Worlds' Strongest

by Simon Archer

  “You’re wrong.” The younger sister rolled her eyes, opening the tin. There was some kind of waxy gel substance in it that Kaia dipped her fingers into. She reached for my arm again, and I tried not to flinch, expecting the worst.

  I let out a deep breath when instead, it just felt cool on my skin. The inflamed feeling calmed itself almost immediately.

  “It’s deep enough that it almost cut the tendon,” Kaia scolded Elle, who responded with an eye roll.

  “Yes, but it didn’t. That’s a good thing. You may have treated cuts like this before, but I’ve actually had them. I know what I’m talking about.” Elle circled around to sit across from me at the table.

  “That feels a lot better.” I watched Kaia’s hands as she rubbed the gel into the skin. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” she muttered. She wiped the gel on her hands off on a cloth hanging over her shoulder, then reached for the small brown slip of paper. She opened it, revealing three thick needles and black wire-like thread.

  My eyes went wide. “U-um, is that really necessary?”

  Both sisters answered at the same time, “Yes.”

  I shot Elle a look. “You said it wasn’t that bad!”

  “Compared to how bad it could be, it’s not.” She shrugged. “You should still get stitches.”

  “Relax,” Kaia said. “The paste is a numbing agent. You shouldn’t feel anything.”

  I groaned and dropped my head into my left hand. I heard her threading the needle and trimming the thread, but I couldn’t bring myself to look. Obviously, I wasn’t afraid of needles, but that didn’t mean I had to be excited about this.

  I glanced over just in time to see her reaching for me with the half-circle of a needle, then immediately dropped my gaze again. I told myself there was no way I’d feel it. My wound was supposed to be numb. I’d be fine, right?

  Wrong. I felt the second the needle touched my skin, and I sure as hell felt when it punctured it. I took a sharp breath and tried to make sure my arm was completely still, so there was no more tugging than necessary.

  Kaia paused, and I could hear sadness in her voice. “Can you feel that?”

  “Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. I expected her to keep going, but instead, she held the needle halfway through my skin with one hand and reached for the tin with the supposed ‘numbing agent.’

  “That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered, looking over the substance. Her hand shifted, yanking on the needle.

  “Ow!” I hissed.

  “Kaia!” Elle snapped. “Not the time.”

  The younger girl jumped and quickly dropped the tin, returning to my stitches. “Sorry!”

  I glanced up and gave Elle a thankful nod before closing my eyes again and rubbing my face. “Next time, give me a bullet first.”

  “What?” Elle asked.

  “You know, the saying… Nevermind.” I tried to breathe through the rough thread pulling through my skin. “D’you guys even have guns here?”

  Elle seemed to think about it before answering. “What’s a gun?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  I heard Elle stand from the table and walk away, but I couldn’t muster the energy to ask where she was going. If what she was doing was remotely necessary for whatever job she wanted to have, Kaia was going to need a lot more practice, because her hands were not steady at all. After what felt like ages, she finally grabbed the scissors and cut the thread.

  “There you go!”

  I sighed and looked over at my arm. Admittedly, it looked better than it did before when it was an open gash that was begging to be infected. “Thank you, Kaia.”

  “My pleasure,” she said sweetly.

  “Here.” Elle stepped between us, setting another one of the ornate cups in front of me. “You’re probably getting dehydrated.”

  “Thanks,” I said as she crossed back around the table. Kaia grabbed my arm again, so I drank with my left hand while she began to wrap the stitches in the gauze.

  When I set the cup down, I noticed Elle had changed. Well, not completely. She’d just removed the wrappings from her own arms, leaving them bare. Just as I’d suspected, they were fairly sculpted.

  “So what did you do? To get to Nickel Class?”

  Elle lifted an eyebrow. “I started when I was pretty young. It’s hard to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life, but I got lucky. I knew when I was six this was what I wanted to do, so dad found me a mentor. Lots of things can help you, but as a Fighter, I focus mostly on physical training. Most people by this level only train with one or two weapons, but I’m lucky to live with the town’s best metalsmith, so I specialize in five.”

  Kaia huffed under her breath as she tied off the bandage. “There.”

  I reached up to hold my hand over the bandage and nodded at her. “Thanks.”

  “Are you staying here?” She tilted her head away from her sister, a gentle smile on her lips.

  “No.” I shook my head. “I could never impose like that. Besides, I need to find a way to get home. I need to find Draco.”

  Both of the sisters blinked. Kaia spoke first. “But he wants to kill people like you!”

  “Only because he thinks they’re dangerous, but I’m not dangerous. And he’s the only one who might know how to get home, so I have to find him. Elle, you said he was north of here somewhere?”

  “In Coil,” she nodded. “That’s what he named the castle he built for himself.”

  The front door opened, and I looked over to see Solem covered in sweat and soot, Maylon following at his heels. “Kaia, is the food ready?”

  She shot up from the table and rushed to the kitchen. “Almost!”

  I nearly chuckled at the panic in her voice. Maylon and Solem both took seats at the table. Solem wiped his face with an already dirty towel on his shoulder and sighed.

