I woke up starving and noticed I had slept for over ten hours. We headed to the inn to eat more fish cheese and eggs. Mesech explained to me more about the light spell and what today will bring for me. I can cast light on anything I can see. The farther or larger I make the light, the harder and more magic it takes. Kritin will be training me with a weapon of my choosing and in the evening I will learn more magic with Mesech.

Mesech left before me telling me she will be with Krissa in the central building for the day. After my food was eaten I got up and headed toward the training area. While walking I heard this loud Whoosh and I looked up to see the reason this settlement is called Eagles Watch. A bird larger than any plane was flying towards the lake. The whole village paused and watched in wonder as an ear piercing hawk-like scream caused me to cover my ears. It disappeared over the height of the wall into the lake with an audible splash then loud whooshes it became visible again carrying a fish the size of a bus while it returned in the direction of the lone tree. With that excitement over I arrived at the training ground.

Kritin stood stoically waiting for me with a weapon rack sitting next to him. Many weapons looked familiar but some I didn’t recognize at all. Swords of various sizes,polearms with many different heads, crushing weapons like war hammers and maces, and many types of axes. My dad was a big boxing fan and he would always talk about reach being a huge factor in close fighting. Between that and liking the spears I used my first few days here I decided on a polearm. Maybe a sword as a back-up instead of my knife or maybe both. There were quite a few polearms with different heads ranging from maces to swords to spears and some in between.

I grabbed the halberd styled one with a long ten inch spear head. It was a bit heavier than I expected but felt good. I grabbed a basic looking longsword and attached it to my belt. The kid in me was screaming at how bad ass I must look with a real sword attached to my belt. Next to the weapon rack were a few shields. One was dark green and looked to be made out of a shell or carapace of some sort. I picked it up and it was much lighter than I expected. It could be carried on the back or center gripped and was around three feet tall and two feet wide in a mostly oval shape. Slinging it on my back I grabbed the halberd and I confronted Kritin. He was armed with a simple but well made looking staff.

Mesech and Krissa walked up to us. “My son is not just the Strongest Murichi in Eagles Watch.” They both turned and went to sit on the benches as a large crowd began to form. I couldn’t help but think how I only barely stalemated an untested two days ago. Now I am fighting the strongest Murichi warrior around.

Kritin was waiting for me to make the first move. The halberd was weighty but my new strength and sense told me I could use it just fine. We were only about ten feet apart so a simple step into a lunge could end this quickly so that’s what I did.

And the first round was over. I was laying on my back having a hard time breathing. A pain in my chest from where he jabbed me with the blunt staff with enough force to knock me down. I had barely seen him move. Replaying how he nimbly dodged my attack with a simple sidestep then countered with a similar but more controlled jab of his own.

As I got up I noticed the large crowd was quiet. Mesech walked up to me “Are you well tom?” “Oh yea! Ready for round two.” I said loudly. She just looked confused. “More.” I said as I turned back to face Kritin who was just standing there stoically. So how do I fight a bigger, stronger, faster, smarter opponent? I don’t really. Four more rounds went by. I tried a fake out, slashing, stabbing, playing defensive and I was on my butt almost instantly.

I could see it all but I was simply not fast enough. Round six I was hoping to just last more than a second. As I lunged I yelled, “Light” While focusing on the tip of my halberd. The light was so bright it even blinded me and I was prepared for it. My halberd was deflected but I still slashed into something. I immediately started to evade which dropped the light spell.

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Small gasps around the training grounds were heard as everyone’s vision started to come back. It was like I stared at the sun too long and now everywhere I looked was blotted out with a bright spot that was slowly going away. The gasps and murmuring in Murichi were quickly growing. With my vision cleared I noticed I was over thirty feet away from Kritin who still hadn’t moved. It was somehow twice as far as I planned on moving.

The crowd started murmuring in their native language. Kritin dropped his staff and bellowed something in Murichi then simply walked off leaving everyone silent. Oh crap, I remember Mesech mentioned how most Murichi don’t like magic. Did I offend him or break some sort of rule? I start getting light-headed and drained. It felt like the magic fatigue from the night before.

Mesech was close to me.“Is everything fine?” “No magic is …no good in..” she pointed to where we were fighting, basically saying what I was worried about. “You injure Kritin…not possible?” “Injured?” “You injured my son?” Krissa said loudly over the others speaking to each other while she was walking toward me. It sounded more like disbelief than anger or anything. “Is Kritin okay?” I ask. “Cut” Mesech pointed a claw and made a cutting motion over her forearm. “ I’m sorry about using magic in the fight.” I said looking over to Krissa, she was confused for a moment then nodded, “You did nothing wrong but I see how it would have looked that way. If you land a hit on Kritin you become tested. With you being human and using magic lots in the crowd claimed you weren’t worthy. My son said, you are worthy in a very Murichi way.” “Tested?” “Adult family.” After I gave her a questioning look she added “Life bonds as adults. Not of blood or standing.” Looking around I could tell what I did was controversial. I also noticed Mesech was gone. “Where did Mesech go?” “To heal my son’s arm. She will meet you at the inn. I have important matters to do. I will see you at the feast tonight.” “Feast?” “Yes, it is for the caravan that will arrive soon and now it is also for you.” As she walked away I left the longsword, halberd, and shield. I headed to the inn to wait for Mesech.

News must have already reached the inn because food was waiting for me. The inn was pretty quiet so I sat alone in my thoughts eating fish and cheese and eggs again. Replaying the duel in my mind I couldn’t understand how I did it. Why was the light so bright and large? Is that why I’m so tired? How did I move farther than I planned?

Mesech joined me toward the end of my meal and sat across from me. “Is Kritin doing okay?” “Kritin is well” “That’s good sorry about the trouble.” “All is well” Mesech is clearly deep in thought. “Tom, you are powerful to know enhance spell.” taken aback by the statement, “Uh what?” “You cast enhance. That why, “light” was big.” “What does enhance do and how did I cast it?” After a few seconds she replied. “Wordless spell that enhance basic spell at very big cost…danger.” “And how did I cast it?” “You imagine big light?” “Danger?” I asked. “Yes, too much drain very bad.” Thinking back I must have enhanced the light and evasion but I didn’t mean to which could be very dangerous in a real fight. To go from fully charged to dead tired in less than a second means I should really try to not do that again at least until I know much more.

With eight hours until night and the feast we headed over to Mesech’s house where I mostly taught her more universal. Things like proper sentence structures and other basic things my high school English brain could share. I did learn that Murichi didn’t have to fight to become tested. They could also craft things or do a heroic deed that would make them worry of being tested.

About an hour before the feast, A Murichi brought me new clothes and gave a message to Mesech in the Murichi language. Basically saying it was time. The tunic and parts were dark green and fit like they were made for me. We made our way to the central building. Watching that big red star setting for the first time was surreal. It looked like a normal sunset just redder and a bigger star but it felt so different.

Around twenty Murichi were at the round table. I was seated next to Mesech and only two seats from Krissa. Much of the conversations were in their native tongue so I only got summed up versions of what was said if I needed to know or asked. Mainly stories of caravans travels I gathered. Kritin walked in and sat in the seat between me and Krissa just as food was being served.

The spread of food was surprisingly varied. Lots of different fish and some other meat and lots of plant based food I didn’t recognize. I tried a bit of everything but stuck mostly to meat. That being said, my favorite thing to eat was this fruit that tasted much like a blueberry watermelon. Krissa told me the Murichi name for it that I could never pronounce and said it basically means sweet water flower. Kritin acted as if nothing happened and after eating he quickly left. After everyone had their fill, the feast quickly broke down because we all had an early day tomorrow.