[13] TIME AND DIRECTION

"How can Zomir be your friend, Galarax?" Sliff said. "He killed me!"

"Sliff was killed by…Zomir?" Galarax thought. "So he can distort now."

The four quarzeths stared intensely at Galarax, measuring his strength. The torso-heavy alchobeasts had forearms bigger than his entire body. But what made them terrifying was their 'instinct' to merge.

"Hey, Galarax," Sliff said. "Answer me."

"Didn't you say I should be careful?"

"But you said you can deal with them 'just fine'."

Galarax shook his head, sighing. "Was your Zomir a human?"

"No…" Sliff said, "far from it, actually."

"My friend, Zomir," Galarax said, "was a human."

"Oh…" Sliff said. "I thought we were talking about the same one."

"Yeah," Galarax said, looking away as he frowned, "me too, kid."

The quarzeth that was toppled backward by Galarax started beating its chest, the others stomping the ground with their fists. A charge was coming.

"I think they're angry, Galarax," Sliff said.

"No," Galarax said. "They're exited for our death-battle."

Sliff gasped. "Death—"

The quarzeth charged, generating power with its huge rocky forearms.

Galarax formed his defensive stance, left foot forward, right foot back, and hands in front of his face—

The quarzeth slammed its fists into the ground, launching into the air with a flip.

Galarax smiled, pulling his hands behind his waist, legs next to each other, then opened wide his stance.

The quarzeth put his forearms next to each other in mid-sir, diving on top of Galarax like a boulder.

Galarax shot his palms upward, slamming them against the purple and orange slab, stopping the quarzeth from crushing his body. Then its feet hit the ground, allowing it to push harder. Galarax simply gripped his forearms, whipping them down and left. The quarzeth flinched. The momentum from whipping its hands was enough for Galarax to spin completely, delivering a roundhouse kick with his left leg directly to its face.

The quarzeth got sent flying toward the left, another one atop the hill beating its chest.

"Whoa," Sliff said. "What do you eat Galarax? That kick shouldn't have done something like that to…'that'."

"What can I say," Galarax said, shrugging. "Warriors are built different, shorty."

"Look out," Sliff warned. "Another one is charging."

The quarzeth stopped halfway between other alchobeasts and Galarax.

"Look, kid," Galarax said, pointing. "It's using Alchos."

"They can do that?" Sliff asked, surprised.

"Why do you think they're called alchobeasts—?"

The second quarzeth slammed its gigantic palms onto the ground, a rugged column of rock growing from the ground below its feet, breaking away the grassy field, sending a crack where Galarax stood.

"Back off, kid," Galarax warned, turning to Sliff.

Sliff nodded immediately, hastily getting away from the cracking ground.

Galarax turned back to find that the column had grown taller, leaning toward him.

"Where'd it go—?" he thought before looking up.

The alchobeast pulled a purple rock from its back, the part of the rock that was inside it was all shiny and clean. Then it threw the shining cliff's edge at Galarax, slamming together its palms right after. The rock broke into several tiny splinters, showering Galarax with rocky-knifes.

Galarax puffed up his chest, holding his breath, and clenching his fists.

The purple splinters started raining from over his head, stabbing into him. But none pierced his skin, for he had overloaded his alchosurge, allowing him to withstand the rain of sharp rocks. The splinters crushed into tiny pieces as they hit his body, even the ones aimed at his face.

Before the quarzeth was almost on top Galarax, it pulled back its fist, morphing it into a hammer.

Galarax exhaled with his mouth, pulling his right fist behind his waist, covering it with the other hand.

The alchobeast slammed its hammer at Galarax's head, only to be stopped as he punched—

The ground below Galarax feet cracked.

"That's what the column was for. Not bad."

Galarax relaxed his hand, his shoulders coming in line with the alchobeast's hammer, which swung down swiftly. He used the cracking ground to slide a bit to the left, using his turning torso to jam his left hand into the side of the quarzeth, right where its ribcage should've been.

The quarzeth flew to the right, slamming into the edge of the crack, which flipped him into rolling away, its body dragging against the ground.

Galarax jumped backward, getting away from the cracking ground.

"You're amazing, Galarax," Sliff said. "Two of them are down and you haven't even broken a sweat."

"I'm just getting started, kid," Galarax said, pointing at himself with a thumb.

"Oh, no, Galarax" Sliff said, pointing toward the hilltop. "That's what they did when I first saw them. They will become stronger, right?"

