Julius was still resting against his tree. It would be quite a few minutes before his stamina recovered back to full. I’d let him rest for a while longer. Then we can go chase down our horses. Julius likely would be able to track them, he had a decently high perception attribute.

I leaned my back against another tree and let out one last sharp whistle to see if our horse would come running..

This time, instead of no response, I was met with another sharp whistle. Except this wasn’t the whistle from a mouth, it was the whistle of an arrow that embedded itself in the tree four inches from my face.

"Ah!" I recoiled and flopped down, scurrying around the tree. "Julius! Take cover, archer!"

"Celestials above, are you kidding me?" Julius groaned, standing and drawing his sword. He spat on the ground.

"That was a warning shot, little miss," A man’s voice called out from the woods. "Tell your bodyguard there to stand down and there won’t be any trouble."

"…"

More of this bodyguard nonsense, huh.

I looked over at Julius, who was hunkered behind his tree with his sword at the ready.

"Hey, Julius."

"Yeah?"

"Mess this guy’s day up for me, will ya’?"

"With pleasure."

"Oh come now, let’s be reasonable shall we?" The man stepped into view. He was tall and slender. Much taller than a normal person, seven feet at the least. Straight white hair fell down along his face like needles. His face was obscured by a faceguard, but sharp pointed ears and striking golden eyes stuck out like a pearl in the mud. This was not a human, but a Noblebourne.

This Noblebourne was heavily geared, and his presence washed over me in an aura of intimidation. He wore a crimson-red full plate chestguard adorned with runes, with matching scaled pauldrons and plate greaves.

Who is this guy? Let’s take a look.

I tapped my rune and a visual came into view.

Well, damn.

He had some kind of magic hiding his identity. But he didn’t seem to be magickally adept, judging by his low magicka value. Probably some sort of an enchantment on that armor.

"I want your gold, not your lives." He said in a sing-song melody, as he drew two slender blades from behind his back, "But I will take both if you don’t comply."

Oh fun, a bandit.

Julius readied his blade and advanced. The bandit charged forward.

The two locked blades—but without his shield to block the second blade, Julius took a deep slash to his right leg. Blood sprayed down onto the dirt.

As they crossed swords, I began channeling magickal energy for a complex incantation. My hands glowed brightly as I traced out an intricate sigil in the space ahead of me.

“Vanguard of Heaven, In the light of divinity, I unleash my wrath and cull those who are judged, Righteous Fire!"

I had both hands pressed tightly together in a closed fist. As I finished my incantation, I flung them forward and a massive bolt of golden flame soared across the field. The HOLY BOLT impacted the bandit directly in the chest—and dissipated harmlessly…

What in the Aether!?

» HOLY BOLT IS ABSORBED [WARDING RUNE]

Shit. Damnable warding magick.

If my offensive spells weren’t going to be effective, then this fight would be up to Julius.

Steel continued to clash. Julius’ training as a military officer showed, as a well timed parry knocked a blade from the bandit’s right hand.

Switching his remaining blade to his right hand, the bandit readied himself and lunged forward, swinging low. Another nasty hit to Julius’ right leg.

Julius was now favoring his left, each step with a slight limp.

I sent a second HOLY BOLT at the bandit.

This bolt also dissipated harmlessly, but I aimed it so that it hit near his face. His steps faltered during the push off for a lunge. Even if I couldn’t deal damage, I could annoy him with the blinding bright lights.

The blind allowed Julius to parry the fumbled attack and land a hit with a RIPOSTE. The attack struck deep into the bandit’s right forearm.

That should put him on the defensive!

The bandit switched his blade back to his left hand. The right arm clearly crippled.

I channeled magick for two more HOLY BOLT spells, as Julius readied an attack skill. The first bolt dissipated but allowed Julius to lunge forward and deliver a slashing attack. The blade glanced off the bandit’s breastplate. The second bolt though, exploded.

Looks like your wards were mostly for show.

» RIPOSTE [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (38) DAMAGE

» BLADE SLASH [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (22) DAMAGE

» HOLY BOLT IS ABSORBED [WARDING RUNE]

» STRIKE [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (40) DAMAGE

» HOLY BOLT HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (42) DAMAGE

» HOLY BOLT CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

The explosive force of the bolt impacted on the bandit’s faceguard.

"Maahhhrr…"

A bloody mist sprayed out as he cried out in pain. He fell backwards and his final blade dropped to the ground.

Julius limped forward, his steps fell as heavy as his breath.

He raised his blade weakly to finish off the bandit—

CLICK

Before his sword came down, a metallic noise echoed through the trees… followed by the sound of steel piercing flesh.

