Worlds' Strongest

by Simon Archer

  Elle smiled back, her traditionally warm and happy expression bringing me at least a little bit of comfort, before returning to her food.

  There was a bit of silence as we all continued eating, soaking in the previous conversation while simultaneously trying not to be overwhelmed by it. August was the one to break the silence.

  “I’d like to hear a little more about the day in the woods,” he said with a hearty tone. I figured he was probably just trying to change the subject and take my mind off of my potential death by firing squad.

  “How often are you in those woods, uncle?” Elle asked.

  “Fetter Woods?” August rubbed his chin. “Never, unless I’m traveling, and I haven’t done that in a long time. There’s no other reason to pass through.”

  “What about hunting?” I asked.

  “No.” He shook his head, laughing at the mere thought. “Fetter Woods has nothing worth hunting. There are squirrels, rabbits, and birds, but we’ve got all those in Osai to the east, and that’s a ten-minute walk. The only other animals in Fetter are wolves, and they’re usually not worth hunting. It’s dangerous, and if you manage to catch one, there’s hardly any meat on them. What you do get is going to be tough. Fetter’s a beautiful forest for traveling, but no one would hunt there.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Elle muttered.

  “What?” August smiled. “Are you saying you ran into hunters in those woods?”

  “I did.” I nodded. “I messed with one of their traps by accident. It didn’t seem like it was meant for a small animal, though.”

  “Traps? Trappers? How many were there?” August squinted as though he could see them.

  “Three. Big guys.” I shrugged. “They all kept their hair tied back, but it seemed long. All hair here seems long to me, though.”

  “Oh, dammit,” he rolled his eyes. “Those idiots went all the way to Fetter? For wolves?”

  “You know them?” Elle asked.

  “Unfortunately!” He sighed. His exasperation was admittedly a bit entertaining. “They make shit traps, drink too much, and bully children when they’re not busy doing the first two. Idiots who never grew up. They’re harmless aside from being dangerously stupid.”

  “They weren’t harmless the other day,” I muttered.

  “What?” August scoffed in disbelief. “They threatened you?”

  “Um, yeah,” I shrugged. “For messing with their traps, they said they’d teach me a lesson.”

  “And then what, they tried to cut you, and nothing happened?”

  “No, actually. Elle and I saw a hunter earlier that day-”

  “A real hunter!” She rolled her eyes. “Not a trapper. A huntress, actually.”

  August seemed to sit up straighter, intrigued by this part of the story.

  “When we saw her earlier,” I continued, “she was hunting something we couldn’t see, but it was huge. It roared, and the ground shook.”

  “I couldn’t sense it,” Elle said softly, almost like she was embarrassed. “But it got pretty close to us. She created an energy arrow right there, in the middle of the forest-”

  “Hold on.” August shook his head. “Say that one more time.”

  Elle nodded. “We were in the middle of the forest. There was no window anywhere, and she formed an energy arrow right there.”

  He stared at us with wide eyes and an open jaw. It was funny to me where the line of what was impressive was for them. It all seemed like magic to me.

  “When I ran into the hunters later,” I explained, “she showed up and chased them off. She had a, um, a vision that Elle was in danger from something. So she gave me a horse, so I could find her.”

  “Where’s the horse?” August asked quickly as though he thought the animal was waiting on us somewhere.

  “As soon as I got off of it, it disappeared,” I explained, hoping it made more sense to the Platinum Class fighter than it did to me.

  I was wrong.

  “You’ve got to be pulling my leg.” He shook his head slowly in sheer disbelief at the whole thing. “This is a joke, Elle, right?”

  She shook her head in response. “No, uncle. I swear. I watched the horse disappear when Ren stepped off of it.”

  “She had to be Gold Class, but even then, I’ve never heard of some of those things.” He let out a soft laugh in shock at the whole thing. “The manifestation of a horse, the energy without a window… I’d give anything to know what she was hunting. She certainly wasn’t wasting her time with wolves.”

