《The legend who ran faster than the gods》


 Announcements 1/01/2020

    Hello, this chapter here is purely for announcements. It will contain the status of the seires, whether there will be a chapter this week and if there are any bonuses. This chapter will be subjected to constant changes. There may also occasionly be random polls here.


    One chapter a week. ~1000 words. Every Saturday. (Setting a time so that I don''t procastinate/give up on the story ._. )


    Author notes may be rants.


    To old readers, I have swapped around the order of sideseries and chapter 7.


    Striving to keep up one chapter a week, but not sure if I can. May change to a chapter a fortnight or a month sometime later and will be back to normal/better at least beforeDecember.


    Anyone have any ideas for a cover? Or does it not matter?


    Comments and feedback much appreciated.


    Forgot what I was going to write.


    Announcements have now been moved to the top.


    Enjoying the journey of writing this story and having fun!


    Chapter 9 poll has been closed. The correct answer was 41-50. Well, at least this way, I still have a reserve. Normal chapter next week.


    People liked chips the most. New poll.


    03/09/2017 (Chapter 12 Author Notes) : There is some bad news and good news. The bad news is that I will be changing the release schedule toevery fortnight/second saturday for the next ten weeks.I have exams coming up and so I can''t keep up the current quality if I don''t decrease the amount.This may be subjected to further change.


    The good news is that after this ten weeks, I will write andrelease all the chapters that were supposed to come out during this time as soon as possibleas well as more in a mass release.The posting will also go back to once a week after this period.


    04/09/2017 Just wanted to announce incase some of you were mislead by my earlier notes, Iplan to continue this story beyond the prologue. Was wondering why there was such a sharp drop in viewers after the prologue (Chaper 5) and only realised recently that it was because I said I might end it at prologue in my chapter 3 author notes and forgot about it.


    09/09/2017 In case you haven''t realised, there will be no chapter today. I''m about halfway through next week''s chapter and I think it may be a slightly longer one. I would also like to thank you guys for the reviews I have recieved and reply to some points on them. I would first like to acknowledge and thank a friend of mine who has agreed to proof read my new chapters starting from next week, so I hope that there will be less typos and grammar mistakes. Regarding the clunkiness at the start, I blame (although it might not be because of this) it on writingover several sessions and having less of a designated plan. The newer chapters will hopefully get less and less cluncky. Finally regarding the some of the excessive melodramatic scenes, a few of my friends have also complained about this. I would just like to highlight that the main characters are currently still children, albeit forced to grow up quicker. Their loss of their childhood, and constant struggle to fend for themselves have left a few mental and emotional scars on them, which is why they are both currently somewhat emotionally unstable and also suffering from some other traumas and ailments....to be revealed. The tease


    16/09/2017 Now taking in male name suggestions. Preferably something unique and catchy. He won''t be appearing for a while, but it''s good to start searching for names early. I''ve noticed that names made hastily tend to be....you know what I mean. I have a name in mind for him, but it''s not the best, so just sponging ideas off others. Of course, I will also mention a user''s name if I take their suggestion. Next chapter will be in 2 weeks, but don''t know if there will be another after that...may wait for exams to pass before I start writing again if I feel I can''t focus enough on the story.


    14/10/2017As previously stated,I will be entering hiatus mode for just over a month. Was considering writing a chapter this week, but I''ve been too busy studying for exams and only ended up writing a bit over a paragrah. Expect next chapter to beafter16th of November and there may be a mass chapter writing, editing and release  Thanks for reading and I hope you guys will continue to do so even after this break.


    P.S. Actually had every scene and event for these two chapters coming up in my head, but putting the scenes into words is suprisingly time consuming. I was worried I would forget the story so I really wanted to write them out, but I just never had the chunk of time and other IRL event''s apart from exams just came in and grabbed my writing time... ;-; Please don''t hate.


    15/11/2017 Hurray! Exams are finally over for me so I expect to start writing alot this week. I sort of regret not writing this due to studying, especially because I feel like I probably have lost alot of readers with this gap and wasted quite a bit of time procastinating (walking in circles- ect. DONT QUESTION IT!) but oh well. I will try to publish the chapters I write as soon as possible until I catch up a bit, so chapters can be expected to released soon, especially because I''ve been really eager to write and naughtily, secretly, planning in my head the story even though I said I wouldn''t be writing. I''ve also had a slight change of heart over this period and decided to not care too much on how this series turns out, and just write for the heck of it which was my original plan but changed somewhere through due to my somewhat fickle nature, which I seem to purely posses for story telling. Anyway, to sum it upI''M BACK. andout of hiatus mode, so normal chapters every Saturday along with possible extra''s during the week!


