There used to be an ancient Arcanite mine, the entire reason the village had been founded in the first place. The miners had gone deeper and deeper, plumbing the depths of the vein of precious material, until it ran out. They left, the village practically dried up, but stubborn [Farmers] and the like had stuck around. The nearby fields were fertile enough, and the mining operation had cleared enough trees.

For countless generations, they’d stayed there, eking out a living like any other village. The shadow of the ancient mine was simply a local amusement. Every few decades the ground would rumble as an ancient support finally gave way, portions of the mine collapsing on itself. A bit of fun for the village, and a way to mark time.

Naturally, changes had come as time passed, no matter how much the elders insisted that they were doing things exactly the same way their forefathers had done it.

They had sheep of course, Felix’s impulsive wish reverberating through the eons, his largest embarrassment becoming his greatest fame.

Iona and Lux had spent time playing in the mine together, away from the other village kids that liked to bully Lux.

"It’s dangerous!" The adults kept saying. "Don’t go there!"

They also said pigs, weather, the sun, monsters, travelers, swords, fire, and dinosaurs were dangerous. Some of those were dangerous, yeah, but Iona still didn’t see how the sun was dangerous. She’d made fires, and yeah, if you were dumb they could hurt, maybe be dangerous, but apart from that, they were fine.

She figured the mine was either in the sun category, or the fire category. Probably the sun category. People kept saying it was dangerous, but it wasn’t that dangerous.

"Let’s explore!" Lux said, shooting down a side path. Iona waited, tapping her foot. They’d explored that tunnel at least twenty times, and it was a short dead end.

Well, while Lux was gone for a moment, Iona could pray.

“Got any advice for my first class? Any words of wisdom?” She asked her favorite goddesses.

They were silent, but Iona had faith that they’d heard her.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Lux came back out, looking sheepish.

"How about Terrabethia?" Iona asked, not waiting for an answer before grabbing Lux’s hand and moving through the tunnels.

Terrabethia was what they’d named a little valley that the mine exited to on the other side. It was their place, their special magical spot, where they could go and nobody could find them. Endless adventures lay in that tiny valley. Castles were built and raided, dinosaurs slain, [Kings] overthrown and [Princesses] rescued, and, at the end of the day, good triumphed while evil was cast down.

Standard kid play.

"Yeah! Yeah! I want to be Chloe!" Lux excitedly said.

Iona got right into it.

"Alright! I’ll be Felix then!"

Felix and Chloe, two of the three names every human knew. They were each responsible for a global +1 to all humanity, the [Knight] and the [Mage], along with the [Grand Hero] Herculix.

After all this time, nobody was quite sure what they had done, just that everyone got a notification about them, and the corresponding bonus. Well, two notifications with Felix. The other one didn’t matter though. Sheep detection.

They ran through the tunnels, a path carved into their mind after so many trips down. Over rocks, sliding under fallen timber supports, a short swim, and one wriggle through a narrow crack, and they were out, into the magical valley.

"Yurok! It’s Yurok, the Guardian!" Lux claimed, climbing a tree.

"Forwards, Yurok!" She cried out, pointing imperiously into the distance.

The perfectly normal oak, of course, didn’t move, but that didn’t stop their imagination.

"Hiya!" Iona grabbed two branches, and started to fend off hordes of zombie-bushes as a [Twinblade Warrior]. Lux pelted magic missiles – acorns – from above, providing support.

The bushes were powerful and resilient! They bent under each twack, and barely lost any leaves under the brutal acorn barrage.

By the twin goddesses of the moon, stats felt amazing. Iona could feel her arms being stronger, the stick whizzing through the air. A sharp pull back at one point even had a crack go through the stick, as it broke under the forces.

"By the way, why are you Felix today? Why not a [Knight-Errant], like the one that’s in town?"

Iona froze at that, whirling around to see Lux up there in the tree.

"What do you mean?"

"A [Knight-Errant] is visiting! Said she’d be here for a few days. She said she’s one of the va- vala – valk"

"A Valkyrie!?" Iona practically shrieked out. "Why didn’t you tell me!" She demanded.

"I thought you knew!" Lux said, cowering slightly at her friend’s anger. "She rides a tri-cer-a-tops!" Lux carefully enunciated each word of the difficult dino’s name, like she’d been scolded and made to repeat it carefully until she could do it right.

"Come on let’s go let’s go!" Iona said, dropping the broken stick, blitzing back to the entrance of the cave. She paused for a moment, waiting for Lux to catch up, before diving back into the winding maze.

