The First Era

by Andrew Bardsley

  Five- Increase all your stats to an average man; and

  Six- Rescue the princess.

  For each of the tasks, Ahava could click on the title and get more information about what the task involved. It also gave a status for the task. Numbers one, two, four and six were completed, while three, five and six were not. When Ahava checked his stats, it showed the following improvement:

  Gender: Male

  Biological Age: 45

  Intelligence: 13, Stamina: 6, Strength: 7, Constitution: 7, Dexterity 5, Charisma: 11

  Points: 825

  Element - Flux rate per second

  Earth -30; Water -10; Air -10; Fire -30; Ether -20

  Aristotle's Rhetoric Emotions

  Emotions - Flux rate per second

  Anger -10; Calmness -2; Friendship-0, Fear -15; Courage -10; Shame -2, Confidence -10; Kindness- 2; Cruelty -5; Pity -1; Envy -1; Love -1

  The point level had significantly increased, due to the rescue. There was also an overall increase in elemental flux. Remembering that points could be used to get items, he opened the H-Shopping-Bay application. It was set up like any shopping website, with categories and search options. Not wanting to spend a lot of time checking for items, he set a search for items under 825 points. A lot of different items came up, ranging from raw material to small amulets. The first item that really piqued his interest was the following:

  Upgrade of a laptop bag, cost 500 points

  Change the laptop bag into a bag of holding. This creates a space-time hole in the bag. The bag will have the following properties: be able to change its appearance; not increase in weight or volume; will be larger on the inside (with the first upgrade ten meters squared in volume); link to inventory and will not be able to be taken from you.

  Excited at the use this could be for him when he traveled, he immediately purchased the bag upgrade. Looking at the bag, he imagined it changing to a small leather pouch that could be tied to his waist. It slowly changed into what he had imagined. Using the application that detailed his inventory it showed that he had a bag of holding. To work the bag, he just had to touch it and imagine what he wanted to put in or take out.

  Excited by this new equipment, he was starting to feel more positive about his survival in this world. Ahava had a bit of an inner-nerd feeling about some of the aspects of the mechanics in this world. He had always loved book detail gaming systems.

  The last two applications to check out were H-Journal, and H-Maps. He opened each of the applications. H-Journal contained a detailed account of his time in this world. It gave a running narrative about his time here and a detailed breakdown of the points he had gained. H-Maps showed his location and details of where he had been. It was mostly grayed out and only showed the sections he had seen. He decided to look into the application in more detail later.

  Sitting on the cold stone in the cave, he could feel the slash marks from the battle across his face. As he had now calmed down and the adrenaline was not running through his body, the marks were hurting. Remembering the elemental power, he started to heal his face. This was a slow process, as flux levels were still very low. Finally, he completed the healing. Using the computer tablet’s front-facing the camera, he checked his face. There were no marks on his face. An old scar he had had for a long time had also disappeared.

  He decided to build up the fire on the ground below his cave. This had gone out during the night. He built up the fire from the wood that was left. He then ignited the fire with a flame from his finger. During the time that he had been preparing the fire, the princess had been watching him with a look of disdain. When he used the elemental powers to start the fire, her eyes showed a look of shock.

  “You’re a magician,” she said in a gruff manner.

  “I think so,” said Ahava in reply as he moved closer.

  She looked at his face and saw that the mark from the battle had been removed. Her eyes showed more shock.

  “You can heal,” she said quickly. “You heal me now.”

  Ahava walked over, looking at the princess. He still did not know what she was. He could see that she had light brown skin coloring and a heavyset body. She had a lot of muscles. The clothing she had was made of leather and animal skin. Some of it was in bad condition. She put out her hand where the rope had been. The skin was rubbed raw. Standing over her, he started healing the skin. It took a few minutes. With this healing, he found that he needed to interweave more earth element than when he healed himself.

