{Rune: Kenaz}

{Race: Elfin}

{Mana: 500/500}

{Health: 100/100}

{Stamina: 150/150}

{Physical Status: Healthy}

{Mental Status: Tired}

"Looks like it's the effect of the Vison of Elements." Ansuz laughed. "Don't worry, your mana will likely catch up to mine."

"What about me?" Hagalaz asked, displaying his status.

{Rune: Hagalaz}

{Race: Human}

{Mana: 100/100}

{Health: 100/100}

{Stamina: 100/100}

{Physical Status: Healthy}

{Mental Status: Tired}

"Since artifacts increase our abilities, I think it's safe to assume that your abilities will also increase as we find artifacts for each other." Ansuz replied. "Until then, it looks like you're our weakest link."

"That's not a good feeling." Hagalaz said, scratching the back of his bald head.

"You'll get over it." Kenaz responded, without a shred of sympathy. "And besides. we're a team, remember? A team protects each other."

"Isn't it strange how we can pull knowledge as if from thin air, but we don't question why we know it?" Ansuz broke in. "It's like our memory was wiped only superficially. Language and prior experiences seem to remain, however we seem to be unable to recall them except with muscle memory."

"Just why are we here?" Hagalaz wondered philosophically. "Perhaps we are here purely because some entity decided we would, wiping our memories and deciding we would survive for their entertainment."

"Perhaps." Ansuz agreed. "But does that reduce our desire to live?"

"No." Kenaz said firmly.

"So, to survive this, I'm guessing we either need to survive a set amount of time or kill every other person that was transported with us." Ansuz reasoned. "Since there is no timer, I'm guessing it's the latter. If I'm right, we need to steel ourselves to take lives."

"I don't want to become a murderer." Hagalaz said, staring at his massive palms. "I don't want blood on my hands."

"And yet, if we are to survive, we may need to get our hands dirty." Kenaz sighed. "I like it about as much as you do, but it seems it will be unavoidable."

"Let's get some sleep." Ansuz said, laying a comforting hand upon his companions' shoulders. "We're all tiring and ruminating on murder isn't going to help us go to sleep."

"Would we not need to set up a sentry?" Kenaz asked. "We're sleeping in a landmark, you know."

"That's true." He responded. "I'll go first, but how long should I keep watch?"

"In the shop there's a reset timer." Kenaz said, pulling up the screen and pointing. "There's nine hours on the timer, so how about we take three hours each, both to keep track of Isa and watch for the possible other teams. I'll take the second watch."

"Alright then." Ansuz nodded, seating himself upon the altar, facing the entryway as well as Isa, who still couldn't easily move from his spot.

He patiently sat, sitting on the altar, unmoving, as he tried to move the powers the system said he now possessed.

He tried for nearly an hour, feeling he was on the verge of success.

After an hour and a half, according to the shop reset, he successfully moved the power within him, feeling it rushing through himself like a cool stream, cycling through his body.

He maintained the rotation of the mana, enjoying the sensation as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to turn the internal power into an external cast.

He remained vigilant as he pondered the question, finally deciding to ask Isa once they found another artifact that wasn't useful to them.

For the remaining hour of his sentry duty, he sat there, enjoying the comfortable feeling of cool mana coursing through his veins, comforting him while simultaneously keeping him awake.

Before he knew it, his time for sentry duty was up.

He rose, finding it was much more difficult to keep his mana flowing through his veins when he was moving. Each movement caused it to ripple and grow sluggish, fighting against the flow within his body.

Deciding to set a little challenge for himself, he tried his best to keep his mana rotating as he walked towards the sleeping Kenaz.

Although he failed at the halfway mark, unable keep the turbulence within the flow of mana from disrupting it entirely, he was able to learn how to control it, to an extent.

'I think that knowing how to control it within myself will be very useful for when I want to control it outside of myself.' He thought, shaking Kenaz awake.

"Damn it." Kenaz cursed, rubbing her eyes. "If there was no light I wouldn't have taken so long to sleep."

"Try getting the mana inside you to flow through your body." Ansuz suggested. "It takes a bit of trying, but once you get the hang of it you'll feel more awake. Plus, it feels cold and refreshing."

"Alright, I'll try it, but only if I don't think it'll make it more difficult to keep watch." She nodded in thanks, making her way to the altar that Ansuz had sat upon.

"Good luck." He said as he laid down upon the cool, hard stones.

He awoke to Hagalaz's large palms on his back, pushing him about.

"I'm up." Ansuz said hastily. "Move me about any more and the friction from the stones will break my skin."

Hagalaz chuckled, moving to the sleeping form of Kenaz, who woke as soon as he put his hand on her.

They sat in companionable silence, eating their staling bread.

After they finished their meal, Kenaz got up and kicked Isa's wounded shoulder to awaken him.

Isa shouted in pain, sitting up and shying away from Kenaz, who had raised her foot to kick him once more.

Although Ansuz felt it was a little cruel, Isa had tried to kill them, so he felt it was also justified.

They divided the bread and water Ansuz had found, placing it into the rather convenient inventory they had found they possessed.

As Ansuz waited for the other three to properly prepare to depart, he continued his previous challenge of walking while circulating mana.

He took steps slowly, forcing his mana to remain calm and flow without ripples as he did, rapidly gaining control over the previously-elusive mana.

"I tried doing what you suggested." Kenaz said, having finished preparing. "It kept me awake after I got the hang of it."

"I'm glad." Ansuz said, genuinely pleased that his companion could manage the same feat he could. "Did you suggest it to Hagalaz?"

"No." Kenaz responded. "Should I have?"

"Well, since we all have mana, why shouldn't we all learn how to utilize it?" Ansuz suggested reasonably.

"That's true, but how would we control it outside of ourselves?" Kenaz asked thoughtfully.

"I planned to ask Isa about that, in exchange for something." Ansuz admitted.

"Watch this." Kenaz said suddenly turning to the helpless Isa.

She mercilessly gripped his wounded shoulder, digging her fingers into Isa's wound, drawing blood and causing him to turn white.

"Tell me, how do you manifest your mana outside of your body?" Kenaz demanded while continuing to increase the pressure she applied to his wound. "Tell me and the pain will stop."

"You-you send the mana through the part your artifact influences!" Isa screamed as Kenaz dug her fingers into his wound slightly before abruptly pulling her hand away.

"Mission accomplished." Kenaz grinned sweetly at him.

Ansuz stood, shell-shocked by her ruthless attitude that appeared out of nowhere.

Hagalaz edged slightly away from her in fear.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gasped Isa, pale as a ghost and sweating profusely.

"It's your fault you chose to try and kill Ansuz." Kenaz said mildly as she wiped off the blood that stuck to her fingers.

Isa looked at both Ansuz and Hagalaz, hoping for help.

Both men ignored him.

"Don't worry." Kenaz said with a creepy smile. "As soon as you recover, we'll be rid of you."