by Aaron Oster
Grace watched as it shook its head before turning a baleful eye on her. The first beast was just a couple of feet away, struggling to regain its footing in the loose sand. Grace now knew she had a choice to make: maintain the high ground, or move in to take out one of the gazelles. Morgan had never covered this is his lessons thus far, so she was left to make a snap decision.
Heart pounding and sweat dripping down her back, Grace made a wild dash for the downed beast, even as the other charged. She dove forward, using Air Siren and aiming right at the downed beast’s head. The defenseless gazelle didn’t stand a chance. The muffled soundwave slammed into it from only inches away. And though her aim had been off, the attack was still powerful enough to rip the beast’s head from its shoulders.
Grace didn’t have time to celebrate her win. Even as one hand was thrust forward to use Air Siren, the other had been placed behind her back. A snap of those fingers and the use of Echolocation showed her the exact position of the second beast, charging her from behind. She landed on her stomach, grimacing as her chest was covered in blood and sand, and quickly rolled to one side.
She was just in time, narrowly avoiding being trampled under the hooves of the charging gazelle. Grace scrambled back to her feet as the beast tried to check its speed to come back around. Her heart was racing so fast by now that it felt like a single continuous beat. She didn’t have any time to celebrate her victory over the first beast, as the gazelle lowered its head and charged back.
Grace thrust her hand forward once again, using Air Siren. She’d used it too soon, and the beast was still out of range, leaving it completely unaffected. Cursing to herself, Grace tried to use the skill again, except she found that it wouldn’t work.
For a moment, she panicked. She was supposed to have enough MP to make the skill work, so why wasn’t it?
“Shit!” she yelled, diving to one side, gravity and the downhill slope both working on getting her mostly out of the way.
She wasn’t fast enough and hit the ground with a cry of pain, clutching at the ragged tear in her thigh that the passing gazelle had caused. She scrambled around, trying to regain her feet but found herself unable to, due to the burning sensation in her leg. The gazelle was swinging around once more, and checking her MP, Grace saw that she was at 19 out of the 25 she’d need for the skill.
She didn’t know why she’d lost so much MP or where it had gone. All she knew was that the beast would be on top of her in a matter of seconds and that when it came this time, it wouldn’t miss.
Pain and fear warred with panic as she desperately scrabbled in the sand for something. Her fingers brushed against something warm and wet on her second pass, and without having time to think, she latched onto the foreign object. Her panicked mind took another few seconds to realize what it was, and by that time, the gazelle was practically on top of her, horns lowered to skewer her through the eyes, just like last time.
With a wild scream, Grace drove the severed head of the first gazelle forward, thrusting her arms out straight and locking them in place. The gazelle crashed into her with the full force of its charge and the weight behind it. Grace felt her arms buckle and a muscle in her shoulder tear. Then her body was flung backward, sent tumbling down to the bottom of the hill where she lay, stunned and groaning softly.
It took her a few seconds to reorient herself. When she finally managed it, she felt a flare of panic deep in her chest. She instinctively turned, searching the top of the bluff for the gazelle that was most likely charging down towards her, gleaming horns poised to take her life. What she saw instead was the limp body of the gazelle lying on the ground, with the head of the first suspended above.
Grace stared for a few long moments, hardly believing what she was seeing.
“It worked?” she whispered, shifting slightly to get a better look.
She winced as the weight was put on her injured shoulder and leg, but she knew she couldn’t stay here. Other beasts might be coming by and she still needed to retrieve one of the beast’s cores as proof of her victory. She wracked her mind for a few long moments before an idea came to her.
Using Body Shift, Grace decreased her density, and when she got to her feet, her leg supported her weight. It was still bleeding quite profusely, and her trip up the hill would not be pleasant, but she would manage. The only problem was that her skill would only last ten seconds.
Grace stumbled up the hill as quickly as she could. The pain, fear, and shock kept her moving. Twice, she was forced to stop, falling to the ground and waiting for the skill to recharge before she could use it again. She took that time to detach her sleeves and used them to wrap her leg. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would do for now.
Falling down next to the downed gazelle, Grace had to fight down the urge to laugh. She’d had no idea whether this would work or not, but there, lying next to her, was the proof.
“Looks like you got what was coming to you,” she muttered, as she reached down and wrenched the head of the first gazelle free of the second.
Her aim couldn’t have been better. The second gazelle’s charge may have damaged her shoulder, but she had driven one of the first’s horns straight through its eye.
***
Morgan was outside the Beast Zone when Grace came stumbling out. He’d already known she was injured, as he’d been watching the whole fight. Though there had been a few close calls, like when the gazelle was charging her prone body, she’d come out of this on top. He’d have to talk to her about accounting for the use of other skills, like her Echolocation, when allotting MP usage in her head.
Echolocation cost 25 MP per use as well, and seeing as she’d used it several times before the fight, as well as during, her MP was still regenerating when she began. Still, the resourcefulness of using the gazelle’s severed head as a weapon showed that she had what it would take to make it in Faeland.
