Meridias

“Uh, good. I can use shadows to grab things and my fire is bigger.” Elunduil nodded. Maybe he should take his brother on another mission. “When we get back we should go on another mission,” he said. Felras nodded and they stared out into the ocean. “Maybe there will be dragons!” his brother said excitedly. Elunduil laughed and they went back to finishing the sand castle.

  ***

  Alicia, Tanis, and Tim met on Meridias. After exchanging greetings they decided to go to Angurvadel together. Tanis was eager to learn more about his magic though he admitted that his progress was slow. Alicia wanted to practice using auras and conscripted Tim to be her test subject. Tim reluctantly agreed saying that at least he would be able to see something new. After they took the transport to Ellicia they went to the town hall and once inside they were greeted by Cerra and Angurvadel. There were also some other students there as well and one of them was playing with a ball of lava that hovered between his hands.

  Angurvadel had Tanis meditate while Alicia practiced on Tim. Tim decided that he could take this time to try and come up with a countermeasure to aura’s and waited patiently for Alicia to do something. It took her a couple of attempts but finally a serene sensation washed over the room. Angurvadel cleared his throat startling Alicia and the aura faded. “It would seem you need to work on blocking out distractions,” he said with a smile. Alicia agreed with a smile and went back to her training. Tim had a smug look on his face. He had a few tricks to break her concentration. The next time Alicia used her aura Tim conjured up a small breeze that blew into one of Alicia’s ears. Alicia looked to where the wind was coming from in confusion. Tim held back a chuckle with all his will as she turned back for another round. Now this was fun.

  They repeated this cycle a couple more times before Alicia grew frustrated. “Something the matter?” Tim asked as casually as he could. Alicia stared at Tim for several long seconds before she said, “No, nothing at all.” The way she’d replied made it sound like she’d caught on to him. Perhaps he should change his approach? Alicia took a breath and focused. Tim waited for the buildup of energy in her but did not expect what happened next. A ball of water formed in the air and shot at him. It collided with his face and drenched him. “You think I didn’t notice you using magic just because I was concentrating?” Her hands were on her hips as she scolded him. Tim chuckled weakly “Ah, darn,” he said. Alicia sighed.

  “Now will you take this seriously?” she asked. Tim nodded and they went back to practice. After Alicia had tried it several times Tim wanted to see if he could use an aura too, so Alicia taught him what she knew and he gave it a try. After several failed attempts he decided that he’d watch Alicia to try and get a better grasp at it.

  Meanwhile Tanis was meditating without too much success. He kept trying to remember that feeling when he’d first made contact with the Light but so far it eluded him. He needed to let it come to him. That feeling of power and light filling him from somewhere far away is what he was trying to grasp. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. He had to let it come to him. Trying to force the Light to come to him hadn’t worked in the past. He felt calm and started to drift. That’s when he heard it. Like a whisper on the wind he “heard” something that seemed far away. It didn’t make any words but he could feel it speaking. He could tell that it wanted him to reach out to it. To grasp it in his own hands and to wield it.

  He cautiously reached out with his mind fearing that he might lose it, but he didn’t seem to get any closer to it. He tried again but with the same result. I see… I need to be confident don’t I? It won’t listen to me if I have doubt inside me. Tanis reached out without restraint towards the “sound” until he felt strength and Light fill him. This was it! This was the feeling that he’d had when he’d helped cleanse that corruption! He opened his eyes and frowned. Now what was he supposed to do? He’d focused on the means but not the end result. He looked over to Alicia as she used her serenity aura and wondered if he could do something similar with his power. He closed his eyes and focused on the people around him. He wanted to protect them. He felt as if he was being guided and took the light inside of him and spread it outwards towards those around him. When he opened his eyes he saw that the people in his immediate vicinity had a thin white shield that veiled them.

  Everyone looked confused and was wondering what was going on. Angurvadel spoke up over the crowd and said, “No need to worry. It would seem that someone has learned to use their Light.” He gave Tanis a subtle nod. Tanis chuckled weakly to himself and the shields faded. Well at least he was on the right track. He was ecstatic that he’d managed to use his power on command though now he had to be able to do it in less time and consistently. Only then would he be able to catch up to Elunduil and the others.