  When he finished, she said, “Maybe you not useless. We in big trouble, human. As you let the filthy goblin go, he now runs back to his gang. They come back in large numbers and kill us.”

  “Can’t we run away,” said Ahava, “so they cannot find us?”

  “You no good at running,” she said, standing up and moving closer. “Goblins are good at running and tracking. Best chance is to fight here and not in an open area. We need better weapons.”

  Thinking about what to do, Ahava remembered a television show he used to watch when he was young. Whenever they were trapped in a situation, they would design and make elaborate weapons and other equipment to overcome the enemies. He smiled happily to himself. He had always wanted to do this himself. He knew that they were in danger, but he was excited by the idea of making weapons and traps for the oncoming assault.

  “How long do we have before they get here?” asked Ahava of the princess as he was walking around.

  The princess followed him with her deep-set eyes and said, “It will take them at least three days to get back here in large numbers. It is a day and bit travel to the gang hideout.”

  Stopping and looking at her, he asked “What are you? And why were you being held captive?”

  “I am Princess Olga of the Blood River tribe. We are a proud and powerful tribe. You human, and it not your business why I was taken by the stupid goblins.”

  Taken aback a bit by the brashness of the response, he did not ask any more questions for the moment.

  “Ok Olga, I will make some weapons for us to use. Do you have any preference?” said Ahava, looking down to the ground and not making eye contact.

  “I like a big ax, about my height,” said Olga with a grin and a glint of longing in her eyes.

  “Ok,” replied Ahava. “I will make one for you and a spear for myself. Maybe some knives would be good as well. Could you collect some wood to help build some more defense and traps for the entrance?

  “I hunt and eat first, then collect wood,” said Olga, glaring at Ahava. “You give me a club to hunt.”

  Ahava handed over the club. He was slightly fearful that she would use it on him, but she took it and stormed out of the entrance to the campsite.

  Chapter Four: Weapons and Traps

  Standing there, he looked around and thought of how to make weapons. The first thing he needed was materials. He had some experience in making metal weapons and woodworking. He used this knowledge as a basis for the design of the weapon. Walking out of the camping area and down to the wooded area, he looked for some smaller trees or branches that he would be able to make into staffs, for the spear and ax. Scrambling through the wood and in the process getting some more cuts from the thorny undergrowth, he found several straight branches. Using his thin hot fire flame, he managed to cut the branches of the trees. Standing there he stripped bark and twig off each of the branches.

  Back at the camp he sat down in the dirt and rocks. He started to use his elemental power to cut and shape the wooden staffs in the sizes and shapes he needed. He found this was time-consuming, but the results were magnificent. He had never been able to produce any of this quality before. The elemental power gave him fine control over all aspects of the wood. This was learned by a lot of experimentation.

  Looking at the results of his work, he had two very polished staffs of wood that had been hardened by altering the density of the wood. This had turned the wood into a dark black-blood color. He was proud of what he had achieved and excited for
what he could do with this power in the future. Picking one of the wooden staves, he experimentally hit the ground. It did not break and he could feel the strength.

  Now to make the spear and ax heads. He needed steel for the heads. Using the elemental earth and ether power he could check the composition of the rock in the cliffs. He spent the next half hour walking around to touch any rock that looked promising. He had to touch each rock, as the range of his sensing was limited. Eventually, he had piles of rocks with iron in them.

  Sitting, he started to separate the iron from the rocks. He found that he could only pull iron from about three finger-width depths. The iron formed into small beads. The beads he placed on a flat rock. When he had enough material for the spear and ax heads, he started to form the shapes from the iron.

  The ax head was first. This he designed as a half-moon head, tapering down to the edge. It had a large spike on the back of the head. As the ax was only iron at the moment and he wanted it to be steel, he went to the fire and got a pile of black ash and coals. With some trial and error, he managed to diffuse the carbon into the iron, making it steel.

  This, he thought, is amazing, as I managed to do this without all the equipment needed for weapons making.

