8

The small desert elf Karse ran down the stairs in a hurry because he could feel that something was wrong. When he made it to the tavern side of the inn he frantically looked around but all he could see was the minotaur Braxton quietly cleaning a mug. “Braxton, have you seen Saline?” Karse asked the minotaur worriedly.

The minotaur calmly pointed to the door leading outside and said, “cow pun.”

Karse nodded, “Thanks Braxton.” Karse ran outside and came across a scene beyond his comprehension. Saline was standing out in the open with a smile spread across her face. Beside her stood Aza holding her hand and on her other side was that stupid and ugly mage he met yesterday holding her other hand. “Saline, what are you doing?!”

Saline’s smile faded and she spoke with a calm voice. “I’m sorry Karse; I’m in love with Aza.”

“I know that! Everyone is! Why did you turn into serious Saline?” Karse looked at Aza and for some reason he didn’t feel the normal love he always felt for her, all he felt was disdain.

Saline then pointed at the mage. “I’m also in love with him, whatever his name is.”

“What?! You can’t go out with both of them!”

“Nah, they’re cool with it.”

Aza nods, “It’s fine.”

The mage nods, “I’m really stupid and ugly.”

Karse was beginning to get angry, “It’s not fine!”

Saline shakes her head, “You don’t understand me Karse, and you never did. I’m chaotic neutral. Also I’m going out with Garret as well.”

Garret’s head pops out of the ground by Saline’s feet and turns to look at Karse with a grin. “Sup.”

Karse was extremely confused by this. “Garret, aren’t you married to Olanna?!”

Garret nods, “Yeah but she’s cool with it.” Olanna’s arm springs from the ground making a thumbs up sign. “See?”

Karse sunk to the ground shaking his head, “I don’t understand.”

Saline said in quiet voice, “And you never did. I told you not to follow me, and that nothing but pain waits for you if you do. Still though you gave up everything for me. You’re so stupid. Actually you’re so dumb I need to think up a new word to describe it… Karse is what I’ll call it. You’re so Karse.”

Karse begins to shake his head, “No, I’m not Karse! This has to be some kind of bad dream!”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Karse rolls off his bed and hits the floor waking him from his bad dream. Karse quickly stood up from the floor and looked around. Everything seemed normal; judging from the light outside it must be late morning. Karse angrily thought to himself, what caused that weird dream? Saline isn’t like that. Just then he heard a loud crash outside and what sounded like rocks falling. Saline! He shouted inside his head as he bolted down the stairs to the tavern and saw the minotaur Braxton standing at the bar cleaning a mug. “Braxton!” Karse screamed at the minotaur.

In his surprise Braxton dropped the mug and accidently ripped the cloth he was using in half. Braxton looked sadly at the cloth. “Aw, I minotore it.”

Karse decided to try to calm down and asked Braxton in a calmer voice. “Have you seen Saline?” Braxton pointed to the door leading outside. Although the door was still very much missing. Karse gulped and asked Braxton, “Did she seem normal to you?”

Braxton thought for a moment. “Only saw her for a second but she seemed a little frantic. Like she was utt-“

Karse cut Braxton off. “Yeah, yeah, cow pun.” There was another loud crash outside. “What’s going on?!” Karse decided to investigate the sound and ran outside leaving Braxton by himself.

Braxton sadly went to the kitchen to get a new towel and the younger minotaur named Alex, who was in the middle of washing dishes, turned to speak to him. “You were going to say she was utterly mad, weren’t you?”

Braxton let out a cheerful snort, “Aw, Alex, you’re the only one that gets me.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Karse ran outside but the scene he discovered was nothing like the one in his dream but was actually weirder. There were various holes all around the area and quite a few small golems walking around. They were carrying rocks and tossing them in the holes. Surprisingly, Kory was doing the same thing but he was only grabbing one rock at a time and he seemed a little exhausted and worse for wear.

Then he saw that stupid looking earth mage yelling at one of the golems as the golem seemed to roll its head lazily and groan. Karse looked around a little more and to his joy saw Saline and Aza sitting together on a couple of stumps. Aza was watching the Golems with a bored look as Saline just looked at the ground sadly. Karse happily walked over to them and Aza turned her gaze towards him as he approached. “Hey, you two, good morning. Are these golems a good idea? Does he have control of them?”

Aza lazily waved at him, “Ah, it’s male Saline, good morning. Yeah, the golems seem fine. Too stupid to be dangerous, they aren’t like the giant one.”

