I dont need your help! (private)

Rei had been wandering through fiore for quite some time now... her depression had been turned around in a way, but not in a completely positive one. she was more bitter and brutal, striving to prove everyone she came across that they were wrong about her. that she was no one to be underestimated. she knew being out here she might run across some theives, but it was by no accident. she wanted battle, she'd been away from it for so long, a few petty thieves would make good practice. she wandered, waiting for any to show themselves, making herself look more needy than she really was, out in the open, where she could be most easily spotted.

The moonlight cast a bright glow on the dark forest, creating a calming mood lighting for Zar to walk under as he dragged the carcass of the freshly killed Vulcan he was going to use for his studies. He would have normally just sent the dead beast through the Realm of Shadow's, but his enclave was close by and it was a good night to go out for a walk. Walking further down the path he started to notice fresh footprints ahead of him and opted to find out the source of them in case they were to pose a threat later on. Swiftly hopping from shadow to shadow, he finally caught up to who he believed had made the tracks; a young girl by the looks of it. She couldn't have been more than a teen from her appearance and the way she carried herself. She was constantly looking around as if waiting for someone to come; perhaps she was lost or supposed to meet someone here?

Rei was wearing a rather long coat to hide her missing arm, since the coat had sleeves that covered her hands, it was hard to tell that her arm wasn't there in the first place. But just as she had expected, and was hoping for, there was rustling in one of the tree tops as a young man who looked like his life had gone in a bad direction had jumped down. "hey lookie fella's! we found ourselves one hell of a damsel in distress!" he said, swinging a spiked club in his hands, which seemed to be enchanted. Four other men came out of the trees, "Damn, she's missing an eye" one of them said. "who cares? lets just take whatever she has then move on to the next" their 'leader' said. Rei simply popped her neck, their comments didn't hurt her, she didn't want words to ever get to her again.

She threw her coat off her body and to the side, revealing the sudden missing limb to her side. the men seemed to feel as if she was going to be a lot easier to take down than when they first saw her. Rei prepped herself, waiting for them to all run at her.

As Zar continued to observe the girl from the safety of the shadows he heard rustling from the woods coming from beside him. A group of five bandits, all men, came out of the forest and surrounded this helpless woman. To make matters worse she was apparently missing an eye according to one of the bandits. Zar couldn't help feel bad for the young miss, but things only escalated from there as she threw off her cloak to reveal she was also missing an arm. He could tell this was going to end badly for her unless she miraculously knew how to defend herself. That question popping within his mind sparked his academic mind and caused Zar to decide to keep his assistance, for the moment, to a minimum to observe how she has survived by herself with her injuries.

He targetted the closest bandit, appearing from his shadow and slicing him from the bottom up easily with his greatsword, Grendvalir. The man fell to the ground in two halves that were swallowed up by the darkness as he targetted the one next to him with a shadow bomb attached to the base of his spine, exploding and leaving no trace of its intended victim. The bandits reacted accordingly, frantically looking around for the source of their compatriot's sudden deaths, only to once again have their attention fall on the girl before them. As an added measure, he targetted the girl's shadow and placed a defensive shadow clone of himself on her to activate whenever she was to suffer a fatal blow. From there he sat back within the confines of the tree's shadows and awaited the show.

"the hell!?" Rei shouted as two of the bandits were suddenly dead. she gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "Oy! whoever's out there! stop interfering!" she growled, before turning back to the rest of the targets. they'd still make adequite practice... she had a new spell she wanted to test, she squinted her eyes thrusting her foot into the air and then slamming it into the ground, sending a completely invisible wave of energy towards the last three men. they were knocked to the ground, "THE HELL!?" "MY EYES!" "I CANT SEE!" they all began to freak out as their vision had been taken from them. Rei's eyes lit up, only for a moment... as if she were even about to smile with joy for the first time since she had left black rose.

She continued by rushing forward and fighting them meele, they were helpless without their sight, and they were all on the ground unconscious within minutes. Rei smiled to herself, it was her first successful ambush since she'd aquired her 'disabilities'

The girl wasn't very pleased with Zar's meddling in her fight, but with her stature, he couldn't take her 'menacing gestures' seriously and laughed them off quietly as he waited for her to show off her skills. They came in the form of a powerful kick slam straight onto the ground. It sent the bandits sprawling on their backs and screaming frantically that they couldn't see anything. From the looks of how they struggled to get up, it appeared that the attack had rendered them blinded. He would make an effort to deduce the magic category her powers fell under so he can make a record of his observations in the present time. He brought himself closer to the girl, but still out of sight, and observed what decision she would make on dealing with those helpless souls before her.

