“Ambush!” Arsted yelled and swung his sword. There was a squish and then a thud. A few feet away, lying on the ground, was the familiar sight of a dead goblin.

  I turned to the mule and encased it in an earth fortress. A piercing, high-pitched scream erupted from where the mule was, having lost its freedom to move. I hoped the beast didn’t hurt itself while we dealt with the monsters.

  “Orcs!” Renna shouted. She almost ran forward before remembering that I needed her close by. She didn’t have to wait long before a few orcs got up close. She dodged a thrust to her chest and nearly lopped off the orcs head. Two orcs tried to attack her at once, forcing her to jump back, then she lopped off both hands with a single strike. Her blade was thrust into the chest of one, then cut through the other’s chest.

  There were a lot more where that came from. Unlike the forest near Alcion, where we would find small bands of fifteen goblins, there had to be at least thirty goblins and twenty orcs. They had us surrounded. It was fight or die.

  Arsted was cleaving through goblin and orc. His strikes were strong enough to cut through an orc’s sword and armor. Each strike was a death blow. Black blood was beginning to fill the forest ground and when it looked like the number of orcs was dwindling, another wave came out of nowhere, their screams filling the forest.

  One of my three stone bullets tore through five goblins who had lined up perfectly. Their tiny bodies were blasted into pieces from the force of the attack. An orc was caught mid-air with a stone bullet blasting its head off and the third stone bullet struck an orc in the chest.

  Three orcs and four goblins jumped toward Arsted, who smiled as he raised his sword back. He spun. The second monsters let out screams before their bodies were cut apart and they landed on the ground with nothing but their blood and parts of their bodies.

  I put my hand on the ground. Earth spikes rose from the ground, piercing through eight monsters. Half of them died instantly, while the other half were stuck in the sharp earth spikes, letting out screams of pain. Renna quickly silenced them by cutting off each head.

  The monster’s numbers were dwindling, at least it looked that way until another large group rushed at us. “Renna, get back!”

  Renna ducked behind me. I created three firebombs and launched them toward the group of goblins and orcs. One of the orcs pushed a goblin aside and swung its axe, connecting with the fireball. There was a loud bang as that set off the bomb within. Tiny sharp rocks exploded around the group of monsters. Their screams filled the forest as their bodies were torn to shreds, not even their armor could protect them.

  The other groups of orcs and goblins didn’t get a chance to react as the other two firebombs exploded a moment later, with the same effect. The large group of monsters quickly dwindled down to less than twenty. A couple of thin trees collapsed as the sharp rocks tore through them, causing them to lose balance. Some of the wounded orcs and goblins were crushed.

  “That’s no fun,” Renna pouted.

  Before I could respond, Renna darted forward to engage some of the surviving monsters. An orc tried to attack her. She dodged to the left with ease and thrust her blade into the side of its throat. The orc grunted as it fell, and she was on top of the next one. Before the orc could raise its sword to defend itself, Renna cut through its right shoulder down to its heart.

  Three goblins went to attack her from behind. Renna knocked aside an axe and kicked one of the goblins in the stomach so hard it flew back ten feet and landed on its back. She jumped back to avoid the attacks from the other goblins, then rushed forward. Her blade tore both their heads off and she quickly ran up to the fallen goblin and stabbed its heart.

  Then there was silence. Counting the goblins and orcs, there had to be at least fifty. I would wager there were perhaps seventy among the dead. In our journey, this had been our first time seeing so many monsters in one area. It would have been nice if Peruvian had warned us about the monsters.

  “Well, that was fun,” Renna wiped some sweat from her brow.

  I’m not sure I would consider killing monsters fun. Testing the firebombs and seeing them work was nice. It felt like progress; in a way I hadn’t felt in months. Since graduating from Elias’s teachings, I was beginning to worry I had stagnated. Sure, my spells were getting stronger, but I wasn’t learning anything new.

  Learning to create the firebombs had made me stronger in a couple of ways. It had shown me how to be more efficient, which allowed me to make three stone bullets at the same time. There was still so much I needed to learn.

  I glanced at Renna, who appeared to be fine. Since killing the humans who attacked us, I had worried she might be suffering. I did try talking to her about it, but all she would say was that she was fine and don’t worry about her.

