Chapter Forty: You’ll Hear the Thunder of Rolling Drums
“This is it. I’m sure of it.” Marc told Meservi. Kira had guided him to the exact coordinates where he had arrived in this world.
Marc turned around, taking in the view. It was familiar, but having so few unique characteristics on the land, he wouldn’t have been so sure without Kira’s assurance.
“I see, I see. Nice, though not the kind of place that leaves much of an impression, right?” Meservi was squatting on top of the large stone at the base of the hill. The same one that Marc had first used his interface to inspect.
“Well, I brought you here like you asked. Why did you want to see this place? I don’t think it has any special power or significance.” Marc said as he leaned against the boulder the Elf was perched on.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be able to tell anything, even if it did. I’m not very good with those kinds of things.” Meservi said with a chuckle, then he jumped off the rock and stood next to Marc.
“Ba’eth mentioned that you and she had a chat yesterday, although when you had the time to do that, I haven’t the slightest. I assumed, however, that you might have a few questions you might want to ask this old Elf.” He said, leaning in and raising his eyebrows.
Marc turned away and took a few steps up the hill.
“Yeah… We did talk.” Marc admitted.
“She told me some things. Things I’m still processing. To be honest, I’m at a bit of a loss.” He added, averting his gaze.
“Johvi,” Meservi whispered.
“Yeah, and…” Marc stopped.
“And?”
“Satru,” Marc spoke in a voice so quiet that he wasn’t sure the Elf would hear, but he did.
“Oh. I see.” Meservi spun around and dug the tip of his boots under a small stone, then in a quick, almost invisible motion, kicked the stone towards the trees at the top of the hill. Marc could hear the rock ricocheting through the trees.
“Seven, eight, nine, ten… hmmm. Not bad. But, guess I’m a bit rusty.” The Elf reflected. “It’s a game I used to play with my siblings, back in the forests of Krrt Anatra. I used to be able to bounce the stone at least twenty times every time.”
“We had a similar game where I came from. Skipping stones on a calm lake. I used to be pretty good, I think.”
“Bah! Stones on a lake? Where’s the challenge in that? You’re capable of doing much more now. Try it!” Meservi said, kicking another small stone towards Marc’s boot.
Marc looked down at the small stone. Just to show off, he activated his RAGE skill, a ridiculous ability that would double his STR for a single strike. He had broken an axe chopping wood with it once.
Aiming for the tree line he let loose a kick. Thankfully he connected, though the rock went high. The added strength boost was worth it, giving the projectile enough speed to make it to the trees. Marc turned around and the Elf was back atop the boulder, looking towards the trees.
“Three. Four… Four! Well, not to worry, I’m sure you can beat that next time.”
Marc was already searching for more stones when Meservi spoke in an unusually serious voice.
“Those are not stories for me to tell. I was there, yes. But it’s not my place.”
Marc looked up and Meservi was now standing upright on the boulder looking away, towards the City.
“What happened between Rynan and Johvi, I have never asked her. I never will. It’s her story. As for Satru…” He paused. Marc never expected to see the man at a loss for words, yet he stood there quietly for over a minute. Finally, he continued.
“Let me tell you this. There is no one in the world that I love more than those three. Grenn, Rynan, and Johvi. The four of us… We were a family. Once, long ago. I was the leader of course.” A bit of the old Meservi leaked back into that last sentence.
“Rynan, there is no one more faithful and wise. She took this young Elf and made me into the paragon of virtue that you see before you today! You wouldn’t believe it, but when I was younger I was more than a bit reckless and irresponsible.”
Marc choked on a laugh as Meservi turned back to him and gave him a wink and a smile.
“Johvi, Well, he was always the brains to our team, I was the brawn of course. Johvi was our healer and strategist. He was always prepared with a plan. He always made sure we got back in one piece. He always had a plan…” Meservi stopped again. Lost in his memories.
“What about Grenn?” Marc asked, waking the other man from his reminiscing.
“Grenn? What about Grenn?”
“It struck me when Ba’eth said that the Rising Sun Clan was an elite team. I know that you and Rynan are masters. I assume that Jovi was also quite powerful considering…” He trailed off at the mention of the missing man from the team.
“And Grenn is just a Novice Fire Mana user?” Meservi smiled.
“Well, yeah. Wasn’t there a Master Fire Mage available?”
“Oh, my yes. So many approached us. All wanting to be part of the so-called ‘Golden Party’. But we never even considered it. Not even once.”
“Why not?”
“Because that was never part of why we created the Clan in the first place. I told you. We were a family. It had nothing to do with our powers, our races, or anything. We just wanted to be together. To support each other. To love…” The word caught in the Elf’s throat. Then he shifted and turned to face Marc.
“Grenn. It was because of Grenn that we were together. He was our heart. He tried the hardest, fought the fiercest, never, ever let us down, no matter what the cost.” There was a fierce passion now in Meservi’s voice.
