Kelsey urged her to get some sleep with the rest of them.

“You’ve had a big day, made some big changes. Some sleep, even if it’s just half a night, will help you process all that’s happened.”

The other girls had gone to their new beds. Anton and Aris had retired. Zaphar had gone back to the inn to ‘mind the fort’ as Kelsey had put it. But Tyla couldn’t sleep. How could she?

“I can’t,” she said. “I can feel this… power… running through me. I cannot control it, I can’t do anything with it, but it is there.”

Kelsey grinned. “I can think of a few ways to burn off that nervous energy— but we just met! You know you’re still two levels away from casting your first spell, right?”

“I know,” Tyla said. “If you’d given me this opportunity before I killed those slavers…”

“True,” Kelsey admitted. “But you hadn’t impressed me then.”

“Killing impresses you, then?” Tyla asked.

“Well… it was more about the circumstances. The whys and the hows… hey! Wanna go for a walk?”

Tyla raised an eyebrow. “Is that safe?” she asked. “Are we— you— not standing guard?”

“We can do that better from the outside,” Kelsey said, waving a hand lazily. “It’s dark, so no one is going to recognise you, we can get some fresh air and we can talk without worrying about waking the little’uns up.”

Chuckling a little, Tyla agreed. Kelsey led her outside, carefully locking the warehouse door behind them.

Tyla sniffed the air with distaste. The warehouse district wasn’t the worst part of town, but it was close to the port, and the everpresent smell of rotting fish. Here, the streets were wide and straight, unlittered by the drunks and the homeless. There were plenty of narrow alleyways that such people preferred, but there were also guards, hired by the merchants that owned the buildings, to move the riffraff on.

Some of those guards were looking at them suspiciously, but from a distance. They had come out of a warehouse, so they had a legitimate reason for being here.

Kelsey took them on a circuit around their building. It was dark but Tyla’s night-vision was up to the task. Nor did Kelsey seem to have any problems moving around. She kept her attention on the building as they moved around it, making tsk sounds with her tongue.

“Too much light escaping,” she muttered. “Gonna have to put up insulation, soundproofing, maybe.”

Tyla ignored her meaningless words. She looked up at the stars. It had been a long time since she had seen them and they looked different when they weren’t seen through leaves.

She only stopped when Kelsey stopped talking. Tearing her gaze away from the heavens, she looked back at the strange human figure that was staring at her.

“Hey, Tyla,” Kelsey said. “You want to fight?”

Tyla’s eyes widened and she took a step back. Her hand found itself gripping her dagger.

“Not me,” Kelsey snorted. “Something more your level. I’ve seen you kill, but I haven’t seen you fight.”

Tyla knew that the Maze of a Numen Spirit was where elves were tested, refined into someone stronger. Wandering free as she did, perhaps the streets of this city were Kelsey’s Maze. Nodding, Tyla readied herself.

“I will,” she said.

Kelsey nodded approvingly back. Then, to Tyla’s surprise, she turned away.

“C’mon,” she said. “Let’s find a better part of the city to do this in.”

----------------------------------------

There were not many ways in which this part of the city could be called better. The smell of fish had not gone away entirely, but it was drowned out by the smell of piss, alcohol and other kinds of rotting food. This was, Tyla was fairly sure, the bad part of town. If there was a worse part, then Tyla didn’t want to see it. Or smell it.

This area was more crowded than the warehouse district, but the inhabitants were much less alert. At this hour of the night, fully a quarter of the people on the street were unconscious. It wasn’t easy, but Kelsey managed to find a dark alley that no one was using for crimes or sex.

“You ready?” Kelsey asked. Without waiting for an answer, she summoned an animated skeleton. For a moment, it just stood there while Tyla stared at it. Its bones glowed very slightly in the dark of the alley while its eyes glowed more strongly. It was armed with a rusty sword and wore dented metal armour.

“Bog standard Skeleton Soldier,” Kelsey said. “There’s a benefit for you, fighting a Tier 2, so we’ll start there.”

The soldier jerked forward to attack, but Tyla was ready. Slipping under its swing, she got in close, as a dagger-wielder had to. Inside the reach of her blade, she had to deviate from her training. The skeleton had no guts for her to plunge her dagger into, so she elected to make a slashing cut under the rib cage and breastplate, aiming to sever the spine.

