Author's Notes:
Wait what's this?! Two updates in one day (Gasp)? Enjoy.

"Hello Windsom," Arthur said as he sat up on the floor. "For what reason have you decided to pay me a visit?"

"I came to test your resolve. To see if we're still on the same side."

"Well that depends," Arthur said as he leaned his back against the wall facing Windsom. "Is Kezess planning on wiping out all life in Dicathen like you and Aldir did in Elenoir?"

"So you are aware of what we did," Windsom said with a regretful tone.

"I witnessed it."

Windsom then did something unexpected, and sat down on the filthy stone floor.

"We were just following orders," he said, rubbing his temple.

"People use that excuse far too often. What you two did would be classified as a war crime. Tens of thousands of elves died. Men, women, and children, all because Kezess wanted to kill Nico and Cecilia."

"What do you expect I could have done? If I refused I would have lost my position and would have been labeled a traitor. Lord Indrath would have just sent someone else to escort Aldir. And Aldir did it just because his whole clan would have been punished."

Arthur was frustrated. He wanted to be angry at Windsom, but it was clear he couldn't have successfully prevented the tragedy. This was yet again another example of why Kezess needed to be stopped as well.

"Why are you here? And who's outside?" Arthur asked, deciding to get to the point.

"Aldir is out there fighting to the death. He refuses to allow the world eater to ever be used again, so he agreed to be my diversion so I could get to you. I believe he's using this to atone for his actions. As for why I'm here, I'm here to try and get your help."

"I'm kind of limited in here. What kind of help?"

"Lord Indrath is assembling all of the clans and..." Windsom started before being interrupted.

"Nope, I'm not helping you all fight. You told me yourself that if the Asura and Vritra were to actually go to war the entire world would be destroyed. I want no part in anything Lord Genocide is planning," Arthur refused angrily. "If that's what you want just break me out of here and leave me someplace with a good view of the end of the world."

"Lord Genocide?"

Arthur took a breath to calm down. "Sylvia left me a message in her Will. She explained this war with the Vritra and how it started. How the Indrath clan wiped out the ancient mages because of their superior insight into aether."

"I see, so it's true," Windsom said, for a second sounding angry.

"You didn't know?"

"We were all told it was a preemptive attack, that they were secretly preparing to attack us."

"They were pacifists. They didn't have a thought of resorting to violence until the Indrath clan attacked," Arthur said as his anger built.

"Regardless, I wasn't asking you to fight with us," Windsom said, as he tried not to question every order, every life he took.

"Then what?"

"Despite what you think, there are a great many of us that believe open war isn't the answer," Windsom said, as he pulled out a small back cube from his dimensional ring.

This immediately got Arthur attention and he leaned forward.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"So you've seen one of these before. Several of these artifacts were taken during the war. We use them to teach the children of the Indrath clan aether arts," Windsom said as he looked over the artifact, then shifted his eyes to Arthur. "This one in particular is used to teach about Aevum, the spell you used, static void, is derived from the Aevum branch."

"I don't see how static void could help here," Arthur said, his eyes not leaving the cube.

Windsom smiled. "Lady Sylvia was the greatest and most brilliant of all the Indrath clan. She took the Aevum branch further than anyone ever did, and even she believed she had only scratched the surface."

"Aevum controls time, and the only way I can see this going is that Sylvia believed Aevum could be used to go back in time," Arthur guessed, his heart bursting with a renewed hope.

"That was part of her theory," Windsom said as he held out the artifact.

Arthur got up and took it. "Thank you."

"Sylvia may be gone, but I believe that despite losing your mana core and her will, part of her still resides within you."

Arthur froze. "How did you know my mana core shattered?"

Windsom smiled smugly. "Your Uncle Alaric from Alacrya told me."

"Alaric?" Arthur's face then lit up in realization. "He's your spy."

"I couldn't get in contact with him during the war, but after Dicathen fell I was able to get in contact with him again, and he was more than eager to tell me all about this powerful young mage he believed was from Dicathen."

"But I never told him about my core."

"What kind of spy can't use deductive reasoning? He told me about Regis, how he couldn't sense a drop of mana from you, that storage rune on your arm, he told me everything. It didn't take me long to realize it was you, and that you gained some new abilities."

Windsom then stood up and pulled a spear out from thin air.

"Now stand back, I'll take you somewhere safe where you can work on that."