    16/12/2017 Hello dear readers, I would just like to apologise and say that there will be no chapter this week. I''m sure for those who know what I mean, yesterday was a slightly tragic day. However, apart from that and all the excitement with festivities, I''ve been quite busy, with a lot on my mind and somehow come down with a headache that won''t go away. I''ve written about 1/2 of the current chapter, but my heart is just not in it now, and I don''t want to deliver something crappy and rushed. On a bright note, I''m pretty happy thatthis story is about to hit 10, 000 total views.I would just like to take this moment to thank everyone for reading this series and hope that you continues to do so and that you enjoy it. Thank you.


    30/12/2017 Hello everyone, I would just like to say that this week''s chapter has been pushed back by a day and will be released tomorrow. This was due to a variety of trivial, but annoying problems (whole house-renovations, running out of storage space on devices and them crashing, writers block, editor being un-available, writing other chapters that are not going to be released next, just to name a few of them) and I sincerely apologise for this. Thanks for reading this, and Ihope everyone will continue to enjoy this seriesand also wish everyone has a happy holiday.


    P.S. The silver lining is that the chapter will be released on New Year''s Eve. I''ve also settled on every main character''s names..before I was just calling some of them Character 1, Character 2 in my head. XD


    20/01/2018 Hello readers, I would just like to apologise that there will be no chapter this week. Yesterday was quite a busy and momentous day for me so I was busy celebrating with family. I will also be on vacation, traveling interstate, so there will be no chapter today. Not sure about next week, but hopefully there will be a chapter as I''m about halfway through writing a chapter. Then again, next week will be quite busy with travel and stuff, so no guarantees. Anyway, that''s all from me, hope you guys all enjoyed your day and I hope to post again next week.


    27/01/2018 Hello everyone. Sorry, but there will be no chaptertoday due to being on vacation.Holiday has been nice (a few pretty good hotels), so hopefully, I should be able to write next week.


    03/02/2018I really would like to apologise, but something unexpected (and slightly painful) came up this week. There will be no chapter today. Sorry everyone, I know this makes it three weeks in a row, so I will strive to get out a chapter next week no matter what happens. (I''ve been thrown off alot and injured recently although the first two absences were sort of expected I guess. Please bare with me.">Anyways, that''s all from me. Bye )


    17/03/2018 For all the people who really care about my series(i.e people who are reading it the day/week of release) I''m sorry to say, but there will be no chapter today (and probably not a make up one during the week) Why? Welllllllllll it''s a long known problem called I''m bad. -No, well basically I got stuck writing. I had ambitiously set out to work on three different chapters and as a consequence, not finished any. I was really enjoying writing them, especially the one meant to be released today, but then I had to stop my writing session. And when I went back to writing it again, even though I had written a note to myself, I just got stuck and became not sure how to convey the story and my ideas in it. Nothing felt right and I ended up staring at the half written chapter for an hour and bit (using up the rest of my dedicated writing time) Now that my excuse (not that I thought it was one) is out of the way, I would like to finish by saying that although this week was moderately busy, next will be even busier and so if I''m lucky, I will get two chapters out (to make up for missing one), if not, one, and if I''m really unlucky, none. Anyways, that''s all from me. Thank you and goodnight.


    Story of my life (this series): I set out for ambitious goals, I try to reach ambitious goals, I fail to reach ambitious goals, I cry.


    14/04/2018 Sorry everyone, but there will be no chapter this week. Was feeling pretty good, but then we got some pretty heavy rainfall and hailand I made a blunder. Now I''m sitting around nervously waiting to see the consequence and feel really out of it. I can''t focus properly. The worst thing is, I realised my mistake moments after my last chance at changing it. Anyways, enough from me. Sorry, but I hope everyone will understand, thank you.


    P.S. And now everything else I''m doing is failing me and not going my way right now. ;-;. I guess it''s a good thing I''m not writing right now?...


    05/05/2018 This is just a short announcement, but incase you haven''t realised, I will now be changing the release time to some point slightly later then it originally was. It will still come out on Saturday though, unless otherwise stated. Also, at someone''s intelligent suggestion, I will now be adding a third option to the poll, though I doubt many people will check it. That''s all. Enjoy.


    26/05/2018 Sorry, but there will be no chapter today. Been busy studying for exams and also been busy binge reading-oops wasn''t meant to say that. But yeah, been busy (off the top of my head, had about an average of 5 hours of sleep-thank you weekends). Also hit a block on ideas- I have some, but their not as good as I would like them to be and I think I want more time to think them through. It''s really annoying cause I have the idea of the next major event in the jungle, but not how to write this next section....tempted to cut parts out. Also, worried that what I''ve been binging on recently will leak through and influence my writing heavily, so I want to take a break.


