They were all lined up at the door, clumped sporadically in groups of five. Most of them were excited.
After all, they would finally be leaving this place and entering a new adventure. The rest of them couldn’t hide it though.
They were scared out of their wits because they knew the training wheels would be taken off soon. They had no idea what monsters or other creatures prowled in the great beyond.
No one in The Cradle had any idea what to expect.
And considering their teacher was covered in scars too.. It wasn’t helping the growing minority’s restlessness. The signs were rife throughout the group.
Little, inadvertent tics of nervousness and the growing volume of panicked whispers set the tone for the Cradle.
The giant man led them out of the Cradle like the Pied Piper leading the village’s children to their watery doom. Other than Rhodney, they wouldn’t have understood the comparison, but had they, they would have felt it was quite apt.
The man waited patiently, letting them slowly acclimate to the outside environment. It was… a lot colder than Rhodney thought it’d be.
The nature mana and the insulation of the building made the Cradle much warmer than the outside. Rhodney gazed at the flora around him.
The trees slowly shedding their autumnal-colored leaves reminded him painfully of fall back on Earth, though the blue bark added a fantastical flair to the whole scene that ensured he could not mistake it for home.
He released his breath in a sigh, forming a puff of white as he breathed the rough, biting air of the outside.
He cautioned himself on his word usage. The language had been pretty one-to-one with English, but Rhodey wasn’t going to use a word like fall or autumn.
Just in case they were signature other-worlder terms, he had to be careful that he did not let his internal monologue leak out into the world.
Now that they were leaving the relatively safe enclosure of the Cradle, he remembered The Guardian’s warning that this place was a dumping ground for people like him.
The language barrier didn’t seem like it was a problem, but certain words could be a dead giveaway if one of the imps were an adult from his world.
And adults don't usually like to share, as he so painfully learned from his father.
In short, the name of the game was to not bring unnecessary suspicion.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, he was able to split his attention with ease due to the Blessing of Wisdom. Besides the gaggle of his fellow imps and the test-giver, he saw no other imps as he expected as they walked through the cold, looming forest.
The group trotted down a finely built, gravel path that cut straight through the frosty blue trees, not that i helped with the feeling of being deep within a wild land.
Rhodney glanced down at his hooves as they scraped along the path with unwieldy steps. Not having any toes was still odd to him.
The roughness of the gravel was just a rougher vibration that traveled up his legs. Really, any sensation his hooves felt was muted in comparison to “normal” human feet, though he supposed that was not his normal now.
His legs seemed to agree with him that it was odd, because they still shook like a newborn fawn’s - Bambi anyone? - as he stumbled to the best of his ability to try to keep up with the group's pace.
Path stretched far into the woods, and the leaves slowly began to block out the sun more and more the deeper they went in.
Rhodney walked up to the giant man.
Jeez, he had to be at least 15 feet tall. We were lucky the tree’s stretched so high up or else his horns would’ve gotten caught on every branch. “Sir?” He addressed the giant, “Do you have a name you go by?”
The phrasing of this was something that Rhodney had picked up from the Minotaur. Goatitar? Let’s go with Minotaur. He didn’t know if it was a young thing or a monster thing, but Rusty had asked it in a similar way.
“Aye, Nike.”
Like the shoe? Rhodney raised a questioning glance at the monster. “I don’t know what it means either lamb,” The monster said in a slight chuckle. “I just got it when I won a hard battle.”
Rhodney asked him what happened during the battle, genuinely interested in his response. How could he not? The old man was a walking story.
The irresistible desire to learn filled Rhodney, as only the young at heart can feel.
In the way he moved, to the scars on his back, to his graying hair, to the gold and black tattoos that lined his body.
Rhodney liked talking to old people like this, because they had lived.
He watched the old man’s eyes light up slightly as he asked him more and more about his life with interest. Rhodney could immediately tell it was something he loved to talk about.
Success!
That was always what he hoped to see when he had talked with the elderly in the hospital, because it meant they were both in for a good time. They could enjoy imparting their life lessons to the younger generation and he could enjoy the unique experiences and teachings of the older generation.
“Well… If you really want to know, lad…”
…
“Those goblin bastards tore through the entire camp, riding on beasts that I ‘ad never seen before. Large cats covered in spots with heads as big as ‘alf my body. Ah buried ‘em in smoke to remove the advantages of their cavalry an’ we danced boy. Ah yes boy, we danced, drenched in blood, relyin’ on nuthin’ but our broken bodies to crush these beasts …”
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Jesus christ.
Even though it was grizzly, Rhodney hung on every word.
Rhodney wasn’t in the scared camp before, but this man was trying his best to drag him to that side.
He regaled him with tales of his youth and then he moved onto to the ever-more hair-raising campaigns he has done in his elderly years.
The man had participated in genuine crusades, trained until his fingers bled, and apparently, even been witness to many catastrophes.
He talked about all the chiefs he’d worked under and told Rhodney a little history of the camp.
Rhodney had no reason to not believe the man when his face was that honest. He didn’t seem like someone who would lie for no reason.
Perhaps one would call him naive, but… he knew. He knew for a fact that lies simply weren’t in this man’s nature. Where this certainty stemmed from, he couldn’t say… but it was not merely blind innocence.
Nike seemed to tell his life as if it was a lesson to learn from. He framed it like those old nursery rhymes, where everything is a fun story to remind a kid what happens when you go knocking on the wrong doors, stray from the path, or put all your fruits in one basket. You could end up hurt, lose opportunities, or even die.
