Viy followed after the white arrows at her feet. Her heart beat fast against her ribs, and she found herself having to unclench her jaw and open her fists every few steps.

Her chest was an indignant rage of pulped up pain after nearly five hours of trying, and failing, to get that blasted ball of aura to go along her right arm pathway, but she tried to ignore the pain, focusing instead of what was coming. It was finally time to move forward with her path.

At last, the final arrow vanished before a door that looked just the same as almost all other doors aboard the Scimitar did, and when that door slid silently open, a deep purple poured into the hallway as though it were a liquid, absorbing Viy and changing the very colors of her dark, ashen eyes to deep and all-encompassing purple.

Images flashed in her mind immediately.

Of teeth. Of claws. Of hungry mouths and purple eyes. Of purple arrows, and whisperings and beckoning, and accusations…

She stumbled against the door frame, her mind drowning in a torrent of memories and fear, and the hallway disappeared into that all-consuming purple, her sense of self slowly unraveling before the endless procession of thoughts and sensations.

That final slap across her face.

All those screams…

"Come on in."

Suddenly, it was all gone, and she was standing upright before the door, as though nothing had happened at all. Hadn't she just collapsed?

"Viy?"

She shook her head and strode into that purple room.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor… It was all an endless, disconcerting purple, and more than once her feet met the floor in the wrong way, causing her to stumble.

The Master of Emotions and Hand to Hand Combat inclined her head to Viy in greeting as she approached.

"A little disorienting, is it not?" she asked, her bright purple eyes scanning the formless room around them.

Viy hesitated, but then she nodded.

"Color is a powerful thing, you know? Very, very powerful," she said, her eyes still lost in that endless horizon of purple, the very walls almost impossible to tell. "They are associated with primal meanings that are buried so deeply within our subconscious, that our minds have come to not question them. Even more than that, color is capable of evoking all kinds of emotions within us. Fear. Anger. Disgust. Envy... And through those emotions, color can be used to manipulate people in ways in which they don't even realize it themselves… For lust. For greed. For hunger. Even for violence."

She smiled at Viy. "When you eventually make it to the Nexus, pay attention to all the colors shining brightly around you. None of them are there by accident."

"Uhm… Yes, master," Viy whispered.

Her head was starting to pound in that purple, and her eyes were starting to lose track of what was wall and floor and ceiling. The memories and the thoughts whispered at the back of her mind again… And then, the purple was gone, replaced by a completely normal gray training room, the lit-up ceiling above them the usual bright white.

Her brain screamed at the sudden change, and she swayed in place.

The woman reached out to steady her.

"Woah, there," she said, her now red eyes twinkling. "Are you alright?"

"I-Uh, y-yes. I'm sorry, master."

"Don't be. I forgot it can have that effect on people," the master said, smiling and showing off two elongated canines. "I use it because it makes it easier to evoke separate emotions and to reflect on them, but I'll make sure to return the room to normal before you come from now on."

"I… Uhm, thank you, master," Viy said, her cheeks flushed and unsure of what to say.

"Alright, how about we take a seat? Today, it will be mostly talking," she said, sitting down on the floor in an easy movement that spoke of complete corporal mastery. "I'm afraid that you're actually my first proper apprentice ever, so I'm still a little bit out of sorts. So, I'm still working out the plan in my head. I apologize for that."

"O-Of course!" Viy stuttered. "Please, don't worry about it, master."

"Thank you," the woman said with a smile.

It was the second time that Viy was meeting one to one with the woman, but her heart thundered just as hard as it had the first time. And as she took a seat before the master, she discreetly wiped her sweat coated palms. She may have made up her mind to embrace her guilt, despite what the Master of Polearms had wanted for her, but now that she was before the Master of Emotions once more, she felt as though she was staring down a deep, deep chasm.

Then her brain managed to catch up with what her master had said.

"I'm… Sorry? Did you just say that I'm your first disciple?" she asked.

The master waved a hand in dismissal. "I have apprentices that I teach directly, of course, and all of them are promising in their own ways. But to be honest, aboard this ship, there is no one quite like you or Jul in terms of the depth of your affinity to emotion. Her for fear, and you for guilt. Unfortunately, the Master of Shadows is adamant in teaching Jul alone… So, as a newcomer, I've backed off and respected her authority."

Viy nodded slowly. "She does have a true affinity."

