Ten eventually fell asleep in his dark and dank room. Believing that his hearing would be back to normal when he woke up in the morning. But it was no use. A feeling of panic began to sink in as Ten hurried down to the main room where he found Magnolia serving breakfast.

As soon as Ten arrived, Mag turned around and waved, calling him over.

“Ten, you’re up pretty early!” He chimed. The rest of the room was still somber and silent from Ikara’s passing.

Ten couldn’t hear what he was saying but he was able to get an idea through the mouthing of his words.

“Mag, something’s wrong with my ears… I can’t hear anything anymore!”

“Uh-oh, that sounds like a big problem…”

Mag still seemed carefree and jubilant.

“This is serious! I-”

“Sounds quite lively in here…” An unfamiliar voice came from a person who had arrived moments after Ten.

It was a blonde haired man in a fedora. He was wrapped up in bandages and was walking towards them with a slight limp. He was the person from Ikara’s memories, the same one that was dragged in with her the night before. His eyes were sunken but he still managed to smile.

“You’re Q…” Ten said aloud, unable to control his volume.

“That’s right… You must be the new recruit… we haven’t introduc-”

Ten points at his ears telling Q he couldn’t hear him.

“You’re deaf? Wolf never mentioned anything about th-”

Ten shook his head.

“It happened last night… when everyone was in Ikara’s room…” Ten’s voice trailed off.

Q looked a little confused. Ten looked down trying to find an explanation.

“There was this dark place… and Ikara was there… I saw her memories… she said something about inscriptions…”

“An inscription?” Q looked intrigued as he mouthed the words.

“Y-yes… and ever since then… my hearing has not returned…”

“Interesting…”

Q grabbed a nearby device and continued to speak. A floating array of letters Ten had never seen before appeared out of thin air. Even though it was an unfamiliar writing, he had somehow naturally understood it.

It read: “Well I came down to inform you that your training has been delayed.”

“What?!” Ten sprung up in surprise.

The text magically shifted into different letters. The device seemed to be transforming Q’s voice into a readable format.

“Wolf left after last night…”

“WAIT HE-”

“Don’t worry… there was a mandatory AA meeting.”

“You should’ve started with that…”

“But… after hearing what you’ve told me… I’ve decided to take Wolf’s spot in training you.”

“Huh?”

Ten was a little confused. Q didn’t seem like he was in the best shape to be his trainer.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure of it… I think there might be a way… to get your hearing back…”

Ten’s eyes widened. He accepted Q’s offer without a second thought and left the hideout. Mag felt a tug by the side of his apron.

“Ummm… who are you again?” Naomi asked with glittering innocent eyes.

Mag sighed.

***

Ten had wondered what the training in this world had consisted of. Perhaps it utilized some kind of magical technology he had never seen before. Or maybe it was a regimen that was completely alien to his old world. A part of him was nervous but another part of him was a little excited. To finally break free from this weak and bandaged body and begin rebuilding his legacy.

But things didn’t turn out to be all that impressive. He found himself doing a variety of generic exercises like push-ups, squats and running.

Still, he put his trust in Q just as Ikara had told him. As days passed, he often found himself lying on the ground, panting and sweating profusely. 

At night, he would be slumped in his bed. His mind raced with depressing thoughts. What if his hearing never came back? He would become even more useless than he already was.

After a couple of days, Ten began to question whether these exercises were really the foundational crux of the strange power known as neural potential. Feeling betrayed, he confronts Q about it.

“My hearing hasn’t returned over these last few days… are you sure this is what I should be doing… Don’t tell me this is the secret to increasing neural potential…”

Q activated the device again.

“This is all necessary…”

“But why?! Why hasn’t my hearing re-”

“I believe you have a very unique inscription Ten… If my theory is correct, you have the ability to take other’s inscriptions when they pass away… if that’s the case, the reason you’re deaf right now is because you took Ikara’s Sound Inscription which allows her to manipulate the perception of sound…”

“I can… take other’s inscriptions?”

