The silence in the frigid temple pecked at Isadora's skin following the last words to leave her dry lips. Axeus only sat in his throne, his eyes locked with her own cloudy amber crystals. She wasn't able to read his current expression; she imagined that the weight of her news sent his mind into a realm unbeknownst to her. She wanted to look away out of respect, but then again, she was curious. Although his expression did not change, she saw something within his own eyes. She watched [i]something[/i] happen--something that glinted behind his stone cold face. It fascinated her. This master of darkness was feeling what she felt. A shiver ran down her spine and down her arms causing the fine hairs to stick up from their roots as she shared a silent moment with her master. In the darkness of their hearts and this temple, for a fleeting moment, they were connected over what was lost and couldn't be brought back.

Wetness again. [i]Stop it, Isadora. You are strong. You can't bring her back. You are strong.[/i] Isadora broke eye contact with Axeus to stop the glistening tears from rolling down her weary face with a free hand, flicking them off the edge of her thumb and index finger onto the cracked stone floor. She inhaled for ten seconds and exhaled for an additional ten seconds, relaxing her form. [i]Stop pitying yourself. [/i]Suddenly she didn't feel so sad anymore. She reverted to feeling nothing--that was how it should be. Lock away the useless emotions and lose the key in the process. Make room only for darkness. That was how it always was--it was enough to keep her mind stable. She glanced down to study her hands, opening them and clenching them shut tightly. These hands would be the hands to fight for Helena. The hands that would make Axeus proud to call her his Apprentice. 

A new hand made contact with Isadora's face--Axeus' hand. As he wiped away a tear she managed to miss, Isadora looked up to her master, his eyes no longer lost in a faraway world, but found in hers. 

[i]"That is... regrettable, Isadora," Axeus said. "Your loss is one I share with you, but for you, the pain must be a dozen-fold."[/i]

She bit the inside of her lip. [i]Don't.[/i] 

[i]"Never forget this pain. It is as I told you, through pain we achieve power. This will be the greatest source of strength you will ever have the chance to draw on. Embrace it. Make it yours. With the darkness you harness from the death of Helena, you will become incredibly powerful... maybe even as powerful as I."[/i]

"I won't forget it, Master Axeus," she said, her response coming out more like a whisper, to her displeasure. 

[i] "That is all for today, as it is getting late. One of my Watch will show you to your sleeping quarters and bring you a meal. Rest now, for tomorrow we train... relentlessly."[/i]

Axeus motioned for a member of his Watch to come over and guide Isadora to her quarters and turned away from her. She nodded silently and followed the hooded figure through a number of hallways shrouded in vines and dying flora. Between two broken columns was her room, and the mysterious person watched her as she entered, closing the door behind her. The place was somewhat small, but good enough for her. Considering she had been used to sleeping in the rotting chair of the disintegrating gummi ship, the floor of a cave, and various other undesirable places throughout her life, this room was a palace in comparison. Off to one side of the room was an oak desk and chair. For what reason she would require these, she didn't know. Tiny white flowers encased the legs of the desk and crept up the sides in a whimsical pattern and trailed up in a vine across the wall, leading to a graveyard of wilted pansies and cosmos in an opposite corner of the room. Life trailing into death. In another corner of the room was a bed made of wood. It was simple with a thin mattress atop the frame--it was all she needed and then some. She could have sworn she heard it whisper her name softly--perhaps she was just overtired. She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her face with her hands, letting her raven-colored locks fall gracefully past her ears. Axeus' words repeated themselves like a song on repeat: [i]"With the darkness you harness from the death of Helena, you will become incredibly powerful... maybe even as powerful as I."[/i] She leaned back and stared at the ceiling, closing her eyes while listening to the steady stream of what sounded like a small river outside her fogged up window. [i]As powerful than he? [/i] She felt assure of herself once more, her blood feeling warm while pulsating through her body. She let her exhausted body fall onto the mattress and curled up on her side while closing her eyes, her hands resting in front of her face in relaxed fists. [i]I'll make those words come true.[/i]