Chapter 3.
If it hadn't been for the fact that William had been waiting for this day for many years it might have come as a shock to see the skink beckoning to him from the bushes. His mind raced ahead forming a list of things he needed to do before he headed of into the jungle. He motioned for the skink to wait then ran home.
When he arrived at his house his Mum wasn't there. William wanted nothing more than to embrace her before he left for what could be a long time. He knew he couldn't wait though so instead wrote out a rushed but meaningful letter and placed it upon the table. The few positions he had that would be needed in the jungle were quickly loaded into a rucksack and the time that he had waited for since childhood was finally upon him.
Leaving had been harder than he had ever imagined. In his head for many years he had hated this place with a passion and wanted nothing more than to leave but now that it was time, old memories flooded his head and the attachment to his Mother pulled at his heart and soul but he forced himself on towards the awaiting skink.
The blue lizard was still there. It defiantly wasn't his imagination or a dream like so many prior times. The skink squeaked and clicked its tongue as it held out its small webbed hand. As a child, holding peoples hands had been natural but now it seemed foreign to an older William. Still, he knew how dangerous the jungle was and was unwilling to take any chances so he lightly held onto the cold, wet hand and followed the lizard closely.
The jungle seemed to move around them. William was determined to take note of the path that they took but after five minutes he was sure that he could never find his way back without aid or luck.
The air was painfully humid. William had often camped at the edge of the jungle or in its outskirts to try and familiarise himself to its harsh environment but even so it was near unbearable as their trek continued unceasingly.
They fought their way through the terrain for what must have been hours. The skink travelled forwards with complete ease but even someone fit like William was stumbling, climbing and fighting constantly for every single mud encrusted step.
He was fed an assortment of berries by the skink and with simple sign language it showed William which berries were edible and which were poisonous. There were remarkably more berries that would kill him than there were that would sustain him. Even just touching some varieties was enough to make the skin that touched it sprout mould then drop off, as the skink proved when it rubbed a captured rat against a sickly green berry bush.
Time passed slowly. It was a constant battle for William just to keep moving and he could not talk or even breath heavily as whenever he opened his mouth a horde of buzzing flies tried to invade is body. The skink seemed to have no such problem with the bugs.
A presence grew upon Williams mind the further that he walked. It was like hands that rested atop of his heart and brain, not applying pressure or repressing any thoughts or emotions but just making its presence known. Then without prior warning his mind seemed to explode as millions of thoughts and millennia of ancient knowledge shot into his head. They died down quickly until only one foreign thought remained.
Welcome, young manling. We are glad that you return to us now as a man rather than the child that stumbled towards his destiny blindly and unknowingly. A man cannot save the world though as a man is just that.
The words were spoken with great slowness. After the words ended William emerged into a small clearing and gazed in awe at the ancient pyramid that rose up high above him. It hadn't changed since his last visit nearly a decade ago. Unlike last time though, the area was not deserted.
Dozens of skinks scampered around attending to unseen matters and a line of large, fearsome looking lizards lined in ranks next to the vast structure. A lizard even larger than them hauled giant rocks out from the jungle edge towards the crumbling structure. Some of the skinks were scrambling across the ancient stones and repairing destroyed sections with the rocks brought by the giant lizards.
Your coming has put many things into motion. intoned the mystical voice. War will soon be upon us so we must be ready. Why may be dying but we will not lay down and die. Come, head to the temple, my body awaits you within.
The skink released his hand and ran off to join the others. William walked cautiously through the clearing towards the temple. The warriors that guarded its entrance growled as he neared but kept their weapons low and their heads bowed. Once inside, William found his way to the upper section with ease. There, waiting for him in slumber, sat the giant bloated frog that had terrified him as a child.
Do you know why you are here?
"You want me to save the world." answered William. He honestly didn't have a better answer. A giant physic frog telling him that he was going to save the world sounded farfetched even to him.
That is true. I do want you to save the world. That does not mean that you will though. Chaos is amassing in the wastes once more, preparing for a third incursion. Each time we are weaker. This time, even the humans and elves will not have the power to stop it. Two creatures from each race, man, elf and dwarf, were chosen to help defeat the chaos. You are one of them.
"Why me though? I am nothing special." breathed William, torn between wonder and rage.
You are not special, yet. You will train here and either pass or die. If you can not win the first test then you could never win the enemies that await you.
"And what if I choose to ignore you and go back home?"
Then you will die anyway. Not by us, as we will not stop you should you choose to. Chaos will consume the world and kill all natural life.
"So I have no choice but to win? That's no choice at all!"shouted William angrily. Now that he was here, entering the outside world and fighting for his life and the life of all things good was suddenly a soul crushing responsibility.
There are two choices. Follow the near impossible road of harsh travel and bone breaking battles where you could die painfully and still lose or possibly win. In contrast, you could not bother which would be easier and suffer no pain until the end. The choice is yours alone.
It still didn't sound like a choice to William. Sit back and die or walk forwards and die. Neither sounded appealing.
"I accept. I do not want to but I cannot sit and do nothing, its just not me. What would you have me do?"
Upon your exit from this temple there will be a lizard waiting for you. A Temple Guard and my personal bodyguard, Gar-Nox. He will train you for a solid seven days, if you survive that then you should have all the skills needed to pass the three tests I have ready for you.
William bowed low. He wasn't sure how you were suppose to show respect to a floating monster frog so he figured that a bow would be adequate. He exited with his head spinning with knowledge, fear and excitement.
Under the arch that William had entered through stood one of the emotionless looking medium sized lizards. Its blue scales where thick and hard, its fangs sharp and bared while on its head like a helmet was a horned skull. Its eyes were a fierce yellow.
