Prelude

Almza carries the flailing Eryth out and around to the backyard of the study, while I follow closely behind. Leading us to what could be called a small gym. He directs me to stand on one end of a long patch of dirt, and places Eryth down on the other end.

“Alright young magicians, in order to venture out into the world you’re going to need to form a party to look after each other on the battlefield. But as I said before there can only be one party leader, this battle will decide who takes that role.”

Eryth stands tall, dusting off the dirt that she picked up when Almza dropped her into her starting position. She sticks out a hand taunting me.

“Looky here baby magician, King, how about we up the stakes a bit.”

Upping the stakes?

This may be intriguing. I’ll bite.

“What do you want to bargain for?”

“Well there happens to be a dusty old library full of unread books inside that needs drastic sorting and organizing. Loser has to be on clean up duty. Which I know is gonna be you, so how about you go ahead and start picking up the mess.” Eryth speaks as if she’s already won.

Almza cuts in–

“Eryth you were supposed to clean up the place like a month ago!”

“BUT IF– no WHEN I become leader my lackey will do it for me. :)”

Oh I get it, she plans to make me her butler.

Yeah not gonna happen.

“Alright Eryth, I guess I’m just gonna have to defeat you, and finish what you should have done ages ago.”

“Pffhhh. Whatever baby magician loser, loser who doesn’t know how to cast a spell without blowing up his hands, loser.” Eryth mocks.

“Are we done with the bantering…” Almza claps

Our eyes turn in his direction.

“The rules for this bout are simple. A winner is decided once the opponent is either knocked out, or pushed onto the grass outside of the arena. Easy enough right, go crazy.”

I don’t know what sort of beast Eryth’s defensive magic is yet, but I’m going to assume I can’t knock out a doll. I’ll try to push her out of the arena, maybe dig around at her feet or something, or hit her with the flattened part of the shovel.

Her eyes are closed. She must be preparing a spell or something, getting ready for the duel.

“The battle will begin on the count of 3!”

“1”

“2”

“3!”

As the third number is called I spring forward using my new found acrobatics to quickly rush Eryth. If I can reach her quick enough I’ll be able to quickly knock her onto the grass right behind her starting spot!

My dash however is thwarted.

A wall of yellow barrier magic blocks my passage. A miniature dome formed around a third of the arena blocking any and all passage to Eryth.

“Wait what, this has to be cheating!”

I yell out, flailing my arms out toward Almza, who’s just sitting there threading a flower crown together with the white roses from earlier.

“Wanna give up? You clearly don’t have the strength to beat me HAH!” Eryth taunts.

“My magic is awesome, I call it [Arx, my unbreakable defense]. It works as a protective barrier against all types of attacks. It’ll keep me and everything inside well fortified!”

“So it's just wall magic. What are you gonna do, put us in a stalemate?

“Hmph, you don’t seem to understand how outclassed you are.”

As my words reach her ears, the magical barrier slowly begins to expand. The wall forcing me back to a little less than half of the remainder of the arena.

“What stalemate?” Eryth chuckles.

I need to think. Almza’s not gonna stop this battle, he’s too busy being a flower enjoyer. This win is up to me.

Hmmm. Her shield the larger it becomes the more it decreases in thickness. Maybe all I have to do is give it one hearty stab and the whole thing’ll shatter. A weak point that’s hidden in plain sight!

The shield bubble pushes me further and further to the edge of the arena.

I’ve only got one shot, let’s hope this thing breaks!

Wielding the shovel like a spear, I brace myself and charge, forcing all my strength into the tip. My power delivered a much more powerful strike than I expected!

CRASH~

The yellow bubble of magic shatters, to the surprise of both Almza and Eryth whose eyes widen with amazement and fear respectively.

“WHAT!? THAT WAS MY [UNBREAKABLE GOLDEN ARX], AGGGHHH!!!”

Eryth seems pissed off, and this time I think it's greatly in my favor.

I don’t think I attacked any differently than I normally do, maybe some of my own magic somehow channeled into my attack. Or maybe she really is all talk.

Taking this moment of surprise I bolt toward Eryth to deliver my launching attack.

Fwooosh–TING

A direct hit!

The shovel slams into the side of Eryth, clipping her right arm causing it to be torn away from her wooden body. Pushing her to the edge of the arena.

She screams out, creating another wall of magic, this one much smaller than before.

“NO WAY! NO WAY! There is NO WAY I let you get the upper hand on me!”

“You mean this upper hand?” I say as I raise her lifeless doll arm up.

“OH MY GOD, I’M GOING TO LOSE IT”

“I REALLY DON’T WANT TO CLEAN THAT ROOM!”

“I’M JUST A GIRLY POP GIRL”

She’s having a temper tantrum behind a much sturdier looking wall of magic. Out of curiosity I look over to Almza to see how he is surveying this series of events. Only to see him trying not to laugh.

