When Ember woke up, the camp was already completely packed up and ready to go. It was a trend he was starting to notice. Chris did everything. I would say something, but honestly, I hate packing and breaking things down. If he wants to do it all, he can knock himself out.

  As he took care of his own tent, Ember couldn’t help but notice Chris seemed...different. More focused.

  After Ember put his pack in the cart, he walked over to Chris, who was cooking some food on the fire pit: eggs and a little bit of smoked meat.

  “What’s up?”

  Chris’s eyes flickered to him, then back to the food. “We have a problem. I did some scouting this morning.” He shook his head, frustration evident on his face. “We’ve got a troll in the way.”

  Ember frowned, his heart skipping a beat. “A troll? Like a monster troll?” He couldn’t help but visualize something he’d see in a video game, and struggled to envision it in real life.

  Chris nodded grimly. “Monsters aren’t particularly rare in the Frontier, but this one is situated directly on our route to hit the sub-city. We’re going to have to fight it or find a way to get around it, but there aren’t any alternate routes near us, and the cart can’t take the abuse that going off-road would do, so we’ll have to fight it.”

  Ember’s palms went clammy as he wiped them on his pants, his heart hammering. “Can we beat it?”

  Chris was silent for a beat longer than he should have been. “Probably. I’m pretty strong myself, and while it’s true that you don’t really have any experience fighting, we’ve done plenty of training, and your reaction speed will hopefully carry you.” Ember couldn’t help but wince at the word hopefully.

  His eyes wandered to the meteorite blade. “However, you can’t use that.”

  Ember looked at it. “Why not?”

  “Your cup. We haven’t done any actual training with your cup and overflowing. It’s very possible that at some point during the fight, you might lose control. I don’t think I need to remind you what happens...after.”

  Ember swallowed hard, the images of the cathedral playing through his mind. “Yeah,” he said quietly.

  Chris stood. “Instead, you’ll use the sword I’ve been having you train with over the past couple of days. It doesn’t have a very strong ability. Thankfully, while it’s possible you might overflow, at the very least, you won’t burn out your life if you accidentally lose control. You’ll have enough time to drop the weapon.

  “I wanted to teach you a little bit more about weapons and rankings,” he continued, “but for now, we’re just going to have to learn as we go.”

  He pointed to the small stump they used as a stool across from him. “Let’s eat. This is going to be a long day.”

  Ember sat and couldn’t help but drum his fingers against his knee nervously. My first fight. Chris is here, so thankfully I shouldn’t be in too much danger... but am I really ready to fight? I’ve never fought anything in my life before.

  Chris handed him a small plate of eggs and smoked sausage. Ember ate it slowly, trying to keep the food down, his stomach in knots.

  The blue-haired man was oddly silent. Ember had gotten used to the silence of travel. They would often run out of things to talk about. But this was different. Tense, as if Chris was already fighting in his head.

  Ember couldn’t stand the silence, so he spoke up. “How strong are trolls?”

  Chris gnawed on his spoon absentmindedly. “It depends. Some can be strong, but most aren’t typically too powerful. I didn’t get a good look at the one we’ll be fighting, but it didn’t seem to be that powerful, so this should be doable.” He leaned forward, his gaze focusing on Ember. “You have to do exactly what I say.”

  Ember nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

  “Good.” Chris stood and kicked out the fire. “We’re going to be walking. It’s not too far away.”

  Ember put his sword in the cart, then retrieved the one he’d been practicing with, buckling it onto his waist and following Chris, who already had his shield on his back and his own sword by his side. It didn’t look as impressive as the one Ember carried, but it looked like it’d do the job.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  As they walked between the massive trees and got onto the road, Ember asked, “So why is this troll on the road?”

  Chris shrugged. “Could be a lot of reasons. Trolls are attracted to gold and silver. They know humans tend to carry some, so it’s not that far-fetched for a troll to camp out near a road in the hopes of getting it.”

  “Huh,” Ember remarked. He went to say something else, but it was clear Chris had no intention of talking anymore. So Ember went quiet.

  The silence was electrifying. Chris seemed to have a lot on his mind as they walked down the road.

  The sun was already midway through the sky by the time they approached the troll.

  Chris had Ember hide to get a gauge of its strength.

  It was around twelve feet tall, with a disgusting face. Massive nose, big lips, and small, beady eyes. Its skin was brown, rough, and cracked like hardened bark. Two massive tusks curved from its mouth, wrapping around its head, their tips ending just past its jawline. A small tuft of hair sat atop its head.