“Do you know how he got his name? Not his given name, but his second name?”
“Redshield? No. He never told me about it.” Marc admitted.
“We were once holding back a wave of beasts during a Surge. It was a particularly bad one and parties across the valley were being overrun. We were split up, trying to save as many defenders as we could, but we were losing. Badly.”
Marc remembered what Grenn had told him about surges.
“I thought everyone stayed in the City during the surges.”
“They do, but sometimes they start suddenly, the start of a Surge is always dicey. That time some patrol teams got caught outside the walls and teams of defenders had to go out and clear a retreat path. It’s a tough call. Risk the lives of many to save a few, but the alternative is to leave people to die, alone. We thought we had enough time. We were wrong.”
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Marc shuddered at the thought of thousands of beasts filling the plains around the City.
“That wave was made up of Orcs, nasty monstrous pig things. Fur that’s as hard as iron and heads and tusks that are even harder. Herds of them can swarm a line of defenders and wash them away like a wave on the sand, leaving not a trace. They are not smart, but they are tough. Tough and relentless.”
《This is a typical Beast Orc. It’s basically a mutated boar.》
A few meters away, Kira materialized a frighteningly realistic giant boar. It looked nothing like the Orcs Marc had seen in video games. Two meters tall and nearly as wide. Covered with thick brown fur, it had short, but strong-looking legs and a large plate-like bone exposed covering its forehead. On each side of its jaw were long sharp tusks. It looked like half rhinoceros and wooly mammoth. One of them running at Marc would make the truck that killed him seem like a toy. Hundreds of thousands of them, running at you, would be… bad.
“We had most of the remaining patrols back to the gates, but Grenn and the last team were falling behind. Then that fool…” Meservi shook his head, but he had a smile on his lips.
“That wonderful, stupid fool. He has a skill. It causes nearby enemies to target you. It’s a suicidal skill to use when dealing with groups of beasts. But he needed to give the last patrol time to escape.”
Marc knew what had happened. He had the PUNCHING BAG skill after all. It was likely the same or a similar skill.
“We rushed to get him, but he was buried. Rynan went mad, freezing and washing piles of Orcs away, four or five with each wave of her hands. I… all I could do was to push the wave back with my skill… I felt powerless.”
The Elf was choking up. Then he stopped and composed himself. Clearing his throat he continued.
“Johvi pulled him out. Healed him, it was bad. We thought we lost him, but somehow, miraculously he pulled through. When we finally made it through the gate he was nothing but broken bones and blood-soaked armor. After that, he was given a second name. The Red Shield.”
Meservi looked at Marc and explained.
“You know, only noble houses have family names, even here in the Republic, where the nobility has very little real power, it is rare for anyone to be given a second name. If granted by the Guild, it must be a unanimous vote by every single Guild member in the city. Second names cannot be handed down, however, like house names. A Second name is an honor only granted to one person. But an honor to a man can sometimes be a curse to a son.”
Meservi stopped after saying that. As though he had overstepped a line.
“Well, that’s the end of my story. What you do going forward is your choice. But know that you have a tremendous opportunity standing in front of you. Three of the greatest heroes of our time have offered to be your teachers.”
“Three? Who is the third?” Marc asked the shocked Elf. Meservi recovered quickly however and jabbed lightly at the younger man’s shoulder.
“Oh, you! Very funny. Of course, Meservi here has much to teach you. Much to teach you…” Then he faltered again. “But so little time.”
Marc looked at Meservi questioningly.
“Oh, didn’t I mention it to you?”
“What?” Marc wasn’t sure what the Elf was talking about.
“Ah. Must have slipped my mind. I’ll be leaving Clearwater for a while.” The Elf turned away, starting to walk along the base of the hill in the direction of the Witch’s Den.
“What? Why? When?” Marc had gotten used to the lively, though sometimes problematic personality of the man.
“Soon. Maybe within the year. I’ve been tasked to join a Guild Mission to Krrt Anatra, the home of the Elves.”
Marc wasn’t sure what that meant. But it must be far away.
《Krrt Anatra is a continent on the other side of the planet. It is populated by the majority of the Elvish race, and it appears that all other sentient races are banned from entering the entire continent.》
“Why? Why are you going?”
“Well, there is going to be a big council meeting next year. All the fancy Elvish Kings gathering for some silly thing. The Guild needs to be represented, but well, Only Elves are allowed on Krrt Anatra you see… Anyway, they are sending all the high-ranking Elves on a mission to represent The Guild. So of course, Meservi would be at the top of the list!” He said beaming with pride.
“I see…” Marc said as they walked along, at a noticeably slower pace than Grenn’s usual march.
“I don’t understand your abilities. Rynan has explained things several times, but as I told, you, I was the brawn of the team, so all this complicated Magic stuff eludes me.” Marc knew that this false modesty was nothing more than bait.
