Endel Springs - lower springs - afternoon
I come out from under the water; it splashes all over the guys that surround me and my opponent. Alex and I were competing to see who can hold their breath the longest.
“All right, I win! Eat your heart out, Alex!”
Did I mention I won?
“That sounds rather dreadful,” Alex says, his voice reflecting his somber expression.
Everyone cheers me on as I emerge as the victor. Some, however, look at Alex with the intensity of 1000 suns. Guess betting isn't their strong suit.
“All right then, who’s next?” Nobody steps up for the challenge. Come on, someones gotta have the spine to go up against me. “Gil, you up for it? Gil?”
He’s nowhere to be seen. Did he take a quick break from the springs? Suddenly, the water in front of me rises as a colossal figure emerges from under. Gil is the one to come from under the water. His skin looks like a tomato.
“Looks like I win,” with glee he announces.
“What? Wait, how long were you down there?”
“Since you guys began. I only came up because you called for me.”
What, no, he cheated! How the hell would I know if he went under or not? Actually, how was he able to stay under without me knowing; he’s a pretty big guy.
“No, I call semantics! I demand a rematch!”
“Kay, but I’m gonna win.”
“Yeah right, bring it on!”
…
After a long 12 minutes of staying submerged in the water, I lost to Gil. The heat got to me. I was confident in the fact I endured school during near summer; and some of my classes didn’t even have an air conditioner, let alone a fan. Richard approaches me.
“Man, can’t believe I lost.”
“I’m amazed you even lasted for 12 minutes after the last round.”
“Me too. Still can’t believe Gil beat me like it was nothing. It was fun though, so I ain’t gonna stress it.”
“Good, I thought you would make a big deal out of it.”
“Eh, I’m not gonna sweat over it. But man, isn’t this nice? I can feel all the stress and fatigue washing from my body.”
My skin also feels smoother than usual. I can feel all the tension my body built up wash away as my body grows accustomed to this soothing water.
“Me too. I’ve been training non-stop, so I can cram in as much about Source before we set off.”
“Speaking of that, how’s that coming?”
“Well, I mastered Source control.”
“Really? Congrats.”
“I have my Source activated right now. At first, doing other things while having it active was mildly difficult, but now it’s as natural as breathing.”
“I see. . .” My fist darts for Richard’s heading, coming to a stop right near his side. He flinched before I stopped it. “Did you break concentration?”
“Nope.”
“Great!”
We lean on the edge of the springs, where the ground’s leveled above the spring by about 2 feet.
“So, what are you learning now?”
“Well, I’m learning more about my attribute. There’s Enhancement and Detection, but I’m focused on Enhancement for now. I wanted to dabble in Conjuration, but teacher said it was no good to practice it since I haven’t mastered my attribute.”
“Conjuration? Why? I thought you couldn’t do other ones?”
“No, you can. It just requires more time and practice to get anything going out of it. In that sense, I can understand why she barred me from learning the other attributes. So far, Enhancement is the one I’m doing right now. I’m only able to enhance one of my limbs at a time. Honestly, still amazed I could pick it up quickly, but I’m still having a bit of difficulty doing my entire body.”
Enhancement. . .Does that mean he can make himself stronger? If that’s the case. I pick up a random rock next to the ledge.
“Can you crush this with your hand if you use Enhancement?”
“Possibly. Heck, this might be an excellent opportunity to train.”
He takes it from my hand. I wait for something to happen to the rock. I can’t believe I’m about to see him break a rock in the palm of his hand. There would be no way I’d believe something like this could happen, but seeing is believing. The rock in his hand cracks from the applied pressure. The rock’s cracks travel upward on it. It’s at the breaking point. The rock breaks like a balloon popping from a needle. The way he crushed it was so freaking sweet. I couldn’t help but yell out with hype.
“Do it again!”
“It’s nothing to be. . .” He goes quiet for a moment, only for him to display a wicked smirk. “Okay, get me another rock.”
That grin on his face shows me he’s having a head rush about the fact he crushed a rock with his bare hands. I get a few more rocks for him to crush. He’s able to destroy them with ease. This is just surreal! We run out of rocks to crush without getting up from the spring.
“That was a blast.”
“I admit, it was fun,” Richard sheepishly admits.
“Makes me kind of sad I can’t use Source.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have flaunted my abilities like that.”
“Nah, no sweat. Besides, I’m fine the way I am.”
“Oh, okay. After everything you told me, I just. . .”
“It’s cool. You don’t need to worry about that, I’m not getting stuck on that stuff anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I know that complaining about it won’t do me any good. So I have to work my ass off to get stronger. Plus, my head has been a mess for a while. These doubts and the decrease in my confidence in my fighting abilities got to me and made me think I wasn’t good at fighting.”
