"What do we learn when our teacher does not let us know it's a lesson?" I asked but expected no answer. "What happens when that teacher was never willing to challenge you, only giving you moments where you could succeed?" I continued. "Well, a lesson from someone who never wanted to teach is no better than a lesson from a teacher who never gives you a chance to grow. In my opinion, I demonstrated both these faults in my life.”

(Chapter 77: Husk, Age of Monsters, The Black Tower)

"Wow, you look stunning." The Man blurted out without thinking.

"Well, that is the goal, is it not?" The Woman replied, her tone filled with mirth. "Though I see you rely on your face in that department." She poked at The Man in jest. In her eyes, it seemed The Man hadn't put much thought into his attire. "And your hair. Have you seen a comb this month?" She asked with a playful smile.

"HAHAHAHA." The Man let out a boisterous laugh at her comments. "I actually forgot to pack any nicer clothes. Is my hair that bad?" He asked while pulling the stray strands down in a comical manner.

"You... forgot?" The Woman asked with confusion concealed in her playful tone.

"Yeah. I was halfway across the ocean when I noticed I was missing a bag. What about you? You seem a little underdressed. Where are all the sharp bits?" The Man asked in an upbeat tone. He'd noted the difference in his head and quickly written it off. But now, he asked if only to keep the conversation going.

"I, um.." The Woman stalled for a moment before answering. "I have a few. I've hidden them well if you can't see them." She replied to him, her mind still reeling at his treatment of his clothing. >How had he forgotten?< She asked herself.

"I don't know about that. I've been told I’m a little obtuse about that kind of thing." He chuckled out the words as if the memory of the insult was a fond one. To him, the term had never been an insult.

As they talked further, standing in the yard, both noticed each other’s differences. One wrote them off, for better or worse. While the other took note but failed to understand their meaning.

"Well, how do you feel about going inside? I have a few things I want to ask you about." The Man said while gesturing to the tower. He didn't really have anything to ask The Woman. He just wanted to make sure no one felt left out or ignored. It was something he'd learned from back home with the younger kid in the village.

"..." The Woman paused again at his words before managing to respond. "Yes, why don't we go inside. It has been a while since I last saw this place." Her tone was one of remembrance, but not longing. "What about you, dear teacher? Will you join us?" She asked The Husk, her eyes once more like a cat and its toy.

"It would be my pleasure." The Husk's voice was a grating sound to both of them. Evident by the visible flinch when it spoke.

"You see, I have all these notes on making better and different energy crystals. But I spent so much time on everything else; I only ever finished the one that could store mana." The Man showed off a bound book of notes with margins filled with formulae that The Woman couldn't wrap her head around. He knew she couldn't understand it, but he showed it to satiate any potential curiosity. It was better than having it snatched away, something he'd learned the hard way.

"And that has changed?" The Woman asked, trying her best to follow The Man's energetic explanation. He'd never once shown any desire to involve her in his tests unless he had to. She could only wonder what had changed.

"Yes." The Man said with joy in his voice. "Back home, a few people had things that resembled the mana crystals I made before. Though, I have no idea how they got them. I didn't spread them around." He turned toward The Husk in askance with this statement.

"An explanation for another day." The Husk's mashed amalgamation of voices caused the two to flinch again.

"Alright." The Man gave an expression to convey he didn't understand but didn't care. "Well, all the people I saw with them, well, they all wondered if a similar thing existed for spirit and if it would have any use." The Man said while pulling out an utterly different-looking book, this one much smaller than the first. "Well, if I'm right, a spirit one shouldn't be too hard. Simple as flipping the key ingredient from a mana-dense metal to a spirit-rich one." He spoke as if he hadn't already tested this. He'd made a working sample years ago, but only a sample.

"Would it really be that easy?" The Woman asked, false curiosity entering her voice.

"Yes," The Man replied confidently. "But I still have no idea what anyone would do with it. Outside of him, that is." The Man waved an open hand toward The Husk.

"I don't have a use for it, but I can imagine someone in the world would see value in such an object. Would you have anything to say on the matter?" The Woman turned the conversation toward The Husk.

