As Assad strode through the corridor towards the Octagon, he was taking slow, deliberate steps much slower in fact than you would expect from someone on their way to a fight.

  If someone happened to see him doing this, they would likely assume that he was stalling or feeling apprehensive. The purpose for Assad’s slower than expected movements was a different one. There was a small, folded piece of paper lying on the ground in Shuren’s office where he had just left.

  Anyone else who saw this paper on the ground would likely just consider it litter merely another piece of trash that had fallen out of someone’s pocket. However, Assad had imbued this piece of paper with a small amount of his Kensei before he left it. As a result, he was able to hear sounds from far away travelling up through the Kensei to him through the paper.

  “…Chi-Do-Hyeon…”

  As he continued walking, his eyes narrowed slightly.

  “There goes that name again…” he muttered under his breath.

  As he continued to walk, the lights in the corridor were passing overhead slowly; thus he took another slow, deliberate step.

  Sect.

  This was a word he had heard before. Hearing this word clarified the one thing that had been bothering him since he had come to this alternate universe/realm. He frowned as he continued to digest this information.

  As his mind was digging deeper into the pieces of conversation that he had heard previously, he was attempting to connect them together and make a coherent flow. Before he could pursue his thoughts any further, a voice from the corridor suddenly broke through.

  “Hey!”

  He looked up to see a girl with her arms crossed leaning casually against the wall, a look of mild annoyance and curiosity on her face.

  “Whoever you are,” she said, slightly tilting her head toward him.

  “Why are you walking so slowly?”

  After looking him up and down for a moment she asked;

  “Do you have a leg issue or something?”

  As he heard this question Assad stopped walking, turned and looked back toward the girl for a quick second.

  “Oh sorry, you’re the girl Sévon brought with him.” he casually said.

  As soon as he said that, he quickly turned back around and proceeded in a slow and relaxed manner toward the elevator that was located on the opposite end of the hallway.

  Esme’s expression was one of complete surprise.

  Her annoyance could also be felt as she frowned slightly and said “Hey” as she continued towards him.

  By the time that she reached him, he had already reached the elevator, pushed the button, and had entered the elevator before she could catch up to him. All she could do was shake her head in disbelief at how fast he had gotten there.

  “Unreal,” was all she said under her breath as she continued to the elevator and entered it herself.

  After the elevator doors closed, the elevator descended to the Octagon floor, where it was very quiet. There was no conversation between them because they both were busy thinking about the job ahead of them. The only sound in the elevator was the constant humming of the elevator machine.

  Assad was standing in the elevator with his hands in his pockets staring blankly straight ahead as if he were by himself. Esme was looking sideways at him occasionally with an annoyed look on her face. Neither one said anything during the ride to the Octagon floor even though the silence seemed to go on forever.

  Ding.

  The doors opened again, and they had arrived at the Octagon floor. Assad was the first one to exit from the elevator, and Esme followed him a moment later. They then entered the Octagon and heard the loud metallic clanging of metal hitting metal in the Octagon before entering. There were already two fighters in the Octagon before them.

  Lokei and Taura: The Dual of a Lifetime

  Lokei moved calmly and carefully, brandishing a blue staff. The staff was nearly as tall as he was: an impressive weapon reminiscent of Sun Wukong’s legendary staff. Taura stood across from him wielding Lion's Fang. The two clashed yet again.

  With a loud CLANG! Lokei swung his staff wide and Taura took a step backward to avoid the staff, then Taura swung Lion's Fang downwards with tremendous force. The cleaver slammed against the staff creating enough force to create a loud vibrating sound in the air.

  They spun and exchanged blows, moving back and forth in the octagon. Each time they made contact the blows were fluid and familiar, which is what made this action not a real fight. After several exchanges, both stepped back at the same time.

  Taura rolled her shoulder and smiled.

  “That was a blast!” she said.

  She put Lion's Fang on her shoulder, when it dissolved into a tiny knife again.

  “Now the fun is over.”

  With a casual spin of his staff, Lokei laid it down next to him.

  “Yeah,” he stated nonchalantly.

  Taura wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and as she was about to speak again her gaze shifted toward the elevator doors where she stopped in mid-thought. The next second her face was beaming with delight.

  "Oh my goodness! Esme!"

  Taura’s call reverberated through the arena and as soon as Esme heard her name her eyes got wide.

  "Taura!"

  The two of them took off in the direction of each other and embraced in a tight grip that almost caused both of them to fall down. Taura's loud laughter filled the arena as she tightened her grip on Esme.

  "When did you arrive?" Taura asked excitedly.

  Esme also laughed and hugged Taura back.

  "Today!" Esme replied. "I came with Sévon, Tasia, and Kiichi!"

  Taura's smile somehow got even larger and she again hugged Esme, this time even harder than before.

  "I missed you!"

  Esme started laughing hysterically at Taura's hugging.

  "I can see that!"

  Finally, Esme took a step back.

  "I told Tasia just the other day that we were overdue for a girls' night out."

  Without even thinking, Taura replied.

  "Don't say another word!"

  "I'm there!"

  "Are you kidding?! You're going?"

  Like they had created the best strategy in the world, both girls were bouncing in unison. Assad stood about 10 feet away just observing everything. Taura finally looked over at him.

  "Oh that's right!" Taura waved at him as she stated "Hey Assad". She tilted her head slightly while saying, "Were you by Shuren's office again?"

  With a small nod, he replied with a quiet "yep".

