Claire carved the Night Devil to pieces.

Calling it a fight might have been an insult to every fight that had ever come before it. She was ruthlessly methodical to the point where she could have been described only as brutal. The monster never even stood a chance. Its biggest advantage seemed to have been its invisibility — but that didn't do it much good when it was revealed by the blood splattered across it.

The Night Devil managed to land a few good cuts on Claire, but she completely ignored them. Her blood just knit her wounds shut mid-fight and held them together while she continued her flurry of attacks on the monster.

It managed to last just under twenty seconds before she carved what was left of it to pieces, its body so covered with its own blood that its invisibility may as well not have been there.

Claire only stopped carving into the monster when it had tumbled to the ground in pieces. Her breath came in sharp, angry bursts and her knuckles were so tight around the hilt of her sword that they'd turned bone white.

Knots formed in Alex's stomach as he watched from the sideline. He probably should have been thrilled at how easily she'd won the fight. Claire had finally gotten an Aspect Gem — and very likely the last one that she needed. They'd gotten what they'd come here for.

But Claire wasn't happy. She hadn't even stopped to look for the gem in what remained of the monster's corpse yet. The Dhampir just stood above her former opponent, her shoulders stiff and jaw clenched tight enough to bite through steel.

This fight had been about more than just a gem. And, unless the Night Devil had somehow pissed Claire off in a past life, Alex got the feeling it had nothing to do with the monster either.

God. What did Zeal show Claire when she was stuck in his illusion? Forget that — I don't know if there's anything someone could have just shown Claire that would have put her into a state like this. He had to have done something.

Claire whipped the blood from her blade like she was trying to cut through the very air before her, then slid it into its sheathe at her side and knelt in the bloody pile of remains that had once been a monster.

She reached into it, pinching a glistening black gemstone from within the mess between two fingernails. The Dhampir rose back to her feet wordlessly. She stared at the gem for a moment. Then she clenched her fist around it.

When her hand opened again, all that remained was a bloody smear where the gem had once been. She'd absorbed it.

An uncomfortable second dragged by. Alex wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure where to start. Any words he could have said felt like they'd be hollow at best. He didn't even know what it was that Claire had seen.

Half the reason I chose computer science for my degree was so I wouldn't have to worry about fumbling something like this in the first place.

But saying nothing felt worse than not at least trying.

"Look. I know I asked this already. Maybe I really shouldn't be pressing, but are… you really okay? Something really seems like it's bothering you a lot," Alex asked slowly. "I'm not going to force you to talk about it if you don't want to, but I think it would be remiss not to at least ask."

There was a moment of silence. Claire glanced down at the ground at her feet and her head tilted to the side. She knelt, scooping something up from the blood-splattered platform. Then her lips twitched. Her gaze turned back to Alex.

"No," Claire said. "I'm not. Come on. Let's head back before the bridge Zeal made evaporates."

She stepped past Alex before he could respond, starting back onto the swath of color that led through the stormy skies of the Cracked Steps. Alex strode after her, a frown deepening on his lips. He walked a few feet behind her, unable to get a good look at her face. The bridge wasn't quite wide enough for him to get closer or draw up to her side without risking getting blown off by a stray gust.

Alex dug for the proper words. But, before he could say anything else, Claire spoke again.

"I was scared," Claire said. Her voice was measured and controlled, stiff to the point where it almost felt robotic. She walked straight ahead, not turning her head back even slightly. Her back was the only thing that Alex could see.

"Zeal is pretty damn powerful. Anyone in their right mind would be scared," Alex said. "And there's a hell of a lot of scary shit in the world. Someone who doesn't feel fear isn't powerful or cool. They're just an idiot."

"Alex. I was practically helpless," Claire said. Her hands tightened at her sides as she walked. "I've fought enemies stronger than me before. You can't progress anywhere in Court if you aren't ready to take on people more powerful than you. Somebody that swings their sword faster or harder than me is no problem. There are other ways to deal with them. I can fight against someone who throws fireballs or can cut through reality itself. But Zeal didn't attack. He took."

"But what exactly did he do?" Alex asked, his words barely audible over the rolling thunder around them. "Why did he apologize for it?"

Claire stopped walking. Alex nearly bumped into her back, but he managed to stop at the last second.

"What did Zeal's ability take from you?" Claire asked.

Alex paused for a moment. "My sight. But… not for long. I have a Title that let me slip out from the magic really quickly. I don't think I experienced whatever it was he did to you."

Claire let out a burst of laughter. There was a note of bitterness to it. "A title? Seriously? You managed to dodge an ability that powerful with a title? What the hell did you do for it?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Destroyed a city."

There was another moment of silence. Then Claire blew out a breath. "Ah. I suppose that would have been enough, wouldn't it?"

Claire started to walk again. Alex followed after her. He couldn't press any harder than he already had. It was up to her if she wanted to tell him any more. Alex didn't even know if she could say anything else. There was a chance that something she'd seen related to the Nightmarch family.

The two of them pressed through a coiling cloud of Riftwarped energy before Claire spoke again.

"His magic took away every single one of my senses," Claire said. "Not just my sight. My hearing. My smell. My taste, my touch. All of it. I couldn't fight back. All I could do was just… sit there and wait." For a better reading experience, visit M(VLEMPYR).

"But you did break out of it," Alex said. "When you woke up, your eyes were black and Zeal straight up said to me that you'd escaped. You were able to overpower him."

"I know," Claire said. "That's the paradox, isn't it?"

"I'm… not sure I follow," Alex admitted. "Sorry. Maybe I'm being dense."

