Timothy laid there, sprawled out in the snow-covered ground with Nava standing over top of him, staring down at him. The two had been practicing for hours in a hidden clearing somewhere on the Dafro farm. Nava told him that she would often go to this place to train on her own and that the Dafro’s knew about this and allowed it. There was a ritual circle around the clearing made of various boulders and stones with intricate etchings carved into them. Nava had explained that this was a common, yet somewhat complicated, ritual that the magic colleges used for training purposes. The circle allowed trainees to use magic spells, attacks and items in, what Timothy related to, a virtual environment. Physical damage felt real and any magic that accompanied the attacks was a type of illusion. This illusion affected the minds of the trainees in a way that made them feel the magic effects and damage, but it had a video game quality to it. When one or the other got knocked out or incapacitated, the illusion would reset and put the combatants back at full health, mana and dodge.
Nava stretched an arm out to Timothy, “You are still too close to your enemies. You will need to get a good sense of your opponent’s speed so you can distance yourself correctly, allowing you time to cast a spell.”
Timothy took her hand, and she helped him up, “I hear ya. Every time I think I have the distance figured out you surprise me with your speed. I think you have been giving me the rope-a-dope, making me believe that you are slower than you really are,” he eyed her suspiciously, “I don’t think I have seen you at your quickest yet.”
“That is the difference between fighting an intelligent foe and an unintelligent one. Most monsters don’t hide their abilities and can be easy to figure out. This in no way means that they are easy fights, just that they can be predictable. An intelligent enemy should try and deceive you, lulling you into an opening that they can exploit,” Nava explained.
“Basically, PVP versus PVE,” Timothy thought out loud.
Nava gave him a quizzical look, “What does that mean?”
Timothy shook his head, clearing his mind of his thoughts, “Sorry. They are terms from my world. PVP is player verses player and PVE is player vs environment.”
For the past few hours the two had been practicing together while Timothy explained his home world, what happened to him, the prep room and how he got here. Video games and the lingo that is used in them never came up.
Nava continued to look at him confused. Timothy relaxed his shoulders and said to Nava, “It is not terribly important, but I will try and give a brief explanation. There is a technology in my world that is not much different than this ritual circle that allows us to play games with or against our friends.” He wasn’t going to try and explain TVs or consols and figured it may be easiest to leave it at this, if Nava allowed him that concession.
Nava nodded her head, “I think I understand.” She looked around the ritual circle, “You ready for another round?”
“Let’s do it!” Timothy said with excitement. After the last time he was knocked down by Nava he changed out his fire gem for a clear dimension gem. The current gems he has in his gloves now are blue for water, purple for force and clear for dimension.
The two went to the opposite sides of the circle preparing themselves for their next round. Nava made a gesture over one of the symbols on the circle’s edge that made a light pulse red around the perimeter, a second later it flashed yellow and then green. The moment it turned green Nava charged and Timothy began to cast a spell, “Bolt of Force,” he said softly, and a small sphere burst forth from his outstretched hand.
The bolt streaked across the circle and struck Nava in the upper thigh, causing her to stumble. Timothy used the extra time to follow up with a second spell:
Spell: Blink
Spell Level: 1
Gem: Clear
Magic Type: Dimension
Effect: Randomly teleports caster once every five seconds per 2 mana spent. The range and duration depends on the amount of mana spent to cast the spell.
Minimum mana: 3
Maximum mana: 10
Range: 5ft per mana
Damage: None
Overcharge: Yes
Overcharge effect: Min of 3 resolve - after TP you are ethereal for 1 second per 3 resolve points spent
Note: The range portion of the mana consumption is an additive to the total mana cost. For example: a minimum of three mana is required to cast the spell. Two for the first teleport and 1 for the five-foot range.
Nava’s fist arrived in the place his head was a fraction of a second too late, he vanished, throwing her off balance and causing her to stumble to the ground. Timothy appeared behind her and cast another spell:
Spell: Ice sheet
Spell Level: 1
Gem: Blue
Magic Type: Water
Effect: Creates a thin sheet of ice that covers the ground. The spell does not cause any damage but forces anyone caught in the area of effect to have to make an agility check (DC = 10 + Caster level + Resolve) or slip and fall prone
Minimum mana: 1
Maximum mana: 20
Range: 2ft diameter per mana
Damage: None
Overcharge: Yes
Overcharge effect: Increases the difficulty of the save by 1 per resolve point added
Timothy could only put a maximum of two mana into a water spell and this is what he did, creating a four foot diameter patch of ice under Nava. He then maxed out his resolve and added another two mana into the casting to increase the difficulty, costing him a total of four mana points. The ice looked nice and thick and had a sheen that made it look like it was wet.