  Elunduil spent the next couple of days trekking around the beach and helping his family with cleaning up the house they were staying at. They went into the water a bit and also cooked up some s’mores over a little fire pit that was in the back of the house. Their Grandma always tried to get him and Felras to eat seconds of their meals saying that they were too skinny. Elunduil did enjoy breaking away from Meridias for a bit, but he started to get eager to get back into the game and to rejoin his friends. Felras also mentioned that he was ready to get back to practicing magic.

  Alicia continued to hone her skill with using auras and Tim failed to use it several more times. In the end he decided that auras weren’t his thing since he definitely had the ability to control his magical energy properly. Tanis continued practicing how to use the Light on command and at some point Tim advised him to come up with a word to use as a trigger. Tanis thought hard on this for a while before coming up with something that he thinks will work and began to put it into practice. He also trained with Galimere to hone his swordsmanship and felt that he was getting a little bit better but still nowhere near the elf’s level.

  ***

  Joel had also been working hard the past several days. Revais’ death had caused him to focus even harder at improving his sword skill against the others. He needed to be strong enough to slaughter anything in this crazy world that would threaten him or his comrade’s lives! Right now he was up against Lucas, the former marine and also the most competent swordsman in the camp outside of Ashblade. They clashed with all their might, the sounds of their blades clinking in the desert air. Lucas parried Joel’s next swing and rushed in for the killing blow. Joel stepped back with his left leg and brought his blade down on Lucas who was forced to block. They clashed several more times and neither of them seemed like they could gain the upper ground. Lucas suddenly raised his sword high as if to strike down on Joel from above and as he made to strike Joel raised his own sword to block, but then Lucas stopped before completing his swing and stuck instead from Joel’s left side. Joel didn’t have time to dodge and he couldn’t block properly in his current position so instead he dropped to his knee with his right hand up against the flat of his blade as he blocked Lucas’ strike.

  Lucas drew back his blade as Joel stood up and he struck again. Joel managed to parry the blow and looked as if he was going to strike from the side but quickly changed to an overhead diagonal slash. His blade stopped just short of Luca’s neck. “Yes! I finally win!” Joel exclaimed as he drew back his blade. He was panting from the exertion but was pleased with himself. “Ah, I didn’t see that last strike coming,” Lucas said while he ran a hand through his hair. “So does this make me number one now? I’ve managed to beat everyone here at least once. Hahaha who else wants to go a round?!” The others weren’t too enthusiastic about sparring. They had been already going at it for over an hour. There was one person who had been watching from a far that was willing to take Joel up on his challenge.

  Ashblade stood across from Joel, his brown eyes gazing critically at him. “You’ll have to beat me before you can call yourself number one,” he said to Joel.

  “Oh…” Joel said realizing that Ashblade would probably kick his butt.

  “Here I’ll
give you a handicap. I won’t even use a weapon.” Ashblade’s confidence scared Joel a bit. If Ashblade was forgoing a weapon then he was screwed. “Crud.” Joel took up his fighting stance. “Hey now you won’t win if you aren’t prepared to come at me with everything you’ve got,” Ashblade called out. Joel breathed deeply. Fine. I’ll attack him as if my life’s on the line! Joel took a step forward, and then another until he came within attack range. Ashblade simply watched him like a professional watching an amateur. He slowly raised his arms into a fighting pose as if telling Joel to attack. Joel growled and decided what he would do. He would aim right for Ashblade’s neck.

  Without hesitating he swung from the side at his commander’s neck. What happened next was a blur of motion as Ashblade caught Joel’s sword with his hands and pulled the sword from his grip. He then shot forward and delivered a powerful punch to Joel’s gut that sent Joel to the ground as the air vacated his lungs. It was several seconds before Joel could get up again and when he did Ashblade said, “You still have a long way to go if you want to beat me.” Ashblade returned to the camp without another word leaving the recruits to gawk at his wake. Joel wondered how Ashblade was so much faster than him. He also didn’t like losing but seeing the gap between him and their commander made him realize that he wasn’t anywhere near competent enough to save his squad mates. He clenched his fist. He needed to be stronger!

