191 Numbed Pain

Frey was confident in few things when it came to his own intuition. He knew he wasn't the brightest. He knew that he should just ask Doevm whenever something was wrong, but this time, he didn't know what to ask. Whenever he looked at Doevm now, it was like there was an invisible wall between them, something of Frey's own making. That is why he did not ask Doevm about the well of energy surging up inside of him, for he had no idea where it was even coming from. "Combat is always scary," he remembered that he had once relayed these words to Thomas. However this time, when he searched even the darkest corners of his mind, he found not an ounce of fear.

The energy was not because of that unique power he had, nor was it a result of being with his companions, he was sure of that. That energy, a mix of determination that bordered on full-on rage slowly rose up to his torso. His grip on his spear was just right. His shield was held out so it didn't clink against anything. It remained still even as his body moved.

He was walking from the very back of the group. That energy pushed him further. He walked past Thomas, who simply glanced at him. When he passed Elero, he received a nod from her and a slight smile. When he got past Doevm, he got a pat on the back.

They matched his pace as they traveled further down the dark tunnel in silence, until Thomas broke it with a whisper, "What's with Frey." His whisper turned into an echo, which reached everyone's ears. When Frey glanced back, Thomas's face went pale: "I'm sorry. You just look a little different than usual. Well I mean, ever since this swamp you've always looked different from usual, like you're about to scream at me or something. But this time, I don't think you're going to scream at me." He stepped behind Elero.

"I think I'm ready to murder something." Frey turned and continued down the tunnel. 'Where did that come from?' Even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew the answer.

"Oh," he heard Thomas respond. "Well then. Good luck with that. Please don't kill anyone."

Elero chuckled. "Thomas, you have to feel something after that fight, don't you?" Thomas cocked his head to the side. "You lost. Doesn't that bug you at all?" Thomas shook his head.

"I lose a lot. I just learned to appreciate the fact that I didn't die."

"Of course," Elero sighed. "Do you realize that you're going to have to fight them again?" Thomas's already pale face went ghost white. "Do you play out situations in your head? Have you been constantly thinking about how you could win the next time?" Thomas shook his head and Elero facepalmed. "Look. I really don't like losing, so I'll help train you a bit after the hunting session."

"But I kind of wanted-"

"I get it," Thomas forced her hand away and rubbed his red ear. He scowled and looked at Doevm and Frey. "Wait, are we going to waste time training instead of hunting? Won't the bombs do everything for us?"

"Thomas," Doevm said that one word and looked at him with a mix of such scorn and pity that Thomas shut his mouth then and there. "All of us together, lost to a fraction of their numbers. I know you're new to all of this, but even you must know what that means and what we must do because of that."

The light crystal's rays crawled through the narrow pathway until spreading out at a large opening. Any rays which didn't catch on the many stalactites and stalagmites were reflected in the shallow, clear water, traveled across the circular walls, until finally ending at the domed ceiling.

The light danced in the rippling water, repeatedly prodding the natural darkness of the chamber. Frey didn't see the back of the chamber nor much of the ceiling, but he heard something. The cold water traveled up to his knees. His heartbeat was so much louder than the pitter patter echoing in the chamber. No matter where he looked, he couldn't see anything. He couldn't count how many footsteps there were either. He couldn't tell the difference between an echo and the source.

Thomas cursed. Everyone's heads snapped him. When he lifted his foot from the water, a sticky, yellowish substance trailed behind. "What is this stuff?" Doevm's eyes went wide. He lowered his light crystal into the water. Now that the water's surface wasn't reflecting the light, Frey could make out the masses of spherical, transparent balls under their feet. Inside of them were tiny salamanders, unhatched.

"Welp," Doevm drew his weapon and got into a stance like everyone else. "Shit."

The pitter patter reached an all-time high, and Frey could finally pinpoint the source. He held his light crystal high in the air. In the ceiling, were dozens of holes, and dozens of mud-like eyes. The salamanders made no noise, no screeches, nor croaks like the frogs. They simply jumped down, life essence appearing around them.

Frey stabbed the closest one, splitting it in two. They clambered around the stalagmites and stalactites, using them as cover. Frey's stabbed again but his spear clanged against the stone. He ducked under snapping jaws and changed his weapon out for his kopis. The water's surface slowly turned purple, the color of the venom dripping off of the salamanders' exposed ribs. They slammed their lengthy bodies and tails about, even hitting each other in the process. Various life essences' mists wafted into in the air everywhere from green to red with only a couple being blue.

