Seth's consciousness drifted the instant his head touched the pillow, and he came again to the dark tower. He started off with spring the second his feet touched the cobbled floors. Nothing ever changed, and he never got tired here, so he saw no reason to walk. Every moment mattered after all.

The body laid on the ramshackle worktable, inert and mute. It hadn't spoken since that first time it had.

"Things are not looking up, Akande," he said as he strolled up. "I still can't figure out what happened the morning of Judgement, and now everything is falling apart. My combats instructor is a bitch, by the way, I can't talk to Ellie, and the plan is not looking very good. Worst yet, my teacher wants nothing to do with me."

He rest both hands on the table and stared at the cadaver. The resemblance was uncanny. He let out a long sigh. "I suppose we should begin our tests for the night."

Seth dipped his hand in one of the many blood stains and began to write. He started with the Curor rune and traced some of the runes on the doors he'd memorized. They were still mysteries to him, and two hard nights of study had borne no fruit, but he was hopeful. Time was the greatest luxury of dreaming in the dark tower. It moved differently.

Stepled fingers worked in unnatural ease, borne from tracing all 300 runes dozens of times. When he stepped back to get a clear view and chose one from the third row. His eyes followed the curves, drank in its details, and compared it Curor.

It gave nothing away.

None of them had so far. He'd scrawled them on the cadaver's forehead, but none of them spoke to him as Curor had.

The runes were vital to adding dimensions of Curor, and making new spells. He knew it, and it just frustrated him that he had no access to literature, texts, tomes, or any materials written in the language. His plans hinged so desperately on understanding them.

What I'd give for that blood mage's grimoire. Unhinged though he was, Tamir's mastery of Blood magic was exquisite. It was a shame the memory of its disappearance escaped him.

Seth started with a rune at the center-- a climbing, bending rune-- and scratched it on his doppelganger's head. He shut his eyes and looked inward when he was done and waited for inspiration to come, as it had before, but nothing called. The next one yielded no results, neither did the 15 that followed, but he remained undeterred. Next, he moved on to strapping elemental glyphs he'd seen on divine runes and artifacts, and tried matching several others with Curor, but nothing took. His waking breath came out as a sigh when he sat up from his bed in his small quarter room.

It reminded him a lot of his childhood room-- boxy and simple. They'd been provided with the bare essentials: a bathroom, a wardrobe, a table, and meditation mat.

A look out his window told him that sunrise was still a few hours away, so he settled into the lotus position eager to meditate before the bustle of the day started. Everything would change starting from the second week. After introduction to the basics, their training will ramp up. Each class will last twice as long. Blissful mornings like these would be rare, and as for channeling without guidance, he'd be careful. He didn't need Penta's hand-holding.

He stepped into his mind space and separated from his body as he'd done the day before, and pulled with a singular focus. The light was not as abundant but it was enough to fill his core after nearly a whole hour of channeling. Like Penta had advised, he didn't stop pulling after his core had emptied. He was looking to trigger core expansion.

Light mana pressed hard against his core wall, pushing it until he felt a pulse of euphoric mana pulse from the accumulation runes that dressed it. His core shuddered and began to grow bit by bit. He smiled at this and observed, and just before it reached its limit, the orb sitting deep in his core flared and began to pull. It swallowed half of the mana in his core in seconds, halting the expansion and leaving Seth sitting there with his forehead throbbing with a thick vein.

At least now I know what happens when I try to fill my core. It might take longer, but it's still...possible.

Seth climbed to his feet with a stretch, slipped into his shower, cleaned up, and settled down on the small table and chair in his room. Beside him, stood a tower of hard leather books with ornate spines decorated in silver and gold lines. His hand drifted to the middle and be plucked Basic Glyphs: An Introduction to Rune Chains.

A talk with the store clerk had helped him decide on his first few reads on the list that Medzka had given him. He'd gotten the money he needed from Ellie before visiting a shop closer to the Upper Ring gates. The young masters that applied to study at Medkza workshop favored ten books, two of which were written by the man himself. Turned out, Medzka was a bit of a modern Legend.

"Hundreds of houses train their youngest and brightest Blessed from the moment they awaken to study under him. He drew the runes for Communication Crystals when he was 17, drew several cannon schematics, and is researching something he calls solid light. Are you sure you're interested in Runes?" the clerk said when Seth threw him a question.

Cheeky, though the clerk was, his revelation set a fire under Seth. He was even more determined to make the best of the opportunity. He sought to approach studying non-chronologically, starting with a few intermediate texts before jumping to the Ten Tomes and circling back to finish the remaining books, if he could. There were fifty of them in total.

He'd no sooner read through the first chapter than he heard a knock.

"Seth. Can you step out?" a voice asked.

"Ellie?"

