Galen missed everyone.

  He missed having Aleksi around to ask for advice and assurance. He felt lost without him, and didn’t know how to proceed forward without his mentor.

  He missed Tufani with her cool, stoic, beautiful, graceful poise and no nonsense attitude. He missed being able to tease her and talk to her. He worried for her well being, both physical and mental. He hoped his kidnapping didn’t throw a wrench into her mission.

  He also missed Redian. Without the Sentient Weapon, Galen felt blind and realized just how much he’d come to rely on the blade. He also just missed the sword’s company. He didn’t think he’d ever yearn to have the eccentric weapon yapping in his mind. He sometimes thought he could hear Redian’s voice from time to time.

  “Galen…”

  He sighed as he lay on his bed, thinking, There it is again. Damn, didn’t think I’d miss Redian so much that I would hallucinate his voice…

  “Galen.”

  He frowned. Damn, this hallucination is persistent.

  “Galen!”

  He shook his head and sat up from bed.

  Only to see someone was in his room.

  He’d been about to cry out, only for the figure to suddenly pounce on him faster than he could react, a hand clamping over his mouth.

  His heart hammered in his chest as terror surged through him. He wondered briefly if he was going to die.

  “Calm yourself, you fool!” hissed the figure.

  Galen frowned. The voice sounded familiar.

  The figure pulled back, and he could finally see who it was.

  “…Arvad?” he asked.

  The bard smiled at him.

  “How did you-” he began.

  “I have a talent for getting into places I ought to not be in,” Arvad interrupted.

  Galen smiled. “I’ll say! So, you’ve come to get me out of here?!”

  “Yes, but not yet.”

  He frowned, “What? Why not?!”

  The bard put a finger to his lips, then pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

  Galen unfolded it and began to read the contents. The handwriting didn’t appear to be Aleksi, so he figured it was Arvad’s. It detailed the current circumstances and whereabouts of Aleksi and Tufani, and how Arvad, Komdar, and Lusha had come to aid in his rescue. It also explained the necessity in timing. Following his rescue, they needed to steal the airship ASAP, have Aria board it, and fly towards the Boundary of the Realm in the direction of the sea.

  He nodded, realizing they would have a very tight window that started the moment he was rescued. The note, towards the end, had a question.

  How many Shadows are present?

  Arvad held a pen towards him to write the answer.

  Galen held up four fingers before he took the pen and wrote, “Morpheus. Callista, otherwise known as Venus. Another named Agnar. Lastly, one named Eshu. I don’t know if there are any more in town or not.”

  He paused, then added. “There’s something else you should know. Morpheus and the others are waiting to use the very same airship Aleksi and Tufani are planning to steal. They plan to commandeer it as soon as its maintenance is finished and use it to fly me back to a city. Also, Morpheus fully expects Aleksi to try to save me.”

  The bard’s eyes widened at that bit of intel. He then smiled. Rather deviously at that as he took back the note and wrote on it.

  He showed Galen the back of the note. It read, “I’ll be back once we have a solid plan hammered out. For now, pretend as though our meeting never happened. Keep your head down and act as you normally have already. Don’t give any indication that something has changed. Try to get more information if you can.”

  The bard made to leave, but he quickly grabbed him by the arm, and began to ask, “Wait. How are the others? Are they-”

  Arvad gave him a smile of reassurance, and Galen knew immediately that they were okay. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing his face as he did. He’d been about to thank the bard, but when he reopened his eyes, the man was gone and his window was now open.

  He blinked. When had he…

  He shook his head and went to the window, closing it shut before smiling to himself.

  Help had been confirmed, and it was on the way. In a few days at least.

  He could bear with the Shadows until then.

  It helped that he now had a goal of his own. To get as much information out of them as possible to feed to Arvad.

  He just hoped he didn’t slip up and alert the Shadows prematurely.

  ***

  Aria was sparring against Lusha in the basement of Komdar’s shop. They restrained themselves from using any Ether as to not alert any Shadows on patrol, or guards who possessed sharp Ether senses. Though, there was another reason behind the restriction.

  It was so that Aria could get used to the newfound instincts and muscle memory that Redian provided her.

  She’d been amazed back when she’d met Galen, and saw him fighting off multiple opponents at once, something he shouldn’t have been able to do at his level. She’d also been shocked when Arawn had managed to hold his own somewhat against her mother, the legendary Anila Tufani, in combat.

  She now understood how both had managed such feats.

  She dodged, parried and whirled around Lusha’s spear strikes. They were exceptionally fast, in spite of the half-blood not using any Ether. The speed on display was from years of training, experience, and skill.

  While the half-blood wasn’t on her mother’s level, she was still clearly a master with a spear and an expert with a sword. As much as Aria hated to admit it, she didn’t think she’d have lasted very long against Lusha in a sparring match.

  On her own, at least.

