Asarirn slowly opened his eyes as he woken up by the chilling morning of a new day. Asarirn blinked a couple times to adjust to the light. It wasn't long before Asarirn realized what happened to him last night and where he was now. To Asarirn, this felt like the time he would slept on rooftops before enrolling into Beacon. But, that doesn't matter right now.
Asarirn slowly pushed himself off the ground, but sat himself up. As he sat himself up, he noticed that his coat was opened. Asarirn tucked down the collar of his shirt to see his chest. The blue glowing markings from the night before were gone. This told Asarirn he had regain his mana during his sleep. Asarirn closed up his coat once he was done.
He simply sat there looking over the city of Vale for a bit. It took Asarirn a moment to notice there was someone stood next to him. Asarirn quickly turned his head to look at that person.
There was a person that looked exactly like Asarirn; despite some differences. This person had long black hair and red eyes. This was the equivalent of when Asarirn used his weapon master ability. He wore a black coat, similar to Asarirn's coat but with a different design. Other than that, he looked exactly like Asarirn. This person; we shall called Dark Asarirn.
Dark Asarirn smiled when Asarirn glanced at him. Asarirn quickly turned away like he didn't want to see him. Dark Asarirn tilted his head ever so slightly as he thought this was a bit humorous.
"I see you noticed me now," Dark Asarirn finally spoke.
Asarirn didn't say anything and acted like he wasn't there.
"Don't be like that," Dark Asarirn continued, "How long was it? A couple of years since we last spoke to each other."
"What do you want now?" Asarirn finally questioned this person's intentions.
Dark Asarirn smiled. "I just wanted to see how you are doing right now. Since you passed out last night, I wanted to know if you are alright."
"We both know that is a lie," Asarirn stated.
Dark Asarirn gave a single laugh. "Right you are, Asarirn. Your perceptive has always been spot on," he claimed.
"What do you want then?"
Dark Asarirn couched next to Asarirn, but Asarirn didn't dare to look at him. "I just wanted to ask you how you felt about yesterday."
"What are you talking on about?" Asarirn acted like he didn't know, but both of them knew.
"That sparing match between you and that Cardin guy," Dark Asarirn remained him. "If you want my honest opinion, I believed that Cardin guy always had that cocky attitude, believing he was stronger than you. But, not only you shown the difference between in power and skill, but you strike fear into him. You strike fear to everyone around you."
"What are you getting at?" Asarirn finally faced him.
"I just wanted to ask you this. How does it feel to use that power again? The feeling of the power of Shadow coursing through your body. In that fight, you just used a portion of that power. Imagine what would happen if you used the full power of it."
"I know what you're trying to do," Asarirn spoke. "You couldn't convince back then, what makes you think you could convince me now?"
Dark Asarirn had this unsatisfied look on his face and was somewhat angry. "I just don't understand, Asarirn" Dark Asarirn spoke, "You're literally a Weapon Master of the most powerful family. You have skills and knowledge at your age, even your ancestors couldn't obtain. I bet if you accepted your gift, then you be better than any of your ancestors. Regardless, you choose to suppress this power."
Asarirn clenched his fist in anger. "Regardless, you're only here because the seal was nearly broken. Once I repair the seal, you will be gone. Even though you're just a figment of my imagination."
Dark Asarirn grabbed Asarirn face and pulled it close to his face. Asarirn didn't make any effort of moving or struggling.
"It's true no one can see me except for you because I only allowed you to see me," Dark Asarirn stated. "Why won't you accept this power, Asarirn?"
"If that's all you have to tell me, then leave," Asarirn told him.
Dark Asarirn released his grip and stood up.
"It's easier to accept your gift, then to suppress it."
The conversation ended from when Dark Asarirn faded away. Asarirn let out a sigh of relieved when he was alone once again. Asarirn laid back on the ground as he tried to forget what Dark Asarirn had said. He simply looked at the sky and watched the clouds moved overhead. Before he could rest once more, Asarirn's scroll vibrated.
Asarirn shot back to his sitting position. He reached into his coat and pulled his scroll. Asarirn gave a quick glance at his scroll and noticed the notations. Besides the two texts he had, Asarirn had over a hundred of missed calls. All the missed calls are from his team.
Asarirn noticed he had only two missed from Weiss, but there was a text message from her. He decided to read the message.
