Soul of the Warrior

Chapter 229: Not Ready

Reivyn and Kefira walked arm in arm through the evening streets of the coastal city. Reivyn had paid attention to his alcohol consumption and didn't let himself go too far. Once he reached a certain amount of drinks, regardless of how he felt, he stopped having any more. It had been the right decision, as the feeling of being tipsy doesn't hit all at once right after drinking. He was feeling just on the other side of tipsy by the time they called it a night.

Kefira wasn't much of a drinker either way. She only had a couple and the pair were comfortably enjoying each other's company as they made their way back to the rooms provided by the guild. Refix had stayed behind to talk a bit more with Kahl. Reivyn suspected that the main topic, despite them both being a bit further gone than Reivyn, was going to be about potential training opportunities they could take advantage of while on staying on the island.

That's not to say that dad can't loosen up and have fun, Reivyn mused. He was just as boisterous as anyone while sharing war stories. He just genuinely enjoys training. It would be like asking an artist to not speak about their paintings. The training sessions dad comes up with are his works of art.

Kahl had promised to lend them some of his and his squadron's time for training purposes over the next couple of weeks. Reivyn was grateful. Personal power was always the number one thing to focus one, but he was the captain of a mercenary company. They would be spending their time with the squadron practicing unit exercises and command. The performance of the island guardians wasn't a concern for Reivyn, but Kahl was able to see the benefits of his people after the stories they had shared of battles between large groups of organized people.

"The stars are awfully bright, tonight," Kefira remarked.

Reivyn nodded his head as he glanced up at the stars. He frowned as he looked at them, though.

"What?" Kefira asked, picking up on his mood without having to see the frown.

"All of the stars and constellations look the same as they do elsewhere," Reivyn commented. "I never really paid attention before, but shouldn't they look different depending on where we are in the Realm?"

"Why would they look different?" Kefira asked, puzzled.

"Because we're looking up at them from a different angle," Reivyn pointed out. "Those stars are actually up there, so when we change our starting perspective, shouldn't they look different?"

"That makes sense, but at the same time, I think I know the reason," Kefira said. Reivyn looked down at her for her explanation. "As someone intimately familiar with the Space Affinity as well as research into the veil, I can confidently say that the stars are outside of the Realm. Our Realm is nigh on infinite in size, but the Realm itself, when viewed from the outside, is finite and in a fixed location. The difference in our position relative to the size of the Realm and how it relates to outside of the Realm is basically no difference."

"Ok, I can see that," Reivyn said. "So if we were to look at our position here and the position of Wispan from outside the Realm, they're so close together as to be basically the same spot."

"Exactly," Kefira nodded. "We would have to travel through multiple local groups before we saw a difference in the stars, and even then it would be tiny." Kefira peered up at Reivyn. "You sounded like you had experienced the change in perspective of the stars, personally. Sometimes you say the weirdest things."

"It's because I remember my past life," Reivyn casually said.

Reivyn was dragged to a halt as he took another step forward, but Kefira had stopped walking next to him. He turned and looked at her. She was staring at him with wide eyes. She glanced back at Serilla who was following a couple steps behind. Serilla looked back and forth between Reivyn and Kefira before shrugging her shoulders like she didn't care.

"This is one thing you're not allowed to report to anyone, Serilla," Kefira said, a serious expression on her face. "I'm not joking. Reivyn is either a little more inebriated than he thought, or he trusts you. This is his secret, and you're not going to break his trust."

"Don't worry," Serilla answered. "My only interest, and the interests of your parents, are only in things that concern you and your well-being. Reivyn being able to remember his past life doesn't change who he is or cause you any danger as far as I know."

"Good," Kefira nodded her head once. She turned back to Reivyn. "So... you remember your past life?"

"Only snippets," Reivyn answered, shaking his head. "They're Dreams, and it's like remembering dreams, too. Not everything is clear, and it's not all there. The things I remember are mostly centered around two things: Being in the military and..." he glanced at Kefira, "having a wife and two kids."

