To be frank, Brand thought Rosie was terrible in combat. Rosie seemed to think so too, if her mix of frustration and apologies were anything to go by. It was strange as her fundamentals were solid and her technique was excellent. She just seemed to be either in the way or nowhere near the action. They had defeated three Databeasts, one of which was a Speron - a heron-like Databeast with a metal beak, and while Rosie had certainly played a part, she had almost been as much a hindrance as a help, tripping Tommen up as he’d backpedalled away from the Databeast’s assault. Luckily Brand had taken advantage of the distraction and plunged his shortsword into the Speron. Rosie had put Tommen in danger, but to be fair to her it wasn’t entirely her fault
She used a long-handled axe and performed many large sweeping movements, which interfered with Brand and Tommen’s short and tight movements. The axe almost seemed too big for her, but she’d clearly mastered using her bodyweight to help swing it, and seamlessly changed the leverage of it so as to cut out wasteful movements.
She’d managed to properly hit twice with it, to devastating effect. Brand knew they could make something work. Rosie was earnestly trying, she just didn’t synergise well with what they were doing. He had a hunch he knew what was wrong.
“What weapons training have you been doing?” He asked her as they were sat resting after defeating the third Databeast of the day. They had taken on a Speron, a Heatwolf, and a Bushgle and came out on top each time.
The trio were snacking on various things they’d brought in travel bags. Brand and Tommen had left their big packs at the hotel and were using much smaller packs that only had the necessities for taking on Databeasts in the grasslands. Brand felt it very freeing that he didn’t have to lug a big rucksack around with him everywhere he went.
“I know you can’t really tell, but I train a lot at home on straw targets. Marius coaches me fairly often.” Rosie said. She was clearly not feeling great after the last few performances.
“You definitely can tell.” Said Brand, encouraging her. “Your technique is great. It’s just… you’ve never trained to be in a formation before, have you?”
Rosie shook her head. “Marius was a solo-leveller and I’ve mostly learnt from him.”
“Ahh that’s it!” Tommen exclaimed. “I was surprised. You’re so good, you’re just never in the right place. We get military formations drilled into us constantly in school. That’s why me and Brand are so synergised, whilst you are…”
“All over the place.” Rosie helpfully finished.
“...less coordinated with us than we are with each other.” Tommen followed up. “But we can make this work. If you look at our style, I engage at range with a flurry of attacks with my staff. I can get a lot of strikes in at different ranges while the Databeast is closing the distance. Once it has gotten close, Brand rushes in and tries to get a few good stabs and slashes in. When it turns to him, he stays in close and tries to trade with his short sword and buckler, whilst I try to damage or pin down the Databeast from the side with my staff to stack the odds in his favour. Usually we do this until it runs out of HP.”
“Now that you mention it, yeah you did do that.” Said Rosie.
“Well I’m thinking we stick to that, with you hanging around behind Brand. When there’s a good opportunity, you take the opposite side of the Databeast to me and swing as hard as you can. If you’ve practised solo you’re probably used to setting up and feinting to create an opportunity. Let us handle all that. Your goal for now should be to only hit one swing the whole fight. Try and stay the same distance that I will be from Brand. Brand, you might need to be a bit more aggressive and hold the line a bit more. Use your shortsword defensively and make the most out of your buckler.” Tommen explained his idea to the rest of them. Rosie seemed happy with the solution and Brand was excited to try it out.
They got up and went looking for the next Databeast with renewed fervour.
They found an Authorn, a bull-like plant Databeast. One of the stranger Databeasts of the low-level grasslands, being both animal and tree. It was smaller than a cow, being more around the size of a pony. Wood and flesh made up its legs and three pronged leaves with white flowers made up its fur. Its head was mostly that of a bull, but had red berries bunched on the top of its head and two long thornlike wooden spikes as its horns.
It was a dangerous Databeast, probably a little beyond a casual session. But the trio was feeling full of energy and were raring to go, so they approached it. It became hostile as soon as it spotted them, stomping its wooden hooves. Tommen ran ahead of the other two to stop the Authorn from being able to build a big charge against them and hit them with its momentum. That was where it was most dangerous.
