by Sean Oswald
Sara didn’t know how he could have handled the pain. Daddy always said that Sara would cry at the drop of a hat, whatever that meant, but she knew for sure that if she had gotten an ouchie that bad she would have been crying for mommy. But not Jackson. Nope he didn’t let out any sound. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but that seemed worse than if he had cried out.
She didn’t believe that she would ever see Jackson or the rest of her family again. That more than anything had made her cry throughout the past week. The only bright spot in all of it was Krinnk. Sara didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t have a friend like Krinnk. At first, she had been so scared of Krinnk. He looked different, his body all bony and his skin tinged green. It was like a Halloween costume but real. Krinnk’s breath was bad, his teeth yellow, and his voice was scratchy. Or at least, it had been.
There had come a moment where that strange message popped up in front of her eyes. She was shocked at first. Sara remembered how jealous she had been of mom, dad, and Mira always talking about the notifications they were seeing. Even Jackson got some, but Sara never did. That all changed the first day after Krinnk had saved her from the other goblin. It popped up in front of her eyes just a clear as words on her iPad.
Watcher’s Aid: This will only be given once to you.
You have called for aid, and in consideration of the extreme shock your abduction must have caused you on top of your transition to Eloria, this aid will be afforded to you in a way never contemplated before.
The best aid which can be provided to you is the assignment of a character class which will mesh with your personality and current need. Understand that Eloria will not allow you to utilize stat or character points until your 10th birthday.
Accordingly, you are assigned the epic class: Monster Friend.
Hidden Quest Found: Class Determination- you have found and met the qualifications to receive a class. In Eloria, classes are not easily earned, all have significant benefits and equally weighty requirements. Each class has seven ranks known as tiers.
Congratulations! XP gained: 5000 (net XP 4280) Ding! Levels gained: 1 through 16. Tier 2 bonuses auto-applied. All prior life skills doubled and 20% applied to Constitution.
Stat points gained: 42 Character points gained: 214
Class Obtained: Monster Friend (epic) - Tier 1.
Class Benefits: gain access to racial skills possessed by Monsters with which you form a friendship bond with. Potentially gain physical traits or adaptations of your Monster friends depending upon the physical proximity and strength of the bond. Potentially gain temporary bonuses to stats based upon physical proximity to your respective Monster Friends. Monster Friends also gain stat bonuses from proximity to you. Maximum number of Monster Friends 5/tier. New Friend Bonds can only be formed upon the death of a prior friend. +10 base Luck, +10 base Charisma
Class Restrictions: May never betray or lie to a Monster Friend. Must always defend Monster Friends to all others. Permanent loss of XP, Stat Points, or Character Points upon death of a Monster Friend. Friendship Bonds work both ways and may only be formed with beings lacking an eternal spirit.
Class Purpose: The expression of compassion and the revelation of the value of beings others might reject.
Class Advancement Requirements: Forge friendships with monsters, find ways to introduce those monsters into society.
Life is conflict and compassion is not for the faint of heart.
Sara didn’t understand all of the message or what it meant. Many of the words were beyond her understanding. What she did instinctively understand was that she felt like Krinnk was her best friend ever. She had been scared of him before, but now, that didn’t make any sense. It was funny to consider that she could have ever been afraid of him. Better yet though, he was able to talk to her now. She instantly understood him and he understood her. Not just the words that they spoke, but they became soulmates of a sort.
As the friendship bond formed, they both experienced physical and mental changes. Krinnk grew slightly taller and gained some more muscle mass while Sara felt her body become tingly. Her legs and arms became thinner and gaunter. The muscle fibers tighter and her nails grew sharper, stronger.
Then another notification came:
Congratulations! You have formed your first Monster Friendship Bond. The benefits of your first bond will be doubled.
Sara Nelson: +10 AGILITY, +10 ENDURANCE, Stealth: +10, Running: +10, Tracking: +10
Krinnk the goblin scout: +3 INT, +20% all physical stats/skills. Max Tier +1
These odd moments stuck out so well in her mind, but for the most part this past week was a blur. Quick movement, sleeping during the day, scarce food, and fear. Krinnk had told her about the Bone Man. She wanted to believe that her family could have survived that, but the goblin’s fear passed through the bond to her susceptible eight year old emotional state. Sara slowly became as convinced as Krinnk was that her family and all of Eris’ Rise was gone. Krinnk was her new family, the only family that she had left in this world, and so she cried but moved on. The goblin trait of survival at all costs had been deeply impressed upon her as a result of the friendship bond.
Two days ago, Sara held her own funeral of sorts for her family. An eight year old had only a vague concept of death, but knew what it meant when someone wasn’t coming back. Krinnk had made a camp for them as he always did. He was so good to her, finding food, and helping her keep going even when she didn’t feel like she could take another step. That morning, he had found a campsite in a shallow cave. It was a welcome respite from the cold rain that had plagued them for the past two days. Krinnk had taught her how to make a fire, and while he found some fish in a nearby stream, she made a fire to cook their food.
