-Two days later-

To say the training was hellish would be an understatement. Niko screeched, less a cry of defiance and more a pitiful wail as the small boulder of a golem jabbed at him with a spear as thick as a man's leg and tipped with loud, crackling electrical pops.

As it impacted Niko’s ribs, he shrieked, “Ohhhh peeeeeeecking fuuuuuuuu–”

The jolting voltage distorted his bird-words, while Ronald doggedly climbed to his knees from the sand a few meters away. Ronald’s expression was a granite mountain of unwavering determination and craggy, eons deep fatigue. With a surprising amount of gusto, the man charged, but rather than a heroic roar of defiance, Ronald’s charge was made in stoic silence. The cut upwards as hard as he could when he reached the golem, the blow awkward and unwieldy without his full strength. Yet, he still managed to throw his weight behind the attack stubbornly. Ronald was able to drag the electrifying staff off of the Phorus before falling to his knees, heaving large, exhausted breaths all the while.

“I… hope,” the large and practically-spent man started, whilst gasping for breath as he dragged himself upright once more, “...you’re ready!”

A moment later a glistening jar of some chemical soared through the air with, Niko noted, just barely enough essence that it could be detonated in transit. “Now!” Called Mithel’s voice from afar.

Ronald and Niko rose as the jar exploded, doing their best to force themselves to weather their own pains and soul-deep exhaustion. Niko felt like he’d been put in a tumble dryer with a bunch of rocks and forgotten overnight. His comrade felt no better by the look of him, but the pair acted in tandem as though by some unspoken accord as they bumrushed the golem under the chemical bombs’ explosion.

The glittering, orange substance expanded to fill a ten meter space in the blink of an eye. Niko breathed deep as it did, his struggling, burning lungs hating him even more for the effort as the concoction flooded into them, and from there began to seep into his blood. If anyone would have asked Niko what he had thought about performance enhancing drugs before the past few days, he'd have laughed at them. Indeed, a more high-and-mighty, morally-assured Niko would have found it preposterous that someone would use a drug instead of relying on their own hard work and skill, alone.

But now, after he and Ronald had had their feathered and unfeathered behinds handed to them by a tier three golem all day? Now he was a strong proponent for the responsible use of whatever could help him with this clucking training!

“Diiiieeee!!!” Howled Niko with a screech that was filled with the promise of violence and murder. Ronald beside him bellowed deep, sounding less like a man and more like a living warhorn in sheer bass. The storm of orange, glittering dust swirled as essence latched into the pair of intended recipients and obscured their approach. Neither of them were careless, though, as they darted forwards even with the added benefit of obfuscation. The large golem wasn’t nearly as slow as its size suggested, and since it was a tier three, every impact carried immense power. When they’d first begun this part of the regimen, even with Mithel’s aid, the two frontliners had been absolutely devastated.

Now, they were two sides of the same bent-out-of-shape coin. They both saw the swirl of dust, the tell tale sign of movement in the particle-dense fog. “Down!” Ronald shouted, though Niko was already diving to the floor closest to him. The staff ‘swished’ overhead, and vanished once more. Niko subtly deflected off of Ronald’s side, pushing him lightly with a claw on a pauldron. After having failed more times than he’d like to admit, Ronald could now easily move with the motion, rolling to the side. Niko carefully moved essence into his legs, just enough for a speed boost, but specifically not into his leg patterns. The rules still stood that he couldn’t use essence patterns, but he was working around that restriction with ever-improving finesse. The result was barely enough to avoid the crushing slam of an overhead staff strike.

At this point, Niko knew that in order to be successful in their blitz, they only had two options left. He picked the one he was confident had a higher chance of success.

“Ugh, I’m gonna have to draw aggro! This clucking sucks!” Niko cawed loudly and as annoyingly as he could manage to ensnare the golem’s attention, and Ronald vanished through the fog at the cue. Even as tired as Niko was, he did his best to remain as attentive to the environment as he could. None of his patterns were active, but he did his best to hone his eyesight and hearing. Regrettably, his sense of smell was less than useless against a golem that smelled like the arena they fought upon. If he could at least use his patterns, this could be a much easier fight. Though, on that same note he imagined that if a tier three golem could use its own patterns, too, there wouldn’t be a fight at all.