“What do you think now?”
“That I still have a lot to learn. I’ll just keep chugging on.”
"Good to hear. I'll do the same as well. I don't want to be left in the dust after all."
You know, I never got to say this to him before, but he's changed. He seems a bit more confident and determined. Hell, he even got to punch a dude for the first time.
"Proxy, what do you think of Nunnalé?" Richard asks me as he washes his face with the water.
"Well, I think she's weird."
"She kind of is, but I think it's because she's not too familiar with common norms. It's up to us to teach her. By the way, make sure she doesn't turn into another delinquent."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"What, that's my shtick, We don't need another one of me."
"Thanks."
"But besides being weird, I think she's pretty cool. I mean, do you see a girl going head to head with a giant monster twice her size?"
"Nope, but I hope she doesn't have to," he gives a gloomy response.
"Come on, she held her own against Racheal's dad."
"Except when she got majorly injured. . ."
Richard's expression turns dower. Damn, hit a landmine.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. I'm sorry."
". . .I had nightmares about it. Seeing her hurt like that, I never wanted to see that again."
"So that's another reason you're working on your Source?"
"Yeah, I just hope I can hack it."
I know that feeling all too well, and it is awful. Shit, I need to lighten things up.
"Chin up, you came this far. No sense in hoping now. You just gotta go for it!"
"Yeah, you're right! I have to shoot for it!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Yeah!"
He stands up, exposing the lower part of his body. He quickly realizes this and plops down into the spring. His face is beat-red. I can't help but laugh.
"What's there to be embarrassed about, we all got them down here."
"I-I still d-d-don't want you to see it!"
"Chill out, it ain't no biggie. But I will give you props, it is. . ."
"SHUT UP."
He dunks my head into the scalding water. My hands flail around from the surprise attack. Luckily, I'm strong enough to push back.
"Geez, what's wrong with you? I was going to pay you a compliment."
"Don't! Just say nothing, don't even speak!"
"You're acting more like a girl than Nunnalé. Hell, even more than Marie."
A loud sneeze just came from the upper part of the spring.
"Just stop talking!"
Man, he still has a long way to go before he's a real man.
"Proxy, Richard, what are you doing over there?" Alex bellows us. "Come and be with us."
We move towards him. Everyone gathers around Alex.
"Gather, gather, let us converse with each other," Alex says, as jovial as ever.
"Converse about what?" Chip questions with a forward brow.
"Hmm. . .How about the reason we fight?"
Hmm, not a bad idea. We can get it out there.
"Chip, perhaps you would like to go first?" Alex suggests.
"Sure thing: it's cause I owe you."
"Hm, perhaps you would like to elaborate?"
"Seriously, I thought that was enough."
"I shall not take quick answers," Alex rejects his brief answer.
"Damn, well, this might take a bit. Ya see, when I was a kid, I learned to survive off the land. Learned how to fight somewhat. When I was old enough to read, my folks got killed by some knights from the kingdom."
"Why!?"
"Wartime. My folks wanted to fight, sure you can guess the rest."
"They raided the kingdom?" Gil fills in the blanks.
"Yep, the unlucky few who didn't make it. I had a grandpa who taught me how to use a bow. He passed when I was 16. I was alone and poor, so I became a thief. Got into the Kingdom, stole shit from the Nobles, sold anything I can get, and made money. For a time, I was successful. But that ended when the guy I worked with sold me out to take all the money we had collected so far. I was lucky enough to get away with my life. Getting out of the kingdom, I met this farmer family, pleasant people. They treated me great, hell, even made me feel like I was family."
"This story doesn't end well, does it?" Richard guesses.
"Right on the money. It just so happens, the bandits my pal sold me out to found me. The family that treated me well sold me out as soon as they even mentioned me. Soon after that, I got taken captive and forced to steal shit for them. Then, one day, they tell me to steal something from this big wig Noble who had a hand in the import of materials from the outside. Got into the manor, but the guards were on my ass the moment I set foot inside.”
“Bandits set you up?” I take a guess.
“Nah, the security for that specific place was top-notch. I got caught, then sentenced to 10 years in BlackRock. 2 years into my sentence, I met Proxy, blondie, and his sis.”
“Oh, I know how this story ends.”
I can’t help but let out a cocky chuckle.
“Yep, these crazy bastards got me out of there in less than a month of Proxy being inside.”
“Damn straight we did!”
“Furthermore, I kind of owe Blondie for not leaving me in there to rot, and not leaving me behind when he could’ve saved his own skin. So until we win this fight, I’m sticking with you guys. Also, I have nowhere else to go.”
Man, remembering BlackRock takes me back. Everything that happened in there was so damn tense. Hell, even waiting to break out felt like a challenge on its own. But man, was it ever touch and go for a moment there.
