Chapter 114: 113

Arya's eyes opened involuntarily, revealing an alien environment. Unable to control her body she could only watch on as her point of view shifted as she rose from the bed, or rather cot. She couldn't understand what was going on especially when she realized that the body she was inhabiting was not her own, but rather that of a muscular man, though there was metal that seemed integrated into the flesh as well.

It wasn't until she heard the flap, a cloth being pushed aside and a voice call out that she realized what kind of situation she was in. "Vel, you ready? The briefing is about to start."

Arya could easily recall the things Vell had told her about her past life, but even though she believed it, it was hard to imagine something so different and alien to what she was used to, yet now she was experiencing it, likely as Vell once had.

"Yeah, I'll make it, don't worry." Arya heard herself say, or rather Velen say as he put on his uniform and headed out of the tent he had been sleeping in. Arya was thankful that the memory she was viewing came with applicable knowledge of the many strange devices and items that Velen passed as he made his way through the camp.

The briefing was short and simple, despite the fact that Arya felt like there was so much information to go through. Even the best Diviner or Seer would be hard pressed to obtain so much information, not to mention how detailed it was. Arya was amazed that there was only five people to be on what sounded like a suicide mission considering that they were supposed to be fighting and eliminating an enemy encampment by themselves. 

She didn't know their method of fighting, but unless their enemies were untrained peasants, even five S-rank Adventurers would be hard pressed to do what Velen's squad was tasked with, yet no one voiced any complaints as the briefing ended and the five tasked with the mission began to prepare.

While Arya felt uneasy as a VTOL sped through the air, the only emotion that she could feel from Velen was nervousness. It wasn't until one of the other soldiers called out that he calmed down. 

"Hey, newbie, this is your first deployment right?" Velen nodded at the question while looking back at the senior soldier. "That means you got the V4 implants right? Ah, I'm jealous, mine aren't going to be switched out until the end of the year."

Velen shook his head at the soldier. "I have non-standard implants, Vanguard 1. They're experimental, I'm just a guinea pig."

The soldier whistled when he heard Velen say he had experimental implants. "If you got experimental tech you'll probably be fine, they wouldn't send a newbie with shiny tech on too dangerous a mission, I guess that means the rest of us can relax."

The other soldiers got excited as they learned that their mission was going to be easier than they had initially thought.

Everything suddenly faded from Arya's view before she found herself staring at the form of a woman struggling against while a hand was gripped around her neck and lifting her up. It took a moment for Arya to register that she was still viewing Velen's memory, and that he was the one who had the woman by her neck.

Unlike the nervousness she had felt from him before, the only thing she felt was euphoria. A dark ecstasy of ruthlessly and cruelly slaughtering his enemies as he broke the woman's neck like one would to a chicken, a testament to the power of the implants he had. Tossing the corpse to the side Velen marched through the 'enemy' encampment looking for any survivors, a large rifle in hand should he spot any too far away.

Arya felt sick as she realized that all the corpses Velen passed were non-combatants, worse still, it wasn't just the adults, but the children too. When Vell had told her that Velen had done terrible things, she thought it was an exaggeration borne from a sense of self-punishment, yet now she truly understood the kind of atrocities she'd committed as Velen.

Arya could barely stand it as she was forced to endure and watch Velen commit crueler and more reckless acts. It seemed he would never get sick of finding new ways to kill. He was practically a living weapon, killing whatever he was pointed at, though living might not have been true, as more and more of his flesh was replaced with machine.

It wasn't until Velen was on a small leave to attend the funeral of one of his squamates, that he learned the truth. Someone had somehow slipped a small flash drive into his pocket, a long outdated storage device, yet conveniently enough, Velen owned a rare adapter that allowed him to view the files on the drive.

For the first time since Arya began experiencing the memories, she felt Velen feel the weight of his sins, along with regret, sorrow, and an intense hatred. There were only a few files on the drive, but they were unique original files that irrefutably proved the enemy terrorist attack that had killed the only person he'd been close to, was staged by the government, all because their supercomputers identified him as a perfect test subject. 

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He would never join the military willingly as long as she lived, so they killed her and blamed it on the enemy so that a sense of vengeance and hatred would drive him to kill, just as his genetics dictated he should. Velen wasn't the only one, many of the names of those he'd met for the Vanguard project had similar incidents recorded in the files.

