When the caravan finally rolled into Abingdon for the night, Asher couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. He’d been a bit distracted during all his research, half expecting to sense Samantha stabbing herself in the arm at any moment in order to alert him that they were under attack by demons. While Abingdon was only a large town and not some incredibly well-defended city, the fact that the royal guard academy was situated just outside of town was reassuring. From what he understood, dozens of retired royal guards spent their golden years teaching the up and comers, and even if they weren’t as strong physically as they once had been, their skills were still top-notch.

  As Brant got to work finally stopping the mogrants and prepared to address the caravan, Asher took a look at what two days of nothing but studying in the library had done for his skills. He’d finally managed to reach the skill cap for Incorporate and evolve it, and the result was rather interesting.

  Comprehend - Lvl 27

  Incorporate (active) - Lvl 22

  Tier 1: Instantly absorb the information contained within an appropriate vessel.

  Tier 2: Pass information on to a willing participant.

  Shards: 100,046

  It was a curious skill evolution for sure, and one that he wasn’t sure how he felt about just yet. Through some simple experimentation with Samantha, he’d figured out that it wasn’t just information he’d absorbed via the skill that he could pass on, but even his own memories if he so chose. Samantha had been utterly blown away when he’d shared with her the simple memory of driving a car down the interstate, or playing a video game on his computer. He’d been forced to put the experiment on hold for a bit to better explain his own world to her and answer the seemingly endless questions that his memories had evoked.

  Even if it didn’t end up being quite as useful as he’d hoped, it was still one step closer to finishing the Stage of Honing. At this point, he only had four skills left that needed to be evolved, and all of them were above level 10. It would probably take him some time to get the likes of Judgement and Sever the Thread up to the level cap, each of which was still only level 12, but he was excited nonetheless.

  “Alright everyone, most of you know the drill by now,” Brant called out to them, standing on his lead mogrant and facing them all. “Though as I said the other day, we’ll only be staying in Abingdon for a single night this time. Feel free to ask if you need tavern recommendations, but make sure you don’t wander too far. We’ll be heading out first thing in the morning, so for those of you who are heavy sleepers, I’d recommend requesting a wake up knock from wherever you end up spending the night!”

  “I don’t see why we can’t just stay in the wagons,” one of their fellow travelers muttered to their companion as Brant jumped down. “Not like we haven’t been sleeping in them during the trip already.”

  “This is why nobody wants to travel with you, where’s your sense of adventure?” the second stranger asked, before shaking their head and walking away. As the first person cursed and chased after them, Asher turned to his own companions.

  “What do you guys say? Late dinner and call it an early night?”

  “Might as well,” Samantha nodded, peering up at the rising moon. “Probably too late to actually try and do anything around town.”

  “I kinda wanted to try and take a look at the royal guard academy,” Brian admitted, looking sheepish. “I know I’m not going there anymore, but I’m still curious.”

  “I doubt they’ll let just anyone inside, but I don’t see why we can’t walk by it and take a look,” Asher shrugged. “Maybe if we ask nicely-”

  He felt a subtle, familiar tugging on his core, and he stopped talking as his gaze was drawn upward. Another pane of energy that only he could see manifested above his head for a moment, attempting to get a lock on him before shattering, the pieces melting into the air.

  “What’s wrong?” Samantha asked, her bow already in hand and arrow drawn as she looked around. “Are we under attack?”

  “No… Somebody just tried scrying me again,” he explained, frowning. It had been a couple of days since the last time someone had made an attempt to view him from afar, immediately after they’d narrowly escaped being kidnapped by the greater demon. The attempt had even been beneficial for them, as it had led him to discover that people inside his Personal Rift couldn't be scried, though it had been mildly concerning that no further attempts had been made until now. “Again, no clue who made the attempt.”

  “It’s kind of annoying that your evolved resistance doesn’t give you an inkling as to who is trying to find you,” Samantha said, returning her arrow to her quiver.

  “No kidding,” he muttered. “Anyway, nothing we can do about that now. Want to walk by the royal guard academy and see what we can see?”

  “Yeah!” Brian said, nodding eagerly.

  Their decision made, the three of them ignored their hungry stomachs for just a little bit longer as they made their way to the edge of town and walked the half-mile over to the academy.

  The royal guard academy was essentially a massive fort with tall castle walls that prevented them from actually getting a look at the interior. Despite that, they were still able to hear the sounds of combat drifting from within, even with the late hour.

  “Halt!” one of the four guards manning the main entrance called out before they’d even gotten close. The woman wore a heavy suit of armor and had a deadly looking halberd clenched in one hand. “What is your business with the royal guard academy?”

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  [Guardian] - 3/3 Elements

  “We’re with the caravan passing through town, we were just curious about the academy,” Asher called back, admiring the woman’s aura. It was similar to Bordan’s in a way, radiating a soft, yellow light that was a bit more flexible than the truthseeker’s. She was dangerous, that much was certain, but she kept her actions out in the light where all could see. “Our apologies if we’re breaking some rule!”

  Judgement - Lvl 13

  “We do actually offer tours of some of our more public places within the academy, but you’ll have to return when the sun is up,” she explained, at least having the decency not to level her halberd at them. “Try coming back tomorrow!”

  “Ah, shoot,” Samantha frowned, giving Brian an apologetic glance. “Sorry, Brian, we’re leaving first thing in the morning, so we’ll have to pass on the tour.”