  A part of me considered telling him more. Then again, I was worried that the whole thing seemed a little too unbelievable already, and the way the huntress had described the vicious herald, I was worried that would push the envelope too far. Aside from that, however, I wasn’t sure if she wanted anyone to know. If there was a chance she needed more time to catch the creature, I didn’t want to be responsible for accidentally sending a mob into the woods to catch it before her. I hadn’t even told Elle what she said she’d been hunting.

  “Did she say anything?” Elle asked.

  “What?” I blinked, distracted by my own thoughts.

  “The huntress?” she pressed with a tilt of her head. “Did she mention anything else, or did she just scare off the trappers, hand you a horse, and send you on your way?”

  “Oh.” I shook my head to focus. “No, she said the hunters, the trappers had been interfering with her work, and she was glad they were gone. That was all.”

  “I’d like to know what they thought they were going to catch,” August muttered. “Maybe I’ll stop by an old friend’s tonight and see if I can find out. Ah, hell, probably not even worth it. It’s just as likely they wanted to catch a wolf just so they could say they’d done it.”

  His general disdain for these trappers was admittedly hilarious. Elle and I both laughed while he stood, grabbing his empty plate.

  “I think I will pay someone a visit,” he nodded, “if the two of you will clean up.”

  “Of course, uncle.”

  Elle stood to start cleaning, and I followed her to a sink where she began running water to wash dishes. It was a little funny. That was the kind of thing you didn’t think much about until it was in your face. The concept itself seemed so modern, so the fact that this world, which seemed almost medieval to me, had running water was almost as surprising as the fact that people could manipulate energy with their minds and create weapons from light. Almost.

  14

  Later that night, I laid on my bed in my pajamas, trying to recover from the physical strain of the day. Elle wanted to spend some time working on her meditation or energy or whatever it was called, so I got some time to myself.

  Honestly, I didn’t know what to do with it. Back home, I’d be working on my capstone, playing a video game, or hanging out with my friends. It occurred to me since arriving in Solivann that I didn’t ever spend much time alone with nothing distracting me from my thoughts.

  Honestly? I wasn’t a fan.

  When Elle finally came through the door, I was relieved. Even having another person around made sitting in silence easier.

  “What do you normally do?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbow.

  “What?” She blinked as she sat on her bed to remove her shoes.

  “When you don’t have to train or cook or study, what do you do? How do you spend your time?”

  She giggled softly. “You seem so serious.”

  “Oh.” I paused before letting myself smile. “I guess so.”

  I laid back down, staring up at the ceiling with one arm behind my head as she answered.

  “You can go to the tavern, visit with friends and family, play cards. You could read a book. You don’t have to just lie there like an invalid.”

  “Fair point,” I shrugged. “How was your meditation?”

  She sighed and came over to sit on the end of my bed. When the mattress shifted, I sat up to face her.

  “It was fine.” But something in her
tone seemed… Unfulfilled?

  “You sound very convincing,” I said with a hearty tone of sarcasm.

  She laughed and shook her head. “I know, I know. Training can just be frustrating sometimes. Progress never comes as fast as you want it to.”

  “What? This coming from you, the Nickel Class superstar?” I tilted my head. “August says you’re almost twice as advanced as others your age.”

  “Yeah,” she shrugged, “I just want to get better, I guess. Or… I don’t know.”

  “Or?” I frowned.

  Elle pulled one leg up on the bed and wrapped her arms around it. “It’s hard to explain.”

  I smiled and grabbed one of the pillows on the bed, scooting back, and resting it between my back and the wall.

  “Well, I’m listening.”

  Slowly, a smile pulled at her lips. She looked down and brushed her hair away from her face.

