I woke up, and still heard voices mumbling behind the noises of people quietly getting ready. Going to sleep or waking up, there was always that same drone. I lay for a few minutes and listened while I let the lethargy fade out of me. I figured I must have heard someone shouting the wake up call while I was still asleep, but I had time. After I’d had my fill of relaxing and gathering up some dregs of energy, I slowly got up and walked to the edge of the village.
There was a small group of about a dozen people there waiting for me. I waved to a few people, but people weren’t usually in a particularly chatty mood first thing in the morning, those that were were probably off setting seed at a hundred miles a minute. We didn’t have that much energy, so we calmly waited till most everyone had come before heading out, for safety reasons.
“Just Jamenson left,”
Someone said after a while. I gave a little nod, even though nobody was looking. Eventually, Jamenson came looking bleary with crust still in his eyes, and we put our wooden shields onto our backs and out into the fields. The farms were really right outside of the Village, so we still had eyesight on it. We worked for what felt like a few hours. I’d livened up a little and started chatting again, when someone on the edge screamed.
“Alarm! Alarm! Gather here!”
I quickly began running to the sound of the call. It was a little awkward to take my shield off while I was running, but I unstrapped it and held the straps tight with my arms to make sure it didn’t bobble too much. This way I could take it off quickly, but running with it wouldn’t tire out my arms. Our territories were small, so I got there quickly and saw 7 people in a huddle, holding their shields out and shadows casting as the light of mana bolts flared. Their target looked like a giant boulder with tiny arms and legs.
Balseph’s rock- Contribution 0 A rock that has absorbed a remnant of Balseph’s mana
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
It was something we’d seen before. Our version of a pest. There were beasts that roamed the cavern, but they didn't bother us like these giant rock's did. Which is lucky, because they were insanely weak and slow. Even with how slow they were, they could hit hard enough to throw someone back a foot or two, just by nature of being made of rock. but with the shields they couldn’t do much other than jostle us around. And if it shoved us we’d run right back at it like a yappy dog.
Before entering the fray I glanced back and saw a little hodge podge of little turtle people reinforcements rushing towards us.
“Come on! Be safe!”
“Get closer.”
A chorus of voices rang out from the huddle as I ran up to it. I forced my way to the front and tried to fire mana bolts when I had the leeway. At one point a stone fist glanced off my shield and I was roughly shoved back into someone who caught me. We tried to look out for each other, and there was a wall of people around me, but I was afraid to have almost been on the floor next to the stone. On my feet was one thing, but laying down I was afraid I’d be crushed. I took a step back to calm down while the arrived reinforcements unstrapped their shields and formed lines off to the side to fire mana bolts from. Eventually, I reentered the fray.
Balseph's Rock -Deceased
Balseph’s rock
-deceased
After an hour or so of slinging spells, the Balseph’s rock was so full of craters that it looked like the moon if it had fallen to the earth and crumpled on the ground like a comet. My chest was heaving. I swapped out from the front line to the supporting lines and back again a few times to rest during the fight. I was still tired.
“Hoooraayyyy!”
“Yeah!”
People around me were shouting in all sorts of different cheers. I think we had as much fun in victory as anything else we did to pass time in the village. People calmed down eventually, though there was still a contented happiness to most people’s tone. We took a long water break and fanned out to finish farming while the reinforcements went back in ranks. We’d usually cut the day short, but it wouldn’t do to ignore the farm completely. I wasn’t that tired after the break, anyway. After that beast, the only thing that bothered me was a little insect. It was resolved with me roleplaying as a mobile Balseph and swatting him into the dirt. Our town decided not to give the real Balseph a shower that day, since our mana reserves were mostly dry. We ate and people started campfires. I had a habit of going to bed early, and I listened to chatter again to end my night.