Rei was still a little out of shape, and by out of shape, it was more like she was still scrawny from what little she ate in her diet. it made her look worse than she already did, but she was beginning to try and build back up that muscle again. Which was why she was here in the first place.

Rei decided not to kill the men.. instead she just piled their unconscious corpses on top of one another in a pile. but the other two bandits seemed to be dead, or more... all over the trees.

After rei was done she sat down at the foot of a nearby tree to try and catch her breath. she had never successfully cast that spell before and it had left her dizzy. she had gotten out a small bag of water screwed off the cap and drank most of it. her body felt like it would be sore tomorrow from not being used to this sort of physical exposure, but it would eventually, rei would make sure of that.

As the girl sat down, the shadows came alive and dragged the other men down into oblivion, disappearing without a trace. Zar chose to dispose of them when she wouldn't as to eliminate any possible resurgence of threat from them. With the bodies taken care of he felt it was time to reveal himself to her in a way befitting of a man who dwelled within the shadows. He appeared silently and filled the space next to her, holding his greatsword out in front of him and then planting it into the ground with a loud thud to alert the girl to his presence. "What a lovely moonlit night it is, wouldn't you say so miss?" Zar smiled softly at her, not knowing what she might do next to another stranger who got in her way.

Rei had her eyes closed when the bodies of the men had dissipated into oblivion, but when the large extremely intimidating figure had shown up next to her she nearly screamed and scrambled away from him. using a tree next to her to try and stand up with her one arm. "What the living hell!?" She shouted as she looked at him, she didn't trust anyone.... not after him, not after how much she loved that man would she ever get herself to trust anyone else ever again. her face scrunched into an angry expression. "what kind of sick trick are you trying to pull?" she said with her voice low, with her back against a large tree trunk.

Zar laughed as she trembled from his mere presence and shouted her obvious objection to him residing next to her. She was a frail thing, with very little muscle mass and nutrition to hide her bones under her skin. He couldn't for the life of him understand how she was able to survive being alone off of next to no food keeping her alive. "Relax, little one. I mean you no harm. I was merely offering some slight assistance and observing you fight out of pure curiosity. You have a strange power, but one of great effectiveness." Zar turned his head, observing her body as he spoke his next few words. "Do I frighten you miss? Most people I know have never given me the same reaction as you have."

Rei hugged herself around her scrawny torso. she still was wearing clothes underneath the long trench coat from earlier she had thrown off, but it was only a blank white T shirt. but she was still scrawny as none other. she looked at the ground, ignoring his compliment. she became a bit more comfortable, but still cautious of the man, still suspicious he didn't have any good intentions. "tch, yeah, real effective." she made fun of what he said, by then saying: "only against three petty thieves out in the middle of nowhere. All it does is debuff my enemies then i have to fight them hand to hand, which im not capable of at the moment..." she looked at the ground. She really genuinely hated the magic she had. It was completely and utterly fucking useless, in her opinion. She'd never won a proper fight against someone at her same skill level. but with her injuries, any hopes of ever being victorious had been thrown away months ago. "I would think people would run from you the first moment they see you, with armor like that" she said, but she still didn't sound happy to be in the situation she was put in at this moment, with this strange man that could kill her at any moment.

"I see. So you still have yet to fully understand your magic and choose instead to mock the power you wield. I can tell you from experience that will get you nowhere in life. In fact, it will get you killed." Zar's words rolled firmly off his tongue in an assertive manner, instructing her as if she were a lowly academy mage in need of discipline. It came to his attention that she could, in fact, have just become a basic wizard fairly recently. He wasn't able to see any guild tattoo on her body, but that could be because it was located on the arm she was missing. "Well, to help ease the tension, allow me to introduce myself. I am Zar Valarblood, a mage of the Sabertooth guild. And you are?"

"if you haven't already noticed, I have already had many fair shares of near death experiences, quite literally being minutes away from ceasing to exist" she snapped back at his assertive tone with her own, she really wasn't much of a learning type, or more like... in a mood to take advice from a scary demonic looking overlord. It really was a pain that he was standing on the right side of her, she could barely see him. forcing her to turn her head if she wanted to actually see him. he introduced himself, his name sure did fit his appearance well, that was for sure.

