Myrathellon fixes me with the eyes of a predator, twisting her sword so she’s in prime thrusting stance.

“Go on,” she says. “Make your move.”

She hates the Lightborn. That much is true. But – I’m not what the Lightborn once was. From what I’ve heard about the guy, he sounds like a grade-A asshole. Yet, that’s not what his eyes told me when he fell down before my cage. Those were the eyes of someone desperate. Someone on his last legs. Someone reflecting on failure…regretting…

I shake the thought and steel myself.

I stare at the point of Myrathellon’s blade, knowing that she’s got another [Glittering Thrust] charging up, ready. Knowing too that I can’t beat her in a straight up fight like the last Lightborn did.

And then I realize – that’s exactly what I shouldn’t do!

“Well?” she shouts. “You chose this, little dog. Maybe you are regretting talking back to your Master, but a warrior follows through when he makes a challenge. Then again, maybe if you get down on your paws and grovel before me, I might just le-“

“Harder, mommy!”

I’ve never quite experienced time stopping before. But in the instant after those words leave my lips, I’m almost certain I’ve managed to freeze the world of the grove in place. No wind rustles the flower tips. No branches on the trees creak above us. Myrathellon just stares at me until the words register and then, slowly but surely, her face grows bright scarlet.

“Wh-wha-“

“Please!” I wail. “Pretty please, mommy, hit me harder!”

She grits her teeth. Her eyes bulge. And her hair looks like it starts to stand on end.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” she screams.

I roll on the ground, exposing my fluffy belly.

“Here, mommy,” I moan. “Poke me here with your big sword. Here – pwetty puhleease, mommy, pleeeeease?”

As I suppress my gag reflex, I watch her out the corner of my eye.

“ARE YOU TRULY NOTHING BUT A PERVERTED CORGI!?” she rails. “Ha-has this entire training session been nothing but - but – sexual gratification to you?”

She says the word ‘sexual’ like it’s a corrupted spell, but more importantly I see her sword arm waver as she looks at her shaking hands.

“These hands…” she murmurs with fright. “They have been sullied. Sullied! I-“

[Blink]

I end up right behind her legs and, before she realizes, unleash a [Swallow Swipe] that takes her off her feet.

I jump back and angle my blade for a thrust, aiming right for her sword arm as she plummets down.

[Glittering Thrust]

The light beams from my sword and – yes! – it strikes true.

It strikes her blade!

And –

And…

I watch the light wrap around her sword like it’s a scarf, and as she jumps back up, spins in the air, she brings it crashing down at my face.

[Dig]

I tunnel through the ground, feeling the heat of her weapon and her anger bellow down at me, and when my ability time runs out, do nothing but stare up at her maddened face as she points her blade down at me.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Do you yield?” she shouts down my hole at me.

I bark up at her through the scorched remains of my training sword. “Alright!”

Her anger doesn’t die. “You are a tricky little hound, aren’t you?” she asks.

“I could say the same about you!” I bark back. “Let me guess – mastery of the blade…”

“Ultimate mastery allows one to wield the light of their foes as though it were their own,” she finishes. “The power is taxing, and the fact your little scheme forced a Glenmaiden to employ it is an insult to our entire order.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “What was the purpose of that pathetic display you just made?”

I try to stop from blushing. But – hey – could you? Just try it. Walk up to a pretty girl on the street and call her ‘mommy’ unironically. Just see if you could empathize with me, here.

“Answer, pup!” she says, her blade sparking with killing light. “Or I will end our training sessions permanently.”

“It gave me a chance, right?” I bark without thinking. “You said so yourself: it forced you to use your special light-wrapping thingy. But even then, it gave me the best chance of winning. You’ve probably never fought someone who calls you ‘mommy’, right?”

I can make out her blushing even from way down in my little hole.

“You don’t fight with honor,” she spits.

“Of course I don’t!” I shout up. “Never said I did. If I fought with honor, I’d lose. I’m literally a Corgi. Four legs. Cute belly. Big butt. My dumb body is my biggest weakness. And you’re a genuinely honorable woman, who’s way better with swords and stuff, but who gets flustered a little too easily.”