Kefira frowned at his answer.

"So am I some sort of substitute for your past-life wife or something?" She asked dangerously.

"No, no. Nothing of the sort," Reivyn quickly denied. "I admit that my attraction to you was in large part because you reminded me of her, but at that time I hadn't come to fully accept that my dreams were of a real past life. I just thought that you were literally the woman of my dreams."

Kefira's frowned turned into a small smile as they began walking arm in arm once more.

"Go on," she encouraged.

Reivyn kept a straight face, but internally he sighed.

What do you mean, "go on?" He mentally rolled his eyes. That was it. What more am I supposed to say to accompany "you're the woman of my dreams?"

"Nobody else could ever gain my attention, and my dreams of the past-life wife only accounted for my initial attraction to you. Everything else has been all you."

"That's right, and don't you forget it," Kefira said with a smug smile. "So what else do you remember of your past life?"

---

Kefira sighed as she flopped back onto the bed. The day had started off interesting enough with them fleeing for their lives across a space corridor, getting flung to the very edge of their local group, landing inside someone else's Dungeon, and then finding a coastal paradise to explore. None of that had compared to the revelation that Reivyn had casually dropped on them, though.

Convenient that he has such a neat excuse for being immediately attracted to me, she thought. My excuse is much less exciting. He was just a handsome, powerful man who showed interest in me as a person and not for my position. Even the grime of weeks being underground without a proper bath when I first saw him didn't hinder his natural charisma much, and I'm not talking about his Stat.

She didn't know when she realized she had developed feelings for Reivyn, but it had been early. She couldn't remember not feeling for him how she did now.

He wasn't lying when he said he only remembered snippets like from a dream. The stories he told had been interesting, but also very confusing. He said he couldn't see the types of weapons they used in his past life, just that everything was ranged and hand-to-hand fighting had been very sparse. He said it was like sticks that shot magic without magic. It made no sense.

She had been more interested in what he remembered of his wife, but he only really knew about meeting her specifically and generally having a relationship and kids with her. There was something about getting news of an accident, but the memory was sealed or something. He mentioned how he had a vivid dream of getting the news and how his mind didn't want to comprehend it. He didn't have the same hangup as his past-life counterpart, though, and he was able to calmly analyze the memory. He speculated that he had lost his wife and kids in an accident and the influence from his past-life didn't want to remember it.

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"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Serilla said from her own bed. Reivyn was staying in a room with his father. "I don't think it will change your relationship."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," Kefira said, rolling over to face her friend. "It's just that literally everything about him is unique and exciting. I'm worried I'm a bit too mundane."

Serilla snorted.

"This coming from the only Space/Time Mage anyone's heard of in generations who just happens to be an imperial princess," Serilla said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, he was interested in you long before he learned any of those things. I don't think he cares. You could be the most normal village girl in the Realm and it wouldn't change his opinion of who you are."

"I know," Kefira flopped back down on her back. "I know that, up here." She pointed at her head. "It doesn't stop the feelings of inadequacy sometimes. And it's not even that. I'm not worried that he'll think less of me or anything. I just... I don't know. It's 'young-girl-in-love-problems,' Ok? I don't expect you to understand."

Kefira waited for a quip from her friend, but after waiting for several moments with nothing, Kefira rolled back over on her side. She looked at Serilla, but the other girl refused to meet her eye.

"No way!" Kefira practically squealed, her eyes going wide. "Who is it?"

"No one."

"Oh come on," Kefira rolled her eyes. "My romance is on display for your viewing pleasure. The least you could do is drop a hint."

"No. There's nothing there."

"There is! There's something there!"

"It's not romantic feelings," Serilla finally said, sighing. "It's simple admiration, and even if it wasn't, it would be impossible. That being said, I can just understand where you're coming from, Ok? There's really nothing there."

"If you say so," Kefira said, unconvinced. She raised an eyebrow in skepticism, but she rolled back over onto her back once more. "At least give me a name. A hint. Something."