Niko almost failed to notice a spear jab in time during his musings. He threw himself to the ground and rolled under the strike. It was a maneuver he had been doing all day at this point. Then the golem smashed down with its staff, but the Phorus was already moving, desperately avoiding strike after strike. These shorter hits were faster, but weaker, so he could tank them– if it weren’t for the electricity that would course through his body at the mere touch of that damned stick. Ronald, luckily, had a weapon that didn’t conduct to his body, Niko however, was not nearly so fortunate.

“Come on!” Niko trilled, “Keep trying, you damn rock! Bet your mother was sandstone! You’re just as…” He stopped, running out of any kind of taunt, “Uhh… Oh, I don’t know! You’re sandy and get into places you aren’t supposed to!? Cluck off!”

While he wasn’t sure if the golem was actually able to understand him–he leaned more towards a ‘definitely not’—he liked to pretend that the moving hunk of rock might have started to swing just a little bit harder at him.

Then the tell tale smash and wave of essence came from the direction of the golem, and Niko fluidly switched from defense to offense. Another agonizingly deep breath of the orange dust allowed Niko to move even faster through the fog. The golem came into view rapidly, though it was now knocked down to one knee after Ronald smashed the other through with his glaive. Niko noted it was literally smashed, cracks and fissures had dismantled the limb, as the man had been able to channel his own essence into the attack.

Ronald must have been completely gassed, but somehow he kept going. The stimulants they inhaled didn’t give them more of anything, just tricked their bodies into giving up a little more of what it had in reserve. Essence circulated with every beat of Niko’s heart and joined just a little bit closer to his cardiovascular system, steadily becoming an ever more perfect mirror copy of it. It thrummed in near unity with his thundering heart, and as the pumping blood drowned out his hearing, Niko let loose a cold roar with every drop of musterable power he had left.

Without a pattern, he’d thought that he wouldn’t have really been able to use essence nearly this well, but studying how Ronald moved, how he struck the golem, had been a telling and humbling experience for him. He’d failed time and again before, but this time, he wanted–and needed–success.

Niko jumped through the air, leaping over the sidelong strike of the golem’s staff. Repetition, awareness, and a combination of being afraid of being hit but at the same time being willing to take the pain allowed Niko to not flinch. He didn’t think about what would happen if he was too slow, or if the strike wasn’t enough, the only thing Niko needed to do was commit to a telling blow. He was so focused that he didn’t even instinctively cry out, only smashed down with essence fluttering through his muscles like a guttering flame in a fierce wind. His beak tore through its earthen shell like a bomb went off, broke through interveneing layers of clay, granite, and sandstone–he laughed mentally at that–and then smashed something more like marble than anything else.

The golem slumped immediately beneath him and fell backwards. Niko tumbled from it ingloriously, landing rear-end up and face flat against the sand. Ronald joined him in a few moments, an empty ‘whompf’ sounded out where he landed as he breathed as raggedly and deeply as before. Niko vaguely realized that his own lungs were having trouble expanding enough in this position, and struggled with one of his legs to at least push himself over onto his side.

“Ugh… Got you,” Ronald groaned, unceremoniously planting the haft of his polearm against Niko’s side and shoving. The Phorus flopped over onto his side, greedily allowing his lungs to expand more fully.

“Thanks,” trilled the murder bird to the glaive weilding strongman.

Ronald grunted, “Sure.”, as the rest of the team and Camille approached the fallen duo.

“Damn good job!” Camille shouted almost deafeningly, “Very, damned good!”

Crowe appeared from seemingly nowhere while shaking his head, “Enthusiastic commentary aside… Yes, you both did very well. There aren’t many who can bridge a tier gap more than one rank higher than their own, especially to hit hard enough to get through a tier three defense. Ronald, even being capable of harming that golem is beyond laudable. I very much look forward to the essence pattern you and my sister will forge.”

“Thanks… I owe… Niko for that, though,” the altogether-too-humble man replied.

Niko grunted and clucked, likewise pausing as he did so to suck down air, mostly directed at Ronald.

“He says ‘Same to you, crazy bastard.’” Skye translated with a snicker.

“Niko, on the other hand,” Camille started in such a way that Niko immediately groaned. It was the tone, like he’d done something wrong.

‘Ugh, just pluck me now and get it over with,’ He bemoaned, not able to think what he really could have done differently.