  “I’m going to train, and advance, and then… nothing. I can fight in show tournaments and win money. That’s all.” Elle blew out a sigh. “Unless I want to move to Coil and join Draco’s soldiers, but that never interested me. Coming here and training with August is practically a dream come true. I got to see more than just the houses and trees in Eon, I’m working with a master, but if that’s the case, then why do I feel so…?” She trailed off, waving her hand in a noncommittal gesture as she rested her chin against her knee.

  “Is it different from what you expected?” I asked.

  “Not quite. It’s almost exactly what I thought it would be.” A faint frown graced her lips. “It just feels different. That’s almost the worst part. I’m just realizing... I don’t know. It’s like I don’t fit into the world like I thought I did. I know that sounds stupid.”

  “No,” I shook my head quickly. “It doesn’t.”

  “Well, it feels stupid,” she sighed. “This is what I’ve spent my whole life doing. If I don’t do this, I wouldn’t know what to do. I don’t know!”

  She groaned and dropped her forehead to her knee, clasping her hands behind her head. I could tell this was causing her a lot of grief. Something about the whole situation actually felt familiar. It reminded me of one night Anne and Tom had gotten into a huge fight. Anne and Jacki came to my apartment, and Anne couldn’t stop crying. I remembered feeling this pressure in my chest, an overwhelming urge to hold her until she stopped crying, until everything was alright.

  I had a similar feeling now.

  “Um,” I bit my lip, “is this something you want my input on? Or should I just be listening?”

  Elle glanced up and blinked, a slightly shocked expression on her face, like no one had ever asked her that before. Maybe no one had. I made a habit out of it after being scolded by Anne one too many times for ‘trying to help’ when that was apparently the wrong response.

  “If you have input to give, I’d love to hear it.” Elle smiled warmly, chuckling under her breath, and I smiled back, hoping to give her as much encouragement as possible.

  “I know I don’t know that much about Solivann, so I can’t pretend to know how scary that has to feel,” I began. “I don’t know how to fix it or what you’re supposed to do, but I know I’d be dead by now if it weren’t for you.”

  She burst into a fit of laughter, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

  “I mean it, Elle! Really, I wouldn’t have known what to do. I would have kept pissing people off until someone killed me. I certainly wouldn’t be here. And I wouldn’t be able to do any of the stuff I’ve learned the past few days. I can do that because of you.”

  “You can’t do much,” Elle teased and smiled, biting her bottom lip as she looked over at me.

  “I can do a little!” I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “I can do this!”

  I grabbed the other pillow and went to hit her with it. She flinched and laughed before blocking it, grabbing my wrist, and twisting the pillow from my hand before hitting me with it herself.

  “Ow, ow, ow! No fair!” I pulled the other pillow out from behind my back and went to hit her with it.

  “Oh, please!” She laughed. “Maylon could do better than that.”

  “Oh yeah? You sure about that?” I smirked, sitting forward.

  She jumped off the bed and backed into the center of the room, holding out her arms, pillow in hand.

  “Come on,” Elle challenged. “Show me what you’ve got.”

  I rolled my eyes as I stood, holding my pillow by the corners like a shield. Elle raised one of her eyebrows and gave me a confident grin.

  “Ready?”

  “Do your worst.” I winked at her and swung the pillow at her head.

  Of course, she ducked, but she went for the obvious recourse and aimed for my torso. I jumped back out of the way and went to swing the pillow again. She swung at the same time, and the pillows connected in midair. She was distracted by her own laughter, so I used the opening to swing for her legs. She gasped and jumped back when the pillow hit her.

  “Oh, you’re dead, California.” Elle swung her pillow again, and I made a break for the other side of the room, her weapon barely grazing my arm. I went to hit her in the back, but in a nearly impossibly swift movement, she turned and grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip.

  Elle pulled me close by my wrist, my chest slamming into her shoulder. For a split second, we were face to face, and my focus on the game dissolved into thin air. Before I had any time to get too distracted, however, she began to beat me with the pillow.

  “Noooo, no, no, no!” I held up my pillow with my free hand, trying to block her attack and back away.

