The Sewers

"Hone our skills?!" exclaimed Eli "Are you insane??? We have barely walked a few steps out of the entrance and we almost died! Me and Thea have only practiced using big weapons and I don't see any halberd or greataxe just lying around down here! I don't wanna end up like... like..."

Eli retches.

Thea pats him on the back while glancing at Arne.

"He does have a point you know... If we make mistakes we may end up like... you know." she says shakily.

"It will be tough, yes, but I think if we are careful and stick together... We may be able to make a pre-emptive strike against the summoner! Even if we risk our lives... think of how many lives might be saved if we fight back now!" said Arne.

"But still..." said Thea.

"Even if we do get sick from the rats, if we defeat the summoner... Us and everyone else will be fine! I'm sure that the sickness is an ability of the summoner, if he is defeated... Then we can help all those people in the clinic, and your mother too!" said Arne.

"You think so?" asked Thea.

"I am sure of it." said Arne, "If anything else... we need to at least try. I can't just go home and go to sleep knowing that this all is down here. I need to- we need to do something! Even if we just call for help. We need to do something!" Arne's determination was made clear. There was no way that he was going to sit by and watch now.

"Alright... I'm with you Arne. This danger will make us stronger, and we need to be stronger to keep our families safe. My parents aren't fighters... I need to be stronger to protect them!" replied Thea resolutely.

"Not you too Thea..." said Eli, "Come on guys, let's just go alert the guards..."

"You think that they'll believe us? We may be strong for our age... But we're just kids. We're still Rank 0." said Arne.

"..."

"Alright," said Arne, "Let's see if we can find something for you to use as weapons."

Arne once again approached the small tent where the corpse of the man was. Slowly he reached out and grabbed the straight wooden stick that held the tent up. Quickly he pulled it away from the dwelling and the cloth covering collapsed over the corpse of the man, and dust plumed outwards from beneath the cloth.

Arne covered his face with his arm as the foul scent assaulted his nostrils.

He examined the long stick. It was close to the length of Thea's practice halberd, so it should work as a makeshift weapon. He tossed it to her.

"This should work as a substitute for your halberd. I can use my knife and Eli... Are you coming with us?" asked Arne.

"Well... Where else am I supposed to go?? I have to come with you guys now!" whimpered Eli.

"Alright Eli, let's see if we a can find something for you, a stick like Thea's should work just fine." replied Arne.

After that short exchange, Thea and Arne continued exploring further into the sewers in search of a weapon for Eli. Eli followed closely behind watching behind Thea and Arne carefully, well, as carefully as he could in his unstable mental state.

They all searched thoroughly, trying their best not to disturb the dead by invading into their dwellings. They looked around dozens of tents but nothing useful was in view.

As they reached the end of the sewer settlement a final tent lay before them. They had been lucky this far since they hadn't encountered any rats, but sadly Eli was still unarmed.

Up ahead in the final tent, stood the first straight stick they had seen since Thea's stick back at the entrance. This was the last tent on this side of the settlement, if they didn't get this stick, then they would have to go all the way back to the entrance of the sewer and go in a different direction. Along the way had been several branching paths as well, so they may have to explore there to find something for Eli to use.

The problem was the lack of rats, one would think that a sewer would be rife with rats, but...

There were none.

At least, not that they could see without intruding into the tents.

Arne led the way yet again. Thea and Eli followed closely behind.

"Stay close to me Eli." said Thea.

"Uh-yeah. Yeah." mumbled Eli, his pale face now redder than a tomato.

Arne grabbed the stick and quickly pulled away turning to face Thea and Eli as the tent collapsed in another smelly plume behind him.

"This'll be perfect! Finally we can hunt some rats together! Here Eli take this!" said Arne, tossing the stick towards Eli.

"That took forever... I'm not even sure what time it is. We should hurry back in the other direction, there has to be more rats that wa-"

CLANK

Arne's sentence was cut off by the sound of the stick hitting the grimy brick floor.

"Why did you-" Arne started as he looked at the face of Eli.

Thea and Eli were pale as ghosts. Eli was clung tightly to Thea's back. Their combined gaze seemed to look right past him.

"A-Arne?" said Thea, "Come t-this way v-very slowly."

"Oh no." said Arne as he slowly turned to look behind him.

In the wreckage of the tent was dozens of pairs of eyes.

Red eyes.

They belonged to the "white" rats.

