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“Again,” Tetora instructed. “Who are you?”

I put my hands on my hips proudly. “Raelynn Lightbringer, Knight Captain of the Holy Order of Gold, Chosen One of the Goddess, 7th Appointed Hero of Legend, and… uh, Wielder of the Faith and Will of Euphridia!” The titles really were tedious—and that last one! Obvious lie!

“Hmmm… You need more confidence,” Tetora remarked. “The pose is good, but you don’t sound like you believe yourself.”

Of course, I don’t believe myself!

“We’re done for today, right?” I pressed. “Let’s keep going!” Although moving forward would take me closer to the holy city, it at least afforded me a distraction where I could hide behind my cloak and mask. Tetora threw his hands up in frustration but took the lead once again.

“Maybe it would help if we talked about the titles,” Aleph suggested after we were well on our way. “It might help you connect to her character.”

“Actually… can we start with her name? Raelynn Lightbringer is her name, right? Or is Lightbringer a title?” I asked, thinking her last name could go either way.

“Raelynn Lightbringer is her covenant name.” Covenant name? I must have been making a face of ignorance because Aleph continued. “When she was received in joyful fellowship by the church. It was on her sixth birthday exactly.”

“What’s her real name, then?” Nora inquired, her face lighting up. I admit I was also quite curious. “The story didn’t–”

“She never told us,” Tetora interjected. “Not that she should have, mind you! That sort of thing is very personal.”

“Didn’t you guys travel together, though?” I asked. “Wasn’t it weird not knowing her real name?”

“Not at all.” He folded his arms. “That’s normal.”

“Is Tetora… not your real name?” I asked in confusion.

He turned his head as his cheeks reddened. “Tetora is not the name I received at birth. Don’t ask what it is, either. It’s weird to be having this conversation!”

Are birth names some sort of secret?

“Uh, okay. So, Raelynn Lightbringer,” I said, my tone light but thoughtful, trying to pry for more of an explanation gently. “Quite a name for a young girl.”

“She grew into it rather quickly,” said Aleph. “Holy Sage Relias gave it to her himself.”

“She… met him… when she was only six?”

Oh no. Okay, don’t think on that one too deeply—things are going to get really wrong really fast!

“Yes,” Aleph asserted. “Euphridia herself told him of her coming. The entire world was waiting for her return.”

Minus the bad guys, of course.

I was about to inquire further, but the sound of raucous laughter interrupted our discussion. Three mercenaries were making their way along the road ahead of us. Their armor was rusty, scratched, and piecemealed together with tattered leather straps.

“Put up your hoods,” Aleph instructed Nora and me in a hushed, urgent tone, his grip tightening on his weapon.

“Huh? Why?”

“So they don’t easily see you’re human,” Tetora answered for him. “Less likely there will be trouble.”

Nora and I complied immediately, pulling our hoods over our heads and adopting wary stances as the group neared. I double-checked the mask over the lower half of my face to ensure my features were also properly hidden there.

The three hybrids, all appearing to be scraggly, unkempt dogs, paused briefly upon seeing us, their faces breaking into grins that suggested trouble was on the menu one way or the other.

“Look at what we got here, boys!” the tall one in the middle sneered. "It looks like we found us a couple of beastgirls! And just when I was starting to feel a little lonely! Come on, ladies, we’ll show you a good time!”

Beastgirls? …Lonely? Good time!? Oh, HECK NO!

“But boss, there’s only two!” The smallest one on the right whined in a high-pitched, nasally tone.

“So what? I want the tall one!” The leader pointed at me with his giant oar of a sword. “You guys fight over the other. The smaller ones are usually rats or rabbits, and I ain’t into buck teeth!” I could sense Nora’s glare from under her hood.

“You always get to pick first,” the diminutive swordsman muttered.

“Hey, that’s the perk of being in charge!” the leader said, giving him a hard pat on the back.

“I don’t know about this, guys. What about the big cat over there?” the middle-sized one on the left asked as he gestured at Tetora. “He could be trouble.” That was an understatement, of course. But did they not even see Aleph with the giant war hammer? I was starting to think the hybrids’ clannish nature had led to some interesting racial prejudices.

“Pfft. Don’t think for a moment that you stand a chance!” the leader guffawed at us. “No one around here gives the tiniest shit about what could happen to you. So just do what we say, and maybe you’ll live to see tomorrow. But you even think about attacking us, and we’ll skin the lot of you!”

I glanced furtively at Aleph and Tetora, but they seemed to relax their stances.

