Chapter 21 - Together

I stood on the wooden platform as I looked all around me. The sting pressed into me rhythmically as an alarm to an approaching enemy. Yet I could not see them anywhere.

Suddenly, I felt as if I saw someone in front of me; however, it felt like seeing something camouflaged, if that made sense. So naturally, I decided to punch whatever it was that was in front of me.

As I did, I felt something connect with my hit, and then a man stumbled his way out of camouflage and onto the ground with a thud.

He was wearing a mask so I couldn’t make out his face; it was one of those robbers' hoods, with a mask obscuring the face and nose, leaving only the pale grey eyes of my opponent, which were currently wincing in pain.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” I asked, shouldn’t the barrier have prevented anyone from accessing this place? Then I remembered, this wasn’t the elf city; he might have simply been wandering the area and felt my presence.

“Heh, why, I’m a competitor, of course, and your killer.” The man picked up his knife from the ground, which I had yet to notice. He didn’t seem willing to give his name, so I’ll call him ‘Assassin’.

I knew one of his three abilities; however, the other two I had no idea about. So I needed to be on my guard. Suddenly, he lunged, and I blocked the first strike with my shield. However, the strike I noticed was fast and was aimed right at where my heart would be.

Then, another strike, I blocked that one as well; his knife doesn’t do well against my shield, yet it was too risky to switch my sword, given how fast he was. I figured for the time being, instead, I could build up enough energy in my shield to then channel it into my sword and take him down that way.

The strikes continued. “You realize how much of a disadvantage you are in, right?” I asked.

“Shut up! I know what I’m doing!” The Assassin snarled. His attacks hardly gave me a charge; in fact, it seemed more like he was tiring himself out on purpose. “Oh, get lost.” I simply butted him with the shield, sending him flying back. Was I really that strong?

Or was he that weak?

Perhaps it could even have been a mixture of both factors. I certainly feel like I have improved both physically and spiritually since I began this training, but to test it on a real opponent is something else.

Suddenly, Assassin grinned through his mask. “Ok, I think that’s enough, it’s time for me to use my special attack. With that, he took the blade and plunged it into himself. Huh?

“What are you doing?!” I questioned him. All this was going to do is get himself killed.

“What do you think I’m doing numbskull? I’m winning!” He pulled out his blade, it glowed a bright red now. With an arc of his blade, blood began to close in on me fast, I blocked most of it with my shield, but a few droplets hit my face.

I felt no burn, no surge of pain. It seemed to me like he could charge his blade up by injuring himself. Which felt like such a weird ability. Especially since it didn’t do anythin-

I froze, I felt dizzy, nauseous, was his blood contaminated with something?

“You must be–cough–feeling the effects of it now, my third and last special ability, unique to me and only me.” Assassin grinned as some blood dribbled from his mouth.

I fell to the ground, I felt weak, dizzy, then I felt my own body begin to leave itself, it was an otherworldly experience. Yet when I came to.

I was in Assassin’s body!?

His whole plan must have been to wear himself out, stab himself, then splash me with his blood to take my body instead. Then in that case, I played right into his hand.

“Woohoo, finally I get to be in the body of someone far stronger. I’ll be prying my knife off yer corpse, so go ahead and bleed already.”

Suddenly, I felt it. The sting on my cheek. Another competitor? “Good job, my friend.” A woman in witch's robes rode up to the platform on a magic carpet. “I had a feeling competitors would be flocking to non-Astoran cities like cattle thanks to the bounty.” Her bubbly green hair and red eyes shone down at me. Her grin widened.

I was now in a really bad spot. I lost, all because I let my guard down.

From the perspective of Grace

I sat outside of Elowyn’s room, and we talked sporadically after our previous conversation. However, it seemed today she was more talkative.

“Talking does make me feel a little bit better. It’s just, I feel as if I failed. My whole mission rendered irrelevant.” Elowyn muttered.

I simply shook my head. “No, that doesn’t mean you failed. Sure, your father may have died before you could complete your objective. But you’ve seen how miserable the elves looked. How many more of them will die if you give up now?”

So many people relied on her. She simply needed to realize it.

“If it weren’t for you, I’m sure Razan would have had a much harder time beating Simon as well. I’d say Razan even cares about you a lot more than he does me.” I reminded her.

“No, I think he cares about you a lot more than you think, Grace,” Elowyn muttered. “I can see it in his eyes.”

However, that made no sense. “He trusted you with the information about that dream. Not me.”

Elowyn spoke again. “He trusted me because it concerned me. He cares about you a lot more than you think he does, Grace. He wanted you out of the fight, not because he saw you as weak, but because he was worried about losing you.”

That would certainly track with a lot of his words.

“Besides…” Elowyn began. “These last few days, I thought only of my father, at first, it was the memories of his death, and that made me sad. Then I thought about all the good times we had together.” I could hear Elowyn’s voice crack.

“I miss him, I really do. But then I remembered all the pain. I still had good memories of him; he was still there in his own way. Razan was right, I can’t mope around here.” Elowyn cried out. “Because now I find myself appreciating him more. I always took it for granted that father would be here.”

“That he would be here to greet me. But now he’s not, but for all I miss, I’m glad to have had him as my father. I have to appreciate all the good times, not the bad.” Elowyn sounded less like an elf there and more like a human.

“Let’s go find Razan,” Elowyn muttered. “He needs our help, together.” I felt the door open, so I got out of the way with a nod. We ran over to the magic shop and took out a magic carpet, and we flew all the way to the trial grounds. Determined to help our friend get to the top. Just as he did the same for us.

From the perspective of Razan

I was holding the weapon of the Assassin, perhaps I could use his abilities to try and get my own body back. Though I noticed I didn’t have the magic energy I once did. That wouldn’t do me well, especially given how I feel so exhausted already.

Suddenly, I heard something else approach, another magic carpet, and a swooshing sound could be heard. Then, a blast of earth flew our way, landing between me and Assassin. I looked up, and I saw Grace and Elowyn.

“Grace! Elowyn!” I called out to them, surprised.

Then I realized, they didn’t recognize me at all because I was swapped!

I saw them ready yet another blast to fire my way.

“Grace, Elowyn! It’s me! Razan Hamada, I was body swapped! You have to listen, I’m here to see the Goddess of Life, for your father!” I shouted.

“No, you’re a liar!” Assassin began. “I’m Razan Hamada! I plan to see the Goddess so I can save your people, and avenge your father!”

“What an interesting situation.” The witch spoke with a tone of playfulness. “They now have one of the most difficult choices of their lives to make.”

Will they make the right choice?

Or the wrong one?

Another bunch of dirt was raised in the air, Elowyn seemed to be trying to decide which one was me, and which one was Assassin. She made the call, the pile of dirt would fly towards…the body of Razan Hamada, now Assassin.

“Gah!” He fell back from the impact.

“As if I would ever mistake an impostor for Razan Hamada,” Elowyn grumbled. “He’s my friend, and we’ll beat you two together.”

To be continued.