Chapter 2: New Arrivals

As I slept it steadily got darker, clouds were scudding across the sky as a crescent moon peeked out. As I continued to lay there fast asleep, leaning against the rock wall small sounds could be heard coming from the trees, I ignored them sinking slightly lower to the ground. Everything appeared calm until a large cracking sound, as a twig snapped, startled me awake. Peering around myself I tried to find the source of the sound. I glanced at the fire which had died down, it seemed I had fallen asleep for a few hours. Throwing a log on to the fire I stood up slowly and listened carefully. After a few moments, I could hear steady crunching sounds, as if someone was walking through the forrest towards my fire. Slowly drawing my sword from its scabbard, I waited tensely. After a few minutes, a hooded figure appeared in the shadows of the fire. With a cry I charged, the figure startled by my actions fell backwards. Halting my progress, I pointed my sword at the figure and kicked the fire back to life as I walked closer. With a whoosh, the flames picked up allowing me to get a closer look at my assailant. They were dressed in what appeared to be a mottled green cloak, underneath which they wore what appeared to be a lightish green tunic, they were also wearing dark green cotton pants and soft leather boots. Slung over their shoulder I could make out the feathery tips of several arrows. I could also make out what looked like a recurve bow slung across their body. I couldn’t quite make out their face because it was covered in shadow from the hood. Thrusting my sword closer to their face I quietly instructed, ‘Push back the hood slowly or else I’ll remove your head from your shoulders,’ I indicated with my sword.

Startled they hurriedly pushed back their hood, revealing a beautiful feminine face. A woman sat their fear in her crystal blue eyes framed by shoulder length black hair, she had a small nose and soft lips. ‘P-please d-don’t hurt me!’ she stammered trying to back away putting a hand out in front of her.

My sword wavered slightly. ‘Who are you? Where did you come from?’ I asked her, startled by her reaction, unsure of how I should react.

Gulping she looked up at me, ‘I-I don’t know,’ she stammered putting her hand down, ‘I just woke up here. I-I was at home watching a movie and I fell asleep.’ She began shakily gesturing around her as she spoke, ‘The… The next thing I knew I wake up here in this forrest. I was attacked by some weird… Things! I-I killed one of them and just ran and ran. I-I just want to go back home’ she finished with a sob. She appeared to be close to tears.

Sighing I removed the sword away from her body. ‘Sounds like what happened to me.’ She looked up at me as I said this. I sheathed my sword, ‘I was walking home after my lecture had finished at Uni when I fell asleep. Next thing I know I wake up here.’ I explained gesturing around myself. She glanced up at me as I finished. ‘I’m sorry if I scared you, but like you said something weirds with this forrest and I didn’t want to take any chances’ I said lamely, scratching the back of my head. I put a hand out towards her. She hesitated for a moment then shakily grasped it and I pulled her up to her feet. ‘My names Lucas by the way.’ I said, letting go of her hand. ‘I have a camp set up near here, follow me’ I said pointing a thumb behind me, towards the campfire. I waited a moment seeing if she would follow, shrugging I turned my back to her leading her back to the camp with sword in hand. ‘Reyna’ she said quietly. I glanced back. ‘My name. It’s… It's Reyna.’ She said a little more confidently. After heading back to camp, I checked on the fire. It seemed to be burning merrily. Sitting down I threw another log onto the fire and placed by sword beside me.

‘So how did you find me?’ I asked as Reyna sat down a few metres away from me. She still appeared hesitant with me, I couldn’t blame her I did just attack her.

‘The smoke,’ she said pointing to the fire, ‘I could smell it. Well, that and the fish’ I nodded, the smell of my cooking would still be in the air for a while yet. After a few minutes of silence, I glanced at Reyna again. She seemed engrossed in the fish that I had cooked up.

Noticing this I asked, ‘You hungry?’ she shook her head slightly. Shrugging I turned my back to the fire. If she said she isn’t hungry, she isn’t hungry, I thought. After about thirty seconds I heard a loud growl coming from Reyna’s stomach. I glanced back at her, ‘Well maybe a little’ she said quietly, slightly embarrassed, red colouring her cheeks. I slowly began to laugh at this, after a few moments, Reyna joined in. After our laughter had subsided, I gestured at the fish. ‘Go ahead. There all yours. I can always catch more in the morning. Consider it as a peace offering’ I said with a slight smile on my face. She glanced at me still a little frightened, I gestured for her to continue. Reyna leaned forward and grabbed one of the fish I had caught earlier and began to eat it ravenously. After a few minutes, she finished the fish and tossed the stick into the fire. After she had eaten her fish she unslung her bow.

Reyna looked at the other half of the fish that I had eaten and began stretching out a hand to grab it but then froze. She glanced towards me. ‘Is it alright if I have this one too?’ She asked pointing to the half-eaten fish.

I nodded and as I did so her hand darted towards the fish and brought it back to her mouth. When she had finished the second fish and thrown the stick into the fire she leaned back with a contented sigh. After a minute or two I broke the silence. ‘I’m sorry about before. Just being in such a strange place and being attacked has put me on edge,’ I said. She looked at me for a moment, puzzled, ‘You were attacked?’, I nodded, ‘By what?’ She asked.

‘Well, they appeared to be zombies?’ I answered after a moment’s hesitation.

‘Appeared?’

‘Yeah’

‘Huh that’s funny, I guess the creatures that attacked me were zombies then. Did they look like rotting corpses?’ I nodded again. ‘How did you kill them by the way?’ Reyna asked. I glanced at her quizzically as she said this.

‘Thinking back, I guess it was when I started attacking their heads? That’s when I started doing series damage to them.’ I remarked, ‘Why do you want to know?’

‘Well remember when I told you I only killed one of those things?’ She asked. As I nodded, she continued, ‘Well the thing didn’t go down until I put an arrow into its skull. I was wondering if that was a coincidence’ she said gesturing to her bow which lay beside her. After a little while longer I noticed that Reyna was beginning to fall asleep. Her eyes were beginning to close and she was yawning every few minutes. ‘You don’t have to stay awake on my account. I can keep watch if you want? I promise I’m not going to hurt you’ I said. Reyna glanced at me hesitantly, seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t going to hurt her she began moving into the cave. She unbuckled her quiver, then after a moments consideration, she started to unstring her bow. When she had finished Reyna, using the quiver as a pillow, lay down. Her muffled voice from the cave said, ‘Thanks for the food… And for not killing me’ I chuckled as she said this. She nestled back down and turned her back to the fire. After a while, I could hear her breathing deepen. I guess she wasn’t so scared of me as I thought, I surmised as I looked up at the night sky, at the stars very different from the ones that I had grown up looking at.

I began wondering what the future held for me, with my unique abilities that I was learning how to use and Reyna who had appeared out of nowhere.

I glanced back at her and quietly, so I wouldn’t wake her up, said, ‘Observe’

An orange window appeared making a soft ding sound, as if in response to the need for silence. It read:

Name: Reyna Vernal

Status: Sleeping

Age: 20

Title: None

Race: Human

Job: Student

Class: Archer

HP: 70/70

MP: 110/110

Level: 4

Current XP: 20/500

STR: 10

VIT: 7

DEX: 14

INT: 11

WIS: 10

LUK: 8

A young woman from Austin, Texas. She is currently studying a degree in Journalism at the University of Texas. She hopes one day to become a Sports Journalist. Occasionally she will practice her archery at “Archery Country”

I swiped across the window, closing it. Leaning back against the rock wall I placed my hands behind my head and began to mull over what I had just read. So, she’s studying Journalism eh, interesting. Hmm, the reason why her class is archery may be because she has an interest in Archery. Well I know I play a lot of video games back home, but that can’t be why I have this ability, can it? Shaking my head, I placed my sword beside me and got comfortable, it had been a long day and was going to be an even longer night.

