“Aaaah!”
She suddenly leaped over toward me, yelling and brandishing another stick like a crazy person, gripping one end with both hands.
While still blinking in disbelief, I batted away her stick as it came high at my left shoulder. She screamed again, braids flying through the air as she spun around for another blow. This one aimed for my shins, and once more I somehow retained the presence of mind to bat it away.
What was I doing? Part of me wondered. I was holding my own stick at the end with both hands, but that was a stupid stance unless I was actively trying to attack someone, and all I wanted to do was to not get hit while shouting 'what the hell?'
I shifted my grip to be closer to the middle, and began actively knocking away the weapon of the woman-turned-screaming-Pict, until I had trapped against a branch.
“Stell,” I growled. “Stop it!”
“Whew!” She said, smiling and dropping her branch. “That's a relief!”
“What is?” I demanded. “Were you trying out a violent new cardio routine on the both of us?”
“No,” she grinned. “I was testing your skill with heavy blades and quarterstaves. You have basic proficiency, or I would have knocked you on your bum.”
“Who tests people with random acts of violence?” I shot back. “And who still uses the word bum?”
“The same person that has two thumbs and knows more about your own murder skills than you do,”
The beautiful but now slightly scary woman replied casually, pointing both of her thumbs at herself.
But then she became more serious. “Wes, in all seriousness, Avalon has never been wrong about a Challenger yet. You just showed practice with at least two different types of weapons you swore up and down you were unfamiliar with. That means your memory is in the wrong, not Avalon.”
“But that's impossi-” I began, but stopped myself. I ran a hand through my hair, and my thoughts began to race. I tried to think carefully, trying to figure out where I had held anything even remotely like a long sword or quarterstaff.
Suddenly, my head began buzzing. A sharp ache stabbed briefly though my head, and I winced at the pain.
When I opened my eyes a moment later, Stell was next to me. Her eyes were soft, and her hand was on my shoulder. I started to tell here I was okay, but then I remembered the past five minutes, and the words died in my throat. But she just read my eyes and nodded at me.
“We'll get to the bottom of this, Wes. I swear,” she promised. “ My Challengers have always been there for me. So I'll be there for you, anyway I can in this.”
“Thanks,” I said, patting the hand on my shoulder. Her skin felt warm. I realized that there was a strength hiding in her grip, one she had suppressed in our earlier mock combat.
It was also a very gentle grip.
It had been a long time since someone had been able to touch me without hurting me. Even my mother and sister had to be careful when they hugged me.
“Thanks,” I said. The moment passed and she let go of my shoulder. Her eyes still seemed to be searching me.
“Wes, I want to make sure. Is this the first time you've heard of any of this? Challengers? Avalon? Me?”
I nodded.
“Challenger is a pretty common word in my language, but it's never meant all of this,” I gestured around me. “And I've never heard of a woman like you in my life. You're completely one of a kind.” Her mouth twitched a little at that. “Avalon is just the name of an island in the legend of King Arthur, but I've never heard of it as a reference to anything else.”
“King Arthur? What did he share about us?” Stell asked attentively. I just stared at her.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Arthur,” she repeated. “Of the Bretons?”
“Right,” I said slowly.
“What did he say about us? Most Challengers don't mention Avalon at all.”
I stared at Stell for a moment longer.
“Did you just say King Arthur was a Challenger?” I asked, thinking I should have seen this sooner.
Stell nodded again.
“He was one of the first. One of the few to become a Pendragon. Did he not mention us?”
I shook my head slowly.
“If Arthur lived at all, he lived over a thousand years ago. We have little to no records of him. Many on my world have heard of him, but none know if he really existed. And we certainly didn't know Avalon was a place like this.”
Stell smiled.
“I'm glad he became king. But what I'm trying to figure out is why you have so many skills relevant to being a Challenger, as well as why you don't remember most of them. It's almost as if another Challenger had trained you to prepare you for coming here.”
I shrugged.
“I don't see how. No one has ever talked to me about this place and I don't remember ever learning how to even hold a stick like I just did.”
“Well, we'll figure it out eventually,” Stell promised. “But since we don't know how long you're staying here, we need to move on. It's time to test your magical affinities.”
Magical affinities…
I was starting to suspect that a lot of writers back home owed Stell royalty fees.
“You're making that look again,” Stell said with another glare.
“Sorry,” I said. “Please continue with your explanation while I do my best to listen attentively and respectfully to your descriptions of the magics of earth, air, fire, and probably some other types of magic.”
“Not helping,” Stell said. “And I liked it better when you weren't so presumptuous.”
