Over the course of the rest of the week, Noah died four times. Each one was to the gangly, bug-eyed monkeys that he’d dubbed Chuckers. They all lived deeper into the forest than the Slashers and small monkeys, and each death was disappointing at best. He got farther in every fight, but the monsters were just so much faster than everything else he’d fought. With that on top of their penchant for hurling rocks, they made deadly enemies.

Several times, even when he wasn’t at the Scorched Acres, Noah could have sworn that he saw the cursed monsters lurking in the shadows of his room and watching him from beyond the window.

The visions didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to them, and Noah had absolutely no idea what to do about them. As such, he did a technique he’d mastered back on Earth, when his school had cut off his health insurance: he ignored the problem and convinced himself that it would sort itself out on its own.

By the end of the week, Noah managed to claim victory over the Chuckers a single time. That didn’t bother him in the slightest. Every single fight, Noah gained more understanding of the monsters. He lasted a few seconds longer and did more damage. Each fight was a learning opportunity and nothing more. After all, he didn’t need to win every fight. He didn’t even need to win most of them.

He just needed to win one.

When the first Chucker had finally fallen before him, Noah couldn’t bring himself to do anything but laugh. The monster had given him more energy than even the Slashers had, though not by a huge margin.

There would have been a time where Noah might have considered waiting for an even fight because of honor or some other equally misguided notion, but that was before he’d been brained by a rock a few too many times in a row. The only thing he cared about now was learning more about how the monsters fought before he went down.

More than anything else, Noah had come to one conclusion. Magic was incredible. As far as he could tell, the Runes could control anything directly related to them, limited only by his creativity. The more difficult his desires were to replicate, the more energy they took.

But, even as he grew stronger, Noah found himself lacking. More often than not, Noah’s death was a direct result of his inability to make his body move the way he needed it to. Magic was great, but not tripping over a log and falling face first into a monster’s claws was a pretty useful advantage as well.

He’d never considered himself clumsy, but there was a difference between avoiding protruding doorframes while walking through his house and not tripping over a dozen protruding roots at ankle level while trying to keep his organs from getting aired out.

Despite his trouble with the Chuckers, Noah hammered the method of fighting Slashers down to a fine science. The once threatening monsters were now little more than cumbersome bags of energy, their movements so predictable that Noah could practically tell what they were going to do before they thought of it themselves.

When the day to regroup with Isabel and Todd came around, Noah was satisfied with his progress. All of his Runes had grown considerably in strength, and even without direct training, Noah could feel his body responding better to his mental commands. Perhaps it was just his soul getting used to piloting the meat-sack around, or perhaps it was just experience. Either way, it was working.

He set out that morning, arriving in his classroom wearing his second to last set of teacher’s robes. The rest had been sacrificed at the altar of ugly monkeys.

To his delight, both Todd and Isabel were already there. Noah’s grin faded a moment later. Todd and Isabel were already there.

“Crud. Am I late again?”

“No,” Isabel said, spinning a small dagger between her fingers idly. “We just wanted to get this over with and didn’t have anything better to do. I’m not seeing any monkey heads in your hands.”

“I settled on a claw.”

Noah tossed the Slasher’s claw onto the table in front of him. Isabel’s eyes traced it through the air, widening imperceptibly before she got control over her features again. She stepped around the desk and picked it up, squinting.

“You could have bought this from someone. I’ve seen them for sale. That’s why we agreed on the Slasher’s head.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “There’s still blood on it. It’s fresh.”

“Could have bought it fresh,” Todd said.

“Well, I didn’t want to lug a bloody head around, so a claw is what you get.” Noah crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I’ll admit I did promise to get a head, but I really don’t have that many pairs of clothes to ruin. You’ll just have to take my word that I really did get that claw myself.”

Neither of his students looked particularly convinced, but that was fine. They didn’t look unconvinced either. Noah would settle for that. He’d set things straight soon enough.

“I don’t suppose you’ll decide that this was a bad idea and cancel it?” Isabel tried.

“Nope.” Noah cheerfully clapped his hands together. “Enough about me. How has training been? Make any progress?”

“It’s been a week, man.” Todd rolled his eyes. “How quickly do you think things are going to change? Nothing will suddenly happen in just a few days.”

“Not with that attitude. What about you, Isabel?”

“I won every match against Todd.”

