Callie's Heroes

PART I - PUBLIC RELATIONS

Vanis and Callie left Ogre House to look for the rest of their housemates. By now, the sun was well past noon, edging towards midafternoon. The sun was bright, and Callie was once again happy for her wide-brimmed ranger’s hat. It was getting warm, though, and Callie briefly debated going back inside to remove the lower legs on her pants, but decided against it largely out of a sense of afternoon laziness.

They walked together, periodically asking if anyone had seen the Ogre, and half the time getting a vague direction down towards the mess tent. It was a nice day, and neither felt like they were in a rush.

“Have you had any more reveals lately?” Callie asked Vanis.

“Now that you mention it, it has been some time since my last one.”

“Same here, since before my sword fight with Vonn, in fact.” Callie said with a slight worry. “I wonder if they are all done.”

“We were told that most of the reveals should be done by midday, so that could be. Obviously, be vigilant.”

“It will be nice if they are, that’s for sure. It was awful for me, but Pixyl had it even worse.”

“I remember. The one at breakfast was dreadful. Five at one time? The worst I had was three when I first woke up. You had a six, right?”

”Seven, and that got me sick,” Callie said, with a shudder. “And then another three-at-once when I got back from the showers.”

“Well, with luck, we’re through it. I personally am eager to try out some of my new skills. I received some new summoning abilities.”

“Oh? So more than just your Imp creatures?”

“That’s right,” Vanis said with a smile. “I am now able to summon a Lesser Fiend, which appears to be a tough, durable brute that is able to fight hand to hand.”

“A Guardian, right? Or would it be a Striker?”

“Oh, you know of group tactics?”

“A little,” Callie said sheepishly. “Koda and I were talking earlier. He knows a lot about it and gave me a lesson. Guardians and Strikers, right? And then Ranged and Healers.”

Vanis motioned to the shade of a nearby tree and invited her to sit down with him while they talked, since they were in no real hurry. “That’s right. There are other groups and tactics as well, but you have the basics right there. As such, Fiends function as a Guardian, and as I rise in Tier, I’ll be able to summon stronger Fiends. Imps would be considered Strikers in combat, but they are very small, so to make up for that, they swarm the enemy in mass numbers. A Nether Bat is much like an Imp, in that they are small and do best in swarms. However, A Nether Bat is able to fly and has a short-range acidic spit attack as well as dangerous claws.”

Callie tried to imagine swarms of bats spitting acid and ripping an enemy apart, and then shuddered. “How many different types of Demons are you able to summon? Something for every role?”

“I believe so, in time. I’d need to speak with Terrin, my trainer, in more detail to know what comes later. But as I understand, by the time I reach Gold tier, I may have seven or eight different demon types I am able to summon, depending on the need at the time.”

“Xera said they lost their arm to an Etherdemon, so I’d guess that’s one of them,” Callie said. “Apparently, they have energy swords on their arms like Pixyl does. The cauterizing effect of the blades is why Xera isn’t able to grow back their arm or wing.”

“I know of that effect,” Vanis said. “The Ethereal magics would have not just cauterized the wound, but also burned out the nerves in what remained of her arm. Thus, one couldn’t just cut off the damaged part and grow anew. Ethereal magic like what Pixyl has is quite devastating.”

“Ahh, I was wondering why she couldn’t cut off the end to regrow it. That really sucks. At least you’ll get to summon one of those ‘Etherdemons’. That will be nice to have on our side.”

“I suspect the skill to summon them comes at a much later Tier,” Vanis said. “At least I haven’t received it yet, and wouldn’t expect it before Gold, if not Platinum. Tactically, such a beast would function as a melee Striker, I would presume.”

“Makes sense. You just have those three summons, then? Imps, bats and the Fiend?”

“I received one other. A Nether Horror. It appears it has a powerful ranged attack similar to my Deathbolt skill, as well as an ability to apply minor curses to the enemy, sapping their movement capability.”