  “I think you’re forgetting how my skills work again,” Asher chuckled quietly. “I can leave a mark on our wagon and a mark in town here. Then we can all pop back together as the wagon continues on to the capital, take the tour, and just head back to the caravan whenever we want.”

  “Right, instant, long-range teleportation for multiple people,” Samantha muttered, shaking her head. “Sorry I keep forgetting such a skill even exists in the first place.”

  “No offence, but if you keep muttering quietly to yourselves over there, we will have to take action,” the guardian said, now leveling her halberd in their direction. “Please head back into town and come back when it’s light out.”

  “Sorry! Heading back to town!” Asher called back, waving apologetically as they bid a hasty retreat. “Wow, they really don’t mess around, huh?”

  “You did say the High Prince mentioned the royal guard academy was the third most secure place in the entire kingdom,” Samantha pointed out, letting out a strained laugh. Despite having had a few days to come to terms with it, she was still struggling to accept the fact that he’d had a friendly chat with the leader of their entire kingdom just the other day.

  “Wait, you’ve talked to the High Prince?!” Brian gasped, looking at him in an entirely new light. “Seriously?!” The twelve-year-old had looked a bit down that they’d been turned away from the academy, but this news perked him right back up.

  “Just once or twice,” Asher admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not that big of-”

  His words were drowned out by the ringing of a massive bell somewhere behind them, and they spun back around toward the academy. As though it was a hornet’s nest somebody had kicked, heavily armed and dangerous-looking people were flooding out of the academy’s main entrance, sprinting directly toward them.

  “What’s going on?” Brian asked, moving a bit closer to Samantha as the hunter whipped out her bow again.

  “I don’t know, stay close!” she ordered, moving to nock an arrow before hesitating. Asher didn’t really blame her, there was a big difference between drawing on a bunch of bandits or assassins versus threatening to shoot some of the kingdom’s finest.

  Thankfully, before the mass of warriors got too close, the ones with movement-enhancing skills who were in the lead shouted out to them before running straight past on toward the town.

  “Something’s coming, get indoors!”

  “Something’s coming?” Samantha repeated, watching as the rest of the warriors finally reached them and also continued on to the town as well. “How do they even know?”

  “There are skills that give people a sense of impending attacks, like Dangersense or Precognition, just to name two,” Asher explained, his heart beginning to race as the ringing of the bell continued. “They’re pretty rare from what I read, but I bet if anyone would have them, it would be former members of the royal guard!”

  “What do we do?” Brian asked, looking a bit panicked at everything happening so quickly. Asher could practically see the memory of imps and demons attacking Horntho reflected in Brian's fearful eyes. “We don’t have a tavern room yet!”

  “For now, you should hide inside my rift,” Asher said, getting a hurried nod from Brian before he grabbed his hand and vanished. With Brian taken care of, Asher turned toward Samantha. Already wearing the outfit crafted from serpent hide he’d given her and with her enchanted bow at the ready, the hunter looked prepared for just about anything.

  “Think it’s the demons?” she asked, her lips pressed thin.

  “Almost certainly,” he nodded. “I doubt that attempt at scrying me was an accident. I’ve got a hunch that the greater demon itself is capable of scrying, and even if it can’t see me, I think it might still get a vague sense of my direction before the attempt fails.”

  “If this town is about to be under attack by another wave of demons, we have to help them,” Samantha decided. “Having all those former royal guards around us would be for the best when it finally appears, anyway.”

  “I don’t know…” he admitted, wincing as he heard screams and the shouts of battle start up from the town. “I think I have an idea as to how to take the demon down for good, but it would probably kill anyone else who got caught up in it. It’s still something of a work in progress, which is why I haven’t told you about it yet.”

  “You better not ask me what I think you’re about to,” Samantha said, staring at him. “Asher-”

  “I’m sorry, but that includes you as well,” he said, giving her a pained smile. “I promise you, this isn’t some misconstrued attempt at keeping you safe. I want you right by my side for the next thousand battles we fight. But just this once, I need to fight alone. My plan won’t work otherwise. Please, Samantha.”

  The two of them stood there, staring at one another as the screaming and roars of combat intensified in the distance. As much as it pained him to send her away, her death was all but guaranteed if she tried to help him with his plan. Hell, there was a very good chance his idea wouldn’t even work, in which case the greater demon would be entirely free to kill anyone around them and take him back to The Council of Death anyway.

  “Fine,” she said after a long moment, taking a deep breath and glaring at him. “But you better win, or I will never let you hear the end of this.”

  “I promise I’ll do what I can,” he chuckled, a wave of relief washing over him that he wouldn’t have to worry about the greater demon killing her right in front of him. Bow in hand, Samantha wrapped her arms around him, embracing him even as the screams began to grow in number.

  "If it's already this close, it probably has methods of finding me other than scrying," Asher said, remembering the demon's strange comment it had made about elements and skills being something humans didn't even understand. "I have a feeling the greater demon will come straight for me, so you should do what you can to help the townsfolk."

  “Come get me once you’re done,” she spoke softly in his ear, before pulling back and giving him a kiss that said more than words could ever hope to. Their kiss lingered for a few seconds, before she finally pulled away and turned, running back toward the town that now had more than a few buildings burning, the bright flames lighting up the dark night.

  Alright, Asher thought, watching her run down the road as he mentally prepared himself for what came next. His first two encounters with the greater demon hadn’t gone very well for him, but he was far better prepared this time around, and even had some semblance of a plan.

  Time for round three.

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