Spring finished her training for the day and began making her way back home. It was tiring work, practising using her abilities for combat and trying to advance. She was currently still Silver rank. Her master, Eritandellion, had said that Spring was close to Emerald, but she wasn’t sure how long it would take to reach that goal. As she was walking toward her house, she passed the trail that led into the forest next to her city. There was still time left in the day, so she decided to take a detour before continuing home. Her master would agree, she was sure. He was always saying that Spring should go out more to fight monsters. She needed a real challenge according to him. The only issue he might have is her going alone. Having nobody to watch her back was dangerous, but she was confident in her abilities.
After debating it for a moment longer, she veered off the path onto the forest footpath. The very close surroundings were safe, having both a massive wall blocking it from the rest and also had daily patrols to make sure that no monsters formed and made their way to the city. Spring walked through this until she reached the gate. The guards checked briefly to make sure she wasn’t planning anything before letting her carry on. After a few minutes of walking a loud screech rang out from somewhere nearby. Spring prepared herself for a fight before hurrying in the direction of the noise. When she arrived however, she didn’t meet a foe like she was expecting. Instead, a mangled corpse laid in a space between trees. Its feathery body was covered in red, but small bits of blue were visible through it. Combined with its long legs, long neck and sharp beak, she could identify it as a Jadkert. As she analysed it, she could see several tracks leading away from it. A bush nearby rustled very slightly. It could have been the wind, Spring knew, but the predators wouldn’t have had long to escape before she arrived. What if they hadn’t left. Spring wasn’t willing to take that risk. She turned back to the body, pretending to ignore the bush. In an instant, she shot her hand in the direction of the bush and a huge flaming ball shot out, sizzling the bush. Inside, scaly creature that came up to her chest shrieked in pain from the fire, trying to run at her. A sword of flames appeared in her hands, and she met the creature head on. It seemed injured, more so than the fireball should have been able to do. Probably the dead Jadkert at her feet. More of the monsters appeared from the nearby foliage, charging at her wildly as she finished off the first one. A grim smile crossed her mouth as she charged at them, shooting balls of fire before they could reach her. Several of them died meters away from her. There were still ten left however, and she had to face them all at once. She dodged a slash thrown by one of them, swiping its hand off while it was off balance. It cried out in pain, backing away slightly, but she didn’t have time to finish it as another jumped on top of her. It slashed at her face frantically, trying to kill her. She used her other power, her control over metal, to shoot three daggers in her pocket into its chest. Power was infused into them, killing the monster in an instant. She stood back up, finishing off the wounded one. She blocked an attack from one as she shot more daggers at another. She swiped her sword behind her, chopping one’s head off. She took a wound to the side but managed to dodged too deep of a gouge. That monster was dead a moment later.
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After getting rid of the initial five, the pack was no longer a threat to her. At least, not one she took too seriously. When it came down to the last one, she considered letting it go but decided against it. It might go back to a bigger pack and try to hunt her down. She had no intention of going back yet, despite the encounter she had just survived. The sword vanished, Toh no longer being used to hold it together. She wiped some of the blood off of her clothes before continuing her walk.
The monsters, she knew, were Mertiz. They always hunted in packs, and she could recognise them, although not instantly, as Eritandellion had taken a group of them out with her. They weren’t powerful monsters, so she could defeat them by herself at this point.
A couple of hours passed, and the sun was setting now. The sunset looked beautiful. Spring decided to sit in a tree and watch it for a bit. As she sat there, looking at it peacefully, she felt a huge surge of power close by. She shot up in an instant, running toward the source of the power.
Given her fast speed, it didn’t take her long to reach it. A sphere of light took up space, shifting and pulsating. It wasn’t large, probably the size of a small cottage. Nobody other than her would be able to see it. Perhaps some would be able to feel it, but she doubted it. She had walked a long way from her home after all. As she considered what she should do, the sphere shrunk inward, vanishing. Where it had been, a young man probably nineteen or twenty, around her own age, now stood. He looked shocked and his knees buckled, forcing him onto the ground. Vomit spewed from his mouth, covering the ground around him. Spring didn’t say anything for several moments, waiting for him to finish. She wasn’t sitting idly by, however. Instead, she scanned his soul, checking for his rank. To her surprise, instead of being unfathomably strong like she expected, she found that he wasn’t even considered at the Foundation stage.
The boy had stopped being sick and looked at her weakly.
“Hi.” He said weakly.
“Who are you?” Spring asked. The boy took several deep breaths before speaking.
“Mat. Mat Johnson.” He panted. His face and clothes were covered in sweat.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mat. My name is Spring.”
“That’s a beautiful name.” He said. Spring was beginning to worry that he may be delirious. Despite that, a slight blush rose in her cheeks.
“That’s very kind of you. Now tell me, where did you come from?”
Instead of responding, Mat stared into space silently. A slight laugh rose from him, but she couldn’t see anything funny. That confirmed her worries. She knew that he wouldn’t be in a fit state to go back to her home. It was at least an hour away running, and if Spring had to carry him it would take longer. If they stayed here, they would almost certainly be found by a monster. After debating it, she decided to carry the boy, who now lay on the ground unconscious, up a tree. There was less of a chance of being caught. She would have to find a thick tree though, otherwise he would fall off. After looking for a moment, she found a decent looking tree that she thought could fir the both of them. She picked him up before jumping up to a thick looking branch. She laid Mat down, making sure he wasn’t going to fall, before taking off her coat and wrapping him up in it. If he was ill then keeping him warm was important, even in this warm season. Spring then got herself comfortable, which was difficult to do with small bits of wood prodding her back, before trying to get some sleep.
