In the morning, I’m woken up by paws. I wake up slowly, as the paws are slightly familiar. Back home I had a cat that would wake me up, only to see a blue eyed, brown fur with symmetrical stripes looking up at me and meowing insistently. She’s making biscuits on my chest, and I gather that's how I woke up. “Awww.” I say, getting up and grabbing the absolute darling of a baby in my arms before looking around.

  My door is cracked open, but otherwise nothing else, so I’m assuming that Kireva came on her own. “Come on girl, let's get breakfast, once I get dressed.” The kitten meows in approval, and I left her on the bed as I got dressed into my red cheongsam. I then grabbed Kireva, who hops onto my shoulder and we went down the hall to the dining room. The boys are up, Shankhe looking absolutely half-asleep compared to Taegan looking bright and sparky, the difference was amazing. Taegan had probably helped make breakfast as well, which would’ve contributed to his awake state.

  Kireva meows in greeting as she sees Shankhe, and once i get close enough she jumps onto his shoulder. His hand reaches up, scratching her chin as he says. “You left me, you little traitor.” While Kireva just purrs in contentment, without a care in the world. “Well.” Says Tae. “Breakfast is ready, so come on.” We follow him into the kitchen where there is bacon, eggs, toast and plates. I grab a plate, grabbing two bits of bacon and an egg. Then I put some toast on and had to sit down at my place at the table. Well, I kneel down with my knees under the table, and place my food down, grabbing a knife and fork and starting to eat my food. I sometimes missed our tables. But, it would take too much wood, and with all of it being corrupted anyways, it's an easier way to reduce corruption by only using non corrupted wood.

  The food tastes amazing, and as Shankhe sits down, then Taegan comes in, I nod my head at him. “Thanks for making this Tae.” He nods his head, seemingly reluctant to acknowledge his prowess as a chef, but I just keep going. “Truly, you should be a chef!” Shankhe nods as well. “Yeah, it tastes great Tae.” A small grin graces his lips, but I call it a win. Fora sits down as well, but Khaliff isn’t up yet, so he’s not here, but otherwise everyone is eating. Including Kireva. Tae had gotten her a dish of milk and some leftover fish, no clue how, but he did.

  Once breakfast is over, I get up and put my plate in the kitchen before starting to grab my halberd as Tae asks the important questions. “So, what are we doing today?” Shankhe is the first to reply as he straps on his katana in its sheath. “Well, I was thinking maybe of a job adventurers guild, and then in the evening doing something for our other guilds….” He looks a little curious as to what we’d think, but I think it's a good idea, and from the nod and meow of approval, the other two think as well. We all start to head out as Fora stops us.

  “Wait. Just as a warning, the guilds you’ve signed up to will have expected you to do a trial, so just keep that in mind.” We nod, and then head out the door. But, as Shankhe looks at Kireva, he gently lifts her from his shoulder. “Darling, I know you want to come along, but we don't want you to get hurt…” The kitten meows in protest, almost as if she could understand him, but as he puts her in the door, she does the cat equivalent of a sigh, and stays in the door, even though her baby eyes are terribly hard to deny.

  Eventually, we get into the main hall, and seeing the busyness of it all is shocking. We head to the end as Taegan sees the Adventures Guild. We head over to the quest board, where there are all sorts of things to do. A person behind us scoffs. “Newbies.” I hear them say, before some very choice words about our ability to fight.

  They are drinking from a glass, specifically one for wine, with very little wine left. As they finish it off, the glass explodes, forming a glass blade that is held to their neck.

  “Listen, the next time I hear you say that to me or my companions, is the last time you’ll speak. You got that?” Taegan is suddenly in front of the man, his face twisted. It wasn't him; well, it was.. just, a twisted, angrier, version. More bitter. “We know the game, and we can fully well play it.” He finished by standing up, the glass blade flicking back into a glass as if it had never broken, while most of the people around us just stood there in shock.