I could smell something cooking and I could hear the fire burning cheerfully as I woke up. I slowly opened my eyes to see Reyna bent over the fire poking at it while some fish were cooking on sticks. It was morning, I must’ve fallen asleep during the night. Now that it was daylight I could get a better look at her. She had taken off her cloak and set it beside her bow and quiver. It appeared that she also had a pair of daggers on each hip. Her black shoulder length hair had a tinge of blue to it. She was very petite and was probably 5’4’’ in height. From what I could see she had fair skin. I slowly rose up with a yawn. Reyna glanced at me as I got up, ‘Sorry if I woke you,’ She apologized moving back, ‘I thought I might make something for you because you helped me yesterday.’ She said gesturing toward the fish.

‘It’s all good, I was going to get up anyway. Did you catch those?’ I asked stifling a yawn, pointing at the fish. She nodded. I was wondering how when I looked at her bow again. It would have been easy to catch fish with her skill in archery. I smiled ruefully at how much trouble I had in catching my fish. I walked passed her and knelt in front of the water. My face that looked back at me had brown curly hair and Hazel green eyes. I could see some stubble forming on my fresh face, I scratched at it looking at my small nose and dimpled cheeks. Looking at my skin I hoped that I wouldn’t get sunburnt because it was so pale. That’s what a hobby of constantly playing video games gets you I suppose, I mused. Looking back down at my reflection I scooped some water up and started washing my face. The shock of the water hitting me woke me up instantly. I didn’t have coffee so this was about as close as I was going to get. I shook my head back and forth to get some of the water off my face, then I gazed back down at my reflection. I noticed something different, there appeared to be something hovering above my head.

It read:

Lucas Frost

Level 4

The Gamer

As I moved back to the fire I wondered if that had always been there. I glanced at Reyna as I walked past. There also appeared to be something above her head, it read:

Reyna Vernal

Level 4

Archer

I wondered why I couldn’t see it last night. Then it hit me. It was probably too dark for me to see. I glanced at the writing above her head, it was lightish blue in colour. I wondered if there was an option I could change to make the text stand out more. I decided to try it out later that day because I currently had something else to preoccupy myself. The fish looked to be cooked. Counting them there appeared to be four in total, so two each. ‘Do you reckon the fish should be done?’ I queried Reyna.

‘Yeah, I think so,’ She said grabbing a stick in each hand and walking towards me, ‘I’ve never cooked anything like this before, so I wouldn’t know’ she said handing me a fish then sitting beside me. Looking at the fish before me I said under my breath, so Reyna wouldn’t hear me, ‘Observe.’ An orange window appeared in front of me. It read:

Cooked Fish

Restores 10 Hit points

Value: 4 Copper

A cooked fish caught in the river and cooked over a fire by Reyna

‘Is something wrong?’ Reyna asked. She was watching me with the fish in my hand still uneaten.

‘Wha-? No ah, nothing’s wrong.’ I said startled by her. I swiped the window closed then took a bite and began eating the fish that Reyna had prepared for me. After a few seconds, Reyna joined in still puzzled by my reaction. After we had both eaten the fish and thrown the sticks into the fire I asked Reyna where we should go next.

‘We should probably follow the river downstream,’ Reyna began to explain pointing at the river, ‘I remember reading somewhere that you have a higher chance of reaching civilization if you do that.’

I nodded in agreement, it sounded about right. That decided we doused the flame with dirt and stamped it out, making sure there were no embers. I put my leather jerkin back on and then I buckled my sword to my belt. I glanced up to see that Reyna was putting her mottled green cloak on. By the looks of it, she had already buckled on her quiver. Reyna deftly strung her bow, after woulds, she slung her bow across her body. We glanced around to make sure that we weren’t leaving anything behind. I checked my pockets to make sure I had all my items. I had already picked up the tattered cloth and placed it into my pocket. Satisfied we began to follow the river downstream. A silence began to grow between me and Reyna. Reyna seemed hesitant walking through the trees. She would jump any time a branch cracked under her feet. I wanted to break the silence that had grown between us, but I didn’t know what to say at first. Instead, I silently watched around us, making sure if anything did sneak up on us I would be the first to know. Half an hour passed as we walked on, neither of us saying anything. ‘So where are you from?’ I blurted out already knowing the answer, wanting to simply break the silence between us. Reyna jumped, she wasn’t prepared for me to say anything. She slipped on a log and almost fell, I caught her as she did so.

Sighing she said, ‘Warn me when you're going to do that’ she sounded annoyed. I tried to hide a smile that was creeping along my face as she got back to her feet. ‘Sorry about that’ I apologised.

‘To answer your question, I’m from Austin. Well Austin, Texas anyway’ she answered. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Well, I live in Ballarat, Victoria. Which is in Australia by the way. So, I was wondering if us getting transported here had to do with where we came from’ I said, stepping onto and over a log that had fallen along the river.

‘Wow, sounds like we’re both pretty far from home.’ Reyna answered nimbly hopping over the log. I scowled, I wasn’t as athletic as she was. Mainly because of how I spent most of my days at home.

‘So, do you have any sibling?’ Reyna asked after a few minutes.

‘I have one, a younger sister, Bethany. She’s about 15 years old this year.’ I replied, reminiscing. ‘What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?’

‘Only child. I’ve always wanted a younger brother though’ she said wistfully. She was thoughtful for a few moments then said, ‘I’m 20 by the way. I had my birthday about a month ago. How old are you?’

‘21. I turned 21 in March. Huh, that means I’m older than you.’ I said in reply, with a faint chuckle. We began to make steady conversation as we walked. I found out Reyna had started practising archery when she was 7 and she fell in love with it since. I told her how when I was younger for a few months I was bedridden because I had a broken my leg. The only thing that got me through it was video games and books. Ever since those days, my love for video games had only grown. As we continued talking about our childhood, the sun steadily got higher. We thought about stopping for lunch but looking around we didn’t really find anything appetising to eat so we continued walking. I was glad that I had made Reyna relax slightly. I wondered though, why wasn’t I freaking out like Reyna? Surely being in this situation, being terrified would make sense. I just felt a sense of calm, a little scared but overall, I was ok. Did it have anything to do with my class? Was it because I was The Gamer? Did I have some special skill or stat that allowed me to think calmly in this situation? Lost in thought it took me a while to notice.

The sounds that were usually in the forrest had gone. It was silent, the only sounds were the river gurgling past and Reyna and I breathing. I looked at Reyna to see that she was beginning to be affected by the eerie silence as well. Suddenly, we heard a high-pitched scream coming from the forrest.

Without any thought me and Reyna began to tear through the trees trying to find the source of the scream. After a few minutes, we came crashing through the trees. We saw that a young woman was backed up against a tree. She was wearing a blue shirt that seemed to be torn in places. Words above her head read:

Elena Pole

Level 3

She had her hands up in front of her defensively, to hold off anything that came to close to her. There appeared to be 5 zombies surrounding her. Looking around I could see a dappled brown and white horse that had its throat slashed, probably by one of the zombies surrounding the poor woman.

Looking at them they all had the same names and health bars above their heads, they all read:

Level 6

Lesser Undead (Zombie)

600 Hp

The zombies themselves all appeared to be skinny young men in their early 20’s, although 2 of them were missing an arm. I could see the bones protruding out from where the arms had clearly rotted off. ‘Cover me!’ I yelled at Reyna dashing forward drawing my sword from its sheath. Reyna had already unslung her bow and was steadily aiming at a zombie.

With my sword drawn I slashed at the closest zombie, it hearing my shout had turned to faced me and started to growl deep in its throat. I swung left to right, two-handing the blade, decapitating the zombie mid growl, numbers appearing next to its neck. Before its head had hit the ground, however, an arrow came flying past me hitting a zombie squarely in its forehead. Critical Hit! -60 appeared in red letters beside its face. It appeared slightly dazed, but before it could react, I rushed forward and attacked.

I slashed diagonally with one hand slicing through its skull. Half of its face landed on the forrest floor with some brain matter coming out, the arrow still firmly lodged in its skull. Its body soon fell beside it, its health bar draining quickly. Before I could even blink Reyna had already fired two more arrows. They were heading for one of the remaining undead creatures. They were aimed at the zombie’s legs, crippling it. Unable to walk, it collapsed on the ground pitifully and turned to face me.

