The faint creak of the earth groaning announced the coming of the slab of earth that erupted by his feet. A plume of dust obscured his vision and dirt filled his nostrils in its wake, and yet Ash still twisted away from the attack largely unharmed. Of course, the Earthen Shield had grazed past his chest and if he hadn’t been wearing his newly earned leather armour, he’d likely have been dealt a nasty bruise by the so-called defensive spell. As it was, he’d grimaced through the pressure and nimbly fell to a roll, jumped back onto his feet before he loosed a Fire Bolt at Myr. 

The woman shifted to block, but Ash had already taken off into a dead-sprint following the edges of the clearing. He didn’t care if the spell had hit. It wouldn’t matter even if it had. 

Myr was tough, and unlike the beasts, a single Fire Bolt at long range was unlikely to break through her formidable defences. Her constitution nexus lived up to its name and he had learned through trial and error that earth was defensively a good match-up again fire. Still, the attack would keep her on her toes until he could bring her down later. 

If he lasted that long, that is.  

Ash swore and danced out of the way of an upwelling of earth that nearly tripped him up before he was again on the move without missing a beat. He’d been getting better lately at watching his footing and sensing the tell-tale shift of earth beneath his feet as Myr readied her spell, but he wasn’t quite so practiced that he could depend on his intuition forever. 

It was a burgeoning skill still, and as it was constant movement remained his only real defence against the woman’s blunt spears of stone. 

"How long do you think you can keep runnin’, kid?!” hollered Myr from the clearing’s centre, a confident grin on her face. “I’m gonna outlast you as is. All that sweatin’ ain’t gonna make things easier for you neither!” 

He scrunched his brow but found himself unable to deny the fact that she was right. He wouldn’t be able to outlast her. Fire was the element of fast, furious, overwhelming power, not endurance or playing the long game. But he wasn’t strong enough to overpower her defences either. 

What choices did that leave him? 

Very little. 

He came to a stop before a tree, its shade cast over him as he greedily sucked in a deep breath. Standing still was a risk but he didn’t have the stamina to waste. Besides, he had a plan. 

“You’re sounding real cocky for a tier two struggling to beat a tier one with less than a month of practice under his belt.” he bit back in his snarkiest voice, and the comment hit her nerves as surely as an arrow would a bullseye. Myr’s expression turned irate in an instant and Ash felt the earth under him shudder. 

No, not just under him. It was the entire clearing! 

His eyes widened. This wasn’t an Earthen Shield. What the hell was the woman doing? 

He didn’t know, and he certainly didn’t care to find out. Ash made a hail-Mary leap from where he was stood towards the thick roots of the nearest tree. He landed safely a second before the earth groaned and the ground roiled as the entirety of the clearing collapsed into a small pit of fine sand. 

Myr stood at its centre, her black locks misted with flecks of white and dirt as dust fell around her. 

“That’s new.” he yelled as he cautiously balanced himself on the root. 

“You thought I only had one spell up my sleeves, kid?” 

No, but he’d not expected her to up the stakes quite so easily. His comment must have rankled her far more than he’d assumed. 

“I’m still standing though.” he said wryly. 

She shot him a predatory look. Ash tensed, awaiting her response. Her magic flared and he pushed back onto the tree as far as he could go, half his attention on the woman and the other half affixed to the earth around him. 

He expected a jutting slab of earth to try and knock him off or disable him outright. What came was neither. Ash yelped as a surge of wind grasped him with ethereal hands and bodily pulled him towards the sand. He swore and flailed in the air for a moment before he managed to swallow down his panic and reorient himself properly at the last second. The ground rushed up to meet him, grasping hands of sand reaching to him seeking to bind and disable. 

He grit his teeth. As if he’d go down that easily! 

He primed his Thunderous Wave and waited for the perfect moment. It came the second his feet met the ground. Sand squirmed and writhed over his legs to immobilize him, but an explosion of lightning and light erupted within the clearing, spraying earth and sand every which way and blinding Myr for a brief few moments. She swore and shielded herself from the light before she again focused onto the smoking crater only to find it empty. Icy blue orbs immediately swept across her surroundings and yet both her mundane and magical senses found no hint of Ash's presence. 

“Where’d you go you smarmy bugger?” she ground out as she searched. 

A whistle of wind came as her answer a second before Ash crashed bodily into her. 

The airborne young man knocked Myr back in a heap as he landed, and though he was dizzy and disoriented, he wasted no time in stumbling back into his feet and rushing forward with Fire Bolts sizzling atop his palms. 

Myr laid defenceless on the ground, a scowl on her lips. He grinned and readied to mount her and demand surrender when he felt something catch his feet and arrest his momentum run mid-stride. He swore, his eyes wide and still fixed on Myr. He’d felt no magic nor seen any movement from her! There was no way that she’d managed to cast a spell in the scant second that she’d had to recover from his blow! 

