A new journey and a mother's worry

After much deliberation, Sylphiette adds, "I'm truly sorry Ryan, but I want to stay here with my family." "I hope you're not mad at me." And she starts sniffling, so I hug her and pat her back, saying, "Of course, I'm not mad at you." I understand your want to spend time with your folks. I simply wanted you to have that option." Then Sylphiette says, "Where are you going?" I respond, "I'm going to continue my." I've heard that there is a town in this region that specialized in north god style. I won't say anything else since I'm frightened my folks will find out."

When I see her worried expression, I say, "Don't worry, Sylphiette, I'll keep in touch." "You promise you'll keep in touch," Sylphiette says as she glances at me. I hold her hand, look her in the eyes, and say, "I promise." With that, I let go of her hands and climb back on the horse, riding off to Chiron.

If my memory serves me correctly, it is approximately two days away. My plan is simple: I'll ride all night and the next day, then take a break to let the horse rest before continuing on the rest of the trip.

Zenith p o v

When I wake up in the morning, I stretch for a long time. The carriage is supposed to arrive today to pick up Ryan and Rudy. Even though they will be able to visit, I will miss them greatly; after all, they are my baby boys. I enter the baby's room to check on Norn. Check her diaper and make sure she doesn't have any rashes. Following that, I feed her.

I went downstairs with Norn in my arms. I get at the bottom to find Paul passed out drunk on the dining room chair. His mouth was drooling on the table. I put Norn in her crib and kick Paul in the shin. He jolts awake, his arms flying in the air. After a minute, he looks at me and says, "What was that for, babe?" "It's time for you to rise. The carriage to transport our boys will arrive soon. We must prepare them." As I have stated. Rudy walks down the stairs, rubbing his sleep from his eyes.

When I see Rudy, my face lights up with joy. I asked him, "Do you have everything ready?" He looked at me and said, "Yes mother, everything is ready." I kissed his forehead and said, "Go ahead and seat down, I'll have breakfast ready in a moment." I spent some time preparing a tasty breakfast. After I finished making breakfast, I looked up at the sky and realized how late it was in the morning. Ryan was nowhere to be seen; he's typically finished with his morning ritual by this point. I inquired of Rudy, "Do you know where Ryan is?" Rudy responded, "I have no idea where Ryan is."

That's unusual. I'm curious where he could be. "I guess we should go look for him after breakfast," I reply. We don't want him to be late for the carriage." "You worry too much if he misses the carriage," Paul grins, "I'll take him to town on my darling horse." "You really adore that horse, don't you?" I say. Paul says nothing but nods in agreement. Rudy grabs all of his belongings after breakfast and stacks them against the house. I discovered the horse was missing when we were outside.

Paul becomes agitated and exclaims, "Wait, where did my horse go?" I intervened, "Did you possibly forget to tie the horse up?" You were really inebriated that night."

"I don't remember if I did or didn't," Paul says, scratching his brow. Then I reply, "Perhaps once Rudy departs, we'll have to look for the horse." Paul nods and adds, "Yes, well, have to do that." About ten minutes later, the carriage arrives, and one of my old pals, Ghislaine, steps out.

"I'm so delighted you're here, it's been a long time, how are you?" I say to Ghislaine. Ghislaine replies, "Good." Ghislaine asks, "That's your kid?" when she sees Norn in my arms. I smile and say, "Yes, it sure is." Ghislaine smirks and says, "Good thing she doesn't look like Paul." We both chuckle, but Paul doesn't seem happy. I kiss Rudy on the cheek and bid him farewell. I watch as he climbs into the carriage and travels away. Then Paul adds, "I'm going to look for my horse right now," to which I respond, "I'll go with you." It would be beneficial for Norn to get out of the house for a short period of time.

