Chapter 5: Chapter 4 – Power, or the power of friendship

Aelin Alethnor watched as something he could only describe as moronic bravery played out before his eyes as an unnaturally pale, gangly, clearly untrained idiot, tried to kill the strange fox when even he had failed to fell it. And by Aianathon and all the spirits was he untrained. His every step backwards created a moment where he would be incredibly easy to topple, and the only thing that would save him from the immediate embrace of Aianathon was the fox’s injury. The fox hadn’t quite climbed onto the branch the idiot occupied, and the idiot used that opportunity to throw two of his rocks at it, showing some basic intelligence even if it didn’t work. It was slow in climbing which was, again, because of the injury he had given it after it ambushed him from where it hid among the leaves on a small branch near the one he had snuck along. The bright colors of the creature's fur was unnatural, perfect for hiding in the leaves and biting the legs of passing prey, but unnatural. Then again, what here wasn’t unnatural. even the idiot was unnatural in so many ways, from his skin to his hair, even the fact that he was so weak yet still hadn’t been killed by whatever proper nature he came from before this ‘system’.

The fox finally scampered its way onto the branch that went over the one he was on, growling at the idiot as it slowly slunk towards him, sparing its left leg, something even the idiot apparently noticed since he started leaning in the same direction. When the creature pounced, the idiot, instead of ducking and dodging towards its injured side to switch places with it, thus staying close to Aelin for help even if he could only offer the bare minimum, dodged onto a much thinner branch that sprouted from the one he was originally on. The new much thinner branch pointed to a point above and slightly further behind where Aelin had come from, creating a triangle between the branches.

When he saw such incredible stupidity, Aelin quickly decided that while he could claim that he didn’t need the idiot's help as long as he stayed impartial, thus eliminating any debt between them. whatever this idiot wanted from him for saving him wouldn’t be worth the extra risk to his life. and even if it didn’t work, the idiot could at least soften the fox “what are you doing! Don’t move further into its home terrain, it is meant to be here” he paused to look at the idiot scrambling on his back further along the waist-wide branch “you’re clearly not” he said with a slight sneer even if the idiot couldn’t see it.

“You could have informed me of that before it got onto the branch with me. I mean, I appreciate the value of learning from mistakes, but I don’t think we will have time for learning if we don’t win” he called back, although his eyes didn’t leave the fox.

“I would love to warn you of all your mistakes, but I don’t have nearly the time, and I would have thought even you would know not to make that one, you know, since even six-year-old hunter hopefuls know that” he said.

“Okay, then what should I do?” The idiot said, slightly frantic as he finally realized that his bid for some kind of power over Aelin would doom him.

“Can you stand up?” Aelin asked.

“If I get thirty seconds”

“Well then I have an idea”

“Really?”

“Jump. If you don’t hit too many branches it’ll be less painful than what the fox will do, if not, well, you still get to spite the fox” Aelin said.

“Come on, there is always something you can do, no matter how bad a situation seems, now, what can we actually do?” he said.

“We? Nothing. Me? Maybe, but that’s only because I’m trained and won’t be ambushed this time. You happen to be missing a key ingredient for you to pull off something similar” Aelin said.

“If you can do something, I suppose I’ll have to rely on you” The idiot said with a quick smile in Aelin’s direction.

Then, before he could ask what the idiot meant by that, the idiot took the long strip of cloth off from around his neck, tugged one end underneath the branch to create a loop around it, wound his hand in it to create an easier hold, then rolled off the side and just… hung there. The idiot was parallel to him, just rocking gently back and forth two meters away. He still had two rocks left in his satchel, and one free hand, but how did he think he would win?

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“What, by name of the cycle, is your plan?” Aelin asked.

“I don’t have plans, I have ideas,” the idiot said.

“What’s the difference?”

“Well plans are a series of ideas in a chain to lead to a desired outcome, meanwhile my ideas typically have very little cohesion and an overwhelming tendency to lead to an unexpected outcome,” he said with a smile.

“But don’t you have other problems right now?” He asked, and Aelin realized that he was right.

Aelin looked warily at the fox, it had paced around the cloth strip for a moment before clearly deciding that it couldn’t trust it to bear both their weights, and now it was using its claws to climb down to his branch once again. He cursed himself for the preparation time he lost by speaking with the idiot. Wait, was that his plan? Of course, no one would actually be stupid enough to attack without a plan even if they wanted something from the person they tried to save, the rat-spirited coward must have planned to let it eat its fill by killing him, and then pull himself up when it left. He could sense some movement from the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t let the rat distract him again, even if he was swinging back and forth further and further by swinging his legs. Aelin stumbled into a kneeling position to avoid putting any pressure on his injured left calf while still letting him put some of his weight behind his punches, then focused on the fox. It was close. It was large enough to reach his chest when he knelt, and had powerful muscles in its jaws and legs, sadly he had only managed to injure its left front leg in their first encounter, so it could still pounce. They stared into each other’s eyes. The fox slowly slunk forwards as it lowered its body. It was still three meters away. Its back rose as it drew in a breath. It was a telltale sign that it would pounce, it wanted to get as much help to its muscles from the spirits of the wind as it could… NOW. It launched its body through the air with as much power as it could, its right paw out and ready to dig into him to hold itself in place, maw wide open to go for his throat. He only had one chance. He knew it was stronger, but it left its left side exposed, if he could punch it just right he could make it go off the side. He wound back his fist, not caring how telegraphed it was since it was already in the air and he needed power more than anything, and punche-

“Wiiiiiiii!” The madman yelled out as he let go of his cloth strip just as he reached the peak of his swing, flying through the air and colliding with the leaping fox, smashing into its injured shoulder and sending them both tumbling to the edge of the different sides of the branch that was one-and-a-half times as wide as he was tall. He couldn’t get to both in time. It would only take a single small push to kill the fox, to perhaps get the same power he got when he chose his class once again, to once again embrace the feeling of his strength growing as much as it would in years in mere moments. The madman was desperately trying to cling to the bark of the tree. There were places he could hold, he could have simply learned how to survive properly in the wild, it wasn’t his fault the madman hadn’t bothered. But… he could have also simply left him to die. He glanced at the fox. His gaze of observation skill had told him it was level seven, what would he get if he killed something seven times his level? … spirits Damn that madman.

Aelin scrambled towards the left side of the branch, quickly grabbing the hand of the madman as he finally slipped and hauled him up into safety. The madman was slightly taller than him, but also far too slender for a proper hunter, so he was easy to lift. Once the madman had scrambled onto the branch, Aelin looked forlornly at the fox. It was just about to reach the point of safety, he knew neither of them could make it and the look in its eyes told him it would run.

Two rocks were suddenly pushed into his face “you’re stronger than me, hurry up and throw before it gets up” the madman said from where he lay panting on the ground.

He didn’t even think before he threw the rocks, and they hit the fox right as it lifted its right leg, leaving only its injured leg to support it. It fell back into the deep branches of the ever-fall forest, and Aelin fell onto his back with relief at finally being done with that fiasco.

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