Arne had not noticed their presence within the tent due to his focus on the stick. In order to observe the color of mana he needed to focus.

During training: he focused.

In the morning: he focused on the beauty of the morning.

In the high stress situation involving the clinic and Thea's mother: he focused

But now, in a moment of excitement, an opportunity for him and his friends to get stronger: his focus lapsed. Perhaps he hadn't realized the threat to his life. Perhaps there were too many things on his mind. Perhaps he just wasn't paying attention.

This mistake would indeed be costly.

The wall of summoned rats loomed in front of Arne. He could not breathe. His ears rung. His pupils shook. Was this it? After a short moment of triumph against the first rat, his life would end? He would die unable to protect his friends and family? He would never make it past Rank 0? He wouldn't even collect a single of the cards that inspired his curiosity?

He was way too presumptuous.

Could he defeat a summoner after dealing with a single rat? No.

He had gotten way too far ahead of himself.

He would never amount to anything.

Eli recovered from his shock surprisingly quickly, tugging on the back of Thea's clothing and screaming at the back of Arne's head.

"RUUUUN!!!!!"

Without thinking Arne turned his body and pushed every fiber of every muscle in his legs moving as fast as he possibly could. Eli and Thea had already begun running. It was then that the wave of rats moved. It did not move like an group of individuals moved. It shifted, rippled, like a wave of water, before the mass of squeaking and hissing flesh rolled towards the three.

Arne's legs burned with a fiery pain. He was pushing his limits further than he had in training. His friends lives were in danger. His life was in danger. The lives of every member of the town was in danger: he needed to move! Move! MOVE!

The wave of rats picked up speed and rolled over the tents that held the corpses of the sewer's former residents, the tents that Arne and his friends tried so carefully to keep undisturbed.

Arne was in a trance like state.

He felt no pain.

He felt nothing but the immense stress of the weight that the lives of others brought him. Despite him having no obligation, no need, to worry himself. He was just a kid after all. No matter how fast mana made his mind mature, he needed wisdom to understand his place.

He was no protector.

He was no defender.

He was no monster hunter.

He was no adventurer.

But he wanted to be.

Suddenly as they weaved in between the tents, Thea's leg got caught tangled on something. She fell with a heavy thud, her leg was injured. Eli glanced back behind him and quickly skidded to a stop. He ran back to Thea to help her untangle her leg.

Arne's mind was no longer there.

His body was numb. He only ran to run. He ran past Thea and Eli.

"Come on... Come onnnn..." mumbled Eli as his eyes darted between the rapidly approaching rat wave and Thea's injured ankle. Sweat poured down his forehead. His hands shook. He couldn't untie Thea's ankle while he was this stressed. He took a deep breath and focused harder on Thea's ankle, ignoring the impending danger ahead of him.

"...me" mumbled Thea.

"What?" said Eli, unable to hear her.

"L-leave me..." said Thea. Her eyebrows trembled as tears began to pour out of her eyes.

"This is no time for joking Thea, I thought you said-"

"LEAVE ME ELI! GO!" she screamed.

Eli paused for a moment. Tears began to well up in his eyes.

"No... no. NO!" tears fell on his hands as he shakily tried to untie Thea's leg from the knot it had made.

"I can't leave you behind!" he exclaimed, "Anyone but you!"

Thea pushed him away from her.

"GO!"

Eli turned behind him to yell for Arne to help only to see him standing next to him. Still.

Arne had heard everything, Thea's scream had roused him from his instinctual state. Arne's hand covered his eyes as he looked up towards the ceiling. Thick streams of tears poured down his face, dripping onto the ground.

This was all his fault.

He was too weak. If only he had trained harder. If only he had pushed himself more. He would be stronger, and maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to push Thea and Eli to come with him. He was much too weak. The world was bigger than he had imagined. His strength was nothing, despite his hard work. Had he even been working hard compared to others? Training hurt, but at no moment during his training with Roger did he feel this much pain.

Something within him broke. All of this pressure bent him and bent him and bent him. Something snapped.

What was it? He wasn't sure.

His restraint?

His innocence?

Perhaps...

All he knew, was that it was time to stop feeling so sorry for himself.

He stopped crying.

If he wanted to get stronger, no "lucky encounter" was going to make that happen.

He took his hand off of his face.

His friends needed his help.

He turned to face the wave of rats.

He was strong enough for now, he just didn't know it yet.

He opened his eyes, and they glowed: They glowed a pure and unadulterated blue.