Kaia sits atop the snowy mountain. The sky is clear, and the sun is slowly nearing the horizon. The air is cold and so thin that any ordinary person would have trouble breathing. Kaia tries to hold her knife as steady as possible in both hands, but the raging pulse and fast, stressed breathing prevent her from doing so. Tears run down her cheeks and instantly freeze the moment they touch the snow.

  "I can't take this anymore. Why won't you leave me alone?"

  Her hands begin to tremble even more as she slowly guides the blade to her neck. The moment it touches her skin, she hesitates.

  "You can't do it! You are too weak!"

  The voice in her head mocks her. Kaia tenses up, and one last tear runs down her cheek. With one quick snap of her arms, she slices her throat. Blood shoots out, covering the knife, her hands, the snow in front of her, and drenching her clothes. She coughs and gargles blood as it begins to fill her lungs and slowly runs down her esophagus into her stomach. Her eyes close, her limp arms fall to the side, and the knife slips from her fingers.

  "YOU STUPID GIRL!"

  The voice yells at her. Kaia doesn't react, but then the wound heals, and by some strange force the blood is pressed out of her stomach and lungs and shoots out of her mouth, covering an even larger space in the snow. Eyes snapping open, Kaia gasps for air, and her hands move up, her fingers cautiously grazing her neck where the deep cut should be. The moment she feels nothing there, her panic reawakens and grows. Her heart rate rockets, and she hyperventilates.

  "No... no no no. This can't be!"

  The voice remains silent, and for the first time since she began to hear it, Kaia wishes it would say something. As the silent stretches of Kaia start to cry, she pulls her legs against her chest, wraps her arms tightly around them, and buries her face between her knees and chest. She has no idea how long it's been, but suddenly she can feel a familiar Soul-Pressure coming closer. Its presence soothes her body and soul surprisingly. With all her strength, she looks up and sees Teon slowly floating towards her. With tears still running down her cheeks, she whispers his name, a quiet call for help. His expression is full of terror as he looks at her and the surroundings.

  "What have you done?"

  The moment his feet touch the snowy ground, the voice in Kaias head seems to return back to life, aggressively urging her on to kill him.

  "NO!"

  Kaia yells out loud before falling silent again. Teon stops to move, his eyes roaming over her in confusion. After a few seconds Kaia tells him with a quivering voice to not take a single step closer. After that, she hides her face between her knees and chest again. Teon looks at her for a while before sitting down a few meters away. Some time passes, and the two are still just sitting there in silence. Kaia stopped crying and is resting her chin on her knees now, watching the horizon. Teon scoots closer to her, causing her to wince and tense for just a second. His hand slowly reaches for the knife lying near her. He grabs it before tucking it away in his pants. The two continue to sit there watching the sunset paint the sky in beautiful orange.

  "Want to go back? It starts to get cold even for us."

  "I'm not cold."

  Teon scoots closer again, cautious not to make any too sudden movements, until he sits right beside her. Then he feels it, a strong heat emitting from Kaias body; it's like she is boiling.

  "Your body is practically burning, Kaia!"

  "I said I'm not cold. I want to stay till the sunset is over. Is that okay?"

  Her voice is soft and quiet as she speaks. Her eyes never leave the giant, now red glowing disc, which slowly sinks deeper and deeper. Teon agrees with a gentle smile. Minutes after the sun is gone and the moon stands high up in the sky, glowing full, Teon stands up and holds out his hand.

  "Let's go."

  Kaia looks at him for the first time since he arrived there, and after a second of hesitation, she grabs his hand and stands up. They fly at a slow pace, never letting go of each other's hand.

  "Want to talk about why you did that?"

  Teon's voice sounds gentle. There is no blame in it, only genuine concern and care for Kaia. She shakes her head and tells him that she is not ready to do that right now but assures him that she will tell him and all of the others why. He nods understandingly and doesn't ask again. They remain silent for the rest of their flight back. It doesn't take long for them to arrive back at the base. From the distance they see Lucius and their friends waiting for them in front of the entrance gate. The moment they land, Max throws herself at Kaia, hugging her as tight as she possibly can. Kaia gasps and looks surprised.

  "Max... your clothes get dirty."

  "I don't care. I was so worried. Why are you covered in so much blood?!"

  Teon places a hand on Max's shoulder and pulls her away from Kaia, explaining that they will talk about everything that happened when Kaia feels ready for it. Max takes a deep breath and nods before taking Kaia's hand and guiding her inside.

