“Where…am I?” Anala groaned. A minute ago, she had been fighting monsters on the outskirts of one of the frontier towns, desperately training in preparation for the upcoming war, and now she was…lying on a cold stone floor.

“Wondering the same.” A gruff voice to her right said. “I’m assuming you got suddenly teleported here too?”

Anala sat up and turned to see a dwarven man climbing to his feet. “Name’s Raesn.” He said. “And who are all of you?”

All of you? Anala looked around and saw that there were indeed two more people, an elf woman and a human man. “I’m Anala.” She said. “And, yeah, I was teleported here without any warning, I was fighting monsters and then…”

She trailed off, seeing understanding in the remaining people’s eyes.

“Same.” The human said. “Ava and I were training and just…were here suddenly.” The elf, Ava, nudged him, and he started a bit. “Right, I’m Bruce, sorry.”

“Right, so…anyone have any clue why we’re here?” Anala asked. “Because I don’t even know where here is, much less what I’m doing here.”

“No idea.” Ava said.

“And I have no answers either.” Raesn added. “Though, something about this place is giving me the creeps. I…don’t know what, but it just feels…off.”

“That’s because you’re in my dungeon.” A new voice said. “Everything here is made using dungeon tools, so the stonework should be much more…uniform than you’re used to.”

Anala whipped around to find the High Arbiter herself standing there. She hadn’t been there a moment before, and Anala hadn’t heard any doors open or footsteps approaching, felt any magic, or…anything. It was like the High Arbiter had been standing there the entire time and Anala just…hadn’t noticed until now.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that is true.” Raesn said. “So, am I to assume you’re the one that brought us here? To what do we owe the pleasure?”

The High Arbiter nodded. “That is correct. I’m here to offer assistance in your fight against the Queen of Monsters.”

Anala frowned. “I thought you said you weren’t doing that?”

“Publicly, no.” The High Arbiter said. “But, as things currently stand, I don’t have much confidence in the ability of the people to ward off the Queen of Monsters. I cannot give public aid without becoming a crutch on which people will lean the moment any dangerous thing comes, but I do not want to see my work with making Haven more accessible go to waste.”

“So…what are you going to be doing?” Bruce asked. “And why us? Why not the other Perfect Chimeras? Surely they would be better suited for this task.”

The High Arbiter shook her head. “No. The Queen of Monsters has prepared extensively for conflict with them, so I’m afraid they will not be of much assistance in this fight. Furthermore, my assistance is not something that can be easily withdrawn. Were I to help them now, I fear it would have great ramifications in the future.

“But, more than even that, I wish to show people that they are capable of more than just hiding in their fortified cities. Once the Queen of Monsters is defeated, monster activity will settle down for a time, and I want people to feel free to expand, not to cower in terror of the things outside their walls.

“So, I decided to choose people from among the general population to extend my offer to. You four were chosen for your strength of character, and as representatives of both Earth and Haven. Should you accept my aid, I will grant you a powerful ability as well as fine equipment, in return for leading the charge against the Queen of Monsters.

“In her arrogance, she has written off ‘normal’ people as insignificant and unable to hinder her plans. I want to show her and everyone else that that is not the case. Do you accept?”

“I’ll do it.” Anala said. She barely even had to consider that; she had been planning to fight on the front lines anyway, and she would take any help she could get.

“Me as well.” Raesn said. “I’m not about to let my work go to waste, either.”

“We were planning on helping anyway.” Ava said. “We’ll do it.”

The High Arbiter smiled. “Very well, then.” She turned to the side and there were four tables there that most definitely had not been there moments before. “These tables hold equipment that will help you in your quest. The moment you pick them up they will be bound to you, and no one else will be able to use them.”

She motioned to the first table. “For Ava, I have a pair of swords, one enchanted with deep cold and the other with scorching heat. In addition to dealing extra cold or fire damage, anything struck by one will take much more damage from the other for quite some time. There is also a set of leather armor, designed to aid your stealth while providing excellent protection.”

She walked over to the next table. “For Bruce, I have a set of robes and a staff. The staff vastly increases damage dealt with magic and reduces Mana consumption, while the robes increase your Mana regeneration and automatically remove the need for you to chant your spells while not increasing the Mana cost.

“For Raesn, I have something slightly…different. I have decent armor and a good spear, yes, but I also have a special set of tools. They will allow you to manifest some of my ability to create…otherworldly material, which can be used to great effect in many situations.”

She stopped at the last table. “And, finally, for Anala, I have plate armor and a tower shield I’ve made myself. They’re far stronger than anything you’re liable to see for a long time and lighter, too. Furthermore, I have a sword enchanted with my justice, which deals massive damage against those who have killed another.”

