“Will that be all, father?” Trini asked in monotone.

“Hmm? Ah, yes.” He answered with an inattentive grin on his face as the violence unfolded below. “Go about business, darling.”

He got to his feet as she turned to leave. Behind, the charismatic madman began riling up the crowd to increasingly cheer for the massacre that had happened before. The charisma, fuelled partly by fear, was not a power she could hope to match.

It was a thought that haunted her, not just for the length of time she took to walk to her next destination, but also for the past 400 years of her life, that no matter how much she wanted to, she could not leave, nor could she build up the same following her father had effortlessly created with which to tear down the system he had built from within.

Undaunted, she proceeded down to the base of the tower, then 1 floor more into a basement.

The stairwell ended on a grate which grills dropped into a hole that stretched into the dark, with faint glows on the tunnel walls rising up as tendrils of barely luminescent light in the night, though not bright enough to stretch the beam to her eyes. An old ladder reached into the shadows below, where the hissing of geothermal vents powered the rumbling of fire crystals that generated the magical lines of energy. Heat rose from below in a continuous gust of hot air which ruffled the frills of Trini's dress. She opened the steel door next to her and stepped into a dark rotund room where the cryst lines continued across the floor and onto scryns that stretched the entire diameter.

The scryns were holograms projected from two light crystals, each showing a collection of footage from a different gladiator cell in the underground level. Desks surrounded the room in a ring, and most of the guards stationed there barely glanced at her entrance. It was expected, given the dimness of the place with the contrast of the light from the scryns. Though a few of the elves with better vision did make a motion to stand in her presence, she quickly waved them away, crossing the room.

On one of the many scryns was the Thunstrom Dragon unveiled just two days ago, trapped in a cavern that lead to the arena it was designated to fight in. The beast was feasting on a mountain of bones from the corpses of animals that had been fed to keep it alive for the fight. She turned her attention away from the creature and went to the familiar south desk. The man at the terminal pricked his ears up as her footsteps closed, and he turned in his seat to greet her.

“Lady Trini,” he said. “Very good to see you.”

“Likewise, Judas. How is Thomas?”

“Doing fine. The cold have been hard on him. What can I do for you today?”

Unlike many other guards, Judas lacked the physical attributes to really stand imposing, and his bald head and clean face contrasted wildly to the tattoos, scars, and dirtied mane of those around them.

Trini got to her request. “Can you freeze the image in cell thirteen-nine?”

The man wave his hand casually over the screen, magic circuits lighting up around his palms as the footage from Nadier and Ierba's cell froze in the moment, them lying on their beds.

Judas turned his attention back to her. “I do not mind keeping your trysts a secret, my lady, but do keep your libido in check. It has only been a day.”

She jokingly replied, “Get back to work, Judas.”

His smile turned flat. “I hope you'll let me know if something is about to happen. I'd much rather not involve myself in anything that could prevent me from returning to my husband.”

Trini placed a gentle pale hand on his shoulder before leaving without another word.

She headed across the familiar winding corridors and pathways that lead to Nadier's cell. While it was true that the majority of the people evolved on the plateau had questionable pasts, some like Judas and Thomas were simply victims of circumstance.

She paused for a moment at a corridor and recalculated the route in her head. The entire arena building was a maze. According to her father, the intention of the design was not just to prevent outsiders from finding pathways without, but to also prevent their “pets” from escaping within.

By the time she reached the outside of Nadier's cell, the morning had already been all but burnt away. Looking to the side of the corridors and reassuring herself that no one else was watching, she took out her master key and entered the chamber. Immediately, Zen greeted her at the legs after she closed the door behind her. She knelt down to pat the wolf as Nadier got off the bed, his injured eye covered by a makeshift black bandage, stained slightly through by blood. Even more of his aeronium shell has peeled off since before his injury. Now, the shade of his skin was a faint grey, with large patches of albino white clouding through, and he had his hood up, seemingly all the time now to block out even the light of the lamps.

“How's the eye?” she asked.

“Great,” he replied with slightly more energy than she had been accustomed to. “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

Her brows danced questioningly. “Why the formality?”

He sighed. “I'm trying to butter you up, so you won't slap me.”

Annoyed, she replied, “Do you really deem me the 'slapping' kind of dame?”

“No,” he admitted. “But that's what worries me the most.”

He looked to Ierba for confirmation, to which the man simply shrugged, as if to say it was his funeral. Zen, as if on cue, circled back around Nadier and hopped onto the bed for safety.

With a final despondent sigh, Nadier requested, “Try to aim for the body, so nobody can see the scars.”

Trini was more than a little wary at that point, their actions making little sense to her. Then, the dark elf began unwrapping the scarf that had bandaged his eye. When it was removed, he kept the eyelid closed before taking a deep breath and opening it.

Something immediately changed in the man. His irises glossed over temporarily, before refocusing themselves back on the room. First to the lights on the wall, then her general figure, and finally onto her face. He blinked twice, then a wide smile, unnatural for one to be worn by Nadier, cracked across his lips.

“Why if it isn't the blue beauty herself!”

Anger boiled to her head faster than a meteor crash as her blade flashed to life, slicing upwards towards him. But as expected, Arbor, while shocked, stumbled a step back and managed to dodge the strike, though the sudden ferocity and bloodlust had even Ierba flinching in his seat.

“Woah! Woah! Calm down, love!”

She seethed, “Is this a trick? A prank? A joke? I find no laughter in it.”

With his hands out in surrender, Arbor slowly backed up against the room, eventually calming down the atmosphere. Ierba had realized he was holding his breath when he let out a puff of air.

“Trini, listen,” Ierba implored. “This jackass has information. So don't kill him... yet.”

Sarcastically, Arbor replied, “Thanks for the support~.”

After calming down, she stood back up straight, though she did not recall her weapon nor spoke another word.

Seeing his opportunity, Arbor spoke. “I want to offer recompense. I'll give you all information on your father, and a plan to catch him off guard.”

“Why?” she flatly interrogated.

“Wow... not going to even ask me how I'm back? I'm hurt?” Her patience thin, she pointed her blade him again. “Alright. We'll reconvene later.”

Ierba interrupted, “You refused to give me the information. And you'll just hand it over now?”

“That's because I need her.” Arbor tilted his head to Trini. “I need her to listen to me.”

“...” Her quiet spoke more volume than any word.

“Look. You hate me, and I understand why. But I'm here to make amends. I'll fight Atro this time, no running away.”

“I should take you at your word, why?”

“Because I'm not the rider anymore. Nadier has control, and he's bent on fighting. And I'm trying to be a better person. I'm... me... him... Nadier... he's a better man than I will ever be, and I can admit that.”

“And what do you need of me?”

His eyes focused on her, one bloodshot of the wound more pleadingly than the other. “Forgiveness.”

After a minute of silent deliberation, Trini lowered her sword. Her eyes pierced him. “Why did you do it two hundred years ago?”

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

The dark elf swallowed hard and looked to his feet. “I was a coward.” He paused, addressing half the issue. “And they were my friends.”

For what felt like days, the only sound between the four of them were their breathing, breath dancing dust in the dominion. In an ironic whistle of cold wind as Trini vanished her weapon, the frozen atmosphere shattered.

“Talk.”