Ten logged onto Bladecraft Seven one day but nobody was online.

Odd…

Mag and Angel were usually on around this time. Over the past week or so, ever since he completed Angel’s course on Neuroscience, he had been farming dungeons and participating in raids with the other two.

But today was different.

Like clockwork, he completed his daily missions and continued to solo level, in hopes of catching up to Mag and Angel. Even though he was quite skilled with the sword, his understanding of the game as a whole was still introductory. He needed better optimizations and equipment.

Time flew by unrelentingly. He had slowly begun neglecting his real life duties such as maintaining a proper diet, exercising, meditation and self-studying. Getting himself sucked more and more into the all-too familiar world of Bladecraft Seven.

There was a knock on his door.

He ignored it.

Another knock.

He continued to ignore it.

It wasn’t until he felt the VR headset getting yanked from his temple that he finally realized what was happening. He stared up blankly at a disappointed Q.

“We need to talk…”

***

“It seems you’re quite vulnerable to addiction…” Q said as he casually sat down in the Vice Captain’s room.

Ten looked down shamefully. He hadn’t even realized it. The slow and alluring persuasion of addiction. By the time you become conscious of it, it was too late. 

“Taking your mysterious inscription into account… we have a possible theory…”

“We?” Ten thought to himself. He was in the room all alone with Q.

“It must be a ‘disorder.’”

Ten had heard the word thrown around before. He remembered his interaction with Dreya and Elyza. When she told him that disorders had become common in this world due to the strain of increasing neural potential on the human brain. Or in Angel’s words:

The synchronous gift of the Collective to mankind. Yet, Ten was unaware that such a benefit came with a detrimental cost.

“Disorder?”

“Yes… We didn’t want to mention it to you just yet… as it would interfere with your training… but behind every inscription is an illness… a drawback… consider it an equivalent exchange of some sorts…”

“Dreya’s portal inscription is pretty handy… but it comes at the cost of her temperament… hence why she’s so easily irritated… partly… also why she’s recently disappeared… Naomi’s forgetfulness is also a disorder that comes at the cost of her inscription”

Ten’s eyes began to widen. He started to connect dots that had previously been left unattended to.

“When a person increases their neural potential, the instability of the brain also increases… due to growing strains on our system… under the right conditions… This instability manifests itself in the form of disorders… varying from person to person… with some even having more than one…”

“Of course there’s ways to control it. Diet. Exercise. Meditation. Things that will keep your mind busy and prevent it from wandering too far off into the void…”

That sounded like something Wolf would utter.

“And what have you been doing these last couple of days?”

Ten looked down in shame, trying to come up with a response but he couldn’t. He fully knew he was in the wrong once again. 

But something was different this time.

A deep reflective instinct that he didn’t have before. He had become too complacent in himself after passing his Neuroscience crash course with Angel. Perhaps his shattered ego and pride was trying to overcompensate in its reparations.

“I–”

“Mag said you never came down to eat… You’ve been stuck in your room all day playing that new game…”

“I didn’t realize–”

“You know what I’ve been doing the last several days?”

Ten slowly nodded no.

“I WAS LOOKING ALL OVER SENSORY CITY FOR ANY CLUE ON DREYA’S WHEREABOUTS! I HAVEN’T SLEPT FOR THE PAST 36 HOURS!!” Q shouted uncontrollably as he grabbed Ten by the collar, balling his hands into striking position.

All Ten could do was clench his teeth and close his eyes expecting a well-deserved punch to his face. But after a short pause, he opens his eyes to find his entire field of view dyed with a translucent yellowish glow.

It was Wolf’s barrier inscription and it had stopped Q just short of punching Ten straight in the nose.

“That’s enough…” Wolf’s voice was completely serious, with a slight tint of anger.

Q dropped his arm slowly and buried his face into his hand, realizing the brashness of the scene. An uncontrollable fit of rage.

“I-I overreacted… I’m sorry… I still… haven’t fully recovered from everything that’s happened… I tried to put on a tough front… but… I’m still trying to process everything…”

His voice wavered slightly. It sounded completely genuine.

“It was partially my fault too… Sorry Q…” Ten had calmed down now that Wolf had defused the situation.

“It’s ironic… Here I am talking about mental instability… yet look at what I’ve become… People have been saying I’ve been acting schizo lately…”

“S-schizo?” Ten asked.

“Schizophrenia… It’s a common disorder… You begin to see and hear things that aren’t really there…” Wolf replied.

