Rep turned to see who had addressed the two of them. It was a man at the beginning of his middle-age, hints of gray peeking out of his stubble beard. He wore a long cloak and gloves, covering every inch of his skin that was not a part of his head. The eccentric man stood proudly, a wide smile stretched across his face. He was beaming at Zalan who sat sweating and shaking on the dirt-ridden earth. 

“Instructor Nold?” Rep asked, shocked to see his face.

“Was he the one to emit that brilliant display of lightning or did my eyes deceive me?” Nold asked.

“I am sorry Instructor Nold, but we are quite indisposed at the moment. Can we speak some other time?” Rep asked, politely indicating to Zalan who was still not fully there with them.

“Nonsense, you will be thanking me in a few minutes,” Nold said brazenly. 

Rep tried to look at Zalan to get him back to his feet. His stare was vaguely annoyed and he wouldn’t connect with Rep’s eyes. On top of that, his mind seemed vacant. Nold knelt down in front of him and picked up Zalan’s hand. For a moment, Zalan thought he was checking for a pulse, then saw that Nold was tapping Zalan’s finger to his thumb to summon his stats. 

“Hey!” Zalan snapped to, wrenching his hand away. “What gives?”

“I wanted to see the values on your wrist,” Nold said matter of factly. 

“Yeah, I could see that,” Zalan said, hiding his wrist under his clothes and feeling somewhat violated. “How about next time you just ask?”

“Next time?” Nold said, sounding like he’d received an invitation. 

“Zalan, we really should go back to the guild and get you some rest,” Rep said, helping Zalan to his feet. 

“Nonsense, it is so early in the morning! Look at him, he is the epitome of youth!” Nold said proudly, presenting Zalan with two arms. 

Zalan squinted as he began to recognize the man. He’d seen him once before, sometime when he was exiting the guild with Rep before the journey to the Castle of Docrun.  He didn’t remember the interaction very well, but he recalled not having enjoyed it. The way his gloves made his knuckles look swollen felt wrong in a world where healing was so easy. And something about Nold’s smile put him off. 

“Stop right there!” a woman called from behind them. 

Rep flinched and Zalan looked over to see the woman in guard’s armor. She had come off the walls surrounding the city of Oriton to confront them. The way Rep shrunk away from her made Zalan remember just how powerful guards atop the walls were, able to kill dangerous monsters in a single blow. He guessed it was like having the police arrive on a scene. Nold stood tall, waiting for her to approach without any hint of discomfort. 

“Lady Seraphina!” Nold acknowledged her with a grin. 

“We saw power being emitted from within the city outside of the designated areas,” the guardswoman said, eyeing the three men. “Was there a monster in the area?”

“No,” Rep replied, embarrassed. 

“Then why did one of you emit your power outside of your guild training area?” Seraphina asked. 

Zalan blinked, his brain beginning to run on all cylinders once more. He realized he was in some amount of trouble. The way Rep was wringing his hands made it clear that he messed up in a serious way. Nold looked at the two men expectantly, his eyes flitting between them eagerly. Zalan raised his hand slowly. He felt off. After letting out the energy without any sense of success, he felt empty and embarrassed to be there.

“It was me. I shot out the lightning. I’m really sorry,” Zalan said, ashamed. 

Nold’s eyes narrowed over Zalan as he confirmed who it was with the lightning power, a greedy expression on his face. 

“I did not ask who it was, I asked why,” Seraphina said, stepping toward Zalan. 

“No real reason…” Zalan said honestly. 

The guardswoman shook her head, disappointed. She pulled shackles from a pouch at her hip and Zalan wondered if he could outrun someone a significant number of Levels ahead of him.

“No real reason?” Nold laughed loudly. “Do not be modest, you can tell her why!”

Zalan and Rep looked to one another, then back to Nold. Zalan felt nervous, like Nold knew too much. How could Nold know about what he was trying to do with Madam Hikma? He hadn’t even told Rep. Nold continued as though nothing serious was happening. 

“It was my fault,” Nold said, placing an apologetic hand over his heart as he addressed the guard. “I asked him to display his powers since he insisted that he be instructed by me.”

The guardswoman looked at Nold with much doubt. 

“You are still taking on more students for the tournament?” she asked skeptically. 

“More students? Plural? Ha! I do not have a single student these days! They have all grown past the need for me and left me behind with their Elemental Powers. I have been searching for good candidates for this year’s tournament,” Nold explained, displaying Rep and Zalan. 

Seraphina looked over the two friends with a raised eyebrow. 

“They are to your liking?” she asked in a way that sounded insulting to Zalan. 

“I do not take students that are perfect!” Nold said confidently. “I take those that have the potential for greatness! And they are certainly to my liking.”

“Why did you ask them to display their power outside the guild?” Seraphina asked, her disappointment having redirected to the older man. “You know better than to use such powerful attacks outside like that! Or to insist others do it as well. You could hurt innocent bystanders! Or inadvertently summon monsters!”

“He assured me that his power would impress me. I was so certain that he was bluffing that I asked him to show me right then and there. I suppose the heat of the moment carried me away,” Nold said abashedly. He sounded silly and sincere. Zalan almost believed the man until he remembered that he had been lying through his teeth since the guardswoman arrived. 