Ash stumbled but caught himself and quickly twisted to face whatever had tripped him up. He expected to see a protruding slab of earth or some unfortunately mis-placed stone or such. Instead, he found a bulky, man-sized monster of writhing dust and sand rising from the ground to face him, its featureless face still somehow giving off a sense of malice and hate. 

And it wasn’t alone. He turned to see three more emerge from every which way, including one that was right next to Myr herself. The sight upturned his gut but he prepared to strike at the thing and save Myr before it attacked, but the smile on her face put a stop to that before he’d taken the first step. 

The woman rose and stood right beside the creature without a care in the world. 

“Didn’t expect you to use your spell’s knockback to launch yourself into the air, kid. That was good thinkin’.” she said as she dusted dirt and sand from her armour and hair. 

“Uh, thanks. Are those things... with you?” he asked wearily. 

“Mhm, yeah. They’re my Dust Devils. Pretty good for defendin’ me or trappin’ enemies an’ useless for everythin’ else. Had ‘em prepared as soon as I cast my Quick-Sand Pit but hadn’t expected you to actually force me to use ‘em. Kinda annoyin’ but I guess that’s just how the dice rolls.” 

“Woah.” Ash whistled; his weariness gone in the wake of the revelation. He studied the elemental creatures with no small amount of jealousy. “I want some.” 

Myr snorted. “They ain’t for sale, kid. Summon your own elementals.” 

He certainly planned to once he got some more nexii in him. Though, he was curious why he’d never seen the summons before, and asked Myr as much. 

“’Cuz I’ve never had cause to use ‘em.” she said as she summoned two earth pillars that raised them both out of the sandy pit she’d torn into the forest landscape. “Not many beasties around these parts that can force me into that kind of situation. Besides, they’re slow and only really useful in areas with a lotta sand.” 

“Ah. I guess that answers why you have that massive sand trap spell.” 

“Aye. Bog ‘em down and let the beasties do the rest.” 

“And the wind? I guess it sucks in the ones that try to get away.” 

“Ain’t no point in a trap if people can just skip past it.” 

“Tell me about it. Gotta say though, after days of just Earthen Shields, I hadn’t expected the wind.” 

“No one does, kid. That’s just ‘nother reason why I learnt it, as much as it was a pain in the ass to learn.” 

Ash nodded. The thought actually piqued his intrigue. Use enough fire spells and people would come to expect fire from him, which made the barrage of wind or earth or water he sent their way all the more unpredictably devastating. Variety was a weapon all of its own, though it would cost him a set bonus. 

"Wait.” he said as realization dawned on him. “That’s four spells you have, and I’m assuming that they’re all constitution spells. So, you have four ability slots?” 

“Yep. You get one more slot when you hit the second tier.” 

He preened with delight. It was just one more slot, but that one extra spell could mean the difference between life and death as far as he was concerned. He needed to get to level five as soon as possible. And that meant meditation. But first, he had a guest to check up on. 

◆◆◆◆◆ 

Their little guest remained deep asleep upon the bundle of leathers that Myr had granted him to use as her bed. It’d been several hours since they’d brought her back and she was already looking healthier, though even the slightest change was a massive improvement over the wretched state that she’d been in. 

Her breathing had grown less laboured and a tinge of colour had returned to her green skin. Green paste sat over all her visible wounds and Ash had gently dripped water into her mouth to get some hydration in her. 

Still, he eyed the food-paste that he’d placed by her side just in case she awoke while they weren’t there. It remained untouched and would remain so until she actually woke up. Solving her malnourishment was the biggest obstacle to her recovery that remained, he knew, and yet he could do nothing to that end. 

Maybe the goblins in the town could, but Myr had warned him against bringing her presence to their attentions. It was highly unlikely to end well, she’d said, and fully intended to heed her words. 

Speaking of the earth mage, she stood leaning against the doorway a step behind him, a strange look in her eye as she studied the child. 

“How’s she lookin’?” she asked. 

“Better from what I can tell but it’ll probably still be a while until she wakes up.” 

“Good. Gives us time to get some huntin’ in before you go all nanny again.” 

Ash snorted at the childish remark. “Well, one of us needs to act like the responsible parent.” he said in a faux voice that mimed a nagging mother. Myr huffed. “Never asked for her. Ain’t my problem." 

He rolled his eyes. The big softie would come around. As blunt and casually careless as she could be, he’d interacted with Myr for long enough to understand that she wasn’t actually a cruel woman. Closed-off at times and crude of both mannerisms and tongue, sure. But cruel? No. 

