Meridias

  Elunduil blazed a path up the sidewalk. He was aggravated. For some reason his grandma had set him off. He didn’t really know why it bothered him so much but he’d basically vanished. He slowed down his pace as he got a grip on his emotions. No, he was pretty sure he knew why he’d gotten set off so easily. It was probably the fact that he was exhausted from the day’s events coupled with the disappearance of Ark. “I just need to sleep,” he muttered to himself. He thought about turning around and going back but he didn’t really want to. A strange whirring noise caught his attention over the sound of cars passing by and he looked over at a nearby building. The noise suddenly stopped and he wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, but he decided to walk over and investigate. Then he would return to Alicia and his grandma.

  The building he’d heard the noise from was another restaurant but this one was more of a breakfast place and wasn’t usually too busy this time of night. Elunduil glanced up at the blue roof. The noise had come from the left side. He walked around the side and saw a blue phone booth with the words ‘Police’ on a sign over the stained-glass windows. He frowned. Had this always been here? He walked up to it and looked at the door. Intrigued he put a hand on the door and handle and pulled it. It resisted his attempts to open it. He guessed that it was locked from the inside but he couldn’t tell if there was anyone actually in there. He felt like turning and leaving but some feeling compelled him to investigate further, so he put a hand on the door.

  The door opened unexpectedly and a young-looking man with combed over, wavy brown hair peered out at Elunduil. “Oh! Hello there!” he said in a British accent. “You know normally people don’t stumble across me. Oh well!” he stepped out of the police box and quickly closed the door before Elunduil could see what was on the other side. He was a tall, lanky gentleman wearing a brown striped blazer with a red bow tie around his neck. “So my curious fellow what about this police box interests you?” he asked cheerfully. Elunduil tilted his head.

  “I heard a noise and found it here?” he replied. The man chuckled. He started walking a circle around Elunduil while looking him up and down. “You must be quite the curious fellow. Quite young too. It’s good to be inquisitive at your age.” He came to a stop in front of Elunduil with a wide grin on his face. Elunduil nervously stared back at the man. He wasn’t sure what to make of him but there was something that caught his attention. “You’re old,” he said. The man frowned. “Well what makes you say that? I’m as young as can be!” He held out his arms to emphasize his point. “… Your eyes,” Elunduil responded. The man looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “You know lad your eyes aren’t so different.” The man’s words caught Elunduil off guard. What did he mean? “Anyway I heard there was an interesting game here that takes you to another world. Do you happen to know where it is?” he asked and Elunduil nodded. He pointed past the building. “It’s over there at the end of this shopping area. The last door in the row with the big red sign that says, ‘Meridias’ on it,” he explained. The man thanked Elunduil with a smile and took off towards the building. He whipped out some kind of laser pointer and waved it about like he was scanning the area.

  Elunduil didn’t have much more time to wonder about the strange man and the police box. He heard his name being called and as he looked around the sound around him skipped. He turned fully in time to see Alicia as she ran up. “There you are!” she exclaimed when she reached him. “You totally disappeared like at school. Joel would totally be thrown off right now.” Elunduil looked somewhat bemused. She hadn’t noticed him leaving? “Anyway I cleared things up with your grandma. Though she seemed disappointed.” Elunduil surmised by her tone of voice that she was also disappointed. “Sorry, I’m worn out after today’s stuff,” he explained. Alicia chuckled. “Me too. I’m going to go home and pass out today!”

  Elunduil walked back to the restaurant with Alicia where they waited until her dad arrived. She offered to give him a ride home but he waved her off. Right now he’d prefer to mull over things. She left and Elunduil started walking home. Alicia’s comment about Joel reminded him that it had been nearly a month since he’d last seen his friend. Was Joel going to be going out into battle? Why him? Was this happening elsewhere in the country? He sighed. He decided to look into it later. Right now he just wanted to get home and collapse on his bed. The sun had nearly set. He groaned and hurried onwards.

