Zalan held up his hand and tried to throw Elemental Lightning out of instinct. He barely had time to register the fact that his Elemental Power wasn’t working. The Thorncharger smashed into his hands, cutting them open in a bloody mess. It continued charging forward, all of Zalan’s Strength was nothing in comparison to its force. He was going to be crushed under its spiked feet.

An instant later, the world blurred in a flurry of sickening motion. Zalan was thrown hard out of the way, pushed so powerfully that it felt like a rod hit his ribs. He grabbed his sore abdomen tightly. Rep stood over him, standing from a kneeling position, his hand on his waist.

“Thanks. But that push was a little hard,” Zalan groaned painfully.

“Apologies. I had to use the Belt of Bolt to move you fast enough not to be crushed,” Rep answered, turning to where the Thorncharger ran.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Zalan said, gritting his teeth.

Rep helped him to his feet. Zalan tried to stretch his bleeding hands, but they smarted in a constellation of pain. A single attack was devastating, especially when Zalan couldn’t emit his Elemental Power from his feet like before. It would cause him immense pain to grab his sword in this state.

The Throncharger slowed its run to a trot and turned around. It seemed confused that nothing had been mutilated under its thorny hide. It stomped around lightly, searching for evidence of prey being sandwiched under its feet. It looked around until it reconnected its focus on Rep and Zalan. It focused on Zalan, seeing he was still alive, but wounded. His prey was weak. Grunting, it dragged its feet against the floor.

Zalan tensed up in anticipation of another charge, looking over his bloody hands.

“Allow me to handle this monster, Zalan,” Rep said. “You are in a bad state.”

“Yeah, fine,” Zalan grumbled.

“Good. It looks like this creature will be difficult to manage without an Elemental Power,” Rep said, imbuing his sword.

Zalan blinked as he registered his friend’s words. He originally thought Rep wanted to protect him because his hands were bleeding. But with the innocent clarification, it sounded like Rep didn’t think Zalan could take care of himself without Elemental Lightning. Zalan knew, deep in his heart, that Rep was right to be concerned when he was in the weaker state. But the idea of him requiring protection made him feel so utterly inadequate that he had to prove it wrong. He gripped his sword, blood running down his hands.

“When it charges, you can draw it to the side so that I can get a clean…” Rep trailed when he saw Zalan draw his blade. Zalan exhaled loudly, trying to overcome the pain with sheer will. “Zalan, what are you doing?”

Without a word, Zalan slapped a bloody hand to his hip and activated his Belt of Bolt. Transporting himself at immeasurable speed, he ran down the side of the Thorncharger. In the moment he had, he pointed his blade toward it. He wanted to cut through it, shaving the thorned creature down half of its hide. Instead, he ended up grazing it at his angle and speed, his sword bouncing away harmlessly and missing its chance to strike the creature with a serious blow. He came to a halt, out of the insane speed bubble of the Belt of Bolt. Zalan breathed once, wincing as he readjusted his grip on the sword.

“Zalan!” Rep called, concerned.

The Thorncharger didn’t even have enough time to react and turn around. Zalan spun on his heel and activated the Artifact once more.

This time he stuck his arm out to the side so that his blade would cut longways with no angles to bounce off. Accounting for the thorns he could see, the monster would take the edge of the blade directly. He smacked his weapon against it at full speed. But instead of cutting the Thorncharger in half longways like he’d hoped, he dropped his sword. The force of the sped-up impact came with excruciating pain against his injured hands. The effect of the Artifact stopped, and Zalan ended up landing in front of the Thorncharger.

“Zalan, what are you doing?” Rep called out, a mix of frantic and confused.

The Thorncharger was stomping around, trying to understand where the attacks were appearing from. It bucked and stabbed its horn around aimlessly, as though thinking it was fighting an invisible foe. Its feet came dangerously close to decimating Zalan in a single landing. Zalan rolled away from their heavy impact.

Zalan activated the belt once more, warping to retrieve his sword. Outside of the speed bubble, he held it up right at the Thorncharger. He grit his teeth hard, gripping through the excruciating pain running through his hands.

No more trying to slice through the creature longways. He would thrust the point straight forward. Nothing less than a stab, nothing to glance off. The sword would have no choice but to go through the thorny rhino’s head.

