“Maiz?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you gain another rank yet?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

They were standing on the branch of yet another tree, staring at the darkness of a portal set directly in the trunk. The remainder of the trial had been quite simple. Once Maiz had gathered himself together, he had simply crawled back to the center tree and jumped across the set of stumps using his boots. Riala hadn’t set a word to him the entire time after her first attempts at comforting him. He was grateful for that. He’d needed the time focused on a problem to fully regain control of himself.

“Um, how much Strength did you have again?” Riala’s voice was tentative, almost apologetic.

“Six. What's up?” Maiz was trying hard to keep his tone upbeat, normal. He hadn’t said anything more about his father, and Riala hadn’t asked. Still, he’d liked talking to her throughout the trial--it had been the most conversation he’d had in almost three years. He wanted to make her feel comfortable speaking to him again.

“Well, I was thinking that you might want to go through the portal...” Riala’s voice trailed off.

Maiz frowned. “What? I thought you said I should do all three tests before going on to the next level?”

“I just don’t know if you’ll, um, be able to complete the test as you are.”

Oh. Right. Was Riala really so worried about telling him that? “I understand what you’re saying Riala, it makes sense. I’m not mad at you.” He said the last sentence with a slight chuckle, though it sounded a bit hollow to his ears. It was still hard to laugh.

“Oh good! I just thought you might be, I don’t know, insulted or, or something.” Riala’s voice had begun in its normal enthusiastic tone, but as she continued speaking a downcast expression reasserted itself on her face.

Maiz frowned again. “Riala, are you alright?” What’s going on? “Uh, did you really think I need to take the Strength test as well to have a chance?” I keep forgetting that she has a big stake in this trial as well.

“No, no I think you can do it!” This time her voice sounded upbeat as usual, but Maiz thought that she still sounded off. She must really think I have no chance.

Suddenly Maiz desperately wanted to complete the trial. Not just for himself, though his plans still whispered in the back of his head, but for Riala. His friend. How can I…

“Riala? Can you tell me what’s in the trial of Strength?”

She looked surprised for a moment, then thoughtful. Slowly, she spoke. “I… guess so. It’s not a deliberate surprise like the other two, and you said the contract was updated so I suppose it’s possible, yeah.”

“Y-yeah.” Maiz cringed internally at hearing her mention the “updated” contract. Great job being a good friend, you liar. But he still payed attention as Riala went on.

“Well, the trial starts at the entrance of a cave. The first part is supposed to test how much stamina you have at any one time. You walk through the cave and as you go you get heavier and heavier. Every step takes up more of your stamina and standing up also becomes a big drain. Most people have to crawl to get to the end of that part, if they can move at all. I think it takes about a hundred stamina or so to take the final step.”

That does sound like it would be a problem. I only have sixty stamina right now. Analyzing the problem felt easier than thinking about why exactly Riala was telling him about the test.

Riala had continued without stopping. “Then your weight goes back to normal and you’re in a room with a bunch of weapons and a suit of armor. There’s a stone door past there into the next challenge, but it’s very heavy. You have to use all of your stamina at once to open it, because it’s supposed to test if you’re able to control and focus your Strength. The portal is in the next room, but there’s a Stoneskin Bear guarding it.”

“A Stoneskin Bear?” Maiz interjected.

“Don’t worry, it’s not actually made out of rock!” She gave a small laugh. “It’s just a big bear with thicker skin than normal. You have to really swing to get through it, so it’s supposed to test your Strength and teach you the skill Power Attack.”

Huh. “Quick question, would my ice bolt be able to get through the bear’s skin?”

Riala gave him an odd look. “Probably, but you probably wouldn’t be able to kill it in the first shot. Besides, how are you going to get there in the first place? You just don’t have enough Strength to make it past the first challenge.” She sounded apologetic as she said this, but absolutely certain.

“Um, second question, does the tunnel actually make you heavier, or do your movements just cost more stamina? And how long is it?”

Now she frowned. “Yes, it makes movements cost more stamina. And it’s about a hundred meters long. Only the last dozen or so meters is really bad.”

