My arm stung violently for hours after the incident, making it near impossible to do anything.
As I sat at the edge of my bed, the sight of my arm was horrifying. As soon as they'd all arrived back at the lodgings, the rest of the legion woke me up and told me they had something important for me to do. Naturally I accepted and woke up immediately, even taking off my armour in case the matter required elements of stealth. Their grins should've been an indicator that I should have stayed asleep.
Before I knew it, they had me cornered and pushed back against the wall, unable to run. And when the dust cleared, I was left alone to weep, holding my arm in agony. Those monsters branded me.
'"Are you seriously still crying? Get over it, we all have one" Alexia, the woman I'd walked in on yesterday walked by and took a seat next to me.
"I will not 'get over with it'," I gestured with my hands, "what the hell is this! You know these things are permanent right?!" I cried, pointing at the drying tattoo on my arm. It was a bear defecating on a man, with three swords floating around the bear. It was beyond idiotic, and I wanted it off immediately.
"You are such a crybaby, it's not that bad. Now let's go, Vincent wants to get morning training done early so we can take you out on a little newbie mission." She stood up and walked away.
"What's a newbie mission? Alexia! Alexia!" I yelled as she grew increasingly further, but she spared no look back.
A weight settled on my chest, and despite knowing these people for less than twenty-four hours, I knew they had zero good intentions. The bathroom was filthy, but it didn't take me long to get through all that I needed to do. Saying that my body was sore from sleeping in my armour would be a severe understatement, but I pushed through it nonetheless. Finally, leaving the lodgings I found everyone already waiting for me. Looking at them, you wouldn't even think that they were all passed out drunk less than twelve hours ago.
"Well then, since everyone's here, let's just go through the motions so we can get our newbie a bit more accommodated. What do you guys say?" Vincent began. "Yeah!" Everyone but me cheered back. The knot in my stomach grew tighter.
"Let's do this then." Everyone dropped into a plank position, which was actually relieving.
Several ideas of what 'morning training' could look like had already been formulated in my mind, and not a single one was pleasant. But if simple push-ups was all, then there was no reason to sweat. Or so I thought. After I'd also gotten into position, my whole body almost sank into the floor. I craned my neck to see just how much weight had been placed on me, but was met with the sight of nothing. I turned to face the person next to me, and struggled to get my words across.
"What…the…hell…is…happening!" I screamed through gritted teeth.
"Come on newbie, it's just a bit of gravity. Don't tell me this is all it takes to get you rattled." The man laughed, already adjusted to the weight.
As my arms bent, I could hear my bones grinding against each other, and once my chest had touched the ground, I considered just laying down for a few minutes. Pushing up back into the starting position, my body slowly began to adjust to the weight. It was still far too domineering to do push-ups at a normal pace, but the effort needed went down significantly. But no, just as I found my rhythm, the words I wanted to hear the least sounded out.
"You guys seem to be enjoying this a bit much too much. Let's bump up the pressure a bit."
"Yeah!"
"NO!" I cried out desperately, but it was already too late. My arms crumpled, and my body sank into the ground. I was severely regretting winning that stupid tournament.
The rest of the morning went no better for me. Every single ridiculous exercise was accompanied by the gravity enhancers.
Weight squats and pulls up? Gravity. Weight stairs? Gravity. Striking wooden dummies with a sword even though you already explained a sword isn't your main weapon? Gravity. By the time the sun had reached its peak in the sky, my whole body was crying out for five minutes to rest.
"That was a nice little warm-up. Let's get into the real stuff." Vincent yelled.
"Fuck no! You guys have fun with that!" I roared out, my mouth was the only thing that could move.
The others laughed and sat around me, like some kind of weird cult sacrificing someone.
"We'll be completely honest newbie, we haven't used the gravity field in months. Vincent just wanted to see how long you could last. Gotta say we're kind of impressed that you made it to the end." A large and burly man patted my chest, winding me.
"If I had a nickel for every time I went through hell and back over a 'test' I'd have more nickels than anyone would ever want." I muttered to myself. They all talked and laughed together as my body slowly recovered.
Though in comparison to the other situations I had found myself in lately, this one wasn't even comparable, in fact it was actually quite helpful. Do I ever want to do it again? God no. Do I recognize its benefits? Naturally. But working out normally was strenuous as it is, and adding the weight of basically one or two more people was not something that I needed.