  “That’s good. You shouldn’t draw attention to yourself like that. Well, except for the tattoos, but you might be able to explain those.”

  I glanced down at Elle’s clothes and nodded. “I appreciate your hospitality, all of you.”

  “What’s your plan now, exactly?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but Elle cut me off. “He wants to find Draco.”

  Solem raised his eyebrows. “You think that’s the smartest choice?”

  “It’s my only choice,” I explained. “He’s the only person who might know how I can get home. Unless you have any other suggestions, this is what I’m going with.”

  Solem hesitated, thinking over what I’d said, then nodded. “It could work, but he won’t see you like that.”

  I looked down again, assuming he meant something about my clothes.

  “No, I mean Draco won’t see anyone lower than Platinum Class. Even then, it’s almost impossible. Only Gold or Diamond Classes are granted an audience without cause.”

  I felt my heart sink. “Are you serious?”

  Solem nodded.

  I dropped my head in my hands and rubbed my face. “What the hell am I supposed to do then…?”

  Kaia brought out five bowls of some kind of soup and set them on the table. Sudden disappointment and hopelessness aside, as soon as I smelled the food, my stomach gurgled quite audibly, and I remembered that I hadn’t eaten in about a day.

  Solem chuckled at the sound of my stomach and pushed the bowl closer to me. “This one might need seconds.”

  “I made plenty,” Kaia said, sitting next to me at the table.

  I assumed from the tone in her voice that she was smiling, but I didn’t bother looking up at her. I grabbed a spoon and started digging in. I had no idea how to describe the smell or the taste of whatever I was eating, but it was good. Not that that mattered; I could have eaten just about anything at that point.

  “Father,” Kaia began. “Could Ren stay with us?”

  I blinked and looked up at her, but Solem answered before I could respond.

  “He’s welcome to stay here if h
e wants, but I don’t think he does.”

  “No, he’s right.” I shook my head quickly. “Thank you very much, but I have to find a way to get home.”

  She nodded, disappointment clear on her face. “What’s it like where you’re from?”

  I took another bite, a little irritated that I had to answer her question rather than eat, but I set the spoon down, nonetheless. “It’s nice. Well, it has problems, but I like it there. It’s less about the place and more about my life. My whole life is home in California, my friends, my school, my… even my life’s work. The way you study metalworking and herbology, I’ve spent years studying computer science. You guys don’t even have computers here.”

  I paused as I felt myself start to get emotional. I took a deep breath to calm down before looking back up at Kaia. “It’s just my home. It’s a world that makes sense to me. I really need to get back.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “Well, you should at least stay tonight. You need to be well-rested if you’re going to try to make it to Coil.”

  I nodded. “I would appreciate that.”

  Kaia’s face lit up. “He can sleep in my room!”

  Elle shot her sister a look. “No.”

  I insisted on helping Kaia clean up, but she wouldn’t let me. She didn’t let me help with dinner that night either. Solem took the afternoon to show me his forge, which admittedly was pretty cool. I watched Elle train for a bit; Kaia insisted on joining me for that. Maylon even showed me his room. His sisters were right. He definitely had a talent for art. Half of his wall was covered in paper with pencil drawings or watercolor paintings.

  Admittedly, the family was nice. I never had siblings, and I hadn’t lived with my parents since I started college, so it was nice to be in a home like that. Still, through no fault of their own, I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. I was relieved after dinner when Elle said she’d show me to the guest room. Hopefully, I could excuse myself to sleep early and have some quiet time to process the past two days.

  Elle grabbed a pair of softer cotton trousers and a tunic. They were slightly decorative, but not extravagant. Apparently, your class didn’t matter as much when you were sleeping.

  “Thank you again,” I said as she handed the clothes to me. The guest room was as small as hers, but the bed was just as extravagant. I could only picture collapsing onto it and sleeping for a week.

  She nodded. “Ren, can I ask you something?”

  I bit my lip before nodding. “Yeah, come in.”

  I sat down on the edge of the bed, which was a mistake. It was so soft. Immediately all I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. Instead, I looked at Elle as she leaned against the opposite wall, crossing her arms. Her expression looked thoughtful and serious.

  “If you’re from the same place Draco is, why go back? I’m not asking because I want you to stay, I just want to understand. I’ve heard stories about the place he came from, and they’re all… awful. He says the place is ravaged by war, and everyone is evil. He stood up to them, and they came after him. That’s why he left.”

  I blinked. “That does sound awful. We must not be from the same place. Yeah, where I’m from has some bad people, but it has pretty good ones too. I guess there’s more than just two worlds out there.”

  That made sense, right? I mean, if Solivann could exist completely separate from Earth, Draco probably came from a third universe. Or realm? What exactly was the correct term?

  “I’m glad where you’re from isn’t that bad.” Elle smiled and nodded. “I apologize for Kaia’s behavior. She’s…”

  I laughed as she rolled her eyes. “I never had brothers or sisters. I imagine they probably get on your nerves.”

  “You have no idea,” she sighed.

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “I noticed you were a lot different once we got here.”

  She blinked, cocking her head. “What do you mean?”