"Im... Rei Katsura. uhm.. I guess im from Black Rose, but i dont know if im a part of it anymore.." she finished. rubbing her collarbone of her missing arm.

Her response showed Zar that she had a fair amount of bite to her bark when approached by a greater foe. He could see from the way she looked at him that his appearance was the main source of her mistrust of him. It was understandable that someone in armor from the depths of hell would be off-putting for a friendly chit chat in the middle of bandit-infested woods. She hesitantly offered her name to him; Rei Katsura of Black Rose. "That is quite a unique name you carry Rei," answered Zar, "As for the guild you may have been a part of I'm not sure I've heard much about them. Would you care to indulge me with what you know and perhaps what took your arm and eye from you?"

Rei had heard this question a million times over. what happened to you? what made you the way? why do you look like such a freak? why are you so skinny? DAMMIT! she absolutely dreaded the endless questioning, but... even though her health and mental state had improved, even though she was less sad and more bitter, someone might as well remember her so that shes not forgotten forever...

Rei took in a deep breath and sighed it out with a bit of rasp behind it. "fine, Ill tell you. but its not a short story, so take a seat." she said rather harshly, she made sure to keep her distance from him. and tried to keep her story short. "To start off with, as for the guild, im very surprised you've never heard of Black Rose, there are some pretty ridiculously inhuman overpowered mages in there. Annnndd... then theres me, a barely adult girl with insignificant powers and too much arrogance, getting my ass kicked by everyone. I had a reputation of losing, i just really enjoyed a good fight... but it did end up getting me in trouble when i picked a fight with the wrong person... He turned out to be a phycopath who just... loved to get pleasure from torturing victims, and i became one of them... He did a lot of things to me, but all the broken bones and stab wounds healed, but my eye never did..." She began.

"but then this boy i knew from when i was younger joined the guild as well.. he's a bit older than me, and after a while we both got together. we saw the man who had tortured me and he just lost it. and... he also wasn't human anymore, he was... well, id call him a monster though what he is does have a certain name. he basically attacked the guy again, and he ended up killing him and cutting my arm off... though due to what he was, he never told me that he had multiple lives due to his species. 9 to be exact.... so he came back to life miraculously and gloriously yadda yadda he tried to heal me and barely saved my life, but a few days after i was so frustrated because i have no depth perception and i had to learn to use everything with my left non dominant arm, and only using one arm at that. we just got in a big arguement, we ended up in a big emotional and physically abusive fight. I just couldn't stand it so i ran away a few months ago. I dont want to go back, ever, never fucking ever, i never want to see im again, or any of them... they just remind me of how petty weak and hopless i am.." She finally finished, awaiting his response of mockery at her sob story.

Zar sat and listened intently as she poured out her emotional tale to him, a total stranger who she couldn't fully trust. There must have been something about the way he asked, or the familiarity with this line of questioning that ultimately led her to suck up her pride and reveal her past to him. It was far worse than he had imagined it would be, starting off as a story of a rambunctious young rebel in a guild of big shots he'd never heard tell of. She'd gotten herself into countless fights with the wrong people and ended up losing her eye to it for her troubles. Zar could never imagine losing any of his body parts as he'd come to rely on his entire body as a fluid tool to carry out his wishes in the world and losing that type of control would come at a dear price to his chosen path. The pursuit of knowledge was not without its heavy tolls and sacrifices, but if Zar could avoid making those sacrifices to get the same result then he would do even the most immoral of deeds to get what he wanted; it was all necessary in the grand scheme of things.

The story of her arm being destroyed was far more gruesome and saddening than that of her eye as it had been because of someone dear to her at the time. In the process of killing her previous torturer, her friend with the ability to change into some sort of monster, she didn't go into much descriptive detail of this form, not only killed him but also took her entire right arm off as well leaving nothing but the shoulder he saw before him. Her regret of her weakness told him everything he needed to know about Rei. She hated being weak and an easy target for anyone with even the slightest edge on her power level. Even the thought of her own guild brought shame to her mind, and it provided an ample opportunity for Zar to get to know Rei and possibly earn her favor. "I appreciate you letting me, an absolute stranger, a deeper look into what makes you unique Rei. You are correct in assuming your weakness, and that is a good first start on the path to strengthening yourself. You must have the will to become stronger before you can take greater power for yourself. In fact, if you're willing, I can show guide you on your way so people like myself won't feel the need to step in when you're in danger. Take a chance on this stranger and I will repay you tenfold for sharing such private information with me. If you're lucky, I may even be able to help with your..unfortunate disabilities," said Zar, pointing to her eye and arm.

