He let out a deep sigh of relief when he checked his stats again and saw it absent from the skills section. It was gone, never to return, and if it did it would kill him. He stood up and quickly worked with the sheets of the bed to make makeshift clothing, leaving the house much earlier than he had in either of his previous Save States. If he was smart he would use this time to look through the rest of the [Help Menu] but he had to make sure that everything had been reset, not just his stats. He stepped out onto the gravel path, and again no one was really about, except from a single woman who was making her way towards him. Talyndra Vaelric. She was alive. Everything had been reset, as he had wanted.

  Talyndra: Kaelen? What are you wearing?

  Abel: It doesn't matter. I'm... I'm glad to see you're okay.

  Talyndra: Okay? Of course I'm okay. Is something wrong?

  Abel: Just... A bad dream.

  Talyndra: I see. You're... You're crying...

  He felt the tears rolling down his cheek as she said that.

  Abel, crying: I- I'm... I'm so- so so so so sorry.... Talyndra... I'm-

  Talyndra: Hey. What happened Kaelen? Please, tell me.

  He falls to his knees onto the floor.

  Abel, crying: I... I don't know if I can... There- There's so much...

  Talyndra: I'm willing to listen to it all Kaelen, but first lets get you into some proper clothes. You've been Blazing your possessions again, right? Here-

  She crouches down before him and hold out her palm, Fabricating an iron ingot in it.

  Talyndra: Use this and Fabricate something proper to wear. We can talk after that, okay?

  Hesitantly, he reached out and Blazed the iron in her palm.

  [Notice: Stat increase]

  [Lux: 13 (+30) -> 43]

  [Adeptness: 10 (+1) -> 11]

  He stood up, focusing in and then out, trying to Fabricate clothes similar to hers, and for the first time, successfully Fabricated something, the clothes dropping onto the floor when he finished them.

  [Lux: 43 (-40) -> 3]

  Abel: J-just... Let me go put this on... I'll be back.

  Talyndra: Don't rush, I'll wait.

  Abel: ... Thank you.

  Talyndra: It's fine.

  He did as he said it would, picking up the clothes and going back into the house that belonged to him and yet wasn't his, shutting the door behind him and quickly changing before leaving again.

  Abel: Sorry about all of that. It's just... It's been hard for me recently. I think I was trying to distract myself last time from what actually happened the time before.

  Talyndra: I know. Sorry about Renan, I hope he gets well soon.

  Abel: ...

  Renan? Renan... Renan- Renan Calder, the man Talyndra had said was Kaelen's brother the first time he had met her in his first full Save State. It seemed Renan Calder wasn't okay, but that should've been obvious to him considering he hadn't seen Renan in either of the Save States he had experienced despite his body being that of Renan's brother, Kaelen.

  Talyndra: Right, I'm going to go check in on Ela, feel free to go to the Festival ahead of me.

  He didn't know who she was talking about when she mentioned this "Ela", but then again, he wouldn't, he wasn't Kaelen. He may have been able to avoid Talyndra's suspicions of him in this Save State, but that didn't change the facts. He wasn't Kaelen Calder. Nobody was, not anymore. Kaelen was gone, and it was still probably his fault.

  Abel: You sure?

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  Talyndra: I'm sure.

  Abel: Alright, I'll see you there.

  Talyndra: I shouldn't be too long, so don't go doing everything without me.

  Abel: I'll try not to.

  The two of them parted ways, and he headed off towards the Festival, finally without the threat of being killed looming over him. This was his second time exploring the Festival, but the first time exploring it that he could actually enjoy, last time he had been pre-emptively running away from Talyndra. This time, he was able to take it all in without any weight on his shoulders. The guilt was still deeply embedded in his heart for what he had done in the previous Save State, but knowing that she was alive and well eased that guilt, even if just by a bit. So despite his heart being heavier than normal, he was still finally in a situation where he could enjoy and embrace the Festival.

  -Talyndra-

  She watched him leave for the festival, staying a bit longer than she had originally intended to. He was acting weirdly, but then again Kaelen had had a nightmare according to himself, but even then, she had seen Kaelen when he was having bad days- Extremely bad days even, days where he just wouldn't get out of his bed, and he didn't behave like that. It made her wounder what exactly had happened to him in his dream. He seemed like an entirely different person when they had talked, so she had lied to him, telling him that she was going to check in on Ela.

  The normal Kaelen would've known that she did that first thing in the morning, immediately doing so upon waking up, before seeing how he was doing. Something was seriously wrong with him, so she would follow him whilst he thought she was gone, and see what he did when he was alone. She was going to get to the bottom of whatever had happened to Kaelen, even if she had to hurt him in order to do that. Monsters baring the face of those you loved was far too common an occurrence in recent years to risk anything less. She had to face him with every last shred of will she had, to make sure he hadn't become one of the Taken.

  She began to walk the streets of the Festival, hoping to spot Kaelen and make sure he was still actually himself. But if that didn't happen she would just have to suffice with the actual Festival itself. People had started to fill into the Festival grounds now that it was a slightly more reasonable time, and so they began to do what they do best. Ignore everything going on. The variety of sounds and smells berated her senses, it was always far too much for her. She never actually understood how people enjoyed it. She got the enjoyment of the games themselves, but this many? All at once? It was ridiculous.

  Talyndra: I know why Kaelen likes it.

  It was an ample opportunity to steal and Blaze. Most games involved the Blazing and Fabrication of specific things anyways, with many people Fabricating the wrong thing and having to re-Blaze it. So a guy Blazing a chair wouldn't be too out of the ordinary, besides he did actually need the extra source of Lux, otherwise he would've gone completely broke and died of starvation long before, so he went around to steal everything he could. Especially when he could find a place with few people in which to be doing it.

  Talyndra, sad: -Those again?

  Once again she noticed the missing posters. There were more than last time. Maybe sixteen total now. How many were going to go missing before the Security Force did anything?

  ???: Depressing, isn't it?

  He was one of the game masters for one of the many games at the festival.

  Game Master: You have to wonder how they're all going missing so close to each other.

  Talyndra: I think whoever's behind it is paying off the Security Force.

  Game Master: Oh? And what makes you say that?

  Talyndra: Do you have a better explanation for why they've done nothing?

  Game Master: No. No I guess not. Whilst you're here, want to play?

  Talyndra: I can't, I'm looking for... For a friend of mine.

  Game Master: And if you don't find him?

  Talyndra: Then that's that.

  Game Master: And miss out on all the games? Come now, have some fun first, then spend the rest of the day looking for your friend. The game won't take that long, and you may win something.

  Talyndra: Fine, if you insist. What's the game?

  The man stood to her side and she could see three plastic bottles on a table. He brought out a basic finger gun and held it out to her.

  Game Master: Put your index finger into the gun and Fabricate small one Lux stone studs inside. Pull the trigger and fire them at the bottles. Knock down all three bottles and you win.

  Talyndra: Alright, and what's the prize?

  Game Master: This metal ingot.

  The Game Master put down an iron ingot, by the size she guessed it was probably about thirty Lux, that gave her a maximum of thirty shots if she didn't want to lose Lux.

  Talyndra: Right then.

  She put the finger gun on, focusing inward and expending one Lux to Fabricate the stone stud, and fired it. She did manage to hit one of the bottles, but didn't knock it down. Shot after shot she fired away, and after eleven shots she managed to knock one of them down. At this rate she would end up losing Lux instead of gaining it, and she couldn't allow that to happen.