Jak woke up in his bed, ready to start the same routine. There were 60 people in the stage two dormitory now, with more and more coming up from the basement. Some stage two guards had reached the third stage and moved up, but each stage was much harder to reach than the previous one.

So far, Jak hadn't interacted much with the other guards. The task they had before them every day was a solo mission—to complete the gauntlet. When he wasn't training or recovering, Jak would meet up with Tim, Alya, and Bobo.

He knew Garrow, of course. Jak sat down eating a quick breakfast of bread and eggs. Garrow was at another table, complaining loudly about the quality of the food.

"I'm just saying, if we actually ran this place properly, got rid of the village boy riff-raff," without looking Jak could feel Garrow glancing in his direction, "we could establish something decent. Private rooms, for one. Proper food. Honestly I question what those elders even do all day."

The problem with Garrow, Jak mused, is that he was actually somewhat capable. Not the most skilled fighter in Vipers Nest, but enough that he could get a group of knuckleheads to nod and chuckle along with whatever he was saying.

The door opened and Gavin stepped in, looking around the room until everybody stopped talking and paid attention. Jak wondered how he did that, quieten a room just by standing there.

"You've trained and learned the Glove. Now you're on the Gauntlet. You're strong enough to not die immediately in a fight. Good. We'll train combat today. Come to the Gauntlet by the end of the hour." He shut the door and left.

There was an excited murmur throughout the guards having breakfast. So far the only thing they'd done is the obstacle course they had come to love and hate in equal measure.

"Finally," Garrow said out loud, "we actually get to do something. I wonder if we get in trouble if we accidentally kill someone? I mean someone low-born, like a peasant or something." Several nobles around him chuckled as if that was a fantastic joke. Jak kept eating breakfast and didn't punch Garrow in the face. He'd never rushed into violence, Jak would prefer to simply avoid people than to fight. They weren't worth his time. He kept rehearsing that in his mind while he finished his food. Not worth my time. He headed out to the Gauntlet.

***

Gavin was standing by the healing obelisk. On one side of enchanted monument was the Gauntlet, with a few stage three Guards leaping through it. Gavin was silent, waiting for everyone to arrive, so Jak watched them as they moved with dexterity and grace through the different platforms of the Gauntlet. He wondered how far behind them he was, whether he could catch up. He'd never thought much about coming to this school. To him it was another village, another place to stay until he and Alya were kicked out. Except, he'd found a way to hide his curse. And this Elite Guard training was causing his strength and speed to grow faster than he'd ever dreamed it could.

Looking at the Gauntlet, Jak wanted to run it. He wanted to get better. Better than all the others. His awe at Gavin and the other Elite Guards had turned into something else. Hunger. He wanted to challenge them, fight them, train until he could win.

"You know this artifact." Gavin said, tapping the healing obelisk. "You know to respect it. There is another one, across the field." He started walking away from the Gauntlet. There was a wide sand arena that Gavin crossed, and at the other end was another obelisk, similar to the healing one. This one was black, while the other was white.

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"If it's glowing, leave it alone. People are already using it. If it's free, two or more people can link arms, and touch the obelisk to make a circuit. You, and you, come up." Gavin pointed at Jak and Garrow. It was seemingly at random, but Gavin had a glint in his eye, and Jak felt like he'd been given an opportunity. The two walked up to the obelisk, and Jak grabbed Garrow with his left hand while placing his right upon the cool stone. Nothing happened at first, but when Garrow put his hand on the obelisk, hundreds of lines lit up over the surface, some red and some purple. The glow burned fiercely on the stone, and then spread like lightning across Jak and Garrow, following the circuit of their arms. Jak didn't feel anything. He removed his hand, and the light stopped going across him, but the obelisk stayed lit up.

"This is the death obelisk. Sister to the life obelisk." Gavin pointed at the white obelisk on the other side of the field. "Every time you fight another guard, you touch the death obelisk first. When it's lit, you can fight to the death. Any death blow will teleport you to the life obelisk. It hurts. Any questions?"

A guard near Jak put up a hand tentatively.

"Do we have to fight to the death?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Jak asked.

"If you practice not killing your opponent, you'll get good at not killing. The death and life obelisks are perhaps the highest expense of the school. We continue to operate them because they produce the most skilled guards. If any man on the continent can defeat an Elite Guard in combat, he becomes a legend in his town. This is our reputation. For the next month, all your combat training is free. After that, you'll get one free combat per week, any beyond that you need to provide your own monster parts to power the obelisk."

"Now," Gavin turned to Jak and Garrow, "as our volunteers, please fight to the death." He stood back, and the other students all moved behind him, giving Jak and Garrow space.

Jak felt a bit lost. He'd been itching to punch Garrow before, but didn't want to kill the man. Even with the obelisk saving them from death, it still felt strange. All his previous fights were heat-of-the-moment reactions. He wasn't sure how to begin.

Garrow felt none of that hesitation, and launched himself at Jak. He practiced some martial art using a lot of punches and knees. Jak fought back as best he could, and they exchanged blows, giving each other some small cuts and bruises before finally separating, panting, watching each other wearily.

Garrow's lips twitched into a slight smile, and he brought a knife out from a hidden sheath at his belt. Jak's stomach sank when he realized he'd left his spear at the Vipers Nest. He looked over to the guard that had asked a question earlier.

"Under my bed, spear with orange glow, please." The guard nodded and set off running to the house. Jak turned back to Garrow just as he leapt at Jak with the knife slashing out. It glowed white. Jak stepped back to dodge the knife, but even though there was a wide gap between the knife and his arm, he felt a blade slicing across his skin. He looked down to see the faint troll-skin pattern on his arm, fading away to reveal a long thin cut that was starting to bleed.

"Well look at you," Garrow said with a laugh, "you spent your Potential on troll skin? Really? The jokes write themselves. Let's see how tough that skin really is." He slashed out again, knife flashing white. Again Jak leapt back and avoided the blade, but the white light left the knife and flew into Jak's arm again. This time the troll skin didn't appear, and the cut went deep. A growl came out of Jak, and he lunged forward.