    P.S. I''ve actually written about half of the chapter, but think I will scrap it. It seems too chunky and unnatural. It also doesn''t reflect the interactions and emotions of characters well. The conversation makes them look like robots and their relationship seem so artificial XD. Characters need to be built up slowly for depth. Anyways, aiming for this chapter to go up stardard time next week. Yawn. Good night.


    P.S.S Polls have been bad recently right? Or maybe I need to give them more time before I start talking about them... Also, what is P.S.S even meant to mean?! Yeah, I really need my sleep. I''m becoming wacko. Bye. Oh yeah, one more thing, appreciate you hundred or so readers reading my series in the week I''m releasing them. Even if you aren''t following me, I still appreciate the silent support. Thanks.


    01/06/2018 Hello readers. Unfortunately I have decided to not write this week again. Been really stressed out with work, examsand filling forms. Thankfully, this should be the last week I skip writing due to exams, as even though I still have exams after next week, none of them are as daunting as the ones this coming week. I know some of you might be quite discontent andGRRHHHH!!!growling at me for not posting chapters two weeks in a row, but if I fail/do badly on my exams, that would have a much larger impact on writing">. On the bright side, I do know what I''m writing next now and I might even be able to pump out some extra chapters after this period, but don''t count on it. Anyways, that''s all from me. Sorry.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Study hard, read hard, and write harder">


    16/06/2018 Hello eveyone. Unfortunately it''s the same bad news. No chapter this week. Recovering from a mild cold and my friend who''s helping me proofread is busy with exams and noticing the view count, I''m assuming quite a few readers are as well. Actually written most of it, but still have quite a few final touches left- lot''s of dialogue. And now I''m studying for these chill exams quite a bit because I''m under lots of pressure knowing I did badly on an earlier exams. Also doesn''t help that I''m losing confidence in myself... One last thing, I might get busy next month entertaining relatives as well....tempted to call a hiatus, but I feel like that will just give me more reason to procastinate and although I enjoy writing, I''m finding it hard to find time to start...anyways, enough about my struggles. Wishing everyone a good week and good luck for those with exams.


    From the annoying sick author. On a side note...check this out if you have time, you might find this view quite interesting, and although I feel like it''s not always so clear cut, but whatever.https://www.archangelink.com/writer-versus-author/</a>


    P.S. I''ve discovered the beauty of beanies.


    14/07/2018 Hello readers, in case you haven''t caught on, there will be no chapter this week. Busy spending time with relatives from overseas. Most likely no chapter next week as well (unless I manage to sneak in time just before sleep to write). Apologies.


    21/07/2018 Helloeveryone, just confirming that there will be no chapter today. Been really busy (stayed up all night for world cup soccer games) and stuff, so I finally caught up on lots of sleep. Was planning to send off relatives, but slept like a trunk till 3 in the afternoon. Anyways, I should have time to write now that they are gone (though I will still be quite busy), so next week will be back to normal chapters. Already made plans for the details in the next few chapters, so now I just need to write it down. That''s all from me.


    P.s On a random note, for those who know what I''m talking about, anyone seen the news about amity arena? Seems interesting, but we''ll see.


    25/08/2018 Hello everyone, no chapter today again unfortunately. Got lot''s of prep work to do for camp, work, exams and stuff as I have a busy week ahead. Depending on my time management, maybe get a chapter in next week. Already got clear plans on the next two chapters, but no time to write again...sigh...Thinking about making this series a once every two weeks thing seeing as how I seem to always have those weeks where I''m really busy and I''ve got no reserve chapter, but not sure if that will make me slack off a bit. So changing the poll for this page. Oh, andthis coming chapter, we will get to see a different side of Vixen ">


    P.S. Continuing last P.S here, saw the trailer, and I have to say, maybe my hopes were too high, but personally quite dissapointed.


    P.S.S Last poll showed that 66% of readers disliked waiting for exam results the most.


    01/09/2018 Apologies for the late notice, but there will be no chapter today. This week has been hectic, and to add to my misfortune (apart from injuring my hand) my laptop has broken down. It''s 6 years old, and I''m not very tech savvy, so... it''s taking some time to fix. (Last back up was a few months ago as well) Should be fixed by next week, so the chapter should still come next week. Hoping I haven''t lost anything important, so fingers crossed, but yeah, that''s all from me.


    P.S Typing on phone is annoying...never got the hang of swipe typing and poking each letter in is not as easy as touch typing for me...


