Hundreds of miles away, in the Diarchy of Lerne:

  Gaden crouched on the platform that was made up of Omaren’s restructured sword.

  He held tightly onto the far end, and it braced him whenever his feet began to slip as he and Omaren hurtled through the countryside at an incredible speed.

  Sparks of electricity flickered around him, though none harmed Gaden even as they collided with his body.

  They rushed through a canyon, a narrow river of shining water below them.

  Exiting the canyon into an expansive valley, they saw a building much like the one in which Gaden had first awoken.

  As they drew near to it, they noticed several figures walking at a distance away from the building, and Omaren changed direction to intercept them.

  It was a group of soldiers, in the same style of uniform as the other building’s guards had worn, armed with muskets, and they surrounded a boy in the center of them as they walked.

  Omaren stopped just shy of the group, and they reacted with surprise at the sudden arrival.

  They raised their guns, and Omaren held out the hilt of his sword.

  Gaden jumped off of the platform as the pieces of metal returned themselves to their original form, releasing the form that they had assumed, and Omaren pointed the sword at the group.

  “I was going to ask you to lower your weapons, but I suppose now that it doesn’t matter, since all of you are going to die regardless.” Omaren said, and stepped sideways, removing Gaden from the line of fire.

  He strode forward, and the soldiers fired at him, hoping to kill the man they had doubtless heard about, and the man that they feared.

  Omaren ducked and dodged his way forward, evading every single bullet, and he began to cut his way through the soldiers methodically.

  “Duck!” A voice echoed in Gaden’s mind, and he did so.

  A bullet, from a soldier realizing the futility of his comrades’ actions, hoping to at least hurt the weaker enemy before death, flew overhead.

  “Thanks, Damad.” Gaden said.

  “I can’t have you die so soon after finding me.” The ring said. “So I’ll just have to do my best to keep you alive.”

  Omaren cut down the last soldier with a backhand flick of his sword, and he turned to the boy, who had fallen.

  The boy watched, obvious fear still on his face.

  “Are you all right?” Omaren asked, extending a hand to the boy.

  “I… Thank you.” The boy said, taking the hand, and standing. “For falling for it.”

  He stabbed at Omaren with his finger, which seemed to suddenly glow. It hit Omaren’s stomach, and the boy withdrew his finger, glowing with a violet-blue light.

  Omaren fell over sideways, and the boy stepped towards Gaden, smiling.

  Gaden drew his new sword, unbelting the leather around its curving blade. He aimed it at the boy, and the boy jumped forward, stabbing at him with his glowing hand.

  Gaden deflected the blow with his sword, but noticed that the blade was glowing slightly orange with heat, from the slight contact.

  Gaden stabbed at the boy’s face, and the boy blocked the blade with a flick of his fingers, grinning.

  They drew back for a moment, staring at each other.

  “You’re nothing! Just weak scum for me to kill! After I destroy you, I’ll go back, and let them make me strong. I’ll be the strongest in the world!” The boy said.

  “You’re just a pawn for them, giving them the power that they crave?” Gaden said, walking in a wide circle around the boy, watching him.

  The boy laughed. “Oh, no. Once I’m the strongest, I intend for them to suddenly arrive at the next life. I won’t share my power with anyone.”

  “You think strength is everything you need to lead? You’re hopeless. You’d fail long before you even got close to power.”

  The boy’s smile vanished. “You don’t know anything about me.”

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  “I know enough from what you’ve said.” Gaden replied.

  “You’ve taken up my attention for too long! DIE!” The boy said, as he aimed to stab Gaden again, to melt his body around the wound with the sheer heat of the violet light.

  Gaden blocked with the sword, and it again glowed at the point of contact with the violet-blue light.

  The boy drew back his fist, and aimed to strike the blade just above the glow, to bend the blade and render it useless. Ducking, Gaden found himself so close to the boy that he could not slash at him with his weapon, so he instead turned the blade, and rammed the hilt into the boy’s ribs.

  The boy stumbled backward, his face a mask of pain and rage, and sneered.

  He jumped forward, swiping at Gaden’s face with his glowing hand, and Gaden ducked under the blow. The boy attacked again and again, stabbing and slashing, with Gaden fending off the attacks until a searing line suddenly burned across Gaden’s face, and the murderous boy smiled again.

  Gaden jumped away, and gently felt at the wound, finding a thin line of burned skin moving across his face.

  “You’re lucky. That probably won’t scar.” The boy said, smirking. “Next time I’ll make it worse.”

  Gaden lowered his hand, and raised his sword again. “If you can, show me.”

  “That’s exactly what I’ll do!” The boy said, dashing forward, and Gaden ducked under his swipe, slashing back at him. The boy blocked the strike, then stabbed his finger towards Gaden’s heart.

  Gaden slashed at the finger with his sword, and both deflected sideways.

  The finger, knocked off course, missed Gaden’s body by a narrow margin.

  The sword, on the other hand, scraped along the boy’s side, drawing a line of blood, darkening the boy’s clothing.

  The boy staggered backward, and Gaden attacked, this time.

  Slashing forward, following up with a backhand, and stabbing whenever the boy left his center too open, Gaden kept on the onslaught until the point of his sword slipped past the boy’s guard, sinking shallowly into the soft flesh just below the boy’s collarbone.

  The boy, eyes clouded with pain, put his hand to the wound as Gaden withdrew the blade.

