"Alright, now make sure to keep that focus." Roygun chimed as Ayatan attempted to reach into his pool of mana. They were both surrounded by books opened to various pages, many of said pages dog-eared to be remembered and referenced as Ayatan attempted to perform even rudimentary magic.

It'd been three days of nonstop training without results, though Roygun kept Ayatan motivated by informing him consistently that he was working on only two weeks of life experience, so using his magic wasn't going to come naturally.

Unless, of course, he unlocked any of his old memories.

"Reach into your magic, and command it to manifest as a light before you." Ayatan, frustrated, focused his mind on the concept of a light. On the first day, Roygun had said not to work with hard objects, but rather concepts and allow magic to fill in the gaps.

He felt his magic bloom in response to the command, the exotic feeling causing his fingertips to tingle as he reached out for the magic to appear. He closed his eyes, hoping that if he focused on nothing but the feeling, his magic would respond.

Only for his magic to spark harmlessly in his hands.

Again.

"Dammit!" Ayatan cried. "I don't get it! I'm doing everything right, just as you're telling me!" Roygun sighed and squatted back and raised her hands in surrender.

"Magic is difficult, Ayatan. I've been around for over seven hundred years and I'm still learning how to use it." She patted his shoulder consolingly. "If it's any consolation, your half-godhood guarantees at least half that many years of life. Provided you aren't killed before then."

With that ringing endorsement Ayatan shot to his feet and stomped away from their room of magical practice, back to the living room. Roygun stood and followed him, grabbing one of the books on the way out.

"How about this?" A muffled 'oomph' sounded from the couch as Ayatan collapsed onto it face-first. It was followed quickly by a yell of frustration, and Roygun felt the guilt in her heart surge. "I'm going to make us a late breakfast, then we take a break and head out on the town. That sound good?"

"Mhm." Was her only indication that Ayatan had listened at all. Roygun needed the break too. If throwing Ayatan at the problem wasn't going to work, she'd have to throw the problem at Ayatan. Maybe a gut-reaction would prompt his magic.

He wasn't a devil, after all. Maybe god-magic worked differently, and she was unfortunately lacking in divine contacts to teach Ayatan.

She pushed some loose strands of hair from her face as she entered the kitchen area, the various cupboards swinging open under the influence of her magic. She scanned them as she pondered what to make. Normally, she'd have-

No, that kind of thinking would do nothing for her already terrible mood.

She grabbed an array of spices at random, hoping that they'd go well together. The refrigerator opened on command, a pack of bacon and carton of eggs floating out towards the central island. Bowls and utensils levitated out of drawers and cubbies, each arranging themselves on the counter in a neat fashion.

Bacon and eggs couldn't be too hard, right?

Wrong.

The eggs burnt because apparently stoves had different heat settings for a reason. The bacon fat splattered all over the place, causing several welts to form on her arms where the superheated grease had landed. And she still managed to undercook it. It was floppy and sad, not so much as a hint of the crunch that she so loved.

Ayatan still had yet to move from his prone position on the couch, and for that Roygun was eternally grateful.

"Smells good." she heard him say through the cushions. A loud growl followed the statement, and Roygun only panicked more. Why had she thought she could do this?! This was something people practiced for years to do!

"It'll be done soon." she replied. "Just a few more minutes."

"Sounds good too." Ayatan followed up. Sounds good? How did…oh the bacon. Right.

"It'll be just a little bit longer." Roygun said as she looked around the kitchen frantically. There wasn't much else she could do besides delay the food, and part of her wanted to just teleport out and get him some food from a takeout place.

"Mkay." Ayatan grunted. "Thanks."

The rest of the scant few minutes she had were spent attempting to salvage the travesty of a meal she'd created. She clattered and struggled with everything, eventually managing to put it all on plates and make an attempt at presentation. Better to get it out of the way now than later, she supposed.

