Against His Better Judgment

It was only a short time into his solo journey that he felt a presence chasing after him. Torrin wanted to speed up when he realized who it was, but decided to stop.

"Dawn," Torrin spoke with a weary voice, "I don't know what this whole charade is about, but I'm not interested. You have your own people to worry about, so please... Just go back and help them. From the look on most of their faces, they'll need it."

Dawn scowled at Torrin's back, "What is your problem? Running off like that..." She tutted.

Torrin turned around, "My problem is the fact that your people keep attacking me without any real reason. It's as Yawnel said, no one wants me here--so I'm removing myself from the situation. The rest of you should be cheering with joy at driving me away."

"What about Tillien?" Dawn asked, piercing Torrin straight through the heart.

Torrin shook his head sadly, "He wouldn't be able to keep up with me. Instead of using him against me, why don't you go protect him yourself?"

Dawn scoffed in disbelief, "I did not think you could be so callous." She turned on her heels and strode away.

Torrin sucked his teeth, grumbling under his breath, "Damn it..."

He followed behind the girl, regretting the fact that he considered Tillien a friend--Or at least the most decent elf around that didn't deserve to die out here. He couldn't comprehend why these elves seemed so unprepared. Not a single one of them had been ready for the mana beast's attack.

A scream tore through the forest from the direction they were headed and Dawn shot him a look over her shoulder. He infused his legs with Saen and shot off, passing her in an instant and arriving at the group of elves shortly thereafter. Having already had his senses spread, he understood the situation before he even arrived and prepared to take out another mana beast.

Tillien beat him to the punch, sending multiple wind blades slicing into the flying mana beast. The thing looked like some sort of giant crow. The wind blades tore deep furrows into the beast's wings and it fell to the ground. A nearby elf he didn't know speared the beast in the chest, ending its life.

Torrin crouched by the girl that had been attacked, allowing his mana to wash over her imbuing it with the intent to restore and heal the deep claw marks on her shoulder. A few moments later the wound was gone and only a track of talon marks in her robe remained along with a fair bit of blood.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Torrin asked, focused on making sure the healed elf had no other wounds.

He looked up at the lack of reply and the elves nearest him slowly backed away. Keeping his face neutral, he turned his gaze on Dawn as she arrived.

"Is anyone hurt?" Dawn repeated. This time there were murmurings of "no" or "I'm fine" from the group. Silent, shaking heads were the most prominent answer.

Torrin let out a huff of air as he stood up, asking the elves, "Does everyone here know how to prepare a mana beast's corpse?"

This time, at least, they shook their heads in the negative so he didn't need Dawn to echo his question. He wanted to curse the elven instructors who allowed all of these people to come here so unprepared, but then he realized Grams wasn't too much better, so he let it go.

Torrin whispered to Dawn, "Do you know how to prepare the corpse?"

Her face flushed slightly and she shook her head no. This time Torrin did curse, causing the nearby elves to take a step back. He held up his hands to show he meant no harm, but it didn't seem to help much in reassuring them. He spread his will into the surrounding area and made sure to give off a little pressure, but he avoided the elves as this was just to hopefully ward off more mana beasts.

Torrin shook his head at the scene, Torrin took up a commanding persona, "Listen up!" Another step back from the group, "I will make sure that no one else gets hurt for now. Tillien, great job on not panicking, and actually attacking the mana beast," he nodded to the elf who smiled sheepishly.

Turning to the other elf with the spear he nodded, "And you, great job finishing it off. I know that some of you have been here before and think you know everything--and maybe you do, what do I know?--but your lack of response in both mana beast attacks just now shows that you are not ready to lead anyone. Luckily, Dawn has tugged at my heart strings so I'll be helping for now."

He allowed his words to sink in, letting his gaze meet each elf in turn. He continued, "Everyone, please follow me. We need to find a more defensible location for now."

Torrin put the corpse in his pouch and turned away from the group. He began to walk, but soon realized no one was following except Tillien. Torrin shrugged and continued on his way.

'If they don't want my help, I'm not going to force them.' Torrin thought.

Soon, the other four elves from Tillien's team followed suit after a bit of hesitation. Dawn commanded the rest of them to follow and though they acted as if they were walking to their deaths, they eventually listened to her.

