The barbed stinger of the rock creature blurred in his sight as it struck straight at Gray's chest.  His bad posture and the woman laying across his lap left him no room for avoidance.  Flexing his leg muscles and forcefully extending them he managed to push Eri away from himself.  In his panic Gray exerted more strength than intended and the poor sleeping woman was tossed several feet through the air.  Before she had even touched the ground the wicked stinger had already landed on his chest.  

     A feeling of massive pressure encompassed Gray's chest as the stinger landed, this was quickly followed by a snapping sound.  Then the pressure evaporated as the stinger was withdrawn at lighting speed.  The creature had struck like a snake, impossibly fast and had withdrawn its barb just as quickly.  At this moment Eri landed in the sand throwing up a small cloud of dust, and after rolling twice came to a stop.

  Without even sparing a look at his wound Gray quickly rolled backward towards the now moaning Eri and away from the strange rock creature, finishing his roll and regaining his feet a few yards away from it.  The creature remained completely motionless, watching Gray with its strange stone eyes perched on the ends of two stalks.  Gray took the opportunity provided by this momentary calm to check his condition and was completely surprised to find that the barb had not even punctured his shirt.  There was a small mark where it had landed, but the shirt itself was intact. 

     Placing a finger on the lightly damaged area of his shirt  Gray silently recalled that Eri had told him earlier, "An attacking force inferior to the defending force results in the attackers weapon being damaged and the defender being unharmed.  Interesting.  This world is very interesting.  This creature was quite fast, but its weapon, that barb was not very powerful."

     Returning his focus to the creature opposite himself, he noticed the barb that had struck him was actually cracked.  Indeed, the barbed stinger, like the rest of the creature appeared to be made of simple stone.  His shirt was made from a creature's skin that was widely known for its toughness.  After consideration he felt somewhat foolish for his panic, but this interplay of magic over physics was just to alien to him.  In the moment he had simply assumed the stinger would penetrate him effortlessly and over reacted.

    He quickly observed Eri out of his peripheral vision, she was moving but appeared to be somewhat dazed.  An unpleasant thought occurred to him, in the future he might actually be more dangerous to her than some of the creatures they would face.  He would need to speak with her about this.  If she truly wished to accompany him, something had to be done or she would surely die, perhaps even tragically by an accident at his own hands.  

     Turning his attention back to his still stationary enemy, Gray quickly worked his new magic.  A disc quickly formed under the creature and a spear of earth struck upwards from the ground slamming into its stone underbelly and throwing it several yards backwards, but ultimately not piercing through its stone skin.  The creature landed heavily on its back, and like a turtle its legs began to fiercely churn the air trying to right itself. However, the creatures body being made of stone was simply too heavy.  For all its flailing it was barely even rocking, for it to right itself was extremely unlikely.

    A frown formed on Gray's face as he observed the struggling rock beast.  "An earth spear cannot penetrate it.  Its natural defense is too high.  Perhaps...  if the force was not allowed to be dispersed.  With that thought another another disc formed, this time on the ceiling of the cave.  

     Another earth spear erupted from the ceiling; slamming into the creatures under body again.  This time however, the force of the spear was not dissipated by throwing the creature through the air.  Instead it was pinned to the ground.  The spear forcefully continued forward as Gray injected more power.  Finally with a loud crack the creature was split in half like a log struck by an ax.  As it did so the creature immediately ceased struggling and a white fog escaped from the two halves and quickly dissolved into the surrounding air.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

     From outside the mouth of the cave came the sound of slow applause.  After a moment of silence, a lazy sounding male voice sounded out.  "I had heard you just arrived.  For someone to grasp even the basics of elemental magic in just a few days...  You are... somewhat impressive?"  The man outside the cavern loudly blew out a mouthful of air before continuing,  "The materials that made up that ambush golem you just destroyed were worth a bit more than half the bounty on your head.  Just 10 id for your death...  this... this is not a fair trade at all."  A moment silence followed, then a loud sigh.  "This is unprofitable.  Damned unprofitable.  You, where you called...  Gray?"

