Jak awoke with a start. It had been a few weeks, and he had really mastered The Glove, the rigorous obstacle course the stage one recruits ran through every day. He had started to time himself, there was a big clock set up near the entrance to the course, and while the first run had taken him from morning to afternoon, he was now getting it down to a single hour. He could do the whole course three or four times per day, while still meeting up with his friends in the afternoon.

Each morning, he woke up a little stronger, a little faster. Today, however, was different. He woke up to the sound of a voice, Elder Featherwick's voice.

"Well done, boy. We'll make an antimage out of you yet." Jak looked around quickly, before realizing that it wasn't really Elder Featherwick, but the voice in his head from the Silver Rod.

"Calm down, it's just me. Little ol' voice in your head. You've made it boy."

Jak blinked a few times, trying to understand what the voice was talking about. Then he saw the floating writing in front of him, just like he had many days ago.

Name: Jak

Identification: Warrior, Stage 2

Bloodline: Soulstealer

Skills: Drain magic, break magic, steal soul, troll skin, missing presence

*** Potential reached stage 2 ***

Choose a target for improvement.

"Missing presence, I suppose that's what I got last time?" Jak asked quietly. He was still in the Vipers Nest, with kids sleeping in the beds around him. He snuck out and went to the woods, where he could talk freely.

"I have a few questions." He said. The voice of Elder Featherwick was back.

"Yes, yes, of course, but remember my time is limited."

"Why do I get stronger every day? Why didn't I before?"

"What you focus on becomes powerful. Put these words in your heart. Why didn't you before? Well let's just say the Silver Rod puts a Growth enchantment on you. Not only do you have me to guide you, but you will grow much faster than before. It also depends on what do you. Have you been living the same as before? Or are you training hard and pushing yourself to the limit every day, hmm?"

"Ah." Jak realized it was true. He'd never worked so hard before as he did now, running The Glove and always trying to do better than before.

"Ok, so my missing presence seems to be working. Nobody has burned me alive yet. What should I do next?"

"You're asking me?" The voice said. "My boy, you shouldn't listen to voices in your head so easily."

Jak felt a bit lost.

"Just kidding boy, of course you should listen to me. Hmm well your strength and movement are coming along nicely, but one thing all fighters need is a high sensitivity to the environment. You need to know when a beast is about to strike, and where. In my day we called this 'fighter's instinct'. This will help your fighting ability, but more importantly it will keep you alive."

Jak thought about it. He'd fought the boar and won, but that animal wasn't very agile, and it had a very telltale sign of lighting up orange before attacking. How would he do against a faster animal? Featherwick's suggestion made sense.

"Ok, let's do it," Jak said. The voice didn't respond, and Jak didn't feel any different. "Elder Featherwick? Voice in my head?" He called out but there was no response. The time must have run out. Jak sighed, hoping that he'd actually gained the skill. He didn't feel any different to before.

Jak went back to Vipers Nest, grabbed some food, and went to the Glove. It was very familiar to him by now. He started running up to the climbing tower, building momentum. As he hit the wooden wall he kept running upwards for a few steps, before grabbing the last few handholds needed to swing himself over the top. He didn't climb down at all, instead just letting himself fall back to the ground. He landed and rolled forwards to spread the impact. He leapt up onto the balance beam in a single jump, ran along it, then skipped over the boulders that came after, feet only touching the firm ones that wouldn't roll. He got to the bow station and hit three targets with three arrows, taking only a second to aim each time.

It was only when he got to the "spinning death" station that he realized something was different. Spinning death was what he called a series of poles with blunted spears attached to them. The poles spun constantly, and were close together, with a path going through the middle. Jak had to weave between the poles and dodge the spinning weapons as they came into his path. He was pretty good at it by now, and it was common for him to get through it with only one or two smacks from the spears. This time was different. Each time a spear spun toward him, he felt the world slow down as incredible focus came over him. He knew exactly when the spear would hit, and exactly where. He could redirect his body ever so slightly so that the dulled blade would miss him by the smallest fraction. He got through without a single hit.