  "You're going to take a hot shower and then eat something. Understood?"

  Kaia smiles slightly and follows along. Percy and Lloyd also go back inside to help Max take care of Kaia. Lucius and Teon remain outside. The moon shines bright down at them, and after a moment of silence, Lucius speaks up.

  "You seem more mature than the boy who entered the Soul-Corps months ago."

  Teon covers his mouth with one hand and shakes his head.

  "No... I had to act strong in front of them all. But seeing Kaia sitting there surrounded and drenched in her own blood, crying. It broke everything inside me. How did I not notice something was off? All the nights she spent inside the bathroom. I should've known something was off!"

  Tears start to run down his cheeks, falling to the ground and getting absorbed by the sand. Lucius reaches out and pats Teon's head, pulling the boy's attention away from his thoughts and back to reality and him.

  "Don't blame yourself. No one noticed, not even I. We should be relieved that nothing worse happened. Now we know and can help her. If she wants the help, that is.

  Teon reaches into his pocket, his fingers grazing over the handle of Kaias knife. With closed eyes he pulls it out and presents it to Lucius. The blood on the blade is dried by now, giving it a red hue. It almost looks like it was forged to look like that. As Teon holds it up, Lucius takes his hand away from the boy's head and, after a moment of hesitation, takes the weapon from him. As it glides out of Teon's fingers, it feels like a burden is lifted off his shoulders, at least for a moment.

  "It was lying near her. I... can't figure out why she would do something so horrid."

  "We never know; sometimes they themselves don't."

  Lucius puts the knife away before placing his right hand on Teon's back, giving him a gentle push, and guiding him inside.

  At the same time on the other side of the planet, the sun stands high and shines down on Rumi. She sits on the edge of an active volcano, legs dangling down its side. Sweat runs down her forehead. Her head rests in one hand while she watches over the lava fields. Annoyed and bored, she thinks to herself where this nightmare could be and curses her inability to accurately locate the monsters.

  "Why can't I have the same well-defined senses as Dane?!"

  She taps her cheek with two fingers, her eyes squinting as they scan the terrain in front of her extensively. Because of the many pools of molten stone, the air is blurry nearly everywhere, and it's hard for her to see a single clear thing. Then suddenly something moves. Rumi sits up straight and concentrates all her senses on it.

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  It has to be the nightmare, Rumi thinks to herself; no other earthly being could walk through these fields unharmed. As the blurry silhouette closes the distance between the peak Rumi sits on and itself, Rumi is able to recognize a huge black axe resting over the monster's shoulder. Cynder stops at the foot of the small volcano and looks up.

  "Aren't you a beauty? A shame I'll have to kill you now. Can't have someone like you on my heels all the time while I'm on a mission."

  Rumi rises to both feet. She wastes no time and jumps down to attack the abomination that's grinning up at her. Rumis's right fist is right about to connect with Cynder's face, as the arm holding the massive axe twitches. Rumi reacts to the movement and dodges to the side in the last moments. She slides over the warm ground stone for a few meters before coming to a stop. Her gaze falls on the axe. Its blade submerged into the ground, right where Rumi would've stopped if her fist had struck Cynder. In front of the embedded blade, the earth is split, one half of the volcano is gone, and its hot molten insides are flowing out into the earth fissure and slowly engulfing the whole area.

  "It was wise of you to dodge that. I'm happy you did. I've hoped you'd be a worthy opponent. I'm going all out."

  Rumi opens her mouth to respond, but before a single sound can leave her lips, the axe flies towards her. Rumi blocks it, surprised, wondering why Cynder would throw her weapon, but as her eyes fall back on the black creature, its giant fist connects with Rumi's face. The shockwave caused by the strike pushes the lava that has slowly crept up to them away again. Cynder's wide grin disappears. The punch, which she put all her strength into, didn't even seem to make this human flinch. She shakes her head before launching a barrage of strikes, just as strong as the first. Rumi blocks any of them, but the sheer amount slowly begins to push her back. The gruesome grin on Cynder's face returns.

  "Not as I thought, after all."

  "I have enough of this!"

  Rumi counters an incoming strike with one of her own. This single attack was enough to shove Cynder far away from her, right into the layer of lava. Cynder staggers in surprise.

  "What? A single strike had this much force?"