“My name is Karse, Aza, but it’s fine. You can call me what you want.” Karse remembered the anger he felt for her in his dream but now he couldn’t understand it, Aza’s amazing, how could he ever be mad at her? He then looked over at the downtrodden Saline. “Are you okay Saline? Why have you turned into sad Saline?”

Aza sighed and the annoyance was apparent in her voice. “She’s mad because I fixed breakfast for Ash.”

“You fixed breakfast for Ash?!” Karse screamed loudly. “Wait, who is Ash again?” Aza pointed at the earth mage who was yelling at a golem. The mage was pointing at a hole and then pointing at the golem who was holding a rock. The golem groaned and dropped the rock and began to walk away as the mage continued to yell at it. “You made breakfast for him?!” Karse screamed again. “That ungrateful pile of manure!”

Saline mumbled loudly to herself. “Stupid egg devouring swine…”

Karse agreed. “Bet his teeth are filled with dung and insect carcasses.”

Saline nods, “Every breath he takes is spit in life’s face.”

“Were he to drop dead right now I’d dance on his corpse.”

“Every time he speaks it sounds like a cat throwing up.”

“I would sooner fight a monster made of lemons and razor blades in nothing but my underwear than talk with him again.”

“That’s enough!” Screamed Aza angrily as she stood up. “I decided to do it as a way of apologizing. It had no hidden meaning. So, get over it, both of you.”

Karse and Saline looked at each other and for some reason all their anger and jealousy went away. Karse spoke in a calm voice, “suddenly I’m not mad anymore.”

Saline agreed with a smile, “yeah me neither. In fact, happy Saline is back.”

Aza let out a loud sigh. “Whatever.”

Saline looked towards Ash. “I’m, going to see what Ash is up to.” She immediately began to run towards Ash.

“Wait up!” Cried Karse as he followed the happy elf. Aza sighed with annoyance and followed as well.

Saline ran up to Ash and asked gleefully, “what are doing Ash?”

Ash looked over at the three of them. “Oh, it’s you three. You’ve been watching the whole time why do you need me to explain it?”

“Karse just got here and I was too blinded by rage and sadness to really watch. Also I like things explained to me.”

Ash shrugged. “All right, fine. I’m just trying to get a better handle on my powers. I’ve wanted to try and control my golems a little better.”

“That would be nice.” Karse said bitterly remembering the night before.

“Wouldn’t it? So, I’m having them do some minor tasks, though they still put up some resistance to my commands. Oh, but check this out.” Ash holds out his hands and from the ground a small Golem climbs out of it. It stands lazily looking at Ash. Ash makes some twisting movement with his hands and the Golem’s body begins to reshape. The three watch as Ash transforms the Golem into a statue that looks just like Aza. “Looks just like her right?” The golem Aza groans, slouches, and lazily rolls its head to the side.

Aza looks at it judgingly. “It doesn’t look anything like me.” She says as she sighs, slouches, and rolls her head lazily to the side.

Karse and Saline, however, look at it with starry eyes and say at the same time. “It’s beautiful.”

Ash nods. “Yes, it is.” Aza looks at Ash with a surprised and embarrassed look not realizing that Ash was just admiring his own handiwork much like when he used to make sculptures and figurines in his old life. “This is apparently construction Earth Magic. I even made a house.” Ash points to a large pile of rocks nearby.

“That’s just some rocks.” Karse says bluntly.

“Yeah, apparently making a stable house is harder than I thought. Oh but check this out.” Ash held his hand out to the Aza golem and concentrated. The Golem began to shrink and didn’t stop until it was barely 3 inches tall. The three watching look at it with amazement. “I’ve been trying out all kind of spells all morning. This is pretty neat but for some reason I’m having trouble increasing their size.”

Saline was practically drooling. “So cute…Want it…So bad…Must steal…Must stop saying crime I plan to commit out loud…”

Ash ignored her. “So that’s something I can do. I thought about selling mini golems but apparently they shatter when their creator gets too far away. Which is fine, I don’t want to deal with customers anyway. Oh but this is something else I discovered I can do.” Ash motions them to follow him. He wouldn’t admit it but he was enjoying showing off.

They followed him as he approached a rock pile. Ash turned back to them and chose to ignore the fact that Saline was stuffing the golem Aza in her pocket. He turned to the rock pile and held out his hands. A large hole opened beneath the rocks and they tumbled down into it.

