Jeze sat alone in her room with all her notes from her studies arrayed before her. In addition, on her desk were engraving tools, bracelets, rings, and other potential channeling tools such as rods and staves. The Old Crones had instructed Jeze well on the basics of Rune scribing and Will control. They were harsh, and Jeze appreciated their instruction as she was able to transcribe Runes with ease from different aspects onto the channeling tools.
For the past two weeks, Jeze focused on preparing to travel to Mount Dragon and take the Trials. The Adventurer''s Guild administered the tests and compiled enough data to rank potential candidates as well as a bestiary guide and their levels of difficulty. Ziplocke cautioned that the Wandering Spire was different each time, and each floor was never the same.
Daverius wrote down the rankings:
Prospect: These are applicants into the Guild and represent the ordinary person. Prospect-level monsters include anything an average individual can defeat. House cats, squirrels, and crippled foxes.
Initiate: These are members that met the lowest standards necessary to be accepted into the Guild. Weekend warriors where adventuring is not their whole life. People with careers and lives and step up as necessary to defend their towns against monster incursions. They may be called on to help clear out a crypt or dungeon as needed.
Jeze was familiar with Initiates. Both her parents were Initiates and would assist when monsters attacked the village. They gave up the adventuring life and chose to own a farm. They inspired her and Daverius to take on this path. Jeze reflected on how monsters had not attacked in a long while. Hmm, I wonder why? She briefly thought and then continued to read.
Adventurer: Full-time guild members that have above-average physical strength and capability. Adventurers are always called to help clear the floors of the Wandering Spire.
Adept: These are adventurers who represent the peak of human ability. They are able to pass through the lower levels of the Wandering Spire with ease. They are called to lead teams of Initiates and Adventurers to clear monster invasions and dangerous dungeons.
Elite: Members that have surpassed the limits of human biology. They have enhanced bodies from sacred gifts, magical infusions, and rare blessings from deities. Elites are very rare and are often able to make it to the highest levels of the Wandering Spire.
Hero: Hero: Demigods. Only one person in recorded history defeated the Wandering Spire and received the gift of Immortality. That was the now Emperor of the Golden Empire, and he was Hero level. There are only a handful of known Heroes in the world.
It was recommended that a party of at least Adventurer rank was needed to face a Floor Guardian. The party should be at Adept rank to go beyond floor five. Jeze felt that if she were to take the Trials, she would at least be an Initiate or maybe even an Adventurer. Jeze continued to train nights and focused on her athletic ability and combat ability with Raynor, and enhanced her Will by trying to Shape Shadows. She was at the point where she didn''t pass out anymore, but she was able to move a shadow an inch. It was like trying to bend bamboo and it would snap back.
"That is impressive, but not as funny as you collapsing," Ziplocke observed one night.
Jeze wanted to strangle the Goblin. With regards to tools, Jeze wore two rings. One ring was inscribed with minor Earth foci. It allowed her to chime for Ziplocke and to shape and control soil and rock. Jeze had a bracelet that allowed her to shape soil to stone and stone to metal and summon a moderate amount of earth. It allowed her to pick locks and disarm traps, though she needed more practice in that area.
Jeze''s second ring allowed her to summon, shape, and control minor shadows. This was what Ziplocke had instructed her, and it had multiple uses, from stealth to simple illusions.
"Tricks of the eye," Ziplocke had told Jeze.
With her minor Earth ring, she could create simple sounds and enhance her shadow illusions. She knew that could come in handy and was getting good at stringing those foci together. But could she do it under pressure? Her brother recommended meditations every night. A mindful mind was able to locate and remove distractions. A focused mind was necessary for magic.
The final channeling tool that Jeze created was a rod with Runes from the Life aspect inscribed upon it. Jeze’s mother was an Initiate ranked adventurer and a specialist in the Life aspect. It could be argued that it was their mother’s skill in magic that set Daverius and Jeze on the path to the Old Crone’s school. With the rod Jeze would, in theory, be able to shape flesh to close wounds. She imagined that would be extremely difficult, and she was only able to test it on herself. She was not sure if she could mend another person’s flesh. In either case, Jeze felt it was important to have an ability to heal. Even if it was only minor, and the rod was small enough to not weigh her down. She was all about utility.