  He walks back to me and Shankhe, his bitterness slipping away like a mere raindrop on a window as he looks at us with curiosity. “What?” As if he hadn’t just threatened someone, as if he hadn’t just shown his bitter self. As if he hadn’t just controlled glass and held it up to his throat. “Y-you can control glass?” I say in disbelief, while at the same time Shankhe says. “You didn’t think to tell us?!” Both of us stare at him, as he looks down ashamed, but I see a hint of confusion on his face. “Isnt it obvious? Glass is made from sand, so I can control it.” Shankhe looks at him in disbelief. “No!? I can control water, but I can sure as Shana not control poison.” Taegan is thinking about it, and looks as if he's about to say something, but just stands there surprised. “Seriously? You didn’t know you had a second spesh?” I ask, looking at him and rolling my eyes, before sighing. “Taaeee.” “I didn’t know! I thought it was normal. No one commented on it.” He looks extremely confused.

  “Well, I can assure you, on Dasani, as a scholar that it is not normal. Sand spesh can only control sand, not glass. That’s a whole different speciality.” I explain. Everyone by this time is looking at the person who just threatened someone to looking wholly confused either amused, or terrified. Yeah, this is totally unfair. Not only is Tae a fae, one of the most powerful creatures on the planet already, but he also has a twin brother, removing the limitations of the fae having to bond, and then also having two freaking specialties. I huff internally. And what do I get? A bloody blood speciality. (Pun intended).

  “Seriously though Tae, how did you not know?” I ask, just curious by this point. “Well, in the village it was customary for kids to find their speciality on their own. Because I had no parents I didn’t really ask about being able to control glass, as I didn’t want anyone to know. When I went to Mara-Ni, no one questioned me when I did it and I just said I was a sand spesh, they didn’t correct me, so I thought that was what I was.” Oh this adorable yet loveable idiot that isn't even the true idiot of our team, at least, according to me.

  I sigh. “Most people with two spesh have their second spesh taking after their first, therefore they refer to their second spesh rarely, and just say their spesh is their first one.” Taegan looks like he’s had a revelation, and nods. “Thanks Dalyva.” I nod with a smile.

  Shankhe, who had lost interest at the lecture, came up with a piece of paper. “Quest; to defeat wood ranked monsters, specifically boars. Exchange their tusks for 5 copper per tusk.” Shankhe read out, and I swiveled around to stare at him. “What? Ten, are you sure?” I snatch it off him, reading it intently. It’s shocking, to say the very least. 10 copper. Normally, a tusk is about the equivalent of 2 copper, maybe one if they’re not good quality. The most I’ve heard a tusk sell for was 4 copper, and that was from a scammer to a noble lady who had no clue how money worked for the lower people. Trust me, for higher rank tusks, sure, they’d be more expensive, but wood? So, yeah, it was really a shock to hear the price of it.

  “Want to take the quest?” Shankhe asks me as I snap out of my thoughts. I nod eagerly. “Of course! Tae?” I look at him to see if he agrees, and he does. I grin, grabbing the paper and putting it in front of the clerk on the desk. “Can we have this quest please?” They nod, and take the paper. “Guild cards? For verification.” We all take out our cards, placing them on the desk. They nod After looking them over and give them back to us. He then stamps the paper with red ink. When we get it back, there is a red rectangle with the words inside saying. ‘Taken.’

  I look at the directions below that take you to the boars, nodding thanks to the clerk before starting to leave. It takes us a few minutes, but we eventually weave through the people of the main hall, work out our way in the main plaza, and then head to the boar area, exiting the town not 10 minutes after we got the quest.

  We came upon the boars in a clearing, and I noticed they were all mid to high wood, a challenge. A grin graces my lips, and I look at Tae and Sha. “Ready you two?” I ask, as I unhook the halberd from my back, swinging it in front of me as they both unsheathe their weapons. Readying their own weapons with a ‘yep’, and ‘who do you think i am?’ We stare at the group of seven boars, before rushing in.

  Shankhe took the left, Taegan the middle, and me the right. Two each, except for Taegan with three. Two underlying boars and the leader. I shake my head. Taegan’s strong, he can deal with those three while we take out our own monsters. I focus on my own monsters, sliding into a fighting stance as one of the boars runs at me. I sidestep, just as the other boar comes at me from the side, and the first boar turns around and retraces its path at top speed. They were trying to corner me to make it easier to kill me. This is getting hard.

