Chapter 27

Over the next month their days blended together in various iterations of that first day. They would run further each day before prayers. They would spar or do a rigorous calisthenics routine devised by Errrkkkk.

Both Riakon and Roden struggled to keep up with the hollow boned avian. It wasn’t until Roden suggested Errrkkkk wear extra weights were their performances a bit more even. Roden was surprised he didn’t struggle more than he had during those first few days.

He hadn’t written himself with any particular predilection towards exercise, but he supposed it came with the stats. A fifteen dexterity made him a nearly superhuman acrobat. His fourteen constitution meant he could train for hours and not get tired.

It was around then he realized he hadn’t really had time to put much thought into his stats or what they meant for him in this world. He had always figured the numbers were just some arbitrary metric of the game that tilted the odds of success or failure just enough to create variation in game play. However, in his current situation those numbers were who he was in that moment.

In his musing, he had to admit he was actually impressed with himself for having remembered all of his stats and the skills he had chosen what seemed like ages ago. He rapidly concluded that was a direct result of his twelve intelligence which amounted to peak human intellect and his astronomical sixteen wisdom.

In play, those two stats were always hard to divide in terms of their effect on a character’s cognitive ability. While training, Roden felt he was beginning to understand what his wisdom was doing for him. It contributed in many ways.

He found it played a role in his instincts and muscle memory. He would find himself moving without thought or he would be able to perfectly reproduce a movement after seeing it done once. To call it purely intuition didn’t do it justice, but it was damn close.

As helpful as it was to train and become more aware of his new body’s abilities, it was the sparring that made the biggest difference in all three men. Riakon and Errrkkkk had been together for all three years of Errrkkkk’s life. They had trained together and their styles were complimentary. It was no surprise Roden didn’t have the same level of symbiosis with them as they had with each other.

A big part of their training ended up working to integrate Roden and his abilities into their existing teamwork. It was during that portion of their training they discovered Riakon had a new ability. During one of their sparring sessions Roden caught Riakon with his Flame blade, but in his fatigue he hadn’t imbued it with his Elemental Augmentation.

Roden’s flames barely hurt Riakon at all despite him taking a slash to the forearm. When it happened everyone stood around in a bit of confusion. Roden had assumed the strike would require near immediate healing just to avoid the pain instead Riakon was barely hurt.

“It tickled more than anything.”

“Is Roden’s sword going a little limp, cacaw?”

Roden narrowed his eyes at the birdman, “I think it’s something else cause look…”

Roden nonchalantly stabbed Riakon in the shoulder, this time with everyone’s eyes glued to the Dragonkin they saw the faint red glow come from Riakon’s opposite shoulder. Errrkkkk pulled Riakon’s shirt aside, “Stab him again, cacaw.”

“Hey wait…” Roden pushed his blade in again.

Just as expected, a red glow emanated from the central dragon head of Riakon’s scar.

“Well I’ll be damned, that looks like a resistance to fire to me.”

There was a moment of silence between the three men as they all began to realize just how Riakon acquired his new found feature. Roden wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t really know Riakon like all that. He knew his friend Jo and how he might respond as Riakon, but that wasn’t necessarily how this Riakon would respond here.

“At least something came out of that gathering, cacaw.”

Riakon grew shifty at Errrkkkk’s statement, which the bird noticed immediately.

“Riakon, what else happened, cacaw?”

“Well…Ummmm you see, I have felt like there has been a new power inside me.”

“What kind of power, cacaw?”

“It feels like my holy water, but different.”

“Well go on, give it a try, cacaw.”

At Errrkkkk’s suggestion, Riakon had walked to the ledge, a faint red glow grew visible on his chest and rose up his body until small flames escaped his maw. He reared back and breathed out a swath of flames into the sea air.

“Well ain't that a thing.” Roden said not having to feign his awe. He knew the power was granted to Riakon by Tiamat during the gathering, but that didn't mean he wasn't amazed at the sight of Riakon, a two meter tall Dragonkin actually breathing fire.

“Riakon held up a finger, “hang on…there is more.”

This time a whitish blue light crawled up his chest, small arcs of electricity crackled around him. Riakon opened his jaws wide, releasing a bolt of lightning that ripped through the air, leaving a faint scent of ozone in its wake.

“Are you done, cacaw?”

“Not yet.” a bright green light already pulsing in his throat. Riakon took a deep breath and exhaled a green cloud. The no doubt toxic plume hung in the air just off the cliff edge, eventually swept away by the ever present ocean breeze.

“Hang on, I need a minute.” Riakon held his stomach, a queasy look came over his face. He began retching. He covered his mouth with his hand until it became clear to Riakon he was in fact going to throw up, except instead of vomit, Riakon projected a spray of caustic sickly green looking liquid over the grass. It sizzled and smoked as the liquid rapidly turned the grass from its vibrant green to a morbid black.

“Aww man that’s nasty.” Roden said, turning his nose up at the stench of decaying grass.

“Cacaw.”

Riakon panted with his hands on his knees. “Okay, I think I am good…”

A white light began working its way up from his belly, “Oh not again.”

