Chapter 3

By the time Roden woke up it was late into the morning. He emerged from his room in the treehouse to find the townspeople cleaning up the damage caused by the gremlins. Roden quickly spied Errrkkkk and Riakon. Once everyone regrouped they made haste gathering up their things and leaving Pescatin before anyone could ask too many questions. As they were leaving the people of Pescatin clapped and hailed them as their saviors. Roden noticed Riakon wince ever so slightly at each genuine thank you.

After a few hours of walking on their way back to Port Sept. Roden broke the silence,

“That was some night, aye guys?”

“Yeah…I’ll say.” Riakon hung his head.

Errrkkkk gave Riakon a soft glare, not of spite, but of concern. “At least it was a good fight, cacaw.”

Roden figured then was as good of a time as any to break the news to the guys.

“So guys, ummmmmm, something happened last night and I’m not really sure how to approach it.”

Riakon looked at him with a hint of fear in his eyes, “What?”

“Well I was walking around the town after the fight looking for Riakon in the market and I ran into a woman.”

Relief washed over Riakon’s face, “Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow toward him.

Roden sighed, “It’s not like that, she was a Goddess.”

Riakon’s brows knit together, “I mean beauty is in the eye of the one eyeing.”

“No mate, I mean she literally was a Goddess. The Goddess Zamira to be exact.”

He braced himself for their reactions.

Riakon looked at him blankly before he broke out into a barking laugh.

“Ha! Are you serious?”

“Yeah, pretty serious. We ended up having a conversation and one thing led to another and I’m now a Cleric of Zamira…”

Both men stopped walking and their jaws dropped at his emission.

“What?”

The two non-humans looked at each other and started laughing.

Roden looked at them affronted, “Oh c’mon, it’s not that bad.”

“You mean, you really gave up the Goddess of the Sun to follow the Goddess of Death?”

Roden rolled his eyes, “Well when you say it like that. It doesn’t sound great, but it’s really not that bad. Zamira was pretty adamant in her conviction that she needed me to be her champion…”

The two non-humans looked at each other again and started laughing.

“Fuck you guys.” Roden said with mostly sarcasm.

Errrkkkk wiped a tear from his eye, “Just wait there is more, cacaw…Riakon, why don’t you tell him what happened to you last night.”

Riakon’s laughing trailed off and he winced. “Oh ummm well. I uuuhhhhh…”

“C’mon spit it out, cacaw.”

Riakon glared at his brother then let out a deep sigh, “I may have accidentally gotten myself caught up in a ritual to Tiamat and lost my connection to Era…”

It was Roden’s turn to laugh. He laughed at Riakon’s description of events rather than what had transpired.

“You accidentally got caught up in a ritual?”

Riakon looked away from Roden’s scrutiny, “pretty much.”

“He was tempted and gave in to the temptation, cacaw.”

Roden nodded, “I get that. So no powers huh?”

Errrkkkk glared at Riakon as the big Dragonkin started to respond, “Yeah…no powers.”

Roden looked to Errrkkkk, “So what’s the plan then?

“I’m not sure. Not much we can do with a powerless paladin, cacaw.”

“Ooof I see…We could probably check in with my mother for some advice on the situation.”

Riakon went a little pale, something Roden didn’t know was possible for a Dragonkin. “I mean do we have to? Are there any other options?”

“I think asking Miriana is a great idea, cacaw!”

The men continued walking and endured a long period of silence before Roden spoke.

“So what happened with Tiamat?”

“Well I… Ummmm have been hearing her voice in my mind ever since the gathering and I ran across a book in the library that had what I thought was a ritual to contact her. During the fight with the gremlins I had to use the power she gave me or we might not have won. It must have influenced me somehow because before I knew what was happening I was performing this ritual not of communing, but one of power. Something seemed to stop me before it could finish it and when I came to I couldn’t feel my connection to Era anymore.”

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

Roden was a little surprised by his retelling of events. Much of that hadn’t happened as he described it at his table. He had to improvise that moment at the time and it was way less detailed. It most certainly wasn’t a formal ritual as Riakon described.

“Hmmm well if I had to guess it sounds like you’ve got some sins to atone for.”

Riakon nodded, “Yeah…I suppose I do.”

More silence followed until Errrkkkk broke it. “So Roden, you don’t have the same abilities either huh, cacaw?”

“Yeah I don’t have Era’s Fire domain any more. Instead I have Zamira’s Storm domain.”

Errrkkkk perked up, “Storm? Can you still do the same things or do we have to change up our strategy even more, cacaw?”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure. My initial thought is that not a whole lot has changed in the sense of it affecting my style, but until I get some practice in I don’t really know.”

