It was a grand spectacle, and Nina hated it. But it seemed this was the only way the tribes knew how to be—grand gestures or nothing.
There were hundreds gathered to see the fight. Rex still clung tightly to her side, and for once it was a comfort versus a nuisance to her spirit.
She caught odd glances from the tribes. The looks that usually shone with pride and sang with cheer seemed to be shifting to doubt and whispers. Did they fear the outcome of this fight? Wonder why she hadn't guided it, controlled how it would be seen to avoid any blight?
She wasn't sure. But the wolf tribe's other kin seeking training had tails wagging eagerly, waiting for the outcome. They assumed this would reveal who the TRUE tribe hero was—the one worthy of leading and training them.
Those fools are walking into battle seeking glory, Nina thought. When Leena is the only one out of all of them humble enough to be worthy.
"Everything okay? You're frowning a lot. Are you hungry?" Rex asked from Nina's side.
She looked down, face softening, and rustled his hair. "Sorry, kiddo. Don't like fighting, is all."
His face only showed confusion. "Why? You're strong. Nothing can hurt you."
Ah, little one, if you only knew...
"We all seek different things. Hurting others and fighting isn't for me." She looked up at her sister and smiled, full of pride. "But my sister is worthy to defend us—not just with her light, but with a willingness to fight... so others don't have to."
She didn't see if Rex understood. In a way, she didn't care. She was already planning how to use this to address the tribes as a whole. She knew her sister and Terra came to help her, so she would use this to move forward.
The looks from a few not watching the fight, whispering among themselves, reflected what she was starting to see more clearly—a fear of the unknown. They'd assumed things would be simple. More heroes not from the tribe complicated things, made it harder to just focus on the hero they wanted.
"LAST CHANCE, HERO! STAND DOWN!"
The shouting made her focus. It seemed they wanted to start with a taunt to egg her sister on. She was about to say this was a test for THEM, not for Leena to prove her strength—but Terra beat her to it.
"DUN BE IN SUCH A RUSH! U THINK IT A VICTORY BEFORE A SINGLE BLOW? IT'LL HURT MORE THAN UR PRIDE WHEN U LOSE!"
A few looked confused at what she meant. Blessedly, Leena cleared it up for them, since they weren't sure what to say.
"Terra means: never underestimate your opponent, even if it seems like an easy win. We are more than labels of 'heroes.' We fought and won against many different beasts."
That got murmurs and nods. They'd heard the stories and knew legends didn't rise from lies. Someone had to have proof before it grew to legends. True, It might be stretched for storytelling, but there'd still be truth. And these heroes had won against great beasts.
No longer shouting—since they knew they had all attention—the wolves spoke loudly but more calmly, though with the same open boast.
"Oh, we have no doubt you won against mindless beasts. But we are equal to you, Hero. That's the point of this duel, no? If you want to make it more legitimate, though, please—one-on-one versus this sham of us humbling you two-on-one."
Leena limbered up. She didn't have her sword in hand, but Nina knew she'd brought it. She wore only loose clothes and her shield. The wolves—one chose a long staff, the other said his fists would be more than enough.
"I defeated the ogre with just this shield and a thin blade. But for this duel, I only need the shield."
Again, murmurs sounded—now turning excited, wanting to see how the hero overcame such a beast with such skill.
The elder intervened before sniping and mocking could turn to jeers, as it seemed talks were starting to break down after Leena's last words.
"This is a duel of training. If the hero feels this lesson is needed and you will learn, we will allow it. But this IS a duel." Finishing the words that carried on the wind, all bowed, understanding pride was getting a bit heated.
Yet the wolf tribe could not resist one last snipe.
"We respect what's being taught. But if we prove worthy, we ask to be shown training worthy of our time. If we fall, we accept such an impossible defeat."
The elder nodded, as did Nina reluctantly. Though Terra looked ready to fight, Leena just smiled before speaking.
"If you can beat me, I will personally sing of your tale to my village inn daily, and you'll be welcomed to visit as the heroes you seek to be."
Nina wasn't sure if it was goading, but the tail-wagging from the wolves only saw it as being honored for a victory they hadn't even fought for yet.
"We go till someone falls or gives up. I can heal, so no need to hold back—nor will I. And yes, I will heal you afterwards."
Leena wprds was met with laughter, but they did say thank you. Though their grins said they didn't believe it would come to that.
"Your hand is stone?" Rex said from nina side.
"Aha? Sorry, I do it sometimes for comfort. It helps me feel solid."
"That's amazing!"