The Thorncharger grunted and ran at Zalan. Zalan smacked his hip with a cut hand and blurred forward. Zalan screamed in the orange world of immense speed, challenging the Thorncharger coming at him in slow motion. His arms trembled as he held the blade tight to keep it toward its target.

The sword met its mark and plunged its way deep into the Thorncharger’s head, driving in with the assisted force of Zalan’s unfathomable speed. Zalan wanted to celebrate his success, but couldn’t bring himself to an immediate stop. His momentum continued to carry him forward, his body right in line to be impaled by the several thorns on the Thorncharger’s face. With a prodigious kick of one foot, Zalan found himself a split instant to turn away from a direct hit with the spiky creature. Shifting away, the side of his body grazed against the thorny hide, tearing the top half of his tunic off and leaving long bloody scratches across his bare chest. Losing all balance, he landed harshly on the ground and rolled out of the Belt of Bolt’s increased speed.

Rep ran to his side in a second. He raised Zalan’s arms up, trying to examine the part of him that required immediate aid. Zalan looked at him defiantly.

“Are you hurt?” Rep asked, looking at the series of blood streaks Zalan had introduced to his skin. “Are you hurt badly?” Rep corrected himself.

“I’m fine,” Zalan said, breathing hard.

To prove his point, Zalan pushed himself to his feet with an audible grunt. Rep looked over him with a frown.

“You did not have to do that,” Rep sighed. “I could have managed the Thorncharger myself and spared you the unnecessary pain.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t need to protect me or anything,” Zalan said sharply, turning away from him. He sounded guilty. But he didn’t want to let Rep know that he already regretted his actions.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“It is not a vice to rely on others,” Rep assured him sincerely. “You are clearly in pain. Do you want to take a moment to rest and catch your breath?”

“Can we just keep moving so that I can heal up in the next town?” Zalan asked flippantly as small drops of blood spilled off his skin.

Rep looked him over with concern, his eyes racing up and down wounds before watching Zalan’s face. Zalan hated the look he received and turned away again.

“Yes, we can keep moving. But we must stick closer together now,” Rep said.

“Why, so you can make sure I don’t keep hurting myself?” Zalan asked in an accusatory tone.

Rep bit the inside of his lip and chose his words carefully.

“Your Belt of Bolt will degrade faster than mine and I will not leave you stranded,” Rep explained. “We must remain close so that when yours degrades, I will not warp away with mine.”

Zalan frowned. He didn’t consider how much he used up the Belt of Bolt in his little fight. He wasted what could have been thousands of feet of travel. Hours of movement were used up on a single creature. And it wasn’t even used on a particularly strong enemy. He sighed to himself and pulled out his sword from the monster, returning it to his sheath.

“Yeah, fine, lead the way,” Zalan said, sulking.

“Unless you wish to speak about your current state a bit more? Perhaps your mental state as well as your physical one?” Rep offered sincerely.

“No, let’s go,” Zalan pressed.

“Just a moment,” Rep said, taking a minute to circle around the Thorncharger. Zalan caught his breath, watching Rep kneel and check closely for Artifacts. Satisfying his need to search, Rep looked back and nodded to Zalan, ready to continue.

The next few minutes were spent traveling dozens of miles with their respective Artifacts. Rep constantly checked over his shoulder to ensure that Zalan was closeby and in good enough health to continue traveling at high speeds. Zalan tried to ignore his doting. But even he knew that he looked terrible. His belt was caked red and what remained of his tunic was a muddy color that reeked of fresh injuries.

Before long, Zalan could see another town on the horizon. In another jump, they arrived in front of the walls. A guardsman and guardswoman peered over the edge at the top. At first they looked bored, then they saw the red stains on Zalan’s arms and clothing. The guardswoman leaned over, trying to get a better look of Zalan.

“Your business?” the guardswoman asked them.

“Urelia, it is obvious they want to heal,” the guardsman said.

“Shut it, Cam! If they want to heal, I want to hear it from them,” Urelia snapped.

It seemed to Zalan that they had just finished having an argument about something.

“Yes, we are here to heal,” Rep said.

“Very well,” Cam said, signaling to open the gate.

“Not yet!” Urelia said sharply. “What do you know of happenings in the area?”

“We killed a Thorncharger,” Zalan shrugged.

“That would explain your wounds. Well done in defeating it, welcome to our city,” Cam said, holding back a yawn.