  Now with rising excitement, he considered how useful this could be when he had more power. He went back to working on the ax head. He did a final shaping, with some spiraling design on the flat part of the head. He managed to harden and temper the steel and create a sharp edge. He tested the edge with his finger by running it along the edge. This produced a deep cut with very little pressure applied.

  Holding his finger and sucking it, he thought, That is sharper than any blade I have ever produced.

  He took a while to heal himself. He repeated the process for the spearhead. This he made a leaf blade with a wing and socket. It was sharp as the ax. The final process was attaching the heads to the staves. With a bit of work, he managed to interweave the metal and wood together. This gave an amazing effect, as the two materials spiraled like mating snakes.

  Testing out the ax and spear he found them strong and sharp. He felt a bit like Conan the Barbarian as he swung them around.

  Happy and excited with his accomplishments he did a little dance, as nobody could see him. Ahava then made the knives. They were about a foot long, with both edges sharpened. Getting carried away in the joy of being able to do a thing, he made another ax for himself. This was the same design as the previous one.

  Looking at the weapons on the ground, he thought of trying to make sheaths for the knives. He had the rabbit hides still. Collecting them from the rock that he put them on, he started to work. With a bit of experimentation, he found that water and earth elemental power allowed him to shape them. Eventually he managed to make two sheaths and belts. He tied his belt on and put his knife in the sheath.

  At this point, Olga walked into the camp. She was carrying two pigs on her shoulders and some rabbits from her belt. As she approached Ahava, she saw the weapons. She stopped still, dropping the pigs, and screamed. She ran over to the ax and picked it up with a look of awe, her hands moving up and down the ax and testing the edge of the head. Quickly moving in some type of martial arts forms for a few minutes, she danced around. Finally, she cut several big branches in smaller pieces.

  Stopping and looking at Ahava she said, “This great weapon. With this, we can win. What is the metal?”

  “Steel,” Ahava replied.

  “I don't know what steel is, but is very strong, beautiful," she said, looking closely at the head of the ax.

  Ahava gave her the knife and showed the spear to her.

  “Do you know how to use weapons?” Olga asked Ahava.

  “No,” said Ahava.

  “I teach you now so you can fight when the goblins come,” Olga ordered while picking up two straight branches.

  The next hour can be best explained for Ahava as painful, embarrassing and more painful. It would be an understatement to say that Olga was strong and fast, but her aggressiveness was worrying for Ahava. The last thing he remembered was a stick hitting his head with enough force to throw him to the ground.

  He woke up with water being thrown into his face and Olga saying, “You not good at fighting; we practice again tomorrow. I now go and cook a pig to eat.”

  Olga moved off while Ahava started to heal himself. The evening passed in silence after the pig had been cooked and eaten, Olga eating most of it herself.

  The next two days passed quickly, with both Ahava and Olga building defenses intermixed with practice fighting. Ahava got very used to healing himself after each practice session. The only way he could tell that he was improving was that less healing was required.

  On the afternoon of the third day, both Ahava and Olga looked out across the defenses. This included a palisade across the entrance with a ditch. The ditch had sharpened stakes in the bottom. The palisade had a platform for standing on. Behind the palisade was an area of small pit traps with sharpened stakes. This led to a barrier of thorn bushes. The final defense was the cave with the ledge. They had built a wood wall about waist height across the ledge.

  Ahava was nervous, but Olga did not seem to be bothered. She seemed to be confident in the weapon she now loved. During the last two days, she practiced and asked Ahava for a few modifications to the weapons. He altered the weight distribution and added a spike on the bottom end. With this done, she was even more pleased.

  They were both standing on the platform by the palisade, looking across the plains. As the light began to fade both of them could see a group of creatures walking up the hill in a disorganized crowd. It was the goblins. There seemed to be no organization and even some fighting. When the crowd was about fifty meters from the palisade, one larger goblin started to shouting and hitting others, forming them up into rough ranks. Ahava felt a cold sweat on his brow, but Olga was giving off an air of excitement.

