Jorish paced around as he thought about the last few minutes. He felt his hands numbing before he finally relaxed them. He realized he must've had them clenched for the entire duration of that fight. I mean, who wouldn’t? He wondered as he thoughts about that clash

I wonder. He thought. I have always wondered.

He didn't know if he truly wanted to know the answer to the question that had plagued him ever since that day. The day he was set to burn. The day that changed his life.

He stood filled with adrenaline and thoughts as he turned to look at Traves. The traveler looked no worse for wear after his clash. He looked completely relaxed if not for the trickle of blood that dripped from the side of his lips.

Jorish was not strong or knowledgeable enough to follow every single motion. Yet he knew that the traveler's injury in the fight was not caused by the northerner. Instead, it was caused by his own actions. He walked away from the northerner, either too lazy or not caring enough to finish him off. Jorish didn’t know for sure.

Jorish turned his head towards Cail. I never truly understood them. He thought about his last few months. He could say with confidence that those months were more eventful than his entire life. Yet, his companions that traveled with him were a mystery.

And it kept getting worse. The longer he interacted with them the less he felt he understood. At first, he thought he understood Traves. He lived freely, did what he wanted and didn’t understand what consequences even mean. But he was strong, and he could make do with whatever he wanted.

Cail was like his shadow and at times the sound of reason. He seemed to be there to stop Traves from going out of control. Most of the time it was Traves who caused all the troubles, did all the fighting and resolved the issues. All while Cail would sigh in the background.

The longer he traveled with them, the more he understood that he didn’t know as much as he thought. Traves’ arbitrary acts were not always as random as they seemed. Cail was not as cold as he appeared. He just couldn’t understand them.

Finally, Jorish gathered his determination. He trusted the Traveler, yet that question was painful. He believed in the Traveler, yet many things were out there.

“Traves, I know you just came out of a fight. But do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Oh, yes of course Jorish! Curious about something?”

“Do you remember when you first met me back in Zeltol?”

“Ah, yes! It was an interesting time. And the food we had there was exquisite!”

“I just want to know. Back then, when I had lashed out. You knew I was in trouble, didn’t you?”

“Yup. I did.”

“And you could’ve saved me before I was set to be burned.”

“Of course.” Traves replied, smiling.

Somehow, hearing that didn’t shock Jorish. What Traves said wasn’t something surprising. He had already expected it and even instinctively knew about it the longer he traveled with Traves.

“Then, why did you help me?”

Traves looked at Jorish as his smile disappeared, replaced by a somber look. “Listen, I will be honest Jorish. I met you and I saw it in you. You hated your life. You wanted a chance to break out of your chains.”

Traves kept staring at Jorish as he continued. “I know of the way the system was in the cities. And I saw it in you. I didn’t save you, you saved yourself. I am no hero, I just live freely and do what I truly want. You were determined to break your chains, and I just felt like giving you the push. So I gave you the chance, the chance to break your chains.”

“That, and I like you!” winked Traves as he smiled

“Then, if I wasn’t truly determined at that time…?”

“If I saw you have a look at any point there, a look where you truly wished for death and release….”

“I would’ve granted you mercy.”

Jorish didn’t understand himself. He wasn’t mad at Traves, he wasn’t upset. Instead, a smile crept into his face as he faced Traves, who wore a similar smile.

Finally, Jorish had his answer. As Traves moved to his new destination, he started thinking. He knew why he wasn’t upset. He was actually happy.

It wasn’t an act of charity.

He didn’t take pity on me

Then… I must not disappoint him

Jorish’s fists tightened again, and he could barely see the smile of Traves widen.

- - - - - -

A few days later, Jorish panted as he stumbled behind the group. He had yet to get used to his new routine as they traveled.

After waking up, he would start with breakfast. Traves would never miss out on food. Nor would he accept to eat on a rush or something subpar. Food seemed to be the one thing that Traves would not compromise on. Thought Jorish.

After breakfast, Jorish would have some “light” sparing with Anise. He would then recover whatever remained of his broken bones and dignity. Later he would study some more about energy with Cail before lunch. Finally, he would be trained by Traves, which means some more “sparing”. A funny way to say “torture”. Thought Jorish.

As he caught up with the group, he noticed that they had stopped walking. He walked next to Anise, following her line of sight. In front of them, was a small opening that crawled in the sands, barely visible.

Traves broke the silence as he exclaimed “Oh! I wonder what we found here. Let’s go check it out!”

Jorish sighed as he followed Traves. Those must be some really good die huh. Thought Jorish as he snickered.

Traves walked in front as they entered the mysterious structure. Jorish could not see any light source, yet he could see everything clearly. It was a mystical feeling as he saw everything without feeling any source of light underground. He walked in wonder as he looked around the weirdly inscribed walls.

Traves suddenly stopped as he stood in front of a stone stele. The group waited behind him as he stared at the weird inscribed stone before he spoke.

