Ghala and I stood opposite each other. Sergeant Bhufo had taken us on a little field trip outside. We walked past the Copper Ring into the forest. Fuck. I hadn't been here since…

I stood opposite to Ghala. We were in a small clearing in the forest. I could hear the wild sounds of monkeys all around us and who knows what animals that only existed in this world. I could tell all Ghala wanted to do was whack us over the head until I drew blood. Bhufo stood in the middle, his head turning between the two of us.

“The rules! Last one still standing gets to lead the charge for the convoy mission. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” We both replied.

“And since this is, in part, a test of strength, and, in part, a test of leadership, you’ll both get to choose your own teams. Egen, choose one teammate.”

I pointed at Kaavi, he stepped out and greeted me. I stuck my fist up and he bumped it.

“Great. Now, Ghala, choose two teammates.” Ghala chose Tuf, the second biggest kid in class behind Kaavi, and Huy, the only Babion in our class. He ‘oohed’ and ‘aaahed’ and stepped forward. He was a different kind of simian from Ictar, who had more monkey-like features. He had gold fur that surrounded an angry face. He was a good fighter that was amplified by his complete control of the forest environment around him. I studied the other players, wondering who I was going to choose for number three. I awaited Bhufo to tell me I could pick my second but instead he said, “Alright, we’ll begin on three.”

“Wait!” I cried out, “Sergeant Bhufo, I only have one teammate.”

“Yes.”

“And Ghala has two!” I stated the obvious as if mMy point wasn’t obvious.

“That’s right.”

“Well… okay.” I said.. Feeling dumb. Then, tripping over my words I said, “but… that’s not fair!”

Bhufo nodded his head, “That’s right. It’s an uphill battle. Let’s see how you do with those.”

Ghala had the biggest sneer on his face. He and the two boys all gave Kaavi and I menacing looks. Kaavi whispered to me, “What’s the plan?”

“We can’t take all of them at once, I don’t think,” I said, “So on his count, we run to the forest.” Kaavi nodded his head.

Bhufo counted down, “3,2,1!”

The three combatants leapt toward us, Kaavi and I instinctively turned toward the forest. Tuf, the big one, launched himself. Fuck! This guy was fast. He grappled me down but Kaavi took his sword up and slammed it against Tuf’s head. Tuf instinctively grabbed his injured cranium.

I had four total spells:

1. True Strike: This gave my weapon a burst of strength,

2. Knowing Light: This created a hovering ball of light that followed me around,

3. Second Wind: This gave me a burst of stamina when I began to exhaust.

And the final one. The spell that would free me from Tuf’s clutches. I quickly chanted, “Stride!” I could feel magic rush through my circulatory system. It spread through my bloodstream and activated in my legs. I rolled out of the way and used my increased movement speed to get some distance between me and the boys. Kaavi, however, was being left behind.

I chucked my wooden sword right at Tuf. It thumped his chest and gave Kaavi enough leeway to whack him again. Before Ghala could be on him, Kaavi grabbed my sword and caught up with me. We escaped into the forest, dipping and dodging through the brambles.

“What’s the plan now?!” Kaavi asked.

“I’m thinking!”

“You still think you’re special?! My uncle had a little talk with Sergeant Bhufo! They both know I’m advanced for my age and suggested I was ready for the next step! STRIDE!” Ghala cried out. Fuck. Ghala rushed through the brambles, catching up to Kaavi, with me being a few feet ahead.

“Let’s lose him in the tall grass!” I yelled “Just keep running!”

Ghala slashed at Kaavi’s back. Instead of running away, I quickly doubled back to allow Kaavi some distance. Ghala attacked me with his blade, slashing at me. I blocked as best I could but Ghala put some real strength behind it. Before I could retaliate, he whipped me again with another slash. I blocked and the back of the sword thudded against my body. He picked himself up and prepared a strike. I knew I could not take another swipe at that height, instead I aimed to dodge. The blade landed on my shoulder as I dodged out of the way. The sting of the thin hardened wood reverberated from to the rest of my body. I cried out, then when I lost some ground, I swiped at Ghala’s legs. He jumped over it. He landed on the soft muddy ground. I rolled as he struck again.

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“True Strike!” He screamed and slashed downward again. I could only roll but when his wooden sword landed on the old log behind me, the cracking sound pierced the cacophonous forest as it split down the center.

“That could have killed me!” I screamed out.

