[02] Forest Sector

[Kaden]

Despite both his physical and mental exhaustion, Kaden had been unable to sleep. He would have loved nothing more than to simply pass out for a while. He was one of those people who almost always woke up refreshed. It was as though his mind used the time to pack away everything that had been troubling. It was a fantastic system, Kaden had to admit… as long as he could actually sleep.

On one hand, Kaden could count the number of times he just wanted to be alone -- admittedly, a couple of those times spanned for months upon months. He was surprisingly grateful to Sage for having just… left him to himself. Intellectually, Kaden understood that dwelling on his own negative emotions wouldn’t be any to anyone, let alone himself.

Having got up and moved to one of the beds in the bunker, Sage had returned to Kaden an unobstructed view of the wall. Unfortunately, the proverbial damage had been done. Kaden’s mind was no longer relegated to a self-destructive spiral of loathing and doubt. Everyone once and a while, a thought about the cyan-haired cryomancer would pop through.

Though she had admitted to having a reason to be in a psychotic tournament like Dante’s Abyss, Kaden could not imagine what that reason would be. She was probably the single most docile creature he had ever laid eyes on. The idea of her raising a hand in violence was… almost enough to get the courier to smile. The thought, though, brought to light the biggest concern in Kaden’s mind.

He wouldn’t be able to shirk his participation in fights any more. If he lost control – or whatever had happened – again then there was no telling what might happen to the person he had been matched up against. He knew he was capable of great violence and destruction… those were pretty much the only things he was capable of. At least if he were doing it himself, he’d be able to hold back. It was a sad thought that not killing someone was the absolute best that Kaden could hope for.

Heaven forbid that Kaden be forced to fight Ashe again. At the thought of the pink-haired girl, Kaden cast a glance at his hand. Flecks of dried, black blood still dotted his skin. He knew he should probably wash it off, but he just… didn’t. Even beyond Ashe, what if Kaden were forced to fight, say, Sage? Or Sophia.

Kaden banged his head against the wall he was leaning on. He knew there was something he wanted to ask Sage. That Sage had wandered into the bunker alone wasn’t a very comforting thought, but Kaden assumed they had an experience similar to the one he and Ashe had. If that were the case, there was no telling where the priestess might have ended up. Sage probably didn’t have any real answers for the courier, but he wanted to know for sure.

Sliding off of the bed, Kaden moved towards Sage, clearing his throat as he did so. Unfortunately, the girl seemed to have been sleeping. Lucky. While Kaden understood that actually getting a minute to sleep probably wasn’t going to be easy during the course of the tournament, he couldn’t just sit and stew. He just needed to ask one question and then he would leave her alone. Hell, he’d sing her a lullaby if she needed it.

“Hey… Sage. You awake?”


Kaden hated when people asked that. What they really wanted to say was “hey, wake up” but phrasing it that way made people feel better about being intrusive jerks. It worked for Kaden, at least. When his voice produced no results, he slowly inched closer and placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. She had rolled onto her side and had her back turned to him. She was almost in a fetal position.

With a light shake of her shoulder Kaden expected her to roll over, but nothing happened. Another shake produced similar results. As most guys knew, two shakes was the limit. Running a hand through his hair, Kaden tilted his head at the girl. She was out cold. In a sudden rush of frustration, the courier kicked the underside of Sage’s bed. It had been done before he even realized he had been doing it. He prepared himself for the wave of guilt that was about to wash over him.

Unfortunately, it never came. Shock and terror, however, were more than willing to take its place.

Sage bolted up from the bed, into a sitting position. That would have been enough to startle the courier, but he was otherwise distracted. The girl screamed in fright as she had been violently ripped from her slumber. Again, that would have been cause for surprise had Kaden not had more pressing concerns. The girl’s third reaction was to unleash a powerful wave of energy. In a fraction of a second, the entirety of the bunker had been flash frozen. Kaden had gone right along with it.

The cold would have been painful had it not been completely numbing. Kaden could still move his eyes, but that seemed to be the only thing he still had control over. There was a light coating of frost over his features, but his body refused to move. The courier feared he knew what had happened. People were mostly water to begin with.

“Oh… oh my god… !” Sage reached out to Kaden, but snapped her hand back when she realized she was doing it. “Are… you ok? Kaden?”

There were many things the courier would have liked to say the cyan haired girl at that point in time. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to vocalize any of them. Between the anger, frustration, horror, and embarrassment he felt, Kaden found brief windows of time in which he was in awe of Sage’s raw power. He watched as Sage slid off of her now-frozen bed and stepped towards him.

Though she had hesitated at first, the girl reached out once more, placing her hand on Kaden’s. Still consumed by numbness, Kaden was unable to feel it, though. Sage seemed to be considering the courier with a mixture of concern and confusion. Were he in a more rational frame of mind, Kaden would have felt responsible for the situation he was now in, having awakened her up and all. Any remote possibility of feeling guilt, however, quickly vanished.

With a quick twist of her arm, Sage literally ripped Kaden’s hand off. Broke off is probably a more accurate descriptor, as the boy’s appendage had been frozen solid. Kaden tried to widen his eyes in horror. He tried to scream out in pain. He was able to do neither of those things. Truthfully, he hadn’t felt pain. He hadn’t felt anything. It made the experience all the more frightening.

Sage looked down to the human hand she was holding, then locked eyes with the courier. He could practically see the thought process running through her mind. In the tournament, Kaden was an obstacle to her. He would be standing in the way of her goal, no matter what. And there he stood, frozen solid. As Kaden watched, the girl brought her hands up to his head. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. Then, with a violent twist of her arms, everything went black.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” Kaden screamed.

He probably would have continued to scream had he not fallen out of his bed. He had still been sitting on the bed, but evidently been embraced by sleep. Not surprisingly, though, he didn’t feel particularly refreshed. As far as he could tell, everything was where it should be, and he was one-hundred percent not frozen.

Sage still lay several beds down. She looked to be actually asleep. Kaden was suddenly thankful that he hadn’t woken her. He found himself still with questions about what had happened with her and Sophia, but suddenly felt that they could wait until the girl woke on her own.