We had spent days in Orbis. We had been jumping on clouds, training together and running in and out of the colorful gardens. Everything seemed to be fine… or so I thought. One night I woke up because someone was poking me in the side: "Stop poking" I mumbled and buried me face into the pillow. Wait… I looked up from the pillow (Normally I did not have a pillow). Right in front of me I saw a sleeping beauty with her head resting lightly on the pillow. Her face was only centimeters from my own. Slowly I got up and moved away from this pretty sight (using my Dark Sight ability, to be as sneaky and silent as I could possibly be).
But I did not get far before a hand firmly grabbed shoulder: "Don't think you can just get away like that." The hand was Toby's. I looked at him with an inquiring look on my face. He pulled me further away from the sleeping Shala: "Are you two in love or are you just toying with her feelings?" He asked me.
I answered with a question: "What do you mean? We are friends travelling together. She is helping find someone." But Toby was not listening. He simply pushed me back: "No more talk, let's resolve this as men." Toby drew his sword and pointed at me (I did not like where this was going).
At this point I knew Toby would probably not listen to what I said. I took my dagger and tried one last time to talk with him: "Listen, I don't want to fight…" But my sentence got cut off by Toby, who jumped forward and swung his sword. I avoided it (barely) and move out his reach. It seemed like he could not be reasoned with. I had to fight back somehow.
He wildly performed a sword maneuver which I recognized (it was the same one he had used on that Crimson Balrog on our way to Orbis). I hurled myself down on the ground (and dropped my shield). But I had avoided the attack. The question now was could I avoid the next?
- Rodderick Jones