  The large goblin signaled to some goblins with drums. The drums started the beat. “Boom, Boom, Boom...”

  The sound of the drums continued. The goblins were dressed in fur rags, each with a spear with a stone head or clubs. Some of the goblins had blood smeared across their faces in horizontal patterns. The drum sound continued to intensify. At a signal from the leader, the goblins roared and charged forward.

  The battle had begun. The goblins ran, some using their hands like four legs. Soon they were at the ditch with the wooden spikes. Some of them tried to leap across the ditch but fell short and were impaled on the wooden stakes. Ahava could hear the cries of the wounded. Others slowly crawled down into the ditch, avoiding the stakes. Ahava and Olga had a supply of large stones, which they started to throw onto the goblins in the ditch. A lot of the rocks hit the goblins, crushing their heads and bodies. A number of goblins reached the palisade and started to climb up. Some of them were knocked off by the stones. Ahava and Olga ran out of stones to throw.

  Ahava used his spear to stab the goblins while they were climbing up the wooden wall. Olga was moving around in a type of dance, chopping with her ax at any goblins that came over the wall. The speed of the ax was a blur of movement. Ahava saw severed heads flying in all directions from the axes Olga was wielding. There were bits of goblin all around the platform. One goblin managed to bite Ahava on the arm. Ahava pulled out his knife and stabbed the goblin in the eye. It screamed and fell back into the ditch.

  The sheer numbers of the goblins were starting to overwhelm the two on the platform. At a prearranged signal from Olga, both of them withdrew. Navigating the route between small pit traps and through a hole in the thorn wall, they retreated toward the cliffs. Ahava blocked off the hole with thorns.

  Their backs were against a large bonfire. The goblins started to run across the area with the pit traps. Many of the first ones fell into the traps and were skewered on the wooden spikes. The followers managed to avoid the pits. The goblins were now pressing against the barrier of thorns. Ahava and Olga started to throw burning wood at the gob
lins. This set some of the dry material that had been placed before the thorns alight. Some of the goblins burned from the fire. To Ahava’s amazement, the goblins started to climb over the thorn bushes. They seemed to be in such a rage to get at Ahava and Olga that it did not matter the pain they were in.

  Olga had ordered Ahava to not get in her way if the goblins got to the open area past the thorns. He was told to only kill any that were on the edges. As some of the goblins finished climbing over the thorn bushes, Olga attacked with her ax. To watch this was like seeing a beautiful dance, full of grace and power. Heads and pieces of the goblin's bodies went flying everywhere. Ahava used his spear to stab any goblins that tried to make a getaway from Olga’s dance of death. Soon there were no goblins left except the large one, who was the leader. He had been pushing his goblins forward with kicks and punches.

  The large goblin roared a challenge to Olga. She looked at him with disdain, putting her ax on her shoulder. He charged forward. Olga twisted around in a graceful motion, swinging her ax. At the far end of an arch, the ax cut through the air, slicing the top half of the goblin’s head cleanly into the air. His momentum carried him forward as his face hit the ground.

  Olga walked back smiling and said, “Good fight—they weren't so tough.”

  Ahava looked aghast and sat down, out of breath.

  Chapter Five: A Journey

  The fight was last night. Most of the remainder of the night had been taken up by cleaning up the gore from the dead goblins. They used the fire as a funeral pyre. The smell was horrendous but better than leaving all the bodies to rot. Most of the possessions the goblins had were put in a pile to sort through later. Olga had been in a happy mood, even when carrying bits of goblins to the fire. The fight seemed to have invigorated her. Ahava spent the night thinking about all the death. He was not used to this amount of carnage, or any carnage to think about it. Finally he had come to the conclusion it was killed or be killed.

  While Ahava was eating his breakfast of pig meat, Olga came up to him.