Arthur took one step back then stopped. "Wait!"

"Why?"

"Do the Asura understand the process the Vrtira use to mutate mana beasts?"

"No. All we know is that it somehow includes their blood and mana. Why?"

"Leave me here then," Arthur said with determination.

"Why would you choose to continuously go through this hell?"

"Because he's a fuck'n masochist," Regis commented, feeling just as confused as Windsom.

"I've had a long time to think about the war, and if you don't know about how they mutated all those beasts, then I need to stay here to get something."

Windsom stared him in the eyes, and despite not being able to understand it, he could see the determination his eyes held.

"Very well," he said as he made his spear disappear. "But if you're going to stay here, you'll need these."

Windsom held his hand over the ground and pulled a stack of five aether crystals from his ring. These however weren't normal aether crystals. They were each the exact same shape and size, rectangular, about one foot long and three inches thick, and the amount of aether he could feel coming from each of them rivaled the amount he gained from the obelisk he used to create the second layer of his aether core.

"Remember, fifty fifty," Regis said as his mouth watered.

"Where did you..."

"I stole these from Lord Kezess' vault. They were...taken from the ancient mages during the war. Lord Kezess used this as proof they were preparing for war, but other than being an abundant source of aether, we couldn't learn anything about them."

Arthur extended his arm through the bars and put all but one into his storage rune.

"Why do you keep helping me?"

Windsom smiled. "Because you remind me of myself."

"I do? How?"

"Like you I was born a commoner, but was also a prodigy. Although Sylvia was superior to me, I was able to use my talents to raise my stature." A sad smile formed on his face.

"You know I've noticed something about you. When it's just the two of us you don't call her Lady Sylvia, just Sylvia. And you almost always smile when you say her name."

"We trained together. She was my closest friend."

"No, it goes beyond that. I know that look in your eyes. You loved her didn't you?"

Windsom looked surprised, but his face soon relaxed into a sad smile.

"I did, not that she noticed." His smile faded to sadness. "But lord Kezess did. Due to the status of my birth, he warned me to keep my distance, and to never express my feelings for her." His fists tightened. "Because of all that lord Kezess did to help me, to elevate my status, I listened to him and closed my heart to her."

Arthur understood completely. Not because he went through the same, but the complete opposite. If not for Virion supporting him and Tess being together, he could imagine himself being in Windsom's position.

"One more thing," Windsom said changing the topic as he pulled a small box from his ring. "After our failed attack on Agrona that forced us out of the war in Dicathen, we learned Agrona would be able to briefly take over Lady Sylvie's mind after she gained her human form." He held the box out to Arthur. "If you succeed and are able to go to the past and undo all of this, this artifact will be able to keep him out of her mind."

Arthur took the box, then eyed Windsom curiously.

"Don't suppose you have any more of those aether training cubes on you? Perhaps one that teaches the healing branch of vivum?"

"Pfft, I do actually." He pulled another black cube out and handed it to him. "I didn't think you would want to learn healing arts."

"I've gained a different branch of vivum, however I can't control it. I was thinking maybe this one would help."

The loud clanking of armor brought Arthur's attention from the black stone as he quickly stored it.

"I can't sense Aldir. He must have fallen," Windsom stated urgently.

Quickly Arthur took the last aether crystal and stored it. "You need to..." Arthur started, but when he looked back up Windsom was gone.

The dungeon doors burst open as several guards followed by Nico poured in. When they arrived at Arthur's cell they found him laying down staring at the ceiling.

"Do you mind keeping it down? I need my beauty sleep," Arthur said with an annoyed tone.

"Who was here?" Nico asked as he directed the guards to search the dungeon.

"If someone was here do you think I would still be?"

"An Asura attacked and you were left completely alone? I don't buy it," Nico said suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter if you buy it or not. The fact is that I'm still locked up here, and you're still an annoying little bitch."

A black metal spike shot up underneath Arthur, but instead of just taking it he quickly rolled out of its way and onto his feet.

"Throwing a fit like a child, so damn predictable," Arthur taunted as he stood tall and proud.

Nico ran to the cell while fumbling with a ring of keys. His eyes furious as he wanted to finally kill him.

"What's taking so long?" A gentle voice asked from down the hall.

"What do you want Seris? I'm busy," Nico spat.