“The tunnel is straight? No twists or turns?”

“Yes, it’s straight.”

“Let’s go back. I want to see something.”

***********

Maiz stepped out of inky blackness into a dimly-lit cave. The light had no apparent source, and it did not appear to extend much past where Maiz was standing. There was a deep darkness before him, but from Riala’s descriptions, he knew what was ahead. As Maiz stepped further into the cave, the light seemed to follow him. Riala entered a moment later, and a second source of light appeared to follow her.

“You know Maiz, I really have no idea if this plan will work, are you sure it’s worth risking it?”

“Even if I can’t complete the test, I should be able to double back right? That’s the whole point of this experiment. It’s definitely worth a try.”

Riala’s worried expression did not abate. She had been acting strange ever since Maiz had told her about his father. Maiz couldn’t blame her. It was hard to look at a person the same after hearing a story like that about them. Maiz wasn’t the same person he’d been before his father had died, after all.

Maiz set off down the tunnel. At first he barely noticed the stamina drain that Riala had spoken of. He kept his Name Sheet open as he walked. His steps initially drained his stamina slower than he regenerated it. But as the walk forward continued, he began to notice that his stamina was decreasing over time, and that the drain accelerated as he continued walking. His steps felt heavier each moment, and his heart began beating faster as he worked harder to keep moving. At the halfway point, Maiz was forced to stop to rest. His last step had drained 8 stamina and left him gasping.

After several minutes to cool down and restore his normal heart rate, Maiz struggled to his feet and continued. He made it another ten meters with short pauses in between each step. At that point his body felt like it was moving through syrup, and he was forced to kneel on the stone floor, heart hammering from the exertion.

“If you’re going to do it, I think you should do it now. You’ll be able to tell if you’re right or not.”

Maiz nodded, breathing too hard to speak. He took almost fifteen minutes to catch his breath, before he turned in the opposite direction. His Name Sheet was still open, but he could see past the spectral green text where Riala was standing. She moved farther down the tunnel, leaving him facing darkness in the direction of the tunnel’s entrance.

He laid his palms together slowly on the floor, squatting with both of his knees bent. He leaned forward as far as he could, until the top of his head was facing straight forward.Then, he simultaneously pictured his mana rushing down to his arms and his leg muscles bunching in preparation for a massive leap. As he shouted “Minor Icebolt!” he also activated his Jump skill, causing a flash of light from his boots as the enchantment activated. As he shot forward, the icebolt smashed into the floor, adding additional power to his leap.

Maiz was flying through the air back towards the entrance, wind rushing in his face. In the darkness he struggled to orient his feet towards the ground, barely managing to do so before they touched the ground. The enchantment on the boots arrested most of the momentum and he thudded to the stone floor. Maiz groaned at the impact, but he kept his eyes on the Stamina reading.

50/60.

“Yes!” Maiz forgot about his painful landing as he shouted in triumph.

“It worked?” Riala called from further down in the tunnel. He could no longer see her through the darkness, which was strange.

“Yeah, stay there and I’ll come to you.” Maiz called back, struggling to his feet after a moment. It was just as difficult to walk back to Riala, but Maiz’s body felt lighter from the results of the experiment.

As he approached Riala, she gave him a grin. “Wow. You’re really lucky that no one thought to make the stamina penalty apply to skills!”

Maiz smiled back at her brightly as he panted. “I know! It almost makes the bruises worth it.” He rubbed at his side, where he’d landed the first time he attempted the maneuver in the glade.

She gave a laugh. “I never thought you’d be able to land it, but you impressed me! How far did you get?”

“Almost twenty meters, I think.” Maiz had been surprised how much force the icebolt imparted when he fired it into the ground--it had nearly doubled length of his jump once he had gotten the timing right. However, the enormous force was rough on his hands, and he rubbed his wrists as glanced forward into the darkness.

“I think I should be able to make it to the next room. Maybe three jumps. You’re sure the opening is wide enough?”

She nodded. “It’s just a border around the walls of the cave. You should be able to see it if you get a little farther in the tunnel. There’s a light in the next section.” She gave him a concerned look. “You know you have to be careful about how you land. I don’t know if you’ll be able to move at all near the end of the tunnel.”