"If you're wondering why I only called you twice is because if the rest of girls called you many times, then I don't see the point of calling you myself if you don't answer their calls."
Asarirn nodded his head as he agreed with Weiss. Asarirn checked the other text, which he received just moments ago. This one was from Ruby and Asarirn read the message.
"Hey, are you awake yet? Are you alright? Please call me or text me."
Asarirn couldn't help but curl up into a ball upon reading the message. He gripped his scroll tightly in anger.
"Why…" Asarirn questioned, "After all that had happened, she still wanted to know if I'm alright."
Asarirn calmed himself down, after a bit of deep breathing. He stared at the screen and couldn't help but smiled at the screen. There was at least someone actually cared about his health.
Asarirn hovered his thumb over the call button for Ruby. Normally in these kinds of situation you would notify your teammates that you're alright, but not in Asarirn's case. Knowing them, they would wanted to know what is wrong with him and such. Asarirn wanted to be alone, but at the same time, he doesn't want to be rude to them.
Asarirn was about to press the call button, but moved his thumb away at the last second. Maybe it was better this way to Asarirn by not talking to them for a while. Right now, he just wanted to be alone with some peace and quiet.
Asarirn was about to put his scroll away, but before he could, his scroll rang. Asarirn immediately checked who was calling him. At first he thought it was probably one of the girls was calling him, but after checking the caller id, it wasn't them. It was Ozpin instead.
Asarirn stared at the screen as his scroll continued to ring. Asarirn decided to answer the call.
"Hello?" Asarirn answered.
"Hello, Arranis," Ozpin greeted. Asarirn figured there was someone else with him. "I just calling to ask if you're alright."
Asarirn stared at his hand for a moment. Asarirn remembered what happened last night, and what happened earlier today as well. "I'm fine… for now."
There was a slight pause for a moment before Ozpin spoke. "Is there something wrong?"
"I rather not talk about right now."
"Very well," Ozpin continued, "I need you to come to my office as soon as you can. We have some things to discuss."
"Can you, by any chance, notify Ruby Rose and tell I won't be joining them for classes?" Asarirn asked.
"You're not with them?"
"I wanted to be alone."
"Very well, I will notify your team leader."
"Thank you, I will be there as soon as I can."
Asarirn ended the call from there. Asarirn let out a sigh as he placed his scroll back into his coat. He looked over the city of Vale once again, but something was wrong. He had a bad feeling as what's to come next. Asarirn held out his right arm. Before you know it, Asarirn vanished into black smoke.
-*RWBY*-
The girls of Team RWBY sat idly in their room. Everyone had their school uniform on and everyone was accounted for, well… not everyone. Everyone pretty much guessed who was missing.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all ready for classes, except for Ruby. Ruby simply sat on her bed, she had been staring at her scroll for a few minutes. Ruby has sent a text message to Asarirn and was waiting for a respond back. The other girls, on the hand, were waiting on their leader to get ready.
After a bit, the girls finally realized Ruby's behavior was rather worrying. Before they knew it, Ruby sighed before putting her scroll down.
"Arranis didn't respond," Ruby sadly said as she jumped off her bed.
"Well, he did nearly killed Cardin and never came back yesterday," Weiss commented. Ruby's face deepen in sadness.
"Weiss!" Yang scolded. "You're not helping!"
"What? I'm just saying if I ever gone berserk and nearly killed someone because my sword was destroyed, I wanted to be alone also," Weiss stated. Blake and Yang casted pairs of death glares at Weiss. "I'm just saying!" Weiss said.
"Well that doesn't matter, Arranis isn't here," Ruby stated.
Yang walked up to Ruby and wrapped her arms around Ruby, "Ah, you missed your boyfriend," Yang teased.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Ruby quickly raise her voice, but quickly lowered. "Is it so bad to worry about your teammates…"
"You know I was only kidding," Yang patted on Ruby's head while Ruby rested her head on Yang's arm.
"There is one thing that I don't understand about Arranis," Blake decided to break this sisterly moment.
"That Arranis has two names and didn't say anything about to us," Weiss proposed.
"That, and something else."
"Like what?" Ruby questioned.
"Remember that night before our entrance exam, when we first talked to each other," Blake began to explain, "Remember the book I was reading that night."
