"Kindness to others can be Cruelty to ourselves, but Cruelty to others can also be Kindness to ourselves. What then are we to do when tasked with being kind?"

- Opening words of High Priest Theonidus' sermon

Eden Floor 1 | Somewhere in the woods:

It's been a long time since I've had a reason to sneak around and engage in any sort of subterfuge.

It fills me with a strange nostalgia. I used to sneak around quite a lot after all, in a time when things were simpler. Back then, it would've been a stretch to call me anything more than an ambitious thief, skulking through dungeons and ruins in search of treasure and fame. My goals had been simple things, driven more by personal pride than anything else, and the stakes were so low. The things I did were just for my own benefit, the weight on my shoulders coming from nothing more than the desire to prove myself. And prove myself I did.

And now? Things were different. The stakes had become so high, the pressure was an insidious thing that threatened to crush me at every turn, but it also served to spurn me onward. It was a delicate balance, and I found myself dissociating more and more, losing myself in the little day to day trivialities of life as a Seeker. But what else could I do? It was going to take 6 weeks to ascend past the first floor whether I liked it or not, and who knew how much longer to actually achieve my goal. I couldn't risk letting my own emotions hinder me. I knew it wasn't a great way of handling things, just pushing them down at every turn, but at least for now I didn't see a better option. Perhaps there'd come a time when I could share some of my burdens with my new companions, but that certainly wasn't today.

Sighing, I turned my attention back to the task at hand. We'd found signs of the kidnappers a little way out into the woods and since I was the only one skilled in stealth, I'd split off from my companions in order to see if I could track at least one of them down. The plan was to find one and then wait for an opportunity to take them out, afterwards we'd have Lexi replace them with her shapeshifting. From there, she'd hopefully be able to figure out where the kidnapped Seekers were and get them out of harms way. Obviously things didn't always go to plan, but I wanted to solve this with as little violence as possible. Having the kidnappers lose access to potential hostages before we made a move on them would hopefully keep the situation from escalating.

The crack of a twig interrupts my thoughts, causing me to crouch lower onto the branch of the tree I'd been perched on. It wasn't the greatest hiding spot, but if they weren't actively looking for me I doubted they'd notice. The noise was soon followed by the sound of two voices drifting through the woods. I perked my ears in the direction of the voices in order to make out the conversation.

"Geez, what happened to you Donnell? You look like shit," a unseen male voice questions someone else.

"Stu, me, and Kalem found this girl out in the woods a ways. Real pretty thing. Acted all demure and shit when Stu went up to her, but soon as he reaches out to grab her he just folds like a fucking leaf. Kalem and I didn't even see what she did to him, but the both of us ran in to try and fight her, we couldn't even get a hit in. Last I remember is the bitch calling me pathetic before she knocked me out," another male voice answers, presumably belonging to a man named Donnell.

"And where are Kalem and Sturgil?" the other man asks another question.

"By the time I came to they were both gone, didn't see no sign of the crazy bitch neither. But Kalem left me a note saying she was making him and Stu lead her to Weir. Figured I'd just come find you and the others instead of going after them and getting my ass kicked again. Figured if three of us weren't enough then all six ought to be," Donnell answers with the self assured tone of voice that only a fool who thinks they're clever has.

As they continue conversing, they draw closer to my hiding spot, and I can just catch a glimpse of the two through the trees and branches below. They're brutish looking men, the one who I identify as Donnell by his voice stands a bit lankier, the other is more stout and meaty looking, Donnell's also sporting some mean bruises and swelling on his face. They look like quite the stereotypical bunch of thugs honestly, I may even find it comedic if they weren't the type of scumbags to kidnap others. And by their conversation, I was willing to bet that these are two of our kidnappers. It sounded like the two Donnell had been with bit off more than they could chew when they tried to kidnap this mystery girl, served them right. And then there were two more somewhere else in the woods, so a total of six.

With two of them already out of the way, maybe I should go ahead and take these two out as well? It'd be diverging from the plan a little bit, but it may also work out for the best. After a moment of deliberation I decide to continue listening to them and see if they unintentionally divulge any other useful information, it's not like they'd get away from me now that I'd found them.

