***NEED WORK

Just like the time we first got into the place, we were swarmed by medical technicians and lab workers. We had our reflexes, heart rate, breathing and our Energy circulation tested before we were given the okay to leave. Thya was still grinning at us as we got out of the room.
"Well, that was entertaining!! Really, you guys did great; surprised us at one point for a moment, but overall, you did great."
She turned to Darvien.
"Nice work, Newbie!!! It was cool how you were looking out for Mivian and all, but, she isn't all that fragile, you know. Bummer, that hit must have been a stinger!! Yeah, hopefully, the mark goes away after a few decades..." she teased.

Darvien looked absolutely embarrassed and horrified. Thya laughed in her bell-like voice and winked. She patted him on the cheek teasingly.
"I'm kidding, there's no mark; you were great. Keep it up!!"

And with that happy parting, Thya turned and disappeared back into her Unit. Darvien and I walked out of the Advanced Technological Research Unit, back in our regular gear. We were told to go back to the training grounds for the next part of the test. So we walked down the hallway we just had passed just few hours ago. It was weird to think that it hasn't been 12 hours yet since I met Darvien.
We approached the training grounds---after teleporting...Unfortunately, Darvien couldn't use the teleportation crystals on his own quite yet, so, yes it was dual teleportation. But luckily for both of us, everything went smoothly without any trouble. We sat there in on of the large vacant spaces in the vast training grounds, trying to recover still from the stress left from the submersion drill. It was a space used mainly for sparring, both in weapon use and bare-handed combats.

Darvien was plopped down on the ground, poking at his left leg experimentally.
"And to think it hurt that bad..." he wondered out loud.
I laughed.
"It may feel real, but it's not really happening." I reminded him.
"Hmm..." he said, deep in thought.

There was a comfortable silence between us, leaving each other to our own thoughts. I felt as if it was peace I haven't enjoyed in a long time.
"Wow, you guys finished early. I assume the simulation went smoothly," came a voice from behind.
We both turned to see Zavius strolling casually towards us, a slightly surprised expression written across his face. I grinned.
"Uh...surprise…?" I said.
Zavius sighed, shaking his head.
"So original. No matter; you're both here, and that is all that's required for this part of the test."
He ran a hand through his already messy dark hair, thoughtful.
"This part should be fun. Mivian, you'll be sitting out for this one." he said.
I scowled.
"So all I do is watch?" I asked, kind of annoyed.
Zavius looked at me apologetically.
"Sorry, kiddo. But you'll get why soon enough."

With a childish huff, I stayed where I sat.

He turned back to Darvien.
"Getting straight to the point here. I am assigned to test your skills in armed combat."

Something clicked in my mind, and realized why I wasn't the best suited for the mission. Zavius took out his dagger, the Shadow Viper from his holster and held it out in front of him.
"And if I had been informed correctly, this dagger may seem a bit familiar to you?" he asked Darvien.

The look on Darvien’s face was hard to read. He was in mixed-emotions, mostly wonder. He drew his dagger from its holster and held it in front as Zavius was. The two daggers glinted in the light, in sync with the menacing deadly look.
Then a thought occurred to me catching me off guard.
“Hey, Darvien, aren’t you a Praesidium rank?” I asked.
Darvien blinked.
“Yea, what of it?” he returned.
My brows furrowed in confusion.
“Then why do you have a weapon? Slayers can only choose their weapon after they become Proeliators, First Rank.”
Darvien looked down at the deadly weapon in his hand and fiddled it between his fingers.
“Well, technically, I skipped Praesidium rank, but never took the tests for it. So they let me choose a weapon after fifty years in Institute.” he said. He lifted the dagger up to study it more.
“I didn’t realize this dagger was something that came in pairs.”

Zavius smirked and pulled his dagger back.
"The Viper blades are quite powerful weapons, and are said to be a weapon only for the most gifted fighters. Do you know why?" Darvien studied the two almost identical blades in keen interest.
"I haven't the slightest idea." he admitted.
Zavius frowned slightly.
"Hmm," he mused.
He reached for Darvien's dagger with an open palm.
"May I?" he asked politely.
Darvien passed him his Silver Viper without any objections. Zavius took and balanced it on his hand. Then, without any warning, he spun the dagger in between his fingers, the blade cutting through the air with a swoosh. He tossed it into the air with one fluid motion and caught it with on hand. He seemed satisfied by the balance of the blade, and turned back to Darvien.
"Have you ever used your dagger?" Zavius suddenly asked.
Darvien looked puzzled.
"Of course."
"And was there a certain feel you got while holding the dagger?" he continued to ask.
Darvien hesitated before answering.
"Nothing in particular...well, I'm at ease at the use of it in sparring." he said unsure.
"So have you had an opportunity to turn your dagger against a true opponent?" Zavius pried.
Darvien shook his head.
"No, not really. Though..." he faltered, confusion coming across his face.
"'Though'?" Zavius encouraged.
Darvien pauses and glanced back at me.
"During the simulation drill, in the clearing. I was in so much pain. Then I saw Mivian get attacked...I was frustrated that I couldn't do anything...just like---" he broke off, stopping himself.
He then continued.
"I was frustrated. Then, suddenly, I realized that I was flying through the air, charging at the Bloodjack. I felt---powerful..."

Darvien looked down at his hands with a look of confusion and wonder. I saw Zavius smile and place the Silver Viper back into his hands.
"Now, were getting somewhere," he said.