Tommen’s staff had a fair bit of range. By the time the Databeast had built up a little momentum, Tommen’s staff was striking it across its nose as he ran past it. It whirled around, its eyes flashing the same red as the berries on its head. It had become enraged. This was what they wanted. It tried to strike at Tommen with its thorns but he used his staff defensively for the most part, only hitting with some short, quick strikes to whittle down its HP a little. His wind element stone empowered his strikes a little, boosting his speed. It wasn’t much, but in the rapid flurry a little edge went a long way.
Brand had caught up now and he swung hard at the Databeast with his bronze shortsword, slashing across its leg. The Authorn turned to him, feeling the loss of a large chunk of HP. It tried to gore him with one of its thorns, but Tommen used his staff well, using two hands to push against the thorn on the opposite side of its head, obstructing its movement. The Authorn shook free, but it was facing Brand now and less able to strike him with its thorns, as Brand kept himself square on, using his sword and buckler to block its attacks, chopping at it when he could. Tommen stayed on the side, hitting the horns and the hooves of the Databeast to continuously frustrate its attempts to take Brand out.
The battle continued like that for several seconds, until Rosie took action. She slinked out from behind Brand warily, trying not to draw the Databeast’s gaze. It noticed her, but distracted as it was with Brand and Tommen it could not divert enough attention to her. She continued to move around until she was opposite Tommen at the flank of the beast. Feeling blocked in it began to take steps back. Tommen did his best to stop it with his weapon whilst Brand pursued more aggressively now that he had more freedom to strike. The Databeast shook its head in a wild attempt to dislodge the pair.
Rosie immediately capitalised on this, spinning around to gain momentum and swinging the axe in a long, beautiful, destructive arc around her.
It was an excessive attack that could only be used when she had the freedom to do so. There was a hard crunching of wood as the axe buried itself into the flank of the Authorn. Its eyes were red and it let out a mighty bellow as it disappeared into the aether, its data being absorbed by the trio in the form of EXP for themselves, BITs, and element to level up their element stones.
Rosie received a little more element than the rest of them, as she had an earth element stone, poor grade. Because the Authorn was also an earth element, Brand and Tommen had to convert the earth energy into their respective elements, whilst Rosie did not.
They were jubilant after that victory, that their tactic had worked so well, so they decided to look for more Databeasts whilst making their way back to Quartz Creek. Despite the mistakes from earlier, Brand had been enjoying the hunting session and didn’t want it to end so soon.
The trio had decided to take a more circular route back, suggested by Rosie. They were in a more heavily wooded area now, a small forest they had seen from Quartz Creek. They had only got a little way in before they spotted their next Databeast, a Thunderkiwi. They almost missed it, as it was strutting beside thick vegetation of ferns and trees. Tommen and Brand hadn’t seen one since that first night, and were excited to battle it and see how much they’d improved since then.
Tommen ran towards the Thunderkiwi, as he had towards the Authorn, while Brand and Rosie lagged behind. The Thunderkiwi was late to seeing him and he managed to get it on the back foot as he began striking. Beak clashed with staff in a fierce battle, and a ferocious squawk was heard from the ferns. A second Thunderkiwi sprinted out of the undergrowth and struck at Tommen!
Two Databeasts working together was rare, but much more likely if they were the same species. It was somewhat uncommon for two Databeasts of the same type to find each other anyway, as there were so many different types around due to the semi-random spawning and were almost always aggressive with one another, so running into partnered Thunderkiwis was very bad luck.
Brand and Rosie sprinted towards the battle, but before they could get there Tommen let out a loud cry of pain and dropped his staff with one hand. One of the Thunderkiwis had got him good on the arm. He stepped back, flailing the weapon with one hand to keep the two electric birds back.
Brand got to him first, driving forwards with his buckler. The raced past Tommen and struck forward with the small shield, knocking the beak of the leftmost Thunderkiwi aside and circling round it, so that it was between Brand and the other Thunderkiwi, making it so only one could attack Brand. Tommen tried to battle the other Thunderkiwi with one hand but his staff was knocked aside.
