"Ok, first things first. Even the ugliest, most indented-nosed goblin you could ever find can sll fear. So, fight with confidence!" Juliana commanded as she motioned for Alia to strike.
Her grip on the wooden sword was really lackluster, but that was sothing that could be fixed in ti. Also, Juliana admittedly wasn't the best swordswoman herself.
Her area of expertise was more centered around zapping people.
Alia's weak grip caused the sword to fall down, aiming straight at the ground when she was supposed to be swinging it at Juliana.
Defeated, she said, "I- I can't! I'm scared, Juliana! How am I supposed to show confidence?"
Juliana laughed as she zapped the sword out of Alia's hand. Her blue hair stuck up in the air for half a second as she jumped back, terrified of the very brief numbness in her hands.
As the feeling returned, she noticed Juliana was holding it with tender care. Looking into her eyes, she saw a crazed sparkle that also held warmth.
Squeezing her hands tighter, Juliana said, "So, you felt terror just now, yes?"
'Obviously!' "Yes."
Juliana nodded before continuing, "When I faced Ugyr, do you think I was calm?"
Alia shook her head, whispering, "No. I thought you were angry."
They both chuckled. Then Juliana leaned in and whispered, "I was terrified, Alia," making sure to enunciate each and every word.
'Terrified?'
Noting her confusion, Juliana nodded. "Yes, terrified. The trick to confidence isn't having it, but not caring that you lack it. Ugyr terrified , but in that instance I couldn't allow myself to back down at all. Because of that will, I was able to disregard my lack of confidence."
She adopted a wide smile as she tapped Alia's head, saying, "You have to do the sa, missy. Find sothing that you care about so much that you can disregard your fears to protect it. For , that's our king."
'What would that be for ?'
Fynn?
Safety?
But if it was safety, then that would be counterintuitive, no?
How can she disregard her fears of danger and confront them if her biggest fear is dying?
"Hmm. I can see that's not working too well for you. Let's try this!"
Alia jumped back as a large amount of lightning gathered in Juliana's left hand, the one that wasn't holding her.
"Don't dodge! Block it! Every ti you dodge my lightning, I'm going to send an even more devastating blast your way!"
She instantly made good on her promise, sending all the built-up lightning at Alia. Despite her warnings, Alia jumped out of the way, squealing as she heard the ground sizzle behind her.
'Is she crazy?!'
"Hey, what did I say about dodging?"
Juliana's voice called out like a premonition to the following lightning.
As if driven by instinct, Alia ducked just monts before the cackling lightning passed overhead.
The lightning hit a tree with a sizzling szzzt sound. Seconds later the sll of fire filled her senses.
She gulped, imagining what would happen if that bolt hit her body. Instant burning...
'Is she trying to kill ?!!'
Yet another bolt flew through the air, a violent beam of death that Alia could barely dodge.
It was like with every attack they only beca stronger, scarier, and more devastating. There was no way she could've blocked the first strike, let alone these ones!
'Is she just using to blow off steam?!'
Alia gritted her teeth as she looked at Juliana, expecting another lightning blast. Instead she just sighed.
"If I send any stronger attacks at you it'll just kill you. Or at least severely hurt." She shook her head as she walked toward Alia, clear disappointnt on her face.
Even though she was out of breath, Alia still tried to put on a front of defiance. Juliana basically just tried to kill her—why would she look disappointed?!
Who wouldn't dodge such deadly attacks?!
The defiance fell as Juliana plopped to the ground, clearly defeated.
More than that, her face... didn't appear angry.
Moreso sad, disappointed. Like a student had just failed her.
'No, she tried to kill , and I simply did my best to survive!!!'
Still...
Seeing soone else like that always tore into Alia's heart. Weakly dropping to the ground herself, she whispered, "Sorry I couldn't block the strike like you wanted."
Silence fell over the two.
At first, Juliana's sole response was to give the flowers a death stare. The adow sported a fairly concise array—mostly just lilies, tulips, and orchids.
"You're going to have to learn to. You have to." Juliana's sharp and sudden voice cut through Alia's soul. It held a certain weight of pain held by soone who could already see their friend dying.
"You can't run forever. No one can. The upcoming enemies... they won't stop their attacks like I did."
No, that was clear.
Back in the dungeon, the skeletons were relentless against her struggles. No matter what she tried, unless it was killing them any attempt at survival would've been completely ineffective.
But at the sa ti...
Nick did fight back. He fought back for everyone. And they still almost died...
She should've died— if not for Juliana and Nick.
Balling her hands into fists, she fought back tears as feelings of fear and worthlessness washed over her. She wasn't a fighter like them... she was a target of the monsters that always needed saving.
And it's not like fighters even avoided damage.
Juliana got a hole in her chest, Nick almost died, and...
The tears began flowing like a river with nothing but sniffles interrupting their rhythm.
She couldn't fight, she couldn't! That was proven ti and ti again when her friends were the ones making the sacrifice play.
All she was good for was a distraction, and a lousy one at that because she was too scared to even stand her ground and taunt the monsters.
Juliana was right—she had to be brave!
But she couldn't.
Her body convulsed from a vicious concoction, a mixture of fear and sadness.
Battle, enemies, war— it was all too much to fight against.
But just standing around got Fynn killed... it will get Juliana and Nick killed as well...
They could only survive if they didn't need to waste their energy protecting her.
And since she couldn't fight...
"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY THAT I'M USELESS, THAT I'M WEAK!"
"Hey."
She gasped as Juliana's embrace tightened, one that she hadn't felt at first due to her despair. The embrace reached through the darkness, searching for any thread to pull Alia out of it.
Just a little bit, Alia's worries quieted when Juliana whispered, "We'll get through this. I'll teach you to be a fighter."
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