Over the rock. Wriggle through the passageway. Slide under the collapsed beam, rotted by age, impatience written on her face at every step.

But never yelling at Lux, no. She was, in some ways, so very fragile, so reliant on Iona.

Well, it was also somewhat unfair to Lux. She’d unlock later in the day – Iona was the older one. Barely. Same birthday, different time of day, and, well, that’s why Iona was the big sister, the one who needed to protect Lux. Lux didn’t have extra skills yet, extra points in Strength and Dexterity making some of the formerly difficult twists and turns in the tunnel easy.

She tried punching the wall a few times, and got rewarded.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Tough] has reached level 2!]

Ha! Levels! The perfect thing to get while Lux was struggling along.

Sliding to the side of a rock. Punch the walls. Wait for Lux to catch up.

Punching solid rock hurt though. Iona wasn’t [Tough] enough. Yet.

Swim through a pool of water, the formerly bitingly cold sting somewhat faded – immediate benefits from [Tough]. Shake it off. Punch the walls. Lightly. Wait for Lux to catch up.

Sprinting down a hallway, reveling in the feel of the air, of her legs being stronger. Punch the walls. Wait for Lux to catch up.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Tough] has reached level 3!]

Yes! Iona knew this was the right thing to do!

Carefully navigate around some crumbling beams, waving her hand – hitting the wall smarted – Iona had an idea.

Why not hit the wooden beam? Softer than the rock-hard wall. It was also a different thing to do, and variety was good for experience.

With all the might of 20 Strength, she punched the wooden beam, unlooted and still vaguely in one piece after an unknown stretch of centuries, or more.

Again.

And again.

And –

With a mighty crack, the beam collapsed, a portion of the ceiling falling down. Iona jumped back, the massive part of the mountain narrowly missing her.

"Oh no!" She yelled out. "Lux are you ok?"

"Yeah, I’m fin-" Lux started to say, only to be interrupted by more rumbling.

More rocks falling, crashing down, dust billowing up.

"Lux!" A scream ripped from Iona’s throat, as she backed up, trying to avoid being crushed by the falling rocks.

[*ding!* You have slain a [Human] (Child, lv 1)]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Child of Lithos - Water] has leveled up to level 8! +2 Free Stats from your Class! +1 Free Stat for being Human! +1 Dexterity from your Element!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General skill [Traps]. Would you like to take this skill? Y/N]

Iona dismissed the notifications, refusing to believe them, trying to move the massive rockslide that now blocked the path.

Nothing. The rocks barely moved.

The Valkyrie. Iona thought. She can fix this. She can fix anything.

Iona flew out of the mine at max speed, heedless of the scrapes and bruises, the cuts on her arm. She stumbled, falling down the hill, rolling down, more brambles stuck in her blonde hair. Running, screaming, crying, denying reality, wishing she could turn back time to the happy morning.

The Valkyrie will make it right. Was her only thought, her only way forward. Running on an endless loop through her head.

She ran into town, ignoring any other notifications that were occurring.

How had she missed the [Knight-Errant], the Valkyrie, the living embodiment of what Iona wanted to be? The triceratops was impossible to mistake, the snuffling noise filling the village as it happily chowed down on an entire bale of hay for a meal, the Valkyrie with her winged helmet lounging nearby.

"Excuse me excuse me please help my friend is trapped in the mine." Iona said in a single rush.

She – [Knight-Errants] of the order Valkyrie were all women – glanced at a man, who quickly nodded at her. Iona missed all of her injuries healing up, a warm glow filling her as energy filled her limbs.

"Lead the way." The Valkyrie said, picking Iona up in her arms. Iona pointed, and they were off.

They moved so fast Iona could barely keep track, the Valkyrie stopping now and then for a moment for Iona to re-orient herself, and point again in the direction they needed to go next. They got to the mine, and miracle of miracles, they’d been close enough to the exit that there were no squeezes tight enough for the Valkyrie to get stuck in.

They made it to the pile of rocks, dim light filtering in through holes in the ceiling.

"See, see, she’s stuck behind this. I can’t move it, can you help? Please?" Iona said, tugging on a rock to show the futility of her action.

"You didn’t get a notification, did you?" The Valkyrie asked.

Iona hesitated, then slowly nodded. There had been something like that.

"But but you’re a Valkyrie.” Iona pleased, tugging on her arm. “You can do anything! It might not even be her. Please, you gotta save her."

