Austin sat with his back against a tree as he took deep breaths. His body had been bruised and even burned in some places from his training with Drugos. He focused his Essence throughout his body to help with his recovery. He and Drugos always went hard on their training, and Austin was always forced to recover for the better part of an hour. Drugos had a life Essence and could recover at a much faster rate. Austin always ended up jealous as he watched the healing rate of Drugos and Maya.

  “You want me to heal you some?” Drugos asked as he sat against a nearby tree.

  “It would be nice, but no thanks,” Austin replied. “I may not be suited to healing, but it is good training for me.”

  “Your mind is always on training,” Drugos chuckled.

  “Aren’t you the same?” Austin said as he cracked a smile.

  “Of course I am. That’s why we are good training partners,” Drugos said. “Not sure I would forgo healing for the purpose of training, though.”

  “It helps with my Essence control,” Austin shrugged. “Every little bit counts.”

  “Fair enough,” Drugos nodded. “Moving on, how is Elliot?”

  “He’s been doing well. Every day it seems like he grows smarter and bigger,” Austin said. “It sort of feels strange how fast times go by. I can remember when he was born like yesterday. Now, it feels as if I blink, I’ll miss everything. How is Astenk?”

  “I’m in a similar situation to you. All my work has made it hard on me. I want to be there for every moment, but I need to get stronger and be there for our people,” Drugos replied. “I just hope it’s all worth it and one day he won’t have to fight as we do.”

  “I get what you mean,” Austin said as he looked ahead with a distant expression. “It feels like we are constantly working and getting stronger. When the day ends, I feel exhausted and have barely any energy to spend with Elliot. It is a hard balance.”

  “Did you know I originally wasn’t going to ally with you?” Drugos asked. “When we arrived in the area, we kept watch over your people. We were worried about how you would see us and talked about striking first.”

  “I guess I can’t blame you,” Austin nodded. He had thought similar things when the orcs first showed up nearby. “But what made you change your mind?”

  “The moment I saw you on a walk with your boy. I realized then that you cared about what mattered,” Drugos said. “I think that if we never forget what matters the most, we will be alright. So, even though things are tough now, let’s keep that in our hearts.”

  “You’re right,” Austin smiled. “We just have to keep remembering what we are fighting for.”

  “Speaking of fighting, we probably need to talk about the gnoll situation,” Drugos sighed.

  “You’re right. I think it’s strange they have not made a move yet,” Austin replied. “I took it for granted because of the training it gave us, but now it seems suspicious.”

  “I think they are planning something big. I’m sure you’ve seen reports of Aether corruption. Well, one of my scouts said they saw a whole dungeon corrupted,” Drugos said with a worried expression.

  “I was worried about that. Do you think it’s some sort of ritual?” Austin asked.

  “That’s exactly what I think. I think they are trying to spread corruption to bolster their power. Which means that we need to stop them before they do anything else.”

  “Sounds like we need to gather our forces and make a plan,” Austin pushed himself off the ground to stand up.

  “I’ll gather my people, and we’ll meet at your town,” Drugos said as he stood up.

  ***

  After Drugos and Austin separated, Austin took a lighthearted stroll back to town. With the recent peace, he felt like he deserved a moment of just relaxation as he walked. Soon, they would be going to war with the gnolls. So, Austin wanted to take in the peaceful moments as much as he could. He thought that maybe he would cook something nice for Maya and Elliot when he got home. Just so they can share little pleasures together.

  The forest was very quiet. Austin almost thought it was too quiet. There was very little, if any, wind blowing. So, he could not hear the gentle rustling of the trees. He was used to the distant sounds of animals, as well, but he could hear them at all. Instead of the feeling of peace that Austin was looking for, everything felt ominous. He could no longer think about the relaxation that he looked forward to. All that ran through his mind was whether the town was okay.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Austin picked up his pace and ran towards the town. As he ran, silver light formed around his legs and transformed into metal armor. He sent Essence through the armor to send himself flying. Each time he landed, he sent Essence through the armor again. His body crashed through branches, but he paid no mind to the scratches they caused. He was single-mindedly focused on returning to the town.

  Before he could even arrive at the town, he could feel his senses flood with the acrid stench of corrupted Aether. It had been so long since he had been surrounded by it that it caught him off guard. He could not believe that he had spent a whole month surrounded by it.

  Austin arrived at the gates of the town and saw the battle that had broken out. He finally got to see what the gnolls looked like. They were large, beast-like humanoids with hyena-like faces. Their faces looked like they were stricken with absolute insanity and ferocity as they fought. The fur that covered their bodies was purple with red spots throughout, an obvious sign of their corruption. They did not wield weapons, though. Instead, they fought by augmenting their body with red and purple corruption and with blasts of the same energy.