“Oh no, Meservi. You are quite clever.” Marc spoke his line.
“Really? So kind of you to notice!” Meservi puffed out his chest and looked at Marc. They both started laughing.
“I’m not sure this will work. Honestly, Rynan explained this to me, but I’m still not sure how your Magic works without a core. Still, if you can do it, it will greatly simplify things in the future.”
Marc nodded. He was hoping he could finally unlock his Air Mana ability.
“Air is by far the most powerful of all the magic attributes.”
Marc did not dispute this, but simply smiled and nodded.
“Fire is good. It adds to what exists. Buffs up your strength and enhances your stamina. Water is great too. It does the opposite, sucks the heat right out of you. Removes poisons. The thing about Fire and Water is that they get better as you get stronger. They are both great as you reach Journeyman and beyond. You can summon the elements. Create Fire and Water from thin air.” The Elf raised his finger and a miniature tornado appeared. Then two more appeared and the three moved to him and started to circle Marc’s head.
“Earth and Air Magic however both start very strong. They focus on manipulating things that exist already. Earth with physical objects and Air with Energy. Earth Mages can heal and repair the body, even at the novice level. You have already seen what they can do at the Master level.”
Marc looked at him questioningly.
“The City of course! The Walls, the Fields, all those tunnels and caverns. Thousands of years ago teams of Master Earth Mages carved that amazing city from the planet itself.”
Marc thought about those enormous walls, those huge caverns. It was far beyond anything technology had accomplished in his old world.
“Earth Mages are great with things they can see and touch, but where Air Mages stand out is in the reach of our power.”
He pointed at a small stone on the ground in front of them. It suddenly sprang into the air, then shot up the hill and Marc could hear it connect with a tree. Then he heard a noise that sounded like someone shooting an automatic rifle down at them. He instinctively ducked down and covered his head.
“324. 325. 326… well, I could do this all day.” Meservi sighed while waving his finger left and right, finally with a wide swipe of his arm a loud crashing noise came from deep in the forest.
“Let’s just call that 500,” Meservi said with a wink.
“That is just a parlor trick.” The Elf proclaimed. “Energy is weakest when it interacts with physical objects.”
《It’s at its best when it is used like this.》
Marc’s eyes shot open.
“Kira?” He thought at his interface.
《Not me. It’s the geezer.》 Kira’s familiar female voice answered.
“Meservi?” He tried to send a message to the Elf.
“I take it you heard that?” Meservi asked.
“Yes… How did you do that?”
“Air magic of course. Energy. A skill I have called TELEPATHY. It only works one way, unfortunately… unless.”
“Unless?” Marc was certainly curious.
“Unless I am communicating with another person with the skill.”
Marc smiled. This could be very useful indeed.
“Kira?”
《Have him push as much at you as possible. Anything he can send. Words, images, music, anything. The more the better.》
Marc explained to Meservi what Kira had told him.
“Really? Well, if you think you can handle it.”
Marc’s mind was flooded with images of a vast forest. It went as far as he could see in every direction. He stood atop a tower that appeared to be growing out of the top of the trees.
He knew somehow that the trees went down hundreds of meters. So far down that, no light touched the ground for thousands of kilometers in every direction. Below him was a city. An entire city was built above the trees as though it was floating on top. He could see Elves. A whole city was full of nothing but Elves.
His senses picked up more and more. The sound of wind blowing across the top of the tallest treetops, the scent of uncountable numbers of plants and fauna that he had never experienced. The sensory immersion was getting overwhelming.
And then it stopped. Marc was back, the Elf staring at his face, looking for a response.
Marc had a bit of a headache and he hoped it was worth it.
《Got it.》
Without the need for the pop-up window, Marc knew he now had unlocked four elements. Not only that, be he had the TELEPATHY skill as well.
《I think it worked.》 He thought back at Meservi.
The Elf jumped back in surprise.
“Well! To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that would work, but…”
《How does it work? Can I talk to anyone like this? What’s the range?》
“Alright, alright. Let’s walk before we run.” Meservi seemed unnerved by the sudden development. He hadn’t expected it to work so easily.
“TELEPATHY is typically one way. So it won’t let you hear others who don’t have a sending skill. And the range is limited by your rank. Novice users can usually only talk to those within eyesight while Journeyman ranked mages can often talk kilometers away.”
“What about Masters?” Marc asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” Meservi admitted.
Marc frowned. Why wouldn’t Meservi know, he was a Master after all.
《Idiot.》
“Kira?”
《He doesn’t know because he hasn’t found a limit yet.》
“You haven’t found a limit yet?” Marc said aloud, not really getting it.
Meservi smiled brightly. “Reach Master and I doubt there is anywhere on the planet we won’t be able to talk to each other. Isn’t that tremendous?”
《As if an idiot like you will ever reach master.》