Karse then realized something. “So it’s you that made all the holes everywhere?” Ash nods and Karse then realizes something else. “Then why haven’t you just opened up holes under all the rocks and taken care of them quickly. Also why does there seem to be way more rocks and debris scattered around then there should be?”

Ash shrugs, “I’m training myself. Doing things the easy way won’t help me. Rings suggestion, actually. I need to be a little less lazy now so I can be far lazier in the future. I’m kind of enjoying finding out all the stuff I can do. Like this.” Ash holds out his hand towards a single rock. It slowly hovers off the ground and floats towards Ash. Ash moves his hand and the rock follows suit. He guides it above the hole he made earlier and allows the rock to fall inside it. He then claps his hand and the hole closes up and turns back to solid ground. He turns back to the three onlookers and points to where the hole once was. “Did you see that?”

Karse nods. “Yeah we saw it.”

Saline’s eyes light up. “Wow! That was amazing Ash! You can do Psy Magic?”

Ash shakes his head. “No, I can only control rocks, and apparently it won’t work on all kinds of rocks. Doesn’t work on golems either for some reason. Maybe it’s because they’re alive or maybe it’s just plot convenience.”

Saline runs up to Ash. “That looks like some pretty high level magic. You’re going to make a great addition to the party.”

Ash looks down at the small elven girl and frowns. “No I won’t. I already told you I’m not joining a party.”

“But you said-“

“I said I’d meet you in the morning. It’s morning and we’ve met.”

“Why are you so against joining a group? You seem kind of lost by yourself.”

“Listen, I walk this lonely road, the only one I’ve ever known. I don’t know where it goes, but it’s home to me and I walk alone.”

“What?”

Ash sighs sadly. “Oh, right, no music fans here. I hate this world sometimes.”

Aza looks at Ash curiously. “I’m curious.”

Ash nods. “I can tell by your curious look.”

Aza continues, “You talk about your magic like you’ve never used it before.”

Saline interrupts with excitement in her voice. “Isn’t it obvious?! He’s got to be an envoy! Why else would he be so strong but so clueless. Like do you know what a bickeltar is?” Ash shakes his head. “See what I mean? He doesn’t know what a bickeltar is. He’s so unbelievably stupid.”

Ash says with some irritation, “I’m just a little ignorant, not stupid.”

Karse looks at Ash judgingly, “him, an envoy?”

Ash looks at Saline curiously. “Okay, I’ll bite, what’s an envoy?”

Saline smiles at Ash and explains, “You’re lucky that I also like explaining things. It’s an Envoy of the Gods. Someone brought from another world and given great power to do the bidding of a god.”

“Oh…Then I guess I am one. Though I’m not really doing anyone’s bidding.” Ash suddenly seems to grab his head and winces. “Damn it Sam, stop yelling! What do you mean I shouldn’t just tell people that?”

Aza says a little shocked, “are you serious?”

“What was the world like where you came from?! Which god summoned you?” Saline asks happily.

Karse points at Ash. “He’s obviously lying!”

Aza shakes her head. “No, it kind of adds up.”

Ash decides to change the subject. “Never mind that for now I think it’s time to check out that guild I was told about. Joining a guild is the first thing on my bucket list.”

Saline shakes her head, “but I have so many questions. Most of which are personal and invasive.”

“Too bad. Guild time.”

“Fine.” Saline says sadly. “I’ll take you there. It’s on the other side of town on the outskirts. This town has a lot of things on the outskirts of it now that I think about it.”

Ash looks around for a moment but all he sees are his golems and Kory who had been ignoring them up till now. “Where are the rest of your teammates?”

“Oh, you mean Garret and Olanna? We can leave without them. They won’t be up for a while. They’re newlyweds and-“

“I’m going to stop you right there, I don’t want to know. Let’s just go.” Ash begins to walk in the direction he assumes the guild is.

Karse runs up to Saline and asks her, “where they up all night playing cards again?”

Saline nods. “Yeah. You’d think they’d get sick of it.”

Ash hollers at Kory. “Hey, I’m leaving the rest to you!”

Kory looks at him with a worried expression and whines, “what? But this is too much for me to do alone!”

“Don’t worry my golems will help you.” Kory continued to complain but Ash decided to ignore him and just keep walking. Saline and Karse decided to follow Ash. Ash noticed that Aza was walking right behind them. “You’re coming?”

Aza nods. “It’s my day off and trust me when I say there is literally nothing to do in this town. Besides my sister runs the guild so I might as well say hi.”

“Your sister?” Ash asks.

