“UGH!”
I flop down on my bed, limbs ready to burst.
I had no idea that EXERCISE could be such a pain in the…well…everything.
But after a day of doing laps round flower fields, doing push-ups with an Elf on my back, and swinging wooden swords at tree branches despite NEVER ONCE MANAGING TO BREAK ONE, I’m more than qualified to use the phrase: I’m pooped…
Just before I start to drift off, the door to my room opens and I see the silhouette of a woman throw itself across my wall.
“Please,” I moan. “If you’re an assassin, just get it over with.”
“Tee-hee!” a familiar voice giggles. “I’ve never been called an assassin before.”
Now, that’s a voice that could lift the spirits of even the laziest Mastiff. I flop round, paws in the air, to see Mia wander into the room with a tray in her hands.
“Good evening, Razzy-Wazzy,” she says. “I thought you might like a little treat after today.”
The cheeky wink she gives me sends a shiver down my spine. If I could move, I’d be wagging my tail.
“Oh, Mia,” I groan. “Your sister is the toughest demon I’ve ever seen…”
I say it without thinking and she giggles sweetly again, placing her silver tray down beside me and spreading some purple jam on a slice of bread.
“She’s tough on you because you don’t have the kind of time we do. We Elves live for centuries. One Glenmaiden might dedicate two decades to master a single sword technique.”
“So I’ve gotta learn it faster than usual,” I gulp, my muscles feeling heavier all of a sudden. “Great.”
Mia gives my tummy a little rustle.
“You can do it, Razzy,” she whispers. “You’re doing the right thing – taking responsibility for your own fight. I think Sis appreciates that, in her own way.”
“She’s got a funny way of showing it...”
“You’ll see,” Mia replies with a wink, while pushing her piece of jammed-up bread towards me.
“Say ‘aaah,’”
I obey, and as my teeth clamp down on the jammy-bready piece of goodness, my stomach howls with pleasure, and my leg starts twitching of its own accord.
“How’s that?” Mia asks.
I look at her, eyes glazed with pleasure.
“Mia,” I say. “You make being the Lightborn worth it…”
She chuckles and brushes a strand of her blonde curls out her face, her baby-blue eyes twinkling in starry night coming in from the window.
And her hand reaches towards my head.
Could this be it? Could this be what I’ve been waiting for all d-
“Oh!” she squeals. “I forgot Sis’ blanket! She can’t sleep without it!”
She runs from the room like a woman possessed, and I’m left with an open, jam-covered mouth.
[Passive Debuff]: Ungrateful Pooch
Chance of
“Urrrrgh,” I groan, throwing my head back and licking my sticky chops. “I’d forgotten about that little…thing…”
As sleep finally comes upon me, my final thought is surprisingly not about Mia’s breasts covered in jam.
“Swifty…” I murmur. “Where…where have you been?”
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[Glittering Thrust]
ACTIVATED
The beam of light shoots from the tip of my blade and stops short of the tree branch again, fizzling away with an irritating pop.
“Again,” Myrathellon commands.
I snort. “I can’t hit it from here!”
I feel her raise her wooden blade before she brings it down.
“Alright!” I bark. “Here goes again. Three-hundredth time’s the charm!”
I reel back, staring down the branch – my greatest nemesis – and brace myself for another strike.
Then: here comes a thought.
One that I don’t think about as much as I probably should.
[Blink]
ACTIVATED
My paws leave the ground. I feel myself move through the air at a speed faster than sound. When I blink, I’m behind the branch, maybe two feet away.
And then I let the [Glittering Thrust] fly.
CRACK!
The branch is broken apart as the light sears through it, felling the tree’s limb and causing it to crumble to dust below.
“Hah!” I shout as I manage to land on my paws. “I did it! I-“
BONK!
And suddenly, I’m seeing stars…
“Tsk!” My Taskmistress snaps from behind me. “Not even a newborn babe would forget lessons already learned!”
I turn towards her, my teeth snarling this time.
“Lesson #1!” she shouts down at me. “We are here to train the arts of the blade, not your Lightborn tricks.”
“These ‘tricks’ have saved me more times than I can count!” I shout back, knowing that I shouldn’t.