--

Ellie led them to the farthest ring on the Tower's property. It was past the sparring rings and lecture halls, workshops, and quarters.

"I remember coming here while I studied here. It was my favorite place to train and think and fight." She said and sucked in air. "I'm glad to see it hasn't changed."

The floors were cracked from impact shots, the corners were covered with dust, the drain grill was rusting.

"What are we doing here, Ellie?" He said, directing his attention to her. "I have a thick book to cram my way through and a thousand other things to worry about."

She gave no reply and he watched her stroll off to the far corner and return with two wooden swords. She flung one to him and he easily caught it. The wooden was solid; its grain darker than any he'd ever seen, yet it was chipped all over. It'd seen heavy use.

"You want to spar?" Seth asked, confused. "We have classes for that, don't we?"

Ellie seemed to deliberate a bit before she spoke. "You're angry Seth, and you need to talk to me. I thought a spar could help you do that. I know you'll never say no to a good fight," She shot him a wry smile and flicked the wooden sword up.

Seth observed, his face impassive. "There's no point." He let the wooden sword clatter to the floor."You'd win."

"So, you're admitting you're weaker, then?"

He saw through her bait easily enough, but it still prickled him. "Of course, I am. I have two shitty runes, you have five, and that's not counting the ones that are coming. It's hardly a fair fight."

"So, it's about the runes then?"

"I'll see you in class Ellie," Seth said and tucked around to leave. It was then she spoke.

"I was alone after my first judgment and I remember those days like it was yesterday."

Her words held him in place though he planned to return to his room.

"I wanted to go back home, to you, but I had to complete General training before I was allowed family visit outside Brightmont. I cried to sleep for the first few days and spent every day after the first week getting put on my ass. Eventually, I fell behind in every class and exercise. It was the most frustrating six months of my life."

Seth was facing her now, hanging onto every word. She rarely spoke of her time at Brightmont.

Her eyes met his. They weren't cold or sharp as they usually were. "Your situation is far dire than mine was. Your runes might as well be handicaps according to the General, and you don't speak to Sera and Brick anymore. You need someone to talk to."

He did, but he related if he began, he would not stop, not until he was finished. There was too much to say. The rage licked at him. Like a smoldered flame, it thirsted for release.

Silence reigned between them for a moment as the rage churned and raged. His eyes glowed unnaturally blue, and he grunted out, "you want to fight? Let's fight,"

He snatched the wooden sword a few feet from him and pointed the blade at her.

Ellie's body eased into a fencing stance, the emotion completely bleeding from her face. "Whenever you're ready," she said.

The words had scarcely left her lips when he snapped at her and struck with a quick thrust. She stepped to the side like it was the easiest thing in the world, guarding away from her, and counterstruck with a devastating cut that made the practice sword groan. It snapped hard against Seth's own as he parried and followed up with a cut of his own. She reversed again, and he took several steps back to avoid a thrust.

"You've gotten better." She spoke with clear ease.

"It's the new runes. As shitty as they are, they give a passive boost."

"I know. It's just a compliment, Seth."

With a grunt, Seth stepped forward with a cut, which Ellie parried, but he followed with a second and third one which would have caught her had she not stepped back in time. She moved back into range and flipped the flow with two powerful stabs forcing Seth in the backfoot. The first one he somehow managed to block and the second nearly took him right in the chest before something flared up inside him, and his wooden sword sped up.

With a crack, he beat back the thrust tearing her blade from her wrist and he struck out with the flat of his palm. Ellie's eyes went wide for a moment before she sidestepped it and stepped back.

"Quite the increase." She said bringing her palms up. "I'd like to see the limits of it."

What was that? Seth thought as he stared at his sword hand. He'd felt his passive boost, and this was something more. A voice told him to be wary of it, but looking up at his sister, her stance, confidence, he buried that voice. He fell into a stance too, raising both his hands, and cleared his mind with a quick breath

Ellie dashed towards him, eating up the space between them in steps, and rushed him with three lightning-fast jabs. He weaved all three and powered forward with a wide hook. She planted her on his inner thigh and pushed to trip him and he crumbled awkwardly to the ground, but not without grappling the offending leg. He pulled, leveraging his weight, and twisted to seize, and with another maneuver, ensnaring her torso. His heart pumped the entire time he moved. She budged once, twice, and tapped his shoulder for release.

"You are faster too," she said in deep breaths as she squared her shoulder again. She wiped her nose and gestured for him to come.

"You want to go again?" Seth asked, a bit taken aback.

"For as long as it takes."

Seth considered walking away. The sun was rising and their first class was about to begin, but he wanted to know more, and she was right; he was faster.

He charged at her raining down blows, and as he'd predicted, she weaved through them, moving faster than him, never striking back. A twang of rage blossomed as he watched her move. He was pushing as hard as he could, and she flowed like water.

