Luffa paced in the mess area as the other primals carried out the daily operations. She felt like an unwelcomed guest on this ship. It knew they weren’t its original crew. Save for Amara. But regardless, the vessel felt hostile to her, she couldn’t verbally articulate. Her presence here wasn’t right. None of them being here was. And in that regard, it resisted her.

She knew she’d been hanging around Amara for that reason alone. Amara finished her meal and tugged at the magical binding collar as she swallowed. Her friend cleaned up with a napkin and gave her that look right before she was about to lecture her.

“If you pace any more, you’ll wear a hole in the deck and decompress the ship.” Amara said.

Luffa stopped, a ghost of a smile teased her lips. “I know… but everything is going so wrong. Ominek has my people. He has those bombs, and he has us. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. And now I don’t know if we’ll be able to get out of this.”

“We have a plan. We just have to trust and see it through.” Amara reassured her. She was right. She always was. Since she’d met Amara, the priestess had always been smart and a quick learner. If her friend was confident, she should be too.

“You’re right. Just nerves, I guess. I still have to tell the others.”

Amara stiffened. “That’s a bad idea. It just provides them an opportunity to derail things.”

“But at least I would be honest and open with them. My sisters and brothers need that. We sure as hell aren’t getting it from Ominek.”

Amara sighed. The ease of her tension was visible, if only barely. “Ok. But we should do it as a United front. If we show them we stand together in decision, it may dissuade some of the more on the fence of your people from acting.”

“You think it’ll come to that?”

Amara gave her a flat look. For a moment, Amara reminded her of Erlaut’s teaching style. She nodded and shrank a little as if she’d been scolded.

“Don’t do that. Don’t shrink. You’re free. You bow to no one now. Not even Ominek.”

Luffa looked up, put some steel in her spine, and stood tall again. “Right.”

“There’s a very real chance some of your people side with Ominek just because. But if you’re going to lead them on to anything meaningful, stand for something. Otherwise, you won’t stand for anything and lose them to Ominek, anyway. What that looks like is up to you.”

“I didn’t want to build our freedom on the backs of more of our dead.”

“Then don’t. Show them what mercy looks like, and the wisdom to apply it.” Amara said.

“He’ll just twist anything I do. He’s a manipulate anything I do or say against me. I’ll either be weak or don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Eventually, all that he’s done will come back to him. I don’t know how, but I feel certain it will. Don’t worry Luffa. We’ll save your people. From Ominek and the Erynians.”

“I just hope I’m there to see it when it happens.”

“Then let’s make sure we are. Come on. Let’s go tell the others the plan and see how they react.”

Luffa hesitated for a moment before nodding. It had to be done, and there was no better time than now. At least then she could figure out who her allies and enemies would be. “Ok.”

Tabak pushed off the entryway into the mess hall. “Sorry. I was eves dropping but also making sure the coast was clear. Had anyone else heard, it might have gone…differently.”

“Thank you Tanak.” Luffa said.

“I requested they gather on the bridge. Most were already there and the few that weren’t were close enough to avoid your conversation. Come.”

The dragonborn extended a hand, and Luffa took it, squeezing gently as the trio stepped into the bridge. They saw the expectant faces of all the primals that had escaped Eryn with her. Even Sarada’s judgemental glare.

“She finally graces us with her presence.” Sarada snapped.

“Ease up Sarada. She got us off of Eryn. She’s been under a lot of stress.” Dakon said.

“What stress? Ominek took us in the instant we left. She hasn’t had to decide anything since telling us we should leave.”

“She’s under more pressure than you realize,” Dakon trailed off.

Luffa cleared her throat, glancing to Amara and Tanak for strength. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ve decided we don’t need more enemies. We won’t be using the magi-nukes on the Brotherhood.”

“That’s awfully arrogant of you to think you’re the one in charge.” Sarada said coldly.

“Because I am,” Luffa said matter-of-factly.

“According to who?”

“I’m fine with it, actually. Taking orders from the Elves for so long, trading them for Ominek feels like a step backward, really.” Dakon said in the back.

Murmurs of agreement rippled out. Sarada silenced it with a hateful glare. Silence settled in.

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“I disagree. Ominek was the architect of our freedom. Luffa just spread the word. He opened the void portal. Severed our collars. Gave us our freedom, a home, and a new purpose. Luffa has done none of that.”

Luffa sighed. “It’s true. He has done all of that. And he’s also a skilled manipulator. He’s also got his own agenda. He would see us make enemies of the Brotherhood, where we currently have no enmity. We have no true home, and many of our people are scattered. I want to give them that. Find us a world we can rebuild. Away from the war, away from the elves, and away from the Sauridius.”

“How do you know Ominek doesn’t want the same thing?”

“If he did, then why is asking the only few primals he’s freed to go on a suicide mission for him? Do you honestly think the brotherhood would let us drop into their system, deploy a bunch of magic nukes, and then flee unscathed?”

At Luffa’s question, everyone’s gaze fell to their boots. “Nor did I. We are simply sacrifices in his game of Darstryx. A game I’d prefer not to be sacrificed in myself. Nor do I suspect any of you will lay your lives down for him so freely, either.”