Galarax turned to the two standing alchobeasts clasping each other's hand. It was their instinct. They started to merge together, their colors softening to pristine white, their mutual body shifting to that of an armored knight's. Quarzeth knight: The ultimate form of a quarzeth. Their instinct gave them more intelligence and an even higher Alchos dexterity.

"Can you still take it on?" Sliff asked nervously.

Galarax shrugged.

"Was that a yes…or no?"

Galarax shrugged.

"Galarax!"

The quarzeth knight charged at Galarax, its movement way nimbler than an ordinary quarzeth. It pulled back its axe, one of two weapons a knight can manifest.

Galarax formed his defensive stance as the knight jumped over the cracking ground, landing in front of him with a knee down. He had no reason to look back to tell how scared the skinny kid was, even when Galarax stood between him and the quarzeth knight.

It stood upright, pointing its axe at Galarax.

Galarax smiled, brushing off the axe from his face.

The knight pulled it closer, spinning for a horizontal slash targeted at his abdomen.

The knight looked confused to see only a scared kid in front of it.

"Here, softy," Galarax said, standing atop the axe-blade.

The quarzeth pulled its blade back, forcing Galarax to jump off it.

Galarax landed right where he stood a moment before, taunting the knight to attack.

"Don't anger him, Galarax," Sliff said. "Overconfidence is not good."

"I'm not overconfident, shorty," Galarax said, turning with a smile. "I'm just a warrior."

The knight pulled its axe behind its head, before slamming it down in a vertical slash.

Galarax clapped, catching the blade of the axe in between his palms. "Try using Alchos, softy. That ought to give you a shot—" He noticed the charging alchobeasts, the ones he had knocked left and right. "Calling your friends? That works too—"

He realized they were not charging at him…but at Sliff.

"KID!" Galarax yelled, turning to the kid who was already on his butt, crying his eyes out.

"I can't move, Galarax," Sliff said. "S-SAVE ME, PLEASE!"

The axe sliced his chest, slamming to the ground.

"Dammit," Galarax thought. "Lost focus."

"GALARAX!" Sliff yelled. "D-D-Don't worry about me, just…focus on your fight." He put his hands above his head, closing his eyes.

Galarax smiled, exhaling softly.

The charging alchobeasts jumped, making aggressive noises.

"AAAGHH!" Sliff screamed…

He did not get crushed.

"Open your eyes, shorty," Galarax said. "Why're you afraid when I'm here?"

Sliff sobbed, slowly opening his eyes as he looked up. "What…?"

Galarax had grabbed the two charging quarzeths by their heads. "I invited you for a duel and this is how you fight? Pathetic!" He slammed their heads into each other, shattering their skulls, purple liquid bursting out.

"You…" Sliff said nervously. "But you were losing—"

Galarax slapped his forehead. "I was losing—?" he composed himself, standing upright. "Hey, kid," he said after he sighed. "You didn't think I was going all out, did you?"

Sliff gulped in confusion. "Umm…"

Galarax folded upon himself, shaking his head. "You really underestimated me…" He almost cried at the kid making small of warriors.

"Why would you hold back in a death-battle?" Sliff asked.

Galarax stood upright. "Because if I went all-out…this would've been over in an instant."

Sliff eyes widened, his eyes rising. "R…Really?"

Galarax turned, looking at the hilltop. The knight was knocked against the tree, fruit around him, a trail formed by his feet from when he had punched him, which sent it flying back before it fell and dragged against the ground all the way to the hilltop.

"Its chest…" Sliff said, gazing at the open torso of the knight. "When did you…?"

Galarax sighed, waving toward the hilltop. "It's difficult to pass time when you're this strong."

Every alchobeast around him rose into the air.

"What the…!" Sliff said, amazed. "How's that even possible?"

"You're in a land protected by dead warriors," Galarax said. "What do you think is 'not' possible?" With that he slammed shut his fist, the alchobeasts colliding into each other, forming a rugged boulder.

"You are truly a warrior, Galarax," Sliff said slowly, gazing at the boulder hanging in the sky.

Galarax smiled. "That I am, kid."

The boulder erupted into fire, collapsing onto itself, before turning into a dark wisp drifting in the sky.

"Whoa—" Sliff said.

"Kid!" Galarax said. "You managed to come back again!"

