We were walking towards the mountains, our stomachs full and the fresh air surrounding us. The conversation flowed naturally, so I took the opportunity to ask Eldrek what had been on my mind since he mentioned his skill.
"Have you ever met anyone else trying to do what you do? You know, forge a magical weapon," I asked, glancing at him from the corner of my eye.
Eldrek slowly shook his head, his face tightening slightly, as if the question stirred up an old memory. "No, I haven't. In my community, we're quite stubborn… and often resistant to new ideas. Many don't like that I'm trying to change traditional forging techniques."
"Why not?" I insisted, genuinely curious. "I thought they'd want to evolve, improve over time. Isn't it a bit selfish to cling to what they already know?"
Eldrek let out a brief but bitter laugh. "We're a long-lived race, Darius. Eras pass, and our methods perfect themselves, but precisely because of that, tradition has become something sacred. When I mentioned my idea, some accused me of breaking that legacy. For them, forging should remain as it's been for generations, unchanged."
I thought about it for a moment, watching as the mountains loomed closer on the horizon. "Wow, I wouldn't have imagined that. It seems like, instead of moving forward, they prefer to stay stuck."
Eldrek nodded, with a flash of frustration in his eyes. "Exactly. That's why my plan is to perfect this craft and then move away. I'll go somewhere else, far from my people, to share my way of forging without restrictions."
I looked at him with admiration. Eldrek was a giant who was totally out of the ordinary, a nonconformist. I felt lucky to have met him. I smiled with pride. "Not everyone would have the courage to challenge eras of tradition."
He just gave a slight smile, as if he didn't give it much importance.
After a pause, where we both focused on the sound of our steps on the rocky ground, I spoke again, an unsettling thought crossing my mind. "Maybe this sounds weird, but I feel like I already knew you... Have you ever heard anything about me?"
Eldrek paused for a second, frowning, then shook his head. "No, this is the first time I see you. Like I mentioned before, it's rare to find someone who can wield magic, and most who have that ability are inexperienced. They have no one to guide them. In a way, I'm grateful to fate for putting you in my path." He smiled, this time more genuinely.
"With your help, maybe I have a better chance of achieving what I seek. By the way... do you remember who your mentor was? By the way you handle your magic, you seem more experienced than others."
"Unfortunately, no. It's all very confusing for me, I feel like something must have happened to make me lose my memories. I only remember losing someone special to me a while ago, and nothing more. It's frustrating."
Eldrek didn't respond, but his expression told me he was trying to make sense of my memory loss.
As we moved towards the mountains, we spotted a group of people around a campfire. There were five of them, all armed, which made me think they might be adventurers. Eldrek, however, frowned and murmured calmly, "Let's pass cautiously. I forgot to tell you that it's common to find thieves around here."
I felt a sting of tension. "Damn, and here I was hoping for a peaceful journey… Besides, if they attack, we only have your spear to defend ourselves," I said softly, trying to stay calm.
"And your magic," Eldrek added, glancing at me. "But let's hope we don't have to use it."
We approached the group, feigning calm. The adventurers noticed us right away. They looked disheveled, with visible scars on their faces, likely reminders of previous fights. The swords they wore hung loosely, with worn and dull edges, as if they didn't care much about keeping them sharp.
One of them stepped forward with a smile that tried to be friendly. "Hello, friends. Do you have any food or money you could share?" He looked at us courteously, but his eyes seemed to be searching for something more.
I returned his smile and was about to say we had nothing, but Eldrek interrupted me. With a calm gesture, he pulled out some of the snake meat we had saved and tossed it to the adventurer. "Enjoy this meat; it's not easy to come by. It's from a colossal snake."
The man caught the piece of meat in mid-air and, surprised, turned to his companions. Their faces showed a mix of astonishment and curiosity, as if they'd never seen anything like it. "Wow! Thanks, we've never seen meat like this," he said, still incredulous.
"Enjoy," I added with a smile, giving a friendly gesture as we continued on our way.
After leaving the group a bit behind, I turned to Eldrek. "What you did was smart," I commented, relaxing my shoulders a bit. He nodded, but before he could respond, we heard the sound of quick footsteps behind us.
Four of them had stood up and ran towards us, blocking our path. One spoke, with a look of false apology. "Sorry to do this after you shared your provisions, but I need you to hand over everything… Our boss ordered us to."
I turned my head and saw their so-called boss sitting by the fire as he cooked the meat Eldrek had given them. He seemed the most skilled of the group, with a more confident posture. Eldrek responded with a calm that barely hid his tension. "I see our kindness wasn't enough for you."
I shot a glance at Eldrek, who gave me a subtle smile, as if he already knew what was about to happen. "And here I thought we'd pass without issues…" I muttered, shaking my head.
I didn't give them time to act. I lunged at them, taking the group by surprise. None had drawn their swords yet, so I caught them off guard. With a direct punch to the face, I left one unconscious immediately. The other three, nervous and desperate, clumsily drew their weapons.
Eldrek, taking advantage of the confusion, approached another from behind, snatched his sword, and with his other hand, lifted him off the ground like a doll, holding him by the legs. The thief screamed, begging him not to hurt him.
