Chapter 16

This guy might actually be insane

“Shit! Ow, damn it, Janet, that fucking hurt. Just pay attention. Ow!” Eikman had decided that the best and fastest way for both of us to improve was with pain. You would think then that if you messed up, you would be met with punishment, but no. For every mistake I made, Janet felt the pain, and I felt the pain for every mistake she made. One lesson had Janet and I balancing smaller and smaller rocks one atop the other, but if they fell, the one who wasn’t doing the balancing would get punched by Eikman, hard, right in the face. At one point, I got pissed at Janet for almost knocking over her stack of rocks. She had looked me dead in the eyes and said,

“fuck you,” before she purposefully knocked her stack over, never breaking eye contact. Eikman giggled with joy before delivering a fist right into my jaw.

When I woke up, I had been knocked unconscious. Janet did at least apologize for taking out her frustration on me before we got right back to more punishment. The day went on like this. We would do fine motor skills work and movment control training broken up by carrying extremely heavy and awkwardly shaped objects for long periods. We ended up dead on our feet as six o'clock rolled around, and at that point, Eikman called it a day, saying he had an appointment he needed to keep. Janet and I knew he was talking about going to get wasted, but we were exhausted at that point. We were just glad to be done for the day.

We said our goodbyes to Eikman and agreed to meet the man back at the same spot the following day at 10 AM. We were so tired and bruised that we barely made it back to the inn where we were staying. When we did, we entered our room, took a shower, and then passed out. It looked like Janet had given up on trying to find a new place to stay, at least for now. That was the last thought that ran through my head before I passed out. The following day, we made our way to Eikmans place and stood outside the man's shack, debating who would knock, when a voice came out of nowhere.

“What are we doing?” Janet and I both jumped about a foot in the air and then spun to see Eikman looking at them curiously.

“Shit, Eikman, you scared the shit out of me,” I told the man.

“We were actually looking for you. What were you up to?” Janet followed up.

“Ah, Eikman has something special for today. It's our true first lesson. Yesterday was a free trial.

“Free trial?” I said in a lackluster tone.

“Oh yes, not free, no, no, no. Eikman is the best trainer, so one silver a day you must pay, haha. I made a rime, you see, haha.” It wasn’t a bad price, so I flipped Eikman two silvers. Eikman snatched the coins from the air, giggling the whole time. I shrugged at Janet, and she just shrugged back.

“So what’s on the agenda for today, Eikman?” Janet asked the trainer. Eikman tucked the two silver coins away and then looked at Janet with a blank expression.

“What was that?” Eikman said. Janet just rolled her eyes at the man before repeating her question. Eikman had a smile back on his face in seconds.

“Aw, yes, that is what I have been doing this morning. Now come follow Eikman.” As he finished his words, Eikman turned and started running off. I looked at Janet, and together, we took off after our new trainer. We almost lost the fucker when we reached a more crowded area. It looked like we were heading towards one of the gates to the city. I guess we were going outside the walls, and yep, through the gate we went.

After exiting the city, we followed Eikman along the outside of the wall for about ten minutes till we came to a small camp surrounded by cages, most with cloths thrown over them and some empty. All told, there were probably fifteen of the things, and they varied in size from as small as a lunchbox to three cages that could have fit an elephant. In the middle of the camp, there was a fire lit. A short man with long ears, long white hair, and a beard to match was sitting beside it. The man was dressed in worn leather pants with a cotton shirt and leather vest. A blanket was draped over his shoulders, and a pot bubbled away on the fire before him.

“Hey, Howsmer! Howsmer, yoo hoo! It’s me, Eikman!” The Man, Howsmer, I was assuming, looked up from the pot he was tending, saw Eikman, and then waved in greeting. As we approached the man, he spoke.

“Morning, Eikman. Good to see ya. So these are your new students you were talking about last night?” The man then held out a hand and dropped two silvers into Eikman’s open and awaiting palm. The man then spit on the ground.

“Honestly, I can’t fucking believe that you actually found two morons that, I mean bright young people, with a passion for learning… Oh, fuck it. Are you two fucking insane working with this crazy man? Like, no, I mean. For real? Have you lost your minds? No offense, Eikman. Oh, and you're paying him for this training? He said you were paying him. Is that true?” The change in attitude from Howsmer caught me a bit off guard, but I answered the man. Starting to feel a little embarrassed.

“Um, yeah, we paid him but wait, why the fuck are we here, Eikman, and what the fuck was that? Why did you give him those silvers? Howsmer was it?”

