It was a new feeling for Rufian, the guilt that struck him as he left Palinus behind.

He had always had friends around him. The boys that he laughed and joked with, who would be just as quick to laugh and joke at his expense. Bruchts had always just been Bruchts, like a brother or a big friendly shadow, they had been practically raised together.

Normally he would just leave someone like Palinus in the dirt with a laugh and a joke. He was an easy target, quick to react and he rarely fought back.

"Should we go back for Palinus?" He asked Marius as the man led him through the maze of tunnels.

"Nahhhh,' Marius declined with a drunken slur. "He's in for a fun night! Maybe we can go watch him if you're quick with the enhan-... if we're quick getting this calculus."

He was never sure if he could fully trust Marius, and tonight was a prime example. The whole situation set Rufian on edge, and he was rarely anxious about anything.

Just as he was about to say something and question Marius further he watched as the man leant over and vomited against the wall of the alleyway.

"You are such a useless drunk Marius. For all that prodigious gut and the amount of wine you consume… you just can't handle it." Rufian couldn't help laughing, the man really was a clown.

"Bah," Marius brushed off Rufian's admonition and burped as he replied. "You sound like my wife."

"You aren't married?!"

Rufian's laughter died as he started to worry about the man as they stepped out of the alley and walked down and onto the waterfront..

"... honestly the most useless human being!" Rufian was distracted as he thought he heard Vesuvia's voice verbally assaulting someone up towards the bridge nearby.

"'Ere we are." Marius said as he pushed his way through the door into a shabby looking building. It had a carving in the stone above that door of a bird that looked like a crow.

"Marius!" Before Rufian had even walked through the door behind the drunk Marcus had greeted him with a stool and a cup of wine. The man he recognised instantly from their first rift greeted Rufian warmly with a smile as he poured another cup of wine. "Oh and look who you've brought along! I'm surprised to see you in one piece still. Did you bring your friends along with you?"

The man's easy manner irritated Rufian as he recalled the frustration of his first rift, Marcus had sort of apologised for taking the calculus but Rufian wasn't quite sure if he forgave him yet. Ignoring the issue and being a warm host was incongruous with the mental image of the gruff man in the rift.

"I've come to collect the calculus you promised." Rufian said firmly.

"Oh," Marcus winced and looked instantly sheepish. "About the calculus…"

"What about it Marcus?" The man was firmly starting to piss Rufian off.

"You see…"

"I don't see Marcus. I don't see a calculus, I don't see why you would not have said calculus, and I think I see a man who cannot keep an agreement."

"Boy." A hint of menace crossed Marcus's face. "You had better-"

"Oh shush Marc." Minucia came back around the bar with a pile of platters she had collected from the dingy room. "Welcome to Termona Rufi! It is so good to see you."

"Good to see you as well." Rufian paused his anger to greet the woman, she had been kind and showed him the ropes in their first rift delve. Looking back on the experience now he felt foolish for how he had acted. "I wanted to thank… sorry-."

"You don't need to apologise or thank me!" She smiled and came around the bar to pat him on the shoulder. "I am glad to see you made it up, and it looks like you have managed to tier up again already! Congratulations."

"Thanks," Rufian said with a sigh as he decided to write off the calculus with an internal curse for Marcus. "I had better find Palinus so we can sneak back into camp."

He tugged at Marius's tunic to find that the drunk had managed to fall asleep on his stool, precariously leaning against a pillar beside the bar.

"Ugh, fool." He sighed.

"Don't you have something for the boy." Minucia said to Marcus.

"Umm." He gulped as he avoided answering his wife.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She asked him menacingly as she grabbed Rufian to keep him from leaving.

"It was just. You know. Khet… he was saying…," Marcus answered meekly, his big shoulders slumped, "he said that he would hold the stone, to keep its attunement from wandering."

"Great, actually not a bad idea. Why don't we go and grab the calculus then?" Minucia said as she led Rufian towards the door.

"Wait!" Marcus said as his mouth moved awkwardly and he flinched. "I owe Khem some money… so he might not give it to you."

"You idiot." Minucia sighed. "Well, lets go visit Khet Rufi! We will go and see if we can apologise for this idiot and make it right."

As Minucia and Rufian walked they talked. She was so engrossed in his story of their time at Prima Disciplina and the Inter Cohort Battle that Rufian felt like he should ask about what had been happening for them.

"It's been what? A month? Less. Nothing much has happened at the Crow, we've been busy and there have been some strange goings on with strange men with all the news swirling around." Mincia laughed.

