Hello readers!

The story is finally at a turning point where Calb is feeling less than adequate about where he stands in this world. Let's see what happens...I am sure smart folks among the readers can already guess as to what to expect...:) Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

After Serina knocked ringbo unconscious, they immediately left the location before it can wake up and cause them anymore unnecessary trouble. They taught Calb about ringbo and various other animals on their way to the town, and before long, they arrived at their destination, the town of Tarmea.

Tarmea is a small settlement town near the Imea Mountains that depends on gathered herbs and animal hides for most of its economy. However, considering it is a settlement where people live, its market does have other necessities of living. Unfortunately, it is very minimally barricaded, and the travelers are hardly challenged for their identity, due to it being in such a remote area. Also, with the nearest city that can be of any help in protection being 10 days by walk, public safety can be problematic at times. It is understandable because many hunters of dubious backgrounds frequent Tarmea to sell their hides. In there attempt to make the town a bit more safer, the town elders have recruited some of the younger town folks to help with guarding the town, but the result was far from perfect. As such, there was a commotion near the town’s market when the three arrived.

“Why don’t you youngsters go see what the ruckus is all about while I go get us couple of rooms at the inn. I am an old man, I have had enough excitement to last me a lifetime. I’ll let you young ones deal with it,” said Taron as he started to head toward town’s inn. “Be sure to look after Calb since he is not familiar with this place.”

“Okay grandpa,” replied Serina. “Come on Calb, let’s go see what’s going on. Living up in the mountain can be quite boring you know. I only get to experience anything interesting when we come down to restock our supply,” said Serina with anticipation.

As they were walking over to the source of racket, they realized that groups of men were fighting each other, with one appearing to be the town guards and the other ragtag ruffians. They didn’t have a great view of the fight because they were still far off, but it appeared as if the ruffians were having their way with the town guards, and after they knocked down the very last of the town guards, they decided to run off before even more came after them. The problem was that they were heading straight for Calb and Serina!

Calb was planning on moving out of the way since he didn’t have any weapon, but he noticed that Serina had other thoughts. She got her staff ready, and started to confront the thugs that were escaping!

“Hold it right there you thugs!” cried Serina. Before they can react, she already started her attack!

It was a 4 to 1 confrontation! Not knowing what to do, Calb quickly ran over to where the town guards were lying down and grabbed one of the staffs and ran toward Serina, but he didn’t know where to fit in between the fighters because the fight was already in full swing.

When Calb had grabbed the staff that is on his hands, Serina had already knocked one of the thugs on the ground and was parrying attack from another one while kicking the guy to her left. Once that was done, she twirled her staff to create some space between the remaining three men as each side studied each other.

“Not good!” he thought. He was planning on standing by Serina to give the thugs second thoughts about fighting them, but the situation is way beyond intimidation stage. “AHHHH~YAHH!” Without thinking much further, Calb started to yell to distract the thugs as he swung his staff toward one of the thugs, but surprisingly, his “victim” turned to face him and easily blocked his staff to send it flying. He had lost his grips on his staff with the first attack!

“Woah…ho ho,” chuckled the thug. “We have an amateur butting into expert’s fight? No one told you not to butt in something that you can’t finish? What is this getup you have on? Are you supposed to be some kind of a clown?” The thug’s smile was as wide as it can be.

Not wanting to be caught off guard, Calb ran to where his staff landed and grabbed it again to block the attack that was bound to come, but it never came! In fact, the thug was not even where he saw him last. Then all of a sudden, he felt a hard hit to his butt from his behind! After stumbling for few steps and agonizing at the same time over a pain on his butt, he turned to realize that the thug somehow got behind him without his knowledge and spanked him with his wooded club! The thug looked at Calb and laughed with a big, smile on his face. “What? You don’t know where I am? I am right here, Mr. Clown.” He was toying with him!

Calb’s face flushed with anger and shame, and without thinking things through, he lounged toward the thug with his staff pointed straight at him. “I am going to run him through!” he thought, but instead, the thug side-stepped and spanked him on his butt again, but this time with his foot! He was sent flying to the group of bystanders, and they immediately split up to make a way for him as he fell on top of one of the vending tables.

“Ha..Ha..Ha..Ha! Get up you fool!” thug mockingly yelled at him.

Calb, flustered to no end, he got up immediately to lunge again at the thug, but before he could do that Serina got front of him, facing the thug. “You like making fun of someone that can’t even fight? How would you like to join your pathetic friends over there?” She pointed to a spot where three thugs were piled up.

“Hmmph!” said the thug, not smiling anymore, “You think I am same as those pathetic fools little girl? Come, let’s see who is better.” As he said this, he slowly backed his way toward where his pals were lying and switched his weapon to a staff. Seeing how she had knocked three of his guys, he knew he had to be careful. As club is disadvantageous fighting against staff, one on one, it was a wise choice.

