What had seemed like a shadow just a moment ago suddenly surged towards him. The revealed attacker - a snarling wolf-like creature - was already within the reach of Larkin’s weapon. It was only thanks to his enhanced reaction that he was able to drop his spear and throw himself out of the way, the monster’s mass brushing narrowly past him.

  But even before he could regain his balance a second shadow reared up behind him. The monster seemed to materialise smoothly from the undergrowth, all sinew and sharp teeth.

  It seemed less threatening after an arrow skewered it through the neck though. It paused for a moment, before a second - arrowless - blow smashed into the side of its jaw.

  Even as the creature fell with a thump, what Larkin thought was the first monster was sprinting towards him again. Larkin narrowly spun away from it, catching more movement out of the corner of his eyes.

  He could feel his Fighter Class clamouring for it to take over, but Larkin pushed that sensation firmly away.

  Instead he moved towards the first monster. He bent his knees and brought his shield forward to collide into the leaping Tooth, drawing a satisfying pained noise from the beast as they crashed together.

  Then a shadow darted in from his right, jaws appearing as they moved to close around his upper thigh. Larkin was just able to sidestep away from that, even as he drew his arming sword.

  The Tooth appeared again and he slashed at it, only for it to dart aside. And that attack left him open as another monster leapt at him from his left. But mid-spring it gave a gasping sound as an arrow appeared in its side. Larkin only staggered a little as it collided with him, shrugging off the weight as he moved further away, putting his back against a tree.

  He kept his blade moving around while he tried to keep track of all the monsters prowling around in front of him. The motion of the sword seemed to make the Teeth cautious, at least. And as they hesitated he saw another pitch to the ground with fletching jutting out of its neck.

  But the reprieve was short-lived as suddenly all three remaining monsters were surging towards him.

  Listening to his Fighter Class instincts he darted to his left, abandoning the protection of the tree as he sent a swing at the nearest monster to make it abandon its charge. The monster reared back in response and Larkin spun around to keep all three of them in sight.

  No, all four of them - where had that last one appeared from?

  The damn tree was the answer, he realised. It had been just about to jump down when Larkin had unknowingly moved aside.

  Feeling his grit grinding together in frustration, Larkin kept moving. The monsters were quick and knew how to work together. It was obvious that they’d eventually be able to box him in.

  But fortunately he wasn’t alone, as was demonstrated when another one of the monsters collapsed. Larkin listened to his Class instincts and immediately rushed towards the nearest Teeth as they all paused at the sight of their now prone fellow.

  The monster gave a soft growl as it ducked under Larkin’s blade, but that was a feint. The edge of his shield slammed into the Tooth’s head and while he doubted it did any permanent damage, it certainly got a startled yelp.

  And, crucially, made the monster go still for a moment.

  Larkin’s sword came down, the blade dipping in between the creature’s shoulder blades. The body quivered, almost taking the blade from Larkin’s hand but he tightened his group and ripped the weapon out.

  He caught sight of the other two monsters moving towards him. The one to his right was closest but Larkin forced himself to ignore its charge and focus on the other one.

  That one rushed him and crucially didn’t notice its fellow suddenly go sprawling to the ground with an arrow in its side. The monster darted to Larkin’s left, trying to distract him while the other Tooth delivered a blow. But that obviously didn’t happen and instead Larkin struck it deep across its flank.

  His blade ran from the monster’s upper chest down to its rear legs, and the Tooth made a pained noise before collapsing to the ground.

  As the monster gave a choked cough, Larkin quickly looked around. But apart from the now still monsters all he saw nearby was the approaching Jasset.

  “That went well!” The Scout told him cheerfully, glancing around the trees. “We got all seven that were stalking us.”

  The dark haired girl seemed oblivious to the scowl on Larkin’s face.

  “We’ll need to look for more of course. Shadowteeth usually have their young hunting with them but this lot had none…”

  Realising that the Scout wasn’t going to acknowledge what had happened, Larkin spoke up.

  “You used me as bait!”

  As soon as the words were out he felt his anger rising again.

  “You sent me straight towards them.”

