Hero Gothic I

Part 3

Years Later

Heroes Guild – Albion.

"Get out of bed, Skywalker!" A familiar voice ordered me "We were supposed to meet the Guildmaster in the training circle half an hour ago!"

After putting up with Whispers nagging for years now I only fantasied about suffocating her will a pillow while she slept about twice a week. Which was a big improvement from when we'd first started being room mates as back then I'd wanted to cut off her air-supply at least twice a day.

"I'm up" I said as I pulled on the white top that made up part of my apprentice robes.

White so wasn't my colour, but I tolerated the uniform because I was dirt poor. Plus the outfit was cleaned and repaired for free. Besides against all odds it kinda worked a little with my look these days.

I'd grown my hair out and now I had a pony tail which was strange for two reasons. The first was that it didn't make me look like a girl and second was that my hair had never grown the right way before now to let me put it into a pony tail in my last life.

"We better get going" Whisper shouted as I fastened the strap of my boots "Race you there!"

I smiled then as while I was still not a morning person I was able to out run her not matter how early she made me wake up. I was just that fast, yet she never gave up trying to beat me in a race.

"You're on!" I said with a smirk.

She had a head start, but I could run like a wild horse so I got to the Guildmaster who waiting at the training ring about three seconds before Whisper did. It wasn't much of a gap, but should we ever trade killing blows then being just a little faster could mean the difference between life and death for me.

"You can forget about that old wooden training sword" the old man said "We'll begin training with real weapons now".

A basic iron longsword was presented to me and I knew I'd get to keep it as it was traditional for an apprentice to keep the first real weapon he trained with. Which was yet another expense, but that didn't matter as my education had been paid for in advance by some unknown party.

I had no idea who that was, but I was grateful for the charity, and when I'd asked about it the Guild Master had told me that he didn't know either as there had been no name with the letters that had come with the money.

That was strange, but at least it meant I wouldn't be in massive amounts of debt once my schooling was done. It was one thing I didn't have to worry about.

"Get used to the weight of the sword" my teacher instructed me.

I did just that and it was lighter than I had expected and not too rusty either considering the fact that it was an old blade. It was however blunt so when it came time for me to leave the guild I'd have to fork out for a real blade. Which wouldn't be cheap.

"Now let's see if you can hit Whisper with it" the Guildmaster said

My room-mate was quick on her feet, she couldn't outrun me, but she damn agile, and she knew how to use a staff, but overall I was just better, and now that I had a real weapon I was going to remind her of that fact.

"Okay" I replied before entering the ring.

My sparring partner was already waiting for me.

"Come on then. Let's see what you've got, shortie" Whisper said while taking out her staff.

Her weapon was clearly magical as it always seemed to appear in her hand whenever she wished it to, and the rest of the time it was no where to be seen. I was rather envious of that.

Also she was still taller than me and had taken to calling me shortie, which most likely meant that she actually liked me as it was along the lines of affectionate teasing rather than real name calling.

Our sparring match was pretty simple, like most of them were. We both attempted to whack each other while at the same time we tried to avoid being whacked. Whisper was better at dodging, but when it came to blocking she just sucked.

"Oh! Sorry Whisper!" I fake apologised when she failed to block yet again.

An oddly perverse side of me enjoyed whacking her. I got the feeling that my kinky side was still within me, and that one day, when I was more adult, it would come out in full.

"It won't even bruise, farm boy" she remarked "You just got lucky".

In her view whenever I won these little matches it was always luck, and whenever she won it was always due to pure talent. She seemed to have her own view of reality, that I simply did not share.

"Alright" I said making another swing "Let's see how lucky I am".

She actually blocked this time but the force of the blow made her hit the ground. I'd started to bulk up in recent months, even if I still wasn't that tall, and it appeared as if I was getting stronger too.

"Maybe you should change your name to Whimper" I joked.

Saying that pissed her off, she got to her feet quickly and she charged at me. I managed to avoid the strike, and then I was able to trip her up.

I really was on good form today so I decided to go for a quick win. I kicked away her pole, knocked her down and ended up pointing the tip of my blunt sword at her neck.

"Okay okay I yield, short stuff" she said.

After helping her up we turned our attention to our trainer.

"Always remember that the life of a Hero is a dangerous one" we were now being told "You must learn to block your enemy's attacks if you expect to live long enough to achieve real fame".

The Guild didn't concern itself with good and evil that much. The point of being a Hero was obtain fame, wealth and power. Those things could gained by helping people, but harming others was also path to celebrity. Which was pretty twisted in my view.