“I know, but I’ve practiced for hours! It’ll be fine.” With that assurance, Maiz slowly took his jumping position once more, squatting with his hands between his feet, leaning forward. Riala stepped back as he waited for his stamina to regenerate--at that point in the tunnel, even that small movement took up five stamina. Breathing in deeply as the number on his Name Sheet returned to sixty, Maiz once again shouted “Minor Icebolt!” As he Jumped forward.

As he raced through the air, Maiz reoriented himself frantically, his motions feeling somehow… off. He had practiced this maneuver dozens of times in the glade, making sure that he could land in position to jump again. He did not want to risk being unable to move into the right position due to the stamina penalty in the tunnel. But this time, he just barely managed to land properly, boots slowing him down as he landed in the same squatting position.

Maiz did not move as his stamina regenerated, keeping his eyes forward. There was no sense in risking his being stuck at any point in the tunnel. He waited for his stamina bar to refill again. It had gone down a bit more than last time, to 40/60. That was strange, but Maiz put it down to small movements as he landed. It was refilling at the moment, so he wasn’t worried about being unable to continue.

“Are you all right?” Riala called from down the tunnel.

“Yes.” Maiz shouted back, though he noticed that the words felt heavier in the chest. Wow. This is more intense than I thought. However, he was close to the next room at this point: he could make it.

Imagining his mana and body preparing for the next jump, Maiz said “Minor Icebolt!” And flew through the air once more. He immediately began to prepare his body for the landing--and found that he could barely move.

Hells! The ground was already fast approaching, but Maiz was still splayed out in the air, belly towards floor and limbs askew. Got to do something… With a supreme effort, Maiz pulled his legs towards the ground in an effort to right himself. He was not able to move both, but he managed to get his right foot under him before he landed.

Ow. Maiz felt sharp flashes of pain as his body collided with stone floor. His right boot had slowed the fall somewhat, but apparently it could not completely arrest his momentum by itself. “Ughhhhhhh.” Maiz groaned. His torso had taken the worst of the impact--it felt like a giant had punched him in the stomach, and the wind was knocked out of him. He could only thank the gods that his head and... other delicate parts hadn’t also hit the ground as hard.

“What happened Maiz?” Riala called again, but Maiz couldn’t muster the breath to reply. Luckily, Riala was making her way down the tunnel towards him, and she reached him in a few minutes. By that time, Maiz had regained his wind and catalogued his injuries. He’d gotten extremely lucky--it seemed like his only serious injury was a dull, throbbing pain in his left knee. He couldn’t move to check however.

“Oh no!” Riala gasped as she came around in front of Maiz. “What happened?”

“I’m… an.... idiot.” Maiz was panting slightly by the end of the statement. The stamina drain. How could I have not realized?

“What?” Riala sounded confused, but he could only see her slippered feet from his position on the floor.

“Stamina… drain… affected… me…” Maiz paused for a moment to rest. “...midair.”

“Huh? Wha--” She gasped again as the realization hit her. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that!”

It was an obvious issue with Maiz’s plan. He’d practiced re-adjusting himself for his landing midair dozens of times, but he hadn’t considered that his motions were technically not part of the Jump skill, and were thus affected by the tunnel’s stamina penalty. He’d barely been able to move enough to get his one foot under him due to the penalty impeding his movements. That had resulted in his painful fall, but it had a far more severe consequence as well.

“How are you going to keep going? Can you even move?”

“How… far?” Maiz felt a creeping tendril of dread crawl up his spine as he said the question.

“It’s actually pretty close, maybe a dozen meters? If you could look up, you’d be able to see the light from the next section.” She sounded sad, as if she’d already given up.

Maiz considered the problem. He carefully examined his body’s position on the floor; he was lying on his stomach, his right foot awkwardly planted on the ground, his left leg straightened out behind him. His left toes were touching the ground, but that was it. His arms were extended out past his head, close together.

“Move… out… of… the… way.”

Riala’s feet moved out of Maiz’s field of vision as she asked “Why? What are planning now?”