"No."

"You're no fun," Kefira pouted.

"This is something I will take to the grave with me," Serilla said, dead serious. "Not because it's some big secret or anything. I just know that you don't believe me when I say it's simple admiration. I don't want you making a big deal out of something where there's really nothing."

"Fine! Whatever." Kefira sighed once more. "I miss him."

"Really?" Serilla snorted again. "We~ll... when I laid down and closed my eyes to go to sleep, there was only you and me in the room."

Kefira propped herself up on her elbow as she looked over at Serilla. Serilla was laying down under the covers, her eyes closed.

"What do you mean?" Kefira asked.

"I can't hear you," Serilla said, eyes still closed. "I'm asleep."

Kefira grinned at her friend as she hopped up from the bed.

"Careful not to wake me," Serilla said.

Kefira stopped her dash to the door and resumed at a much more sedate speed. She pretended to tip-toe around the room to the door. She quickly left the room and turned down the hall toward Reivyn's room. The Adventurer's Guild hadn't provided them with exclusive courtyards. The rooms were just on the second floor of the branch headquarters building. There wasn't a lot of extra real estate on an isolated island to justify a bunch of mostly unused courtyards.

She walked up to Reivyn's room and paused as she heard voices from the other side of the door. Refix had obviously come back from his extended conversation with Kahl. She had second thoughts about intruding, but she steeled her resolve and knocked on the door. The voices cut off and she only had to wait a few short moments for the door to open. Reivyn spotted her and his confused expression lit up into a bright smile.

"Back so soon?" Reivyn asked.

"Who is it?" Refix called out.

"It's Kefira," Reivyn said over his shoulder.

"Well, what does she want?"

"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to ask her, yet."

Reivyn looked at Kefira expectantly. She didn't really know what to say now that she was face-to-face with Reivyn with his dad in the background.

"Umm... Serilla's asleep," she said, lamely.

Reivyn continued to look at her, waiting for more. His eyes widened in understanding when she gave him a pointed look.

"Oh, oohhh," he said. "Dad, I'm going to go with Kefira."

"Sure. Just remember one thing." Both Kefira and Reivyn turned to look at Refix as he stepped into view. "Your mother and I aren't ready to be grandparents, yet."

Kefira could feel her face heat up, and she was certain it was the color of crimson if she could see her reflection right now. Even Reivyn's ears turned red at the statement. Refix just burst out laughing as he watched both of them.

"We'll keep that in mind, dad," Reivyn said dryly.

Refix just continued to chuckle as Reivyn stepped out and closed the door. He smiled down at Kefira and they turned to head back to her room.

"I'm not..." Kefira turned to Reivyn and tried to explain, but she was too embarrassed to get the right words.

"I know, I know," Reivyn said, grasping her hand. "You just wanted to snuggle and spend more time together."

"Yes, exactly," Kefira nodded her head emphatically. She would be lying if she said the other things didn't enter her mind, but she would never admit it. There was plenty of time to wait to do things the right way.

---

Reivyn flipped through the booklet containing the information on the Dungeon. The more he read, the more he frowned.

He placed the booklet down on the table of the cafe they had all congregated together for breakfast. Other than sleeping next to his beloved, the evening had ended without anything else out of the ordinary. When they had all woken up in the morning, Serilla had simply said that it had just been Kefira and Serilla in the room when she got out of bed for the day. Reivyn had taken the hint and left before she swung her feet over the bed.

"This Dungeon looks like it's going to be annoying," he said with a sigh.

"Really? I would have thought you would be interested in a new type of Dungeon," Kefira said.

"Oh, sure, on the surface it looks exciting. The problem comes with trying to clear the Hard Mode."

"What's the problem," Teilon asked around a mouthful of bacon.

