Adhering To The Call

"Have you decided?" Noah asked with his eyes still bright as a lone moon in an ever-dark sky.

"About what?" Pel was confused again.

Noah's eyes dimmed a bit. "Aren't we leaving now?"

Pel almost laughed. "You are staying here, I might come back for you...depending on my mood" he did not wait for the latter to respond before he bounced.

Noah sighed. "Hope all that rambling about his pride as a Kerki is real...Kerki..."

Like a thief, Pel went sneaking from room to room copying the abilities of those on the list and although Tessa's name was number seven, he saved his encounter with her for last. Flora could also be said to have great abilities but he didn't find them useful to him currently, if his slots were to expand in the future he did not mind though. You can't have too much of a good thing.

Noah's situation turned out to be the only special case and when he was done with the nineteenth, he asked Ito for Tessa's location and surprisingly she was not in her room but in the training hall instead, meaning she was spending the night over there.

He asked for the time and it was almost 1 am which was pretty late. The door was locked from the outside and after getting rid of the lock he entered and witnessed Tessa wearing limiters while fighting a training dummy.

Each one is programmed to replicate the opponent's abilities and stats, it was like fighting yourself but the fake version. Although the dummies couldn't hurt you for real, the 'neuro sensors' the opponents are made wear help them feel a great deal of pain, unleashing their potential.

What Tessa was doing was overexerting herself by limiting her ability which mean her resistance would also be reduced, leading to an increase in pain.

Pel watched the scene with a deep frown and did not say anything till she came out of the simulator.

"Pel..?" Tessa paused, not believing her eyes for a second.

"What's the use of all of this? what are you trying so hard to achieve?" Pel asked suppressing what he couldn't describe as just anger.

"I am not like you...we each have our lives"

"Are you worried he will come after you?"

"I just want to be ready, it's not a crime...I've analyzed our fight numerous times and he was going easy on me. I should have at least died ten times if I count right" Tessa sighed and took off the limiters before taking a deep breath, reigning in her improvement.

"I heard you got in trouble because of me" Pel said expressionless.

"Not yet I guess but I'm sure we'll survive...I hope we will" Tessa stared at him not hiding the fact that she was blaming him. "What made you flare up like that?"

Pel did not reply mostly because he couldn't come up with something that sounded reasonable to his ears. He had a bad temper normally but could that really justify killing those instructors?

'Hold on. What the heck am I thinking, they disrespected me and deserved what they got, in fact they are doing far worse than is known to the public. I do not regret it'

"So..." seems like Tessa was still waiting for his explanation.

"I do not regret it"

Tessa nodded. "Do you hate humans so much?"

"I respect those that deserve to be respected" Pel said firmly.

"Then why are you here?" Tessa raised a brow.

"Excuse me..."

"I'm not stupid enough to believe that you consider us friends. The number of times we've met in the academy can be counted on one hand"

"I do not want you guys to be harmed for my sake" Pel said looking a bit confused. He suddenly found himself unable to keep up with her strange twists.

Tessa smiled bitterly. "Is this for your pride as a Kerki...or because we're your friends?"

"Does that matter?"

"It matters to me"

Pel thought for a bit trying to figure out her point but since he couldn't he dropped it. "If you must know, owing a human doesn't bode well with me"

"I guess...You do not have to worry we can take care of ourselves" Tessa then passed by his side and started walking away.

'To mark her'

[Are you sure]

'Yes, if things turn out bad tomorrow then I'll be able to instantly teleport to save them' Pel said telepathically. 'Oh, have I copied her ability?'

[Host did not have contact with the female]

'Why did you have to be so weird, just Tessa will be fine'

[...]

"Let's go get the creepy boy and move...I feel like this may be my last time here"

* * *

Tessa, Flora and Adam were escorted to the Telon main house and though they the mansion was a masterpiece with interiors for one would feast their eyes upon, the current situation did not permit the trio to focus on something other than their thought.

And her meeting with Pel yesterday was kept under wraps. She did not mean to hide, only she thought there was no use.

Lead upon the fleet of stairs, they had somewhat expected the meeting room to be on the ground floor but reality was a little out of their expectations.

Seeing the two Awakeners constantly following behind, the whole scene started to resemble one where they were being led to a trial.

The doors make to creaking sound as it was opened and Tessa felt this was the greatest of them all. Silence filled the room and the air was becoming musky, making it unbearable to breathe but still, they had to step through the door and go to the other side to find out what kind of fate awaited them.