  Now that the fight was over, he could acknowledge just how terrifying the ambush had been. The monsters had appeared as if by magic, and it had been all he could do to avoid being immediately swarmed.

  “Of course you were bait.” The girl told him. “That’s your role.”

  The Scout seemed completely surprised that he would be unhappy with that position.

  “So I should be monster bait because you can’t find the damn things?” He snapped.

  Only for Jasset to glare right back.

  “I found those monsters, you idiot.” She retorted. “And it only took so long because you were blundering about like the stupid cityboy that you obviously are.”

  Larkin felt his left eye twitch as he glared at the girl. Only for an amused voice to cut over them.

  “Let me stop you both there.”

  Jorg appeared before them, and Larkin gave a surprised grunt - he’d almost forgotten the Dwarf was with them.

  “That was the first fight that the two of you have had when you’re the only ones together.” The Shieldbearer said calmly. “Now that we have some time, let’s talk about what went well.”

  The Dwarf paused and then raised an eyebrow.

  “Does anyone want to go first, or do I have to pick someone?”

  Larkin found himself sharing a confused look with Jasset, before the girl jerked her head away.

  “Okay, lass, you can go first.” Jorg told her. “From your perspective, what went well?”

  The Scout made a face, clearly uncomfortable. Larkin internally compared her to one of the kids at school who were suddenly asked a question when they hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Well… we killed all the monsters.” She slowly said. “Probably anyway. We need to check out their lair.”

  Jorg gave an amused grunt.

  “I doubt we’ll find anything.” He said. “But let’s leave that for now. I want to hear what you think went well, not just a summary of what happened.”

  Yep, the comparison with school was on the money.

  Larkin felt an unwanted flash of sympathy for Jasset as she squinted off to the side while thinking of an answer.

  “I was able to find the trails of the monsters easily enough.” She said and then, clearly reluctantly, she added. “Larkin did a good job occupying the monsters when they attacked.”

  Jorg gave a nod and then, to Jasset’s obvious relief, turned away from the girl.

  “Okay, your turn Larkin.”

  The boy kept the frown from his face as he tried to come up with an answer.

  “Jasset did find the monsters.” He reluctantly acknowledged. “And her Second Shot was useful. But she still used me as bait!”

  The Dwarf raised a hand to forestall his words.

  “Let’s focus on the positives for now.” He said. “Believe me, we’ll talk plenty about what could be improved upon.”

  The Shieldbearer stared both of them in the face.

  “Your partnership against the monsters was good, especially for the first time.”

  The Dwarf ran a hand through his thick beard as he glanced at the nearest monster.

  “A melee Classbearer occupying the attacks of monsters while a ranged Classbearer cuts them down is a tried and tested approach. But even then you both fit your roles well - I’ve certainly seen worse.”

  Larkin shared a surprised look with Jasset and this time he was the one who turned away.

  “But there’s some less positive areas we need to discuss.”

  At Jorg’s words both of them looked at him. Who, in turn, gave a shake of his head.

  “I’m going to have both of you think about what you should have done better.” He told them, and Larkin felt a familiar weary sense of being assigned homework.

  “But, to start, some initial questions.”

  He looked at Larkin.

  “Why did you immediately decide it was Ironteeth that you were hunting? Even when Jasset mentioned that there were a whole lot of similar monsters?”

  Larkin felt himself thinking about that, even as his gaze went to the bodies of what were clearly not Ironteeth. They were actually smaller than the other monsters had been but the biggest difference was how they had acted.

  They’d been a proper pack. He thought. Not lone wolves. Or lone Teeth, I guess..

  “And Jasset.” Jorg continued, turning to the girl. “You’ve never worked with Larkin before like this, and you know that he’s new to the guild and to adventuring in general. You clearly heard him jump to a conclusion without support, and yet you didn’t have any conversation with him about what you were planning.”

  “Why did you assume that he would know what you were planning with the monsters? Why didn’t you discuss your approach before you entered the woods?”

  The girl made a familiarly unhappy face, but didn’t reply and seemed to be actually thinking about the Dwarf’s words.

  “We’ll talk about all that when we’re back in Gavlim.” Jorg said, before giving them a smile. “But you completed your goal, so don’t beat yourselves up about it.”