That time Riakon expelled a blast of super chilled air that left everything it touched covered in a layer of frost.

“I think he's done now.”

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“I sure hope so, cacaw.”

That day they had taken time to rest and allow Riakon to recuperate from his ordeal. During their break they discussed Riakon’s new found abilities,

“So Brother you’ve got yourself some new attacks, cacaw!”

“It looks that way.”

“Why so glum?”

“I… I don’t want to use her gifts.”

“Why, cacaw?”

“Because, I don’t want anything to do with her.”

“Is that really something you can ignore, cacaw?”

“It hasn’t mattered before, why should it start now?”

“He’s got a point.”

“Yeah, but you’d be stronger if you did, cacaw.”

“Yes well, I’ll be strong without her.”

Roden couldn't help, but point out the obvious, “Not much you can do about the elemental resistance, and if I was a betting man I’d bet you have a resistance to each of the elements you can project.”

“I figured as much, as well.”

“That’s a shame, I don’t see the harm. It’s not like you asked for it, cacaw.”

“Well if I ever get to meet Basmu, I want to be able to say I was strong and wasn’t tempted by his greatest enemy.”

“He has a point there.”

Errrkkkk just shrugged, and let the topic die.

After their discovery of Riakon’s Tiamat given gifts, their training took a more individually focused turn. Riakon spent his time studying his spells and trying them out in their numerous sparring sessions. His Thundering Blow was his bread and butter. He’d used it in nearly every fight they had since Roden joined them, but they were figuring out he had some other useful spells that added an effect to his hammer when he hit his target.

Errrkkkk spent a lot of time attempting to perfect his transformation. For him, that meant being transformed as much as possible. When they weren’t sparring Errrkkkk would zip around powered up performing chi beams and aerial blasts. When they were sparring, Errrkkkk grew to learn his new form as if it was just another kata put in front of him by his old teachers.

Errrkkkk was gradually mastering his abilities. When they would spar he was able to deliver debilitating strikes that disrupted Roden and Riakon’s chi without having to worry about running out of his own chi energy. From his previous uses, they had deduced his form would keep him conscious and fighting even if he was past his limit.

It was a strange thing for Roden to watch Errrkkkk work through exactly what his transformation did for him. For Roden everything was intuitive. His spells filled him with everything he needed to execute them.

It seemed to him, these extra abilities didn’t come with that same intuitiveness for Errrkkkk or Riakon. Roden wondered if he would ever find himself in a similar situation, but put it out of his mind to focus on his training at hand.

With the tournament on the horizon, Roden felt it was important for him to solidify his fighting style. Up to that point he was a bit of a mess. He wasn’t the ranged spell specialist he set out to be when he chose his class. At the time he figured choosing Cleric would let him be a solid support caster then use his fire domain to add some ranged elements to his kit.

Thanks to his meeting with Mu'Tumbo, he got access to his Grove Armor and he’d become more of a close quarters fighter, which was the opposite of what he imagined for himself.

Roden figured he had gotten lucky up to this point. He took a few big shots that had broken through his armor, none more painful than when Seven sent him through the wall during their botched gathering.

He kicked himself a bit for ignoring his own nature. Whenever he made characters he always made sure he had options in every situation. Of course, he wouldn’t be any different here.

Roden thought long and hard about his role in the party. He had the best long ranged damage with his Ignition Bolt and Conflagration. He had to admit Errrkkkk was at least his equal at the midrange game. His spells were more powerful than Errrkkkk’s basic chi blasts, but Errrkkkk could do those indefinitely.

In melee, he felt like he couldn’t compare to Riakon at all. The smiting blows he landed were devastating in a way that he couldn’t replicate…But then Roden remembered their fight with the Manticore. He’d landed a pretty nasty Wounding Touch.

After some hard thinking, Roden came to the conclusion that he was the middle ground between Riakon and Errrkkkk. He was their only source of long ranged damage and could help Errrkkkk in the midrange. Riakon was a close up specialist in a way Roden could never be, however Riakon was a power puncher, where Roden was able to provide a steady offense with his conjured swords and close range spells like Burning Finger and Wounding Touch.

As much as Roden tried to determine a style to fit his skill set he eventually came to terms with the fact he had a style all of his own. He considered swapping his spells around to have his skill set be more specialized, but he couldn’t bring himself to lose his utility spells like Blessed Traveler or Basking Embrace, but he did realize he wouldn’t be needing his Sight of the Magi for the upcoming tournament.

He had truly forgotten all about that spell as it had sat unused for so long. Part of him wanted to immediately take that Apprentice level spell he considered before, but he was hesitant to replace a Trainee tier spell with a spell that required so much more magic to cast. While walking among his wisps of spells along his path of spell selection Roden spotted a spell he passed over long ago. It was the weaker Trainee healing spell he had not taken way back when. He had opted for the stronger, touch based one that became his Triage spell.

He remembered back to the fight with the raptors and how nice it would have been to revive Errrkkkk from a distance rather than having to fight their way over to him. When Roden took the spell he felt it being pulled into his Elven magic. The resulting combination was Nature’s Melody, a spell that stimulated its target’s natural healing instead of providing its own.