"Alright, it's ready." she said. Ayatan groaned and sat up from the sofa slowly, rubbing his eyes as he stared at the food that Roygun approached with. His eyes were full of hunger, and she actually watched him lick his lips.

Well, up until recently he'd been homeless, so maybe she was holding herself to too high a standard.

Without even a word he devoured the food with reckless abandon, his nonexistent manners dictating he simply consume the food rather than enjoy every bite. It was flattering to know he still appreciated it thanks to the intermittent 'mm's that he released while eating the floppy bacon.

"You like it?" she asked nervously. "That's…rather impressive, actually." Ayatan nodded heartily with a smile and happy eyes.

"Of coursh I do!" he chirped. "I fhink yer overestimatin' what my food prefrence is." A gulp sounded. "I ate actual trash before I met you."

Roygun wasn't sure whether or not to feel pride about that one. On the one hand, he liked it! She wasn't worse than trash! On the other hand…

She was being judged against literal garbage. So…making good food wasn't that hard.

"So what involves 'heading out on the town?'" Ayatan asked as he swallowed the last of his food. He'd cocked his head to the side, an eyebrow raised. Roygun, thankfully, was far more versed in leisure time in a big city than she was cooking food and knew exactly what to do for the evening.

"Best guess, how old are you?" Roygun didn't particularly care, she just needed to put something on an I.D. card.

"25." he replied instantaneously. She watched him blink in confusion at the speed of his own answer. She too felt a bit surprised by how fast the reply came, but looking at him she supposed it made sense. A scruffy and underdeveloped beard aside, his general build implied someone who was certainly done with puberty.

"25 years old?" she marveled. His mana pool was colossal for a 25 year old, even if he was god-spawn. An emphatic nod was her assurance.

"I don't know how I know that, but when you asked, the number '25' popped into my head." he said as he scratched at his chin. It was a rather pleasant rasping sound, she noted, his scruffy beard. She shook her head free of the thought, however.

Perhaps '25' was a prefix to some much larger number? A 25 year old godling shouldn't have enough mana to eclipse some actual gods she'd met.

Yes, she'd admit she was a little jealous. Even with no training his body was already producing enough magical energy to power the essential functions of Lucifaad. Thank Satan he wasn't a Bael. This kind of power paired to the energy of destruction? Even Sirzechs would be given a run for his money in a few short years.

Unless she was looking at this the wrong way.

She shrugged, leaving that kind of thinking for later.

"That works. The drinking age here is 21, so I'll make you an I.D." she replied eventually. "We'll hit up a bar. Had a good old time."

"A bar?" Ayatan asked, seemingly gobsmacked. "That's like the worst place to go for-" Roygun held up a finger to silence him, her eyes taking on a hardened glare.

"I may not be a good cook, but I am very good at enjoying a city." She felt herself almost growling at him for daring to doubt her. "The best way to start a good night in the city is with a bar."

Ayatan clearly had his doubts, but he went along with it nonetheless.

Ayatan had to admit, her fashion sense was far better than her cooking.

Roygun crafted him some clothes from magic based on his preferences, and he continued to be surprised by how good he looked.

After a shower and grooming, of course. Roygun had refused to make clothes for him this time until after he was clean. Something about a crime against the fashion she made for him.

Comfortable but loose-fitting clothes had been crafted for him, and he examined himself in the mirror with no small degree of admiration. Now that he looked at himself properly, he felt like he wasn't terrible for other people to look at.

"You know," Roygun said as she fixed the collar of his black polo. "Your hair is pretty long, like mine." It wasn't even close, and they both knew it. His was shoulder length at the longest. "Do you want to cut it?"

"Can you do haircuts?" he pondered after she finished fussing over him. She was remarkably concerned with something that probably had no bearing on how she was perceived.

"I can!" she instantly produced a pair of scissors from seemingly nowhere, but at this point Ayatan knew better than to wonder that aloud. "What are you thinking?" He looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes screwed in concentration.

"What do you think works best?" he asked. Her eyes shone with excitement.