"I have to ask newbie, what's up with your weapon? Why not just use the sword you were given, it's definitely better than whatever defect you're carrying around." Vincent asked as the rest of them began to clear out, preparing for the mission they refused to tell me about.
"Defect? You mean my Weaver? What's wrong with it?" I asked, a hint of sadness peeking through my words. In full truth I wanted to use a sword, but a severe lack of talent and skill blocked me from doing so, which was also the reason I found success in using the Weaver. It was a simple yet effective weapon.
"Whatever you want to call it, I mean can that thing really be called a weapon? You know it's just a training tool to get beginners accustomed to the movements and use of swords right? To be honest I didn't say anything earlier because you seemed pretty good at using it, but it's kind of odd if you ask me."
He explained, and as his words came to an end, my expression turned sour. I pulled my Weaver out and looked it over. No part in my mind could associate it to a 'beginners weapon', though thinking back to who initially introduced it to me, then it wasn't all that crazy. Who else but that evil piece of shit would throw me a weapon and leave out the fact that it was basically a sign to the world that 'hey, I am awful at using a sword,' which was all in all just great. Though my mind went through the motions of what potentially changing my main weapon to a sword would look like, I ultimately chose to keep my Weaver for now.
It wasn't wrong to say I was a beginner, and if I do manage to fully master the usage of it, then it would make the transition to using a sword just that much easier.
"So, are you guys going to tell me what this mission is about now?" I asked, turning my head to see everyone exiting the lodgings, this time without their weapons, and brown cloaks over their armour.
"Beer run, you coming with?" Alexia answered as she tossed me a cloak.
"Very funny, where are we actually going?" I pulled the cloak over me, storing my sword and pulling out my armour, though Vincent placed his hand over mine as my armour appeared.
"You won't need it where we're going." He smiled. A part of me thought that me not needing armour showed that the mission would be nothing dangerous, but the fact that everyone else had theirs, made my stomach churn.
Nonetheless, I left my armour in my ring, and kept my Weaver out.
It didn't take long for us to reach our destination, though it was one that confused me. We'd left the city, following a stony trail to a decently far away forest.
Though the forest itself was nothing to write home about, the sounds one could hear upon stepping foot inside were not normal forest sounds. In fact the whole environment felt alive, as if a patch of grass would spring up and kill me. I walked with caution, but clearly the others didn't share my sense of fear as they all seemed completely aloof and carefree. Walking a few kilometres deep into the forest, we finally stopped and began to set up camp. The tents were a very bad sign that we weren't returning anytime soon, and watching as the sun had already begun to set after everything was set up, I wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but a dark and creepy forest.
"Alright everyone, you know the drill." Vincent spoke up, pulling a small tin can out of his ring, the contents of the tin being some ten or so wooden sticks. As everyone circled around him, I stood up but was immediately pushed right back down.
"This doesn't concern you, yet anyway." The burly from earlier, Antonio smiled and walked forward. After a few tense seconds later, everyone but Alexia cheered with joy, holding their sticks up.
"You guys realize I'm one of you right? Can someone please tell me what's going on?!" I stood up, huffing. This had gone for far too long.
"Oh where are our manners, newbie. Alexia here has been chosen to be your fairy god-mother for your little errand run." Vincent smiled, pushing Alexia over to me.
"Errand run?" I asked, looking at the lack of stores and surplus of trees around us.
"Here," He flung a rolled up piece of paper over to me, "you just go and get everything on this list, and we'll say we put you through something difficult."
