Elara looked out across the large arena she was stood in, quickly taking in the scene. Foust deftly avoiding Haestin's heavy strikes, retaliating with swift knife strikes that were deflected by Haestin's 'Iron-skin' skill. Rose was currently hidden behind a pillar, no doubt preparing her next onslaught of magic. She was stood thirty meters away from Foust and Haestin and fifty from Rose.

  Sweat laced her forehead and her right arm was burnt heavily. Regardless of what Haestin said about the elf, Rose was incredibly talented in combat. If she had been born in the Empire her innate ability would have made her an automatic selection for the Order—however, despite being born away from the Order, Rose was given the honor of accompanying her on the piligrimage, despite not being one of the successful Aspirants.

  Foust and Haestin were stuck in a stalemate, they traded a few blows, disengaged, circled for a few moments as they planned their next strikes and then leapt forward into another trade—It was only recently they'd managed to find the balance, until the last few days their exchanges had resulted in decided victories for each of them in turn—looks like they now knew everything they each had to offer.

  Rose on the other hand. Wow. She had never experienced anyone able to control the elements to such an extent, it was like she was born of Arvos. Rose appeared once more, darting out from the cover of the pillar in the distance, her hands were covered in the orange runes of the system and blue lightning surged in sphere's around her hands.

  "How many skills can that ability emulate?!" She called out as she pushed out her staff and twirled, channelling her own.

  "Enough, my dear chosen! enough." Rose replied as she pushed her hands forward in her direction.

  Her skill didn't have enough time to activate as two bolts of condensed electricity shot out towards her, arcing through the air at speeds she could not dodge.

  ZAP!

  "Ah!" She grimaced as the lightning struck her body, it sent intense pain and shock through her nerves and she felt her legs buckle. Her life shot down by about ten percent.

  She looked up from her kneeling position at Rose, the perfect figure of the captivating elf contrasting the determined menace in her eyes. Her hands were now engulfed in a white glow. "Quickly, move!" she said as she tried to push off from her position, but the electricity from the lightning bolts was still rampant through her body, leaving her stunned.

  "Got you!" Rose laughed as two ice spears shot out from her hands—like javelins they tore through the air and she heard Haestin cried out "NO! ELARA!"

  She closed her eyes tightly and braced. This one was going to hurt.

  Suddenly, a thud, followed by a cracking of ice shards that spread out in all directions—apart from hers. She opened her eyes to see a man stood in front of her, his stance firm and unwavering.

  "Enough." The man said, the words coming as a commandment to all that heard it.

  Immediately, the three others ceased their actions and stood straight, looking forward with obedience.

  "Uthred?" she said.

  "You." Uthred began as he pointed at Haestin "You think that having a dick measuring contest with the rogue is more important than protecting your charge?"

  Haestin immediately called out, his gaze remaining level ahead of him, "No Si—" he was cut off.

  "IT IS NOT! And I will not tolerate pathetic excuses. Your charge died because you wanted to play with him. And you—" Uthred spat, his finger now directed at Foust. "I DIDN'T KNOW KNIFE FIGHTING COULD BE SO FUN TO WATCH! Well my boy! It was, by the twins that was some good fighting. Unbelievable, I mean you didn't do much damage, but you, untrained and unskilled, held off a Guardian of the Order," he paused for a small breath before continuing, "I'm impressed."

  Foust's familiar smile swam across his face at the unexpected compliment Uthred had thrown at him.

  She winced as she knew what was coming next. Uthred's finger turned towards her, "Oh no…" she thought.

  "YOU! Why… WHY? Why do YOU think that trading skills with an Elf is more important than your actual role? Why did you think that you could head off an elemental prodigy in one on one combat. You're a support caster! Your skills make you unbelievably WEAK in a duel. You know, I just expected more, Elara. I deserve more from you." Uthred said, the words cutting her deeply, she knew he spoke the truth but it still hurt to hear every word laced with disappointment.

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  She couldn't meet his gaze and had instead looked past him to Rose, she was stood at attention, trying her hardest to keep her expression neutral, but she could she Rose's lips curling slightly.

  "And finally. BY THE GODS! By Arvos's earthen hammer and Arwen's cloak of stars, YOU—" Uthred continued passionately, spinning to bring his finger to fix on Rose, "—You are as good as they say. Unparalled for your Tier and you're not even close to level twenty. Destined for greatness my girl, greatness! And you're not stupid either. That makes a change." Uthred's hand came back to scratch his chin as he seemed to think about something as he said his last words.

  Rose didn't say anything, only let her smile come fully onto her face as the three remained at attention, she wanted to smile too, truly, Foust and Rose had done well, as they always did, but she couldn't; Uthred's words were all correct, she and Haestin had significant training under their belt, especially in relation to their roles in combat and they had been bested by their companions. Whilst she knew Rose also had the training—Rose shined, she truly was prodigical. That was why she had been chosen out of all others to study the Pilgrimage, it would be both a way to hone her already impressive skills and also show off the power of the Veldran Republic. Foust on the other hand, he had never truly trained his skills and in fact only possessed two, he was just naturally gifted with the blades.

  "Now, all of you. Time's short. You're all supposed to be helping with the upcoming Selection, how am I supposed to put Aspirants in your care if you fight like this?" Uthred spoke, his eyes drawing to her and Haestin, "Train hard, fight harder and spread the word of the Gods. Elara, with me."