As much as he’d hoisted the burden of a child on her head all on his own, Ash didn’t doubt that she would take care of the girl if the situation demanded it. 

Hopefully, it wouldn’t ever come to that. 

Their banter continued as they left the room, a former storage-space that Myr sealed with earth behind her as they left the burrow and tread into the forest. Hunting monsters, he learned, was a game of patience and stealth as much as it was just blasting spells at some ravenous thing. 

The element of surprise was a powerful tool, and Ash proved quick enough on the uptake. Two hours later and the duo returned to the burrow with three beasts in hand: a strange armadillo like creature who could meld into the earth as easily as if it were water. Of course, that hadn’t helped them against Myr’s Earthen Shields or his Fire Bolts. 

After dumping off the corpses in storage, Ash checked up on the girl again and found her still asleep, and so moved to mediate and focus on levelling up. Hours passed thusly as he cautiously threaded mana into his skin and clawed his way towards the ceiling of level three. A few more days and he’d break through, he knew, and then only a single level remained before he reached a tier equal to Myr at the least. 

And then? Wouldn’t he be strong enough to leave? 

The sudden, intrusive thought hit him like a sack of bricks. He’d been so focused on training and learning as much as he could that his plan to leave the forest had all but been lost in the wake of his progress. But it was true, nonetheless. He would be able to leave at tier two. He’d learnt that they were close enough to the forest’s edge, and at the very least, he’d be able to outrun or scare away near anything looking for an easy meal. 

He could leave. And go where? 

A human city? One not infested by goblins and monsters? To do what? He still knew so little of the world. How did the humans of this world act? How did the government function? How was law and order enforced in a place where magic could make any average Joe into a lethal powerhouse? 

He remembered that Myr had mentioned an empire during on their talks a few days ago and that hardly enthused in him the idea of a fair and stable society. Did he even want to deal with the intricacies of a noble society and all that it entailed? 

He found himself thinking no. But neither did he really see a future for himself just staying in the forest, as comfortable as staying beside Myr had become. Where else did that leave him? He thought on it before he remembered something. 

“Myr?” he called. She was sat across from him in the midst of her own meditation. 

“What?” she asked a moment later. 

“What was The Shield that you kept mentioning when you first met me?” 

Her eyebrow rose and a hint of some deeper emotion crossed her eyes. “Why?” Her voice was low, and something about her tone told him that he was treading onto a topic better left avoided, but he’d already taken the first step and it was too late to turn back. 

“Nothing much. Just wanna know a little more about the world.” 

She stared at him for a bare second and Ash felt a bead of nervousness work its way through his gut. The woman eventually shifted her gaze and sighed. 

“The Bearers of the Shield is what the cunts call ‘emselves. A bunch of arrogant, careless fucks who prance ‘round with their noses up their own arses callin’ themelves the protectors of the empire’s southern borders." 

“So, they’re some kind of border guard?” 

“Heh, if you wanna call ‘em that, sure. They maintain a bunch of forts and castles all along The Shield.” She paused as she noticed his ignorant look and she quickly added- “It’s a massive mountain range that runs all along the border. Keeps the deniir and daemons an’ all the other murderous things that live in the wastes beyond the borders away from us. They maintain the defences on the mountain an’ make sure that nothin’ gets through.” 

Though he didn’t like the mention of daemons, Ash overall found the intentions of the Bearers of the Shield to be rather noble. Protecting the borders of a nation was always an important duty, and more if literal monsters existed that could prove a serious threat to the citizenry. Why was Myr so against them then? 

He asked her as much. 

“’Cuz they’re corrupt and incompetent. Ain’t heard a peep outta the deniir in centuries so those cunts got nothin’ to do but lord their little titles and power over all of us ‘neath their boots. If it was up to me I’d see the lot of ‘em stripped and thrown into the Deniir Desert. Let the monsters walk among their own.” 

Ash grimaced. That was some serious hate there, and even if he imagined that Myr likely had good reasons for her hatred, it still felt a bit too much for his tastes. Then again, there were people that he’d do the same to without a second thought, so who was he to judge? 

Though that did make him wonder. 

“Were you... a part of them, Myr?” 

Her scowl was answer enough. She looked away and Ash chose to reign in his curiosity. The topic was obviously far too touchy to tread casually with her. Instead, he chose to defuse the situation entirely with a trick that he knew without a shadow of a doubt wouldn’t fail. 

“You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re all broody.” he said with a lavascious smile. 

Myr’s foul mood vanished entirely, replaced with shock and confoundment as she stared at him with wide eyes. A moment passed before she swore, rose and hurried away with an obvious blush on her cheeks. Ash’s laugh followed her out. 

‘Ah, Myr. How can she be so strong and still be so weak to a simple compliment?’