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Exhilarated, Jak raced through the rest of the course. Dodging, weaving, ducking, nothing could touch him any more. Eventually he scaled the final rope onto a wooden platform, took a spear and leapt off, throwing it in midair and landing with a roll while the spear sailed into the heart of the fake dragon.

Jak got up and grinned at the sight of the spear sticking out. In the distance he heard a slow clap. It was Captain Gavin.

"I see you've made it to stage two. Nice work. Follow me." Gavin led Jak to another part of Elwind that he wasn't familiar with. "The glove is for the newcomers, a way to ease them into things. It's not where the Elite Guard train." Jak found himself nodding, he hadn't noticed anyone but the other stage one students running the Glove. "This is where we train. Welcome to the Gauntlet." They crested a hill, and Jak blinked in shock. It was just like the Glove, but everything was much bigger, much faster, and much busier.

Instead of a two-storey climbing tower, it was eight. The balance beam was longer, thinner, and the ground on either side was lined with spiked stakes. The boulders to leap across were spaced farther apart and moving, changing positions so you couldn't memorize which were stable. The archery range had targets farther out and spinning rapidly on a wheel. The "spinning death" was there, but much longer and faster-moving. Almost all the weapon stations had some contraption to launch a log or spike at you, so you couldn't simply stand in one place and move carefully. Jak saw that the last station, with the fake dragon, actually had fire coming out at random intervals, enveloping a very blackened platform with a pile of spears on top. Elite Guards of all stages were leaping through the Gauntlet, much like Jak had just been leaping through the Glove. It was mesmerizing to watch. They had a grace and fluidity to their movements that made Jak feel like a bumbling idiot, playing with his little toy obstacle course.

"Let me show you the most important thing to our training." Gavin said, leading Jak to a small obelisk set into the ground near the Gauntlet. The ground around it was a dark reddish color, with a lot of that same color leading back to the obstacle course in lines. Jak felt like he knew what it was, but his mind didn't want to accept it. The obelisk itself was fascinating. It was absolutely covered in runes and scripts, fine lines weaving in and around each other. Just like the travelers gate, the obelisk was glowing softly, but this one was red rather than purple.

"As you can see," Gavin said, gesturing at the ground, "a lot of blood is shed at the Gauntlet. Let me tell you know. The person who fears injury will never keep up. The person who avoids bleeding will never take risks, and will never know their limits. How can you push past your limits, if you never know what they are? The first lesson of the Elite Guard is to bleed." Gavin took out a knife, and Jak felt adrenaline rush through him, staring at the blade. Instead of attacking, however, Gavin lifted the knife to himself and slashed a few fingers off his left hand. Jak wasn't sure if he was going to faint or throw up. Gavin didn't even flinch, but stared coldly at Jak.

"If we lose our minds at blood, our enemies don't need to kill us, only make us bleed. The Elite Guard know how to bleed." Gavin then walked up to the obelisk and touched it. The glow flared, red light spilling out of every line carved into the stone. Before his eyes, Jak could see Gavin's fingers growing back, coming out of his hand and restoring themselves until there was no evidence of injury at all, apart from the blood on the ground, sinking down to join the rest.

"This obelisk is free for the guards to use, but know that you'll never see anything like it in the rest of the world. Healing is costly. Don't be stupid about getting injuries. We have the greatest crafters maintaining this, and we have a steady supply of monster parts to keep it running. Respect it. Now you know what it can do, feel free to take risks on the Gauntlet. Make sure, whatever your injuries, you are able to make it back here to touch the obelisk. If you see a guard injured on the course, and they look unable to make it, then you must abandon everything to help them get to the obelisk. The honor in the Guard is that we will help each other, even at the risk of death. Clear?" Jak nodded, and Gavin patted him on the back, before heading to the start of the Gauntlet to do a run himself. Jak watched him go, feeling very small. He didn't consider himself weak, but seeing how casually Gavin took his own fingers off... Jak looked over the course with new eyes, seeing how sharp the stakes here, how the spinning death stations had spearheads that glinted in the sun, not looking dulled at all.

"One step at a time." He said to himself. He headed toward the climbing wall.