He turned and walked away, creating a distance between him and Darvien. A few feet back, he stopped and turned back around.
"The Viper blades are very unique daggers, a true combat weapon." he said, drawing his own back out.
"An ideal one at that---it can cut just about any enemy that stands in your way."
The Shadow Viper glinted in the light.
"These daggers aren't meant for slicing---they're more for shredding." Zavius said.

I glanced at the jet-black dagger in his hand and shuddered. That thing seemed to belong to a cold-hearted killer, not to an Angel Guard. Not to an Aequitas, the justice-seekers. And most definitely not Zavius, who was like an older brother to me. I couldn't help the uneasy feeling I got about the dagger. At that moment, I was grateful that I was one of Zavius's closer friends. It wouldn't be in the near future if I ever had to oppose that blade. I didn't want to be shredded into confetti any time soon.
Yet at the same time, I was comforted at the idea that the users of the two Viper blades were Zavius and Darvien. Though I only knew Darvien for a short while, it was easy to see his intentions at a Slayer. I know that they would only use that deadly weapon to save lives. Zavius smirked in a way that told me he wasn't quite done.
"But really. Any dagger could shred and slice. That's not what makes the Viper blade special." he said.

Oh, figures. Like shredding your opponents to the hopeless limits wasn't enough gore.

"When a user of the Viper blade lets emotions come to play during their combat or battle, they would be in sync with their Viper, and they will experience an extreme energy-high." Zavius said.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Darvien look down at his dagger, his gaze both wary and excited. Zavius continued.
"Only when the user gains the full knowledge and skill in exerting their emotions will come to discover the true strength of their Viper blade." he concluded knowingly.

Darvien looked up from his Silver Viper with curiosity.
"'True strength'? There's more?" he asked in awe.

I didn't blame him; that was a lot to take in. Even I was caught up in Zavius's explanation of the Viper daggers. The Slayer and their weapon fighting as one...the thought of it was almost unreal. This was new to me as it was for Darvien; it never occurred to me to learn about my friends’ weapon of choice. Zavius laughed a little at our intense attentiveness.
"Yeah, there’s hell of a lot more to learn than just cutting and slicing. But maybe some other time to get into those further topics." he said.

There was a short pause before he spoke again.
"I didn't just come down here for an easy chat." he seemed to warn. "I suppose you have figured out by now why I was assigned to this part of your test."

Well, that’s obvious, I thought.
Zavius is an excelling user of the Shadow Viper. He would know how to handle and explain to Darvien. But so far, this was all informative talk, no physical test. I guessed that Zavius was going to teach Darvien how to exert his emotions into his dagger and analyze his control.

Then I saw Zavius's smile and the friendly attitude suddenly drop. His eyes flickered from the calm sky blue color to a cold sharp edge of piercing green. The Shadow Viper snapped into his hand as he sunk to the floor and flashed up into the air in a fluid motion.

Surprised, I looked up. Darvien's expression changed immediately as his focus altered. He looked up in time to see a black dagger come swinging full-force, aimed at his face.

There was a loud collision of metal and a wave of Energy from where Darvien was just standing blew out in such a force that I was thrown recklessly into the air. I didn't know what happened. I was too shocked to register exactly what happened.

Is it just me, or is this happening way too much lately?

My reflexes caught on quickly as I twisted around in the air and flipped back around, landing harmlessly on my feet.
Then my colorful array of vocabulary came flying out of my mouth.
"Vardavit!! D'ardehrat!! Sarverach!!" I swore my strings of Ancient curses.

Then I froze, noticing a difference in the air. I wheeled around angrily, not really in the mood for anymore surprises. Sure enough, there was something I didn't expect, though I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
While I was having my fit, I hadn't noticed the majority of the trainees here on the training grounds had stopped what they were doing and had turned their attention to the disturbance we were causing. They were starting to group around us in a wide circle, giving us enough space to continue on with the sparring. I turn my gaze up a little and saw that they were even more up on the obstacle field set up above ground, sitting and staring down at us like we were an exhibition at the zoo.

I heard a high whistle of the air stirring behind me and I turned again. Zavius was standing with his back facing towards me. Across from him couple yards apart stood Darvien, his dagger drawn defensively at his side. Zavius looked back at me with a serious gaze.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I scowled at him.
"Do you think I'm okay?" I demanded, my tone incredulous.

He gave me one of his infuriating grins and turned back at Darvien. I saw him tense, anticipating another attack. Zavius mused, and called out to him.
"Hey, I hear that you're supposed to be the next prodigy." he said calmly.

Darvien didn't respond and kept a steady gaze on Zavius. Zavius continued.
"You know, I'm not half bad, if I do say so myself," he said. "I've had my share of spars with the last genius that came by here."
Darvien still didn't say anything.
"How does an armed-spar sound to you? As two equals?" Zavius asked.

As two equals?
I watched Darvien warily for his answer.

His expressionless mask broke into a dark smirk.
"That would be an honor, going against the Slayer Prince. I hear that he was something of a fighter. Doesn't that put him in a higher position than I?" he answered smoothly.

Zavius scoffed at his nickname.
"Yeah, like royalty." he said in a cool sarcasm.
The tension was almost tangible, almost suffocating. Darvien spoke out first.
"So, Zavius. Shall we carry on with our equal-to-equal battle of your idea, unless that was all your reputation's talk." he said provokingly.

"Ha, ha, funny. Let me see if you're as good as they say you are, or if you’re bloated on pride." Zavius sent back. "Don't disappoint me."

There was another flash and both Zavius and Darvien were out of my field of vision.