"Now, now. Don't go discounting yourself," the master said. "At 87% you were only 3 points short yourself. A pure technicality in my eyes."

"I… I was?" Viy asked, her eyes widening.

She didn't even know how to take the news, and the master sighed and tapped her knee.

"Relax, Viy. Let's proceed slowly, shall we?" the red skinned woman said. "I promise that your affinity it's nowhere as bad as you've heard or believe. It's not even bad at all. So just keep an open mind, alright?"

Viy nodded.

"Good. First and foremost, let's deal with these notions of "good" and "bad" emotions, hmm?" she asked, twisting her lips. "Anger. Hatred. Resentment. Guilt. People like to call these emotions negative, but in truth, no emotion is good or bad. They all have their place and purpose in our minds."

The walls and ceiling around them suddenly turned blue. The effect was startling, but nowhere as disconcerting as the purple had been, as the floor remained its normal pattern of gray this time around.

"Take sadness. It promotes emotional balance by allowing us to feel and process through loss and grief, and it actively encourages us to face these things, and to reflect on them. It even allows us to feel empathy and connection to others," the master explained. "And when you get through sadness, you come out the other side stronger and more resilient for it. You dealt with whatever caused the sadness in the first place and have attained closure, and you can thus move on."

Viy nodded slowly. "It makes sense…"

"Right? So how could sadness be a negative thing? Without it, we would be stuck! Unable to process, to grief, to introspect and, eventually, overcome," the master said. "However, when it becomes too much… When we don't move beyond our sadness…"

The blue grew more intense, and Viy squinted at its sudden brilliance.

"When an emotion, any emotion, takes control over our lives, that's when it becomes bad for anyone. Even happiness, unchecked, and in too much of a quantity, leads to negative behaviors and outcomes," she said. "It takes one down the path of excess and hedonism, of crazy risk taking and ignoring one's problems and responsibilities. Superficiality of chasing ever greater happiness, alienation of others, and eventually, if not addressed… Madness. Even death."

Viy swallowed, her jaw clenching at the master's words, at the warning perhaps implied in them.

Around them, the color dimmed and the walls and ceiling returned to normal.

"Do you understand what I'm getting at?" the master asked softly.

Viy gave her a hesitant nod.

"We can't let our emotions control us," she said.

The Master of Emotions smiled at her. "That's precisely it."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She chuckled and leaned back, her hands resting on the soft flooring with casualness.

"An emotional path is one that is powered by emotions. Any fighter will feel anger, or hatred for the enemy, and they might even derive strength from such feelings. Or… It may prove their undoing," she said, and the ceiling above them changed into shifting pastels of red tones. "But for a berserker, for example, anger and rage is the fuel that actually enables them to fight. It's the power behind every punch. Every kick and every ax blow! Without it, they cannot fight. Not to any degree resembling their full capacity at least. Because for them, emotion is the path."

She raised a lazy hand to the colors above them, which had now taken an intense, vicious crimson, and a dreamy expression took her features, her eyes even redder now.

"For an emotional path, the emotion at its core is just as important as the aura or aether that powers it. As you've come to find out, emotion becomes so intrinsic to the path that it's even a requirement for skills themselves, much like stamina and aura or aether."

Viy nodded slowly, thinking about her [The Weight of Guilt]. Just as the master described, she needed to invoke the memories, the sensations, and the guilt of what she had done in order to use the skill. She had tried it without the emotion, without the burden of the crushing memories weighing her down, but it hadn't worked. No matter how many times she tried it, the skill demanded her guilt. Demanded her to suffer its suffocating, overwhelming weight, and she could not escape it.

"Thus, an emotional path is one that demands absolute control from the part of its user. Be it joy, love, lust or fear, any emotion out of control is likely to spell doom for its wielder and their party. And so, that leads us to you, Viy, and the guilt that controls you."

It had not been a question, and with a startle, Viy faced the master's penetrating stare. Her eyes, usually dark, were now a kaleidoscope of swirling colors that matched the swirling, shifting pastels above their head, which had abandoned the deep crimson for soft tones of blue, yellow, white and pink.

And Viy found that she could not look away from those eyes, and the word slipped past her lips.

"Yes."

The master nodded.

"Yes. And that is a big problem, isn't it?" she asked the apprentice. "I don't think I need to warn you where overbearing guilt leads to, do I?"

Viy shook her head, her eyes burning, and the Master of Emotions sighed, and straightened back up.