"Oh, you're gonna love it!

"I.D.?" the burly man in front of the bar grunted. Ayatan produced the small plastic card that Roygun had provided him. The man scanned the card, his brows furrowing for a moment before he shrugged and handed it back to Ayatan. "Don't be an idiot."

"Thanks." Ayatan snarked. "I'd never have guessed."

Roygun had gone in before him, the booming and thundering music of the club very quickly masking most of his ability to find his only friend in the building. Apparently Roygun had intentionally misused the word 'bar,' as he was expecting a place with food to go along with the drinks.

Whatever was playing here definitely didn't belong in a bar.

"Hello Ayatan!" he heard from behind him, barely louder than the music. He swung around to meet Roygun's gaze, a brilliant smile meeting him. "What do you think?"

"It's loud!" he replied in return. Roygun threw back her head in laughter for a moment.

"That's the idea! Come on!"

Somehow, Ayatan didn't feel the least bit out of place despite all the noise. Roygun dragged him through crowds of people towards an actual bar, though the amount of bottles and strangely shaped containers behind it indicated something besides beer was being served here. A row of seats were in front of it, though most were occupied.

"What'll it be?" a lady standing behind the counter greeted them. Ayatan looked at the wall of alcohol, most of them strangely named.

"Old fashioned. Two of them please." Roygun said before he could open his mouth. The bartender raised her eyebrow for a moment, turning to Ayatan. He shrugged, gesturing to his pink haired host nonchalantly. Shaking her head, the bartender went about her duties.

"Old fashioned?" Ayatan yelled over the pulsing heartbeat of the music. "What's that?"

"Good!" Roygun laughed loudly. "You'll like it!" she leaned back against the bar, her gaze falling into the large crowd of dancing people in the center of the large room. Ayatan followed her gaze, the roiling mass of flowing bodies somewhat…reminiscent of something. He wasn't sure what, but it reminded him of something.

A good sign, he supposed.

"You want to dance?" he asked, gesturing towards the crowd enjoying the music. Roygun shrieked, throwing her head back after following where he was gesturing to.

"At some point, sure!"

"Two old fashioned, here you go." the bartender said from behind them. Roygun snatched them with gusto, handing one to Ayatan quickly. He raised it to his nose, sniffing experimentally. It certainly smelled good, very citrusy with a strong something behind it. On the other hand, he didn't want to drink it until he'd seen Roygun drinking it.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was more that he'd seen other people in the building consuming their various drinks very slowly. Maybe Roygun's wasn't meant to be had slowly, but he didn't want to risk making a fool out of himself. Unfortunately, she was staring at him expectantly.

"Well?" she asked. "Are you going to try it?"

Frankly, Ayatan couldn't tell if she was twenty or two hundred. He shrugged and sipped the drink she'd ordered him and thankfully didn't feel too much of an urge to spit it out. It did, however, burn his throat as he swallowed it, and a bitter aftertaste was left.

He smacked his lips to tolerate the flavor, trying to taste anything else in the air.

"It's…good," he ventured. Roygun smiled and took it from his hand, downing the entire thing in a single swig.

"You don't have to like it." she replied after putting the glass down. "Not everyone likes alcohol." She downed her own glass as well. Something told him he was going to regret letting her do that later, but for the time being he was happy just being around her. She was definitely better company than the rats he'd see on the side streets.

"So…" he tried, once again gesturing towards the dance floor. Roygun raised an eyebrow in a fashion much like the bartender had.

"You seem rather insistent." she replied. "Feeling antsy to move?" Ayatan looked at the ceiling, full of pulsing lights and spiraling lasers. This entire place felt unrealistically familiar. Loud sounds, flashing lights. It all reminded him of a word that frankly made no sense.

Narta.

He wanted to ask Roygun what it meant, but he also kind of wanted to figure out what it meant on his own. He finally remembered something from who he was, and as much as he appreciated Roygun's taking him in, he also wanted to be something besides her friend/pupil/student.

