***

  BEGIN Part II of Vol. 1

  ***

  “Here it is,” Pliny said as they approached the Firebrand Gym.

  They had departed the inn in the fishing district earlier that morning and walked through the city’s eastern outskirts to get back to the northern neighborhoods. They stopped for coffee and, a bit later, for lunch. Before long they arrived at Gerran’s gym, which sat on a small road, partially occluded behind a pond and a small grove of apple trees.

  “Is he a Farmer?” Andy asked, looking at the apple trees.

  “I think he just really likes apples,” said Pliny.

  The compound was fairly simple: there was a modest two-story house with all curtains drawn, a swept yard with several picnic tables under umbrellas, and an open-air gym with smooth, wooden planks on the floor and large wooden columns supporting the structure’s sloped roof. Behind the gym, there were outdoor showers and what appeared to be a bunk house, judging by the beds Andy could see from the open front door.

  A pair of Fighters sparred in the gym, dressed in sparring aprons similar to the one Andy had worn for his [combat] test. Gerran stood on the sidelines in casual garb, holding a coffee.

  Andy recognized one of the fighters: Patesh, his opponent during his previous [combat] test. The guy had serious anger issues, but he seemed to be keeping it together a bit better now, kicking and throwing punches with a stoic expression.

  Unfortunately for Patesh, they didn’t seem to land. His opponent, a young man around the same age, was tall and powerfully built. He was cleanshaven, but had a long mane of blonde hair.

  The blonde man landed a strike on Patesh’s sternum.

  “That’s match!” Gerran called.

  Patesh grimaced, his fists clenching.

  “Watch it,” Gerran said.

  Patesh relaxed, his grimace melting into a downcast frown as his shoulders relaxed.

  “Congratulations on your second rank in [combat], Quinn!” Gerran said, facing Patesh’s opponent. “Well done.”

  Quinn smiled broadly. “Thank you,” he said, bowing slightly to Gerran.

  “Congratulations,” Patesh said with more than a little restraint. He extended his hand and shook Quinn’s.

  Huh, Andy thought, I suppose my friend Patesh has really worked on his attitude since we last sparred.

  “I don’t mean to interrupt,” Pliny said as he climbed the small flight of stairs up to the gym floor. “I have a new student for you.”

  “Ah, Andy!” Gerran said, waving and smiling generously. “Welcome to my humble gym.”

  “Thank you,” Andy said. “And congratulations on your win,” he said, looking toward Quinn who bowed slightly.

  Patesh looked down at the floor with an almost embarrassed expression.

  “Good to see you, Patesh,” Andy said, smiling.

  The young man looked up at Andy, as if he were almost confused by the kind greeting.

  “Andy has achieved his first rank in the core Fighter skills,” Pliny said. “Morwen requested that he receive his second-rank training with you.”

  “Yes,” said Gerran, “I spoke with her about this. Andy, you are certainly welcome to train here. I have a bunk reserved for you in the bunkhouse out back. Now, remind me, are you pursuing [athletics] or [acrobatics]?”

  “[Athletics],” said Andy.

  “Yes, okay,” Gerran said. “Well if you aren’t too tired from your journey, how about we go ahead and work on training for that second skill rank in [athletics]?”

  “Now?” Andy asked, a bit surprised. For his entire journey so far, the people of the Infinite Plane had been laid back, insisting on great meals, slow travel, and plenty of downtime.

  “Yes,” Gerran said. “You’ve been living the slow life up in Morwen’s Grove. But I run a gym, not a retreat house!” he threw his head back in laughter.

  Andy had hardly set foot on the property, and Gerran was already pushing him to train. He could tell that he would receive a lot more training a lot more quickly here than he had at Morwen’s Grove. Maybe that was part of the reason Morwen had sent him over here, to experience different teaching styles and, perhaps, to make quicker gains.

  “Alright,” Andy said.

  “You’re in good hands,” said Pliny. “Morwen said we’ll see you again after you’ve reached second rank in your core Fighter skills, right?”

  “Yes,” Andy said. “I will see you soon.”

  Pliny nodded, shaking Andy’s hand. “It’s been a pleasure showing you Cresthaven. I look forward to your return to the grove.” Pliny nodded toward Gerran and his other students before turning around and leaving.

  “Well,” Gerran said. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

  “Absolutely,” said Andy.

  “Patesh,” said Gerran, “you can go ahead and complete your chores. I am going to take Andy through the [athletics] training. Quinn, please follow me.”

  Patesh grimaced slightly as he bowed. “Yes, sir,” he muttered. He turned and headed toward the bunk house.

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  “Now, Quinn, this is Andy. I had the pleasure of watching Andy complete his rank 1 [combat] training not too long ago. He’s a promising combatant, and will make a capable Fighter. Andy, this is Quinn. He’s a relatively recent student of mine. He’s just completed his rank 2 training in his core skills, and he’s an [athletics]-based fighter, like you.”

  Quinn extended his hand, and Andy shook it.

  Gerran continued. “We use the buddy system here, so Quinn, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to help Andy through his next sequence of core skills.”

  “Sure thing,” Quinn said, smiling.

  “Show him the ropes and get him started,” Gerran said. “I’ll be in to check on you in the next little while.” Gerran nodded before departing, heading toward the small house.

  “Working on rank 2 in [athletics], huh?” Quinn said.

  “Yes,” said Andy. “First rank was brutal… I’m hoping I can keep up.”

  “Well,” Quinn said, “depending on your starting fitness, rank 1 [athletics] training can really put a strain on your body. From what I’ve heard, it gets easier as you progress through the [athletics] ranks. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve just completed my second [athletics] rank earlier this week and I didn’t find it quite as difficult.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Andy said. “What is the training for it, exactly?”