  Those words reminded Larkin of something that the Dwarf had said.

  “Why do you think there aren’t any other Shadowteeth around?” He asked.

  Jasset’s head picked up at those words, as the girl gave Jorg a similarly confused look. The Dwarf in response gestured to one of the corpses.

  “Have a look at that, and tell me.”

  Larkin walked over to the body and peered down, noticing but not commenting on Jasset coming over to his side.

  This was one of the monsters that the girl had killed - one of her arrows had gone all the way through its neck so that there was a faint glint of metal at one side and the last bits of fletching at the other.

  “Ah.”

  The soft noise from Jasset had him glance inadvertently at the girl. She was staring down at the hindquarters of the monster. Following her gaze, Larkin saw another wound on the creature.

  “That’s odd.” The Scout said, kneeling down to look closer. “Maybe three or four days old. It’s started to heal but must have still been affecting the beast.”

  Larkin nodded but was still confused. And annoyingly he seemed alone in that.

  “Someone hunted the Shadowteeth.” Jasset said, looking at Jorg. “Drove them.”

  The Dwarf nodded.

  “Regular people wouldn’t be able to hunt a monster like that, so most likely it had to be a Classbearer. But rather than finish the job they apparently let the pack enter into Girant without even telling the Guild.”

  Larkin felt himself starting to understand even as the Dwarf continued.

  “There are usually lots of packs of Shadowteeth in the Lesser Morass.”

  Which was the area to the southeast of Girant, Larkin knew. A desolate place that seemed to be inhabited solely by monsters.

  “They normally steer well clear of the Wards, though.” Jorg continued. “I’d guess that someone forced these creatures out - which would explain why they got this close to Gavlim.”

  That was an alarming thought but Jorg didn’t let them dwell on that.

  “Jasset, do a round of the woods to make sure that there aren’t any monsters left.” He told the Scout before giving Larkin an amused look.

  “There’s a number of things I know that you haven’t learned about adventuring yet.” He said cheerfully. “Let’s start with how to butcher a corpse.”

  Larkin had actually seen that before but the villager he’d met on the road, Horg, hadn’t been as quick as Jorg was nor had he explained what he was doing. It was grisly work, but since Larkin was responsible for making some of the bodies he didn’t feel right to complain about that.”

  No, it was the deftness required that he struggled with. Jorg let him practice with the final corpse and Larkin felt that he made a real pig’s breakfast of it.

  Jorg laughed when he said as much, though he didn’t disagree.

  They loaded up after all that with Jorg taking most of the skins and Jasset - who joined them and reported that there was indeed no sign of any other monsters - took the rest of them. Which left Larkin to carry the seven carcasses on his back.

  Thanks to his Fighter Class that wasn’t a huge encumbrance, though. But he was somewhat discomforted about all the raw meat over his shoulders.

  Jasset took the lead again as they returned to the village with Larkin in the middle and Jorg again taking rearguard.

  The gathered villagers seemed happy with the news that the monsters were gone, but that was nothing to their reaction when Jorg told them that they could have all of the meat from the monsters.

  “No one dislikes monster meat.” The Dwarf grinned as told that to Larkin and Jasset in an undertone.

  Having tasted some himself, Larkin could well understand why.

  The three of them were going to take the skins back with them, and Larkin was dimly surprised to see Jorg pull out a pouch and count seven large bronze coins into the elder’s hands.

  “Keep the bones.” The Shieldbearer told the man. “A merchant should be able to give you some money for them. Make sure not to accept anything less than half a throne for each, though.”

  The Dwarf weathered the tearful thanks of the elder, but politely and repeatedly refused the offer to stay the rest of the day in the village. Which made sense considering it had only just about reached midday.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Both Larkin and Jasset were quiet on the way back; for his part, Larkin was trying to get his mind over events with the Shadowteeth. Attempting to get his thoughts to match what Jasset was thinking.

  And struggling, he admitted to himself. The way that the girl goes about things just seems so overly direct to me.

  Though the difference in how he thought about things compared to one of the natives of Systemia did have him think about Lyzkel’s warnings again.