“Oh, how lucky! It seems that this might be a nice thing for you kids! I can’t tell you much, but this will help you as long as you can persist at what those trials ask of you!”

Trials? Thoughts Jorish, his blood boiling. The longer things go, the more he understood how weak he was. He needed an opportunity, not to become special or strong. But instead, to get ever closer to the starting line. The line that everyone else was at. He knew how everyone younger than him was stronger. He was weak. He knew.

“Alright kids, stop dilly-dallying! Jorish, go to the first tunnel to the left. Anise, first one to the right!”

Jorish followed Traves’ instructions as he glanced backward, seeing something shining in Traves’ hand. His thoughts interrupted as his consciousness was plunged into nothingness.

- - - - -

Jorish woke up as he found himself in an unfamiliar location. He looked around, seeing nothing but black. Suddenly, contrasting all the darkness, he saw an old man approaching. He glanced at his gentle looks and wrinkly face as he noted how he could see him despite the world being colored in black. He thought about how that contrasted all the laws of reality he knew.

“Calm, child. It is indeed not completely real. Yet not completely fake.”

Great, another puzzle guy. Thought Jorish.

The old man smiled, almost as if he could read Jorish thoughts. He said. “I have spoken with your guardian already and he told me what you needed.”

Jorish could suddenly see the world change in a flash. Within a moment the darkness morphed into a wooden room. The room was decorated with beautiful patterns decorating its wooden walls. It was empty, save for a weapon rack at its edge filled with various weapons.

Jorish glanced at the old man as he walked towards the weapons rack before following him. Reaching it, the old man spoke.

“I will help you find the weapon for you. None knows where their destiny lays, perhaps the weapon destined for you is something you have never even seen yet.”

Jorish couldn’t argue with that logic. He trusted Traves’ judgment but even he wasn’t completely certain. He looked at the old man expectantly as he continued. “Let’s see…. Hmm… We can start with a classic one.” Jorish clumsily extended his hands to catch the sword that was thrown in his direction.

“Well, Child, work hard. This will take you only as far your will can.”

Jorish was confused by the old man’s words as he felt the world shift again. Suddenly, he was now in another empty room. Except that this time, the room was plain. Ceiling too high for him to each, and walls too far to see.

Across the room he could see another figure, clothed in black. The figure wore a dagger as it approached him.

He is weaker and slower than me. Decided Jorish as he took note of all he learned in the last few months. He could approximate how strong they were after his endless spars and lessons.

Jorish held the sword in his hand in front of him as he prepared to face the figure. He was no swordsman, but against a weaker opponent such as that, it wouldn’t be an issue.

Now finally in striking range, Jorish swung his sword. He was careful to not overextend or overdo it with his strike. He was much faster than the black-clothed figure. He knew that it was not possible to dodge his strike and it would have to be blocked. He was stronger, so he knew that he would break the target’s guard.

His plans and thoughts were interrupted as the sword and dagger clashed. I have won. Thought Jorish the moment he felt the weapons meet. A moment later, about to prepare to strike the figure down, Jorish felt a pain in his chest.

He froze as he looked down, he saw the clothed figure kneeling in front of him, dagger in hand. That same dagger was embedded into Jorish’s chest as he felt endless pain for a moment as the world turned into black.

- - - - -

Anise stood confused as she looked around an empty white room. She held her weapon tight in her hand as she prepared for a fight. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a figure. She prepared to jump and smash it, that was all I am good for anyway. She thought.

Unexpectedly, she could not move as the figure approached. Looking more clearly at the figure, she saw an old man. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t move as she kept struggling.

“Relax my child. We are not here to fight.” said the old man as he smiled.

What? She wondered as her stress and tension remained. This is a trial. I will have to fight, pave the way with blood. Or perhaps I would die, and rest from this pointless existence.

Anise could almost see a pitying and understanding look from the old man. Nobody understands. I have nothing left. Nothing left to gain, nothing left to lose. She thought. She turned her head towards the old man, surprised that she couldn’t feel any resistance.

“As long as you are not trying to hurt someone or something, nothing will block you, child.”

Anise got confused as she looked at the old man, forcing herself as she spoke coldly. “What is my trial?”

“Nothing.”

“What?” she muttered involuntarily

“You must accompany this old man to a cup of tea as we speak, child.” said the old man as the scene started changing. The white room morphed into a scene she never saw before. She saw the ever-familiar sand, yet it was different. Behind her were endless green and grass that went through endlessly, while in front of her was an endless pool of water that went on infinitely.

In the middle of the sands were two chairs and a table which had a tray. The tray held two cups and a teapot. The old man sat on one chair as Anise found herself sitting on the other one without thinking.

The old man bent down as he held the teapot, pouring tea gracefully on his cup. After what felt like an eternity, he moved to her cup as he did the same. They sat and no words were exchanged.