So we may begin our quest. We looked everywhere but couldn't find the horse. We asked some of the locals whether they had seen her, but they had not. Something unexpected happened as we got closer to Law's a place. Sylphiette suddenly began blasting offensive magic at Paul. At first, Paul was able to easily repel the attacks. But then she began to cast spells at seemingly random locations, sometimes behind assaults, sometimes low attacks. Paul, who is becoming tired of it, rushes forward.

Sylphiette placed both hands in the earth, and the area where Paul is rushing in became swampy. Pull's arrogant expression changes as he adds, "You're going to have to do a lot more than that to get me," before jumping over the mud she made. Sylphiette had a wicked grin of her own at this point.

Paul landed and sank right into the ground, up to his neck in dirt.

The mud then solidified quickly. Sylphiette points her wand towards Paul, her voice laced with rage.

It took me a moment to grasp what she had done. She made one noticeable quagmire on the surface so that when Paul sees it, he jumps over it. But he didn't realize there was another Quagmire beneath the surface, so when he landed, the ground collapsed beneath him and he fell in.

"It's all your fault that he left!" screams Sylphiette. "Please tell me what happened?" I react swiftly. If Paul did something stupid, I can deal with it." This appears to have reached her, and she sets down her wand. Her eyes are also welling up. I approach her, pat her on the back, and ask, "Can you kindly tell me what's wrong?" She revealed everything to me. She informed me that Ryan had stolen Paul's horse and that he had visited her the night before and asked her if she wanted to accompany him.

My mind began to race with ideas. I then inquired, "Why would he go away?" and then I heard The Horrible Truth. Paul's entire plan was to utilize this teaching position at his cousin's to get rid of Rudy and Ryan. I quickly looked at Paul's face, and his expression verified it. He was caught with his hand on a maid's buttocks glance. My heart has sunk; I don't want to believe what I've just heard, but I can see that it's true; I feel a scorching white wrath rising within me. I told Sylphiette to "keep him there for a few hours" before leaving to return home.

Norn was carried all the way to the house by me. As I begin packing my own belongings, I place her in the crib. This was the breaking point. I made the decision to leave Paul. I can't believe I married such a person. I took Norn and left the house for the last time after packing all of my belongings and our savings. If I'm correct, the traveling trader should be packing up and leaving today. I think I can afford a ride in his carriage. When I saw the traveling merchant almost ready to leave, I decided to go into town.

As I approach the Town Square. I observe a wandering trader getting ready to leave. I approach him and inquire, "How much would it cost to obtain a ride?" The merchants snatched up his face and inquired, "depends on where you're heading." They're traveling merchants stroke his beard and say "jump on," to which I answered, "Roa." I board the carriage as we make our way to Roa. I paid the merchant for silver pieces for the trip.

Ryan's POV

The two days of riding flew by with nothing of note happening. I did, however, make it to Chiron. A huge building may be seen in the town center. I begin to walk towards it. Swordsmen are all over the place. There appear to be a number of blacksmiths as well as weapon and armor shops.

It appears to be a fantastic spot to hone your sword skills. As I come closer to the gate, I notice two guardsmen standing guard. When they notice me approaching on the horse, one of them approaches and stops me. "What is your business here?" says the guard.

"I heard this was the place to go if I wanted to master the north God style of swordsmanship," I said, and one of the guards looks at the other and says, "Okay, then jump off your horse." I'll take it to the stables," the guard says, and I get off the horse and walk into the dojo. One of the guards says, "Follow me," and I do. We walk down a little corridor and then he opens the door. I see a large hardwood floor with a large number of individuals practicing battles; it appears to be quite brutal here, as evidenced by blood splatter stains on the floor.

There was one participant that surprised me. A cute elf girl with golden hair about my age was fighting three different opponents. Her motions were beautiful, forceful, and rapid. Her fighting style was almost stunning. And she quickly defeated all three of her appointments. Her opponents were all laying on the ground, arms and ribs clenched, and one was bleeding from the top of his head. "We have another want to be swordsman here," the guard announced.