Rosie reached the battle now and forced the Thunderkiwi away from Tommen with wide, arcing swings. Now Brand was taking on a Thunderkiwi solo, as was Rosie. Tommen wanted to join the fight, but knew he’d just be a hindrance so he stayed back.
Brand traded hard blows with his Thunderkiwi, taking them all on with the brunt of the shield. The Thunderkiwi had no such defense and the bronze shortsword took huge chunks from its HP with every slice.
On the other side, Rosie was finally in her element. Her axe practically danced around as she kept the Thunderkiwi at bay with big strikes that flowed seamlessly into one another. She stepped forwards and backwards whilst swinging as if fencing, and for a second the space around her seemed all hers as she controlled the distance to the flightless bird.
Despite that, the Thunderkiwi had the pressure on her, jabbing at her with sharp beak strikes that crackled with blue electricity. She had skills, but the Databeast had her on the levels. At just level 3 with a poor grade element stone, she was struggling with the Thunderkiwi.
Brand fared better against his. He was only a level higher, but the medium grade element stone imbued his strikes with noticeably more force. Fire was a good element for striking with more power and speed also, whilst earth boosted defence and the weight behind attacks. As such, Brand was better suited to dealing with the fast, constant attacks of the Thunderkiwi and being able to respond in kind. He was chipping away at the HP of the Databeast, but not enough to defeat it in time to help Rosie out, who was constantly stepping back, and getting tired.
Tommen managed to grab his staff with both hands now, fighting through the pain. He wanted to help out Rosie, but her wide arcs with the axe just meant he’d get in her way and put her in more danger. So he turned to the Thunderkiwi Brand was fighting and took a huge swing at the back of its long legs. The Thunderkiwi didn’t realise what had happened until it had been swept of its feet, and by then Brand was bringing his shortsword down in a brutal overhead strike that dispatched the Thunderkiwi, turning it back into data.
Tommen dropped his staff from the pain and Brand ran to take his position behind the other Thunderkiwi. This one was slightly bigger than the one he was fighting, but a few well placed strikes on its rump managed to hurt it just the same. Its head turned like a swivel and its beak moved like lightning trying to strike Brand in the head. He just managed to get his buckler in front of it in time, though the hit was hard enough to send jolts down his forearm. Rosie used the opportunity to transition into a soaring upward swing that sent the axe right into the centre of the Databeast’s body. It dissipated into data as they defeated it. They stood looking at each other for a second before breaking out into cheers. It had been intense, but they had managed to overcome the dangerous situation. They took a second to regroup, and Brand asked Tommen how his arm was doing.
“It isn’t too bad. I should be fine. It’s a wound, but the Thunderkiwi must have got me with some sort of static. My arm went numb.” Said Tommen. That was rare also, Brand thought. Databeasts didn’t have many techniques at lower levels. A technique, commonly called a Tech, was something Databeasts could learn as they levelled. Humans could use them too, but only by keeping their partnered Databeasts within them, after attuning their element stones. The Gustadder and the Twizard were two examples of Databeasts that learnt Techs early.
“But you’re all good now?” Brand asked sceptically. Tommen’s forearm was bleeding. It was at least a flesh wound.
“It hurts when I close my hand.” Said Tommen. “I don’t think I’ll be able to fight for today.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Maybe longer.” Brand told him. “Drink the potion. I’ll bandage your arm.”
“It’s not worth wasting the potion.” Tommen told him.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is why we bought it. Between the numbing from the static shock and the adrenaline you have no idea how bad your arm is. We’ll be cautious now and figure it out later.” Brand shot back as he took bandages out of his travel pack.
“Fine. But if I drink that potion then I’m hunting tomorrow.” Tommen begrudgingly replied.
“We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.” Brand told him as he wrapped the damaged arm. He was getting annoyed at Tommen.
“We’ll take you to Marius. He should be at the inn for dinner anyway. He’ll know what to do.” Said Rosie. The other two agreed to compromise on that.
Brand got the arm bandaged and poured some potion on the wound and Tommen drank the rest. They walked back to Quartz Creek, talking sparsely. The shiny walls flashed at them softly in the dimming light as they made their way back.