Saline answers for Aza. “Yeah, she’s pretty too but not like Aza. The guilds this way by the way.” Saline runs in front of Ash and begins to lead the way.

Aza continues to speak. “My sister is also a succubus but she was able to acquire a rare ring that negates charm abilities including her own. That way she can run her guild honestly. She’s trying to get one for me but it’s a hard ring to find and even more expensive to make.”

“Ah.” Says Ash half listening.

Karse looks back at Kory and the golems as they shrink in the distance as they walk. “Ash, won’t the golems break if you go too far away from them?”

“Probably.” Ash says half listening.

“You seem to have already forgiven Kory for messing with you.

“Yeah, I guess. He gave me something as an apology as well. I can’t tell you what it is though.”

Karse shrugs. “That’s fine.”

“Too bad. I’m not telling you.” Ash says and continues to march ahead as Karse rolls his eyes.

.......................................................................................................................................................

They finally arrived at the guild and Ash couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. The guild was a great deal smaller than what Ash expected. Outside it looked like a large wooded house. It was painted with a pale grey color and there was a sign out front that read Cloudy Sky Guild. “Not exactly what I was expecting.” Ash said scratching his chin.

Saline looked proudly at the guild she was a member of. “Yeah, it’s great right? It’s not a live in guild, But it’s pretty cool. Let’s go in.” With that Saline runs inside followed closely by Karse.

Ash is about to go in when Aza taps him on the shoulder. He turns to look at her and she says with a serious face. “Just to warn you the staff for this guild are all fairies and they are extremely obnoxious.”

Ash nods. “Uh… noted…”

Not sure what you should be afraid of. Fairies are harmless. They can wear you out though because their brain and body function so fast that they seem hyper all the time.

Ash walks into the guild followed by Aza. If Ash had to describe the guild he would say it reminded him of a DMV. People were sitting in chairs waiting with numbered papers in there hand. There was a giant billboard with documents all over it; he assumed those are probably quests people can accept. Overhead small women with dragonfly like wings and bright dresses and clothes flew around everywhere carrying papers and little items. Those must be the fairies. At the front of the guild was a long counter where more fairies were talking to guild members and taking care of them.

Saline ran up to Ash and handed him a piece of paper. It said party 93 on it. “You’ve never been to a guild right? All we have to do is wait until our numbers called. We’ll all go together. I’ve got a quest to turn in and a new one to accept.”

Ash nods but soon frowns when he hears one of the fairies squeak with a high pitched voice, “party number 10 to counter 6 please.” Ash sighs and decides to grab a seat and watches as the two elves do the same. He looks over at the person sitting next to him. An old man dressed all in black reading a book titled, 101 DAMNATIONS.

Ash chuckles but gets surprised when Aza sits down next to him and whispers, “Things are about to be a pain and I apologize for it.”

Ash looks at her with a confused expression. “What?” But Aza didn’t need to answer as a fairy flying overhead noticed Aza’s wings and horns.

“It’s Aza!” The little fairy squeaked as loud as she could manage. Everyone in the guild turned their attention to Aza and it played out very similar to the scene at the tavern except for one thing, the fairies. Like a swarm of high pitched birds the fairies left their stations and descended upon the helpless Aza. They exclaimed how much they missed her and loved her while ruffling her hair and tugging at her wings. “What are you doing here? Just to visit?” Squeaked one of the fairies.

Aza shook her head. “No, we’re here to register this guy.” She said as she pointed to Ash. A chill ran down Ash’s spine as the fairies turned their attention on him with mischievous eyes. They flew over to him and immediately began tugging at his hair and face, rummaging through his stuff, and asking too many questions to answer.

“What are you to Aza?”

“Are you a mage?”

“Why is your face so squishy?”

“Are mangos good for your skin?”

“Why can’t I do a split anymore?!”

“What does your flesh taste like?!” One asks as it bites him and Ash immediately smacks her away.

They’re like a swarm of hyper active piranhas!

Ash says to Aza as he continues to smack the tiny women away. “They’re so annoying!”

“I know right?!” Aza agrees.

Their questions and harassment seemed to have no end and Ash turned to look at Aza as she gave him a look that seemed to say, “see what I mean.”

“That’s enough!” A loud voice echoed around the room and the fairies scattered returning to their work. “What’s going on?” Ash turned to look at who was talking and was surprised to see another demon woman standing in the doorway of the guild. She was wearing a very nice grey suit, had really short black hair, and like Aza had short and curly black horns and wings. Though for some reason Ash could sense she was much more dangerous than Aza. “There’s only one reason the fairies would freak out like this. Aza where are you?”