“It should have, you fucking pointer!” He said as he tried to pull the wooden blade out of the log. It was stuck. This was my chance but suddenly Tuf had caught up. Between Tuf’s natural strength and Ghala’s enhancements, I could not take them on alone. I used the remainder of my Stride and ran away, aiming to regroup with Kaavi.

After a few hundred meters, I had managed to shake Ghala and Tuf. I could feel the magic wearing. I wondered if I should use another Stride spell or just keep on my pace. I could feel the toll that running double speed took on me. I slowed to a stop and caught my breath, looking for any remnants of Kaavi. On the ground I saw his tracks. Huge footprints on the soft mud. I looked behind me and saw that I had left tracks too. With his larger frame and my Stride spellmaking my running harder, we had basically given them a road map right to us. I looked up at the trees. How could we avoid detection? I could maybe think up a Sylvan command that helped me disappear, something about how I don’t stamp the earth when I move. Or maybe I could set the ground at x-axis: 0 and make it so that my shoes were not permitted to go below it. What was the word for x-axis in Sylvan?

What would be the best way to avoid detection? Some way that I could keep moving. I looked up at the tall trees of the forest. That would be a great way. I had no doubt it would be the stealthiest way because it turned out that Huy was right above me, crawling through the trees and I didn’t notice him once.

He dropped down on me, his sword in his hands, bringing it down. I once again leapt out of the way. He collided with the ground directly on his feet. I quickly stood and started running in a different direction, barreling toward the river. Huy nimbly hopped up on a low branch and strided through the arborous route like it was nothing. Within seconds he was on top of me again, this time landing on my back as I ran.

He pile-drove me into the earth. Dirt entering my mouth and rubbing my face into the ground.

“Stand still, little guy.” Huy said to me. He took his blade and knocked me in the back. Once again, the hardwood felt like a cane. Ahh, getting hit in the head by a monkey folk. If I wasn’t in such pain, I would have thought of Ictar. Huy had me pinned. When I tried to think of a sylvan command to help, I was knocked in the head again.

As Huy detained me, I searched my mind for the answer. Kaavi was nowhere to be found and Ghala was undoubtedly on his way. Huy kept his body on me and whacked me again. It hurt. Everything had hurt. My whole experience as a junior paladin had hurt. But at that moment, with that specific hit, it unlocked somethin. My body glowed. I could tell because I saw the shine bounce off of Huy’s shocked expression. I felt a renewed vigor and a new word had entered my lexicon. I had leveled up.

Like a bubble breaching the surface of water, the word escaped my lips. “Socorro!” I whispered. I felt the magic course through my throat and shouted, “KAAAAVIIII!” It didn’t make me any louder. Huy hit me again.

“Shut up!” He sneered, “I’m not going to knock yas unconscious because Ghala called dibs. But he’s got plans for you, little guy.”

Fuck! What the hell did the spell even do?! All I did was cry out my teammate’s name. I stared up and saw something strange. There was a red Diamond hovering over me. What was that? It just stayed there, silently. About six inches above my head. Huy sat on my back.

“Hey, Huy,” I said, “What’s that over my head?” I asked.,

“You’re not tricking me,” Huy said, “Trust me, I’m smart. I’m smart!”

“I know you’re smart, Huy, but-”

“I’m smart!” Huy whacked me again, “I know there’s nothing over your head! What do you want me to say?!”

He couldn’t see. Maybe it was because he was my enemy… Maybe Socorro was a spell that alerted your teammate where you were, which meant that this diamond was a marker for…

“AHH!” Huy fell off from his position on my back. I looked up and saw Kaavi holding his wooden sword, breathing deeply from having just struck Huy. I looked up and the red diamond disappeared.

“Egen!” Kaavi screamed, “It was weird! I could see you through everything! Your body was all red, like and I could see you far away. And your cry! I heard you cry and knew exactly where to look.”

Holy hell, I thought, Socorro might be the best spell I have!

I grabbed my training sword and held it at Huy, Kaavi did the same.

“Huy, what does Ghala have planned?!” I screamed.

“Please don’t hurt me!” He yelled back.

“We won’t hurt you if you tell us what Ghala has planned!”

“He- he knows you let the ants on him! He knows you did that! He’s going to take you and… he’s going to cut the tips of your ears off!”

Wow. What a sicko. I had to worry about a lot more than being the lead of this mission. I slammed my wooden sword into Huy’s temple, knocking him out. I was going to have to win this first.

MY FUCKING EARS?!