Victor woke up to see Gustav sitting right next to him, he let out a sigh of relief before turning his gaze to the obsidian. It was different from before, the entire block was cracked after the spectacle that happened earlier. The young man raised his hand to see the damage, but there was none. Everything looked normal, the only different thing was his entire body felt jelly, it took way too much strength just to raise his hand, but somehow, he managed to raise himself and slowly felt his stamina coming back to him.

“You looked calm for someone who just fainted,” chimed Gustav.

“As I said before, I’m used to it by now. Anyway, did you find a way out?”

“I don’t get it. Why do you even want to leave this place? This place has everything, from agriculture to architecture with all this knowledge we could change the world, even make it better. In a matter of fact, just being here is a privilege that not all people have.”

“I won’t lie. If I was younger. I would be ecstatic, excited, and thrilled over the moon just to be here. All the answers to the mysteries of the world are within my grasp… but, I don’t know. It  could be that someone is waiting for me on the other side, or could be because I prefer to be with someone I care about rather than wasting what is left of my time chasing after mysteries.”

“Wait, you’re saying that you hate being here?”

“I know I’m wording that wrong. I love being here. I truly do, but it’s not my priority, not at the moment at least. Time could be such a jerk sometimes.”

“I think I get it. Our life might be different from the choices we made, but if I were to choose my thirst for knowledge over my family, I would hesitate.” Gustav sighed as he stood up from the ground.

“While you were out, I found a way out. Huh, that’s rhyme. I should make a mental note for that. Anyway, follow me.” Gustav led the young man toward a metal door built inside the wall.

“Here it is.”

“What is this?”

“They called it an elevator. It elevates things up and down. Magnificent, isn’t it?”

“Ohhh, how does it work?”

“I still haven’t figured it out yet, but as far as I know, you press this button and it open.” The door slid open with a loud ping; revealing a small compartment enough to fit five people.

“Woah,” Victor leaned his head inside and examined the interior; the interior looks pretty well made, someone could mistake it for an interior of a castle. He stepped inside while nodding his head to the wall.

“One more thing, can you do me a favor?” Gustav leaned in.

“What is it?”

“Mind keeping this place a secret?”

“Sure, if that's what you want.”

“Thank you. Oh, by the way, may we meet again.” Gustav pressed the button inside and leaned back before the door closed.

The lift trembled suddenly, Victor jumped back and back against the wall when he heard the music playing out of nowhere and the force felt on his body; heaving him down slightly. He glanced around, looking for the spruced of the music, but no band or instrument was being played. The song was pretty otherworldly, a high tune sort of melody that inspires a state of happiness. It wasn’t that bad after carefully listening to it. A few more seconds, the door slid open again and presented before him, the above-ground. Victor breathed in the fresh air and stepped forward before the door closed behind him.

“That ride was quite nice.”

Victor walked up the steps, through the floating archways until he arrived on the temple footsteps. Keiko was still there with a pair of burning incense in her hand; her eyes were the same as the first time he met her, dripped with remorse and deep sadness. The young man made his way to her side, and sat on his legs just like her, and remained silent.

“Do you wonder why I came here? I came here to pray for forgiveness,” said Keiko out of the blue.

“For who?”

“My husband...”

“What happened to him? If you don’t mind telling me.”

“I killed him.” Keiko lifted herself with her bag in tow and turned then started walking toward the exit.

Victor jogged after her, but his lips remained tight, he didn't know what to say to her. Shock is an understatement, what does she mean when Keiko said ‘She killed him’ was it voluntary, or was it an accident? Keiko has always been a mysterious woman since the day he met her. Heck, Victor barely knew what her favorite food was, let alone about her past. She wasn’t the type to talk or even express her emotions other than annoyance.

“Does it have to do with that sword?” asked Victor.

Keiko stopped. She raised her head and started walking again. After that, they continued to travel together. However, Keiko refused to talk to Victor for a couple of days, but when she did, she answered only with a single word. Despite that, Keiko still continued to train him, teaching him how to take a hit, how to dodge, and the way to suppress one’s emotions while in extreme danger.

It wasn’t that long before the scenery started to change again. From vibrant green to a lovely pink. The trees along this chiseled path were littered with trees that have peach-color leaves, and as the breeze blew against the leaves it began to rain pink. It was truly a sight to behold. Though Keiko seems to be uninterested by it, despite the sparkling eyes Victor had.

They soon arrived at another town, but this town was a lot smaller than before, yet the architecture remained the same. Victor’s stomach growled with hunger, Keiko took notice of it and headed toward a small shop outside of the town with open sittings and tables outside. Good for viewing the beautiful scenery. They both took a seat on the misshapen stools and waited, as a short girl with two peach hair buns appeared out of the shop’s door. If someone could smile with her eyes, this girl could; because every time she smiles, it was radiant because her eyes squinted upward.

“Welcome to our humble shop. My name is Nona Kyo. May I take your order?”

“Two bowls of noodles and two fresh brewed tea,” ordered Keiko and kept her face hidden, so did Victor.

“Ah, are you both from out of town? Where did you come from?”

Keiko remained quiet and was totally ignoring the girl’s question. Nona raised an eyebrow at them and began to feel suspicious of the two figures in front of her, but Victor stepped in the middle of them, in an attempt to relinquish those suspicions. 

“Yes, we are. We’re from the nearby town. I’m sorry for my teacher’s attitude, it is hard for her to trust other people.”

“Don’t worry I get it, there’s a lot of bad people out there. Anyway, I will be back with your order as soon as possible.”

After the short girl left, Victor let out a sigh of relief, “That was close. So noodles, hah? I never had them. Do they taste good?”

“I don’t know.” As always Keiko remained unenthusiastic about anything, she had been like this since that day, and it’s getting worse.

