“That was so much fun!” Erik practically skipped down the road. “Man, I’ve never been completely outclassed like that! Wow, was that a wild ride!”

“I don’t understand what he gets out of that.” Caeden glanced at Lily. They were following along behind Erik on the way back to the Core Seat. More accurately, the field behind the Core Seat for another round of physical conditioning. Caeden was not looking forward to it. His muscles still twinged as they walked.

“I think he just enjoys the novelty.” Lily contemplated. She was smiling as they watched Erik’s dancing gait. Occasionally he would trip over nothing and turn it into a cartwheel or some other acrobatic. Sometimes bird poop would fall where he had been standing a second ago if not for his odd, hopping walk. The usual. Caeden found it strange how fast he had adapted to the impossibility of Erik’s luck.

“I have a better answer. He’s just crazy.” Caeden countered.

“Hmm, a compelling argument, with a lot of proof to back it up." Lily jokingly rubbed her chin, acting like she was deep in thought.

“Obviously,” Caeden nodded sagely, playing along.

Lily stifled a giggle. Caeden broke down and laughed.

“What’s so funny back there?” Erik spun around on a heel, looking back and forth between them.

“Nothing, Erik. We’re just talking about our practice.” Caeden assured him.

“Oh, yeah, you need to work on your invasion technique, man. Lily wiped the floor with you.” Erik nodded before falling over backward into a twist and a flip, landing on his feet and facing forward again.

Caeden winced. He knew Erik was correct. Lily had kicked his ass repeatedly throughout the class. Caeden had spent the whole time trying to come up with a response to her ‘throw a huge cloud at him’ technique, but his shroud just wasn’t built for it. Next time, he was thinking about asking one of the teachers for some advice, because he was stumped. Lily’s shroud was just better than his at area denial, which was a key component of invasion.

“Hey, Lily.” Caeden started.

“Yeah?”

“Would you mind spending a bit of time working with me after dinner? I need to figure out how to deal with a shroud like yours.”

“Yeah, sure.” She shrugged. “We can go to those practice rooms they have in the Seat.”

“Liliana!” An angry shout carried along the road toward them.

Lily flinched, then shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Oh shroud, not this again.”

“Liliana, you come here right now!” The shouting continued.

Looking up ahead, Caeden could see a small group, no more than five people, walking toward them. Lily’s brother was at the center. Obviously, he was the one doing the shouting. Caeden frowned. His Sharp shroud was on the low end from practice, but Physical Enhancement had fully restored since infusion control. He had no confidence in a five-on-three confrontation. Wracking his brain, Caeden tried to come up with a non-confrontational solution.

“Liliana, you answer me when I’m talking to you!”

“Oh my shroud,” Lily sighed. “I don’t want to talk to you, Ander. I thought I made that clear a long time ago!” She shifted her steps to pass by the other group, but her brother wasn’t having it, matching her actions, so his group blocked theirs.

“That’s not up to you.” Now that they were closer, Ander stopped shouting. He was staring intently at Lily, completely ignoring everyone else. He didn’t much look like Lily, now that Caeden had a moment to observe him. He was on the shorter side, with shoulder-length blond hair held back in a ponytail. His skin was deeply tan, almost bronze. Their builds were even different, with Lily being almost unhealthily thin, whereas Ander was stocky, but in a way that suggested he was well-muscled rather than fat. The only similarities were in some facial features. Both had sharp, refined cheekbones, and both had those storm-grey eyes.

Caeden stood silently beside Lily. He figured she could handle this, and if she wanted help, she could ask. He was busy trying to think of the best way to get them out of here before it escalated to a fight. The longer Lily and Ander talked, the more time he had.

“Despite what you think, that’s not true. Father was wrong. About you, about me. He was wrong about a lot of things.” Lily spoke softly, but with steel in her voice. Caeden felt like this was not the first time they’d had this exact conversation.

“Why do you keep saying that? You know it's not true. Father is a very smart man; he knows best.” Ander was cajoling, with an almost friendly attitude. “Now come with me. I know you were placed in the Core Seat. We’ll get that fixed up. You belong in the Sun Seat with me.” He opened his hand like he expected Lily to take it and walk off with him.

Caeden noticed every member of Ander’s group was wearing a pin on their robes depicting a circle with wavy lines radiating out from it rendered in gold, with a small sliver of amber-colored ether sitting in the middle of that circle. They even have emblems. Someone on the council is definitely trying to cause a divide among the students, and I think I know who. If you were paying attention, they couldn’t be more blatant about it if they tried. Caeden just wished he understood why.

“No, I’m not going with you! I’m glad I was put in the Core Seat. I don’t want to be around you!” Lily's voice cracked. She looked somewhere between pissed and tired.

“Why?” Ander’s face morphed, turning from the friendly niceness to unsuppressed rage. “Why are you always like this!? You’re my sister; you’re supposed to listen to me! Stop telling me no! Just shut up and do what I say! Don’t make me hurt you!” Lightning sparked across his fingers, causing Lily to flinch.