Aza stood up. “Right here, Johnna.” Everyone applauded and whistled for some reason.

“Baby sister!” Johnna, who is apparently Aza’s sister, grabbed up Aza in a merciless bear hug. “Why the surprise visit? Decided to join the guild finally?”

Aza shakes her head, “Not me, Ash.” Aza says as she points to Ash.

Ash nods to her. “Uh, hello, I wish to join your guild. Maybe.”

Johnna’s brain was trying to process this. Her sister, who hated being around people, especially men, had actually brought a man to her guild and even bothered to know his name. Her sisterly impulses were activating and her desire to meddle in her baby sister’s love life was increasing. Almost as if she could sense it Aza flicked her sister on the forehead and shook her head. “Aw, you’re no fun. Well then come on Ash, I’ll take care of you personally.” Surprised but relieved, Ash nods and gets up but a few of the other guild members started to complain about how unfair it was. Johnna looked at all of them and mockingly said, “oh, boohoo life is unfair, get over it. Take it up with the HR department.”

Johnna points to a corner of the room where her pet dire wolf was sitting on top of a mound of skulls and other bones. It was three times the size of a regular wolf and was overly muscular and had pultruding razor-sharp teeth. It had sleek black and white fur and horrifying red eyes. It looked at the guild members and said in a deep dramatic voice. “Snarl.” The fact that it said it instead of doing it made it all the more terrifying. All the guild members nodded at it and decided that living was better so they patiently returned to waiting for their turn.

Johnna smiled. “Follow me Ash. Oh wait; do you have the membership fee?”

Ash grimaced remembering that he was broke. “Membership fee?”

“Of course. It’s 100 gold lumps, but you’ll receive a nice starter kit. You’ll have to get the money somehow. Even if you are a friend of Aza’s I can’t let you join for free.”

“Wait!” Saline says hopping from her seat. “We’re going to cash in the Basilisk quest. Since Ash helped we were going to give him a cut. That should cover his membership fee.”

They should considering you did all the work.

Johnna smiles at Saline. “Ah, Saline, good to see you. And if that’s the case that’s fine. I’ll go ahead and get Ash started and you can cash in the quest.” Johnna snatches the piece of paper with a number from Ash’s hand and passes it to Saline. “Here’s your number.” Johnna wasn’t fond of Saline.

Saline looks at the paper. “Wait, but why do I have to wait? Can’t we just do it now?”

“Take it up with HR.”

“Oh come on! I wanted to see what happens! Ash is weird so It’s bound to be amusing. Don’t leave me here with Karse! He’s so… Karse!”

“Hey!” Says Karse a little dejected.

Johnna ignores her as Ash and Aza follow her behind the counter and walk into a room. Saline sits down next to Karse pouting a little and whispers to herself. “Stupid plot convenience…”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ash and Aza walk into a large room filled with various armor and weapons and weird little trinkets. Oddly enough though they just keep walking. They go through a door at the back of the room and it leads outside to a large field. Ash sees a pond in the distance and sees what he can only guess is an archery range not too far from it. They continue walking on in silence and Ash decides to break it as he talks to Aza. “Pretty popular here too, huh?”

Aza nods. “I’d like to say it’s the charm ability but fairies are immune to it. They just like me naturally, the little monsters.”

“That’s awful.” Ash says sympathizing with her.

Johnna stopped and turned to look at Ash. “You know any other guy, or even woman for that matter, would be all over Aza right now. You must be immune yourself.”

“Looks like it.” Ash nods.

“You’re opinion of her would be an honest one I imagine. What do you think of her?” Johnna had caved into her sisterly meddling ways.

“Johnna!” Aza said a little bit annoyed.

“She’s fine, I can’t complain about her.” Ash says, “you’re a little annoying though.”

“Right?!” Aza says agreeing with Ash.

“Johnna smiles. “Oh, really? My charm ability is actually far more powerful than Aza’s. I wonder if you’d still be immune to it?” Ash glares at her for a moment. “Kidding, just kidding. On to the business at hand. As the guild master of The Cloudy Sky Guild I need to test your abilities and give you a rank. Higher ranks allow you to take higher ranked quests. This is to keep weaker people from getting killed by taking on a quest much too dangerous for them.”

“Tests?” Ash says feeling like this’ll be a pain.

