Posted by Aker who had been listening earnestly as Vance spoke was able to understand what he was trying to convey. Ultimately before someone could truly walk a path whole heartily, they had to choose it for themselves. Even if Vance already knew the answer Aker was going to give, it was important that Aker consciously made the decision for himself.
It was only an instant between Vance asking the question and Aker’s voice filled with willpower reaching his ear “I understand that even if I go about practicing my skills, researching, studying and growing my strength quietly I will never be left alone. There will always be someone who wants what I have, wants to oppress me or use me for their own gain. Even if I disregard that, I still have a heavy price to pay back to whoever took me from my home, and after watching the brutality of Alex, I owe him as well. I can never let either of them go!……” Aker’s eyes were full of conviction as well as a hint of rage as he spoke. As the words left his mouth and entered the universe it was as if he was speaking it into existence, not just for Vance but as to affirm his own resolve as well.
“I will listen to Master and follow your guidance as I fight and grow my strength. If I need to temper my mind and body to increase my strength in war, then I’m ready to do that. I understand I need to practice harder and develop my skills as well as try and take on more of them. In this universe you never truly know when an ability can push the enemy to the brink or save your life, having more abilities is having more strength, it’s a concept I understand….” After saying this much Aker paused and took a deep breath before he continued.
“Admittedly I have never killed a person and the thought of it makes me queasy. To walk to the apex on a mountain of bones? To destroy and kill without a thought or reason? I’m not certain I could do that and to be honest I don’t believe I want to be that kind of person. However, if you were to ask me if I could kill Alex if he were to stand before me, I believe I wouldn’t hesitate. If I was to face the one who stole me away and tossed me into The Pit as garbage, I think I can take their life. Until I’m face to face with the reality, I can only guess at what I would do.” As Aker spoke Vance could see the dilemma Aker was in. Those merciless and cold-blooded killers such as Alex are raised from birth to view everyone and everything beneath as less than human. For him to torture and kill is natural, would someone feel anguish over killing a chicken? An ant? A fly?
For Aker, who viewed even his enemies as human was struggling with the idea of taking a life, but to his enemies Aker is just garbage and taking his life is the same as tossing something in the trash.
“Hahahahaha…..You’re not the same as those bastards and you should never try and be. In the future I will tell you this. If you want to kill, then kill! If you want to be merciful, then be merciful! The people around you, are they important to you? Those bastards are the same people who consider themselves strong and above everyone else. Anyone they consider weak is nothing more than an insect and it is the honor of the weak to die at the hands of the strong. To kill your enemy without hesitation, someday I hope that you can become that kind of person. To respect life and those that are weaker than you I also hope you can be that kind of person. One does not have to exist without the other just because those bastards treat it as such!”
Vance’s words resonated in Aker’s ears and reached all the way to bottom of his soul. How could Aker not understand after spending over two years in The Pit, where every day was death and hopelessness. He had made a conscious decision to not be consumed by it, had he not, he would have been swallowed up by despair too many times to count.
Someday soon, as he walked this path, he would have to take a life and when he did, he realized that didn’t have to change him into a cold and heartless killing animal he had seen in Alex and others.
As Aker thought of it, he realized that Vance must have taken lives in the past……..No, not just Vance but Mavis, Sampson, Cap and even probably Dr. Life & Death.
As Aker considered the slight hesitation in his heart began to melt away, and he began to come to terms with it. While he hadn’t crossed that bridge yet, in the future it was guaranteed to happen. When it did, while he may suffer some, he felt he would be able to overcome it quickly due to Vance’s lesson today.
Aker was already headed on the path of a magic fighter, but it wasn’t until now that he truly understood what that meant. While the people in the universe may have been raised killing people and thought of it as normal and expected, for Aker who came from earth, this was his struggle. Vance’s guidance might not make the sting go away, but it had helped Aker come to terms with it and will certainly help him in the future.
Getting the answer, he wanted from Aker, Vance nodded before breaking into a bright smile. Perhaps this was the only time Aker had ever seen Vance candidly smile in their two years “Let’s get out of here”.
Vance stepped back down and out of the arena toward the foyer as he called out to Aker.
Aker paused and stared down at the arena where he had fought every day for the last couple of years. He couldn’t help but reminiscence about the boy who was first tossed a knife and without any explanation led to those two giant doors. Before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of a giant arena fighting and struggling for his life as the crowd cheered his every movement hoping for his gruesome death.
Every day was a challenge and a struggle, in and outside of the arena. He had made The Pit his home and wondered when he was older would he look back on his time in The Pit as a place he grew up? While there were nightmarish and terrible memories, he also had good memories too. Aker had heard someone once say on earth “The darker the night was the brighter the dawn would be”.