  Glancing over at Jorg, he hesitated before saying something.

  “Do you know much about these Chosen?” He finally asked, remembering the odd reaction that the Dwarf had shown back when Cezar had given them the news.

  The Shieldbearer glanced back almost impassively.

  “I haven’t heard anything more from Haugar, lad.” Jorg replied.

  Though Larkin just shook his head at that.

  “No, not them.” He clarified. “I meant the Chosen of Ariand.”

  He was staring right at the Dwarf, so saw the slight irritated twitch of his eyes.

  So he does know something!

  Jorg took a breath, then glanced over at Jasset. The dark haired girl was also regarding him with evident interest.

  “Fine.” The Shieldbearer said, sounding resigned. “Though it’s not particularly relevant.”

  “But back in the Axehearth we still tell the history of the Chosen of Ariand.” Jorg told them. “It’s recorded in our… Dwarfen Annals of Achievement, would be the translation.”

  Larkin just nodded to that, but Jasset jumped in.

  “You mean that some of the Chosen were Dwarfs?” She asked.

  Only for Jorg to chuckle.

  “Lass, they were all Dwarfs.” He corrected her. “Though I guess it would make sense that other people might not want to focus on that.”

  The girl blinked at that, but Larkin felt his thoughts going elsewhere.

  “Where did they end up?” He instead asked the Dwarf. “Once the whole civil war in that old empire was done with?”

  The Shieldbearer gave him an amused look.

  “I can tell you’ve been speaking with Lyzkel.” Jorg told him. “Don’t think many people in Girant will have even heard of the Dhavian Empire.”

  Larkin gave an uncertain nod, though he noted the irritated confusion on Jasset’s face.

  “But to answer your question, they scattered all over the place.” Jorg told him. “Two of them went to the Iron Reach, where they stayed for a time. And I know that some went over the seas to Avasca.”

  “After the successor states formed from the old empire, the story of the Chosen becomes uncertain.” The Shieldbearer continued. “It becomes murkier too. At least some of them seem to have gotten into fights with the temple, and there’s a story about one of them going into exile amongst the Ogre clans south of the Runic Kingdom, of all places.”

  The Dwarf didn’t have much else to say about the Chosen after that, seeming to lapse into a moody silence. The three of them made good time, though. So it was still just about afternoon by the time they reached Gavlim.

  “The pair of you need to bathe.” The Dwarf told them when they reached the guildhouse, and the three of them had deposited the skins onto one of the heavy tables.

  “I’ll get Gascon to record these, and then arrange to get them sent over to Haugar.” Jorg added. “Take it easy: we’ll catch up tomorrow.”

  The Shieldbearer left them after that and Larkin shared an uncertain look with Jasset.

  He still wasn’t sure how he felt about the girl’s actions. It might no longer be quite as cold blooded as he’d initially thought but he still wasn’t happy at being monster bait.

  The girl seemed conflicted as well. But before the silence could get too awkward she spoke up.

  “Well… night. See you tomorrow.” The Scout turned and went up the stairs towards the women's changing rooms.

  Larkin gave it a moment and then went into the men’s; glad that Girant had similar approaches to gender segregation as back on Earth. Once he no longer smelt like he’d spent hours carrying raw meat on his back, he headed over to the temple.

  It took him a while to weave his way through the crowds standing in the open inner courtyard. Dusk seemed to be a key moment for attendance and the grounds of the temple were filled.

  They still just look like they’re hanging out, he thought as he made his way through the press.

  The informality of the goings-on in the temple, at least to his eye, seemed weird. But everyone else seemed okay with it. He did see a dozen or robed people wandering around but they mostly seemed to be chatting and laughing with everyone else.

  But as he approached the inner building, with the six statues surrounding it, he saw that a dense knot or priests were gathered together. He recognised the old priest that had been present when he’d reported the Firestingers to the guild.

  The old man seemed to be having an intense discussion with the others about something or other, and Larkin walked past without getting any attention.

  He glanced up at the statues as he approached, his eyes drawn once again to the dancing fires on the cupped hands of Padam.

  That’s damn impressive, he thought with a faint grin.