I grabbed the paper and glanced over everything that was written. I was unfamiliar with near everything, but just based on the names, it was safe to assume all the items were variations of plants. A bit of foraging never hurt anybody. "And this is all I need to do? Nothing else?" I asked hesitantly. "That's all you need to know." The chuckles of the others told me otherwise, but further questioning would get me nowhere. I stored the paper away and set off west, figuring that it wouldn't take me too long to find anything on the list. ⥁ Three hours. It took us three hours to find the first stupid little plant on the list, and when I tell us I mean me, as Alexia had apparently gone mute after leaving the camp. We'd thankfully encountered no wild beasts, but if it took that long to find one out of the fifteen plants on the list, then I'd be surprised if we made it back within a week. I decided to take a small breather, sitting down and getting a bit of meditation forward. Even if a beast were to attack, I was sure that Alexia would at least prevent any sneak attacks aimed towards my head from happening. She had to. Right? 'Why are you so thankful to have not encountered any beasts? Will you get stronger by doing a few push-ups? No! I am tired of your cowardice, imbecile!' Hadeon yelled. 'What are you going to do about it?' I asked, trying my best to ignore him. My mind has no room for negativity at the moment. The world went silent, for a few peaceful moments. Until the grass began to rustle and twigs began to snap. 'Hadeon, if I open my eyes, will there be a horde of beasts surrounding me?' I asked, trying my best to keep calm. 'What are you going to do about it?' He responded, mocking me. 'Shit!' I yelled internally, snapping open my eyes and instantly falling back awkwardly onto my knees, just barely dodging an incoming attack. I wanted to yell at Alexia for allowing me to nearly die, but there was no time, as a second figure lunged at me. Knocking it away with my Weaver, I let my aura flare up and condense into my eyes. As my pseudo-night vision idea turned out to actually work, my surroundings became much more visible. Though I started to regret gaining the ability to see properly. The beasts in front of me were a pack of five of the ugliest creatures that could ever set foot on the earth. With abnormally long joints attached to even longer limbs, and patches of hair littered across their bodies. The faces of the creatures seemed to be two animal faces placed into a blender and then moulded into a head, which was a bit depressing. It was already very difficult to look at, but having the face that only a really, really nice mother could love, was in no way helping. Four of the hideous abominations circled around me as one of them was relentlessly pouncing at me, not even attempting any other attacks. Though deflecting the beast's relentless strikes had been working, each blow landed heavier than the last. It was becoming more like pushing back against an avalanche than parrying an attack. Every time I redirected a claw swipe, it sent a tremor through my arms, my muscles screaming in protest as I struggled to keep my footing. And yet, there it was again, another wild lunge. This time, rather than trying to block or dodge, I dropped low, my knees slamming into the dirt beneath me. Timing everything just right, I thrust my Weaver upwards with all the force I could muster, hoping to pierce straight through its belly as it sailed overhead. The impact came sooner than expected, but what followed crushed my hopes in an instant. Instead of the satisfying resistance of flesh yielding to steel, my Weaver bent, twisted, and then shattered. A violent spray of broken metal pieces scattered into the air, as if I had just tried to stab into a wall of unyielding stone rather than a beast. My heart sank, a hollow ache filling the pit with my stomach. My newly gifted Weaver, a weapon that had only seen a single day of battle, was nothing more than splinters and shards. But I had no time to grieve the loss of my weapon. Something about the failed attack seemed to enrage the creature. With a feral snarl, it dropped to all fours and charged at me, faster than I thought possible for a creature its size. Its movements were erratic, animalistic, and filled with an unnatural speed that made it all the more terrifying. As it closed in, its jaws widened, revealing a set of jagged, yellowed teeth dripping with saliva, eager to tear into me. I had mere seconds to react. Letting my aura surge through my body, I reinforced all my vitals as fast as I could. But I still kept a portion of that energy flowing to my eyes, sharpening my vision as the beast's mouth came crashing down toward my arm. The teeth sank into my flesh with a sickening crunch. The sheer force behind its bite nearly overwhelmed me, a muffled cry escaping my lips as I fought to keep my composure. My skin tore, blood oozing from the deep punctures, but miraculously, my bones hadn't snapped under the pressure. Gritting my teeth, I yanked my arm free, the pain burning through me like wildfire. But I couldn't stop now. I had to strike back. Channelling every last bit of power into my body, I let my aura course into my hand, pooling into my fist as I swung it straight into the beast's face. I felt the bones in my hand shatter under the impact, the sound of my own knuckles breaking was drowned out by the solid thud as my punch connected. The force was enough to send the beast stumbling back, dazed for a brief moment. Yet as I stood there, breath ragged, fist throbbing with pain, my wounds slowly knitting themselves back together, I couldn't shake the sinking feeling that crept into my chest. The bite wounds were healing, yes, but it wasn't fast enough. My hand might have been regenerating, but my energy was rapidly draining. And this was only one of the creatures. There were still four more. Each of them, just as terrifying, just as nightmarish. How in the world was I supposed to survive this? How the hell was I going to defeat all of them?