She stopped, looking carefully at the people before her. “I am now going to give you Blessings. Each of you will receive a different one, but they all will share the benefit of doubling any experience you earn, allowing you to grow more rapidly than you should.”

She walked from the tables to the group, then placed a hand on Ava’s forehead. “I bestow upon you the Blessing of Stealth, allowing you the ability to render yourself unnoticeable by almost anything at the cost of a large amount of your Stamina and Mana while you are doing so.”

She placed another on Bruce’s forehead. “For you, the Blessing of Understanding, allowing you to intuitively know how magic you see works, and allowing you to replicate it with no extra effort involved.”

She withdrew her hands before walking over to Anala and placing a hand on her forehead as well. “For you, the Blessing of the Protector, which increases your stats while you are protecting another.”

There was the sensation of something filling Anala, a sort of electric feeling unlike anything she had felt before. And then it was gone, leaving her feeling energized and stronger than she had just a moment earlier.

The High Arbiter took her hand away and walked over to Raesn, placing a hand on his forehead. “And, for you, the Blessing of the Artisan, which lets you instantly understand the properties of materials and guides you on how to make the most out of anything you make with them.”

She stepped backwards, giving the group a smile as she surveyed them. “I will leave you now. In ten minutes, you will be teleported back to where you came from, so please finish what you need to do by then.”

She paused, expression growing serious once again. “I do not think this needs to be said, but you are, under no circumstances, to tell others of my involvement. Should you do so, I will be forced to deal with this breach of information myself. And, should it be severe enough…” She trailed off, locking gaze with everyone in turn, an intense pressure pervading the room. “Well, if it’s that bad, I will have to take drastic measures. Do not disappoint me.”

And with that, she was…gone, like she had never been there at all. Anala let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and looked at the others. “So…” she began, “do you all want to work together? I think we’ll be more effective if we work with people we don’t have to explain all our new stuff to.”

Raesn nodded. “I was thinking the same myself.” He said, moving towards the table that held his stuff. “We’ll have to be careful about who we show our abilities to. If worst comes to worst, we may find ourselves hounded by people who are after our power. I don’t want that to happen.”

Ava and Bruce shared a look, then Bruce nodded. “We’re in.” He said. “As you may have gathered from the things given to us, I’m a mage, and Ava’s a scout.”

“Tank.” Anala replied, walking over and inspecting the gear the High Arbiter had provided her with. “Damage dealer too, but mostly a tank.”

“And I do a bit of everything.” Raesn said, hefting his spear experimentally. “I make a lot of trinkets to help in combat, too, so I’m sure with these new tools I can make some really good stuff for us. Probably not as good as this, but I wouldn’t expect to be able to.”

Anala grabbed the set of armor, and to her surprise it was no heavier than a t-shirt. It also felt…flexible, and a quick test revealed that it moved like it was made out of something closer to cloth than metal.

She put it on, which was…like putting on a wetsuit, zipper and all, then gave the breastplate an experimental punch. The armor stiffened, and her blow was stopped in its tracks. She didn’t hurt like she should have after punching something hard, either. The gauntlet on her hand seemed to absorb the impact, making it feel like she had done nothing more than strike a somewhat firm pillow.

“This is good stuff.” She muttered. “I wonder what it’s made out of.”

“Some eldritch compound, by the looks of it.” Raesn said. “All of the gear she’s given us is. That’s what the Blessing is telling me, anyway, I’ve never heard of or worked with anything like it, though, so I’m inclined to agree.”

“Well, if that’s what it takes to stop the Queen of Monsters,” Anala said, giving her sword a few test swings, “then I’m all for it. So, where do we want to meet up once we get out of here?”

“Probably one of the frontier towns.” Bruce said. “Ava and I are in Northtown, we’ll probably be about an hour outside of town once we get teleported back.”

“I was working on some parts in my workshop, so I can just head to Northtown immediately and wait for everyone at the portal.” Raesn said.

“I’m not that far out of my town either.” Anala said. “I was just getting started for the day. I’ll…meet you all at the Northtown portal, then.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Ava said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone, giving everyone a look. “You two have phones, right? We should exchange contact info so we can coordinate.”

Anala slipped a hand towards her pocket, realized she was wearing the armor, then slipped an arm up a sleeve so she could reach down and grab her phone. And then she realized she didn’t have an easy way to get it out of the armor, so she ended up sort of slipping it through the neck hole, which, fortunately, was able to stretch and let the phone out.

Blushing slightly, she nodded. “Uh, yeah. Right here.”

Raesn gave her an amused look. “I have one as well.”

