It was really strange, unique even. Flying through the air with a folded shield around one arm and trying to swing the axe on the other. The griffin was constantly screeching in pain and was now mostly on fire as well. The beast was carrying Eian on one leg and he tried swinging at it's arm. He looked down, it wasn't a too long way down, they were perhaps one story over the trees.

'Bad idea.' Eian thought.

"...caw....caw....ca..." Griffin.

Eian started feeling they were descending. The griffin had tilted to the right and suddenly they we're almost free-falling. The griffin's grip slackened.

"SHIT! shithshitshit!" Eian wrapped his arms around the griffin's paw tightly, he had to let go of his axe.

BAM! BAM! BAM! He had closed his eyes and grit his teeth. Eian felt revertibrations from the beasts body, it sounded like trees breaking. Eian felt a massive impact, his hands couldn't hold on. He flew off the beast and went skidding painfully across the dirt and forcefully collided on to a tree. He had attempted to curl into a ball mid-flight.

"Ughhh.....*cough*.....*cough*....." Eian was seeing stars.

Parts of his armor felt uncomfortable, as if they had bent out of shape and were hindering him now. His everything felt battered and bruised. His shield-arm felt extremely uncomfortable. His chest-plate felt slightly-dented as well.

He looked at his shield arm. The shield was partly folded around his arm and wasn't coming off. He tried to pry the shield off, it made the enitre arm useless, as the shield grip prevented him from holding anything. He gave up and simply had to remove the entire guantlet from the elbow down. The impact had miraculously knocked off nothing, he only had his two-handed sword and his mace strapped on.

'Well. It could've been worse. It could have dropped me in a nest of baby griffins. Or I could have landed on my ass, not sure which would be worse.' Eian thought.

"Fuck my life." Eian.

He took a moment to recover before getting up and going to see the griffin. There it was, dead as can be. It looked like the fire had done it in. He still pulled out his sword and stabbed deep into it's neck, can't ever be too sure. Most of it's body was badly burnt and it's smell was actually semi-appetizing.

-'Well I got food till the others get here. Thanks Sarah.' Eian thought.

Eian took off his helmet to breathe some fresh air. He inhaled deeply and breathed out, relieved to be alive. He sat down near the beast and leaned on it like a cushion. He had to calm his stomach, which was making him feel green, roller-coaster rides don't compare. He quickly checked his tatoo to make sure it wasn't blinking, it wasn't.

Without his helmet, Eian could finally hear around him properly, all those insect noises, bird hoots and leaves moving. His vision was also free. He waited perhaps thirty minutes, he heard movement. He quickly strapped on his helmet.

"Fuck! Can't catch a break." Eian.

Getting up he held his two-handed sword at the ready and used the griffins body as a wall, nothing could ambush him that way. He saw wolves. Lots of big dire-wolves, four surrounding him.

"Damn it." Eian.

"AWOOO!" The wolves charged.

The first one to jump, Eian speared the sword through its face, the weight sent him staggering down to a knee. Another wolf impacted him from the side and he held on to his sword for dear life. The wolf tried to bite his leg and sent him to the floor, but the armor held, he kicked it's face. He felt another wolf try to bite his head off, he swung the sword behind him blindly. He heard a yelp and a set of jaws pulled his feet dragging him foward.

He swung his sword at the general direction of the jaws on his legs. He felt the sword bite and heard another yelp. Teeth bit down on his armor-protected arm and he wrestled with the beast for control or his arm. One handed he clumsily stabbed at the beast under his arm, the sword logded itself deep into it's throat and it gargled then ran off. The sword got stuck and when the dying wolf retreated he lost the sword.

-'FUCK! What am I supposed to do with a mace?' Eian thought.

He hastily pulled the mace. Two sets of teeth had grabbed each leg and were trying to tear him apart. He bashed at a clear shot of a skull and the wolf on the left let go. He sent a kick with his now free leg at the other wolf, once, twice, thrice, it let go. He sat up and saw the two remaining wolves staring at him cautiously.

One was bleeding from a skull-wound, the other's shoulder had a bleeding gash. They charged together each on one side. Eian aimed for the skull-bashed one and let the other grab his protected arm. The hit caught it in the jaw and the beast barreled unto him, it bit at his helmet. He struggled to push it off himself, kicking even as his arm was stuck in the others jaws. He beat the the beasts side-ribs with his mace and was trying to free his other arm. He felt a rib on the wolf crack and it yelped, he aimed at the area again and felt more ribs crack.

The wolf jumped off him.Eian used the moment to bash the skull of the other wolf, he caught it's eye hard. It dragged him backwards and he struggled to get up. Half stumbling, from the drag, he bashed it's skull again and it yelped. He heard movement behind him and threw himself sideways rolling, he saw the other wolf miss a tackle. The other wolf then jumped at him and he swung wildly at its face, he caught the jaw and the wolf dropped untop of him. He saw it was dazed, but still alive, so he caved its skull in, he felt squishy brain matter sprinkle his face.

"AWOOOO!" The final wolf fled.

-'This is alot harder without help and a shield. Fuck this mace, I want my axe back..' Eian thought to himself.

