Chapter 9 – A Boar’s Trial

"Move, now!" Petra shouted and she pushed Titus out of the way a moment before the boar was about to impact them both. Titus fell away from the girl and to the ground, which he discovered was just as hard as it looked. Petra, on the other hand, had used her momentum to roll back and away from Titus, splitting the pair and saving them both from certain death.

The boar crashed loudly into the iron bars behind them, which Titus saw dropped its HP by a single point. It didn't seem affected by the small amount of damage it'd sustained and quickly turned around to face the pair of intruders in its cell once more. Its eyes were a deep red and seeing them stare at him and Petra sent a cold shiver down his spine.

The boar then looked at Titus and Petra in turn, deciding which one it should charge at, and then it exhaled loudly and charged straight at Petra.

The girl dived to get out of the way of the charging beast and almost managed it. Perhaps if it hadn't had the large protruding tusks at the end of its nose, she would have gotten away with it. But the boar had tusks, and Petra had been hit.

As soon as the boar hit her, Petra let out a yelp. She was thrown clear across the small cell and hit the ground with a thud.

"Uuhh," she groaned. "That took half my health." She was clearly in a lot of pain, and Titus did the only thing he could think of in that very moment. He shouted.

"Over here, you great stinking pig!" he shouted at the boar. "I'm the one you want!"

He wasn't exactly sure if it had been an official taunt like he'd seen the boy called Benjamin use in the arena, but nevertheless the boar's attention turned to him next. And that was something at least.

But then Titus realised what that meant and what he'd just done. The boar lowered its head again and charged without a moment's pause.

Titus, like Petra, tried to get out of the beast's way before it hit but was similarly unable to; the boar was simply too good at charging things and Titus too slow or untrained. Probably both.

"Titus!" Petra screamed, but he barely heard her as his whole world turned to pain.

Like Petra, Titus was thrown through the air by the beast, and a quick internal examination once he'd landed with a painful thud told him that he too had lost just over half his health, which now sat at twenty-four out of fifty. That attack had caused twenty-six points of damage, and Titus had felt every single one of them.

He wiped his eyes and shook his head. His heart was pounding because he knew they had no way out of this. The Deadlands Boar had them easily beaten, and even worse was the fact that neither of them was able to dodge a single one of its attacks. Titus felt like he was a child playing a man's game, but he had no way to escape.

Titus looked up at the boar again. His vision was slightly blurry, and pain enveloped most of his body. But he wanted to face his end head-on. Like a man. Just like his father would have wanted.

But the boar wasn't looking at Titus again. It was staring at Petra as she raised herself wearily back to her feet.

"Petra! Look out!" Titus managed to shout, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. If Petra hadn't managed to dodge the first charge when she hadn't been already hurt, this time she was absolutely done for.

The boar lowered its head again and scraped its hooves along the solid stone floor beneath it, readying the charge that it knew would end the girl's life.

"Over here!" Titus tried calling again, but this time the boar was focused on Petra, and it wasn't going to be swayed from its target.

Titus' world darkened. It was like someone had switched off the sound around him and dampened the torches, and Petra and the boar were the only two things in the entire universe.

The boar took its first step.

Titus pushed every iota of energy he had into his legs, and scrambled forward towards Petra. He had no idea what he was planning to do if he actually made it to her, but he couldn't just lay there and let her die. She was his friend, and he knew if the boar hit her again...

Onto his feet now he ran at Petra. The boar was fast, but Titus had been closer to begin with. It would be close but the odds weren't terrible.

Titus was going to make it there first.

Barreling into his friend a second before the boar made it to her, Titus took her place in the boar's charge, and as he pushed Petra from harm's way, he turned to see the boar's terrifying form just inches from his face.

His eyes bulged, and his heart stopped.

But then something flashed past him. It had happened so quickly that he almost didn't see what it was. But he did see. The flash had been a thin, bright arrow constructed of nothing but pure orange fire.

The boar's leading tusk momentarily touched Titus' leg before the creature squealed in pain and flew backwards away from him and across the cell.

Titus' blurry vision was on the cusp of fading to black, and he knew that the boar's attack, although mitigated by the intervention of the arrow, had brought his health pool down to just a single point. One.

One breath away from death. A second later, and he wouldn't have survived the boar. And if he had fallen then Petra wouldn't've been too far behind.

Peering over to where the boar had fallen, hoping beyond hope that the monster had taken its last breath, he could see that its health bar had reached zero, and the thing wasn't going to get back up. The magical arrow had killed it in one hit.

Then something caught Titus' attention. It was far away and in the darkness. Through the iron bars and away down the dark hallway, he was sure that he'd seen a pair of blood-red eyes watching, staring. But when he blinked, they were gone.

"What... what happened?" Titus asked, his voice croaky and strained. With his words, he remembered the agony he was in, the pain that the boar's attacks had caused him. And then he remembered his leg. The boar had hit him.

