B2 Ch. 19 “Training”

Kindle ruffled her feathers on Tilly’s shoulder,

“Cheep!” She cried in anger eyeing the giant towering above her.

Gorock's eyes shifted in confusion and dilated at the sight of the little chick.  His eyes took on that characteristic blank look and he identified the creature, and then his goat scowl/smile returned in full force.

“You will be very fierce I think, but not for a while yet! BWAHAHA.”  He answered before bellowing out a laugh that was completely unrestrained by the lack of any discernible humor. Tilly turned his head at the creaking sound of a cart and saw a laborer wheeling a mountain of wooden scraps over to the end of the troughs.  He dumped them out with quick and economic movements before turning to go back the way he came.

“Just a second Gororck.”  He called turning fully to rush over to the pile. The still-laughing Wall Breaker just waved him on, winding down from his amusement.  Tilly called a thanks over to the laborer but if he heard he didn't turn from his route back to the bustling construction all over the valley.

Tilly used his foot to shift over a campfire-sized bunch of wood, and then enflamed his foot, shoving it into the pile in the packed dirt of the grounds. It took about ten seconds to catch, then it was burning merrily.

“Don’t take too long playing with your fire Baby-Man!  Gorock is very busy.”  his booming voice called from the sparring area, apparently ready to move on.

“Here you go, little lady. This should hold you over while I… practice fighting.”  Tilly whispered, plucking the chick from his shoulder and lowering her into the fire.

As he reached down, Kindle eyed him, and Tilly felt the image of her little claws float to the top of his mind.

“No thanks, sweetie.  I'll be fine.  It may not look it, but that guy over there is a friend.”  He answered lowering her into the fire.  He was surprised to feel his hands begin to burn as they interacted with fire not produced by his own mana, but quickly his armor responded, covering his hands with the Sun Salaamaaner hide gloves.  Neat.

Kindle however had no problem with the different source of heat, fluffing her down coat and beginning to preen happily as flames licked all around her form. She settled down happily amidst the burning wood.

“Baby-Man!” Gorrock called again, his voice having moved from amused to frustrated faster than a toddler.

“Just call over if you need something.” Tilly said hurriedly, before turning around and jogging towards his ‘teacher’ for the day.

“Keep your pants on Gorock!  And don't give me any more shit about being busy!  I bet if you weren’t here you could be carrying around stone at the wall build.”  Tilly called as he approached pulling loose his hatchets and twirling them with all the bravado he did not feel. This was going to suck…

Might as well charge into it, blades swinging.

“GOOD!” Gorock boomed, laying aside his shield and weapons and gesturing an invitation to Tilly with open hands, before assuming a boxer stance.

“Come at me Baby-Man.  Use all your tricks and fire and we will see who gives the healer a harder time! HAHAHA,”  He finished with another burst of disturbing goat laughter.  It was a combination of a deep human baritone and the sound of a screaming goat.

Tilly shrugged as he processed Gorock's huge-short sword, spear, and shield on the ground. He was probably going to need every advantage he could get.  It probably didn't make a lick of difference that he was fighting Gorock unarmed anyway.

Without further hesitation, he inflamed and launched both hatchets, charging almost immediately behind them to the sound of Gorock’s yell of excitement.

…

Twenty minutes later both combatants laid on the ground surrounded by charred dirt and splattered blood.  Tilly groaned as he tried to take another breath, the now familiar feeling of fractured ribs grating excruciatingly against his lungs.  On top of that, he was pretty sure one of his forearms was shattered, and an ankle was swollen beyond recognition.

Gorock laid a few feet away taking short breaths interspersed with giggling fits. His body was covered in burns and he sported several already closing shallow wounds from Tilly’s hatchets.   He sat up wiping his eyes, tears of laughter threatening to pool and spill down from his large oblong-iris eyes.

“Baby-Man, that was the most fun I’ve had in weeks!  Are you ready to keep going?”  he said, his monstrous constitution already undoing the waxy edges of his biggest patches of burned skin.

Tilly groaned in answer, looking up at his Mana and Health.

Health: 42%

Mana: 3%

“No-..ugh.  Not going to be… ready for a while.”

Tilly rolled his head over painfully and spotted Kindle fast asleep in the smoldering ashes of the campfire he had made her.  Despite everything he smiled.  At least everyone else was having a good time this morning.

“Now young one, you take the big stupid one.  I'll handle the smaller, slightly less stupid one.” A voice called from outside Tilly’s range of vision. It took a second, but the cultured voice and clipped tone of disapproval keyed him into the owner just before a cascade of healing magic washed over him.

A comforting warmth suffused his form, concentrating on the places he was most injured.  There the warmth heated until it was just south of painful, like slipping into a hot tub on a cold day.  A stinging sensation accompanied the reknitting of his bones and restoring of bruised flesh and he watched in fascination as his Health rapidly climbed back to 100%.

