Chapter 3
A sharp nip on his ear was what woke him. Not the arguing, the murmuring, not the blasts. The sharp Draiyd fangs piercing his left ear lobe is what startled Izuku awake. He snapped up, Katsu dangling from his ear. He pried Katsu off, rubbing his ear. Yup, he was bleeding. He’d have to find some kind of bandage for that. When he looked up, he realized he wasn’t alone anymore.
There were two people standing in front of him. One was a girl, just a little shorter than him, with a pink dress on. She had a darker pink hooded shoulder cape, with a witch-type style and darker stitches along the front. She had belts around the middle of her arms, so her sleeves flopped around in the wind, almost lacy. Another belt was strung through loops cut into her dress, which made it seem more like a two-piece. She had on gray leggings underneath her dress and pink-brown boots that had a belt near the top. Her right hand had a dark pink glove, similar in color to her hat, but her left hand was bare. She was holding a wooden staff across her body, in a fighting stance. The tip curled around a pink-red gemstone that was faintly glowing. Her brown hair peeked out from underneath her hat, and her big brown eyes had a steely determination to them that was kinda ruined by the fact that she had permanently pink blush on her cheeks.
The man next to her was around her age as well, but he was a little taller. He had on a white helmet, so Izuku couldn’t see his face. He had matching white armor, and he was holding a sword, giving Izuku the feeling he was some kind of knight. But what was a knight doing all the way out here? Wherever here was, that is.
“Iida, I think they’re gone now,” the girl said, relaxing first. She lowered her staff, pushing her hat back. Her brown hair was cut short, brushing her ears, but two chunks on the side just barely reached her chest.
The boy nodded, sheathing his sword. He took off his helmet, smoothing his dark blue hair. He was wearing thin rectangular glasses, which matched his rectangular eyes. The bottom part of his hair was cut close, but past his ears was slicked to the side and straight. His blue eyes watched the girl next to him with a kind of praise.
“It would seem that way, Uraraka.” He said, his voice smooth yet had a very cut and strict tone to it. The girl turned and made her way over to Izuku. “Hi, sorry about that! We saw you were about to be attacked by Nightmonsters, and we had to step in. We didn’t realize you were asleep!” she bowed, her hat flopping back onto her head.
Izuku smiled and waved away her apology. “No, it’s my fault. I should be used to waking up early, and yet here I am, sleeping through everything. You didn’t wake me up. Katsu did.” He lifted the Draiyd, who roared in what sounded like pleasure, like he was pleased with what he did. The girl’s eyes trailed over to Izuku’s ear, which was still bleeding.
“Here, let me help you with that,” she said, kneeling down. She opened the bag she wore across her chest, pulling out bandages and some kind of liquid. She placed a drop of the liquid on Izuku’s ear, and bandaged it. The slight pain dulled instantly.
“There. That should help. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! My name’s Ochako Uraraka, and that’s my companion, Tenya Iida.” she pointed to the boy behind her. He gave a stiff bow. Once he straightened, he adjusted his glasses, looking down at Izuku. He knew he must look like a mess. His green hair probably had twigs in it, his outfit was probably covered in dried dirty river water, and he was probably covered in tiny scratches.
“What’s a kid like you doing out here?” he asked in that strange tone. Izuku shuffled his feet closer to himself before answering.
“It...was kind of an accident. My mom sprung the news that I was supposed to meet my future wife today, and I...kinda ran away…” Izuku’s voice trailed off, these people probably thought he was nuts.
“I know how that feels.” Iida said, a little unexpectedly. “I come from a noble family, so I knew I was going into an arranged marriage. But when I met the girl I was to marry, I realized something. Sure, I fell in love with her, but she didn’t love me back. I’ve accepted that, and we’re friends now.” He made gestures between him and Uraraka, and Izuku got the feeling they were more than “just companions”.
“So, who’s the lucky girl?” Uraraka asked, tilting her head. Izuku shook his head. “I’m supposed to meet her today. I have to get back to my house before she comes. The problem is…” he looked around. “I don’t exactly know where I am.”
Uraraka looked at Iida. “Well, there’s a town a few days walk from here. We could get there and see if there’s a map for sale we can use to get back to your place!” she said, standing up and reaching her hand out to Izuku.