As my gaze meets Almza, he closes his eyes pretending not to have been just thinking about laughing. Eryth notices my strayed sight and continues her tantrum…

“AH HELL NAH!-- Ah come on Almza I see you tryin’ not to laugh right now, come on bruh, look at you smiling that’s disrespectful as hell!”

THWUMP–

I turn back to Eryth’s wall and slam my shovel into it. This time only leaving a chip of damage. Eryth’s cries of nervousness cease immediately with this failed shattering.

“Yeah that’s my [Arx, my unbreakable defense] sniffle it–it keeps me safe from everything all the time.” She says repeating herself.

I pause and ponder a question. “How are you even sniffling if you don’t have a real nose?”

“You know I think I really don’t like you, like at all.” Eryth says responding in a judgmental tone.

THWUMP–

I slam the shovel into the shield again. This time it looks like I make even less progress.

“Unbreakable defense idiot. It won’t break this time.”

“This time?”

“Last time… I was going easy on you…”

“Uhuh whatever.”

THWUMP–

The same thing happens barely any progress is made to tear down the wall. The stalemate has returned again. But then a genius thought comes to mind. So far I’ve been trying to dig into the shield, when maybe I should just use the shovel for its intended purpose.

Dig the dirt beneath the shield.

I start carving away at the ground, tossing piles of dirt out of the way. Enough to see a small gap between the ground and the magic barrier. The shovel rips apart the earth better than I thought it would.

“It won’t be long now Eryth, this shovel’s gonna knock you outta here!”

Dig Dig Dig

Dig Dig Dig

The opening grows larger and larger.

Until suddenly, as I delve my shovel deeper into the dirt,

The barrier vanishes.

CRASH

BOOM

THWACK

POOF

I lose motor function in my body as I collapse to the ground. What happened? I was right there, I should have won!

Laying on the ground, I feel my mind shutting down, only to see Eryth standing over my body.

Her one remaining arm bolstered with an intense yellow light.

She must of hit me.

Hit me really hard.

With her unbreakable defense…

Oh I think I’m about to pass out……

Wait does that mean I lo–

~         ~         ~

I feel a cold slab of meat resting atop my forehead. It seems like I fell asleep or something. My shifting awake alerts Eryth, she was actually cleaning the study room; maybe that means I won…

“Good morning sleepy head.” she says sitting backwards on a chair facing me.

Sitting up myself I ask, “Did you knock me out?”

“Eeesh, yeah my bad. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. It was sort of in the heat of the moment, but nonetheless I’m sorry.”

Her gaze shifts, looking outside the window, toward the distant town.

“...Well King, you did lose, so um, you don’t mind picking up where I left off. You know, clean up the room.”

“What?”

“You lost, I won. I gave you a little head start on the cleaning… you should be grateful.”

She stands up, and hands me a duster and dust pan. Then turns and skips toward the door.

“Try to finish cleaning up by sundown by the time me and Almza get back… Also sorry again… for hitting you so hard.”

The door slams shut. Causing a wave of dust bunnies to blow across the room.

Leaving me alone in the dusty old study room.

I rise, finding my shovel laid against the back wall beside my bed.

Now what. I ponder.

I guess I’ll be going on adventures with Eryth. Of course after I finish cleaning.

That’s neat in all but…

I don’t think it's something I really want right now.

Right now.

Right now I want to go back home, see my brothers, and live with them.

I’ll have plenty of adventures with them.

And I’d rather spend time with them than the bossy doll.

I think back again.

My passage here was caused by the shovel.

I mean what else could have brought me here.

Maybe I can do what I did before.

To maybe go back.

Go home.

Laying the cleaning supplies to the side, I reequip the shovel.

The cold metal shocks my hands, but I hold and examine it closer.

Such a strange artifact.

Such an odd technology.

Such a powerful tool.

I’ll use it to go back home.

I recount my steps,

What was I doing back then?

Back at the arcade.

I pretended I was a hero of some story.

In a place better than home.

But now I want to go back.

If I can, I will return.

But not until I can bring my family too.

I take the shovel, and hold it to my chest with my two hands. The scoop pointed downward like an arrow to the floor.

I’ll dig a hole.

A tunnel to my home.

SHHHOOOOP–

As the shovel pierces into the wooden floorboards it hits the ground beneath the building, causing the foundations of the room to crumble. A hole rips through the earth and floor beneath.

I fall in.

The darkness taking over completely.

~         ~         ~

It worked.

I’m home…

But this is not where I left from.

Looking around me.

There’s nothing.

Nothing at all.

This land has been destroyed.

Decayed,

Withered away.

…

I thought I was alone, then an unknown voice called out behind me.

“Howdy Strider.”

END CHAPTER 7