Anise sat in silence and many thoughts clashed in her mind. She kept doing stuff before, stopping her thoughts from catching up. I don’t want to think about it. Please… I don’t… She thought.

She sat barely holding on to her emotions. With nothing to do and being unable to do anything else as a mysterious force would cancel out her motion. She felt suffocated. She sat in silence for long, more and more thoughts piling up. Occasionally she would wonder about something random. How is that tea still hot? How is the old man’s cup not empty yet? Before she returns to her self deprecating thoughts.

The old man sat in silence. As she approached her breaking point, the old man finally spoke.

“Child… Tell me your story.”

Anise opened her mouth as she tried to speak. But instead, nothing came out but sobs as tears started rolling down her face as she cried. Releasing all the pain and suffocation she held inside of her all that time.

- - - - -

Traves stood, smiling, as he faced the old man.

The old man looked at Traves, appearing to not understand his thoughts, but of course. Thought Traves.

The old man finally spoke as he looked at Traves. “The Traveler was it? I wonder what you truly want.”

“Oh? What might you ever mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You have already lied plenty to those children. As long as you can hold? You know better than that. That’s not how the world works. Ever heard of energy conservation?” sighed the old man

“Well but of course! I did supply you with enough purple jade for that to be technically true though!”

“Traveler, do you understand how much you have put into this? Are you truly aware of what you are doing?” said the old man as he continued rambling

“You have just put more jade into this temple than every empire did in the last 500 years. Combined. And not only that! You have put a very huge amount of jade into the girl, one of the highest this temple has ever had for sure. Yet not impossible thinking of her talent and lineage. But what’s with the other child? Is he your illegitimate child or something? Do you have any idea how insane the amount of resources you pooled into that is?”

“Yea yea, you don’t need to concern yourself about my finances, Construct.” replied Traves while smiling

“Not only that, but you are not a monarch yet. You should’ve made use of it, using that jade to buy yourself time. To use it to breakthrough. Instead of just using a tiny bit to have a single day here. Is this a joke to you, traveler?”

The scenery changed as Traves’ released a will to battle. The old man stood in front of him, emitting endless power as two more arms appeared out of his body. He held three weapons as he faced Traves. A sword, an ax, and a spear. The old man started speaking. “You might be strong, traveler. Yet, this is a place where you train your true skills. Your body or energy does you no good here.”

The old man was stronger, faster and just better armed than the Traveler in every way, he knew. But the traveler smiled as he moved forward.

The traveler held a simple iron sword that appeared in his hands from the temple. He rushed forward as the old man attacked him.

Moments later, two clashes were heard.

One, the sword clashed with the sword and spear at a weird angle.

Two, the old man’s head was on the ground as the traveler smiled. The old man’s body disappeared into smoke and reappeared moments later asTraves spoke.

“First thing, Time is priceless indeed. Yet, it is the one thing I do not need. I could spend hundreds of years here and it would be pointless.”

“Second, I am no monarch. But I am no weaker than one. So your challenges here do not pose any risk for me nor do they help me. I just came here to let off some stress by cutting you up over and over. Do you know how hard it is to find such a good punching bag? I just hope you don’t break too soon.” winked Traves

“Finally, the reason I favor that man is really simple. It is way too simple. Because …”

- - - - -

Jorish stood again after his death. How many times has it been by now? He wondered. He knew that the mysterious target was much weaker and slower than him. Yet, he found himself with a dagger in his heart, guts, neck or head all the same.

The room reformed as the figure spoke. “Stop resisting and give up. Why do you force yourself to suffer endlessly like this?”

Was it because he didn’t want to be weak anymore? He shook his head. It was true that he didn’t want to be weak, yet wouldn’t this be pointless?

He shook away his thoughts as he prepared to face his foe. The pain from getting cut up, slashed, and stabbed over and over was not something anyone could ever get used to. His body shuddered as it remembered those sensations, as it prepared to feel them again.

He stood defensively as he thought again for how he would defeat this foe. Jorish didn’t know how many times he did this, nor did it matter. It will be the same anyway.

No.

Jorish stopped as words echoed in his memory

If you fight someone stronger than you, you must avoid forcing situations where brute strength is compared. You should try to be more sneaky and try to outspeed them, and just wear them down. And if they were faster than you instead, you must force them into situations where they must face you straight on, denying them of their strengths.

As the clothed figure got into range, preparing to plunge the dagger into its new sheath, Jorish stepped forward.

Having moved at the very last moment, the figure couldn’t react. As it’s dagger missed his heart, scratching the side of his chest instead. At that same moment, a boom sounded as Jorish’s sword blew through the figure, cutting it in half.

Jorish laughed as he spoke “Why you say? Why did I stand, facing failure after failure without an end in sight?”

“It is really simple. It is way too simple. Because…” paused Jorish as he finally added, smiling as all hesitation, doubt, and questions evaporated from his body. As he stood proud, back tall.

“I am the traveler’s disciple.”