  Its head turned their way as they ducked back behind a tree. It didn’t seem to notice them.

  Ember shivered. “That thing is creepy.”

  Chris nodded. “Most monsters are.”

  “Okay, here’s the plan.” Chris crouched and motioned for Ember to follow. “It looks to be maybe about mid-aged, I’d guess. I can’t really tell how strong it is, but it probably shouldn’t be too big a deal for us. I’m going to be the front line. I’ll draw its attention, and I want you to try to sneak behind and stab it. I want you to aim for its knee.”

  Ember nodded, hands slick with sweat. He makes it sound so easy.

  “Go for the area between its knee. Worst-case scenario, you overflow. If you overflow, back off and take deep breaths. The overflow will end after a few seconds if it’s not constantly stoked. When it’s over, try to do what I told you: envision putting the blood in the cup back into the sword. That will activate its ability. If you can’t control it, drop the sword and run.”

  “And its ability is...?”

  Chris peeked around the tree. “The sword becomes coated in poison. It won’t kill the troll, but it’ll definitely afflict it. Be careful, though, the poison can kill a human. If you cut yourself while it’s active, you’re in for a bad surprise.”

  Ember let out a breath. “Okay, I got it.”

  Chris nodded. “Okay. Once I start engaging it in a fight, I want you to sneak behind it. When you see an opening, don’t hesitate—strike.”

  Ember swallowed hard and watched as Chris slowly stepped from behind the tree, shield and sword in hand.

  Okay, Ember. We got this.

  He could feel his breath shortening, but he took deep breaths to calm his hammering heart and did as Chris instructed. He stayed behind the tree, watching as his partner approached the troll and yelled something at it.

  The troll turned, its beady eyes narrowing as it snarled. Ember could see its gaze lock on the gleaming blade Chris held. Even though it wasn’t silver, it was shiny enough to catch the creature’s attention.

  It roared, so loud the sound vibrated through the ground.

  Chris grimaced. “All right. Let’s do this.”

  Ember muttered to himself, “We’ve got this,” then flitted to the next tree, moving around the massive trunk to keep an eye on the battle. Blood pounded in his ears, and he felt dizzy, but forced himself to move.

  The troll ran toward Chris, the ground shaking, and slammed its fist down. Chris brought his shield up and blocked it, skidding back several inches. With a grunt Ember could hear even from a couple of dozen feet away, Chris parried the blow and stabbed upward, but the troll knocked his blade away, then came in with another fist, which Chris narrowly dodged.

  Ember crept closer, drawing his sword, heart hammering in his chest.

  Chris blocked several more blows, getting sent back several feet. When the monster roared and charged, it went for a body slam, leading with its shoulder.

  Chris slammed his shield into the ground, and his ability wall appeared. The troll barreled into it and stumbled back, stunned.

  This is my chance. Immediately, Ember jumped forward, dizzy and sweating heavily, and drove his sword toward the creature’s knee. As if it had a sixth sense, the massive creature turned on a dime, faster than its mass should allow, and swiped a back-handed fist at Ember.

  He wasn’t fast enough to dodge, but managed to brace with his blade. The troll’s fist hit the sword, bending it into his forearm, and Ember was sent flying, skittering across the road into the grass and crashing into a nearby tree.

  Fire danced up his spine as he let out a cry.

  “Shit!” Chris shouted.

  Chris didn’t get time to react because the troll was already on him, slamming its fists into his shield. Chris could do nothing but hold it back. The creature pummeled him, then raised both arms and slammed them down.

  Even Ember could hear something crack. Chris let out a cry.

  “No!” Ember shouted.

  He felt the cold sensation wash over his arm and into his chest. He could tell he was about to overflow, so with deep breaths, he focused on pushing the cold feeling back into the blade.

  With effort, it flowed from his chest, down his arm, into the weapon.

  A purple mist began to emanate from the sword. The weapon was bent, but still usable.

  Ember staggered to his feet as the troll continued to hammer Chris, who was nearly flattened against the ground.

  With a shout, Ember exploded forward and slammed the sword into the creature’s back. The blade slid into its spine.

  As the creature roared, Ember let go of the sword and jumped back.

  The troll staggered, turning toward him. Ember’s eyes widened as his legs shook. He opened his mouth to scream, but before any noise left his mouth, the monster's head rolled off its shoulders.

  The creature thumped to the ground, blood pooling around Ember’s feet as he shivered uncontrollably.

  Chris stood across from Ember, breathing heavily, his shield arm bent at a strange angle, eyes smoldering. Then he passed out.