“So what if this is how he uses us? He’s earned that right. Without him, I’d still be training petulant elves how to hurl light bolts at me,” Sarada said.

“Shouldn’t that be our choice, though? We chose to leave for our freedom. Not to wear new shackles.”

“Ominek is the only one interested in striking back at the ones who made us war slaves. If that means bloodying a few noses, then so be it.” Sarada said.

“Sarada, is there a way I can convince you off of this path you’ve chosen?”

“No.”

Luffa said, but gave a reluctant nod. It pained her to hear that, but this was the only way she could see going forward. They could still spill blood, but this way, it would be in a duel with rules.

“Very well. Then I propose a duel. If you win, we follow you. If I win, you follow me. Do you accept?”

Sarada’s folded arms fell, and hers danced around the gathered faces. A flighty, nervous look flashed across her features before, finally, Sarada nodded. “I accept.”

A ripple shuddered throughout the ship. Acknowledgement of a sacred and age-old rite and tradition. The ship teleported the entire group into a room she’d not seen before. When the frost blindness wore off, she blinked, glancing around and found herself in the center of a magical ring with Sarada opposite her.

Amara glanced around, just as surprised. “The Indra made this dueling ring spontaneously. That or its always had one, and we never found it.”

Luffa wasn’t sure which worried her more. Amara’s surprise, or the fact the ship could have just created a dueling ring on its own. It didn’t matter right now, anyway. She had to focus on Sarada.

Sarada was primarily a front liner. What Luffa knew of the other primal was that she’d spent a lot of time in the spell warrior college where Amara’s friend Akamori had trained. That meant letting the other primal in close would be a poor choice for her. An instant later something happened inside the ring, and the walls of the ship and others gathered faded away, as though they’d been teleported to a world. A dueling world? But they were in the void?

Confusion and curiosity warred with each other as Luffa glanced around to understand the changes.

System Info: Quest: Leadership

Objectives: Sarada thinks you suck sweetcakes, and that Ominek is a better boss. Beat her up to prove her wrong. That’s what you primals do for democracy, right?

Rewards: Not dying (by Sarada), maybe leading your people. But mostly not dying.

Luffa blinked at the sarcastic system scroll. She waved it aside, and it crumbled into wispy embers of mind magic and fire. She gave Sarada her full attention and cast a quick perception spell.

Name: Sarada

Magic Rank: Bronze 4

Divinity: Mortal

Luffa frowned. They were about equal in strength. The rest she would have to piece together in combat. Sarada decided the same as she dashed in at full speed. Luffa had just enough time to raise several fire and light wards that blunted the Sarada’s strikes as she tried to land a blow with her fists. Luffa responded by blasting Sarada with a point blank rank 2 light bolt spell that caught Sarada square in the chest. She flew away as if gravity had changed orientation to directly behind her, yanking the other primal away.

Sarada rolled and recovered quickly. The dark red fur the covered her arms steamed with heat. They each had light magic since the Erynians exposed most primals to the golden well. One of the few wellsprings you could almost guarantee a successful infusion. That seemed fitting to Luffa since light magic gave shape to life. Where Luffa also possessed fire magic, Sarada possessed earth magic. That made her more defensive magically, but also limited her to nonsympathetic spells. Fire and Light paired well together. However, that made Sarada dangerous in that she could shrug off even heavy damage, as if it never happened.

“I’m going to pound your face in.” Sarada growled.

“And then what? What happens to our people? You just grovel and bend to Ominek? Fawning for his false affection?”

Sarada clasped her fists together, forming a massive stone mace that she brought down in an overhanded chop that detonated like a grenade when it struck the ground. She snarled as she followed up with a backhand strike that caught Luffa across the jaw. If not for her wards, her jaw and cheek bone would have shattered. She spun before righting in the air, wreathed in flame and light. The pain was already fading.

“How dare you! Ominek is the first person to show us any kindness. Who cares if its real or false? We’re free!”

“Are we truly? We’ve been free of Eryn for a day, and already Ominek has us committing war crimes. Have all those innocent people in the Brotherhood we’re about to nuke done anything wrong to Primals?”

“They ignored us,” Sarada said low. She crouched and jumped, grabbing Luffa by the ankle and bringing her down into the ground, smashing her down back and forth. Luffa’s wards flashed and rippled, discoloring with each blow but regaining their luster between impacts with the ground. Sarada was strong, one of the strongest she’d known save for Sala in brute strength. But Sarada lacked finesse.

Sarada took the high mount, offering Luffa no chance to guard her face as stone handed blows crashed down. Luffa quickly raised her aura and wards to blunt the shrapnel, but the force of the blast hurled her away into a sprawling heap. There was no pain and no injuries though, as her light aether continually blunted damage and encouraged healing. This would be a race to see who could outlast the other’s Aether pools and cause the most damage.

Luffa rose, resuming a stance that suited a spell weaver, ready to continue. She needed to win. Her people needed her to win.

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