More combat training

You open your eyes to sunlight filtering into your tent. Shuffling sounds can be heard over by Blythe’s area, so you go out to investigate and see that she’s already rolling up her tent. She is once again in her green doublet and pleated skirt ensemble, although you do notice a change: it’s not as open as you had it before, but Blythe has popped a couple of the top buttons of her doublet on her own today. You’re glad to see her making progress towards accepting her desire to be seen. You yourself are still clad in your leather and chain armor and plain trousers. You say good morning to her, and proceed to pack up your own lodging, absentmindedly whistling one of your favorite songs as you do.

Once the camp is completely broken down, the two of you find {if BKnowsUrDL = 1}the same clearing you used to train yesterday{elseif@ BKnowsUrDL = 2}a nice clearing to train in{endif} and grab some weapon-adjacent branches to get started. The process is the same as yesterday: Blythe comes at you from every conceivable angle and beats you to a pulp as you try your best to throw the branch or your buckler into the path of her strikes. You’re initially mortified that this is what she calls training, but as you carry on you notice yourself blocking strikes you wouldn’t have even seen yesterday. You find that you don’t need to take as many breaks, either. By the end of the morning session, you’re beaten, sore, and can barely move, but you’re satisfied that you are indeed making progress.

“We should not return to where we camped before,” says Blythe. She has your arm hooked over her shoulders and is helping you walk through the forest.

“You’re right,” you say. “We need to keep moving now. There’s no way any ‘hero’ would pass on a chance to find and kill me{if BKnowsUrDL = 2}, and I haven’t exactly been hiding my tracks{endif}.” You both snack on random berries and herbs that Blythe spots as you go, not wanting to waste any time to stop and eat. Besides, you decide that forest forage tastes better than stale bread anyway.

“I fear this forest may be just as dangerous as the town,” says Blythe. “The rumors of intelligent monsters are very unsettling.”

As if on cue, a twig snaps of to your right. You look over, but there’s nothing but trees and bushes. There’s a sensation of something tightening around your thumb, but looking down you see nothing wrong and the feeling quickly goes away. Blythe watches you, concerned, but you brush it off and the two of you keep moving.

After a while, you’re able to walk just fine on your own again. The deeper into the forest you go, the more often you hear movement going on around you. Every once in a while, you catch a glimpse of a glob of fluid crawling up a tree, or the eyes of a massive wolf watching you through the brush. Blythe just keeps walking, so you follow her lead and try not to stare at anything. However, ignoring it all doesn’t work forever, because soon the two of you are surrounded by monsters. Encircling you is a group of griffins and dire wolves, none any larger than your old german shepherd used to be. I thought these things were supposed to be bigger, you think.

Blythe draws her rapier, and you ready your {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}. You stand back to back with her, ready to take on the threat. The monsters react instantly, cowering from your weapons and halting their approach. The dire wolves whine and bark at you, while the griffins hiss and bare their teeth. Hesitantly, one of the dire wolves starts creeping towards you again.

“Remember what I taught you, Evan,” says Blythe. “Try to block as many attacks as you can. These are small, so I should be able to work my way through them, but I cannot defend you at the same time.”

“What if I see an opening?” you ask.

“You are not ready. Please, trust me. Here they come.”

After her words, the first of the monsters leaps towards you. You thrust your buckler into the front of the leaping dire wolf pup and send it careening back through the air. Behind, you see Blythe sidestep a griffin’s pounce and sweep her rapier upward, cleanly slicing a gash up the side of the creature’s midsection. Enraged, the half-lion half-eagle monster tries to turn and slash its claws into the elf, but Blythe is too quick. With a powerful lunge, Blythe thrusts her blade through the creature, and it falls to the ground. You don’t have any more time to watch her, though, as more of the monsters are coming for you. You use {if spear = true}your spear to sweep the area around you, keeping all of the monsters at a distance{else}your buckler to block and your weapon to ward off any attacks{endif} as Blythe cuts them down one by one. After you block a lunge from one griffin, you try and follow it with your {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}. Time slows down as you see in your peripheral a dire wolf leaping at you from the left. You’re barely able to bring your buckler up in time, but the **** of the impact sends you to the ground and now you’re face to face with a hungry-looking dire wolf. Unable to bring your {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif} around the beast well enough to strike, all you can do is throw your hands into its jaws to try and prevent it from biting you.

Suddenly, an idea strikes you. “Roar, searing blaze,” you say through gritted teeth. Then, you quickly press your right hand to the creature’s face and shout, “Ignition!” You feel the mana move within you, and the beast rears back as a tiny fireball scorches it between the eyes. This is your chance to get back to your feet, so you take it and ready yourself to take on more challengers, but then you see that they’ve mostly died or fled at this point. Blythe stands nearby, a long cut down her arm and several smaller cuts showing through tears in her doublet. She wipes her blade on the grass, and then makes her way over to you.

“I said you were not ready,” she says. You knew as soon as you’d gone for that griffin that this was coming, and you deserve to hear it. You were stupid, and left yourself open. You almost got your face bitten off. Blythe walks right up to you, drops her rapier, and brings you in for a hug. “Please do not frighten me like that, Evan,” she says. “Rely on me while you are still weak. I am sure, with how quickly you are improving, that soon I will not even hold a candle to your strength. Until then, please just stay alive.” You join in the hug and lightly kiss her head a couple of times. Then, your attention is called away by something.

Drifting through the trees is a sound, like some angel singing, that calls you towards it. You and Blythe pull away from each other, and before you know it you’re walking towards the sound. Then, you feel something wrapping around your body, but you keep on thinking about that sound instead of looking at what’s around you. A few seconds go by, and then your vision starts going fuzzy as your head feels light and heavy at the same time. Then everything is dark.