He looked at her hand, and then looked up at her. Was she really offering to put her life on the line for a stranger? She could fight, and so could her companion. They obviously could guess Izuku couldn’t. He’d just be a deadweight to them. Why were they deciding to put their lives on the line for him?
I would do the same exact thing for them. Izuku knew that was true. If he had seen someone in his position, he would place his life on the line to make sure they got home. He looked up into Uraraka’s eyes, determination meeting optimism. He reached up and grabbed her hand.

Izuku found out travelling the woods during the day was no less dangerous than travelling them at night. According to Uraraka, there were two different main types of monsters, Nightmonsters and Daymonsters. Their names were pretty self explanatory. Nightmonsters were more pack hunters, and therefore smaller. But they tended to be pretty fast, and their corporation was perfect, meaning if you took one out, you’d have another one almost immediately.
Daymonsters were bigger, and lone hunters. They were fast, strong, and powerful. It took a lot to take them down, but you often only had one to fight off. But while they were bigger, it was nearly impossible to land a hit on one.
Then they were divided into even smaller classes, which were elementally based. There was Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Dark, Stone, Ice, Lightning, and Crystal. Each element had its weakness, and an element that didn’t affect it, or affected it weakly. Nightmonsters were more likely to be Fire, Earth, Dark, Stone, and Ice, while Daymonsters were mostly Water, Air, Light, Lightning, and Crystal.
Rarely there were hybrids between the two types called Dawnmonsters and Duskmonsters. Dawnmonsters were closer to Daymonsters, as they were bigger and stronger, but they hunted in small packs. Duskmonsters were smaller, but they tended to work alone. They could work together in packs if they had to.
And then males and females were a whole nother matter altogether. Females of Nightmonsters and Dawnmonsters tended to be the stronger of the two, but males were the fiercer ones in Daymonsters and Duskmonsters.
“My head!” Izuku cried, falling back. Uraraka had been feeding him information on the types of monsters all day, and now Izuku felt like his head was about to explode. They were sitting around their campfire (which was much easier to make with Katsu’s help), and Iida was cooking some deer he had managed to hunt down. Izuku had his back facing a tree, and Uraraka was next to him on his right side, while Katsu was sleeping on his left.
Uraraka giggled, moving her staff out of the way of the spitting embers. “It’s okay Izuku. It can be a little overwhelming sometimes.” He had introduced himself along the way, and while Iida called him Midoriya, Uraraka seemed content with calling him Izuku. For some reason.
“Here. This is how my teacher back at the Academy explained it to me.” She picked up a stick from nearby and started drawing little things in the dirt. Izuku watched as little symbols began to take shape. When she sat back, they were arranged in two squares with two in the middle. In the top left corner of the left square was a teardrop, in the top right corner was a flame, in the bottom right corner was a leaf, and in the bottom left corner was a cloud like thing. In the top left corner of the right square was a snowflake, in the top right corner was a lightning bolt, in the bottom right corner was a mountain, and in the bottom left corner was...a star? No, it looked like a crystal of some kind. In between the two was two more, up and down. The top one was a sun, and the bottom was a crescent moon.
“This is the Basic Elemental Square,” she said, pointing to the left square. She drew a few arrows, each pointing to the element before. “Water is Destructive against Fire, Fire is Destructive against Earth, Earth is Destructive against Air, and Air is Destructive against Water.”
“That makes a little sense…” Izuku mumbled. Each arrow pointed to the element that element was super effective, or Destructive against, while the element that is pointed to was Useless against the element the arrow came from.
“And this is the Secondary Elemental Square.”
“Wait, why is this one called the Basic Elemental Square and this one the Secondary Elemental Square?”
“This one was called the Elemental Square before we knew these elements existed. It’s also known as the Primary Elemental Square, but a lot of people call it the Basic Elemental Square because these are the basic elements everyone learns.”
“Oh, okay that makes sense.”
“Anyway, Ice is Destructive against Lightning, Lightning is Destructive against Stone, Stone is Destructive against Crystal, and Crystal is Destructive against Ice.”
“What are these two?” Izuku asked, pointing to the two not in a square.
“Light and Dark. They don’t follow the normal rules. They’re both Destructive against each other, but they aren’t Useless against the other. So we’ve placed them outside of the squares, in the Loop, as we call it. The Balance Loop.”
