Arellian wasn’t pleased.

  How had she not foreseen this mess?

  Minokawa was the mythological bird-dragon said to be responsible for solar eclipses.

  She had read all the mission details because it was important.

  This was her first real adventure and she didn’t want to let anyone down.

  Let alone her legendary grandfather, who was grinning like a crazy person.

  The knight-style armor she was going to wear for the duration was well-made. That couldn’t be denied.

  Threnium plate and chain.

  Filled with systems for combat and comfort.

  Artfully sculpted to resemble the myth with its bird-dragon helmet, the sun emblazoned on the chestplate, wings on the back and feather and flame styling throughout.

  Her only problem with it was the color.

  “It’s so bright…”

  “I know, right! You’re gonna shine like the sun!”

  Her grandfather didn’t get it.

  It was too yellow and orange.

  “It’s even got deployable wings and thrusters, since you can’t fly… I mean, you can’t fly, yet. I’m sure you’ll do it any day now.” Her grandfather nodded sagely. “But, until then… you’ve got wings! Your gonna look so cool!”

  Her inner self cringed as she eyed her grandfather’s Bakunawa armor on the other side of the armory.

  The black, dark gray and dark blue was more her aesthetic.

  “Sorry, my precious, but they didn’t make that one in your size.”

  Curses!

  He had read her face.

  The pout was difficult to control.

  It came upon her like the darkling shadows in the moonless night.

  “Awww! Turn that frown upside down.” Her grandfather mussed her darker than black hair. “It’s a right of passage. Being the Minokawa sidekick. You’re mom was Minokawa before she was Bakunawa. The first time she did the role she was a few years older than you. So, yay! You can hold that over her, right? And many people have done the Minokawa part… well, except for me. But, that’s not a big deal.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Did you know the first Minokawa was your Uncle Cal?”

  “Really?”

  “Yup, he was my sidekick.”

  Her eyes narrowed in spite of herself.

  That didn’t sound right.

  “Sure…”

  “Ask him next time you see him. So, Minokawa today, Bakunawa tomorrow. Well, not literally tomorrow. You know what I mean?”

  She shrugged.

  “Well, I think this baby has a few things you might find interesting, so why don’t you hop on in!”

  She chewed the inside of her cheek and blew out a breath.

  “Oh, you’re going to have to fix your, uh, hair.” Her grandfather smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

  She brushed her bangs out of her face and smoothed her hair back.

  Her grandfather opened his mouth.

  She narrowed her eyes.

  He shut it.

  She knew the olden people ways.

  He was about to say how pretty she was without her hair hiding half her face.

  “Tch,” she muttered.

  They were so predictably annoying.

  The Minokawa armor opened up as she approached.

  It was an easy process that she was used to from all the training and practicing.

  The computer voice spoke in her ears as soon as the armor sealed her in.

  Initialization was instantaneous.

  She moved her arms and legs.

  Hopped from foot to foot.

  Shadowboxed a few combos.

  Kicked imaginary foes.

  Did a backflip.

  Smooth as silk.

  She wouldn’t have felt the weight even if she didn’t have superhuman strength.

  It was like wearing snowboarding clothes from a bulkiness perspective.

  Her grandfather gave her the thumbs up.

  “Check out your weapons and defense systems.”

  Cybernetic thought brought up the menu.

  “See anything familiar?”

  She did.

  Well, at least it wasn’t all bad.

  “Your grandmother did that. She put all the same spells and enchants in the armor that you had with your witch gear. I know that it’s not the same as having your staff, wand, broomstick and other stuff. But all those same spells are integrated into the armor. And it’s not like this is some trick to get you to stop using those things.”

  The thought had crossed her mind.

  “I know.”

  “Why don’t we hit the practice chamber? You go ahead while I get in mine.”

  ...

  Arellian aimed her arm hesitantly at the holographic target.

  Her gut was telling her something was up.

  She triggered the spell.

  A flock of small, yellow-gold birds emerged, streaking across the distance to burn the target.

  “No…” she uttered in horror.

  What happened to her murder of crows?

  This was much too bright!

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Ugh!”

  She instantly lost the enthusiasm to try the other spells.

  But, she must.

  For she had to show her maturity or the olden ones would keep treating her like she was a kid.

  She activated her magic shield and could only sigh as instead of writhing shadows, bright yellow flashed to life in front of her.

  “There’s a smiley face…” she said flatly.

  A smiling caricature of the sun was superimposed in the center of the magic shield.

  She dismissed the shield and raised her other arm angrily.

  Witch bolt—

  Was now sun bolt.

  Again, instead of a shadow-shrouded skull, it was a grinning sun smiley face.

  Her mood only darkened as she tested out all the basic spells before finishing up with the ones they had stolen from her.

  Howling darkness was gone.

  “What do you think?”

  She hadn’t noticed her grandfather watching.

  The new spell blasted from her chestplate with the high-pitched cry of an eagle.

  Instead of a wave of blackness that plunged the target into magical darkness and terror.

  Minokawa cry blinded the target with searing light and terror.

  The notifications in her HUD from the holographic target said so.

  The instinctive complaint was on her lips, but she remembered her mantra.

  Be mature.

  “Everything is working properly.”

  Her grandfather nodded, still smiling.

  “Alright! That’s great! Let’s move to the sparring chamber and really take these babies for a spin!”

  “Don’t you have to test fire yours?”

  “Nope. This is a stripped down version of the Bakunawa armor. Just the basics. I’m going old school with my weapons.”

  …

  A crocodile-iguana surged out of the black water.

  Arellian clubbed it with the hammer head of her poleaxe.

  Skull broke.