Grace held her bloodied hand up high, displaying not one, but two beast cores, both glittering red and blue in the late-morning sun. Morgan moved forward to greet her, already noting all of her various injuries. The leg was the worst, as the horn had cut into the muscle, and the shoulder would need to be repaired as well.
She’d likely collected some bruises and shallow cuts, but those two were the main ones. When he drew close enough, Grace collapsed forward, her leg finally giving out, but Morgan was there to catch her. He was surprised to find her entire body trembling and shaking as he held her and only then noticed the moisture on the girl’s face.
“I did it,” she whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around him and burying her head in his chest.
“Yes, indeed,” Morgan replied, gently lifting her off the ground. “You did it.”
23
“How do you feel?” Morgan asked as the healer removed her hand and gave him a nod.
He’d immediately teleported back after making sure she was mentally sound and carried her to the infirmary. Grace had insisted she could walk, but he had had none of that. He’d told her under no uncertain terms that she’d be allowed to walk until the healer had had a look at her. After that, she’d remained silent, closing her eyes and trying to look as though she weren’t in a great deal of pain.
“Much better, thanks,” Grace replied, giving him a tired smile.
The bulk of her injuries had been healed, but the healing of this magnitude tended to drain the person in question, as it cost a lot of energy.
“Does this mean I pass?”
“Without a doubt,” Morgan said, returning the smile. “You faced your fears, fought despite an injury, and came out with not one, but two beast cores. Now, tell me how you did it.”
Morgan listened as Grace recounted her story. He already knew what had happened, as he’d been there, but he never planned on telling her that. As far as she knew, she’d gone in on her own, with no safety net, and had come out on top. If she found out he’d been there the entire time, it would undermine her confidence and make her question whether she was good
enough.
She told her story, sticking to the facts and only embellishing a little, which was fine. A good fight always needed a little embellishing. She didn’t lie about how scared she’d been the entire time, especially when she thought she would die again.
“But then, I found the severed head of the first beast – gross, I know – and managed to use it to kill the second one! That’s how my shoulder got all messed up. After that, I went to get the cores, and you know the rest,” she finished.
Morgan gave her another smile, then placed a hand over hers.
“You were very brave, facing those beasts down the way you did, and although you did make some mistakes, like not realizing you’d run out of MP, you still won the fight. And in the end, that’s all that matters. You passed, and with flying colors. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you, and I’ll be honored to help you reach your full potential.
“For now, though, rest up. You’ve got the rest of the day off. We’ll be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning, so I’ll expect you to be packed and ready to go.”
He rose then and headed for the door.
“Morgan?”
Morgan turned as Grace called out to him, sounding a bit hesitant.
“Yes?”
The smaller girl bit her bottom lip for a few long moments before saying what was on her mind.
“Thank you for believing in me enough to give me a second chance.”
Morgan didn’t really know what to say to that. The girl was so sincere, and the gratitude was so profound that it made him uncomfortable. He did the only thing he could think of and gave her another smile before closing the door behind him. Lumia had left as soon as they’d arrived, so he had a bit of free time now that he’d given Grace the rest of the day off.
“Well, there’s always more training to be done,” he muttered, before heading off for his training spot, likely for the last time before he left to Faeland.
***
Grace lay in bed, leg propped up and eyes half-lidded. She was exhausted, but she found herself unable to drift off. That may have had to do with it still being noon and all, but she thought it had more to do with the ordeal she’d just survived. Right now, sleep was the last thing she wanted to do. What she really wanted was someone to talk to.
She’d called out to Morgan to ask him to stay with her, but in the end, had chickened out and thanked him instead. She’d meant every word. She really was grateful for what he’d done for her, but that hadn’t solved the issue. Sure, she’d told Morgan her story, but she just didn’t want to be alone right now.
A soft tapping at the window made her turn her head, and she suppressed a grin as she saw Lumia floating on the other side of the glass. Although she knew she shouldn’t be getting up, the healer had repaired almost all the damage she’d sustained during her test. So, sitting up, she carefully placed both feet on the ground.
Her leg twinged a bit when she put her full weight on it, but it didn’t bother her too much. She made her way to the window, letting the small drake in and closing it once more.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she got back into bed.
The drake, because Lumia was a drake and not a lizard as she’d first thought, looked up at her from the foot of her bed.
“I came to check in on you after your battle,” Lumia replied. “As I said, I can sense emotion far better than you humans, and when you were being brought in, I had the feeling you did not want to be alone.”
“I…tried to ask Morgan to stay,” Grace admitted as she settled into a comfortable position.
“But you were too afraid of rejection to ask,” Lumia finished.
She nodded solemnly, not even bothering to deny it. Lumia was extremely perceptive, to the point where she wondered if the drake could read minds or something similar.