“You two have this one,” Aleph said loudly when I caught his eye. Then, as if to punctuate his point, he planted the small end of his warhammer into the ground and leisurely rested his hands on the business end.

“W-wait… but…” I started to complain.

“No reason for us to get involved,” Tetora confirmed with a prominent stretch. He had sparred with me almost religiously three times a day since we left, but I didn’t think I was ready for a real rumble!

Nora, on the other hand, seemed more than ready. In fact, she was already chanting a spell. I recognized the words to Ventos, the spell to summon a giant wind. Oliver had been a genuine fan of that one, rocketing off antagonists he didn’t feel like dealing with anymore with a flippant gesture. However, I doubted Nora could produce the same outcome. We’d only been training for a week, and there were no lessons on magic! Was this supposed to be some kind of test!?

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I glanced at Tetora and Aleph, who didn’t look the slightest bit concerned.

Okay, so they want to see what we can do. And they are still there for backup… so… they wouldn’t let anything happen to us. Right?

I ignored the tight feeling in my chest and tightened my grip on my bo staff as Nora continued to chant her spell.

“Dark mage!” the shortest adversary cried, taking a few steps back as if he was about to break into a run. I would have gladly let him go, but he suddenly dipped his hand to his left boot, and as his hand shot back up, I saw a glimmer of steel fly from his fingertips—directly at Nora!

My reluctance to engage was immediately forgotten. In a heartbeat, I leaped into the projectile’s path and deflected it with a flick of my staff.

I’ll admit, attempting to take out the caster first with ranged combat was only logical. I wasn’t in the mood to admire his tactics, though. Nora was my best friend, so how dare he try to hurt her! I heard a guttural scream and was surprised to find that it was coming from my own throat.

Blinded by rage, I crouched low and launched myself forward. I spun my staff as I pivoted left and right, the motions feeling as natural as though I had practiced them a thousand times. I think he had trouble tracking my movements because I saw his eyes flick nervously back and forth until I was right in front of him and launched my assault!

“Do! Not! Throw! Knives! At! My! Friends!” I punctuated each word with a whack of the staff, one to each leg, one to each arm, then one thrust to the gut to double him over. I finished with an upward swing that stood him back up, and a final crack over the head collapsed him into a boneless heap, unconscious.

I blinked. Is one down already? Seriously, what just happened?

“Wow… must have been his first day,” I murmured to hide my confusion as I glanced in Nora’s direction, only to find her juggling the middle-sized goon with her wind spell.

“Up and up you go! Oh, oops,” Nora flinched as he fell to the ground. She raised her hand, and up he went again at the last moment. “Up and down you go, I mean.”

The leader froze with shock and confusion. He looked frantically between his friends, one motionless at my feet and the other screaming obscenities as he helplessly floated up and down at Nora’s whims.

Eventually, the leader pulled himself together and set his sights on me. He raised his impractically gigantic sword over his head and gracelessly charged forward. His sword came down in a clumsy strike, which I sidestepped. I couldn’t understand why countering came to me so easily. I just felt his movements were very predictable and slow. Nothing like Tetora or Aleph, both of whom had moved with graceful economy and terrifying speed during our lessons.

“Are you even trying?” I asked him, and even to my own surprise, the words came out kind of… bored!

This… dingus was nothing, I realized. For the first time since arriving in this fantasy world brought to life, I felt like I knew exactly what to do! Was I… enjoying this? Why?

He growled and brought his sword up and around in a horizontal slash, which I agilely hopped over. He followed up with a kick, which I turned aside with my staff, then indulged myself with a little mockery before finishing him.

“I’m going to give you a 2 out of 10. Is this your first time using a sword? Or is it a boat oar? I mean, I’m no expert myself, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to hit with the pointy end!”

His face turned scarlet with rage. “Hold still, and I’ll show you what this ‘boat oar’ can do, you mouthy–” He actually said a bit more, but I don’t feel like censoring all the expletives.

He continued saying those not-so-nice things as I danced around a flurry of clumsy attacks until I finally decided I’d heard enough from him. I twisted around a thrust, coming face to face with him, and let me tell you, the look on his face was priceless!

He was too close to bring my staff around for a strike, so I let go with one hand, seized the hilt of the sword just above his grip, and yanked it out of his grasp. He staggered backward in surprise.

