What had been intended to be a brief, quiet stopover at the home base (not to be confused with the diamond fortress, 'Home Base'), of much of the mouse forces had proven to be anything but. Not that they were complaining, of course. Even the lowliest and least experienced of the soldiers had immediately become a hero and found themselves swarmed with attention. Those who bore painful wounds had now found themselves adorned with symbols of their bravery. They were well fed, well equipped (Meryll had bought up a sizable portion of Jerin's stock of weapons, but there were still quite a few to go around), and their already sizable forces had ballooned dramatically.

Everyone was having a good time, even the dark lord Augustus who had similarly found himself swarmed by the local youths, while their concerned caretaker looked on disapprovingly. Even some of the less agreeable sorts, like Samson, were clearly in elevated spirits, although they would never have admitted to such a thing. There was really just one lone exception to all of this, a heavily armed mouse woman who stood outside of the city gates, clearly deep in thought.

"Ah, there you are." Jebediah said as he approached her. Despite being the legendary hero, he had an easy enough time evading the adoring crowds. As famous as his name might have been, his face was still very much forgettable. "I was wondering where you had gone."

"Oh. Hey." The larger mouse replied with a forced smile.

"It's probably not my business, but is something wrong? I expected you to be in higher spirits, what with having met your hero and all that."

Meryll had managed a significantly more genuine smile this time. "Isn't she amazing? Despite being so small, she's so strong and beautiful and inspiring." She sighed as her smile fell away. "Not at all like me. She defeated four dark lords, and I was defeated twice by a single mouse. The only thing special about me is that I'm big, but in the end, I'm still weak."

The farmer stepped up alongside her, similarly looking out at both the thick grasses ahead and the tall human structures in the distance. "There's always someone stronger. You can't live your life comparing yourself to others. After all, the world is a big place, and that's a competition you're bound to lose through sheer numbers, if nothing else."

"That's an easy platitude when 'someone stronger' is some vague hypothetical." Meryll grumbled at him, "But when that person is trying to kill you and those you care about, it's worthless. It doesn't matter how strong I am in the end. There are only two levels of power which matter: You're either strong enough, or your not, and if you're not? Well, it doesn't matter if you're the second strongest mouse on earth or the very weakest. It's all the same."

Jebediah nodded his head, not so much in agreement, but rather in acceptance of her reasoning. "You don't have to take everything on yourself, you know. It might not mean much for me to say this, seeing as how I can't really fight myself, but we're all in this together. Nobody expects you to be able to single-handedly overcome any obstacle, and you shouldn't expect that from yourself, either."

"I know that." She sighed.

"You say that, but I don't think that you do." The farmer said, looking to her. He turned back to the landscape, the bright blue sky filled with still more strange patches of white, and chuckled. "Well, I'm sure that you know how to life your life better than I do. I have no doubt you'll figure things out." He said, giving her a pat on the shoulder, which he could barely even reach.

"Yeah." She smiled, not turning her head to him. "I'm not ready to give up yet. I'll figure something out."

"I wish that I could be more helpful, but I'll be honest with you: I have a bit of trouble relating to your problem. No offense meant, of course, but it just seems rather silly to lament over having only one thing that's special about you. After all, most of us don't have anything special about us at all, and we still get by well enough."

Jebediah walked away, while the eyes of the mouse warrior remained on the horizon. She stood there for some minutes before lowering her head and sighing. There were clearly no answers to be found here. She was never really an expert in the thinking department. Jebediah wasn't entirely wrong, however. She wasn't alone. She still had help that she could turn to.

The flock were currently scattered about the kingdom, most of them sitting up on the rafters of the overcity where they had a clear view of passersby to tease and heckle. They largely gathered in small groups, having little productive conversation with the local mice who had taken to the presence of the cat much more warmly than they had to the strange birds. There was one in particular that was hopping about, sampling little bits of food and tasting some of that strange tasting but oddly alluring puddle water. This innocent little creature of indeterminate age and gender was happily minding its own business before it let out a muffled squawk as it was grabbed and pulled behind a nearby structure.

"I need your help..." Meryll whispered to it, rather embarrassed to even say such a thing out loud.