"Yeah." he finally replied to Roygun, bringing his gaze back to the dance floor. "Something like that." Roygun chuckled, or at least he was pretty sure she did based on her shaking shoulders. He couldn't hear such a soft noise in a building this loud. "You want to join me?" he asked.

"I think I'll be alright for now." she replied. "You go ahead." Shrugging, Ayatan followed the unusual confidence swelling in his chest to the dance floor.

She'd seen that flash of memory the second he looked at the ceiling. He hadn't noticed but his foot had started tapping the floor the moment he glanced upward. Maybe she'd have joined him if she knew what to expect, but for now she was content to observe.

That and potentially act as damage control if something went awry.

Ayatan moved with surprising fluidity as he navigated the sea of people, sliding through small gaps and tiny holes created as people moved and hopped to the beat of a bass=heavy song. Her ears hurt a bit, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy this kind of situation.

He started with small movements of his arms, his feet only being used to keep him out of the way of other people. The movements were jilted and stiff, like his body knew what to do but his brain didn't.

He'd hop every now and then as the beat would drop. Roygun magically refilled her drink surreptitiously, though her attention never fully left Ayatan.

The song shifted to something less revolving around bass, and she watched something snap into place for Ayatan. His eyes actually flashed with a blueish-white light. She felt his mana bloom for a moment before suddenly vanishing entirely.

And then he moved.

People cleared away from him as his body flowed like water, cheering and roaring their support. He was hardly the most physically fit person, his limbs thin and body light, yet he drifted across the floor with the mastery one would expect from someone who spent their life dancing.

His feet vanished from beneath him as he suddenly fell into a spin on his hands, his body spiraling up into the air.

"Hell of a friend you've got there." the barkeep said from beside her, leaning over the divide between them. Roygun had to admit, the woman was very much right about that. "He was stiff as a log earlier, booze usually get him this amped?"

"First I've seen of it." Roygun said as she pondered how much she was willing to lie. "It's a fresh change of pace, though." The woman next to her barked a laugh and went back to work.

"I'll bet." she replied as she parted.

Roygun was left alone while she watched Ayatan flex his mysteriously returned memory. He only continued to perform more and more outlandish feats of flexibility and control. It got to the point where if she didn't know any better she'd have said he was a gymnast.

It was a beautiful expression of artistic love for his craft. She'd admit that it was a little funny that until about a minute before he hadn't even known he could do it. Part of her wanted to go join him, but she wouldn't be able to hold a candle to him in this area. She was a magic caster, and he was very clearly a fighter.

A very, very good one too, if her knowledge of what a fighter looked like hadn't faded yet. She definitely needed to get him a sword.

"I'll probably need to make a stop at Stronghammer's." she muttered to herself. Her attention refocused on her ward as a second person joined him on the dance floor, their own motion as fluid as his, though less…functional in nature. It was more designed to be a dance existing for its own sake.

His was like a combat form. She wracked her brain for a word to describe it, but it eluded her. She could almost see the sword in Ayatan's hand as he and the other person danced the song away. Unfortunately for everyone watching, however, Ayatan's stamina was not infinite, and he eventually had to bow away from the dance floor.

The experience had been…magical to say the least. He'd felt in control when he was dancing. An incomparable peace had come over him during the whole experience. It felt like the Nartas he'd performed were not meant for this kind of music, but he'd managed to make them fit nonetheless. His dance partner had been wonderful to work around, a challenge he hadn't expected when they appeared next to him without warning.

Roygun was beaming as he approached her, a bottle of water in her hand. She met him halfway, passing over the much-needed hydration as she did. He downed the bottle in seconds, his body practically sighing in relief as he consumed it at a breakneck pace.

"That was quite a performance." Roygun placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the exit. "Where'd that come from?"

"I…don't know." he replied. "But it felt right." Despite his exhaustion, he'd never felt more alive than now, even if he hadn't actually been alive for that long.