I plunged my sword through its skull as Reyna fired two more arrows aiming for the eyes of one of the undead who was trying to sneak up behind me. Spinning around I looked at the creature, its health draining fast. Withdrawing my sword from the zombie at my feet, I strode forward and finished it off with a quick blow to its head.

All there was left was one of the undead creatures, I braced myself guessing what would happen next. The Zombie turned to face me, and Reyna then gave a guttural cry of rage. It then instead of attacking me as I had thought, it turned and began running straight for the woman. I screamed at the woman to get down, she ducked right as my sword cleaved through the creature’s skull and struck firmly into the tree, blood and brain coming off the blade. I watched as the red bar quickly depleted.

I kicked at the zombie to make sure it was dead then looked down, I could see two grey arrows protruding from its chest. Reyna must’ve fired before I had attacked. Moving forward I tugged my sword from the tree and sheathed it as Reyna came up to me and the woman. I turned my back to them to keep a look out and watch to see how items were formed from the zombie’s dead bodies. From the corner of my eye, I could see the woman was still shaking. She had long blonde hair with grey eyes. She was wearing a blue shirt that was torn in places with brown leather riding pants. She appeared to be crying. Reyna crouched down and asked, ‘Are you alright?’ before she could continue however the woman threw herself at Reyna and collapsed into tears. Reyna gave me a side long look as if to say, “Help me.” I shrugged, there wasn’t much I could do.

‘Th-thank you so-so much,’ the woman sobbed, ‘If you hadn’t have come across me when you did. I’d-I’d… I’d’ she collapsed into tears not wanting to voice how close to death she was.

‘What’s your name?’ Reyna asked gently stroking the woman’s back to calm her still looking sheepishly at me.

‘My-my name? It’s- its Elena’ Elena said shakily. She seemed to be calming down slowly.

‘Hello, Elena. My name is Reyna,’ Reyna said pointing to herself, ‘And that’s Lucas’ She said pointing at me. I waved at them both then turned back to my silent vigil over the forrest.

As Reyna continued questioning Elena about how she came to be in this forrest, I was noticing something happening to the dead bodies. They were beginning to get smoky, and the corpses seemed to be fading. ‘… and then they attacked us and killed Sebastian-’ Elena stopped talking once she also noticed that the bodies were fading away. Reyna confused by Elena’s silence looked to where she was watching. As we all watched together, we saw that the bodies were disappearing. It was if they were made from ash and were being blown away by a mysterious wind.

A screen popped open in front of me, it read

For vanquishing your foes, you have gained 75 XP

The screen disappeared. All that was left after the smoke cleared were several items glinting from the ground. I began to make my way to the closest item, a health potion, that was lying on the ground.

‘What is this? Is this some type of sorcery?’ Elena asked as she and Reyna watched as I began collecting the items from the ground.

‘I don’t know what the fuck it is. But I’m sure we’ll soon be finding out’ Reyna said just as confused about the situation as Elena.

After collecting mostly everything on the ground I slowly made my way back with the items in my hands, making sure as I did so that I wasn’t missing anything. I stopped however when I saw that both Reyna and Elena were confused and possibly a little scared.

‘What? Is something wrong?’ I asked them, puzzled by their looks, glancing around myself.

‘Yeah, something is wrong, what exactly is going on here?’ Reyna asked fear edging into her voice.

‘I thought you knew’ I said perplexed, ‘I thought it was totally normal, didn’t the body disappear when you killed the zombie?’

Shaking her head Reyna said, ‘No it didn’t.’ She got to her feet and looked at me curiously. ‘This is because of you,’ she said pointing at me, ‘you must have a weird power or something that can do this.’

‘I guess. I dunno. Can we talk about this later?’ I said gesturing ‘Right now though, we need to get the hell out of here before more of those things show up.’ I glanced at the woman on the ground, ‘Elena, can you lead us to the village that you mentioned?’ Elena nodded still shaken by everything that had happened. Reyna put out her hand to help Elena to her feet. She took it then and Reyna pulled her up. When Elena was back on her feet she said, ‘My village isn’t that far from here. It’s this way, my parents must be worried’ she said, after a moment. Elena after dusting herself off began to walk purposefully through the trees. Reyna glanced at me still puzzled and I shrugged. After that, she followed her.

I grabbed the remaining items that had been dropped and after placing them in my pockets ran after them, catching back up to them after a few minutes. I drew Reyna’s attention back towards me by calling out to her. Curious she stopped and looked at what I held in my hands ‘Here, I believe these are yours?’ I said handing her several arrows that I had picked up. When the bodies had evaporated and left the items they had also left Reyna’s arrows lying on the ground. They appeared as if they had never been fired in the first place. Wordlessly Reyna placed the arrows carefully back in the quiver. ‘Is something wrong’ Elena asked curiously. She had noticed us stop.

‘Everything’s fine. I was just giving Reyna back her arrows’ I called back to her. Slightly puzzled with my answer, Elena continued leading us towards her home. Reyna was still confused about my ability, but she seemed reluctant to say anything more about it though while we walked. She appeared satisfied that I would tell her everything I knew about later. I was glad that I didn’t mention the window that had appeared or the experience that I had gained. The trouble I’d have explaining that, I sighed deeply.

After about 10 minutes of us trudging through the thick rainforest, we came to an opening between the trees. We were standing at the top of a hill, looking down we could see a small village nestled in a valley. Looking across from where we were standing, I could make out a mountain in the distance.

Pointing at the mountain Elena said, ‘That’s Drake Mountain and down there,’ she said pointing below her, ‘is Drake village’. From our vantage point at the top of the hill, I noticed a couple of things.

Firstly, there was a building at the far end of the village. It was one of the few buildings made of stone. What drew my attention to it was the black smoke billowing from the large stone chimney, and how the building was open to the elements. Probably a Blacksmith or something, I reasoned.

The other thing that drew my eye was the only other large building within the village, it was over two stories high. There was also a large crowd of people standing in front of it. I could see various names and levels from where I was standing. I looked back down to see that Reyna and Elena had already begun walking down towards the village. With a muffled curse I ran after them, trying to catch up. As we walked into the village proper, we began to see some of the villagers. We noticed there were young children playing a game in the streets chasing each other around with make shift swords. I noticed several elderly men crowded around playing a game of cards smoking pipes, their eyes fixated on the cards in their hands and each other. From what I could make out it appeared that they were playing poker.

Continuing our way through the streets some children ran past screaming, ‘I am the Dragon!’ I glanced at Reyna when they ran passed us, but she merely shrugged. There was a young mother scolding her son because he was covered in mud. He flashed us a mischievous grin as we walked past. We appeared to be walking towards the two-story building in the centre of town. As we got closer to the building I noticed the crowd in front of us. It was made up of men between the ages of 20-40. They were all carrying different pieces of weaponry. I could see a number of names and various levels above their heads.

Several had pitchforks, some held spears which were little more than sharpened sticks, others had thick clubs which appeared to be branches ripped off trees. There were even a few men with old looking swords, probably family heirlooms that had been handed down from each generation. Addressing the crowd was a middle-aged man with greying hair, he was florid-faced and appeared to be very upset by something. He was dressed in a flannel green shirt and black pants. Above his head it read:

Morgan Pole

Level 6

[Mayor, Inn Owner]

As we walked closer, I saw one of the younger men glance at us and nudge his friend who turned and upon seeing us, dropped his spear that he was holding. The florid-faced man cursed at the man who had dropped his spear, then turned towards where the man was staring off to angrily. Words caught in his mouth as he saw us, his expression changed. After a moment’s hesitation he started running, tears in his eyes his arms out stretched. I shared a puzzled look with Reyna as the man ran towards us. I could hear him yelling a name, ‘Elena!’

I looked beside me for Elena and noticed that she had already run off, ‘Father!’ she yelled. When the two had closed the distance, the man who seemed to be Elena’s father, picked her up and hugged her tightly. After a few moments, they disengaged from each other.