Her face fell.

"Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. She’s gone."

"No! Impossible! Fix it, please, I’ll do anything!" Iona yelled and screamed, bashing her fists against her armor, ignoring the damage and bruises to her hands, ignoring the notifications of [Tough] leveling up, disregarding [Brawling] getting to level 2, the System cruelly mocking her.

Iona broke down in the cave, crying great big tears.

“No, please, not Lux, no, anything, I'm sorry, no…”

The Valkyrie looked at Iona and hesitated. She was moved by her plight, but the mine just wasn’t safe. Why the entire thing wasn’t boarded up was a mystery to her. She wanted to retrieve the girl’s body, but getting the two of them killed in a secondary collapse wouldn’t do anyone any favors.

Iona telling her parents had been bad. Not horrible though - they were a practical, bordering on cold lot, and when they came to the conclusion that food wouldn’t be leaving their table, they ignored it. Telling Lux’s parents – even worse. Rubbing salt in, they didn’t blame her, not even when she mentioned that she’d gotten credit for the kill, a triple notification that she had been to blame.

They’d all had a good cry together, Iona feeling weirdly more at home with Lux’s family than her own.

There was no body for the funeral, no need to dig a grave. No ceremony at the local Tabernacle, no [Priest] presiding and reading about Lux’s life. Just a simple Symbol of the Five Gods on a wooden stick. If Iona was lucky, it’d last three years.

She was tempted to get a Class to extend it, but no. She could simply carve another one later.

Iona spent the day, the night, and the next day, praying. Begging the gods to return her Lux to her.

They were silent. And the chance of Iona’s lifetime was in front of her.

She wasn’t going to be one of those girls that moped around and screamed when danger came, oh no. Iona was going to seize her own fortune, her own destiny. Staying in a village her entire life didn’t appeal.

"I want to be a Valkyrie. Take me with you." Iona said.

Alruna, the [Knight-Errant], looked down with amusement at Iona. She spent a long time in thought, slowly looking between Iona and the man with her, the boy following him along.

"He has an apprentice; you can have one as well!" Iona said, working on her charm. People had always said she was charming. Drat, why hadn’t she taken [Charming]?

"He’s an Order healer, not a [Knight-Errant]. That’s his apprentice." Alruna said, mouth twisting in a grin.

"Well, fine, you look like you need an apprentice. I can cook! Clean!"

Swallowing her fear, Iona approached Alruna and her steed. She barely came up to the triceratop’s knee. Bundling the loose end of her shirt in her hand, she started to try and polish the leathery skin of the dinosaur.

"See, see, I can be useful!"

"Please, take me with you. I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect people. Strong enough to defend them, even against falling mountains."

Alruna looked with a serious, scary look, pressuring bearing down on Iona.

"Do your parents know about this?"

Iona wanted to say they’d blessed the idea, that they’d let Iona run after Alruna and the triceratops carrying the three of them after they’d left town.

It’d be a lie.

Iona slowly shook her head.

"You sure? This is a hard life, a one-way ticket. The class doesn’t translate well to other walks of life. It’s a lifelong commitment."

Iona nodded furiously.

Alruna shrugged.

"Alright. Why not? You'll want to take the [Page] class. A quick breakdown of different types of elements, and where they’ll lead you."

"Fire is pure strength, overwhelming people with power."

"Water is delicate, like fencing, hitting where it causes the most damage."

"Earth is stout, all about holding the line, not falling when the time comes."

"Wind is fast, hitting and running before they can hit you back."

"Metal is smart, using a variety of weapons to your benefit, always having the right tool."

"Wood is clever, using nature and beasts around you to your advantage."

"Light is persistent, being able to heal yourself, reinvigorate yourself. Last longest in fights – if you survive."

"Dark is penetration and destruction, going through armor – and bodies."

Iona spent a moment thinking about it, before deciding to be smart about it. Ignoring adults had led to Lux dying, and she wasn’t going to make that particular mistake again, now.

"What do you have?"

"Me? I’m Brilliance and Void – Light and Dark evolved. My blade pierces through all, and I can spend hours – days even – fighting, healing faster, mana giving me energy to keep going."

Iona eyed the weapons on the triceratops’s saddle. Spears, lances, crossbows, swords, dozens of bags.

But the curved, wicked axe with glowing runes called to her, and was a skill she was being offered. The idea had been woodcutting, but the skill should apply anyways.

[Axes] was Iona’s last general skill.