“Uraraka, stop feeding him information. Dinner’s ready.” Iida said, handing Uraraka a plate with food on it. He handed one to Izuku as well.
“Midoriya, listen. She stresses the importance of the elements and that whole shebang, but here’s the thing. It is important, but you only need to memorize it if you’re a Mage like her.” Iida said, eating some of his food.
“Even a normal swordsman like you can infuse your sword with magic! Everyone should at least know the elements!” Uraraka yelled back at him. Izuku rolled his eyes, giving Katsu some of his meat. He could tell they’d been having this argument for a while now.
“What are you doing?” Iida asked, noticing Izuku feeding Katsu. He looked up, startled. Katsu grabbed the meat he was dangling over his head and swallowed it whole.
“Feeding Katsu?” He said, confused. Didn’t everyone feed their pets?
“A Draiyd? I thought they were Hunters…”
“Huh?”
“A Hunter is a type of Familiar. It means they hunt their own food and don’t rely on their Masters to feed them. I’ve never seen a Draiyd eat food out of their Master’s hand like that,” Uraraka explained, looking at Katsu.
“He’s not a Familiar. Katsu’s my pet. I saved him and raised him.” Izuku said, picking him up and petting him.
Uraraka shook her head. “Draiyds are Familiars. I’ve never seen a normal human have this kind of bond with one. Are you sure you don’t have magic in your blood?”
She’s asked this a few times already, and Izuku’s answer was always the same. “My mother has none, and I don’t really remember my father. I’m pretty sure I don’t have magic in my blood.”
Uraraka shrugged. “Maybe he’s Tamed the Draiyd so well, he’s forgotten his Wild ways.”
“He’s. My. Pet.” Izuku said, getting annoyed. He’d explained this multiple times, and they don’t seem to understand it. Well. Fine.
Iida shrugged. “Uraraka is right, to an extent. Draiyds are usually Familiars for Mages, Scholars, and Summoners. Just because one hasn’t been seen as a pet before doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It’s just...never heard of before.” He glared at Uraraka as he said this, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
Izuku shook his head, feeding Katsu. “It’s fine. I’m just not used to people seeing Katsu not as a pet.” He had some for himself, surprised at how Iida had cooked it. He wasn’t that used to eating meat, he usually ate whatever he could grow on the farm.
Iida sighed, placing his already empty plate to the side. “Listen, this is gonna sound weird. You’re a farm boy and everything, so I’m stepping out of bonds here. But I’ve been thinking of teaching you Swordcraft.”
Izuku snapped his head up. Was he being serious?! “Of course I’d love to learn!” he said excitedly.
Iida was a little shocked. “Really? Even if you’re not gonna use it after you get back home?”
“You never know. And...I’ve kinda always wanted to learn Swordcraft.” Izuku confessed. He’d never told his mother, it was something he dearly wanted. He never got the chance, she never brought home Swordcraft books and refused to buy him anything. She was scared she’d lose her baby boy like she lost her husband years ago.
Iida nodded. “Well, I don’t have an extra sword on me, so-” He was cut off by Uraraka picking up the stick she had drawn the elemental squares with, whispered a few words to it, and tossed it to Iida. When he caught it, the stick had changed into a sword.
The blade was silver, and the hilt was wrapped in leather. There was a slight green hue to the metal, and Izuku was instantly drawn to it. He gently took it from Iida, running his hand gently over the blade.
“Wow. I didn’t know you could do that…”
“Yeah, also it’s been infused with magic, so it’s stronger.” She glared at Iida, who was beginning to open his mouth. He snapped it shut at her glare.
“It’s whatever. Anyway, Swordcraft is a tough craft to learn, and we don’t have much time.” Iida stood up, and Izuku followed him. He could feel the power thrumming through the sword, but he didn’t know how to control it, and he didn’t wanna accidentally set Iida on fire.
Iida stopped in the middle of the clearing near their camp, close enough so they could still see, but far enough that no one would get hurt. “Alright, so the first thing you need to learn is how to hold the sword and your stance.”
Iida placed one foot behind him, one arm behind his back. He held his sword away from his body, a little loosely. Izuku tried to copy him, struggling to keep his balance. Iida gave him a soft smile.
“Try this one than.” He moved his foot out so they were wider apart, and held his sword similarly out in front of him, his other arm out to the side. This one was a lot easier to copy.
“Alright. And....begin!”