Chapter 82 - Elder Mason

Shazia

Rhott D’linra and Shazia Henlr were a duo that, in all rights, should not work well together. He loved to be out on adventures, fighting and being in the thick of things, while she, in contrast, was far happier with her nose in a book, somewhere safe and out of trouble. The mere thought of sleeping outside was enough to make her want to throw up; needless to say, their current predicament was not in any way ideal.

Despite all this, the pair had managed to claim success after success in everything they did, from their days in the academy to the few fights they had been in since they arrived here. They somehow managed to shore up each other’s weaknesses. If asked, Shazia would describe her partner as ‘just as dumb as the day he popped out.’ Rhott would, in return, describe her as ‘softer than a wet nurses tit.’ These were, of course, exaggerations; she was fully capable of defending herself just as he was not some mindless brute.

Having met at their faction’s academy, they had become fast friends when Rhott had defended Shazi from some of the more vicious attendees. Fast forward to graduation, they had both been selected to be the champions of the Talmorans.

The past few months, Rhott had been having a great time while Shazia had been in hell. They had both reached Level 35, but for Shazia, it was more due to the fact that Rhott had carried her through the majority of fights they had been in. She was a capable fighter but often found it easier to let her partner do the heavy lifting. If she levelled anyway, then what was the problem? They had been on the Trial world for a good few weeks, and they hadn’t come across many things that Rhott couldn’t handle himself, so when the man, with just a single punch, had sent him flying past her, she was concerned.

She stared in awe for a second at the strange man, who was now examining his fist as if he had never seen it before. For an instant, she had considered attacking him while he was distracted, but the thought was pushed away almost instantly. If he could do that to Rhott, then he would annihilate her without effort. Every self-preservation instinct she had was screaming at her to flee, and so she did. She found Rhott and slapped him until he woke; he spluttered awake, babbling noncoherently for a second before he came to his senses.

“Bastard took me by surprise; he did.” He stood and attempted to step towards the clearing where the man was. He stumbled, and Shazia smacked him again.

“You damn imbecile! You’re lucky you’re alive. We’re leaving right now before he comes for us!”

Rhott tried to protest, but Shazia grabbed his arm, twisted it and began to pull him away. “We are going to head to the cache, and we’re getting inside even if it kills both of us. Maybe, MAYBE there will be something inside that can help us fight whatever that fucking thing was.” Rhott heard the fear in her voice and, for a change, made the intelligent decision to follow her without further argument.

Rhott

He would never admit it to her face, but she was right; she usually was with these sorts of things. He was lucky to be alive, more than she knew, in fact. If it weren’t for his system’s emergency protocol activating at the last second, he would be deader than dead. It was a useful ability and one that Shazi did not know about. Once a day, if he were dealt a blow that would have killed him, he instead only suffered half the damage. Since arriving here, he’d only needed it a handful of times, but each time, it was literally a lifesaver.

As he half ran, half limped after his partner, he reveled in how much pain he was in despite only taking half the damage he should have. He cursed himself for his idiocy; he had almost immediately noticed very fresh tracks in the mud that had come to a sudden stop. With all sorts of abilities and magics possibly in play, he knew that the tracks suddenly stopping didn’t necessarily mean there was an invisible person there, but it was his first thought. If he had been wrong, he would have looked stupid, but Shazi had said what she said, and it was just too good of an opening not to take.

He’d been cocky and overestimated his abilities, and now he was in a world of pain, praying to every god he knew that he would never encounter that guy again. His only comfort was that he didn’t seem to be chasing them.

“Who’d you think it was?” he asked as he caught up to the much faster woman.

“I have no idea, but…” She started to say but drifted off.

“What?”

“You don’t think it could have been one of the other faction’s elders, do you?”

He stayed quiet for a while. It hadn’t been something he had considered. He had assumed it was just some freak from another faction who had lucked into an ancient artefact or unlocked some sort of ultimate ability. Shazi’s idea was far, far worse. “No…” he answered slowly, only half convinced of what he was planning to say. “If it had been an elder, then surely we’d both be dead, and besides, he looked way too young. Elder A’eln is probably older than most dragons; the guy back there didn’t look a day over 20.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She slowed down and stared at him, “Who are you trying to convince me or yourself?” she retorted, picking apart his argument. “He could have been holding back, and he could have an ability or something else that keeps him young.” She sighed and came to a stop in front of an old decrepit shack, “All I’m saying is that it’s better for us both if you don’t run off and pick a fight we both know you’ll lose.” She turned to the door of the shack and started fiddling with the lock.

Angry at her dismissal, he growled out, “If I had thought the guy was an elder, I wouldn’t have attacked. I’m not stupid, you know.”

The only reply he received was an “Shhh.” Which only served to make him angrier.