Maiz ignored the question, electing to save his breath. He needed all of his energy for this. One motion. Maiz had left his Name Sheet open the entire time, keeping half an eye on his stamina. It was currently at 55/60, apparently just from the exertion of speaking. While that drain wasn’t particularly onerous, if he lost that much stamina just from speaking, he would be hard pressed to make any real motions at all. He waited for his stamina to replenish, considering carefully the move he wanted to make.

It’s simple. One simple motion and I can continue. He thought about the body mechanics involved. He would need to make the move in such a way that he used the fewest possible muscles. Just bend my knee and shift my weight.

The stamina reading hit sixty once again. Focus. Maiz pulled his knee towards his stomach with as much force as he could muster while keeping his other limbs in the same place. He knew the movement he wanted his body to make, but it felt like he was pushing against ten men as his leg inched forward, his stamina dropping at an alarming rate as he pulled. His leg began shaking, but it still moved up slowly, until both of his heels were just barely touching the ground.

Good enough. Maiz was panting slightly as he waited once again for his stamina to refill. His leg burned from the exertion, worse than he had ever felt before. He had never been forced to engage in physical labor, even as a bonded servant to the Sharir. Literate people were too valuable to waste in the mines or the fields.

The thought of the Sharir brought a new fire to Maiz’s resolve. He knew that this next part would hurt. He also knew that Riala would not be able to heal him from a fatal wound, as this was his own choice. Soon, his stamina had replenished itself, and from his awkward position on the ground, he directed his mana and bunched up his muscles as best he could. With the words of the spell’s incantation, he flew into the air, completely unable to move as the stamina drain increased, and began tumbling from the instabilities in his flight. He was forced to close his eyes as the jumble of shifting viewpoints became too much for him, and he was thus unprepared when his right leg slammed into hard rock. Maiz realized that he could move in that instant before the rest of his body hit the floor, and curled up into a ball. Just stay alive.

Maiz barely felt the impact of the rest of his body hitting the floor before everything went black.

*************

Maiz awoke with a headache. As he opened his eyes, he winced slightly at the light above him, two strange streaks of green. They were bright, but somehow indistinct. In fact, the entire world was indistinct, blurry. Maiz wanted to look around, but he did not think he could lift up his head just yet.

“Maiz?” Riala’s voice.

Oh. Maiz’s vision snapped back into focus, and Riala’s concerned face was above him, green eyes glowing brightly, strand of her hair brushing his own face. This is the closest I‘ve ever been to such a beautiful woman. Maiz was sixteen years old. It had been hard to ignore Riala’s beauty throughout the trial, but being focused on his goal had helped. Moreover, he had quickly realized that, not only was she of a completely different race than Maiz, she was a few thousand years older than him. He was not sure he would have wanted to have a relationship with her even if she had offered. He was more than content with being her friend. But…

Maiz found the energy to move suddenly as he scrambled back from Riala, sitting up as he did so. He was glad that his skin was dark enough to hide his blush--he could not have imagined being as pale as Riala in this situation. “I-I’m awake.” He stammered. His voice sounded higher to him than usual. You’re an idiot.

Riala’s expression shifted to confusion, then joy. “You’re okay! I thought I didn’t see any brain damage, but I wasn’t sure!”

What's she talking about? My brain? The errant thought snapped Maiz out of his embarrassment, and he cleared his throat. In a deeper voice, he asked “So how long was I unconscious?”

“Oh it doesn’t matter! You’re lucky you didn’t take too many injuries--I didn’t see any broken bones, just some bruises!”

“That’s good.” Maiz tried to stand up. He discovered that ‘some bruises’ meant that his entire right side was extraordinarily tender to the touch. He made the mistake of getting on his right knee to stand up, and promptly fell over. He felt another blinding flash of pain as his right arm hit the floor, but he twisted and avoided any other bruised areas hitting the floor.

“Say,” Maiz said in a strained voice from his position on the floor, “Since it’s clear that I’m not going to die at this point, do you think you could heal my bruises so that we can save some time?”

