When he woke up, his eyes were wet. The nightmare had come again. The image of his family was still fresh in his mind.

But it wasn’t anything like the first few times; Vreil was slowly getting over it, or at least used to it. He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a bed, which was amongst many other beds, some of which had injured people on them, and Nigel was sitting on the chair next to him.

“How are you feeling?”, he asked as soon as he saw Vreil was awake.

“Surprisingly fine”, the Arknas flexed his fingers and toes, and everything seemed to be working properly. “Why am I here?”

“After you won the tournament you, uh... passed out, and they brought you here just to be safe. The doctor said it was partly from the over-exhaustion as well.”

“Ah yes, I remember now”, Vreil frowned, his gaze darkening. "I didn't make it."

Nigel smiled sadly. “He needed to be saved... He was publicly humiliated. At least that's some punishment.”

“Hmph”, Vreil snorted. "I guess it's something, but not enough. Can some humiliation make up for the lives of my parents?"

“Anyway, that fight was amazing!" Nigel changed the subject, and he quickly started gesturing excitedly as he remembered the event. "At some point, your swords were moving so fast It was like you were wielding three swords each.”

“Thanks, Nigel. By the way, I think Sting is an Arknas too”, Vreil replied after a moment of thought.

“An Arknas? Like you? But his eyes are normal.”

“I noticed during the fight”, Vreil shook his head, speaking in a lower voice than usual. “His left eye seemed a little brighter, but then I realized it was the sclera that was darker. If he was wearing some sort of colored, transparent fabric in front of his eye to make it look brown while it is blue, that would explain it. And also… Well, my intuition said the same.”

“Hold on, hold on”, Nigel showed his palms, slowing Vreil down. “For starters, what is a sclera?”

“Sclera is the white part of the eye, the one around iris. Iris is the colored one. It’s weird that I am the one teaching you stuff. I thought you were the scholar here”, Vreil smirked, and his dark mood seemed to recede a bit.

“Okay but still,” Nigel laughed, “aren’t you jumping to conclusions too fast?”

“Then you tell me, why is his left sclera darker than his right one?”

“Maybe it isn’t and it just looked that way because of the light in the arena”.

“Help me stand”, Vreil changed the subject. “I feel sick of lying down. How long was I out, anyway?”

“Not much”, Nigel grabbed Vreil’s hand and pulled him up. It was wholly unnecessary; Vreil seemed to be just fine. “Only two days?”

Vreil gaped. Two days?? “That’s crazy! No wonder I’m starving! Let’s go to the kitchen, quick!”

But as the two had just stepped out of the infirmary, Vreil suddenly stopped.

“Can you hear that?” he said, closing his eyes.

“Hear what?”

“Oh shit, run! Quickly!” Vreil suddenly regained all of his energy as he started running towards a seemingly random corridor.

“Wait, Vreil, why are you running?” Nigel followed him as fast as he could.

“This way is Sayfire’s room, right?”

“Yes, but-“

“Come as fast as you can”, Vreil said and accelerated, leaving Nigel behind.

How in the world can he run like that when he just woke up? thought Nigel.

As he ran at full speed towards Sayfire’s rooms, Nigel heard strange noises coming from the direction he was heading for, like swords clashing. As soon as he reached it, his face paled, but he didn’t stop.

He ran through the open door, past the fallen guards, and saw that Vreil and Sayfire had been cornered by the three Black Beard pirates. He froze in fear as he struggled to understand the situation.

“Fight, Nigel”, shouted Vreil.

“Mail, get that weakling. Campel, go for their leader. I will handle the Arknas”, ordered Sting, hatred emanating from him, and then jumped at Vreil who was equally eager to fight him, for good this time. Protecting Sayfire actually came second. He wanted to keep her safe of course, as thanks to Ashter and for sheltering him for the past few months, but his revenge was more important.

No rules this time, Vreil grinned as he used body strengthening magic. Truthfully, he was still feeling the confusion of waking up, but he knew one thing; the man in front of him had to die, and Vreil now had every right to kill him.

He swung his sword, expecting to break right through Sting’s defense due to his body strengthening, but, to his surprise, he was blocked. Easily. Vreil’s eyes widened. Magic?!

“Idiot. My magic is way beyond anything you can achieve in two months of training”, the pirate shouted angrily as he pushed Vreil back.

Sting’s strikes were heavy. Even using body strengthening magic, Vreil could only parry them but, at some point, he would have to block; then he would be a goner. At this rate, I am going to die, he thought, brain racing. Then he had an idea.

At Sting’s next attack, Vreil shouted “Asfar inflir”, shooting all the air he could muster right at the pirate’s eyes. Sting’s reflexes kicked in and he closed his eyes, but then his attack missed and Vreil hit him in the chest before he could recover. The pirate was wearing body armor and the wound was shallow, but Vreil struck the handle of his sword against Sting’s forehead before he had time to recover from the shock. The pirate was immediately knocked out.

Vreil would have really liked to kill him, but he painstakingly held himself back. Now that the pirates were obvious enemies, maybe he could do more. He imagined the torture that Sting would undoubtedly receive in order to reveal the pirates' secrets. That was what he deserved, not a quick death. And, to be honest, he did owe the revolution. Depriving them of vital information for hastening his revenge wasn't something he would like to do.