Nava slammed her fists into the ice, embedding them into it and pushed herself off the ice and onto her feet in one quick motion. She gave him a crooked smile.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Timothy said as Nava’s fist crashed into his face and his vision went black. The training ritual reset.
Timothy rubbed at the phantom pain in his chin, “I thought I had you there.”
Nava shook her head and said, “You almost did. That blink move was a good tactic and following it up with the sheet of ice was a good idea.”
“Not good enough. You got up without a problem.”
“True,” she said, “but that was a bit of luck. If I had slipped, you would have had several free strikes against me.”
Timothy shrugged.
Nava shook her head again, “Don’t let that get to you. Fights can often shift in the blink of an eye,” she looked around at the ritual circle, “Let’s try something different.”
“Like what?” Timothy asked.
“We are going to fight those dwarves again,” Nava said.
“We can do that?” Timothy questioned.
“Yes. The ritual allows for one-on-one combat as well as team combat. The catch is that the ritual can only replicate monsters or people that all party members have encountered.”
“So, it can’t replicate something if only one person is in the circle?”
Yet again, Nava shook her head, “It can, but only encounters that the person in the circle had in the past.”
“How does that work?” Timothy continued peppering her with questions.
“That I don’t know. I know how to create the ritual and start it, but I am not great at understanding the magic that empowers it and how it works,” she replied.
“Can I study the ritual after we are done? And how did you learn it?”
Nava nodded to him, “Sure, no problem. I will explain what I can when we are done,” she paused for a split second before continuing, “I learned this when I attended the college on Murrsai.”
Timothy’s mind reeled. He thought back to his time as Zach and Howard, both having attended that particular college, “Isn’t that on the other side of the world?”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“It is,” she said.
“Then how did you end up all the way over here?” he asked.
“That is a story for another time.”
Timothy looked at Nava in astonishment, “Really? I spent the first few hours explaining everything that happened to me, yet your story is something for another time?”
There was a fire in Nava’s eyes. A combination of anger, rage and something else, fear maybe, “Drop it,” she said with a snarl.
Timothy took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He was getting himself worked up over something that, in the short term, didn’t matter. Maybe there was something overly traumatic about her time in the college that she was still having trouble with. Eventually, he decided to do as she asked.
“Okay,” he said, then turned to her, “but I will ask one thing. When you are ready or feel comfortable enough with me to talk about it, please let me know.”
She relaxed her posture and the fire in her eyes died down, “I will, and at that time I will know that you and I are meant to be a team.”
She turned away from him, but the moment before she did Timothy swore he saw her holding back tears. Just then, Timothy knew that he had made the right decision not to press any further. There was more to this story than he originally thought.
“Do you need some,” Timothy was cut off by Nava.
“Are you ready?” She said, her tone forced into a normal state.
“Yes,” he said with compassion in his voice.
She waved her hand over the circle, the images of the three dwarves appeared in the center and Nava moved over to her position before the fight started. Timothy followed her lead, the moment the two got to their positions the lights pulsed around the edge of the circle. Red…Yellow…Green and the simulation began.
Timothy started the fight by muttering the words for the Armor of the Cosmos spell and touched Nava’s arm. A translucent sheen formed over her body and settled in on her green skin before it faded out of sight. The dwarf behind her was reaching for his hammer before Timothy stepped in to place the spell on Nava, but changed his plan and threw a quick jab at Timothy. The change in the plan and Timothy’s movement caused the dwarf to wildly misjudge his strike and miss. This allowed Timothy time to step back and ready his staff in a defensive position.
The dwarf in front of Nava raised his leg to front-kick Nava’s kneecap but his attack bounced off the magical armor without inflicting any damage to her. She looked him off and turned her focus to the third dwarf, lingering on her left side. She reached out with her left hand and grabbed his beard, then violently pulled his face into her right fist that was in the middle of its uppercut. The dwarf lifted off his feet and fell to the ground with his arms sprawled out, nose bleeding and disoriented from the blow. He tried to regain his composure and get to his feet, but dizziness came over him and he fell face first into the snow.
