Rating: PG
Genre: action, RPG.
Setting: Gaia
Note from the authoress: Third instalment! Ideas are just swarming into my head for this story. It proves to end up being long…Sorry, there’s a lot of talk in this part!

Tai swallowed as the creatures advanced. What were they? He had never seen them in practice. Trembling, he closed his eyes, and heard Crysta whisper beside him.

“Remember to focus your energy!” he knew that he was the only chance of defeating them. Crysta had no offensive magic, only defensive. He drew in a deep breath to clear his head, and focused all his thoughts into casting fire. He held the staff in front of him, and, at the precise moment one of the spiders let out a cry and began to run at them, his eyes flickered open, and he shouted fire. The spell worked. A large fireball erupted from the staff, hitting the spider with force, knocking it over onto its back. It cycled its legs pitifully in the air for a few moments, before they curled up to its body. It was clearly dead. But the thrill Tai felt at casting properly was short lived. The other two spiders were running at him, and he knew he wouldn’t have enough time to take on both of them. He glanced at Crysta, who was backing away from the snake. Terrified, Tai turned, and shouted fire for the second time. But his panic stopped him from focusing properly, and he saw only a small ball of fire hit the spider. Fortunately, it did enough to slow the first, and, feeling desperate, he turned, twirling the staff and attacked the second head on. His speed and agility was more than a match for it, he found out, as he effectively dodged the attacks the spider dealt. He needed to finish it off though, and he shouted fire for the third time, satisfied to see it finish the spider off. Taking a breath, he looked over at Crysta. She was attempting to keep the snake at bay with her weapon. But it was clear she lacked combat skills. He took a few steps to help her, but then fell heavily. He gave a gasp and twisted, seeing his legs bound in a sticky substance. He cursed. He had forgotten about the third spider, which had recovered from his mediocre attack, and was now advancing slowly upon him. It was too close to attempt to use magic. He tried to wriggle out of the substance restricting his movements, but it was clear it would not give. The spider was nearly on top of him, and it raised one of its legs, about to strike.

But before it could kill him, Tai saw an arrow bury itself in the spider. It screeched, and backed away, but to no avail, Tai watched as another arrow finished it off. He twisted around, trying to see where the arrow had come from, but saw no one. He turned to see if Crysta was ok. She was sitting on the ground, clearly shaken, the snake sporting an arrow of its own, lying dead at her feet. Before he could glance around again he heard footsteps and someone stopped near him. A voice spoke.

“Just hold still.” He heard rustling, and realised that the stranger had sprinkled something over his legs. More than that, he was able to move his legs more and more by the second. Within a minute, he stood, turning to the stranger. He saw Crysta walking shakily over to them.

“Who are you?” He asked. The stranger flung a bag over his shoulder. Tai noticed he had a bow slung over the other. So this was the person who saved them. The stranger grinned.

“Names Meru.” Tai felt at a loss for words. He had expected the stranger to say more. He questioned him again.

“Ok, so what are you doing here? Why did you help us? And what were those things?” Meru adjusted the bag nodded at Crysta who had just reached them, and answered the questions.

“I live around Dali. I helped you because you were clearly in trouble. You haven’t been in a real fight before have you?” Tai stared, unable to answer the question, but the stranger continued talking. “As for those monsters, they were Carve Spiders. And of course, a Python. The spiders are generally only found around here now, so it’s no surprise that you’ve never battled them before.” Crysta spoke now.

“We’re at Dali! Tai! We made it!” Meru glanced at Tai

“You were heading here? Why?” Tai looked at Meru. He wasn’t sure whether he should trust this stranger. Especially if he was from Dali. He could easily have created the mages for the attack on Understone. But, on the other hand, they had no idea where to look, or what to look out for. And it seemed that Meru knew how to fight. Tai decided he would have to trust this man, although he didn’t think it would be sensible to tell him the whole story just yet.

“We’re looking for Black Mages” He was focusing his energy as he spoke, in case Meru turned on him. But Meru merely gave him an odd look.

“Well, you’re several centuries too late. There aren’t any Black Mages any more.” Crysta blinked, and spoke up before Tai could stop her.

“That’s not true! They destroyed our school!” Tai groaned inwardly. Meru looked at Crysta momentarily, before he started to laugh. Crysta glared indignantly at him. Meru spoke again.

“So that’s why you novices are out here. You want revenge against the mages, and your only lead was Dali, because of the small part Dali played in the creation of the mages centuries ago.” Tai gazed at Meru, a frown on his face. So this stranger was perceptive. He resented being called a novice, although he was glad that they had not found the source of the attack. If they couldn’t defeat four monsters, what chance would they stand against someone protected by mages? But now he had little choice but to hope he could trust Meru.

“So there are no mages here? Could you help us find them?” Meru looked at Tai, deep in thought.

“You mean you need someone who can fight. Plus you don’t know the landscape and need someone who does.” It wasn’t even a question. Meru was merely stating things. What annoyed Tai though was that everything the archer said was true. He was aware Meru was still speaking.

“I will go with you, but not because I have any desire to protect you. On the contrary, if Black Mages are back in Gaia, I would like to know how, and why.” Tai nodded.

“Very well. But we need to rest first. We’ll head into town and rest tonight, and leave tomorrow.” Meru nodded his approval and the trio headed into Dali.

END OF PART 3