"I am sorry about this." She said with a gesture Rufian took to be an apology for Marcus, something he assumed she did a lot. "I mentioned Khet to you! He is our enhancer friend, we used to delve with him quite a bit. It was a good idea for him to hold the stone, in his hands his attunement would be pretty similar so the calculus wouldn't drift attunement as much. But… Marcus…"

"It's fine." Rufian said, "Well, it will be fine, once we get the calculus."

They nodded in agreement and picked up the pace along the river towards the northern section of the city.

The walk was pleasant as they enjoyed the cool breeze from the north cooling the heat of the day and giving the river a gentle swell that lapped against the stones of the city's foundations. As they talked and laughed Rufian appreciated Minucia's company and perspective.

Before long they came across a woodyard and wandered up the rows of firewood split into various sizes as they approached a house that was barely rated as more than a shack.

Surprisingly for this time of the evening a man stood outside the shack, hard at work by the light of a pair of torchstone. He picked up one of the long heavy logs of wood and laid it on a pair of stones that were grooved to allow the log to rest. As soon as he placed the log he took a half step to widen his stance and in the same motion brought his fist in a wide arc and slammed it down into the log.

*Thunk*

In one blow the log was cut cleanly in two.

"Woah," Rufian exclaimed as he jogged ahead to get a closer look at what the man was doing.

"Hi Khet," Minucia greeted the man.

"Minucia…" Khet responded with a low rumble. He stood up from what he was doing and grabbed a towel hanging nearby. His bronze skin was glistening with sweat and as he wiped it from his chiseled muscles Rufian couldn't help but admire his physique.

"... I was wondering when he would be sending you."

The sigh that Minucia responded with revealed a lot about the long history of frustration she must feel towards Marcus. Something that Rufian was understanding more and more, he didn't understand why people put up with someone so reckless, flakey and careless.

The low rumbling chuckle from Khet de-escalated Rufian's growing concern.

"We've come-," Minucia began to explain.

"You've come for the calculus," Khet cut her off as he walked towards Rufian eyeing him appraisingly, "and this is the boy from the rift?"

His question was stated with an emphasis that made it a statement. Khet knew exactly why they were there and who Rufian was, despite just meeting.

Without warning the muscular man poked Rufian in the stomach, the finger had a force that he didn't expect in the slightest and it instantly winded and nearly knocked him over.

Khet watched Rufian closely as he recovered and gave a gesture for them to wait as he walked into the shack. After a brief moment he came back out carrying a tablet and a box, he winked at Minucia as he set them down on the ground.

"This calculus… it is priceless. It is the sort of ars that becomes a legacy." He loomed over Rufian and as he spoke he cracked his knuckles one by one. "I'll let you have the calculus, if you can prove yourself worthy of it. Fight me."

The man's challenge floated in the night air. Rufian could feel the man's power and had seen what he could do with his fists. He knew instinctively that a fight was not at all a good idea, if those fists even grazed him he would be smashed to pieces, but he couldn't bring himself to decline. Something within him raged at the challenging grin on Khet's face. If the man wanted a fight, he would get one.

"I will make it easy. All you have to-"

Khet was starting to explain something but Rufian didn't wait as he instantly channeled his Lock-On ars and flew towards the man, fist first.

The attack caught the Khet by surprise and the boy's fist beat the hand that he was raising to block. The full weight of a big flying teenager struck Khet on the jaw with a thump. But he might as well have been punching a wall for all the damage it did.

A flicker of surprise and rage crossed the man's face as he recovered from the momentary shock of the attack, faster than lightning he responded with a straight left jab. The fist came at Rufian faster than he imagined possible. He barely began to think to lift his left hand to block and shift his head back before was already on the floor, blood surging down his face from a gash above his eye.

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"Khet, no!" Minucia yelled too late.

Bouncing back to his feet, Rufian refused to accept defeat as he charged back at Khet. He could only see out of one eye, his left eye already painful and blurry with the brow swelling shut and blood dripping off his face.

Attacking with jabbing blows Rufian tried as hard as he could to fight, Khet had an odd look on his face as he fended off the attacks effortlessly but didn't strike back. His mind was not on the fight and it only enraged Rufian more as he sent more attacks flying towards the big man..

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!" Minucia's yelling finally got through to Rufian as she grabbed him and pulled him away. She wrapped her arms around him and held him with surprising strength as he tried to keep fighting.

"Bahahaha!" Khet laughed uproariously as Rufian began to cool off and accept defeat.

The laughter and the complete failure hurt almost as much as the physical pain. With the adrenaline of the moment wearing off Rufian began to feel hollow, he knew that without the calculus and the ars that it provided he would never be able to keep up with the rest of the team. He would wind up just like Marcus, a bitter man that hurt people around him to chase his fading dreams.