"Yeah, kiddo, it is. Let's watch the fight, okay?"
"Are you worried for the heroes? They're like you, so they'll be okay, no?"
She looked down at him, holding her stone hand. Concern dawned in his face. This wasn't a friendly duel.
"People can get hurt even in a safe place, so yes, I worry for my sister."
Rex stared into the battle. "Well, I think she'll be okay, so don't worry. Besides, you got me."
She grimaced at that but tried to play it off and nodded, waiting to see how this battle would turn out and deal with the fallout then.
———
Leena came to support her sister. She wasn't sure what to expect. She'd never wondered much about tribe life, happy with her normal life. Yet the few tales from Nebo at dinner always spoke of them as loving. So coming into this—blind smothering worship, followed by these two wolfkin dismissing her—was a bit of a shock she tried to roll with.
Leena watched Terra from the sideline, swapping between a scowl at the wolfkin and random cheering for her—just like when she trained with Ender, Terra's dad.
Leena's chest swelled with pride at how much Terra seemed to be maturing from the defeated berserker after the ogre fight. Leena knew her battle sister was still healing from those scars no healing light could ease.
That's why—even though left unspoken—Leena would not let Terra fight. She still saw the shadows of the ogre in Terra's eyes. In Nina's, too.
Leena knew she'd pulled them headfirst into the jaws of that beast. So now she would shield them instead.
And these two wolf cubs? They were just overgrown children wanting to be heroes.
Like the prideful old self that was me. Training, pushing myself, and assuming that alone made me worthy. That everyone should follow me. Till it broke my friends and family.
So now she would break these wolfkin to show them how bad it could be—before they faced a beast that wouldn't show mercy.
It wasn't cruelty, but truth. Terra's father had shown her through repeated training: better to have wounded pride and know your limits than to face death with no return.
They gave them distance—the crowd did, a good fifty feet in all directions. She was unsure if the space was planned or just given with fear of being struck by a stray blow. It seemed like they wanted to move back further, but other eager beastkin kept replacing them, moving forward. Her sisters stayed around the fifty-foot mark, so that probably encouraged others doing the same.
As she studied the beastkin, she realized she'd never gotten their names. So prideful in challenging her, yet not addressing her properly. It was a bit of a shame. But their fur was distinct enough she could name them: Brown and Grey.
Grey was the more cocky one, pushing the most. He also held a weapon—a long bo staff—and twirled it with skill, staring her down in an intimidating tactic. fire mana type she assumed. She was used to fire mana types being blunt from training with Terra. She wasn't sure if it was their nature that blessed them with fire mana, or if fire mana influenced that nature.
Brown seemed more calm, but she felt the random shifting of wind as he focused his mana. It seemed he was the wind user. He was getting more twitchy as it went—maybe to limber up, or maybe he was unable to control the flow in his body.
There was no shout of "go." No cheer of "get 'em." Just an odd calm that followed the first move, as if the world stilled and the gods feared the outcome.
And for just a moment, she thought she should yield and show them mercy—lest this go wrong. She had no clue how tribes would handle this, or how far they'd go for a win.
Grey saw her hesitate. Like a predator smelling blood, he lunged—thinking he'd found an easy victory. So quick was the shift, the crowd gasped in surprise at the speed. Even Brown—who was wind-based—was shocked at the sudden move. Perhaps Brown assumed they'd strike together. They weren't even working as one.
She smiled as the tip of the staff flew toward her face. Watching it close in, she shifted ever so slightly, letting it pass. It was a feint meant to panic her, or at least stun her with a light blow if she didn't dodge.
A test strike. And if she failed, proof of how weak she was.
Even as the staff was being pulled back, it thrust forward—twice, thrice—more probing strikes. A pattern he'd learned in training. Too uniform. Easy to see the pattern as she danced around it slowly, her focus more on brown in the distance then grey striking her.
Even now admist the blows she dodge, leena saw the grimace on brown's face. the eyes spoke cleary his thoughts this was an unfair fight, an easy win. But he would end it all the same as btown rushed leena and tried striking from her blind side, slightly behind her.
Leena shifted to the side slighty more then before as grey's staff nearly collided with btown's fist. A fluke barely kept them from hitting each other and ending this fight for her. brown had some skill dodging the forward thurst of staff as he danced around gray to avoid either tumbling from slaming into each other. Both growled, not liking the mockery of her showing them mercy, by sidesteping thier strikes.
She tilted her head, unsure, and gave a slight bow—a way of saying, Sorry, I'll take you seriously. That made them both bare their teeth. It seemed now they wouldn't go easy with feints and light strikes.