“Don’t worry, as long as you pay the fee you’re automatically a member. I just need to see how skilled you are so we can assign you appropriate quests. Trust me it’s worth it. My guild is the best guild there is. Staffed by adorable fairies and the fact any race can join makes my guild unique. Plus it’s lead by the most beautiful succubus in the kingdom, no offense sis.” Aza shrugs. “There’s no time to waste so onto the first test.” They had reached the Archery range as they talked. Johnna points to a round wooden target painted with a bullseye staked far off in the distance. “First test is easy; hit that target from where you’re standing.”

“I don’t have arrows.” Ash says looking at the far off target.

“That’s fine. Use anything, a rock, a spell; you can even throw a shoe at it for all I care.”

“A spell?”

“Yep, any spell.”

Ash nods and aims his hands at the target. Right next to the target a large golem climbs out of the ground. Aza and Johnna exchange a confused glance. The Golem looks at Ash and Ash points at the target. The Golem groans and shrugs and with one finger pushes the target over. Ash turns towards Johnna and points triumphantly at the target. Aza tries her best to not to laugh.

Johnna sighs, “Yes, I see it. It feels like you cheated but whatever, I’ll count it. I didn’t expect you to be an earth mage though. Surprising to say the least. Let’s move on. What was the next one? Oh yeah!” Johnna snaps her finger and disappears in a puff of black smoke.

Aza explains to the confused Ash, “Teleportation Magic. She must be grabbing something.”

Ash nods. “Your sister seems pretty different than you, not that I know you that well.”

“Not many people do.” Aza says a little distantly. Ash was about to say something but stopped as Johnna reappeared with more black smoke. “I’m back!” She said cheerfully. Ash was too distracted to pay attention to her though, because he was too focused on the giant man beside her. He was clad in worn out silver armor, wielded a massive mace stained with red splotches, and wore a giant horned helmet that hid his face. “Next is a sparring match and this man here is your opponent.”

The armor clad man pointed down at the tiny, in comparison, Ash. “I will carve your blood and drink your flesh!”

“What?” Ash responds.

Johnna pulls Aza away from ash then with a snap of her finger a ring of purple fire forms around Ash and the giant putting them in the center of the fire circle. “Ash, all you have to do is push him out of the circle and don’t worry the fire won’t hurt you. But you should beware your opponent is pretty strong. Also if he pushes you out of the circle you lose.”

Aza gave Johnna an annoyed look. “Yes, it’s almost like you went out of your way to get a strong opponent.”

Johnna nods. “It should. Because I did. Well he’s no bickeltar but he’s pretty strong.”

The giant points down to Ash. “I will grind your bread to make my bones!”

Ash sighs. “Man, what a bother. So, big guy, she literally went up to you and asked you to fight some stranger and you agreed to do it on the spot?”

“My love for the guild master is an unhealthy addiction that you couldn’t possibly understand! Also my name’s KIWI!!!! Kiwi the crusher of unfortunate people!”

“I don’t know how to respond to that.” Kiwi lets out a mighty roar and charges at Ash. Ash flicks his wrist and makes the ground shift under the giant causing him to slip and fall outside the flame circle. Ash turns to Johnna and points to Kiwi.

“Yes, I see it. You pass. Again it feels like you cheated a little.” Johnna says a little bit disappointed as Aza smirks at her.

Kiwi on the other hand didn’t accept the result and quickly sprung to his feet. “You’ll spend money for that!” Kiwi charged headfirst at Ash. Ash wasn’t prepared for it, like usual, and was about to be maced in the face by the large man when much to his surprise Kiwi gets slammed into by the golem Ash summoned a moment ago. The golem wails on him for a solid minute then stands up and walks back to Ash calmly as Kiwi just lays on the ground unmoving.

“Nice counter.” Says Johnna approvingly as she walks over to kiwi and puts her finger on his armor. “Don’t worry, he’s got a pulse he’s fine.”

Ash looks at the unmoving Kiwi. “You can tell from touching his armor?”

“Nah.” Johnna says shaking her head. “Let’s move on.”

Ash you didn’t order the Golem to attack, did you?

“No.” Ash says in a whisper.

That’s a good sign then. Golems should instinctively protect their casters.

Ash, his golem, and Aza follow Johnna to a pond and Johnna looked at the pond trying to remember something. “I can’t remember what the next test is. Something to do with the pond maybe?” Johnna notices a fairy with green hair and a green dress frolicking and gliding on the surface of the pond. “Shelly, what are you doing?!” You know you’re not allowed near the pond.”

