After about an hour of walking through the flat grasslands, the group reached the desolate hilly area known as the barren lands. Desolate didn’t even come close to describing this area in one word. There was nothing but smooth stone hills. Not even pebbles. Just pure smooth stone. No grass. No trees. No dust. Nothing. Each hill was long and gentle and seemed exactly the same as the last in every way. After about another two hours of rambling through this boring area, it became apparent that each hill was exactly the same as the last. They all peaked at the same height and dipped to the same depth. They all even did so at exactly the same angle. Everything about this land, was boring.

“Alright guys, we’re about five-minutes off from where the Zemlecus and metal ore are, right?” Ellie asked

“That’s right.” One of the men replied.

“So that means the closest other pack should be at least an hour away, right?” She confirmed and the men nodded. “Okay. You lot stay here, and we’ll go deal with the monsters. Sound good?” The men all looked at each other then nodded again and Austin and Ellie set off by themselves.

“So, what are these Zemlecus things?”

“Oh yeah, I should probably tell you about them. They’re blind and deaf but have a really acute sense of smell so they can pretty much pinpoint where you are no matter what. They’ve got hard scales of their back, but a soft underbelly and arms so aim to strike from those points. They’ve got really sharp teeth and claws so don’t get pinned, but other than that, they’re stupid as fuck, so you should by alright.”

“I’m gonna ignore how you emphasised that and take it as a compliment.”

“You do that.”

As the two reached the brow of the hill they looked down and saw the pack of Zemlecus beneath them staring up in their general direction. There were multiple things missed out in Ellie’s description of them, like how they were on all fours like rabid dogs so targeting their ‘soft underbelly’ would be slightly harder than expected. And how truly terrifying the size of their fangs and claws really were with their tongues hanging out and drool falling form each of their mouths. But what was more important than what Ellie missed in their description was the issue with the information they were given on the size of the back by the shop owner.

“So, when he said 12. What he actually meant, was 50.” Proclaimed Austin.

Ellie pulled the tiny bow out from her back and pressed a button on the handle. As she did so she popped open the lid of the leather pouch that ran down the outside of her right thigh. The bow suddenly expanded to the size of a longbow within a blink of an eye and she pulled out a metal spike from her pouch which also grew in size with the click of a button on the back of it. Ellie began firing the spikes at the Zemlecus and each one penetrated straight through the hard scales on their back and seemed to hit the ground beneath the creatures with a small explosive impact.

“Two… Three… Four… I’m winning by the way… Six…”

“Oh hell no.”

 Without any further hesitation Austin found himself sprinting down the hill towards the vicious looking creatures uncertain of what it was he would do when he reached them. Before he knew it, he was face to face with a monster ready to kill and eat him. It had already pounced into the air with its mouth wide open and angled ready to bite into his face and its arms spread out ready to rip chunks of flesh out of him. There was no time for thought and Austin dodged under its right arm and plunged his sword into the centre on its chest and slammed it into the ground with all his might.

A short, sharp shock ran up his right arm across his chest and into Austin’s heart. Was this what it felt like to kill? No. This was something else. It came directly from the sword. He felt it through every tissue in his body, each individual fibre in his muscles tingled, every single strand of his hair stood on end. Nothing could compare to this feeling of empowerment. This feeling of unlimited ability.

Austin found himself quickly dashing between each monster quicker than he could think slashing effortlessly through their arms, across their stomachs and down their jaws. Blood covered his clothes, as he fought like a psychopath, but it wasn’t him. ‘14… 15… 16…’ He found himself simply unable to comprehend what was going on. Every move he made was exactly what he wanted to do and yet it was impossible for any normal person to move this way. It couldn’t be him controlling his body. His speed would put even a cheetah to shame and any marathon runner would cower in fear of his endless stamina. No boxer would be able to compare themselves to the sheer strength he seemed to possess, it was comparable to that of a grizzly bear.

