Bug, who was hiding behind Perrinu. No one had had time to react, it had happened so fast.

When the man appeared back in his spot, looking slightly exhausted, he spoke again, this time to the men. "Rejoice, men, you are now the first to take part in my next stage of the experiment!"

"We will never participate in your sick experiment," Martu said to him in disgust.

"It does not matter what you want." He pointed to the men to his left. "You half move over there." He pointed to a rock nearby.

As soon as he had said this, the men moved.

"What are you doing!" Martu yelled at them.

"We cannot help it!" One man called back. "Our bodies are moving on their own!"

Martu turned to the Servant, "Stop this now!"

The Servant ignored him until Martu went running after the men.

"Stop," He said to Martu, who did just that.

Martu said nothing but just glared.

When the group had reached the rock the Servant had told them to go to, he held out his hand. As soon as he did this a sword flashed past me and was caught by the man. It was Helnion's sword.

He looked at it. "Such a simple sword. Nowhere near as beautiful as yours Salis." He then tossed it between the two groups of men. "The sword is the goal. Fight for it."

The two groups of men rushed at each other. Only Martu and a few of the ones I knew to be more mentally stable showed any resistance.

"I. Will. Not. Obey. You." Martu grunted, straining to keep control.

The man said nothing and watched the fight, actually looking bored. That is until some men starting breaking off from the group. Six of the men headed for Martu, two-headed for the Servant, and five headed for me, Perrinu, and Bug. Martu fell quickly, unable to fight back. The two that headed for the Servant turned to dust just from a simple touch by him.

As for the five men that were heading my way, I had no time to pull out my bow and had to take out my sword.

No sooner had I done that when the first one reached me and I easily turned him to dust with a stab to the stomach.

Perrinu gasped but said nothing and hid behind a nearby rock, Bug standing in front of her defensively.

The next two fell just as easily, and when I had finished off the fourth I saw that men that had taken out Martu were headed our direction now. I wasn't too worried because I knew I had time to dispatch the last two I was fighting before they arrived.

It was after my second kill from the second group that I saw something that worried me. The group that had been fighting over the sword had stopped fighting amongst each other and were heading towards me as well. One was holding the sword, and he was one of the best fighters that remained.

The remaining men saw the other group coming too and three of them turned from me and rushed to meet them. With them gone I quickly took out the one that had stayed and then waited, hoping that the three that left would take out one or two of the oncoming group.

They were overwhelmed. From what I could tell there were about ten men in the last group and they had all taken on the demeanor that the Berserkers had. They wanted blood.

I looked at the Servant who was still standing in the same spot. He looked frustrated and looked even more tired than he had earlier.

When he saw me looking at him he said. "Stop!" All but three of the men stopped. When he saw that three were still moving, including the man with the sword, he pointed at them. "Stop!"

Two of the men broke off and headed right for the Servant.

I realized that these two were also among the best fighters and was glad that if I still had to fight, I wouldn't have to fight all three at once.

The two men reached the Servant first.

Unlike the other two that had tried attacking him before, these two men kept him from touching them, which might have been in part to him being so tired.

I was sure the attackers stood no chance against the Servant but their attack was enough to break his concentration and the rest of the men he had stopped earlier began moving again.

Six headed for the Servant and, thankfully, only one headed for me.

The man with the sword was close. Unlike the others, I was worried about fighting him so I shot lightning at him with my sword, but just before I had done so he jumped to the side. I swung my sword to follow him and finally hit him. It merely slowed him down, showing he had probably gained the resistance the Berserkers I had fought earlier seemed to have had.

When he reached me I met the blow he had made at me. He made several more strikes, which I dodged and parried easily but found it was just as hard for me to attack him.

As I had sparred with him before, while never with a sword, I knew how skilled he was. I knew him to be much more skill than I and that the only reason I could keep up with him was because he was holding back. I could even see it in his eyes, behind the thirst for blood the rest of his face showed. He did not want to fight me but had no other choice.

The other man arrived. One on one I had barely kept up, but now I was in trouble.

I used magic again. Lightning shot out at my mouth at the man with the sword, stunning him and making him fall to one knee. I then used the opportunity to kick the other man away from me. I turned back to the man with the sword just in time to parry an attack, sending the sword flying.

Now unarmed, the man lunged at me with his bare hands. I slashed at him, drawing a long cut down his right arm, sending sand flying from his wound.