Her blade bit in, shattering small fragments of bone, but it wasn’t enough to cut through. Unwilling to stop moving and try again, she pushed the skeleton back with her blade.

She turned out to be stronger, and the monster went stumbling back, unable to strike at her as she passed back out through its reach.

“Nice,” Kelsey commented. “We really should have some custom armour around the lower spine, but it looks out of place.”

Tyla didn’t reply.

I’m faster than it, and I’m stronger than it, she thought. I can win this.

She dashed in again. This time, as she ducked under the blow, she caught the arm in her off-hand.

When you are the stronger one, press close, and don’t let up. The advice from her mentor flowed through her mind. She pushed forward, trying to either trip the monster or force it back against the alley wall. While she was doing this, she chopped wildly at the exposed lower spine with her dagger.

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Everything got confused, too much was happening at once. She focused on the important things. Her grip on the skeleton’s weapon arm.

The thud of impact as she pushed the monster into the wall.

The final crunch as her sword severed its spine.

Then—pain! A sudden explosion of black and red that blacked out her vision for a moment. She staggered back, pushing the skeleton away. There was a clatter of bones as she shook her head to clear it.

The damned thing had head-butted her. She hadn’t expected that. She quickly re-oriented herself and then gasped in surprise.

Despite having its spine severed, the skeleton was still able to fight. Its torso was upright on the ground, slowly dragging itself toward her. Tyla thought that she could see an angry glint in its eyesockets, but its expression was, as always, grinning.

“Yeah, you need to destroy the head to stop it,” Kelsey drawled. Tyla didn’t glare at her. This was making her stronger. Kelsey was helping.

The head might not have been destroyed, but the fight was over. Half a skeleton was not anywhere near as dangerous. Tyla crouched down to block its strike and then stomped on its arm. Pinned, it could only grin at her as a swipe of her dagger dislodged the helmet. She thought about using the pommel, but the blade seemed heavy enough. She brought it down point first, directly into the skull.

The skull exploded into dust, and the bones all clattered to the ground. She felt the experience flow into her. Not as much as she was used to. Before, all her kills had been hunts, fulfilling the purpose of her class. Her new class was meant to cast spells, and this was a poor substitute.

“Nice work,” Kelsey said. “Anton is better, but you can move, which Aris still has to work on. I didn’t see any combat traits?”

“The only one I have is Silent Shot,” Tyla said, still staring at the bones and dust that were all that remained of her opponent. “It makes my attacks silent so that I don’t scare off the game.”

She looked up at Kelsey, who was staring at her with wide eyes.

“Silent Shot?” Kelsey asked. “Wanna see if it works on guns?”

She pulled out one of the same weapons that Aris carried.

“I thought you wanted me to be a mage?” Tyla asked.

“You don’t need to be a Gunslinger to use guns,” Kelsey replied. “I’m not. Anton doesn’t use guns because he’s trained a whole lot with his sword. Anyone else, I’d recommend it.”

She did something to the weapon, causing it to open up at the side. A handful of brass cylinders appeared in her other hand.

“These are what it fires,” she said, slipping each one into a matching hole in the gun. She clicked it back into place and held the weapon out to Tyla. “Now you’re ready to go. Six shots.”

Tyla took the gun in her hand. It was heavier than she expected. Kelsey came up to her side and showed her how to hold it.

“You want to use both hands, especially when you’re starting out.” She guided Tyla’s hands into position. It was the first time she had touched Tyla, and it felt strange. Cooler than hands should be, but still warmer than the cold night air.

“Finger slips in here, aim it where you want the bullet to go, and then you just squeeze the trigger. We’ll get some zombies for you to aim at—”

“Hey, girls!” A loud, drunken, male voice interrupted. Even before she turned, Tyla could tell by the laughter that he wasn’t alone.

When she did turn, Tyla saw three men at the entrance to the alley. They were unsteady on their feet and one of them carried a wineskin. All of them had long, curved daggers at their belt. They took a few uncertain steps forward, no doubt having trouble seeing them in the darkness.

Kelsey pulled out a light stick. Unlike the light stones that Tyla was familiar with, this threw the light in a single direction. Kelsey shone it in the men’s faces.

“Hey!” one of them cried.