  Lusha performed a feint that would have easily fooled Aria prior to her bonding with Redian. That bond, as the Sentient Weapon had explained, allowed her access to the cumulative instincts and muscle memory of all the sword’s previous Wielders. Though she’d never fought a spear user on Lusha’s level, some of Redian’s previous Wielders had.

  Aria, guided by instinct not fully her own, pretended to fall for the feint. When Lusha struck, she parried, then seamlessly countered with speed and precision far greater than she normally possessed.

  Both she and Redian, however, were surprised when Lusha managed to unsheathe a knife at her belt and use it to block her slash. They locked blades for a moment, before they both jumped back.

  Aria was huffing and puffing. To her satisfaction, Lusha was as well, even if it wasn’t by as much.

  “Well, well,” Lusha smiled. “Sentient Weapons are truly impressive. It really feels like I’m sparring against a master swordsman.”

  Aria flushed, despite knowing that her current skill was due to Redian.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Your movements keep getting sharper with each match we have,” Lusha continued to note. “You’re growing more and more accustomed to the sharpened senses and instincts that blade grants you.”

  Aria sighed. “It’s still not enough. I don’t feel one hundred percent right with this sword yet. I’ve seen how Galen moves with Redian. Void, I’ve sparred against him several times before, and I’m afraid I’m not quite there yet.”

  “It’s barely been a day since we started sparring in earnest, miss impatient!” the sword chided. “Galen, on the other hand, has had me for just shy of seven months. There’s a reason why our bond isn’t quite as good as mine was with him.”

  She understood that just fine, rationally speaking.

  Just because she understood, however, didn’t mean she felt any less frustrated.

  Lusha, perhaps noting her tension, sighed. “Alright, kid. Let’s take a break!”

  “No, I’m fine. Besides, we can just use Arts to heal any-”

  “I said we’re taking a break!” Lusha snapped. “Void, kid. Take a hint.”

  Aria scowled.

  She’d been about to walk off to work on implementing her Arts with Redian, but Lusha was suddenly behind and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.

  “Hey!” Aria protested.

  “What part of taking a break did you not get?!”

  “We don’t have time for a break, you voiding half-blood- OW!!!”

  Lusha smacked her on the head. HARD.

  Aria squatted down, sitting on her knees as her hands went up to nurse the bump on top of her throbbing head. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as she glared at the woman.

  “Listen here, you brat!” Lusha lectured as she pointed a finger at her. “I’m in charge of your training! For however much we can get in the coming days, anyway. Would you give this kind of attitude to Zareb?! What about your mother?! Huh?!”

  Aria clicked her tongue, “Tch. Of course not.”

  “Then why do so with me?” Lusha crossed her arms. “Let me guess. It’s because I’m a half-blood.”

  “...No that’s not-”

  Aria trailed off as the older woman gave her an intense glare, both knowing what she’d about to say was a lie.

  Growling, she shot to her feet and met Lusha’s eyes. “Yes! It’s because of that! Is that what you want me to say?!”

  Lusha raised a brow. “Enlighten me, kid… why does it bother you so much?”

  “Because it’s… it’s…” Aria stomped her foot. “It’s just WRONG! Okay?! Humes and elves simply shouldn’t…. do that sort of thing!”

  “What, you mean have kids?”

  She flushed, her ears turning red. “Void, you don’t have to be so blunt…”

  Lusha began to snicker. “You elves and your prudishness.”

  Aria shot her a glare. “Are you teasing me?!”

  “Perhaps,” the half-blooded woman leaned on her spear. “Though, I have to point out how you’re being a bit hypocritical here with the whole humans and elves thing.”

  “How so?!”

  “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you started referring to Galen by his first name,” Lusha teased.

  Aria flushed.

  Deeply.

  Right down to her ears

  “That’s… that’s different…”

  The smile the woman gave her was so mischievous, that Aria considered attacking just so that she wouldn’t have to hear what came next.

  “You claim you hate humans so voiding much, yet here you are having grown so close with one that you started calling him by his given name.”

  “Like I said,” Aria hissed. “He’s different.”

  “Oh he’s different. That’s a bit more specific compared to what you stated earlier.”

  “Yes, void you!” she huffed. “Galen comes from another world! I’d say that more than qualifies him as an exception. He might as well be of an entirely different race.”

  “I wonder what he’d say about that,” Lusha smirked. “But still, I’m not buying it. Particularly considering you also now call my husband by his first name.”

  Aria blush returned, though not as strongly. “That’s because you’re here now. I can’t exactly call you both ‘Barus’ since you share the same surname.”

  “True. But Zareb himself told me you call him by name now.”

  I’m going to hit that voiding man, Aria promised.

  “Poor Zareb,” Redian began before snickering. “Oh, wait, I mean poor you. With the difference in power between you two, you’d hurt yourself more than you’d ever hurt him.”

  She ignored the Sentient Weapon.