“Y’know you-” he began before she spun around and clamped her hand over his mouth. His eyes bulged, thinking maybe she had heard something he hadn’t, but instead, she fixed him with a glare and whispered to him, voice full of venom. “I just watched someone nearly kill you; the last thing I want now is for that someone to catch up with us and finish the job. Now, please, please shut up so I can get us in here before we both end up dead.” The moment her tirade finished, her eyes widened a fraction, and a slight tint of pink crept into her cheeks as if she hadn’t meant for all of that to come out. She spun back around and fiddled a bit more before the door clicked and opened.

Rhott was stunned and impressed. In the entire time he had known her, Shazi had never confronted him in such a direct way. They argued all the time, sure, but never like that. He wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

The shack they were heading into was a location that their elder had given to them. The structure apparently hid an old Ganehfrelian base, one of several scattered around the trial world. According to the elder, it would contain everything they needed to reach their goal and get back home. They had been there earlier that day and had struggled to get past the guardian of the place. They had given up for the day, planning to come back another time when they had sensed the impossible amount of chaos essence coming from nearby. Shazia had been wary, not wanting to mess with something that powerful, but had followed when he had run off, eager to get a taste of that power himself.

Mason and Mayry

Mayry stopped and held out her arm in front of Mason.

Despite his many abilities and enhanced senses, Mason managed to miss the obvious stop signal and bumped right into her.

“Oi, this,” she whispered, shaking her still outstretched arm to emphasise her point, “Means stop walking. It doesn’t mean, please keep walking!”

Unable to think of a good comeback, he went with the classic strategy of sticking out his tongue and giving her the finger.

Shaking her head, she muttered, “Honestly, if you weren’t supposed to save all mankind, I’d probably have killed you myself by now.” Louder, she said, “I think they’re up ahead, so If you want them to know we’re coming then keep being an idiot otherwise,” She raised a finger to her lips, “Shh!”

He whispered back, “You can not be this annoyed just because I woke you up!”

The glare he got back was proof enough that she could, and was, annoyed at him because he woke her up.

They crept forward, slowing their pace, until they reached a small clearing with a dilapidated shack. In any other situation, the building would fit right in with the spooky forest they were in. It was covered in a thick layer of moss, all of its windows were boarded up with planks of wood, and a massive tree root had grown beneath it, causing the building to tilt precariously. It was exactly the kind of forgotten structure you'd expect to stumble upon in the depths of the forest.

Even staring at the house from a distance as they were, something tickled in the back of his head. He couldn’t tell what, but something felt off about the place. Getting a closer look was currently off the table for now as they watched the two Others arguing outside the door. He wanted to know for sure that there was no trick to getting inside.

He could hear their argument clearly and smirked when he heard them referring to him as a possible elder. He was almost definitely younger than them both it still felt nice to hear people acknowledge how strong he had gotten.

A short while later, the two Others entered the shack. Mason made to follow them; he assumed they would follow them in, attack them and then take any loot they found. Mayry stopped him; this time, she didn’t bother holding out her arm. She just grabbed the back of his shirt as he tried to walk away. He struggled for a few seconds, but the woman was freakishly strong; he knew she was a part demon, but damn!

“I think we should wait out here.” She said as she let his shirt go. “I sense a lot of magic in there; it definitely isn’t human, but I don’t think it wise to run into the unknown.”

Mason twitched as he fought the urge to run in any way, shouting, ‘Leeroy Jenkins!’ His inner voice of common sense, which sounded shockingly like Mayry, managed to convince him to hear the real Mayry out.

She continued, “I think we wait out here and confront them when they come out. What do you think?”

Hesitating slightly, he answered, “I think you’re right. After that bastard of a tree, I could really use a break before another fight, and who knows what they have in there? It could be anything.”

It seemed that his life had become a never-ending series of situations he had to confront with very little time for anything else in between, so any time he had where he didn’t have to fight was a moment he would enjoy. He laid down on the grass and stretched out.

“What are you doing?!” Mayry whispered to him sternly, “I said we should wait out here, not that we should take a nap!”

He shrugged and pulled a hat from his inventory and placed it on his face at a tilt so it covered his eyes. She growled at him and spat, “It doesn’t even look comfortable down there. Come on we need to stay alert.”

“It would be a lot more comfortable if you joined me down here.” He said cooly, not bothering to move the hat to look at her. A moment of silence passed before he felt the weight of her lying down next to him.

***

An hour passed with nothing to disturb them apart from a nosy wild deer that only left them alone when Mason fired off a mana bolt in its direction. He kept a proverbial eye on the shack, but most of his attention was captured in relaxing. They chatted about everything and nothing and enjoyed the small time together.

When they heard a slam of a door opening and voices coming from the shack, it was with great reluctance that they got up and refocused on their situation.