Face to face.

I stared into his deep brown eyes, an obtrusive wall blocking my penetrating gaze.

Memories flashed and scars seethed as a light layer of blood seeped through my clothes.

At least that was how It felt.

The horrors that this man had done had been locked deep inside me.

And now those locks were becoming dangerously loose.

I found myself possessing an ungainly fowl as my eyes widened and my mouth gasped for air.

"Haa,haa,haa, haaaf."

My breathing returned to normal and he stood there. Questioning what he should say next. I was still kneeling in pain but my instincts had kept my hands ready to pounce.

My vision blurred in and out but a ringing and normally insipid part of my mind brought me back every few seconds.

Muffled sounds engulfed my ears before my hearing tuned in.

"So I was wondering if-"

He brought out a hand to hold me up.

My trauma flashed before my eyes, my body moved before my mind and with it my sword.

Shing.

A silver blade lay at his neck, a faint gust of air behind it and metal plated skin where it had landed.

No sparks had flew, merely a dull and distatestful feeling as my hand numbed.

"Now, now. That's a bit excessive don't you think?"

His expression bore sympathy and a hint of arrogance.

I was certain he was in the act of getting under my guard.

I had already surrounded us in a vast storm of world-energy and he would never know. The slightest movement of his staff would invoke a full on-assault in which I would escape with the lotus step.

My eyes flashed looking left and right before a single blink, as my anxiety skyrocketed.

I met his eyes, this time I noticed his downtilt head and matched his movements.

I looked below the gap in between my legs.

A minuscule yet alarming white spike slowly grew out. I was confident he was controlling it and with it my life.

It was camouflaged so that I could only see it through the tiny impurities within his creation.

One bad move and I would get split like a bagel?

I see how it is.

A sticky lump strolled up and down my throat as my eyes darted around cautiously.

Any movement could be my end.

I looked at him with a gaze of steel and spat out onto the snow. Leaving a small area gray before it was shaded over.

"I'll go."

My words were a mumble and my legs were shaking hard. I brushed his hand off me before it could clamp down onto my shoulder.

A pearly white-smile rose on his face.

"You-'ll wh-at??" He spoke almost joyously and playfully.

I noticed the spike growing larger by the second. Painfully close to 'that' area.

"Go. I'll go. Back to the cottage, the people. You."

I held back the venom surfacing from my throat.

The things I wanted to say to this man.

I had already prepared 3 layers of Materialized world-energy sources yet I wasn't confident in beating a master magician.

Over the past 3 y,ears he had told ghastly grim tales and stories as his status gradually elevated in this world.

Supposedly, he was the Head-Magician of the Lions Charge. A strong group of magicians that ruled one of the 17 towers of Gringole from around the world. They beat the previous group with ease, using their esteemed formation spell. The God-Lions Levy. It took all 25 members of the group to cast and used most of their mana. The spell instantly tore through hundreds of layers of barriers and left a sorry hole in hundreds of golems and giants that had been chained to the tower floor.w

Supposedly it was a sight to see, a blazing natural disaster.

All that was left was a burning, torrential mess as they casually strolled to their new stay.

Or rather, before Vibrakolah destroyed the 17 towers of the World. But that was a tale for another day. The point was, he was strong.

Stronger than my mentor? I did not know, however I don't know why but I doubted it. My master had grasped this strange thing that I named World Energy. His power with it always seemed to be behind the horizon.

Somewhere too blinding and far to see. From where I was standing at least.

He had never revealed his rank however I assumed it was somewhere between High-Lord to King rank. Maybe even a Half-Step Emperor. Though I doubted such a thing.

I truly knew barely anything about the ranks in reality.

Speaking of ranks, as of now I was supposedly a half step to Advanced. Progressing smoothly throughout the years.

Chlora is a normal Intermediate however she tells me Vorgio predicts her rise to the half-step plane to be within a few months at most.

Since I wanted to take my mind off Vorgio, I thought of other things. Such as Mana Storage.

Before the event, I rolled my tongue. Before the event, Vor-gio had told me I had an incredibly vast mana reserve. Probably already at the level of an Advanced rank mage and nearing the Lord rank rapidly. Just a shame I won't ever be able to touch it I suppose.

You know, no affinities and what not.

And it's not like my constitution requires mana anyways.

Chlora has a large mana storage, and it grows almost as fast as mine, though I one-up her in this area. She also seems to have a special constitution. I noticed this when we were just walking and she picked up an extremely heavy rock. I questioned if she was using wind magic or something else to assist her but to that she merely answered.

"... I don't think so."

Who knows, maybe her family really was some ancient clan.

Aaah, what else was there to talk about?

Oh, right I remembered now.

Vibrakolah.

The man who destroyed the 17 towers of the World.

I asked my mentor why we didn't call him a magician of any sorts to which my Guardian and mentor stubbornly responded with.

"He... isn't a user of the. Let's say the traditional magic system." I asked my mentor more but was brushed off and given a handful of tasks with each time I piped up.

I asked V-Vorgio, that was fine right?

Anyways, I asked Vor-gio who was more than eager to explain to me and Chlora the doings of Vibrakolah however my mentor cut in. He gave a dark glare at Vorgio and sent us out, causing us to disperse.

I realized I had now arrived at the door of the cottage, a dusty smell of sandpaper seeped through the walls.

My injuries had already been healed during my innard ranting and Vorgio was portraying his usual white-pearled smile.

I ran into my room. It was the same, if not very slightly older from the last time I had seen it.

I took out a small notebook.

Ah, what should I name this?

Living with a physcopath?

Living with my torture partner?

Living with my least favorite human on this entire planet?

Wow, what a difficult decision.

I settled with 'Living with a physcopath.' I then began noting every atrocitie he had commited since the incident.

Ready to show Chlora the instance we got some alone time.

Her pondered think on the situation was that Vorgio was in the wrong but we all have a problem or two down the road. If I just took his hand, the issues would probably fix themselves.

Yeah, right.

I looked through the hole in my door.

I saw his short white hair and his cursed smile.

His head slowly moved to my direction.

Bang.

I shut the door instantly. The reverbrations died down only leaving behind a small seething silence.

Vorgios muffled speech then returned. Clearly untroubled by my undeclared disturbance.

I let his voice serenade my ears as healed scars began to weep.

Memories at a war in my mind.

Desperate to leave, I made a decision.

The suffocating was too thick to ignore.

I would confront the events of that man one day.

But that day was not today or tommorow.

It was time for an... excursion if you will.

A break from the breaks.

An escape.

It wasn't that I was scared.

I was bloody terrified.

This was a man who could kill me on a whim.

In my sleep, in my alone-time in my face.

The time and place did not matter.

If I delved into the unrepairable rift that had formed from his atrocities?

I feared that I would never be able to turn back.

Therefor I came to the unconscious decision.

To keep my mind locked.

Only when I'm prepared and ready for him can I unlock those memories once again.

For now, however?

My injuries, although healed need time to stray from their perpetrator.

My mind needed not a break, but a different setting.

My combat skills needed some orienting so therefore...

It was time to go on an excursion.

Away from the madness.