On the surface, Roden wasn’t sure what to make of the spell. In theory, it did what he wanted, but that still remained to be seen in practice. He did however, love the thematics of it. The spell no longer needed an incantation instead it only required him to hum a tune. In Roden’s mind, there was something beautiful about magic that was propelled through music.

The training itself was taxing and often had the men sleeping hard shortly after their evening meal. Unlike Errrkkkk and Riakon, Roden had the added element of his mother. Miriana was kind and understanding, but Roden didn’t want to hurt her feelings by acting like a stranger.

When Errrkkkk and Riakon would head to the treehouse to sleep, Roden would stay inside the house to talk and spend time with his fictional mother. It was a strange thing to care about the feelings of someone he knew was not real. However, when that line of thinking would tumble through his mind he began to have less conviction in his belief that this world wasn’t real.

By the time their window for training neared its end, Roden and Miriana had developed a bit of a routine. After dinner they would have simple conversations about their day. She would riddle him with questions about his progress and he would ask her about her day at the temple.

Eventually, they would play a casual game of some kind. On one of their first nights, Roden spied a chess board and had suggested they play. Miriana was a truly solid player, she would rarely launch her own attacks and was content to let the games fizzle out into drawn positions.

Roden, however, was thrilled in being able to play a game he loved. It was a small piece of home amidst a sea of unfamiliarity. It made the numerous nighttime conversations flow more easily as they casually moved their pieces. It was during these conversations Roden began to feel like the world he was in wasn’t just some dream. He began to imagine he was in some alternate reality. That perhaps he was dead and this was his afterlife or that maybe he was in some kind of altered state.

It was during one of those games they got into a conversation of the afterlife and Roden took a chance,

“Hey mom, do you think there are other realities out there?”

“Hmmmm, other realities? Like the other planes?” she said as she slowly pushed her pawn to start the game.

“Sort of, but not. Like places that are completely different from here.” he met her pawn push with one of his own attacking her central pawn.

She let out a small giggle, “well, I assure you the other planes are quite different from our own, but I get the idea you mean something else.” She moved her pawn forward into his territory.

Roden was unsure how to broach the topic so he tried to ease into the conversation gingerly, “Yeah I mean like different versions of this plane.” He jumped his knight attacking her pawn again.

Miriana looked thoughtful, “I can’t say for sure. Although, I supposed it is possible. The universe is vaster than we can even imagine.” She protected her pawn with one on its flank.

Roden blitzed out his pawn attacking her pawn protecting its ally in the center. “ Would it even be in the same universe?”

“You and your gambits.” She rolled her eyes as she protected her pawn with the one on its left. “If there are other universes I can only imagine there must be a planet such as Mir.”

He captured her pawn. “Hmmmmm, so not another reality, but a different planet?”

Miriana took back, solidifying her center. “That would make the most sense to me. It would be incredibly wasteful to have alternate realities.”

Roden was taken aback by her response, “What do you mean?”

“Consider for a moment there is a single reality. Why would nature ever deviate from that reality?”

Roden felt like he was walking into a trap, but pushed on “Because there are infinite possibilities…”

“Certainly, but the generation of a whole reality based on the possibility of something happening is counter to all natural principles. Nature only reacts to what is, not what could be. ”

Roden had to admit she had a point, he switched gears “Could magic make it between planets?”

“I don’t see why not, although there is the body matter problem.”

Roden was actually stumped by her statement, “come again?”

“The body matter problem, the inability to send matter over extraplanetary distances through teleportation. In essence, you can’t leave the magisphere.”

Roden was dumbfounded, he was here so she couldn’t be…then it dawned on him. He wasn’t here, or at least his body wasn’t here. He was in the body of Roden the character, who must have already existed here.

“Did I lose you dear? You haven’t made a move.” she gestured at the board.

“Oh uhh.” He hastily moved his bishop to stare down the long diagonal of the board. “I think I get what you are saying, it’s just really interesting. What about sending just magic from one planet to another?”

“Maybe, if there was a link or connection of some kind between the two.” Unfazed Miriana pushed her central pawn creating a blockade in the center of the board.

“I can’t imagine what kind of link you would need to reach those kinds of distances.”

“A powerful one I am sure.” She said it nonchalantly, but Roden noticed a small slip in her persona. The ever so slight rise in her tone wasn’t an immediate give away, it was her weariness at the prospect that caught his attention. She knew something she wasn’t telling. Now didn’t feel like the time to make accusations though.

Laying in bed that night, Roden made a decision. That conversation changed his perspective on his situation. He must be on another world, if not in body then in mind or spirit. That meant his time here must matter. He couldn’t be here purely by coincidence. Too much was happening as he knew it would for this to be some fever dream.

It was his connection to Zamira that was the biggest change here. In his world, she was power hungry, passionate, and calculated. She killed off her father and absorbed his domains. Now she was just a woman practicing her religion and raising her son.

Even the lore on her seemed more tame in comparison. Roden felt like he was scratching at the edges of something important, but just couldn’t pull aside the curtain. He knew one thing, whatever he had to do, he would get home somehow. He would see his wife again.