Ash asks Aza, “do all the fairies wear dresses that match their hair?”

Aza nods, “Yes, don’t ask me why.”

The fairy lets out a squeaky laugh as it seems to skate on the water. “Aw, c’mon, I’m on my break. I just want to frolic and glide on the pond all fairy like. What could go wrong?” She says this as a huge crocodile erupts from the water and eats her whole. Aza and Johnna look at the rippling water in shock and Ash just chuckles. They look at him with surprise.

“Oh, no.” Ash says to them. “I was just having déjà vu is all. Also who says what could go wrong and expects nothing to go wrong. That’s things never to say 101.”

Johnna seems to make up her mind. “All right, next test is to save Shelly. She was eaten whole so she may still be alive.”

“Really?” Ash asks her and Johnna nods. Ash looks over at Aza and notices that she looks extremely worried. She may hate the fairies but she wouldn’t wish harm to them, apparently. Ash lets out a long winded sigh and gets his golems attention. “Go get that crocodile or alligator. I don’t know the difference.” The golem surprisingly obeys and marches into the water. After a few moments it comes back out and shrugs at Ash.

Johnna shakes her head angrily. “It’s not going to come out because it already has a meal. Hurry up and do something! Fairies can resist being digested but they can’t hold their breath forever!”

Ash sighs because he knows what he has to do. “Ugh, what a pain.” Ash says as he approaches the water. He gets down on his knees and hangs his head over the water of the pond.

“What are you doing?” Aza asks.

“Careful Ash.” Says Johnna. “That croc likes to bite down and do death rolls.”

“Don’t worry.” Ash says and he grimaces as he continues. “What could go wrong?” The massive crocodile springs from the water and bites down on Ash’s head. It starts rolling on the ground dragging Ash with it as his body limply rolls along with the large reptile. The golem quickly grabs the crocodile and forces open its jaw. Ash falls to the ground and the golem throws the croc back into the pond.

Aza runs over to Ash. “Are you all right?”

Johnna runs up beside her. “What about Shelly?”

Ash stands up and reveals that a tiny fairy is clasping on to his face hanging on for dear life. “She must have grabbed on when the croc bit me.” Ash says as Johnna rips her off Ash’s face much to his annoyance.

“See Shelly!?” Johnna yells angrily at the small girl. “That’s why you don’t go near the pond! You guys are snack sized treats for many creatures.”

“I’m sorry…” The fairy says sadly wiping spit from her clothes.

Johnna smiles at her. “As long as you understand.” The fairy is then engulfed in a black smoke and disappears. Ash and Aza looks at her a little shocked. “Don’t worry, I just teleported her. At least I think I did….Oh well, this next test is my favorite.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ash, Aza, and the golem follow Johnna to the center of the field. Johnna motions at Ash. “Stand here.” Ash obeys and unenthusiastically walks to the ground she pointed at. “Aza you might want to back up.” Aza nods and backs up a little. Johnna stands directly in front of Ash. “This test is perhaps the most important one.”

“I hope so.” Ash responds. “I can’t help but feel like those other tests were you just messing with me.”

“You’re not entirely wrong, but this is the serious one. I want you to hit me with your most powerful attack.”

“Seriously?”

“That’s a bad idea sis.” Aza says to her sister.

Johnna just shakes her head. “I’m the guild master here, that should tell you how strong I am. I should be able to handle anything he can dish out. By the way Ash.” Johnna makes a black ball of fire appear in her hand and quickly shoots it out of her hand at the golem. It hits the rock creature and within moments the golem is completely engulfed by the fire and hits the ground crumpling to dust.

“Billy the golem!” Ash yells then glares at Johnna. “I named him Billy you monster.”

“As you can see you’ll need something stronger than a golem to impress me. You can use any spell or attack, or you can just forfeit. Any questions?”

“Are all the fairies females?”

“No, the males just stay home and take care of housework and their children.”

“Neat.”

“Now, hit me with your best shot!”

Hmm…If we knew how strong she was exactly we could figure out what kind of spell you need to cast.

Ash thinks for a moment and seems to decide on something. “Let’s try this.” Ash raises his arm to the sky.

Wait Ash, what are you casting. Please consult with me first.

“Oh, right, I guess I should have. It’s too late now though, I already cast it.”

Johnna looks over at Aza. “Who’s he talking to?”

“His ring I think.” Aza responds.