“This is a private party, boys. You’re not invited.” Kelsey called out. Glancing over at her, Tyla could see that the spirit was sporting a wolfish grin. She angled the light down so that it illuminated the ground between them.

“Ahh, don’t be like that,” one of the men said. He took a few confident steps forward, the others following his lead. “Can’t have a party with just girls, and we can’t have fun if it’s just guys, you know?”

“We are uninterested, and I am armed,” Tyla said firmly. The fool might not recognise the weapon she was carrying, but she had her own knives, plainly visible.

“Ah, a pretty little thing like you can’t use knives for shit,” the man said. “We’ll get to play a bit before we have our fun, is all.”

“I’m unarmed!” Kelsey said brightly.

“What are you doing?” Tyla hissed.

“They’re good practice, aren’t they?” Kelsey said, gesturing at the gun. “Better experience than zombies, too.”

“Is this how it is done, in the cities?” Tyla asked, taking a step back. It seemed to encourage the men. “Rape and murder whenever there are no witnesses?”

“Hey, we ain’t gonna murder you,” the leader laughed. “Once we get started, you’ll be begging for more.”

“Or at least, you won’t be complaining none,” one of the others added. All three of them laughed.

“Well, not officially,” Kelsey said to Tyla. “If they get caught, they’ll go to jail or get a bit chopped off or something. It’s just that… there aren’t any guards here, you know?”

Tyla held the gun up. “This is wrong,” she said. “Turn back now.”

The men just laughed some more and kept on coming.

“Is that supposed to be a weapon, little missy?” the leader asked. “I thought you said you was armed?”

“Look at it this way,” Kelsey said. “Do you want these three to survive and go on to rape other women?”

Tyla pulled the trigger.

She remembered to use her trait. There was a flash of light and a slight whiff sound. The lead rapist staggered and touched his hand to his bloody shoulder.

“What in Butin’s name was that?” he exclaimed.

“Nice,” Kelsey said. “But not fatal. Aim for the centre of his chest. You’re ready for the kick now, yeah?”

She idly shone her light back in the men’s faces. The curses of the two partially blinded men mixed with the man who was only now realising he was injured.

Tyla prepared herself more carefully this time, aiming lower to compensate for the upward jerk. There was another flash, and the first man fell.

“Keep going!” Kelsey encouraged.

“Jak, what’s happening?” One of the men knelt and tried to rouse his buddy. Tyla shot at the one still standing.

He cried out and fell down. The last one looked up then, finally starting to connect the bright flashes with his friend’s injuries.

“You can’t—” he said. But Tyla could, and did, pull the trigger.

“Good work,” Kelsey said encouragingly. “Almost done now.”

She put a hand on Tyla’s back and led her over to the corpses. The first one was the leader.

“He’s dead,” Kelsey said, tapping him with her foot. The corpse disappeared.

Moving over to the next, she shook her head. “This guy’s still hanging on,” she said. She looked at Tyla expectantly.

“He’s no threat,” Tyla said. “There’s no need.”

Kelsey shook her head again. “Remember what I said about witnesses? We can’t have this guy telling tales about us. He’s probably gonna die anyway, you’ll just be putting him out of his misery.”

Numen spirits tested elves, refined them. This was what Tyla needed to get stronger, to put her weakness behind her. She stepped up to the dying man.

“Final shot goes in the head,” Kelsey said. “Instant death.”

It almost felt like the gun fired itself. Almost. Kelsey made a pleased noise and made the corpse disappear. The third one was also sufficiently dead.

“Feel better?” Kelsey asked.

“I feel… stronger,” Tyla replied. She was already getting the notification.

You have reached Level 1.

Applying Benefits for Level 1

Strength + 1

Dexterity + 1

Perception + 1

Willpower + 1

Please allocate free Ability point.

Agility Selected.

“You up for more training?” Kelsey asked. “Still got a couple of hours,”

“I got more for killing humans than I did for killing a monster,” Tyla whispered. “More than three times.”

“Well, they were higher level,” Kelsey said. “Still Tier Two, but closer to the top than the bottom, you know?”

Tyla nodded. Killing the rapists had taken her well past the threshold of level one. It wouldn’t take much to get her to the second level.

“I want to get a trait for casting spells,” she said.