A blur of movement in a shadowy corner of her room caught her attention. Jeze closed her eyes, tapped her Darkness ring, and traced a glyph in the air in order to shape the shadows. It was an extreme strain on her Will, and the shadows moved to reveal a crouched Ziplocke.
"Got you!" Jeze exclaimed before her eyes rolled up, and she fell over.
The Goblin cackled, "That never gets old!"
Jeze recovered a moment later and slowly sat up. Her head hurt, but she was able to shape Ziplocke''s summoned shadows. Her Will was getting stronger, and her awareness also improved from the mischievous Goblin''s efforts to surprise her.
"I removed your focus," Jeze weakly observed.
Ziplocke nodded and replied, "That you did. But I really was not holding on to it."
Jeze had an idea she wanted to run by the Goblin, and so far, he has not requested any paste. She was running low and didn''t want to trigger him to request it.
She asked Ziplocke anyway, "If I get my Will strong enough, I can Shape another caster''s channeling tool to disrupt their runes?"
The Goblin snickered, "Very clever! Risky but clever. Your Will needs to be stronger than the other."
"I removed your Shadows. Does that mean my Will is stronger than yours?"
"Let''s not get ahead of ourselves, child. It is more complicated than that," Ziplocke snorted in response.
Jeze scowled at being called a child but nodded and laid back down on the stone floor. Her head hurt, but this was useful information. She came upon this idea when she shaped the failed rings she worked on to smooth out the etches so that they could be inscribed again. It was extremely difficult, but a good workout for her Will. She rose up when she was able to and felt anxious. There was still plenty of daylight left, and she wanted to visit Raynor. Daverius was the one to introduce her to the Old Hunter, and she wondered if Raynor would know about Daverius''s cryptic note and "good authority" on why the gift of Immortality at the top of the Wandering Spire was a myth. Or, at the very least, he had some clues and insight to point her in the right direction.
"I''m going out," she told Ziplocke.
For Jeze, it was a twenty-minute light jog for her to reach Raynor''s cabin in the woods. Ziplocke complained incessantly for the first five minutes, to the point that Jeze offered to carry the Goblin on her back. In addition to Ziplocke, Jeze wore her minor Earth and Darkness rings, her bracelet, and a sack containing food and other channeling tools. Strapped to her hips were two hand axes and a sheathed knife at the back of her waist. Narcadia was relatively safe, but there were instances of bandits and wild animals. It has been a while since a monster was sighted.
Up ahead was the copse of trees that marked the Deep Forest boundary. A billowing cloud of black smoke rose up from the trees, which Jeze recognized as a smoke signal. Raynor''s cabin was a short trek inside, where they heard a distinctive shriek echo outwards. It was not like any animal sound Jeze had ever heard.
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"Howlers," Ziplocke said quietly.
Howlers? Jeze wondered as she stopped running. She was certain this was a monster, and she had never learned the names of the beasts that were sighted in the past. When she was younger, her parents made her hide in the cellar while her brother and they took care of the creatures. In all her life, she never saw an actual monster. This alarm was not a total surprise because monsters were known to attack the villages around the time the Wandering Spire was set to appear. She readied her ax and dagger.
"You can''t be serious?" Ziplocke cried.
"Raynor might be in danger," she said, her jaw stiff with determination.
"Only if he is an idiot. No fool would stay around when Howlers are present. They hunt in packs!" The Goblin shrieked.
"How do you know about them?" Jeze asked.
"They are from my plane, and they love tearing Goblins apart," Ziplocke whimpered.
They heard another howl that gave the monster their name. Jeze was afraid, but she needed to go in and face them. If she can''t handle Howlers, then she had no business attempting the Wandering Spire. But she can''t rush in. She needed to be smart, and she activated her Darkness ring and cloaked her body in misty shadows. This allowed her to blend into the dim light of the forest canopy. Ziplocke scampered beside her, also cloaked with shadows. He muttered a few complaints but became quiet when they entered the woods.