"Good." Roygun said. "Because I've got an idea."

It was not until the next morning that Ayatan would find out what the idea was. She disappeared after they got back to the condo together, leaving Ayatan alone for the entire night. He did end up getting some sleep, and a lot of it if the fully risen sun was any indication when he'd awoken.

"Greetings." Roygun said as he got up. A strong formal edge to her voice. "Today your training starts."

Ayatan snapped straight, the woman before him completely different from the day before. There was a strong glint in her eyes full of steel and determination that had most certainly not been there before.

"Where did this come from?" he asked as Roygun stared at him. He looked down to see a sword mounted at her waist. "Did my dancing say I'm a swordsman?" She nodded sagely in return. "Huh, lucky guess."

His gaze drifted further down towards the floor to see a set of intricate and detailed drawings in white chalk. A large spell circle sat on the ground, shimmering ever so slightly with the purple gleam of Roygun's magic.

"This spell will take us to a better place to train, as a condo is no place for it." Ayatan nodded his assent, the furniture looking frighteningly expensive in the moment.

"Where is this better place?" he asked, stepping into the circle with her. She blinked, and suddenly they were somewhere else.

Far away and into the horizon he saw nothing but grass, small hills dotting the landscape with a serene texture. There were barely any clouds in the sky, much like back in the city, but the air was…cleaner. Better.

"Where are we?" he asked. Roygun stepped away from him and the spell circle that had somehow traveled with them and their teleportation.

"Kansas." she replied flatly. "Here, we can practice without anyone watching."

Ayatan swung around to head to the top of a nearby hill, the ground soft and pliable under his feet. As he reached the top, he saw that they were indeed alone for miles around. Even trees were uncommon.

"Assessing the landscape?" Roygun asked as she walked up next to him. "Wise. You never know where the next attack might come from." Ayatan nodded in agreement, and he felt like something was being implied there.

His body knew it before his mind did, as without so much as a warning his legs had sprang him away from Roygun. A twirling handspring finished his sudden and completely unwarranted retreat.

"Good instincts." Roygun commented from fifteen feet away. The sword had been drawn and now sat hanging in the air that he'd used to occupy. "How much do you remember about those 'dances' yesterday?" She followed up. His entire body was tense as he stared at her, his arms raised to fight.

Where had this been when Retea attacked him?!

"Nothing." he replied reflexively. "I just…danced." Roygun snarled and closed the distance again, a wide sweeping attack aimed towards his midsection.

He suddenly found himself several feet away and in a different stance, his body acting completely on its own. Roygun returned the blade to its scabbard, a sigh escaping her.

"That's unfortunate." Roygun replied. "Because what you're doing is reflective of something in Japanese martial arts called 'Kata.' I imagine that you were trained in them before you lost your memory."

"That stands to reason." he replied, relaxing his traitorous limbs from their combative state. Roygun stared quizzically at him when he did.

"You…can't feel that?" she asked as she too relaxed herself. "Not even a little bit?" Ayatan wracked his brain for any foreign feelings, but nothing came up besides angry muscles.

"No." he shook his head. "What should I be feeling?" Roygun unbuckled the sword from her hip, tossing it towards him after clasping the hilt to the scabbard.

"An old knight I knew said that he could sense peoples' killing intent, and in that moment I fully was trying to kill you. You couldn't detect it?"

Insanity of telepathy like that aside, Ayatan marveled at the fact that she threw him her weapon. Granted, she was supposedly powerful in magic, so perhaps she didn't need the sword. He caught the flying blade with ease, the belt sitting nicely around his waist.

"No." he replied. "What should it feel like?" Roygun shrugged her shoulders and backed up several paces. He felt his legs clench in response to the action, his hand immediately falling to the handle of the sword she'd just tossed him.

"Something like that, apparently." Roygun's placid gaze turned predatory, her hand igniting with purple light. She studied him with curiosity in her gaze, Ayatan examining his appendages with no less interest. "You can clearly detect it, but you don't know you can detect it."

