As the months had passed, I had grown truly comfortable with Anibeli. Despite her young age, she was talented, highly religious, and generally a good soul.

  She would do well. I had tried to harden her mind as best as I could, but such was never my forte. I am an assassin, a deathmark. I hunt and kill. I am far more adept at things related thusly.

  In those ways of violence I know well, she is adept. She will never be my equal as she is now, but with augmentation to her body, she could perhaps best me one day. I told her as such, and kept going as far as I could.

  When I saw and heard another human landing craft one late afternoon, I had a feeling our time together was up. I told her what I saw, and asked if she wanted to go. She said yes.

  It hurt, in a way I didn't expect. I had wondered months ago about myself. About if I could feel... Perhaps...

  But I refocused on Anibeli, and nodded. But before we went, I asked a question.

  "Tell me, would you care for a wager? A farewell gift, perhaps, or mayhap a favor owed?" I ask.

  "Speak, and let's hear it." She said. We had become far more casual over time, and I was happy with it, but now was a time of formality.

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  "Anibeli, I request a final test, a trial if you would. You are to survive for three seconds. In that time, I will attempt to kill you. Succeed and live. Fail, and die a failure." I say.

  It was a terrible request to make. Yet I did so anyway... If she accepted, I would do my best to kill her within limits. Failure ment death. She could ref-

  "If I win? You give a promise of a favor owed?"

  "If it is within my power. But as a reference point, if you asked, I would give you a moon. Of course, I would have to kill anything living first, and it would take many years, but I could do it."

  She pondered, then nodded. "Then, yes. I will agree to this."

  "Then... Die." I intone, and in a flash, I'm stabbing at her chest. My fingers barely begin to penetrate her ribs before she jerks back. She throws her knife at my head, and the tip shatters on my mask.

  She is hissing in pain, crying in agony, but not screaming. I once again stab at her, quicker then a whip, and the avoids most of it, but I return and slash her arm to ribbons.

  She screams now, and I grab her head in my hands and squeeze. Her jaw cracks, fractured, but before I can crush her head, 3 seconds had passed. She is alive. She had won. I release her, and she collapses in a heap.

  I softly rub the back of my hand on her back, and speak.

  "You have won. I declare you, my apprentice. With this, my dear, you hold one favor owed. Name your will, Anibeli Berekel. Name it, and it will be so." I say.

  It was a very very old tradition, one from the days of flesh. A master and apprentice would battle, and in the end, if the apprentice wins, something is given. Death, however, is a constant.

  She could ask for a moon, like I said, and I would deliver it, piece by piece. She could request my death, and I would do it. I would make it permanent. But what she asked, genuinely stunned me.

  "Friend..." She slured. "Want... Friend..." She gestured at me. My body stopped. My reactor froze. Everything in me paused for a fraction of a nanosecond. Then, I bowed.

  "As you will it, apprentice." I say. I picked her up, and began running to the dropship's location. I had kept it in mind, and now, more then ever, it appears... my friend is dying...