Serina waited until the thug readied himself, and once that was done, she launched herself toward the thug! With her staff in a diagonal position from her upper right to her lower left, she slashed diagonally toward the thug, and the thug parried with his staff, but something was off. He was expecting a solid hit to his staff, but all he got was a light tap and the other end of her staff was already rising up toward his right leg in a sweeping motion. He jumped to avoid, and all of a sudden he realized that she had already spun 360, and she struck out toward his right even before he was able to land!

He blocked the attack, but this time, the blow was hard, and it was heavy! He was sent 5 yards (4.5 meters) to his left, and before he can steady himself he was solidly hit in his stomach with the tip of her staff that she lunged with all her might.

“Cough!...Cough!” Blood spat out of the thug’s mouth. Serina had internally ruptured his stomach with that last attack!

Not being able to contain the ferocity and power of her attack, the thug fell on his knees on all four. “Y-you win…you win...Cough! I am no match for you. Please save me. I give up….Cough!”

“YAY!!! “Clap…Clap” The crowd cheered. “Way to go little miss!” they yelled. “They got what they deserved! Where are the town guards? They need to get here quick and lock them up!” Some of the men from the crowd started to bind the bleeding thug and the remaining thugs that were lying about, as the crowd kept on talking amongst themselves.

"Hmmp!" Not even bothering with response, Serina turned to look in the direction where she last saw Calb. She found him standing weakly, sending her an ashamed smile. “Are you alright Calb?” she asked.

“Yeah…minus my pride, I am all right.” Calb looked down at his toes and started to scratch back of his head in shame.

“Fuuu..huuu..huu…” smiled Serina. “It is okay for an old man like yourself to struggle against a young whippersnapper like that thug. That is allowed old man,” teased Serina. “Come.” She grabbed his arm. “Let’s find my grandpa. I am sure he should be sitting in an inn restaurant, enjoying a nice wine. That’s his appetizer. We better get there fast before he gets tired and start ordering food already!”

“S-sure….okay. Let’s go,” chimed in Calb as he let Serina lead him toward the inn.

Just like Serina said, by the time the two got inside the inn restaurant, they found Taron sitting at a table drinking wine.

Grinning at Calb next to her, Serina said, “See, what did I tell you. I told you he would be drinking his wine.”

“Stop your chatting and come over here and sit! Don’t you know it is a bad manner to make an old man wait?”

Looking left to right, “I don’t see any old man, do you Calb?” asked Serina.

“Umm, of course not,” responded Calb.

“So? What was the commotion this time?” asked Taron ignoring the theatrics

“Well, there were some thugs fighting the town guards. They were pretty strong this time. They had beaten the town guards and was trying to get away, but me and Calb showed them who’s boss! Didn’t we Calb?” said Serina cheerfully.

“Well, to be correct, I was just keeping them busy while Serina did all the work,” said Calb, not wanting to appear too pathetic in front of Taron by telling him what really happened.

Looking at Calb, “Why don’t you tell me what happened Calb” asked Taron.

“Well…,” hesitating how he should relay the story without retelling of his inadequacy, he started to describe Serina’s fight. “There were four of them that bested the town guards, and they were heading in our direction to escape, but Serina readied her staff and started attacking them. She was quick in knocking down first of the four and by the time I grabbed staff from one of the unconscious town guards, she was surrounded. Not wanting to leave her alone against the three men, I yelled to get one of the thug’s attention and luckily, one of them turned around. Then after Serina took care of the remaining two thugs, she finished off the last one that I distracted.” It was difficult for Calb to keep a straight face, and thus, he kept on looking to his right, in shame.

Seeing the shame in Calb’s face, Taron continued, “Calb, why don’t you tell me about the fight between you and that man you distracted?”

Calb looked at Taron with wide eyes, as if, he, realizing that Taron looked right through his shame, reluctantly, told his story. “Well, when I yelled at the man, I had already had my staff in a swinging position, and I swung down at him when I was close enough to hit him, but he acted as if he saw right through me and easily deflected my staff off of my hand. He did that with one hand while I had both of my hands on the staff when I swung at him. I was shocked. It was like I was hitting a rock. His parry was so heavy. I didn’t understand it at all. Then he made fun of me. He knew I was an amateur instantly, and he didn’t take the fight seriously at all. He even waited until I ran to grab the staff that I lost, but when I turned around to defend against him, he was no where in sight. Then he spa—hit my on my butt and laughed at me. So I charged at him while pointing my staff at him, but he easily dodged me, and this time, he kicked me across the yard….” Feeling ashamed again, he paused before he said, “Then by the time I was ready to attack again, Serina finished off her opponents and took over. She took less than a minute to finish him off.” Dejected, Calb looked away.

“Do you want to be strong Calb?” asked Taron, looking straight at him with all seriousness.

“Yes I do,” replied Calb. “I want to be strong. I want to be strong so that I don’t feel useless again!”