Howsmer looked shocked momentarily, and then my words seemed to register.

“What Silver? Oh, haha yeah, I lost a fucking bet.”

“Yes! See Howsmer. I told you, I told you. They pay, and I train. I am their trainer, and so you paid, you paid! Haha.” Eikman chimed in, cackling with mirth. Clearly very happy with his victory. Howsmer shot a scowl at Eikman, then waved him off.

“Yeah, I lost the bet. What of it? You got your two silver, crazy man.”

Eikman just kept cackelling. Janet and I were missing something about the relationship between these two. Maybe old friends? I didn’t fucking know, but this was starting to get old.

“Hey, this is great, you know, and all, but what the fuck are we doing here, Eikman? Did we just come out here so you could win a bet, or is this actually something to do with training.”

“I can answer this one.” Howsmer looked at Eikman for the go-ahead, and Eikman just nodded with an eager look in his eyes that scared me a little.

“Right, well, you're gonna be fighting some beasties. I got locked in a cage over there,” Howsmer explained. Then, he pointed over his shoulder with a thumb and a grin. Even though I didn’t know the man, I was now nervous about what was to come. I looked over at Janet, and she just shrugged at me. I gulped.

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“Why the fuck did I agree to this again?” I was standing in a large enclosure, kind of like a horse pen. The enclosure was about twenty feet in diameter, and there was a gnashing, snarling demond of a creature locked behind a gate that let into the pen. I was here because I was supposed to be learning something by fighting this creature. It was a dexterity-based creature, and this fight was supposed to help my movement and reaction speed. It felt more like a reason for Eikman and Howsmer to bet on something, but I was trying to see the silver lining in the situation.

“You can do it, Travis woohoo! Go, Travis!” Eikman was my cheering section, with the occasional,

“Come on, Travis!” From Janet Or a,

“Don’t get blood all over the yard,” from Howsmer. It was super encouraging.

I had yet to learn what level this creature was or what it was capable of. Honestly, I couldn't even see much of the thing behind the wall that was restraining the creature. This was fucked. I had no idea why I had agreed to this. Oh yeah, now I remember I was an idiot. I was standing there, weapon at the ready, waiting for Howsmer to drop the gate and the fight to start, when Howsmer called over to me.

“Oy, kid, just so you know, Eikman wants the Mana zappers turned on, so you won't be able to use Mana. That means no abilities either, so um… good luck.” With that and a shocked look on my face, the gate separating me from my now dropped.

“Damn it! You motherfuckers!” That was the last thing I said before the hell began.

I was rolling on the ground, but I couldn’t stay here. I had to move. I jumped to the side and then shot forward. Teremnocal whistling as it split the air. I was so close, but then fuck, move, and I had to dance once again out of range.

This damn creature was insane. It was truly an abomination that was thought up by some sick fucking scientist because there was no way nature made this thing. When I had identified the thing, I found out it was called The Bandersicul. It looked like a squid that moved through the air like water, but if you let it at that, you would be underselling the thing by a large margin.

At the end of each of its squid-like tentacles were long razor blades type appendages that the creature could spin in some fucked up way a full 360 degrees. It said something in the creature’s description about small ball joints that had been an evolution to yada, yada. I hadn't read the thing too closely as The Bandersicul was trying to kill me at the time. The special thing about The Bandersicul was the stinger that sat at the top of its head, and it could swing that thing around and stab its target fast. Believe me, I found out the hard way a few times. The venom wasn't too bad, but I think I had my corruption resistance to thank for that.

The Bandersicul had managed to stab me in my right arm and in my back with its poison stinger. The areas hurt and burned a bit, and then there was a numbing sensation spreading from the wounds, and that was freaking me out. I didn’t want to lose the use of my right hand in particular. If I did, this fight would be over really fast. Fighting The Bandersicul was like having a panic attack. One second, you thought you were getting a handle on the situation, and then everything would be much worse again moments later.

There was no resting or stopping because then you’d be dead. The creature had eight arms and two longer tentacles. Each arm had a spinning blade, while the two tentacles were more there to grab hold of The Bandersicul’s pray so it could cut it into tinny pieces. I had almost been grabbed multiple times now in our fight, and I knew that if it got a hold of me, that was it. Game over, man.