With a moan of relief, he sat up, just as the priestess cast another ability on him and the slow refilling of his mana started to ramp up to a flood.  Before he knew it, he was completely topped off.

But all of that faded out of his immediate attention as his eyes fell on a strikingly familiar young satyr woman casting ab ability over Gorock.  She had to be in her mid-teens, not older than fifteen, and something about her face tickled Tilly’s memory like a mental itch. Yet, Tilly couldn’t recall meeting a girl of that age in any of his travels so far on Nephesh.

She was wearing priestess robes of a much simpler quality than Erash and held a plain scepter in her hands.

Level 3 Priestess of Origin’s Flame

He continued to stare in muddled confusion at the feeling of familiarity and the young priestess looked up from her own casting on Gorock to catch him watching.  A rosy blush started on her neck and crept up to her cheeks as she quickly looked back down.  Then in a quiet voice, she said,

“Hello again Mr. Tillman.”

Tilly cocked his head, her face maidenly familiar and yet he could not recall meeting anyone lik-

“A Pheonex!”  Erash shouted, rushing over to the still-sleeping bird before turning back toward Tilly incredulously.

“And Bonded at that?  Human, How did you get your hands on a Mythic Elemental?”

Tilly tore his eyes away from the girl to answer Erash’s question when Gorock spoke over him while climbing to his feet.

“I Didn-”

“Fire loves our Little Human!  You should have seen what a glorious bomb he makes.  It is obviously a gift from our Fire God, healer.  Now, no more questions! I am teaching him how real warriors fight!”  He called shaking out his arms in readiness.

Looking back and forth between the girl, Gorock and Erash, Tilly got to his feet as well, dusting off his now fully healed limbs.

“Yeah, actually.  That is pretty much it… I think.”  Tilly muttered before turning back to the young priestess,

“I’m sorry, have we met?”

The girl's blush grew brighter as she attempted to stutter out a response,

“I saw… You healed… When-”

“Oh come on Girl!” Erash interjected in frustration.

“You are the only one this Deity has chosen as a full Priestess.  Please try and act like you have some backbone.”  Then turning towards Tilly,

“It is my understanding that you purified this girl, and in doing so, you unlocked an ability by whatever means your class and Mantle possess. It is my theory that this imbued her with enough potential to qualify as a candidate.” She said, hurrying through the explanation.  Then turning back to the fire, she slowed her speech to a more thoughtful pace.

“As to the elemental-”

“Her name is Kindle.”  Tilly interrupted absently, staring at the girl as the pieces came together.

“Yes, well, as to ‘Kindle’.  You will continue to feed her as much heat and flame as she asks for.  Then report to me on her stages of growth.  This is an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the-”

“Sorry mam, but I’m not reporting shit to you.” He interrupted,

“ I really appreciate what you did for Hiro yesterday, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.  But if you expect me to jump at your every demand, you are going to be very disappointed.”  He growled looking the High Priestess in the eyes.

Somewhere behind him, Gorock let out an explosive sigh, dropping his arms in disappointment at all the talking.

Tilly continued to stare as she bit back a scathing response and looked down at the phoenix with something that might have been envy.

“Very well.  I will be checking in on both of you when I see you each morning.  This is an immense privilege you have been given Mr. Tillman.  I hope you take it seriously.”

Before Tilly could respond, a small voice interrupted from Gorock’s side,

“Mr. Tillman, I snuck up to the temple last night. I know I am too young to get a class, but I wanted to help, and I knew that if anyone could help it was ”  she spoke up hesitantly.

“I was offered something called a “covenant”  I gave up the rest of my childhood and the possibility of ever taking another class. In return, I am the only other member of the Alliance that has been offered anything above acolyte.”  She added, growing bolder and seemingly more mature as she finished telling her story.

“Why would yo-”  Tilly tried to ask but Gorock had had enough.

“Gah! Talk later.  Now we fight!”  He bellowed, stomping his foot and lifting his fists into a boxing stance once again.  The young priestess immediately began to back away from the sparring area, but even as she moved, she called over,

“Don’t worry about me, Mr. Tillman.  It was my choice and now I have a Rare class with the possibility of even greater opportunities.  Plus, I think we both know that my childhood ended a while ago.”  She said as she hurried back over to Erash.

Something about that struck Tilly as incredibly sad and brave at the same time, and he felt something of a father's grief as he watched the now young woman move to stand next to Erash who immediately led her to other sparring areas.  He had heard the expression, “They grow up so fast” before… but this was on another level.

Channeling the heady mix of feelings into resolve, he turned back to Gorock, “All I have been hearing from you is whining.  Looks like I’m not the only one who is a baby.”  He called out, summoning his hatchets back to his hands, and wreathing his whole body with flame.

“HA!”  Gorock shouted in delight, before charging forward in response.