Rei listened to what he had to say, she didn't really feel like what she told him about her past made her "unique" more like it made her more of a nuisance to be alive.

She listened to the rest of what he had to say, she turned to him, giving him a questioning look with her one oceanic blue orb. "are you.... offering to train me?" she asked questioningly, he looked like he knew a lot... she was honestly curious to know what he had in mind to help her with her disabilities.

Zar nodded his head in agreeance with her, "Only if you're willing to train yourself to be stronger will I teach you. If you refuse to help yourself than I cannot and will not help you; is that understood?" Zar's words were stern, but convayed their message and meaning clear enough to even the simplest of minds. The tasks and mentorship he had in store for her would be wrought with pain far surpassing the things that mutilated her body, but if she wanted the full function of her body back then she would endure it and survive because he had faith in her; he hoped he hadn't been blinded by her attack to dilute his assessment of her character.

"well yeah, of course I want to see what I can become, especially with... someone like you, who knows what could happen? Before all this happened I loved training practically more than anything, it was all i really ever did. I just was all brawn and no brains, and not enough discipline to help me surpass my opponents...I do realize that now..." She said stating how she once was. and it was all true, she was arrogant that thinking all she had to do was train to win, though she never trained her mind in the strategy of battle. She felt very awkward blatantly asking him and swallowing what little pride she had, but he could kill her instantly if he wanted to, might as well show him some respect.

"I'd be... honored, if you would train me..I'll do whatever you ask of me" she said and bowed, though she still felt awkward about it.

The words Rei uttered to Zar told him she was willing to bring herself up from the gutter of life and become stronger under someone who would be waiting for her at the exit of her rebirth. This would be his first time truly taking someone under his wing, but he already had a formulated plan of how to go about it set into motion. With her full cooperation, his plan would go swiftly and effectively. She would become more of a mage than she ever was before in a fraction of the time assuming everything went well. Her humbleness toward him as she bowed brought great pleasure to Zar, making the role of mentor all the more real for Rei and Zar.

Zar reached down to her hand, pulling her up from her bow and squeezing tightly within his armored grip. "There's a saying written by a man of great physical and mental abilities that talks of the shortcoming you described. 'If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the results of 100 battles. If you know the enemy, but not yourself for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will succumb in every battle.' These are words you and I will use to strengthen you and make you fit to survive in this world. If you understand this then we will be off immediately." Zar dragged her along over to the carcass of the dead Vulkan and had it dragged into the shadows. Once that task was dealt with, Zar held Rei close to him as his body and hers became shadows, moving swiftly through the night and reaching their destination within the blink of an eye. It was a dark carved out home built within an underground cave. Light Lacrima's dimly illuminated the makeshift home and cast shadows across every corner it encompassed. At the center of the room sat a throne matching the same pattern visible on Zar's armor. Next to the throne was an open door that led into the lab where the corpse of the bandits and the Vulkan were currently piled into. Zar took his seat upon the large thrown and relaxed within its confines. His gaze fell back upon Rei, hoping she wasn't traumatized from the sudden shift in reality. "What do you think so far of this place? This is merely the first of many rooms, but this is the most important one for guests. When you are ready I can give you a tour of my home in its entirety before we begin. Does that please you, apprentice?"

she was contemplating the many meanings of the quote Zar spoke of when he unexpectedly grabbed her, which surprised her but she had no time to react as her definition of reality had changed for a moment, being turned into the absence of light, but still traveling at the speed of light, back to Zar's home. She was suddenly in a big throne room, her head felt awfully dizzy as the room around her spun in different directions. The disorientation caused her to fall onto her back, sitting up she rubbed her head, and the room began to focus once again. By this time, Zar had already sat down on his throne. The door to a strange room behind Zar was opened, accompanied by the dead bodies of the bandits who were leaving blood on the floor. She never meant to kill them, she'd never killed anyone before. but she didn't really feel bad about them, either...

