Once ‘night’ time arrived the guard and the trainee went to sleep on a bedroll made out of dried grass.

  The group of boarlings sneakily passed through the sleeping big-eyes and the feeding dung-eyes before arriving by the two azure-skinned humanoid figures.

  Already pre-planned, Torin and the team quietly dispatched the taller figure as per usual and then carried back the assumed youngling of the race back outside the big-eyes area with Raskar also carrying the taller dead body for food.

  ***

  A tough object hit the child's face, finally waking him up.

  “Awh Uncle let me sleep just a bit more, you saw I trained a lot yesterday. Aunty always said that sleep is important for a growing body… ”

  He muttered the phrase almost instinctually with his eyes still closed, before something hit his face even harder.

  “Puh, Uncle, I told…” His voice drifted off as what he faced upon opening his eyes was most definitely not his uncle.

  ***

  “Who are you?” Torin asked, menacingly looming over the lying child.

  “Umm… I’m N-Ned, nice to m-meet you” he responded while trying to retreat with all fours before hitting the stony wall.

  “Where did you come from?” Torin clicked his tongue before continuing.

  “C-Clear Stream tribe! I’m from the Clear Stream tribe and I’m expected to report in two days, so you better not do anything to me and my uncle!” The child responded impudently.

  The questions continued for a while longer before the kid grew tired and got knocked out by Raskar once more.

  Apparently the kid was from a Clear Stream tribe on the surface and he was training here with his uncle, who had guard duty, but according to him nothing ever happened in the ‘outskirt bridge’ so this was just treated as an easy assignment for the old or crippled.

  A ‘bridge’ usually being one continuous cave between the islands and the shelves they saw near the abyss edge were the aforementioned outskirts, thus giving the name ‘outskirt bridge’

  A curious detail was that the massive shelves near the abyss’s edge were considered wild and dangerous lands, as every year thousands of beasts ran there to reproduce in a denser Jak environment, wreaking havoc in the meantime.

  When asked what he was training for, he responded by saying that he wanted to become a Tideguard, a warrior that beats up those ‘grass sniffers’ while wielding water. Grass sniffers being the faction in conflict with Clear Stream - Verdant Strength.

  Further questioned on how one becomes a Tideguard and their strengths and weaknesses the kid only had a vague idea, he just knew they achieved superhuman strength and speed through learning about water and incorporating it into their magic.

  He also mentioned that he and his people's race is Fluvia, while the other faction is made up of Leshens - dark-green-colored humanoid figures with tails that ended in a diamond-shaped leaf. Verdant Strength used wood affinity and their warriors were specifically called Mossborn.

  After gaining the information it was time for planning. Surfacing was obviously the first option as there was a roughly twenty-minute walk time gap between the tribe’s village and outskirt bridge. Staying and trying to fight the guard they’d send to check up on the situation would also be an option.

  They’d get more information, learn how they fought, their abilities and maybe even learn how to copy their power and achieve the same strength themselves. Obviously if they send something they can’t handle it’s over.

  Stolen story; please report.

  But what were they even going to do after surfacing? They had no concrete way to get stronger, they were little in number and they had no base of operation. Food would already be a problem, let alone thriving and advancing their whole race.

  Both ways seemed extremely risky, but from all the information at hand fighting seemed to be the better choice. They would fight later anyway, might as well take advantage of the chance that they might send some newbies to check up and would take this as a false alarm.

  ***Around two days later***

  Finally, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity they could hear the ever-closer voices echoing around the corner.

  Their heart rate accelerated and their muscles tensed.

  *thunk*

  They gripped their weapons of choice tighter or, in the case of Brakk, clenched their fists.

  *thunk*

  Each breath became deeper and their focus increased to a pinpoint.

  *thunk*

  Dashura readied her slingshot and then…

  *pheewww*

  *thun*

  What greeted the thrown projectile wasn’t a hard skull but a watery film. It didn’t stop the projectile completely but was enough to turn the would-be lethal blow into a temporary concussion.

  “Piswa!!” The other Fluvian yelled.

  Momentarily being a one versus four the boarlings didn’t hesitate to advance.

  Raskar and Torin chose a frontal clash while Brakk circled, looking for a way to finish off the still-dazed Fluvian alongside Dashura.

  Torin thrust his spear expecting a simple dodge, but instead the enemy drew a half moon with his spear tip redirecting his spear towards the ground.

  Raskar quickly intercepted the Fluvian’s thrust into the now open Torin, but just as the spears were supposed to cross a bubble of water gathered at their collision and exploded into a powerful repulsive force.

  *crack*

  The Fluvian clearly accustomed to the knockback went with it and spun the spear with the tip now facing himself, grasping it with both arms, he applied even more vertical rotational force and broke Raskar’s jaw sending him flying.

  Torin lunged right under the now flying Raskar avoiding the Fluvian’s immediate eyesight with his short stature and piercing right through the warrior’s thigh.

  *pheewww*

  Another of Dashura’s projectiles flew through the air making the dazed tideguard roll to the side just to get tackled by Brakk.

  Torin’s Fluvian visibly flinched from the wound before coming to his senses and smashing down his raised spear bottom with all his strength towards the crouching boarling.

  Sadly that hesitation spelled his doom as Torin didn’t stop his charge and made him fall over thus making him not finish this would-be critical attack.

  *thuk*

  Despite the tideguard’s head hitting the rough surface he reached for his knife, likely on instinct, to stab Torin.

  Torin, not letting up on his momentum, kicked the ground with his legs once more, gathering just enough force to reach the Fluvian’s neck before chomping down on it with his jaw.

  *creeaaak*

  *skree*

  Brakk’s squeal of terror echoed at the same time. His now bleeding body getting pushed off the Fluvian’s chest.

  One more of Dashura’s projectiles flew through the air hitting the Fluvian’s shoulder and knocking his rising torso back onto the ground, a groan of frustration escaping his lips.

  The boarling leader, still knowing the battle wasn’t over, grabbed the now dead body’s bone knife before running at the last tribesman.

  The Fluvian feeling the danger got up while backing up, swinging his own knife to create space for himself.

  Torin swung his left hand with his digits closed into a chop to deflect the bone knife with the vestigial keratin armor while advancing with the bone knife in his right hand.

  The Fluvian was completely baffled with his knife hand thrown wide by the amplified torque and his right hand still aiming down from quickly getting up.

  Once again the element of surprise played a crucial role in landing Torin another victory as he gutted the now defenseless Fluvian.

  *thud*

  The last body fell down. Only rough breathing filling the now empty of sound space.