“Alright!” yelled Aldan from atop hill about 100 meters in front of us. “Let’s take it from the top!” he said. I looked at Katherine, her armour was coated in mud, her helmet had been knocked off in our last try. It was hard to believe this young woman was the same girl I met eight years ago. She turned to me and gave me a nod, “This time we’ll get him!” she said confidently. I was not so confident, “That’s what you said the past six times!” I rebutted. She let out a hearty laugh, “Six you say? Good! Seven’s my lucky number!” she gave a cocky smile. “Good grief,” I thought to myself. “I won’t wait here all day kids!” Aldan interrupted our banter, “If you are going to dawdle around, then I guess I will have to make the first move.” Aldan raised his right hand summoned a flock of flaming robins at us. “Get down!” I yelled as I summoned a portal and dove in. I exited out behind a tree 5 meters away. At the same time, Katherine punched the earth and caused a wall of stone to block the attack. But Aldan did not let up. As soon as the robins were gone, a volley of ice spikes rained down from the sky. I jumped into my portal and resurfaced under a rocky overhang closer to our violent teacher. Katherine raised her shield over her head and charged forward with a ward reinforcing her defense. Ice crashed on her and exploded outwards, I used this as an opportunity to get closer. Which I thought was a smart move. It was not.
As soon as I got within 80 meters of Aldan the earth shook beneath me as a stone golem crawled out of the ground in front of me. “Of course…” I muttered, pumping my legs with magic just in time to avoid redecorating the yard with my intestines. “I’m coming Mak!” Katherine yelled to me, but the golem waved its hand at the ground beneath her causing her to sink. “That’s cheating uncle Aldan!” she complained, but Aldan only chuckled. I had to think fast or she would sink and I would be flattened. I thrust my hand in a portal and grabbed my grappling hook and began to jump around the golem looking for its break-point. I dodged and weaved under and around it, wrapping the rope around its legs, and then I saw it, under its left shoulder blade. A glowing spot where the magic energy animating called out to be attacked. I jumped up to be level with the crack and jammed the hook into it. The golem to a step, the rope pulled at it and opened up the crack! “Yes!” I shouted as the heap of stone collapsed. “Look out!” shouted Katherine, I turned around in time to see a second golem rise up and grab me by the waist. This one’s break-point was on its clavicle, but I didn’t have the strength to destroy it on my own. “Alright, Kat!” I yelled, “Now!”. I opened a portal in the air in front of the break-point and out of it shot a blade that pierced it, bringing down the monster. I turned around to see Katherine knee-deep in the ground, with her sword going through the other end of my portal. She smiled and nodded as moved the earth away from her legs and we continued our charge up the hill.
“You two have gotten pretty good at that”, Aldan said as he shot a volley of arrows made of magic energy towards us. I jumped on Katherine’s back as she blocked some with her shield while I reflected others back with my portals. 60 meters away now. Another wave of our master’s hand and four human-shaped elementals attacked. We knew that if we stopped for a moment, we wouldn’t make it. Katherine launched a blast of fire at the wooden one, and I released a barrage of fluid absorbing pellets on the water one. She charged right through the air spirit, and I activated the pellets on the sentient flames. 40 meters. “Hmmm, a little slower than last time” Aldan chided, before summoning a massive wave to knock us over. I grabbed jumped into a portal on Katherine’s back as she dug her feet into the earth and braced for the impact. This was my chance, I resurfaced just behind where the wave was about to hit and quickly drew some runes. Just after the wave hit and returned to Katherine’s back through my portal. “That was cold!” Katherine shouted, now soaked and coated in mud from the waist down. Aldan laughed, as she plucked her legs from the ground and resumed the charge. Katherine didn’t take three steps before the ground suddenly glowed beneath her foot. “Uh oh,” she said plainly before we got blasted up into the sky. Fortunately, she had just enough time to block the bulk of the explosion with a ward. Unfortunately, we were now 30 meters in the air, and neither of us could fly. “Do something Mak!” Katherine said in a sickly tone as she shut her eyes with enough force to crush a walnut. If there was one thing Kat hated more than mouth sounds, it was heights… On second thought, no she hated mouth sounds more, but heights are a close second. I opened a portal and pulled out two hooks which I strapped to Katherine’s armour. Just as I was finishing we began to slow, at 80 meters we stopped ascending. I pulled on the ropes connected the hooks, causing a large cloth and wooden contraption to come out of the portal and unfold. We were still descending, but more slowly and towards Aldan.