“Hmmmm.” Riala sounded thoughtful, though Maiz didn’t bother lifting his head to look at her. “I’m not that great at anatomy, so I’m not sure if there is something wrong with your internal organs. There’s no bleeding in your limbs though, so I guess I can heal those.But you could still be dying from a cut to your liver or something, so I’m not going to heal your torso.”

There were several words in that sentence that Maiz had never heard before. An-atomy? Why is she talking about livers? Maiz knew vaguely that he had one of those, but he had no idea what it did, nor how it could ge cut by his fall. Still, he understood that she was going to heal his arm and leg, and that he may be dying somehow. Hopefully slowly.

She touched his arm lightly, and muttered something under her breath, and suddenly the throbbing in his arm and leg vanished. He would have sighed in relief, but the absence of that pain almost seemed to amplify the ache in his abdomen. Also, it hurt to breathe in that deeply.

This time when he stood, Maiz was able to keep his balance, although he swayed a little at first. He looked around. This section of the tunnel was well-lit, though the light did not seem to extend far back into the tunnel behind them, and he could see a plain grey stone wall in front, decorated only by a faintly visible rectangle set into the wall. That was presumably the heavy door that barred the way forward. On either side of him, set against the smooth stone of the tunnel walls, racks of weapons and armor were neatly arranged in rows three deep. There were a few sets of armor, of materials such as leather, chain, plate, and even scales. Maiz was happy to see that, though he’d heard about it from Riala.

However, the weapons captured most of Maiz’s attention--there were over a dozen in front of him, many of designs that he had never seen before. Caelos’ City Watch mostly carried swords, with the Slasher title being the most common combat title in the region. There were a few more specialized combatants in the city, but Maiz rarely saw anyone of that stature. Though he couldn’t name most of the gleaming steel instruments before him, Maiz saw one common factor among them; they all looked large and heavy. There were swords, axes, and maces, all with different designs and features, but no knives or similar smaller weapons. He also spotted a few unwieldy looking staves and spears, all wrought of steel. Maiz’s gaze lingered on one leaf-bladed sword, slightly curved, which reminded him of the weapons the Watch used, but there were plenty of two-sided weapons and ones with shapes he had never even read of.

“Wow.” Maiz muttered.

“So,” Riala said. “What exactly is your plan for this one? You just asked me a bunch of questions about it and then looked off into space for a while.”

Maiz blushed again. “Well, it’s basically the same thing as last time. Use the boots and icebolts to kill the bear.”

Riala frowned. “Yeah, I guess you could probably keep it from getting you, but it’ll be tough to kill it with the ice spikes. Besides, how are you going to get past the door?”

Maiz waved a hand. “I’ll show you in a bit, let me try on this leather armor first.”

It took Maiz a few minutes to get the chest piece of the studded leather armor on, and Riala helped him do up the straps. He quickly put on the helm, bracers, and shoulder guards. The armor was fairly light, even for Maiz, but he still felt its weight as he took a few steps around the room.

“Looks good! How bad is the stamina penalty on it?”

“What?” Maiz did a double take at her question.

“Oh, just open your Name Sheet and check your Jump skill description!”

Maiz did so, and immediately saw what she was talking about.

Jump-Leap as far as you can in any direction using both legs.

Rank: 2

Cost: 15 Stamina (+50% weight penalty).

Effect: Jump 3 feet in the air.

“That’s ridiculous!” Maiz had thought the armor was a little heavy, but a 50% penalty on skills?

“What was it?”

“Fifty percent!”

Riala chuckled a little. Maiz realized he hadn’t heard her laugh since the Dexterity trial. “Well this armor is designed so that people with about 12 Strength would have no penalty wearing it. The other armor sets have higher penalties while offering more protection. With 6 Strength, it makes sense that you’d have a 50% penalty.”

Maiz hadn’t followed that explanation, as it involved too much math. Maiz understood numbers, which was why he saw his attributes and statuses as numbers and percentages, but he hated math. Still, it was helpful to be able to break down his abilities like this. He had read that people without knowledge of words or numbers understood their attributes in different ways, such as with colored bars or ‘feelings.’ Being literate in both words and numbers gave Maiz the most precise way to understand his Name Sheet.