Brand had enjoyed that hunting session. It was his first one since turning level 4 and he could feel the difference. Not only was he stronger because of his level, but he could get a little more power out of his medium-grade element stone. It had felt comfortable using that extra power. He wondered when he’d be able to manifest his element. Shooting fireballs out of his hands was a long way off, but it was on the cards. Brand felt fulfilled in a way he hadn’t for a long, long time. He was getting levels from hunting. He was getting stronger.
This was what he should have been doing two years ago. Who knew where he’d be right now if he had? Level 10? Level 20? Was that what level Ember and Kelvin were? Had an insurmountable gap opened up between those two and him? Maybe he would never catch up. But he was finally on the road to doing so.
Turning to Rosie, he asked her something he’d been dying to ask.
“Maybe this is a little out of the blue, but did you ever meet any adventurers called Ember and Kelvin? I figure they may have stopped at your inn.”
“Maybe?” She replied. “That sounds familiar. When? What did they look like?.”
Brand’s heart quickened. “Sometime in the last year and a half? Kelvin was sorta tall and gangly-”
“And very shady looking.” Tommen interjected.
“Whilst Ember was short with reddish-purple hair.” Brand finished.
“Oh yeah! I do remember them. The suspicious man and pretty girl.” Said Rosie.
“Crazy girl.” Tommen interjected again.
“She was a little bombastic…” Rosie pondered.
“He’s not suspicious! And she’s not crazy. When did you see them? What happened?” Brand was excited.
“I can check the records when we get back, but I think it was around a year and a half ago. Think they’d come in from Shingle City. I didn’t really get to ask them anything. They only stayed for a few days and they were busy for all of it. Usually I try to get travellers to tell me about their adventures, but I didn’t even get to do that!” Rosie explained. “Maybe Marius knows more? He would have sold them items, I’m sure.”
“Woah.” Said Brand. If he’d thought Rosie really had information on where Kelvin and Ember were he’d have asked earlier. He was surprised. Quartz Creek was just one of many places they may have gone to. It was fortunate that they’d been here. “So you don’t know where they went?”
“Sorry, not a clue. Friends of yours?” Rosie asked.
“Yeah.” Said Brand, lost in thought. “Trying to find them. Maybe Marius knows where they went.”
“Maybe.” Said Rosie, unsure.
Brand couldn’t wait.
Luckily their journey back to Quartz Creek had little interruption. As Rosie predicted, Marius had closed up shop and was eating dinner at the Silverstar Inn. He was sitting with Rosie’s mother, Lily, at a large table. He had finished his dinner and they were just chatting. There were more patrons in than during lunchtime, but they all had food in front of them, so Brand surmised they were all regulars who had a routine that Lily was well prepared for.
Lily took one look at Tommen’s injured arm and started scowling, before summarily fussing over Rosie. Once she’d made sure Rosie was alright, she asked about Tommen.
“That’s what we were wondering.” Rosie explained. “We were going to ask Marius his opinion on the damage.”
Once they’d explained to him what had happened, Marius gave his prognosis. “You had the potion? That’s good. I’d still give it a couple days before your arm is fully healed.”
“Damn!” Exclaimed Tommen. “I guess we’re not going down the mines after all.” He smiled apologetically at Brand.
“How strong are they down there?” Brand asked Marius. “I might be able to solo it.” He had originally been planning on running solo when he’d left Cabletown after all. His teamwork with Tommen was an excellent boon to his excursion, but he could try to manage without it.
“I wouldn’t.” Marius warned. “You’d likely be able to beat most things down there, as long as you keep to the higher levels of the mines. But it’s possible to get hemmed in down there. It’s not quite two Thunderkiwis, but when two Pebblegobs are on either side of you down there, it's very difficult to turn around or get out. I wouldn’t have suggested it if there weren’t two of you.”
“Sorry Brand.” Said Tommen. He didn’t want to take away from the other boy’s training just because he himself had got injured, so felt guilty. “I’ll give you the 250 we owe. It was me that used the potion after all.” He told Marius.
“That’s alright. We agreed to split it. It could have easily been me using it. I’ll pay my half.” Brand told him.
“I can go down there.” Said Rosie.