“If you get us killed with one of your crackpot inventions then I will never speak to you again!” Katherine screamed. “We’ll be fine! Just open your eyes and prepare to attack!” I said. Now, when I told her that we would be fine, I was more guessing rather than stating a fact. The truth is, I hadn’t had time to test this one, and like most untested devices, it worked perfectly. Until it didn’t. We were only 10 meters away from Aldan horizontally, but 40 meters away vertically. “We’re going to miss him!” Katherine shouted at me. I was going to respond, but then I looked up. The good news was that this problem was about to resolve itself. The bad news was, the main support beam was about to snap. CRACK! Katherine and I began plummeting down to the ground. Suddenly a wind came from beneath us and slowed our fall. My mind went back to the night when I lost Crobb and Dralp, my thoughts were filled again with the horrors of that day, I blacked out. When I woke up, I was laying in bed with everyone standing over me. “I’m sorry Mak, I went too hard on you two, and I had no idea…” Aldan had tears welling up in his eyes as he apologized. “You were sleep talking Mak,” Clementina said while holding her husband’s hand. “You never mentioned the specifics of what you went through, no wonder you froze.” I buried my face in my hands, “I froze… Again.” I whimpered. “It isn’t your fault Mak!” Katherine yelled, “I froze too, I couldn’t do anything in the air!” I appreciated her words, but I still felt miserable. Clementina and Aldan quietly left the room, Katherine stayed and sat with me.
I woke up a couple of hours later to the sound of the door creaking open. Katherine did too, but more… dynamically. “AHH WHAT WHO’S THERE!” she exclaimed. Clementina, seemingly oblivious to the excitement spoke from the doorway, “Just coming to check on you two, do you think you are ready to eat dinner?” she said calmly. I nodded and got out of bed, the two of us proceeded to the kitchen. Aldan was just finishing setting the table when we arrive, he seemed to be concealing an excited smile like a kid ready to surprise his parents. “What are you so happy about Uncle?” said Katherine. Clementina rolled her eyes and gave a look at him. “Well… I wanted to wait until after dinner to tell you…” he said as he reached into his coat pocket. “I got a letter back from the adventurers guild in Exordium!” he said unfolding the paper. Katherine and I look at each other excitedly, “We got in!” Katherine exclaimed, “Both of us?” I asked. “Yes! They want you there in two weeks to prepare for your first mission!” Aldan replied. I couldn’t believe it, Aldan had been assuring me that he could get me into the guild with his influence, but I refused to get my hopes up. How could they accept me, a Nequese! “Let’s eat dinner, and then we can start preparing,” Clementina said in a tone of excitement, but also sadness. We scarfed down the food at record speed, Katherine didn’t even comment on my chewing. Clementina on the other hand. “Slow down both of you or there won’t be any food for the remainder of your time here!” she commanded. We stopped immediately and began eating like civilized individuals.
After dinner, we sat in the living room, except for Aldan who was standing in the way he always does before he is about to go on a speech. “My dear family” he began, the three of us silently groaned. “I must express my immense pride for both of you,” he said gesturing to Kat and I. “Through your hard work and dedication, you have been accepted into the prestigious adventurers’ guild in the kingdom of Regmendax!” he said throwing his hands in the air for dramatic effect. He was acting ridiculous, but I couldn’t help smiling, this was everything that we had been training for. However; there was still a bit of dread stirring up inside me. “In celebration!” Aldan continued. “I shall present you both with gifts!” he proclaimed. “OOOH What is it?” Katherine said, suddenly interested. He opened a small portal and drew out a beautiful arming sword, covered in runes. “This was your mother’s sword Katherine, unlike normal blades, this is powered not just by your physical strength, but by your courage and resolve as well.” both Aldan and Katherine smiled weakly thinking of their lost family member. “Thank you…” she said, “I’ll use it well!” Aldan smiled as he opened another small portal. “And for you Mak…” he pulled out a pair of small gloves. “These gloves have the ability to conjure very thin, sharp, and strong threads from them,” he said as he handed them to me. “You can retract them, launch them for grappling, even straighten them into blades! I’m sure you of all people will be able to find a good use for them!” he said with confidence. The gloves fit perfectly, “Thank you…” I said somewhat weakly. Aldan tilted his head a bit, “Something troubles you Mak?” he said with concern. “It’s just…” I started speaking, “All my life I was taught to fear the Pestak… Adventurers… They killed my people, my family, without hesitation.” The tone of the room quickly turned grim. “I know that they don’t represent every adventurer, but I still wonder how the others in the guild will feel about me when I get there,” I said sullenly. Aldan and Clementina both look like they were about to speak, but Katherine jumped in too quickly. “Well then you’ll just have to prove them wrong!” she said with conviction. “And if any of them treat you badly, well… I’ll just have to beat them until they accept you!” she said while cracking her neck and knuckles. I smiled and began laughing, and soon the rest of the room was as well. I could never do this alone, but I knew that as long as I had Katherine around, I could do anything.
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