I watched in horror as Julius’ body twisted around. He dropped awkwardly to his knees, his leg buckled and his body fell to its side. Blood poured from a wound in his chest.

Nonono! Julius—Oh shit!

I dropped my staff and ran forward, golden light already channeling through my fingers. A smooth wooden bolt was embedded in his breastplate. With a look of surprise and shock, he mouthed inaudibly to me. Kneeling beside him, I placed both hands over his chest and channeled the energy to him.

“Blessed and divine light, I pray to you. Bestow your warmth unto me and save this one from harm. Heal!”

But nothing happened…

Aggressively I swiped at my blinking rune.

» HEAL [MAJOR] FAILS [CRITICAL FAILURE], WOUND OBSTRUCTED

Celestials be damned, I am not letting Julius die. Not here. Not ever!

My voice broke, "It’s going to be okay Julius. I’ve got you. I just need to remove," I indicated in a wide motion to his whole chest, "this. I have to clear the wound."

I pulled my dagger from my leg and cut the straps of his breastplate.

Holding the bolt as steady as possible I broke the shaft, and removed the front plate.

Blood was still pouring from the wound, it was impossible to see the extent of the damage.

Julius’ gasped for air, and in a coughing fit blood sprayed from his mouth. Still conscious. He kept his gaze directly on me.

I mimed the action of pulling an arrow from my chest, "Julius, I’m going to take the arrow out. And then I’m going to heal the wound. I need you to stay awake."

I put extra emphasis on the last sentence, hoping that if he heard anything it would be that he couldn’t drift off.

Julius nodded.

I think he nodded. One… Two… Three!

In the silent count of three to myself, I ripped the bolt head from his chest.

More blood, this time it was now spraying into the air. I focused my will, and with every fiber in my body I channeled all my magick into my hands. I placed my palms down against his chest again and forced the energy into the wound.

“Blessed and divine light, I pray to you. Grant me the power of your golden flame. Bestow your warmth unto me and save this one from harm. Heal!”

This time, the blood loss slowly came to a stop. The wounded flesh knitted back together; the traumatic damage reversed.

A dramatic gasp of air filled his lungs and he coughed more blood onto the ground.

» HEAL [MAJOR] INFLICTS EXTREME HEALING (637) [CRITICAL]

Thank the Celestials!

Julius let himself fall back into the dirt. He let out a nervous chuckle, which turned into full blown laughter. Contagious laughter. We both laid in the dirt laughing like a pair of lunatics.

"Ahh… that sucked." Julius finally groaned.

"Yeah."

"That bandit is dead, right?"

I looked at the bandit and swiped my rune.

"Extra dead. I blew his face off."

"Good... That guy was an ass."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"I call dibs on the armor."

"You sure could use it," I chuckled, picking up the remains of his armor’s front plate. I dangled it at Julius, "This set is out of commission."

"Give me a minute to catch my breath." he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "Actually, give me an hour."

I let Julius have his rest to search the Noblebourne’s corpse—and remove his armor. A few steps past the tree line, I found a small burrow in the ground and pulled out a large knapsack and a satchel. The pack contained various meal rations and road supplies. The satchel was bulging with coins.

By the Aether, this… was a lot of money.

I wondered how many people had this miscreant attacked or robbed. This far out into the wilds, it’s likely he prayed on Adventurers that were either heading into or leaving scattered dungeons and ruins.

What a complete bastard.

The Noblebourne were a race that appeared very human-like. Their origins dated back with the origin of Elves.

It’s said they were the Celestial’s favored race. That is, until they grew too arrogant. Some scholars believe the reason that Humans resemble the Noblebourne so closely is that we’re the second try at the race.

Those same scholars also believe that given the human race’s penchant for warfare, deceitfulness, and capacity for hate… that the Noblebourne must truly be demons when compared among the mortal races.

LOOTABLES

I dragged the bags and equipment back to Julius and threw it all down on the ground. I felt exhausted and took a place next to him on the soft dirt.

My rune blinked at me incessantly, I had a notification waiting for me.

» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:

» AETHER HAS INCREASED TO 21

» INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED TO 35

» WISDOM HAS INCREASED TO 24

» SANITY HAS INCREASED TO 6

» VITALITY HAS INCREASED TO 19

» RESOLVE HAS INCREASED TO 36

» STAMINA HAS INCREASED TO 18

After his brief rest, and with a little bit of effort, we got Julius fitted and geared up in the new plated armor.

We picked up the tracks of our horses quickly, and after a chase-down, found them by a river.

After packing away our loot, I broke out some of our travel rations and nibbled on a bitter dried fruit bar.