“Well then, I should probably go without the armor.” Maiz felt a hint of petulance creeping into his tone as he pulled off the helmet.

Riala looked alarmed. “Wait! If you do that, then you’ll die as soon as the bear gets you!”

“And how much protection would the leather armor give me?”

She winced a little. “Um, it can stop a claw or two, but the bear can usually crush Seekers through it.”

“So basically, it’s useless. If I get caught, I lose either way. The best way to do this is by maximizing the number of times I can Jump.”

Riala looked troubled, but she nodded. Maiz knew how she felt. It was terrifying for him to consider fighting a bear wearing nothing more than his tunic and pants. However, he needed to be rational. He would likely be able to beat the bear by taking advantage of his own maneuverability and ability to attack from range. If the bear got too close to him, he would die. Well, die in this world. But that thought was no comfort to Maiz: if he failed the trial he would be sent back as a Scholar, and spend his life paying down his father’s debt to the Sharir. He needed power to change his life, and succeeding was the only way to get it.

“But how are you going to get through the door?”

Maiz flashed her an embarrassed grin. “It’s not really original. Watch.”

Maiz walked up to the rectangle of stone. He was ready as he would ever be, and apparently if he waited too long he might die because of his “organs.” Once he was a few meters away, he laid down, raising his feet and bracing them against the door. He put his hands against the floor, bending his knees. Then he once again performed his dual skill trick, activating his Jump skill against the door and firing the ice spike into the floor, shouting “Minor Icebolt!”

There was a brief moment of terrible compression for Maiz, as the energy of his Jump had nowhere to go. His hands almost slid out from under him, but the icebolt which blasted from them provided some counterforce and marred the rock enough to make holding on easier. His legs also went under great strain as they tried to spring from the stone of the door, but Maiz refused to let himself budge. In the next instant, the force ceased as the stone rectangle gave way with a crash of noise and Maiz fell flat on his face.I’ve been falling too much in the past few hours. Maiz groaned at the pain in his torso, but he didn’t have time to lie in agony. He scrambled to his feet and turned to see his opponent.

Riala had called this beast a Stoneskin Bear. Indeed, Maiz could see that name floating above its head in spectral green. But the creature didn’t appear to have actual stone for skin. It was however, a dusty gray which blended in with the rock around it. And it was massive. Bears were one of the most common animals described in northern novels, so Maiz had known to expect something big. He had imagined a creature approximately the size and shape of a horse, with claws and large teeth. But this hulking mass of muscle stood at least three meters at the shoulder, with massive limbs and a somehow cruel-looking snout. Even as Maiz got his first look at it, the bear reared up on its hind legs and let out a roar like grinding rock. Its mouth was huge, its yellow teeth long and sharp, and its eyes seemed filled with rage as they focused on Maiz.

Maiz had a brief hope that beast would be unable to get through the opening in the wall to get at Maiz, but as it slammed back to the ground, Maiz could see that its shoulders were not that wide. I need space. If he was forced to fight in this room with its weapons racks and rather low ceiling, he would be unable to fully take advantage of his boots’ ability. Thankfully the final room had a moderately high ceiling, with no adornments other than a plain stone door frame on the opposite side. That would be for the portal, though it wasn’t active at the moment.

It felt strange to run towards the terrifying monster, but Maiz steeled himself after a moment and ran into the room, immediately running to the side. It took a moment for his panicked mind to settle on a thought as the bear roared again. He turned to face it, raising his hands. There were maybe twenty meters between him and the bear at the moment, but it was lumbering towards him, surprisingly fast. He thought of his mana rushing down his arms, but he trouble concentrating. The first time he said the incantation, the spell failed. As he concentrated again, the bear got even closer, and Maiz shouted “Minor Icebolt!” The spike of ice shot from Maiz’s hands, and flew past the bear’s shoulder.