I could see that the crowd of men where respectfully giving the two some space. The one who had dropped his spear quickly grabbed it before moving away with a small smile creeping up onto his face. As we strode up to Elena and her Father, I was able to catch some of the conversation the two were having. ‘-so worried when you didn’t come home for lunch. What happened Elena?’ her father said resting a hand on her shoulder.

‘I was attacked, by those undead things that are in the forrest. They got Sebastian,’ Elena stifled a sob, ‘I would have been dead if it were not for these two.’ She said turning to face us. As we walked up, I noticed there were tears shining in her eyes. Her father looked up from his daughter to examine us.

I fidgeted under his scrutiny, after a few moments he let out a big hearty laugh. I let out a pent-up breath that I had been unaware of holding. Her father still had a hand placed on Elena’s shoulder as she faced us. Elena gestured to us in turn and said, ‘Dad meet Lucas and Reyna the ones who saved me,’ She then gestured towards her father, ‘This is Morgan, my Father. He’s the owner of our village’s Inn the Sleeping Wolf and he’s also the town’s Mayor.’ I looked up, behind Elena and Morgan, at the sign which depicted a wolf curled up in front of a warm fire. Looking back down I noticed that Morgan held his hand out towards me.

I grasped it and he shook my hand firmly saying as he did so, ‘Thank you so very much for saving my daughter from those vile creatures. If you need something, anything, don’t be afraid to ask,’ Morgan said. He then moved to Reyna and thanked her, also shaking her hand. After this he turned to the men still standing there, waiting patiently, ‘You can all go home now. I know some of your wives are worried about you.’ They chuckled at that, ‘Thank you, if anyone is ever in peril again, I know I can rely on you all.’

The crowd satisfied with what Morgan said, cheered then slowly began to drift away in groups back to their homes.

Turning back to us Morgan gestured for us to follow him into the inn saying, ‘You two look very weary. I’m sure my wife would be pleased to rustle something up for you. Besides Elena, I believe you should change out of that shirt before you catch yourself a death of cold’ Morgan added looking pointedly at Elena. Elena looked down and blushed covering her chest, you could see a small amount of her breasts where the fabric had been torn. We followed Morgan into the Inn, it was larger than I thought.

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The Inn had several small round tables surrounded by chairs, each table held a candle and several flowers in a vase on top of it. There was also a fireplace to my left as I walked in, which wasn’t currently lit, with a stack of freshly split wood beside it. As we walked between the tables towards the bar, I noticed that the bar had four large oak barrels behind it, all of which had taps sticking out of them.

There was a woman who was busily wiping down the bench with a rag, she glanced up at us tiredly as we walked closer. She had blonde hair that was beginning to go grey, her piercing grey eyes fixed on us as she noticed Elena standing there. Dropping the rag that she had been holding she ran out from behind the bar towards Elena, tears in her eyes. Above the woman’s head it read:

Gloria Pole

Level 5

As she hugged Elena, I turned to look at Reyna, ‘You'd think she was gone for a week, let alone a few hours the way things are going’ I commented.

Reyna nodded in agreement. I looked back and noticed that Elena had disengaged herself from her mother and was busy introducing us. She raised her arms and ran and hugged both Reyna then me.

I stood there stunned as Elena’s mother thanked us for saving her daughter, ‘My name is Gloria by the way.’ She said ushering us towards the bar and onto a couple of bar stools along it. Once seated she ran back behind the bar and behind a curtain towards what I assumed to be the kitchen. I looked back at Reyna who was just as stunned as I was. I shook my head ruefully and unbuckled my sword from my belt, placing it beside me. Reyna noticing what I was doing unslung her bow and placed it beside her. While Gloria ran off into the kitchen Morgan began to busy himself behind the bar.

Elena possibly noticing our stunned looks said, ‘I’m sorry about my parents they’re not normally so pushy.’ Before moving off to change out of her clothes.

‘It’s all good,’ I called, ‘Things must be hectic around here though for them to act like that’

Morgan piped up and asked if either of us wanted a drink. ‘Yeah sure. Why not?’ I said. Morgan placed three glasses down in front of us and began filling each with a golden-brown liquid.

Reyna looked at hers nervously while Morgan grabbed his glass and drained it placing the empty glass down on the counter. Taking the one in front of me I took a swig, it tasted like a fruity and nutty beer. I looked up at Morgan’s expectant face, ‘This is really good,’ I said nodding, ‘I’ve never had anything quite like it. Is this your own brew?’ I asked.

‘Yes, it is. I’m glad you like it. I call it Wolf’s Inn Ale,’ he looked at Reyna who hadn’t yet touched her drink, ‘Is there something wrong Miss?’ He asked her.

She jumped, she hadn’t noticed that we were watching her, ‘No nothing’s wrong. I’m just underage.’ She said. Morgan looked puzzled but before he could ask her what she meant, Gloria called for him from the kitchen. Elena hearing the conversation as she made her way down the stairs asked, ‘What do you mean your underage?’

‘Where we come from there’s a certain age you have to be before you can drink alcohol.’ I interjected before Reyna could say anything.

‘That’s very strange but you do seem to not be around here so I’m not going to judge’ She answered.

As Elena came towards us, I noticed she was wearing a purple blouse. With a sigh of relief, I turned to see the curtain, that acted as a partition between the kitchen and the bar, twitch open. Morgan and Gloria came out with three bowls of steaming stew in their hands.

They placed one in front of each of us, then placed bread beside our bowls along with wooden spoons. With a ‘dig in’ from Gloria, we began eating the stew in front of us. It tasted amazing, the small lumps of meat, which when I queried Gloria was lamb, melted in my mouth. The vegetables were sweet and succulent. The bread was perfect for dipping into the stew soaking up the juices. After several minutes of busy eating, I finished the stew and pushed my bowl away. ‘Thank you, that was delicious’ I said sated. Reyna beside me who was still eating grunted in agreement. Gloria beamed, she pointed to my empty bowl and asked if I wanted more. I nodded, as she moved to grab my bowl I heard a large burp beside me.

‘Excuse me,’ Reyna said slightly embarrassed. Gloria smiled and grabbed her bowl to fill it back up. As she moved away, Reyna glanced at the glass in front of her. She grabbed it took a sniff then took a swig. She scrunched up her face expecting a bad taste but when none came she took another swig of her ale.

I looked back up at Morgan, ‘Thanks again for all you’ve done. We’ve had a couple of rough days as you may be able to tell.’ I said.

Morgan grabbed my glass and began to refill it, ‘Well considering how you were in the Dark Forrest I don’t blame you. Where are you two from anyway?’ He asked handing me a full glass of ale.

‘Now that’s a good question.’ Reyna said taking another sip of her ale. ‘It’s sort of hard to explain.’

‘Try me, I’ve heard a lot of outlandish things lately I doubt anything you can say will surprise me. I had one fellow come in claiming Dragons had taken roost in his field’ Morgan said shaking his head in disbelief.

Reyna took a sip from her glass, trying to figure out where to start. ‘Well, you see we aren’t really from around here, from this world to be exact. Lucas and I we’ve been transported? Teleported? I don’t know, but now we’re here.’

Morgan nodded along as Reyna and I recounted what had happened in the forrest, I decided to leave out the parts about my abilities, when we finished recounting the events Morgan marshalled his thoughts then said, ‘Hmm, there have been some strange rumours floating around of people from another world coming here. Some of which have strange abilities or powers,’ He crossed his arms and leant back against the oak barrels along the wall. ‘But I thought it was just a myth, a tale that you discussed with a weary traveller. I never thought it was true but now, now after hearing your story it seems I stand corrected.’

Before Morgan could continue, however, Gloria game bustling through with two more bowls of lamb stew. As she placed them in front of us Morgan, possibly remembering about our empty glasses, uncrossed his arms and moved to fill them up again. As we ate Morgan said, ‘Now if I remember correctly there was some talk from the court wizards looking into the sudden appearance of these strangers,’ He placed a mug in front of each of us. I nodded and began to take a large swig from my glass, I was beginning to feel warmth from the alcohol ‘Your best bet is to head over to Fort Silver. The Baron should have someone with the information you need.’ As we spoke Elena watched raptly in our discussion, surprise written on her face. Gloria stood next to her husband as we spoke nodding every now and then.