    22/09/2018 It''s the same bad news unfortunately again. No chapter today. As for why...well computer crashed yet again. Lost 3/4 of the chapter and I''ve been so annoyed aboutit. Can''t remember how I wrote it originally, and everytime I type something seems wrong. The other reason why, although personally I find this to be a good thing, is that grandparents came over again. My grandfather is gradually weakening and becoming a turtle (staying home all the time) and their both nearing there nineties, so every moment I spend with them is pretty precious, and we''re throwing a feast for them. Time waits for no one, so make the most out of time with family and cherish them. The silver lining to all this is that there may be some unexpected goods during this week- whenever I can calmy think about the story again.


    P.S.So I googled how to write 1st person dialogues and all I could find were lot''s of obvious warning of what not to do, but little on what to actually do. Tbh, I''m struggling on how to keep the dialogue realistic yet also clear on who is talking to who.I re-read some old book''s I''ve read in 1st person and most of them seem to be journals or diaries... Like Tomorrow When The War Began series and stuff....Also, according to the poll, hater get! I don''t know if it''s just me, but there is no single video or rating for something that will not get a 1 or 0.5 or dislike. Like seriously, maybe there is, but not to my knowledge.


    06/10/2018 Well as you probably already realise, I have no reserve chapters normally and there won''t be a chapter today again. Started my normal chapter, but hit a road block with that a quarter of the way through. Started a side chapter and hit a roadblock with that halfway through. Then spent a day with grandparents checking up on eyesight with them followed by some bulk grocery shopping and came home burnt out. Stared at my screen for an hour before giving up. So yeah, no chapted today. High expectation=Bad consistency.


    Oh in other news, check out this video if you are interested. It''s just about three people over 100 years old talking about their thoughts. Nothing really mind blowing, but it''s refreshing to watch.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AThycGCakk</a>


    P.S. Anyone got any recomendations on a (prefereably online) light read, something humorous that can kill a few minutes each chapter? Out of chill reads and re-reading old stuff. Oh and also appreciate all the votes, they''re coming in slowly. Thanks for reading, and hope everyone''s had a good week.


    20/10/2018 Sorry everyone, no chapter this week again. Went out today so nearly forgot to even put this notice up...exams are coming around soon, so chapters might not appear for the next 5 or so weeks as I have an exam a week. Well I''ll try to sneak a few in so won''t call a hiatus. In fact I have a chapter halfway done as of writing this. Trying to persevere here...


    Side note, everything seems to be happening end of october/start of november.....also, I might put some word of the week instead of food for thought cause keep coming across really obscure and specialised words as of late... Anyways, hopefully I''ll get the rest done this coming week, should be possible. Thank you people who have voted and commented. Cya~


    3/11/2018 And no chapter againtoday cause of exams...tried writing one, but just couldn''t focus...kept remembering biological terminology -_- On a side note, pretty happy reaching 50 k total views and 1 k average views"> Is it bad that I get a kick from reading poll votes and knowing my story is read? Well, happy writers, happy readers, everyone''s happy. *Sigh*..back to work for me...hoperfully I get all my revision and work done soon so I can write something for next week.


    P.S A bit late but happy halloween everyone(would of done a spooky chapter if I weren''t so busy) Also, trying to get grandparents to go out is sometimes suprisingly hard...do people become more stubborn as they get older?


    P.P.S It seems readers (who voted) are pretty evenly split between all of the characters making it out of the jungle with minor injuries, major injuries and one of them not making it out alive. Like dead even as of writing this.


    20/12/2018 Hey, just an early notice, but there will be no chapter this week. (Saturday the 22nd) I''m getting a puppy and travelling interstate via car to pick it up. May be busy training and looking after it and have a lot on my schedule, so not sure if I can make it, but hopefully there will be chapters out for christmas/next week. Had been thinking about raising one for ages, but the buy was pretty sudden so now have to do hurried renovations of the house and backyard to make them ''Dog Friendly'' among many other things. More information and maybe some pictures coming later. Wish me luck.">


    P.S I''ll just say it here early in case I don''t get a chapter out by the 25th. Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all have a happy holiday.


    29/12/2018 Hey everyone, sadly no chapter today again. As I said last week, I got a puppy and been busy looking after her. She''s called Alaska, a Siberian Husky mix and 8 weeks as of today- a bundle of cuteness and a bag of trouble. I''ve been exhausted looking after her (became half-sick for a bit) so been too tired to write properly. I think there may besimilar incidencesin the close future (until she is trained half decently) so apologies in advance. If she stops peeing on the ground indoors, I''ll get a chapter out this new year''s eve. If not...well I''ll try to get one out soon anyways. Have a good weekend everyone.


