It took a while, but eventually her parents were calm enough to take her out anywhere for more than an hour or two, normal life did have to resume. This normally came in the form of going about with her father, who seemed to have some kind of administrative job. While this was a respectable position, and she’d seen him de-escalate and solve a few situations even though she couldn’t understand what was being said, it was not a particularly exciting one when you couldn’t understand anything people were saying. It was a shame, because there were clearly a few snappy retorts that drew gasps and giggles that sounded like they were probably quite clever.

Now, her mother’s job… that was far more interesting. She still couldn’t understand anything, but she didn’t necessarily need to for this job. It was much more straightforward.

According to Vashnoruk, much of the time her mother went to work it was out hunting for the village, something they couldn’t bring her along on. Not only did they risk running into something they didn’t mean to, but they also had to deal with the fact that… well, she was a baby. She didn’t have the discipline to stay quiet, and apparently the local forest had been a bit stingy this year with its prizes. The winter last year stayed unusually long, was unusually bitter, and this year winter was beginning early once again. Due to all that, they couldn't afford to lose any edge they could get.

Patrol was out of the question for much the same reason. Already some were turning to desperate means to survive, as the fall had seen a few groups of parasites that destroyed common food sources. By the time they found the dungeon the lot was spilling from, many of the wild food sources easy to access to locals were destroyed or severely damaged. Bandits and brigands had increased significantly this year.

What she COULD accompany her on, though, was training. With all the chaos happening, they needed as much security as they could get. But that also meant that the power structure needed to be very clear. As the new batch of guards were often adventurers, there was often a very clear and direct method to creating that order.

Demonstration.

Though Aeva couldn’t make sense of the words directly, it was clear what was happening as she marched back and forth in front of the five. She wasn’t lecturing, per say, but she was explaining who she was and why they should follow her. Aeva had seen these five around time from time to time, but it was the other five guards standing off to the side watching that she guessed were the real target of this demonstration. She had seen the observers acting differently than the other guards, seeming to disregard rules.

Any doubts about what was being said were cleared up when the five looked hesitant, only to get a barked order by T’Kere. Instantly, they drew their arms. In this instance, it was spears and shields, the standard armament of the guard, though they were allowed to carry their favored weapons alongside.

Aeva was in a playpen off to the side, but she was already able to stand if she leaned against the walls of the pen, so she was more than a little eager to watch the ensuing fight. She had a perfect view, and was giggling excitedly. Her mother noticed how excited her baby was, unfortunately…

Unfortunately for the poor people she was about to absolutely trounce with a bit more oomph than she would have otherwise.

First target - the poor sap in the middle of the five. That blue-skinned inzi was the lucky one of the bunch, though. He went down fast. T’Kere all but materialized in front of him, crouched with her arms around his knees. No one seemed to realize this until she had hoisted him up in the air by his knees, head cracking against the ground as he fell back, weapons lost in the flailing. As he fell, his spine was met by her knee with a sick crack.

By now, the others had time to realize what was happening and react. She purposefully put herself in a compromised situation surrounded by them. The teal woman to her right tried with all her might to swing the spear around like one would a staff in an attempt to hit T’Kere in the face and knock her away from the downed man.

T’Kere stopped the shaft of the spear dead in its tracks by simply lifting her gasping, partially paralyzed victim so that it struck him in the knees. A foot planted into his back sent him flying into the woman who struck at her. Trying to catch the person T’Kere had launched, the woman just wound up falling on her ass. Not out of the game but briefly disabled. At least, that was until five bright golden spears appeared in the air above them, falling like rain to ram through her hands, feet, and gut, albeit in a non-lethal spot. She was thoroughly pinned, though her inzi healing factor would keep her alive until this encounter was done and she could get a proper healing to ensure everything closed up right.

Next, another young woman with deep blue skin snarled and thrust forward with the spear with significant force, throwing her whole body weight into the stab. The attack was simultaneously thwarted and successful, however, as it hit its mark dead on. Namely, T’Kere’s forehead… which she slammed right into the attack, which combined with the force of the attack snapped the spear below the head loudly, the steel tip of the spear bent nearly sideways. Without even a scratch on her forehead, T’Kere grabbed the remaining piece of spear from the stunned guardswoman, who was knocked out cold with a brutally swift strike to the head from the blunt wooden haft, which shattered to pieces in a spray of splinter.

At this point, Aeva was absolutely transfixed. She was right about her parents carrying firearms, but they clearly didn’t need them. He mom was a fucking badass. Did she just headbutt a spear?! She wanted to start training ASAP, the longer she trained under this absolute titan of a fighter the better. If she could get half as strong as her she’d be invincible!

Her admiration was only increased when the two remaining fighters shared a glance that decided to abandon honor and attack at once. Simultaneously, they decided to abandon the traditional spear and shield, one of them drawing a staff and the other a kanabo, a huge club with metal studs on it. The blue-green skinned staff wielder yelled a word, snapping out of existence before reappearing about thirty feet away, while the club user charged.

The club user, a huge nearly white skinned inzi, moved with remarkable speed. Despite his build, he had an incredible amount of points in speed, which became apparent with how fast they crossed the roughly twenty feet between the two. It left her no time at all to go after the staff user, really. A solid strategy. That club would mulch most things it hit, since their strength stat was no joke either… however…

She was not most things. She was T’Kere, Slayer of the Hra-Knagotha, Master of Spear and Blade, The Iron Wall of Sunasvir, and Queen of Ghosts. She saw the magically created metal leaving the knobbed, bulbous head of the staff extremely quickly. She saw the shiny studs of the well-cared for club of Captain Gr’Mo’Gir swinging forward.

She did nothing. She felt the still flexible metal wrap around her, binding her tight. Felt the hammer touch the side of her head.

Felt her neck snap like a fish under a sledgehammer.

Felt her wrists, elbows, shoulders, ribs, hips, knees, and ankles dislocate and then break by the binding of the metal.

Her body was ruined. Her muscle was lain bare in places,

Felt it all snap back into place as her skill Immortality: Transcendent Flesh kicked in, her bones returning to perfect order over a couple of seconds at most. The club, which was once embedded in her shoulder, popped out. The metal snapped loudly with its activation as her flesh expanded back to her original shape.

Both Aeva and the five witnesses were watching wide eyed as the entire maneuver was negated instantly as all damage was reversed. The witnesses other than Aeva were clearly startled, but Aeva was awestruck. She just died; there was no question. The way the bones of her neck jutted against the flesh left no doubts: her mother died in the moment that club connected with her. That neck snapped. But no doubt, it was corrected in very short order. No healing factor did that.

Was she some kind of immortal?