With one last glance as if making up his mind, his will firm and his resolve unshakable “Someday I’ll finish it all right where it started….”. After those quiet words were uttered from his mouth he turned and followed after Vance not bothering to take another look.
As soon as Vance and Aker reached the foyer they were met by a teary-eyed Kara. Her dad had told her the plan and they had all decided that Sneed and Kara would meet up with Aker later. Sneed hadn’t told Kara about the two options Vance was going to offer Aker but every one of them already knew which Aker would choose.
Since that was the case there was no sense in Kara going along with Aker at this time. He was headed to war and none of them would let Kara battle along as well. Had she known that Aker was going to fight in the war with the Fenlon Empire she would have insisted on joining too. She only knew that Aker was finally getting out of The Pit and that her and Sneed would meet them within a year or two.
“Big Brother, Little Kara is going to miss you…. You won’t forget me, will you?” Kara couldn’t help but ask her watery tear-filled eyes full of depression, her sad demeanor was affecting everyone.
Even Vance seeing the sad scene was ready to tell Kara to just come along, but he steeled himself, bit his lip and didn’t say a word.
“How could I possibly forget about you, aren’t you my best friend? Every day we worked hard together and if it wasn’t for you my time in The Pit would have been much more miserable. There is for sure one thing I will remember about you though no matter what…” Aker told Kara with a smile in his eyes.
“What’s that Big Brother?” Kara’s head slightly tilted as she asked Aker, she was obviously very interested to know what the one thing Aker will remember.
“That no matter how much sugar you put in your desert sauce it won’t help when someone adds a sour powder to it…. hahahahahahaha……how many times did you try and make that sauce over and over again? Every single time you threw it away and stared at it so confused as you were trying to figure out why it was so sour, I would laugh until my gut hurt. Even now I’ll stay up at night laughing at the thought…hahahahahahaha……” Aker was making fun of Kara from one of the pranks he had played on her some time ago wherein he had been putting sour powder in her sweet sauce. Over and over again she would try and make it, but it always came out sour.
Kara’s tears dried up instantly and her pouty face turned angry. Kara was thinking that he’s laughing, and he didn’t even know the half of it. Back then when she went home, she would study and study so hard trying to figure out what was causing it to go sour. When she would try and make the same sauce at home it would be fantastic every time but when she tried in the kitchen it was so bitter. She was trying so hard to make it in the kitchen to show off to Aker and he was the one messing it up.
Kara had been crying since the moment that her dad told her that Aker would be leaving, and they wouldn’t be going with him. For the last hour this was the first time she had stopped.
Seeing that Kara was no longer crying Aker smiled even bigger “Let us go get everything set up and in place. Just keep studying your medicine and cooking and a year will go by fast. I hope that when I see you again, you’ll still be able to help me take care of patients and I’m really looking forward to trying a dish that I have never tried before from you.” Aker’s encouraging words helped alleviate some of the sting of separation. While Aker and Kara had only known each other for two years, for both of them they were important people.
Since she was little Kara could only lay in bed and outside of her dad there was nobody in her life. For Aker he was trapped in a small cell and if it wasn’t for Kara there would have been no one to grow up with.
Kara walked over and gave Aker a hug and then told him “You’ll see how much better I am when we meet again!” After her declaration she turned around and ran off, she didn’t want Aker to see her crying again.
Kara had already made her determination too. She wouldn’t just focus on her medical skill and cooking. How could she not understand Aker? Had anyone here spent more time with him? Done more with him? Talked with him more? She understood his capabilities and thought process well enough to know.
Aker wouldn’t limit himself to only medicine, forging and cooking. Could he abandon the path of a magic fighter? Kara had read plenty enough to know that if he was going to continue on the path of a magic fighter he would be fighting, life and death would become common place.
Aker’s comprehension would force him down many different paths. Already Kara’s dad Sneed had praised Aker’s magical engineer capacity. While Aker was not a high ranked magical engineer, he had the ability to do so. In fact, from Kara’s perspective there wasn’t anything Aker couldn’t do, it was only a matter of if he wanted to.
She hadn’t told Aker, but her dad had agreed to allow her to start her Body Conditioning. She hadn’t yet broken through the first level of Skin, but she should in the next week or so. She may not be able to keep pace with Aker, but she wouldn’t allow him to leave her behind either, not in skills or in the way of a magic fighter.
As Aker watched her run away his heart sank. Aker had put up a brave front for her, he had joked with her to make her angry and take her mind off of them separating, but for Aker it was a rough blow as well. Every day as Aker struggled and fought Kara had been by his side, she was his friend and someone who could push him.
Following Kara dashing away Dr. Life & Death walked up to Aker and as if he was talking to someone he didn’t know put a full medical bag in Aker’s hands “Keep working hard, the study of medicine is never ending. Until there are no people who need curing and help, keep pushing forward.”