  ***

  Joel kneeled on the ground inside of the barracks tent with the others while they waited for the temperature outside to drop. Nothing of note had happened since the worm creature had appeared five days ago. It was just routine training and Joel found himself with nothing to do in between. He was absent mindedly stabbing a piece of cardboard with a knife on the floor of the tent. He didn’t stab it quickly, rather he slowly poked at it again and again. This had been his routine for the last several days. The others had questioned it but no one had discouraged him from doing it. After all there wasn’t much else to do for entertainment. Nadir had his detective books. Bryce, James, Jerome, Kali, and Lucas where currently engaged in a card game. They used their rations as betting material to spice the game up a bit. James seemed to be winning as his pile of rations was quite large compared to the others.

  Joel continued to mindlessly stab the piece of cardboard when the flap to the tent opened up and two figures stepped inside. Nadir was the first to react and quickly leapt up and stood at attention. The others playing cards quickly followed suit. All of them wondered what Ashblade was doing here as he stood at the entryway with Draxus by his side. “At ease,” he said and they relaxed slightly. “Passing the time I see?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir!” The group replied. Ashblade took a step forward and heard a soft thud to his left. He looked over to see Joel on the ground with a knife as he lifted it up and stabbed a piece of cardboard. “What is he doing?” he asked his eyes narrowing. Bryce stammered for an answer while Jerome tried getting Joel’s attention. “Joel!” Ashblade called out. Joel continued his mindless stabbing. Ashblade sighed. “Zweihander!” he shouted. This seemed to catch the teen’s attention and he looked up at Ashblade. “Ash!” he called back as he stood up with the others. Ashblade frowned. “It’s Ashblade. Don’t shorten it,” he said sternly. Truthfully he didn’t mind but he did have to keep up appearances.

  Joel looked disappointed. “But it’s so much easier! Plus it has a nice ring to it!” Ashblade let out a frustrated sigh and put his hands behind his back and said, “Training will start now, but first I need to discuss something with Joel.” The others glanced at Joel but otherwise didn’t react. “So come with me Zweihander!” Ashblade stepped out of the tent and Joel followed. Ashblade paused and called out over his shoulder. “Leave the knife!” Joel looked to his hands and noticed that he had still been gripping the knife. “Oops!” he said and tossed it onto his sleeping bag before following Ashblade out of the tent.

  When Joel stepped outside he felt the cool desert breeze and saw that the sun had fallen close to the horizon. To his surprise Draxus had remained behind and it was just him and Ashblade walking to their tent. Ashblade casually flicked open the flap into the tent and Joel followed him inside. Last time he’d come here he hadn’t really looked around the tent. He saw the desk to the left of the entrance and on the right side there were two sleeping bags rolled out. There looked to be a weapons chest at the foot of each sleeping bag. Ashblade walked around the desk and took a seat. “My first order of business is to talk to you about the incident we had five days ago with the… worm creature,” he said. “What you did was incredibly reckless, stupid, and downright crazy. The only reason you’re still standing here is because Jerome covered you.” Joel began to protest but Ashblade held up his hand. “Let me finish. Ahem, as I was saying you were reckless, but that recklessness saved my life. It’s only right for me to acknowledge your actions, so this one time I will thank you for having my back.”

  Ashblade let Joel process his words for a moment. �
�Oh, well, you’re welcome,” he replied. Ashblade leaned forward. “Now then given your recent feats I’ve decided that I will personally train you from now on in the sword arts. That means that I acknowledge your potential to grow even greater than now. Well, barely. You’ve still got a long way to go.” Joel’s momentary elation was cut short with Ashblade’s last words, but then he perked up again. “That means you think I’m competent! Ha ha!” he said cheerfully. Ashblade sighed. Well Joel wasn’t wrong. He also found it amusing how easily Joel’s enthusiasm could be raised. He stood up. “Well we start tonight, so grab your sword and meet me out-” Ashblade suddenly sneezed. “-outside,” he said without missing a beat.”

  “Is Ash getting a cold?!” Joel said in a coddling voice.