“Stop doing that!” Urelia hissed at him. Cam waved a hand at her, allowing her to continue her interrogation. “Do the two of you know of any Flame Elementals in the area?”

“There is one by the volcano,” Rep said.

Urelia looked at him with intent, ignoring Zalan and his bloody state.

“Yes! That is exactly the one I wish to speak about! Have you seen it before?” Urelia asked.

“Certainly. I got my Elemental Power from it some time ago,” Rep let out a tiny wisp of flame from his palm in a quick display.

“What happened to it?” she asked.

“What happened to it?” Rep repeated.

“It stopped giving challenges!” Urelia said urgently.

“It stopped giving challenges?” Rep repeated, perplexed.

“Will you stop saying my words back at me!” Urelia snapped.

“I told you, passersby will not know anything regarding the current state of the Elemental,” Cam said.

“What happened to the Elemental?” Zalan asked, greatly concerned. This was supposed to be his easy chance to get an Elemental Power back in his grasp. “Did it leave?”

“It never could have done so without the volcano erupting,” Urelia said, shaking her head. “But it will not show up to issue challenges to any of those we send its way!”

“We can get her another Elemental Power,” Cam assured her sympathetically.

“No! My parents had Elemental Fire and their parents and their parents before them! All of us completed the challenge of the same Flame Elemental at the volcano! Why has it suddenly disappeared? She has gone to the base of the volcano! Why is she being neglected?” Urelia asked both Cam and the duo below.

“We were going there ourselves once we healed,” Rep said. “We can bring back any information once we find it.”

“Ask it why it denies her!” Urelia said. “My daughter! Her name is Jade! She deserves to be given a power like everyone else that passed that Elemental! It has never refused someone its power before! What has she done wrong?”

Zalan began to grow an odd knot in his heart. He thought that this Flame Elemental was supposed to be a surefire thing. What happened if it didn’t even grant him the challenge? He knew Elementals were fickle creatures, but he was assured by Rep that this Flame Elemental gave everyone at least one chance. He had to get a new Elemental ability. He couldn’t be powerless anymore. Especially with how terribly his fight went against the Thorncharger.

“I will give you any news I can on the matter,” Rep said cordially.

Urelia looked him over, scanning for integrity. Rep, as usual, exuded nothing but sincerity. Urelia nodded sharply at him.

“Very well, let them in!” she called.

“Do not get your hopes up with them,” Cam told her.

“I need to know what went wrong! Jade was even stronger than I was when I got my power. But she said it never appeared,” Urelia said

Zalan tried not to think about himself being rejected by the Elemental as they searched for the nearest place of rest. Rep read him well as he walked to an inn.

“Do not be concerned, Zalan. Never once has this Elemental rejected someone asking for a challenge before,” Rep said confidently.

“Except for this time,” Zalan said glumly.

“You may have missed it. Urelia said that her daughter told her the Elemental never appeared. She was not present,” Rep said.

“So what?” Zalan asked.

“I believe that Jade did not want to take on the challenge. But she did not want her mother to be disappointed in her. So she lied,” Rep explained.

“Oh…” Zalan said slowly. “Oh, I guess I didn’t even consider that. Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.” Zalan’s spirits were raised as they entered the building.

They paid for a room and Zalan made his way to the cot to have a Healing Rest. Rep watched over him as he slept with a deep frown on his face. His skin sewed itself back together, the scabs at his hands and chest disappearing. Even as he received the miracle of healing, Zalan’s frown persisted. Rep bit the inside of his lip, never quite understanding why Zalan never looked truly at rest. And his recent unpredictable behavior made him a danger to himself. Rep needed to be even more diligent than usual.

Rep went to sleep not long after. While Zalan needed Healing Rest, Rep was simply exhausted after the events of the day. Zalan would flow naturally from Healing Rest to regular sleep as soon as his wounds healed. It didn’t take long for the two friends to breathe easy, left with nothing but their dreams as company to their minds.

Zalan got up first, the flakes of sun creeping into the inn enough to get him immediately up on his cot. He gathered his things and shook Rep awake, eager to finally be so close to his new Elemental Power.

“Let’s go to the volcano and get me some fire power?” Zalan asked, pulling Rep up as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Do you not want to replace your torn tunic?” Rep asked, stifling a yawn.

Zalan looked down at his bare chest, the tatters of a tunic folded limp over his midriff.

“Okay, tunic first, then volcano,” Zalan agreed.