  She was laughing just a little too hard as she assaulted me, letting her grip on my wrist loosen just enough so that I could wrench it away and back up to safety. She leaned against my bed for support when she couldn’t stop laughing, leaving a perfect opening for my kill shot.

  I pulled my pillow up to my chest and ran at her like a battering ram. She realized what I was doing a second too late and tried fumbling with her pillow to shield herself, but it didn’t work.

  I crashed into her. We both fell back onto the bed, and I landed on top of her. The two of us spiraled into a fit of laughter. For a second, she squirmed as though she was trying to push me off, but she couldn’t get the arm free from underneath me. I shook my head before resting it over her shoulder.

  The laughter slowed until we both managed to catch our breath.

  “I won,” I smirked, lifting my head back up to look down at her.

  She rolled her eyes and refused to look at mine, but the smile on her lips betrayed her.

  “Fine. You won.”

  “Ha!”

  We both chuckled again. She finally shifted her gaze to meet mine, and her smile seemed to widen a bit when she did. I could have sworn I felt mine do the same.

  My pillow had landed between us, and I was still holding it. I tried to let go and slide my hands out so I could get off from her when my stomach tensed, and a wave of heat seemed to ripple through my body. It took me a second to realize that when we fell, my hands landed on her breasts.

  Unsure of what the best thing to do was, I cleared my throat and slid my hands out from under the pillow, praying she didn’t see it as a sleazy move. As soon as my hands were free, I pushed myself up and got off of her.

  Either Elle didn’t notice, or she was gracious enough to pretend nothing happened. She sat up, holding the pillow against her stomach as she laughed again. “Um… Thank you, Ren.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled nervously at her. “Hey, my pleasure. Anytime you want someone to beat your ass with a pillow, let me know.”

  She chuckled and stood, tossing the pillow at my face. “If you’re done roping me into fights, I’m going to change out of my training clothes.”

  “Oh,” I muttered, feeling my mouth go a bit dry. “Y-yeah. Go for it.”

  She smiled at me before walking over to her dresser. I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that she knew what was on my mind. If
she did, would she be mad or disgusted? Or was there a chance she felt the same?

  I stood and went to put the pillows back and smooth my blanket over, trying to find tasks to keep me busy, so I wasn’t just watching her change.

  “Oh!” She sighed. I looked over to see her with her pants already down and her arms and shirt halfway over her head. “Ren, could you help me?”

  “Hm? Uhm, yeah. What’s wrong?” I tried not to sound too eager as I walked over to her.

  “I don’t know,” she muttered, turning her back to me. “It’s stuck?”

  One of the ways to keep fabric like her shirt from fraying apparently was melting the edges. I looked closer and noticed the edge of the embroidery had gotten caught on the gauze around her chest.

  “Here,” I said softly, pulling the thread loose from the cotton. I took a deep breath and pulled up on her shirt, helping it over her head.

  She turned to face me with a smile, though something about it seemed shy compared to her usual carefree grin. “Thanks.”

  My lips parted to say something, but I couldn’t seem to think of anything that didn’t make me sound like an idiot. Instead, I simply smiled and nodded, hoping I didn’t look as nervous as I felt.

  “Um…” Elle paused, looking up at me. We were standing just inches apart, but she didn’t step back. “Would you help me? With the binding?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded quickly. I looked down, paying attention to it for the first time. I’d spent the past few days trying not to stare anytime she had her shirt off. It was the same material she would wrap her arms with, wrapped around her chest several times, tied in a knot.

  It wasn’t lost on me that she didn’t need my help in the slightest.

  I started untying the knot, my hands fumbling a bit more than usual. She waited with her arms down to the side. When I finally got it undone, she turned around slowly, so her back was to me once again, reaching back and pulling her hair in front of her shoulder. I felt a shiver run down my spine and an unmistakable increase in the blood flow between my legs.