"Byron? The injured man stops walking, realizing that his companion had stopped behind him. The other man who I guess is named Byron had stopped walking a moment ago, and I could practically see the little gear cranking in his head as he thought he was figuring something out.

"Donnell, how fucking stupid are you??" The other man suddenly exclaims, his face twisting in anger.

"W-what? What do you mean?" Donnell stammers, eyes widening as he looks back at his companion in confusion.

"Why would this lady just let Sturgil and Kalem be once they lead her to Weir? Better yet, why would she let Kalem leave a note for you telling where they're going?" The one I now know as Byron asks with an exasperated tone.

It seems like they all like to play the fool that thinks they're clever, I muse to myself.

"I-I don't know? I don't see what the issue is? Kalem and Stu are smart, they're probably taking their sweet time so that we can catch up and capture the bitch don't you think?" Donnell questions back, looking lost at his companion's sudden bout of paranoia.

Byron reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose, as if to ward off an oncoming headache before continuing on with a sigh, "It's a trap dipshit. She'd probably been playing you three for fools from the get go. Clearly this girl is onto us, so she waited in the woods to lure you out, and now she wants to get the rest of us in one fell swoop-"

I personally doubted it, but Donnell seemed more and more convinced as Byron talked. Who knows though, maybe he was right. Not that it mattered to me.

"-Well I don't plan on falling for it! Cocky bitch thinks we'll play right into her hands does she? How about we set a little trap of our own for her," Byron barks out with a vicious looking grin.

"What're we gonna do then Byron?" Donnell asks, flashing a sad looking grin of his own. With his face all beat up like it is, it's definitely not the most intimidating look, more sad than anything.

The two lean in towards each other conspiratorially, and I can't quite make out everything that's said next.

"You ... Coran and Grease ... gonna gather ... captives," Byron says at first then continues loud enough for me to make out, "We'll see if the bitch is still willing to fight when she's at risk of hurting the people she's supposed to be saving." He stands there and laughs with a smug look like he's come up with some sort of brilliant plan.

Donnell laughs along before setting off into the woods, though I didn't hear everything, I think he's going to get their other companions. Byron mutters a bit more to himself, too quiet for me to pick out before he too sets off, heading in almost the opposite direction of Donnell.

So now I had to decide what to do, if I'd read them correctly then Byron was going to gather up the people they'd captured. Afterwards they were all going to meet up and track down the girl who'd beaten up Donnell, hopefully using the safety of the captives to get her to surrender. I still didn't like giving them a chance to use the captives as actual hostages, but at the same time, having them all gather without us doing any of the work could make things a lot easier for us overall.

Basically, I had two options; I could capture Donnell first, or I could capture Byron first. Well I guess I could just follow Donnell until he found the other two companions he'd been sent to get, and then take all three of them out, but I didn't like the idea of just leaving the captives to their fates for any longer than I had to. Even if Byron seemed like he would be a bigger pain in the ass to get information out of, stopping him from being able to harm any of the captive Seekers should still take precedent.

Guess it was time to follow Byron then.

Eden Floor 1 | Somewhere in the woods:

Byron was deep in thought when a masked beastkin girl walked out from behind the tree in front of him causing him to jump back in surprise. As the girl simply stood there though he began connecting the dots with what he'd heard from Donnell.

"It was you, wasn't it?? Where are Kalem and Sturgil?! High and mighty bitch, you think we'll just traipse along to your whims huh??" He shouts out at the girl, shifting into a fighting stance.

He hadn't expected her to abandon whatever trap she'd set and come straight for him. But maybe she'd figured out that Byron was the clever one of the group and decided to come for him early so he couldn't interfere with her plans. If only he'd had a little more time, he could've figured it out and avoided the current situation.

"Hoh? And why wouldn't you want to? You've done a marvelous job of it so far after all, delivering yourself right to me, just like your two friends did earlier. I suspect you'll even lead me to the ones you've kidnapped next," she taunts him in response, a mocking look in her eyes.

Byron tries to keep a straight face at having been seen through, had he really been dancing to her tune the whole time? Shaking away those thoughts he gets ready to attack her, there was only one way out for him now.

"Tch. You're gonna have to make me!" Byron yells, rushing at the girl and throwing a punch at her face.