Callie chuckled. “Deathbolt? Nether Horror? Fiends? Curses? You Warlocks sound a little creepy and evil if you think about it. You need better public relations.”

Vanis laughed heartily. “I know! It’s dreadful. Imagine what happened as people across the kingdom learned that the Prince was a Warlock. The only class considered more creepy and evil would be the Necromancer, and I don’t believe any are here this term. Unfortunately, Warlock was the class I received, so there’s little I can do about it. Just remember that good or evil depends ultimately on what you do with the power you have.”

“You should still work on that public relations, though,” Callie said, patting Vanis’s arm. Then a thought occurred to her. “Do you think being a Warlock has anything to do with the effort to remove you from the line of succession?”

Vanis started to reply, but stopped, a puzzled expression on his face. “It’s possible, I suppose,” he finally said with a shrug. “But it seems like an odd reason. I wasn’t actively pursuing my Warlock class, after all. I even issued a public statement that I wasn’t seeking a Symbiote as it would be better given to a combat Warlock, at least until I was Cursed.”

“Still,” Callie said with a shrug. “The evil and creepy Prince could turn into the evil and creepy King.”

Vanis let off a huff. “Who knows. They did try to curse my father, though, so that certainly couldn’t be the only reason, or they’d have been satisfied with the change in the rules of succession. Or just assassinated me, if they were motivated enough.”

“I’m glad they didn't, Vanis. And if it’s any consolation, I don’t think you’re evil.”

“What about creepy?”

“We’ll see,” Callie said, smiling wide.

Ten minutes later, Callie and Vanis finally were directed to the training grounds to track down their wayward housemates. Thirty or so recruits were standing or sitting around in various groups chatting with each other.

The entirety of the training grounds itself was huge. Various partially-covered shelters were littered throughout, providing a way to sit in small groups and be shaded from the sun and elements. Dozens of sparring circles dotted the field, some small for fights of two to four, others larger to handle at least a dozen. Long target ranges were off to one side, rising up a gentle incline. Some were as long as three-hundred meters, perhaps longer, presumably for Rangers and other ranged classes to work on those skills. Other, smaller areas had fighting dummies and various contraptions set up to practice close-range skills. Callie’s head swam as she absorbed it all, and then her brain started to imagine the logistics of scheduling all these different class groups into their correct area with the correct equipment, and rotating them around as needed. Captain Kela was right, she probably was the most-important person here!

Tazrok, even sitting in one of the shelters, stood out amongst everyone sitting around him. His broad shoulders and frame looked like a wall of Ogre meat compared to the diminutive Pixyl on one side, and what looked like Jesca.

Vanis raised a hand in a distant greeting to Lena, and with Callie next to him, they set out to join the others. Off to one side, Vanis saw his fellow Warlock, Dunni, sitting with two Fairies he did not recognize, as well as an unfamiliar female Elf. “Everyone seems to be getting along,” Vanis said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Callie agreed. “I’m glad.”

Callie and Vanis joined the rest and settled into a spot on the ground in the shade of the shelter. In addition to Jesca, both Thucax and Shul’an had joined the group, the Salamanderkin lying outside of the shade, happily soaking in the sun. Jesca and Pixyl were in rapt conversation, apparently no longer needing an introduction.

“You took your time, Callie. I was getting worried.” Lena said. “Thanks for bringing her back, Vanis.”

Callie glanced at Vanis, who she swore rolled his eyes slightly.

“Yes. I happened upon Miss Callie as I was returning from the Healers. It was quite fascinating, actually. I happened to see a small crowd watching something, and what do I find? Our little Callie, fighting with a Lamia!” Vanis ruffled Callie’s hair lightly.

“What?” Lena said, concern immediately in her voice. “What did she do to you? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Fighting!” Tazrok said gruffly, standing up and almost knocking Pixyl over. “No fighting!”

“Not just any fighting, Tazrok. Sword fighting! With two swords, even!” Vanis said, adding an exaggerated inflection to the statement.

