"Well there are two reasons why binders are able to remain out of harm despite how dangerous the majimonster battles can become", my mother began to explain, "The first reason is the battle bond, the second is the fog of war".
This was the third time my mother had used the term "battle bond", but I got the feeling she was going to tell me what it meant this time. Instead of throwing me into another battle...I hope. I definitely couldn't summon Voxea for something like this.
"The bond allows us to send our commands to our monsters at the same speed as we think them up, meaning we don't have to say a single word. But in terms of our survivability, the bond kicks up our survival instincts and reaction time to beyond normal human limits", my mother explained.
She paused after saying that to see if I had any questions or understood what she just said. I stood there silently and nodded, which she took as a signal to continue her lecture.
"Now by instinct...you know when someone throws a ball at you, your initial thoughts are to catch it, dodge it, maybe hit it back towards the thrower"?
I nodded.
"Well the bond takes that same instinct and strengthens it so you can automatically dodge everything that can occur during a battle. I remember when I was younger, that I fought a fire monster while standing on a small ship floating down a river. It was an angry little thing that kept shooting great balls of fire at everything. The next thing I knew, I was standing on a single barrel while my boat was in flaming little pieces all around me. It took me a bit to get to shore, but I got an interesting story out of it", she said with amusement.
Doubt crept up my throat but I swallowed it back down when I took a look at the snow at my feet. If I could somehow sidestep a flying elk and a golden fox moving faster than lightning, my mother can jump on pieces of burning boat debris until all she had left to stand on was a single barrel.
"Wait...what about outside forces? What's preventing other people or monsters from taking us out while we're focused on the battle? Actually, what's stopping the monsters were fighting from targeting us? Opposing binders?", I asked.
"The fog of war".
"The what"?
"The fog of war", my mother began to explain,"is...hard to explain, but it's what protects binders from outside influences during battle...well outside normal influences and keeps us from killing each other during battle. When majimonsters battle, the aether seems to bend around them, forcing mundane creatures to just stand and watch or avoid it altogether while other monsters that do interfere want to fight the other monsters, not the binders running around and ducking for cover".
My mother took a breath before continuing with her lesson, "Alternatively, the binders in the fray focus on the other monsters more than the other binders. All thanks to the fog of war. Alternatively, one has to be very stupid to try and stab a person who controls a living force of nature or interfere in a battle between two forces of nature".
"Does this mean we're basically useless outside of commanding our monsters?", I asked. Honestly, that was the impression I got from this lesson.
"Not entirely, we binders have a variety of spells that allow us to help our monsters during battle or debilitate opposing monsters as well, but that's a lesson for another day".