‘Ok, I guess we’ll head out tomorrow then.’ I said placing my glass back on top of the bar top. ‘Do you know anyone who could guide us to this “Fort”’ I said pointing my spoon at him.

‘I have a few people in mind. In the meantime, you can stay here’ Morgan said gesturing around.

I started to rummage through my pockets for the coins I had collected. When I had a hand full of them, I placed them down onto the counter. Removing my hand from the counter revealed 4 gold coins and 5 silvers.

‘I hope this is enough to cover everything. I don’t know much about your currency.’ I said as I removed my hand from the counter. Morgan looked at the small pile on the bar top and then back at me. He placed a hand on the coins and was thoughtful for a few moments. He then pushed the coins back towards me. He smiled at me and said, ‘There’s no need to pay me. You saved my daughter's life. It’s the least I can do to repay you.’ He then pushed the coins apart with a finger then pointed at the gold. ‘By the way this is the highest,’ He then pointed to one of the silvers, ‘10 of these is equal to one gold,’ He then rummaged in his pockets and removed a small copper coin and placed it next to the silver, ‘and 20 of these is equal to a silver.’ I nodded slowly as he explained.

I looked back up at Morgan ‘But I still feel like I owe you “A Frost always pays his debts”. Well, that’s what my Old Man always says anyway’ I said to him. I still left the coins on the counter stubbornly.

Reyna next to me piped up hoping to end the conflict, ‘We’ll probably be needing supplies if we’re leaving here tomorrow. Morgan? Gloria? Do you think you could find some supplies for us? You can use the money that Lucas has to pay for it.’ She said pointing to each of us in turn.

Morgan opened his mouth then closed it, he turned to his wife for an answer. She appeared thoughtful then nodded ‘I think we could arrange something like that’ She said smiling.

Moving forward she swiped up some of the coins leaving behind 2 gold. Pocketing the coins, she moved back to the kitchen, after a minute or 2 she came back out wearing a brown leather jacket over her yellow blouse. ‘Elena, can you come with me?’ Gloria asked looking at Elena. After a few moments, Elena sighed and reluctantly followed her mother out. Before she left, however, Gloria commented on the state of our weapons, ‘Tsk, to think you managed to make it here with those. Morgan take them to see my brother, would you? I believe they need to be better equipped if they’re leaving here tomorrow.’ She said clicking her tongue. Stopping at the Inn’s door Gloria paused and turned towards us again, ‘Was there anything in particular you wanted?’ she asked. Glancing at Reyna I piped up and said, ‘Yes. If you could get a Notebook for me that would be great.’ Gloria nodded then walked through the Inns door with Elena in tow. I glanced at Reyna as Gloria left, she looked as confused as I was. Chuckling Morgan began to clear up our stuff from behind the bar.

‘Gloria’s always had an eye for weapons. Probably because of her growing up in a family of Blacksmiths.’ He said walking into the kitchen. I collected the remaining coins and placed them back in my pocket.

When he came back out he held a small sign in his hands which read:

Closed for 1 hour

I got up from my seat and began to buckle my sword back on. I glanced at Reyna who had slung her bow across her body. That done we followed Morgan out the front door where he placed the sign on the door handle.

He pointed up the street to the building made from stone, ‘My Brother-in-law works there. He should be able to help you two out. Follow me’ As Morgan led us up the street, I was able to get a closer look at the blacksmith’s building.

It looked old but not rundown, I looked up at the stone chimney to see black smoke pouring out. As we got closer I was able to make out a large man busily hammering something together. He was currently hammering a large flat piece of metal. As we got closer it appeared to be the head of a shovel. Above his head it read:

Flint Mont

Level 6

Blacksmith

As we waited for the blacksmith to finish his work, I was able to get a good look around at his forge. There were tools neatly lined up along each wall, he had several different sized anvils scattered around as well as several different workbenches. As my eyes roved around I noticed some of his previous works hanging on the walls. There was a sculpture of a wolf that was made completely from iron bars off to my right. Various weapons and tools hung on the wall, there were even several bows.

I looked back over to see that the blacksmith had finished hammering the hot piece of metal and with one fluid movement, picked up the metal using a pair of tongs, and plunged it into a bucket of liquid. With a loud sizzling sound, the metal cooled. After a few seconds the blacksmith picked up the now cool metal and placed it on top of a large anvil beside him.

Noticing us he looked up and turned to face us. He was wearing a large leather apron which had scratches on its surface, his hands were covered in black leather gloves which he began taking off once he saw us. He had a mop of black hair on his head, his eyes were grey like Gloria’s and he also had a very strong square jaw. ‘Morgan, what brings you here? I thought you were going to go head the search party into the forrest?’ He asked pointedly. ‘And who are these two?’ He added shifting his gaze to me and Reyna.

‘These two are the ones who saved Elena from the Forrest and brought her back home to us’ Morgan said resting a hand on each of our shoulders.

‘Is, that right?’ The Blacksmith asked I nodded nervously. He tucked his gloves into his belt then proffered a large callused hand out towards me. ‘The names Flint, thanks for getting Elena back’ I took his hand shaking it firmly.

‘My names Lucas and this is Reyna’ I said pointing to Reyna beside me.

‘Hi’ Reyna said tentatively.

‘Gloria was wondering if you might have some weapons that they could use.’ Morgan piped up. Flint raised an eyebrow and gave us both a critical look. Sighing he asked us to remove our weapons, so he could take a closer look at them. I unbuckled my sword and then gave it to him. He glanced at the rust along the scabbard narrowing his eyes, then slowly drew the sword out of the sheath. He noticed the spots of rust along the blade. Slowly shaking his head, he glanced back at me, ‘You don’t really know how to take care of your sword now do you?’ He asked I shook my head shrugging slightly. Sighing he sheathed the sword and placed it beside him, ‘I guess I can teach you a few things and give you the tools you’ll need to maintain your weapons. Now, young lady,’

He said turning to Reyna, ‘may I have a look at that bow of yours?’ Flint asked proffering his hand out to her. Reyna hesitated for a moment then unslung the bow and handed it to Flint. He examined the bow carefully and drew it back fully. Nodding he placed the bow beside himself. ‘That’s got some decent draw weight on it, I’d say it’s about 30 pounds?’ He asked Reyna.

Reyna smiled, ‘Yeah around that. But I’m used to a bow with a draw weight of 35-40’ She said.

Flint whistled, ‘Wow, now aren’t you a strong young lady. This one here, unfortunately, appears to be on its last legs.’ Flint gestured to the bow beside him. Looking closer at it I could see that the bow was splintering in some places. ‘Hmm, any preference for a replacement bow?’ Flint said scratching his chin. ‘I have Long Bows, Short bows and a couple of Recurves in stock. What type of arrows do you use by the way?’

‘I’d like a Recurve if you have one. I’m more used to them anyway. Oh, and these are what I’ve been using’ Reyna said drawing an arrow from her quiver and handing it over to Flint. He looked it over with a critical eye and noticed some rust on the arrow head.

Pursing his lips, he handed the arrow back to Reyna, ‘I can stock you with plenty of high-quality steel arrows if you want. Was that all of the weapons that the two of you carry?’ Flint asked looking at Reyna and me.

I nodded and glanced at Reyna as she unbuckled her daggers from her belt. She handed them to Flint. Flint drew the larger of the two and noticed that it also had some flecks of rust along the blade, ‘What the hell! Did you two get scammed and given cheap ass weapons?’ He asked us angrily.

‘Ah sort of, I guess’ I said hesitantly. I didn’t feel comfortable telling him that we were both new to this whole thing.

He shook his head and after placing the weapons on the table beside him said exasperatedly, ‘Wait here’, then walked through a door at the back of the forge and shut it behind him. ‘Ah, what was that all about?’ I asked turning towards Morgan, slightly puzzled.

