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Chapter 13- The Less You Carry…

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"This is my assistant, Cyrus Kairos," Revelin told Verity.

I was beginning to wonder when he was going to finally introduce me. I held out my hand to the white-haired Wanderer, and she shook it firmly. The broad smile on her face made her look impish. 

"An assistant with an actual title. That's a first," Verity mused. "You must do your job well."

A sheepish smile began to form on my face at the compliment, but a blush took over its place when Alexandra started to speak.

"That's nothing, V-girl," Alexandra added with a smirk. "You should see the little fireworks that go off between them when they think no one's looking."

Revelin cleared his throat and motioned for us to go near him. On the ground was something that resembled an Arch-Passage; it was assembled haphazardly with stones from the ruins around us. I squinted my eyes as I tried to make out what he used in order to draw horrendously onto each stone.

"Is that…purple lipstick?"

"Well, none of us had a permanent marker at hand or anything of the like," Alexandra huffed.

"Why don't Wanderers ever carry any actual equipment with them?" I asked aloud.

Verity, Alexandra, and Revelin looked at one another before settling their gazes back on me. I felt small and naïve as I felt the weight of the wisdom hidden behind each set of eyes. Despite not being much older than me, the three were established and experienced Wanderers and Idlers.

"The less you carry, the less you have to lose." They all replied almost at the same time.

"Honestly, what do they even teach at the Academy these days?" Alexandra wondered. "I'm an Idler, and I still know that much."

"I think that they toned down the curriculum rather drastically after our graduating class," Revelin suggested.

"The sad part is that I can't even blame them," Verity concluded as she helped Revelin activate the rough Arch.

"Our first stop will be my platform," Revelin warned. "From there, we should be able to decide and plan how to… I never thought I'd ever say this… reclaim my family's mansion and free the others."

"That is if it's still in one piece," I murmured as, one by one, we stepped through the Arch-Passage.

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"Nice training platform," Alexandra purred after walking through the other side. She immediately began to write symbols on the ground with her shoes along with Verity. The two girls began to spar playfully while Revelin and I looked on.

"This is why I prefer to work alone," Revelin sighed. His blue eyes focused on me, and I subconsciously took a step back. "I will need you to trust me completely for this," he said before forming his Vim into a blindfold and wrapping it over my eyes.

"I already don't like the sound of this...is this supposed to be some type of trust training?" I asked warily as my body adjusted to the lack of vision. "Wait, where are you taking me?" I asked when I felt Revelin's hand tugging on my wrist.

"I'm simply leading you to the center of the platform," Revelin answered. He called Alexandra and Verity to him, and they began to whisper animatedly. I frowned beneath the blindfold.

"Dip down two feet towards your right with your left shoulder leaning away." Came the command.

I was still feeling unsure and awkward, but I slowly did as my mentor asked. Almost immediately, I felt something sharp cut through my sleeve and scrape against my skin. "Ouch!" I hissed.

"Jump forward."

This time, I didn't hesitate, but I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I felt a column of heat behind me. That was when it hit me. I was being trained by two veteran Wanderers and a veteran Idler all at the same time.

"Drop to the ground and roll to the right; six rotations."

I wasn't allowed to see, so I was forced to follow Revelin's precise instructions or risk injury. When I was cut for the second time, I hissed and cursed. When I was cut a third time, I threw all of my concentration into the sound of my mentor's voice. I listened, moved, felt, and let go of all thoughts.

Revelin's verbal instructions faded away as I began to feel and sense the haphazard movement of Vim around me. I was injured no more as I began to react and move faster than the path of the particles being aimed at me. I didn't even notice when my mentor had stopped talking altogether until I heard him speak again.

"Enough," Revelin stated loudly.

I felt the Vim slide off my face and blinked my eyes open. The platform was peppered with scorch marks, ice shards, and rubble. I merely sported a few bleeding scratches from the initial attacks.

"Well?" My mentor asked, his voice practically purring.

"He certainly trusts you from a distance, Limber," Alexandra noted. "Great instincts, too."

"Though his Vim is a bit chaotic, he seems to have excellent control over it," Verity added. "You have trained him well."

"You did so good, Cyber," Alexandra praised as she reached out to ruffle my hair.

"Cyber?" I questioned incredulously.

"It suits you," She simply replied.

"If you are careful enough and put your trust in us, you will not be harmed," Verity concluded. She was the one that activated yet another haphazardly built Arch-Passage that time, created from the rubble of the platform. "Let's go."

I was going to walk through the passage right after Verity and Alexandra, but Revelin's hand held onto my shoulder and forced me to stop. I turned around to give him a questioning glance.

His smile was devoid of any smugness or mischief. It was genuine. "You haven't tensed once since you were blindfolded… not when Alexandra ruffled your hair, and not even when I touched you just now."

My eyes widened when I realized as much. He was right. I didn't even shy away from any of the contact. I let out a gasp when I was pulled into a hug, but for once, my body was simply surprised and not stiff. "H-hey!" I warned him. "Don't you dare think that just because I'm a bit more laid back now, you can do whatever you want-"

I wasn't able to finish threatening him. Not when my mouth became obscured by his fervent kiss. Never had I felt such warmth fluttering around me. Damn, but it wasn't fair. How could a simple kiss arouse me so badly? My hands slid down his shirt to clench at the hem while his tongue tried to take over my very mouth. When his arms tightened around my shoulders and waist, I forced myself to pull back. "N-now is not the time for this," I breathed.

Revelin smirked as his darkened blue eyes stared into my dazed ones. "You really don't have any idea how sexy you are," He whispered huskily, finally letting me go and walking towards the Arch-Passage. "Especially when you wear anything other than those hideous pajamas."

I shook my head in response. He ducked through the passage, and I ran in right after him. I silently prayed to the cosmos that we would all come out alive, even if not entirely in one piece. in one piece.