Rep raised his arm defensively as the Sand Shark descended upon him. Zalan tried to get there in time like he had with the Slimescorp, but was too late. The Sand Shark latched onto Rep’s outstretched arm viciously. Rep howled in pain and then emitted flame from his bitten hand, burning the shark from within. Zalan watched helplessly as the Sand Shark began to glow with increasing heat. Rep succeeded in getting it to unlatch almost as quickly as it bit down. It swiveled in the air and squirmed back onto the earth, trying to burrow back in. Zalan tried to get it before it escaped and it took a hit of lightning before it dug its way out of view.

“The same arm as the Razortongues,” Rep looked over the bloody wound on his arm with grit teeth.

“At least you got it off before it could do any more damage,” Zalan offered.

“Indeed, but I do not believe it is done with us,” Rep said, watching the mound of sand circle around them once more.

“Let me take it this time. I think I can imbue my hand before it bites down,” Zalan said, trying to step ahead of Rep.

“Think you can or know you can?” Rep said, placing himself in Zalan’s way.

“I can do it,” Zalan said with false confidence, trying to stand in front of Rep again.

“It is not worth it. You are already very wounded,” Rep suggested, struggling to shove his way ahead of Zalan.

Zalan looked at his wounded fists and burns on his chest, then shook his head dismissively.

“I’m fine,” Zalan said with even more false confidence.

“Zalan, you need to—”

“Here it comes,” Zalan shouldered Rep out of the way as the Sand Shark exploded from the earth, mouth wide toward its victims.

Zalan charged energy into his fist, feeling the lightning shred his hand. He knew the imbue was a weak hold, but better than nothing at all. Despite it hurting him, he was able to maintain it for the second needed to swing his arm and smack the Sand Shark with a fully imbued strike.

“I got it!” Zalan said, excited.

“Dear God,” Rep said, reeling back an inch.

Zalan punched straight through the Sand Shark’s abdomen and was stuck, skewered by Zalan’s arm. The Sand Shark was still alive and wiggling wildly, trying to extract itself from his limb. Zalan began trying to shake the shark free while groaning in disgust. The more he tried to extricate himself as it wiggled, the more it slid closer to his shoulder. He began waving more frantically, but couldn’t figure out how to remove it while it kept moving.

“Kill it!” Rep said, moving forward and backward awkwardly as he tried to figure out a way to help without hurting Zalan.

“I’m trying!” Zalan screamed. The Sand Shark had begun thrusting its body around, trying to bite either Zalan or Rep from its awkward angle.

“Fire lightning from within!”

Zalan began blasting as much lighting as he could inside of the Sand Shark, small flashes of yellow and blue blinking from within it like a macabre strobe light. Soon, the Sand Shark went limp, dead over Zalan’s hand. Zalan continued to wiggle his arm, grimacing as the monster’s body refused to dislodge itself. Rep signaled Zalan to place his arm on the ground and put the shark beneath his feet. Using Reps’ weight on the corpse as leverage, Zalan finally pulled his hand out, sighing in relief as he saw no severe damage had been delivered to his arm. His hand was dark red, further wounded by his attempt to imbue himself. It was stinging in agony, but nothing was bleeding like Rep.

“You okay?” Zalan asked as Rep began to bandage his arm.

“I am fine,” Rep replied, wincing with every additional wrapping.

“Are you actually okay or are you just saying you are?” Zalan pressed.

“I will live,” Rep mumbled, not answering either question.

That was enough for Zalan. Rep was a bad liar and Zalan could tell that he was mostly fine. Before they could start to look for him, Nold returned to Rep’s firelight, smiling at the two friends. Rep and Zalan looked at him with ambivalence, not sure how to take the fact that he abandoned them to take on a monster they were unfamiliar with.

“Well done, Zingan! You struck it with an imbued fist!” Nold congratulated him.

“We’re running out of arms to use in combat,” Zalan complained, indicating Rep's newly bandaged arm.

“More reason to use your legs in battle. You need to learn to be more than your arms. Your legs are deadly weapons, especially when imbued. Rep, you need to work on imbuing yourself as well as he does it. A powered punch is leaps and bounds ahead of the simple base damage you deal because of your Strength.”

“I still hurt myself,” Zalan said.

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“Better than not being able to do it at all,” Nold said.

“I cannot figure it out,” Rep shook his head. “I am much closer to discovering how to manipulate any fire that I have emitted into new directions. Perhaps I can focus on that?”

“Do what you wish, but imbuing is much more powerful,” Nold shrugged. “You can be infused with an invisible power that your opponents will be unaware of unless they know to look for it. Even then, they cannot find it unless they have the same Elemental Power within them.”

“In other words, it is especially good for Zalan, since his lightning power is rare,” Rep added.

“Very rare,” Nold agreed excitedly.

Zalan nodded to himself, encouraged at the prospect of having an invisible advantage. He wondered if anyone else would have Elemental Lightning at the tournament. How rare was his power?

“Well then, who wants to take the next watch?” Nold asked.

Rep and Zalan looked to one another, heart rates high and adrenaline coursing through their veins. Neither of them would be returning to sleep anytime soon.

“Can we both take watch?” Rep asked.

“Of course, but do not think I will go easy on you tomorrow for your lack of sleep tonight. Tomorrow, you will learn to use your feet,” Nold said, rebuilding the wall of sand around them.

