Author's Preface
Over the next week life settled into something that resembled normal. Blue spent most of it talking, answering the barrage of questions thrown his way. He told Eve and his parents about Murim in pieces, never all at once. Stories of the Sects, training, monsters, and warriors that sounded more like myths than reality. He left a lot out, there were some things he couldn't quite put into words yet. Some things he also didn't wish to divulge for fear of how David and Mary would take it.
During the day, he adjusted. New clothes replaced his hanfu lined with Silent Edge's symbol. He hung it in the front of his closet. The city no longer felt suffocating as it did the first day. Every thing that was different from Murim now settled back in. Everything that made Earth... Earth, no longer felt foreign.
At home, David kept Blue busy. There was always something that needed to be fixed. Gutters that hadn't been cleaned in months. A shed out back leaning just enough to be a problem. Tiles in the bathroom had come loose and needed replacing. Nothing was urgent. None of it needed to be done right away. But David 'asked' and Blue understood what that meant. They worked mostly in silence. No long conversations, no emotional talks. Just the sound of tools, the occasional banter, and the rhythm of fixing things side by side. And somehow, it was enough.
One evening they sat on the back porch with a couple of beers watching the sun dip below the horizon. Neither said much, they didn't need to. Blue could tell his father was happy he was home.
Mary was the opposite. If David showed it quietly, Mary showed it all at once. Every morning meant a full breakfast, whether anyone asked for it or not. Questions came constantly. Where he'd been, whether he was eating enough, sleeping enough, resting enough. If she couldn't find him for more than a few minutes, she'd start calling his name. A small panic attack would settle in as if she was afraid he may disappear again.
It took time, but slowly the tension faded. The fear that had settled in the house during his absence began to fade. Not all at one, but little by little. The kind of healing that didn't announce itself, you only noticed it when things felt lighter, easier. By the end of the week, it was something new. Not the old normal, something... adjusted.
At night things returned to something familiar. The basement. Training. Before Murim, Eve had only watched. Now she could step in. At first, it was cautious, testing and feeling each other out. That didn't last long. Soon they were sparring properly, moving through technqiues, adjusting, learning. Their sparring outgrew the small basement, Eve suggested they moved the show to the park down the road. At the park, Blue showed her what he could, footwork, breathing, control. Eve showed him something different. Her spirits. They moved with her, around her. They responded to, but not bound by it completely. They each had their own personality.
Strangely, they reacted to Blue, that wasn't normal. Spirits didn't attach themselves to beings without reason. Not unless there was a connection... a natural affinity, or something deeper. Eve's spirits lingered around him, curious, drawn, and at times they even pushed him past his limits. They forced him to adjust, to react, to fight harder than expected. It turned their spars into something unpredictable.
Blue found himself paying attention to them, understanding them. Without realizing it, he grew attached. Nomi, Eve's fox companion, also had a favorite spot to rest. Across Blue's shoulders.
The week passed faster than he expected. And before he knew it, he was standing in front of Aaron Kade’s office once again. This time... alone. Eve had been assigned to her own missions. Important enough that even she couldn’t argue her way out of them. Blue stood there for a moment before stepping inside. Aaron was already waiting. Seated. Watching. Not speaking.
Blue exhaled slowly as he walked forward. “…So,” he said, stopping in front of the desk. “I guess this is where the fun starts.”
Aaron shook his head side to side. He stood and gestured for Blue to follow him. He lead Blue to an elevator down the hall. They descended, then the elevator came to a stop. The doors slid open, and revealed a corridor that felt nothing like the rest of the guild. Reinforced and narrow. Blue followed Aaron down the hall without a word. The deeper they went the more the noise of the upper floors faded. At the end of the corridor, a set of thick steel doors waited. Aaron placed his hand against a panel on the wall. A low hum and the sound of gears turning, then the doors slid open. Aaron looked at Blue with a wide smile and teeth showing. Blue's eyes went wide as he looked past the opening. What lay beyond wasn't a room, it was an arena. Wide enough to swallow a football field whole. Polished floors that reflected the overhead lights. Reinforced walls lined the perimeter, layered with materials Blue didn't recognize. This place was built to endure.
Aaron slapped Blue on the back. "This... is where the fun begins!" Aaron walked into the arena.
Blue watched him walk in and thought to himself. "This cant be worse than what Wu Jin out me through can it?" Blue walked into the arena as the massive doors slammed shut behind him.
As Aaron stood in the center of the arena with his hands in his pockets he looked at Blue. "We can go all out here." He cracked his neck and started bouncing on his toes. "I need to know what you're capable of."
Blue rolled his shoulders once. "Fair enough."
"How about we make it interesting?" Aaron asked with a grin.
"Ok, I'm not liking where this is going, but sure, why not." Blue smiled as he bent down and jumped in the air.
Aaron laughed. "That's the spirit. For every strike I land. You answer one of my questions." He paused briefly, gauging Blue's reaction. "For every strike you land... I'll do the same.
Blue let the trade sit for a second in his mind. "A trade, strength with the intent to gain information. Interesting." Blue looked up at Aaron. "Deal." He said as he immediately got into the stance for his first form of Silent Edge technique. He reached down to unsheath his sword. Nothing was there. Blue looked down at his waist and back up at Aaron with a slight hint of fear as Aaron stood across from him smiling. He muttered to himself. "...fuck. This isn't going to end well."