“Good answer my boy! A man must be strong, strong enough to protect others!” There was a fire in Taron’s eyes as he conveyed his approval. “Starting tomorrow, you will learn from me. You will do things around the house to earn your living, and at the same time, you will learn martial arts!”

“Yes Sir!” Calb stood up and bowed to his master.

Seeing that the “business” of the day is over, Serina leaned over to Taron and said, “You know what grandpa, Calb, before he came over to this world, was a 90 years old man you know. That makes him older than you…, and you just called him a boy?” Serina mischievously smiled at her grandpa.

Hearing what she said, looking at Calb in shock, and adjusting his posture, “Hmmpf…. It doesn’t matter how old he was over there. He is a young man now…Hmmpf,” said Taron, clearing his throat.

Seeing her grandpa’s brief flustered face, she beamed him with a smile.

“What are you looking at! Go order us some food!”

“Y..e..s grandpa….”

During their dinner, to not make any more mistakes, Taron asked Calb about his world and what he did. It took Calb some time to describe space travel, Earth, and concept of science, and he managed well enough to get them to understand reasonably well on many things, but on some of the more complicated things, he just had to leave it as it was. He also ended up telling them a little bit about his conversation with God, hoping he could keep it at a bare minimum, but it was not meant to be….

“So you are telling me that God brought you here, and the reason why you are in your young body is because physical bodies in your world grows faster than your soul?” asked Taron.

“Yes. So in terms of soul age, I am near same age as Serina, for example, but in terms of physical age I was a lot older in my world.”

“You hear that? My soul is still older than him.” Taron grinned toward his granddaughter.

“Y..e..s grandpa…you are still the certified geezer of this group,” replied Serina, looking up into the ceiling.

“What?! I am not a geezer you little brat!” Taron gave her a noogie.

“OUuuu! Okay…okay…you are not a geezer…just old…..er.” She finished off with “er” before her grandpa could give her another noogie.

“Hmmpf….” Taron cleared his throat and continued, “Now, you said that God brought you here from your world, but he had, in the past, also sent some people from this side to yours?” Nodded Calb. “Hmmm, interesting…interesting indeed.”

“Well, I guess that explains some things, though I must say, you have given me much to think about.” Taron paused briefly to ponder something, and as if setting it aside, he said, “Alright. Since we don’t have to go see the elders tomorrow, we are leaving early tomorrow. As for now, Serina, take Calb with you to the market to sell our goods, and while restocking, go ahead and get him something appropriate clothing for our trip tomorrow. You don’t have to get him any more than that. He can just wear your father’s clothes when we get back. Now, get going you two.”

“Yes grandpa.” Serina got up, looked at Calb and flicked her head toward the door with a smile. “Let’s go.”

“Sounds good.”

Calb was floating in space. He saw a comet floating across the space with fluttering rainbow attached to its back. He tried to see the end of the rainbow, but it was endless. Then he saw a herd of winged horses running on top of the rainbows as if they were trying to catch the comet. He didn’t know why, but he started to count the winged horses when he heard a familiar voice.

“So how was your trip? You have had a little taste of your inadequacy haven’t you?” said the voice.

Turning around, Calb saw the owner of the familiar voice standing next to him. “Hello again….Yes, I’ve realized just how inadequate I am in this world.”

“That should be a good motivating factor for you to work hard! I did tell you that you are quite behind when it comes to mana cultivation, as compared to the rest of the people in this world. However, I also told you that you have a great potential. I am sure you have felt the weird sensation around the back of your neck and what resulted from that?”

“Yes I felt that sensation. It was weird. I’ve never felt something like that before. Then all of a sudden, I was able to understand their language and speak it as if I was born there.”

“You will have many more of such moments, in time. When you’ve experienced that thing in the back of your head, that phenomenon was like a jumpstart for your body to start sensing mana again. Ever since then, your body became just like everyone else, being able to gather mana also. However, every time you have those moments like with your neck, your body’s rate of mana cultivation will increase as a default to what is going on inside of your body. So in that sense, your disadvantage will be countered by changes your body will experience, but you shouldn’t be satisfied with just that! You must become a light of this world, as my vehicle of intervention.”

Calb wanted to ask about the future “moments” that he will experience in his body, but for some reason he could not ask anything. His mouth became heavier. He was about to make a gesture, but the background started to fade and his consciousness started to break loose from slumber.

“It is about time for you to awake. Remember what I’ve told you before. You must get in tuned with the nature! Remember….”

“Calb, wake up.” Serina is next to him, looking at his face.

Calb’s eye snaps open to see Serina looking down at him. “Hey, old man, wake up,” smiles Serina. -

“Oh ok…I am up.” Calb slowly got up, looking somewhat confused.

“It is bright and early. We better get going. It’s going to be a long hike back up the mountain, you know.”

--------------------------------------------------------

There you have it folks!

A bit more action and some hint of motivating factor for Calb to improve, and a visit from God.....

Thanks for reading!

-----MooShoo-----