  He glanced back as he approached the discrete staircase, and saw that from that perspective the mass of people seemed to be slowly coalescing into a waiting audience in front of the bunch of priests.

  I guess a service is about to start. He gave a mental shrug as he turned his back. It still seems oddly chaotic than back on Earth.

  His progress stalled further when he reached Jillian’s office.

  “Oh, good evening!” The matronly woman told him with a warm smile. “Are you here to see the Priestess?”

  Larkin nodded, hoping that this might lead to the woman actually letting him pass. But instead he had to endure a very long story about how Jillian and Lyzkel used to travel together.

  “I remember when we were chased by some horribly rude Goblins.” Jillian said. “Lyzkel had been leaving them some food on their journey, you see - the old bird is such a dear - and it got them all riled up.”

  The old woman shook her head, a memory of some great strain coming to her face.

  “We ended up having to up and run for the walls of Taurgan.” She gave a shiver. “I’ve never been so happy to see those Ilchin soldiers.” She added.

  “This was years ago, mind.” Jillian admitted, though Larkin had already guessed that. “I was more spry in those days.” She added with a self-deprecating pat of her admittedly ample stomach.

  “You seem healthy enough to me, ma’am.” Larkin said, more out of politeness than honesty. “Now, if I could just…”

  “Oh, bless you Larkin.” Jillian cut over him, not seeming to notice the way he was slowly creeping his way towards the door. “But you wouldn’t have said that if you’d seen me in my prime!”

  “I was quite the beauty.” She said with a conspiratorial look. “Though I fear that I didn’t realise it properly at the time. Let that be a lesson to you - we only live once, and…”

  Her words cut off as the door behind her opened and Lyzkel’s beak peaked out.

  “Larkin. I wondered who had set Jill off.” She said the last with a fond look at the older woman, before gesturing at him. “Come on in.”

  With profound relief, though hiding it as best he could with a polite nod at Jillian, Larkin escaped into the Priestess’ sanctum.

  Though he did give her a sour look once they were alone.

  “How long were you listening to that?” He asked.

  And his suspicion was confirmed by the Avorean’s chuckle.

  “Jillian does wonders at keeping down the people that might otherwise bother me.” She replied. “You’d be amazed at how many suddenly decide that their need isn’t so important after all once they have to speak to her to get to me.”

  She let Larkin into her chambers and then glanced at the sideboard.

  “Would you like some refreshments?”

  But Larkin shook his head. He remembered the awful drink she’d served him last time.

  “No, I’m here about…” He found himself glancing around, absurd as it was that someone might be hiding in the Priestess’ chamber. “... about magic.”

  Lyzkel gave an unsurprised nod.

  “Of course. I’ve been expecting you to raise it earlier, to be honest.”

  There was no hint of reprimand in her voice but Larkin felt a sense of embarrassment regardless. He had meant to visit sooner but the exercises under Jorg had taken up so much of his energy.

  And, if he was honest, he wasn’t sure how Lyzkel could even help him control his Null Mage abilities.

  “Well, you’re here now.” The Priestess said. “So let’s start.”

  Despite her words, the Avorean went quiet for a few moments. Her feathered fingers made a staccato on the surface of the table as she silently regarded him.

  “From what you’ve said, your old world didn’t have any form of magic at all.” She finally said. “And of course the prayers of your gods would be very different from ours. Have you been to any of the evening masses since you’ve been here?”

  At Larkin’s shake of the head a dry smile came to her face.

  “Dear Maguire will be quite devastated.” She teased him gently.

  That would be the old guy out front, he guessed.

  “Not that the Six means anything to you, I suppose.”

  The Priestess didn’t wait for an answer, shaking her head as though banishing that thought as she straightened in her chair.

  “You’ve seen this before, of course.” She said, raising a hand.

  A golden light burst into life from her palm, filling the room with a rosy glow.

  Larkin nodded, she’d used that in the Priory when they first met.

  “This is, essentially, magic.” Lyzkel told him. “It’s not often talked about, but all Classbearers have some ability in this regard. I assume that you’ve seen the Skills that your new guild members have at their disposal?”

  He paused as he thought about that.

