Fran led the way outside the gate, waving off the warnings received by the guards on the walls. She walked with a skip in her step, so much energy that Zalan wondered if she had one of those Indefatigable Iron Artifacts on her person, but quickly dismissed the idea as being very foolish for an adventurer, especially one outside the safety of their city.
Gorb walked at the same pace as Zalan, keeping himself close once they exited the city, ensuring that any sneak attacks would not hit Zalan alone. Zalan looked up to the tall man, wondering what kind of thoughts he had behind his placid face.
“Hey, Gorbonifus, how come Rep can call you Gorb?” Zalan asked, curious.
“Because he has proven himself to be strong,” Gorb replied simply, as though it were obvious.
“He’s not even that high of a Level,” Zalan pointed out.
“One’s Level is a small part of what makes them strong,” Gorb said sagely.
“Okay, then what makes Rep powerful?” Zalan asked.
Gorb looked down at him, considering whether he felt like answering the question. Zalan stared back, determined not to look away until Gorb chuckled dryly and decided to respond.
“Rep has the strength of selflessness. A seemingly endless amount. I have never seen someone more willing to help another than Rep. I do not believe he pursues his own passions, except that he believes it will be useful in assisting someone later. I have never seen him ask for something in return. He told me that his reward is between him and God,” Gorb said.
Zalan blinked, stunned at the idea. He had heard his Mom say that sentiment once before. Rep had been so willing to help him from the beginning. He couldn’t remember a single time that Rep denied him something that he wanted to pursue here. Was the mention of “being inspired” all a lie to make Zalan feel better about Rep helping him? Or was there actually something he saw? There had to be something more to Rep than just helping people.
“What does Rep like? What does he do?” Zalan asked, continuing down his thread of curiosity.
“He likes to help others,” Gorb replied.
“But I mean, what does he do outside of helping others? If I weren’t here right now, what kind of things would he be up to?” Zalan asked.
“Very likely asking someone else if they needed assistance,” Gorb said.
Zalan scoffed to himself, the idea was absurd. Gorb read Zalan’s expression and continued,
“If Rep spent some of his time training, he would certainly be at my Level, perhaps even Fran’s Level. Or higher. But he does not seem interested in pursuing strength despite being in a guild. He spends his time at the service of others. Without complaint. That makes him one of the strongest people I know,” Gorb said.
Zalan was amazed and suddenly felt slightly off about Rep. He thought they were becoming friends, led together by this idea of “inspiration” that came to Rep. But Rep clearly never wanted to talk about it. He was dodging the idea to not make it awkward that he just wanted to help. So, perhaps they weren’t really becoming friends. Rep was just working on his next project. Zalan sighed to himself at the idea, reminding himself this world wasn’t consequential to his reality. He looked back up to Gorb.
“So, if I become a better person, then you’ll let me call you Gorb?” Zalan asked.
“No, Rep is at least competent at fighting. I saw you try to shock my sister. It was pathetic,” Gorb said matter-of-factly.
“Ah, okay, sure,” Zalan said, feeling warm under his collar.
“We have arrived!” Fran said in a sing-song voice, presenting a massive pile of stones each about the size of a beach ball ahead of them. Each of the stones were resting on or around a giant boulder.
“Where are we?” Zalan asked, squinting in the darkness of early evening.
“This is where you will train,” Fran said, Gorb stepping off respectfully to the side.
Zalan looked at the stack of rocks, then away to the large, empty earth that they had spanned between Oriton and their current location. Zalan didn’t understand why this was any better than training in the Journey Home courtyard at night. Big rocks seemed pretty underwhelming.
“There aren’t any monsters. Are you still making up training as you go along?” Zalan asked Fran.
“Not this time! Pull out your sword and zap that small rock. The one closest to us,” Fran indicated to one of the jagged stones on the ground a few feet away.
“With my sword out?” Zalan asked. “It’d be easier to concentrate without it.”
“But then you would not be training for a real battle. In a fight, you should use your sword and your Elemental Power simultaneously. Otherwise you will always be at a disadvantage against those that can control both their power and weapon,” Fran said, smiling and pulling out her own sword. She swung her sword with one hand and let out a tiny pebble-sized fireball from the other. Zalan took her point and drew his sword.