"If I recall correctly, it was a story about a man with two souls, struggling to have for control."
"Exactly," Blake confirmed as she walked up to Ruby.
"What is that got to do with anything?" Yang asked.
Blake didn't say anything as she reached for Ruby's scroll. Once Blake have a hold of Ruby's scroll, she quickly looked for a particular video. Blake picked out the video of Asarirn's recent match. She played the video at a specific section, and shown the video to the girls.
The video shown the part of Asarirn grasped his head as he struggled to regain control. Asarirn moved around as he wings flapped wildly.
"YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO'S IN CONTROL, I AM!" Asarirn roared.
Blake stopped the video from there and watched at everybody's facial expression. Everyone shown surprised looks on their faces as they figured out what Blake was getting at. Everyone remained quiet for a bit until Ruby decided to speak.
"If what you're saying is true, then why doesn't he tell us about it? I'm sure we will understand."
"There could be more to it," Blake suggested, "This is what I can conclude from this."
"Then we should…" Before Ruby could finish her sentence, Ruby's rang as she received a message. She grabbed her scroll from Blake and checked the message, she hoped Asarirn responded back. To her disappointment, it wasn't from Asarirn, but it was Ozpin himself. Ruby was surprise the message came from Ozpin and decided to read the message out loud.
"Arranis Shadow won't be joining for now. He has some important matters to discuss with me. Hopefully, Arranis will come back later, once the matter has been resolved."
-Ozpin
"That's all it said," Ruby finished reading the message.
Yang scratched the back of her head, "It sounded like Arranis is in trouble," Yang stated.
"I guess the only thing we can do is wait and hopefully he comes back," Ruby said to the girls.
"What if he doesn't though?" Weiss asked.
"Simple," Ruby sounded like the answer was obvious, "We will look for him. Come on Team! We have classes to go to," Ruby said in cheery voice.
The girls followed their team leader out of their room. They could only hope things would go back to normal as soon as they can.
-*RWBY*-
Glynda paced back and forth in Ozpin's office, while Ozpin sat patiently in his chair. Glynda had questions for Asarirn, regarding to the events of yesterday's class. She wanted answers to everything that had happened. After a bit, Glynda stopped and turned to confront Ozpin.
"Do you think Arranis would flee from this school?" Glynda asked.
Ozpin smiled as he found it amusing, "I don't see the reason, Glynda. Arranis had shown interest in this school, you seen his grades."
"I would admit his grade are rather impressive," Glynda admitted, "but I'm talking about what happened yesterday. I wouldn't be surprise if he decided to leave."
"He's going to explain what happened to us, once he show up."
"Ozpin, I don't think he going to show up, it's been over half an hour since you called him."
"Arranis is going to come."
"But…"
Before they know, Asarirn suddenly appeared in the room with black smoke. Both Glynda and Ozpin turned to Asarirn for a brief moment before turning back to each other. Ozpin smiled as he was right about Asarirn. Glynda could only glare at Ozpin. They looked back to Asarirn.
"I am here as you requested," Asarirn performed a quick bow.
"Arranis Shadow," Ozpin began to speak, "You are here because due to the events of yesterday's combat class.
Asarirn looked down as he knew this was coming. He wanted to leave to avoid this, but that would only make him look bad.
"All we wanted to know what caused this event," Ozpin continued, "and how could we avoid later one."
Asarirn stood from where he stand without saying a word. Asarirn was lost in words. He can't just say he lost control, then they would wanted to know why. If he explained everything, then they might change their view of him. He could only trust Ozpin, since he knows what he was.
Ozpin and Glynda stared at Asarirn, hoping he would explain. Asarirn could feel the tensions rising. His heart started beating at a rapid pace.
After a bit, Glynda started to become inpatient.
"Mr. Shadow," Glynda began to talk, "We must know why you have the intentions of killing Cardin Winchester."
"I-I," Asarirn tried to say something, but couldn't.
"What is your semblance, Arranis?" Glynda continued, "Does those black wings have to do with your semblance?"
"Glynda…" Ozpin tried to stop her.
"Who was the woman from that projection?"
Asarirn didn't answer any questions as he continued to stand with his head down. Glynda decided to approach Asarirn. The moment Glynda took a step forward, Asarirn quickly took a step back. Glynda immediately stopped by Asarirn's action. It was that moment on, Glynda now realized Asarirn was afraid.
