[How do I get rid of it?] Fen asked, avoiding Dey's question. He didn't care about it's origins, he just needed to be able to remove it from him. At the same time, he moved Amelia so he could carry her princess-style. Her leaning against his chest was starting to interfere with his talk with Dey, so he decided to let her rest within his arms instead. It was easier to ignore her that way.
[Get rid of it?! Haha, you might as well try destroying Mana! It's impossible!] Dey started zooming around the room, running his fingers through his face as he started laughing manically. [Fuck! I should've stopped you then... no, how was I supposed to know what would happen? Fuckin' bad luck is what it is.]
Fen flinched when he heard the mention of 'bad luck'. That would be his fault, right? Fen didn't have terrible luck on Earth, but the second he stepped into the Void dimension, everything was polluted with his horrible luck. It was a curse, but there was nothing he could do about it. Luck was an uncontrollable part of life.
He sighed, regretful at being born with such terrible luck.
[Then what is it? I assume it's something bad?] Dey finally stopped floating around the whole room after he communicated through their mental link.
[...It can be. It usually is something bad, but it doesn't have to be. The Death Mark literally means that you marked by death. If you were marked by a Death God then I might be able to do something about it but you... the Mark you carry is from experiencing death, which doesn't come from a God. That comes from going to wherever place you went to with lost souls, and then coming back through, to our side of reality.
[But you shouldn't have been marked.] Dey started vibrating, as if his being was about to pop out of existence from his frustration. [I assume you received it when you experienced the Dragon's memories? Then, the cause of why you received it might be the structure of the reality- no, maybe it was the vulnerability created by the dimensional shift? Or maybe it's none of those, and it's simply because of you're half-baked nature...]
'Half-baked? I prefer the term "unfinished" if you would.' Fen inwardly grumbled, not knowing why hearing the term annoyed him a little.
[Okay, but what does it do to me?]
[It will kill you.]
[...]
[Huh?]
[You ever heard about bad luck?]
Fen scoffed. [Heard about it? I've lived it. How do you think I ended up here?] He used his chin to gesture all around him because his hands were busy. [Ever since I arrived here, it's been nothing but bad luck.]
[Oh. Well, take that, and multiply it by a thousand, and you've got what the Death Mark does. Every worst case scenario, every time. This is a Death Mark from death itself, not a God, which makes it so much more powerful than what it should be.] Dey stopped vibrating and floated down to the floor, spread eagle. [It alters reality in such a miniscule way, but the results are terrifying.]
{I see. Well, that doesn't sound too bad. You made me think it was something bad, but all it does is make me unlucky, jeez, you should've stopped leading me on! I almost started to get scared!]
[Huh?] Now was Dey's turn to be surprised. Did this youth not understand his words or something?
[Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to deliver a package.]
With that, Fen picked up the still-sleeping Amelia and got back on his feet, leaving a very confused Dey laying on the floor in the personal Training Hall.
[...What kinda luck does that guy have to not be worried about it?] Dey sputtered, still laying on the floor despite the fact that Fen had already left the Training Hall with Amelia. Then he remembered the youth's encounter with the magic Dragon, and the God decided to stop asking that type of question. It might trigger further bad luck...
Meanwhile, further inside Squad 42's room and down the hallway containing all of their rooms, Fen was standing in the middle of the corridor glaring at all of the doors.
'Which one was her room again? Wasn't it the one opposite mine?' Fen was pretty sure that his guess was correct, but trying to reach and grab the door made him realize that his hands were unavailable at that moment.
His right hand was stuck supporting the girl's head, while his left was supporting her thighs. She was much lighter than he thought, although he never really thought about it before. Still, despite her light weight, he still had to use both hands to make sure she didn't fall to the floor; she was one of those abnormal sleepers who goes completely limp like a dead fish when they're unconscious.
Faced with no other option, Fen heaved her up on top of his shoulder, with her chest uncomfortably pressing against his shoulder blades as her stomach laid on his right shoulder. Miraculously, she still didn't wake up despite the change in position, making Fen wonder if she was just a heavy sleeper or if she hadn't slept in days.
She looked fine in his eyes, but he didn't know how to spot symptoms of exhaustion anyways so he didn't know for sure.
Now with one free hand, he swung open the door to Amelia's room and was faced with a very bleak location the second he stepped into the bedroom. The furniture was placed the exact same way his was, with the only difference being that the bed was located on the other side of the room, opposite the desk.