All this, until Austin took a swing at one of the Zemlecus and completely missed. It turns out he was human. The one thing he remembered Ellie saying ‘don’t get pinned’ her voice echoed through his head and he contemplated letting it kill him as he lay there holding back the monster with all his might as it chomped the air repeatedly inches from his face. Everything turned into slow motion as one of Ellie’s metal arrows pierced through the head of the Zemlecus and went straight through where it’s brain presumably is. Blood spilled out the creature’s mouth and out the two gaping holes in each side of its head and straight onto Austin’s face. Thankfully, he managed to close his eyes just in time so he could still see. He pushed the monster off him, picked up his sword, climbed to his feet, looked up and saw yet another Zemlecus diving at him. He took a step back to try and create some space and time but found himself falling backwards over the body of the monster that just tried to kill him. The monster lunging at him as falling arms first, if he wasn’t careful, he could find himself being impaled by its claws even after he killed it. There was no avoiding this, he prepared himself for the inevitable pain that was about to ensue.

‘If only I had a shield… Then I’d at least be able to protect myself against dumb shit like this.’

Austin hit the floor about as hard as he expected himself to and the Zemlecus landed on top of him. He lay there confused for a moment. No real pain. He could feel the impact of the best bashing and slashing against his right arm, but not against his skin, muscles or bone. It was hitting something else. He looked down and saw a large round stainless-steel shield protecting his entire upper body and lower face as the monster continued to hit it over and over again.

‘How did my trashy little sword get replaced by this badass shield?’

He felt as the Zemlecus began to quickly tired and he gave it a mighty push and leapt to his feet. The monster rolled over a couple time then gave itself a little shake. It continued to leap at Austin repeatedly each time being deflected by his shield. Once again it pounced at him and was deflected, this time however, the creature stumbled as it landed and Austin instinctively bolted forwards and sliced up the middle of its body.

‘Well, that was dumb… Might have worked if I had my little sword but I don’t even have that.’

He jumped back and prepared to block again and was surprised to see the monster cut clean in half lying in a pool of its own blood.

‘That’s funny… Pretty sure even Ellie’s arrows can’t do that.’

Looking around Austin saw nothing but the dead bodies of all the Zemlecus the two of them had killed. Not a single one left alive. Carcasses spread across the hill and blood everywhere, then a random strip of silver metal followed by more blood and dead monsters. At this point Austin was more interested in the random strip of glistening white steel and followed it down to the source, which happened to be a hilt and handle that rested in his hands. He followed the silver strip back up into the sky until it reached a point.

“Huh… apparently I have a sword now.”

“Yeah… it looks like the gobshite sword Jezza gave you is way more valuable than he thought it was.” Even Ellie was surprised to see how the sword had transformed. “We should go get the miner dudes. While they’re mining, I’ll explain what I know about your sword.”

The two went to fetch the workers hoping and praying that none of the monsters slipped by without them noticing. As they reached the top of the hill and looked down at the workers, they both let out a sigh of relief to see all five of them sat in a circle playing a game a cards. The feeling of relief was quickly overtaken by contempt. Just less than a five-minute walk away the two of them were fighting a bloody battle while these five well-built men with massive pickaxes were playing a card game. One of the men looked up at Austin and fainted instantly. The other four sat there paralysed with a look of utter shock and dismay plastered over their faces. He looked down at himself then across at Ellie.

“Yeah… It’s not a great look if I’m totally honest.” She confirmed.

Red. The only part of his entire body that wasn’t stained with blood were his eyes but even they were pretty bloodshot. The second Austin fully realised what it was that he was covered in he began to feel clammy and rancid. The look of pure disgust took over his face and he found himself wearing nothing but his underwear rolling around on the top of the hill and screaming trying to scrape as much blood off his body as quickly as possible before it dried completely.