The bloodbath began. 'Left.' Frey dove under a flailing tail before hacking a salamander's head right off its shoulders. Blue life essence flared around him, especially around his feet, encumbered by the water and yolk. Compared to the swamp's mud however, it was nothing. Thomas ran around the chamber, hugging the walls. He stabbed at anything that lept out at him. Doevm pulled out all of his light crystals, making all the salamanders around him reel back. While they were recovering, he mowed them down. Elero didn't draw her longsword. Instead, she pulled out two metal gauntlets and used them to crush anything and everything like a force of nature.

Then there was Frey. The energy, boiling up without end, broke through the surface. He found himself screaming, cutting, slashing, blocking. Since he had been at the front, he was at the center of it all. His shield-arm numbed from absorbing so many blows but he ordered it to keep holding on. 'What's with this stupid shield?' he thought as dents appeared in it. A piercing pain erupted from the side of his neck. The numbing sensation took control away from him. His head tilted down and lagged behind him. He kept his eyes open no matter how much they wanted to close. He even used stalactites as weapons by bashing salamanders into them with his shield.

The energy kept bursting, pushing the numbing back just enough for him to regain control of his neck. Water splashed all over him like the yolk collecting around his feet. Sweat or water, he couldn't tell the difference anymore. Nor could he differentiate his or their blood, although it was mostly theirs.

'Fighting,' he thought. 'It can feel like this?' His muscles screamed a tune to his ears. He kept forcing them forward, demanding more. Some spit came out of his numbed mouth. His breath escaped him faster than his burning lungs could gather it.

When he came to, he was on a stone floor, staring up at a smooth ceiling.

"Hey you, you're finally awake." Doevm punched Frey's shoulder as soon as he opened his eyes. Frey sat up slowly, a numbed pain eating away at his body but he could still move. Glancing down, he found his armor dinged up and a lot of bandages.

"What happened?" Frey asked, holding his aching head.

"You pushed past your limits," Doevm replied. "And fainted from fatigue. You didn't feel a thing with that venom coursing through your veins. Luckily it seems you had a resistance, like what Gwen has. If not, you would be dead by now, no matter how much antidote we had. Everyone else made it out and drank a few antidotes. We're in a room we found by crawling through the holes in the ceiling." The many holes the salamanders had taken were behind Frey, in a little corner.

Frey glanced around to the room. At the center of the high ceiling was a light crystal as big as a bullfrog. Moss running around the uneven stone chamber provided shelter for a few insects scurrying about. The chamber was bigger than the space below them, as big as the Colosseum. In fact, the space wasn't the only similarity. At the center area was a rectangular, flat platform. Crude stairs, lining the outside of the room, had many strange symbols, worn down by time. 'Isn't this supposed to just be a cave?'

Thomas blew the wood peelings off the tip of a spear he was working on. Elero was moving the moss about, staring at each symbol. Frey's eyes eventually settled on his shield, lay down on the ground and still reforming itself. He shambled over and picked it up. "It seems that I lost again," he said more to himself than to anyone else. 'Something was different about that fight. It wasn't just the numbing. What was that, that voice?'

Elero glanced at him before walking over. She pointed to his shield. "May I see it? I need to show you how to use it."

…

"I don't think this is a good idea," Frey said. Elero got into a stance on the other end of the center stage from him. In one hand she held his shield, and in the other was Frey's Kopis. Frey simply held his own spear, feeling like he had somehow been wronged.

"It's a great idea," Elero said. "In all of your fights, it's like you've had no proper training on this thing."

"And you have?" Frey retorted but to his surprise, Elero nodded.

"I tried just about every weapon," Elero shrugged as she got closer. "I won't lie. I'm not good at all of them, but I am great at most of them, like with this shield. Now try to hit me."

"Fine," Frey gave a half-hearted stab with the back of his spear at the shield, which Elero pulled away at the last second in a sidestep. Before Frey could pull back his weapon, she shield-bashed it, leaving him open enough for her to drive her foot into his groin. He curled up into a ball. Even numbed pain was too much. "Why can't you just tell me instead of kicking me in my balls Doevm?"

"Doevm?"

"Force of habit. Why Elero? Why would you do this to me?"

"This is more fun," Elero smiled. "Now try again." Frey got back into a stance with his knees closer together. This time he had a bit of hurt pride gleaming in his eyes. He stabbed again only to be dodged and deflected. When Elero went for the kick however, he caught her by her foot. Then came his own Kopis. The back of it smacked across his face and pushed him back. He went for another stab. This time instead of deflecting with the shield, Elero used it to press the spear's point into the ground. "See how I don't just try to defend everything? I dodge and deflect too. If you think of your shield only as a means of blocking, it gets broken. Then you get hurt. You'll take more damage than you dish out." She held out his shield to him and he reflexively covered his damaged goods. "I've seen you use the shield to bash people, now just do the same with weapons. Try it."