System Break

I was glad to see everyone struggled to keep up with Gisael when she set a rip-roaring pace through the forest. Only Talila, the veteran, showed any signs she could follow her, without Gisael having to stop.

I breathed hard, hands-on knees, while waiting for Sakaala to re-join us.

"Is she mad at something?" I asked Ailen.

"You," he answered and laughed.

"How do you know?"

His eyes smiled but otherwise showed no signs of laughing at me. "It's obvious. I'm surprised you can't see."

"Okay, why and what is she mad at?"

Talila joined us. "Do not doubt her because she does not yet wield a qi-blade – Gisael is an elite."

I looked at Ailen, he seemed as lost as me. "How long have you been an apprentice?"

He looked down and smiled sheepishly. "Very recently."

Talila stood in front of me and poked my chest. "She is mad at you because you are chaos. She is accustomed to control."

She looked at Ailen and the incoming Sakaala. "They are both new recruits from another clan. Brother and Sister. The gate guardians brought them to us to come to this new world."

A placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Thank you. That was almost a straightforward answer."

They took the opportunity to look at my body, my muscles were becoming well defined and I was much taller and wider than him.

Whereas Ailen had a similar build to Gisael and Talila, excluding the female curves.

"How did you get so big?" he asked.

"You know I'm an adopted Svartalfar. Mother and the land core transformed me," I said.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh." He looked back to check on Sakaala.

Talila ran a hand down my side. "It's very strange. The elders said it's in the old stories, but at no time in living memory has someone joined the People. Not until now."

It was then that Sakaala arrived. She smiled but said nothing as she caught her breath.

"We move," Gisael called from several trees ahead.

I looked at Sakaala who was still recovering, "Hold up." I looked towards the ground. "I want to show you something."

Gisael looked at me and waited for me to continue speaking.

"On the ground," I said and began to climb down. I found a patch where I could kick aside a bush and ground covering to expose some dirt. I picked up a stick and began to draw.

"This," I said as I drew an oval shape that was much wider than tall, "Is the forest. Our forest. And to the north are mountains. To the east is a city of men and to the south is plains which are infested with monsters. What is to the west?" I looked at Gisael who looked at my dirt drawing with interest.

"The coast and the sea," she said.

"Cliffs or sand," I asked out of curiosity. My answer was a blank stare from Gisael.

"Okay," I continued. "We need to know more of our surroundings, where threats can come from and what they are. We also need to set up outposts. Here, here, here and here," I said as I marked locations near the northeast, southeast, north and south. "We need to stock these outposts with food and arrows."

Gisael looked at me blankly. She did not look angry nor concerned that I was usurping her authority. "I like your dirt drawing Benzhi," she said, "But I am not a novice." With the last she looked towards Sakaala.

She then took the stick from my hand. "Today we scout north, along the border and Benzhi, you can scout outside. We will look for tracks of the mountain men and if there are other threats this side of the forest. Tomorrow we will scout elsewhere. And I have already set up caches at these places." She then marked the dirt map in eight locations before throwing my stick into the underbrush.

"I'm not surprised," I replied with a large grin. I too looked at Sakaala, "We are recovered now. Let's move Gisael."

Ailen laughed and Talila smiled at me. I think Sakaala was too worn out to notice.

As I ran with the Svartalfar I smiled. I couldn't remember the last time I had been this happy. I loved my new companions and Gisael wasn't that bad either. They were predators who were capable and ruthless. But at the same time, they were carefree, it was an interesting mix. I heard Talila and Gisael chatting up ahead, they moved just out of earshot but close enough we could track them. I didn't try to listen to their conversation, I just assumed they were talking about me.

"How do you train?" Ailen asked me. He kept pace with me easily, I could tell he was holding back to run with me. Where Sakaala was trying her heart out to try to keep up with us. We didn't make it easy jumping twice as far as she did.

"Do you mean qi training or combat?"

"Combat," he said but sounded a little puzzled by my counter question.

"I kill things. You know, like ferals." I jumped and turned looking back at him. "Practise forms and …"

"Trolls, hell hounds, satyrs?"