“I need you to train harder than I did, lesser child. I waited too long, believing everyone in camp when they told me I was weak. If I just started sooner…” He clenched his callused and scarred hands.
For some reason, when the word lesser left his lips it was less like Shoji’s. A smooth movement of his lips that were set in their old habit… but… not in a derogatory way.
He said the word as if he was talking to a brother in arms. An implicit thing from his tone and actions that told Rhodney that Nike wasn’t looking down on him.
Nike was warning him.
Reminding him what and who he was to the people around him.
he man had plenty of victories that he probably wanted to tell, and yet, he told Rhodney his failures. The man waded so long in the viscous river of his mistakes that he had used up most of the time they had on this walk for these.
Rhodney assured him that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes. That he’d train young and hard, telling the Minotaur that he wouldn’t waste his life.
The minotaur appreciated how seriously Rhodney took his warnings. Right after the talk, Rhodney put into action what he promised.
His body tensed as he became vigilant of his surroundings. He may not have been trained to read the signs of the forest, but he could damn well try.
Every shuffle and movement in the leaves caused Rhodney’s arms to jump up in worry, as that icy hot fear curdled in his veins.
He was scared and the world was dangerous. Some might say that is no way to live; that a life of paranoia is no life at all.
Well, they would only say that if they were still around. All who had been of that philosophy never made it to Nike’s age. He would listen to the Minotaur’s advice dutifully. He wouldn’t sit still while he was here.
That would be an insult to everyone who’d helped him get here.
If he didn’t, then he would be doomed to repeat history. The Minotaur was put in an area of the camp that didn’t promote his growth due to his inaction during the test, and only hit his evolution after seven years of life.
Rhodney refused to make that mistake. That was not how he was going to spend his new life.
He breathed in, and squeezed his hand.
'Let’s do this,' he thought firmly.
“ALRIGHT! WE’VE LANDED!” Nike’s demeanor switched on a dime, flipping from serious war-veteran to the energetic bane of these imps’ lives, upon reaching their destination.
Rhodney wondered how long the goat would keep pretending to be excited.
The area they had landed looked similar to one of the Pokemon arena’s from the anime. It was a lot more rustic, hastily made, but the basic idea was still there. With two sides split down the middle, and a marker in the center.
On one end it was empty, Rhodney guessed that’s where they were standing. On the other end, there were about thirty different objects. From boulders to scarecrows to pumpkins to apples to even a…
What?
Tied up and struggling were a bunch of fluffy green boars that squealed as they were tied up. Snapping with their sharp teeth and tusks that glowed at intervals as they tried to use magic to slice themselves free.
Sadly, they were too fat. Rhodney struggled desperately to keep from giggling at the portly, real-life Angry Piggies flopping around, looking like he bit a lemon as he restrained himself from laughing.
He did not need to be the first to try out this test.
“TARGET PRACTICE! Now,” He pointed to the scarecrows, explaining the task in detail.
The rules were simple. Pick a scarecrow and fire at an equal distance away.
There were only three rules.
One: If you pick a pig, it gets five seconds to run, and you only get fifteen seconds to destroy them.
Two: You only have three chances to destroy your target. If more than three in your team fail in doing so, your team will suffer a penalty in the final test.
Three: If you’re going to use an attack that will explode a large area, they have to ask Nike to move the other targets.
When he said that last part he looked at Flame, who turned his head to look away from Nike.
One of the smaller kids with even smaller horns raised his hand. “Um… What if we uh… don’t have magic?”
The Minotaur looked down at the boy and gave him a sympathetic look. Damn, that was a good point. Most of them had some kind, but there were a select few who didn’t.
“Hmmm,” He looked around then found a wooden crate, but in his hands it looked like a tiny box. He didn’t even attempt to open it.
Opting instead to peel it open like a monkey would an orange, softwood falling to the ground from his hand. He dumped the contents from the crate onto the ground and the poles thumped onto the ground. “Don’t have magic, use these.”
“But… we haven’t trained–”
“Boy, I wasn’t even given this option. Be grateful I'm the one giving the test and not that one oni from the chief's guard.” Nike said, snapping at the child.
Misty shivered, remembering the shadows cracks and pops as when he apparated into The Cradle.
Rhodney felt bad for that kids group. Like the group next to him it seemed to be full of the stragglers.
Hmm, Rhodney wasn’t afraid of passing this test himself, he knew his own destructive capabilities well, but…
He looked back at his team.
Crap.
Rhodney raised his hand high. “Can we work together?” He asked. The Minotaur stroked his gray beard, thinking.
It’d be counter productive if he made them pick teams just to tell them they couldn’t use them. What kind of team building exercise/test would it be?
Nike nodded.
“Though if you do that, only two members of your group can do it it. The rest will have to do it normally. They also have to choose two boulders or two pigs, or a combination of the two.”
Damn! There are only tough options!
“The teams with three or more people who tried to fight me get to go first. The rest will have to wait until they begin.”
Before Rhodney could move, Flame’s team ran past him to get to the front. Pushing the stumbling imp over.
“Hey!”
The tallest boys from the cradle looked down on him with a snicker, and then turned around ignoring him.
Assholes!
Navy helped Rhodney up and whispered to him. “It’s good we aren’t first. We have to talk about strategy.” Rhodney gave Navy a look, then motioned to the lone six scarecrows that were there.
They were the second team in line and fit the criteria, but the silence that came off Navy was enough to make him realize how bad that was.
Maybe Flame wouldn’t take one.
“Teacher, move the boulders out of the way! I’m going for a scarecrow~” Flame said, a glowing ball of fire forming in his hands.
Crap.