     As the man had begun his monologue, Gray had not been idle.  He moved to Eri's side and quickly confirmed her to be in good condition.  She turned to him as he arrived and spoke quickly and quietly to him with a panic stricken look in her eyes, "That lazy voice, the way he pauses constantly, and talks to himself.  He... he must be the Mad Magister Kerst!  He is a very well known for his extremely strange temperament... and he is also a powerful construct mage!"

     The lazy voice sounded out again, some what surprised this time "Woman.  I can hear you... 'extremely strange temperament'?  And saying this is what I am very well known for...  Ah."  At this point his voice drops a level, becoming quieter, like he was addressing himself.  "Though she isn't really wrong.  But still...  Am I so strange?  At the least I should be better known for escaping that prison.  Ah.  Ah.  Dammit.  Dammit.  Lets forget it.  There is nothing to be made here.  What a waste of time.  I hate wasting time."

    Once more the voice is raised, as the man Krentz proclaims loudly, "You.  Ah, Gray.  It simply costs too much to kill you, this is not a fair exchange at all.  Another low golem would cancel out your bounty entirely and anything higher would just create a larger loss.  Unless your bounty raises to at least... mmmmm... a hundred id I think.  Yes.  Yes.  A hundred id would be fair, or more would be better.  Come back when you are worth at least this much.  Then we can make this exchange."

     Gray shook his head side to side slowly with a confused look on his face, and addressed the man outside the cave in a loud voice, "Sure, I'll come back later then?"

     The silhouette of a hunched over thin elderly man with a completely bald head appeared at the entrance of the cave as Kretz replied, "Yes.  Yes.  Do not come back until you are worth at least one hundred id."  As he spoke he hurriedly entered the cave, and under Gray's guarded eyes, he collected the remains of the stone creature into a small knapsack that should have in no way be able to hold the man sized creature.  "If you could also bring some good materials, that would be for the best as well.  I'm lacking a good chitin.  Yes.  Bring some chitin.  Also...  No.  That would not be a fair trade.  Just chitin, yes.  Just that will be sufficient."  As he finished speaking the old man waved lazily and left the cave, still mumbling about chitin.

     After the sounds of footsteps faded into silence Gray silently stood up, and exited the cave to make certain Kretz had truly left.  Upon returning he couldn't help but say, "That old man, Kretz..."  Eri, up and recovered just nodded and spoke in a hushed voice, "He is also a Traveler.  A very powerful one.  Supposedly his golems have wiped entire villages off the maps."

    Gray shook his head and continued, "What was wrong with him?  He seemed to be completely insane."  

     With a nod Eri replied, "Him, and others like him are the reason Travelers are so feared.  His actions are completely unpredictable.  He is as likely to treat you to a meal as he is to murder you.  Almost all of the Travelers who left the royal palace are like this in some way.  This is why many people say the Travelers are a plague upon our world."

     A frown still on his face, Gray replied, "The royal palace?  The village head mentioned something about seeing the King's chamberlain.  He supposedly has ways of helping the Travelers out in this world.  But if this Kretz came from there, perhaps its better to stay as far away as possible."

      Eri also frowned in thought for a moment before saying, "I don't think that is so, supposedly many Travelers gathered there to do something long ago.  But for some reason most stayed behind, only the ones that left after that were like this.  The few that are still... normal are often said to visit the palace chamberlain.  In the village this is all we know."

    Nodding to Eri Gray continued, "I need to find out more, hopefully someone at Harshe can tell me more about this.  For now though, we need to go.  If that crazy bastard comes back, Id rather not be here.  Even if it means running into something dangerous outside.  Lets move, once we can make the highway we can rest."

     After one more look around the place, the pair left the cave.  Heading up the coast a ways before turning back inland and heading for the Kings highway.