Chapter 10: An Attack

"Wake up." I felt a kick to my back that arose me from my sleep.

"Ouch...dude?" I looked up and saw Mateo looking over me with his familiar annoyed face. 

"It's morning, Alna is already up and outside. I told her I needed to grab a few things then I'd wake up our "hero"." 

"Sorry for oversleeping." I yawned and stretched, a few moments later I was standing up and fully clothed. I found it easier now to equip my armor in comparison to day one. 

"Sorry for making you wait." Mateo looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"It's fine. Now come on, we can't keep our cat-girl waiting any longer." 

Our path took us back to where the dragon slept. As we passed I noticed it opening one of it's eye lazily and looking at me. The dragon's eye was beautiful...more yellow than anything I've ever seen before and filled with an intensity that screamed confidence. I could almost imagine the dragon saying move along and leave me be human. I listened to my fake version of what the dragon sounded like, bowed and moved along. Unknown to me, the dragon smirked and then went back to sleep, its yawn filling the air with smoke that burned the morning air...

The Forest of Infinity, also dubbed Hell's Labyrinth by many. Alna told us that it was considered one of the worst places to venture through. Most travelers would take longer paths just to avoid it. It had strange properties that made no sense. The area around could be a summer day but inside the forest it would be snowing. Maybe rain would befall the lands outside but inside dry as a bone. Regardless, the forest had a mind of its own and was feared by all. Even monsters wouldn't go near it...yet here we are...heading right for it on purpose...

"We are heading to a place like that?" I asked nervously. 

"Yeah...I'm not looking forward to it either but Mr. Voice said we need to go there..." Alna continued leading the way. At the moment, we were just in an open field, I could see some various creatures, that were non threatening according to Mateo and Alna, running about but other than that it was just grass and dirt as far as the eye could see. 

"Hey Mateo?" I looked at our moody and angry companion. 

"What?" he responded annoyed clearly. 

"I wanted to ask what was your job before being summoned here?" 

"I was a magician." Mateo answered rather quickly. 

"Like you pulled rabbits out of your hat and could guess my card from a deck?"

"Huh?" Mateo looked back confused.

I went further into detail and Mateo just looked at me puzzled.

"I performed simple magic like making fireballs, water tricks and so on. Nothing like stupid card tricks or slight of hand. That just seems foolish." 

"You could do that though? How?" I asked now the one lost. 

"What do you mean you idiot? That's simple magic for most. I just use to make it look cool and did performances using my magic. Never made me super famous but I got enough to live a decent existence." Mateo shrugged and kept walking. Mateo could do magic like everyone else? What did that mean? It made no sense. I didn't have magical abilities like that. The best I could do was fix the copier when it started flashing random lights. 

"How did you get summoned here then?" I pushed my other thoughts aside.

"Well, I was leaving a show and then heard a weird faint sound. I followed it and then arrived in a bizarre street. What made no sense was I had walked through that area hundreds of times and it looked completely foreign to me. Then a light engulfed me and boom, lost my powers and gained these useless abilities." Mateo again shrugged and kept walking following Alna. I however was now following the two by instinct while my mind flooded with questions. 

Yes, we got summoned to Armata the same way but it seemed like our lives were radically different. There were magicians in my world but in the end, all of their talents could be linked to slight of hand moves and illusions. No one could literally summon fire or water on command and I sure as hell didn't have that ability.

"Mateo...where did you live?" I asked.

"Me? I'm from..."

"GUYS LOOK ALIVE!" Alna snapped us out of our discussion and we saw what she was pointing to. In the distance was a horde of small creatures but from my knowledge of all things anime, games and the like I knew what these were...goblins. Green bodies, short, weird long ears and they were all holding various weapons. There had to be at least a dozen.

"Goblins here!?" Mateo summoned a weird looking club. It wasn't anything like a mace but reminded me of a baseball bat but shrunken down. I guess that was his weapon of choice. Alna got into a fighting stance and I summoned my katana from the air. I was more confident after the several training sessions Alna and I had, so I hoped that meant I could fight without being saved like before...