She sees the attack coming and her smaller form twirls effortlessly around the blow, somehow ending up at his back. She laughs tauntingly at him from behind. Byron pivots his hips, throwing a vicious elbow at her head, only to have her lean back from the blow at the last second. Byron smirks as he extends his arm while it whips in front of her face, but she just leaps a few feet back out of his range.

Byron makes use of the distance between them to get back into a proper stance when she speaks, "Y'know, I love fighting. And winning. Which is probably the only things that we have in common. But winning against you like this just doesn't seem that appealing, you're so...weak after all. Don't you have anything else you can show me?"

Her casual mocking infuriates him. Byron wasn't weak, he stood over many people. He was meant to stand over others, to have them at his mercy.

Snarling, Byron summons his weapons to hand, a wicked pair of brass knuckles with spiked tips, "I'll show you weak!"

He lunges at her again, raining down a flurry of blows in her direction. She may be faster than him, but he was much bigger, it'd only take one good blow to finish the girl, he was sure of it. She continues to dodge everything he throws at her though, his fists only damaging the surrounding trees as he desperately tries to hit the girl, the surrounding wood splintering into shrapnel with every missed punch.

He attempts to get a rise out of her, mixing insult after insult in amidst his blows until he's left dripping sweat and heaving for breath. But still he never manages to graze her even once, her motions are fluid and her gaze is calm as she dodges blow after blow, it's like his attacks amount to nothing before her.

Not long after, Byron begins to slow down as exhaustion sets in and the girl sighs, "This is all you've got huh? Tsk. If you're only this strong it wouldn't have mattered if I'd just waited. Even if you tried using the hostages as shields, when you're this pathetic it hardly makes a difference. I'm surprised you guys even managed to capture anyone with only this bit of strength-"

"Enough!" Byron shouts over the girls mocking, getting more and more frenzied as he loses himself to his anger. Continuously chasing after her through the forest, his fists leaving nothing but crushed bark in their wake.

Suddenly the girls gaze changes and she comes to a stop in front of him, "yes, I think this is enough don't you?"

Byron takes the opportunity to close in on her and throws a powerful right hook at her while she's speaking, his eyes widening in glee as she doesn't move to dodge for once. But before his fist can reach her, and faster than he can react to the girl reaches up, snaking her hand around his incoming fist and grabbing him by the wrist.

With a simple pull and a twist of her wrist, she redirects his arm down at an angle in front of her and Byron's world erupts in pain as he's sent tumbling from his own momentum. His world inverts and his vision flashes as his back strikes the ground, knocking the air from his lungs at the impact, leaving him gasping for breath and staring at the leaves above him, wondering what just happened.

"Hmm, I think I broke it," the girl remorselessly speaks from where she stands over him.

Broke it? Byron briefly wonders in a daze, before his mind latches onto the excruciating pain in his right wrist, causing him to scream in pain. Byron writhes in pain as he holds his crushed wrist tightly against his chest.

After a minute, his screams die down to mere whimpers as he slowly starts to cope with the excruciating pain. He turns to focus back on the girl looming above him, opening and closing her own hand as she looks at it contemplatively, as if to wonder how he'd been so fragile.

"W-what do you want?" Byron winces at how pathetic his own voice comes out.

Stepping over him, the girl speaks, "Well, you can start by showing me where the people you and your little group of friends have kidnapped are-" She turns, glaring down at him, and Byron is suddenly overwhelmed by the suffocating presence that descends upon him, "-or I can make you talk if you'd rather do things the hard way."

The pressure vanishes after a moment, leaving Byron blinking away tears as he gulps and gasps for breath. He wanted to call out, tell her to go fuck herself, but his body wouldn't let him say the words.

"Cat got your tongue?" she asks with a dangerous look in her eyes.

Byron doesn't dare to even fake a laugh at the joke, his instincts are screaming at him nonstop to just give the girl what she wants. He wasn't sure he'd even live to regret it if he didn't give in to her.

He clutches his wrist to his chest tightly as he sits up and speaks over the pain, "Fine, I-I'll show you where they are. Alright?"

"Well well, not so bad after all huh? Lead the way then," she coldly replies, prodding at him with her foot until he finally gets up.

As he lead her to the captives one by one, Byron couldn't help but feel exceptionally bitter. Becoming a Seeker was meant to be his opportunity to go and do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

How dare she get in the way of that. He vowed to get revenge on her one day.