"I wouldn't want to take on a troll, those things are scary tough. Never seen the others."

We arrived at the northern edge of the forest. From our vantage in the trees we could see miles until the mountains themselves. The snow-covered peaks were jagged and rocky. I couldn't imagine anyone living up there, sources of food would not be plentiful.

"Do the mountain men come down to hunt for food?" I asked.

They looked at me blankly. "We do not know the ways of mountain men." Gisael answered after a long silence.

"I guess it's up to me to find out then," I said and jumped down to the lower branches before running towards the mountains.

"He is strange," Talila observed before I was out of earshot.

It did not take me long to find some tracks. They looked like paws from a large cat or wolf. The ground was a mixture of rocks, patchwork grass and sandy gravel.

Beyond the forest there were no trees, but a few bushes spotted the hillsides. I searched the sandy gravel for more tracks, and I found hooves and then men. They were wearing boots of some description and were easy to identify compared to animals.

I placed my ear to the ground and listened. There were no sounds other than the rumblings of the earth. It was at this time I heard a scratching sound. I looked around and could see nothing, but my attention was drawn to the jagged rocks covering the hillside in front of me.

My mouth opened when I saw it. It was the largest spider I had seen in my life and to my horror it was not alone. I turned to run before counting, I didn't want to waste the time. I headed back to the forest as fast as I could. There were at least a dozen giant spiders chasing me and the chittering was a huge motivation for me to run like the wind.

I activated qi body. I didn't have time to view what happened with my sight and I rued the fact I didn't work on my qi skills rather than come scouting today. What I had learned is that I could push my qi rather than rely on the activated skill. With qi strike the activated skill was lame, and I thought that qi body was probably similar.

When I pushed my qi, I could feel it draining quickly, but I could also jump much further and run faster. I must have been a sight, running over the hill like a lunatic being closely followed by a dozen giant spiders. They spat web at me, trying to slow me down but I was too far ahead. As soon as I got to the closest tree I climbed.

The Guardians did not need an invitation, they opened fire on the spiders.

I smiled down at the eight-legged freaks as they died under a hail of arrows. I felt safe up in the tree until the survivors of the first two flights of arrows began to climb up after me.

"Shit," I yelled. "Spiders can climb." I felt incredibly stupid for the next few moments while I poked my spear at any spider which dared to show its ugly face on my branch. I moved away from the trunk, attempting to narrow their avenue of attack.

I roared as I stabbed the first. Unsure of its vitals I aimed for its centre of mass. It accommodated me by impaling itself on my spear. I then swung it to the side attempting to flick the twitching mass off my spear. "Fly be free," I called to it as I flung it to my left.

The next was already upon me and I kicked it back towards the trunk stunning it. An arrow finished it off and it rolled off the branch. I had massively misjudged the number of spiders that had followed me, because they just kept coming.

Despite the carnage from the guardians I was being overrun.

I kicked. I roared, and I stabbed frantically. Spider after spider fell off my branch to the forest floor below. I had lost track of time and their numbers and when there was a short break in the fighting, I bent over to catch my breath. Then I heard whooping and when no more spiders came, I knew it was over.

I felt weaker than a wet paper bag. My qi reserve was extremely low. Qi body had deactivated on its own which was a sure sign that I was on empty. And I was thankful that I hadn't fallen from the tree.

Tree-run was my most dependable qi power. I was certain that this was due to it being an innate Svartalfar ability. But just in case, I dropped down to the forest floor and viewed the scene below. Hundreds of spiders were strewn about and more than a few still twitched showing signs of life.

I stabbed one and noticed a tiny blue orb in its guts. I pulled the prize from its stinking corpse and held it aloft. I shouted to my companions, "Cores anyone?"

Within moments Gisael and Talila dropped down to my side. Gisael looked into my eyes and although she showed no other signs of concern she said, "You need to rest. We will take care of this." She turned back to the trees, "Ailen, Sakaala keep watch."

I sat and leaned against my battle tree. I patted it. "Good tree." I said before closing my eyes.

The last thing I heard before dozing off was Talila saying, "He is strange, but I see why you like him."