Chapter 26: A Heated Competition

Days go, days pass, a week or so went by and Alex regularly went out to play with his friends in the morning. Alex went out that day too, he seemed to always arrive late, as most of the time when he arrives all his friends were already there, the key word being "most", for this time when he arrived at the bustling village square, filled with people selling horseshoes and vegetables, they weren't in their usual meeting spot.

-I wonder where they went. Or maybe they still haven't arrived? That shouldn't be it, I'm always the last to arrive... I should search for them.

Alex thought aloud, wich was something that he started doing a lot since he learned how to speak, although most of the time it was in the language of his old world, since he still hasn't mastered this world's one.

Alex first searched within the square, thinking that they might just have met somewhere else, ever slowly he expanded his search radius, from the clear field where he fell the week prior to the start of the more urban, so to speak, part of the village. A small stream of water passed through the village, it was about 1 meter wide and less then ten centimeters deep, the water was clear, you could see small fish and frogs swimming the occasional dragonfly and a variety of plants by the riverside.

Alex still couldn't find them anywhere, he went back to the village square thinking that maybe they were indeed just late, but that wasn't it either. The sun was starting to get to it's peak as midday approached, it started to get warmer and warmer, the temperature was starting to transition away from the winter. Alex went back to the stream to drink a bit of water, he made a bowl shape with his hands a drank the water, Alex then went back to the clear field, for in the sides there were some trees that could provide shade to hide from the sun.

Alex sat under the tree and closed his eyes as fresh breeze of wind passed by.

-*giggle*.

-Shh... *giggle*.

Alex felt like he heard something and opened his eyes. Looking up he saw Antiochius and Theodora on top of the tree, trying not to laugh as Alex hadn't noticed them at first, wich they found somewhat funny.

-*sigh* So that's where you were.

-Hahaha, good morning, Alex!

Said Antiochius as he jumped from the top of the tree, laughing from the reaction Alex made.

-You really could have said where you were, you know that?

-But it wouldn't be as funny, would it?

Antiochius said as he offered his hand to help Alex get up.

-It was really funny watching you search for us for so long, when you came here we though it was because you saw us, but then you just sat down and relaxed.

Replied Theodora, that was sitting in one of the thicker branches of the tree.

-By the way, where is Moirai? Is she not with you?

Asked Alex as he looked around the trees in search for her.

*poke* *poke*

Alex felt like he already knew the answer when he felt his shoulder being poked from behind.

-...Good morning...

-You too, anyway what do y'all want to do today then?

Alex asked after looking behind him, confirming his suspicions.

-You see, today's really hot, that's why we were in the trees in the first place. I'm not really in the mood to move to much.

Said Theodora, shaking the collar of her shirt to make some wind. Although Theodora has a tan that makes her skin look a bit darker, that wasn't because she liked the heat, but more because she helped a bit her parents with work, well, the most a 3 year old looking months old child can help.

-Then how about a who can climb higher the tree the fastest competition?

Suggested Alex, as he looked at Moirai with a grin in his face. The tree of them were trying to find a way to get back to Moirai, since the throwing competition that Perseus and Artemis did last week. Antiochius and Theodora, seeing the expression in Alex's face, were immediatly onboard with it.

-...Bring it on...

Moirai accepted the challenge with a determined expression.

Among the various trees there were a few that were bigger, thicker and taller than the rest, the four children gathered around one of them, the tree had a rugged outer bark and various bulges around it's trunk, perfect for climbing.

-Ready?! GO!

Theodora gave the signal to start, immediatly Antiochius jumped to grab one of the bulges and firmily put his feet in oposition to the tree.

Theodora had grabbed one of the branches that were lower in the tree and jumped her way up it.

Moirai, even if she was older by one year than the others, was small and slightly weak for her age so it took her some time to be able to get her feet off the ground.

Meanwhile our powerful protagonist was progressing smoothly and... Wait! No, no he wasn't! As it turns out Alex never learned how to climb a tree, neither in this nor his previous life, in fact he was so bad that, when he tried to use those climbing walls, even with the equipment, he hardly could take his feet of the ground.

"Fuckfuckfuck! I was too cocky! What do I do? I grab here and now I put my feet here? Shit! The others are gonna mock me so much! I was the one that proposed this competition in the first place! What do I do?" Alex though in despair as he couldn't even take his second feet off the ground.

While Alex was regreting his decisions Antiochius was starting to get close to the more leafy areas of the tree, Theodora close behind him as she struggled to find secure holdings but surely catching up.

*grabs*

-Aaaah!

Antiochius, as he was about to jump into a branch feels his ankle being pulled and falls down. Luckly for him the ground by base of the tree was full of dense, fluffly grass that helped his fall, he looked up and saw Alex, barely two meters off the ground. Ignoring him he looked back at Theodora.