  Cynder's eyes fall on her weapon just a few meters away from her. Desperately she walks through the molten stone towards it. She picks it up and turns to swing at the woman, but in the same moment Rumi blocks the attack and grabs the axe's hilt, ripping it out of Cynder's hand. The second it slips from Cynder's fingers, the axe is pulled to the ground. Lava splashes around and onto Rumi's hands and arms as the blade sinks into the ground.

  "So heavy... How is she able to carry it, let alone swing it?"

  "Too heavy for the beauty?"

  Cynder asks, her cocky demeanor returned. Rumi glares at the monstrous visage looking down at her. Her soul-pressure rises, and she takes hold of the weapon's hilt with both hands. Cynder's grin disappears one more time as the human in front of her seems to grow in size. Rumis skin fades into a dark black, with a hue of purple in it. Her white silky hair grows in length, two horns sprout from where her hairline meets her forehead, and two fangs grow from her lower jaw, so long that they peek out of her mouth, even if closed. Here eyes glow, and to finish the transformation, two additional arms grow right under the original ones. Now, without any effort, Rumi picks up the weapon.

  "Not as beautiful as before. Seems I've underestimated you."

  "Damn well you have."

  Rumi throws the axe before appearing right behind Cynder. The same moment Cynder catches her weapon and turns while aiming a powerful strike at Rumi. The blade connects with Rumi's bare neck, and for a second Cynder is about to laugh in celebration, but then it bounces off without leaving a single scratch. Rumi, who had both pairs of arms crossed in front of her, scoffs at the feeble attempt of beheading her. Before the nightmare is able to throw another strike, Rumi grabs her head with one hand, nearly crushing the skull before slamming the face into the ground. The impact breaks the ground, causing a shockwave that goes down all the way to the earth's core, which, for a brief moment, pushes it from its actual position. Fissures appear over the whole area, and all the lava that was scattered flows into these cracks until nothing is left. Rumi lets go of the monster's head and straightens again. Cynder's arms move to push herself off the ground, but before she even pushes up a single bit, Rumi stomps on her back, pushing her deeper into the ground. Each of her kicks sends another shockwave to the earth's core, just as powerful as the first.

  After 9 kicks Cynder's body stops twitching and squirming and becomes limp. Rumi takes a step back and looks down at the unconscious monster.

  "Was that all?"

  Rumi asks with a deep voice. No answer. She sighs and moves her foot to hover over Cynder's head to deal the finishing attack. But then Cynder moves. She pushes herself up. Rumi smirks and takes a step back, arms still crossed in front of her.

  Cynder stands on shaking legs and raises her axe with one hand over her head. The fingers of her free hand wrap around the end of the hilt.

  "Just for you, beautiful, I'm going to go all out."

  She takes a deep breath, and the pressure coming from her becomes more intense. Rumi's expression remains unchanged, as this pressure doesn't rival the one she's giving off right now.

  "Just to beat you, I'm going to endanger my mission. If you dodge my next strike, it'll split the planet in two and, in response, destroy everything."

  Giving Rumi no time to respond, Cynder's already tight grip around her weapon tightens more, and she swings down.

  Rumis's glowing eyes widen as the realization hits that her opponent isn't lying. With all four arms she blocks the slash. The blade breaks her skin slightly and sinks a millimeter into her arms but is ultimately stopped by her muscles. Panting, Cynder steps backwards, her arms hanging exhausted on her sides. Her attack split the clouds above them, but nothing more. She chuckles exhaustedly before her gaze wanders to Rumi. Her eyes are glowing with anger, and her blood pressure rises further and further, to the point where Cynder starts to have problems moving smoothly.

  "I can't beat her. I never stood a chance. Is this my end?"

  Cynder panics while watching Rumi step close. But then right behind her something appears. Rumi stops, and Cynder slowly turns around; her grin returns.

  A yellow glowing rift hovers in the space right behind Cynder.

  "I knew my master would never let me die. We'll meet again, white-haired beauty."

  With that said, Cynder reaches for the rift and suddenly disappears, and with her, the rift itself. Rumi, still fuming with rage, slams all four fists into the ground and screams. Slowly she returns to normal again. After she calmed down, she reached for her ear and turned the small device in it on.

  "Lucius, Rumi here. I found Cynder. Yeah, I figured you'd feel my soul-pressure; I got really pumped up... No, I didn't manage to kill her. Something strange appeared; I'll explain it when I'm back. Shouldn't take long."

  She takes the finger from her ear, ending the call. After looking around the destroyed landscape, she takes a step forward and disappears. Moments later she appears in front of the Souls-Corps base's gate and enters.

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