It didn't phase him and he came at me again.

I heard a scream. It was Perrinu.

"Salis!" she yelled at me.

I glanced back and saw that the man I had kicked had not only picked up the sword, but had spotted Bug and Perrinu and was running towards them.

Now inured, I took down my current opponent, and he turned to dust. With him gone my biggest threat was over and I rushed towards Perrinu.

I was too late. The man had reached the rock Perrinu was hiding behind. Bug had rushed out and was doing his best to keep the man at bay, but with his deformity he stood no chance and was quickly run through.

With bug gone, Perrinu tried to run away, but the man was faster and I saw him catch up to her and pierce her back with the sword.

Perrinu screamed as the sword erupted from her chest.

I wanted to scream. As much as Perrinu and I had clashed over the last few months, I have grown a great respect for her. A part of me even wanted to be like her. Now she had a sword through her chest and I knew it was my fault because I had helped start this battle today.

I reached the rock. The man had noticed me but when he turned to attack me the sword he was gripping was stuck in Perrinu's chest, preventing him from moving to meet me and he was soon turned to dust.

I knelt by Perrinu. Her blood soaked the sand, and she appeared to not be breathing. When I checked her pulse, I felt no heartbeat.

She was dead.

* * *

There was nothing I could do for Perrinu so I stood up to see what was going on and saw that there were no men nearby. In the distance I saw that the Servant had gotten two of the men to stop fighting with only one more taking his attention. For some reason he looked concerned whenever his last opponent nearly touched him.

I wanted to get this fight over with so I rushed over and, because none but the Servant had seen me coming, I easily dispatched the last three men.

"Such filthy creatures," The Servant looked at me then to where Perrinu lay and started walking. "`Tis a shame about Perrinu. The minds of these men appeared to be unable to handle the next phase of the test and became Berserkers even more true to name than the last."

We arrived at Perrinu's body, "If it were not for those attacking me I could have come here in time to save her."

"Why didn't you just kill them like the first two? You killed them with a touch, but the rest you took longer to kill than I could have." I said, noting his fatigue.

The man looked at his hand. "I believe it is time to finish our deal before anything else happens. With the girl dead it is only a matter of time before Kel knows and, in turn, Usui."

"What about Helnion?" I said as he reached towards me. "She was a part of our deal too."

"She will be taken care of," He said just before placing his hand on my head.

I felt a strange sensation pass over me and then another. "A gift and a fix to something I forgot to do seven years ago." He said just before we vanished.

* * *

Usui found himself in a place he had never wanted to come. He was surrounded by black sand and the eternal haze in the eternal day of Korron and found great displeasure in the lifeless scene.

Still, as soon as Kel had told him about Perrinu's death he had come as quickly as he could. He knew that one of them could have died when they had come here, but it was what they had chosen. He had just sent them here hoping they would see how bad it was here and how hopeless it was to help the men and they would come back, but they had proven him wrong.

It had surprised him when Kel told him that the girls had been doing their job, that souls had begun to leave at an accelerated rate. When he heard this his hopes that they would ask to come back to him and take their place at his side went away. At that moment he had wanted to take them off of that accursed place and let them on their way but Kel had begged him to let them stay, that their lives would be worth it if they died and that he would make sure they would be reborn into good families.

Now Usui stared down at the spot Perrinu had died, her body gone.

When he had arrived, he had seen several men, weeping grains of the black sand because their bodies lacked any water. Usui himself had almost shed a few tears with these men when he realized how much of a difference the girl had made.

"Why do you weep?" He had asked them.

He was told how Perrinu had become a light to them. That the men saw her as an angel that soothed and healed their souls.

"And she was happy doing this?" He asked.

Yes! They told him. Unlike the other two she enjoyed her task and when the men turned to the glittering white dust, to leave Korron, she cried for joy and it made them want to cry with her.

"If her joy was so great because of this, why are you still here?"

It was because they did not want to leave her. They wanted to stay and help keep her safe.

"Then why are you still here now? She is now gone. Follow her and show her that her death was not for nothing."

When Usui had said this they all brightened. A few even turned to a glittering white dust within moments. The rest stood up. Most headed to a peculiar area of rocks, but others headed different ways.

