Jubel contained his wince as he felt the vibrations run up his arm. A few months ago, the force of the blow he'd just blocked of it would've sent him stumbling backwards. Today, he stepped into it, pushing his opponent's blade aside and quickly aiming a well practiced thrust at their ribs.
Monika blurred into motion, practically dancing around the heavy wooden practice weapon as she lashed out once more, landing a sharp strike across his back before he could even turn to face her.
"How the hell do you manage that?" he grunted, blocking the next strike with the thin black disk he'd taken to deploying as a shield.
"Nearly a decade of constant practice. I've trained since I was old enough to lift a blade. Now focus!"
He smiled and gave a mocking salute with the tip of his blade. "Yes ma'am!"
As he'd expected, she took advantage of his flippant reply, moving to sweep his legs out from under him - but he was ready. Rather than leap over the sudden move, he fell to one knee and grabbed the offending leg before pulling back with every ounce of his strength. He was under no illusions about his own physical prowess, but ....
Power flooded his limbs as he flipped the swordswoman over his shoulder and sent her flying through the air. Success! He could match her strength, if only for a moment!
His celebration was interrupted by a sudden feeling of weightlessness as his opponent twisted midair, grabbed a nearby training dummy, and used the momentum of the throw to hurl herself into the back of his legs. "Not bad," She commented, breathing heavily as she rolled to her feet. "As I expected - with your magic to aid you, our battles aren't nearly as one sided."
"Yeah. Really close, that one."
She shook with silent laughter. "There's no replacement for hard work, Jubel. I've risked my life for years, and trained for years before that. You've had... what? Six months?"
"Less, actually."
"Then you've made admirable progress! Mastering even a single skill is an endless, ever changing journey. Be patient. Keep training."
The half elf shook his head with a rueful grin. "How do you say that sorta stuff with a straight face? 'An endless, ever changing journey'? It sounds like you stole it from some bard's tale!"
Niko laughed on the sidelines, eliciting a halfhearted glare from the warrior. "Seeing as you have time to play the role of spectator, may I assume the cart is packed, oh illustrious leader?"
"What am I, a pack mule?" The pyromancer made a great show of being offended, only to sigh and deflate under his teammate's piercing gaze. "Yeah, yeah, Ferris and I took care of it. Which, for the record, is bullshit. You could lift three of me in one hand, but I get to load the cart? What do I pay you for?"
Her glare morphed into a playful smirk as she returned her wooden blade to its place on the battered weapon rack. "If you paid me enough to listen to you whine, oh glorious leader, we wouldn't have to leave so suddenly!"
Jubel suppressed a sigh. It was strange how easily the bizarre quartet had slipped into his life. He'd only known them a couple of months, but already, the idea of a morning where he didn't get tossed around like a ragdoll by Monika or trade verbal jabs with Niko seemed... wrong, somehow.
I... may have attachment issues. Add it to the list.
Still, the time had come; Ignis was leaving. Not forever, of course - they'd gotten nearly as attached to Valorous as Valorous had to them - but for a few months, at least. The Dungeon the two teams had faced together hadn't been nearly as rewarding as the one beneath Invicta, which had left the more experienced team flat broke.
"Still wish you could stay a bit longer." The words slipped out before he'd even realized he'd opened his mouth. Niko shot him a dirty look, but Monika simply shook her head, grimacing.
"Twinwater is a lovely place, my friend, but it's hardly big enough to support even one proper team in the long term. We'll miss you all, of course, but we must go where the work is." Or, to quote Niko, 'We didn't become adventurers to take handouts and wait for the work to come to us. We want to see the world, fight monsters, and almost die a frankly disturbing number of times!'
Honestly, Jubel found he could empathize with the bizarre statement more easily than the watered down version Monika had provided. Maybe it was just the nature of the power he'd gained from Nihlus, or some deep seated need to prove himself after years under his family's collective boots, but he found that lately, relaxation was somehow... lacking. He needed to do things, to push his limits - and he was sure his team, apart from Damaia, felt the same. Speaking of which...