“Because your magic works better in confined spaces. It’s in your favor,” Todd complained, crossing his arms. “The arenas don’t represent real life at all.”

“Would you prefer to spar without the aid of the shield badges?” Isabel raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’d fare much better when I actually run you through with my sword. You’d just die even faster in a so-called real fight.”

“Not if I cooked you first.”

“Children. Enough,” Noah said. “You can bicker with each other later. We’ve got some monkeys to kill today.”

“You’re literally the same age as us,” Isabel pointed out. “You can’t call us children.”

“I can when you act like them. You get the big-girl tone when you act like one. Come along. We’re going to go on a field trip to Tim.”

Noah headed out of the classroom, pausing just long enough to wait for Todd and Isabel to fall in line behind him before continuing. He did note that, despite Isabel’s reluctance to go, she’d brought a small travel bag with her. Two water skins hung from its sides, and he suspected that there was food inside.

“Who’s Tim?” Todd asked.

“The old guy that operates the transport cannon. Have you never used it before? It’s quite useful. Saves a lot of travel time, and I don’t know about the two of you, but I can’t fly.”

“Don’t you have Wind Runes?” Isabel asked.

“Lesser ones. Great for cutting things and ruffling hair, not so great for actually picking myself up.”

Their conversation trailed off and the three headed across campus, reaching the transport cannon a short while later. The line wasn’t very long, and after a quick chat with Tim, the cannon was aligned with the Scorched Acres.

Isabel and Todd’s expressions had been steadily getting more nervous over the course of the past few minutes as they slowly realized that Noah was dead serious about the entire expedition. Both of them kept glancing around, as if expecting a bunch of other professors to jump out and yell ‘surprise’, but no such saviors arrived.

“Follow in after me, you two. Don’t dally too long.” Noah gave an appreciative nod to Tim before he climbed into the cannon. There was a brilliant flash, and then he too was gone.

The sensation of getting thrust into the blue, wavy dimension still unnerved Noah, but he was starting to get used to it. Noah slammed down feet first onto the packed, reddish-brown dirt of the Scorched Acres. Todd and Isabel thumped down beside him, disorientation behind their eyes. They both looked a little green.

“It’s an odd experience,” Noah said. “Don’t worry. It’s not so bad after you do it a few times.”

“That’s assuming we don’t get stabbed today,” Isabel said. “How did you talk us into this again?”

“Your passion for learning and self-growth drove you to take risks and seek out opportunities to better yourself.”

“You blackmailed us,” Todd said.

“Semantics,” Noah replied with a grin. “Why don’t we get started by finding some small monkeys. They’re not too dangerous. Just don’t make too much noise, or we might draw a horde of them down on us.”

He set off into the forest. Todd and Isabel hurried after him, sending worried glances into the sea of blackened trees. Burnt foliage cracked beneath their feet with every step and they flinched at every sound.

That’s probably what I looked like when I first showed up in this crispy forest. I’m glad nobody was around to see it.

Noah held a hand up. His students froze behind him.

“What is it?” Isabel whispered.

“Monkey.” Noah pointed through the trees, where a small monster hung from a branch, swinging to and fro in a gentle motion. “It’s asleep. Good start for us. Who wants to go first?”

Todd and Isabel both pointed at each other. Noah sighed. He pointed at Isabel. “You were bragging about winning the fights. You’re up.”

Isabel pressed her lips together. She flexed her hands and took a step forward, swallowing heavily. Then she closed her eyes. Faint energy sparked along her skin, just barely bright enough for Noah to see it.

Nearly a minute passed.

“I’d suggest moving before the wind changes and it smells us,” Noah said.

“She’s preparing, man. Calm down,” Todd said.

“What do you mean? I didn’t see Isabel do any preparation when you fought in the arena. What does she need to prepare?”

“A shield,” Todd answered, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. “It’s not like we can use the school ones out here, and they’re damn hard to do right.”

Noah looked back to Isabel. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. Her lips were pressed together in concentration, and a very faint sheen had covered her skin. It was nearly invisible. Noah was far from an expert, but the shield didn’t look particularly strong.

“I see. That seems like it takes a lot of energy.”

“Of course it does. It’s the hardest part,” Todd muttered. “By the time I finish making one, I’m usually completely spent. Then it goes down in a single attack and it all ends up being a complete waste of energy. You see the problem here? We’re not ready for this.”

“Have you considered just not making a shield?”