"Now Whisper will try to hit you and you must block her attacks with you sword" the old man was telling me "Not all blows can be blocked, but you should be able to handle anything she can throw at you"

That seemed simple enough and so I got into a defencive stance in order to show my workout partner that I was ready.

"YAH!" Whisper yelled while launching a kick at me.

I dodged the kick and then I had to move again as she swung her pole at me. Soon I was bringing up my sword in order to block her blows, and no matter how fast she was my sword was always where it needed to be in order to protect my body from harm.

"Dammit!" my sparring partner cursed "How did you block so well?"

The answer was that I'd spent months training, and that I was simply better than Whisper. Despite the fact that she had more experience.

"Well done" Guildmaster praised "Now let's see if you can combine both attack and defence"

He would have given more instructions only a very large man approached him, and he drew everyone's attention.

"Hello Thunder" the bald man greeted "Come to check your sister's progress have you?"

Thunder was a massive bloke. He was the kind of guy you could detect coming by feeling the ground shake, yet for all this size there wasn't any fat on him. He was a tower of muscle with some hair on top.

"You could say that" he remarked.

Thunder then looked me over, and I could tell he was not impressed.

"Whisper told me you've got her training with some farm boy" the big man said.

People around here simply couldn't understand that I was no farm boy. I had grown up in towns, cites and then a villages. I didn't even like farms. But for some reason they all seemed to think I was rather rustic.

Part of the reason for this was my cover. I was a farm boy in the Guild's records and I was even using a fake name, but unless the guild was filled with spies there was no reason to treat me like I was some country bumpkin all the time.

"Maze thinks the boy has great potential" the Guildmaster said.

If he did it was news to me. I barely knew who Maze was, the creepy guy spent all this time in his tower.

"Enough to keep up with my Whisper. Bah!" Thunder declared.

Now that he'd said that I had to totally destroy my room-mate as I was filled with a very strong desire to prove myself

"Well why don't we see" the older man proposed.

You didn't need to have played the game in order to know what was coming next.

"Whisper and Skywalker are working on their melee skills right now" the Guildmaster informed the other adult as he turned his attention back to us "Let's watch them".

As his eyes met my mine I got the impression that he wanted me to defeat Whisper so as to prove something. What that was I didn't know, but I speculated that Thunder had trained his little sister before sending her here, so if I, a boy who had been trained solely by the Guildmaster, beat her then that would prove who was the better teacher.

"All right children" my mentor said "Show us who has learnt the most in their training. This will be a no holds barred duel, just like your final combat test. Prepare yourselves."

My room-mate might be taller than me, but she was still a girl so part of me didn't want to hurt her. However as far as I could tell she never minded if I got bruises because of her, so I forced myself to look past her gender.

"Okay then" I muttered.

When I then made eye contact with my sparring partner I could tell that she was going to give this little bout everything she had.

"YAH!" Whisper yelled as she came at me.

She might as well have sat down and drawn me a diagram of her planned attack, as I knew exactly how she was going to attack me. Which meant I was easily able to block each blow with the flat of my blade.

"Not bad, short stuff" Whisper remarked.

Before I could reply she launched herself back with her pole to dodge a possible strike from me. I hadn't actually attempted to hit her, but still it had been smart of her to move away now that her attack had failed.

"You can't beat me farm boy!" Whisper said while preparing to attack me once again "But you can try!"

When I moved towards her she kicked out at me and then swung her pole as I dodged everything she sent my way.

"Do or do not" I told the girl "There is no try".

At times like this other people seemed to move slowly, that combined with the fact that I could move so fast told me that I had the Hero discipline of speed if nothing else.

As for the Hero discipline of strength I might have that too as when I went on the offencive I was able to batter aside her weapon and even land a touch with my blunt blade.

Once I had landed one blow it became much easier to land another as while the attack hadn't really hurt her it did damage her confidence. Plus it didn't help that her brother was watching every move she made.

"You can find a way through his guard!" Thunder yelled at his sister "Attack again!"

His shouting was distracting more than helping her and I used that fact to knock her on the ground. I'd been able to sweep her legs out from under in a single move after she had once more tried to batter her way through my well practised defences.

"That's all wrong Whisper! You need to train more!" Thunder chided as his sister picked herself up off the ground "Such a shame you didn't see me fight in the Arena. You might have learned a thing or two".

The arena was the ultimate test of a Hero's ability to fight. I'd heard plenty of stories about the place, and I knew that one day I'd go there myself. Assuming of course I didn't get myself killed before then.

"You need to keep training if you want to go there yourself one day" Thunder then added.