“Vanis! Stop trying to get me in trouble!” Callie whined, giving the Elf a backhanded slap. “Tazrok, I wasn’t real fighting, it was a sparring match! And Lena, I’m fine. The only thing hurt was a smack on my butt and a bruised ego.”

Slowly, Tazrok sat back down, still eyeing Callie suspiciously. “Sparring good fighting. Other fighting bad.”

“You were sword sparring with a Lamia? She’s at least three times your size! And why would she put two swords in your hands and spar with you?” Lena lectured, her ire rising.

Callie sighed. “Just as I got there, I got two reveals. Ambidextrous and Dual-Wield with Blades.”

“J-J-Just like m-m-me?” Pixyl asked.

“Yup, the same ones, Pixyl. And I assume you have them as well, Lena, since you used two swords.”

“I do, actually,” Lena confirmed, taken aback suddenly.

“I thought you would. Anyway, Vonn is a retired Gold Tier Ranger, so she put a pair of Gnome-sized practice blades in my hands and let me swing them around a bit, that’s all.”

“The truth is, everyone,” Vanis said, “she actually did very well for having never held a sword, let alone two of them. She was quite outmatched by the skill of her opponent, but managed to … uh … swing with conviction.”

“Bah. Vonn spanked my ass. Literally actually. I did manage to nick her at least, so I guess that’s something. Both Master Thorn and Major Celeste were watching, too. Officially, they said I shouldn’t be sparring but,” Callie lowered her voice to a loud whisper, “unofficially they said I did a good job.”

Lena frowned, “So you didn’t get hurt or anything, then?”

“No, mom, I’m fine,” Callie said dryly, to the chuckles of everyone around her. “It was all very safe and controlled.”

“If you say so, but I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks.”

Callie again locked eyes for a moment with Vanis, and he returned the tiniest of nods. Lena was just a little out of control on the Mother Hen front.

“Jesca, Thucax, Shul’an, you should make sure to introduce yourself to Vonn,” Callie suggested. “She’s a little scary at first, but super nice and knowing another high tier Ranger is a good thing, too. I bet she’d have a lot of fun Ranger stories. She was apparently an adventurer for a while!”

“Uh, she’s the Lamia? I … suppose we could try …” Jesca started to respond nervously before trailing off, nowhere near the unending fountain of words she was earlier. Thucax said nothing, simply remaining stoic as usual.

“Better yet, I’ll introduce the three of you, and Kaisess, too. We should have some time tomorrow or the next day I’d think. Maybe after class or when we’re on break.”

Thucax grunted an unhappy grunt, and Jesca had a worried look on her face.

“Where d-d-did you get the ribbons?” Pixyl asked, pointing to Callie’s head. “They look really p-p-pretty on you.”

“They do?” Callie said, reaching up and touching the ribbons. She beamed a smile at the Pixie, “Thanks, Pixyl! We got our clothes back from the Brownies while we were all gone, and they wrapped them in this ribbon. If you don’t want your ribbon, I’ll take it, because they are different colors and then I can change things out for variety.”

“Sure,” Pixyl said with a happy nod.

Lena turned to her fellow Elf. “Did you get cleared of your Curserot, Vanis?”

“I did, thank you. Healer Tasi made me drink a dreadfully foul healing potion, but promised me that whatever minor Curse damage I have would be healed by tomorrow. All I know is it better be, after having to drink that…” Vanis’s voice trailed off as he slowly stood and looked worriedly out over the training field.

“What’s wrong?” Callie said, standing up. “Vanis?”

“What the hell is he doing?” Vanis said quietly, raising a hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun. “No. He can’t be that stupid…”

Pixyl joined Vanis and Callie, looking across the field as well. “W-w-wait, is he doing w-w-what I think he is? I don’t see a …”

“Dear stars!” Vanis cried out, cutting Pixyl off. “Without a Ritual Circle!” With that he took off at a sprint across the field, catapulting over a surprised Fairy. “Stop! Damn you, stop!” Vanis screamed in panic.