Claire blew out a sigh. She rubbed at her neck — at the spot where the tattoos would wind up from when she tried to fight back against her Trial. "No. You aren't. I'm just being intentionally obtuse. You said something was bothering me. You're right. It's this. I could break out of Zeal's magic… but I didn't. Not for far too long."

"You're mad at yourself for taking too long to escape the magic of someone far more powerful than yourself?" Alex's brow furrowed. "It might have taken you a bit longer than it took me, but that's because I had a Title to do it for me. You shouldn't be beating yourself up because you need a few extra seconds."

"You don't understand," Claire said flatly. "It didn't take me longer because I needed to fight back against his power or anything like that. I could have broken his magic in an instant. If I'd kept my wits about me, I would have. I'd have been free just as fast as you. But I didn't. I got scared because that wasn't the first time I've seen magic like Zeal's."

"What?" Alex blinked. "When did you ever see power like that before? I don't think we've fought anyone that used it."

Claire stopped walking again. This time, she finally turned around so her gaze could finally meet Alex's.

"It was well before we met. Before I even got my current class that gave me the ability to break this kind of magic. The Nightmarch Family had a mage with an ability very similar to Zeal's. One that could imprison you in your own mind and leave you with nothing."

"You fought them without the ability to escape the ability?" Alex's eyes widened. "How'd you win?"

"I didn't, Alex." Claire's jaw clenched. Tattoos poked up from the base of her collarbone, starting to wind up toward her neck. "We never fought. I just lost. My people are proud, Alex. Our society revolves around that very aspect. We value all aspects of strength. Wisdom, muscle, deceit. All of it. Even with the arrival of the System and the Nightmarch, even with almost all of our Elder Dhampirs dead, do you really think we would have bent knee to an invading force so easily? That we just would have accepted masters instead of fighting to the end?"

All too late, Alex finally realized what Claire meant. His stomach knotted in disgust and horror.

"They tortured you?"

"Everyone who refuses to comply can spend some time getting to know their own thoughts a little better," Claire said, her tone shifting in recollection. "That's what they told us. And that's what they did. They needed a fighting force, after all. The Nightmarch couldn't just massacre all of us. So all the Dhampirs that survived the initial arrival of them and the System — they locked us away inside our own heads."

"Fuck," Alex whispered. "How long?"

"I don't know," Claire said. "Time loses meaning when you have nothing to go by. I couldn't even kill myself. The only thing that kept me from going insane was my hatred. At least, that's what I told myself at first. By the time they came to check on me and see if I'd been broken — I folded."

"You survived."

"I folded!" Claire yelled. "I gave up, Alex. Revenge was the excuse I used to buy myself life. I promised myself that I'd make the Nightmarch pay, but I never thought I'd get a chance to do it."

"But you did," Alex said. "They didn't break you, Claire. You killed their Heir. Stole their class."

All the air seemed to leave her lungs. Claire's shoulders slumped and her gaze tore away from Alex's. "That's what I thought too. But then Zeal used his magic on me. It all came back. It was like I was back on Ayrin."

"But you broke free," Alex said. He took Claire by the shoulders. "You're not a machine or a monster. You can't expect yourself to get over something like that so quickly. It's… it just isn't fair. The fact that you were able to shrug Zeal's magic off in spite of everything is incredible."

"And what if he'd been from the Nightmarch? What if that had been a fight of life and death? I thought I escaped out from under their thumb. But maybe it's still there after all. I can't even be completely honest with you about everything that happened. I can't tell you about them and their damned Nightwhisper—"

Black tattoos carved up Claire's throat, constricting around her neck like a vise as they reached the bottom of her chin. Anger and pain flashed in her eyes as her sentence was abruptly cut off by a pained curse.

Shit. We need to stop this conversation. She's going to get killed.

"Claire—"

"No. I will be silenced no longer," Claire snarled, her voice pained but gilded in steel. Her gaze snapped back toward Alex. Every single word that came from her mouth sounded more pained than the last. "Your Title. Exactly what do?"

Shit. She can barely even speak with that damn Trial trying to kill her.

"It lets me break the influence of any mental effects on me. That's why it stopped Zeal's magic. It's automatic, and there doesn't seem to be a power limit."

Claire froze.

"Alex," Claire said, her voice so choked that it was barely more than a whisper. "I need. Now."

Alex blinked, but the tone of her voice and her constricting throat cut any time for questions away. "Need what? Blood? Take it!"

The look in her eyes shifted. For an instant, Alex could have sworn she was looked at him like a predator sighting its prey.

Her hand shot forward. She grabbed Alex by his tie and yanked him forward. He stumbled forward in surprise — and Claire pressed her lips to his.

Alex's eyes went wide.

First in surprise.

Then in pain. Claire's fangs pierced into his lower lip. Her arms tightened around his back and she pulled him close, pressing her body against his as she seemed to inhale.

Power poured from deep within Alex. Qi and magic alike tore free from him and flowed into Claire, evaporating from his body like a puddle in the desert. His ears rung and his head spun like a bomb had gone off right behind him.

Finally, she released Alex, her lips pulling away from his gently.

A wave of dizziness slammed into him like he'd run headfirst into a brick wall. Stunned thoughts spun through his head. They were so distant that he could barely manage to piece them together. Alex staggered as his legs gave out, drained of any strength they'd once held.

Claire caught him before he could fall. She lowered him gently to the glistening platform at their feet.

"I'm sorry. I need your power, Alex," Claire said. The thorned tattoos wound further up her neck and begun to reach for her face. Her eyes burned with determination. "But I'll give it back. I'm only borrowing it for a second."

"What are you doing?" Alex managed to wheeze.

"Breaking free," Claire replied, her features twisting into a snarl. "I'm done hiding."