"Depending on when you head back, you might end up missing us. We're actually planning a trip of our own, and even with Andrew's magic cart it could take a little while."
"Oh?" Monika seemed mildly surprised at that.
The half elf simply shrugged. "We just decided this morning. We're gonna swing by Damaia's parents place in Bellum for her birthday." 'Suicidal idiot' was about the nicest thing Vivi had called him when he suggested going to Milassi, but in his defense -
There was another piece of Rend there.
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He'd been having a lovely dream the night before when he found himself abruptly and unceremoniously pulled from the embrace of a gorgeous and oddly familiar elf and tossed into a chair.
"Morning," Nihlus said casually, pouring himself a cup of tea from a floating teapot. He sat on the far end of a small wooden table, which seemed to be floating in a fathomless star studded void. Unlike the half elf, however, he sat on nothing at all, simply hovering mid-air in a sitting position. A ring of floating pastries drifted lazily around the pair, just out of reach, but as Jubel's thoughts cleared he became absolutely certain that, should he wish it, he could command the snacks to make their way to his hands.
"Is it? Morning, I mean? Hard to keep track of time in a dream. Especially a good one, like the one you interrupted."
"It will be when we're done here. Would you like some tea?"
"Is the tea going to make this conversation less melodramatic somehow?"
The... deity? smirked as he sipped from the steaming cup in his hand. "It's only melodrama when its excessive. Given the stakes I play for, this is a perfectly appropriate level of drama. Besides, there's a certain abstract logic one must follow when it comes to dreams - or adventurers, for that matter."
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Jubel squinted at the pale figure. "Have you been hanging out in Vivi's dreams too?"
"Elves don't dream, Jubel. Besides, I don't tamper in the love lives of my assistants - even ones like you that could really use the help. I mean, honestly! It's been a week since you pulled that stunt in the graveyard, and you've barely even talked to the girl!"
The half elf flushed at that. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." He had been keeping his distance from Vivi lately, but what else was he meant to do? She made it clear that she didn't want to talk about... whatever had been bothering her that night, so that meant he should give her some space, right? Was he missing something?
The entity simply stared at him for a long moment before pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "You're hopeless. None of my business, though. I'll leave that mess for Titania." He paused, scowling. "Shit. Now I've mentioned her, she's looking for me. Crazy old hag... this is what happens, Jubel, when you let your guard down with higher powers. She'll be along with some cliche line like 'you rang?' or 'it's been ages!' and I'll have to put up with her for hours. She does it just to annoy me, I swear."
"I believe you. You're clearly an expert on wasting people's time just to annoy them."
If he'd been mortal, Nihlus would've choked on his tea. As it was, he managed to laugh uproariously mid sip without missing a beat, the sound seeming to come from every direction at once. "That's what I like about you, Jubel -you're flexible. Adaptable. My last assistant took nearly a decade before he dared to sass me!"
"I spent most of my life under the assumption I was going to die because I annoyed someone that outranked me. At least you have a reason for the superiority complex."
Nihlus' smile faded, if only slightly. "Yes, I suppose you would be used to dancing on someone else's strings, wouldn't you? In any case, I'll get to the point; I've found the next piece of Rend. It's in Milassi right now - specifically Bellum, the capitol."
Well.... that certainly explained why he was here. "Why do I get the feeling there's a 'but' coming?" Jubel asked aloud.
"I can't tell which piece it is."
The spellblade frowned. Clearly, he was still missing something. "Does that matter?"
The ancient man nodded slowly, the humor in his expression evaporating. "You're not my first assistant, Jubel, nor my second. I've had dozens of minions and allies across the millenia. Some, like you, were simply desperate young folk seeking a way out of a horrible situation. Others thought themselves clever enough to trick me, even going so far as to deliberately seek me out! But one way or another, each and every one either died... or retired."
"How do you retire from..." he gestured vaguely around at the starry void.