  Second Shot is obviously impressive - and wildly impossible - but it doesn’t have the lightshow component. And I don’t think I’ve actually seen Cezar use any Skills.

  “I’ve seen one of Jorg’s Skills.” He said. “That led to a bright light, sort of like this.”

  The Avorean Priestess raised her eyebrow.

  “The light is usually a sign of some particularly overt magic.” She noted. “Would that mean that you’ve seen our lovely Dwarf’s Wild Challenge?”

  Larkin blinked even as he nodded.

  She’s good at guessing, he thought ruefully.

  “You mean that it’s a magic-like attack?” He asked, feeling his excitement grow. “So maybe my Fighter Class could…?”

  He cut off, question not even asked, as Lyzkel was shaking her head.

  “It’s true that I’m no expert on Classes.” She admitted. “But trying to draw any similarities between Fighter and Shieldbearer would be unwise.”

  Larkin frowned at her.

  “But… Shieldbearer is the Dwarf equivalent of Fighter, right?” He asked, only to flush as the Priestess openly chortled.

  “Or something like that?” He muttered, sure that Jorg had implied as much.

  “They are not completely unrelated.” Lyzkel admitted. “But the Shieldbearer Class is a distinctly Dwarfen one, that is usually evolved from the Fighter Class.”

  That’s new, Larkin thought.

  “Classes can evolve?”

  The Priestess nodded.

  “It’s rare, but yes.” Larkin had lots more questions but Lyzkel waved them away.

  “That is a much disputed development, and we’re getting off topic.” She told him. “The important thing is that what I just demonstrated, and Jorg’s Wild Challenge too, are ultimately Skills and therefore not something that can be taught.”

  “What you need to understand is the concept of prayers.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Watch.” She told him.

  And then went still; very still. Her gaze seemed to lose focus and Larkin watched her take a series of very slow in and out breaths. He watched, feeling somehow nervous as his brain started to unconsciously count the exhales the priestess was making.

  At the seventh, a pale luminescence suddenly came into being around the Avorean.

  “There.” Lyzkel said with evident satisfaction. And her smile widened further as she looked up at Larkin.

  “Very impressive, don’t you think?”

  Larkin, who had been thinking quite the opposite, felt himself flush.

  “Uh… it’s something else, that’s for sure.”

  His stammering resulted in a tittering laugh from the Avorean.

  “Not quite the stuff of stories, is it?” She asked, glancing down at the pale light surrounding her feathers. “A party trick, really.”

  Her eyes went back to him.

  “This is called the Chant of High Radiance. It’s used by followers of the Six to protect them from diseases and minor wounds.”

  Larkin blinked at the Avorean. That certainly seemed at least a little impressive, but…

  “You didn’t chant.” He observed.

  Which got another laugh from Lyzkel.

  “The words used are a prayer to the patron of one’s choice.” She explained “In mine case it’s Caitlyn, but though the words change they are generally interchangeable. An exhortation for protection.”

  “Belief is a powerful tool, Larkin. But right now you don’t have any in the gods of Systemia. Nor, given circumstances, would it be reasonable to expect any.”

  Larkin found himself nodding awkwardly at that acknowledgement by Lyzkel that the Six were lying to their followers about the destruction of their old planets.

  She really doesn’t seem like the most strict of believers either, he thought.

  Unaware of his internal conversation, the Priestess shrugged and the light vanished as though she’d flicked a switch.

  “But the chant isn’t really required.” She told him. “It is, to be blunt, a crux to allow disciples to learn the prayer easier than they would otherwise.”

  The Avorean glanced at him.

  “Are you aware of the difference between Spells and prayers?”

  Larkin slowly shook his head.

  The Priestess grinned.

  “There is fundamentally one key difference between Spells and prayer.” She told him.

  “One comes from the caster and the other is granted by the patron - one of the Six.” The Priestess raised a hand. “That is why only Classbearers can use magic, but there are thousands of people - or even more - who can use prayers.”

  The Avorean chuckled, scratching at the lid of her right eye.

  “Amongst the temples, one of the requirements for becoming a fully ordained priest is that you have performed at least one successful prayer. Part of the role of the clergy is to receive the messages from the Six, after all, and send them messages that they require.”