Ten’s eyes widened. It wasn’t an ability he was familiar with. Back in Elysion, his abilities were related to swordsmanship and fire. Why was he different? Zena still had her ability to control vines and Ikara could manipulate hearing because of her childhood.

“That doesn’t sound right… in Elysion… I had the ability to control fire with my sword… but now…”

“It’s not really that simple… sure a majority of people’s inscriptions are based on their life experiences… whether that’s in this reality or a simulation… I’m sure Wolf has already told you this… but there are a majority of factors that influence a person’s powers… genetics… environmental factors… mind altering medicines…”

“Genetics…”

“I’m just hypothesizing here… but the other factors don’t really play as much a role… the only other one I would consider is genetics… Perhaps BANE did something with your genes…”

“They can do that?”

“Of course they can… this is BANE we’re talking about…”

“Then-”

“You’ve gained Ikara’s inscription, but because your neural potential is too low, you’re unable to properly control it…”

“Is that the reason I can’t hear right now?”

“Yes. Right now you’ve completely manipulated your own sound perception to a level of 0... However, because you're mind has a low neural potential, you lack the ability to control and change those paramaters... Making it impossible for you to perceive any noise… Although what you said earlier about physical training is somewhat true… you’re missing one key point… by physically training the body, it makes the process of increasing neural potential much more efficient and easy… you know the saying: healthy body, healthy mind, healthy soul… In order to obtain a healthy mind, you must first obtain a healthy body… being in a simulation for a majority of your life has taken a huge toll on your limbs… it’s called atrophy, the deterioration of one’s muscles due to long periods of inactive use…”

“Even though I had been training all my life back in Elysion…”

“Yes… all of that was in your mind, but in reality, your body wasn’t doing anything at all…”

It was as if a small puzzle piece had fallen into place. A shard of information that Ten had taken from this reality to keep for himself.

“I see…”

“Once you’ve trained your body back into shape… we can begin the next phase of the training… sensory deprivation…”

Ten had returned to his physical body training with a stronger resolve. That day he went all out, to the point he had literally collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, forcing Q to drag him back to the hideout.

The next week Ten woke up bright and early, eager to continue his physical training. His body would always be sore in the morning, but thanks to Magnolia’s special Culinary Inscription, his body always felt fresh and recovered.

“Today’s the day we begin the next phase of your training… Sensory Deprivation… it’s going to be much more difficult than the first phase…

“Before that, where’s Wolf been?”

Q gave him an annoyed look.

“Do you really wanna switch trainers that badly? Has my training not be-”

“Ah no… it’s not that… even if Wolf returned, I wouldn’t mind continuing my training with you… i was just curious that’s all… it’s been almost a week and he hasn’t returned…”

“Well he usually returns back pretty quickly… The problem is… Dreya…”

“Dreya?”

“Wolf usually attends meetings along with Dreya because of the convenience of her Teleportation Inscription… but ever since their falling out… she’s been locked in her room all day long… to be honest I’m a little worried…”

Ten looked down, recalling the pure hatred plastered on Dreya’s face when Ikara had died.

“Major AA meetings like this one are usually held in InterCity, another one of Axel’s large cities, quite a distance away… I wouldn’t be surprised if he still hasn’t returned by the end of the week.”

***

Dreya was glued to what appeared to be a holographic computer screen. She had been hacking into different street cameras surrounding the Abnormal incident from last week. Looking for a semblance of a clue that could lead her to BANE. After all, they were the ones responsible for the increased appearances of Abnormals due to their unethical experimentations. It was one of the things she had learned while being part of the AA.

As she analyzed the surveillance footage, she saw something that caught her attention. A cloaked figure who was swinging on vines across the rooftop of the surrounding buildings. As she followed the mysterious subject she began to realize that it was the girl that had pissed her off after they defeated the Abnormal. What was she doing there before the Abnormal appeared?

“She’s from Psychodynamics… What was her name again?”

“Zena…”

Dreya’s eyes widened with anger and suspicion.