ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter Six: Mind and Body

I was knocked off my feet by a staff strike to the chest. The "staff" could easily pass for a pillar, half again as tall as me and wide enough that I would not have been able to grasp it with both hands. Even with my mana shield I would have been bloody mush if the female officer hadn't been holding back.

"Again," Talith said.

Talith had been assigned to train me during my stay with the peacekeepers. I suspected it also gave them an excuse to keep an eye on me.

The reasoning given by Sebbit was that since I was not given the opportunity of a tutorial, I deserved some minor compensation by the Hegemony. My lack of training up to this point was something that Sebbit had called an "anomaly." It was also what made him suspect me of having a connection to the flaming eye that had destroyed most of downtown Charleston, and my life along with it.

Talith was the same race as Sebbit, and he wasn't kidding when he said that the females of his species were larger than the males. She stood at least ten feet tall, or just over three meters according to my analyze skill. The best word to describe her was spindly, she was tall and lithe. This gave her an incredible reach and flexibility and in no way impacted her strength, as I could tell by holding my aching chest.

Not used to waiting for her orders to be obeyed Talith reached down and drug me to my feet by the collar of my loaner uniform. "Again," she said.

I was fed up with her bullying, tired, and hungry. Not a good combination for my mood. I thrust out with my staff, expecting her parry. She reversed her swing turning her parry into a massive horizontal strike and I activated my mana shield. The single hit ate away half of my mana, but it also flung me back far enough to be out of Talith's striking range.

"Venom Spray," I shouted. A thin spray of thick green liquid shot from my outstretched hand, but Talith was easily able to block most of the venom by holding her massive staff in front of her face. Small droplets and streams made it onto her uniform, but the material showed no signs of falling to the venom's corrosive effects.

While her vision was blocked I cast arcane missile twice in rapid succession, using most of my remaining mana. I had leveled the skill to its third level, gaining four missiles per cast. Talith was able to deflect most of the missiles, apparently not as 'unerring' as they had been advertised. Two of the spheres, however, were able to strike the giantess in the midsection.

I let out a satisfied grin as I heard a small grunt of pain. I immediately regretted feeling smug as I found a long prehensile wrap around my waist. I was immediately pulled into the dirt and found a large woman with sapphire skin holding a staff to my throat.

"Good," Talith said "You are beginning to understand."

"Understand what? Getting my ass kicked is about all I seem to be getting better at."

"Roles, Mr. Finn," She said. "You are beginning to understand roles.

"Do you know why most citizens of the Hegemony never receive a class, despite the fact that it gives a massive increase in power and is available to all?"

"Laziness?" I quipped. "Long lines at the DMV?"

"It is not 'laziness' or lack of desire. No, most citizens never receive a class because it is binding, restricting.

"You are a mage, yes?" She asked without waiting for me to respond, ignoring my head beginning to shake no. "A mage, spellcasters of all stripes are weak, Mr. Finn. The most powerful mage in the Hegemony could not survive a single minute in combat with me without resorting to spells. Do you know why that is?"

"Specialization," I immediately said.

"If a mage spends the time to improve their magic to such a high level they must have neglected training in other areas. Someone who had trained exclusively in hand-to-hand combat, a blue skinned devil masquerading as a soldier for instance, would dominate the mage, but only if the mage was restricted to only using hand-to-hand combat."