"Guys, I don't know why they are here but they are clearly coming for us. Mizuki, goblins aren't strong but they equally don't go down easily. They can lose limbs and still stand up and fight. Behead them or aim for their heart!" Alna turned to me briefly. I think she worried if I could hold my own but I unsheathed my katana and she smiled now less concerned. I had relied on her before when I first arrived here...that would change now. I needed to arise to be the hero! 

The goblins rushed us quickly and it took only a minute for them to push us back. Mateo I could see was handling two of them, swinging his club with some force. It didn't seem to have the ability to kill them but when one of them did get hit, it took a good moment for it to get back up. Meanwhile, Alna was lunging at several goblins. Her strikes precise and on point.

Me? I watched as two goblins approached me and made weird sounds towards one another.

"Scree?" One of the goblins looked at the other than it nodded. Without warning they rushed at me together. As I predicted, my sword moved on its own and blocked both of their attacks but unlike before, I was able to take a swing and didn't feel the strange resistance that happened before. My first strike missed but when one of the goblins got greedy, I swung and it clearly hit. The goblin screamed as I put pressure on the sword to dig deeper into it's body. I pulled the sword away and looked, the goblin was dead, cleaved in literal half. It's ally looked at him then me and clearly wasn't too happy losing his companion.

"SCREEE!" The goblin attacked once more but I moved aside and with its back exposed to me, I swung my sword aiming for the head. My sword hit its mark and with ease, beheaded the green menace.  

Mateo was fairing quite well despite his lack of an actual weapon. Then again, maybe that club-like tool was strong. He knocked out his threats and then slammed their heads with all of his might. Unlike my clean kills, his were a bit more brutal. Their weird looking blue fluid, which I guessed was their blood, scattered all about on Mateo's clothes and the grass. It made sense Mateo could hold his own though. He had been here longer and I knew he probably had to survive on his own for quite some time. 

Alna was the one who made us look like children warriors though. She had taken down the remainder of goblins by herself and stood over their corpses like a true victor. She shook off the blood and other nasty bits and scoured around ensuring we were safe. I might not have been as strong as her but I finally held my own in this world. 

"Good job guys!" Alna said with a giant smile on her face. Her claws retracted and she seemed to loosen up. 

"They were just goblins...nothing to be so proud of." Mateo stated coldly. I figured though, I had a feeling that he had already been in some fights in this world and was able to best simple enemies like these. Still, despite his comment I did feel like we did a good job. We weren't a true team yet but we each held our own and defeated a threat together as a party. What would have made this moment perfect is some musical fanfare.

That night, we had a small feast. Killing some of the roaming creatures, they reminded me of deer and sure enough their names were similar but according to Alna spelled deear, we set up camp and cooked them up. This time though, we had Mateo and aside him making small tents for each of us via his ability, Mateo also made a device akin to a portable battery stove to cook the deear and we had our fill. 

Mateo turned in and promised he would wake up for second watch. I told Alna I'd take first watch and she took me up on the offer. I could hear their snores in their respected tents while I sat in the open gazing around. 

Armata was a truly beautiful world. At least from what I saw, this place had life and people. I had to wonder what Slain was doing to cause Mr. Voice the need to kill him. Even Alna had stated that no one had ever seen Slain but they felt his wrath. But she didn't explain what that meant either. It was like he was an invisible threat...but was he really? I had many questions adding to my seemingly never ending list but what mattered now was finding the labyrinth and becoming more powerful. Little did I know, that this desire for power was new and for reasons even I couldn't understand. Power...why did I feel the need for more power?

When my watch ended, Mateo shooed me so he could take over. Before I turned in I wanted to ask him something that wasn't answered before.

"Mateo..."

"Hmmm?" 

"I didn't get to ask earlier or maybe I did...but what was the name of your world?" 

"Huh? It's the same as yours isn't it? Gaia..."