Glynda slowly took a step back, trying to take some pressure off of Asarirn. "You must listen, Mr. Shadow. You must at least answer some of the questions. If you don't, things could look bad for you."
Asarirn took a moment to think about his position. After a bit, he made his decision.
"I-if it is alright with you, I would like to speak to Ozpin in private," Asarirn requested.
Glynda was surprised to hear a request from Asarirn. She could only looked over to Ozpin for his responds. Ozpin simply smiled by the situation.
"Don't worry," Ozpin said with confidents, "I will inform you what happened, once we are done here."
"Very well," Glynda said to Ozpin. Glynda simply headed for the exit. She walked pass Asarirn without giving a quick glance.
Asarirn didn't bother to watch Glynda leave. He waited for the sound of the door closing behind him. Once he heard the door closed, Asarirn could helped but sigh in relieved.
Ozpin simply watched Asarirn walked over to the window. Asarirn pulled off his hood, revealing his face, and peered out to the distance. Asarirn had this sadden look on his face that Ozpin found it somewhat worry.
Ozpin stood up from his seat and walked over to Asarirn with a mug of coffee.
"Would you like some coffee?" Ozpin offered the mug to Asarirn.
"You know, I didn't mean to do all the stuff during yesterday's match," Asarirn finally spoke.
Ozpin gave a simple smile in responds, "I believed you, Asarirn," Ozpin sounded like he was easily convince. "However, I need to tell you this: There are things I can cover up, and things that I can't. What had happened yesterday; it is something that I can't cover up. There were far too many people who saw the whole event."
Asarirn looked down in depression. He didn't want this to happen. This was the only time in years, he allowed emotion got the best of him.
"Ms. Goodwitch had already submitted her report of the fight," Ozpin continued. "From the start of the fight, to the destruction of your weapon, your sudden urge to kill Cardin, the injuries you had on your arm, then lastly: the projection of a woman." Ozpin stopped for a moment to look for Asarirn's reaction. Asarirn continued to stare out the window without showing a responds to Ozpin. "Does the incident related to who you are?"
"Yes," Asarirn answered without hesitation.
"I see," Ozpin walked over back to his chair.
"There is something I need to know," Asarirn said as he turned his attention to Ozpin.
"What would that be?"
"Answer me honestly," Asarirn walked over to the front of Ozpin's desk. Asarirn moved his hand over his hand as he closed his eyes. Asarirn opened his eyes, showing his red eyes to Ozpin. His black hair grown out.
"Have you ever doubted I was a Nightlyis Weapon Master?" Asarirn asked Ozpin.
Ozpin widen his eyes for a split second as he watched Asarirn's new appearance. Ozpin closed his eyes to show he had acknowledge this version of Asarirn.
"Yes," Ozpin answered honestly, "I have doubts that you were the Nightlyis Weapon Master because of your appearance. Now, you have proven to me that you are a fact a Nightlyis. Now then, what can you tell me about the Nightlyis Bloodline?"
"If you may or may not know," Asarirn began to speak, "the Nightlyis is considered the most dangerous and powerful weapon master family than any others out there."
"Even in this world," Ozpin spoke, "the Nightlyis have the same reputation as you expect from your world. Everyone should have heard the Nightlyis name and knows what they have done. Luckily for you, you didn't reveal your identity to anyone else but me."
"Yeah, I know the value of my own name. I learned not to reveal my identity unless I can trust them completely."
"Are you like the other Nightlyis?"
"No," Asarirn quickly declined, "As you may noticed, I am an expectation."
"Expectation how?"
"Unlike the other Nightlyis, I didn't accepted this power because I didn't want to become 'his' puppet. So, I decided seal this power, but still allowed to use this form. Even when I'm in this form," Asarirn held up his hand and stared at it, "I can only this form in short burst."
Asarirn closed his eyes for a brief moment. He opened his eyes as his eyes turned back to normal. His black hair shorten to normal size.
"Even though, I never meant to be a Weapon Master."
"What do you mean by that?" Ozpin quickly questioned.
Asarirn gave a confuse look for a moment, "Even you, Ozpin, can figure this out."