Ayatan rolled to the side as the purple light in her hand zipped towards him.

"Interesting." Roygun continued as the ball of energy redirected towards him, causing him to spring up and over it. "Only two days of exposure to magic and you're adapting like…" she shivered slightly and cut herself off. The second he'd touched down to the ground, the ball zipped back towards him, forcing him to duck underneath it.

"The sword is magic-resistant," she commented as he evaded her spell. "You can block with it."

The comment came not a second too soon, as without warning the blade had flashed from its sheath, cutting the tracking magic attack in half. Ayatan heaved for breath as he swung around to stare at Roygun, his newly-acquired sword sitting half-ready in his grip.

"How am I…?" he asked her. "Did you do something to me overnight?" Roygun smiled knowingly.

"Not a chance." she replied. "You're doing this all on your own, and I'm beginning to get a good picture of how totally incomplete your mind-wash was." Ayatan, still staggered at his own performance, tilted his head. "Whoever did this to you likely had to get the drop on you, forcing a very rudimentary brainwash."

"Meaning…?" he trailed off, his body still waiting for her to attack again.

"Meaning," she began dramatically. "Your muscle memory hasn't been wiped, and your brain is still able to use subconscious conditioning as a sort of 'template' for action. You don't even know you can do what you can."

The thought of being able to get his past back was a very hopeful one. If he was able to do this now with only muscle memory, imagine what he was capable of back when he had a fully functional brain with a complete set of memories! On the other hand, what if he'd been a bad person? What if he'd had his mind wiped for a reason?

He considered both possibilities heavily, each terrifying for its own reasons. If he was a good person and got his memories back, would he continue to be the person he is now? If he was a bad person, the same problem.

He mostly just didn't want to stop being who he is. Who did? The idea of practically a foreign consciousness completely taking him over-

"Woah!" he cried as another spell whizzed by his head, his body ducking instinctually once again. "A little warning would be nice!" he yelled at Roygun.

"No warnings in combat!" she replied angrily. He leapt away, his sword erupting from its leather cradle. He took only a fraction to analyze it, but doing so filling his mind with alien knowledge.

A long, single curved edge refined to a wicked sharp point. Hand-and-a-half grip married to a twin-sided crossguard. The blade was a glossy white, good for blinding enemies.

The entire inspection occurred within a fraction of a second as he spun his body over the spell's second attack, cutting it in two as the blade followed his motion. A shower of violet sparks filled the air as the spell petered out.

"Alright." he grunted, his feet thudding to the ground. Despite the commotion and explosive action, he didn't feel tired. Somehow. "That's starting to get annoying." Roygun smirked in response, two spells forming above her hands.

"Good. Most challenges tend to be." Was his only warning before both magical spheres devoured the space between him and his teacher, purple blurs crashing into his shoulders before even his supernaturally aware body could react.

"Phfoof!" The air was driven from his body when the spells collided with him, both of them rocketing away into the sky as they prepared for a second round. His body screamed for air, though his lungs were still stuck in malfunction as they attempted to refill with air. Forced into action, he raised his arms and scrunched his eyes as he prepared for the inevitable impact.

Only for it to never come.

His eyes opened slowly to see Roygun standing above him with a gentle smile and a proffered hand, the attack-balls hovering several feet above them.

"You did good, especially being more-or-less human. I'll get your magic out of you yet, but today is not that day." she said as she hoisted him to his feet. He heaved deep breaths as he stood, dropping the sword he'd been given to fall over in a hunch.

"That…." he gasped. "Hurt." Roygun gave a breathy exhale, patting his shoulder lightly in consolation. He looked up to her gaze to see an emotion far from the pity he'd been expecting. Instead of disappointment at his failure to fight back, he saw a brilliant, swelling pride.