“I don’t think so.” Said Lily. “I need you to help me out tomorrow.”
"Come on mum. You're just saying that because you don't want me down there." Said Rosie.
"I'm not." Lily huffed. "There's a lot I need to get done tomorrow and I'll need an extra pair of hands."
“What if Tommen helped you out?” Rosie asked, before turning to Marius. “He could do that even with his injured arm, right?”
“I could do that.” Tommen nodded along.
“I suppose it wouldn’t be too strenuous…” Said Marius, who looked at Lily. He didn’t seem to want to overstep his bounds, Brand guessed.
“See? I could help Brand out down there, while Tommen takes over my roles here. It’s mostly delivering food and talking to guests anyway.” Rosie said triumphantly.
“It seems a little dangerous.” Lily looked towards Marius. “We’ve already had one injury.”
“It was my fault he was injured.” Said Rosie. “I said we should check the area out. If it wasn’t for me he’d be down there with Brand tomorrow. They shouldn’t have to suffer for my mistake.”
“That doesn’t exactly make me want to let you go.” Her mother warned.
“It wasn’t your fault.” Tommen told Rosie. “I made the mistake.”
“It should be alright. Depending on how strong Brand is.” Marius interjected, looked at Brand expectantly.
Brand could take the hint. Normally it would be something of a faux pas to ask an adventurer their level, but Brand understood that Marius was just looking out for Rosie, and cared for her. He could choose not to reveal his level and element stone, but he was planning on going down the mine anyway and Rosie had proved whilst fighting the Thunderkiwis that she had his back in a tight situation. He wanted her down there with him. If she hadn’t been there he and Tommen might have had some serious problems, even if they would have approached more cautiously with her absence.
“Level 4, low grade fire stone.” Brand told him. Marius’ eyebrows raised as he made a face that looked a little impressed, likely due to the level of the stone. It was rare for a beginner to not have a poor grade element.
“It should be alright then.” Marius told Lily. “I’ve been down the mine with Rosie before and she’s been able to hold her own. I’ve no doubt her and Brand could take on anything at the higher levels of Silverstar Mine. If they’re smart. It would be a good test for them.” He concluded.
“I don’t know…” Lily said.
“She really can fight.” Tommen said.
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure she’s safe.” Brand said.
“I’ll be okay mum.” Rosie finished up, heartened at the support from Tommen and Brand.
“Fine.” Said Lily. “I want you back at 5. A minute late and I’m sending Marius down those mines.”
“Thank you!” Rosie gave her mother a big hug, who hugged back. Then she turned to the injured boy. “Sorry for giving you extra work, Tommen.”
“That’s alright. It’s a good thing to keep me occupied.” Tommen told her, honestly.
Brand was pleased with the result. He and Tommen still got to have the potion half-price after all, and now he had some backup for training. Still, he was after more than that.
“It’s unrelated, but I was hoping to ask you about something, Marius.” Brand said.
“Oh yeah! I completely forgot! Let me check the register.” Said Rosie, getting up.
“What is it?” Marius prompted.
“I’m looking for a couple of friends. Rosie said they stayed in Quartz Creek about a year and a half ago. Kelvin and Ember. He’s sorta tall with brown hair, and she’s short with reddish-purple hair.” Brand explained.
Marius thought for a second before it struck him. “I do remember actually. A lot of adventurers come through my shop, but they did stick out a little. Part of me thought the boy was going to try and rob me, truthfully… more common than you think. But I remember because they kept asking about the ruins south of here. It attracts a strange type of person.”
“Ruins?” Brand asked. “What kind of ruins?”
“They’re pretty impressive actually. They come from one of the initial settlements in this land. There’s a lot of speculation about who created it and why. Most common is that it was a laboratory town. They definitely used some weird tech to make it. There’s an underground labyrinth beneath the ruins too, that seems to have been made after. Some enthusiasts like to visit it, some treasure hunters reckon they’ll find something everyone else missed. But almost invariably, everybody comes away empty handed.” Marius explained.
“Maybe I should check it out.” Brand muttered.
“I’d give it some time. At your level you’d just be XP and element for the Databeasts there. It’s dangerous. The Databeasts there are weird too. You find a lot you won’t see anywhere else around here.” Said Marius.