He took in the scene, he had stabbed the first in the face, another bled out from his sword lodged in its neck, the third one had it's skull caved in and the last one had fled. The fight itself was short, but vicious. He retrieved his sword from the wolves neck. He checked his tattoo's quicky, it was blinking.

'Fuck. He told me to be ready. Also the guys have to find me.' Eian thought.

"AWOOO!!!!AWOOO!!! AWOOO!!!!" Multiple wolf howls.

"Shit!" Eian.

He looked about and saw a hill, he stumbled towards it. He began digging the ground, using his earth-powers to help him move it. It parted like soft-watered-down clay, soon he had dug a small crudely dug-out room. He entered and compressed most of the entrance leaving only a breathing hole, he could always just open it up again. He made sure everything was alright. He sat down and looked at the glowing tattoo, he selected spirit.

*****

"So here ye are." Ul.

"Yeah, here I am." Eian.

"Honest I thought ye'd chicken out fer a few more hours." Ul.

".....I need more training against wolves." Eian.

"Wolves? Eh? Didn't we cover some o that?" Ul.

"Yeah, but I was alone against a pack of huge wolves, not the smaller ones." Eian.

"Big pack?" Ul.

"Four." Eian.

"Hmmmm, good to see ye made it then, no worries, wolfies aint a matter now he-he." Ul.

"What?" Eian.

"Ye've hit rock-armor kid. Three hours outside and you'll be cracking wolf skulls fer breakfast." Ul.

"Is it that amazing?" Eian.

"Well its very heavy and as ye are, yer body will tire fast movin it about." Ul.

"How fast we talking about here?" Eian.

"Few minutes, about five for now I'd say." Ul.

"Why did my body have to be at five to use it?" Eian still didn't understand that.

"I've already told you, the earth requires a strong body to fully use it's attacks. It's the whole reason the earth-gift toughens up the body." Ul.

"What does that have to do with rock-armor?" Eian.

"Rock-armor is a channel stressful spell, it would pass the safety limit normally, earth is naturally very slow to respond, so to combat that we have to slam alot of power to force it to, channeling that much power through your body would damage yer channels." Ul.

"Is that it? Why are other elemets easier?" Eian.

"Other elements could use more powerful spells, but they ignore 'em for the most part because of the channel damage, it takes long te have a naturally strong body with just Qi, as an example after ye hit five spirit yer toughness would be the equivalent of ten body. It's why yer friend can't just make a meteorite sized fire-ball, her channels would bust." Ul.

"So who get's more powerful faster?" Eian.

"....*sigh*....There are two things determine the spells-power, yer channels which determine how much ye can push yer spell-limit and yer spirit quality. Most don't better their channels first because upgrading quality is easier." Ul.

"I'm still not understanding that." Eian.

"Oh dear lords o earth. Channels are part of your physical body, they get better along with your Body and determine how much power ye can push over-limit safely. Spirit quality goes up with spirit obviously and causes you do do more with less , mages go for that since it doesn't burden the channels." Ul.

"Oh......I think I understand. So why doesn't Sarah focus on Qi after Spirit?" Eian.

"........Have ye listened to nothing I said? The earth-gift enhances yer body too, she wouldn't be able to push the same amount of power as ye, even with the same amount of Qi." Ul.

"Oh......and what does mind do for her then?" Eian

"I'm here fer ye, ye dimwit shet yer trap and let me do that. Anyways as ye are now the damage would still stack up with constant use, but ye won't be using the spell continously so it doesn't matter." Ul.

"What do you mean?" Eian.

"Ye summon rock-armor once and it will protect ye. Ye won't be summoning it constantly, like say an earth spike." Ul.

"What if I'm not around any rocks?" Eian.

"A'int a problem, the rock-armor is pulled by earth-energy and it comes from the plane o earth." Ul.

"What? Plane of Earth?" Eian.

"Yep. Ye should be able to sense it. Planes are where the elemental manifestations come from. Where did ye think yer friends fire actually comes from?" Ul.

"I just thought she breathed it out or something." Eian.

"Common misconception for fire. How 'bout yer life friend? Where'd ya think the healing comes from?" Ul.

"I just thought his spirit transformed the energy or something." Eian.

"Haha. Spells come from the planes and manifest in the world after ye shape it with energy. Exception being elemental control such as yer moving rocks." Ul.

"Okay I think I got it." Eian.

"A'int matter really, ye den't haf te know it, te use it." Ul.

"Right. So can you teach me?" Eian.

"Yep, but first ye ready fer an ass kicken?" Ul smiled.

".....WHAT?! BUT YOU SAID!" Eian.

"Changed me mind. He-he. What if ye run out of spirit? Dim-wits tend te like te do that. Sides ye could really use the practice." Ul cut him off.

"BUT!....Umm......I'll be very careful." Eian.

"Nah, ye look like a dummy te me, so get ready. Ye said big wolfies right?" Ul tapped the floor and two dire-wolf golems appeared.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious! Eian.

"Yep won't teach ye rock armor otherwise." Ul.

"FUCK! YOU!" Eian.

"NOPE! NOT MY TYPE! HAHA!" Ul.