Sitting on familiar couches in a cold stone room with well kept furnishings, Cyrus sat waiting whilst looking over the document he had received from Sigmund Boyd.
Eventually he heard footsteps behind him, two sets in fact. Not even needing to look to see who they were, he closed what he was studying and put it away and watched as a refreshed Imran sat in front of him while the usual Minerva sat next to him.
"You slept through the entire day?" asked Cyrus in disbelief.
With a close look anyone could see that while Imran looked well rested, his eyes were still slightly puffy with sleep and his hair had clearly still been intimate with a pillow until not too long ago.
"I already have had a grand education thanks to my background, one that was varied and diverse in what was studied. Perhaps if there was some kind of merchant course I would take it to see if anything interesting was being said, but this is a mages academy at the end of the day" explained Imran while suppressing a yawn. "Besides, it's only a bit of Fidem to skip whatever you want. So long whatever you choose to not attend has no long-lasting impact, it's just a matter of a simple cost benefit analysis."
"As expected of you, I should say" began Cyrus, "and perhaps it is your luck that you missed today's 'thrilling' events. Such events that are the exact topic of discussion for this meeting."
Imran noticed the seriousness of the topic from the tone used and postures of his two allies which caused him to open his eyes fully and notice the more obvious of the visual details.
"These events, would it have to do with your mimicry of a homeless man?" said Imran, pointing to the expanding holes in Cyrus' robe.
"Indeed. I have not mentioned it before because I did not think that it was too important at the time, but I had experienced an ambush out of the blue while walking through the halls of Glacies. It was a small and simple one to deal with, those I was fighting were clearly not that skilled in anything other than fleeing. But today another one occurred, this one was far more dangerous than the last even with Minerva at my side to assist me" revealed Cyrus.
Imran's neutral tone grew graver with each word that was said but when the last statement was uttered his face was almost in a full-on scowl.
"Even with Minerva, these people were enough of a problem to be regarded as dangerous?" asked Imran in disbelief.
Before Cyrus could continue, Minerva spoke first, "The ambush consisted of two groups of archers, three each. Then two groups of close ranged combatants, three and two. All of them were wearing clothing and masks that hid their identities and obviously concealed their affiliation. They were still clearly students though, for while they did not use any spells their melee capabilities were extremely weak. Which means either a bunch of random people were let into the Academy with hidden identities and weapons, which is unlikely if not impossible, or they were students who did not want to be traced thus hid what department they were from. Ordinarily, they would not have been much of an issue" ended Minerva, clear annoyance in her tone.
Imran was confused by the conflicting information, prompting with his eyes for Cyrus to explain.
"Well, the archers were nothing special and the melee fighters had excellent teamwork but at the end of the day they were not using any magic whatsoever so if it had been a real fight then the outcome would have been an easy victory."
"How was it not a real fight? The arrows and blades that made those holes in your robe speak otherwise. Pointlessly endangering yourself, how foolish" said Minerva.
Imran nodded in agreement to Minerva's statement and after careful analysis he said, "If they were students then killing them would not be a good idea, but the same went for them as well. My best guess is that they went all out because they knew how superior you were. You had the luxury of going easy but they did not…but even I have to agree somewhat with Minerva on this one. There are few things, if any, that are worth the same as your own life. Risking it for something like not wanting to bring harm to someone who is actively trying to skewer you…that is stupidity incarnate."
Both of his two companions were looking at him, one irritated to no end while the other had a disapproving look on his face.
A voice rang out from a world of white and black, more than happy to join in on the verbal beatdown of the bright half,"I say you should have just do what I was forced to do, quickly use overpowering force to disarm them…literally. Worry about keeping them alive after the fact. But hey, I will let the two of them do the talking for now. I will berate you in full when we speak one on one, face to face."
The bright half heard everything that was said to him and understood the essence of it but his heart was still elsewhere.
Trying his best to formulate a coherent argument that did not simply sound like the whining of a child he said, "I am not a fan of unnecessary bloodshed and because of how controlled of an environment we are in, certain liberties are allowed here that are not in the outside world. While the pain was, well, painful it was just that and a temporary is just temporary."
The two pairs of eyes raised their brows almost at the same time, before looking at one another and then back at Cyrus.
First Imran spoke up,
"while the first half of what you said could be true, that we are indeed in a controlled environment. Even in the most controlled of areas there is always that small chance of things going wrong. What if one person hated you so much that they decided to do something extreme like stuff himself full of explosive bottles and charge at you or if one of your enemies was hiding his abilities? To me these things are obvious, as the market is full of uncertainties and people who engage in behavior like that all the time but I have no doubt in my mind that these behaviors play out all over the place. They are not indicative of how the market affects people, but of human behavior itself."
Next was Minerva,
"Suffering a wound is still suffering a wound, even if you can take it the damage is still done to your body but most importantly your mind. I do not believe a single human is immune to this, even if you are blind to it right now. Even if you are, isn't that belief extremely selfish? What arrogance and ego you have, to forgo the worries of all others in your life because you dislike spilling the blood of your enemies. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to care for you in their lives, I personally pity them greatly."
Each and every point that was brought up dug into Cyrus' just like the blades that had punctured his stomach, but these hurt not his physical body but his core beliefs and ideals. The logic was there, the reasons were solid…Cyrus knew this.
Sweat began to form on his brow, a massive internal conflict that threatened to tear him to shreds from within had begun.
---
A figure lay lazily on the ground, manipulating his soul so that he could view things in the outside world in real time as well as peer into the inner thoughts of his counterpart.
"The bright half has some pretty odd beliefs, where could he have picked these up from? If I look into our shared memories he was pretty much taught the opposite by Cato. It's like his entire personality is made up from a childlike innocence while all the real world realities get carted off to me. I want to meddle and fix these errors, but what would happen if he starts to become like me?" pondered the dark half, all the while he was listening in to the conversation that was going on in the real world.
"Even Imran has a good head on his shoulders. It is obvious he too dislikes bloodshed but he understands that the real world is not a place that adheres to fluffy ideals. I don't even need to mention Minerva, she takes to my correct beliefs easily. All that I need to do to fully secure her loyalty and trust is to kill a few losers, what an easy task."
Suddenly the ground around him began to shake, visible waves spread throughout the entire blindingly white ground as if it had suddenly turned into a vast ocean.
Cracks and fissures began to open up as well, causing the dark half to jump up and run around to avoid them.
Confused as to what was causing this sudden change, he played back the previous bit of conversation in the real world and his counterpart's reaction to it.
"The hell? Is this not a bit of an overreaction!?" yelled the dark half aloud, jumping over a fissure that had suddenly opened below him.
In order to rectify the situation he quickly began to force his will on his other half, delivering his voice so that whatever was destroying the place ceased at once.
"This is the bloody soul world, any damage done here could be the end of everything!"