  “I’m not hearing a rebuttal,” Lusha teased.

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is that if you’re willing to change your views towards humans, you’ll probably survive doing so with half bloods like me. I’ll have you know that people of two different races having children wasn’t too uncommon back when the Realms were one, and before the Human-Elf War broke out.”

  “…Fine,” Aria relented. “I’ll try.”

  “Good!” Lusha beamed. “Don’t worry. I suspect you’ll warm up to the idea of half-bloods soon enough. I mean, with how close you and Galen have become-”

  “What does he have to do with this?” she asked, brow raised.

  Lusha snickered. “Come on, Tufani! You know why~”

  “You’re insinuating something and I get the feeling I don’t want to know what it is.”

  She stared at her, surprised. “Void… kid are you being serious? You mean to tell me you don’t even realize…”

  Aria frowned. “Realize what?”

  Lusha began to laugh. “Oh, poor Galen! He sure picked a tough one!”

  “Why are you laughing?!”

  Rather than answering, Lusha wiped a tear from her eye. “Ah, youth…”

  “Are you going to tell me what this is all about?” Aria demanded.

  “Nope! It’d likely to more harm than good if I just came out and said it. You’ll figure it out eventually, I’m sure,” Lusha gave her a sly smile. “You better do so soon, though. Someone like Galen is quite the catch. If you lag behind, I’m sure some other girl will scoop him up and take him from you.”

  An unexpected, painful stab was felt in her chest by the suggestion. However, the feeling was overshadowed by her exasperation with the woman. “Seriously, what are you going on about?”

  Lusha merely laughed again and walked away.

  “Hey! Where are you going?!”

  “Gonna get me a snack. As well as some water! Be right back.”

  Aria scowled at the woman as she left her alone.

  Well, not exactly alone.

  Redian, do you have any inkling what that woman was going on about? she asked the sword.

  “Oh, definitely.”

  Aria waited.

  The sword didn’t elaborate.

  Well?! she prodded.

  “Thing is, Lusha was one hundred percent right. Based on my calculations, if I tell you outright, then it’s highly probable that it’ll do more harm than good.”

  Void, I’m going to hit you too, she threatened.

  “Hey now! Don’t do that! I’ll have you know I’m super duper durable! Like, ultra mega gafooble durable. You’ll hurt yourself more than you ever would me. Particularly since I don’t feel pain!”

  Aria remembered how her mother had failed numerous times to damage the Sentient Weapons and Armor of the Shadows. It had taken Anila using Ultimate Arts to destroy them. If Redian possessed even a fraction of that durability…

  Fine, then I just won’t polish you, she tried.

  “Now that’s just cruel! Fine, but I’ll only give you a hint!”

  She waited.

  “Try to imagine Galen spending time with another girl. One around the same age as you guys.”

  Aria knit her brows. Why?

  “Just do it. Pay attention to how that makes you feel. That’s the only hint I’m giving you!”

  She sighed, but did as the sword instructed. She imagined Galen doing as he had with her. Adventuring, training, and going on a journey with another girl-

  Aria’s heart skipped a beat. She suddenly felt an extremely unpleasant feeling in her chest.

  Alarmed, she put a hand to her chest. Confusion quickly became the dominant emotion, but the others were… a mix of fear… anxiety… and anger?

  Why did that make me feel this way? she wondered. Redian! What does this mean?! Did you know this would happen?!

  The Sentient Weapon remained silent, keeping true to its word that it would give her no further hints.

  To the void with you, then! she mentally growled.

  Thankfully, Lusha returned just then with a tall pitcher of iced water and two cups.

  She raised a brow at seeing Aria with a hand to her chest, glowering at her sword.

  “What’s up, kid? Something happen with Redian while I was gone?”

  “You could say that,” Aria muttered as she recapped what she and the sword had talked about as they both drank some cool, refreshing water.

  Lusha did a spit take when she finished, doing a mixture of laughing and choking.

  Aria flushed, partly out of embarrassment, for what she didn’t know, and partly out of anger. “Do you have any idea what that feeling was?”

  “Void, you are shockingly innocent. Even for an elf,” Lusha teased. “What you felt was jealousy.”

  “Why would I feel that?” she asked.

  Lusha shook her head, giving her the most teasing smile she’d ever seen on the woman. “You’ll have to figure it out for yourself.”

  Aria threw her hands up into the air. “To the void with both you and Redian!”

  “Good. Harness that aggression. Vent it during this next spar,” Lusha suggested.

  Aria was more than happy to do just that.

  Next chapter will be released Monday, February 23rd, 2026 at 3:00 PM PST.

  A huge thank you and special shoutout to my Page Turner tier Patron, LOOKOUT, and my Lore Master tier Patrons, Mountain Knight, Conman2731, ThoMiCroN, MCE 2 Munchen 2, Voltrus, biburussus, and Daniel Krol. Your support is sincerely and greatly appreciated.