Both Arya and Velen couldn't help but feel disgust. Velen because he realized that he had killed so many for nothing, Arya because she couldn't believe such vile people existed.

The memory suddenly shifted drastically as Arya found herself now staring around in an empty dimly cave, a voice she couldn't understand nearby, only for her to realize that she was in the den of an Arachne, as a child. She couldn't understand the sudden and seemingly unrelated change, but she did recall that Vell had once mentioned that her biological mother was an Arachne, and that she'd lived with her until she was five.

Arya could indeed tell that the Arachne and Vell were related, if you were to place the current Vell next to her, one might even assume they were sisters, were it not for the fact that one was an Arachne, and the other at least appeared Elvish. The fiercest emotions she felt from the young Vell was self-loathing and regret, but that faded as she skipped through Vell's early childhood, to be replaced with a feeling of peace and contentment. A feeling that was ripped away during her Awakening.

The next memories she saw were that of her time at the Eldur household, but there were only a few that she saw. Most of them regarded Marian, Reine or Elaine, and occasionally Kalista. Arya didn't know if it was because of the events in Vell's childhood, or if she had simply been utterly unaware, but Arya felt that Gabriel and Alcrem were much closer than Vell had ever thought, but it wasn't like Vell would have a perfect recall of the events since they happened some time ago.

More scenes flashed, Vell's second awakening, meeting Arya for the first time, the moment of her death, and subsequent resurrection, and obviously their time together at the residence they shared. The worst part of watching these was knowing that if she had been more proactive, they could have gotten together for real before any of the issues in their life cropped up.

It was ironic to Arya that the thing she felt the most from Vell during the time was the consideration she had for her. Vell thought Arya was completely against the entire thing, and while that had been true at the very beginning, she couldn't help falling for someone she could be close and intimate with.

Probably one of the most frustrating things was that Vell didn't realize how attractive, and how much sensuality she exuded at all times. For instance during their deciphering of the Yin-Yang Technique, the amount of times she had come close without even thinking how Arya would react. Thankfully, Vell never seemed to notice, but Arya couldn't help but want to die from embarrassment as she could clearly make out just what she'd been thinking or hiding during such moments.

One of the more painful moments was the day that she'd learned their engagement had been broken off. She could still remember the feeling of having her hopes broken, and taking her frustration out on Vell. Because Vell had always seemed collected and unaware of her advances she thought that she was holding her back, yet the deep feeling of emotional pain Vell felt from the words Arya had said that day was something that she massively regretted.

Even when Vell had been sleeping around with anyone she thought was cute, it was an empty sense of physical pleasure. Arya also made up her mind to thank Marian for talking to Vell, because had she not, they likely would have never reconciled or seen each other again.

Vell's encounter with the Hero was something that was completely different to how she remembered the Hero being. When Arya had seen, passed by, or overheard the Hero, she had always thought that he seemed like a nice and sociable man, yet Vell's encounter ran the other way completely. He was arrogant and rude, as if he was the greatest thing the Seven Gods had ever made.

Arya was also thoroughly impressed at Vell's proficiency with her combat Skills. The Dreamscape Duel really highlighted her level of control, while the clearing encounter showed her tactical and cunning senses. She had a feeling that Vell had never even thought of the Hero as a serious threat, maybe because she knew that she was going to have to fight much stronger beings one day.

It took Arya much longer before she appeared in the throne room where they had first found themselves, right next to Vell. "I'm sorry for not realizing or doing anything sooner." She said, slightly shaking her head.

Arya was somewhat confused and wondered what Vell had seen but was unable to ask anything as the black and white being appeared on the throne.

"Yes, yes, enough with the display of affection, jeez, you two are just like the last couple that passed the trial, though your run was much slower, taking just over a month, well that's a pretty good speed considering that some people have taken over two-hundred years. So how do you two feel? In better control? Balanced? More understanding?"

Both Arya and Vell nodded their heads, both of them thinking similar thoughts.

"Good, good." The mixed being said. "This Trial was originally a couples counselling service, so I'm glad you gained something from it. Now, the reason you two came here in the first place, what is it that you desire from me?"

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