Usui followed the largest group and was led to some structures made of rock. When they entered what looked like a large meeting place, the men dispersed among the crowd gathered there and began to tell them what he had said earlier. Many then began to turn to the glittering white dust.

Usui soon saw why the men had gathered here. Perrinu's body had been placed on a large rock near the front. A large group of stout men were gathered there, keeping the other men from getting too close to her body. Only a lone man was near her body, also weeping grains of black sand in the stead of tears.

"Who are you!?" One man shouted when they saw him approach. "You do not look like you belong in this place."

Usui held up his hand, showing he meant them no harm, "I am here to collect the girls."

"Were you the one that sent him here?" Another man said angrily at him.

"Who I am is of no concern to you." Usui stopped in front of the men, wondering what he had meant by that. "Will you let me pass so I may take care of her body?"

The men looked at each other, suspicious of Usui.

"What do you plan to do with Lady Perrinu's body?" The first man said.

So they called Perrinu a lady. Usui thought to himself. They truly respected her.

"I will bury her in my most beautiful garden."

"How can we trust you to do what you say?" A third man said.

"Would you prefer the body to be left here?"

The men looked at each other again.

"Very well." The first man said, stepping aside, the rest soon doing the same.

Usui walked past the men and looked at Perrinu. He saw a grievous wound in her chest and knew that her death had been quick.

"What happened to her?" Usui asked them. A sword had made the wound, and he knew of only two swords that had been brought here.

"We are not sure for certain." The first man said. "A man appeared, most likely a Great Servant, and made us fight each other by some strange magic. He had us fight over Lady Helnion's sword. Some of us became uncontrollable by the Servant and began to attack Salis and him. We assume it was one of them that did this, but none of them have returned other than Ernon but he does not talk."

"What of the other two girls." If it were not for this sad occasion, Usui would have been amused about the fact that Salis had not been called a lady by these men.

"Lady Helnion is resting in the Inner Sanctum, as she was wounded in battle and passed out from exhaustion. As for Salis… She had made a deal with the man and was taken by him."

Salis had made a deal with the mysterious man!? It angered Usui at the thought. Was she so desperate to leave this place that she would endanger her friends?

Usui could not be convinced that Salis would do something like that. She must have been tricked or things had gotten out of hand. He would be sure to confront her about this if he ever saw her again, and if she had been heartless…

Usui put his hand on Perrinu's forehead. He looked at her again, more closely this time. Her hair was not the lovely golden honey color that it had been the last he had seen her, it being stained by the black sand. Her skin and clothes being stained just as badly.

Perrinu's body disappeared, having been sent to his abode. The sobbing man jerked suddenly and looked around in surprise.

"Follow her," Usui told him.

The man then smiled at him knowingly and he turned to sparkling dust, surprising him at how fast it had happened.

When Usui had looked up, he saw that many other men had done the same while his attention had been on Perrinu's guardians. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Sparkling clouds of dust filled the air. The black sand was now being covered as if being purified.

"Take me to Helnion," Usui told the first man.

The man had been looking at the beautiful sight and it took him a moment to respond but nodded.

They led Usui a short distance to an imposing looking fortification of rocks. Many of the rocks had been stacked haphazardly on top of each other but had been placed well enough that no man could have fit through the gaps. The place even had a ceiling.

A few men were guarding what looked to be the only entrance. Usui had been expecting to find Helnion inside, but she was lying on a large flat rock just beside a large rock that covered the entrance, the rock looking much too big for these men to move easily.

Helnion herself, while looking pale and exhausted, seemed in good condition despite the broken and severely swollen ankle.

"What of Lady Helnion." The first man asked Usui.

"I will treat her wounds and then see her safely back to her country."

"Can we trust you?"

"I promise."

The man looked unsure but finally said, "If I find out you have deceived us I will hunt you down in my next life and kill you."

"What is your name?" Usui asked the man.

"Martu. Martu Elg Visol."

"I will remember you."

Usui then knelt next to Helnion, and she disappeared.

Now that Helnion was safe all Usui needed to do was to gather the girl's belongings and then only the problem of Salis would remain. He was not looking forward to it, especially this mysterious Servant he would also need to find and then punish. For now, he could only weep over Perrinu and take care of Helnion. He was just happy that things had not been worse.

"We will stay here to carry on Perrinu's work," Martu told him.

"I wish you luck. I know I could not stay here and do that."

And with that Usui left.