Ozpin took a moment before finding the answer. "The generation is wrong I assume," Ozpin didn't want to admit, "The current Weapon Master should be at least one of your parents."
"Exactly," Asarirn confirmed, "For some reason, three generation of my family was skipped, putting me next in line. If you're going to ask: Why am I chosen to be a Weapon Master? For that, I don't have the answer to it.
"I see," Ozpin pondered the thought for a bit, "What makes the Nightlyis unique than the other family? Besides being number one."
"Our method of fighting display our powers for other to be feared. We specialized not only using assortment of weapons, but also in shadow magic; a lost art."
"Lost art?"
"Meaning, you won't see others use this form of magic except for the Nightlyis."
"Does those black wings you can materialize relates to your shadow magic?"
Asarirn shook his head to decline. "No, that wasn't shadow magic, but something entirely different. As for most Weapon Masters, we have abilities and/or forms that allowed us to surpass our normal limitation. What they saw, was an incomplete form."
"Incomplete?" Ozpin questioned.
Asarirn nodded. "Yes, it is a form that I don't have complete control because the power is rather too powerful to control. My form used the idea of equilibrium, using the power of both light and darkness. In order to achieve this form, I have to use angelic and demonic magic."
"There is one more question before you may leave," Ozpin told him. "Like I said before, Glynda submitted a very detail report of the event. I want to who was the projection of that woman."
"She was my master. She was the one who taught me the way of the blade."
"I'm assuming she is a Weapon Master also," Ozpin claimed. Asarirn nodded. "Even though I said this was the last question, but I need to know this. Why does your master claimed you were dead?"
Asarirn didn't say anything due to the fact he didn't want to remember what happened. Even Ozpin noticed Asarirn's behavior also.
"Are you not answering because I lied what I said before?" Ozpin decided to ask.
Asarirn shook his head, "No, that's not it. I'm not going to answer that question because it was a tragic event that I don't want to remember."
Ozpin sat in his chair in silent as he stared at Asarirn for a moment. As he continued to stare at Asarirn, many questions popped in Ozpin's head. Many in which, he wanted to know more about Asarirn. But the problem was if he asked more questions, it might cause Asarirn to run away and there was a chance he might not come back.
"That is all the questions I need from you," Ozpin decided to speak. "There is something I need to know. What are you planning to do now, Asarirn?"
Asarirn stared at the floor upon hearing Ozpin's questioned. Ozpin raised an eyebrow in responds.
"What are you planning to do now, Asarirn?" Ozpin asked once again.
"I honestly don't know what to do, Ozpin" Asarirn quickly spoke as he sounded distress. "I'm afraid. As a Weapon Master, you would predict many scenarios in order to go for the best outcome. But… but I couldn't predicted my sword would be destroy. Out of all the outcomes that could have happened, this wasn't supposed to happen. I…"
Asarirn clenched his fist in anger. At the same time, Ozpin noticed black smoke started to form at Asarirn's feet. It only took Asarirn a second to notice the black smoke, which caused him to stop talking. Asarirn closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath. Within seconds, the black smoke disappeared.
Ozpin may have figured out the source of the accident. Ozpin believed there was a slight chance Asarirn may be emotionally unstable.
Asarirn opened his eyes once he calmed down.
"As of right now," Asarirn continued, "I can't come back to my team. Because of the event, it caused the seal to be damaged and weakened. And also, I don't know what to say about to my team."
Ozpin let out a smile as he gave out a single chuckle. Asarirn quickly raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm sure, they all will understand if you talked to them. I can tell, they are a lot more understanding than you think."
Asarirn considered Ozpin for moment, but Ozpin continued.
"You mentioned the seal was damaged," Ozpin stated. "How would you repair the seal?"
"Normally, I can repair the seal myself. But the problem is the process would take a week to repair, which I don't have that amount of time. So, I have no choice but to call a friend of mine to assist me in order to speed up the process. Which would take a night to repair."
"I'm assuming your friend is from the same world you came from," Ozpin said. Asarirn nodded. "Even though I kept on saying this was the last thing, but there is one more thing I wanted to know. Answer this and you may leave without having to answer any more questions."
"What is it that you wanted to know?" Asarirn asked curiously.
Ozpin looked straight at Asarirn before asking, "How old were you when someone close to you died in front of you?"