"What are you doing? That really hurt!" The bird excitedly squawked, its dark eyes even wider than usual as it squirmed within the gauntleted grip of the larger mouse.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." She said as she released it.

"Your hands are gigantic!" The creature cried out, trying to fluff out its indented feathers back into place.

"I said I was sorry!" Meryll growled angrily, making it tense back. She took a deep breath, calming herself, and looked to the small bird. "I didn't intend to hurt or scare you. I just... I just didn't know where else to go." She sighed, "Both times that I fought that enemy general, I was defeated, and if I fight her again as I am now, even with these new weapons, I have no doubt it will turn out the same way. I can't let that happen."

The brown feathered bird closed its eyes and nodded, thinking for a moment. "Have you considered... fighting better?"

"I did!" The mouse woman exclaimed, "That was my first idea, but for some reason, it didn't work!"

"I do not understand why you would come to us. How exactly do you expect us to help?" The member of the flock asked.

"I don't know... I figured that you guys seemed pretty smart and in touch with the mystical and all of that stuff. Maybe you knew some secret technique to help power me up or something?" Meryll asked, hopefully.

"We know nothing about swords or weapons, or the methods of fighting that you land-walkers rely upon." It said. "There is nothing that we can do to help you."

"I... see." The large woman sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Well, thanks anyways. Oh, and again, I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. I didn't mean to. It feels like no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to accomplish anything."

As she turned to walk away, the bird spoke once again. "We cannot help you." It paused, "But there might be someone who can."

The armored mouse stopped in her tracks, "Wait, really?"

"We can promise nothing." It replied, "But we do know of a creature, old and wise. A strider such as yourself, a powerful monk versed in the ways of energy and spirit. We must warn you, however, that reaching him will require a long and dangerous journey."

"Really? That sounds perfect!" Meryll said, excitedly, "That's just what I'm looking for! Well, except for the 'long' part. I need to get back before we meet Mollenoch's forces. Maybe if I hurry, though..." She gave the matter some thought before shaking her head, dismissing the issue, "Please, show me the way to this great master!"

The bird did a little bit more annoyed, last-second preening before nodding and flying towards the city gates, where it awaited her outside of them. Naturally, it took some time for the heavyset mouse to catch up with the swift moving creature.

"It is there. At the top of that tree in the distance." it said.

Meryll looked back and forth, a little bit confused, before focusing on the single, lone, broad trunked tree set in the center of the meadow ahead. "Wait, that tree? I thought you said it was a long journey? That's not very far at all!"

The bird looked similarly confused. "Really? We have trouble judging distances relative to creatures with short legs like yours. Sure, it is an easy trip for us, but we just naturally assumed that it would be much longer for you."

"Nope! Should be easy!"

"We... see." It replied, its voice just a little downcast. "We suppose that means you do not require guidance to reach your destination?"

"No, I can manage it alone, no problem." Meryll smiled before coming to a realization, "Oh, uh, you can come along, too, if you want, of course..."

"No, no, we know when we are not needed." The bird sighed, "Enjoy your heroic pilgrimage."

It quickly fluttered away before she could even properly thank it. Meryll had considered trying to track it down in order to to do so, also hoping to find Jebediah to explain that she would be, hopefully, only a little bit delayed. Ultimately, she decided against it, however. Even if it were a short trip there, she had no idea of exactly how long this whole ordeal, or even if anything would come from it, would take. There wasn't much time before their party would leave the city, and from there not much more time until they would clash with the enemy forces which drew ever closer. The sooner she left, she reasoned, the sooner she could return to them.

The journey itself doesn't require a grand depiction. It was measured in minutes rather than hours, and hardly an abundance of them. The tree itself, of old, gnarled wood was a similarly minor obstacle. Mice are quite adept at climbing even smooth Maker structures, and as a result, the rough bark which offered no shortage of natural footholds was comparatively quite simple. That wasn't to say that the trek was entirely without risk, however. The tree itself, predictably, towered over the mouse kingdom, and was home to all manner of hostile fiends, but none had proved to be any real threat to the mouse warrior, who had spent much of her life training against such creatures. The green canopy grew thicker as she scrambled up the branches, still a solid month from switching to the more vibrant autumn colors, but even through the layers of leaves, the view from this height was both inspiring and terrifying. The greatest of structures and creatures all looked tiny from up here, even the majestic city of the Makers could nearly be taken in, in its entirety, and she had yet to even reach the peak.