A long and awkward silence wafted through the air.

“You need to get some rest… I’ll handle things from here…” Wolf said.

The anger in his tone had disappeared as Q slowly shuffled towards his bed, popping a sleeping pill into his mouth.

Wolf and Ten left shortly afterwards.

***

The two of them walked slowly down a dank hallway. The buzzing of the overhead lights sounded harsher than usual.

“Things have been quite chaotic ever since Dreya’s disappearance…”

Ten was looking down at his feet.

“But… you managed to work things out with Angel…”

Ten slowly looked up.

“He told me that you did well on the final test… Congrats…”

A small portion of Ten’s confidence was restored. 

It was then that he remembered.

“Where have Mag and Angel been?”

“Oh them? They’re busy helping to locate Dreya’s whereabouts… Since Q had to take a little mental break…”

Wolf’s tone slowly grew more serious.

“In this world… Maintaining your mental health is crucial… with our neural potential ever so fickle… neglecting our sanity can be dangerous… I’m sure you remember… the incident between you and Dreya…”

It was a painful memory that Ten had tried to rid his mind of. He winced a little at the mentioning of it.

“There was a dark shadowy figure…”

“In times of stress and fatigue… it will come out… in many different forms… not just for you… but for everyone… you saw it with Q… with Dreya… everyone is fighting their own battles in a way… even me…”

“It constantly tried to tempt me… saying I would become stronger if I listened to it…”

“Yes… it’s a very common occurrence for those on the journey of increasing their neural potential… it’s true that giving into its whispers will grant you short-term strength and power… however if you fully enslave yourself to its demands…”

Wolf paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

“W-what will happen?”

“Remember… the Abnormal you encountered…”

“The white… deformed monster?”

“Yes… those who completely give into the voices of these demons… in exchange for a powerful surge in strength… they will forfeit their very humanity…”

Ten’s eyes widened with uneasiness. He had obtained another piece of this despairing puzzle.

“Oppositely, completely ignoring it would be naive as well… as Neural Potential Candidates… those who have taken it upon themselves to increase their neural potentials… it is in our best interest to tame such demons… utilizing them to our benefit while making sure to keep them at bay… this delicate balance can only be maintained by steadfast consciousness…”

Wolf continued rambling on in his grand monologue voice.

“Those who stand at the top of this world… those with immense power… they teeter as close to the edge as possible… seconds… no, milliseconds away…. from completely losing their minds… ah yes…”

“Those who stand at the top of this world… are the most mentally ill of them all…”

Wolf’s crimson red eyes glimmered menacingly as he repeated one of his favorite lines of all time.

***

Perhaps it was because of his conversation with Wolf in the hallway, but later that night, Ten’s dreams took him back to his confrontation with Dreya. It was his first time directly confronting such a terrifying memory. His addiction, his ‘inner demon’ as Wolf called it, and Q’s tragic memories of Daphne. These three distinct elements were the reasons for his prior avoidance. They were deeply scarring moments that reminded him of his weakness and inadequacies. Of his fall from grace. From the Heavens.

He was reliving the events from the theater of his mind once again. Shamelessly watching himself make the same mistakes yet again. There was a peculiar moment during his fight with Dreya that caught his attention.

She kept asking him about Zena.

Why was she so interested in Zena?!

***

The next day, Ten decided to finally talk to Wolf about details pertaining to his fallout with Dreya. Especially the revelation he had last night.

“Zena… that girl from Psychodynamics that we met… during the abnormal incident…” Wolf said.

“Yeah… The one that was in my ‘Protocol’… who can’t seem to remember me…”

Wolf stood up from his desk.

“Looks like we’ll be paying Psychodynamics HQ a visit!” He bellowed.

“Wait what-”

“And you’re coming along with us!”

Before Ten could even process what was going on, he found himself levitating in a glowing barrier that trailed right behind Wolf. Almost as if he was a caged familiar.

“W-wait where are we going?!” Ten raised his voice in concern.

“To Intercity… the location of Psychodynamics HQ!” Wolf answered.

“B-but why am I going?!”

“Because you know Zena… don’t you?”

“Yeah but she doesn’t remember me! And plus, I’m not even properly prepared! I failed the third phase of my training!!”

“It’ll work out, don't worry!”

How could a man be so serious at times. While being completely reckless during others. Just who did Wolf think he was?

The two of them soon found themselves in front of Angel’s room.

“Ahem… Angel, are you there?” Wolf spoke.

