— Unknown —

I decided to run.

I don’t know why, but I did.

I ran and ran for what felt like forever.

I hit a wall.

I fell.

It hurt, but I got back up and looked at the wall. It looked impossibly tall, but it was there. Telling me to climb.

I began to climb, and climb, and climb. Higher and higher.

My hands hurt.

I couldn’t climb anymore.

I couldn’t see the top and the ground seemed so far away but something inside me told me to keep climbing.

I was so tired.

My hands hurt. My hands would barely grip the wall.

My hands seemed to slip.

I nearly fell.

I kept going and going and going.

I don’t know how I had made it that far or how I was even pushing through the pain.

A bottomless world of clouds spread below me.

So very tired. Is there even a world above me?

I saw it upon the horizon of my sight behind the red glow of the brilliant sunset. Tears began to fall from my eyes and I began to climb. Almost to the top…

I slipped…and began to fall.

I fell forever into the clouds.

I hit a ledge stopping my fall.

I still couldn’t see the bottom.

I could no longer see the top.

Lying beaten and bruised I was sad but now I knew.

There was an end.

A place to go.

A new journey.

I stood up.

I began climbing again.

Faster, harder, and with more vigor for I knew the path I had climbed it before.

I knew the path.

I moved faster and faster.

I saw the top again.

I wanted to know what was there.

I needed to stand on top of the wall.

I wanted to go beyond the wall.

I reached the top of the wall.

I saw many things.

I knew I could truly do anything.

For the first time, I knew I was finally free.

— Aster —

I woke up calm and relaxed. I had conquered the wall, I had become truly free. Whether it was a dream or not I don’t care. I knew what it was to me and I was free.

Even though I had been beaten to a bloody pulp by the girl yesterday. Even I was surprised by the girl. She had one blight of a punch. I really thought I was going to die. I wasn't even sure when I had stolen the flag from her but somehow I had the presence of mind to grab it. While thinking it was futile to struggle against her. But I was excited about it and hoped that my performance would be rewarded, but I did not get my hopes up on this. My calm lasted all of five seconds when I tried to move.

I attempted to rise from my bed but found I could barely move. My eyes shot open to see if I was locked down again. I didn’t feel anything but my arms felt so heavy. Looking over to my arms I didn’t see anything locking my arms down. Although there was something much more concerning. My arms were skinny...too skinny. To the point, My skin looked stretched over my bones. That...That is not good.

My heart started to beat harder, my breathing was heavy. I tried to move the blankets to see the rest of myself, but the blanket may as well have weighed a hundred pounds for how little it moved. I didn’t need to see myself at this point to realize I was emaciated. How long was I out? It couldn’t have been for more than a day or 2. I tried to take in the room moving my head to look around. My head fell to the side and I couldn’t move it back. Before I panicked I took in the rest of the room. I was in a clean room, with clean clothes, and clean sheets. I was looking over the room trying to move when Jane entered the room pushing a cart with a pot of something. Smiling brightly, she sang. “Morning!”

With a monumental effort, I wheezed out. “Hello.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “Wow, you can actually say a word.” She looked me up and down. “That was probably the only word you could say right now.”

I just lay there silent, unable to move anything but my eyes.

“Let's see if we can fix that.” Jane pulled the cart and pot over to my bed and poured the white...Porridge? Into a small bowl. “That's for later.” She then pulled out a hose and funnel. “This is for now. Open your mouth.”

I stared wide-eyed, at her. I was starving but her smile... That was anything but comforting. I would have resisted if I could when she grabbed me and forced the hose into my mouth. I couldn’t spit it out or anything. I was forced to sit there as she poured the porridge down my throat. There was no describing the taste...except for divine. Not just the flavor but everything about it. The second the porridge reached my tongue pure energy flowed through my body. It was ecstasy.

It was only barely sating my hunger though. My hands reached up automatically to the hose. I pulled deep swallowing everything I could. I could visibly see the muscles in my arms expand. Whatever was in this porridge was healing me.

As my strength grew and the porridge in the funnel ran out I couldn’t wait for Jane. I spit out the out and jumped out of the bed with a need for more. I grabbed the pot and shoved my face into the pot itself eating more and more. I couldn’t really control myself. I just need more. I ate and ate and ate till the pot was empty and I was licking steel.

When the pot was finally empty and had been licked clean. I fell to the floor with a belly full and a smile on my face. My body had filled back out to...well not fully I was still too skinny but I could move and felt full. It was worlds better than just a few minutes before.

“Any more of that porridge?”

“No, that's all you get. This stuff is only effective at this serving size.” Jane pulled the pot from me. “You’ll get back to normal in about a week of normal food and exercise. The porridge will remain in your system speeding up the process.”

“I don’t know if that is comforting or not.”

Jane shrugged at my comment. I was finally able and aware enough to look around the room. I found It was just me and Jane and a bed. “Where is the girl?”

Jane looked confused “Who….Oh! Your partner. She will be joining us soon enough, but first, we need to finish your lessons.”

Did she just space or really forget about the girl she had been working with for the last four days?

I audibly groaned thinking about the headache to come. Jane began to laugh. “Nope, this lesson is a little different. Nothing to install”

“??”

“Now we are going to teach you how to make your Guild Mask.”

I stared at Jane confused. “Why do we need a guild mask?”