They walked for a few miles in a mix of silence and hushed whispers, Torrin only having to kill two more mana beasts as they went. He collected the corpses of a boar-like mana beast as well as another large cat. His precision in taking out the yellow core beasts did not seem to help the group's anxiety towards him for a reason that eluded Torrin. During the trip, even Tillien didn't seem to want to comment on anything like Torrin expected he would.

Soon they came to a clearing big enough to house the group for the moment. Torrin waited as all of the elves filed in. He saw Yawnel shoot him a strange look, before the elf lowered his gaze. Torrin didn't have time to analyze if it was fear, anger, gratefulness, or some mix of all three.

"Okay, for now we will be resting here a moment. Can I get a show of hands from those who have been in the pocket dimension before?" Torrin called out to the crowd. After a moment of hesitation, two hands rose in the air, surprising Torrin at the lack of experienced members in the expedition. He cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"Please, come here for a moment, you two." Torrin's words weren't harsh nor demanding, but the two elves reacted as if struck by a whip. One of them was an elf he hadn't noticed before, his face looked like that of someone in their early thirties. The other was Yawnel.

"Go," Dawn said to the pair and they unwillingly obliged. Torrin looked between them, eyes going back and forth between the two.

"Do either of you know of a safer location to stay?" Torrin asked eventually. Yawnel looked like he'd swallowed something sour, but eventually shook his head. The other elf seemed to be thinking over the question.

"I-if we go a bit further, around three miles or so, we should exit the forest," the elf pointed in a direction, "The last time I was here there were more experienced elves with us, so they helped lead us out of the forest and set up camp," the elf said in a shaky voice.

Torrin stared at him for a long moment, expecting a bit more detail. When the words didn't come, he nodded once and called out, "Let's go! Everyone, keep your guard up. We only need a few more miles to get out of this forest."

His words caused a mass sigh of relief from the crowd and this time they followed eagerly as he walked forward. It turned out that the elf was right, after a short while they made it out of the forest. Torrin didn't notice any mana beasts on the plain where they found themselves. A small hill in the distance with two trees for shade became his target and they finished the last mile of their journey quickly.

Once they arrived, Torrin asked the elves to gather around. He took out the body of the first mana beast he'd killed and pointed to the hole in its chest, "This is where a core is usually located. Though a beast loses its control of mana once it dies, causing its skin and flesh to be easier to cut through, it still takes a bit of work to remove the core."

His gaze swept over the crowd, making sure each of them were listening. Some held skeptical looks, but he ignored them, "I'll show you how to skin the beast and help you understand which parts are worth keeping--from my understanding, at least."

Putting words to actions, Torrin began slicing into the beast's flesh with his bare hand covered with sword aura. He explained what he was doing as he went and a short while later had the hide removed as well as the insides cleaned out. He made small fillets and cooked them over a fire he generated, adding a few spices from the stock he'd purchased in Bolin Town to make sure the meat would taste edible.

Passing out food to each of the elves seemed to thaw some of their cold feelings, they began to smile at him and even nod gratefully. It wasn't much, but it was progress. The sounds of munching could be heard as Torrin sat with his back against the tree. He was enjoying a moment of peace while he ate the meat he'd cooked.

"That was nice of you," Dawn said as she sat down beside him. Torrin shrugged and finished off his meal.

"Dawn," Torrin said, his tone serious, "Why are there no experienced elves on this trip? Do they want these elves dead?"

Dawn huffed a soft sigh, shaking her head, "Usually there will be a few green core mages or even those that have traversed the realm before... But coming here and getting actual experience helps the elves advance far faster than they would just training normally back at home."

Torrin quirked a brow, wondering what she was getting at. Seeing his expression she smiled slightly, "What I mean is, instead of taking five years or even longer to advance to the green core stage, many elves that enter have already set themselves a firm foundation in the red and orange core stages; So once they begin getting actual experience in combat and absorb the dense mana this realm has, they usually advance quickly. Not many come out of here with a yellow core."

Her words made it click, he snapped his fingers, "So that's why Yawnel is such an ass. He got left behind in his advancement and now has a shitty attitude to make up for it."

Dawn chuckled, "That could be one reason, but I think he's just an ass."