  “Those firebombs worked well,” Arsted said. He was looking where the firebombs had exploded. “You should be proud.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Are you going to let the mule out?” Renna teased.

  “Oh yeah, of course!” I turned to where the earth fortress was and let it down. The Mule was lying on the ground, with one of its legs twisted the wrong way.

  “Looks like it broke its leg during the commotion,” Arsted said.

  “That’s fixable,” I walked up to the mule. Its breathing was labored, and its eyes were wide as I put my hand above the creature’s leg. I cast magic on the leg. In less than thirty seconds the mule was back on its feet. I pet its head. “Good boy.”

  “Do either of you need rest?” Arsted asked.

  I looked over at Renna, who shook her head.. “No, we can keep going.”

  It felt nice to get away from the dead bodies, which smelled awful. Dead orcs and goblins smelled way worse than a dead human body for some reason. We walked for several hours before arriving at the large blue rocks.

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  We turned south from there. I looked up at the sky and the sun was high enough to give us at least three or so more hours of light. The forest was thick enough to block a lot of the sunlight. As we continued walking, it started to get darker and darker.

  This didn’t feel right. I looked up at the sky and the sun wasn’t much lower than it had been earlier. We kept walking and it got a little darker. Yeah, it didn’t take a genius to realize this wasn’t natural.

  “Is a monster causing it to be dark?” Renna asked.

  “No,” Arsted said. He didn’t elaborate.

  To my surprise, Renna didn’t inquire for more details. If this wasn’t a monster’s doing, then perhaps we were nearing the hut Peruvian mentioned? I kept my guard up in case this was some sort of trap. When I glanced at Arsted, I was surprised to see he looked relaxed, as if there was nothing troubling in the world at all.

  What did he know? I didn’t get a chance to ask him as we stepped past a large boulder and saw a hut. Sitting in a chair in front of the hut was an old man. We had made it to the destination. Far sooner than I’d expected.

  The old man looked at us. He rose from his chair a bit slowly and looked at us with curiosity. I saw no fear in the man. “Well, I wasn’t expecting visitors today,” the old man said when we got close.

  “Sorry to bother you.” I reached into my robe pocket and took out the letter Peruvian gave me. “Peruvian gave us a letter and told us to show this to you when we arrived.”

  “Did he now?” the old man raised his hand and to my surprise, the letter zipped out of my hands and flew over to the old man, who read the contents of the letter.

  I wasn’t expecting the old man to be a magic user. Maybe he would be able to teach me something?

  “I haven’t heard from Peruvian in years. If he sent you, you must show talent,” the old man said. He folded up the letter and put it into his pocket.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “The names Bastian, Bastian Overo and I’m a Divine Mage.”

  “I-I’m sorry, did you say Divine?” Renna said.

  Divine? That was the second highest ranking a magic user could achieve. I was hoping he was Mystic, but Divine was even better! I could feel myself getting excited. This trip was worth it if he was willing to teach me how to get better at magic.

  “That’s right. I would bet I’m the first you two kids have ever seen,” Bastian didn’t wait for a response. “How about you give me your names?”

  I introduced myself first, then Renna and Arsted went last. Bastian looked at Arsted extra close. I had the feeling he was trying to gauge how strong he was. It made me wonder if Bastian would destroy Arsted in a fight or if Arsted was close in strength. Neither Renna nor I knew how strong Arsted was. The only thing we knew was he had to be at least Sentinel ranked.

  “It’s nice to meet you. For me to properly reward you children, I will need to spar with each of you in a one-on-one match. Are you okay with that?”

  Sparring with a Divine Mage? That seemed like a waste of time. He was going to wipe us out no problem, except for Arsted who wasn’t going to spar. I found myself excited, nonetheless. “I would be honored to duel a mage such as yourself.”

  “Excellent! Do you need rest or are you ready now?”

  “I’m ready.”

  Bastian walked down the stairs leading to his hut and stood around ten feet away from me. “Arsted, Renna, would you mind stepping back?”

  I heard them move away. Despite knowing I stood no chance; I couldn’t help smiling. Bastian was going to show me what a Divine Mage could do. I had my mana gathered, ready to launch a spell the moment he said go.

  “Before we start, I want you to try every skill you have at your disposal. Fight this duel as if your life depends on it. To make sure you understand, I want you to try and kill me.”