Jeze stopped at the edge of the clearing where Raynor''s cabin resided. The Old Hunter stood by his fire pit that emitted the black smoke that rose into the air. Next to Raynor was a long-hafted ax embedded on the log Jeze practiced throwing on, and the Old Hunter held his bow taut and readied. The Howlers emerged from the trees across the clearing from Jeze. Three of the monsters writhed on the floor. Arrows protruded from their grotesque bodies. The Howler reminded Jeze of a rat that was the size of a wolf. A rat that loped on four legs but fought standing on two. They held crude spears in their claw-like hands. Their heads were shaped like a rats but were filled with sharp canines, and their gray fur was dotted with oily scales.
The monsters decided to charge the Old Hunter in mass and swarmed from the trees. Raynor shot two, dropped his bow, and yanked his two-handed ax free. He roared a guttural challenge, but he would not be able to fight them all. From the shadows, Jeze lined up an ax throw and caught a Howler in the head as it tried to flank the Old Hunter. Raynor chopped two down with one mighty swing from the long-hafted ax in his gnarled arms. Jeze''s appearance caused the Howlers to pause. Raynor glanced once at the young woman and nodded.
A trio of Howlers broke off from the swarm to engage Jeze. Ziplocke was nowhere to be found. Jeze used her Darkness focus to blend into the shadows of the trees. The monsters dashed in, sniffing and gnashing their teeth. They stabbed the shadows and howled.
Jeze had her second ax in her right hand, along with her long knife in her left. Raynor had trained her to fight like a wolf, to strike when an opportunity presented itself, and to rapidly retreat. She stabbed her knife from the shadows and hacked with her ax. One Howler collapsed in a bloody heap as the others turned on her. Jeze retreated, but even with her Darkness focus, they were too close for her to hide. She had to fight them, but the shadows made it harder for them to hit her.
The Howlers rushed in at the same time and Jeze darted to the side just like how Raynor trained her. She never retreated in a straight line and moved in angles that allowed her to deliver effective counterattacks. She was never in between them, and in one assault, Jeze positioned herself where the Howlers were lined up in front of her.
Jeze deflected a spear thrust with her ax and drove her long knife into the monster''s throat. It gurgled out black blood that spilled over its hanging tongue. Jeze retreated before the other Howler could retaliate. The monster stabbed, and its spear got stuck in a tree. As it struggled to pull out its weapon, Jeze planted her handax in between its red eyes.
In the clearing, Raynor was bloodied and moved slower. He bled from a gash to his thigh, but the Old Hunter growled and gnashed his teeth like a bear. Additional bodies littered the ground around him, but more Howlers emerged from the forest.
Jeze summoned up her shadows and crept unseen into the clearing. She retrieved the ax she had thrown earlier and sheathed her knife. There were six monsters remaining and they howled as they stabbed with their spears. Raynor parried two attacks with his long-hafted ax and dodged a third, but three scored more wounds on the Old Hunter.
Two Howlers shrieked and collapsed to the ground as hand axes thudded into the back of their skulls. Four remained, and they split evenly between the Old Hunter and Jeze. Armed only with a long knife, Jeze completed a glyph from her Earth bracelet. Nothing happened. The Howlers charged her. Raynor stumbled to one knee from his injuries.
Jeze steadied and focused her mind. Magic demanded perfection of Will and art. Jeze masterfully completed the final gesture, and the magic snapped into place. A row of dirt two meters high sprung into existence and blocked the Howlers from herself and Raynor. The monsters were able to claw through the dirt, but the distraction gave Jeze the time she needed. She molded shadows around her and dashed soundlessly to flank the monsters nearest the Old Hunter. Raynor rose painfully back to his feet and prepared himself as the Howlers broke through the dirt wall.
The Howlers didn''t notice Jeze as she stabbed one in its back. Raynor deflected a spear thrust and returned with an overhand chop that split the monster down the middle. Two Howlers remained, and they charged. Their simple minds failed to notice the danger they were in. Raynor hefted his ax over his head and flung it forward, catching one square in the head. Jeze released her knife to complete a series of gestures. First, she shaped a portion of her summoned earth into a fist-sized stone, then she controlled it to fly and crack the side of the final Howler''s head.