“Ya know, call me curious, but how did you end up there, big guy?” Chip directs that question towards Gil.
“Me? Well, I wanted to.” Everyone went dumbstruck as soon as he said that.
“If you do not mind me asking: why would you do such a thing?” Crow raises.
“There was someone I wanted to fight at first, but I was too scared to fight him, so I made sure he didn’t leave that place.”
“Why did you?” Richard asks.
“He killed a friend of mine in a fight.”
Richard’s flinch at the response.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Even though my friend agreed to fight him, and died from being weaker than him, I was still angry. So I decided to hunt him down, and kill him. Obviously, my search led to him being in BlackRock. As for why, I do not know. I got arrested for theft and was sent there. In half a year, I was named the king of the arena. However, I broke out with Proxy, Alexander, and Chip. Oh, and Marie was there as well. As for why I’m fighting now; I owe Proxy for saving my life, so I’ll fight until the end of this conflict. Plus, I also think I’ll grow stronger if I fight with you all.”
I remember the fight with the old man. All my other fights in that prison paled in comparison with him; the fear I felt when I first saw him is still clear to me this very day. But I won’t let that take a hold of me ever again.
“Okay, now that Gilhart finished speaking, why don’t the rest of us share our reasons? Crow, how about you?”
Crows chuckles as it is his turn to speak.
“You wish to hear my reason? Sorry to disappoint, but it is not as romantic or as tragic.” He brushes back his hair. “I was born into a noble family of doctors during the war. They trained me to learn medicine and the human body. However, shortly after the war ended, I opened a clinic in the lower areas of the kingdom. While the work I did was fulfilling, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was not meant to be there. So, after 3 years, I closed my shop and traveled outside the kingdom. I applied my knowledge to those who needed it.”
“What was different about the outside?”
“I suppose there were more people who needed my aid out here, rather than in there.”
“Didn’t you get paid to work?” Chip points out.
“I was, and while the money was good, it was never about the money. Despite all the things I learned from my family, I was taught to help those in need. Because that is the true reason doctors exist.”
After Crow’s story concluded, everyone else went on about their reasons. Some wanted to fight to get revenge against the bandits, some wanted it to be peaceful for the outside, and others wanted to become heroes.
“Um, may I state my reason?” Richard requests, his voice scaled down.
“Of course, feel free to do so,” Alex wholeheartedly welcomes him.
“Okay, well, I’m sure most of you don’t know who I am, but my name is Richard. I’m here because of my friends. If they weren’t, I don’t think I would stick around. But I should probably go back a bit. Proxy and I come from another world, one vastly different from this one. Our lives were much more convenient than the ones we’re living now. Coming here for the first time, I was overcome with fear. But Proxy wasn’t, and it kind of made me feel incompetent compared to how he handled it."
I never meant to do that. I just wanted to keep strong so Richard wouldn't have to worry about me or what danger there might be.
"Due to circumstance, we ended up in the Hell Mine.”
“Wait, the Hell Mine, how the hell did you two get out of there?” Chip voices skepticism.
“. . .With the whole place collapsing,” I answer.
“At first, I knew what to do: stay with Proxy and everything will be alright. However, that plan burned up in smoke as soon as I went off with someone else. I knew separating with Proxy and exploring the mine was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. During all that, I did things I didn’t know I was capable of. By the end of it all, I nearly got myself killed several times. But, remembering all that, remembering how I acted, it makes me feel good. That, and a bunch of other things, made me want to have my friends know that I’m dependable. To conclude this: I’ll help you guys in any way I can. So please, count on me!”
He’s so tense, you would think he’d be a bit more relaxed, but I guess he’ll always have that shy side.
“A worthy goal,” Alex gives his respects to Richard.
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I truly wish for the best as you strive towards your goal. But take heart in knowing you can rely on us as well.”
“Yes, of course! Thank you!”
“You’re too tense, dude. You need to loosen up. Come on guys, let’s help him!”
“Wait, what?”
A couple of us grab Richard from his shoulder, side of his chest, and legs. We lift him, exposing him.
“What the hell are you doing!?” he screeches as he struggles to get out of our grasp.
“We’re gonna throw you upward.”
“Wait, don’t do that! What if the girls look down from up there!?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not like they would, and besides, if they do, it’s their fault. You ready?”
“No!”
“Too bad! On three! One. . .Two. . .Three!”
We throw Richard into the air, his body exposed for all to see. I doubt the girls will just look down here for no reason, let alone at all.
“Hmm, Is that. . .?”
In an ironic, yet tragic way, Nunnalé, Marie and Elizabeth, and some of the other girls are looking down from the top. In a spontaneous moment, the girls, save for Nunnalé, let out an eardrum-shattering scream. Well, shit.