"With all that said, some emotions, by their very nature, are a bit harder to keep a leash on," she told Viy. "And for that, it is usual to rely on certain… Aids, shall we say."

She reached her hand to Viy, and Viy startled once more when a black, unmarked tube appeared in the master's hand. It looked just like the mental booster that Nar and Kur had gotten for her, though the blackness and lack of labels on the tube gave it a sinister look.

"Is-Is this a potion?" Viy asked, taking the tube from the master.

"Hmmm… Sort of. It would be more accurate to call it a tonic, though," the master said. "Potions and boosters are meant to be taken in emergencies and their effects are more immediate. Tonics on the other hand are meant to be taken regularly, and it takes time for their effects to build up and manifest."

Viy frowned at the unmarked, black tube. "So, is this like a-a drug?"

Kur had told them about drugs following one of his many and varied lectures. And when he did, it had been with many warnings and a general advice to stay away from such things. The fact that the tube did not have any of the official looking markings and writings that the mental booster she still carried in her storage had, only contributed to her growing nervousness and hesitation.

"Potions are drugs too, Viy. So is medicine. What you probably mean to ask me is whether this is like those illegal, addictive substances that people like to use to party with or escape reality with," the master said, a mischievous smile playing on her full lips.

Viy nodded, her cheeks flushing at the realization of what she was accusing her master of.

"Then you can rest easy. These tonics are manufactured by reputable companies, and their boxes come well marked with all the official labels you'd expect. There is even a leaflet within each of them detailing all the possible side effects, ingredients, reactions, etc. I assure you, its all completely above board," the master said. "Taking emo-repressors is a common thing for emotional paths. They help to keep us stable and in control of our emotions, but they are not as invasive and reaching as the rage path suppressors are."

Viy pursed her lips, thinking of the red circlet around Mul's neck.

"The only reason that vial looks so dodgy is because of dumb connotation that people place on these things, especially for what they perceive are negative emotions. So, I guess you don't need to worry about being in the club and people staring because you just swallowed your daily Guiltex or something like that. It's best if they think it's actually drugs, you know? But here, maybe this one looks nicer?"

She chuckled and another vial appeared in her hands, this one a squat and bright yellow one. Again, Viy took hold of it, and even after everything the master had told her, and which she knew was meant to assuage her worries, she still felt hesitant about the little vials.

"As you grow your path and learn to master your guilt, you will need to rely on them less and less," the master said. Then she grimaced. "I had actually managed to wean myself off of those until about three years ago…"

She sighed. "But emotions are living things and they respond to what goes on in your life. That response can, unfortunately, be quite volatile, hence why I'm taking mine again."

And that said, a bright lilac vial appeared in her hand and she broke its cap off with her thumb.

"Cheers!" she said, and downed it before Viy's stunned eyes. "Hmm. I like mine to taste of sweet berries, and my subscription boxes come in all kinds of them. I never know what flavor it's going to be!"

She smiled, her eyes dancing.

"But go on, I've talked enough, and I can read the hesitation in your body language. The worry. The doubt. So ask anything you'd like, and I will put your mind at ease."

Vy nodded slowly, placing the vials on the floor before her.

"I… I was told that guilt was not something that I could master, only free myself from," Viy said, her tone low and cautious. Wounded almost.

"Pfft. Let me guess, that was the Master of Polearms, wasn't it?"

Viy looked up in surprise.

"Ah, don't worry about her. Straight and true as they go, that one. Her approach in life is emotionless rather than emotion full, if you get what I mean."

She shook her head. "All emotions can be mastered and ruled over, and guilt is no exception. You just need to learn how, and these tonics I'll give you will go a long way to getting you started on that process. I'll even give you a few, tailor made boosters for emergencies, and they'll work a lot better than that cheap mental booster you have with you."

She pointed at Viy's ring with her chin, and Viy gasped. "How did you know?"

The master grinned. "Master's secrets! But go on, keep asking. I know that there's an even more pressing question in your mind."

Viy nodded, biting her lip.

"I was… Well, they told me that I would never reach my full potential without getting rid of my guilt," she said, her tone even lower. "That it was blocking my real affinity…"

"Eh… Maybe? Maybe not? Who are they to know who you truly are? And while there are some… Connotations to having a guilt affinity, just as there is for penance paths, as for potential," she smiled. "What's the highest a combat class can reach? Who are the most powerful fighters in the Nexus?"

