ArcAngelStories98
patreon
Humans Don't Make Good Familiars- Part 74
🕑 Added 2022-02-05 23:32:22 +0000 UTCSuma’s POV
“Cadet Suma, how is it coming?”
“It’s going well mam, Sentinel has avoided Delabi River and made it through all other obstacles.” I told her.
“Good, where is he now?”
“He is on his way to a clearing near the seventh obstacle.” I told her.
“He is making excellent progress then. I will leave you to it.” She said. Just as she was about to fly away, I thought about what Jake said.
“Mam, before you go, I have a question. Was this training ground built on ruins of some kind?”
“Actually yes.” She confirmed. “It was once the site of a city, before the ravaging anyway. How did you hear about that?”
“Sentinel told me mam, he said he found something in the tunnels that went under the poison forests.” I explained.
“What kind of something?”
“Runes, and something called concrete.”
“Did he know what kinds of runes?” She asked.
“I don’t think so, he has no training with runes beyond simply activating them.”
“I see, make sure he leaves them be, I will inform the major of his discovery.” With that, she flew off. I then contacted Jake and told him to make a mental note of where the runes he found were.
“Suma, I’m at the clearing.” Jake said.
“Good, now for the seventh obstacle.”
“Oh joy,” he complained sarcastically. “So, what do I have to do this time? So far I’ve climbed trees, avoided several sets of deadly plants, trudged through knee deep mud, and navigated mysterious ruins. What fun, and or death defying, task awaits me now?”
“Do you see the large hole to your left?” I asked. He looked around for a moment then walked over to it.
“Okay, I found it.”
“Good, now all you have to do is climb down and then back out.”
“What… that’s it?”
“Yes, but it is a rather deep hole.” I said.
“I mean… I guess it’s a little deep. But no more than twice my height. Is this really all I have to do?” He wondered suspiciously.
“Yes, that’s really it for this one. But don’t worry Jake,” I said and turned my gaze to the eighth obstacle, “I think this one is just a warmup.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jake’s POV
I sat on the edge of the pit and carefully slide down as far as I could before letting myself fall into it. I landed with a bit of a thud, but no worse than when I would jump from the halfway down the stairs to the bottom as a child. “Easy,” I said to myself. I looked up at the walls surrounding me and had a momentary flashback to the entrance of that cave. For just a second, I felt like I was back there again, but I shook myself out of it and started climbing my way out of the pit. I started by sending Jericho, my armor, away so I would be lighter. Getting into the pit was far easier than getting back out. I hadn’t noticed from the outside, but the walls were smoother than I had first realized, which made finding hold for my hands and feet harder.
“Jake, I can’t see you from my position. How are you doing?” Suma asked.
“Been… better.” I strained to say as I reached desperately for the next hold, but it was too far. Then I had an idea. “Twilight,” I said summoning my hammer. It appeared in my hand, and nearly caused me to lose my grip on the wall. The sudden change made me drop Twilight and it fell with a clang to the rocks below. I sighed and resummoned it back to my hand, being careful not to drop it this time. Twilight was too heavy to maneuver with only a single arm, so I wouldn’t be using my arm. I focused on what I learned from Ceil and wrapped my mana around Twilight, floating it upwards above my head. I was careful to avoid the areas with runes on them that Sela-Car had created, I didn’t want them activating.. not yet anyway. I positioned Twilight so that it was as far upwards as it could go, but while staying withing reach. Then, I activated one of the runes by wrapping my mana around that area. A huge burst of air exploded from the back of Twilight and forced it into the side of the rocky wall. Bits of stone fell and landed on my shoulders, but I hardly noticed.
“Jake! What was that noise?” Suma cried out concerned.
“That was the sound of a handhold being made.” I told her. I looked up and saw a strange sight. The coned spike of my hammer had been thrust its entire length into the rock. The rock wall itself had a brand-new crack running several feet out from the cones entrance.
“Are you okay?” Suma asked.
“I’m fine,” I said and pulled myself up Twilight’s handle. From there, the rest of the climb was almost easy. Once I was out of the pit, I resummoned Twilight and inspected it for damage. It seemed fine, so I sent it away and summoned Jericho back.
“So… was climbing out as easy as you assumed it would be?” Suma wondered.
“Absolutely,” I lied.
“Good, because the eighth obstacle won’t be any easier.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauric Isbala’s POV
“Okay Loyalty, just a bit further now, stop when you arrive at the tree line.” I told my Black Serpent familiar. I was one of many Neame going through the exercise with their familiars today. We were on the fourth obstacle, a mud flat created with nature magic. Loyalty was handling it well, but the mud was still slowing him down. His best environment is tall grasslands and rocky hills though, places he can easily hide and attack. Loyalty arrived at the tree line and I repositioned myself to another tower. To my distain, it was the tower that Madam Suma was perched on. She didn’t seem to take notice of me, as I landed on a perch on the opposite side of the tower. Loyalty was at the poison forest, a deadly place for most creatures, especially Neame, but not to Loyalty. He slithered easily through the obstacle and on to the next, Delabi River. This obstacle would be too much for him to cross like he did the forest though, so he needed to be led to the nearest safe area, a natural passageway that made the poison waters a bit safer. Upon his arrival, I realized it would be difficult for his large frame to cross such a narrow path, so I made him go slowly. Despite the water on the other side of the river being safer, he still wouldn’t be able to cross through it due to him not being able to swim. Suddenly, I heard a loud sound like thunder rumble from one of the other obstacles.
“Jake! What was that noise?” Lady Suma shouted. Her familiar was probably doing something reckless again. I ignored her and went back to Loyalty, who had just managed to cross the river and was on his way to the sixth obstacle, an underground maze of sorts.