An old elf has been placed at the far end of the hall. When the elderly elf looks at me, his eyes seem to be peering right into my soul. "So we have another one," says the old elf. He takes a moment, then says, "bring out the other one."

The guard glances at me and says, "Stay here, I'll be right back," before exiting the training room. I gave a look around and inquired, "What am I waiting for?" The old elf grinned, "Typical human, always in a hurry." He laughed to himself. "Your opponent will be arriving shortly," he continues, "and once he is here, I will explain how things are done."

My opponent appeared to arrive shortly after that. He was a tall man all skin and bone. "Let me introduce myself, I am North God Brom, and whomever gets accepted into the dojo will call me Master Brom," the old elf says. "The rules are simple: win with any tactic you choose," he explains. It's fine with me if you can utilize magic." "The winner will get the last training spot, and I will go over that more with the winner," he continues. Then he adds one more thing: "you both must wager something."

Brom, seeing our perplexity, adds, "When you fight, you must be prepared to lose." That is why I am making the wager. I'll let you gamble with your life. But if that's your wager, losing is death. When my opponent hears that, he lets out an audible gulp. "I will wager this magical backpack," my opponent adds. "What does it do?" says Brom.

"Makes everything within weigh a fourth of its original weight," my opponent responded.

"That wager will do," says Brom.

Brom looks at me and asks, "What are you going to wager?" I take a big breath and respond, "I have a good horse," and Brom claps his hands enthusiastically. "Hand them the wooden swords, and I want you to face each other," he adds, and we both do what he says. I pick the wooden sword, which has quite a long haft. Brom's voice boomed, "now announce yourselves." My opponent spoke first, "I am Bob Blacksheep," and then I introduced myself, "I am Ryan Grayrat." My opponent seemed surprised.

My opponent speaks up for the final time before a battle, saying, "simply Grayrat, no middle name then." Whatever, I'm not about to be outdone by a jerk." "I'm not sure what all that's about, but I'm going to make you eat your words," I respond. Brom says, "You start whenever you're ready," and I take off right away. I channel all of my battle energy into my legs and sword arm. My opponent appears to be unprepared. His eyes appear to be about to pop out of his skull. I approach one of them and swipe my sword at his leg. When the wooden sword connects, I hear a loud crack that knocks my opponent to his knees.

I have no question in my mind that I fractured his leg. I then follow up with a small crack to his skull, which knocks him unconscious. "Well done Ryan, you have received the final spot, go ahead and grab that backpack, it is now yours," Brom says as he claps his hands. I did as he instructed, and two swordsmen dragged the unconscious man out of the dojo. Brom motions for me to come closer, which I do, and then adds, "all right, I'm going to explain how this place works."

So, fundamentally, the rules are as follows.

This dojo has a capacity of 50 students. Aside from the common swordsmen, there appears to be a separate tier among the students. Students in the third tier, which is where I am right now. The third tier must share a living space with 16 other roommates; the second tier bunks with one other partner, and the first tier has their own room. The following set of regulations state that the only method to advance in tier is to battle someone of a higher tier. These fights take place once a month and last seven days. If you miss too many battles or lose too many, you will be demoted.

For me, that would mean being tossed out of the dojo and having to go through the same procedure again. Another intriguing condition is that there must be a wager, whether for position or for commodities. Following his extensive spiel on how things work here. "Sylvia, I want you to show Ryan where he can stay," he says. He looks at me and says, "Don't worry, there are no thieves here, so you don't have to worry about anyone stealing anything from you." Sylvia approaches me, so that is the name of the cute blonde elf. She then walks me to a large open room with a slew of sleeping bags on the floor, where she locates one. And tells me "there you go make yourself at home" then leaves. I put my stuff around the sleeping bag my curl in it absolutely exhausted and I go to sleep.

Authors notes

Welcome to volume two. And a special thank you to those who voted I really hope you guys don't end up regretting your decision but only time will tell. Have a great day.