Her room also had another door, leading to what Fen presumed to be a lady's room, stocked with whatever supplies a woman needs to get through life. His knowledge in that area was lacking, but he attended enough sex education classes to understand the necessity of those supplies.
What made the room bleak was the state of the furniture, more specifically the bed, the sheets were tossed across the room with the comforter being the only cloth left on the bed, and even that was half-hanging off. Her pillow looked like it'd been through a warzone, battered and close to being destroyed.
It made Fen think that his guess about Amelia's sleeping habits were true, and she hadn't slept much since she arrived in the Program. That, or she was just an extremely restless sleeper; but that wasn't likely considering her vegetative state while sleeping on his shoulder.
In other notes, although the room itself was made out of black stone with the energy veins running through the structure of the material, there were scorch marks imprinted into the walls of the room, as if a few fire balls had been carelessly set off. Or, intentionally thrown out of frustration.
'Maybe she isn't as tough as I made her out to be...' Fen thought. He probably should have reached that conclusion ages ago, with the mountain of evidence presented to him in the crying Amelia from a few days ago, her collapsing into his arms to sleep, and her breakdown just before that, but dammit, he had his own things to worry about.
But, considering that the number of people he cared enough to worry for amounted to a measly four people, showing consideration to the girl on his shoulders should be thought of as massive change, and positive at that. Maybe Miko's influence was finally starting to have an effect? Only the Heavens could possibly know why it was working in the damned Void dimension however.
With a little more force than what was considered gentle in any civilization, Fen set Amelia down onto her bed. Gentleness wasn't needed anyways; she still didn't wake up. 'Jeez, how long has she gone without sleeping? I've basically treated her like a sack of potatoes but she hasn't even moved, let alone start to wake up.' Fen felt some small guilt for treating her like that, but part of him wanted her to wake up just so she could explain the state of her room to him, so he stamped out the guilty emotion inside him.
'She's not dead is she? Because that'd be really annoying.'
He was about to leave just like that, but just as his feet were about to leave out the door, he stopped.
"Fuu, fuck." Fen's face twisted into a snarl, but the aggression turned out to be just his frustration manifesting itself as the youth turned around and started gathering the sheets for Amelia's bed. In a tender act that he would never admit to without facing the fear of death, he wrapped the blankets and sheets around her soft body.
A truly great man would've changed her into the Foundation given sleep-wear, but Fen wasn't insane nor did he lack the will to live. He knew that Amelia wasn't stupid, so if she suddenly woke up wearing an entirely different outfit than when she went to sleep, she was smart enough to put two and two together and discover what he'd seen. And if, by some unknown way, Miko caught wind of what he did, then Fen might as well jump into the Void right then and there, because there was no way he'd survive coming home.
There were many words to describe Fen. Pragmatist, smart, cold, jerk, psychopath, apathetic, loner... Nobody who had ever met him would make him out to be some kind of saint.
Wait a minute, why were most of those descriptions insulting? Ah, who was he trying to kid, it was much easier to be rude than it was to be kind. Cheaper, too.
So, after making sure that she was able to sleep comfortably, he left. Why he did such a thing as making sure she was comfortable, he didn't know.
Maybe he pitied her for her situation and felt bad enough to want to help her? Bullshit, didn't fit his character.
The real answer was that Fen sympathized with her lack of sleep; being pulled into another reality almost every night wasn't that good for his resting hours, so a small part of him identified Amelia as another comrade, who deserved his help with her sleeping problem. Whether or not she'd be able to sleep was unforeseeable, but at least he put in the effort, right?
Speaking of sleep, Fen was starting to get pretty exhausted. Everybody else in his Squad was already asleep in their beds leaving him as the only lucid member. He was tired, but he was still on the rocks about going to bed so early without accomplishing much that day.
"Dey."
[Wassup?] The black energy God popped into existence in the Squad hallway. The God managed to return to his original attitude after the shock of seeing Fen so nonplussed about hearing about the Death Mark.
"I need to learn how to manipulate magical energy. You can teach me right?" Dey looked surprised at the request but nodded his head anyway. "When I sleep, pull me into your reality."
[You sure you want to do that? You have enough time to learn it when you're fresh and rested tomorrow. Stop pushing yourself so hard.] Fen could feel a hint of worry transmitted through the mental link, but the emotion failed to move him.