“What level should I be?” Brand asked.
“A strong 7 to survive, ideally 8 or 9 if you want to properly explore it.” Said Marius.
“Found it!” Rosie called before running back over. “They stayed here a year and four months ago. For three nights.”
That was two months after they’d stopped sending Brand messages. He felt a sense of relief that they were okay and hadn’t stopped messaging him because something awful had happened. That was soon followed by a different emotion that he couldn’t quite place. They had been so close but hadn’t visited or even sent him some mail? Part of him had expected that they’d been out adventuring in some far off corner of the land, or traversing the wilderness and unable to communicate with him.
To find out they’d had every opportunity to message him but chose not to? That made him feel a certain something that he didn’t like. A sense of distance opened up between him and them once more. Maybe they were just sitting around in Shingle City and wouldn’t even be excited to see him. And now he found out that they’d probably been level 7 or higher in just 8 months since leaving Cabletown.
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to catch up to that. That kind of levelling speed was unheard of back home.
“What are you guys talking about?” Rosie asked
“Just the old ruins down south. His friends had been visiting it.” Marius told her.
“Ooh! Spooky. Local rumour has it that a mad scientist tried to create a never before seen Databeast and it all went horribly wrong and blew up in his face.” Rosie told him.
Marius looked at her sceptically. “Local rumour, yes. That place was created and destroyed before Quartz Creek was ever dreamed up by the frontiersmen and women traversing the area.”
“I wonder what kind of Databeast he was trying to create.” Said Rosie dreamily, ignoring Marius’ dismissal.
The retired adventurer got up and said good night to the assembled group. He told Rosie and Brand that he’d see them tomorrow and promptly left. Lily also took her leave, and his plates of food, retreating into the kitchen. Rosie went to help her.
Tommen and Brand talked for a while, but they were both exhausted from the long day and soon headed to their rooms.
Brand slept well, but had strange dreams of running endlessly towards the horizon. No matter how far he ran, it stayed just as far away.
_______
Three Days Prior
Harlow was having a bad day. Walking, walking, walking. It was awful. The doctor had discharged him, under pressure from Captain Rizzo, once the exoskeleton was fitted to his leg. He could put weight on it mostly painlessly, but only when he walked with a limp.
He was getting good at that. It had taken a while. At least sometime after Oxburgh.
That’s where they’d gone first. Rizzo had decided that was the most likely place that the two boys, Tommen and Brand as he’d learned, had gone. But they weren’t there, or at least the doddering old guard stationed at the place didn’t remember seeing them. Not necessarily the same thing as he wasn’t sure the guard’s eyesight and memory was all it could be, but they’d moved on anyway. Now they were most of the way towards Shingle City. That was where they’d end up heading to at some point.
Captain Rizzo had some friends in the guard there, and had sent some messages ahead. They couldn’t detain Tommen and Brand for him, but they’d let him know if they’d come through and where they were in the city.
Fighting the Databeasts had been hard. The Captain could have handled them all easily, being level 9. He did finish them off to be fair, but only after making Harlow fight whatever they came across and shouting endless criticism at him before stepping in once the younger man failed.
Rizzo had gotten him another staff for the one he’d lost. Harlow had been proud of his combat skill previously, but with his leg as janky as it was his style had to completely change. For the most part he had to stand and bang whilst leaning on his good leg. Highly aggressive Databeasts like Thunderkiwis that put him on his back foot were an absolute nightmare. Luckily they’d only fought one, but he could have died if Rizzo didn’t step in.
Half of him was convinced that Rizzo just wanted to shout at him though. Even if he didn’t have a messed up leg, he was sure that Rizzo would be criticising his stance and swings just as much.
So between walking, fighting and being shouted at, Harlow was really starting to resent the guard captain for bringing him along. Even though he could feel himself getting better at fighting.
He told himself they were almost at Shingle City. Brand and Tommen would be there. Rizzo would deal with them, bring them back somehow, whatever.
He would be back home soon, Harlow thought, as he limped along trying to keep up with the quick pace of the captain. He didn’t want to fall behind again.