The large hero then dragged my room-mate off, no doubt so he could lecture her some more.

"Your melee performance it was excellent" the Guildmaster praised "Fight like that in your exam, and you'll do very well".

He was right. I was very skilled with the sword, even if it wasn't a proper blade. If Whisper was a good example of a Hero then I would be one of the best warriors the guild had ever known in a few years from now.

"Thank you" was all I said on the subject.

The old man nodded at me, and I got the sense that he was pleased that I wasn't acting all full of myself.

"Meet me at the archery range when you're ready to continue your lessons" my mentor then instructed "I think it's time for you to show me what you can do with the bow".

I'd used that weapon before but only when facing stationary targets. The archery range was a far more difficult test.

"As you wish, Guildmaster" I said.

I didn't race off the archery range as I needed a few moments to recover from the sparring match. I might be a better fighter than Whisper but taking her on was still exhausting as the girl had a lot of energy.

"Let's continue our training with the bow" the Guildmaster said to me when I caught up with him.

One of the other apprentices handed me a simple wooden Longbow, and I was given a moment to hold it before my teacher spoke again.

"To begin with, see if you can hit the three stationary targets" the old man instructed me.

I'd known how to use a bow long before I'd died and been reborn in this world, and my since joining the guild I'd had plenty of chances to practice, so I had no trouble with the weapon. I drew the bow and began to pull back on the arrow. Then I sent an arrow into the chest of a stationary target. Once that was done I repeated the feat.

"Well done" congratulated the Guildmaster "You hit all the targets"

I didn't think it was that impressive really, but then I reminded myself that I was still a child, so it was easy to gain praise.

"Unfortunately most foes don't stand still, so let's see how you fare against moving targets" my teacher then said.

On the range the dummies begin to move back and forth. I began to fire at each one. I took my time with each shot so I didn't miss, and as I grew more confident it took less time for me to hit a target.

"Excellent shooting my lad" the Guildmaster told me "At this rate you'll score very well during your final tests".

Those final tests were still a couple of years away so I still had plenty of time to improve. I assumed my mentor was taking that into account when reviewing my performance.

"Thank you, sir" I replied.

I attempted to return the bow to the apprentice who was looking after the range, but he gestured for me to keep it so I slung the bow and the quiver over my shoulder. My sword rest at my hip so I had room for them.

"Next will be learning more about the ways of the Will" my instructor informed me "Come find me by the waterfalls when your ready".

I couldn't leave right away as I needed to recover my arrows. Not all of them could be reused, and I knew which ones could thanks to my earlier eduction. I even knew how to make arrows. I'd spent hours in the workshop learning to produce the projectiles by the dozen while using materials gathered from the woods just outside the Guild.

After recovering my arrows I headed over to the waterfalls for the next part of today's training.

"It's time for me to see how you are progressing in the Hero discipline of Will" my teacher was now saying "We'll begin by striking these straw dummies with Shock"

I knew that all Heroes had a power inside that allowed us to perform super human feats. But it wasn't purely an internal thing, the power could be called upon to do what many would consider to be magic. But they weren't spells like a witch could perform, it was something different.

"All right, let's see what you've got" said the Guildmaster

I used the shock spell, which was an attack of pure energy that leaped from the fingertips of the Hero, to strike a target. My lightening was pretty basic, but I knew that with practice I would achieve a higher levels of control with the spell. Then I would able to deal much more damage and I would even be able strike more than one foe at a time.

Also I would learn new spells, but not like a wizard would out of books and such, as my magic was a matter of will, like the name suggested.

One day I would be able to manipulate reality as I wished with my awesome power. Shooting fireballs and lightening was just the beginning. One day I might slow the passage of time, summon the spirits of the dead, and even teleport from place to place just by wanting to do it.

"Let's see how much damage you can do in half a minute" I was then told.

After the thirty seconds were up the two dummies were on fire, and one had sort of exploded, but not in a dramatic way.

"Excellent use of magic, well done" the Guildmaster praised "You have learnt the basics of all three Hero disciplines. With time and a lot more practice you will master them".

My mentor than let me lose. There was no reason for him to test me more today as I still had a year or two before my final test, and the Guildmaster knew that it wasn't a good idea to push a student too far as we each had progress out our pace.

However I wasn't done for the day. I still had plenty of energy, so I looked around for something else to do.

"This melee combat against Whisper counts towards your final grade. Do you wish to be graded?" another instructor asked me when I wandered past the duelling circle.

My room-mate had returned from her older brother's lecture and she looked ready to train harder than she ever had before. I wanted to help with that.

"Sure" I said.

