"No."
Sierra stopped, already halfway to the exit. She glanced back over her shoulder, expression cautious. Perhaps she'd misheard him?
One look at his stoic expression revealed that she had not.
"Alarion-"
"How is she even here?" Alarion asked over Sierra's objection, looking past the girl to see Valentina watching from the edge of her desk, a familiar coin rolling between her fingers.
"She showed up two days ago, asking to see you. Quite an unusual request. Most wouldn't want to waste an opportunity like this just to retrieve another participant." Valentina's words suggested she had no idea why Sierra had come or that Alarion was on a schedule. "Since it isn't likely to interfere with the challenge, I saw no reason to deny her request."
Sierra bristled at the words, and it was easy to understand why. Elena, ZEKE, and Valentina had all stressed the value of the challenge dungeon. For Sierra to waste her only opportunity, simply to retrieve him? If anything, her attitude was subdued.
"Your time here is up; I have been tasked with retrieving you. Gather your things and collect your reward. We need to-"
"Stop. Please." He held up a hand to forestall Sierra's comments as the girl looked ready to explode. "I am not leaving until I have finished the challenge or hit a wall."
"Alarion-"
"No!" This time, the word was firm. Unambiguous.
Sierra's mouth hung open in surprise, forming and discarding sentences as she parsed his words. The Alarion who'd entered the dungeon didn't use the word no. Not like this. Not when ordered. He was stubborn, yes, but he was pliant to the demands of his tutors. If they gave him an open-ended task, the results could be… unpredictable. But when he was ordered to do something, Alarion obeyed.
Until now.
"And when will you be ready?" Sierra asked at last. She recognized a losing battle when she saw one.
"I have completed five challenges. There are three more ahead."
"Three?!" Sierra snapped. The harsh word made Valentina shift on her perch, and Sierra adjusted her tone. "That is wholly unacceptable. You were given thirteen days, and no more.
"Unacceptable or not, this is my decision," Alarion answered, his voice measured and calm as he refused. "They want me to be strong. This is how I become strong."
"I am not asking you-"
"But I am telling you," he persisted. "The skills I have learned already are beyond what ZEKE thought was possible. I would be an idiot to let this go to waste. I will leave when this is finished. Not before."
Even Alarion was surprised at the forcefulness of his response. He was keenly aware of the mace held tight in his grip and the short distance between himself and Sierra. He'd grown by leaps and bounds since his arrival, but Sierra was much stronger to begin with. Just how much of that gap had he closed?
Was he about to find out?
Sierra eyed him steadily. There was a soft click in the air as her jaw popped amidst her grinding teeth. "Are you a liar, then? You swore-"
"I swore nothing." Valentina's persistent nagging about his benefactors had caused Alarion to re-evaluate the events that had brought him here. If he was certain of one thing, it was that he'd made no promise. Elana had never asked for his word. She didn't think she had to. "They told me I had a deadline. I never once agreed to it, let alone swore to obey it. You of all people taught me I should not make feckless promises."
He'd expected the words to infuriate Sierra, to drive the confrontation to a violent end. Instead, they sparked something behind her ice-blue eyes. Curiosity? Amusement? A thin smile touched her lips, then the girl snorted with laughter despite herself.
Valentina and Alarion exchanged confounded looks before Sierra explained, "That was a very Vitrian answer, Alarion."
"So-"
"I can not stop you," the girl sighed, glancing at Valentina as the moment's tension deflated. "Unless I can appeal to-"
"Absolutely not," Valentina said with a winning smile.
"Then perhaps your better nature, Alarion? You might escape punishment with that reasoning, but the governor will not look favorably on my failure."
That gave him pause. He knew well enough that Dar could be a cruel, even violent man. How badly would they punish her for his decision? More importantly, was he willing to live with the consequences?
"Will the punishment be severe?"
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"Knowing the governor? It is hard to say." Sierra answered. When Alarion appeared dissatisfied with her answer, she asked, "If I told you I would be killed, would that change your mind?"
"If it were truthful, yes. But if it were true, you'd have led with that," Alarion countered, to Sierra's dismay. "I decided hours ago, during my last challenge. There is nothing you can say or do that will change my mind. I will tell them as much."
"Small comfort," Sierra scowled.
"Still better than none at all."
With that, Alarion lifted his arm, wrist cocked at a slight angle as he offered the Vitrian apology she'd taught him—the Tuluus. Sierra smiled wanly, hesitating for a moment before lifting her arm to meet his. As apologies went, it felt hollow to do so while still committing to the misdeed, but the thought behind it was everything.
Alarion's arm passed neatly through Sierra's as they touched, her wrist turning into motes of dust under the slight pressure, then reforming just as quickly on the other side.
"What-?"
"She is fine," Valentina said to soothe Alarion's obvious distress. "I did not think it prudent, putting the two of you in the same physical space. For all the girl's smiles, I am certain she would have tried to drag you out against your will if given the opportunity."
