The Ark

Finding Purpose

On the table was a wooden cube, half of its body being colored in the white moon light. She reached out and picked it up with her free hand.

"I wonder how Mr. Apollo is doing? I have a really bad feeling he is either doing something crazy or is about to." Marth could feel her lips curl up at the image of Apollo poorly fixing a situation he caused.

Marth shoulders slightly relaxed at that thought along with it a surge of power warmed her body. The energy flowed into the cube.

"Enforce."

She flicked the cube feeling that the already tough cube got tougher. She placed her hand over the cube again. As if god pressed the rewind button on the world, the mana flowed back from the cube although there was some difficulty Marth was able to pull enough mana out of the cube.

"It could be better but I feel like Mr. Apollo will be proud of me, although I could be better for him." The soft smile turned a wide one at what she's done. "It's been a week since he left for Minos."

Out of nowhere a slight rumble could be felt on the table. It was the alarm she sent.

"I guess it's time to go eat." Marth got out of the chair and left the room. The only thing of interest left in her room was the cube she just enforced. As the moonlight started the move, smoke could be seen coming off the cube.

Just like other nights the switching between the day and night shift teams feel rather seamless to Marth, only time she really notices the switch are for relatively lenient jobs like the cafeteria.

Marth upon reaching and seeing it mostly empty decided to get her normal midnight food, another bowl of soup. Soup, simple yet has the ability to bring out countless flavors from across the world. While Rhodes Island isn't some five star place when it comes to food, it has received its fair amount of praise from other operators, Apollo included. However, to her the food was tasteless, she wondered why that was.

"I'm glad some progress is being made."

Marth didn't turn to check who it was, she became quite familiar with it. "Hello Ms. Saria, what brings you here?"

"Some food before I call it a night. I can sleep in peace now." She remarked.

The two ate in relative silence with the occasional words spoken between the two. Saria ate her food as if it was a normal day, she could see Marth being rather fidgety and eating her food rather slow. She jotted down these actions in her mind.

"Ms. Saria, can I ask you a question?" Marth asked while she still looked down at her soup.

"Of course." She replied while she continued to eat her meal which consisted of a simple burger.

The digits on Marth's hands wiggled wildly, a similar thing was happening to her legs.

"I heard from some of the other operators that you are quite strong and reliable." Her eyes dashed back and forth as if she was looking at invisible floating screens. "Can you teach me about your arts? I heard it was to harden and weaken things, like that shield you normally have."

"Your treatment will come first. Along with that we will need Apollo's permission since similar to how Silence is the guardian of Ifrit, Apollo is your guardian."

"Only Silence? I thought you were also her guardian with how often she talks about you."

The sudden halting of Saria was quick but noticeable.

'I probably shouldn't have said that.' Marth thought.

"It's complicated, that's all I will say in that regard." Saria said as she finished her food. "It's time for me to retire for the night, remember you have another checkup tomorrow.. Goodnight Marth." Saria took care of her plate,