Witnessing Legends

Asher awoke early in the morning, before the light of dawn even pierced through his curtains. He had no doubt Leah was up as well. Ever since the two of them had become stronger, they had discovered they didn't sleep as much as the average person. A couple of hours would usually suffice for them to feel fully rested. Asher went to Leah's room and knocked lightly on the door. He heard a shuffle of feet and Leah unlocked the door. As soon as she saw who it was, she flung it open and hugged him. "I didn't know how long you would be, so I worked quite a few jobs. I got together with some groups and we killed two ice drakes. I'd say that by now, I'm almost the top person for our rank with those jobs done. How about you? Are you recovered, or is it still a work in progress?"

"I'll explain a few things later on, when we go to work a job. Just the two of us. I don't trust Willow enough to divulge what I've discovered."

Leah agreed with him. They hadn't known Willow that long and she had practically just appeared one day. They could use her, but neither one of them fully trusted her yet. It had taken Asher months before he considered Leah anything more than a tool to be used for his own gain.

About that time, there was another knock on the door and Leah checked who it was. As the door swung wide open, Asher saw it was Willow. Her mop of wheat blonde hair was tied neatly in a bun for once. Asher thought it looked very nice on her for a change from her usual untidy appearance. It was obvious that she hadn't been given etiquette training by her parents. That in itself surprised Asher a bit, because her parents were lords in the Eastern province, bordering Aetheria.

Willow stated, "I didn't know you were back already, Asher. When did you arrive?"

"Yesterday," Asher replied curtly.

"Are you better?" Willow asked. "Leah said you weren't well after the incident with the lich. I was worried about you."

"I am better now, you don't need to worry about me." Asher sighed and stated, "We have work to do. There is a tournament coming up and I want one of us to get first place. It doesn't matter which. Both Leah and I have reasons for wanting the gold from the competition."

Willow looked like she was about to ask a question and Asher interrupted her with, "It's personal. We come from a different background than you. The money would be very helpful. That is all I'm going to say on the matter."

Willow dropped the subject and they began planning for the next job. Asher still didn't feel like he could perform at the same level he had been shortly before the lich had showed up, but it was a start. Asher began to track down different monsters in the wasteland with references from his fellow guild members, beginning with ice elementals.

In the first encounter with one of the creatures where he brought along with his goblin, he noted that they were difficult to deal with, but manageable. The fight had ended in under a minute. Soon after that, he went on a job with Leah to deal with one of the magma golems that occasionally appeared in the land.

As they were leaving Winterhaven, Asher pulled Leah towards the cave with his minion. She immediately went for her sword and Asher said, "Don't," calmly. "It's mine. I can't really explain it very well beyond that. That shadowy being we encountered before, it took control of my power and possessed this creature. It is bound to me now. It also has a lower level of my ability because of that. It grants me power every time it kills a monster."

Leah nodded and said, "I understand now why you didn't want Willow to find out about this. This could potentially be something that would have you hunted down. I wouldn't say anything to anyone else unless it's someone you know you can absolutely trust without question."

After that, they didn't speak much. Asher demonstrated the strength of the goblin and Leah was astounded at the power behind the meager beast. Had it been any other goblin, she would have laughed at it with the level she was at now. It stood firm against a magma golem though, not losing out in a battle of sheer strength. Asher slashed at the huge monster with his blade glowing blue, chunks of rock flew off with each swing of his blade.

Eventually the creature was whittled away to almost nothing and it toppled to the ground, forming into a rock mound as it's internal temperature dropped dramatically. As soon as she saw it die, Leah's jaw had dropped. Asher chuckled lightly at her expression. "It's almost too good to be true," he remarked to her. "This minion is nearly mindless, yet it will defend me to it's last breath. There is nothing it will not fight if I bid it to do so."

"It fought on equal footing with a magma golem, Asher. It's not as simple as a loyal follower, it has power. Not as much as you had at one point, but it's potent. I don't know what caused this thing to become possessed by you, but imagine if you had more of just these goblins under your command. You'd be practically unstoppable. You could hunt anything you wanted in this land, by yourself."