“I think we need to talk about it.”

“We don’t. You heard me wrong.”

“You can’t avoid it forever.”

“I wasn’t thinking when I said it and yes, I can avoid it forever. Watch me.”

“I don’t know what happened to you, but I understand the guilt you’re carrying.”

“Oh, do you? Did you drive your own katana into your husband?” Keiko stared at me with an intense deadly glare but stopped when she realized the words coming out from her mouth. She glanced away while her fingers dug into her palm.

“Is that what happened?”

“Can you stop?”

“Is that what you truly want?”

Keiko started to ignore Victor again. His flattened lips turn into a small frown, but at least the view here is something else. However, their peaceful moment was interrupted when they heard noises coming from inside the shop; broken tableware and angry shoutings.

“Where is our money?!” Sounded like a couple of thugs throwing a fit in the shop.

Keiko stared at me with scrunched eyebrows, “Let it go.”

“I said, where is our money!” The chaos continued.

“Grandma? Don’t hurt her!” Nona screamed at the men.

Victor stood up, Keiko shook her head, disappointed at her student’s choice, “I won’t help you.”

“Fine. Do what you want.” Victor breathed in and breathed out before making his way to the doorway.

Two muscular guys, taller than him, bigger than him, and probably stronger too. Victor clenched his hands and kept it an inch apart from his side. Nona sat on the floor and looked at the young man in the doorway, she pleaded at him with her eyes while hugging her grandma tightly. 

“Let them go.”

“HUH?”

One of the thugs walked toward Victor, “I didn’t realize you both were deaf. I said let her go.”

He reached out to grab Victor, but the young man took a quick step back; avoiding his hand. That dodge somehow infuriated the thug, he raised his arm and brought it down toward Victor. The young man could see it, the fist coming toward him, with a one-step to the left, he avoided the attack easily. The thug kept trying to grab Victor, but the young man kept avoiding him so easily until Victor took a cup of tea off a table and splashed it against the enemy’s face.

“You’re too slow, old man.”

“Come and get me!” taunted Victor.

However, Victor was getting cocky and that is when an out of nowhere foreign fist landed against his cheek and tossed him toward the table beside him. His jaw wobbled from the hit, but he still stood back again. This time throwing a punch of his own at the person who just hit him, but the attack was weak. The thugs laughed when he slowly registered the hit, he grabbed Victor’s arm and swung him against the wall.

“I thought you were a decent fighter, but you're just a kid, who doesn’t know how to hit.”

Victor still stood up after being tossed, he grabbed a stool and swung it at the thug. It hit the thug’s head and caused the stool to break while leaving a cut on the enemy’s head. The thug wasn’t happy at what Victor just did, he charged toward Victor, and the young man leaped to the side before the man hit him. However, the thug was too late to stop his momentum so he crashed into the wall. The shop shook vigorously, droplets of hays rained on them.

“At least, I got brain over brawn.”

With one of the enemies busy trying to get hold of himself, Victor grabbed the tableware near him and started tossing at the other man. The thug raised his arms protecting himself but he marched toward Victor, closing the distance. However, a table separates both of them, the thug goes left and Victor follows, but when the thug goes right, Victor follows him; keeping the table in between them.

“Get over here, you shitty swine!”

Infuriated by the childish cowardice, the thug kicked the table and it smacked against Victor’s stomach. The young man dropped to his knees, coughing and gritting his teeth at the excruciating pain. The thug pulled down the hood and was surprised to see an Outsider in their midst.

“A freaking Outsider? Here? No wonder he’s dumb as a brick. Haven’t your momma ever taught not to get involved with someone else's business?”

“I bet he didn’t even understand what you were saying,” chimed the other guy

“I can understand you perfectly fine,” Victor spat a trickle of blood onto the wooden floor.

“Look at that, a freaking Outsider knows how to talk in our language.”

The thug grabbed Victor by the lapel, but the boy swiped the man’s hand away, The man gritted his teeth and punched the young man in his face and both of them surrounded him and started kicking while he lay on the floor. Every kick sent a shock of extreme pain up his nerve, Victor did his best trying to protect his head.

“Stop! Please stop!” screamed Nona while pleading at them to stop hitting the young man.

“Well, would you look at that? I think the Outsider has a fan.” One of the thugs walked toward the girl while cracking his fist.

Victor couldn’t do anything but watched as the thug made his way toward the girl. At that moment it wasn’t his pain that he remembered, it was everyone else he had ever let down. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the leg of the man that was closest to him. Using his strength, he pulled the leg right under the thug and caused him to fall and hit his head against the table edge. Victor then dashed toward the other man: using his shoulder, Victor rammed against him, and they both tumbled down against the wooden table beside him.

They both grunted their pain out. Victor then rolled on top of the man and choked him using his left hand while repeatedly punching his enemy’s face with his right fist. The thug grabbed the back of Victor’s collar and tossed him to the side, he then grabbed the wooden stool beside him and smashed it against the young man’s back. The two thugs slowly raised themself up with bloody heads, and one of them took a crude dagger.

“Stay down or I’m gonna cut you open like a pig!”

“Listen to him, Outsider. Please stay down,” pleaded Nona at Victor to stay down.

Against the warning, Victor raised himself while coughing furiously, he glared at the thug with the dagger. “That is...one thing, I can’t do,” said Victor as he laughed while raising his sight at the ceiling with a smile on his face.

“Then die, Outsider!” Before the man could take another step toward Victor, he was interrupted.

“Enough.” Keiko stood in the doorway with the Katana unwrapped by her side. The woman cast a shadow over the three of them, she then raised her sight and the thug met with her terrorizing gaze. It was truly terrifying, not for Victor, but for those men.