  And with that, he turned and walked towards the arena's exit, his aura radiating with power and captivating her eyes, she remained dazed for a few moments before she pushed up—her ability to do so now restored—and followed. She glanced back just before she reached the exit to see Haestin's dark expression of guilt, Foust's nonchalant smile and the neutral perfection of Rose.

  * * *

  As she sat opposite Uthred in what she called the 'debriefing' chamber—which in reality was just a small room with a number of round stools with comfortable thick cotton pillows embedded into their curved tops—her mind had settled on one topic Uthred had brought up and the one she was most pre-occupied with at the moment. It was true that the four in her party were waiting on the fifth member, likely someone being awakened in the next month. But that wasn't all too it, the next member wouldn't just be filtered down by innate abilities awoken, no, as was 'tradition', the next person to join their party would be an Aspirant. It was the Orders responsibility to find the true Aspirant out of potentially hundreds of gifted individuals, the one who would face the Calamities head on.

  She knew that no amount of blessings by the Gods would allow her to fight the Aberration leaders, nor would the prodigical talents of Rose allow their party to stand up to them. No, Calamities were beyond anything that any Adventurer, Knight or otherwise could imagine, they could—and have—faced down entire armies and emerged unscathed. They are the spawn of the greatest evil that exists on all of Eridoria, the one who stands in defiance of her Gods. It was down to her to rid them from the world forever.

  "Elara, my dear girl, you know I don't mean to go so hard on you. I just know you can do more! You've shown me before and you know I'm not really disappointed in you right?" Uthred said, his tone sharply contrasting the one from earlier.

  His follow up from the arena had immediately drawn her relief as she listened to him ramble, her lips turning to a smile—almost meeting her eyes.

  "I knew it, it was too much… Arwen, please! Grace your chosen with the compassion to forgive such an old fool!" He continued, dramatically gesturing above and then quickly glancing her way to check if she'd reacted. Obviously she hadn't convinced the old Knight with her smile, because he continued; "Arvos, with your hands of creation, mould mercy into the divine ones heart?! Please let both of—"

  She cracked.

  "Hah—Hahaha!" She laughed as the smile finally met her eyes. The old man invoking Arvos for mercy. What a self-righteously-serving man. "You—you are intolerable!"

  "Blessed be you my Lord and Lady," Uthred said finally, bowing down in a ritual manner. Both sincerity and humor lacing his actions.

  "So, what did you want, Uthred?" She said, quickly followed with, "Not that you need an excuse of course, Master Knight."

  "Oh, my girl, you hurt me, addressing me by title. I really did go too hard, eh?" He winked at her. "In all seriousness, I am here to tell you, I think… Well, I think I've found the one."

  "What do you mean?" She replied.

  "The Aspirant, girl, the Aspirant!" Uthred said before muttering quietly, "If he's still alive that is."

  Her eyes opened wide with alarm "What do you mean, if he's alive?!"

  "You're focusing on the wrong part of what I said, by the Gods Elara, he's wonderful! I've even shared with him some of my skills. It'll take years to recover from that!" Uthred said.

  She didn't know that her eyes could have opened wider, but they did. A Master Knight bestowing skills on anyone was a momentous occassion. Something that only happened once in a generation—if the Knight had reached the natural age of their passing, which for Master Knights was in the hundreds of years old. Bestowing a skill meant splitting off a slither of its power from the users spirit—doing so would cripple the users own skill for years. Some never even recovered from bestowing a skill.

  Usually, the Order paid riches to the lucky individuals that the system gifted skills to—the ones who were unlikely to pursue combat or advance the skill themselves. The fact that Uthred had given 'some of his skills' was something she couldn't just let go.

  "What do you mean? Some of your skills?! Which ones?" She enquired.

  Uthred clapped his hands excitedly; "Scan—"

  That makes sense,

  "—Mana Manipulation—"

  OK, that's not common, but it wouldn't hurt Uthred too much, he never used it anyway.

  "—and Mana Barrier."

  "WHAT?!" she shouted, finally unable to contain herself.

  Uthred smiled gleefully, as if he was waiting for this reaction, "Oh yes, Mana Barrier. I couldn't stop a fly right now with it, won't even activate—can't figure out exactly how the skill cracked, so i'm struggling to fix—"

  "Uthred! I can't believe you did that and you really must explain what you meant about 'if he's still alive'" she scolded as she waved her hands frantically at Uthred.

  "We're getting distracted! All I meant to say is that I, Uthred, Knight of Valeron, will deliver the Aspirant." Uthred said as he jumped to his feet, "My girl, the council has ordered me back to him, I will take my leave of the Aeas tomorrow morning. You will next see me when I bring El—the boy to be Awakened, take care of yourself"

  She sat stunned as Uthred finished his sentence and had begun to walk towards the door, "Uthred…Did you say, to be Awakened?!" She was trying to piece together if he was talking about two seperate people, "Then who did you give your skills to?"

  Uthred stopped, turned and looked straight into her eyes, a glint of wonder shining in his own "Oh, yes, I forgot to say, he's got three of my skills, killed an Aberration single-handedly and Jacob Ironside has raised him for the past five years," then he turned back and disappeared through the open doorway, leaving her completely stunned.

  She glanced to the ceiling and held her hands to her chest as she processed Uthred's words, "Arwen, Arvos, what kind of monster have you created?" her thoughts quickly jumping to stories of the last True Aspirant—from over a thousand years ago. A warrior chosen by the gods, a single challenger that fells all that stand in their way"