“C-captain Wolf… Ah- y-yes… c-come in!”

The door to his room slowly opened. Angel had been working on a couple of cybernetic devices that Wolf had requested.

“T-they’re all f-finished Wolf…”

“Thanks for the help Angel… I know I said I wouldn’t bother you for a whole month-”

“Ah- I don’t really m-mind… I-if it’s for D-dreya…” 

Angel was shuffling around like a schoolgirl in love, until his eyes locked with Ten, who was entrapped in Wolf’s spherical barrier. Ten simply sat there, accepting this turbulent churning of events as his fate. The two of them awkwardly stared at each other in disbelief; while Wolf collected the devices and left without uttering anything else.

It wasn’t long until Ten found himself in the backseat of an iron-like carriage. 

A cybernetic vehicle.

Wolf was driving while Mag sat in the passenger’s seat. He was squished in between a silent man and a silent woman who seemed to be twins. They would occasionally stare at each other and make small gestures with their face and hands.

“This is probably your first time meeting each other…” Wolf mentioned casually.

“Randy and Melissa… this is Ten, our newest recruit that you’ve heard so much about… Ten… this is Randy and Melissa, twins with a special telepathic inscription…”

“Telepathic?” Ten asked.

“They can talk to each other through their minds!” Mag interjected.

“Eh… let’s be honest… it’s not as cool as some of these other inscriptions.” Randy laughed.

“It gets pretty annoying constantly having to hear his voice in my head.” Melissa laughed as well.

“Nice to meet ya newbie! We’ve heard that you’ve caused quite a commotion ever since joining the Fourth!” They both laughed.

These twins were some of the most normal members of the Fourth that Ten’s ever met. After the introductions and pleasantries, everyone got down to business.

“Is it true that Dreya is heading for Psychodynamic’s HQ?” Randy asked.

“Based on what Ten told me… it’s very likely…” Wolf replied.

“Ever since Ikara passed away… she’s been trying to find answers… during such a confusing time… poor girl…” Melissa commented.

“And we weren’t really getting anywhere working with Q…” Randy added.

“I had him take a break from the investigation…” Wolf nodded.

“That’s good… he’s been having a rough time lately…” Melissa agreed.

“Yeah… talking to what seems like Ikara’s ghost…” Randy said with a concerned tone.

The friendly atmosphere from earlier was slowly transitioning to a much darker place.

“What’s all this talk about Psychodynamics… I’m still so confused…” Ten managed to steer the conversation towards a different outcome.

The other four collectives in the car took turns, popcorn style, answering Ten’s question.

“The Axis of Associations… also known as the AA… is made up of five major factions that have united against its common enemy… BANE…”

“From strongest to weakest… the order goes Biologicals, Psychodynamics, Cognitives, Behaviourals and Humanistics at the bottom.”

“These five factions have their areas of influence spread out across the country of Axel.”

A floating screen descended from the roof of the car, revealing the layout of the country they were in. Axel.

“There are three main cities that make up Axel. The city we are currently in is Sensory City, home to Humanistics.”

“Then there’s Intercity, the capital of Axel and the city we’re currently heading to, home to both Cognitives and Psychodynamics.”

“And finally there’s Motor City, home to the strongest faction in the AA. Biologicals.”

“What about Behaviourals?” Ten asked.

“Behaviourals doesn’t really have a central base of operations. They tend to be more nomadic and operate from outside of major cities and hubs.”

“You can usually find them in a lot of smaller countryside towns.”

“We’re about to reach a checkpoint. Here put these on.” Wolf reached into his coat and pulled out the devices that he had grabbed from Angel’s room.

They looked like collared necklaces.

Mag put one on and pressed a button causing his entire face to transform. A disguising technology that was crucial to certain AA operations. It allowed for the five of them to pass the security checkpoint with ease.

“Normally, we wouldn’t have to use these devices if we had Dreya with us…”

“True… she could just portal us straight to wherever we needed to go…”

“I mean, we wouldn’t even be here if she was with us…”

The car ride began to stretch into hours and before Ten knew it, he had fallen asleep and was dreaming about a trivial memory involving a girl he rescued from bandits during his travels. A girl who would later turn into one of his many fair maidens, who would satisfy some of his deepest desires.

When he woke up he found himself at a rest stop in a small mountainside town full of vegetation. He never knew such a scenery could exist within Axel. He had assumed every place would be a crowded consortium of advanced cybernetic towers and skyscrapers. 

He was pleasantly surprised at the change of pace.