“Rejection is something that most people deal with in everyday life,” Lumia said. “You are still young, and just at the beginning of your body’s change from adolescence to adulthood. Things will be harder for you at this time, if my understanding of humans is correct. It will not only be your physical state, but your emotional state as well that will undergo change. But there is a way to ensure that you come out on the other side as a strong, well-rounded adult, without all the usual fears and misgivings that so many of your race seem to carry.”
Grace shifted uncomfortably, not really sure that this was a topic she wanted to breach. Her mother had never been around, and her father, while caring and well-meaning, couldn’t exactly understand the issues of a girl going through puberty. She hadn’t had any friends of which to speak, so she’d never really talked about it. But Lumia was a female, albeit, one from a different species, and she seemed to know how to keep things in confidence.
“The truth is that I feel very confused about Morgan, and that makes it hard to ask him for personal things,” she admitted, not being able to look the drake in the eye. “Sometimes, when I look at him, I get a fluttery feeling in my chest, my hands get all sweaty, and my body grows warm. And I feel like…like…” she trailed off, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, not being able to voice her thoughts out loud.
“You feel like you want to be intimate with him in a physical manner,” Lumia finished.
Grace nodded, face still burning. She knew she was too young to be having these feelings, that Morgan would never accept her simply because of her age. She did her best to look good around him anyway, tried to drop hints or try to get him to notice her in a different way. Though she didn’t have the courage to say so out loud, she kept hoping he would say something, even though she knew he wouldn’t.
“But then other times, like today, both before and right after the test, I get a different feeling from being near him,” she said, still keeping her eyes downcast. “I feel comfortable, safe, as though his presence alone makes everything better. It gives me a warm feeling inside, but not the same warm feeling as the other warm feeling…Gah! This is so hard to explain!” she yelled, burying her face in a pillow.
Grace felt something brush against her arm and peeked out to see Lumia sitting right by her now.
“I know that it is a difficult emotion to explain. I myself have had a hard time figuring out exactly what it was. You see, I also have that same feeling when I’m around him. Warmth, comfort, and something a bit more intangible. His presence, the strength of his character, everything about him, is wholly unique.
“The best way I have found to describe that feeling is love. Not of the physical nature, but of the emotional. The type of love that makes you want to be around someone, simply because of who they are, and the fact that they bring you comfort and security when you need it most.”
“But I can’t love him,” Grace said. “I only just met him a week ago!”
“Well, I love him,” Lumia said. “As though he were a part of my own family. For you, I would describe your warring emotions as physical versus emotional. Your body craves his touch, but your mind craves the comfort and stability he offers. Right now, your emotions are in their infancy, but give it time and you will discover that emotion usually wins out over physicality.”
“And what if the two of them become the same?” Grace asked in a quiet voice.
“Don’t let them,” Lumia answered. “As I’ve said before, Morgan has his heart set on another and has no room for anyone else in that capacity. However, he still has room for family and friends. I know it’s impossible to make your feelings go away, especially at this stage in your growth, but try and temper them as best you can. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for pain and a broken heart.”
“You really seem to know a lot about this for a beast,” Grace said, finally finding the strength to look up and meet her gaze.
Lumia dipped her head but failed to answer the unasked question, the one neither of them wanted to broach out loud.
“I think I’ll try and get some sleep now,” she finally said, shifting in bed and placing her head on the pillow.
“Yes, I think that is a very good idea,” Lumia said, moving towards the window.
“Will you stay with me? At least until I fall asleep?”
Lumia turned back around, her short muzzle pulling up into an approximation of a smile.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“It’s easier with you,” Grace replied, eyes already fluttering shut.
“That is because you’ve already asked me to stay before,” Lumia said, curling up next to her. “Open yourself up to him, and I’m sure you’ll find that Morgan can be as caring, if not more so, than I.”
“I don’t know about that,” Grace mumbled. “You’re pretty great yourself, Lumia, almost like a mother…”
Grace’s last word was said in a half-mumble as her exhausted body and mind finally gave in to the pull of slumber. However, the small drake lying next to her sat up a bit straighter at that, her mind now examining her actions and wondering who she was truly trying to help here. At first, she’d thought she was only trying to help Morgan, but as she watched the young girl’s body untense, she had to wonder. Was she starting to feel something for this human as well?
24
Morgan sat across from the Queen of the North Kingdom, the woman clad in a body-hugging purple dress that covered as much skin as it could to technically classify as clothing. While most men in his position would likely be drooling and trying very hard to hide certain physical reactions, he was stuffing his face. Katherine had been acting even more aggressively than he remembered over the last week, constantly trying to draw him in.
She’d taken to wearing less and less in their meetings, culminating tonight with the spectacular ensemble in which she was currently clad. This dress, unlike the others, stopped just a few inches below her waist, leaving her long legs quite visible. The neckline and back were missing, leaving an open view of everything and covering just enough to be decent.