She seems, for a moment, like she’s contemplating just ending me here and now.

“We – we’ve all got our weaknesses, right?” I say. “Shouldn’t warriors like – I don’t know! – learn to use them to their advantage?”

“You would debase the honor of a lady?” she asks.

“Only if my life depended on it!”

She considers my pleas. “Hmpf! A treacherous Lightborn through and through.”

“And that’s why you couldn’t see it coming!” I bark despite everything in my gut telling me just to shut up and start groveling. “If I’d been like the last guy that came through here, you’d be picking pieces of me off your skirt right now!”

For what seems like an agonizing eternity, she looks down at me, her face frowning with an expression I can’t quite place. Her lips tremble slightly, and her sword arm slowly begins to lower.

Then she closes her eyes and laughs. Her body shakes with a real, honest-to-goodness, laugh.

“The Mistress spoke the truth,” she says, still chuckling. “You really are nothing like him.”

She bends sheaths her sword and bends down, stretching a hand out to beckon me up.

“Come,” she says. “Let us end this bout.”

I scurry up and clamp my teeth on her gauntlet. She raises me up with little effort, letting me down just outside my hole as she waves her hand to close it up like stitching a wound in the land.

“You,” I pant. “You’re full of surprises.”

She turns to consider me. “Speak for yourself.”

After a few seconds of awkward eye contact she gives a gruff cough and stiffens up.

“You understand, I’m sure, what the point of today’s session was?”

I blink at her. “To get me to hit the branch?”

She sneers. “Of course not. That was simply an exercise in futility. The point was to get you in the right mood to face an opponent who can teach you what you truly need to know.”

I just stare at her.

“You…you wanted me to get angry,” I blurt.

She smirks.

“Every warrior needs rage from time to time,” she says. “No lesson was ever learned without pain or some degree of anger.”

I chuckle, dropping to the ground and barely even smelling the scents of the poses that surround us.

“And the lesson was about mastery, right?”

She nods. “Lesson #4: Mastery of a single skill shall serve you better than being a ‘Jack-of-all-Trades.’ Every skill a warrior knows is only as versatile as the warrior’s imagination. Imagination comes from knowledge and experience. You rely too much on the combined power of your skills, Lightborn. You forget that a warrior must also be creative in how they use their powers.”

I wonder at that. To be fair, it’s not bad advice…I have to admit I could be a little more focused.

“You got all that,” I breathe. “From just two fights with me?”

“And you learned my weakness from one,” she replies with an aggregable grunt. “Not bad. For a Corgi.”

I look up at her with stars in my eyes. I’m honestly close to tears.

“Did you just…compliment me?”

Her face instantly reddens again. “No!” she retorts. “I – I merely made an – that is – an astute observation!”

I chuckle down at the ground. “As all your observations are.”

“Hmpf!” she snorts, turning away and making her way back towards the waterfall. “We are done for the day. Meditate upon your lessons and return at the same time tomorrow for more. The goal shall be the same: you shall learn to disarm your opponent.”

“By fighting you again…” I murmur under my breath, thankful she’s moved out of earshot.

“Either I actually make some improvement, or this girl’s gonna actually kill me.”

Then: a dinging in my flappy ears:

[COMBAT ENCOUNTER: CORGI VS ELF WARRIOR (Glenheim)]

RESULT: ELF WARRIOR VICTORY

Core Skill Increases:

DIG: LVL 2 -> 3

*ABILITY MORPH AVAILABLE

Weapon Art [Glittering Thrust] LVL 1 -> 2

LVL 2 effects: Summon a beam of electrified light in a straight line to strike down and paralyze a single opponent. Paralyze does not affect creature type(s): Construct

Range: 20ft

Cooldown decrease: 60 secs -> 40 secs

I watch the all the little numbers trickle up with a vaguely impressed whistle.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I say. “Maybe a dommy mommy was what I needed all along…”