He raised his hand, flexing the muscle in his mind to access his Elemental Power. It still came sluggishly, but eventually a tiny spark leapt from his hand onto the rock, illuminating the space slightly. The rock shifted.
“Whoa, did my lightning just move a rock?” Zalan looked up at Gorb, excited. Gorb didn’t react. Fran snapped to get his attention.
“Hit the rock again. Faster this time. You need to be able to emit power in an instant, understood?” Fran ordered.
“All right,” Zalan breathed and pointed his hand, another jolt hopping out of his hand a second later. It struck the rock again, and before Zalan could be proud of his improved aim, the rock rolled in a circle. Zalan peered at it, concerned. The rock was spinning in place, then a head sprouted from the top, followed by a hand.
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“Whoa, whoa! What is that?” Zalan said in shock, pointing his sword at the creature as it created limbs for itself.
“That is a Sickly Gargoyle,” Fran said.
The Sickly Gargoyle was small, similar in size to a Roach, but had arms and legs like a small human. Its skin was rigid and gray, with a series of spiky zits popping out of its face. Its eyes were a ghostly green, and there was a slight bright green spittle oozing out of its sharp-toothed mouth. It did a somersault on the floor and then looked up at Zalan angrily.
“Here it comes, do not let it bite you,” Fran said smiling.
“Hey, no, no!” Zalan took a step back.
The Sickly Gargoyle got down on all fours and began scampering toward him, a small growl emitted every few steps. Zalan swung his sword wildly at it, but it shifted out of the way and bared its green-slicked teeth to bite him. He screamed in disgust and kicked it. The small creature flew a few feet away and Zalan pointed and quickly zapped it with a spark. The Sickly Gargoyle twitched uncomfortably, letting out some sound of discomfort. Zalan took advantage of this and took a step forward, zapping it with another bolt of lightning. The Sickly Gargoyle remained in place long enough for Zalan to stab and kill it. He breathed hard, then looked up angrily at Fran.
“Can you please tell me about things before they try to hurt me!” he said, frustrated.
“You do yourself a disservice! You were wonderful at thinking on your feet!” Fran said, clapping her hands together. “Good job using your Elemental Power to make it drop its guard before striking.”
“Your swordplay needs work,” Gorb offered.
“Is this how all of you train? Put yourselves in danger and hope you learn enough while panicking to kill the thing?” Zalan asked.
“Is there any other way?” Fran asked, smirking. “Now go ahead and hit that one with some lightning.”
“I really don’t want to,” Zalan said, his heart pumping powerfully.
“Not a problem!” Fran said spritely, picking up two rocks and tossing them at Zalan’s feet.
“No! I didn’t mean like that!” Zalan ran a few steps from the rocks that began spinning in place. He quickly assessed the fact that they would be vulnerable while they were still spinning and shifted strategies. He stepped forward and swung his sword hard at one of them before it could come out of its rock-ball, only to have his sword be deflected harmlessly.
“Their outer shells are too strong to only be hit with a weapon! You must use an Elemental Power to create an opening! Or put your lightning into the blade!” Fran said as both Sickly Gargoyles sprung open and targeted Zalan as their enemy. Zalan raised his hand to zap them, but one of the creatures jumped and chomped at his hand, making him flinch back.
“Do not let them bite you!” Fran said.
“I don’t need to be reminded,” Zalan saw the second Sickly Gargoyle jump toward his leg and he swiped it away with the flat of his sword. He didn’t do any damage to it, but he put some distance between them. He ran a few steps away as the two creatures chased after him and after thirty seconds of running in circles and concentrating, he was finally able to hit one with lightning and get it to stop running. He rushed in, missed with his first sword swing then killed it on the second. The second Sickly Gargoyle was much easier to dispose of alone. Zalan leaned over, breathing hard after the exertion.
“Try to imbue your blade with your power,” Gorb said.