After flinching, Lily’s expression shifted to pure anger, matching her brother’s and exceeding it. “Fuck off, Ander! You don’t get to tell me what to do! I don’t care what our father said! I don’t have to listen to you! Leave! ME! ALONE!” Lily screamed.

Ander shot a lightning bolt at her.

Caeden wasn’t at all prepared to do anything about it, nor was he sure what he would have done.

Luckily, he didn’t have to do anything.

Erik, who literally everyone standing there had forgotten, absorbed in the little family drama unfolding before them, stitched Lily to himself and himself to the ground. Pulling her out of the way even as Ander threw his bolt. It streaked harmlessly down the road.

Seeing that attack fly by sparked Caeden’s memory. “We’re under attack outside of a sanctioned and agreed duel and request assistance!” He shouted into the air.

Immediately, a figure dropped out of the sunny sky and landed in between the two groups. They wore a robe and face covering that completely hid all their features, the entire set completely black.

“Shit,” Ander cursed. He looked at Caeden, naked anger written across his face. “I challenge you to a duel!”

Caeden thought about that for a moment. “Right now?”

“Yes!” Ander spat.

“No rules, until the other gives up?”

“Yes!”

“Sure,” Caeden turned to the robed figure, “Please adjudicate.” They nodded.

It’s not like he could do anything else. Caeden mused. He had caught Ander completely. From what he had read in the rule book, students could fight each other wherever they wanted, and the school wouldn’t interfere. It was assumed a duel had been proposed unless someone deliberately said otherwise. But by calling Ander out, Caeden had put him up for discipline. The only out he had was to get into a sanctioned duel. Caeden could have just let him get taken away.

This was fine, though.

Under the rules he had proposed, there was no way Caeden was going to lose.

To begin, they had to back up until they were twenty feet apart. Then, the Adjudicator, or that’s what the rule book called them, raised a hand between them. Then he dropped it, and the duel was on.

Ander started conjuring up lightning bolts. Caeden was fine with that. He fully manifested Physical Enhancement, turning into a nine-foot-tall gold and purple behemoth, his robes barely remaining intact. Then he pulled out Forged Infinity. Caeden clicked a button, and the dial spun to 008. With a few mechanical buzzes and whirrs, Caeden was holding a dual-edged short sword. He clicked another button. The dial spun to 085.

Caeden had figured out early on that the transformations of his unusual weapon were fueled by a combination of his two shrouds. The higher the number, the more shroud it required. Over the last three weeks, whenever he reached his maximum capacity, he would pour the excess into Forged Infinity. Now, he had stored up enough to go into the hundreds.

He didn’t need to go that high.

With an aggressive hiss and loud ticks, his short sword unfolded again, expanding even further until he held a massive, two-handed broadsword. Its blade was six feet long; the flat of the blade was gold, with gaps between the unfolding joints showing purple. The edge was a deep crimson. It was as thick as the palm of his enlarged hand. Caeden felt the alien consciousness inside Forged Infinity waking up. As he fed the weapon over the last few weeks, he had felt that intelligence almost fall asleep, content. Now, it was awake. Ready for a fight.

Eager.

“You can’t use that!” Ander protested.

Caeden laughed. “You agreed to no rules. It’s not my fault you didn’t bring a weapon.”

“Arrgh!” Ander screamed, flinging bolts of lightning. This wasn’t like their encounter in the Bronze Seat, though. Caeden was enhanced beyond the limits of the human body. The bolts struck him and fizzled out. They didn’t even singe his enhanced skin. Caeden saw a look of panic flicker over Ander’s face.

He held his hands in front of himself, blue arcs flickering back and forth, building in intensity.

Caeden had no interest in letting him.

Slamming his foot into the ground, Caeden launched himself in a horizontal leap that easily carried him the twenty feet he needed to be right on top of Ander. The lightning wielder actually let out a surprised squeak before launching a bolt the width of his fist right at Caeden’s face.

Caeden, with his enhanced speed and reflexes, interposed his sword between himself and the lightning. It struck the flat of the blade, and Caeden felt Forged Infinity's consciousness rip into the energy, dissolving it. Well, that’s nice.

Shifting his grip, Caeden brought the sword down. The edge was on a collision course with Ander’s head.

Letting out another inarticulate scream, Ander finally did what Caeden had been waiting for. He tried an invasion. His shroud whipped out with all the speed of lightning, a violent mesh of eye-achingly bright blue and white intertwined, heading right for Caeden.

Unfortunately for Ander, Caeden had two shrouds.

He slammed a line of Sharp straight into every grasping probe. He couldn’t stop Ander; his shroud was much stronger than Caeden’s. But he could absolutely slow him down enough to finish this swing.

Caeden’s sword continued on uninterrupted. He stared into Ander’s eyes, fully ready to cut the man’s head in half.