I hefted the oversized blade one-handed over my head and pretended to inspect it. “Ugh, the balance on this thing is awful! No wonder you’re having trouble hitting me. Here, you can have it back.” I tossed the sword up in the air, and then, while his gaze followed it, I snapped my bo staff across his face. He howled in pain as he fell to the ground writhing. His frantic movements ceased abruptly when the sword came down—staking into the ground right between his legs. He was frozen either in disbelief or terror. I’m not sure which. I pointed down at him disapprovingly. “That’s what you get for name-calling!”

With the threat, such as it was, neutralized, I began to feel a wave of guilt wash over me. His nose was definitely broken, his tiny companion was splayed out on the ground, and the other was still bobbing up and down in the air, reduced to being Nora’s plaything—which she was still having a lot of fun with, by the way.

“And up and down you go, and up and down you go,” she kept repeating in a sing-song voice. Part of me felt like I should tell her enough was enough, but she looked so happy I couldn’t bring myself to.

I turned my attention back to the leader. “Look, I’ll make you a deal,” I said sternly, wagging a finger at him. “You leave right now, take your two moron friends with you, swear never to come back or hassle any hybrids ever again, and maybe you’ll live to see tomorrow! We’ll keep your weapons so you aren’t tempted to misuse them again. Clear?”

Unable to speak, the leader nodded furiously. Nora finally let down the amateur skydiver, who ran right towards a pile of scraggly weeds and began vomiting. The four of us—me, Nora, Aleph, and Tetora—all stood around cringing until he managed to pull himself together, then he and his leader quickly grabbed their unconscious friend and carried him off.

Once they were gone, Nora and I looked toward our two companions. Tetora was grinning so widely it threatened to split his face in half.

“That seemed… easy,” I remarked, noticing an unexpected tremor in my hands. It felt too easy, almost unnaturally so.

“It is because of all the training with your peerless mentors!” bellowed Tetora.

Aleph nodded. “Tetora likes to reserve most of the praise for himself, but in truth, you both did well.”

“What gave you the idea to juggle him?” I asked Nora, hiding my tremulous right hand behind me. I knew it would stop eventually.

“Well… I didn’t think you’d appreciate me just flinging them away, so… I thought I’d control it a bit. I was trying to get the two of them, but I missed. Next time, I’ll get the whole bunch all at once!”

Next time? I had two minds about the possibility of the next time. However, skirmishes like these had been peppered into the story in the first place, so the likelihood of more good-for-nothings showing up was probably pretty high.

“It seems you both have natural talent,” Aleph continued. “Not that I had any doubts. Keep up the good work.”

“Mmm…” I didn’t trust myself to speak at that point. Intentionally hurting someone… didn’t seem right. However, another part of me noted the jerks threatened our safety first, and I had to admit winning without taking damage felt good. It was as if my mind was at war with itself, each side presenting its own arguments. I wondered which I should listen to.

“Just take the compliment, Rae!” Nora scolded.

“Oh, right. Thank you.” I went over to pick up the enormous sword, thinking it might be worth something to one of those wandering peddlers. As I attempted to lift it, I found myself straining to even get it off the ground! Even the most oversized sword should not be this heavy! What kind of dense fantasy metal was it made out of? How in the world had I thrown it up into the air earlier?! I glanced suspiciously at Nora.

She deflected the glance back at me. “What’s this now?”

“What did you do to me?” I asked in an accusatory tone.

“Nothing lately,” she replied. “What did you think I did?”

“Some sort of superhuman strength spell when I wasn’t looking.”

“There is no such thing on the dark mage side, at least that I know of. Why?” She went over to the sword and tried to pick it up. “What the?!”

“Yeah, that’s where I’m at.” I turned my suspicion on Aleph and Tetora.

“She’s giving the angry look again,” Tetora whispered loudly to Aleph. “Should I just ignore her? She’ll just start yelling if I try to explain it.”

Aleph stared at his companion for a moment before sighing loudly as if he had just lost a bet. “Anecdotally, you seem to use amity to strengthen yourself in times of combat, just like… someone else we know.”

Amity. The positive emotional force implicated in using holy magic—emotions like empathy, friendship, peace, and goodwill. Raelynn Lightbringer famously used those qualities to empower herself.

I couldn’t prove Tetora right. He already had a swelled head, so there was no need to make him more arrogant. “... Oh.” I left it at that. The three of them looked at each other uncomfortably but said nothing.

“I’m hungry,” I declared loudly. “Time to eat!” I dragged the sword off the road before they even made a move. I had no headspace available to deal with things I didn’t want to understand.

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