Isran was still very much shaken from the previous day’s events. A quick check of her stats told her that the Protector’s Oath skill had been deactivated. She hadn’t been in any state of mind to check the previous day.

  The orc came looking for her in her building bright and early. And Isran heard his voice for the first time.

  “Isran.”

  She blinked up at him. She had been silently tying her bootces when he had stomped into her building. She had tuned out everything around her. Alden had recognized her need to isote for a bit and had given her head a light pat before leaving to train with his team.

  The orc—whose name she still did not know—nodded once. “We train together.”

  Isran could hear an accent. It sounded a bit Nigerian. It was interesting to her that she could even pinpoint the accent. It threw her off a bit but she didn’t let that show on her face.

  “Everyone?” She asked, standing slowly. The orc was tall, and Isran found that she felt a bit uncomfortable being looked down on. She was surrounded by short women most of the time. Being the short one was a bit jarring.

  The orc shook his head no. “You and me. Sword and shield.”

  Isran nodded. It hadn’t crossed her mind to even suggest that. And they didn’t have a lot of time so she wasn’t sure how good their practice was going to be but she liked the idea. It would help her keep her mind of the question that pgues her mind.

  The brief thought about getting a shield bearer in her adventuring group crossed her mind.

  The front of the barracks was occupied by other adventurers training.

  The orc led Isran towards the weapon racks and picked up his shield.

  After grabbing her sword Isran looked around the other weapon racks and people fighting and noted that the shield was a one-of-a-kind.

  It was of the same pin steel make as all of the other weapons but the rgest. He was also the rgest orc Isran had seen so far. Perhaps the governor made accommodations for him.

  Isran wondered--as they found a space to train—if that could be seen as favoritism. She mentally shrugged, it didn’t matter to her.

  The orc smmed his shield down loudly and hit his closed fist against his chest.

  “Brawner.”

  Isran tilted her head in acknowledgment. He already knew her name.

  Brawner grunted with a nod. It seemed the nguage she had heard everyone in Noes speak was not the orc’s first nguage. Isran wondered if his native tongue was simir to a West African dialect like his accent was.

  What was the common nguage everyone she had met spoke called? She couldn’t remember the name it was given in her past life.

  They ran through a few drills Brawner taught her. It was a bit clumsy at first, but soon they were moving together in a rhythm-like manner. Isran thrusting and adjusting her footwork as Brawner molded into her side and smmed his shield on the ground.

  Isran admired the strength it took to wield such a heavy piece. A purely defensive warrior could be cking offensive prowess but Isran was sure his fists were very much up to the task.

  After a few hours of just the two of them training ter, they were joined by the rest of the team to discuss the upcoming match.

  Elowin pulled her aside to check up on her.

  “I’m okay.” Isran nodded at the orange-haired elf. She needed to reassure him. He couldn't spend the match worried about her.

  Elowin didn’t seem reassured but didn’t push it. He smiled and stayed by her side as they entered the arena.

  When the match pairings were announced, Isran was not very happy to find out that she was part of the first match for the day. To be fair, there was only a fifty percent chance anyway.

  The same fmboyant elf from the previous day was present. Isran took note of Morgana and the governor watching her closely. Her nerves started to rise.

  Why do you fight?

  Isran knew she had a habit of forgetting everyone around her when she was focused on something, and she even viewed it as a negative trait. But as she stood in the arena with so many eyes on her she wished she could tune them out by command.

  Her ears were ringing and her hands shook almost unperceptively. Elowin noticed. He moved close enough that his body was pressed against Isran’s arm.

  It grounded her immediately but the con was hearing her name chanted in the crowd.

  “Ok ok let's settle down.” The elf ughed heartily. Isran had a feeling he had begun the chant.

  “Yes, we all love Isran, but we have to start the match now don’t we?”

  The crowd cheered.

  With a cp that almost echoed the elf proceeded to introduce the match. He repeated the rules and then after they were handed their loot bags asked them to take their positions.

  "Now will the lovely crowd count down with me?"

  Isran breathed. She wanted to look into the crowd and find her girls—she didn’t. If she didn’t find those beautiful faces she would only get disoriented from the crowd and probably trigger a chant.

  Isran was standing next to Brawner. The orc grunted and nodded down at her as the count down began.

  “Three!”

  “Two!”

  “One!”

  Brawner was fast for his size, it was something Isran appreciated. Ara had stuck with them again. Their formation was made so that if there was an incoming attack aimed at the lightning mage, Brawner could block it or Isran could deflect.

  Darvin and Darcy charged at the three of them. Ara cast a spell, firing lightning at Darcy. Isran felt a small static against her skin underneath her shirt as the spell passed by. She didn’t let that make her pause and immediately stopped with Brawner.

  Ara--clearly an experienced fighter—took several steps back to get out of range of Isran’s sword and their enemies' weapons.

  Darcy reached them first, Brawner immediately met her.

  Isran noted in passing that the cow woman probably had a berserker css. She threw her entire body into her swing, her rge steel bat hitting Brawner’s shield with a loud cng.

  Isran took a firm step forward and met Darvin’s axe with the ft end of her bde. Her hands tensed briefly before she shoved him back.

  Isran thought--as she moved away from the orc—about how bad of a move that was. He was shorter than her, and so swiping at her legs would have been a far better tactic.

  Ara’s lightening hit Darvin in the chest only a second after Isran had moved away. He fell to the ground motionless.

  Isran gnced at Ara to see her narrowly avoid a rapier wielder. The man had aimed for the mage's hand.

  Isran needed speed.

  “May those whose lives I keep be protected by my charge.”

  She mentally chose to protect every member of her team.

  She had already been running as she swore her oath, but the moment she applied her skill to her speed, strength, and energy she felt it.

  A four times multiplier was an insane jump and Isran almost stumbled when she found herself in front of Ara’s assaint. She wasn’t the only one disoriented though, the rapier wielder’s eyes widened at Isran’s sudden appearance in front of him, and tried in vain to move away from her and correct his stand at the same time.

  They were too close for Isran to use her sword and the man was shorter than her, so in a split-second decision she shoved him.

  Isran should’ve known her strength would be even more insane than her speed had been. The man flew several feet away from her and hit his teammate in the back, the rapier wielder and fire mage colpsed into a heap of tangled limbs.

  They were almost at the end of the arena, and without a second thought Isran ran towards them, closing the distance in three seconds. She couldn’t help the smile on her face when she arrived in front of them.

  Why do you fight?

  She felt like an anime character, blurring across the screen.

  The fire mage appeared to be already knocked out but the rapier wielder was not. He surprisingly still had his grip on his sword, but that wasn’t going to do him any good.

  Isran was faster and stronger than him.

  A loud cng sounded from behind her as she kicked the man in his side. She was worried stabbing him would kill him. No matter how many times they had been told none of them could die in the arena Isran still didn’t want to take the chance.

  He let go of his sword to clutch his stomach in agony. It was a hard kick, and Isran realized it was much harder than she had intended. The strength and speed change were really skewing her view of the damage she could cause.

  As he shakily lifted his hand in surrender a fsh of lightening went off behind Isran. Then the arena was filled with an aggressive cheer from the crowd. Every time Isran thought they couldn’t get louder they did.

  Her smile was still on her face. Her body buzzing and even when she heard the crowd chant her name she couldn’t bring herself to care.

  Why do you fight?

  Her eyes moved up to where the governor and his entourage where.

  Morgana nodded approvingly down at her and Isran felt a sense of accomplishment.

  She wasn’t the best at deciphering people sometimes, but she could tell. Morgana was proud of her.

  She thought briefly about how easily her mind had pushed her worries away when the fight started... too easily.