Titus looked down and saw the puncture wound just below his knee. It had been bleeding, but it didn't look like it still was. But just looking at it filled him with pain and anxiety.

"Well, it looks to me like you two chose to come down here to see what you could make of a Deadlands Boar for yourselves," a voice came from behind Titus. Unmistakably, it belonged to Miss Kane. She didn't sound scared, annoyed, or upset; she was more just factual somehow.

Titus turned to look at her and saw that she was standing beside Petra with a caring arm around her shoulders.

"I... we didn't," Titus stammered.

"We can deal with that in a minute. But first, here, drink this." Miss Kane handed Titus a glass bottle of something red. Something that looked distinctively like blood, and he peered at it.

Minor Health Potion

Heals the individual by 20hp

It was a small miracle that he'd been able to see what the bottle contained in his awakened status because if he hadn't, he doubted that he would've been able to drink it, all the while thinking it was blood.

The liquid was thick, but by a small mercy it was cold and sweet not unlike a bowl of blended strawberries and the moment it touched his tongue it gave him a warm tingly feeling all over.

"My health," Titus said, feeling the healing warmth cover his entire body. "It's gone up!"

"Well, of course, it has, you saw the description of the health potion, didn't you?" Miss Kane said, handing a second bottle to Petra, who drank hers without question. Titus watched as she did so and saw that she too had been made to feel much better as soon as the liquid passed her lips.

"But... but if this is a thing then why aren't they all over the City? Do you know how many people these things could help?" His eyes were wide with the thought of handing out these health potions to just about everyone out there.

"I am afraid that is not how it works, and even if it was, it is not something that we are capable of. But I'd rather talk about what it was you were doing down here," Miss Kane said.

Petra gave Titus a stern look. The kind of look that said: 'Don't tell her,' and Titus looked at his feet without saying a word.

"And don't worry about the rest of your health," Miss Kane said. "You'll come to notice that in general, most people heal naturally at a rate of about ten percent each hour."

Titus hadn't even thought about the rest of his health, and that made him reinspect his stats. But there was something different now. Tiny flashing text at the bottom of his field of vision. Text that when he focussed on it grew much larger and faded into a readable form.

You have gained 6 experience points

XP to next level: 94

He'd been awarded experience points. The only downside was the fact that his advancement had been because of Henderson and not because he'd been particularly skilled at fighting. In fact, if Miss Kane hadn't appeared and saved both he and Petra, he would've been killed.

But gaining experience was something that Titus hadn't been expecting, and the very thought of advancement, no matter how small or even how it'd come about, put a small smile on his face.

And then there was something else; the text continued.

New Class available: Capacitor

Would you like to accept Capacitor as your Class? Y/N

The prompt was confusing. Confusing because Titus had no idea if this was something that was supposed to happen, confusing because he had no idea that The God of Balance would outright ask him if he wanted something or not, and confusing because Titus had no idea what this 'Capacitor' Class was - not being one of the Classes that'd been spoken about or even mentioned thus far.

Glancing at Miss Kane to see if she had any indication of what was happening behind his eyes, Titus wondered if he should tell her what he could see. But they weren't supposed to be down there with the monster. They weren't supposed to remove their armbands, and they certainly weren't supposed to get into any fights. What if getting experience and a Class, no less, was against the rules at this point? Could he be thrown out?

And then he looked at Petra. Had she received the same experience? The same notification? Her face gave nothing away, but if she had, then she wasn't offering up any information either.

"We got lost," Titus said, forcing his gaze up to meet Miss Kane's patient stare. "We didn't know what was in here, but we got stuck."

"And managed to lock the door behind you?" Miss Kane asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes... well uh..." Titus struggled to find anything that could explain that particular thing, but he knew by the fact Petra hadn't spilt the truth that it probably wasn't the right thing to do. He could also see that his friend was now slowly shaking her head.

"Well, I want to make something clear," Miss Kane said before Titus could finally come up with a suitable lie. "Whilst it is admirable to remain tight-lipped when asked to get others into trouble, you should know that removing your armbands is a very serious act. If this was done by choice, then you have made a huge mistake. If this was forced upon you, I would like to know who and why so that appropriate punishments are put in place."

Titus had forgotten about his armband, but before he could speak, Miss Kane produced two white armbands and handed one each to Titus and Petra.

"Do not lose them again," she said. "And if you are to remain silent on the truth of what has happened here, know that I cannot help you. I just hope that it'll be worth it, and that the next time something like this happens, it won't result in your deaths. Now come with me; I'll show you the way to your dorm. God knows you could use a rest after that."

Titus nodded but remained silent, walking over to Miss Kane and the open door. The three then walked silently back the way they came, though as they walked, Titus again examined the text that had appeared, and when prompted with the question of choosing the new Class, this time he focused on answering with a 'yes'. Who knew how long he had to decide?

And then a new block of text faded into his vision.

New Skill: Sacrifice

Absorb 50% of the damage dealt to an ally.

Cost: 3 Stamina

Duration: Next Damage

Cooldown: 10 Seconds