She finally stood up once the room had settled the way it should be. She looked at Zar who spoke from his throne to her. she was honestly grateful for the hospitality of possibly being able to live here for a while, since she had been homeless, and only slept in alleyways or under park benches for the past few months. she took a moment to look around the room, it was large and dimly lit, casting shadows everywhere. After she was done with her small moment of awe, she turned back to Zar and rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand. "I... guess I am ready for that Tour, Zar. And, as the apprentice, I think I'm obliged to do whatever you consider best for me. But Zar sounds a bit casual... Should I just call you Sensei?" she asked him, trying to be polite. If this guy was anyone else she would definitely been more than happy to be an asshole, but judging the bodies in the corner... It would be best to be polite, especially since he was even offering to train her.

Rei's recovery from the initial suddenness of shadow-walking was quicker than expected and proved she had the potential to survive most, if not all of his tests to come. He noticed her sight lingered on the dead bodies within the laboratory and wondered what she was thinking about the sight of those who tried to kill her; did she feel sadness over their demise, or was she pleased with Zar's handiwork. He would find out soon enough as one of them was still barely conscious atop the mound. The first place he took her was one of the many sleeping chambers within the compound. Out of the two dozen that stretched down through the hall, this one was the largest.

It came with a king sized bed up against the wall, decorated with dark drapes for maximum privacy. A walk-in closet big enough to stuff multiple Vulcans into was fitted into the opposite side of the room. To the side of the closet was a large desk and leather chair to sit comfortably within. There were multiple drawers on either side of the desk with plenty of parchment and writing utensils for those staying in the room. The final two important pieces in the room was a large scrying lacrima for receiving calls, viewing wherever the viewer wished (within magical reason), and a massive bookshelf filled with books. Historical accounts, fantasy novels, magical tomes of forbidden nature, and alchemical manuals made up its contents all for Rei's future lessons. "This is where you will be staying while you train under me. I do hope you enjoy the accommodations I've put in place for you,"

Rei examined the room in utter awe. She'd never had a room this big before in her entire life, the bed was almost quadruple her size complete with a frame with long beautiful black drapes. she slowly walked around the room, looking over the bed and brushing her hand across the neatly folded bedspread that matched the midevil gothish feel to the room. There we no windows, Rei had assumed from the beginning that they were underground anyways. but that didn't diminish the room in any way. she looked around every inch of the room, and opened the door slowly to the walk in closet. noticing many black outfits, which she assumed to be training like uniforms hung on the wall in all sorts of sizes to fit whoever might be staying in that room, and also an assortment of weapons hanging up at the wall at the end of the closet. "This is astonishing..." she said quietly, still trying to take everything in. If her room what this magnificent, what was he going to show her next?

The room had been prepared specifically for any promising individual that Zar came across who met his expectations for an underling. Everything he had described to Rei that she must do and become was the expectations he held for all that he met in his travels. He understood that they were on the extreme side of the spectrum with the generalized laziness of the populous, but it was the only effective way to root out the best and the brightest from the lame and weak. Under these strict expectations, he would assemble a team of talented individuals to help him on his quest to acquire all forbidden and forgotten knowledge lost to the known world. If his plan worked as intended on Rei, she would be the first in a long line of powerful wizards that would split the heavens asunder.

These could just be the ramblings of a dreamer, but Zar truly believed that under the right circumstances this plan would come to fruition. With his inner ramblings complete, Zar beckoned Rei further down the hall to a training room littered with all sorts of mechanical training dummies, magical lacrima traps of every element known to the magical world, and even an entire area devoid of all light where shadows swam as a swarm all throughout the fluid darkness. "In here I will bring you to the brink of death itself in some of the most intensive training you will ever face." Zar's tone was cold and unsettling, a method meant to test her mental resolve against the thought of dying at the hands of her own tutor. If she could pass this simple test, she would have the willpower to survive his trials and 'improvised surgery.'

As Rei listened to the words he spoke she just looked into the room. she was only going to be at the brink of death, she somehow knew even though his voice was menacing that he wouldn't ever actually kill her. "I've already been in that position multiple times... at least now it'll be making me stronger" she said looking at him with a normal face. Death didn't scare her much anymore... even if she did accidentally die in training, she didn't really care. she wouldn't be leaving anyone behind who cared about her. unless Zar did, but if he killed her that was his own fault. "Is there anything else you want to show me?"