Todd gave Noah a flat stare. “Seriously? And what, die if we get hit?”

“Don’t get hit.”

Isabel’s eyes snapped open. Todd and Noah both closed their mouths and turned to watch Isabel. She drew her sword from her chest and stalked toward the monkey, crouching to try and make herself a smaller target. Small sticks crunched beneath her feet with every step. Noah grimaced.

With the smaller monkeys, it was better to just kill them quickly. Isabel’s approach was so slow that he was pretty sure it was going to end up waking up before she reached it. He gathered a blade of wind in his hand, watching the monster closely.

Sure enough, the monkey’s eyes snapped open. It dropped from the tree, spinning toward Isabel and bearing its yellowed fangs as it let out a screech. She thrust her sword at the monster, but she didn’t commit to the strike.

Instead of running the monster through, Isabel’s sword barely scratched its shoulder before she flinched back. The monkey hollered and lunged at her, forcing Isabel to backpedal. She displayed none of the speed and confidence that Noah had seen during her fight with Todd in the arena.

Isabel dove to the side, barely avoiding the monster’s claws, and scrambled back on all fours. Screeching its victory, the monkey leapt for Isabel’s throat. She screamed – and blood splattered across her face as Noah’s wind blade caught the monster in the neck, killing it instantly. The monster collapsed on top of her legs. Noah stalked over to her and grabbed the monkey’s body, throwing it off Isabel.

She stared at the dead monster with wide eyes, breathing heavily. Isabel swallowed and slowly stood back up, unable to tear her eyes away from the monkey’s corpse. The sheen covering her skin flickered and faded away.

“Good attempt,” Noah said. “But… what was that, Isabel? You’re better than what you just showed. I know you can perform more than what we just saw. Your moves in the arena were incredible!”

“Are you kidding? It nearly killed me!”

“You had no confidence in your abilities,” Noah corrected. “You would have killed it with no difficulty if you’d actually gone at it the same way you went at Todd.”

“Or it would have killed me faster.” Isabel’s voice was higher pitched than normal, and her eyes were wild as she thrust a finger in the dead monkey’s direction. “Look how fast it was! If it got two attacks off, my shield might have shattered and I’d be dead.”

“Not if you’d killed it first, though.”

Isabel just shook her head. She wiped the blood from her face and shuddered. “Yeah, right. Can you just give this up? It’s easy to stand back and sling magic from afar, but you’re not the one staring the monster down. I don’t use Wind magic.”

“And you feel the same?” Noah asked Todd.

Todd nodded empathetically. “We’re just going to get ourselves killed doing this. I can’t afford a powerful shield artifact like the kids from rich families. I’ve got to make one in the field myself, just like Isabel. Once we save up enough for a real shield, then maybe we can train. But you’re just fooling yourself if you think we’re like you.”

“Like me?” Noah blinked. “You think I’ve got some fancy shield protecting me?”

“Of course you do,” Isabel snapped, turning her accusatory gaze toward Noah. “You’re from the Linwick family. No matter what bullshit you spew, we’re not in the same position. We don’t have your advantages – which you somehow blew hard enough to still be a terrible teacher.”

Noah pulled his cloak off and tossed it to the ground. His shirt followed it down, and the cold wind bit at his bare chest. Noah turned in a circle so they could see his entire upper body.

“I don’t have a shield.”

“You’ve just got it in your pants,” Todd said.

Noah raised an eyebrow. “You want me to take them off too?”

“Please don’t,” Isabel said quickly, but her face had gone paler than it had been before. “But why in the world did you come here without your shield? Are you an idiot? What if the monkeys try to kill us?”

“That’s… kind of their whole thing,” Noah replied in a baffled tone. “What are you talking about?”

“You could have fought them with the shield! Now they’ll just kill us if they show up,” Todd hissed. He thrust a finger into Noah’s chest. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”

Noah batted Todd’s hand away. “You thought this would be safer because I’d have some shield that would let me act like some form of living wall to the monsters?”

“Obviously,” Todd snapped. “There’s no way you would put yourself in a dangerous position, but you’ve clearly completely lost your mind.”

A howl echoed through the forest, and all three of them snapped their mouths shut. Sticks cracked and a large, clawed hand wrapped around a tree across from them, crushing it with a crack. A Slasher stepped into view, its flat nose flaring. Isabel and Todd stared at Noah with wide, terrified eyes.

“We’re going to die,” Isabel whispered.