  “Ah,” Quinn said. “Let me show you. Follow me.” He beckoned Andy across the gym floor into a yard at the rear of the property.

  They crossed a small footbridge over a brook and came to a wooded area. A towering tree shot high above the rest of the surrounding trees.

  “This is the rank 2 [athletics] training,” said Quinn, gesturing toward the giant tree.

  Andy beheld the tree, throwing his head back to see the top as it reached into the sky. It was impressive. But what was he supposed to do, exactly?

  “I don’t understand,” Andy said.

  “You have to make it to the top.”

  “I just have to climb a tree?” Andy said. “I mean, that does seem a bit easier than the first [athletics] training I did. I had to wear heavy boots and I could only use my hands and–”

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Quinn said. “I have some boots for you.”

  Damn!

  Quinn went to the base of the tree where a few small chests sat. One was cracked halfway open. He lifted the lid and produced a pair of boots, handing them to Andy.

  They were similar in size to the brawner boots that Morwen had given him for his first trial, but they were much, much heavier.

  “Jesus,” Andy said, grunting as he accepted the boots. “These weigh a ton.”

  “Fifty pounds, actually,” Quinn said.

  “Okay,” Andy said. He had thought the first trial was impossible, but he had overcome it, so it had to be the same here. “So I just climb the tree with these boots on?”

  “Yes,” Quinn said. “But one final stipulation: you have to do it in under one minute.”

  Andy looked up at the tree again. He examined the branches, looking for a path upward. He saw a route he could take, but it would require several leaps. It would take a miracle to clear it in under a minute.

  “Damn,” Andy said. “That’s not easy at all.”

  “Well, that’s why they call it training,” Quinn said. “You have to work for it.”

  Andy sat down on the trunk and strapped on the boots. They were incredibly heavy, causing his feet to practically stick to the ground.

  “See that branch there?” Quinn said, pointing to a branch about five feet off the ground. “If you can get a running start, that makes a great entry point.”

  “Okay,” Andy said. He began striding toward the branching, trying to pick his feet up into a run, but they resisted. As he got closer to the branch, he attempted to jump.

  To his credit, Andy was able to get both of his feet off the ground at the same time, but it wasn’t nearly enough air. He smashed his chest against the branch, falling backward.

  “You’re supposed to get on the branch,” Quinn said, chuckling.

  Andy picked himself up, trudging back toward Quinn. “Alright,” he said, “that was just a warm up.” His legs were already burning, but he was becoming more accustomed to the boots. If he wanted to nail this, he had to push through the difficulty. Andy picked each of his legs up, one after the other, feeling the amount of effort it would take to pull each one fully off the ground. It was a lot. But he could do it. “Okay,” he said.

  He ran, lifting his legs explosively with each step, this time picking up some speed. As he approached the branch, he pushed off the ground, grunting with effort. He caught himself on the sturdy lower branch and hoisted himself up.

  He was able to stand upright, supported by the first branch.

  “Nice!” Quinn said. “Now you’re getting started.”

  Andy looked around for the next available branch. There was one directly above him. He wrapped his arms around it and strained to pull up his lower body, wrapping fully around the branch.

  “Are you trying to imitate a sloth?” Quinn asked.

  He realized that Quinn had a point. He had curled himself around the branch and just hung there. It wasn’t a particularly athletic position, and it wasn’t easy to move in any direction other than back down.

  “Go back down and try again, but lift yourself up.”

  Andy dropped back down to the branch below, raising his arms around the branch above. The branch below him was sturdy and solid, but it had a little bit of give.

  Maybe I can use this to my advantage, Andy thought. He bounced ever so slightly, rocking the branch up and down. As the branch bounced upward, Andy lifted off, shooting up. He caught himself on the upper branch again, but this time he used his momentum to pull his body up, bringing both of his brawner boots onto the limb.

  “Nice!” Quinn said. “Good technique. Use the branches’ natural bounce for assistance.”

  The next three branches were not so hard. He could practically step onto them. He continued ascending each branch one by one, and soon enough, he found himself near the top. There was just one last obstacle: the final branch was around ten feet above him.

  How am I going to reach that? he thought.

  Andy rocked up and down, causing the branch to bounce upward. When the branch beneath him reached its apex, he jumped.

  With everything that he had, he leapt upward. His fingers brushed the final branch above, but it eluded his grasp. He fell back downwards.

  He landed on the branch below, steadying himself to keep balance. As he looked down, his head began to swim. He hadn’t realized how high he’d climbed. Quinn was just a small dot below him.

  Andy began to feel shaky.

  I didn’t realize I had such a reaction to heights… but I suppose I’ve never climbed something this high…

  He looked up at the branch again, but he had psyched himself out.

  “What’s the matter?” Quinn called. “Chickening out?”

  “No!” Andy shouted from the top of the tree. He looked back up at the branch and summoned all his resolve. He pushed aside his fears and the protestations of his body and mind to leap upwards again.

  His hand grasped the branch. He pulled himself up, touching the top of the tree. He did it.

  “Nice job!” Quinn called. “Now we just have to work on your speed!”

  Andy lowered himself down the tree branch by branch, straining against the extra weight of his brawner boots and taking care not to look at the ground below. It was a long, laborious process, but he finally reached the grassy floor.

  “So, do you think you can do that in under a minute?” Quinn asked.

  “I… I think so,” Andy said. He began walking toward Quinn but his quads, calves, and hamstrings protested. “But I have to be real with you, I think my legs are shot.”

  “That makes sense,” Quinn said. “Well, consider this your trial run. You can recover the rest of the day and you can take an official stab at it in the morning.”

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