‘Flint takes pride in giving people high-quality weapons for low prices. He believes although his weapons may take lives that they can also save them. He doesn’t like it when someone runs a scam on low-quality weapons which ends up risking the life of the person wielding it’ He explained.

I nodded, satisfied with Morgan’s answer, then glanced at Reyna to see what she thought. She was busily unclasping the buckle on her chest to remove her quiver. I raised an eyebrow at her when she noticed I was watching, ‘He said he has arrows that are better than these that I could use’ She said, answering my unspoken question. I shrugged. We waited for a few more minutes then suddenly the door that Flint had gone through banged open. His arms were full carrying several swords, a couple of bows and some daggers. I hurriedly moved forward to help him, but he shrugged me off. He carefully placed the weapons on a workbench nearby. ‘That’s most of it but I still have a few things in the back I need to get.’ Flint said pointing a thumb behind him. Turning around he walked back to the door. Before he closed it behind him he called out, ‘Feel free to get a feel for those weapons. You may very well be leaving here with them’ That said he closed the door. I glanced at Reyna questioningly, she only shrugged at me and moved towards the table.

Sighing I moved closer and grabbed one of the swords that were lying there. Moving away from Reyna and Morgan I drew the sword. I gave it a couple of practice swings to get a feel for its weight. It was slightly too heavy for my liking, sheathing the sword I moved back to the work table. I noticed that Reyna was testing a bow that she had just picked up. Her lithe body held the bow in her left hand as she drew it back with her right.

I could see her shoulder blades coming together as she drew the bow. After a few moments, she released the tension in the bow. She glanced up at me as I was getting ready to pick up another sword. She shook her head and walked back over to the table and picked up another bow. I grabbed a sword which seemed slightly longer than the one I had just used. As I moved back to my spot I could feel Reyna’s eyes watching me. I was nervous as I slowly drew the sword from its scabbard. I nodded to myself, the sword this time was very light. I gave it a couple of practice swings, the sword however felt too light. It felt that one good swing from someone else’s sword could break it. I sheathed the sword and placed it, so the hilt was resting against the table top. It was a very well-made sword, but I didn’t know if it was the one for me.

Reyna was already on her way back as I picked up the last sword that Flint had brought out for me. Reyna cast a critical eye over the last two bows. She then shifted her hand to the closest one then grabbed it moving back.

I watched as she again drew the bow string back, this time her fingertips brushing against her ear. She nodded to herself as she released the tension. Plucking up an arrow from her quiver she drew the bow again. This time, however, she shook her head, seeming to be not satisfied with the bow.

She walked back to the table however and placed the bow next to the sword I had leaning against the table. Ignoring Reyna for the moment I drew the sword that I held. This one felt heavy, but strong and seemed to very well balanced as I drew it. I looked at the swords cross guard and noticed there was some ornamentation to it. It looked as if the guard itself where a pair of wings.

I began to swing the sword in small precise circles getting a feel for the blade in my hand. The weight of the sword wasn’t unbearable. As I slowly picked up speed slashing to the left and right, the sword began to feel like an extension of my arm. The weight of the blade coupled with the almost perfect balance made it seem perfect for me. The way the hilt fit into my hand so easily, whether I was two-handing the sword or not, made me decide that this sword was the one for me. I sheathed it just as Flint came back, again laden with items in his arms. He had a few more bows for Reyna to try out, several quivers of different arrows, some daggers and a pair of gauntlets. He noticed the sword in my hand, ‘I see so that one’s caught your fancy? Huh?’ He asked pointing to the sword in my hand.

‘Yeah. It’s strange though, I feel like this sword was made for me’ I said excitedly.

Flint chuckled to himself, ‘I’m not surprised. I originally made that for Morgan’s son.’ He said pointing to Morgan. ‘As well as another 2 more, like the one sitting over there.’ Pointing at the long sword I had set aside. ‘You two are very similar in build’ He added

I looked at Morgan quizzically, ‘Where’s your son now Morgan?’ I asked.

‘My son? Mathew? He joined up with the Royal Guard a few years ago. He comes by every now and then whenever he can get time off’ Morgan answered.

I nodded and looked back at Flint. ‘I’ll take it then if it’s all right with you Morgan?’ I said glancing back.

Morgan nodded in acceptance, ‘I doubt he’ll be needing it anytime soon’ he said with a smile on his face

‘So young lady found anything you like?’ Flint asked turning to face Reyna.

Reyna frowned, looking at the small pile of bows, ‘Not quite yet. Nothing feels right. Either the draw weights to low or it’s too high. Or the bow itself is either too heavy or too light’ Reyna said.

Flint scratched his chin thoughtfully, then moved over to a table that was covered with a blue tarp. He removed the tarp revealing a beautiful rose red recurve bow. Placing a hand into a small box near the bow, he removed a bow string. He turned towards Reyna handing her the bow and string.

‘Try this one out. I was experimenting with different wood grains and made this’ Flint said gesturing to the bow now in Reyna's hands.

Reyna wordlessly began to string the bow. Firstly, she placed one end of the bow string into a notch on the lower end of the bow. She then placed the limb between her feet and moved the string towards the upper end of the bow, bending it as she did so. When the string was in position she let it slide into the notch. She pulled the string back a few times marvelling at the weight of the bow and how light it felt. She started looking around the workshop, Flint cottoning onto what she was thinking drew a steel arrow from one of the quivers nearby. ‘Here, you’re probably looking for something like this’ He said handing her the arrow. Reyna mumbled her thanks and took the arrow.

‘Do you see that wooden post?’ Flint asked pointing. We all turned to look, there was a large wooden post about 20 metres away with a sign on top of it that read The Dark Forrest, ‘Try hitting it’

Reyna nocked the arrow to the rosewood bow and slowly drew it back. I could see the focus she had on her target as she slowly breathed in and out.

When the arrows dark fletching touched the corner of her cheek, she let out half of her breath then released the arrow. With barely any sound it went racing across the yard. With a dull thump, the arrow quivered in the post. With a satisfied grunt, Reyna turned back towards us. ‘I’ll take it. This bow is amazing, so light yet so very powerful.’ Reyna said smiling, looking down at the bow in her hands.

‘Glad you like it. Hey kid!’ Flint called turning towards me. As I turned to face him he threw something at me. Instinctively I caught it with one hand. ‘Try those on’

I looked down and noticed he had given me a pair of black fingerless gloves. I put the sword down onto the workbench for the time being then put the gloves on.

I noticed as I put on the gloves that they had a small metal plate on the back of them. I thought the metal would make the gloves feel uncomfortable, but they were extremely soft. I marvelled at the gloves, I looked back to Flint who was watching me. ‘Try having a few swings of that their sword, see how it feels now’ Flint said pointing to the sword I had placed on the workbench. I picked the sword back up and unsheathed it. The sword felt comfortable in my gloved hands and as I swung it I didn’t feel like the sword was going to slip from my grasp. If it was at all possible the sword in my hand felt like a greater extension to my body ‘Thank you. These gloves are amazing’ I said as I continued to gaze at the gloves.

‘I thought you might like them.’ Flint said smiling. I sheathed my sword once again and placed it back on the workbench. Reyna beside me was putting on her new quiver of arrows. As we were doing this Flint began to dig through the pile of weapons and pulled out three daggers, one of them was slightly smaller than the others. ‘Hey, you two check these out.’ Flint said handing us the daggers. I drew the dagger that he gave me, it had an unusual colouration to it; the blade was orange in colour. But as I spun the dagger around, the orange colour changed from a coppery glow to that of a sunset.

The dagger was beautiful, it felt light in my hand as I swung it back and forth admiring the change in colour. Reluctantly I sheathed my dagger to see that Reyna was about to unsheathe hers. Holding a dagger in each hand Reyna hesitated for a moment, then placed one of her daggers on a workbench close by. Unsheathing the remaining dagger Reyna gasped in surprise.