Ander seemed to realize at the last moment that Caeden was completely ready and willing to kill him here and now. He dropped his invasion attempt and focused every ounce of shroud he could muster on stopping Caeden’s sword directly. Forged Infinity started tearing chunks out of his shroud the second it made contact.

Feeling the sword eating his shroud, Ander’s eyes bugged out. “Shit!”

“Give up. You have no chance.” Caeden reasoned. He finally added his left hand to the grip of his sword, adding more pressure. Ander’s knees buckled.

“Fuck you!” He screamed.

“Those are some terrible last words. Want to reconsider?” Caeden responded conversationally.

Ander stared at him, pure hatred in his eyes. “...Fine. Fuck you.”

Caeden lifted his sword off the wall of Ander’s shroud, which immediately dissipated. He tried to stand back up, but his legs gave out, and he ended up on the ground.

Caeden released Physical Enhancement, returning to his normal proportions. He suddenly found it much harder to keep a hold of his sword, so he reverted Forged infinity back to its base state. He could feel its consciousness express frustration with the brevity of the fight. It resented being used for only a few minutes.

There wasn’t much Caeden could do about that, so he chose to ignore it. Keeping the fight short had been the whole point, after all. If he had let the fight drag out, Caeden had no illusions that he would have lost. After all, Ander had a much higher IP. If it had turned into a battle of attrition, he wouldn’t have been able to last. He was only sure he could win because of the massive burst potential he had with both Physical Enhancement and Forged Infinity.

“The victor is Caeden.” the Adjudicator spoke, their voice a strange buzz that removed any kind of identifiable quality from their voice. “As this was not a battle for rank, a penalty can be leveled against the losing party. No penalty was agreed upon prior to the duel, so the severity will be reduced.”

“Yeah, I know,” Caeden nodded. “Let's go with, Ander can’t get within a hundred feet of Lily for the maximum amount of time my penalty allows.”

“That is acceptable. For a period of three weeks, Ander Meteoris may not approach within a hundred feet of Lily Meteoris. An Adjudicator will be assigned to ensure this penalty is fulfilled.”

“Great.” Caeden turned to Erik and Lily. “Let’s get going. We have class.”

{}

Caeden watched Lily. He could tell she was upset, but not what about. He hoped she wasn’t mad at him. He had seen an opportunity to give her some breathing room and took it. But he could understand her not wanting him to interfere in her own problems. Ultimately, he decided to just ask.

“Lily, if I overstepped at all-”

“No!” She interrupted. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll admit a part of me wants to tell you that I can take care of myself but,” She took a deep breath and let out a sigh, “That isn't true. Ander’s Lightning shroud can cut right through mine. As far as he goes, I do need help. So no, I’m not mad at you.”

“What’s up with that anyway?” Erik asked, “I thought he would have Weather.”

“He does.” Lily nodded.

“Then the lightning is just part of that?” Caeden asked.

“Oh,” Lily face-palmed, “You guys don’t know. Of course.”

“This is something else that’s common knowledge?” Caeden was starting to get annoyed at how many things were just a fact of life for islanders.

“Yeah,” Lily shot him an apologetic look, “before we left for school, our father got Ander’s shroud splintered. I don’t know how it works exactly, but two shrouds can interact in a way that breaks one of the shrouds into two shrouds. So Ander had Weather, and now he has Weather and Lightning.”

“So people can just become dual-shrouded?” Caeden huffed. “It really isn’t rare at all, then.”

“No, it's not the same thing.” Lily shook her head. “You can only use one splinter at a time. So Ander has to pick between Weather and Lightning. He really likes lightning.”

They walked on for a bit. Caeden could still feel that Lily was in a funk. He knew there wasn’t anything he could do to fix the underlying issue. Lily had been marginalized and abused by her family for years, from what he could tell. There was nothing he could do or say to make that better, to make that ok. Because it wasn’t ok. He just wanted to get her mind off of it. So he thought about anything he could say to shift her focus.

“Hey, Lily.”

“Yeah?”

“I had a question, and I figured you might know the answer.”

“Ok?”

“Well, I noticed that Miss Saorise had an arm made of some shiny black material. Do you know what’s up with that?”

“Oh! Yeah, absolutely!” Lily smiled. Something in her eyes as she looked at him let Caeden know that she knew what he was doing. “So, this has to do with another thing you guys don’t know, and it actually applies to you in particular, Caeden.”

“Cool.” He had asked to try and shift Lily’s mood, but learning something new was always good.

“So, Captain Saorise lost her right arm in an accident as a child. She’s from the continents, by the way. What she has now is because she reached embodiment. See, when you become skilled enough at infusion, you can have a sort of epiphany. Then, you can transform into a powerful monster, and you become immortal. A side effect is that any injuries you sustained naturally will be restored in a similar form to the monster that is your embodiment.” She glanced at Caeden, “That’s why her arm is like that.”

Caeden rubbed the gap in his left hand. “Interesting.”