The two shared a smile, and Torrin asked, "But what if you don't have enough yellow core mages to send? I know if it's near fifty, you fill in those spots with green core mages... But what if you only had thirty yellow core mages? Or ten? Would you still fill the remaining spots with green core mages?"

She shook her head, "No, for whatever reason if we send more than five green core mages, not only does the cost become too great, but the pathway to the dimension can become unstable. They've done a ton of testing over the years, and decided that at most they'd only include three green core mages in one trip."

The implication of her words worried Torrin. Hopefully he didn't count for more than three green core mages, otherwise, the pathway may have been destabilized. He knew first hand how bad that could turn out. Torrin decided to stop worrying about it as there was nothing he could do to fix it if he had caused an issue.

"So has a scenario like I mentioned come up? Where there weren't many yellow core mages ready to enter?" Torrin asked.

She nodded, "It has happened many times before, actually. Only recently have we had this many young mages ready to go--enough to fill all the spots. If there aren't enough to fill up all the spots--even if there were only ten yellow core mages--three green core mages would be chosen to guide and teach the others. They'll sometimes even ask older yellow core mages if they want to go, though they usually decline."

He nodded his acknowledgment and the pair sat silently. Torrin was surprised by the conversation. It made him wonder how Emperor Nim had kept his time dilated pocket dimension so stable. After thinking for a bit, he realized that Emperor Nim might have also had some type of teleportation platform in the past that could have decayed as the years went on. It wasn't impossible for the platform to have completely vanished over the years, slowly being taken over by nature.

It had to have been thousands of years that the dimension sat unused. If that was the case, it may have only recently appeared in Zon as the shimmer that Torrin had fallen into. And Nim most likely had powered the space using Saen instead of mana, allowing it to last for so long and with so many high-level people inside. This was just a guess, but Torrin added it to his growing mental list of things to pester Grams about when he saw her next.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Dawn interrupted his musings.

"Hm? What look?" Torrin asked in confusion.

Dawn's face went slack and her eyes seemed to glaze over, before giggling, "That look."

Torrin scowled, "I don't look like that..." he grumbled.

"Yes you do! If I had anyone else around here that wasn't terrified of you, I'd ask them if they agreed," she replied smugly.

The scowl deepened, "Why would they be terrified of me?"

Dawn stared at him blankly for a long moment. Torrin let his face relax and stared back, waiting for a reply.

"You, Rin," She knocked her shoulder into his lightly, "Are a terrifying person. You're skilled in combat and apparently healing as well." She raised a brow.

"Why would that make me terrifying?!" Torrin asked, exasperation leaking into his voice. If someone were good at fighting and healing, he'd love to have them with him in a dangerous area.

She looked at him as if he were stupid, "You are very young, Rin... Definitely younger than anyone else here, yet you are so much stronger. You took out the person who won the selection tournament in an instant. You're also an outsider to them, a mythical creature that walked in and started fighting our Master of Combat to a standstill. Why would they not be afraid of you?"

Hearing her put it so plainly, Torrin sighed, "Okay, I take your point. But both of those things happened because I was for one, challenged by said winner of the tournament, and two, attacked in the streets by Ollivel with no provocation. I didn't ask for any of this, really. I just want to practice my control of the elements and head on my merry way to get revenge."

Dawn's face scrunched up, "Revenge? On who? For what?"

Torrin wanted to slap himself for being so careless with his words, "Don't worry about it."

"Come on, Rin. Tell me!" A desperate tone entered her voice.

Torrin just shook his head, standing up and stretching. Though he'd been careless with his words and even mentioned his hate for Virtus before, he didn't trust this girl at all. The way she acted was strange and made him uncomfortable.

"Not now, princess. I'm going to go practice with my sword for a bit. Keep an eye on everyone while I'm gone." Torrin said, enhancing his body with mana and taking off down the opposite side of the hill.

He ran for miles before coming to a stop. Looking around, all he saw were hills and plains of grass in every direction. No mana beasts could be sensed, but that didn't make him feel any safer. Against his better judgment, he felt a bit worried for the elves now. Torrin let the thought slip from his mind, thinking that Dawn and Tillien should be able to help with the group while he was gone.