Blink and you'd miss it—Brown was there, sweeping her leg with a wind power kick as the staff from Grey thrust forward with a burst from his fire mana. Meant to shatter her chest, or at least knock her over while unbalanced on one leg as she lifted it to avoid the sweep or finish knocking her down if she did not dodge the sweep.
She used her shield to push the staff away. Even as it slid along the edge, she saw Brown turning his failed leg sweep into a rising spinning roundhouse. She couldn't pull the shield back in time. It would shatter her leg or ribs if she did nothing—depending on the arc of the swing of the incoming kick.
She didn't think he'd aim for her head, but it didn't matter. She pulled mana from her shield and turned rigid like stone—just long enough to asborb the hit.
The kick felt light as it slammed into Leena's unmoving form. It made Brown stumble, trying to rebalance. It seemed he was still holding back, or she'd feel it a lot more. Even using the earth mana to make her solid as she was now, it felt enough to bruise but not break bone. She might even have been fine without the stone form.
They're still underestimating me...
Before Brown could completely recover and turn to face her, she slammed her shield into his back, knocking him forward and stumbling into the crowd as they caught him. The shift shocked Grey. He'd seen the impact she took and knew she should be staggered. He was starting to realign his strike when the surprise counter from leena to brown loosened grey grip on his staff in surpise at the turn of events.
She did a quick leg sweep to mirror what they'd tried. She was shocked how easily the legs flew from under Grey. She'd thought he had better form. As he fell and stumbled to quickly stand once more, staff forward in panic—assuming she would strike more—she instead leapt back to get a bit of distance.
Leena noticed she'd gotten too close to the crowd when the cheer got louder, with Terra being the loudest. She did her best to move closer to the middle, fearing them getting hit, as all three of them in the middle regrouped themselves.
"Are you mocking us?" grey finally asked over the crowd's loud encouragements.
"Mocking?" Leena asked mildly, unsure if he was serious.
"You challenged a hero—one who defeated a legendary beast. Yet you're asking if I'm mocking?"
Both Brown and Grey's ears went flat. Not admitting any wrong, but getting her point. So she went on.
"THIS—" she spoke loudly and carefully, waiting for the crowd to calm. "This is a lesson and a test. You say you have the same power as me. So why do I show no fear?"
"Why have you not beaten the weakest hero who still stands here?" leena said soflty before adding the final blow.
"Who still believes she will win?"
The crowd was unsure of the lesson or what she meant, but that was fine. She would make it clear afterwards, after they failed. Their anger was reaching a peak.
Their voices low, but she still heard: "Pincer?"
"Yeah. End it."
She watched both nod and flare their skills. She breathed in deep as they rushed, and breathed out slow, focusing.
The crowd's voices stopped, and they rushed in slow motion. She'd seen fists faster. She'd taken hits harder. She'd defeated beasts bigger.
As they split and rushed from two sides—trying a pincer strike—the angle of the staff would be hard to deflect. It looked like thier intent was meant to force her to defend one side while she was smashed from behind.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQe1dGIXXbL
she would not wait...
leena rushed toward gray with the staff, slightly throwing off their attack. Forcing brown to catch up gave her time to take the bo strike. She pulsed her shield, shifting it up and away—unbalancing grey and turning to face the other.
As she turned, brownv was shocked at leena speed at adapting but tried to follow with a series of fist strikes. She knew it would end in some form of kick, so she didn't wait. quickly Dodging the fists to get closer and slammed the shield into Grey's chest, pulsing earth mana into it to shatter his ribs, knocking him back.
Even as she shifted back to face the other wolf, grey, who was flaring his mana to rebalance and force the staff back to hit her trying to captilze on her unable to outspeed him when he flared his fire mana. But once more, before he could finish the strike, she met the staff at an angle with her shield, smashing the edge into it. She pulsed the earth mana to knock it back, but was surprised when—instead of deflecting the staff—it shattered the wood instead.
She didn't wait for the surprise to fully register on grey's face as she followed through, shifting the shield into his chest and smashing him back.
She jumped slightly back and waited. When neither moved to stand and fight, she went to them and healed them instead, knowing the fight was over.
She felt the mending of bones and was surprised by how many were broken. She hadn't thought her strikes were that effective—but perhaps the angles she'd hit were more efficient than she knew. Or perhaps she was just too used to her own healing to know the true effect on a body that couldn't heal itself.
Both wolves coughed and slowly rose on all fours, unable to stand. Though healed, she wanted to wait for them to rise before speaking. So she was surprised when a voice spoke instead.