“Tell you what,” I offered. “If I'm wrong, I'll find a way to properly apologize. If I'm right, I'll find a way to get the money you're owed from a lot of people back home.”
“Money?” Stell said in a baffled voice. “What?” Why do people owe me money? What would I even do with it?”
“Whatever you want,” I replied. “It's the principle of the matter, really.”
“Good grief you're weird,” Stell finally declared. “You're worse than the Challenger that thought arguing with women proved he had a low Wisdom trait. I give up. We're moving on right now. Avalon,” Stell said, raising her voice again while looking up. “Search the Challenger for the Ideals his soul is bound to.”
Once again mist began to swirl around me. This time, I felt it pass through my chest. Again, I got a comfortable, cool sensation from the experience, instead of just feeling damp all over. I wasn't even aware it was entering my body, except for a small twinge I felt in my chest, and the fact that it sparkled into a rainbow of different colors when it passed out the other side. Blue, green, red, brown, pink. A host of other shades that winked in and out too quickly for me to process.
This whole thing had finally transitioned the experience away from disturbing familiarity and back to the wonder and mystery I felt when I first came here.
I grasped at the individual sparkling motes, but they just winked away from me. The blue, green, brown and red motes danced away from me and still lingered nearby, as if taunting me to work harder for them. But every other mote just evaded my hands and dashed off to merge into the rest of the mist. Finally I gave up swiping at them and just stared at it all. The last of the mist finished passing through me and floated just out of reach, like a rainbow of tiny eyes that were still assessing me.
Assessment finished, the screen read out. The Challenger has formed contact with no Ideals as of yet. Affinity may still be chosen. The Challenger has the current potential to have Innate understanding of two Ideals. Only the Foundational Ideals may be chosen: Fire, Water, Earth, Air.
Even with a bunch of tropes about the four elements flashing through my head, I was still stunned by the beauty of what I just witnessed. Stell saw my gaping mouth, and smirked.
“There,” she said smugly. “Are you finally impressed? No more quips about you guessing what was about to happen?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Stell...” I said s
lowly. “Thank you.”
“You're welcome?” She asked, arching an eyebrow but still sounding pleased.
“Thank you for making this all...” I searched for the right word. “Beautiful.”
She tilted her head at me.
“What are you talking about? And I didn't make Avalon myself, I just tweak it and interact with it.”
“Thank you for keeping everything beautiful, then.” I insisted. “Even though some of this is familiar to me, I know this didn't have to be so fantastic. And whatever else happens, thank you for letting me be part of it.”
“Really?” She asked, tilting her head. “You know the name 'Challenger' means you're not going to have an easy time of things. It's a little soon to form an opinion for gratitude, isn't it?”
I shook my head. Whatever all of this was, delusion, or fantastic magic, I knew it wasn't going to be a nightmare anymore. I hadn't felt this happy in years, weirdness notwithstanding.
“Thank you,” I repeated. “For everything.”
“Fine,” she said, the smirk becoming a small smile, then disappearing altogether. “Let's just move on. Ideals are the foundation for different concepts of magic. Your understanding of them allows you to perform spells, enchantments, and other supernatural activities. What route taken with the magic depends on the Challenger.”
“Am I going to be one of the only people who can do magic?” I asked, though I thought I remembered Stell mentioning magical orders at one point or another.
“No, but it's still very rare. Certain Ideals, and methods of using them, are much rarer than others though. All Challengers have an Innate understanding, the highest initial understanding possible, with at least one Ideal. It's rare to be able to choose your Ideal, and even rarer to be able to choose two. If you had been able to choose beyond the basics, you would have really been a special snowflake.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I smiled.
“No you're not,” Stell grinned back. “At any rate, you're suspiciously favored enough in all the other areas. Let's just move forward with explaining your choices, shall we?”
I nodded at her, and she tapped on a nearby know-stone for a few moments. My mind-screen changed from displaying my other information to a four-part list.
The Ideal of Fire: Fire is the domain of heat, passion, and swift bursts of intensity. An Innate understanding grants the Challenger an initial and constant increase to Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma. Over time the Challenger will notice a further improvement to their Speed, fast-twitch muscles, and a strictly beneficial improvement to one's metabolism, in both their projected and original bodies. The Challenger further performs fire-based magic to greater effect, and also receives a significant resistance to fire-based magic as well as a slight resistance to heat in both bodies.
The Ideal of Water: Water is the domain of gentleness, secrets, and fluidity. An Innate understanding grants the Challenger an initial and constant increase to Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Over time the Challenger will notice a further improvement to their Deftness, regenerative speed, and blood flow, in both their projected and original bodies. The Challenger further performs water-based magic to greater effect, and also receives a significant resistance to water-based magic as well as a slight resistance to cold in both bodies.
