- - -
Leksha's blade flashed forward at Isaac. He responded quickly, catching her sword on his hilt and stepping forward to slide his blade up along hers, aiming for her neck in a lunge. She leaned out of the way and freed her sword.
Her greater height gave her the reach to counter-attack immediately. Isaac jumped back, but not fast enough to avoid the tip of her blade slashing across the bridge of his nose.
The two readied again; swords crossed as they circled each other. He ignored the blood dripping down his face, thankful it couldn't get into his eyes.
The swords clashed a few times, each testing the other. She managed to create a wedge, displacing his sword. Isaac knew this was coming. He relaxed and let the tip of his blade drop slightly, bringing it back up on the other side of hers. At this moment, he used his small mana stockpile and willed a mirror image of the tip of his sword while it was moving, seeming to strike two different places at once. The confusion this created gave him just enough leeway to push his lunge into her shoulder while she worked to guard her neck.
He drew blood and pulled back, attempting to slide the edge along her wrist for a secondary cut, but barely missed. The two backed off from each other. Leksha looked at her shoulder and nodded, "Good. Your footwork has improved again. Though without that mana use, you wouldn't have drawn blood on me. An illusion that only reproduces the tip of the sword?"
Isaac nodded, breathing hard, "I only need to fool you on the dangerous part."
It's not like I have a chance in hell against you without tricks like that. Sparring with actual Elven blades against a true master seems like a bit much…
She considered it momentarily, her cold violet eyes judging him before sighing, "I don't hate your use of mana in a fight. Misdirection is the key in Elven blade work. Overall, you pass. You'll best most enemies you meet; only masters will give you trouble."
Isaac bowed his head and let out a long breath of relief. That was the last test he had to pass. After 15 years of training, all the high priestesses would finally approve of him.
She gave him a rare smile, "A Human with such mastery of Elven blade work is quite rare. I wonder if my teacher would approve of you? Perhaps I'll write to him; if he's still in Arnash, it would only take three months for him to arrive."
Leksha's master is still alive? He must truly be long-lived, even amongst the Elves.
Isaac felt his eye twitch, "Please spare me. I don't know if I can handle another 15 years of training."
Leksha raised an eyebrow, "15 years? How confident."
She shook her head and laughed, "Worry not, it was merely a jest. But I think you would get along with him better than you might imagine."
She stretched, a move Isaac pointedly ignored. Leksha always made him fight without any armor, only wearing linen knee-length breeches. Supposedly, it was to Impart the danger of actual combat into his body.
However, she did the same thing, which meant his task was not just to survive combat but to deal with an extreme distraction. He would say this about Leksha; she was very muscular.
The wound on his face and her shoulder was already healing due to the potent amount of mana in the glade, so neither of them was too concerned as he handed her his weapon.
Leksha left, presumably to put the weapons away and inform the rest of the high priestesses of her decision. Isaac stumbled across the glade to the tree at its center, leaning against it heavily.
Using mana is still way too extreme. I don't know how it will get more manageable when I marry Solania. Unless my physical body changes…
A branch from the tree patted Isaac on the shoulder. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be congratulatory or consoling, but he appreciated it either way. It was always comforting to be around.
Isaac looked out at the glade that had been his home for the last 15 years. It was directly in the center of the Cleansing Wood and was about the size of his old village. There was more than enough room for the high priestesses and him to live on one side while Solania had her own area on the other.
A large, solitary tree grew in the center of the glade; it was clearly a very different species than the other trees found in the Cleansing Wood. Its canopy grew outward and had a strange magical haze blocking the sky. Instead, it produced its own light, its bioluminescence seemingly controlled by Solania's will, usually darkening when she decided to sleep.
The glade was always at a very comfortable temperature, and the bushes that grew in the area had plump fruits that seemed very dense with nutrients. A stream split in two on the western side of the glade and ran through the outer edge to the other side, converging again. The pure mana that flowed in this area made it free of pestilence, and everything was clean and safe to eat. It was really a bit of paradise.
A few animals inhabited the grove with them, and no others ever seemed to wander in randomly. Interestingly, three unicorns lived here, which Isaac had been assured many times were not related to Solania in any real way beyond basic appearance.
They certainly looked far less ethereal than she did. Apparently, the last of their kind, though given there was at least a breeding pair, Isaac wondered why they were close to becoming extinct. Supposedly, the magic in the grove was keeping them alive far beyond their normal lifespans.
A few small, simple huts were constructed, mostly for the mortals among them to live in, along with storage and an earthen oven near one of the streams. In general, most food and resources were provided as offerings by the ten villages surrounding the Cleansing Wood. In his time here, he had learned a lot about the world and Solania, but he was suspicious about the lessons they provided him due to one thing.
These people are all a bunch of shut-ins.
In the time that Isaac had lived here, none of them had left the grove for any reason beyond showing him where to gather the offerings from each village during the one time in the month they were offered. Oh, plenty of excuses were made, mostly about needing to "protect the goddess" or "rebalance their internal mana" and other such nonsense. But Isaac, a man naturally inclined to be a shut-in, knew they were full of it.
Solania, well, it was fair play for her. She had the job of managing the pure mana that flowed up from the ground in huge quantities. This seemed to be the main job all the Gods had in this world, so her leaving was probably difficult, but these Elves were truly unforgivable.
I barely get any time off to laze around like they do.
Well, maybe it's wise. I won't get to stay here all the time like them anyway. Embracing my desire to be a shut-in would make fulfilling my duty pretty unlikely.
Still…I hope they are prepared to deal with it when I'm out doing my job. There won't be any sympathy from me.
Isaac decided to close his eyes and take a nap; they would come to get him when the time came.
His wound had already healed by the time he drifted off.
***
"I approve of him."
The high priestesses looked at Leksha with some astonishment. Truly, of all of them, Leksha was the most protective of the great Goddess. Yet in a mere 15 years, she had deemed him worthy?
Leksha smiled, "Yes, I am aware of how that must sound to all of you. However, Isaac not only drew blood but was able to use mana to fool me in combat effectively. With his current ability to use mana, I'm sure you must all understand what that means."
The group looked at each other. Of course, Humans who lived maybe one-tenth the lifespan they had were able to learn things more quickly than most Elves, especially in their younger years, but still. 15 years to gain some control over mana and enough skill in combat that he could injure Leksha!
They had all admitted early on that the boy was clever. He had surpassed them in mathematics, natural philosophy, and etiquette in only a few years. He took a bit longer to learn his letters and history, but still far faster than any High Priestess candidate that had been here before.
He had a strange talent in magic: illusion and misdirection. Not what a traditional follower of Purity might possess, but it took so much effort for one born without natural mana control to even begin using it that having come so far was impressive.
The ability of one to use mana like that would always be minimal, but as Isaac was soon to be wed to her most Holy Light, his limitations would be vastly changed. This was true of all those whom the Gods had chosen.
Isaac was not perfect, as no mortal could be. His strength was lower than a human should be capable of, he always seemed to be looking for ways around the truth, he had clearly not mastered his desires, and he was not as respectful to the Goddess as he should be. It was also true that his looks were not suited to being the husband of the Goddess.
But She had chosen him, and he had passed all the tests they had prepared. In the end, the high priestesses had to admit that he was worthy. They stood together and moved to the other side of the glade. It was time to inform the Goddess that Her betrothed was ready.