  I glance around me as I see them closing in, unsure as to what to do. I strengthen myself, powering myself as I use my halberd’s shaft as a bar to stop one of the boar’s tusks, slowing it down. But clearly that was a mistake, as when my halberd was interlocked with its tusks, its partner charged into my side. Well, it would’ve, if not for me strengthening myself again, more than before, and then pushing my feet off the ground and taking a, literal, leap of faith. For a second, as i pull my halberd from the boars tusks, i think that i am descending once more, and slightly panic, just to realise that i am not, and once getting my halberd, i look down, before landing beside the two very dazed boars.

  Really, I’m that dumb compared to Taegan or Shankhe. I do have actual plans, and they can change at a moment's notice, because despite most of the time blood warriors being described as berserkers, I am not one. After all, strategy is a sure fire way to victory. Well, most of the time. According to if the plan succeeds and the strategy that is used, that is.

  I stab the first boar with the spear tip on the end of my halberd, before slicing the second boar's head off as it tries to stagger to its feet, clearly disorientated. Well, at least it won't be dazed anymore. I look over to Shankhe. Yep, he’s done as well. We both look at Taegan, who is struggling with the boss.

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  “Some help here?” He asks as he narrowly avoids a swipe from the boar's tusks. I look at Shankhe, and he nods, we run in as Taegan steps back, yelling commands. “Dalyva, left.” I obey, running over to the other side of the boar with no hesitation and ignoring the commands Taegan gave to Shankhe as they aren’t my own. “Watch right flank Dal.” It sounds urgent, he didn’t even use my full name, and as I look over to my right, I see what he’s mentioning.

  A wave of flames from the boars body coming quite fast to me. My eyes dart around, and try to find somewhere to go before the fire consumes me. It gets too close for comfort, and, still unsure as to where to go, I start to directly run away from the flames, but even enhanced I can't outrun the flames. A burning sensation fills my back as I feel red hot pain creep up my back, and everything starts to get blurry, black spots appearing in my vision and my legs feel like they’re walking through sludge as I try to run further, trying to escape the horrible pain. My clothes are burning, and a sickening smell fills my nose.

  Just then, a shocking cold makes the flames sizzle and go out, but also shock my body. One minute I was burning up, now cold on my back, and I am promptly out, the last thing I see is purple speckled dirt as my body collapses.

  ————————————————

  I watch as Dalyva collapses after getting doused by water with concern and extreme worry. I feel like a panic attack is coming along, but push it back as I make water cover the nasty burn on her back. I hear charging, and look back. In my panic, I had almost forgotten about the boar, which I immediately tried to face. Another wave of fire comes from it, and I neutralise it with my water as Taegan rushes forward to attack the boar, but it’s powerful. Knocking Taegan back with a simple swipe of its tusks, I look at him with fear for his well being.

  Blood splatters from his mouth onto the floor, and I almost cry out. It seems impossible to beat, but I ignore the voice in my head saying that, racing into the monster. Taegans sand is already smothering flames and I am too as they come out of the boar in seemingly endless waves as it looks to never tire..

  This. This is the power of a bronze rank monster…. The monster paws at the ground, before rushing forward, me sidestepping just in time as I feel the wind whip by me, knowing how close I was to being crushed. Suddenly, I realised that's where Dalyva lay. The boar is heading to Dalyva.

  No. I turn, and so does Taegan, but even as we push all our muscles to the extreme, run as hard as we can, it's never enough. The boar is too fast, and I can do nothing but watch as the boar gets closer and closer to Dalyva, my mind racing but my body seemingly moving as slow as a turtle. Tears start to form in my eyes and trickle down my cheeks as the boar gets three metres from Dalyva. Two metres. In my sadness and rage, the water responds, but even then it is too slow, and I feel hopeless. One metre. Suddenly Dalyva’s pocket shines, and a giant frog bursts into existence. The boar, unable to stop, crushes into the frog, but it’s steady, holding its ground as Dalyva still lays unconscious, something by her side.

  I rush to her, Taegan just a second behind, and grab her arm, slinging it around my shoulder as I start to heave her up, dragging her onto her feet after sheathing my sword. Taegan grabs what was near her before taking Dalyva’s other arm around his shoulder. It was a shrine, looking awfully like the one that Frognii sat on. My eyes widen in realisation as we hobble away, exhausted yet determined to survive. I dont fail to notice though the blood trickle from Taegans lips to his chin, and frown, before sharing my revelation.

  “That frog, its Frognii!” I say insistently, and Taegan stares at me as we move away, I can't tell whether out of impression or simply disassociation from tiredness. Both of us hear the noise of the boar clashing, and it doesn’t sound like the frog is winning.