The Ideal of Air: Air is the domain of travel, thought, and freedom. An Innate understanding grants the Challenger an initial and constant increase to Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma. Over time the Challenger will notice a further improvement to their Wits, learning speed, and mental retention in both their projected and original bodies. The Challenger further performs air-based magic to greater effect, and also receives a significant resistance to air-based magic as well as a slight resistance to mental effects in both bodies.
The Ideal of Earth: Earth is the domain of endurance, quiet strength, and depth. An innate understanding grants the Challenger an initial and constant increase to Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom. Over time the Challenger will notice a further improvement to their Will, slow-twitch muscles, and balance in both their projected and original bodies. The Challenger further performs earth-based magic to greater effect, and also receives a significant resistance to earth-based magic as well as a slight resistance to physical effects in both bodies.
My eyes rolled through all of the information, stopping to read certain parts more slowly. My breathing caught when I read over the phrase 'projected and original bodies.'
“Stell,” I said, containing my excitement. “Do the parts about both of my bodies mean what I think they mean?”
She nodded.
“They affect your body back home. You're wondering how to fix your body back home, aren't you?”
I nodded.
“Maybe it's selfish, but I think I can also be more useful here if I'm no longer dealing with my condition back home.”
Stell shrugged.
“I can't really ask you to give up an opportunity like that. Especially since I've seen numerous Challengers save the day with just one of these Ideals. I trust my Challengers to make the best choice both for themselves and the rest of us.”
Relieved with her acceptance, I went back to looking over the four Ideals. Excitement was building up all over me. There were a lot of crazy things happening that I couldn't explain. But if I could suddenly think better, and walk better, back home? That wouldn't just prove that I wasn't going crazy. That would prove that I wasn't a lost cause.
I thought back to the abilities granted by each Ideal. Muscular improvement. Metabolism. Better regeneration for my body. That last one would probably improve my overall lifespan, if it worked the way I thought it did. But would it be the right fix for me?
“Stell,” I asked. “Just to be clear, you can't find any damage in my body, brain or other organs, right?”
“Right,” she nodded. “Whatever's affecting you can't be fixed by regeneration, as far as I know, if that's what you're thinking.”
That left the last two. Balance and mental retention. My best chances at being able to walk and think better.
“Stell,” I said, swallowing. “I'm going to choose Earth and Air.”
“Okay,” she said, with some hesitancy. “You can do that, but I need to warn you that it's harder to control two opposing Ideals at the same time. It's been done before, but it's never easy. You'd have an easier time with Earth and Fire, or Water and Air, especially.”
“It's my best shot for back home,” I said firmly, shaking my head at her recommendations. “I'll just have to make it work.”
“Fair enough,” Stell said with a nod. “Just think out your choices and Avalon will respond. Brace yourself, though. The transition will be intense.”
I nodded one more time and closed my eyes.
Avalon, I thought. I choose Innate understanding in Earth and Air.
Avalon acknowledges contact with the Challenger, a voice said in my mind. Assimilating knowledge now.
My head began to tear itself apart.
Flashes of things, pictures, concepts flew through and crashed into my mind. Soaring through the sky to look down at the ground below. Going into the ground and finding out just how far down it went. Seeing an air current move, and tracking the wind by the effects it left. Seeing a stone change over thousands over years. My body felt like it was twisting, condensing, and stretching all at once. The top half of me wanted to fly up into the sky, and see what was beyond the clouds. The other half felt like it was about burrow into the earth, until I reached the core of Avalon's magic. I felt the Ideals whisper at me, offer flashes of power, and then get in each other's way. It was impossible to focus on the concepts of one for any longer than a second before the other shoved its way to the front of my mind.
Fly up, Air said. See every part of the world in one small passage of time.
No, go down, Earth said. Watch every stage of time on one small part of the world.
I had one second to think that Stell had really under-warned ab
out this before my mind and body began to rip again. The next second, I asked myself what I was so worried about.
My mind and body felt like they were ripping apart all the time back home.
This was nothing.
With that stubborn thought, I began to fight through the pain.
Stop getting in each other's way, I thought. There must be something you both have in common, or one of you wouldn't be able to exist at all.
But both Ideals continued to struggle. Each kept trying to argue its own case in my mind. I shucked off their words and tried to think of something that connected the two Ideals.
Where do Earth and Air connect? I asked in my mind. The Ideals did not answer me. I tried to think of the answer on my own.
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