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A Hero Tale {Complete}

With both hands on the golem's foot, it rose its leg and reached for Jenso with both arms as his hands melted into its ankle area. The other golem watched carefully, as to avoid harming his ally, apparently.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's skillful movements were more than enough to out manuever the sluggish golems, but his fist didn't deal much damage upon striking the Golem's icy head-piece. The outer later of ice melted away slightly, leaving a small fist-print behind that didn't heal back right away. The left golem, who's arm Jenso had landed on, shook Jenso off with a swing of its arm, and aimed to grab him with his other. Its ally entered further into the room, and waited for a better chance to strike.

Wings Askew

Gaius Stronurr

_{The Forest Floor}

The difficulties ahead did little to dissuade Gaius in his romp across the forest floor. He lept and bounded across vines and brambles without trouble, and crushed anything that might've halted a smaller man's stride. His breath was stronger than he'd expected it to be. It made everything around him seem virtually insignificant! The upturned boulder poised no questions from him, he merely imagined smashing it to tiny bits with his bastard sword. Thoughts of golems controlled by earth-mages rang through his head as he pictured himself thrashing an entire army of the wretched constructs, what fun! He was far too distracted to notice the little red-capped mushroom man scurry past him, and the clanking of his armor drowned out anything Rahna had to say at first. Within moments, she'd been lost to him, left behind in the heat of his heavy sprint.

It didn't take long for him to notice the large chimes in the distance, barely visible through the thickness of the forest. He slowed his pace with a sluggish clattering and lowered his body. Placing one hand on the hilt of his sword, Gaius watched carefully, and waited for a moment to strike. Those fragile creatures were no match for him!

"Kiikii!" The little faerie dragon cooed quietly, hovering by Gaius' desheveled cheek and looking in the same direction as him. He turned towards it and cocked one eyebrow back. The little creature did the same and cooed again. "Kiio."

"What in the king's name is with this forest? Leave me alone, little one!" He hissed, swatting the dragon away. The little creature sifted through his hand motions skillfully and nuzzled against his rough cheek. He shook his off and pushed it away with his armored hand. "Bloody- Eh?" A clamor of bones and rock pulled his attention back to the clearing nearby. One of the creatures was dispatched, and soon after, so was the other. He caught a glimpse of some sort of wolf, and... Blank!?

Gaius rushed his way into the clearing, crushing branches and tearing vines as he struggled into plain view with a loud clattering of metal. "Aye!" He shouted, bursting into sight with all sorts of softer plant life clinging to his armor's joints. Though, without his helmet, Gaius felt practically naked as he noticed that nearly everyone from the survey group had ended up in this clearing. The small faerie dragon fluttered its way towards his messy hair and plopped right on top of his head with a harmless buzzing noise. Gaius looked over the scene, noticing the mushroom people scurrying about and speaking nonsense that he didn't bother to acknowledge.

"Aye..." He mumbled, "Must've hit my head harder than I thought.."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Before Jenso could even put a hand on the doorknob, the two massive chunks of ice swung open and revealed two golems similar to the one that had subdued him earlier. "$%^@%^!" They beeped and buzzed strange noises and approached Jenso quickly, both taking up the width of the doorway with their massive bodies. Their heads glowed a faint yellow underneath all the ice of their huge abdomens, and they both swung their icy fists forwards.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

At the point where the ice was thinnest, Jenso struck hard and shattered the bar into two pieces that flew forwards. However, as he run forward, he slipped through the newly open exit and landed on his face outside of the cage.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

At first the bar did not budge. But after several seconds, water began to drip down and the width of it was reduced significantly.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Chapter 23

_{Unidentified Heat Source Detected. Threat Level: Moderate}

Jenso was now left in the cage with no immediate way out. He was however, in no immediate danger. The cold air felt far less chilling than ever before, and his core body temp was above average with no negative side effects.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

There was no fire, but the Golemites found themselves feasting on a new foundation of arcane energy, the makings of a fire-blooded mage. One after another, they fell off of his body, steaming and hissing in pain as their ice-hard carcasses began to corrode, and lose form. What was left might have given Jenso a fighting chance after all. Although he could not conjure flames, his focus had brought fourth a heated aura around his fists.

He could hurt them.

---

~ End Of Chapter 22 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's body fell to the floor as he stopped struggling against the force of the worms. He looked deep inside himself for an answer, but there was nothing there. Not at first. Lark's words were merely a start to something that took years to master, molding Arcane energy into a suitable form for use. But there was always something different about Jenso. His soul's affinity called out to his body and gasped for relief from the energy-sucking parasites. Warmth began to build up within him, but it did very little to help with his situation. Still, with that warm feeling in his grasp, Jenso would know exactly what direction to head in. The desperation grew more, but the coincidence of his affinity was all to perfect.

Fire.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's feat was not quite enough. Though the Golemites cracked and crunched, their injuries repaired themselves within seconds, and one after another, they latched onto Jenso's body using their tendrils. The cold feeling began to overwhelm him again, like it had in the lake earlier that day. Raw strength wouldn't win this one. Jenso had to think, and focus. What would Lark do in a situation like this?

"Arcane energy is the base of all matter and, well, energy! Fire, water, earth, air, you can potentially do anything with it if your body's capable. Most magical people have a certain affinity though, based on their arcane energy"

A certain affinity... If only Jenso could focus...