There was some worry that the mouse would have difficulty finding her objective. There were no visible structures up above that could reasonably be considered the home of a powerful monk, and the tree itself wasn't small in neither height nor width. While the term 'the peak' did have a specific definition, it was likely meant somewhat more vaguely as to imply near the top, which still covered a rather large region. The risk always remained that she could have passed her objective entirely by, without even realizing it.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The target of her search, instead, was already waiting once she had arrived. It stood upright, leaning on a short, walking stick, standing in front of a broad, dark maw in the trunk of the tree. It wasn't a mouse, of course, but not something dramatically different in size or general physique. At least not in the grand sense. Sure, it had bright fur of many colors, blacks, whites, browns and even a hint of gold, along with a thick, bushy tail which was half as large as the remainder of its body, but beyond that, it wasn't too alien. It had the expected four limbs, rounded ears, eyes, nose and mouth. It wasn't some freakish abomination, but was still more than alien enough for the mouse.

"At last you have come." It said, with a voice not dissimilar to those of her own kind. "I have been expecting you."

"How did you know I was coming here?" Meryll asked him, "I didn't even know myself."

"A bird told me." He replied. "It said that an aggressive, giant handed woman would soon be coming here, seeking to learn how to become even more violent."

The mouse woman was, of course, rather disappointed, anticipating some manner of mystical foresight. She also really wished that the bird hadn't made that remark about her paws. She was quite sensitive about them. Still, it wasn't all bad. Not needing to explain everything would certainly save her some time.

"I'm not sure I'd put it that way... but yeah, I guess." She sighed, "I have an enemy that I need to defeat. A very powerful one, and if I fail to do so, many innocent lives could be lost. But, I'm just not strong enough. Not even close."

"And you thought that by coming to me, that you could attain the strength that you so desire? Do you truly believe that real power is gained so easily?" He asked, tilting his head with a quick twitch.

"I... I don't know. I just have to do something. Anything. I was told that you were a wise and powerful monk, and that maybe you could help."

The other creature scurried up to her, studying her closely, hmming and hawing as he rapidly circled around the mouse. "You have misheard. I am not a monk, rather a munk. A chipmunk, to be precise."

"How is that different from what I said?" Meryll asked, clearly confused, but quick to dismiss that particular matter. "Anyways, can you help me? I'll do anything!"

"Hmm... perhaps, perhaps not. Come inside."

The strange creature darted into the dark opening of the trunk on all fours, vanishing from view. It would seem that the walking stick was largely just for show, as clearly he could move quickly enough without it. With minimal hesitation, the mouse warrior followed, even if the twisting, nearly vertical passageway made for a tight fit in more than a few places. He led her to a rounded chamber, with a crude table and chairs, all covered with assorted scraps of paper, and dimly lit by the limited sunlight which flowed in through the occasional narrow, artificial slits in the bark, that light further filtered by the heavy shield of leaves. Piled up high along each of the rounded bark walls were large mounds of acorns and other assorted nuts.

"Now, remove your clothing and armor." The creature said, "All of it."

"Um... I know I said I would do 'anything'..." The mouse replied, nervously, "But is this really necessary?"

"I need to give you a proper examination before I can make an assessment." The munk said, "You have no reason to be bashful."

She shook her head and sighed before finally complying, removing layer after layer of the armor, still something of an ordeal even with the previously damaged bits having been discarded. She revealed her clean yet battle-scarred fur beneath it, including the wound earned in the previous battle which had, thankfully, largely faded from its dark, unhealthy color by this point. The examination was a thankfully brief one.

"I can see why you would wish to keep yourself covered..." the chipmunk said, lifting up her thick, furless tail. "The others of your city might react poorly if they knew the truth."

