Recommended Sleep

"One day you will return through a portal walking on your two legs without as much as a scratch on you, but today obviously isn't that day." said his master, helping Lucius get up to his feet and seating him on a chair.

"Come on, you can't say that I'm not improving. This time, I'm at least conscious." joked Lucius.

One minotaur emerged from the portal chasing after Lucius, but the master swiftly approached him and nonchalantly kicked him back through the portal with force that seemed unproportionately big compared to the amount of effort he put into the kick. The portal then closed.

"It seems that there are some horned gentlemen who would like to be in your company, but we don't accept their kind here, so I had to promptly ask them to leave. I hope that's alright with you." replied the master with a joke of his own.

"Absolutely! They look interesting at first glance, but they soon proved to be bad company, so I decided to take my leave."

The master smiled, but then his face again became serious as his attention returned to Lucius's wounds.

"Can you please tell me if your sorry state represents a failure or a heavy price you had to pay for success?"

"The latter. I've barely managed to summon that portal and get out in one piece. I dread to think what would have happened if that just a few seconds more than it did."

"Congratulations! You will tell me all about it later. Right now, we should get you to the Holy River. You need to heal your wounds." said the master and approached him to help him get up, but Lucius raised his hand.

"Thank you, master, but I can manage myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Just please give me a towel and open me a portal to the River. I don't have the strength to do that myself. I'll return here as soon as I'm healed."

The master looked at him for a few minutes, like he was judging if he really was capable of going to the River by himself without collapsing. Then he nodded and did what Lucius asked for, bringing him the towel and summoning a portal to the Holy River.

"Thank you!" said Lucius, taking the towel and slowly going through the portal.

Once again, he was on the calming shore of the Holy River. Even just standing and breathing in the fresh air filled him with energy, and he eagerly took off his clothes and stepped into the water. It was magnificent. The water was invigorating and at such a perfect temperature that it felt almost as if you were taking a bath in a tub, but without wasting water. Lucius could feel the pain and tiredness leaving his body, and with renewed vigour, he decided to swim for a bit. After he did so, he laid on his back and floated for a bit, watching the sky. It was of that specific orange colour mixed with red when the sun is setting and you feel happy that you exist to witness such beauty. However, even without that, Lucius was happy. He completed his first mission! He didn't embarrass himself or his master, and the dreams of serving a greater cause became reality. What more does he need in life?

Despite this genuine happiness, he noticed that this visit to the Holy River felt different than his first one. He was alone this time. This made him remember Rebecca. Will he ever meet that woman? Well, and what if he doesn't? Who says he has or should meet her again? He's a Hell Purger now; he devoted his whole life to purging demons, and that's all that matters to him. Whether he will or will not meet Rebecca anymore is of no concern to him. He didn't even see what she looked like, but somehow that made it even harder for him. If he simply saw her and saw that, just like any other woman, he would shrug it off, but this mystery that surrounded her made her seem unique, and that's why he wanted and didn't want to find out more about her at the same time.

Enough about that. His master is waiting for him, and here he is, wasting time thinking about unimportant things. He quickly got out of the water, wiped himself with a towel, put on his clothes, and summoned a portal that returned him to his master's presence.

"You're back. That means you didn't drown. Lucius, you just continue to impress." master joked.

"What can I say, except that I was taught by the best." said Lucius, and they both laughed.

"Alright, I'm listening. Tell me everything. Don't leave out even the tiniest of details."

Lucius complied and started telling the master how his first mission went. The master carefully listened to him without interrupting him, but he reacted to some points of the story with surprised looks on his face. When Lucius finally finished his story, the master started with his analysis.

"You did well to sneak into the castle with the litter. In fact, it was the only thing you could have done in that situation. Get those stupid thoughts about embarrassing yourself or me out of your head. War is not about glory or shame; it's about adapting and survival with as few casualties as possible. You are no good to us dead, Lucius. If you saw that you could not get to the target and you did, then come back here and I'll send you somewhere else. Is that clear?" asked the master, a bit irritated with Lucius's stubbornness.

"Yes, master." said Lucius while he bowed his head in shame.

