24 Perseverance Edited

Jayde life had come down to only one thing — killing — she had become a harvester of life. Minute by minute, day by day, she reaped the lives of thousands of beasts.

With an expert twist of her sword, the giant horned beast in front of her fell, it's jugular split, warm blood sprayed, covering her, but the warmth did not penetrate the deep chill that encased Jayde. Standing on top of a mountain of corpses, her small face was pale, expressionless, her icy eyes assessed the surrounding area.

Jayde had lost track of time, she had no idea how long she had been stuck in this area. She had experienced every sort of death that she had ever imagined, and some that she hadn't dreamed off.

She had been ripped to shreds, disemboweled, beheaded, flayed, burned alive, poisoned, crushed and one time even melted into a gooey puddle by acid. She was now immune to death, she had gorged on death, becoming intimate with it, death had become her friend, her closest ally. No longer did she fear death.

"Congratulations, you have passed the test," White's voice rang out.

Not a shadow of emotion passed through Jayde eyes, a while back she would have been proud to have passed White's 'assessment', but with the experience that she had just gone through, Jayde had changed.

Her training through the Xi Corporation had honed her into a blade, this 'assessment' had hammered away the brittleness, whittling away her weaknesses, forging her into the sharpest blade on Doha.

With White's announcement, Jayde disappeared from the prairie and reappeared in the original room where she first met Isha.

When Jayde appeared, Isha was distressed at the changes he could see in her. He knew that White could be a bit of a hard arse, but he hadn't realized how much he had changed over the eons.

He now regretted that he had not insisted on watching White assessment test, Isha now knew why White had barred him from watching, as White must have known that Isha would have interfered, he would never have tolerated the brutal experience that Jayde must have endured — to have changed to such a degree.

[What the hell did you do, White,] Isha asked White telepathically, his mind voice betraying the distress that he was feeling.

[Stop being such a wuss Number one, she passed my particular test.]

[You IMBECILE, you broke her, you know just how important she is to the survival of this world,] Isha mind voice vibrated with fury.

[Of course, I do, why do you think I wanted to make sure that she was worth the effort, now look at her, she now has the strength to handle to obstacles that are coming her way,] White mind voice said emotionless.

[I am looking at her, you idiot, and when the time comes to make a choice, with the way she is now how is she going to choose the right path, you have turned her in a bloody psychopath!]

[Bullshit! I have fixed her. You and the rest of the trainers are too damn soft, you can't see the problem even if it is staring at you straight in front of your eyes,] White responded harshly.

[What problem? She was fine before your fucking test.]

[You Idiot! She wasn't fine. If you had been paying attention, you would have seen how soul weary she was off fighting. She had become overcautious, every time she left the cave, she barely moved away from her comfort zone, she practiced just enough to become familiar with her weapons but didn't push herself to excel. For fuck sake, she was thinking of staying in that cave for YEARS!] White roared.

Isha was taken aback by White's thunderous roar, but as he pondered over his words, he realized that White had a point.

[But still, did you have to go so hard on her?] Isha grumbled.

[You don't understand,] White said tiredly, [Where she comes from, her style of fighting it's clean, surgical, there is nothing personal about it. Firing a blaster or a laser from a starship, it's different than slicing your enemies jugular and having its blood spray you in the face, to see them die in front you. Not only that but you forget she has died before, no matter how strong you are, that sort of trauma it's going to leave a shadow upon you. Now she is ready to face what is coming, that lingering fear she had of dying again is gone, and she won't hesitate to kill.]

Isha was struck mute by White speech, in the thousands of years that they had been together, he couldn't remember when he had ever heard White say so much.

A brief look of sadness and anger flashed through White's eyes.

[If you and the rest of the trainers hadn't babied that woman last time, this world wouldn't have ended up in the mess it is today, we wouldn't be facing annihilation now.It's your damn softness that has put Doha and countless of worlds at risk, this time I will not make the same mistakes as I did in the past,] at with that final statement ringing in Isha's head, White disappeared.

Jayde could feel the tension rising between White and Isha, as they glared at each other silently, she wondered if they were talking to each other telepathically. The next moment the color drained from Isha face, as White disappeared.

Jayde felt a slight stirring of curiosity about what White had said to Isha for his face to show a devastated look, but she was more interested in how long she had been in that prairie.

"How long have I been gone?" she asked.

"It's been two days since you entered the testing area," Isha said.

"Only two days?"

Two days — Jayde was surprised at that fact, it had felt like she had been gone for a couple of years.

"Well two days here, how long you were in that pocket of space I have no idea, each of the trainers personal pocket space has a different time distortion, for all I know it might have been years for you, but it was only two days for me," Isha explained hearing the faint disbelief in Jayde voice.

Oh, well that explains it, Jayde thought.

"Well Jayde, congratulations for passing White's test, you have earned an extra ten points, would you like to use the exchange system now?" Isha asked with forced cheer.

"Hmm," nodding her head in agreement, Jayde walked up to the exchange screen.

Ignoring Isha, Jayde started to browse through the available items.

Seeing the distant look in Jayde's eyes, Isha found it disconcerting dealing with her. For everything to work out, Jayde had to trust him, but Isha could see the distant look in her eyes, and he knew that whatever trust she had before was gone. It was going to be a long hard road for him to regain her trust.

Sighing deeply, he knew what White had said was right, but damn it, he wasn't the one who had to guide this woman in a girl body to follow the correct path that would save Doha and them. While looking helplessly at Jayde, Isha wondered how did White know what Jayde was going through. The way he had sounded, especially about the difference in killing like how Jayde had in her previous life to upfront and personal like she would have to now, it was like he was talking from personal experience.

It wasn't the first time Isha wondered about the past of the people he shared the artifact with, and it wouldn't be the last. All the trainers here had their own secrets, and most of them kept to themselves, there was an unspoken rule that one did not pry into another's past. It looks like this was going to be another puzzle that he wasn't going to solve.

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