Meryll quickly jerked it away from his grasp, blushing faintly under her fur. "I didn't ask to be born like this, you know." She grumbled. "I just wanted to be like everyone else, but then my friends stopped growing bigger, and I just continued to do so. For a little while, it was fine, but then people started to get scared of me. I had to put my strength to real use, to be helpful to them, otherwise, I knew that they would never accept me."

The strange rodent nodded. "Even aside from your natural gifts offered from birth, it is clear that you have worked hard to train and hone your body. These compliments come with some rather bad news, however. You have essentially reached your peak physical condition. This isn't to say that it is impossible for you to grow any stronger, physically, but any changes that you do see will be slowly earned and far from substantial."

"So, that's it?" Meryll sighed, deflated, "I'm as strong as I'm ever going to be?"

"I didn't say that. I said your body is as strong as it will ever be, but there is much more to strength that sheer muscle. You can still become much, much greater than you are now. It is not your body which must grow stronger, rather your mind."

"Wait, really?" The mouse said, suddenly excited, gripping the chipmunks shoulders perhaps a little too tightly, "How? Is there some way that I can unleash my hidden, locked potential and glow yellow and move super fast?"

"Hmmm, that's the sort of thing which would require many months of training, which, I am told, you do not have." The chipmunk replied, "But, you are not entirely wrong. The potential lies within you, and is very much locked away. You are the one, however, that holds the key. I can, perhaps, help to guide you in discovering your hidden strength, but I must warn you that it will not be easy. There is a trial which you must overcome, and it is not without risk. Many have failed it in the past, and more than a few have gone mad in the process."

By this point Meryll had finished putting her armor back on, finishing with the lightly dented metal cap covering her small ears. "I've never been afraid of risking my life before. I'm all the less so now, now that I know others are depending on me. Please, guide me to this trial of yours. I will not fail it."

"Very well, I see that you are determined, and I will make no further efforts to dissuade you." The chipmunk nodded, stepping over to the far end of the dank chamber. "Take these stairs down into the depths of the tree. The test will begin shortly after. There, you will face your destiny."

The mouse woman gave a quick nod and approached the stairway without hesitation. She followed the spiral pathway ever downwards, the light ever fading until she found herself left in pitch darkness. Her eyes adjusted in time, and she reached the bottom of the stairwell, only to find herself standing, alone, in the middle of the vast, empty chamber. Or so she had thought. It quickly became clear that she wasn't alone, after all.

At first she could only sense the other presence, but as her senses adjusted to the environment, she could, in time, see the small, dark shape standing at the far end of the room. A mouse with gleaming eyes and seemingly made of pure shadow. Far more significant, however, was the shimmering weapon that it held within its paws, a long, solid piece of smooth metal, which came to a wickedly lethal edge at the tip, and flowed with dark and malevolent energy. A familiar device, as she held several much like it on her person, but this was clearly no imitation crafted by an amateur, even if a skilled one.

Meryll's heart nearly stopped at the sight. How could Jerin be here? But of course even she managed to figure out that it wasn't real. This was the trial. A clearly impossible one. How could she, who couldn't even win against the shadow king's general, possibly be expected to stand against the greatest mouse hero who had ever lived? But of course she couldn't run away. She had come here to grow stronger, right? And she knew full well that it wouldn't be easy. In truth, a part of her had dreaded the idea that she might have just been offered some undeserved power, no matter how much may have she needed it. But that was a foolish concern, wasn't it? It was obvious from the beginning that she'd have to work hard to earn it, harder than she ever had before. And she was more than ready to do so. Downright eager to do so.

The warrior couldn't help but grin as she slid one of the many imperfect needles from her belt and rushed in the slash at her foe. It came as no surprise that the attack failed, the smaller mouse effortlessly ducking out of the way, sidestepping the many strikes which followed before countering with their own, a hard swing that the armored mouse had barely managed to parry, the force of which still sending her reeling back a few steps.

She really was strong, but that was hardly a surprise. With that small, graceful body she could move with impossible swiftness and strike with enough power to send even the mightiest of the dark lords running. Still, Meryll knew that she couldn't give up. Victory might have been impossible, but this was still good training, if nothing else. Few of her own efforts even needed to be parried by the enemies needle, however. Between being a small target, and being so fast moving, Meryll could hardly hope to strike with the narrow and precise weapon. Worse, her foe was clearly taunting her. She was well aware that the shadowy figure had ample opportunities to break through her defense, to land vital blows, the likes of which even her heavy armor could do nothing to protect her from, but instead her foe had remained on the defensive.