He opened a hole in the ground to swallow the dead sand shark and put it out of sight. Though it was an amazing utility of the sand power, Zalan was uncomfortable with how quickly Nold could make a grave. It made him think of how quickly one could come face to face with death.

Zalan and Rep climbed to the top of the sand wall to stand watch while Nold built himself a sleeping bag-like pile of sand to tuck himself in. In moments, the man was sound asleep. Zalan had no idea what to think of his flippancy. He was so casual despite the danger that Zalan and Rep felt they were in. Rep watched the area around them diligently.

After a few minutes, both of them had calmed down significantly, and the drowsiness from lack of sleep began creeping up on Rep. He sat down on the wall. Zalan was lost in thought, his mind running from annoyance to anger depending on what he considered. Nold could have easily taken out the Sand Shark and let them rest. He didn’t feel like the training was going as well as he expected. It was frustrating to think that the most popular instructor kept pushing them to extremes. He thought that he could learn these things even without Nold’s insistence on putting them in direct danger. He wasn’t sure whether he regretted this whole plan to go to the tournament, after all. Was it really a means for him to get back home? That was the real goal, at the end of the day.

But every time that he thought of Madam Hikma, a manic rage burned through his mind, his eyes twitching in agitation. All of his problems felt like they started with her and her ill-colored eyes. He just wanted a way home and she sent him to get a Homeseeker which didn’t even work. She was supposed to be wise. She knew it was a deliberate misdirection. He lost a friend because of this woman.

He may never have gotten acquainted with Fran, Yelsa, and Gorb without Madam Hikma having sent them on a quest, but he deliberately ignored that point. Hikma was the enemy. Full stop.

Zalan was suddenly met with pitch darkness as Rep slouched over, asleep. The darkness of the night spread far. He smiled at his friend and laid him backward, ensuring he wouldn’t slump forward and fall off the wall. At the very least, he had good friends in this world. He could rely on Rep. It was a good consolation that brought some ease into his tumultuous mind.

As the night dragged on, Zalan lost track of time and had no idea when he was supposed to wake Rep for his watch. He kept looking to the horizon, as if the sun would suddenly appear and let him know what time it was. He absentmindedly wished for his phone to set an alarm, but finally got over the habit to check his pocket for something that was no longer there. He yawned and rubbed his eyes in tire. He decided that he should try and rouse Rep before he got too tired. As he turned to nudge him, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t be sure in the darkness so he let out a small flash of lighting to illuminate the area. In the split second that the area was lit up, he saw the creature.

He was absolutely certain it was another Sand Shark.

The earth rolled around the wall of sand as the shark assessed the smell that had attracted it. Zalan stood straight, as he was definitely awake now. He opened his mouth to awake his companions, then suddenly had a thought and stopped himself. He pulled off his footwear and pointed his foot at the mound of sand as it rolled across the earth. He pulled at the muscle in his mind to emit lighting from his foot. After wiggling his toes for a second, he felt silly until a spark jumped out and struck the earth. His speed was slow and his aim atrocious, but he could definitely shoot lightning out of his feet. And his feet weren’t burning with pain after having had lightning run through it, so he could do it as long as he pleased. It was a new point at which to emit his power from.

He kept a slow, consistent set of blasts out of his foot, both getting used to the feeling as well as trying to keep the area lit up enough to keep an eye on the Sand Shark. After a few minutes of the shark prowling around, it finally jabbed its fin through the sand. Zalan fired a few sparks at it, missing a number of times as he tried to get a feel for how lightning worked in his feet. Finally, he shocked the monster. The shark immediately retreated underground. To his surprise, the creature decided that the one bolt of lightning was enough for it and it turned and swam away in the wall of sand.

Zalan watched in bafflement as it escaped. He was first confused, then realized that Nold must have agitated the first sand shark in order to get it to attack them in the middle of the night. Everything was a training opportunity for the madman. Zalan simmered in anger for a minute, then was once again taken over by his exhaustion. He nudged Rep with his bare foot before he was too tired to function.

“Hmm? Yes, I am awake,” Rep said, sitting up in shock as he realized he was precariously balanced on the wall. He lit up the area with a small firelight. He turned and stared at Zalan’s toes in his face, his eyebrows slowly descending in concern. “Uhhhh, what are you doing?”

“Waking you up to take watch,” Zalan said.

“Why are you barefoot?” Rep pushed Zalan’s foot away from him with a finger while scrunching his face in disgust.

“To learn how to use my Elemental ability through my toes.”

Rep’s eyes narrowed, a small frown on his face. He raised the flame to get a better view of Zalan’s face.

“You are joking?” Rep asked.

“No, I can really do it. I just scared off a Sand Shark with lightning from my feet,” Zalan said proudly.

“I know you can do it. You can do it with your shoes on as well. Just like you can cast lighting while wearing gloves,” Rep said.

“Oh,” Zalan said, looking down at his feet. “I hope they didn’t smell too bad.”

“They did. Please cover them,” Rep replied, standing to stretch himself.

Zalan covered his feet in embarrassment and returned inside the wall of sand to escape the embarrassment. He lay himself down and drifted to sleep with a slight frown on his face, wondering how much better he could get at fighting with just his feet.