With their bellies full and their bodies recovering from their recent strains, the recruits were then given their next assignment. It was simple enough: collect a few rare crystals only found in a certain place. The catch? It was within the area of a Scar. Varkasan remembered being told about Scars during their training. They were dangerous areas where magical energies ran high and out of control. No Mage was in control of that magic, it was simply there. With that said, he remembered their instructor telling them time and again it was a bad idea to use Luminosity within a Scar if ever the magical properties were freely-flowing in the air, which was exactly the case where they were going. Captain Aela told them that this particular Scar was harmless, but that they should not wander deep within the mist. They would remain only at the edges of it in order to collect the crystals that they needed. Varkasan was a little anxious, and wanted to ask what effects that this Scar would have on them, but he decided that if the captain was not telling them, there was probably a good reason that she wanted them to find out for themselves. Varkasan quickly got his answer however, for as soon as he stepped within the mist and inhaled, he felt immediately light and at ease. His anxiety inexplicably disappearing. [color=f7976a][i]"This feels... good... I feel like a fool for ever being worried about this. It's all so... relaxing..."[/i][/color] He thought, not realizing that even his thoughts were slowing down. [color=f7976a][i]"What was I here for again...? Oh right... The crystals... I still have a job to do..."[/i][/color] He thought to himself. as he slowly bent down and began collecting the minerals and putting them inside the pouch. Varkasan was able to focus enough to gather the crystals, but he could barely perceive anything else. The time it was taking them and the location of his fellow recruits were all hazy. He heard a distant voice say something. It was familiar, he decided to attribute the voice to Captain Aela. [color=fff79a][b]"Not bad, huh? There are higher quality crystals deeper in the mist, but you wouldn't be able to handle it yet. Nor do we need them. Good thing none of you have depression or anything like that, people like that are affected by this mist much more severely."[/b][/color] Said the voice. Somehow, Varkasan recalled some kind of memory from their training days. It was foggy, but it was there. ---------------------- He was out one night half an hour before their curfew. He was going to get some water from their Mess Hall for him and his roomates when he heard some kind of sobbing come from somewhere. Varkasan cautiously looked around to investigate. After a bit, he realized the sobbing was coming from within the Mess Hall kitchen. He crept towards the door, and slowly turned it open. He saw a figure, huddled in one of the corners, face buried in their hands, with tears flowing down through the palms. The figure looked feminine, and had long white hair. At first glance, he thought he saw a ghost, but upon closer inspection he noticed the recruit uniform that it was wearing. [color=f9ad81][i]"Alicia...?"[/i][/color] He realized. He did not recall anything bad happening to her on that day, nor did she receive any seemingly troubling letters (he should know, because he was on mail distribution duty that day). So he wondered why she was crying alone. He wanted to approach her and ask her what was wrong, but at the same time, he knew that Alicia seemed to make a point of being a cut above the other recruits in nearly everything that she did, and she might just be devastated if she knew that someone had witnessed her being weak. If anything, it might've made her depression worse (at least that's what he thought she was suffering). So he slowly closed the door and left, deciding to keep quiet about the whole incident, and only tell it if anything bad started happening to her. The next day, she showed up in the morning as usual, and acting as if nothing happened, so he decided not to bring it up anymore after that. ---------------------- With the memory returning to Varkasan upon hearing the words of their captain, he blurted out without even thinking. [color=f7976a][b]"Depressed? You mean like Alicia?"[/b][/color] He said as he began looking around for her. He still felt relaxed and calm, but there was this minor and suppressed feeling of urgency. Though he was too far into the mist's influence to pay it much heed. [color=f7976a][b]"Oh, she's there."[/b][/color] He said, seeing her walking deeper into the mist. He saw the vague outline of Captain Aela rush toward her and pull at her. Varkasan felt like he should be doing something, but his relaxed head was too calm to think too much about it, and he returned to gathering the crystals until his pouch was full. Eventually, Captain Aela led them out the fog, and slowly their thoughts returned back to them. Varkasan realized just ho careless he had been and immediately spun around, looking for his friends and squadmates, not fully remembering if any of them besides Alicia had walked off, but thankfully they were all there. The others were in quite shock though, both from their experiences within the mist, and from realizing how Alicia had reacted to it. Varkasan wasn't all that surprised by that reaction, she was after all the top of their class; the cream of the crop as some instructors had said. So no one really expected her to have been carrying such a burden. It was now that Varkasan realized that the reason he had seen her cry was because she had so much to live up to, and who's to say that she even wanted to? Regardless, she was here now, and that was a fact that she (and every other recruit) needed to accept. Varkasan was thinking about talking to her and perhaps comfort her, but decided to give her space for now; she would speak to them about it whenever she was ready. He passed by an uncomfortable looking Freiya as he went to meet up with Zalfn, Richten, and Aradus (again, he decided to leave the other recruits be for now). He was actually surprised that Aradus did not begin walking off like Alicia, but he had always known his friend to be the strongest among their group in both body and mind. [color=f7976a][b]"I'm glad we all got out of that without much incident"[/b][/color] Varkaan told them. [color=aba000][b]"No kidding. If Aradus here started wandering off, he'd have dragged anyone who tried to pull him back, with him!"[/b][/color] Zalfn said with a chuckle while Aradus simply shook his head from within his helmet. Varkasan was glad to see that his friends were starting to feel better after yesterday's events. Perhaps there was a good thing to be gotten from that trek in the mist. Nonethless, Varkasan felt the need to steel their minds even further. If that was what uncontrolled and sporadic magic could do to them, then mind-charming magic used by a Mage would be much more potent. And as a Luminous Knight, that was a clear cause for concern.