Asarirn widen his eyes for a split second before narrowing his eyes at Ozpin. Out of all the things Ozpin wanted to know, he wanted to know that. Asarirn could only Ozpin in this world and also, he was one of the few people he could talk to.
Asarirn remained silent for a moment before saying something. Asarirn pulled up his hood to conceal his face once more. Even Ozpin knew Asarirn was going to leave after this question.
"Twelve," was the only thing he said.
"How close were you to that person?" Ozpin quickly asked.
Asarirn didn't say anything as he disappeared from the room, leaving a trail of black smoke. Ozpin wasn't surprise that happened.
"Must been pretty close to this person," Ozpin assumed to himself.
Ozpin sat back against his chair as he felt the tensions in this room lifted. Ozpin sat in silent, he trying to recollect the whole conversation with Asarirn. He has a better understanding of Asarirn, but, at the same time, there were more to know. The last question, Asarirn had answered, made Ozpin believed for sure Asarirn was emotionally unstable. But the thing is, how could he help?
There was one more person, Ozpin needed to talk to. Ozpin leaned toward the computer screen.
"You may come in, Glynda," Ozpin told the computer.
After a couple of seconds, Glynda entered the room once more. Glynda noticed Asarirn was missing as she approached Ozpin.
"What happened to Arranis Shadow?" the first question Glynda asked.
"He left the same way he entered," Ozpin casually responded.
"I'm assuming your conversation had gone well."
"More or less."
"So, what was the cause of yesterday's event?" Glynda wanted answers.
"It was a simple loss of control of his semblance," Ozpin answered like it wasn't a big deal.
"Those black wings is his semblance?"
"Part of it," Ozpin clarified. "Arranis has the ability to generate wings made with different elemental properties. Each wing have different abilities to use from. It just those wings, in particular, Arranis doesn't have complete control of it."
"I see," Glynda sounded like she was convince. "If that's the case, then it would be better for Arranis to take special class to help him control his semblance."
"That won't be necessary," Ozpin quickly declined, "He said he had the whole thing under control. As long he doesn't use those black wings, then he should be fine."
"Do you honestly believe he has his semblance under control?" Glynda questioned.
"Only Arranis has a better understanding of his semblance than us. If he says he have the whole thing under control, then we have no choice but to accept that fact."
"Very well then," Glynda said," What about the other unanswered questions?"
"That projection of the woman?"
Glynda nodded.
"The woman was appeared to be Arranis' old teacher. Based on what Arranis had told me, she was the one who taught him the way of the sword. He only left because he had learned what he can from her."
"Then why does she claim-"
"Everyone thought he was dead?" Ozpin finished the question for her. Again, Glynda nodded. "Arranis only told me it was a tragic event."
"That's it?" Glynda sounded disappointed.
"He wasn't feeling comfortable to talk any more of it."
"If that's all the information he can give, I don't understand why I have to leave the room then."
Ozpin could only shrugged by what Glynda questioned.
"Do you think we can still use Arranis as our spy?" Glynda questioned.
Immediately, Ozpin had a concern look in his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" Ozpin asked.
"I believe Arranis may be emotionally unstable," Glynda stated. "The yesterday's event was an emotional trigger, the moment when Mr. Winchester destroyed his weapon. Also, the tragic event pretty much topped it off."
Ozpin's expression didn't change as he continued to stare at Glynda. He wasn't surprise that Glynda had reached the same conclusion as he did.
"Regardless of anything," Ozpin spoke, "we don't have a choice but continued to use Arranis as our spy."
"But we can't afford to use him as our spy, Ozpin," Glynda argued. "We don't know for sure if that happen again. Why don't we use Qrow to gather information?"
"We can't," Ozpin quickly declined, "Qrow is currently busy with other issues and also been called for a special mission. We don't have a choice but to use Arranis in the meantime."
"I see," Glynda sounded worried, "I really hope this doesn't happen again.
Author's Notes: I have been real busy since I have uploaded a chapter. I know its been five weeks since I uploaded, if someone been keeping track. The reason was for the messed schedule with work. I just don't know when I work, they just schedule whatever when. Anyway, sorry for the late upload. On to the chapter, I hope everyone have a better understanding of Asarirn as a Weapon Master and the family name. But unfortunately, the next will throw a curve ball at you guys. But anyway, thanks for reading.