Eden Floor 1 | Somewhere in the woods:

It was never an easy thing for me, dealing with the victims of someone else's wickedness or cruelty.

It always reminded me of how weak and fragile some people were, and though I didn't like to admit it, it left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable at times. I may be able to save someone in the literal sense, but anything more than that was beyond me. Maybe it was just a difference in a persons nature, that where some would look within and find new strength and resolve, others just kind of crumbled and gave up.

Or maybe I was just being pretentious. I decided to put it from my mind for now.

Either way, as Byron lead me through the woods and I had him release the first captive, I was left feeling at a loss. Beyond obviously having been tied up to the tree where we found him for several days, the boy didn't look like he'd been subjected to any sort of extreme abuse. And yet, there was no anger or defiance in his eyes as Byron approached him, no fear or distress, he just stared ahead with an empty gaze. It was like his mind had just called it quits, retreating somewhere far far away within his own head.

"Are they all like this?" I asked Byron.

He grimaces as he jostles his broken wrist while trying to untie the ropes with just one hand. His face is pale from the pain as he glances back at me as if trying to gauge what my reaction will be before speaking, "He's the only one who just kind of gave up if that's what you mean?"

"Hmm-" I take a step towards the boy, ignoring the stench coming from him, before speaking, "You're safe now... Will you follow us?"

"..." he just vacantly looks onwards, not even moving from where he'd been tied to the tree.

Sighing, I continue speaking while pointing in the direction of Weir, "it's okay if you aren't up to following us. Listen, Weir is only a few hours walk in that direction. I'm sorry I can't do more for you, I don't really have time to look after you right now, there's still others who need my help."

I turn away from the boy and with a wordless glare at Byron, he continues leading the way. Taking me to the next person they'd kidnapped, because of course they'd kept them all separated and not close enough to interact with one another. I look back at the boy one last time, he still stands where we'd left him. I sigh again, I'd probably have to go back or send someone else back for him later. Hopefully the others are a little better off, mentally speaking.

-o-o-o-

One by one I was left in a progressively worse mood, Byron and his little group had managed to kidnap seven Seekers in total, and while they weren't all like the first one we'd rescued, none of them were in a good state. I guess the thought of having to just sit there and watch as you lose the chance to pursue your dreams is especially crushing to most people.

Only two of the seven decided to follow me after being rescued, the others, excluding the first one, had all made for Weir as soon as I'd pointed them in the right direction. Their barely muttered thanks and dejected, hopeless expressions weren't super reassuring, but I didn't have any convenient way of watching over them at the moment. The two that followed were the only ones who looked like they had any sort of fight left in them, being eager to get any sort of revenge on their kidnappers. Once they knew that my companions and I planned to take the rest of Byron's crew out, they decided to tag along to watch.

I also had Byron tell me his current stats while we were walking through the woods. After I verified I could beat him, I took the opportunity to challenge him, obtaining my seventh win. I could have Ars and Amelia challenge him as well once we met back up, Lexi too if she wanted, but I didn't know her stats.

My little crew of four made for quite the sorry bunch as we walked through the woods to where I was supposed to meet up with my other companions. Byron had become progressively more pale and sweaty as I forced him to lead the way at my direction, the pain from his crushed wrist clearly taking it's toll. Not that I had any sympathy for him. The other two stumbled clumsily behind us, their movements disjointed after having spent days tied up, they weren't injured as far as I could tell but they certainly looked and smelled like shit.

I sighed to myself, hopefully Amelia could put up with their sorry state. They'd been through enough as it was. Amelia generally meant well, but she could be a bit abrasive at times and I wasn't sure how she'd react. I'd find out soon enough though, we were approaching the clearing where the rest of my party should be waiting. I was once again glad that I'd always had such a keen sense of direction, finding our way back otherwise could've taken a lot longer.

Things maybe could've gone better so far, but the kidnapped Seekers had been found and freed, and three of the kidnappers were already out of the picture. Though two of them were due to the interference of someone else, it was still to our benefit. We were well on our way to completing our quest near flawlessly.

Now all that was left was for Lexi alter her appearance to mimic Byron, meet up with the three remaining kidnappers and lure them to where Ars, Amelia, and I would be waiting for them.