  “I’m not getting a cold! And it’s Ashblade! Somebody just used my name is all!” Joel was intrigued. “We use your name all the time and you don’t sneeze.”

  “No, I mean my real name,” Ashblade retorted. Joel tried to get Ashblade to tell him his real name but Ashblade wasn’t interested in sharing and shooed Joel out of the tent. As he watched Joel run off across the sand he wondered who had said his name. His father, or his sister? Either way he found some small comfort knowing he wasn’t forgotten. Though he was still unsure why it was that he sneezed when someone out of sight used his real name. It had been an odd phenomenon that had started around the time his sister had been born.

  For a brief moment a memory of his sister surfaced. She had gotten lost at the zoo when she was five and Ashblade and his father searched everywhere for her. Ashblade had started to sneeze and suddenly had a sense of where Alicia had been. When he’d led their father to her they found her alone hidden behind a trash bin. He’d learned that she had been calling for him and their dad. Ashblade shook his head. Anger welled up within him. He could reminisce once he found a way to be free of General Titus’ grasp.

  Ashblade went to his weapon chest and popped it open. Inside the chest was an assault rifle and hand gun neatly laid out as well as ammo magazines for each weapon. He lifted up the divider the guns laid on to reveal a sword underneath. It was a simple double-edged blade with razor sharp sides. The guard was rectangular and colored a black that shimmered in the light. The grip was wrapped with treated leather and was a deep brown. It was practically identical to the sword he’d abandoned in this world after fleeing from Elunduil when he’d appeared with the elves to stop their weapon from wiping out the elves home. He placed his hand on the grip. His hand started to quiver. Ashblade took a deep breath. This isn’t a real battle. Just training. He clenched his fist around the sword’s grip and pulled it out. He stared at the blade for a moment before he closed the chest and went to where Joel and the others would be training.

  Joel waited patiently for Ashblade to show up and watched as the others dueled. The last time he’d gotten cocky and Ashblade had beaten him bare-handed. He had a feeling he was in for a similar experience but was kind of excited because Ashblade seemed experienced. He looked over from the others and saw Ashblade sauntering up the hill with a gleaming silver blade in hand. It was similar to Joel’s except Ashblade’s weapon had a black guard as opposed to Joel’s silver. “You ready kid?” Ashblade asked when he got close. Joel cautiously nodded. Ashblade’s brown eyes looked lively, and serious. “Well then come at me whenever you’re ready,” he said and Joel gripped his sword with both hands. Ashblade adopted a fencer stance. With one hand down by his side and his right foot in front of the left. He held his blade almost horizontally with his right hand. “En garde!” Joel said and raised his sword vertically.

  He steps forward cautiously. He knows that his opponent is far more skillful than he, but that is the point of this training. He darts forward, raises his sword high, and chops down at Ashblade. He simply pivots to the side and avoids the blow. He steps back as Joel swipes up with his sword. Joel growls and slashes high at Ashblade who’s already ducked out of the way. They continue this dance of bobbing and weaving for several minutes. Eventually Joel finds himself running out of steam while Ashblade hasn’t even broken a sweat yet. How was he doing it? He keeps dodging out of the way so easily. Joel is starting to think that Ashblade has godlike reflexes. He wonders how much training the other man has gone through. “Done already?” Ashblade asks coolly.

  Joel shakes his head and holds up his sword. His arms are heavy, so simply trying to swing faster than Ashblade can move was out of the question. He steps forward and raises his arms high as if to swing above. He stretches his leg forward and swings around instead. His sword is aimed at Ashblade’s legs. It’s his signature trick shot. He thinks he heard Ashblade go, “Heh!” a moment before he stomps down on the flat of Joel’s blade. The force of the stomp causes Joel to lose his grip and his sword falls to the ground. A moment later Ashblade steps in front of him and smacks Joel square in the chest with his palm. Joel is knocked to the ground and lay for several moments before sitting up. “Why are you so fast?! I can’t even hit you!” Joel complained. Ashblade was pensive for a moment.

