'If I want my questions answered, then I will have to collect the cards myself!' thought Arne, his grey eyes shining with determination. As he ran out of the school building the colors of the world felt brighter, and the horizons felt more distant.
'I've only just begun!' He clenches his fists and smiles.
He stopped for a moment and his smile shifts into thought, 'How will I collect the cards if I'm only a kid?' the silhouette of someone familiar appears in his mind. 'Right... I'll have to get much much stronger. I'll ask Roger for help!'
Eli and Thea exit behind Arne, both looking at him strangely.
"Hey Arne! What has you so excited?" asked Eli as he stops behind Arne. He turns to face Eli and Thea with a gleaming smile.
"I'm going to ask to train with Roger!" he replies. Eli's face loses all color.
"A-are you crazy Arne?? I know he is your older brother and all, but he punches rocks for fun! Imagine the kind of training he does! You'll get hurt really badly, I'm sure of it." retorted Eli. It seems that Eli is the type that would avoid pain and strain if he could. Suddenly, a small voice whispers near Eli.
"C-could I join you." whispers Thea, her head turned away from them both.
"Hm? What was that Thea?" asks Arne.
"I asked if I could join you!" barked Thea, face bright red.
"What is going on here!" griped Eli, "I thought you were sane! Come to think of it, you always get weird when Roger's name is-"
"Shut up!" screamed Thea, covering her face with her hands.
"I'm sure Roger wouldn't mind if you join, it'd be fun to have you along!" Arne said, ignoring Thea's sudden outburst. "He just recently got back from registering as an adventurer, so I bet he will be leaving to train soon! Let's go!" Arne begins to run home.
"Alright." said Thea, before chasing after him.
Eli stares at their back for a moment.
"Hey...…"
"Wait up guys! Hey! Don't leave me!" Eli chases after them both.
As they get closer to Arne's home, Arne asks: "Hey Thea, why did you want to come with me? And why do you act so weird at the mention of Roger?" Thea stops for a moment, and looks at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze.
"I want to be strong enough to protect myself," She said. Then she begins to tell the story about how she first met Roger.
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Three years ago, Thea was only five, and Roger was ten. Thea used to help her mother run supplies between villages on their cart. Since her father is the only smith in Lumin Village, he was always busy with work for the farmers and the miniscule local garrison. So Thea and her mother would cart supplies from other villages so that they could keep the shop stocked with goods and fresh ore.
Once in a trip back to the village, Thea and her mother were sitting in the cart calmly when just as they reached the end of the forest, and Arne's house had come barely into sight on the horizon. A massive boar walked out in front of the road. The ox pulling the cart becomes scared at the sight of a boar that is the same size or larger than itself, and breaks loose from the cart, leaving Thea and her mother alone at the cart. Thea's mother always had a weak constitution, she could not fight or smith, but was much better with handling finances and supply. Thus, when the boar appeared, they were defenseless against it.
SCREEE
The boar charged towards the cart, its footsteps producing a deafening sound akin to thunder in a rainstorm. Thea could hear her heartbeat and her blood pumping loudly in hear ears, her body cold from the sudden adrenaline spike.
The bitter and harsh sound of rocks scraping against each other is heard as a wall of earth appears in the path of the boar. It is too late to stop so the boar crashes through it, causing it to stop completely on the other side. Before the boar can react the sound of shifting earth could be heard again, and a shadow with glowing brown eyes is rocketed towards the boar by a pillar beneath his feet.
BOOM
A cloud of dust covers Thea's sight, so she cannot see the boar or the shadow but the sound of repeating thuds and cracks could be heard through the dirt. As the dust settles, a familiar figure wearing a scarf like a headband emerges from the dust, a battered and bloody boar lay still behind him. His left arm lay limp against his body, and it is drenched in red blood, likely from himself and the boar.
"Are you two alright?" he asks.
Thea and her mother look at each other and then back at him.
"Yes," said the mother, "apart from the ox we lost."
"ROGER!!!" the wind blows and a small girl flies from the direction Roger came from.
"What were you thinking running away in the middle of out spar!" she screeches.
She pauses looking at Roger, then the cart, then the boar, then Roger, then his arm.
"Okay, I'll forgive this time, we'll talk about this later," she says, a bit embarrassed "for now, lets get you back to Granny since you for some reason can't fight without getting injured."
"I can get there myself, Lily, can you find their ox and bring it back?" asked Roger.
"Of course, just go get healed, I'll take care of them." she replied.
The image of an injured Roger jumping over the still boar and slowly walking to town with an arm limp at his side never left Thea's mind, and it inspired her to seek strength.
*************************************************
"Woah" exclaimed Arne, "I never knew he did something like that."
Thea facepalmed. "That is what he is known for the most in the village, he's Lumin's 'little hero', you're saying he never brought that up?"
Arne's face twisted as he tried to recall. "Maybe," he said, "I don't remember." he gave up thinking.
They pass Arne's house and see the edge of the forest in the distance, as well as a barren patch of grassland to the left. "There!" exclaims Arne, "I tried to follow Roger one day, and that's where he was training! If he isn't there yet we can wait for him. Lily may be there as well since they train together."
Arne and Thea continue until they arrive at the barren area. They look around but can't find any signs of people besides the absence of vegetation. A distant sound echoes behind them.
"Hey guys!" A silhouette appears over the hill.
"Wait up!" It speeds up, before tripping over itself.
"I'm almost there!" It says after picking itself back up.
Eli arrives at the barren patch as well, panting and winded.
"You guys couldn't have gone at least a tiny bit slower, and waited for me?" he complained.
"I thought you didn't want to train with us?" asked Arne.
"Well what else am I supposed to do?" Eli responded.
They look at each other for a moment.
"Alright, I will ask Roger to show us how to train." replied Arne. Out of the tall grass a shadow slinks and creeps up behind Arne quietly, it stands tall, towering over Arne and the others.
"You will?" asked Roger from behind Arne.
"Sure, I'm sure he'll give us a few pointers..." said Arne, oblivious to the fact that Eli was not the one who asked the question. Thea and Eli stare at the large frame of Roger, his sharp eyes, slightly hidden by messy hair, pierce them as he stared out from above his scarf.
Arne turns to see Roger standing behind him.
"..." He is speechless, and his heart speeds up seeing the towering youth behind him.
"So? Will you introduce me?" said Roger, smiling at Arne's shock.
"Uh... Thea this is Roger, Roger this is Thea, Eli this is Roger, Roger this is Eli." said Arne quickly and nervously.
"H-hi" said Thea, looking towards the ground.
Eli just stared at him completely still, his face pale white.
"You want to learn how I train? You and your friends?" said Roger, the response took a few seconds, but the determination was still there, at least a little.
"Yes!" "Mhm!" "I-I guess?"
"Well then..." says Roger, before his eyes glow brown and he stomps his foot onto the ground. Hard. The entire area of the barren ground raises slightly, a foot or so. Then he creates thirty pillars in groups of three around the circular area, each group taking slightly longer to create than the last.
"I guess I'll have to oblige the request of my younger brother, but Arne, I still have to spar with Lily, so you can watch later while you train here." said Roger, calmly before staring into Arne's eyes.
"It's going to be tough, and you will experience intense pain for as long as you train. So you'd better be ready."
Arne smiles nervously and says: "I'm ready"