"HAHAHAHAhhahahaa. ha . ha. hehehe." Khet's laughter had evolved from boisterous to something of a manic tone as he finally settled on a giggling chuckle. The man picked up the tablet that he had brought out and was carving it with a stylus.

As Rufian's breathing calmed Minucia gradually let go of her bear hug as they warily watched what Khet was doing.

"I… I am sorry boy!" He said, with a tear of mirth still streaming down his cheek. "... I genuinely did not expect you to be able to touch me, and well… you caught me off guard."

The admission triggered another peel of laughter as he picked up the box and tossed it to Rufian.

"Tell me about the ars, the one you used?" He asked as they sat on nearby logs and talked about Rufian's ars and how he operated in a rift. They talked and talked, with the topic drifting from Rufian to how to fight as an enhancer and small things like managing minions.

"You are going to go far," Khet said finally as he handed Rufian the tablet he had been carving. "Come back and spar with me when you have won the Rift Trials!"

Between the likely concussion and the quick change of fortunes Rufian's head was whirling as Minucia led him back to the taverna.

"You should embed the calculus Rufi." she gently suggested, bringing him out of his stupor.

He had forgotten about it altogether, with a rush of newfound excitement he fumbled as he eventually managed to open the box and get his hands on the calculus.

It was a smooth stone with banded lines of black, red, orange and white. Picking it up, it felt heavy in his hand and when he picked it up it felt cool to the touch, but even as he held it in his hand it seemed to be getting warmer. He knew instinctively that if he didn't place it quickly where he wanted it, it would bind to his hand in an awkward spot like an accident with glue.

He quickly moved the stone to rest on the back of his right hand, behind his knuckles. The stone seemed to sink into his flesh until it rested mostly submerged in his flesh. Flexing the fingers and making a fist he was amazed that it didn't seem to affect the bones of his hand, if anything the sensation of his hand was more solid as though the stone reinforced the relatively small and fragile bones.

Sitting on the bar stool he let Minucia tend to his wound and wipe the blood off his face he accepted a cup of wine from Marcus. He almost considered forgiving the awful man.

In the low light of the taverna his eyes were drawn to the tablet he had carried with him and he looked it over with his one good eye, he was puzzled for a moment at its contents and how they came to be known. Ultimately as he considered the man he had fought and wasn't truly surprised that Khet could figure all of this out from a few punches, he clearly knew his stuff.

Details

Name

Rufian

Attunement

CCLV, CXXVII, LXXX

Aspect

Body - Enhancer

Tier

II

Physical Statistics

Strength

V

Resistance

II

Vitality

II

Essential Statistics

Area

-

Force

I

Power

-

Mastery

Mastery

II

Pugilist

Strike Enhancer

Bruiser

Ars

Broad Strikes

Lock On

Heavy Fists

Attunement

nil

nil

Cooldown

n/a

4 Minutes 59 Seconds

Compatibility

n/a

Very High

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Enhancement

Enhancement

Slot

Wrist, Fist, Arm, Foot, Ankle

Wrist, ankle

Fist

Slot Bonus

n/a

n/a

n/a

Description

Unarmed strikes cause damage in a cone.

Target a minion, creep or avatar. Fix the target in place and move towards the target. Knock up anything on the way and deal [75] physical damage when reaching the target.

[-100% combination damage] Every third strike staggers the target.

Ars

Fire Fist

Iron Fist

Muscle Up

Attunement

nil

nil

Cooldown

n/a

30 seconds

n/a

Compatibility

n/a

High

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Enhancement

Defense

Slot

Wrist, Fist, Arm, Foot, Ankle

++[Hand]

Chest

Slot Bonus

n/a

Weight of fists increases proportionally to empowerment.

n/a

Description

Unarmed strikes deal an additional [20] fire damage and inflict [Burning]

Passive - Prevent damage to hands.

Empower a strike to deal additional [30]% damage. Deals [300]% additional damage to constructs..

Damage mitigation is affected by Strength

Ars

Multi Strike

Multi Strike

-Unknown-

Attunement

nil

nil

nil

Cooldown

n/a

n/a

Compatibility

n/a

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Enhancement

Slot

Wrist, ankle

Wrist, ankle

Slot Bonus

n/a

n/a

Description

Each strike applies effects twice.

Each strike applies effects twice.

It was halfway through the second cup of wine that the pain really started to kick in.

"I wish Vesuvia was here," he groaned. "Oh, and where did Marius go?"

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