Stephen sat quietly with Max and the others, his posture relaxed but his mind anything but. The noise around him, voices, footsteps, the distant sounds of fighters preparing, blurred together as his thoughts drifted inward. He had been reflecting on his past, and there was a reason for it. Not just idle remembrance, but necessity.
Back when he had first been asked to come up with a Vow, he had struggled more than he ever admitted. A Vow was not something that could be chosen lightly. It wasn't simply a rule or a promise. It was something that demanded sacrifice, something that would cut into the very core of who a person was.
At the time, Stephen had searched for a Vow that would unlock his power while still allowing him to fight effectively. That was where the real difficulty lay. There were plenty of vows he could have made, but most of them would have crippled him.
For instance, he had briefly considered a vow to never throw another punch again.