While waiting for her little green friend to return, she had been crying as had become customary. It was almost more than she could bear when he was away from her. Instinctively, she knew that Krinnk wasn’t very smart, he wasn’t like her dad or mom who always seemed to be able to do anything. He wasn’t pretty like Mira or bold like Jackson, but he was her friend. If only she could have known his mind before the effects of the friendship bond had taken hold and raised him beyond the standards of any normal goblin. There waiting and crying, she found some thick gray clay that brought back memories of playdoh sets she had gotten as presents, being yelled at for mixing all the colors together, and the little family of snowmen she and her mom had made last Christmas. The clay gave her an idea, and combining her tears and the clay, she was able to make a paste. She painted figures on the wall of the cave. First, she drew dad, mom, Mira, and Jackson. She stared at the images, her small shoulders shuddering as she sobbed out her grief, and remembered fond memories with each of them. This prompted her to add little defining touches to the drawing.
Drawing, combined with her memories, brought relief, and she decided to draw her new family. She drew representations of Krinnk and herself, adding the little touches to make them realistic. Once she had finished, she stared at the drawings. The few inches between the sets of figures seemed to be an uncrossable chasm. She finished her work with a heart drawn over the four figures so that wherever they were, alive or in heaven like mommy talked about, they would know that she loved them. As the last little swirl was completed, the clay began to sparkle and another notification crossed her eyes:
New Crafting Skill Learned- Drawing: anyone can take up a pen, but it takes an artist to express a portion of their soul in the work of their hand. Skill Level: 41 (level impacted by prior life skills) Drawing as all Crafting Skills can take on an element of the magic of Eloria. In the hands of a master artist, Drawing can bring the imagination to life, literally or instigate the sympathy or antipathy in the viewer.
Tier 2 Bonus - increase the maximum size of drawing to 1’ square/level. Tier 3 Bonus- may create areas of strong emotional influence with the capability of causing psycho-somatic reactions. Tier 4 Bonus- may convey vision like messages to specific viewers.
Eloria is
conflict and no conflict is more poignant than the search for self-expression.
Krinnk had been fascinated by her drawing but hadn’t understood what it truly meant to her. Still, he held her close as they slept, and for the first morning, she didn’t cry herself to sleep.
When the second sun was setting, they had begun their trek to the northwest. Sara didn’t hate the sun the way that Krinnk did, and truth be told, he was probably far more tolerant of the light than he was before the bond, but she was patient with her friend and willing to travel at night if he felt it was safer. Her vision had improved after the bond, and she found that she could see fairly well by the light of the moon, even if not quite as well as Krinnk could.
This night’s travel was cut short though when Krinnk raised his head, sniffing the air. Sara didn’t know what he was searching for, but she knew well enough to trust in his keen senses. This time though, the goblin scout’s senses had failed them, for he didn’t realize that they were being watched until it was too late.
Quietly, from behind a large clump of rocks, a woman stepped out with almost ghostly stealth. Sara gasped as she saw the woman who was quite tall, almost as tall as her dad had been, and equally broad of shoulders. She was pale skinned and wore simple yet well-crafted skin tight tan clothing covering her chest and one shoulder and then below an exposed midriff down to a hip hugging skirt made of the skin from some animal. What was more shocking than anything to Sara was the small white tusks which stuck up from the woman’s mouth curved and protruding slightly beyond the lower lip. Adding in the broad nose, and the woman had a positively terrifying presence to her. She had a pack across her back and a set of belt pouches around her waist. A dagger hung from the belt, and in her hands was a wooden rod perhaps as long and wide as Jackson’s baseball. As Sara stood staring at the woman, the thing she noticed were the brightly colored intricate carvings of animals made into the rod.
Krinnk suddenly stepped in front of Sara. One of his hands moving as to push her back out of the way of danger even as the other hand fumbled to release his sling and a rock. “Sara run and hide. Krinnk will protect.” His words were simple, but to her, they conveyed all the love she had left in this world.
Haltingly, as if not accustomed to the sound of her own voice, the woman spoke in response, “You have nothing to fear from me unless you mean me harm.”
The three of them stood there, each taking their measure of the others in silence. Sara placed her hand reassuringly on Krinnk’s arm, and the sling in his hands went limp. Sara continued to look at the woman. She was clearly not human, at least not in the way that the people back in Eris’ Rise had been, but she was also not an elf hybrid. She was a blend of something else. Sara thought that she was quite striking. Her beauty combined with strength. Her hair was long and white, denoting age, but her face seemed kind once Sara adapted to the symmetry of the tusks and broad nose.
Apparently, amused by what she saw, the woman asked, “So what are a goblin, or perhaps hobgoblin, from the intelligence in your eyes, and a half elf doing traveling together?”
Krinnk started to snarl that it was none of her business, but Sara spoke over him, “We are friends fleeing danger together.”
“Friends you say? Hmmm...” The tall woman seemed to think about her next words. “I would have assumed you to be a slave being taken north by this goblin, but I agree you two don’t act that way.”
Now, it was Sara’s turn to step in front of Krinnk. “Krinnk would never hurt me, we are friends. He has a kind heart and is the only friend I have left in this world.”