Simultaneously, Nigel drove his sword all the way through Mail’s chest. Then, both of them turned to Sayfire. Apparently, she had some skill with the sword, but Campel had just managed to disarm her and his own blade was already poised next to her throat, ready to strike. Vreil and Nigel looked in despair, they were both too far away to save her.

Suddenly, a black figure dashed through the room at blinding speed, surprising everyone and slitting Campel’s throat before he could react. His sword fell at Sayfire’s feet.

“Sorry for taking so long”, said the werewolf.

Sayfire was confused, but then her eyes shone. “Thank you, Milos!”

“Milos?” Vreil asked in surprise too, but the revolution’s leader kept speaking.

“There is no time to lose”, she continued, her commanding attitude returning in a blink. “All of you, go summon Jiovanni and Bader right now. And close the door.”

Bader was one of the revolution’s vice-leaders, the only one currently in the mountain.

Vreil had many questions to ask, but his adrenaline was still high and he immediately ran to Jiovanni’s room. Milos came out of Sayfire’s room a second later and he went to get Bader, while Nigel stayed to guard Sayfire. He also closed the door.

Some moments later, the six of them were gathered at Sayfire’s room, having pushed the bodies to the edge of the room.

At Vreil’s suggestion, they took a better look at Sting’s eyes and found out that he was indeed an Arknas. He was wearing a strange piece of soft glass on his eye to darken it and make it seem brown. “We will take care of this later”, said Sayfire, signaling for the others to speak.

“This is clearly betrayal”, spoke Bader, a bald, big-bodied man with a deep voice. “I had told you those pirates were pawns of the elves; they cannot be trusted.”

“We can’t be sure it was an orchestrated attack. Maybe those three were acting on their own”, replied Jiovanni.

“Why would they target her if they didn’t have a plan? It was clearly that Blackbeard son of a bitch.”

“Enough!” Sayfire interrupted them. “We will send an elite squad to investigate and, if they find evidence that the Black Beard pirates are innocent, we will demand an apology from them. Otherwise, we will obliterate them.”

“But leader-“ Jiovanni tried to speak up, but a gesture from Sayfire cut him off.

“You know this cannot be ignored, Jiovanni. You are in charge of selecting 4 men for the investigation team.”

“May I speak?” said Vreil, speaking for the first time.

“What is it, Vreil?” replied Sayfire, and Bader with Jiovanni turned to look as well. The former still found it strange that the trainees were also part of the meeting, even if they had saved Sayfire. Jiovanni, on the other hand, not so much; he had seen the boys' performance at the arena. Sayfire was wise to rope them in.

“Can I be in this team?” proposed Vreil. “I have been trained as a merchant, and my family name has not been forgotten yet. I can call in favors from people close to my father.”

Sayfire thought about it. “I have already appointed Jiovanni in charge of forming this team. Whether you are allowed to join or not will be decided by him. What do you say, Jiovanni?”

“Hmm”, the man cupped his chin. He was still wearing heavy armor, even now in the middle of the night. Weird, but nothing bad about it either. “Vreil has demonstrated his combat strength, and I have been told his mind is sharp as well. I would be glad to have you on my team, boy.”

“But," he continued, staring intently at Vreil, "I need you clear-headed. No fits of rage, no sudden outbreaks, no disobedience, or I will have to do something about that. Do I have your word for it, Vreil?"

"Yes sir", Vreil responded decisively, meeting the commander’s eyes. He didn't mean it. The whole point of him going was for revenge and, although he felt a bit attuned to the revolution and its goals, it wasn't yet to the point where he would put his goals aside. Whether Jiovanni believed him or not was unknown, but he consented to Vreil joining.

“In fact,” Jiovanni continued, taking a look around, “I believe it is a good idea to have this team made up of young, strong people. I recommend that Vreil, Nigel, and Arthur, join my team. This young transformational too. We need someone with his talents.”

“Arthur? Isn’t he the one with the broken arm?” asked Bader, his bald skull shining in the light of the torches.

“His situation is better than our original assumptions. In a few days, he will be able to use his sword again.”

“But why just trainees?” insisted Bader. “They aren’t even real soldiers yet, they have no experience.”

“And who should we send? You are aware that any capable soldier not needed in this mountain is still in-“, he took a glance at the three trainees, “somewhere.”

“But Vreil is an Arknas! You don’t want to expose him like that, do you?”

“He can use those things Sting was using to cover his identity as an Arknas.”

“Your idea is stu-”

“Very well”, said Sayfire, cutting Bader off. “Jiovanni, we trust you. I hereby formally appoint you the commander in charge of investigating whether the Black Beard pirates had any kind of involvement in my attempted assassination, which they probably did. Your team shall be comprised of Vreil, Nigel, Arthur, and Milos. You are to leave as soon as you can and move with haste, in order to conclude your investigation before news of the failed attempt reach the pirates’ ears. Questions?”

None were had. Vreil tried his hardest to conceal a dark smile. This Jiovanni was an idiot. Revenge was at hand.