Nihlus leaned in, the table itself shrinking abruptly to pull him closer to the half elf. "Carefully, my boy, very carefully. Only one person ever managed it without my express permission, and only because I made a grave mistake. By sheer coincidence, that individual is the only one of my many assistants to ever actually retrieve one of the pieces - hence my concern. Any hilt but the one you hold will ultimately fail to contain the blade's power, so if that's the piece we've stumbled across, all is well. You retrieve it from whatever fool picked it up, head back here for some well deserved rest, and likely make a small fortune off whatever else the unfortunate idiot had on them." The man that wasn't had a pained look in his eye as he continued, his voice little more than a whisper.
"But if it's pommel gem, run. Don't stop to think, don't scheme, and definitely don't draw the hilt. Once he realizes you have it, he'll almost certainly try to take it from you - and when he realizes he can't, well... let's just say it likely won't end well for you. Or your friends."
"Is it really that hopeless?" Perhaps it was arrogant of him, but Jubel liked to think he'd come a long way since that desperate battle in the woods where he'd first contacted Nihlus.
The entity took a deep breath and buried his face in both hands. "Let's try a little thought exercise, shall we? Team Ignis is roughly on par with the average Silver ranked team in your world. How would you compare yourself to them?"
They were only Silver?! Jubel had presumed Niko's attitude was holding them back from Gold at this point! "Well... If it was a one on one fight, I'm pretty sure I could take Lucy or Ferris, especially if I got the drop on them. In a full team battle, though... they're tougher than they look."
Nihlus nodded solemnly. "And Gold ranks are tougher still. So tell me: how do you think you'd fair against a Hero?"
Jubel woke up in a cold sweat.
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"Well, that's quite the trip," Monika agreed, pulling the half elf from his recollection. "We'll leave a message with Andrew if we miss you then. Oh, one more thing; don't slack off, just because I'm not around to keep you sharp! I expect a proper spar next time, and I won't accept any halfhearted excuses, understand?"
Jubel saluted as best he could while flat on his back, wincing as the act caused a pebble beneath him to jab uncomfortably into his spine. "Yes ma'am!"
"Suck up!" Niko shouted through cupped hands at the prone swordsman. "Teacher's pet!"
"Hypocrite!" came the reply.
"Niko..." Monika said warningly as the pyromancer's eyes narrowed.
"Yes Ma'am?" He struck a salute of his own, albeit with a mocking grin.
"... I'm surrounded by overgrown children."
Her team leader's grin grew to a full blown smirk. "Hey, I resent that! We're overgrown teenagers, thank you very much."
"I'm not even overgrown," Jubel added helpfully. "Still two months left before I hit twenty!"
"I take it back. I wont miss you at all."
"But Monikaaaaaa," the two men drawled in perfect unison.
"Insufferable. Absolutely insufferable!" The swordswoman stormed off, throwing her hands up in frustration.
"Pretty sure she was smiling as she left," Jubel as he pushed himself to his feet. "Not sure 'annoying but endearing' is the way to win her over, though."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
Nico shot a confused glance at the half elf as he dissolved into laughter.
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Even as the cart containing Ignis and Zen trundled out of town, far beneath what had once been a temple, a pale man with purple eyes was attempting to draw from memory. Progress was slow, but he fought back the urge to rush. He’d need around two dozen perfect images to finish his project! The lines had to be precise, lest the meaning be lost, and when a single mistake meant throwing away hours of effort, caution and patience were key. Besides, why rush? He had nothing but time, down here. Time, ink, and parchment.
He'd already been working for a wee now, carefully lining up one sheet of parchment afters another, the lines flowing gracefully between one page and the next. The final page shook in his grasp as he slowly, carefully lowered it into place...
Flickering lines of power etched into the stone faded as the runes he'd layered atop them took effect, channeling what little power remained out of the crumbling ruin... and back into him. Crimson light filled the air as the man flexed muscles long left unused, stepping over the dusty remnants of his prison with a smile that would’ve felt ever so slightly off to anyone unfortunate enough to see it. After centuries trapped alone in the dark, he was finally free!
Therilax allowed himself a small, smug smile as he soared upward, unimpeded by the stone walls surrounding him. He, too, would leave Twinwater soon, but not before he struck a deal or two.
At long last, this world would see the truth once more - in all it's bloodstained glory.