For those of you who don't like how similar this story is to the shield hero's, you may want to bug out now. No spoilers, but it's going to be similar to chapters 16 and 17. Not 18, though.

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Eric and his group were walking along a mountain pass with pine needles scattered across the rocky ground and the cold breeze of the mountain air brushing past his grizzled face. He had been shaving his face with the edge of a small dagger he had 'found', but he hadn't done it in a while and it was starting to show. It had only been a few days since him and his group had raided the castle and made the princess confess, and so far there weren't any assassins trying to take their lives. Still, he had set up a rotational watch overnight to make sure nobody would surprise them.

Lucia was fully grown, her features and size were that of a nineteen year old, even though she was only sixteen. Her breastplate was now pushed out to it's full extent, made perfect by George's expert smithing and decision making. She had pouty lips and the same striped hair that she always had, but now it was down to her hips, which flared out seductively from her tight waist. She had grown to a level fourty, recieving the same message that Eric had before about ranking up. Once again, instead of finding this thing known as 'The Divine Clock', just hugging Elas seemed to do the trick for ranking up. Sadly, Lucia didn't unlock anything beyond the new skill upgrades, which she allocated a few spare points to.

Elas was the same, taller than everyone but Samson with her powers now completely under control thanks to Eric's party ability. Now her magic was focused entirely through the skills that popped up when she thought of a different way to form ice. She could still free-form the magic, but now it doesn't riot out of control when her emotions flare. She was more than thankful for this ability, so much so that she claimed undying devotion to Eric.

Eric was still sketchy about her, but trusted her enough to keep her on the party.

As it turns out, Draco wasn't lying about being part dragon. He was levelling up fairly quickly, and he eventually unlocked the skill to breathe fire. He showed promise in incorporating his fire and sword skills into his fights, but he was only thirteen years old, so Eric didn't want him tackling more than he could handle. Draco was fairly headstrong, charging into battle before he could accurately measure the strength of his opponent, and when sparring, he always picked Eric as his sparring partner. Eric wore his chainmail and taught Draco points to hit, allowing himself to get hit just to articulate those pressure points.

Lilly was different, though she was beginning her growth spurt as evident by a sudden spike in growth. She wasn't even close to Lucia, but she had grown two inches in a week, which was unheard of where Eric came from. Eric was able to teach sword skills without actually knowing them himself, by putting leaves in his chainmail and having them attack those spots while he defended himself. George had crafted powerful boots and gauntlets for Lilly, making her a martial arts user by trade. Even Eric wavered when hit by one of her kicks, taking some damage even in his chainmail.

The whole group was getting together like a family, so much so that they were comfortable even in uncomfortable situations. Excreting waste used to be soemthing done a quarter mile away from the rest of the group, but now it was as easy as walking behind a tree. Elas had a habit of sleeping completely naked, something Eric found out when he was waking everyone up and unwillingly glimpsed her morning stretches. Draco was fine with burping and farting openly, even when he was down-wind from the rest of the group. Inside jokes were now a common thing, referrencing things from funny looking people to misunderstanding moments.

Yet, as close as they got, Eric always seemed to be at an arms length with his own party. Everybody else had given context clues as to their pasts, but Eric was still a mystery to everyone. One night when they were around the campfire, Lucia initiated story time fore everyone to talk about themselves. After some convincing, Draco went first, but he didn't seem happy to tell it.

"I grew up in a small town with Lilly, but we didn't talk a lot back then," he began, looking at the camp fire as he spoke. "I just lived with my dad, who protected the town from bandits and slavers with strength and power. He was teaching me how to fight since I could last remember, telling me I was going to be strong. Then the slavers came, and they killed my dad and burned the village to the ground. I was in slavery for a few weeks before Eric bought me, then I started getting stronger again. I knew it then, when we took down the castle fighting all of those guys at one time. I knew that I was strong, just like my dad was." Draco looked at Lilly, who realized that it would be her turn next.

"I lived with my parents in the same town as Draco," said Lilly. "We used to have a lot of fun lying in the meadows and swimming in the pond, before... you know. We were dragged away, then seperated into groups that would go into different ways. I was put into a cart before we could ever see them again, and then we went to the slaver's tent. This might be a little twisted, but I thought two silvers for me was a little cheap." There was a round of chuckles from the group as Lilly looked at Elas.

"I used to live in a small village just below the snow line," said Elas sadly. "I was one of the rare few that are born with natural magic, which I practiced on the snow in the mountains. The village knew about it, so they treated me like a monster. The kids used to thrown stones at me, parents would discourage talking to me, and even my own parents didn't get too close to me. I remember it started to snow, then it never stopped. I didn't know I was why it was always snowing until some kids tried to attack me. I froze them solid, then I lost all control over my power."

Elas looked sadly to Lucia, who began, "I don't remember ever having parents. I was raised by the mayor, but he was part tortoise so I knew that wasn't possible. I remember being caught in the forest, but I can't remember what happened after that. I wound up in the same slaver's tent that you guys were in, but I was always fighting back. I remember thinking I'd find a way to escape if I could just keep fighting, but I never had a chance. The slaver kept his keys in his pocket, and none of the other animals would help me escape. "Then Eric came, and he saw me through the cages somehow. I felt like I was going to die, but I knew that

I could kill him and escape somehow. But... Eric was always different, even though I was a demi-human slave. He always treated me fairly, fed me good food, and even did his best to teach me how to use weapons. I remember once in this mine, he gave me a sword to try out, and I almost cut right through his head with it. I was so scared, I could only think that he was going to beat me, or leave me there. That's when I realized I didn't want to leave him, because Eric was the best person I could have wished for.