  “You bastard…” The boy said.

  “You aren’t half as strong as you think you are. You’re just an arrogant child.”

  The boy growled and dashed forward.

  He began attacking, more wildly and more frantically with every strike.

  Gaden managed to dodge or block every strike with the assistance of Damad, who called out the direction of attacks every time the boy moved. Gaden perhaps would not have lived without the ring, who had a better perspective of the fight than either combatant.

  The boy grew more frustrated with every strike, until he shouted, “ENOUGH!” and jumped upwards in desperation.

  His hand began glowing again, growing brighter until it flashed with a brighter light than it had ever before, blinding Gaden.

  Gaden jumped back, unable to see anything but the smears of purple light that flashed to a blue-green whenever he blinked.

  “And the fight is over.” The boy said, and Gaden heard his footsteps slowly approaching.

  Gaden raised the sword in the direction of the boy’s voice, but he knew that his efforts were futile. He had barely warded off the boy’s last attacks, when he had both Damad’s help and his own vision. He knew that now, with only Damad, he would not be able to escape the next attack.

  The boy stepped closer, each step echoing in Gaden’s mind, and he waited, knowing that the fight had ended, that the outcome was set.

  Gaden stepped back slightly in apprehension, but he refused to turn his back and run from the boy, giving the boy more fuel for his ego than it had already.

  The boy jumped, the sound reaching Gaden, and Damad began to speak. “He’s-” The ring said, but, not having enough time to speak, cut off, and instead focused all of his energies on impressing a sensation onto Gaden.

  Suddenly, an image appeared in Gaden’s mind, embedded by Damad’s efforts, a picture of exactly where the boy’s stab was going to land.

  Gaden swung his sword, and felt it hit something. He heard the boy’s cry of pain, and stepped back.

  He heard the ragged breathing as his vision began to clear up, and he saw a figure, the figure that must be the boy, lying on the ground.

  “How did you… see me? You should have been blind.” The boy asked, malice gone, only confusion left.

  “You underestimated me. You thought I had nothing left. Your own arrogance was your downfall.” Gaden replied.

  “This… this is wrong! I was supposed to be important. I was supposed to be special. I was going to be special. Why wasn’t I special…” The boy said, before he stilled.

  Gaden stood there, panting as his heart, still excited from the near death experience, raced.

  Suddenly a burning rush of power filled his body, and he somehow understood an implicit question presented by it. A question of taking.

  Gaden decided upon a yes, and the power rushed through his body, from his heart through his arm.

  His vision was nearly clear now, with only spotting points of obscurity left, and he saw through the scattered vision the glowing violet-blue light that had begun to glow on his weapon.

  He looked at the blade in curiosity, wondering as to what had happened, when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.

  Still high-strung, he spun, slashing his sword at the newcomer, and they dodged nimbly.

  Gaden moved to attack again, but a voice interrupted him.

  “Hold on!” Omaren said. “It’s all right! It’s just me.”

  Gaden froze, confused. “You’re all right? But you were…”

  “That stab? You thought I would die? That boy couldn’t kill me so easily. Did burn me a bit, though.” He said, and Gaden saw a slight burn on Omaren’s chest.

  Gaden felt the burn on his own face, a much more dangerous wound from a much slighter bit of contact.

  Just who is Omaren? He wondered.

  “Who knows?” Damad answered. “I have never known anyone quite like him.”

  Gaden, startled, responded. You can hear my thoughts?

  “My spirit is tied to your own. I… understand it better now. I think I know how spirits interact with things now. We… exert a kind of pressure on our surroundings.

  Is that how you showed me that image of what the boy was trying to do? Gaden asked.

  “I gave you an image of what I saw.” Damad replied. “It was difficult for me to understand, at first, but I think now that I’ve done it once, I could do it again.”

  “What is it?” Omaren asked. “You’ve gone silent.”

  “I was discussing how spirits worked with Damad. He can hear my thoughts.”

  “Damad, hm. That spirit is definitely a strange one.”

  “He managed to show me a picture of what was happening when I was blinded.”

  “Managed to? That should come easily to spirits. Most(Or really, all of the spirits I have personally met) find that it's the opposite of his. Sending impressions or images should be the easiest form of communication, not language.”

  “Strange.” Gaden said, before a sudden realization hit. “Hey, if that stab didn’t really hurt you, how come you fell, and how come you didn’t help me?”

  Omaren chuckled. “I knew you had it in hand.”

  “I could have died!” Gaden exclaimed.

  “I wouldn’t have let you die. I was ready to intervene.”

  “Still, this hurts!” Gaden said, pointing to the burn he had received.

  “If you couldn’t take a little pain like that, then you wouldn’t be a good choice to follow me.” Omaren said, smiling.

  Gaden grumbled to himself, Damad silently agreeing, before Omaren spoke again.

  “So, your first kill and absorption happened. That’s a handy ability you took, too. Too bad it filled your ability limit, though.”

  “Earlier when you told me about the limits, you mentioned that mine was lower than yours. How do I increase it?”

  “That, my young warrior, will have to wait until your first awakening.”

  “Young one?” Gaden said, indignant. “You aren’t that much older than I am!”

  Omaren laughed. “You think so? Well, you’d be surprised.” He said, as he set off towards the building.

  The two continued their banter as they walked to the building, going to complete their work.