Riakon stopped walking and started setting his stuff down.

Roden looked over his shoulder at him, “What are you doing?”

Riakon just shook his head, “You said the magic words.”

Roden looked up in thought trying to recall his exact words.

“Sounds like a perfect reason to get a sparring session in, cacaw!”

‘Oh those magic words…’

Once Errrkkkk got it in his mind to train there was no changing it. They hadn’t covered all of the distance they usually would on a normal day of travel, but they weren’t in any great hurry to get back to Port Sept. They moved off their path and put themselves closer to the coastline. Roden conjured forth the treehouse and they got their camp mostly set before Errrkkkk took his place in the mostly flat area he clearly intended for them to use as their arena.

“Okay Errrkkkk, if we have to do this, what rules are we using?”

“All out, cacaw.”

Roden hesitated, he was hoping he wouldn’t say that. “Is that really a good idea? I mean we are out in the open here…”

Errrkkkk just shook his head, “All out. We need to see where you are at. Especially with our powerless paladin over there, cacaw.”

‘He has a point.’ Roden thought while trying to keep his face from showing it.

“Okay okay, all out it is.” With the terms set, Roden started activating all of his buffing spells and abilities.

First came his Grove Armor and Aegis. His wooden armor formed around him as his glowing shield materialized around his left arm. Next he activated his Mozzetta of Clouds, the ability caused a cloak of fluffy cloud material to billow out from his shoulders. It gave him a wispy fog like shroud that obscured his overall visage just enough to not be fully visible.

Lastly, he held his hand to the side and called forth his Sylvan Weaponry with a new incantation,

“For the Grove!”

A long slender hilt formed out of the wood of his armor. Out of the hilt grew the golden blade of an elven saber. The blade had a pronounced curve that denoted it as a slashing weapon. Its long hilt allowed for a two handed grip, but given its lightweight, that wouldn’t be necessary.

“Are you finally ready, cacaw? I think I might die of old age before this guy is done, cacaw.”

“I’m ready.” Roden said while dropping into a stance his shield forward and his other hand tucked behind it.

Riakon gave them the countdown, “Ready…Set…Fight!”

Roden immediately launched the spell he was hiding. With a punching motion he shot a swirling mass of blue energy from his sword hand. He loved that his Winter’s Blast spell required no incantation and he was able to use nearly any motion to cast it as long as the motion provided the spell a direction.

The spell caught Errrkkkk just as he moved to avoid it. The mass of energy burst out in a small area from the point of impact. Everything in the blast radius was frozen in a mass of crystalline ice. All of Errrkkkk’s right side was trapped within the icy prison.

Unhappy with his predicament, Errrkkkk rotated his remaining leg around in a brutal knee strike, shattering the ice holding him. Once freed he shot into the air, seemingly out of Roden’s reach.

Roden saw Errrkkkk take flight and couldn’t help, but smile. With a mental command he called on his Holy Nimbus. The golden cloud burbled into existence at his feet. Roden took a tentative step onto the cloud and found it solid beneath his feet.

With both feet settled on the cloud, he directed it to fly straight toward Errrkkkk. The initial acceleration of the thing took Roden by surprise. He never felt in danger of falling off, but he found himself crouching to hold a more solid base. Roden wasn’t sure if it was surprise he saw on Errrkkkk’s face as he didn’t have long enough to confirm it before multiple blasts of chi shot straight for him.

Roden blocked with his shield, each blast breaking over his defensive wall. Just as he moved to peer out from behind his cover, he saw a blur to his right. Errrkkkk had darted around, hands clasped at his waist a glowing bead of chi, compressed and ready to be unleashed held between his claws.

Sword in hand Roden pointed his middle and index fingers at Errrkkkk ready to cast his Burning Finger, only to realize too late, he no longer had that spell.

Errrkkkk’s charged up beam ripped into him. His shield and armor took the brunt of the attack, but Roden still felt the force of it. His nimbus was truly remarkable in that it kept him from falling out of the sky. It maneuvered him with the blast, keeping him from being forced off his cloud.

Roden shook off the haze that came from absorbing one of Errrkkkk’s chi blasts. He located the smug birdman and charged him. Roden felt his cloak had built up a decent charge by that point and wanted to see what it could do. This time he pointed his sword at Errrkkkk and directed the lightning down the blade. His cloak had grown a grayish color as more charge was gathered. As soon as he let it free, the gray washed out and the gathered energy leapt from the tip of his sword in a crackling arc of electricity.

The current struck Errrkkkk in the wing and sent him tumbling down a ways before he was able to stretch out again and hover in place. Roden wasted no time and activated his Storm Strider ability. Electricity danced around him in small bursts. He felt his heart beat faster and his perception began to slow ever so slightly.