  Chapter 14

  The Past Returns to Haunt

  Elunduil had returned home from the beach yesterday and was so eager to go to Meridias that he had taken off from home early to go to the VR center. This meant that the others wouldn’t be at the VR center until later but he was fine with that. He hadn’t checked his stats in awhile so it would give him something to do. He also wanted to look over the missions that were available. When he got to the VR center Scott greeted him from behind the counter. Elunduil waved to him. “Oh? Without the others today?” Scott asked. Elunduil shook his head.

  “Yeah, I wanted to get right back into it after my vacation,” he replied. Scott nodded in understanding and smiled. “Well portal number 3 is ready to go when you are,” he said. Elunduil thanked Scott and walked over to the third portal. It hummed to life and cast a blue glow into the room. Elunduil stepped into it and out the other end into Tel’kedar.

  He went over to the terminal that dispensed the APL devices and put it on his wrist. After equipping his robe he checked the terminal to see what his stats were. He coughed in surprise when he saw that he was level 25 now. That fight with the World Eater, Cerebus and shadow creature before must’ve bumped him up quite a bit. They did seem like high-tier enemies. Especially that shadow creature. Honestly if he hadn’t attacked it when he did he felt certain it would’ve overwhelmed them. Anyway it would probably be a few more minutes before his friends arrived so he decided to check the missions.

  He started to walk over to where the mission board was and then noticed Daniel, Dave, and Maria by the entrance of the building. He decided to go see what they were up to and changed course to intercept them. Dave noticed him approaching and called out to him. He waved back to the elder brother and Daniel and Maria looked around to see who Dave was calling to. “You alone today?” Dave asked and Elunduil shook his head.

  “Nah, I’m just early. I was on vacation.” Dave nodded in understanding.

  “Did you… have a good time?” Maria asked. Elunduil nodded his head but was a little thrown off. Normally she would make fun of him by now. “That’s good.” Her voice was a bit lower than normal and she seemed a bit subdued. “Wouldn’t you make fun of me for taking time off?” He pointed out her odd behavior and her eyes flicked about in a panic. She didn’t seem to know how to respond so Elunduil said, “I’m level 25 now.” She latched onto his words. “O-oh really? Of course the talented Elunduil would be.” Though she made it sound like she was giving him flak her words sounded hollow. He decided to let it slide. Honestly it was kind of a relief that she didn’t seem so aggressive towards him.

  Maria turned to leave acting haughty and annoyed and the brothers followed suit. She paused, turned to Elunduil and said. “I’m level 18. I’ll catch up to you soon!” Her act was wrong. Her pride was there but she seemed less like the rival she’d declared herself to be. She turned around and walked away and Elunduil learned from Danial and Dave that they were level 10 and 12 respectively before they followed after Maria. He was somewhat curious at the difference in their levels. Training seemed to have slowly been making them stronger but if they hadn’t been fighting too many monsters then that might explain the disparity here. He heard someone calling out from behind him and turned to look.

  Alicia, Tanis, and Tim approached from the portal lobby and Felras appeared to have met them already. “Yo! How was your beach trip?” Tanis asked. Elunduil shrugged.

  “It was a nice break but by the second day I was ready to come back here.” His response elicited a chuckle from his friends. Since everyone was here Elunduil decided to bring up his encounter with Maria and her friends. He didn’t mention Maria’s odd behavior to them so he wasn’t 100% sure if it was a one-time thing or not, and his friends seemed intrigued by the other groups levels and decided to check their own. Tim was the highest at level 27. He complained a little bit about Elunduil catching up to him. Tanis was next at level 17. Learning to use the Light had greatly increased his level. Alicia was level 13, and Felras was level 9. Tanis teased her that Felras was catching up to her and she retorted by saying that it made sense given he was Elunduil’s brother. No one argued with that and Elunduil tossed his hands into the air. Why that was a sufficient explanation he didn’t know but sometimes hearing it annoyed him.