Camille’s serious expression broke with a broad grin, “Just kidding, you did great too.”

“You! Ohhhh when I get strong enough, imma peck the absolute heck outta your brain! Devil woman!” Niko riled enough to spatter squawking curses at her, before flopping over again.

“All I get is, squawk sqqaaaaauuuwk!” Camille mocked him in jest while folding her arms and doing a ‘chicken wing’ flap. Joking aside, though, Camille then said, “You tanked some serious voltage several times. Crowe, where do you estimate the damage?”

Crowe looked even more severely at the Phorus, “Even a high tier three would have been paralyzed by that. For approximately a dozen seconds on the low end. The fact that you were mobile after only three seconds makes me wonder–” he stopped himself from saying what he might have originally spoken, “–perhaps it’s a feature of your aberrant nature.” Niko knew he was probably referring more to his Chosen status, though he didn’t know that for sure. “In any case, you took multiple hits and… probably should have broken bones with a few of them. I didn’t pull punches at all this time. I see you’re also learning how to better move essence outside of a pattern. That’s very useful, but just remember that patterns are there to be used. From here on, I’d advise you all to start training with your patterns as well.”

The group lit up at that, in spite of how they were all burned out.

Mithel had, arguably, been working the hardest, as she had been forced to supply two pairs of combatants, Niko and Ronald, then Sky and Dachna, on two separate fields, simultaneously. She’d gotten much better at deciding on the spot what needed to be used. Mithel had also begun rapidly mastering field-concocting to meet any niche needs they may have, as well as utilizing more unstable–but powerful–mixtures.

These field made concoctions had a nasty habit of being very unstable, which Niko had had the misfortune to find out firsthand. One buff potion had almost exploded in Niko’s face. If it weren’t for the fact that Niko had felt the essence fluctuate especially violently midair, he might have had glass in places they very much did not belong. That said, most of the glass in any of the chemical explosions thus far tended to disintegrate when essence was involved, so that might not have been that bad. That certainly didn’t bode well for anything else caught in the explosion, however.

“That said, there have been some… changes to your schedule.” Crowe gestured to his sister at that, and Camille pouted at him for passing the mantle back to her.

“Oh, take the good news, why don’t you?” She ribbed him, before her countenance became a complicated mixture of emotions that Niko found difficult to place, “I would suggest you all take the next thing I tell you as… a form of social-resistance training.”

Niko and the others sat, or lay, more at attention at that, worried about what could possibly have their ruthless instructor worried for them.

“You’ve been formally invited to visit the Baron at his estate to receive commendations for the ‘taming’ of a Phorus and for your, and I directly quote, ‘Valued efforts in the services of protecting the city of Greenleaf and the citizens therein.’ End quote.” Camille even did air-quote marks at the proper parts, Niko distractedly noted with amusement.

Skye was the first with a question, “Can we tell him to shove his commendations?”

Mithel and the others smiled widely at that, but Camille shot that down, “Regrettably, no. The way he’s framed things will also make it look bad on Guildmaster Maul, but Orson can deal with it if you decide not to go. The real issue is that the Baron can technically have you banned from Greenleaf if you don’t go. For normal adventurers that’s not a big deal, since they can just go to another city, but given that the Baron was probably involved in the Oath-Sworn issue…”

The others didn’t need her to continue on with that, knowing that having to deal with attacks outside of Greenleaf would be less than ideal. Not impossible, however, “So, what, we just need to beat down anyone that gets sent after us until they stop trying?” Asked Dachna with a rueful grin.

Crowe and Camille both smiled a little at that, with Crowe saying, “That can be an option, yes, but the Master of the Estate does have an alternative he’d like to present to you.”

Camille picked up again, “We think that this is probably either an effort to fish information from you in regards to what is known about the Oath-Sworn, or maybe an effort to recruit you to his employ. The man, from everything I’ve heard, is disgusting, but covers his tracks and doesn’t go too overboard, so the higher nobility hasn’t removed him. Honestly, Greenleaf barely has anything to do with him on the whole, and he rarely does what is ostensibly his job here. The town practically runs itself thanks to Orson.” Camille shrugged, “But, anyways, we think he’s trying to either cover his tracks or maybe something else. We’re not absolutely sure, though, and Orson thinks this is a good opportunity to find out what he knows, too. Of course, Orson is willing to reward you all appropriately.”