  While we’re running away, I close my eyes, trusting Taegan to lead us as I send a quick prayer, hoping this works. “Frognii, please, protect us.” I whisper under my breath, and the shrine in Taegan’s hand glows white, before as I look back it looks like Frognii has gotten stronger, now being powerful enough to match the boar's strength. “Quick, Tae, pray to Frognii, it powers the frog, makes it stronger.” Tae, having seen what I did, nods, muttering his own prayer just as we got to the forest's edge.

  The frog, thankfully, got even stronger, and now it looked like it was starting to beat the boar. I could see the start of a grin stretch across Taegans face as he noticed this. “Alright!” He cheered, though its more tired, and I notice that the fight had gotten to him.

  As we reach the town, people seem to give way, or cast us concerned looks as we pass, and I get it, we’re weary, blood spatter all over our clothes that are also ripped and ragged, but I don't like the way they look at us for some reason. Well, most of them. Most of them look at us like something to be taken advantage of, something valuable that is now on offer, or the worst, something that can be taken. However, the weapons at our hips and how even this ragged and practically dragging our unconscious companion, we aren’t falling over, stumbling, or anything like that. Instead, we are walking confidentially, well, as much as we can, yet still, I guess, look intimidating, or at the very least someone to not mess with.

  The other part of the populace though either send us warm concerned looks, or merely, not my friends not my problem, sort of looks. We manage to haul Dalyva to the house, by some miracle opening the door, and then collapsing as soon as we get in. It’s… bad. My knees buckle, and if not for Taegan and me still holding onto Dalyva, I would’ve landed face first. Fora, having seen us come in, rushed to us immediately, carefully extracting Dalyva from both me and Taegans arms. Although, I wasn't really holding her any more.

  Taegan collapses as well, but against the wall before he is curled up, knees in front of him with his arms around them, and his head drooping onto his knees like it’s the most comfortable pillow, promptly passing out. From pain or exhaustion, even something else, we will never know.

  Seeing Tae fall asleep, I quickly followed into unconsciousness tiredly, the last thing I feel is a rough tongue carefully on my face. I smile as I realise. Kireva.

  ————————————————

  I woke to people chatting, my sense blurry as I got adjusted. “-hey are fine. Should get bed rest for a while though. The desert one, yes, Taegan, make sure not to overexert him. I’ll come check up the next few days just for him regardless.” Said an unfamiliar voice. My mind whirled. Why were they talking about Taegan? Wait, where am i? Last thing I remembered was… oh. The boar. I started to struggle, get up, see if the boys are okay, only for firm hands to press on my shoulders. “Dalyva dear, I would suggest you stay in bed. It’s not good for your back to be used so early yet. It still needs to heal.” I still hesitate, even with Fora telling me to stay put, scared about how Tae and Shankhe are doing.

  As if sensing my concern, the other person spoke up. “Don’t worry, your companions are fine. They got out quite lucky for what was reported to be seen fighting them. All three of you just need some bed rest and non-stressful activities to let your injuries heal.” Finally reassured, I lay back down, and let the sweet embrace of sleep take me back.

  When I woke for the second time, I was in more of a position to do things. Sure, one thing I had missed before was the pain in my back, but other than that pain-which, yeah, was pretty strong-I didn’t think much else hurt. A few stiff or sore muscles, but not much else. I started to sit up, and a gentle hand helped me, making me lean against the headboard, with a pillow of course, and then sat down on my bed. They had a kind smile, and looked happy that I had woken up.

  “Dalyva, right?” They said softly, and I nodded. “I’m Iloinen (ill-oy-nen). Nice to meet you. I’ll be your healer.” I look at her. “How are Taegan and Shankhe?” I say, deeply worried. A gentle grin graces her lips. “They’re fine. Both are still sleeping upstairs. Any other questions?”

  I let out the breath I didn’t even realise I was holding as I looked at her. “Thank you for healing me. But, yes.” I look nervous. “When will I be able to do anything? We were planning to do our respective guilds this afternoon.” Iloinen tilts her head. “Well, that’ll depend on what your guilds are. You aren’t referring to your Adventurer Guild membership though, are you?”