"Yeah!" Sliff said. "But even better than that Galarax, I realized my actual dream!"

"So you're not dead?"

"No…I wasn't a slave…"

"What? You don't have a brand?"

"No…I just…"

"So what's your dream?"

Sliff looked up with hopeful eyes. "I'm going to liberate every slave there is, Galarax, even the ones that don't have a brand."

"That's an even better dream, kid," Galarax said with a smile. "How do you plan on doing that?"

Sliff smiled. "I'll be the greatest Seeker, Galarax, even stronger than a Celestial! Then I will change the slavery laws! I will show the slaves what someone like them is capable of! I will return them to being human!"

"This kid…" Galarax thought, looking at his eyes.

He placed a hand on Sliff's head, ruffling his hair. "Excellent thinking, Sliff! If you need any help, I'm always by your side!"

"Any?" Sliff said. "My whole plan was just to learn Alchos from you."

"Oh…" Galarax said then chuckled. "That works regardless. I will teach you everything I know about Alchos, kid."

"Thank you, Galarax," Sliff said, bowing. "I knew you'd help!"

Galarax waved. "You had to learn it sooner or later, right?"

"Right!" Sliff said.

"That reminds me," Galarax said, reaching into his pocket. "I have something for you, shorty." He pulled out a wristwatch, handing it to Sliff.

Sliff accepted the watch, looking at it with narrow eyes. "What's this?"

"It's not like you can stay here forever, right?" Galarax said. "That's to make sure you get back to the human plane in time."

"But didn't you say time move weird here?"

"Yeah, but the difference shouldn't be that far off."

"You mean something like…one hour here is two hours back home?"

"Yes and no," Galarax said. "Each day may individually be ahead or behind a couple hours, you just have to stay here where that 'couple hours' don't really matter."

"I don't really—" Sliff said.

"Say you come here for eight hours every day, alright?" Galarax explained. "Maybe that's six hours back in the human plane or maybe even ten hours. You just have to make sure to come here where those hours don't matter."

"I get it!" Sliff said. "But every day? I can't do that. People will get suspicious."

"You'll just come here when no one would."

"And when's that?"

"While you sleep, of course."

Sliff eyes widened as if Galarax just told him one of the profound truths of the universe. "That's…genius, Galarax!"

"Actually, it's not," Galarax said. "It's just common sense, kid."

Sliff looked down at the watch just given to him. "And reading this? Is that common sense too?"

"Come here," Galarax said. "I'll tell you how to read it."

Sliff handed him the wristwatch.

"This golden sand," Galarax said, tapping the glass of the circular face of the wristwatch, pointing toward the flat hourglass inside it, "moves up and down completely every other hour. It doesn't matter if you shake it or tilt it." He turned the watch upside-down and the sand seemed to be falling upward.

"Whoa," Sliff said. "The sand is falling in the wrong direction. Then what're the gems for?"

Galarax handed him the watch. "The twelve gems on the dial show which hour of the day it is, with each passing hour another gem glowing."

"Like the watches back home…" Sliff said.

"That was the only design we knew," Galarax said. "We had to keep track of time somehow. This was the best we could do."

"So everyone has one of these?" Sliff said. "Lisha? Bazyn?"

"Yeah," Galarax said. "Every member has a watch, that's how we coordinate things, plan which hour to meet and stuff. In fact, the one you're holding belonged to Noviana. I asked her if we can give you one."

Sliff strapped the wristwatch around his left wrist, the strap tightening to the perfect fit. "Whoa! It shrunk. Wait… How will she keep track of time now?"

"The inventor of these watches lives in her region," Galarax said. "He's a genius who has developed almost all of the technology here in Valhalla."

Sliff raised his wrist in front of his face. "It's the invention of one person? That's amazing! He must be really smart then." He tapped the red gem on the dial. "But, why's this red?"

"Oh, that," Galarax said. "The watch is also a compass, kid. The red gem always points to the 'north'. Obviously it's just a word here, but it's handy…"

Sliff spun in circles, watching the red gem chase a single direction as the dial rotated. "It really does point to north!"

Galarax placed a hand on his head, stopping him. "Alright, kid, when're we starting you're training then?"

"Huh?" Sliff said, regaining balance. "Right… It was morning back home when I came here… So… How about from tonight?"

"That works for me," Galarax said. "Let's get you to my shack before you return. I need to know what happened in that meeting of yours."

"Right!"