The group of them moved over to the ores that obtruded from the smooth ground in large clusters and Austin began wiping himself down with a small towel he damped with some water from a canteen. The men got to mining but they would still be here for another couple of hours.

“So what’s the deal with my sword then?”

“It’s known as a Soul Binding. A long time ago there was a bunch of equipment created and are now known as Soul Bindings. Nobody knows how long ago they were made, who made them or how many there are. The only way you could tell if something is a Soul Binding is if the piece responds to your thoughts and commands. Basically, it deems you worthy of being able to use it to its full potential. If not, then it’s basically just a lump of trash. Like how your sword was before it allowed you to access its power. Other than that, you probably know more about the sword than anyone else.”

“So, how does it deem you worthy?”

“Who knows. For some people it just works straight away and for others they have to prove themselves to the equipment. But you can’t even tell if a piece is a Soul Binding unless it responds to its owner, so some people have ended up running around using trash weapons trying to prove themselves to it and it just turns out to actually be just a regular hunk of garbage.”

“So what can my sword do?”

“How am I supposed to know? Ask IT not me.”

Austin looked at the sword and concentrated. He thought hard about the size and shape of the shield it turned into before. The two of them watched as the metal of the sword quickly melted itself down and reformed into a shield. This time, however, the shield was much bigger than before and a lot flimsier. It wobbled in his and made the most satisfying noise. He concentrated on the shape of the shield again and it began to shrink but as the size of the shield got smaller it became thicker and more durable.

“So, it seems to have almost like a limited amount material it can use when I expand it.” He explained to Ellie. Austin then thought about turning the shield back into a sword and watched as it transformed. “I wonder how long it can do?”

“Try it.” Ellie encouraged.

The two of them watched as the sword turned from a typical half meter blade to a one and a half meter needle and then continued to watch as it came dangerously close to snapping in the breeze. Austin looked puzzled for a second as he entered deep thought and just like he was thinking, the handle itself started growing. After a while it stopped and even though it had grown to a massive three-meter-long pole, it hadn’t lost any of its width or stability. It was as sturdy as when it was only 12-centimeters long. Ellie sat there and gawked at the size of Austin’s weapon. He stood proud with smug smile on his face until a second breeze came through and once again almost snapped the blade. He reduced the blade to on meter just to be on the safe side.

“That’s not bad though.” Ellie acknowledged. “I mean you’ve got, what about a four, four and a half meter reach? That’s pretty strong.”

“Yeah, but there’s something else about it… It seems to have more control over me when I’m fighting. If you get what I mean?”

“Not a clue.”

“Well, when I was fighting against the Zemlecus I-”

“You mean slaughtering.” She interrupted

“That’s the point! I’ve never killed anything before that, other than the odd spider, but nothing big you know? And I was thinking of all the moves I was pulling off but even I could tell that I wasn’t really the one doing the killing.”

“Well, it is a Soul Binding. Your soul is literally bound to that weapon and who knows how that weapon was made or what it’s made of.”

“Way to freak me out and put me off wanting to use this badass spear, sword, shield combo.”

“Oh, quit your bitching and man up.”

“Ah yes. Good idea. Let me just abandon my previous 20 years of thought process and right this second become more of a man than I’ve ever been before.”

“I’ll punch you again.”

“I’m a man!” Austin squealed “GRRR” and just like that Ellie’s head fell into her hands and down further into her lap. “Well, I’m pretty sure I got more kills than you, so actually, I am pretty fucking awesome.”

“Not quite. I got 27.” She smirked and chuckled to herself. “And I even helped you out by killing one that was on top of you.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever… Thanks I guess.” At this point he just didn’t want her to remember that getting pinned was the only thing she told him to avoid at all costs.

“Alright, if we don’t head back soon it’ll be dark before we finish the trip. You gather up the stuff here and I’ll go grab the miner dudes.”

After about ten minutes of sorting out their stuff the group set off on their four-hour hike back across the barren land to Bunpidum.