  I shake my head at that with a chuckle. “No. Taegan has the Cook’s Guild, Shankhe the Design Guild, and me the Healers Guild.” She looks at me with disbelief, then happiness. “No way! Another healer?” I nod. “Yeah?” She grins happily, but then looks saddened. “What?” I ask, concerned. She sighs. “That’s a strenuous activity, healing. Well, I guess you could just help the minor injuries with bandages and whatever..” She trails off. “Yeah, we could do that.” I look at her. “Really?!”

  She nods, before her face softens in a likeness to sympathy. “Unfortunately though, I don't think Taegan should get out of bed, at least for one day. He needs rest.” I worriedly stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

  She sighs as she looks at me. “He has three broken rib bones. At the bottom, two on his left and one on his right.” What? He was.. hurt that badly? Tears start to well up, and Iloinen tries to distract me, but all I can think about is. “How’s Shankhe then?” I ask, knowing if Taegan is bad he might as well. Iloinen smiles. “Thankfully, better off than Taegan, but definitely tired and needs rest. So, for that matter, do you.”

  She then pushes me down, careful not to irritate my back, and glares at me as I try to get up again. “Sleep.” She commands. Reluctantly, I try to.

  It doesn’t take long till I’m off into dreamland.

  ————————————————

  Iloinen stares at Dalyva as she finally drifts off with a smile, before walking down the hall to the stairs, climbing them to attend to her other two patients. She remembered when she had arrived. They had not given a good first impression, that was for sure. Taegan’s body hunched in on the wall, and Shankhe dropped on the floor. Then, when she went to Dalyva’s room. Well, you can imagine that her back was not the prettiest she had seen. Later, she would have to explain how the scarring would possibly never go away, unless it went with her rank ups, which was completely am option and possible.

  She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she came upon the two boys' room. Knocking before she entered-she had learnt her lesson long ago to do that-she noticed both were together in one bed, sleeping together. A smirk dared to grace her lips as she noticed this, but quickly went over to check on them.

  After all, she didn’t have much faith in two unconscious people being careful with each other. Especially brothers. Sure, she knew that brothers were one of, if not the most, loyal people to their other siblings. But whether this applied to their unconsciousness was yet to be determined. Carefully, she pried the two boys apart gently, staring at Taegan’s bandages on his worst scratches carefully. They didn’t seem to be disrupted or loosened, and no blood was seeping through, so that was good. She then touched his chest gently, and despite the slight shiver that ran down his back-something that would have to be worked on, she was sure (if it wasn't the cold of her hands, something she was pretty sure about)-and checked on his ribs. Fine since she had last seen them. Might need some ice, to reduce swelling.

  By the way Taegan jolted under her as she checked his ribs, he had awoken. “It’s fine.” She said as quickly as she could, and he calmed quickly. “S-sorry.” He said, pausing his confession before continuing hesitantly. “It’s okay.” She smiled. “I scared you. I should apologise for that.” Shankhe behind her was now rousing, and looked at them sleepily, before shifting and falling off the bed with a thump.

  Both Iloinen and Taegan turned to him, but he thankfully was okay, giving a thumbs up as he got up slowly. “Oops.” He looks guilty, and Taegan chuckled for a second before wincing. Immediately Shankhe stared, concerned, and Iloinen can tell the love they have between them. “You okay Tae?” He sounded really concerned.

  Iloinen decided to butt in then. “He has three broken ribs. Therefore, you are not to do any strenuous activity for the week it takes to heal. Today, I have used a lot of my energy healing Dalyva, but I did patch the ribs enough so they didn’t heal awkwardly. Tomorrow I will heal them properly, and then you will still need the 6 days to make sure it fully heals. After all, magic can't do everything.” Throughout this explanation, Shankhe’s face switches from concern, to worry, to slight happiness to amusement. He grins. “Yeah Tae, no strenuous activity. Meaning no cooking.” Taegan rolls his eyes. “You do realise that means no treats for you, yes?” Iloinen simply watches the boy’s argument with amusement. Eventually, they settle down, and she explains that Shankhe will need at least a day to rest, but otherwise should be fine, and then lets them be. This was going to be an interesting week, she could tell. All three were the type to do things despite the doctors orders. Maybe not Dalyva, but the other two definitely.

  An evil glint appeared in her eyes. She’d have to teach Dalyva how to deal with stubborn patients.