Woosh, an arm with a spinning blade whipped inches away from my face as I slipped past the strike. I spun my Teremnocal around in a half circle and brought it down, severing the arm that had almost cut my head off. As I sliced through the appendage, the arm separated, sending the blade end flying off in one direction while The Bandersicul sucked back the remnants of its severed arm towards itself, clearly in pain.

Ther Bandersicul had a small beck-like mouth hidden in the midsts of its many arms, and as it retracted its arm, it hissed at me. I felt some mental pressure as if the creature's scream was channeled directly into my brain. It fucking hurt, and I winced in pain. This moment of hesitation seemed to be exactly what the creature was trying to achieve with this attack. As soon as I had winced in pain from the mental strain. The Bandersicul came at me with everything it had. I think the creature saw that moment as its opportunity to get the kill, and it was not going to miss its chance.

The pain from The Bandersiculo’s mental attack had caught me off guard, but I knew the creature would try and kick me while I was down, so as I closed my eyes, wincing with pain, I instantly retreated and just missed being impaled. I opened my eyes just in time to block a follow-up attack and then scamper out of range. As our fight raged on, I managed to cut three more arms off the creature before I fucked up.

I had just executed a fantastic dodge that was more of a ballet pirouette than anything else when I got cocky. I turned to look at the creature that had just missed me so completely. I was about to yell out, "Missed me," but in my excitement at executing such an elegant dodge, the whole reason for this training, I forgot about the tentacles. So when I dodged The Bandersicul and turned to watch it zoom past me, I felt the cold, wet, and sticky tentacles close around my leg. At that moment, all I managed to say was,

“Damn it, really!?!?” Before, I was yanked off my feet and beaten an inch from death. Apparently, it was actually pretty close. Like, the creature almost actually killed me. I didn’t find that out till later as I had been out cold at that point in the fight, or maybe beating was more accurate. All I remembered was blades, so many blades, then pain, and then nothing.

When I finally awoke, I shot to a seated position, arms flailing and eyes spinning wide with fear. Suddenly, someone wrapped me up in a hug and held me until I calmed down. When I was finally calm, I realized Janet was holding me, and when I hugged her in return, she finally let go. She checked me over like a worried mother for a bit. Once she saw that the healing pill Eikman had made me swallow had done its job, she let out a sigh and then smacked me on the back of the head, causing my vision to go black for a second.

“What the fuck! Ow, Janet, what was that for?” I asked her. Even though I had healed up, it didn’t mean I wasn’t still sore. Because I was sore, all over.

“Are you fucking serious? What was that for? You fucking dumb ass, you almost got yourself killed. Did you forget the safe word, or were you just that sure of yourself?” Janet asked me. I blinked a few times at her words,

“There was a safe word?” That just earned me another slap on the back of the head.

“What happened?” I asked Janet. Still slightly dazed.

“Hum, well, let's see. You fought a level thirty-five creature that focused on dexterity, and you got your ass kicked. That a good enough summary for you?” Janet said all this with a look on her face that said you are a fucking moron.

“Level thirty-five, hu? Not bad. With a focus in dexterity and me without Mana. I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself.” I was caught up in thought as a small smile creased my lips, so I didn’t notice when Janet slapped me across the face.

“Ow, hey, what the fuck?”

“Travis, I don't think you understand, you dumb ass, but let me spell it out for you. You, almost, fucking, died, you, fucking, idiot.” That made me blush. Janet was right; I was being reckless and stupid. I let out a sigh.

“You're right, Janet. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so reckless. Thank you for helping me see that.” Janet looked slightly shocked at my change of heart, but she played it off.

“Well, good, good, and while that fucking smirk off your dumb face.”

“You jump in the ring already?”

“what? Oh no, not yet. I was about to. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, idiot.” I laughed at Janet.

“Well, come on. Let's see what you got, Miss Kats.” Janet shot me a dirty look but still got up and headed over to the entrance to the enclosure, where Eikman and Howsmer were waiting, having a chat of their own. As Janet approached them, Eikman was the first to notice her. He let out a squeal of joy as he looked at Janet.

“Are you ready now? Have you cried over your fallen love enough? Swoonded even. Haha.”

“Shut the fuck up, Eikman. Let’s do this.”

“Oh, so eager. Well, yes, yes, shall we?” Eikman replayed, rubbing his hands together like a fucking creep.

“And remember, ma’am, the safe word is loser. Got it.” Howsmer added.

“Stupid fucking safe word,” Janet muttered, then slammed her fist into her palm and walked into the enclosure. As she did, the last thing I heard her say was,

“Let’s fucking do this!”