“What? What is that? What does that mean?” Zalan asked rapidly, afraid that Fran would throw more rocks at him to fight before he had the chance to get an answer.
“It is putting your power into your weapon. Observe,” Gorb pulled out both of his swords from the sheaths on his back and swung them so fast they looked no more than a blur to Zalan. “I add air power behind them to increase speed and air power ahead to cut down on any air resistance.”
“And I can do this!” Fran said, raising her sword and setting the entire thing on fire. It shined hot, looking like it could cut through anything at that heat.
“So, mixing weapons and my power will make things a lot stronger?” Zalan asked.
“Of course! Watch this!” Fran said.
To his relief, she threw a fireball at a rock, calling the Sickly Gargoyle’s attention to herself. The Sickly Gargoyle ran toward her and her flaming sword sliced right through it like butter, brightening the boulder that rested behind them. She looked up at Zalan, her beaming smile shining in the firelight of her sword.
“You try!” Fran suggested.
“Okay, just don’t throw any monsters at me while I try,” Zalan warned.
“No promises,” Fran smiled sweetly.
Zalan was almost amused at her response, but quickly focused on pointing his hand at his sword to get lightning flowing through it. He shot lightning at it, then grunted in pain when he felt the lightning run through the blade to his hand and make him drop his weapon.
“No. Imbue the weapon. You cannot simply attack the sword,” Gorb said as he picked it back up.
“I don’t know what the difference is,” Zalan replied, feeling very out of his element.
“The same way that you would emit the power from your hand, you must send it into the blade from the hilt. Do not intend to shoot anything out. You are simply going to manipulate the power as an enhancement to your abilities,” Gorb said.
Zalan frowned to himself, feeling patronized by Gorb’s use of the word “simply” when he was still figuring out how to get the lightning out of him. He gripped the hilt of the sword with two hands and focused. Lightning danced at his fingers occasionally, but nothing went the whole way of the blade like Fran’s fire did.
“Keep concentrating,” Gorb encouraged.
“This is taking too long,” Fran complained.
Zalan began to strain himself, putting all of his energy into getting his sword to light up with electricity. More bolts sparked at his fingers and he tried to will them onto the blade. After a few seconds of putting out as much energy as he could, he lowered the blade in defeat, breathing laboriously.
“I can’t do it,” Zalan sighed.
“The speed at which you quit is very inspiring,” Gorb said sarcastically.
“Let’s get back to some real training,” Fran said, sending out a whip of flames to burn a row of rocks. Zalan steeled himself for the encounter, knowing that complaining wouldn’t change much. The dozen rocks all began spinning in place.
Followed by the massive boulder.
“Zalan, run,” Fran said, all amusement flushed out of her voice.
“What, what is that?” Zalan said, immediately taking a few steps backward.
The boulder sprouted two massive claws, rumbling the earth enough to make Zalan stumble backward and fall on his hands. Sickly Gargoyles came out of the rock shells and looked hungrily at the three adventurers. The boulder’s claws flexed as its head slowly emerged.
“A Giant Gargoyle,” Gorb said. “Run.”
The Giant Gargoyle’s legs emerged, and it quickly stood at full height, like a living hill, pebbles spilling off of it. It stood straighter than the Sickly Gargoyle counterparts and had a back like a mountain range. Its maw had odd, pointed teeth, with bits of lightning jumping in between its tongue and teeth. It had four tiny eyes and two dull thorns on its head. Its hands were like small boulders on the ends of large earthen arms, each studded with sharp claw-shaped rocks. It roared, but the sound that came out sounded like an ongoing avalanche.
The Giant Gargoyle threw its arm up in the air, shedding several tons of rocks from its body. The rocks soared in the air above the three companions and piled up high to block the path back to Oriton. Every direction had some amount of rocks. Just as Zalan was finally coming to his senses to run, every possible exit was already obstructed. He would have had to climb over, while there were no handholds and there was no time with the Sickly Gargoyles eyeing them all. He looked back at Fran and Gorb for advice. They each had a weapon in hand imbued with their Elemental Power.
“We will have to fight it,” Gorb said, stone-faced. “Do not get bitten.”