And she hadn't even used her runes. He had to get serious.

He pulled back huffing, and he announced. "I'm lighting up my runes."

Ellie nodded again like he hadn't just said what he'd said. He drew mana from his core and pumped mana into his aura. At first, the torrent overwhelmed him, rooting his limbs and stealing his breath, but with a strong pull, he bled the flow until it was barely a trickle; something he could easily sustain. He took a bold step forward, and he nearly jerked off his feet from the sheer kick. His eyes went wide at that and his Sister waited on him, patiently, waiting for him to learn to walk. She offered no words of encouragement of platitudes, seemingly satisfied to simply watch him learn to walk himself.

He took a second, surer step, and a third one, and soon, he could move, and he struck. He bounded at her, dragging his fist behind, and Ellie flared her runes, and with the back of her palm, guided the fist away. Frustrated, he bulled into her with a high knee, and she crossed her hand to block the shot and skid back from the impact. Seth whipped out with his fist again, looking to end things, but before he connected, Ellie de-materialized in a streak of light. He fell through side-first and landed on his side. Clarity came with the bruise to his side, and the wild energies pumping within came to a still. His Aura rune had potential, far more than he understood, he realized. With enough training, and perhaps the right weapon, his sole Aura rune could really shine.

"They're very powerful, for a pair of useless runes," Ellie said. Her voice came from across the ring.

"Yeah." He called back, quite not knowing what to say. He'd have everyone write him off since he'd gotten his runes two days back. The pity, the concern, and backhanded jabs and digs. They'd all gotten to him. "I'm sorry for blowing you off," he said. " I just sort of wrote myself off, without ever intending to. These runes might not be the death of me, after all."

Ellie's body turned white and in a streak, she materialized in front of him. "They won't be, I promise. I only had one rune when I served at the borderlands and I didn't even have a core back then. You're in a much better place than I was."

That much was true, but their situation was not the same. "It's just that after everything... I deserve more." He'd bled for the Empire, nearly died protecting their interests. Was it too much to ask to be judged fairly like they all were?

"You will have more," Ellie said, grabbing his shoulder. "The General said you'd be ready to take the runes promised three months from now. You will be stronger than you know, and your next judgement will be even better."

She was right of course, but for him, he'd discovered, it was not entirely about the runes. "I...just wished they hadn't treated me like dirt, in front of the entire ruling class of Brightmont." And stuck a fucking bomb in my chest, he thought.

She had no sagely wisdom too offer at that. It was sometime before she spoke. "I grew up thinking the Gods cared for us, or at the very least, they were fair. It was why I wanted to be a knight in the first place."

"I remember." It was all she talked about when they were children. She'd train with father every morning and train with the rapier until he returned in the evening. Every child in the village envied her dedication, and it'd all been held up by the belief that the god favored talent and hard work. Even a nameless child could grow to challenge a God, a verse in the first chapter of Gaia's edict read. All under the heavens could rise to become more.

"When I joined the army, I grew to realize the gods were once mortals just like us. They're now all-powerful and far beyond our understanding, but they once walked this earth and were just as fallible. You can't trust people to keep their words, and that is why I'd rather not be at their mercy. I will chart my way to the top of the Empire cutting deals, navigating social situations, and taking every advantage I can get."

Her words struck a chord in him and made him rethink. Suddenly, her borderland deal didn't seem as selfish and impractical. It'd be better than the alternative: getting fucked without a backup plan like the General's deal. The deal had its own problems, but it was protection at the very least.

"You know, I never pictured you as the Head of a proud line of Ryall knights?" Seth gave a wry smile.

"One step at a time," she smiled back. "We'll become spoiled and powerful yet. We might even get one of those fancy mansions."

"Only if it has an equally fancy workshop at the back. Have you seen Medzka's workshop?"

She chuckled.

"Thank you," Seth said after a moment. "I really needed that."

She waved him off. "I did too. I haven't had a good spar since I arrived at Brightmont. That little stunt with the Dragonkin brothers doesn't count." She stretched her neck and walked over to pick her wooden sword, and he did the same. By the time we're ready to leave, it was already daybreak, classes were starting soon.

"Ellie," Seth called out. "What do you think about doing this again, tomorrow?"

"You want to start our ritual of daily spars again?" Before they both joined the army, they'd spar every morning and evening, an hour each.

"Every bit of practice matters if I have only six months before they send me off to duty." He needed space to experiment and fight, holding nothing back, and it was also a chance to reconnect with her. Their relationship hadn't really been the same since the Blackfire Mission.

She eagerly nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then." She waved at him and hurried off. Seth smiled back and looked at his balled fist. He could hardly wait to discover what they were capable of.