  Esme turned her body to face Taura and leant closer to her to whisper into her ear "Do you know him?"

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  Without thinking, Taura responded with "yes".

  After she finished speaking to Esme, Taura looked back at Assad and said "I've been on a mission with him".

  Esme turned to look over at Assad with an expression that lacked much interest and said "oh, is that true?"

  Taura nodded at her so that she would know. Taura then made a mischievous looking face and said, "And trust me when I say this..he is interesting!"

  “Interesting?Ha…come on, even if you have some issues with your eyesight Taura. That is not interesting at all.”

  Taura’s eyes widened a whole heap more before she broke out into her trademark light laugh! Instead of getting into an argument with Esme, Taura put her hand on Esme’s head and gave her a little loving pat.

  “In time you will understand,” Taura said with a playful smile.

  Esme only looked at Taura with a confused expression.

  “Are you going to do your stupid poetry again?”

  Taura shrugged.

  “Didn’t Ms. Shuren already tell you that you aren’t that good at doing poetry?”

  Taura gave Esme a roll of her eyes.

  “Yeah that’s really nice.”

  Taura waved Esme off and turned away.

  “Let’s go!

  The girls continued walking to the elevator like there had never been a break in the conversation. Their voices quickly turned into excited chatter about girls’ night plans, gossip, and other topics.

  They walked right past Assad without saying a word.

  Assad just watched them go.

  A moment later, Lokei stepped out of the Octagon arena. He had his long blue staff resting against his shoulder as he made his way over. He looked at the elevator doors as they closed behind Taura and Esme, then he looked back at Assad.

  “Girls are like that on their days off: lots of talking and laughing.” Lokei said nonchalantly while he adjusted the staff slightly in his hands.

  “So... what brings you here?”

  Assad put his hands into his pockets.

  “Sévon asked me to meet him here,” he replied in a cool tone.

  “In about five minutes.”

  Lokei slightly raised an eyebrow.

  "Is that what Sévon said?" He asked.

  Assad gave him a shrug of indifference, "I don't," he said as he lifted his shoulders.

  After a moment's thought, Lokei gave a single nod of understanding.

  "Okay."

  For a moment, there was dead silence between them.

  "It is a miracle, to tell the truth," Assad said quietly.

  At this point, Lokei cast a glance toward him.

  "Excuse me?"

  "Since meeting, I thought you would have some kind of issue with me," Assad said. He leaned casually against the wall by the entranceway to the arena. "For example, just like how Kiichi did everything possible to have me kicked out of here."

  At this moment, Lokei did not give him an answer; instead he picked up his staff, and around the end of the staff began to glow faintly with a blue light. The energy glowed around the entire length of the staff, like flames, and swirled around the slick, polished staff.

  After he turned the staff into a flash of light and the blue energy disappeared as well, he began speaking with a very calm voice.

  "When we first met, it was the wrong time," he said very calmly.

  He rubbed his neck slightly.

  "Yea, you did stain my clothes at that time."

  He sounded very relaxed.

  "But you were able to fight."

  He flinched a bit.

  "Yeah, I guess I didn't do it right. And Kiichi..."

  Assad was just staring at him as he exhaled out a short breath.

  "Kiichi's just like that."

  Lokei looked at the elevator.

  "That guy hates new people."

  He turned his head to see if Assad had responded.

  "Yeah."

  They were both silent again for a few minutes, but it felt much better this time.

  After placing his staff on his shoulder for a second, Lokei turned his back to the elevator. With a quick glance over his shoulder again.

  "Good luck with whatever you and Sévon are doing," he said and hit the button to call the elevator.

  The doors would not have automatically opened for him, but when they did he entered. The second after he got on the elevator the doors closed and he was alone in the training arena.

  It had quieted to nothing.

  The octagon, located in the centre of the room below the pale ceiling lights, was surrounded by the sombre and fading echoes of the sparring matches that had taken place there already.

  After all of the noise of the training had just subsided, the silence in the room was a weighty change of pace.

  Assad walked towards the octagon at a very slow pace.

  He took one step into the octagon and, without ceremony, lay down on the floor of the ring, putting his hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. The lights in the ceiling are slightly blurred as his mind drifts and becomes unmoored in time.

  He saw the past few days flash in front of his mind.

  His transmigration,his meeting with Shuren,his first mission with Taura,the raid on Zheng Yan's mansion or whatever they were supposed to be called. Lost may be more appropriate.

  This is not his world.

  In this world of sects with bizarre abilities, and people who've dedicated their lives to overcoming the challenges they've faced while learning to survive according to its laws; he's been thrust directly into the centre of all of this without warning.

  The reason for such an event remains unknown to him at the present time. What remains evident within Assad is that no matter how treacherous this world may become - however many fights he must struggle through - it is imperative that he gains a way back to where he belongs his home adjacent to Earth.

  That goal has neither changed nor ever will....even should he perish in his attempts to realise it.

  Currently, while Assad was ruminating over all this, the sound of an elevator returning to the ground floor provided a stark contrast to the silence of the arena. The door to this elevator opened and walked out; Sévon.

  Upon stepping out of the elevator, Sévon observed Assad lying upon his back with his arms behind his head, seemingly very at peace and attached to nothing at all.

  Sévon stood there and considered what he was observing before an extremely slight smile broke across his lips.

  "Well, I see someone is comfortable today," Sévon said casually as he walked over towards Assad.

  Assad first did not react but continued to look at the ceiling above him.