"Now that was smooth!" Ziplocke exclaimed.
The Goblin materialized from shadows in the center of the clearing.
"Aaargh!" Raynor howled as he yanked his ax free from the bloody Howler''s corpse.
"Wait! He is with me!" Jeze cried and interposed herself between the Old Hunter and her familiar.
"You sure girlie? Do you know what that is?" Raynor asked.
The ax slipped from his weak hands as his wounds began to take their effect upon the Old Hunter.
"Excuse me? I am not an it," Ziplocke cried.
"Raynor, this is my Familiar," Jeze explained.
"Sure has an annoying voice," Raynor huffed as he sat on a log by his fire pit.
The Old Hunter was bleeding quite a bit, and Jeze saw the life slowly begin to fade from his eyes as his breathing came in gasps. In her pack, she had a channeling rod for the Life aspect. She could use it to shape flesh. This would be her first time, and fear crept up like a ball of ice in her chest that she failed to inscribe the runes correctly. She used her mindfulness to set aside her fear and replace it with an iron Will. She reminded herself that it had worked on her and gripped the rod. Jeze completed the final glyphs in the air. This required precise movements of her arms and legs. She felt the magic taut and pulled upon her Will. It needed direction, and she focused it on Raynor''s wounds. An immense pressure weighed down on her as if she was under an ocean of water. It sapped all her strength, but she managed to close the largest of Raynor''s wounds before she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.
The Old Hunter let out a yelp of pain and fainted. Rustling could be heard coming from the trees. No! Jeze thought. Ziplocke melted into the shadows. She was in no condition to fight but still struggled to her feet. The channeling rod slipped from her weak fingers, and she groped around for her weapons. Her head spun, and her body twitched with exhaustion.
"Easy now. We came as fast as we could," a deep voice said.
Jeze saw through blurred vision a powerfully built man in jingling mail armor. He had dark skin, and a steel cap covered his head. He carried a sword and shield, and behind him were four more people in thick padded armor armed with poleaxes. The man in the mail armor sheathed his sword and appraised the situation in the clearing.
"Not bad," he said with a whistle.
He extended a callous hand and helped Jeze to her feet. He studied her.
"My name is Drake, and I''m with the Adventurer''s Guild," the dark-skinned man said after a pause.
The other four rushed over to Raynor and began to treat his wounds.
"Captain, he will be alright," one said. She was a stout woman with blond curly hair.
Captain? Jeze wondered and was confused. Could the Legion also be a part of the Adventurer’s guild? Beware the Emperor’s agents….She was too exhausted to speak.
Jeze observed that Drake''s actions were deliberate and precise. He walked past Jeze and studied the bodies of the Howlers and Raynor''s injuries. He watched as the dirt that Jeze summoned faded away. He returned back to the wobbling teenage girl.
"You and the Old Hunter fought a dozen Howlers, an Initiate class monster. I deduced that you successfully utilized the Summoning and Shaping foci with the Earth aspect and defeated the monsters in weapons combat using an ax and dagger," Drake said.
The Adventurer tapped his chin and continued, "Based upon Raynor''s skin, you also successfully utilized the Shaping focus with the Life Aspect. Overall, very impressive. But no surprise to me because it is no mistake you have his features. You are the sister of Daverius."
Jeze was shocked by this, and her head snapped up to look at the dark-skinned man. She began to distrust this Captain and his interest in her and her brother. Fortunately she was legitimately tired and didn’t need to speak due to her exhaustion.
"As a respected Adventurer rank and Trial observer of the Guild. I hereby promote you, uh, what is your name?" Drake asked.
"Jeze," the teenage girl muttered. She was still in shock.
Drake nodded and continued, "Right, it''s a pleasure to meet you, Jeze. I hereby promote you to Initiate rank. Congratulations!"
The other four Guild members/legionnaires cheered and clapped. Jeze fainted.