Asher sighed deeply and replied, "That thought crossed my mind, but it takes a portion of my own power to do it. It's not so simple as just possessing a monster. I don't even know how to perform the ability, actually. It happened too quickly for me to understand what was happening or how."

Leah nodded and said, "So you have no reference. Nothing to help you figure out how to actually use the ability."

Asher shook his head before responding, "Even if I did, it took so much of a chunk out of my own personal power that I don't know that I want to test it here. The other bright side to this ability is that it grants me strength through each of my minion's kills. If I could have a few of them at a higher intelligence level, killing monsters constantly, I'd be able to recover quicker each time I gained one of them."

After that, they returned to the guild and Asher kept tracking down lower level beasts from there, attempting to boost his strength. It was slow going, but with the goblin under his command he had virtually no issues with anything he encountered.

He wanted to take a job for an ice drake, but even in Winterhaven they weren't the most common. Usually there would only be a few jobs related to them in a month, versus the dozens of ice elementals that were usually spotted weekly. Asher was impatient, but he kept calm. There had been virtually no signs of anything else on the Drake's level either.

Eventually Asher would move on to another province if he didn't find something worthwhile. He had been dealing with every ice elemental he possibly could whenever he heard about them, but that would only take him so far.

Asher went to bed early one day, sickened by the lack of work in the area. When he awoke, it was to the sound of panicked knocking on his door. He opened it up to find Leah. "We need to move now, Asher," she stated quickly. Asher was about to ask what was going on when he noted that there was a roaring wind and thunder outside.

"It's a dragon," Leah explained. "Not just any dragon, but a greater storm dragon. It flew in from Aetheria. We must be in the nesting grounds for them. The idiots that built this place put us right on top of the nest."

Asher's eyes went wide as he realized why they were in what appeared to be a giant bowl. It was where the greater dragons carved into the mountains to lay their eggs. The people in the town weren't even able to be considered ants compared to the sheer gargantuan size of the greater dragons.

The sunlight went dim and eventually completely black through the window. Asher felt his heart skip a beat as he realized there was no hope to get out of town before they were crushed under the weight of the beast. He took a look up into the sky to see a beast that blotted out the sun with a wingspan miles long.

Moments later, the sky lit up with lightning cracking across the ground repeatedly. Several houses were burnt to cinders immediately from the intense storm radiating around the massive beast that Asher would almost call a king of dragons.

Soon after that, there was a flash of light above the town. Asher saw a miniscule being facing off against the dragon in the sky with booms of power rushing down towards the ground. Asher felt sick to his stomach as each pulse hit him. It was too much for Asher to handle as he felt wave after wave of percussion blasts hitting him.

Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Asher looked up to the sky and the dragon was flying away, back towards Aetheria. The figure descended to the ground with an almost ethereal look to them. They had a set of wings comprised of pure light and glowing armor that fit closely to their body. The townspeople rushed towards them offering their thanks to the mysterious figure.

Asher already knew he wasn't going to get anywhere close to the person, so he asked Connor who it was. Connor remarked, "That is Abraham. He is second in command to the highest level SS rank adventurer in the entire guild. If you want to get stronger, it'd be good to speak to him. He would be the one to know. After all, not just anyone can advance from rank F all the way to where he's at now. He took on his newest duties after he defeated the lich king of Aetheria, which almost brought down the nation."

Asher found himself having a large amount of respect for Abraham immediately, as he knew exactly how hard it was to reach his own current rank. If there was anyone who would be able to advise Asher, it would definitely be Abraham.

Asher doubted he would be able to get the legend's attention though. Not with the hundreds of adoring fans around him already. The only thing Asher could do was try to gain some renown. That would be easier said than done, however. In the meantime he had to avoid letting the wrong people know about his power. He figured it would be a long time before Abraham would even hear whispers of Asher's name, let alone anything of great note.

He watched from afar as Abraham removed his great winged helmet. The man had a mane of blonde hair and piercing blue eyes above high cheekbones and a strong pointed nose. Asher made a mental note of what exactly he looked like for the next time he was around Abraham. The next time he saw this legend in the flesh, he intended to speak to him and learn everything he could.