Moving forward

*Ding!*

They walked through the door, and Isaac was surprised to see the three aggressors from the beginning sitting around the inside.

Pug walked in and sat right next to one of the guys. They were all kinda puzzled as to what was happening, and one guy spoke up.

"Yo, what the -"

"He's willing to help if you are still up for it." Pug cut him off.

"What? How do we know we can trust him?"

"He's fucking sent by the king!"

"It's whatever! He will forget when he leaves through the fog, anyway!"

'Huh? What do you mean by that?' Isaac raised his eyebrow.

...

"So what's the plan?"

Finally, they all agreed, and Pug introduced them.

"That one is Minyon," He pointed directly across from him to a chubby boy with missing teeth. "This is Jackley, and that's Courier." He pointed to his side and then the one sitting on the front table.

Isaac recognized him as the guy who he beat up. He gave a wide smile and waved, which the guy kinda half smiled and raised his hand. After those pleasantries were done, they got to making plans.

Pug caught the other three up on what he and Isaac already knew.

"So you want me to forge something for you?" Courier asked.

"Yeah." Pug answered.

"So your plan is that we, small humans, and an earthling -who's even weaker- will take up some weapons and stab a BASILLISK through the heart?" Minyon threw his hands up as he sat back.

"The beast is known to come out of its underwater cave and swim around the deep part of the ocean." Isaac spoke. "Its too big and heavy to move anywhere else with the same speed it has underwater. On the 2nd section, which is when it comes out, I have noticed the ocean comes all the way over to the middle part of the city."

"Yeah. The moon affects the ocean and other liquids. When it is right above, that's when the ocean reaches all the way to the center of the city." Jackley answered.

"So we just use the moving tides to lure it into the buildings, then. From what I've seen, these buildings have been enforced, so they should be able to withstand."

"It can still run on its hind legs on land."

"Yeah, but only after it gets smaller." Isaac explained. "In its natural form, it's too big and heavy."

"So once it's stuck between the buildings, it will have no choice but to get smaller when the tides move back..." Minyon sat back up.

"And that when we get him!" Jackley finished his sentence for him and they high five.

Courier nodded his head.

"Doesn't sound bad." He jumped off the table. "Ill need at least a day to forge a fully blessed spear."

"Alright, we will come back here tomorrow to check up." Minyon spoke as he started going out. He nodded to his friends, signaling he had things to do and jackley followed.

Courier went to the back, and Isaac followed. In the back were some huge machines and a huge bucket in the corner. He watched as Courier took off his shirt and went over to flip a switch on a machine to the side.

It had a tube sticking out that was in the big bucket and immediately steam started to raise out of it.

'Water powered machinery. So they've figured that out.' Isaac thought.

"Cool, huh? My lil sis used to love it." Courier walked towards him, subtly flexing his muscles.

'I'm not into men.' Isaac thought to say, but instead chose the nicer route.

"Yeah, that's great. How good at you at forging?" Isaac asked.

"I'm good enough to make weapons for our workers." Courier scratched his head bashfully.

He didn't seem like he was the type to beat the shit out of someone in an alleyway, but he was, so Isaac kept his guard up.

'Typical egoist.'

"If you're so good, then you can tell what type of forging was done on an object, right?" The black-haired boy talked in a way that made Courier feel like he had something to prove.

"Of course! Thats just the basics!"

Isaac then pulled the broken blade out of his sleeve and handed it over to him.

"Then figure out what type of forging was done on this." Isaac smirked. "If you can, then you would be doing something that the KINGS wizard couldn't even do."

Courier heard the king get mentioned and snatched the blade.

"Don't worry bout it. I got this!"

Isaac chuckled, knowing he had him in the palm of his hand. He then walked out of the door and came up to the front table to see Pug standing at the outside door. Pug lazily turns around to see Isaac, but then his face drops.

"Oh no. Its 2nd section already! You can't breathe underwater!" Pug ran and snatched Isaac's arm before dashing out the door.

Isaac looked back to see the water rushing in. The moon was high and right in the middle of the sky, now becoming an orange-reddish color.

Pug and he ran to escape the water, rushing at them while there were other people riding the wave. Pug's friends were cheering them on as they were playing in the water and letting it carry them to the center of the city.

'So they can breathe underwater. Is that what the slits under their jaws are for?' Isaac looked back at them.

After a lot of running, they finally made it to where they were safe from the waves.

*Panting!*

Pug was on his hands and knees, panting like crazy, while Isaac barely broke a sweat. Again, another thing that Pug thought he lacked in, but Isaac was good at. They both stood in place, catching their breath before,

"PUGNATOR! ISAAC!!!"

They both looked around to see Amantis panting, like crazy and sprinting at them. He ran to Isaac and grabbed his shoulders in tears.

"I looked everywhere for you! I thought they had gotten you!"

He then looked over at Pug.

"You too! I haven't seen you since last night!" He put out his arms to give him a hug.

*SLAP!*

It was slapped away by Pug. Amantis backed away and the younger kid turned around before walking away.

'Wow.' Isaac thought at his behavior. 'My mom would've slapped the shit out of me.'

"Hahahahaa..." Amantis awkwardly chuckled.

He then turned to Isaac.

"At least you were together! I was scared somebody else snatched you up!"

By now, the wave had made its way over and the people in the ocean were walking out to see Isaac, the earthling, standing right in the middle of their city. The reactions were mixed with some giving him dirty glares, while others gasped and were in shock.

Amantis saw that Isaac was noticing and turned him towards to face forward.

"Don't mind them. Most haven't seen an earthling since the war 40 years ago and earthlings back then didn't really leave a good impression." He chuckled.

"What about you? Do you have negative feelings towards me?" Isaac asked.

"What!?" Amantis jumped before him. "No, no, no, no! Don't let anybody tell you that!"

'It's not that serious...' Isaac thought as the man shook him.

"I've learned to move on." He grazed his scars with his mechanical arm. He couldn't even actually feel them.

"Holding on to hatred, war and revenge will do nothing for you in the long run. You don't have to forgive or forget, but at least keep moving forward. Which is what I swore to do."

They started walking.

"You par took in the war?"

"Yeah, but those days are behind me now." Amantis gave an embarrassed chuckle. "I wouldn't even hurt a fly in self defense now."

"That's dumb. It will just get you killed in the end."

"Yeah, but I'll die happy knowing I stuck to my morales." Amantis spoke with a smile. "We all live for something, but above that, we live to die."

The older man suddenly caught himself.

'What am I doing talking about war and death with a child!?'

"Uhh.. Ummm.. wha- what is your goal in the long run?" He tried to brighten the topic but then remembered Isaac was doomed to die after the trials.

*Slap!*

He faced palmed but then Isaac answered his question.

"I think knowledge is what drives me the most. I know I'm different from most of my earthling peers, but my brain is the same as them if my heart isn't. I want to know as much as I can."

"Thats great! Maybe I can forge you a wand and teach you some basic skills then?"

They finally reached the house.

"I can do magic?" Isaac asked with hopeful eyes again.