It was clear to Meryll that her worship wasn't baseless. Her earlier goal of actually fighting alongside Jerin, and helping to protect her was a foolish one. It was all the better that she had missed the hero's climactic showdown, as she, herself, was never worthy. She was big and slow and completely without charm, where Jerin was small and agile and beautiful. She could never hope to compare. This was made abundantly clear when, with a single quick slice, the copied needle was knocked from her grasp and sent spinning across the room.

But then, it was foolish to even try, wasn't it? Of course she could never compare to Jerin. Even putting talent aside, she was neither small nor quick, nor would she ever be. She could complain and choose to be miserable over that fact, or she could do what she should have done a long time ago: Accept it. Sure, her foe may have been powerful, but nowhere near as physically strong as she had anticipated. Maybe the armored mouse couldn't be smaller or quicker, but she could certainly be stronger. The shadow was sent reeling as it struggled to deflect a heavy overhanded strike, not with another needle, a weapon designed for the small and the dexterous, rather the thick metal blade, a weapon designed to have all of her force thrown behind it.

She couldn't be Jerin. She could only be herself, and there were far more important things at stake than her own pride here. She needed to win, and needed to embrace that terrifying brute strength that no small part of her had always been ashamed of. Disgusted by. More importantly, she needed to move forward. Sure, she would always idolize her hero, Jerin, and admire her many accomplishments, but she couldn't live in her shadow anymore. She couldn't hope to defeat her foes by simply being a lesser copy of someone else. She, again, could only be herself.

Speed, of course, doesn't only come with having a small, lithe body, it can also come from strength and technique. It might not be the sort of speed that lets you effortlessly dance around an opponent, but it does allow you to strike with the swiftness and ferocity to overwhelm even the mightiest of foes, and her opponent had found itself quickly overwhelmed as it needed to work harder and harder to guard against the endless rain of mighty blows, reacting a little slower each time, until sneaking in a proper counter-attack was no longer even an option.

From there, it was only a matter of time. Eventually, a strong upward sweep caught the true needle in its center with enough force that it could not be pushed away, throwing the wielder back into the inner wall of the tree, where they regained their composure just in time to look out with wide eyes at the point of the heavy sword which was aimed directly at their throat.

Of course, Meryll had known that this wasn't the real Jerin, and they were right. Against the actual hero, the fight would have been far more difficult, but that hardly mattered. She didn't need to be stronger than Jerin, and she couldn't even be certain that she would be stronger than the platinum angel. All that mattered was that she was as strong as herself, and finally willing to embrace that without shame. She felt no need to land the fatal blow against the shadow, and instead simply smiled, turned and walked away, leaving the dark, exhausted figure alone within the large chamber.

A few minutes later, a familiar creature emerged from the stairwell and looked about in confusion. "Did these torches go out again? Oh well, no matter." the chipmunk said as he brought his own lit torch to each of the inlaid sconces, lighting up the room. "It is time for you to begin your trial. I hope you like Sudoku puzzles!"

He was quite surprised to see that the armored mouse was nowhere in sight, the only inhabitant of the room being his other student, now panting and frazzled, leaning heavily on the needle sword in his hand. "What happened here?"

"What happened?" Mathias exclaimed, "Some crazy mouse woman just tried to kill me, that's what happened!"

"Hmm... well that's rather strange." The other rodent said before shrugging. "Oh well, she seems to have gone now. I guess she decided that she didn't require my training after all. Let's get back to working on purifying that sword of yours."

The black furred mouse sighed, "It's not another sudoku puzzle, is it?"

"Of course not! Don't be absurd?"

"So it's a word search, then?"

The chipmunk blinked and coughed into his paw. "Well, um... maybe. Just get back to work! I'm the great munk here, I know what I'm doing!"

The very sore and still panting mouse rose up to his feet and sighed once again. "Yes, sir."