  That took the smile off my face. “Try to kill you? I’m not sure-”

  “Boy, you don’t have to worry about succeeding. I promise you won’t harm me. If you refuse to try and kill me, then your reward will be denied.”

  “Very well, then that’s what I’ll do.”

  “Good,” Bastian straightened himself up and left his arms hanging loosely at his sides. “Then show me what you’ve got.”

  The moment those words left his mouth, I created three stone bullets and fired them. I didn’t stop, I created a bunch of icicles and shot them toward him as well.

  Bastian didn’t move a muscle. The three stone bullets never made it to him. A small black hole appeared in each spot where the stone bullets would land, and they disappeared. The icicles that came behind them simply melted before they could reach him. The thing is, I didn’t see any fire, the icicles melted as if they’d been in extreme heat.

  That didn’t make me hesitate. I threw two firebombs and earth spikes at the same time. Bastian remained in his position, never moving an inch as the firebombs exploded in mid-air and the earth inside crumbled to dust, never getting the chance to explode. The earth spikes launched from the ground and turned into dust, with no spikes making it close to Bastian.

  I had one last trick up my sleeve. Like I did against the two mages, I attacked with three fireballs. When I thought Bastian would remove the threat, the stone bullets came zipping out at incredible speed. Bastian was able to create voids, and the stone bullets disappeared as if they never existed. The fireballs disappeared.

  Before I could try something else, my body froze. I couldn’t so much as blink, yet it looked like there was nothing on me. It’s not like I turned to ice or anything. I strained with all the strength I had. Not even magic would appear, it was like I was a statue and all I could do was stare forward.

  “Well fought,” Bastian said.

  I regained control of my body and almost fell on my face. What kind of magic was Bastian using?

  “I must say, you are the most gifted child I have ever seen. I can see why Peruvian sent you to me. I can see you…”

  Bastian stopped speaking but I got the gist of what he was going to say. I bet he was thinking I could make it to Divine and didn’t finish his sentence to prevent me from getting an ego. He didn’t need to worry about that.

  “Renna, it’s your turn,” Bastian said.

  Renna looked excited. She quickly took out her sword and traded places with me. I would bet she was curious what Bastian was going to do to her. If he wanted, he could freeze her like he did me, but I had a feeling he wasn’t going to do that. First, he would see what Renna could do.

  “The rules are the same. Do everything in your power to try and kill me,” Bastian said.

  “Okay,” Renna shifted her stance.

  I wasn’t surprised to see Renna using the Gylorian stance. She was going to go all out like I did, and Bastian would win the duel when he was satisfied. I was looking forward to seeing how Bastian faced in close-quarter combat.

  “Begin.”

  Renna bolted forward so fast all I saw was a blur. She was on top of him, her sword closing in. Clang. Her sword hit a small crystal that formed out of thin air, catching Renna off guard. She nearly lost her balance but quickly regained herself and continued her assault. Her strikes were so quick that I couldn’t see them all, which was why I felt like I lost a lot of our sparring matches if she got in close like this.

  The one thing I didn’t understand was how Bastian could see each attack. At the last second, a small crystal shield would form and blocked each of her attacks. As Renna kept trying to break past the crystal shield, I noticed three small rocks floating behind her. Right as they rose to her upper back, she turned and broke all three, then she whirled around back on Bastian.

  I couldn’t help being impressed with Renna’s stubbornness. She was getting tired, yet she refused to give up. She tried an overhead strike, then dove to Bastian’s side. She went behind him to no avail. Bastian’s defense was incredible.

  Renna raised her sword to do another overhead strike and froze in mid-air, much like I did. She couldn’t move a muscle, though I would bet everything I had she was straining to break through whatever hold Bastian had on her.

  After a moment, Bastian floated her above his head and put her in front of them. “This duel is over,” he said and released Renna.

  Like myself, Renna nearly fell over once she regained control of her body. “Wow, you didn’t move an inch while blocking all my best moves!”

  “Decades of training,” Bastian motioned me and Arsted to come closer. “You have both passed my test. I must say, I can’t believe there are two children with such talent. Before I give you your reward, I would like to show you something.”

  “What are you going to show us?” I asked.

  “I’m going to show you what a Divine spell can do.”