  Animal thrashed around a bit as she kept it pinned.

  Her grandfather shot her thumbs up.

  “Nice one, squire!”

  She poked the poor animal with the top spike to make sure it didn’t suffer before she stepped back and cleared her throat.

  “Witchknight Minokawa.”

  “But, you’re the sidekick, ergo, squire.”

  “This is all make believe, ergo, witchknight.”

  “Squire that is a witchknight? The former is your job description and the latter is what you are. Although, we shouldn’t say that these are our classes too much. We’ve got anti-truth spell spells in the armor and on us, but it’s always good to not have total reliance on things that can be countered.”

  “I know that, grandfather.” She nodded primly. “So, it’s settled. I am Witchknight Minokawa, who is your associate.”

  “Squire.”

  “If you’d like to think of me as such in your head.”

  “We have to fit into the local paradigm. We can’t be too much an other or the locals won’t trust us enough to accept our gifts and follow our suggestions to hike down to the Witch of Woods for Quests, training and stuff to take back their valley from the monsters.”

  “Of course.”

  “Good… squire.”

  Arellian sighed.

  It was a good thing that her helmet covered her face completely for she blew her grandfather a most cutting raspberry.

  He walked over and prodded the dead animal with his armored foot.

  “Fifteen feet long, 800 pounds according to the scanner.” He nodded at her appreciatively. “Powerful strike! You’re stronger than the last time I saw you.”

  “Um… can you use real measurements, Grandfather? We keep telling you this.”

  He shrugged.

  “Sorry. I don’t understand your witchcraft numbers. I’d love to help you out, but I simply lack the ability. You’re going to have to do the conversions yourself.”

  “Tch…”

  They waded through the swamp.

  Animals avoided them. Robot and natural ones.

  Monsters did not.

  She tested her armor’s spells in real battle.

  “Why don’t we just fly?”

  “We need to see what the hike is like on the ground. It’s easy for us, but… well, how do you think a local would cross this to get to the Witch of the Woods?”

  “Grand Auntie Rayna will have to clear out a path of all the bigger predators and the monsters much farther than she already has. It shouldn’t take too long if she adds more robot monsters and animals. They should be strong enough to keep the monsters away. And the animals will naturally avoid them because they’re unnatural robots.”

  “As opposed to natural robots?”

  “You know what I meant, Grandfather.”

  He chuckled.

  “You’re right. Make sure your report to the Witch of the Woods is detailed and comprehensive.”

  “Grandfather? Are we going to be sending people to their deaths?”

  He paused and gazed to the bright blue sky.

  “That’s always a possibility. But we won’t send them with nothing.” He raised the bag of holding in his hand.

  She had the same bag on her back.

  Gifts from the Witch of the Woods to be given to the worthy.

  A variety of items.

  Gear.

  Weapons.

  Armor.

  Superior quality.

  Some enchanted.

  Part of their cover story.

  Look at us, they would say, see how the Witch of the Woods rewards good, selfless deeds.

  It was very manipulative from her perspective and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing, but she trusted that her olden people intended to do good, which was always a good starting point.

  They walked out of the swamplands and into the deep woods, which was basically everywhere on this particular continent.

  The local people had historically lacked the population numbers and technology to implement mass deforestation for a variety of reasons.

  The megafauna for one.

  “Oh! Big animal coming! Let’s climb so we can watch it!”

  Her grandfather pointed up a skyscraper-tall tree.

  She scaled the trunk after him.

  “Sorry, Mr. Old tree.”

  She had to dig her armored fingers into the rich, reddish bark and jam her boots for footholds.

  Chips flew in her wake as she climbed faster than the small black bears of her home world.

  They stopped on a thick branch that had enough space for several of them standing abreast with arms spread out.

  The huge animal lumbered through the foliage far beneath them.

  Far enough that she had to use her helmet’s zoom function to get a closer look.

  The readings said that the dark-furred behemoth was roughly as tall and wide as an Earth elephant with an estimated mass that exceeded the wise giants’ by a fair amount.

  “I think I’m going to name it ‘bearlephant’,” her grandfather whispered. “Since—”

  “You can’t name it that. Besides, I’m sure the locals already have a name for it. Please don’t do appropriation, Grandfather. It’s bad to do that. No one will like you.”

  He blinked at her.

  “That is fair. I apologize.”

  “Not to me.”

  “In general.”

  They watched the animal root around, gouging huge holes in the earth to pull out fat, potato-like vegetables.

  “Huh?”

  “What is it?”

  “I swear I thought those things would have started screaming.” He shrugged. “I guess they’re normal veggies. Not the living kind.”

  “The mandrakes at Grandmother’s only scream if we’re too rough.”

  Her grandfather shuddered.

  “I wonder if its hide would make good armor,” he mused. “Probably really thick. Some of its back fur looks stiff. Like Bristleback. Hey, do you think it can shoot them out?”

  “No, Grandfather. It’s a normal animal not a monster version. If those are quills like a porcupine then…” she shrugged. “And you can’t kill it. It appears to be a venerable elder. We should respect it.”

  “I wasn’t going to kill it.”

  The animal dug a lot quickly.

  The mound of earth behind it grew as fast as the crater under its claws.

  “How much farther do we have to go?”

  “To the river?”

  She nodded.

  “As the me flies? 30 miles.”

  She regarded him through narrowed eyes.

  “Aannnddd since we’re hiking as is proper… about 45 miles.”

  “By the Black Mass, Grandfather! Use the real one!”

  He chuckled.

  “Don’t you just divide by one and half or two? Or was it multiply?”

  “Peh!”

  They waited for the giant animal to lumber away before they jumped down and continued their hike.