Solaris sat in the fabricated cafe, conflicted with fear and relief, at the sudden revelation that Ember had just dropped upon him.
His mind was split between the momentary relief that hearing the being dwelling within his mind currently meant him no harm, yet this thought was also in conflict with the fear from the idea of someone other than him controlling his actions, as well as the possibility that this being could only be using him for the moment until he no longer needed him.
Noticing the boy deep in thought, Ember quickly finished his drink and stood up before speaking.
"I can tell you have a lot to dwell on, so I'll leave you be for now. Feel free to stay here, and as you know, just snap your fingers before you leave to reset the room, and before I forget, training today will be at four."
After finishing his parting, Ember left the room.
walking down the stairs, dropping three stories, and reaching the first floor, Ember paid no mind to Cedric, simply lighting up a cigarette and heading to Sami's office.
Reaching the door, he knocked, entered without her opening the door, and began to talk to the stunned woman.
"I've told him."
The momentary shock of someone barging in on her subsided, Sami quickly retorted.
"How did he take it? From what you've said, you mentioned the demons rank many times and haven't seen any change. as well as how he seemed to be after the fact of the kill. So I'm inclined to believe he wasn't familiar, or possibly he was quite frightened by the revelations?"
Sami was quite good at predictions.
"Correct as always, but the shock wasn't from him killing the demon; it originated more from what killed the demon."
Sami stayed still, only slightly raising her eyebrow before speaking.
"So you think my second theory was correct?"
"I do, the way he reacted was much different than someone who just repressed or was in a full state of fear. This was something else; it was pure shock, confusion, fear, and hysteria. nothing about him seemed to believe that it was him in control, everything was pointing towards something else, I ended up telling him that it was our working theory and that for the moment it had no ill intent, this seemed to calm him ever so slightly."
"Ember, you're seeming to grow attached to this kid, even caring about his feelings enough to soften the blow with a white lie."
Sami let out a small giggle, imagining the titan of man comforting the crying kid.
"It's not like that!"
Ember retorted quickly in a confrontational way.
The two continued to discuss the problem at hand and decided the best course of action was to try to awaken his abilities, so the other being would hold less power over him.
This was going to be an issue, however, as the most common way to do so was an intense emotion bubbling over, causing the ability to manifest. This can't be easily fabricated, sadly, so the moment would have to come naturally.
Having no extramicy put him at a massive disadvantage as the best way to manifest the power was a true fight with a demon, and having already met one, the chances of the emotion being overloaded again were low.
This discussion left them both in a rather somber mood, even if Ember wouldn't ever admit it.
...
Still sitting in the fabricated cafe, Solaris thought about everything and mareaculaisly came to the same conclusion he needed to awaken this power for himself, the only difference was that he had no idea how to.
After a while stewing in his thoughts, Solaris stood up, snapped his fingers, and left the room.
burying his hands in his pockets, Solaris stared at the floor while walking to his room. When he reached the room, he stopped.
He realized that the only way to deal with this thing was to get stronger, and the best way to do that was to train.
Moving his fingers away from the doorknob, he turned, looked up from the floor, and began down the stairs. dropping three stories, he found himself in the lobby and proceeded out the door, following the same path as the day before. At this time, he would've had 2 more hours before training started, but he decided that he'd get a head start.
Reaching the alley, he approached the wall, and with a deep breath, he passed through it once again, finding himself in the breathtaking arms of Mother Nature.
Exhaling, he saw Selen training just a bit down in the woods. Seeing this as a good training opportunity, he began running over to her.
Reaching her, he called out just a few feet away. She turned around with a bit of shock written all over her face. She clearly wasn't expecting anyone here.
Solaris hadn't met much of the girl so far, but from what he'd discovered from the day before, she was kind of a loner who didn't talk very much, tended to do things on her own without needing much help, and didn't particularly care for him specficly in a romanical sense, something she made very clear without him ever asking.
This, for some reason, kind of made Solaris like her. He knew it was most likely just a crush based on her looks, but for the time being, he wasn't too mad about it.
"Hey, I was wondering if we can run the course again? I want to get better at it, that way im not a liability."
Solaris said with a carefree smile on his face.
Without much of a change in reaction, Selen simply replied.
"Okay."
With this short conversation, the two made their way into the woods, heading towards the course.
It was a small walk to the starting area, so Solaris decided to attempt small talk; he had never really done it before, but decided now was as good as ever.
"So... nice day?"
"..."
She didn't even glance over at him,
damn it
His attempt was a failure.
After a few moments, he decided to give it one more shot.
"..so why did you become a hunter?"
Selen did, however, look at him this time, her face somewhat contorted into a scowl, yet remaining emotionless.
"I want to kill the demons."
"I see..."
This was something he'd expected. a short and simple response.
Finally, after some more awkward silence, the two made it to the course. They stretched for a bit, then got into position.
There was a small hourglass that was set up for thirty-second intervals for the most accurate start.
After flipping the timing device, Solaris quickly got back into the starting area and watched the sand trickle down before it reached the last grain, and the two took off running.
The race was very close, with Solaris lagging just behind her.
After pushing every muscle to exhaustion, he was able to almost catch up, yet he was still behind her. This placement raged on, no matter how hard he pushed himself, he couldn't catch up.
why?
Why can't it catch up?
Why can't I surpass her?
no matter.
I won't stop moving; I will win.
Solaris refused to lose to her again and pushed himself further. His body was on the edge of collapse, his heart was beating out of his chest, yet he didn't stop; he kept moving.
Eventually, the distance began to close.
His speed continued to increase, or did hers just diminish?
Either way, his body pushed, and eventually his eyes gleamed at the sight of the finish line.
Selen was out of his vision, and he was going to win.
His body let out one final push, and he launched forward, reaching the end.
His body collapsed, his mind was exhausted, and his breathing was ragged and forced.
He won.
At this moment, the thoughts surged through his mind as he looked up at the bright sky.
Where is she?
Selen was nowhere to be found; he had not even noticed till now, but she was not behind him; she was missing.
Straining his torso, he sat up and looked back into the dark forest, expecting to spy her sprinting up, yet no one was to be seen.
Squinting his eyes, he eventually saw a figure running.
She was much farther behind than he expected, which brought a smile to his face; he had beaten her and by quite a large margin.
sitting in the grass, he waited for her, planning on doing some gloating.
she aproached from inside the forest and opened her mouth to speak.
"Nice work, sol."
with a small smile appearing on her lips.
Solaris was shocked at this display of emotions, but was very glad that she finally showed something resembling an emotion since the first encounter. where she was shy and somewhat flustered.
This revelation brought joy to Solaris, letting a smile grow on his face.