He leaned forward and his ability launched him toward his target as if shot out of a cannon. He was a blur by the time he reached Errrkkkk. He swung his sword itself crackling with power. Errrkkkk threw up a block, but Roden’s sword bit into his forearm nonetheless, its edge having been bolstered by his ability. Before Errrkkkk could react he used his new weapon’s enhanced speed to draw the blade across and slash back down.

As fast as Roden was, Errrkkkk was still faster. His second slash caught only air as Errrkkkk flew backward, only to use that momentum in a flipping kick toward Roden’s head. The wood of his helmet cracked at the impact of Errrkkkk’s kick. The follow up strike to his ribs was just as painful.

Roden needed space from the monk and didn’t anticipate him backing off. He pulled on one of his newest spells, in the moment he hadn’t thought of a good incantation and instead just said the name of the spell, “Cloud Bank” much to his own annoyance.

The spell activated and the area around him was immediately covered in a thick cloud like vapor. It wasn’t fog as it had the composition of a cloud from the upper atmosphere. Roden realized that had one purpose, to conduct electricity. Roden discharged his cloak’s charges once again. The lightning leapt from him and raced throughout the cloud.

Roden listened for any sign of Errrkkkk being struck by the circulating electricity, but nothing came. Roden ended the spell causing it to clear. When his sight was no longer obscured he saw Errrkkkk was high in the sky holding a bright orb between his raised hands.

He hadn’t had too long to charge it up, but it was still large enough to give Roden pause. Errrkkkk hurled that great ball of energy straight at Roden. Roden knew he could probably slide out of the way on his Nimbus, he also wanted to test out a new spell.

He dropped his sword, which to his surprise just floated around him at waist level. He raised his hand palm forward and fingers splayed out. He felt the magic build up in his arm as he drew the spell up and spoke the magic word.

“Burst” was the incantation he chose for the spell. The built up magic blasted out of his palm in a jagged beam of arcing plasma. It collided with Errrkkkk’s Soul Sphere in an explosion too bright for Roden to see anything.

Roden was still blinking the spots from his vision when Errrkkkk appeared next to him shrouded in all his golden glory. Roden snatched his sword by the hilt and the two exchanged a flurry of attacks. Roden felt clunky. His movements were not as fluid as they once were and he was not practiced with his new sword.

His spells gave him the instincts and a strong foundation for how to fight, but it was those months of practice that made him capable of using his old swords properly. His shield was giving him trouble as well. It was a little too large to maneuver comfortably while flying. In the midst of one particularly aggressive series of strikes by Errrkkkk, Roden made a mental note to never again engage in melee combat while riding a cloud.

Roden wanted their sparring to be over. It was too much for him to try and keep all of his new abilities and spells straight. He felt like the gears in his mind were grinding as his instincts pulled him back and forth.

Their fight had lasted a few minutes already, but neither man had taken any real damage. Roden allowed his cloud to take him to the ground. He was about to yield when Errrkkkk pulled back to begin charging up one of his more powerful beams.

‘Fuck it.’

Roden dropped his shield and threw his sword away. This was going to be it for him. One final test before he called a stop to this exercise in futility. He drew up as much magic as he could overcharging his spell. He held it paused on the edge of release. Little arcs of blue white energy crackled around his shoulder and down his arm. Roden saw Errrkkkk push his hands forward and drive his beam straight toward him.

“Burst!” Roden bellowed the word causing the spell to activate.

The bolt he unleashed was beyond what he imagined. It shot straight into Errrkkkk’s beam. The two attacks collided in a clash of chi and magic. After a moment Errrkkkk’s beam was pushed back, Roden’s lightning was too much.

Errrkkkk redoubled his effort and poured more chi into his beam causing it to surge and push back Roden’s in a fantastical display of energy.

Seeing they were at a stalemate, Roden gathered up the charge from his cloak and forced that raw magical energy into his beam causing a surge of his own. His surge broke the draw and sent his blast ripping through the center of Errrkkkk’s.

Errrkkkk was struck by the blast which burst into a spray of electrical arcs. When it all settled Errrkkkk was still hovering in the air. His feathers were a bit ruffled, but he looked resolute.

Roden immediately raised his hands and ended all of his abilities.

“I yield!”

Errrkkkk flew down a puzzled look on his face, “Why would you give up, cacaw?”

Roden scratched the back of his head, “ Because I’m clearly outmatched. I don’t know my abilities well enough to keep up with you. I need a lot more practice.”

Errrkkkk pondered his words before nodding.

“Knowing and admitting when you are beat is a good sign you are learning, cacaw.”