After leaving the big medical bag with him and the one-line Dr. Life & Death turned and left, never an emotion to be seen.
Aker who was not like Dr. Life & Death struggled as the back got smaller and smaller. Dr. Life & Death was one of the first people he had met in The Pit and had treated him every time he came out of the arena. He didn’t just treat Aker but was also the teacher who put him on the path of medicine.
There was never a time that Aker asked a question of Dr. Life & Death that he didn’t have the answer for him. Even after all that Aker had learned, Dr. Life & Death’s skills and knowledge seemed endless.
“Thank you Teacher” the words came out no more than a whisper, no one could hear and with all the respect that Aker was capable of mustering he bent his waist giving his teacher a bow.
Following his goodbyes to both Kara and Dr. Life & Death, Aker and Vance left the Foyer and headed towards the transfer yard. The transfer yard was only a kilometer away from the arena and was also in the Slums of The Pit.
After being trapped and held prisoner in The Pit for more than two years Aker simply walked out behind Vance. As they walked out the guards even waved and greeted Vance. The guards had been discussing Alex and Aker’s battle as well as Aker’s tragic death. Of course, their conversation was quieter than a mosquito for fear of being overheard.
Aker who for the first time saw the world was astonished. As he looked into the sky, he couldn’t help but marvel as the ships were flying overhead. Seeing all the flying ships overhead created a massive contrast with the city they were walking through.
Above his head was a futuristic scene of flying aircrafts and at his feet was a society of people riding animals. The bars and taverns were lit with candles for light the flickering of small flames were everywhere his eye could see. Everyone wore combat robes whether it was the children running on the cobble stone roads or the adult merchants and their buyers.
The buildings themselves were dilapidated and run down; he would find it hard to call them much more than shacks. As he and Vance walked, they had passed by a couple of water wells, Aker couldn’t help but wonder if the people had running water to their homes.
Aker whose confusion finally exceeded his ability to hold it in asked Vance “How is it possible to have ships capable of traveling in space everywhere and at the same time not have simple indoor water and paved roads?”
Vance who hadn’t paid any attention as they were walking along was confused by Aker’s question “Only those that can afford to throw away nature stones have such luxurious accommodations such as running water. In order to get running water in a home you need a magic engineered system as well as the nature stones to provide it with water energy. Why would we use anything besides cobble stone for our roads? It works out perfect for the animals and beast used for transportation and is easy enough to walk on. Those ships you see flying use magic crystals as fuel which cost a significant amount of franar. The cost to fly that ship from one planet to another might be more than one of these households makes in ten years. The ships can do it as they are moving valuable merchandise, but these regular people could never afford to spend like that.”
Aker somewhat understood what Vance was trying to express. From the perspective of the people here the technology that allowed for space flight had nothing to do with the everyday living technology. As nature stones and magic crystals were so expensive normal households could never afford to use them for everyday accommodations.
It was this dependency and discrepancy that created the unrealistic scene that Aker was taking in. In one hand it was futuristic and on the other it was the Dark Ages.
Not wanting to delve into the issue any longer at this time, Aker continued to follow Vance, his head turned as though it was on a swivel. Every time they turned a corner Aker was taking in a new sight that seemed strange and new to him.
After a few minutes of walking they had finally reached the transfer yard and it wasn’t long until they were standing at Cap’s ship.
“What do you think, it’s a piece of junk isn’t it?” Cap who had hated her “garbage can” for so long couldn’t help but disparage it once again as she introduced it to Aker.
As Aker was now standing so close to it, he couldn’t help but be in awe. He instantly recognized the metal, the design and the engineering.
“Whoever built this used Greycium which is a strong metal alloy that can handle the vacuum of space easily. It is both sturdy to the heat generated by leaving the atmosphere and the cold of space. Its weight however makes it a far less ideal metal than Freicium which is even stronger against the elements and weighs ninety percent less. If you were to build this ship with Freicium it would increase the speed another two hundred percent.” Aker couldn’t help but contemplate on how he would improve the efficeincy of this ship.
“Also, if you redesign the ship….”
“We can discuss any topic you want later, right now it’s time to go. Is everything ready?” As Aker was beginning to consider the overall design and how he could improve it Vance interrupted him indicating it was time to leave.
“Everyone else is on board. Mavis is in his forge, Sampson and Baker are in the kitchen and all the other passengers are in their rooms. The only ones not on board are you and Aker.”
Hearing Caps words Vance walked across the draw bridge connecting to the ship and as soon as he entered the ship Cap turned to Aker and told him “Now it’s your turn…”
With Cap’s encouragement Aker stepped across the draw bridge entering the ship as well. Within a few minutes the ship carrying Aker was leaving the ground and headed out……for the first time since being abducted, experimented on, and thrown into The Pit as waste, Aker was leaving.