  They went over to the mission board and looked over what was available for them to do. Tim brought up the sealed building that they tried going to a few days ago, and they decided to ask one of the knights if it was safe for them to try and go to it again. Tim and Tanis approached a knight who was standing nearby to help direct people and asked him about the sealed building. “Ah, that place? Yeah five days should have been enough time for the Malthay to drive off the Syth. I’ll arrange a transport to meet you in front of the tower.” They thanked the knight and the group left the tower.

  As they waited Elunduil noticed a familiar figure approaching in the distance. An elf with chestnut hair was walking from where the transports where located. “Isn’t that Cerra?” Tanis asked and pointed to where Elunduil was looking. He nodded and the others looked to over to see. Alicia waved to get the elf’s attention and she waved back. “I wondered if I might see everyone today,” she said when she got within talking distance.

  “You have business here?” Tim asked and Cerra nodded.

  “Yes, I wanted to speak with the engineers here about new buildings that we are planning to make in Ellicia. We lack a hospitable place for travelers to rest among other things. How about all of you?” Tim and Tanis explained that they were going to a structure in the forest near Ellicia that was sealed. Cerra seemed to know what they were talking about and said, “Oh! I’ve heard about it but never seen it myself. I would be interested in seeing this place.” There was a glint of child-like wonder in her eyes.

  “Well the more the merrier!” Tanis said and Cerra smiled broadly. The larger version of the Heracles transport hovered to a stop by them

  A man with wavy blonde hair stepped out in shining silver armor and had a grin on his face. “Hey, everyone I’m here to pick you up!” he waved at them cheerfully. Elunduil noticed that the man’s eyes were a striking blue color as they went to get into the transport. “Oh! By the way my name is Mathias. It may not seem like it but I’m one of the three leaders of Ragnarok. Let’s do our best today!” He held out a hand to the group. Tanis was the first one to shake it.

  “Hey nice armor man!” he said and Mathias chuckled. Everyone else quickly followed suit and then they boarded the transport. “All right Trailblazer! Full speed to the sealed building!” The hum of the transports engines revv
ed up and soon they were off.

  Mathias seemed cheerful as he hummed to himself and the others weren’t quite sure what to make of him. He said he was one of the leaders of Ragarok but compared to the others they’d met he was way more relaxed. Actually the fact that he was relaxed made them feel at ease around him. Perhaps that was why he was one of the leaders. When they arrived at the edge of the forest Mathias was the first to his feet and quickly went outside. The others followed him and they saw that Trailblazer was also waiting outside the transport. “Now then we’ll be taking the lead as usual. Nothing should happen but if we tell you to run then you run, ok? No heroics. It would look bad on my pride as a knight should anything ill befall any of you.” Mathias still held a smile on his face but his tone was serious. Everyone nodded that they understood and noticed that he now had a beautiful silver two-handed sword strapped across his back. He nodded with satisfaction and then the group took off into the forest.

  This time they didn’t encounter any animals on their way to the building, and once they did get close to where the structure was located they saw an abnormality jutting out from the forest in the distance. They saw large clumps of deep green moss covering part of a metal building and also a faint glimmer of light that poked through the branches of the trees above. Elunduil half-expected vines as well but noticed that besides the moss there didn’t seem to be anything growing in the immediate vicinity of the building. The building seemed almost untouched by the passage of time. The building itself wasn’t incredibly large. It was some 50 to 60 feet across and around 10-12 feet tall. It seemed more like a bunker or some kind of small store house. Right now they were on the far right side of the building.

  Mathias signaled Traiblazer with a circling motion and Trailblazer nodded and walked around to the side of the building and out of view. A couple of minutes later he appeared from around the other side of the building and motioned to Mathias. “All right, looks like we’re clear. The entrance is around the other side here.” Mathias led the group around the right side and Trailblazer rejoined the group. Once they walked around the building they could see the entrance in the middle. It was a large trapezoid-shaped groove in the building with strange, blocky markings on it.