"It's supposed to." she joked. "It'd be a pretty poor attack spell if it didn't." Ayatan stood to his full height, still very much shorter than her. "Besides, if you're really hurt I can always heal you."

The memory flashed back to the front of his mind, a powerful heat rising in his face.

"I thought not." she said, laughing a bit as he turned his gaze away from her. "In the meantime, though, let's do a bit of a different exercise for the rest of the day, and have you try your hand again at some magic."

Exhausted and in pain, nothing sounded better than reading some books in relative solitude.

Solitude, as it turned out, was definitely not what he needed when studying the myriad books that Roygun had in her possession. It'd taken him all of fifteen minutes to become stumped in his progression, hitting the same wall he had the day before.

"Your memory triggers are experiential." she supplied as he looked at a brainwashing spell. "If you see something related to what you've 'forgotten' the remembrance will come rushing back." she gestured towards his general person. "As earlier so clearly showed, combat seems to be the best trigger."

"I guess so." he shrugged as he flipped through pages to find anything that might bring something else forward. "Do you think I might find anything in these that would help me remember who I was, and not just what I was?" Roygun tilted her head, an eyebrow rising in curiosity. Ayatan thought for a moment about how to phrase it, proceeding carefully. "I mean beyond just a fighter. Clearly that's what I used to do but….who was I as a person. Or, I guess, as a godling?"

Roygun shrugged noncommittally, her hands coming up in surrender.

"I can't say for sure, especially about these books. These are all just magical theory and basic spells, I have my doubts about them reminding you of anything besides how to perform magic. And your magic may very well work completely differently from devil magic, so I may be pointing you in the wrong direction."

Outstanding. So both he and his mentor were floundering in the dark while grasping at straws that may not even exist. He closed the book on brainwashing, placing it on the ground gingerly and grabbing a different book at random. He examined the cover, an artistic design emblazoned on the front resembling an obelisk crafted from several rectangles.

"Hmm." he muttered to himself as he pried it open. "Maybe this one will have something."

"Doubtful." Roygun replied as she picked up a different book and began to scan it. "That's a book on rot magic. You don't particularly seem the type to know that particular craft." she paused for a moment. "No offense."

"None taken, I suppose." he replied as he flipped to the first page, which was blank. "Why would I be offended?"

"Well, Rot magic is exceptionally powerful, but it requires you to be rather…" she searched for a good word that he imagined she hoped he wouldn't find horribly insulting. "Determined." He looked up from his book to stare at her flatly.

"Is that a backhanded way of saying I'm lazy?" he mocked, smiling. Nothing like a bit of good-natured ribbing to keep the mood light.

"Maybe." she replied in kind. "Or maybe you just don't have what it takes to control the source of that magic."

"Har de har har." Ayatan grunted as he rifled through the book's pages. Most of the first pages were empty. "Any reason these are all empty?" he gestured the open pages to her, and she looked back at him with confusion.

"They're…not." she replied. "You can't see anything?" Ayatan swung the book back around, staring at empty age-yellowed pages. He looked up to meet her gaze, a deep and abiding concern growing in her eyes. "Ayatan, give me that book. It may be cursed."

"Oh, what's the harm?" he replied while flipping through more sheets of wordless paper, his confusion mounting. "Not like it'll kill me." As he did, he found a singular page with the art on the cover, though now there was a singular word underneath it.

"Netra?" he read aloud. Roygun gasped.

And the whole world went black.

And chapter 3 is complete!

Not…really sure what to say here. I've got some new reviews to address, though!

Rafaelrizo98: Uhh, Sorry my friend. Not really sure how to help you there.

Dragonkiller453: Not…quite. I won't say anything besides that, though, for the sake of preserving the nature of the story. Just know that you're kind of right, but also kind of not. It'll be revealed in time, but for now rest assured that you'll see some cool warframe stuff. Mostly hoping you don't have to "live with" the story not having as much Warframe as you'd like it to.

Other than that, I have nothing else to say!

See you all next time!

LennyCommie