Ava nodded. “Alright, here’s my number…”

Bruce shook his head, taking stock of his new surroundings. He was back where he had been before the High Arbiter had teleported him and Ava away. That was to say, he was in a field with Ava, the corpse of a slain beast at their feet.

“Shall we be going, then?” Ava said, giving him a nod. “I think it’s best we meet up with the others as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.” Bruce replied, and the two began their walk back. It was uneventful for the first forty-five minutes, but they ran into a snag just a short distance from the town.

“Ah, Bruce, Ava, how are you two doing?” Anna asked, taking her eyes off of the monster her dogs were fighting and giving the two a wave.

“Uh, pretty well, I guess.” Bruce replied. “Are you sure you should be talking to me and not…fighting the monsters?”

Anna shrugged. “Nah, the dogs have it covered.” She said. “And Jameson and Eve have finished off everything else in the area, so it’s all good.”

“Right. Well…we should get going, I think.” Bruce said. “Can’t be affording to waste time, what with everything that’s going on.”

Anna smiled. “C’mon, you can afford to chat for a couple of minutes. Is that new gear I see? Where’d you get it?”

Bruce shifted uncomfortably. “A gift from a friend. She works with a bunch of armorers and hooked Ava and I up.”

“No kidding? Any chance you could introduce me? The three of us have been needing new stuff for a while, and it’s been a huge problem finding equipment with how much people are preparing for this war.”

“No, she’s super busy.” Ava said. “We were only able to get this because it was already being made before the Queen of Monsters made her announcement.”

“Ah, really? That’s a shame.” Anna replied.

“Oh, it’s Bruce and Ava, how are you two doing?” Jameson asked, totally ignoring the monster the dogs were fighting and walking over to the two. “Is that new gear?”

“Yes, and no we can’t help you get new stuff.” Bruce said. “We were just lucky with the timing.”

“Shame.” Jameson replied. “Anyway, the three of us are training, care to join us?”

Ava sighed. “As much as we’d love to, we have an appointment back in town and need to be getting back.”

“Ah well, I suppose we shouldn’t keep you –” Jameson whirled around, the monster that the dogs had been fighting had broken through them and was leaping at Jameson, claws outstretched. He raised a hand, and a bolt of fire leapt out of his hand at the monster. It hit the monster and sent it tumbling backwards, its lifeless body hitting the ground a moment later.

“Ah, sorry.” Anna said. “Seemed they didn’t quite have it as handled as I thought.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jameson replied. “I thought they had it too.”

Bruce frowned. That…was not low level magic. It looked like low level magic, and he would have thought it was, but his new Blessing was telling him that it was actually a very high leveled magic, compressed and altered to make it look like just a normal bolt of fire.

That…was very strange. He had only known Jameson for a couple of months, but Jameson hadn’t been more than a pretty average mage, C rank at most. But to use magic of that level without a chant indicated that his Mana pool and skill were closer to that of an A rank.

“Anyway,” Jameson continued, oblivious to Bruce’s thoughts, “we’ll leave you to it. Have a good one!”

Bruce and Ava bid their farewells, and once they were safely out of earshot, Bruce relayed his findings to Ava.

“Are you sure?” Ava asked, frowning. “That really doesn’t seem right. Why would they be hiding something like that?”

Bruce nodded. “Positive. This Blessing is telling me exactly what it was and how to do it, and that’s not something a mage of the skill he’s pretending to have could do. I don’t know if the rest of his party knows, but he’s definitely hiding something.”

Ava sighed. “I suppose we’ll just need to keep an eye on him if we’re around, then. It’s weird, but we don’t have time to be worrying about it.”

“You’re right.” Bruce said, shaking his head. “It’s just…well, weird.”

Fortunately, there were no other complications on their way to the portal. They met up with Anala and Raesn, and from there the group teleported away, off to train in the most inhospitable of the frontier towns, creatively named Westtown. They needed to get themselves strong as fast as possible, and with their new abilities they could take on the monsters there without much trouble. And…if they couldn’t, then they wouldn’t be able to defeat the Queen of Monsters.

And that was something they couldn’t afford. So, they began training, harder than they ever had before. Time was limited, and they were, potentially, the last hope for the people of Haven.

Fighterman481

And I suppose it's time to kick things off. Uhhhh....I don't really have much to say, so...let's talk about the frontier town names?

I was really struggling for names, so I decided that there's no reason I have to have good names when there are cities named things like this IRL, so I just went with Northtown and Westtown.

Anyway, that's...all I really have to say, next time we're going to be getting into...probably a bit of a timeskip until the war starts in earnest, so look forward to it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!