Oh hells. There was no more time. Maiz Jumped to the side, the rush disorienting him for a moment as he landed. He whirled, seeing the bear barrel through the space he’d just occupied. He was a dozen meters away from the bear, and it had yet to turn. Taking a deep breath as he directed his mana and raised his hands, Maiz took careful aim. It was easier to concentrate without seeing the monster’s murderous eyes. When the ice spike shot from his hands, the Stoneskin Bear took another step forward, and the icebolt pierced its right foreleg. That was lucky. Let’s hope it stays that way.

The blueish spike of ice had not penetrated far into the bear’s leg, but it was deep enough that it was not dislodged as the bear roared in pain and reared up once again, turning to face Maiz. He was already trying to direct his mana, but as he shot the second bolt towards its head the beast was charging toward him, and the spike sailed over its head. No time for another one. Maiz Jumped to a spot on the floor next to the portal’s frame. There was a crash as the beast smashed into the wall--Maiz thought he could feel the floor shake. Frantically, Maiz checked his Name Sheet for his stamina and mana. 30/60 and 40/150. Not good. The monster was faster than he’d been expecting, and was draining his reserves too fast. He had only two, maybe three Jumps left, depending upon how long he could wait in between.

Even as he considered his options he fired another bolt at the bear, piercing its flank. The bear didn’t rear up again like he’d been hoping, but his second shot hit it in the other leg as it ran towards Maiz once again. The bolt also pierced its skin, but it didn't seem to slow it down much. The creature’s skin was too tough--it was injured by the bolts, but it would take too long for it to bleed out. At this rate, he would run out of stamina and get mauled. Maiz frantically tried to think of a solution as the snarling bear charged towards him. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. I need to get into the other room.

Unfortunately, the bear was between him and the rectangular hole in the wall. Maiz could now see the terrifying details of its face--its lips bared in a snarl, the whites of its eyes standing out against its gray fur. The creature had a strange, bounding gait, it fat and fur shaking with every step, but it didn’t appear to care about the two spikes still dangling from its forelegs. It was getting very close now… no time. Maiz Jumped over the charging bear, clearing its head by less than a meter. Thank the gods I judged the arc correctly. Suddenly Maiz was intensely grateful he’d spent so much time practicing with the boots before this.

He sailed over the bear, landing just short of the stone slab in front of the opening. He hopped over the slab and into the armory, not bothering to try and shoot at the bear. He ran over to the weapons racks, frantically searching for what he needed. In the second rack from the wall, he found it. A spear, long with a triangular blade at its tip and a metal shaft. It was almost as long as Maiz was tall, and quite heavy. He awkwardly pulled it out of the rack, fumbling slightly in his haste. Maiz could carry the thing, but he wouldn’t have been able to swing it around in close combat--he wasn’t even sure such a comparatively flimsy weapon could have stood up to the Stoneskin Bear at all. Still, it was perfect for his purposes.

The bear was roaring. Maiz ran back to the hole carrying the spear, and saw the bear shifting its weight to its back leg. Now. Maiz hopped up onto the stone slab and leaned forward as quickly as he could. He gripped the spear tightly, wrapping one arm around it like he’d seen a Watchman do once. As the bear reared up, he Jumped.

In less than a second, Maiz’s forearm slammed into something, he heard a popping sound, and he felt pain. The rest of his body hit the same object, and he lost his grip on the spear as he fell to the ground. As his back slammed into the stone, he felt another stab of pain in his ribs, and when his head hit the ground a moment later, the world went black.

*********

“Maiz!” Riala’s voice. She sounded urgent. Maiz opened his eyes, but the world was blurry and confusing. He could make out the green light that indicated Riala’s presence, but nothing more. “You have to get through the portal now! Get up!”

Maiz felt a stinging flash on his cheek, and he felt a deeper throb of pain from inside his skull. He wanted to groan, but he somehow knew it would only hurt more. Instead, he tried sitting up. He moved his left arm to push himself up, but for some reason nothing happened. He put his right hand on the floor and pushed himself to his feet. His head spun, and he almost fell, but suddenly there was a soft hand on his arm, steadying him. The hand guided him forward, and he took a few hesitant steps.

“Take another step into the portal, Maiz.”

All Maiz could see in front of him was blackness. He took a step.