Lucia smiled as she said, "He just told me it was a good swing, and to keep practicing. I thought he was crazy, but I was so happy I just started crying. Then we were attacked, but Eric protected me even though he was hurt badly." Lucia was freely crying as she looked at Eric, but he was staring at the fire with a stone face. His eyes seemed distant, focusing on something deep into the fire as he listened to the stories of his party. "Eric," Lucia said, then she saw a single tear break free from his eye and make it's way down his cheek. This was a horrific moment for Lucia, because she had seen Eric bleeding in more places than a leaky damn, but never once had Lucia seen him shed a tear.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think my past has anything to do with this," said Eric, trying to dodge the question.

"Oh, come on," said Draco, annoyed at Eric's lack of participation, "I went first, now it's your turn."

"Yeah, we want to know what this other world was like," said Lilly, casting a disappointed glance at Eric.

Eric sat there, looking into the fire with a tear tracing his cheek, then falling to his chin.

"I'll tell you in the morning," said Eric, suddenly standing up and turning away from the fire. The others just watched him go, disappointed that he wasn't willing to talk about his past.

"Guys, maybe we shouldn't make him talk about it," suggested Lucia.

"Why not," said Draco, "we talked about ours, what's his problem with talking about it?"

"Yeah, it couldn't be any worse than ours," said Elas, gesturing towards each other.

"I've been with Eric the longest," said Lucia pointedly. "I have seen him stabbed, gouged, bitten, poisined, and betrayed several times over." Lucia pointed in the direction Eric had gone, then said, "That's the first time I have ever seen him cry." There was a brief silence around the campfire, before Draco spoke up.

"Still, it couldn't be worse than us, right? We were put into slavery, dragged away from our friends and family."

"The divine weapon wielders are not from our world," Elas said, "so we don't know what could have happened to him before."

"Well, what's the worst it could be," asked Lilly, but then something happened. Each of the party members felt a strong pull in their guts, then they were enveloped by blackness. In a brief moment, they reappeared, only now the moon was shining down without any disturbance from the trees. The campfire was gone, but now they were confronted by a huge crowd of adventurers in different special variations of armor. There was some murmuring before Eric climbed his way through the crowd towards his group.

"What's going on?" Elas demanded in fright, but Eric put his hand up to calm his party.

"This is a wave, where demons are going to attack through a crack in the world and we need to fight off the demons," explained Eric quickly. A loud crack like the sound of glass breaking suddenly emanated from somewhere above. Everyone looked up to see an enormous rift stretching across the sky, a crack in the world itself that opened up to reveal a blackness just beyond. As they watched, monsters with wings began to pour out by the dozens, but arrows of light fired like an automatic weapon. The first group was obliterated, but the winged monsters continued to pour out despite the endless barrage of arrows that assaulted it.

"Looks like this is our fight," came Benny's voice in jovial recognition. The arrows were like fireworks, but Eric was looking around to see the faint lights of a small town not too far away.

"Elas, support Benny with your ice magic," Eric ordered, "Lucia, Draco, and Lilly, you're with me. We need to evacuate the people in case the fight gets any worse." There were nods from all around, then everyone went off to do their respective works. Elas was summoning a constant barrage of impaling ice fragments to pelt the incoming hordes while Eric and the others ran towards the town at break-neck speeds. They arrived to start shouting at the tops of their voices that the demons were coming, everybody needs to evacuate! They went from house to house, practically throwing people out of the doors to get them awake and moving.

The fight at the rift was going smoothly, the influx of demons countered by the hundreds of arrows and ice spears being directed at the onslaught. The other adventurers were in stunned awe at the power of Benny and Elas, while the other archers could only fire occasional shots until their quivers were empty. While in town, Eric would recieve continual alerts that his experience was rising, but he ignored them to push more people out of the town.

The evacuation was going quickly thanks to the terrifying shouts from Eric and his entourage. Nothing was scarier than suddenly being shouted out of your home by an enormous man and a few demi-humans holding deadly weapons.

After the entire town was evacuated, Eric returned to the field to find that Benny and Elas were doing just fine. Emily approached Eric and said, "Where did you find this girl? She kicks ass!" Eric passed Emily by as though she wasn't even there, approaching Elas who was gritting her teeth with the effort.

"Elas, the town's been evacuated," said Eric seriously, "you can rest for a while."

"Are you kidding me," said Elas overconfidently, "I'm just getting warmed up!"

"Yeah, but you're making everyone else jealous," whispered Eric with a slight smile.

"Good," said Elas, returning the smile as she redoubled her efforts. The ice formed from crystals in the air, then were suddenly launched up at the space fissure to pierce some unsuspecting demon that was crawling through the cracks. It was probably a good thing Eric had talked Elas down rather than fighting her for it,

because that was a fight he would have lost.

"Hey," said Emily rudely, "what's your deal?" She stood in front of Eric looking up at him, and he looked down with a stone expression.

"What?" he said as though this was a total waste of his time.

"Why do you have such an attitude!?" Emily demanded.

"Ask Tyler," said Eric, turning away from Emily and looking up at the fissure. Emily huffed out air, then returned to the group of adventurers that were sitting around doing nothing while the long-ranged fighters took care of everything. After a while, Elas was starting to noticably strain herself.

"Elas, that's enough," said Eric sternly. "We'll need your energy later, just be prepared for something big to come." The sound of cracking wood suddenly blew up the fissure to massive proportions. As the adventurers watched in horror, something droppd out of the fissure. It was huge, round, and made of wood. It fell slowly, then it came out so that everyone could see what it truly was. It was a ship, one of the old caravel kinds with three masts, though this one was somehow suspended in the air. The ship had a haunted, ragged feel to it as made evident by the ragged flags and the torn skull and crossbones which waved in the breeze.

"That's not good," said John, a sentiment shared by the entire crowd of heroes.

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