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Battle With a Demon Vs. Prologue: The Battle Begins Tigera stumbled into Div's office, clumsily shutting the door as she dropped her bag on the floor. "I think I'm losing," Tigera said without preamble. "It's getting stronger, I can tell." Ed the Demon smiled sadly at the sorceress-in-training. It, of course, had smoothly slid through the door before Tigera managed to close it. "Of course you're losing. I mean, look at you. How could you ever think you had a chance?" Div rose from behind her desk, glaring at Ed. "OUT," she said, waving her hand. The demon scowled, but slowly faded. Ghost-like, it blended with the background until Tigera could almost forget it was there. Almost. Div sat back in her chair, gesturing for Tigera to sit as well. The older woman (much much much older) was an elf. They made up the majority of the faculty at the Academy, largely because their ability to see demons made them uniquely suited to mentoring young spellcasters. Everyone had their own demons to deal with, but when you start using magic…well. Your demons become a bit more real. "I'm not strong enough," Tigera continued. "It starts talking and I can't make it shut up. And once I start letting it get in my head, I can't do anything. Magic gets hard, I just don't have the energy. I can't make it stop. I don't know what to do." "Please sit," Div said, motioning again to the chair in front of her desk. Tigera looked at the elf's face, then sat. "Now. You already know what strengthens it." "When I'm out of balance, yes. But--" "So to defeat it, you need to regain that balance. It's an essential part of magic." Div rose, moving to one of the shelves that lined the wall. "Every element of your life must work together. They must all combine to give you the peace of mind necessary to banish it forever." Div picked up a smooth black stone from the shelf and turned back to Tigera. "You want mental strength? Alright. That doesn't come from the mind alone. It also comes from the body." The elf sat back at her seat, placing the rock in front of Tigera. "Physical strength leads to mental strength. This--" she tapped the rock "--is part of a set of Balance Stones. Each stone tests one element of your life. You see the character inscribed in it?" Tigera nodded. "When you can make that character glow, your body will be adding strength to your mind instead of taking it away. The demon should be much weaker then, and we can move on to other ways to vanquish it fully." The elf sat back in her chair, dismissing Tigera for the time being. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Main Quest: Be happy Sub-Quest: Gain physical strength Goals: 1) Work out three times a week. At the moment, this will be the Recruit Workout. As the challenge progresses, I may move to a different bodyweight routine. 2) Walk an average of 10,000 steps per day (or a total of 70,000 steps per week). 3) Eat three balanced meals per day. This is an intentionally vague goal, because it has to be. The demon I’m struggling with is disordered eating (and mild depression, but that’s heavily tied together with the eating), so if I create rules for myself about the types of food I should/shouldn’t be eating it will likely lead to restriction. Same with setting calorie goals or tracking macros. So instead, I’ll just log several things a day: a. Binge: Y/N b. Restrict: Y/N c. Meals eaten: number d. General health of said meals: i. 0: Completely unhealthy. Probably a binge in meal form. ii. 1: Some good, some bad. Mixed. iii. 2: Great. Healthy food, but also enjoyable. Balance is the key, so it could even include a dessert if I haven’t been doing that a lot lately (that probably won’t happen at the beginning, as sugar is quite triggering for me). The tracking for this goal will be very subjective. But that’s because my main quest is related to mental health, not strictly physical. And, for me, eating is very problematic (much more so than exercise) so this is the best solution for me. Life Goal: Participate in the Honorable Order of Rebellious Appraising Yeomen as an apprentice. Goal is to complete my apprenticeship this challenge and become a Journeyman! I think this fits very well with the mental health theme of my challenge. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* As Tigera walked back to her room on the north-most side of the Academy campus, she turned the stone over in her hand. Physical strength. That was something concrete. That was something she could do. It wasn't like the whispered taunts about her appearance or her friendships or her life that Ed made--she didn't know how to change those things, which was why the demon mocked her for them. But this...this she could do. As she walked back to her room, holding the stone in her hand like a talisman, Ed rematerialized behind her. The demon was fainter now than it had been in a long time. The battle had begun.