Johnna looks back at Ash. “That’s weird. Hurry up Ash. I do have a guild to run after all.”

Ash what did you cast?!Tell me it wasn’t cataclysm!

Ash chuckles. “I’m not stupid, it was a spell called meteor.”

What?!

The blood drains from Johnna’s face. “Did you say meteor? You’re joking right? Meteor is a high level Earth Magic spell. Only a handful of dwarven earth sages can cast it. Y-you’re bluffing.” Reality struck hard as the sky turned orange and the three looked up to see a massive rock in the sky covered with fire hurdling down towards them. Johnna looked over at Ash with a look of horror on her face and she noticed Ash was pointing up at the meteor. “Yes! I see it!”

Ash! Meteor is too strong of a spell! If it hits you’ll kill everyone within a mile radius!

“Really?” Ash asks his ring.

It’s an estimate! It will definitely destroy the guild and kill those two women.

Ash sighs. “Well stuff my bell pepper, that’s inconvenient. What a bother. Don’t worry, I’ll dispel it.” Ash aims his hand at the approaching comet but nothing seems to happen. “Huh?”

You can’t dispel an attack spell once cast. It’s like trying to cancel an arrow after you shot it. It’s going to hit in under a minute! Do something!

Ash looks up at the meteor thinking to himself as Johnna begins to panic and mutter to herself. “I can’t stop something like that. Aza what do we do?” Johnna turns to see Aza spreading her wings about to fly off. “Where are you going?!” Johnna yells at her sister as she grabs onto her wings.

Aza begins to struggle with her and yells back at her. “Hey, why should we all die?! I’ll live so your legend can live on through my stories!”

“You won’t be able to escape the blast! Everyone’s in danger, Aza! The whole town will be wiped out! Dad’s house, your inn, my guild, and all my precious fairies!”

“What about the guild members?” Asks Aza.

“What about them?”

“Just teleport!”

“It requires concentration which I really can’t do right now!”

“That’s stupid!”

“I know!”

Aza stopped trying to escape as she realized it was too late. The sphere of fire was upon them. It was as wide as a football field, too bad they didn’t know anything about football or how big the fields were. They could feel the heat coming off of it as it approached. Johnna covered herself and her sister with her wings and they closed their eyes and waited for the impact. After a few moments passed, nothing seemed to have happened. Johnna and Aza open their eyes and are surprised to see a giant ball of rock floating above them with little patches of fire here and there on it. Surprised they look over at Ash who has his hands up aimed at the rock. His arms and legs where all shaking and his face seemed to be straining. “N-now I know how Atlas felt.” Said Ash trying his best to hold the rock.

Wow Ash! Amazing! But you can’t hold it forever.

Ash wasn’t planning to. Aza and Johnna watched as Ash kept one hand aimed at the rock and aimed his other hand at a spot in the field. With a grunt a large hole opened in the ground and with as much strength as he could muster he guided the rock to the hole and tried to drop it in it. Though the hole wasn’t wide enough and the rock just kind of set on top of it with a loud thud causing the ground to crack a little. Ash looked at it and thought about expanding the hole but his arms felt like noodles and he decided the rock wasn’t hurting anything where it was. So with a loud sigh Ash fell back and just laid on the ground. “That sucked.”

Aza looks at Johnna as she breathes a sigh of relief. “See?” Says Aza. ”I told you we’d be fine.”

“No you didn’t.” Johnna says and then looks at the boulder with amazement. “Wow, that’s huge. We dodged a meteor with that one.”

Aza looks at the boulder with confusion. “How did he summon it? Did it just appear in the sky? Or did he pull it from somewhere? I don’t get it.”

Ash speaks to Johnna in a tired voice. “So did I pass? Are we done?”

Johnna walks up to him and looks down at the tired mage. “Well, you didn’t actually hit me with anything.” Ash grabs a nearby rock and throws it at her leg. “Ow. Okay fine I’ll count the meteor. How where you able to use that spell though. You must have used a scroll, right? What’s your class anyway?”

“Earth Sage I think.”

“What?!” Johnna says with surprise. “But you’re a human, right?” She turns to Aza. “He’s a human, right?”

Aza nods. “He’s also an envoy of the gods. I think so anyway.”

“An envoy!?” Johnna said, feeling like she was reaching her ‘being surprised’ limit. “If that’s true why didn’t you tell me, earlier?! That’s a pretty important piece of information.”

Aza thinks for a moment and looks at her sister with a serious face. “Plot convenience.”