"In order to activate the Hard Mode, we have to make it to the boss on one breath. Once we go below the surface of the water for the first time, we're not allowed to go back up or use any of the pockets strewn about the Dungeon to allow for us to catch our breath and prepare for going deeper into the Dungeon. Everyone has to go under water at about the same time, and everyone has to make it through the whole thing, down and back, on the one breath. You can't just sit at the entrance and leech off of the team that goes down, and there are five floors."

"Hmm... well, that sounds more like a you problem to me," Teilon said, gesturing at Reivyn with his fork. "You're the one obsessed with being a completionist. I would be perfectly happy to not even complete the Dungeon all the way, much less doing the Hard Mode."

"Well, yeah, but that's what gives the best rewards," Reivyn answered.

"That's all well and good, but we're not so far behind that we have to squeeze out every last Experience Point we possibly can while we're here," Teilon argued. "There's no reason to stress ourselves out over it when we can just take our time and enjoy it."

"What's not to enjoy about pushing yourself?" Refix chimed in.

"I never said there isn't a sense of accomplishment for pushing ourselves," Teilon answered. "Just that we're on vacation. We can take it easy for a bit while we're here."

"Yeah, and I thought I made it pretty clear that the vacation was three days," Refix smirked. "Long before the Dungeon resets."

"I thought you just meant until we started training again..." Teilon trailed off, fork paused over his plate.

"And what do you think pushing yourself in the Dungeon is? Hmm? It's just another sort of training, if you look at it from a certain point of view."

"A certain point of view? I didn't realize fighting in life or death fights was 'training.'"

"Then you haven't been paying attention enough," Refix said. "How long have you been with me, now? Four years? And you still think you're not constantly training? Besides, what were you doing before you joined us in Vairo?" Teilon spluttered while trying to form a coherent answer that didn't involve doing a whole lot of nothing. "That's what I thought. It's time for you to get back into practice. You are still technically employed by me, after all."

"I thought that was an honorary position?" Teilon tilted his head.

"It was," Refix confirmed. "But now you're Tier 4, and you can seriously contribute. It's official."

"You're the Scout Commander," Reivyn nodded his head. "Welcome to the company, Lieutenant Teilon."

Teilon sat a little straighter after hearing the title. He was never too big on military discipline, but that wouldn't matter as a scout commander. His job wasn't to look pretty in a parade, and Reivyn was confident his father had groomed him, and would continue to groom him, to fit the role perfectly. Being acknowledged as someone with an important role had seemed to fill even Teilon with a bit of pride and expectation for the military nature of the mercenary company.

"And since it's official, it's also mandatory that you clear the Hard Mode of the local Dungeon," Refix declared. Teilon groaned but didn't argue the point any further. "If you can't complete this simple task, how can we entrust the lives of others into your care?"

"That's a fair point," Teilon sighed. "Alright, you can count on me. Since I'm determined to do it, you'll get one hundred percent out of me. You don't have to worry about that."

"Good man," Reivyn reached over and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I should have known better..." Teilon mumbled to himself as he tucked back into his breakfast.

"You really should have," Refix grinned at him.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Kefira said. "We'll spend the first week figuring the Dungeon out. We'll do a practice run and test some things out the next week, and the final week we can really push to get it done. And who said we have to do everything the way it appears on paper? Don't forget, I have access to the Space Affinity. We could probably just teleport to the boss room if we want to, get it cleared on a technicality, and then fight through the Dungeon backwards."

"Huh, I hadn't even thought of that," Reivyn said, glancing at Kefira. "I say we try to clear it the regular way the second week, and whether we do it or not, we can just teleport after that. No reason to handicap ourselves further than need be, but we would be hindering our growth if we just took the easy way out every time."

"Agreed," Kefira said, pushing out from the table to stand up. "But now, we have a date with the beach."

Reivyn grabbed a couple last bites before he scooted his chair back as well.

"Don't you mean date at the beach?" He asked, holding his arm out for her to hook her own in.

"Oh, is that what I meant?"

Reivyn just rolled his eyes as she beamed a smile at him.