The noise of the surrounding people faded out as the two stared each other down. Ember tightened the grip on his training sword, the warm wood digging into his palm. The smell of sweat and smoke filled his nose as he breathed in deeply. At the height of his breath, Ember lunged.

  I’ve spent so much time formulating a strategy to get around his shield. I hope this works.

  He stabbed his blade forward. Just as he predicted, Chris moved his shield to block. Just before Ember’s sword crossed the halfway mark between him and the shield, he angled the sword steeply downward, the blade grinding underneath the shield. Chris, caught off guard by the strange movement, tried to pull his shield back, but the trap was already set.

  With a grunt, Ember flung his arms upward, forcing the shield up and completely throwing Chris off balance. As his sword reached the apex of its arc, he stopped the momentum and swiped down. However, he took a second too long to stop, and Chris managed to recover, blocking the slash with his own weapon, the wooden blade less than an inch from his neck.

  Chris let out a breath and got back into his stance, “Again.” Ember frowned. Okay, my best move didn’t work, so now what? I hadn’t thought this far ahead.

  With a shrug and a prayer, he charged at Chris again, letting his instincts do the work. Ember hit his shield with a three-hit combo and then lunged for his shield, grabbing the edge with his hand, intending to wrench it away and stab, but Chris seemed to have read his move. Smoothly, he let Ember use all his strength to rip the shield away, causing him to stumble, not expecting the lack of resistance, and Chris’s sword thwapped against his side.

  “Dammit!” Ember yelped as he scrambled away. Chris was hot on his heels, throwing out blows left and right. Ember managed to deflect a few, but his opponent was far too fast for him. For what felt like hours, Ember was trapped in a perpetual loop, deflecting, dodging, and then getting his escape route cut off.

  “That was a really good opening move,” Chris said as Ember lay on the floor panting heavily, his sides and arms throbbing. “But unfortunately for you, that move only worked because you know who I am. In a real fight, they would just shield bash you and then kill you. But I like the ingenuity. You've definitely improved, that's for sure.”

  Ember mumbled a snarky remark that Chris didn't quite catch before he stood up. “I was hoping to at least get a hit in.”

  Chris nonchalantly twirled the sword in his hand. “Well, I have been training since I was young. But still, that was a good move. You're showing progress, and I'm more comfortable taking you with me out into the field now.” He put his weapons back on the rack. “Now let's get some rest. It's starting to get dark, and we need to be up early in the morning to find somebody, which I personally am not looking forward to.”

  “Why?” Ember asked as he put his weapon up and followed Chris outside of the training hall, over to the food court.

  “Because it can be a pain trying to find people in the frontier. A lot of them are very standoffish. They don't trust other adventurers because, well, it's not rare for someone to take a quest with a couple of strangers and then they get killed or their bounties stolen.”

  “But, I mean, you're a transitional. No one's going to mess with you, right?” They move around the adventurers, most ignoring them completely, though a few seemed interested in Chris.

  “That's the question,” Chris replied as they walked up to the food court. “That is the question. Unfortunately, I’m not all-powerful. Even I can be caught off guard.”

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “Really? You always seem so in control.” Chris’s humbleness surprised Ember.

  Chris let out a small laugh, “Did the troll teach you nothing? Overconfidence is the greatest sin of the strong. Even I succumb to it on occasion. Which is ironic considering I’m not even that strong. Besides overconfidence, I can get blitzed if I come across someone stronger. I am far from in control. If anything, I have little to none.”

  Ember looked to the floor as they approached the chow line, chewing on that. Overconfidence. I can definitely see that.

  “What can I get for you today?” A woman dressed in an apron and casual medieval clothes asked with a smile. Behind her was a chalkboard with all their items listed. Chris named them out for Ember. Most were various types of meat and bread, and one was some kind of milk stew. Ember asked for that. He’d never had a milk stew before. He didn’t even know if it was good, but why not?

  After receiving their meal, they sat down to eat. Ember reluctantly took a sip. It was creamy and didn’t really taste like milk. It had chunks of meat in it and what looked to be carrots and some kind of purple vegetable that tasted not too dissimilar from broccoli. He picked at it for a little bit before deciding to eat it. It was salty, creamy, and the meat was really tender.

  After choking down his meal and the bread that he was given, which was surprisingly dry, he and Chris returned to their rooms. Ember sat at the window, staring down at the city below, contemplating what was to come.

  I'm gonna have to fight and kill again. That's wonderful. At least with monsters, they aren’t human. It’s like killing an animal for food. Yeah, I’ll just go with that.

  So far, he thought he'd done a good job managing his mental state. The screams and cries from the cathedral still haunted his dreams, but they weren’t as impactful as they once were. It helped that a lot of his time had been spent doing something. Ember looked at the sword in his hand, the meteorite blade. The gold clouds down the center seemed to shimmer in the low light. Even now, Ember isn’t sure what exactly the sword was made of. He wasn’t even sure if it was metal.

  I'm going to have to learn how to use you eventually.

  As he stared at the blade, the sun set, and he looked at the sky. The small streams of water visible through the glass between each walkway started to glow blue, a beautiful, almost azure blue that illuminated the entire city.

  “Jesus,” Ember said as he stared down. “Man, the more I'm here, the more I question everything.”

  Even the water in his own room had started to glow slightly blue. He glanced back down at his sword, the black blade seeming to drink in the light ever so slightly. With a sigh, he sheathed the weapon.

  “Well, I guess I should get some sleep—or try to. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.”

  He peeled off his clothes and climbed into bed. His night was restless, spent dreaming about the cathedral as usual. Mixed in between the nightmares were visions of home. His parents sitting alone at the table, waiting for their son to come home. His bike lay abandoned in an empty lot on the mountain, yet to be found. He woke with a start.

  Chris stood over him and tapped him on the forehead. “Wake up, man. We've got places to be.”

  “Sorry,” Ember mumbled, groggy with sleep.

  “It's no big deal, but I could hear you screaming from the other room. Maybe you should try to figure that out someday.”

  “That's easier said than done,” Ember retorted.

  Chris shrugged. “Anyway, get freshened up. I'll meet you down at the lobby.”

  With a reluctant sigh, Ember got up and went into the shower—though “shower” was more of a loose term. There was a handle that he would pull, and water would cascade down. It was cold, unfortunately, but he got over it. He didn’t have any soap, so he just rinsed off.

  He sat on his warm, comfy bed, but his mind was anything but comfortable. His dreams from last night tortured him. However, it wasn’t the dead or dark that haunted him. It was the images of his old world.

  A deep longing wormed its way to the surface. It was suffocating, enough for Ember to wrap his arms around his knees to keep himself from breaking down. Tears tugged at the edge of his vision.

  No. You can’t get homesick. You’re supposed to be happy, Ember. You're finally in a world where you can become something. Others would kill to be in your position. I can’t...

  A single sob broke through, and he slammed his hands over his mouth, forcing the feeling down, deep into the back of his mind. Just like everything else. With what felt like herculean effort, he stood, attaching his sword to his waist and leaving the room, uttering not a word of the inner turmoil he was wrestling with.