-No fair!

-Nothing personal, but it is still a competition! Good luck coming back up! *winks*

Theodora said with a mischievous smile followed by a blink that Antiochius couldn't quite see from how far up she was.

Antiochius, frustrated started climbing back up, quickly surpassing Alex and Moirai. Antiochius seemed to never lose motivation no matter how many times he is thrown back down, or how frustrated he might be, although he is always patient it is, of course, with a limit.

While drama brew between the two of them Moirai was slowly and steadly climbing her way up, she was about five meter off the ground, Theodora in comparison was 7 meters off. Moirai was getting tired quickly and her arms were starting to hurt a lot, but nonetheless she was determined to not lose. Moirai was very competitive but also full of determination, even if it wasn't good sportsmanship she would alway try to win.

Theodora was feeling more secure now that there was a bigger gap between the others and her, so she started moving slower, she was also starting to get tired and the leaves were now disturbing her way up and the sun was appearing more and more through the gaps, occasionally hitting her eyes. Theodora always tried to be pratical, using branches to climb more often than the bulges in the trunk of the tree so she would get less tired and even sabotaging her rivals for better chances.

Alex, was pondering if he could make a jump between two braches that were a bit far away. He didn't knew if he was able to jump and grab the branch that was higher up and also be able to maintain his grip and not fall down. He looked around, trying to see if there were better options, but all he saw was his friends way ahead of him, the pressure made him just go for it.

-Screw it!

Alex jumped, but quickly realised he would not be able to reach the branch, as he started to fall down his heart starting to beat in despair, a stress like feeling spread through his body, he streached stretched his body in a desparate try to grab to branch. Although he still had a bit of momentum upwards and fowards he knew he would end up falling down... but he felt his grand touch something woody, he was not falling anymore but yes hanging from the branch.

How such a thing happened you may ask, the answer: magic! Although he can't control or feel mana in his body and as such activate magic, the adrenaline caused by the stress and despair ended up activating his acceleration magic. Alex magic was an acceleration type one, this type of magic makes so the user is able to manipulate the acceleration of his body, either to slower or faster or for it to not change at all, although that's more complicated to achieve. What happenend in this case was an acceleration of the speed at wich Alex was moving, from the speed decreasing with the force of gravity pulling him down, and friction stoping his acceleration fowards, to an increase in speed as mana nullified or lessened the oposing forces as it was released.

Mana was a type of energy in this world, just like there is heat energy and eletrical energy, here we also have mana energy, and this energy has the capability to manipulate it's somewhat immediate surroundings in various ways in the form of magic ,as long as it's continuously released and when stoped it will dissipate in the atmosphere.

Alex didn't quite know how that happened, but he felt full of energy, like he was capable of anything, he started jumping form branch to branch, climbing the tree at a great speed. Quickly he passed through Moirai, who was surprised and startled at the speed wich Alex started to climb all of a sudden, in about a minute Alex had gone from a meter off the ground to almost four, at five meters he met up with Antiochius, who almost lost his balance as Alex jumped at the same branch he was on, shaking it violently before he moved on. Theodora noticed the sound of the leaves falling and brances shaking down the tree just to see Alex quickly catching up to her, starting to lose the gap she started to increase her climbing speed, she was 9 meters off the ground, she was almost at the point of the tree where the trunk was too thin to support the weight of a person.

But luck seemed to be on her side, for at the speed Alex was climbing he wasn't quite looking where he was landing, in one of the branches the was a lot of moss, wich made Alex slip and lose quite a bit height, seeing this oportunity Theodora made a last jump up with the most strenght she had.

-I won! I achieved the top!

Theodora was almost 12 meter off the ground, she was dirty from the lose tree bark and sweaty from the heat and exercise. Alex, who had menaged to grab a branch was hanging from the tree about 8 meters off the ground, his energy quickly escaping his body as the adrenaline wich was helping him activate magic started to fade off. Antiochius, at 6 meters off the ground, was dirty from his fall and his sweat was making grass and leaves stick to his body. Moirai was 3 meter off, her arms extremely tired from the exercise and really needing to drink some water.

-*wheeze* Damn *huff* Almost *puff* won *huff*.

Antiochius said as he tried to catch his breath.

-I think *wheeze* I'm gonna *wheeze* faint *puff*.

Alex tried to say under his breath, as he felt like just sleeping.

-...Tired... Water...

Said Moirai as she was able to quickly gain her breath but her body seemed to scream in pain all around.

As each tried to climb down the tree, some more successfully than others, *cough* Alex *cough* Alex fell down *cough*, they each decided in one thing.

-Wash ourselves?

-Yeah.

Said all them in almost unison.

That was in fact the fist evening they spent together, but not the last.