"Raise that head up. I am not scolding you because you did something bad. In fact, you did great. You just have to stop being so stubborn, or you'll end up in situations in which there is no chance of coming out alive. It is not a shame to retreat if you see that you are in a worse position than your enemy. Just keep that in mind. Please..."

"I will, master!" said Lucius resolutely.

"Good. Now, according to your story, it seems to me that getting rid of the Imp King was long overdue. Can you imagine? An imp calling a succubuss, a female demon of such a high rank, to his domain? It's preposterous. To put it in perspective, it would be the same as if some pauper from the favelas or slums called the most elite escort lady to his house. Speaking of which, it's a miracle you are even alive after crossing paths with a succubus! Many of our mightiest warriors fell to their charms, and you, a mere beginner, somehow managed to resist her advances and, not only that, but kill her as well! You are truly something special, Lucius, and you show great promise, but don't let that make you cocky or overconfident!"

"I won't, master! To be perfectly honest with you, I myself was surprised at how efficiently I handled that situation. It could have ended very badly if I lost my focus for just a little bit."

"Indeed. You've also dealt well with the minotaurs. You knew that you were outnumbered and that you didn't have much space for manoeuvring in the tower, so you brought the fight to them! Splendid! Still, do try to keep away from them when you have the chance, because they can be quite nasty when you underestimate them. Besides that, you've also shown great skill in manipulating light to your advantage. That's really impressive, and you should use it on every occasion you think it can help you! However, I'm very surprised by the loyalty of the Imp King's servants. I've told you they will probably disperse after his death, but the fact they remained and tried their best to kill you instead of running for their lives tells us only that the Imp King was even more powerful than we thought. Luckily for you, in the end, his megalomania didn't really help him, and he is now a thing of the past. All in all, well done, Lucius. I am truly proud when I see how capable you are! Now, do you have any questions?"

"No, I don't, master."

"Good. Then I recommend that you head straight to bed and get a good and long sleep."

Lucius knew better than to think that his master didn't know that sleep was unnecessary, but he still wanted to object to this idea. His master predicted this, so he added: "Don't worry, I still haven't forgotten that our bodies don't need rest. But the body is one thing, and the soul is another. Rest. Your next mission will be challenging, and it will require even more from you than this one. I still haven't asked you.... How do you feel after your final exam and your first mission?"

Lucius hesitated with his answer.

"I feel... Fine?"

"Specifically, I mean, how do you feel about the fact that you killed?"

An unexpected question. Lucius thought for a bit and tried to answer the best he could.

"I think I'm alright about it. I mean, I knew what I trained for all these years. I knew what awaited me. I'm fighting for the greater good. By killing those demons, I help our right cause, and I thin the demons numbers so less of them can harm my brethren and humans."

"That's all fine, but I'm not asking you about that. I'm asking you how you feel about the fact that you took life, even from creatures as vile as demons."

"To be honest, I didn't think about it at all. I just do the motions. I strike with my lightsword, and demons die. I don't have time to think about it in the middle of the fight."

"And now? How do you feel now when you look back at it?" 

"I feel... I don't know... Weird... As I said, when I'm doing it, I'm just doing the motions. Fighting. Trying to survive. But when I think about it now, I still do feel like I did something good, but at the same time... I feel like I did something bad..."

"Exactly... It's the curse of taking a life when you cannot give it. It's easy to forget something so simple yet so important. It doesn't matter if the demons are evil and your job is to purge them from existence. They are still a form of life, and to take life is not in one's nature. That's why murder is always something ugly, no matter how you try to justify it. Many don't think about this, and they lose themselves because of it. They start to enjoy it and to hunger for it. Don't let that happen to you, my son. Protect yourself and your soul from bloodthirst and grow, not only in power but also in spirituality."

"I understand, and I will do my best, master. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep." said Lucius while bowing.

As he left the room, his master looked at his former apprentice with a wide smile on his face. Yes, something great will become of him one day; there's no doubt about it. But, until then, there are only three ways forward. Persistence, persistence, and persistence. Luckily for him, he had a characteristic that allowed persistence to flourish, and that characteristic was nothing else than what he often reminded him of. Humility...