Timothy cast another spell, shield, between him and the dwarf that just swung at him. He used the maximum amount of mana he could, five points, into his casting, creating the most powerful shield he could at this level. At least without using his resolve to overcharge it. The dwarf pulled his hammer and swung at Timothy with it. There was a loud clang accompanied by a shower of purple sparks when the hammer struck the shield Timothy had created.
The dwarf in front of Nava connected with a left hook into Nava’s right side, again the magical armor surrounding her took most of the damage before popping out of existence. She was able to resist the rest of the dwarf’s punch with her racial damage reduction bonus, she turned a devious smile on him.
The dwarf had left himself open after the left-hand hook he threw at Nava and she seized the opportunity to drive her left knee into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He buckled over and gasped for breath from the devastating attack, stumbling back a few steps. The dwarf to her left was finally getting to his feet, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, but his balance was still a bit wobbly, he needed a moment to shake it off.
Timothy spared a glance at Nava’s combatants and saw an opportunity. He stepped cautiously to his right, keeping the shield between him and the dwarf behind Nava. Once he had a clear line of sight to the one in front of Nava, he unleashed his most reliable damage spell, Magic Missile, with as much mana as he could and overcharged it. The bolt streaked out of his hand and slammed into the dwarf, knocking him off his feet and leaving him unconscious on the ground.
The dwarf with the hammer yelled in rage and wildly hit the shield between the two of them. The hammer sparked again where the blow landed, causing the shield to blink out of existence. Nava turned around to the dwarf behind her and swung with her right fist, but she misjudged the dwarf’s height and swung over his head. At the same time the dwarf that was on her left reached out to grab her around the waist, but her twisting around to the other one caused his hold to slip away.
Timothy let another missile fly at the injured dwarf that was now on Nava’s right side. This spell used the last of his mana, leaving him feeling completely drained, but the bolt did what it needed to. It slammed into the dwarf’s head. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he dropped to the ground. This left only one dwarf remaining, but Nava and Timothy were both uninjured and ready to finish it off.
“You can surrender now,” Timothy said to the dwarf.
The dwarf paused and looked at his two buddies.
“Please don’t,” Nava taunted with a smile on her face.
The dwarf’s shoulders dropped in defeat, and he let the hammer fall from his grip. It half-buried itself in the snow where it fell, and he put his hands up in surrender. The scene shimmered and all three dwarves faded out.
“That went much better than the first time,” Nava said to Timothy.
“I agree. It seems like we are able to work well together if I manage to stay back and out of the way,” Timothy replied.
“Did you use all of your mana in that fight?” Nava asked.
“I did, and it was the first time that I drained all my mana. It was an oddly familiar feeling. I felt like I stayed up way too late on a work night and I was paying the price for it the next day,” Timothy told Nava.
“I think you managed your mana correctly. You didn’t burn out until we were close to the end of the fight and did not leave yourself vulnerable until I was ready to confront the last dwarf,” she looked at him with a hard stare, “You did well.”
“Thanks. I had a good partner,” he looked away from Nava before continuing, “I hope you are willing to team up with me in the future.”
“We still have some work to do, but,” she was cut off when the two of them heard a twig snap at the edge of the clearing.
“Stay behind me,” she said in a soft whisper and used her left arm to nudge Timothy behind her.
Nava began to slowly creep along the snow cover clearing toward the noise, looking over her shoulder occasionally to confirm that Timothy was following closely behind her. They approached the edge of the clearing, near the brush when a small figure lunged out at Nava and clamped onto her leg.
“Francine! What are you doing out here,” Nava exclaimed.
Timothy released the mana he had been gathering for the Armor of the Cosmos spell he had been preparing. This was the first time he had ever dismissed a spell without casting it and he was surprised that the mana he gathered faded when he released the spell. He thought that the mana would return to his mana pool if he cancelled it, it was fortunate to discover that was not correct when he was in a safe situation.
A soft, child’s voice said, “I want to go sledding,” Francine looked down at her feet, “Will you take me?”
Nava looked from Francine to Timothy, “What do you think? Do we have time?”
Timothy didn’t hesitate, “Sure! I think we are about done here today anyway. Where should we go?”