A strange halberd type of weapon was held firmly in it's hands. It was taller than the Lizard and was tipped with a foot long spiked blade that looked to be made of some kind of stone. With the strength of the Temple Guard behind it, the weapon could easily cut a human in half or run one through as easy as a leaf.
The Saurus nodded slightly to acknowledge William's presence before motioning towards a smaller Saurus behind him that held a large sword that was nearly as tall and wide as William himself and had numerous long spikes jutting out from the blade like the Temple Guard's halberd.
There was a second smaller Saurus with a stone sword stood by the first. The Temple guard, Gar-Nox, stabbed his halberd shaft deep into the moist soil then received the offered blade from the Saurus. It held it easily like it was made of some lightweight wood.
William accepted the other blade and it instantly hit the ground, nearly ripping his arms from their sockets. The topmost spike was dug into the ground frighteningly close to William's poorly guarded toes. Using every ounce of his strength the blade managed to rise a few inches from the ground and remain shakily in the air. William's muscles strained, his face was flushed and sweat was already beginning to bead upon his forehead. There was no way in hell that he'd be ably to swing it.
Gar-Nox lashed out without warning, it's blade aimed directly at William's head in a powerful downward slash. Its amazing how when faced with imminent death, facts like maximum strength suddenly disappear. William's blade met with Gar-Nox's inches away from his skull.
The force of the impact shot through every bone in William's body. He fell backwards and his sword dropped to earth where he had been stood. Both of his arms and legs were numb and he had no weapon but that didn't seem to deter his opponent. Gar-Nox swung down. William rolled aside in another reality bending feat. Numb limbs can suddenly move unnaturally fast when staring up at an object seconds away from ripping them to pieces.
"This isn't training! It's a bloody execution!" bellowed William as he scurried away from the Saurus. Gar-Nox ignored his shout and no miracles were provided by intervening gods. He was alone.
The lizard's blade slashed by William's head. Even the last second dodge wasn't enough to avoid all damage. The end spike struck William's ear and took a wedge of flesh with it as it swung away. Blood streamed down into his ear and across his right cheek. If such a small wound caused so much blood then a real wound suddenly was a lot more terrifying to the teen.
A vicious curse was spat from William's lips as he dodged another attack. He rolled to the side towards the abandoned blade but Gar-Nox kicked at his ribs. Blood spurted to the ground with a throat tearing cough that shook William's full body. The air vanished from his lungs and all strength left his body in a wave of sickness.
Gar-Nox stood menacingly over William's prone form. Even the imminence of death wasn't enough to get William moving again. It was over. He'd failed at the first hurdle, killed even before the first test. He was no hero. The world was going to end, all because he still wasn't strong enough.
Hellish pain, that's what William had been expecting. What he hadn't expected was to open his watering eyes to see the Saurus offering a scaly clawed hand to help the human back to his feet. William accepted and was quickly pulled to his feet by the immense strength of the lizard warrior. The hand was cold, like that of a corpse.
Did you truly think that we would kill off our saviour in so whimsical a way. No, pick up your weapon and try once more.
William did as the Slan's voice instructed. The sword was still ungainly and far to heavy to wield effectively but it felt somehow more… familiar this time. "Bring it on." he grinned at the lizard, a sudden flush of confidence surging through his body.
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The clash of blades rang throughout the jungle like the deranged squawking of some monstrous bird. They were not metallic clangs like swords but nor were they thuds of stone. These blades were truly unique.
For six days the crashes had been near constant, only halting for brief respite sparingly. Six days of almost none stop combat.
William would have been amazed with this feat if he hadn't needed every fibre of concentration to keep moving. He swung his blade again and again like he had done for more hours than he had thought physically possible. His arms should have been unable to move after all the strain they had taken but instead he couldn't stop them. His body had taken to a certain rhythm and if it was stopped he felt sure that he would just crumble.
Gar-Nox hit out particularly hard causing a horrifying crack. At first, William had thought it was his arm breaking under the strain but it was his sword. A large fracture had appeared about quarter way up the blade from the hilt. Another powerful hit and his blade would snap in two.
The lizard struck again and William chose to dodge rather than parry. They circled each other slowly. William was ready to take the upper hand. He drew back his blade to deliver a powerful running slash but there was yet another bang and crack.
Only two foot behind the human was the looming temple of the Old Ones. Upon pulling the blade behind him the two had met and the immovable temple had won. William's blade split and the larger section crashed to the ground.
You should always watch your surroundings. If this match were real, your death now would be assured.
"I was watching, very carefully." grinned William.
The Temple guard charged him one more and looked to me aiming for a wounding blow to teach the child to be more cautious. William sprinted forwards too. Gar-Nox swung at him but William ducked under it and swung with blinding speed. The top spike of his quarter sized blade bit into the Saurus' side, causing the beast to stumble backwards slightly.
Gar-Nox looked ready to continue the fight but suddenly halted mid swing and lowered it's blade.
Well done, Manling. Lining up yourself to your surroundings in such a way that it appears you have accidentally broken your own weapon was very cleaver. It lulls your foes into overconfidence while removing most of the weight of your weapon while keeping its ability to kill. The gods did not choose wrong.
Now that the fight was over, the adrenalin seeped from William's body to be replaced by blinding pain. He was in dire need of a good meal and plenty of rest. Dozens of tiny cuts crisscrossed his skin, each draining him of a small amount of blood and leaving him vulnerable to disease. Unable to hold himself up anymore he collapsed into the mud below with a triumphant smile on his battered and gaunt face.