“It’s for missions, it's...kind of our signature.”

“Oh! It’s to indicate we are on a mission.” Wait…If we are

“Sort of. It’s to protect our identity, as there is a bounty on us when we are on missions.”

My face fell. I had forgotten about that. “How can they even tell?”

“Marks” She pointed to the center area of my chest where the tangling tattoo was “become active when on a mission. There are special crystals tuned to us.”

“That… Seems excessive.”

“It is but propaganda can be a strong weapon. Enough about that it's time to make your mask. Hand me that black piece of cloth.” Jane pointed to a dark fabric draped over the edge of the bed behind me.

Without thinking I reached for the black cloth picking it off the bed. The fabric felt like no fabric I had ever felt before. It felt cool, super smooth, it felt like it was trying to flow out of my hands like water. It was also strangely heavy. *Ding* What was that? Ignoring...Whatever that was I handed the cloth over to her she smiled. “Now we need one more thing. Can you hand me that golden piece of cloth hanging on the bed?”

Confused, I looked back to the bed. I didn’t see it at first but when I did it was very thin and molded perfectly with the bed. I thought it was just a light beam, but I guess this is the cloth she was referring to.

I reached and grabbed the wafer-thin fabric. The fabric despite its thinness was warm, and kinda smelled of spring. It was so light It felt it would float away if I let go. It was light and brittle as a piece of very old fabric, I found this out when I accidentally tore a small hole in it. Hope, that it's fine. *Ding* There it is again. What is that?

When I turned to give the fabric to Jane her smile wasn’t there just a look of surprise.

I stood there holding out the fabric for an awkward amount of time before I spoke. “Do you want this or not?”

This seems to snap her out of it. “Ah. Yes, I just didn’t expect you to be able to pick that one up.”

“Why?”

“Let it go.”

“??”

“Let it go. It will make sense then.”

I looked toward Jane then the fabric. “Umm...Ok.” I release the fabric from my hand...and it was gone. Like it never existed. I looked around the room and found it in the exact spot I grabbed it before. I looked to Jane for an answer but she just said. “Pick it up again.”

Not understanding why I went ahead and picked it up once more. Still thin and light.

“Now look at the bed where you picked it up.”

Looking down at the bed, the exact same piece of cloth that was in my hand was still on the bed.

Jane saw the look of consternation on my face. She stood and walked to the bed placing her hand in position behind the bed. A shadow covered the fabric and was now on Jane's hand.

Finally, I put two and two together. “Light.” I was holding a light in my hands. “How?”

Jane shrugged. “Because you believed you could. There wasn’t a single doubt in your head it was possible. Whether or not you knew what you were picking up. Same with the shadow.”

“Shadow? The other one was a shadow?”

Jane nodded.

“Wait, I thought we were making my mask?”

“We are first you need to learn how to hold shadows...and in your case light. Next, you will learn to gather them to hide your face. Your shadow mask.”

Another thought occurred to me. “This is why we are shadow cats.”

Jane's smile returned. “Correct. Now come here it's time to gather the shadows.” Jane did something to create a small area of shadow.

I walked over to Jane and her shadowy area. I stood there in the shadows. “Now what?”

“Sit. Focus your mana through you. Use it to grab the shadows. Remember the feeling of the shadow “cloth” reaching out for it, feel it and pick it up. Once you have, mold it over your face. Don’t worry about the eyes, the shadows won’t hinder your vision.”

I followed Jane's instructions. It was surprisingly easy to reach out and grab the shadows. The harder part was keeping it on my face. The shadow would flow over my face like water. The fact it was colder than I expected shocked me just enough to lose focus. The second time it flowed over, not stopping. The third time I tried holding it in place but found it took too much concentration to hold. The smallest distraction would cause it to drop. I repeated this a lot thinking it might just take practice to hold it with no success. I did notice the shadow appeared to cling to the mana itself. One last try before asking for help. I let out a tiny layer of mana all across my face, then grabbed the shadows and poured them over my face. I felt the shadow flow over my face. When I stopped pouring, I could tell it had worked. My whole face was cold.

I looked up to Jane. “Go it.”

“That's good. You gonna do anything with the light in your hand?”

I looked down and saw I was still holding the light. I was about to let it go when I had an Idea. I looked down at the light and began to crumble it right below my face. The light crumbled, and my face began to warm from cold to cool. That is much better. Looking back up at Jane I smiled.

“You look like the night sky. Flat with no dimension. That will work if you want but be careful those stars can be noticeable. “

I felt dumb for adding the light but thought it was still pretty cool. I can control shadows and light, by the look on Jane’s face she can’t. I wonder what else I can do with this?

“And that is your shadow mask. You’ll get better with practice. Able to pull the shadows, and light doing what you will with them as you get better instead of how you're pouring it over your face right now.”

I wasn’t sure what the proper response was so I went with “Neat.”

“Very beat. You’ll figure that out on your own. We only teach you the shadow mask. Also, it is traditional to wear another mask, but you’ll have to do that on your own.”

“Any specific kinds?”

“Nope. Just a mask, not required, just traditional.” I don't think she likes the physical masks. Jane clapped her hands. “Ok, that's the end of the lesson.”

Jane was walking toward the door. I was about to walk over to the bed when she said, “No more sleep. We are past that now. Follow me. We will meet with your partner for the next step.

I stood following Jane out of the room.