Seraphina looked between the three men, then rolled her eyes and stowed her shackles away. She turned to Rep and Zalan. 

“No more blasts like that outside the designated areas,” Lady Seraphina warned.

“Of course not,” Rep shook his head.

“You got it,” Zalan agreed, embarrassed. 

“And win the tournament for us, eh? Been a while since we have seen an Oriton face taking home the honor,” Seraphina winked at them. She looked at Nold again, glaring at him as he shrugged, then made her way back to her post. They waited until she was totally out of earshot before addressing Instructor Nold. 

“That was incredible, Nold!” Rep said, amazed. “Thank you!”

“Ah! I told you that you would be thanking me in a few minutes!” Nold pointed a finger at him. 

“Yeah, I thought I would have to go to jail for…” Zalan couldn’t think of a phrase other than “being an idiot” and decided just not to complete the thought. 

“Well, that was fun,” Nold said, clearly pleased with himself. “What was your name again? Zoobo?”

“Zalan,” Zalan corrected.

“Right. Zalan. When did you want to go to the tournament with me?” Nold asked. 

Again, Nold’s words caused Zalan and Rep to look at one another. They seemed equally confused. 

“You do understand that you made everything up just now?” Rep asked Nold carefully. 

“Obviously,” Nold chuckled. “But Zicko clearly wanted to see Madam Hikma if he came to her building. And she is at the Elemental Rage Tournament. I thought he would like to attend after receiving some of my tutelage so he can win the audience with her. I can grow his power. Harness it. I can be his guide to victory.”

There was something in the way Nold phrased it that sparked something potent in Zalan’s mind. Rep had promised to be his guide in this world, but Rep was unsure of himself and often shied away from things that Zalan wanted to do. Even in his quest to see Madam Hikma, Rep tried to hold him back where Nold was a path forward. Nold seemed powerful and was already an instructor of sorts. If he had a reputation among the guards of the city, he had to have some strength in him. He could be everything that Zalan had wanted to get out of Rep. It was a tantalizing idea and already he began imagining a future where Nold led the three of them to become strong enough to escape this realm.

In contrast, Rep immediately tried to shut it down. 

“I do not believe that seeing Madam Hikma is the highest priority for us. We need to find a way to send Zalan home,” Rep said. 

“Madam Hikma is the best way to find a way home,” Zalan said eagerly, excited that someone else seemed to push him to his goal to confront Madam Hikma. 

“What an excellent idea, I agree with you wholeheartedly,” Instructor Nold said. “Tell me, what Level are you? And how much Wisdom do you have? And your Elemental power. I have never seen it before, what is it called?”

Zalan tapped his finger and thumb together and presented his wrist to Nold energetically. His guide needed to know everything about him to best lead him. Zalan was taking a quick shine to Nold and all of his expertise.

 

LEVEL: 04 

STRENGTH: 04 

WISDOM: 05

EXPERIENCE: 00

ELEMENT: LIGHTNING 

 

“Hmmm,” Instructor Nold sounded mildly disappointed. “A rather low Level. But I can work with this. Lightning is impressive. I have never heard of that before. Was the Elemental elusive? Did it leave its location rather than disappear after granting the ability?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Zalan asked, amazed. Rep looked nervously between the two getting along so quickly. He still wasn’t on board with traveling with the instructor or attending the tournament.

“I have made many efforts to challenge what I like to call the Elusive Elementals. They hold the rarest powers such as Plant, Light, Shadow, and Lightning. I have never seen any. But it will be exciting to train someone with the power.”

“What kind of powers do you have?” Zalan asked.

“Train with me and perhaps you will find out,” Nold winked slyly. 

“Sure! Yeah, we’d love to do the tournament!” Zalan said.

“Oh. Both you and Rep?” Nold noted. 

Zalan looked back at Rep who had been nervously standing to the side. 

“You wanna come with me, right?” Zalan asked. He couldn’t imagine being separated from his one friend in the realm.

The fire in Zalan’s eyes made no efforts to alleviate Rep’s concerns, but he did not want to leave Zalan alone with Nold. He needed someone to ground him, and Nold was already putting high ideas in his head. Rep suppressed his look of deep concern and forced out a smile.

“Of course I will join,” Rep nodded.

“Great! You can train both of us, right?” Zalan asked Nold.

Nold’s lip twitched slightly in disappointment, but he nodded.

“I have trained many with Fire Elemental power before. Rep will be no different. But it is your power I wish to see reach its full potential,” Nold replied. 

“Sure, whatever,” Zalan nodded.

“Perhaps when you gain enough confidence, you can take on your own adventures away from home. I would be glad to take you somewhere by sea,” Nold said, pointing toward the port on the other side of Oriton. 

“No thanks, let’s just do the tournament. I think I’m done with adventures away from home,” Zalan said confidently.

“Very well. Let us gather some things for the journey ahead of us,” Nold said, walking in step with Zalan toward Journey House.

Rep followed a few steps behind, not sure why he felt so far away from Zalan.