Archeological evidence points to the simple, unglamorous fact that the ancient Vinleaf were human. Vinleaf beds, chairs, tables, tableware, and other everyday items are of a size that is appropriate for humans. The few surviving giant ceremonial swords and bows show no sign of ever being used. The widespread depictions of ancient Vinleaf heroes as winged, brightly-haloed giants can be attributed to mere flights of fancy by later artists.

—Excerpt from Dr. Noah Skaarup’s “Verden History: From the Ancient Vinleaf to the Fifth Great War”

Sariel

Back in the day, when the hero Ulf the Swift-Footed fought the monster of Heorot, the bards composed a 3,000-line epic poem about it. They made sure to include detailed descriptions of the monster’s fangs, claws, and pale blue leathery skin that was impervious to arrows. So many strong warriors fell to its might that it was given the epithet “Shield-breaker” and “Slayer of Heroes.”

Most scholars are in agreement that the monster of Heorot was an armored draugr, perhaps one that had mutated to giant size.

But even a regular-sized armored draugr must have been terrifying to an ancient human warrior. Imagine it: the monster’s fangs dripping with venom, razor-sharp claws, and tough armored hide versus a human’s wooden shield, iron sword, and soft skin.

Earlier, a few rookies with a C-98 easily dispatched a dozen armored draugr in a few minutes.

Such are the times we live in.

All of the mountains have been climbed. All the far-flung reaches of the deserts and swamps have been mapped out by explorers. All the monsters have been identified and classified in the monsterpedia, with handy tips on their special characteristics and the best way to kill or capture them.

Nonetheless, there are still a few surprises left in this world.

Take this one right here, for example. A hetotzal, previously thought extinct. It’s a big snake that’s extremely fast and has a special skill that grants it invisibility. Normal hetotzal were said to be “ten man-heights” which is maybe around sixty feet. This one must be a mutant since it’s easily double that.

The boys in the helicopters couldn’t make a dent on the thing’s diamond-hard hide and when it came close to downing one of the helicopters, they called us in.

I live for this. I think Seraph does, too. Uriel would never admit it, but he does like fighting monsters.

People, even other ELs, seem to think that Seraph is the strongest of us. That’s not true.

Uriel is the strongest of us by far if you’re talking about physical strength. That’s a fact. The EL Lab researchers test our abilities regularly and Uriel always scores highest. He can punch harder, lift heavier weights, and cut with more force than either me or Seraph.

I’m the strongest of us by far if you’re talking about magic. Those two can’t even compare to my casting speed and spell capacity. Not only can I cast more spells faster than Uriel and Seraph, my spells are also 20% more effective than theirs.

Seraph isn’t the strongest. He’s the deadliest.

The three of us are fighting the same monster, but the damage Uriel and I have done to the hetotzal combined isn’t even half of Seraph’s.

He came in from behind the monster to get the first hits on it, dealing triple damage since the monster didn’t have its guard up, unlike now. None of Seraph’s sword strikes have missed, but the hetotzal hasn’t scratched him even once. Each of Seraph’s graceful moves is too fast for an unenhanced human to see and they all land perfectly. He’s been using a myriad of strategies that could only be learned through extensive combat experience. He knows how to make use of blind spots. He’s mastered the skill of timing a strike when the monster is in the middle of its own attack. He maneuvered the monster around in such a way that the sun was in its eyes. He’s not fallen into a predictable rhythm and even I can’t tell when or where he’ll launch the next attack.

I wonder if I’ll ever be that good.

The men are standing back from the fight, ready to jump in if they’re needed which, of course, they won’t be. I can hear their inane chatter from here.

“Is it ‘he-to-chal’ or ‘he-to-zal’?”

“Who cares.”

“Oi, what’s wrong with him?

“Pfft, he asked this girl in town for a date and she turned him down flat!”

“When will you learn not to aim too high? She’s clearly out of your league.”

“Which girl?”

“Her name’s Astria.”

Suddenly, Seraph stopped in his tracks and turned towards the backup team. He barely managed to dodge the hetotzal’s next attack then, inexplicably, motioned to me and Uriel to continue the fight while he ran towards the men.

What’s this?

Seraph had moved so fast that the men hadn’t noticed he was coming. I kept on glancing in his direction to check what was happening despite having my hands full with the hetotzal fight.

The soldiers gasped as one when Seraph suddenly appeared in their midst. The Commander glared at one unlucky soldier and said, “What was her name?”

“Er, it’s, it’s A- Asta. I mean, Astria,” the soldier stammered out.

“Are you sure? Is it Asta or Astria or something else?” Seraph turned to another soldier. “What was her name?”

“Uh, sir,” the first soldier spoke up. He cleared his throat and said, “Sorry, about that. It’s Astria.”

“Are you sure?” Seraph asked, his tone urgent. His golden eyes were glowing with a fierce light.

“Yes, I grew up here. It’s Astria.”

I didn’t know whether I should laugh or not when Seraph came back, his perfect features marred by a hangdog expression.

“Uh, what was that?” said Uriel as he dodged the hetotzal’s bite attack.

“I thought they were talking about someone I know,” said Seraph.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter any longer.

“She can’t possibly be living around here. There haven’t been any reports of pillars of fire or flying wheels full of eyes.” I made sure to say this under my breath, soft enough so that the backup team wouldn’t hear me.

“Shut up,” said Seraph.

“You should check it out anyway. Try to lure her to you with the candy,” I said.

Seraph said nothing. The hetotzal’s scales had been weakened enough that one last cut from Seraph’s sword made its head fly off.

Afterward, Seraph interrogated the soldier who knew this “Astria” then not-so-subtly tried to make everyone rush through the monster corpse cleanup. I joked with the men and took my own sweet time, claiming the need to use a few spells to check if it was really dead until I thought I had delayed him enough.

The nearest village was just a cluster of two dozen houses built near a stone quarry. Seraph quickly found the girl’s house and knocked on the door. I would have gone with him, but Uriel held me back by force, twisting my arm and dragging me away until Seraph had disappeared inside the house. He emerged five minutes later, his face impassive.

“Not her?” I asked. Seraph just shook his head.

The three of us were silent on the long helicopter ride back to Kraej City. That’s because Uriel and I were being tactful while Seraph…

His poor little heart had obviously been broken.

LinMeili

• Hang in there, Ely! You'll see her one day.
• I wasn't sure if I should capitalize "hetozal" and "draugr" at first, but I think common nouns shouldn't be capitalized so this should be the right way to do it.
• BTW, Sariel thinks he's the stronger magician, but we learned from an earlier chapter that Seraphiel has a habit of hiding his strength.
• The hetotzal might seem ridiculously big, but there were dinosaurs on Earth bigger than that. I researched it!
• The chapter title is from Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan - "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
• Thanks for reading!