  “Well you aren’t wrong. I am faster than you, but there’s also more to it than that. I was hoping you would figure it out on you own,” he said. Joel stared at Ashblade blankly. What was he talking about?

  Ashblade sighed. Joel was clever sometimes but he wasn’t the sharpest person either. He’d probably save himself time if he just told Joel what he was hinting at. “You’re telegraphing your moves too much. Even your ‘trick shot’ was easy to see because of how much you wind up to it. You don’t need to exaggerate your moves so much, and you don’t need to draw all the way back like what you’re doing,” Ashblade explained. Joel was thoughtful for moment.

  “But wouldn’t drawing back put more kinetic force into the blow and therefore be more powerful?” he asked. Ashblade was surprised by Joel’s response. This was one of his clever moments. “At first glance that would seem to be effective, but you have to remember these swords are sharp and can easily cut through flesh. What you want is speed. Winding back can give you more kinetic energy but against a trained opponent they’ll easily be able to read your strike and counter it.” Ashblade held up his sword diagonally. “You want to be relaxed until your strike is about to impact your opponent. If you keep yourself relaxed you’ll use less stamina. And…” Ashblade drew the blade back to his shoulder and chopped forward. “If you swing more like this and tense up your muscles at the moment of impact you get just as much force as winding back and you don’t telegraph your strikes as much.” Joel nodded. What Ashblade was saying made sense.

  Joel got up from the ground and patted the sand off of himself. Ashblade waited until Joel picked up his sword and said, “I’m going to beat the brute out of you so get ready. We still have a long time until the sun sets.” Joel groaned and held up his sword. He was still tired from before, but thanks to Ashblade’s speech he’d been able to regain some of his stamina. Joel winds all the way back and releases a powerful slash. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Ashblade shouts as he deflects Joel’s strike and smacks him in the chest with the pommel of his sword. “Grk!” Joel grunts as he is hits the ground again. He has a feeling his is in for a long night.

  ***

  Elunduil stood staring at the mission board blankly. The events from yesterday had finally sunk in and he felt listless. He’d spent part of the morning seeing if there was a military draft and came up with nothing. Why had Joel been taken then? What was the point? He sighed. A part of him hadn’t wanted to come, but here he was and it was only seven in the morning. He sighed. What should he do? Should he go train with Angurvadel? It would be better than standing around doing nothing and thinking about yesterday. Yeah that would be best. He nodded to himself and turned to leave. He heard someone call out to him from behind. He looked around to see Maria coming his way. He groaned inwardly. He didn’t want to deal with Maria’s challenges and taunts right now.

  Maria stopped a few feet from Elunduil. “Um… so…” she trailed off and seemed uncerta
in about what to say. Elunduil noted that Daniel and Dave weren’t with her. “I, uh can I talk to you?” she asked. Elunduil was bemused. Normally she’d just talk. He was curious so he nodded his head in response. “Okay, uh let’s go outside! It’s kind of stuffy in here,” she said. Maria briskly walked by Elunduil and headed for the door. He shrugged and followed after her. Her behavior was off. He knew she’d been here yesterday because he vaguely recollected her telling him, no Ark, that he’d been in trouble. It seemed the most likely topic for her to bring up.

  Maria was nervous as they stepped out into the morning sunlight. There weren’t many people about. It was mostly the knights going about their business. Though there was one curious man wearing a brown striped blazer and red bow tie who was grinning from ear to ear as he examined Tel’kedar. Maria looked around and decided to head towards Elrik’s Emporium. Elunduil followed a couple of steps behind her.

  What that lady had said to her yesterday had gotten to her. She knew that the lady was right. She respected Elunduil’s strength. She wanted to surpass him, but she also started realizing something else. He made her nervous. It had started after the incident last week with the World Eater. No probably even before then. It was just the fact that he’d accepted her so easily after that she’d told him about her parents that had made her realize something. Something that had probably started when she’d declared him her rival.