"I have many thoughts on the nature of both energies." The Husk spoke, the sound impossible to hear but still more than audible. "They are two parts of a whole, but mixing them without the bindings is all but folly. One can use them to achieve highly similar results when put to work. Spirit can produce heat but never a direct flame. Mana can protect the flesh, but it's more akin to a shell. Both can heal but in different ways. Spirit knits the flesh back together, pushing arrowheads and blades from the wound as it works. Mana works from the outside, closing the damage, then regrowing the meat inside, the configuration left to little more than chance." The two listening shuddered at the imagery they'd likely both seen. Mishandled healing was almost always a hideous sight.

"Alright, but that fails to answer my question." The Woman responded to the lecture with a bit of bite to her tone. "Do you have any thoughts on a use for a spirit storage crystal?" She asked, with her hand on her hip.

The Man looked on with a look of confusion. He recalled The Woman from before, who'd never have talked to The Husk like this. But he held back any questions about this change in attitude. It wasn't his place to interfere in whatever problem she had.

"I imagine a dedicated healer would have use for it." The Husk replied. "Spirit from the crystal may assist them in healing another without fear of the injured body rejecting them." The Husk's horrible voice cut into the minds of the two, but its words found a home among their memories.

"Can I trust it'll end up out in the world the same way as the mana crystal?" The Man asked. "Or will it sit around here waiting for you to use it until it crumbles into dust?" The Mask joked.

The only response The Husk could offer was a shrug. It hadn't spread the knowledge of the crystals, and it had no plans to distribute any other knowledge within these walls purposely. "It may happen, it may not. I do not choose what leaves this place. Nor would I dare anger the one who makes that decision." The Husk rasped out a noncommittal response.

"That is a less than helpful response." The Woman muttered.

"Well, it doesn't matter to me either way. I'll work on it and see what comes of it." The Man said, knowing the only thing he could do at this point was improve the efficiency.

"I will let you two get settled in then. Find me below when you have finished here. I have something to discuss with both of you. Afterward, I would have you join me for a spar if you are willing." The Husk didn't say it to order them around, but he felt from one of them that they'd taken it that way. And that sentiment was one they did not enjoy.

*

"Let me make sure I have this right." The Woman said, exasperated. "You told some parasitic dream creature that we'd play its game? And we have to put our lives at risk to do that?" She sounded irritated enough that The Man was shocked she hadn't started yelling yet.

"In a manner, that is the case. Though, to my knowledge, it will not hunt you down for refusing to participate." The Husk clarified. "I am almost positive it would prefer you choose that route." The Husk elaborated further.

For a time, silence overtook the trio. The Husk was waiting for either of them to continue speaking. It would not force either of them to participate in this, nor would it force them to choose on a whim. So it would wait as long as needed for them to decide for themselves what they wanted to do. The Man had already made his choice; he'd made it years ago. He'd follow this agreement once more. The Man would live for this goal as he had before, but now it was because he had people he cared for and wished would live better lives thanks to his efforts. The only difference was a shift in how often he'd have to exercise his abilities in combat instead of in a lab.

The Woman was a different story. But for unexpected reasons.

"How much of a challenge would it be?" She asked, that playful look of a cat turning into the predatory glint of a tiger.

"Would you care to find out?" The Husk said while gesturing out the front door.

*

The rules they agreed on for the first round were simple. The Man and The Woman could use whatever they wanted, while The Husk could only use the abilities and strength granted by its form. Outside of that, the goal was to emulate actual combat as closely as possible. That is to say, everything was allowed except a killing blow.

"I allow the two of you the first move." The Husk's rasping horror of a voice cut across the yard. "Whenever you are ready."

I watched them closely. I knew they'd worked together in their past life, but they hadn't even known each other a whole day in this one. Whatever they did to coordinate would be from memory overwritten by twenty years of new life experience. Still, I knew that both were dangerous alone; I'd taught them to be. With them together, I had no expectations of winning without a challenge. At least, that was what I planned for when I offered this fight.

The two nodded to each other, memories from before taking hold in new bodies. They already had a plan, formed long before they passed into this life.

The Man raised his staff high into the sky. Mana formed a deceptively simplistic magic circle at the end, the energy taking on the color of a light spell. At that exact moment, The Woman rushed forward. She'd pulled a glowing knife from somewhere; the blade formed from an almost ethereal-looking glass.

When she covered half the distance from her to me, The Man finished his spell.

"Banished by the Light," The Man spoke the name of the spell allowed. Eventually, he'd need to learn not to do that.

I knew the spell, and I knew he was misusing it. It was primarily meant to handle incorporeal undead. He was using it to rid this space of any shadows, a foolish idea, but he didn't know better yet.