The others followed along, but didn’t look convinced of the merit of the decision. Niko himself thought it was a bad idea, but he suspected that there was more than what they’d said so far.

Niko, however, had the virtue of having heard of some of the background information from his siblings. And as such, he turned to Skye and said, “Ask them why Orson’s really considering this plan, or I won’t go for it.”

The clarity of their conversations had come a long way from where it was a few days ago. Skye still took several seconds to make sure she had the right idea in mind, before whispering it back to him to make sure of the question. Niko nodded, and Skye’s expression looked tight as she turned back to their trainers.

“Niko and I would both like to know if Orson has any ulterior motives for considering a plan that puts us directly in front of someone who might have reason to have us killed.” Skye paused long enough to make the next part separate from what Niko had her say, “It doesn’t seem like Orson really needs our help revealing what the Baron’s done so far. There’s got to be a papertrail somewhere for him to follow.”

Camille shifted on one foot more than the other in obvious contemplation. Crowe turned his attention to her and gave her a nod. Seemingly surprised, Camille took a moment to collect her thoughts before launching into an explanation. “Alright… It’s nothing that I’d call nefarious. The Baron is just one part of this, so Orson wants to see if we can pull any more information out of him. That said… none of us really think you guys should even attempt to play at being double agents. And that’s also not the biggest reason.”

“We’re planning on sneaking you and The Gilded Feathers out of the city tonight to initiate the ritual, and then your group will return and meet with the Baron tomorrow morning. If the pilgrimage works how we’re hoping it will, you guys should be in an advantageous position while The Gilded Feathers will be well on their way before anyone can be the wiser. So, for lack of a better way to say it, you guys are going to be the decoy to make sure we can get them as far away from things as possible.” Camille finished speaking.

Niko, for his part, was not happy to hear that he’d be getting separated from his siblings so quickly. He’d barely been able to be with them over the past few days between all of the mad scrambling through the city and training. He also wasn’t positive he liked that The Gilded Feathers were going on the pilgrimage in the first place. Though, considering that they wanted enough power to protect themselves, he couldn’t fault them for undertaking it.

“Isn’t this much faster than you guys said it’d be?” Dachna frowned, “I thought we were supposed to get like two weeks of training?”

Crowe shook his head, “The opportunity has presented itself due to some… oversight of the Baron’s men. We won’t have another window to move unseen like this for the foreseeable future. Even this much is still a risk, but it’s worth it. And besides, with how much has been prepared as your ‘gift’ from the Baron and the accompanying reward from the Guildmaster, you should be able to afford our services in training you for quite some time. Though, admittedly, you are all competent enough that you won’t need more than advice going forwards. I’d personally suggest that you hold onto the funds for later expenses.”

“One other thing… you may wish to consider changing your team name before officially embarking on the pilgrimage. It’s one thing to call yourselves Greenhorns when it’s true, but maybe not when you’re ‘up and coming Champions’,” Camille gave the group a teasing grin, “Not that I don’t think that’s not a cute team name, but presentation is still important.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Skye fussed and a hint of redness touched her ears in embarrassment, “I swear, everyone’s a critic.”

Mithel beamed, “Don’t worry, we’ve been talking about it, and we’ve come up with some ideas.”

“Nothing too ostentatious, I hope?” Crowe arched an eyebrow critically.

“It’s good.” Ronald stated simply, though with a great deal more energy than before.

Niko nodded along with him. He personally found the new team name very accurate, too, maybe a little on the nose, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Well, what is it, then?” Camille tilted her head, clearly bemused.

“You’ll find out tonight, I guess.” Skye shrugged, but Niko knew she was eager to see what others thought of their first pick.

“I guess we will.” Camille shook her head with a smile on her face, “Then, for now you all go ahead and get washed up, we’ll eat and then head out after sundown. We’ll have to be ready to move quickly, though, Oum can’t promise absolute secrecy if we don’t make haste.”

Niko nodded, before realizing that it was an olympic effort to lift himself from the ground.

Ronald groaned, “Same.” Before the rest of their team helped to pull them to their feet. Even in spite of the change of plans… Niko had to admit that he was excited to see what the ritual to begin their pilgrimage would actually end up looking like…