The Anvil by I Heaton

I will teach you how to start a fire with magic and you will have no tools but magic . I will send many challenges against you .” Alex answered . Early the next day the four humans and the two wyverns were just outside the cabin saying bye . Alex was going to take Tom to the survival area while Tom was blindfolded . The two flew out of sight and in minutes Alex landed in a clearing . The sun just cleared the horizon as Tom watched Alex fly away .
    Quickly he started creating his base . He gathered food , made walls , created guards , laid traps and prepared a shelter . Tom sat down exhausted on a chair he made . He looked around him . There was a fire pit , a small hut , thick walls of wood and dirt , living trees patrolling around the walls and he had made all of that before the sun went down . He started a fire and cooked some meat one of the hunter - trees had brought back earlier . He finished eating and went to sleep .
    He woke to the sound of fighting . He rushed out of his hut and looked around . He could see three or four crantos attacking his base . “ Alex wasn ' t kidding when he said there would be challenges .” he thought .
    He flew over to a cranto that had just squeezed one of his guards to splinters . He magically drove a branch into its eye and brain , killing it quickly . He looked over as three of his guards smashed one of the giant snakes after it set one of them on fire .
    Two left .
    Suddenly both turned towards him , as if they were both tied to a string .
    They slithered as fast as they could over to him whipping any guards that came near them with their tails . Tom looked around and made two stone spikes erupt from the ground underneath the crantos that skewered them . He sighed with relief and set about repairing the damage the crantos had caused . When all the guards were either repaired or replaced Tom had an idea . He gathered all the tree - guards in a clearing .
    They all lined up in ordered ranks and he started creating a small defensive army . He appointed leaders and started training them . He armed them with stone weapons and armor . He taught them how to fight crantos and other dangers of the forest . He created a way for some of them to launch sharp sticks from a range . He made towers for those archers . Soon the training was underway and Tom worked on the side creating new warriors and archers . He made a gate so that the guards could enter and exit his base easily . The next day he looked up from his lunch as he heard the guards ' yells . He saw one point up and saw what was coming . A large blue wyvern .
    He thought for a moment “ Maybe it is John and Masdifi . But if this is a challenge from Alex if I let it come to close it could prove a giant problem .” he came to a decision he started flying towards it . When he was a fair distance away he called “ John , Masdifi ! Is that you ?” the replying roar made it clear it was not and it wanted to fight . He dove back down to his fort as it spat acid at him . The tree - guards aren ' t trained to fight enemies in the air . He thought then had an idea . He got the wyvern ' s attention and led it to a clearing near his base . He called his guards to the clearing and landed in it .
    The wyvern landed also eyes staring straight at Tom . It raced forward at Tom but Tom sent it flying back with a large stone in its chest . Any second now the tree - guards would come into the clearing and attack the beast .
    But as the guards entered the clearing the wyvern threw off the rock and smashed some of the tree men with it ' s tail . The ranks formed up and made a turtle formation , all the shields interlocking so they were defended on top and all sides . The warriors moved forward but holes were quickly being made as the wyvern spit at them . Tom mentally gave a command to the commander of the guards to spread out . He had another idea . He reached magically into the trees . He forced his will on the wood and made ten wooden crantos . They