Meanwhile, I dodged the attacks of the other two. One tried to stab me, but I easily avoided it and responded with a punch to his stomach, leaving him gasping for breath, kneeling and panting in pain. The last one, terrified, dropped his sword and raised his hands. "I surrender! It was a mistake… we took advantage of your kindness," he stammered, trembling.
The other one was still begging as Eldrek held him in the air. I couldn't help but laugh at how absurd the situation was, but then something happened. Without warning, Eldrek took a hit of magic in the back, strong enough to make him stagger and drop the thief, who immediately ran towards his boss. I turned serious at once.
"Are you alright?" I asked Eldrek, who turned towards the origin of the attack.
"Yes, I'm fine. It hurt, but it's nothing serious," he replied, his gaze fixed on the group leader, who still held out a hand towards us, clearly responsible for the attack.
I approached the boss, prepared for whatever came. He looked at me with a malicious grin. "You should have surrendered and handed over everything without a fight," he said arrogantly.
I raised my fist, intending to charge it with chaos magic, but before I could do anything, the ground beneath the boss trembled, making him lose his balance. Out of nowhere, the earth around him began to rise, surrounding him and hardening until he was trapped, immobilized in a prison of earth, with only his head and shoulders visible.
I blinked in surprise and turned to Eldrek. He was crouched, with one hand touching the ground. It had been his magic that caused it all.
The other thieves, who seemed to trust that their boss would save them, looked at each other and fled, leaving their leader trapped. He shouted curses, ordering them not to abandon him.
I approached him slowly, laughing at how pathetic the situation was. "Did you really think you could take us on? Look where you ended up," I taunted, watching his face turn red with anger.
"Let me out right now!" he yelled furiously.
"That's not up to me," I replied, laughing, and I noticed something sticking out of his earth prison. It was the hilt of a sword. "Well, I think I'll take this as compensation." I pulled it out with some force, and as I drew it out, I saw that it was a well-made sword, much better than the ones I'd seen the group carrying before.
"Don't take it; it was… it was a gift," he tried to justify, but the hesitation in his words told me everything I needed to know. "So you stole it, didn't you?" I said, watching his reaction.
"No, it's mine!" he insisted, but I just smiled.
"Thanks for the gift, friend. I hope you don't stay trapped here for too long," I said sarcastically, while his complaints faded into the distance. Eldrek had been watching everything and came over as we walked away.
"I see you managed to get some loot," he commented, amused.
"Yeah, this sword isn't too bad," I replied, twirling it in my hand. As we walked, leaving the boss's shouts behind, Eldrek asked to see it. He examined it with interest and then nodded.
"It's well made. It must have belonged to a good warrior… or they might have stolen it from a smith," he said, handing it back to me.
"Well, I'll put it to better use from now on," I said, tucking it away. Then I turned to him, still smiling. "Hey, Eldrek, by the way, impressive what you did with that earth prison. I'm glad I don't have you as an enemy."
Eldrek chuckled softly. "I'd rather use my magic for forging, not fighting."
"Yeah, but you saw how useful it was," I said, teasing him a bit about the boss who was still cursing in the distance.
Eldrek just smiled, keeping his usual calm. "At least you didn't have to use your magic. I hope we don't run into any more trouble along the way."
I nodded, still feeling the adrenaline wear off. As we kept walking, curiosity started to rise within me.
"Hey, Eldrek… so far, I haven't seen anything suggesting there are more developed civilizations or communities around here. Do they exist, or is everything here like I've seen so far?"
Eldrek thought for a moment before responding. "I don't know of communities like the ones you describe. Here, towns are segmented, distributed by races. It's not common for different races to live together."
As he spoke, an image crossed my mind without warning. I could see a marketplace filled with beings of various races, all sharing and working together. The vision was so vivid that I stopped, bringing a hand to my head, trying to figure out where it came from. Had I seen that somewhere? Or was it just my imagination?
Eldrek noticed my gesture and turned to me with a look of concern. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"I saw something... strange," I said, still deep in thought.
"It was like an image of a market filled with different races, all coexisting. I don't know if it was a real memory or just my mind playing tricks on me. It's confusing because if you say that races don't usually mingle, then maybe what I saw was just a fantasy," I replied, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. Sometimes, my mind felt like a trap, full of fragments that didn't fit.
Eldrek looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite decipher. "Don't stress about it," he said, shrugging. "There could be a place like that somewhere, and I just haven't seen it. This world is bigger than it seems."
His words, though reassuring, didn't clear up my confusion. Still, I decided not to dwell on it. I felt my stomach rumble slightly and let out a soft laugh. "After all that physical effort, I'm getting hungry. We should find a place to camp. It's starting to get dark."
Eldrek nodded, with a slight smile. "Agreed. There's a river nearby we could go to. It's a good place to stop and rest."
We kept walking in silence, with the sky starting to turn shades of orange and purple, a sign that the day was coming to an end. Although the image of the market continued to linger in my mind, I chose to focus on the fresh scent of the air and the sound of our footsteps on the rocky ground. For now, rest was a priority.