Tiberius, the Adventurer

“It is the two of you against me,” said Tiberius.

We were on the village outskirts, right on a clearing devoid of grass or pebbles to interfere with the testing duel. Tiberius was wearing his set of armor still, and we could not see his face yet because of that helmet.

“What are the rules?” I asked.

“You land a hit on me, you pass,” said Tiberius. “I land three on you, you out. No worries. It is a generous duel. Will not use any weapons, but you can.”

“Just one hit?”

“One hit. Grapples don’t count. Blocked attacks don’t count. No pushes either.”

I looked over at Sybille.

“I’m ready,” said Sybille.

I nodded and took on a guarding stance against Tiberius.

“Then,” said Tiberius, “let’s begin.”

He teleported right behind me.

Before I could even turn around, Tiberius struck my back with one blow, and then another. Right as he was going for the third, Sybille cast a spell to blast him away. Tiberius guarded against the spell, so although he was knocked away, he was not counted out.

“What was that?!” I said.

“Flashing Dash,” said Sybille. “It is a powerful, but straining technique. But it is a rare skill... just how did he learn it?”

Tiberius rushed towards us. I aimed my arm towards him and shot energy blasts at him. He dodged them. He dodged them all, as if though they were nothing, and then, he leapt over me.

“Mages are to be defeated first opportunity!” said Tiberius.

“Impossible!” said Sybille.

He was an old man on knight armor! How was he even jumping that high?!

Sybille cast her wind magic at Tiberius, but this time, he protected himself with a mana barrier to block the spell. He landed on both his feet and went to close the distance against Sybille.

“You won’t!” I shouted.

I slammed the ground, and blasted energy into it. I controlled it. I let the energy flow through the ground and towards Tiberius’s feet, and once right underneath him, I made it surge out towards the sky... taking him with it.

“Impressive!” said Tiberius.

He returned to the air, and then, Sybille followed with a barrier-shattering spell that sent Tiberius flying back towards me.

I grappled Tiberius, wrapping my arms around his waist and did not let go.

“Do it now!” I said.

Sybille charged her mana into the tip of her staff, measuring just enough the right amount to hit Tiberius without seriously wounding him.

“Good idea,” said Tiberius. “However, you should not have left me arms free!”

Sybille fired her magic spell.

Tiberius in response grabbed behind into my arms, leaned forward, then pulled me up. He made me trip over his own back! 

I rolled across him and then, Sybille’s spell hit me from behind. He literally used me as a shield.

“Now for the girl,” said Tiberius, as I dropped to the ground.

He rushed towards Sybille.

“Bastion...!” she muttered.

The rebound effect was having Sybille almost passing out. As Tiberius closed the distance, she tried raising barriers of magic, but Tiberius just punched right through each of them.

“Now or never...!" I muttered.

I blasted a direct, clean blast of energy towards him. Just as he was about to swing at Sybille, the blast struck him from behind, knocking him to the ground.

“Argh!” he groaned.

Sybille planted her staff on the ground.

“Lord Tiberius?” she said.

Tiberius glared at me.

“You were out,” he said. “Didn't you understand what that meant?”

“You hit me twice,” I replied. “Sybille hit me once, but it was not your strike.”

A silence took over the field. Then, a laugh.

“Ohohoho!” cackled Tiberius. “I like your spirit. You pass.”

He removed his helmet. Finally, it was then that we realized…

“You are…” said Sybille.

Tiberius was the old man from the front gate. Of course he was.

***

Tiberius chugged down on a mug of ale as we sat down in the Guild Hall’s tavern area. Although, in my case, I had to sit down on the ground. My weight would have crushed the stool.

“I thought you had a knee injury,” I said.

“Aye, had one,” said Tiberius. “Then this Alessia woman patched it right up. Fixed my back, too.”

“Madam Alessia?” said Sybille.

“You know her?” I asked her.

“I met her before,” said Sybille, “when I was a little girl. She came to my village when my parents were sick and healed them with a miracle. It was so wonderful… it was at that moment that I fell in love with magic, I think.”

“She’s a mage?”

“A holy mage,” said Sybille. “I wanted to be one too, but holy mages are uhm… strict, in certain things.”

“Like?”

“Oh, well.... hehehe!”

Sybille pouted as a light blush took over her face.

Tiberius laughed.

“Now, now,” he said, “no need to press a lady on things she’d rather keep discrete. Ah, what was it you said is your name?”

“Bastion,” I answered.

“I see. And you have a human soul?”

“I do.”

“I can tell. The rebound effect took a toll on me when I punched you. So, how did you end up like this?”

“It was to save my life,” I said. “I am an otherworlder. I could not have survived long without being given a body like this.”

“An otherworlder!” said Tiberius.

Sybille turned to me with panic in her eyes.

“Uhm, but he’s good!” she said. “I mean, Bastion is a good man, and he is not crazy like the others, and…”

Tiberius laughed.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, miss,” he said. “I’ve met some otherworlders myself. It is a shame not all of them live very long. Especially if they don’t reincarnate. I’ve met one or two that lived a fair amount of time despite having their original body, but they both had difficult mutations to deal with. I can see why you would prefer a stone body.”

I nodded.

“I don’t regret it,” I said.

Sybille gave a faint, but noticeably, sigh of relief.

“So, about our exam…” she said.

“Oh, right,” said Tiberius. “You pass. The both of you.”

“Both?” said Sybille.

“Yeah, it was a misunderstanding with the receptionist girl,” said Tiberius. “It is clear that Bastion here is as living and breathing as all of us. Err… you breathe, right?”

I answered that by gushing out a strong breath out of my nose slit.

“Okay, good!” continued Tiberius. “I will assign both of you a starting rank of Bronze. You will be getting your bracelets from Lottsbrick in a few days, and then you can begin adventuring. I hear that the town of Stormplains has a lot of work for adventurers these days. There are a whole bunch of electric monsters wreaking havoc across the place.”

“That sounds, uhm, dangerous,” said Sybille.

“Ah, right!” said Tiberius. “Yeah, the thunder dragons might be too much for you. What about Deephour?”

That sounded mysterious.

“Why is it called that?”

“Ah, that’s a story,” said Tiberius. “See, it all started with this man who thought it would be a good idea to marry a siren. He was taken into the sea for their union, but well, he did not have gills. It went about as well as you can expect. Still, what came after was that a bunch of fishmen started appearing in this little port village, who then began worshiping a strange clocktower at the bottom of the deep sea. Their cult was defeated by King Hermes, but some say that their magic still works in that place… just waiting to be uncovered.”

Stars were glowing in Sybille’s eyes.

“There!” she said.

“Smells fishy,” I replied. “Pass.”

“Aw…” lamented Sybille.

“What about here at Greenvale?” I added. “This place is not too bad.”

Tiberius stroked his beard.

“This place is not big enough for all of us, I’m afraid,” he said. “There is already Marius and Heinrich. Ah, and of course, yours truly. Besides, Greenvale is rather close to the border, for a pair of refugees like you.”

Ah.

“Is it that obvious?” said Sybille.

“I can’t imagine why one of Master Croghan’s golems would be wandering outside in here,” said Tiberius.

“You know him too? No way!”

“I know a lot of people, but no. I do not know him. However, I do know his golems.”

He rubbed his shoulder as he said that.

“I’m sorry,” said Sybille. “For causing you so much trouble.”

“It is alright. And I think I may know just the place for you, after all…”

“And that is?” I asked.

“Heiddston,” he said.