The blade was a beautiful greenish blue and as she turned it over to admire the blade the colour changed, it went from an aqua blue to a bluish green. It looked as if the blade was the colour of the Ocean. She hesitated for a moment then unsheathed her other dagger. As she drew it we both were surprised to see that the dagger was also greenish blue in colour, but a slightly darker shade as if the dagger came from the deepest parts of the ocean. Reyna began to swing her daggers experimentally, a smile growing on her face as she did so. As she swung her daggers back and forth she looked like a beautiful but deadly ballerina. A faint chuckle could be heard from nearby, startled Reyna and I whirled around to see where it had come from.

‘I take it you two like ’em?’ Flint asked, a wide smile erupting onto his face. He glanced down at the daggers held in our hands. I coughed slightly embarrassed. Reyna and I shared a meaningful look, Reyna with a large smile on her face turned back and said, ‘We love them. They’re so beautiful the colours are just…’ Reyna couldn’t say any more she was too entranced with her dagger.

Flint was beginning to laugh again when I interrupted him, ‘What are the daggers made from by the way?’ I asked curiously, ‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it. How could anything give off such a vibrant colour’ I added.

Flint scratched his chin, ‘It’s made from a unique ore called Hellvix. Before you even ask,’ he said raising a hand, ‘the reason why it’s called Hellvix, is because the ore is a very deep red in colour when its mined as if it has come from the depths of Hell itself, hence the name’

I nodded along as he spoke, ‘So is it rare to find Hellvix?’ I asked.

‘Not particularly. No. The problem with Hellvix is trying to forge anything from it. You need a large amount of heat, patience and time.’ Flint explained raising 3 fingers, ‘Frankly, most blacksmiths hate dealing with it. But me,’ he paused for a moment, ‘I love it’ he looked proud as he said it.

I looked back down at the dagger he gave me, ‘Why are our daggers different though? Why aren’t they the same colour?’ I asked.

‘Now that’s a good question.’ Flint began explaining, ‘You see according to wizards who have done some research on the subject, after the forging process its magical properties are activated. It shows the true colour of a person’s heart. Hand me your dagger for a second and I’ll show you what I mean’ Flint placed his hand out palm upwards.

I hesitated for a moment then handed him the dagger. Within moments of him touching the dagger, it’s colours shimmered from a bright orange to a deep red.

‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ Reyna said mystified by what we had both just witnessed. Morgan beside us didn’t show much enthusiasm, however, probably because he’d already seen the change happen numerous times in the past. Flint handed the dagger back to me. ‘I’m glad you two like them. Not many people are very appreciative of the things that can be made from Hellvix. They believe it has something to do with the occult. Bunch of idiots.’ Flint said shaking his head. ‘Well I’m going to go put all these away,’ he gestured at the work bench, ‘and I’ll be back to teach you two, how to take care of your gear.’

That said he bustled over to the workbench and quickly picked everything back up and strolled back through the door, all the while whistling a half-familiar tune. Reyna walked over to the workbench where she had placed the scabbards for her daggers and quietly sheathed her new weapons.

‘These are amazing,’ Reyna said daggers in hand, ‘I just hope Flint has a way for us to carry all these.’ We waited there quietly marvelling over the weapons that Flint had given us, awkwardly holding them in our hands. After a few more minutes I voiced that we should place them on the nearby workbench. As we finished placing the weapons on to the table we were startled as the workshop door banged open once again. Flint strolled out purposefully with several leather belts and cords, it seemed like he had a similar idea. He also held several stones which I assumed we would use to sharpen and maintain our weapons. He placed all these down onto a workbench. He then bustled over to a corner and began pulling down several different tools. He walked back over to us with a tape measure in one hand, ‘So who wants me to make a belt for their weapons first’ Flint asked his eyes darting from me to Reyna. I indicated that Reyna should go first.

‘You might want to remove your cloak first, it’ll make things a little easier young miss.’ He said gesturing towards her cloak. Reyna quickly undid the clasp and folded her cloak. She looked around for a moment wondering where she should put it. ‘Here let me hold onto it’ I said. Reyna nodded gratefully and handed me her cloak. Flint then picked up a tape measure. ‘Things may get a little uncomfortable. But keep in mind I’m a professional.’ He said hesitantly. Reyna nodded knowing full well what he meant. Flint got down on his knees and wrapped the tape around Reyna’s waist. He nodded to himself then moved to measure from her waist down to her knee. ‘So, when you sheath your daggers they don’t bang against your leg’ He explained as he moved to the other leg. He remeasured her waist once more then satisfied he made several notes on a piece of paper nearby. After woulds, he collected some pieces of leather nearby and began to make very precise cuts. Within minutes the workings of a belt for Reyna’s daggers began to take shape. As he worked he asked us how soon we needed the belts to be done by. He explained the one that he was currently working on for Reyna was only temporary and that he'd be making a proper one soon. ‘Well, we’re hopefully going to leave town tomorrow and head out towards Fort Silver’ Reyna answered.

Flint paused for a moment, ‘Hmm leaving tomorrow eh?’ He asked continuing to work on the belt. ‘Well if you can wait a little longer, I’ll be going to the Fort myself,’ He gestured to his left. ‘I’ve got a large amount of stock that they want. Because I’m one of the few people that can forge something with Hellvix I have a better understanding of how to forge weapons and armour. Because of this Sir Grant at the Fort is constantly asking me to make swords for him and his students. It can be a hassle sometimes, but the pays good, so that’s something at least’ He laughed. ‘Anyway, if you want you could always come with me as I travel to the Fort. Strength in numbers and all that. Plus, it’d give me more time to work on these’ Flint said gesturing to the belt he was working on.

We stood there uncertainly, I began to scratch my chin in thought. ‘What do you think Reyna?’ I asked looking pointedly at her.

‘I don’t mind waiting a little longer. Besides, we don’t really know where Fort Silver is, and we do need someone to take us there.’ Reyna said. We both looked at Morgan for confirmation.

‘I guess that’s decided then’ Morgan said clapping his hands together. ‘Do you mind if these two tag along then?’ Morgan asked jokingly, indicating us with his clasped hands.

‘I’d love it especially in these harsh times. Also having a couple of extra hands to act as security would certainly help’ Flint said chuckling slightly. ‘Hey, young lady may I borrow those daggers from you for a moment?’ Flint asked proffering a hand out still focused on creating the belt for the daggers. Reyna wordlessly picked the daggers back from where she had placed them on the workbench and walked over to Flint. Once she had given him her daggers Flint in a flurry of movement began to attach each scabbard to the belt. After a few more minutes he leaned back and declared ‘I believe your belt is now complete. Could you try the belt on quickly? I want to make sure that I’ve measured everything correctly, that way when I do start work on your real belt, I don’t have to ask for you to come back in.’ Reyna strolled over to the table and delicately put the belt on. It fit perfectly, as Flint breathed a sigh of relief I walked back over with Reyna’s cloak in my arms and handed it to her.

She spun the cloak around and reattached it back on using a clip in the shape of an eagle. She then quickly unsheathed her daggers to make sure that her cloak wouldn’t get in the way of them.

As she sheathed them she noticed how her hands would naturally rest on the hilts of each dagger. Satisfied with her belt she turned to face me, ‘I guess it’s your turn to get measured now Lucas’ She said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Sighing I moved closer to Flint, so he could take my measurements. ‘I don’t think so,’ Flint said as I walked up to him, ‘like I said before your similar in build to Mathew. I’ll only have to slightly alter the belt for your new dagger. After that, we can check if the belt fits you. If not then I’ll measure you, so I can alter it.’ He pointed at Reyna. ‘In the young lady’s case, however, I had to make the belt from scratch because one of the daggers is slightly larger than the other. As I said before it’s still a work in progress’ Flint walked over to the workbench where I had placed the sword and dagger. He picked them up and walked back over to his worktable. After a few minutes of work, he handed me the completed belt. I wordlessly buckled the belt on, the weight of the weapons hanging from the belt comforted me. It was like having the familiar weight of my phone or wallet in my pocket. I looked up to see that Flint was watching me, he had a worried look on his face.