“Lunatic’s ridge?” Francine asked meekly.
Nava shook her head before capitulating, “Sure.”
“Um…that sounds a bit dangerous. Shouldn’t we find something that doesn’t translate to ‘Crazy’ for someone of her age?” Timothy said with trepidation in his voice.
“She will be fine,” Nava said with a smile.
“Ya! You are new to the town, so what do you know? That is the best hill around!” Francine said excitedly.
“It is just that I don’t think it is,” he was cut off by Nava.
“It will be fine! Trust me!” she said without any trepidation in her voice.
Timothy reluctantly agreed and the three walked off into the woods towards Lunatic’s Ridge.
When they arrived there, Timothy had to stifle a chuckle, the ridge was a gradual hill with no obstructions in the path of the sledder. This was obviously a narrative that Nava had set up with Francine to make her believe that the hill was dangerous, adding to the kid’s excitement. Timothy had to admit that Nava played this well.
Timothy and Nava stood at the top of the hill watching Francine go up and down the slope with the relentless energy of youth. Her giggles filling the empty air each time she descended the hillside. As Timothy observed the other two, he had to admit to himself that this was what having siblings must be like. There was a simple pleasure that Nava was experiencing watching her younger sister enjoying herself in such a manner. This got him thinking and he turned his attention from Francine to Nava.
“Hey Nava, I never had any brothers or sisters. Is this what it is like?” Timothy asked, hoping that she may be too distracted to guard her answer.
“It’s a part of it, yes,” she replied before she had time to think of her answer. Then her smile vanished, and she looked down at Timothy with fire in her eyes, “How did you figure it out?”
He threw his hands up in surrender, “I wasn’t spying on you, if that is what you are thinking,” he let out a deep breath, “I have only known you for a day or so, but this is the first time that I have seen genuine joy in your smile. It wasn’t hard to make an educated guess.”
“They took me in when I returned from the college in Murrsai, but I would rather not talk about it here where little ears can over hear us,” she leaned in to whisper into Timothy’s ear, “She is only four years old and has only know me as her sister,” she pulled away from him and Timothy could see a pain lingering behind the smile, “I am not ready for that to go away. I know it will someday, but not yet.”
Timothy was shocked by the level of sincerity in her voice. He put a hand on her shoulder, “When you are ready,” he said softly.
He then looked at his hand on her shoulder and burst into laughter. He had to reach up more than six inches to place that comforting hand on her.
“This would look ridiculous if anyone was watching us,” he said between chuckles.
Nava looked at his hand, and then at him and snorted a quick laugh.
A short time later, Francine was walking slowly up the hill, it looked like she had finally exhausted herself out. She trudged through the snow up to Nava and looked up at her.
“I’m hungry,” she said in a tired voice.
“I am not surprised. Are you ready to go home and warm up?” Nava asked Francine. The little girl nodded.
All three made their way through the snow, back to the house. Nava was carrying Francine, her head resting on Nava’s shoulder, drifting in and out of sleep. That little ball of energy looked so peaceful resting in her arms, her head bobbing slightly with each step Nava took. Timothy was walking beside them, smiling warmly at the scene next to him even as he dragged the sled by its rope, leaving a flattened path in his wake.
------
Zander was sitting in his bushcraft shelter, his back against the cool four-foot wall of snow and the fire crackling in front of him. His mind on the past few raids and how successful they had been. He was starting to wonder when one of the two towns, Yourso or Slate, would get wise to their raids and when they would need to pack up and move to another location.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching, crunching their way through the snow. An older orc ducked his way into the shelter and sat down on the other side of the fire. He grabbed a stick and poked at the fire, trying to stoke the flames. Zander raised an eyebrow to him.
“Kellic has not returned,” the older orc said with worry.
“How long has it been?” Zander asked.
“He should have returned hours ago,” the older orc informed Zander.
Zander sat forward and warmed his hands by the fire, rubbing them together and then spreading them out to catch the warmth. He continued this without speaking for a moment before sitting back and looking at the other orc.
“Send the other three,” Zander commanded.
“But sir, won’t that tip them off that something is not right?” The older orc countered.
“Our time here is running out anyway. We will need to move soon, and I want to inflict as much pain as possible on these slavers!” The last few words came out as a snarl, “Kill their livestock and we can start to starve them out!”