Viy frowned. "The Named Few?"

The Master of Emotions spread her arms wide, her smile turning into a proud grin, and Viy went deadly still.

"You?" she breathed.

"Well, I am an Ascendant One, but I'm confident I will get my title soon," she said, with a light shrug. "The guild's considering the best title for me, and I didn't really have anything to do, so I stepped in to take over when the previous Master of Emotions had to suddenly step down for personal reasons."

She chuckled. "They won't let me delve again until I gain my title, so I figured teaching for two years sounded cushy and relaxing enough. A nice change of pace to the Deep Deep, you know?"

"Right…" Viy said, gulping. "So you're like the… The COO, then?"

The master made a face.

"I'd rather not be compared to her, but yes, I am," she said. "And my path is built upon one of those so-called negative emotions, so look at me and tell me whether or not I'm reaching my full potential?"

The apprentice stiffened. "I… I didn't… I'm not…"

The master burst out laughing.

"Relax, Viy. It's all good. Why would I be mad? It was a genuine question and I hope I gave you a genuine answer. Through mastering your guilt, there's no telling how far you can go, Viy. Not at all! And guilt is a very powerful thing to wield. Why, the possibilities are endless!"

A box appeared beside the master. It was open, and a stack of papers were visible through its open flaps. The master placed her hand over the box, and gave it a loving tap.

"If you become my apprentice, I will teach you how to harness your guilt and turn it into a catalyst that takes your already wild and devastating combat style to a whole other level," she said, her tone suddenly grave. "I will turn you into a being of pure destruction, Viy. More! If you promise to give yourself wholeheartedly to me, and to the taming of your guilt, rather than continue letting it control you or even try to run from it, I will make you an even better offer!"

Viy's breath caught in her throat. Surely, the master didn't mean…

"Yes. I could become your Ascendant teacher, and you my disciple."

The room swam before Viy's eyes, and the walls, ceiling and floor became purple once more.

"I can make you a Named Few, Viy," the master said, her voice a whisper within her mind, and one which kept at bay the dark thoughts that had early rampaged through her mind. "You will be in control of your guilt. Of your fate! And you will stand at the very top of the Nexus. Unchallenged. Unquestioned. Beyond judgment or reproach!"

She leaned forward, her eyes blazing purple. "You would be free, Viy. Free!"

She leaned back and waved at the purple room.

"Master it, Viy! Control it! And it will become your power! Not your weakness!" she said, hissing that last word. "Wouldn't you want that? To be the master of your mind? To finally find peace and quiet within, and to stop running at every waking moment?"

Viy found herself nodding without even realizing as tears ran down her face, and she kept her stare on her master's bright purple eyes. No, she was unable to pull away from her purple eyes.

"Yes… Please, yes!" she said. She begged. "I want that… I need that!"

The master nodded sagely.

"You do. Of course you do. I was the exact same," she said, a dark shadow crossing behind her eyes. "But I set myself free, and so can you. I promise that I will teach you how… And I even encourage you to continue the… Activities you've been doing in order to keep yourself sane."

The room was suddenly bright white and gray again, and Viy blinked at the sudden transition.

"But first, you must show me that you are capable of realizing the potential I see in you," the Ascendant said. "It's a big deal for me to take a disciple, after all."

Viy nodded effusively. "What do I have to do?"

The master pushed the box towards her.

"Take these, for starters. Every day," the master said. "They will help quiet your mind so that you can work on your [Mediation] and your aura control. Then, with that peace, upgrade your [Mastery] and [Aura Pathways] so that one, you can accelerate your body's transformation into aurium and thus make better use of your mighty Body Attributes, and two, so that you can sustain your skills for longer and make way for the more costly ones to come," the master said. "You are currently at 44% attribute efficiency, and that is well below the average amongst our apprentices."

Viy looked down.

"Yes, it's low, but you can work on it," the red woman said. "Push yourself to at least 50% before you depart for the Brightnight, and I will take you on as my disciple. Achieving this won't be easy without true, sheer willpower, and that's the proof I need to see."

Viy's eyes slid over to the box of tonics, and she bit her lip.

"50%... And start taking those things?"

The master nodded. "At your current state, you won't be able to progress without them, but I promise that one day, should you choose to, you can stop taking them."

She smiled. "And if you don't like the flavor, I can change them too. But I think I've got you well figured out. So, what do you say? Ready to set yourself free at last?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.