Also being graded would let me know how well I was doing compared to other students. Currently there were no apprentices in my age group, other than Whisper, but my grade could be compared to past students.

"Right let's get Whisper and you in the ring, same rules as before" the teacher said " and I have a special prise for you if you manage an A+".

I jumped into the ring and drew my sword.

"You asked for this, short stuff" Whisper said while drawing her weapon.

I wondered then if her desire to prove herself worthy of her older sibling would one day led her down a dark path. She certainly seemed more eager to batter me around, and that led to me desperately defending myself as her pole seemed to want to bash in my skull.

Thankfully for me her anger was actually counter-productive. She was telegraphing her moves more than ever so it became a simple matter of waiting until she wore herself out before making my move. This took a while as she had a lot of energy.

When she started to get tired I knocked her staff out of her hand, and then I was able to jab her in the stomach hard enough to make her double over in pain. I winced upon seeing that, however than didn't stop me from hitting her again on the head with the flat of my blade.

"You're dead" I said.

She gave me a look that promised future pay back as she rubbed her head.

"Alright you can stop now. That was very impressive" the instructor said "You got an A+ and that grade means I can award you a new weapon!"

With that he handed me a kantana. This weapon was not blunt and it was new. With this blade I could kill someone, so I decided to store it my room and keep the practice sword at my side.

Once that was done, and I was back outside, I headed off the archery range for some more practice. It turned out that I was on a role today as I beat my last score easily.

"You got an A+" the archery instructor told me once my time was up "I've got a better bow for you"

I swapped my rather basic bow for the better one and tested it out. It was a superior weapon that was sure.

Then I considered going to find out how good I was at Will, but by now I was actually getting tired and hungry. So I headed to mess hall for some dinner. Whisper was there and judging by the fact that she sat with me she wasn't mad at me anymore.

"Come on, let's go into the woods" Whisper said before I could finish eating my yummy food.

I had no idea why she wanted to go there, but since I knew she went there a lot I figured that she might have something to show me. Hopefully it wasn't a dead animal.

"Okay" I said as we raced off into the woods.

(Line Break)

Guild Woods – Albion.

As it turned out Whisper had nothing to show me, instead she wanted to make out. Which came as a surprise as I had just beaten her in two sparring matches today. But women of any age were a puzzle no man could ever figure out.

To make it more strange I'd not found her at all attractive until night now. The moment she started kissing me I'd seen her in a whole light despite having known her for years. It had to be hormones.

The kissing went really well and she'd even put my hand on her breasts, which made up for her pinning me to a tree. I was just about to start playing with her tits, when someone shouted. That noise was soon followed by more men yelling.

"It's coming from over there" Whisper said as we looked across a pond to see three rough looking gents.

They were all armed and dangerous looking, and given that they hadn't set off any alarms their presence here greatly worried me as either they had figured out how to disable the air-raid siren or they knew ways around it.

"Bandits!" Whisper almost shouted .

Thankfully the crooks hadn't heard her.

"We need to warn someone" I then said.

My sparring partner had other ideas.

"Why don't you use your bow" my room-mate suggested.

Right now I was rather shocked, and not just because she was suggesting that I kill people, but because we'd gone from making out to planning to starting a skirmish in very little time.

"I'll heal you if you get hurt" Whisper then offered.

Like her brother she had a talent for Will as well, but unlike her famous sibling she didn't use it for offence. Whisper had a talent for stealth, agility and healing magic. I didn't know why that could be, but considering the fact that I could get hurt soon I was grateful for it.

"Come on you can take them" my fellow apprentice urged.

Moving slowly and quietly I took out my bow. I knew that since the bandits hadn't seen us that I would get one free shot. After the first bad guy went down the others would run for cover. With this in mind I stilled my breathing and let the arrow fly.

A man died and I took no note of that as I was already aiming my next shot, and I killed again as a bandit took cover in way that didn't prohibit me from shooting him.

Then the last fellow then died as he tried to fire his crossbow at me. He took too long to aim his crossbow. My arrow went right into his neck and he dropped to the ground.

"We did it!" Whisper shouted in joy "Did you see the look on their faces?"

I'd just killed three people, and she was happy about it. I found that rather sick, but I said nothing.

"Wait till the Guildmaster hears about this!" Whisper called out.

I had the horrible feeling that I was going to be rewarded for taking human lives. That didn't sit well with me as where I came from ending people was not something to be celebrated.

"Okay let's go back" I said.

I was no longer in the mood to make out. In fact I was feeling a strong urge to take a bath. I felt somewhat soiled by what I had done.