“This world? You speak as if there are other worlds.” The woman spoke with a chuckle. “Well it is of no matter. Tell me little one, do you by any chance know anything about a magical drawing I sensed a few hours ago?”
“Magical drawing …” Sara’s words came out hesitantly. She had been somewhat confused by the notification she had received but agreed that for some reason the drawing she had made on the cave wall had been special. But it wasn’t something to share with strangers, so she responded with a typical childish impertinence, “And what if I do?”
The woman smiled, but it was not reassuring. It showed more of her tusks and made Sara shiver. “I mean you no harm little one, not to either of you. I am the last one who would judge you for keeping strange companions. But if one of you has the gift of the brush then it is not mere happenstance that we are meeting.”
Seeing confusion upon the faces of both Sara and Krinnk, the woman continued on, “My name is Balayria and as you may have surmised, I am a half-orc. I have not found the world very welcoming to me, so it is good that the two of you have found true friends.”
Having been raised with proper manners, Sara reflexively answered back, “My name is Sara Nelson, and I’m a half elf. This is my friend Krinnk. He is a goblin.”
The woman restrained her smile as the statement of obvious facts, not wanting to further scare the little girl. “I am very glad to meet you Sara Nelson and you too Krinnk. It is all too rare that I am well received by humans and never by elves or goblins. But please do tell me girl, did you recently draw a picture of something very important to you?”
Sara hesitated, not wanting to share the rawness of emotion which came along with the painting she had just made. Krinnk jumped in proudly saying, “Sara is bestest drawerer. She be making beauty pictures on cave wall.”
Again Balayria had to suppress her smile, “It is clear that you are good friends for a goblin to speak such of another. Please do tell me though, child. I mean you no harm. What did you draw?”
Slowly and deliberately Sara spoke out, “I drew a picture of my family. They were killed...” no further words escaped her as she burst into tears. An instant later, she found herself scooped up into Balayria’s arms and lifted off the ground crying against the woman’s bosom as yet again, the weight of her loss came crashing down on her.
Chapter Six
“If you wish to know what your seed will grow into then look at the tree it came from, likewise, if you wish to know what your wife will become, look at her mother.” — Moon Elf adage shared amongst the men
Mira lifted her head off the patch of moss which had served as her pillow for the night. Looking around, she could see that the Moon Elf soldiers were already almost done breaking down the campsite. Lord Itsu’s tent was the only one still up. Even the humans were busily breaking down tents and eating morning rations. Obscured by the dense forest, but at the edge of the range of her passive esoteric senses, she was able to discern that the elf, Eisuke and her mother were standing next to one another without moving much at all. Her new sense didn’t give her the ability to hear what they were talking about, only to know that they were there. Whatever it was, she trusted Eisuke. He was the only one of the elves who didn’t seem to look down on her mother or her, and she had to admit it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes.
Thinking of her mom made Mira run her fingers through her hair. She could feel the tangles which had formed from another night of rough sleeping in the woods. It was irritating how effortless her mother made it look. Maybe it was something about being full blooded Moon Elf, but her mother could wake from the forest floor with every hair in place. It had always been the biggest thing for Mira, that she couldn’t ever hope to be as good as her mom was at everything. A successful nurse, world traveler, mother, charity activist and a virtual saint, her mom cast a big shadow. Her new found Intelligence let her know that it wasn’t a competition between the two of them, but intellectually knowing something and feeling it to be true are not always the same thing, especially for a fifteen year old girl.
Mira was startled out of her thoughts by a voice behind her, “I don’t mean to speak out of turn, but I have seen many mothers over my years, and I can say without a doubt that your mother is profoundly proud of you, as she well should be.” Jaselm’s voice was low, even gruff, but there was a smile on his face.
She turned and flashed one of her best smiles at
the paladin as she stalled for a moment to gather her thoughts. It was almost as if the man had read her mind. Considering the little bit that they knew about paladins, she couldn’t say for sure that he hadn’t. She herself had a spell that allowed her to read at least surface thoughts. “Reading my mind?”
“Oh nothing like that at all. Such magics would be forbidden to any true paladin. I simply am an observer of people.” His nonchalant manner made Mira inclined to believe him before he continued, “And if it puts your mind at ease any further, paladins of Shanelle and all those classed individuals in the church are forbidden from telling direct lies.”
“Direct lies… that still leaves plenty of wiggle room,” Mira snapped back quickly. She really didn’t like how blunt she could be of late.
“Yes, you see to the crux of the matter, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from one so bright.” The paladin’s response again worked to defuse the situation. “But I didn’t mean to rile you up or to speak out of turn. I simply wished to pay a compliment to a brave young woman who I have come to respect in the short time I have known her.”
Then the fifteen year old girl re-emerged complete with insecurities, “Well, thank you, I guess. I’m not anything special.”
Jaselm’s laughter cut off anything else Mira had intended to say. It wasn’t a laughter of ridicule but one of deep joy. “Child, you slay shambling mounds as if it were nothing. You bravely walk into a land far from home, all the while enduring bigoted and narrow minded insults and cruel behavior from those less noble than yourself. And that isn’t even to mention your bravery in dealing with Duke Holstein.”
