Serb nudged Niss off himself before rising to full height. He stood 2 metres over Stanis, and stretched his limbs for a second, before following the man out. They came out into the shimmering sun and walked towards a secluded area by the river, a bit off Serb’s cave.

The two of them stood in silence while the river gushed past them, the water crashing past the smooth rocks that created the boundary. The wind carried with it the songs of the surviving birds, soothing but also tensing the moment between the two.

“How was your ascension?” Stanis finally mouthed, raising his head so that he could look Serb in the eye.

Serb grunted, before staring into the distance. “Alright. I’m still here and living, and that’s what matters,”

Stanis couldn’t help but smile at this. “You heard that the world’s going to change again in less than a week, right?” he asked.

“I already knew that. I was just waiting for you to come down to Earth before starting anything. Besides, not much we can do in advance anyway,” he said while grinning.

The conversation stilled between the two, and the songbirds sang through their silence. Stanis could tell that Serb was far meeker than before, far more kept-in than before, and yet at the same time, more dependent on Stanis as well. If this conversation had taken place a month ago, there was no way Serb would have admitted to something like waiting for Stanis.

Running his mind through what could have happened, he eventually came upon the one he thought was most likely, the very one that had also happened to him.

“Did you meet anyone stronger than you?” he asked.

Serb awoke from his distant stare and turned to Stanis. “Yeah, I did. You know when I told you of what happened when the apocalypse first started. Y’know, the Tigers and Lions?”

Stanis thought back and remembered. All the big cats had gone into a similar tutorial programme to the humans. It was there Serb had awakened to his strength and power, but also where he had realised the strength of the Lions who stood above the Jaguars, and also that of the Tigers who stood at the peak of the food-chain.

“The ascension programme to Mostye was one shared by all of us. Me and Niss were the only Jaguars there, compared to 5 Lions and close to 20 Tigers,” Serb carried on. “The programme started straight away after we arrived.” He paused. “It was intense, and more so since me and Niss were close to the bottom of everyone there. But she rose, and I rose even further…”

Serb stared into Stanis’s eyes. “And I reached the top. I broke past them; I broke past my past limits. But then I realised how weak I was, how weak we are,” he clarified. “I don’t know how long we’ll survive anymore. This war will certainly not be the last and I can only see the pace accelerating. Have you seen any Fa’bels fight? Or even any Laeons?”

Stanis shook his head. He had met people like the instructor who he suspected of being such ranks but he had never seen any fights of that level

“They’re crazy,” Serb said with wide eyes. “They’re… monsters…”

…

Before Stanis could respond, Serb changed the focus.

“But what about you, how was your ascension? Did you find anyone stronger than you?” Serb laughed after saying that.

“It was okay,” Stanis said, “Yeah, a few people were stronger than me, but its fine now.”

“Is it now?” Serb asked. It gave Stanis the sense that Serb knew more than he did.

“What do you mean?” he asked in response, hoping to clear up what Serb knew.

“You don’t seem okay,” Serb answered.

The words Stanis was about to say got caught in his throat. He shook his head at Serb in the next second. “I’m fine mate, just like you, I beat all of the people who were above me!”

The bronze Jaguar lifted his eyebrow but didn’t comment, putting Stanis further off.

He was stronger now, right? He could easily beat Jen now, couldn’t he? He answered both questions with yes and threw himself back into comfort.

“What about the other Jaguars?” Stanis asked.

Serb didn’t comment on the obvious change of topic and instead answered the question, “Yeah, I told the stronger ones to go and ascend after we came back,”

…

*****

Stanis kicked the stones out of his way as he walked towards the village. His steps were heavier and more forceful than usual, his expression grim. What did Serb know? Stanis was a tyro Mosyte, not far off becoming a Laeon. He was in a better situation than ever before with more power than he had thought possible.

He passed the gates and stormed inside, passing through the crowd like a bull. It was only minutes later that his steps grew light again, his expression more passive. Knowing that it would be at least one more day until his equipment was ready, Stanis went to find Pete for a good drink. It was with pity that he discovered that the 3 Haven boys had disappeared hours before without announcing anything.

Straight after hearing this, the first thought that came to his head was that the trio had been tricking him all this time. He had no idea why they would want their enemies to meet up and join forces, but at the same time, he didn’t know much about their motives anyway. Though, even if they were playing him for a fool, Stanis had no concern or interest in the topic. Either way, he knew that all he had to do was crush the opponents in front of him; it didn’t matter to him whether the ones under his feet were monsters or humans, after all, he didn’t fight for anyone or any village, he fought for himself.

****

The day soon passed by, and Stanis found himself standing outside of Rikkey’s forge the very next day. The machines inside hummed compared to how they usually roared. He couldn’t even hear any clanging or grunting accompanying the hum, much to his delight.

Preparing himself mentally, Stanis opened the door and strode in. The forge was empty compared to usual, the gang of blacksmiths nowhere to be seen. Instead, across a workbench lay Rikkey, her head lying on cold metal.

Trying his best to be quiet, Stanis tip-toed across the large forge in search of his equipment. Eventually, after a minute of desperate searching, Stanis gave up and walked over to the snoozing blacksmith. He nudged her awake and waited for her to get up.

“Stanis?” Rikkey asked as she rubbed her eyes. She sat wordlessly on the bench for a few seconds before finally coming to. She got up while scratching the dust out of her short hair. Her muscles weren’t far off Stanis’s, and her lean, but torn, body told of the damage she undertook every day.

She trudged towards a distant, unassuming box and tore the lid off. She leaned in and threw random metalwork after metalwork out, before finally stopping. She delicately took out his armour and weapons and lay them across the main table, giving Stanis’s ravenous eyes a hearty feast.

Neither of them talked for a good minute as Stanis took in the wonders in front of him. The largest of the lot was his full-body armour. All of his armour was coloured matte black and almost seemed to absorb all the light that shone on it. There was a wide breastplate with multiple straps and chains holding it in place. Accompanying it was a thin chainmail that would cover all of his upperbody. Two gauntlets lay by the chainmail, both with vicious-looking spikes by their knuckles.

As for his lowerbody, there was a metallic trouser-esque item. Stanis held it and realised it was actually flexible and more like leather than metal. There was also a dark, spiked pair of boots that accompanied the armour set.

Pleased, Stanis next looked towards the weapons. The dagger was of higher quality than his last one but at the same time without any darkness power. It had a wide grip that led to a slim blade. The blade itself seemed to cut through all light that shone onto it, reflecting back rainbows.

He then looked at the longsword, the main attraction of the entire set. It was as long as an arm and seemingly dyed black in order to fit his armour. The handle was dyed maroon and had a strong grip. The blade was slim and elegant, its neck stretched and arrogant. The edge of his blade looked far more dangerous and vicious than his dagger’s, almost begging Stanis to use it. But just like his dagger, it lacked any type of power, instead just an exquisite longsword.

Unable to keep the wide grin off his face, Stanis finally turned his head to the shield. It was, for some reason, dyed white, making it stand out from the rest of his set. It was made out several, reinforced layers of metal. The brace was made out of leather and allowed a good hold onto the shield. The shield itself was rectangular apart from the bottom which slimmed itself towards a point, with a dark-coloured buckle in the middle of it.

Unable to stop himself anymore, Stanis rushed to give Rikkey a bearhug. Straight afterwards, he rushed to equip himself of all the parts, grinning all the while…