  Larkin nodded - he could only guess that the Six had ways of ensuring their followers didn’t bombard them with messages.

  Can’t imagine trying to spam a god would go well, he thought with a smirk.

  “So, do you want me to learn this chant?” He asked.

  The Avorean nodded.

  “Spell, yes.” She said. “That’s correct.”

  “I will be frank.” She added. “I don’t know if this will work. But at the moment, you have no idea of how to use magic. And, at its heart, prayers are magic.”

  Lyzkel scratched her beak as an amused smile came to her face.

  “Many would object to this but I view the basic form of the Chant of Holy Radiance, the Chant of Aid, the Shield Spell, and many others so similar as to essentially be the same thing with minor variations.”

  The Avorean gave him a fixed look.

  “And you will learn it.”

  Larkin nodded back - he could certainly get on board with that. The idea of actually getting a Spell for his Null Mage Class would be worth whatever drudgery Lyzkel’s training would take.

  But…

  “I don’t actually have to start worshiping the Six, do I?” He asked.

  I don’t think I can just decide to do that, he thought, whatever the benefit might be.

  His embarrassment was mitigated at Lyzkel’s shake of the head.

  “No, that is certainly not needed.” She told him. “And besides, it is only Caitlyn that you will be connecting with.”

  Well, that seems clear enough.

  “What do I do?” He eagerly asked.

  The Priestess smiled and gestured to the chair across from her. When he sat down she bade him relax as much as possible.

  “Sit up straight rather than slouch but you don’t need to strain yourself. You may find it easier to keep your eyes closed but I’ll let you decide on what works best for you. And you can keep your arms on the chair rests, on your lap, or wherever feels best.”

  She gave him a moment to settle - he decided that he’d keep his eyes closed.

  “You’ll need to get your breathing right.” Lyzkel told him. “Take a deep breath in, hold it for two seconds, then slowly release it all, hold for two seconds, and take another deep breath.”

  After a beat, she added.

  “Yes, that’s right. Make sure to really expand your chest when you breathe in.”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  For several minutes, all that Larkin could hear was his own steady breathing. And then Lyzkel spoke again.

  “And now, imagine a force rising from your skin. It will surround and protect you.”

  Despite himself, Larkin opened his eyes and stared at the Avorean.

  “What do you mean, just do that?” He asked, voice cracking in disbelief. “You’re telling me to just do the spell?”

  Lyzkel remained calm despite his outburst.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.” She replied. “But you’ll need to sit properly and work on your breathing again.”

  Larkin stared at the priestess for several seconds.

  “You called it a chant, right.” He said. “Shouldn’t I say the words of that?”

  But she shook her head, maintaining her relaxed demeanour and he finally accepted that she wasn’t joking.

  She wouldn’t be messing with me, he thought. It was her idea to do this in the first place.

  So he tried it. He really did. Sitting on the comfortable seat with his eyes squeezed shut, Larkin took several deep breaths in and out and tried to replicate Lyzkel’s act of getting pale light to surround him.

  But after several minutes spent like that he opened his eyes with a muttered curse.

  “It’s not working.” He complained to Lyzkel, rather needlessly. “I can’t feel anything.”

  A tolerant smile was the priestess’ response.

  “That’s probably because you aren’t sitting comfortably and working on your breathing.” She told him with maddening calmness. “Try again.”

  The rest of the session passed in that maddening fashion. Larkin spent his time just sitting there, listening to his own stupid breathing and feeling a fool as he tried to do something. Anything.

  And Lyzkel’s response to his every complaint was the same.

  “Try again.”

  Larkin left the temple feeling like an idiot. Even Lyzkel’s reassurances at the end that he should continue to practice and should visit the temple again the next evening failed to alleviate that.

  I managed nothing, he growled to himself. Apart from wasting both of our time.

  He found himself wondering if maybe it would be better to just focus on the Fighter Class. At least he knew he was able to do that.

  No, he sternly corrected himself, I want this. I need to get this working. I’ll do what I need to get the stupid Class working properly.

  Right now though, all he had to show for it was a headache.