  “Earlier when we met, you were in such a good mood. Too good a mood, actually. We got here, and you got sort of serious.”

  “Oh.” She nodded, looking down. “Yeah. It can be stressful around them all the time. I worry about Maylon falling behind or trying to make our dad happy by giving up what he loves. I try to keep sane in the midst of Kaia’s utterly irritating personality. We don’t get along. We never have. And I’m supposed to make dad proud, so I always have to worry about… It doesn’t matter.”

  I leaned down to pull off the boots so I could lift one foot up onto the bed and lean back against the wall. “I have friends that didn’t get along with their families either. It’s normal. Kaia’s probably jealous of you. She might resent being compared to you.”

  Elle blinked. “Really?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged. “Obviously, I don’t know her well, but it’s possible.”

  “Huh.” She looked down and nodded. “I never thought about something like that.”

  “My friend Anne has an older sister who got into a top ten school. Berkeley is a great school too, but it’s not top ten. Anne always said her parents were never as proud of her as they were of her sister.”

  Elle pondered that for a second before sitting down against the wall. My initial instinct was to be a bit annoyed, because I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but I had to admit it was nice to talk to someone my age who seemed to at least try to be sympathetic to what I was going through.

  “What’s Anne like?” she asked.

  “Anne?” I smiled. “She’s beautiful. And she’s so considerate. She always makes sure everyone feels included. She can be stubborn, but only about things she really cares about. I think that’s pretty cool. Not to mention she’s just halfway to being a genius. She says the same thing about me, but I don’t think she realizes how smart she is.”

  Elle’s mouth turned up into a grin as I spoke. “She sounds nice.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “She is.”

  “Would we get along?”

  I blinked at the question. “Um… Well, maybe. I think you’d get along better with Jackie. Jackie is the friendliest person I’ve ever met. She has such a temper, but it’s funny watching her explode over stuff. She doesn’t take things as seriously as Anne does. She always finds something to be positive about. That reminds me of you.”

  “Really?” She laughed. “I take that as a compliment.”

  “Yeah, well,” I shrugged, a half-smile on my face, “you could probably learn to take things a little more seriously.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, this morning, I was afraid someone was going to find me and kill me, and you were making jokes.”

  “I was not making jokes. I was just lighthearted.”

  “It’s easy to be lighthearted when your life’s not at stake, Elle.”

  She laughed. “You would do well not to take yourself so seriously. And I can respect the situation without letting myself be petrified. That’s how you get yourself killed.”

  I was about to argue when I paused to process what she said. “Hm. I’ll think about it.”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “Just do that before it’s too late.”

  I nodded, and before I could say anything else, Elle was standing.

  “You’re probably exhausted. I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  “Oh, yeah. Um, thank you for everything. You didn’t have to come to find me this morning, but I… I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t.”

  Elle smiled as she walked over to the door. She turned to face me in the doorway, and for a second, it looked like she was going to say something, but then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.

  6

  The next morning, I awoke to banging on the door. I shot up, not even a spare moment to hope it had all been a bad dream. As I got out of bed, the softest bed I think I’d ever slept in, Elle pushed open the door.

  “Ren, we have a problem.”

  She turned and left down the hallway. I ran out of the room to follow her, but
she was just standing still at the top of the staircase.

  “Elle, what--?”

  “Shh,” she hissed, keeping her eyes on the sliver of the first floor that she could see. I walked up beside her, but she stretched her arm out to keep me back so that I couldn’t see anything downstairs.

  I tried to listen for whatever was going on. I could hear voices downstairs. One of them belonged to Solem, but the others were strange. I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  Elle and I stood in complete silence for about three minutes before the voices downstairs faded, and I heard the door shut. I waited for Elle to say something or move, but she didn’t budge. I waited for Solem to come to say something, but there was nothing.

  “What’s going--?”

  “Shh,” she repeated.

  After another minute, the door opened and closed one more time. Finally, I heard Solem’s voice. “They’re gone.”

  Elle rushed down the stairs and gestured for me to follow her. When we got to the living room, Kaia was sitting at the table with Maylon, and Solem was next to the door. Elle stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and I stood next to her, looking amongst everyone in the room. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone turned you in already,” Solem said dryly. “Draco’s soldiers are here.”

  “Here?” Nausea immediately flooded my stomach, and I swallowed hard. “Do they know I’m--?”

  “No,” he held up his hand, “I told him we hadn’t seen anything, said Elle saw some blood in the hay shed on the south road, but that was all. They said they’d look there.”

  “Has anyone seen me?” I asked.

  Solem shook his head. “I don’t think so, not since Kistro nearly sliced your arm off. But you know what this means, don’t you?”

  I nodded as a lump formed in my throat.

  “You can’t make him leave!” Kaia cried, jumping up from the table.

  Solem shook his head to silence her. Besides, he wasn’t making me. I needed to leave. Still, it would have been nice to have at least another day to try to figure out a plan.

  “We aren’t gonna throw you to the wolves,” he assured me as he crossed over to the table. “We should have two or three hours where you could sneak out safely. Elle, get him some more clothes. I still have my old Nickel clothes from when I was your age. They’re in the back of my closet.”