She sneers down at me. “You are angry?” she asks mockingly.
“I mean, can you blame me?” I bark up at her. “What’s the phrase? ‘Can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’ I can only work with what I’ve got! Anyway, I did what you asked, right? I broke the stupid branch. Isn’t that enough?!”
She keeps up her mocking sneer which, I gotta admit, is starting to piss me off.
“I see. You are an angry little pup who thinks he knows better than his Master. Very well,” she adds nonchalantly, picking up my wooden blade and tossing it towards me. “Your new goal is thus: knock this blade from my hand and I shall acknowledge you my better.”
I blink up at her through a haze of fury. I got maybe five hours of sleep last night while this girl probably lounged about under her special ‘blanket’.
I mean, I’ve beaten her before, right?
I can do it again.
“Ok,” I say. “Let’s do this.”
She smiles down at me, turning her back and sauntering towards the flower field.
“This time,” she says. “The first blow goes to me.”
She turns with the speed of a striking serpent and her [Glittering Thrust] speeds towards me.
Ten times faster and – let’s face it – stronger than mine.
I move to make my thrust just as it slaps me in the face, and I go flying back against the maimed tree, paws fizzling with electricity.
“Slow,” she says as she walks forward. “But do not worry – I did not strike you with force.”
I growl up at her as I shake the strike off, hating that she’s going soft on me.
Okay then. No more Mr nice Gorgi.
Fifty-eight, fifty-nine…sixty!
[Blink]
I focus on the flowers between her legs and zip behind her, staring right up at her exposed behind.
My blade comes down and-
“AH!”
The wooden sword goes spiraling out of my mouth.
I didn’t even see her move. But all of a sudden I’m panting on the ground and she’s aiming the tip of her electrifying blade at me.
“Go on,” she says. “Do your little teleport again.”
I gulp up at her, eyes flitting between her and my discarded blade.
She sneers. “You can’t, can you? Interesting.”
Her sword thrusts down and only manages to singe the grass beneath my paws as I take to the air with a quick [Tailcopter]
“Hmpf!” she shouts as I fly towards my fallen blade. “That trick again?”
I keep my eyes on her sword as I fly back towards her, readying my blade for a thrust of my own.
“The problem with showing your hand is that you give your opponent time to see your weaknesses!”
She aims another thrust which I avoid by the thinnest hair of my tail.
She’s open! Time to strike.
[Glittering Thru-]
My eyes go wild as the lightning she unleashed suddenly slams into my tail and sends me spinning out of control towards the flowerbed.
My mouth opens to spit out a puff of smoke. Once again, my sword’s gone flying away.
“Lesson #2!” Myrathellon shouts as she stalks towards me. “Never try the same trick against your opponent twice.”
I look down my nose at her.
“How did…”
“Mastery of the [Glittering Thrust] imbues one’s blade with its true power,” she replies, testing her swing with a bored yawn. “The ability to hone-in on a foe. With more experience, a warrior can control when the honing ability activates.”
Now, that’s overpowered, I think, staggering up and fixing her with my smoking eyes.
She smiles as she brings up her blade again. “Good. Lesson #3: a warrior never relents until victory – or death!”
She’s different, this time. When I fought her before, she was facing me through a haze of fury. She didn’t know what I could do. Now? It’s a totally different ballgame. It’s like she’s studied our fight and extracted everything she could know about me. She knew exactly where to strike to bring my [Tailcopter]down. She knew I was gonna [Blink] behind her for my opening strike. It’s almost like she’s done this all before.
And as my mind goes back to Mia’s words yesterday, it suddenly occurs to me: she probably has.
She strikes me as the kind of person who would have fought back.
Yeah. She did. Well, she tried…
When the last Lightborn came, did he throw everything he had at you, Myrathellon? Is that it?
Her eyes follow my every twitch, every swishing of my tail to bring life back into it.
Are you doing this for revenge? Revenge for what he did to you?
She takes a step forward, almost purring like an excitable kitten.
Well, in that case, I think, I’m just gonna have to prove to you that I ain’t like him at all…
“Go on, Lightborn,” she says, sweat dripping from her fringe. “Make your next move.”