Chapter 15

"The only large uninhabited area would be the sulfur fields, but they are incredibly inhospitable. They are also the grave of the last Troares" I explained to Soaryn in response to his question

"Why is that the grave of the last Troares and what happened to the rest of them" Soaryn asked with a puzzled expression.

"One of the spirits, Crastros the Spirit of Vengence, was originally a human who fell in love with an elf, Veronia the current Spirit of Light, the last five of the Troares attacked Crastros' village when he was out hunting. When he returned they were just finishing their total massacre when he flew into a fury that would put a hurricane to shame. He killed four of them and seriously injured the fifth before he died. Twenty-six years ago he waged war on the last one and eventually killed him and then he went to sleep at the side of the Spirit of Light for twenty-five years. When the dragons fell from the sky he awoke and is still awake waiting with the Spirit of Light for when he is needed to protect Sharnem again" I explained to Soaryn in a successful attempt to quell his curiosity.

"Since it is the place of the last major battle and the battlefield is still relatively fresh, would it be taboo to go to the sulfur fields for combat training" Soaryn asked with a sincere tone.

"It would not be taboo but, you would have to ask the chief of the Ishkanshoos if you can train with them since they train in the sulfur fields. They are also incredibly strong and tough to be able to handle the heat. We can take your group to the Oasis if you are really set on training in the sulfur fields" I advised in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to back down without outright saying no.

"I would like to, but I don't know the customs for asking an ishkanshoos for permission because they are not on my home continent" Soaryn explained still determined to go to the sulfur fields.

"If you really want to go there, you will have to ask Enho for details because while she is a half-breed she was raised with the Ishkanshoos in the Oasis" I told him because I had no clue at the time.

After our conversation Soaryn went to go talk to Enho. When he went to talk to her she was in the training area and he made the mistake of distracting her while she was practicing her marksmanship. It resulted in her challenging him to a sparring match. She ended up winning by the skin of her teeth. Soaryn only lost because he ran out of energy and passed out mid swing. In his defense he had sparred with Sten earlier that day in the Meadows of Light. So when Soaryn woke up the next day he and Enho had a conversation about the customs about asking an ishkanshoos for permission to train with them. It turned out to be a pretty simple set of customs. First he had to take a gift to the chief and if it was satisfactory he could ask his question. Depending on the question the person will have to prove their worth in a test of strength, stamina or wit. Since Soaryn's question was to train with the ishkanshoos he had to take two different tests to be allowed to. Aerd also made a gift to the chief and asked to be taught some of the magic by an ishkanshoos shaman, the ishkanshoos are the last race to advance to using technology to record their knowledge of spells. Aerd only had to prove his worth in a test of wit against the shaman he would be learning from. While we at Oasis Zelphar began to act even more erratic than usual.

After the day of testing that Soaryn and Aerd had to endure. They had both succeeded in their respective categories. Aerd was allowed to learn magic from Shaman Galli. Soaryn was allowed to do strength and stamina training with the ishkanshoos warriors. Two weeks later Aerd had learned a spell that allowed him to manipulate the wind. He would practice it and eventually adapted it so that he could fly and slice trees and boulders in half. Soaryn had gotten much stronger and built up alot more stamina. He was able to go against Zelphar and pull a draw without using his absolute full strength. Which to this day I have never seen, but I have heard that he once used it in a battle where Aerd had almost died. I asked Aerd about that battle and he showed me the freshly healed scar on his chest. Aerd had been run through by and orcish blade. It narrowly missed his heart and since he was trained to be a reaper he was capable of fighting with one lung to breathe. Soaryn had seen Aerd get run through and froze as he watched his best friend fall. However his temporary pause didn't last long. Soaryn apparently flew into a rage that only last thirty seconds but it was enough to wipe out three thousand orcs in full battle armor. He then used it again to get Aerd to a doctor after Aerd had put the blade ,that the orc commander had run him through with, through the commander's skull. After hearing this story I understood why he wouldn't be able to use that kind of power for more than a minute. I was even more shocked when I heard that the incident at the battle was the second time that he used his full strength. Raethien told me about the first time he used it in front of his friends. It was when Ulellinn had tried to kill Aerd for challenging him to a sparring match. Soaryn was bare-handed yet he was still able to stop Ulellinn's sword, disarm him, and throw him through a dozen trees in the blink of an eye. Aerd, Raethien, and Ulellinn were the only ones who could see Soaryn when he did that.