"You were supposed to report back after ensuring Arthur Leywin is secure," she said calmly.

"I don't answer to you! Dicathen is my domain!" Nico replied as he released a significant amount of pressure from his core.

Seris looked at the soldiers on the ground gasping for air, and sighed at Nico's behavior.

"You may not answer to me, but you do answer to the Vritra, just like the rest of us. And you were told by a Vritra to check on Arthur then report back," she said matter of factly as she walked closer.

Nico shook with anger before reigning in his core's pressure and storming out, his shoulder hitting Seris' as he passed her. The soldiers recovered and bowed to her before following after him. After the last soldier left Seris looked at Arthur with a sympathetic expression and sighed before leaving herself.

Arthur had long suspected Seris had her own agenda and that he was just a part of her plan, whatever that was. Unfortunately since his capture he hadn't seen her alone, so he was never able to ask what her plan was.

"Maybe I'll find out next time," Arthur thought to himself, then sat back down on the floor in silence.

After a few minutes of silence, Regis finally spoke.

"Ok, bust out one of those aether crystals I'm starved."

"Nope, we're going to ration them."

"What?! Do what you want with your half, but I want mine now, fifty fifty!"

"You do realize they can detect your aether as well right? What do you think will happen once they take notice of us having more aether than normal?"

Regis just grunted in frustration, understanding Arthur's point.

"So what are we doing? Why did you want to stay?"

"I'm only going to absorb enough aether to access the cubes. Once I've got everything I can from them we'll fill our cores and get out of here."

"And we're staying here because?"

"A few reasons. One being I feel like paying Nico back for everything is worth the wait."

Arthur could feel murderous feelings coming from Regis.

"Good point. I would really love to let loose before we go."

Arthur then pulled the vivum cube from his dimensional rune.

"Woah there Doc Brown, why don't we work on the time cube first? What if we need to build a flux capacitor?" Regis humorously asked.

"I think I would be the flux capacitor in this case," Arthur replied, playing into the joke. "But in all honesty, if I'm able to gain enough insight to use Aevum to travel back in time, I don't know if I'll have the patience to work on vivum. I see myself quickly putting my plan into effect right away." Arthur then revealed his entire plan to Regis.

"You know what they say, patience is a virtue. At least now we have something to look forward to."

Minutes turned into hours, hours into days, and days into weeks. Arthur had now gained a new routine, he would be tortured most of the day, then bothered by Nico for a bit, then poured himself into understanding the contents of the artifacts. He gained the vivum god rune for healing after only two days, and believed it would give him the control over destruction that he needed, but he would only find out for certain after he tried to use it. It took the rest of two weeks to finally gain a significant understanding of Aevum. This was actually faster than he expected since to him the concept of time was both simple and complicated. Nevertheless, he was now able to use static void again. However he wasn't able to gain the power to travel through time that Sylvia theorized, and doubted it was even possible. Instead he gained the ability to rewind time, with some restrictions. Even with the restrictions this new ability was everything he needed to move forward with his plan and save everyone.

Arthur was now laying on his cell floor with his eyes closed, both he and Regis filled to their limits with aether. The door to the dungeon opened, and the space was filled with the sound of armored feet marching in.

"Wake up Grey!" Nico announced cheerfully.

Arthur opened one eye and looked over before closing his eyes again. "Go away, I didn't order a wake up call."

"Too bad," Nico replied gleefully. "Today is a big day!"

"Oh? Did Agrona decide to finally let you off your leash?"

"Funny," Nico replied, sounding annoyed, then smiled again. "But not even your attitude can ruin today for me. You see, Agrona finally approved removing your aether core."

Arthur didn't reply.

"I've been told that when an Asura's mana core is removed, there's a high chance that they'll laps into madness after a day or two. That said, I'm going to be spending plenty of time with you for the next week as you slip into madness and eventually die." He then lifted a large paper bag into the air. "I even made popcorn for the event."

The cell was then opened and four guards entered. They didn't say a word before grabbing him by the arms and jerked him up to his feet.

"Seriously? Passive resistance? Now? What a waste of energy," Nico commented as the guards began dragging him.

"Now?"

"No, not yet."

They exited the cell as two more guards took position in front and behind him.

"Now?"

"No, not yet."

They then proceeded to follow Nico towards the dungeon exit.

"NOW?"

Arthur smirked as his eyes glowed purple.

"Now."