  Silver armor formed around Austin’s body as he threw himself into combat. He was not going to stand by as the people of the town fought. He knew that he had to fight too. With a burst of Essence, Austin fist slammed into one of the gnoll’s faces and sent it flying. He did not even pay attention to the gnoll that he hit. Instead, he kicked off towards another one and began to fight it.

  Austin was not the best at fighting large crowds. His skills were mostly for fighting individual targets. So, he did his best to fend off gnolls one by one. Luckily, his training had drastically improved his ability to fight. A gnoll swung at him with corruption surrounding its arm. While Austin would be protected by his armor, he mostly wore it for its ability to conduct his Essence for powerful attacks. So, he quickly dodged under the swipe of the gnoll’s claws and countered with a punch to its gut. As his fist shot towards the gnoll, Austin sent a burst of Essence through it. The large creature’s weight was nothing compared to the force of Austin’s strike, and it sent the creature flying. If he could not perform wide area attacks, Austin could definitely use powerful strikes.

  Another gnoll tried to take advantage of Austin’s focus on the one he just hit and pounced towards him with its claws. Before the gnoll could land, a silver blur shot into it. Austin turned to see that it was Gavin, his entire body was the color of gleaming silver. He had charged into the gnoll with his shoulder and toppled it to the ground.

  “You know that armor is basically a copy of my technique,” Gavin commented to Austin as he landed next to him.

  “Nah, they are completely different things,” Austin said with a slight smile under his helm. “Mine makes me look like a superhero.”

  “The looks don’t matter, only the function,” Gavin rolled his eyes.

  As they talked, gnolls started to circle around the pair. They must have figured that they could get the advantage with their numbers. The gnolls split up to attack Gavin and Austin. As Austin dodged a swipe of the claws from one gnoll, another gnoll came with its own attack. Austin found himself constantly dodging swipes of claws before one of them sent a blast of purple flames towards him. Austin managed to barely twist out of the way of the flames and finally found an opening to attack. His leg spun with a kick to one of the gnoll’s sides. The kick launched the gnoll into several of the others, and they toppled to the ground.

  Austin grew irritated by the constant dodging around and decided this was as good a time as any to test out his Aether control in real battle. Austin raised his hand in the air, and the air let out crackling and popping sounds. Then he swung his hand downward. Blue lightning struck down on the pile of gnolls and charred their fur. The attack was not as powerful as one of Austin’s techniques, but still able to do a considerable amount of damage. The gnolls seemed to still be alive, but they were completely immobilized. With another swipe of Austin’s hand, a bolt of lightning crashed on the creatures and reduced them to ashes. While it did take two times, Austin found it convenient to be able to attack more than one enemy.

  Austin looked over to see that Gavin dealt with the gnolls that attacked him, as well. “When did the attack start?”

  “Not too long ago,” Gavin replied. “They came at full force, and there were not enough scouts to stop them. We just sent scouts to find you, actually.”

  “I’m glad I didn’t leave you guys here too long then,” Austin said.

  “We are competent. You don’t need to feel completely responsible just because they attacked while you were gone,” Gavin said.

  “I know. It’s just how I am. I’m impressed how you guys have kept them at bay,” Austin said before he turned his attention back to the gnolls. “Now, let’s send them packing!”

  Austin was about to charge a gnoll when one of them gave the call to retreat. Suddenly, all the vicious battle-crazed gnolls backed away from combat and turned in the other direction. Their bodies glowed with red and purple flames as they sprinted away from the battle. Just as quickly as they started a fight, they exited it.

  “That was strange,” Austin said with a raised eyebrow beneath his helmet. He did not chase after the gnolls. “I wonder why they ran.”

  “Yeah, they seemed to come in and attack just to run away again,” Gavin nodded. “What do you want to do?”

  “Let’s leave them be. I want to develop a strategy before we go all in for the attack.” Austin replied.

  “Fair enough,” Gavin said before he raised his voice so everyone could hear him. “Don’t pursue the gnolls! Let’s regroup and develop a strategy!”

  There were many people who were ready to continue the charge towards the gnolls. At Gavin’s orders, they immediately stopped themselves from charging forward. It was obvious that they were not fully prepared for an attack and wanted to regroup.

  “Alright, let’s gather the leadership. We need to discuss a plan,” Austin said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and started to type in a message.

  “Good idea, we need to figure something out soon. It looks like they are done waiting around,” Gavin said as he walked back towards the town.

  Austin turned towards the town, and suddenly the ominous flow of corrupted Essence filled the area. Red and purple flames burned at various houses throughout the town. Austin realized in that moment what the frontal assault was. It was a distraction so they could come around and attack the town from a different point.