"Tomorrow isn't good enough. I'm running out of time until the first Task, and my weapon might not be good enough to protect me then. You know I already know a spellwork, all I need is the knowledge of how to use it. Thankfully, I have a God who can help me with that." Fen looked at him when he said the last part.
Dey still looked reluctant. Maybe Fen himself might not know, but he was perfectly aware of the state of the youth's mind, and how close it was to unraveling completely. The few days of rest the candidate had given himself while constantly shoving his body and mind into more and more training were starting to have an effect on his mental state, even if the signs were still too small for Fen to recognize.
The God didn't want Fen's mind to snap because of what he was doing to himself. But, he knew the reason why he was doing it was important to him, so how could he deny the youth? But, he still had to confirm.
[Are you really sure about this? My methods definitely aren't the most... gentle.]
Fen shrugged. "As long as there are results, I don't care."
[Fine.] Dey sighed through the mental link. [But don't think I'll go easy on you, and don't blame me when you collapse tomorrow, because you wanted that.]
Fen waved away the God's words, not taking it seriously. Afterwards, Dey followed the youth until they were both in Fen's room.
"...Do you have to be here until I go to sleep?"
[Of course. Why would I leave when I'm just going to see you again in a few minutes?] The God was unperturbed at the annoyed expression flashing across Fen's face. At least, he was unconcerned until Fen started taking off his clothes.
[Okay, okay! I'm going, you could've just said you needed to change!] With an audible pop the being disappeared from reality leaving a shirtless Fen alone in his room.
His tolerance for annoying people must be rising by the day; the old Fen would've snapped at somebody long ago. Must be the stress wearing him down...
After he finished getting changed into the sleep-wear the Foundation provided him with, he immediately tossed himself into bed, tempering his mind for getting no sleep that night. The bed was comfortable enough that he didn't have to worry about being restless, as long as he put in some effort to keep his mind clear, sleep would come to him.
****
Within Dey's created reality, a malicious aura enveloped the unfortunate youth crazy enough to seek teachings from the God. Fen was on the ground, with only his two arms supporting his torso from hitting the superficial ground created inside the reality.
"Come on, don't tell me that's the limit of your will! All that talk, and yet you can do nothing but lie on the floor. And don't forget that you were the one who asked me, so don't even dare to try and blame me for my actions."
"Guah... Fuck you... damned God..." He was barely able to breath from the God's 'methods' of teaching. Why should learning how to manipulate magical energy be so painful?!
The normal method of teaching was being exposed to magic until the student was able to sense magical energies, and from there, they would gradually learn how to manipulate their own magical energy to formulate spellworks. The process would usually take months, but because of the exposure to the Void's energy, all the potential Guardians in the program were able to learn in a few days, depending on talent.
Dey's methods were extremely similar, only he took 'exposure to magic' in a way that would make any teacher of the Magical Arts go on a homicidal rampage; using various spellwork to attack Fen until the youth collapsed from exhaustion.
There was one problem with that teaching method however; he had already learned to sense magical energy through his teaching, so why did he still have to suffer Dey's attacks? Well, in the wise words of Deion the God:
"Who said you were done? You want to learn how to sense magical energy, I teach you. I want to beat you up with magic, you let me. Equivalent exchange, Fen. I swear it's not personal."
'Not personal my ass!' He didn't have a choice however. Fen existed in Dey's reality now, so he had no choice but to obey if he wanted to go back to his own reality.
In truth, there was another reason why Fen had to endure the slew of magical spellworks. Dey had allowed the youth to defend himself, but only by using magic. He couldn't dodge, otherwise the God would ramp up his magic to punish him.
Thankfully, during the training the Death Mark had limited effects on Fen's mind, something that Dey could do only because they were inside his reality. Outside in the real world, his mind would just have to endure. So, the training was two-part; the first part was for Fen to be able to use the magic, and the second was to force him to be able to use it even when he was exhausted so he could use it outside too with the Death Mark's influence.
Learning through pain was a proven-method of learning, even if it hurt at the moment. Fen did say that as long as he gained results, he didn't care for the method. Was it wrong for Dey to take advantage of that?
...maybe, but already, the youth was showing signs of manipulating the Mana stored within his body. Every once in a while there was a flicker of red flame as his Flaming Spear spellwork collapsed before he could complete it. Fen was making progress, even with the numerous injuries on his body.