"My sister has shown mercy—not once, but twice. Holding back and healing the defeated."
Nina's voice carried over the crowd. "Yet when we fought the monsters you praise me for, they did NOT, show us that mercy. They beat us down and wanted us dead."
"HEROES." Nina let the word hang. "We may be. But heroes suffer and hurt. If you want to train to fight, so be it. But don't underestimate what it means to face such beasts. Or you won't be getting healed with mercy when that day comes."
The beastkin listened to Nina's speech, as did Leena—stunned into silence. She'd been going to say something similar, about not underestimating beasts. But she didn't have the chance.
"The heroes offer us wisdom and mercy. Let us give thanks." The elder's voice broke through the crowd as she bowed, followed by others. Surprising even Leena, the defeated wolfkin did as well.
"Thank you for teaching us, Hero. We regret underestimating what it means to face legends. We will train more to be worthy." grey said with brown nodding in agreement.
Leena was unsure how to feel. They always needed more willing to fight beasts, and they did seem sincere. Maybe they'd just gotten too prideful. She nodded, letting it go. A bit tired—the fight itself was nowhere near as draining as the ogre, but all the eyes and the constant feeling of every action being seen as praiseworthy was starting to get grating, even for her.
———
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq10id9s8JR
the dust settled soon after that with the duel a afterthought the wound pride of the wolfkin went to medtaited on thier defeat as the rest of the tribe wanted to turn the spectacle into a chance for a feasr/ and so the day past into the night waiting for the feast....
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NxPjPXSbP
Nina sat with Rex in her lap at the feast. The odd looks and mixed signals seemed to be gone now, as all seemed to be celebrating the duel as a good thingnow that it was over with none hurt beyond a bit of pride. Even the visiting wolf tribe seemed to be in good spirits with random visting wolfkin seeking her sister leena and enjoying the talk with her as she was giving pointers, though Terra nearby seemed more unforgiving—looking smug they were valadaited as heroes, or she'd eaten something bad. Nina wasn't sure.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVRML4gunM
Rex—finally learning boundaries, or at least fearing Terra's blunt talk—letting them have peace as Nina shared a space with her sisters in a rare moment.
"Thanks, Len. You helped me—fighting alone." Terra spoke slowly, out of the blue, as they all watched the flames in a lull in the night.
"I seen the ogre in them. The way they moved. I know they were weak versus him, but..."
"It's fine, Terra. We all heal differently. Even I am breaking under all these stares."
"HAH! U? NO WAY!" Terra suddenly got back her cheer, slapping Leena on the back, followed by Leena slapping her back. Both smiled in the shared moment.
It hurt before, seeing it. But not now—knowing how far they'd come for her, even when they hated it here she felt only loved.
Leena turned to meet Nina's eyes, her smile leaving her face.
"Sorry, Nina. I fear this place is a bit much. We wanted to show support, but I don't think I can handle staying here another night beyond this."
"Me too," Terra echoed, more solemn, watching the random beastkin dancing in the distance.
Nina nodded slowly. She knew it wouldn't last, and they would leave her.
"You can come with us. We won't say no," Leena said carefully.
"Aye, foxy! U done enough!"
It warmed her heart, even brought her to tears. But she shook her head, wiping her face.
"No... They need me." She saw both Leena and Terra about to protest, but she held up her hand. "Not to lead. To teach."
"They're good people wanting to love and be loved, but they have a broken view of heroes and magic. I want to help them see me and people like me—not just heroes and idols."
"Oooo, foxy, that's deep," Terra said, nodding her head, looking like she was thinking.
Nina couldn't help but laugh, seeing Terra as more than an overgrown, loveable brute. She assumed her sister Leena agreed as she joined in on the laugh. Terra didn't get it but joined in on the fun.
The night ended much better, even knowing that tomorrow's day light they'd be gone. But she still had her brother's light, and that would be enough.
The next morning had many sad faces. They felt they were just starting to understand the new heroes and were already losing them. But they understood the heroes had their own lives.
Nina told her sisters, "Please let Wolf know I can't leave, but his light won't be wasted till the day it's not needed." She tried to remain vague, not wanting all to hear her plans. But even that vague, personal speech got pained looks. She wasn't sure if they understood, or perhaps they did and she would deal with it later.
Nina's story was far from an end. But another story just began as a unknown person entered the town, looking for the heroes who'd saved the world from a weakness curse and defeated a rare legendary beast that could travel through doors.
and then Add to home screen.