‘Don’t worry the belt is fine. In fact, it’s perfect, I believe Mathew would probably say the same if he was here.’ I said beaming. Flint breathed a sigh of relief as I said this. ‘That’s good to know’ he said washing his hands of the matter, ‘Okay I guess the next thing we need to tackle is how to take care of your weapons’ I nodded enthusiastically.

Flint walked over to a wall that had several weapons hanging there. He looked over them then picked one off the wall. He walked back to the table where he had placed the stones and gestured for us to come to him.  As we made our way to the table I noticed the stones he was using, they were all rectangular. I also noticed sitting next to the stones was a small flask filled with liquid. Flint held the sword easily in one hand, ‘So, as you may be able to see this sword is slightly damaged’ Flint said. I looked closer at the sword he held and noticed that there were several notches along the swords edge. Flint began to point to each notch as he spoke, ‘There are a couple ways how these could have formed. The most common ways are when someone slashed down with their own sword and the person being attacked blocked with their own.’ Flint made a cutting gesture in the air with one of his hands.

‘The other way is if someone attacked someone else’s armour.’ Flint then picked up one of the stones. ‘Now the only way to get rid of these is to use this.’ Flint said raising the stone to eye level.

‘This is called a whetstone, a sharpening stone if you will. Now before I start showing you two how to use this,’ Flint paused and pointed at each of us in turn. ‘Remember less is more, try not to sharpen your sword too much.

‘Otherwise, you increase the chance of breaking or chipping the blade when using it. Remember the golden rule: Less is more’ Flint said. We Nodded.

He placed the whetstone on the bench and begun to talk us through the process. ‘There are two ways to sharpen your sword. The first way is to place your whetstone on a flat surface like so. Now if you’re sharpening a sword like this you would usually use something to lubricate the whetstone before using it’ He unstoppered the flask and poured some of the liquid on to the whetstone. ‘I usually use water, but most people use oil.’ Flint said shrugging. He then pointed at the stone. ‘Keep in mind though you don’t have to wet the stone before using it. It just helps with the process, plus it clears up any of the metal shavings that you create.’ He then held the swords blade in his hands carefully. ‘Now, when sharpening a sword, the angle at which you hold it is important. Too low and you risk sharpening it too much, too high and you risk blunting the sword. So, an angle of 20-30 degrees is the optimal angle. Remember,’ He pointed to me as he said this, ‘not all swords and knives have the same angle at which you need to sharpen it at.’ Flint held the sword in his hands and began to move it back and forth along the stone, as he worked he said, ‘As I’m doing this I’m counting how many times I’ve moved the blade along the stone. That way when I turn it over like this,’ Flint flipped the blade over and began sharpening the sword again, ‘I’ll be able to make sure I’m sharpening both sides evenly.’ After a few minutes of Flint sharpening the sword, he flipped it back over and eyed the edge of the blade. ‘Hmm seems good. There are several ways to identify if a sword is sharp. The main way is to look down the blade and check if there is no reflection coming off the edge. If there’s a reflection, you’ll have to keep sharpening your sword. Here take a look yourself’ He said handing the sword to me. I glanced down at the edge and noticed what he said was right, there wasn’t a reflection on either side of the swords edge. Wordlessly I handed the sword over to Reyna and watched as she checked the sword. While we were doing this Flint had been busy and had walked over to a nearby wall, removing two short swords that were hanging there.

Walking back over to us he noticed that we had finished looking over the sword. ‘Reckon you two are ready to try your hand at sharpening these swords?’ He asked placing the swords in front of each of us. I looked at mine and after a moment's hesitation picked up a whetstone beside me.

I looked around for the bottle of water and noticed that Reyna had bet me to it. She handed the bottle to me and started sharpening her sword. Flint watched all this happen with a critical eye, over the next few minutes he jumped in to help us.

If it looked like we were sharpening our swords at a too high or low of angle he would guide our hands into the correct position. After a few minutes Flint stopped us, ‘Now the second way to sharpen a sword is to move the whetstone along the blade.’ Flint said picking up the sword he had previously used. He then picked a smaller whetstone and upon showing us he began to move it along the blade. ‘Like before you want to count how many times you’re moving the stone along the blade.’ Flint then gestured towards us to follow the example. Soon the sound of swords sharpening could be heard. Again, Flint corrected us when either the angle was too shallow or too high.

After ten minutes Flint spoke up once again, ‘I reckon that’ll do for now. You’ve got the basics down pat, now all you need is practice. I should have mentioned this before, but Hellvix Daggers don’t need a lot of maintenance.’ We both nodded. Flint picked up both of the short swords and placed them back on the wall.

‘So, when are you leaving to go to Fort Silver?’ I asked Flint as he made his way back to us.

He paused for a moment, ‘Day after tomorrow. Is that alright with you?’ Flint asked. We both nodded. Flint crossed his arms, ‘Was there anything else that you two need?’

I scratched my chin thoughtfully for a moment, ‘You wouldn’t have any wooden practice swords by any chance? I want to get some practice in before we leave.’ I said. Flint looked at me curiously then nodded and turned back around to go through the workshop's door again.

‘Why’d you ask that?’ Reyna asked turning to face me.

‘Well before today I’ve never really fought with a sword before. So, any practice I can get will probably help’ I whispered. Reyna nodded in agreement then turned back to watch the door. After a few more minutes Flint came back in with a wooden sword in his hand. ‘Is this what you wanted?’ He asked handing me the sword, he had a quizzical look on his face.

‘Yes, this is perfect thank you.’ I said taking the sword.

Flint shrugged and began to collect the whetstones and began placing them in a bag. ‘Here you go’ He said handing the bag to me. He clapped his hands together, ‘So I take it that’s everything you need?’ Flint began to tick items off his fingers, ‘Ok, weapons; check, whetstone’s; check, daggers; check, and arrows; check. Hmm, I guess that’s about it. Oh, I’ll have your belt ready for you tomorrow afternoon’ He added glancing at Reyna.

I began to rummage around in my pockets, ‘Thank you. How much do we owe you?’ I asked pulling out some coins.

Flint scratched his chin, ‘I’d say about 2 gold. Normally I’d charge you more, but since you’ll be travelling with me on my way to Fort Silver I don’t need to hire extra guards.’

‘That’s sounds reasonable enough. Here.’ I said handing him two gold coins. He picked them up from my hand. Flint smiled at me. ‘So, what are you going to do with our old weapons?’ I asked pointing behind him.

‘I’ll probably melt down the sword,’ Flint said picking it up, ‘Not much else I can do with it. There isn’t a lot of the metal that isn’t rusted, same with the daggers. The bow,’ He gestured to where it was lying on the table, ‘I’ll probably either end up scrapping it or using it for firewood. Not much else I can do considering how the bows warped.’

‘Wait the bow was warped?’ I asked curiously, I glanced at Reyna. She didn’t seem surprised.

‘Yeah, if the young lady had continued using the bow, she would have had to start aiming slightly to the left to compensate for the warping’ Flint said in reply. I marvelled again at Reyna’s skill, the ability to accurately use a weapon even though it was damaged was amazing. Flint threw the gold coins into the air and caught them with one hand. He looked at Morgan, ‘So, Morgan was there anything I could get you before you go’

Morgan scratched the back of his head awkwardly, ‘No thanks Flint, I think we’ve got everything that we need. Feel free to stop by tonight, Gloria’s making Lamb stew’ Morgan said, then turned towards Reyna and me. ‘We should probably go back to the Inn, Gloria and Elena should be finished with all the shopping’ We bid our goodbyes to Flint and began to make our way back to the Inn.

I noticed that is was beginning to get dark, I reasoned that we had a few more hours of daylight left. As we strode towards the Inn a small crowd of people were gathered around the entrance talking to each other.

Morgan noticing the crowd turned towards us, ‘They’re my regulars. I’ll see you inside.’ With that said he sped off for the front door. I glanced at Reyna who only shrugged and began to lead the way to the Inn.