Seeing what they had planned, I had to resign myself to turn this into a lesson instead of a fair match.

I let The Woman reach me, her knife swiftly drawing toward my neck. But she was slow. With a simple step backward, her blade passed harmlessly in front of my face.

"Slow," I commented in the way I had when teaching her. Unlike during a lesson, however, I wasn't going to hold my punches. Ducking under her extended arm, I slammed a palm into her side. I felt her flesh resist, the bones creak but not give, and her organs shift under the force. Then my blow took her off her feet and flung her away from me, back where she started.

"Dazzling Spear," I heard The Man say before a bright white bolt of light shot from his staff toward my chest.

"Not fast enough," I commented as I twisted sideways to allow the spear to pass by my chest. As I did, The Woman, having taken the blow with little more than a grimace, once more bolted at me with a knife drawn.

She stabbed toward my arm; her off-hand obscured behind her back. With a nudge from the back of my hand, I pushed the trajectory of her blade behind me. She responded by pulling a longer knife from behind her back—this one she stabbed toward my chest. I could see it in her eyes. She thought she had me. A blade at my back and one pointed at my heart; how would I escape? That's what she thought.

"Foolish," I said before stepping beyond her perception and behind The Man.

"What?!" She yelled in shock as I vanished. But any reaction from her was too late.

Cautious about killing him, I swung my right leg in a round kick at the back of The Man. I felt his spine crack and his ribs crumble as I'd miscalculated how much force his form could handle. But he would live. Continuing the motion, I sent him tumbling along the ground, his arms bending at wrong angles as he landed the wrong way. I felt for him and the pain I'd cause him, but it didn't matter, even if he was on the brink of death. I'd resigned myself to fixing it all myself in the end. For now, I turned my attention back to The Woman.

I appeared behind her with that same ease, but she was used to this. She turned instantly, her knives moving faster than they had before. I saw it in her eyes, deep-seated anger, resentment, and a desire for revenge. Now more than ever, I could tell that The Girl I taught using this method was long dead. In her place stood someone who told herself she'd never take another blow. And I'd just broken her streak.

Same as I always had, I evaded her attack by stepping back and vanishing. But, unlike any other time, when I reappeared, her blade was already cutting toward my neck. It moved faster still than it had before. She was accelerating with every passing moment. But even if I gave her another few attempts, she wouldn't reach me. Her starting pace was too slow. I could evade it as I had before. Step beyond her reach or vanish from her perceptive eyes. But this was a lesson, and doing so would teach her nothing.

So I stayed put, and let the blade find purchase in my flesh.

With a brutal crack of one of my bones shattering and a spray of black oily blood, I caught her blade by letting it stab through my palm. I saw the excitement in her eyes at landing a blow. Revenge fulfilled, desire quenched in the flame of violence. Then I saw the fear take hold as my hand grabbed down around hers. The pain was no obstacle. The damage to my hand was only a minor hindrance. My flesh was never something I could worry over. Now was no different than any time I'd let an opponent draw my blood.

She would need to learn to combat madness. No sane man would let her strike them to land a blow on her. But sanity is a tightrope I'd long snapped in two with my dancing. I had to assume The Parasite would act with similar disregard for his safety. She had to be ready for that when it came.

I pulled her hand away from my chest, my strength winning out over hers with ease. My jerking motion disturbed her balance, her feet slipping from under her far too quickly for my liking. Had she truly forgotten so much from before? As she fell, her abdomen was left exposed. So I took the opening and slammed a knee into her stomach with a brutal squelching sound. I knew her organs ruptured from the blow. It would undoubtedly be agonizing and, without proper attention, would kill her. Still, I didn't let her off so nicely.

Letting go of her hand, I let her drop away from the dagger lodged in my appendage. I struck out with my leg in one aggressive motion, my foot caving in her chest and sending her flying toward The Man.

There, the two of them lay, broken, bloody, dying. Neither would survive more than a few moments without proper treatment. Neither was conscious enough to repair themselves.

They'd failed so horribly. It hurt me. To see them fall so short of standards set by themselves was disheartening.

But, all that meant was I'd have to prepare them even more.

So I got to work treating them. Making sure what I did would leave them no less than they were moments prior.

I would not tolerate leaving either with even the scarcest of marks. But the memory would live on, and they'd always know how painful it was to lose.