Alarion scoffed at the idea until he saw Sierra's expression. The girl was sheepish, looking anywhere but at him as she stepped away from their attempt at reconciliation.
He supposed he would have done the same in her shoes.
Sierra broke the silence with a question, "So, what next?"
"Sleep," He answered. Only one door remained at Alarion's back, an endurance challenge. As the sixth challenge, it promised to be more dangerous than those that came before, though curiously, it was marked with only a single gem. The possibility of failure, but not death. Delving in while half asleep seemed like a terrible idea. "With luck, it should only take a few more days."
"Then I will wait here."
"No." Valentina slipped off the corner of her desk and walked toward Sierra with renewed purpose. "I have humored you thus far, but this is not a social club. If you wish to remain, you will face lessons of your own. He doesn't need you hovering over his shoulder and rushing him."
"I do not inte-"
"I am so sorry, Madam, visiting hours are over." Valentina raised her hand, and Sierra vanished with a snap of her fingers. She lingered briefly, staring at the space where Sierra had been, then turned to Alarion with a smirk. "I see now why you're considering a return to your benefactors. She is gorgeous."
Alarion ignored the jibe as best he could, though there was no fighting the color that filled his cheeks at the implication. "Is she alright?"
"As safe as anyone in one of Mother's dungeons. I severed her connection to this space so she can focus on her own attempts. I'll allow you two to reconnect after the next challenge. In case you wish to take her up on her offer to depart."
"Subtle," Alarion mumbled as he set his mace against the nearby wall and unraveled the binding from his right arm. "Was my performance better or worse than expected?"
Valentina met his eyes with a cool stare, inviting him to guess. When he didn't take the bait, she made a dismissive gesture to the heavens. "Mother thought that you would fail. But I had faith."
Something about Valentina's voice and the pointed way she avoided looking up caused Alarion to wonder. "It is a crime to lie in Vitria."
"Well, I'm not in Vitria am-" Valentina paused, her face scrunching up in annoyance as she realized her slipup. "We both thought you'd fail, but Mother gave me outstanding odds on your success. So, I took the bet."
Alarion considered asking what it was that a god wagered with, but decided against it. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. "I should sleep."
"You should, but first, your reward," Valentina agreed, offering him a hefty tome.
Selica Gareris' Meditations on Meditation [Exceptional]
Description: Written in 24 A.T.S. this scroll offers a detailed description of basic Kel-Taran Meditation. A cornerstone in the modern evolution of the Thoughtborn, Kel-Taran Meditation is renowned the world over for its regenerative properties and improvements to core mental focus. This text serves as a beginner's primer and is filled with dozens of diagrams, exercises, and core philosophical arguments.
Requirements: Awakened (Any one class level)
Type: Imbuement.
Effects: Instantly gain the skill [Kel-Taran Meditation]. If the user already possesses this skill, instead, add one level to this skill. Additionally, review of this book for a minimum of one hour per day will add a 25% XP growth to the [Kel-Taran Meditation] skill.
The young man wasted no time triggering the item, the new knowledge it revealed stressing his already exhausted body. Alarion closed his eyes and leaned against a nearby wall for nearly a minute until the headache and nausea dimmed, then turned his attention to the skill description.
Kel-Taran Meditation [Exceptional]
Description: An offshoot of traditional meditation techniques, practitioners of Kel-Taran Meditation focus on the externalization of internal energies. Expulsion of negative energies is practiced to promote rapid regeneration and healing, while the expulsion of positive energies is used for creative purposes.
Requirements: None.
Type: Active
Effects: While actively meditating, the user regenerates all resources at an increased rate of up to 100% + 5% per level of this skill. In addition, this skill can enhance the effectiveness of most crafting skills. This enhancement is greatly increased during the creation of new Thoughtborn entities.
Growths: INT +4. WIL +4.
"This would have been nice to have," Alarion muttered.
"Perhaps. But putting my thumb so heavily on the scale to correct your misstep would have been cheating," Valentina admitted as the young man idly flipped through the pages of his new book. "If you'd developed a meditation skill during your challenge, it likely would have been weaker than this one, so it isn't all bad."
"But then I would have gotten a different reward."
"That is what you get for cheating," Valentina shot back. Her weak smile held for a moment before it faltered at the edges. "Have you considered my offer? Or hers, for that matter?"
Alarion looked to where Sierra had stood only minutes before. "Should I consider it?"
"The sixth challenge is no laughing matter. Most surrender at this point, and the smart ones do it before they start the challenge. I cannot decide for you, but you have already made considerable progress." The older woman shrugged as she finished her thought. "You know my opinion on your masters."
"I do," Alarion admitted, somewhat put off by her demeanor. She seemed… distressed at the idea that he would continue. "Let me sleep on it?"
Valentina nodded gently, but they both knew what he meant.
Alarion was not the type to quit.
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