    05/01/2019 Sorry folks, been busy with ''doggy issues'' ; pooping parasytic worms, renovating the yard (still), toilet training, doggy obedience training just to name a few. Fell asleep accidently on the couch for a ''few'' hours today (Not going to mention how long cause it''s embarassing) and lost all my time to write so no chapter today. Still feeling really tired right now -_- (Last night I slept 4 hours, the day before as well. 1am-5am and 2am-6am. Taking hyper pup out to pee ;-; ) Also, just a heads up, but I might be calling a hiatus for a few weeks in a few weeks. (Unrelated to the pup) That''s all from me. Sorry and thanks for sticking with me. Have a nice week.


    P.S. Very happy at reaching 100 followers. Woot woot! Now I feel really bad for not doing something special, but as you may have already noticed, got my hands really full at the moment and it may not die down for a while...not a great start for my writing in the new year. Sigh...most pup responsibilites dumped on me...been bitten by insects 41 times in the span of a week (mostly mozzies) and immune system is partially collapsing from lack of sleep...


    02/03/2019 Had something on for most of the day and although I''ve written 80% of the chapter, brains too tired now to figure out the last few hundred words, so I''m going to sleep now. Chapter should be out before 20 hours after this notice. Sorry for the late notice.


    09/03/2019 Hey, unfortunately no chapter today. Stuck on how to write a part this week so I went to write intermission 1.4 but got stuck on that as well. Going to give myself a few more nights to think things over while I fiddle with it. Also, don''t know when this might happen, but planning on taking a few weeks off sometime so that I can go back and fix my earlier chapters: re-read them recently and wow, some parts are ok, but others are all over the place. Probably cause they were written when I was literally ''all over the place'' Anyways, until next week, adios.


    P.S. Anyone ever still feel really tired after sleeping twelve hours straight? Feels bad.


    23/03/2019 Injured myself and seeing doc tomorrow, no chap this week. Busy ahead so few more strikes may come.


    30/03/2019 Time is somehow vanishing- feels like twenty hour days recently. On a serious note, tentatively (physically) recovered now, but feeling seriously overwhelmed from the pile up of work, study and commitments. Also sleep deprived; previously fell asleep on a bus and got off 10 stops early when I woke up and than later in the week accidently fell asleep on a train and finally woke up 8 stops past mine and than as if that''s not enough I have had an mid semester exam pushed forward to this coming week.-_-. Not to mention that I haven''t been very efficient recently and things taking longer than planned.


    Haah, now that I''ve got all that off my chest, I would just like to say I understand there has been a lack of chapters this month, and so I will try to squeeze one in the next two days if possible...although April fools...well I don''t want to put out a rushed normal chapter...


    Lastly, I''ll be moving the recently written ''?Mystery Chapter?: The prophesised legend'' to directly underneath announcements because to be honest, my sypnosis doesn''t say too much and I think that chapter gives a better idea of the general direction where this story is headed. If you haven''t read it already, I suggest you do.Burnt out and heading off to bed, so until next time.


    Oh and my pup started dropping out her baby teeth recently-freaked me out when I first noticed her unusual behaviour and bloody mouth.


    Announcements 6/04/2019 Unfortunately still trying to catch up with life so no chapter today. Cause of how things are, I''m not sure if I can get one in by next week either, but should be one by Easter weekend. Also, I''ve noticed writing in short sessions is really inefficient! Will keep everyone updated next week.


    Also, though it might be unlikely, if anyone reading this is a caretaker(formal or informal) for an elderly with dementia or alzhemiers, I would love it if you could hit me up here with a private message to discuss a few things anonomously. Thanks.


    Announcements 13/04/2019 Overloaded so as predicted, unfortunately no chapter today. Can''t wait for the one week Easter break! Off to do my assignment due tomorrow haha.


    Announcements27/04/2019 Hey readers, sorry there wasn''t anything from me last week. Don''t know if it was cause internet died or me falling asleep and dreaming everything, but somehow nothing got saved in announcements last week, so here''s the notice this week.


    Basically, I plan to take a break from uploading chapters. As for how long this will last, I''m not sure, but I guess somewhere froma few weeks to a few months. This is due to many reasons, but mainly because of:


    -My incapability in currently balancing out mycommittments and responsibilities and as a result my lack of writing time.


    -The stress and pressure making meless than satisfied about writing, especially when I am tight on time.


    -My dog eating my writing


    Ok, the crossed out one is just a joke. Anyways, during this break I hope toreset myself and maybe even get a few stockpiled chapters. I won''t be posting anything in announcements for the duration of this break, so if you liked this story so far and want to be notified when I continue posting (in which I plan to) than following this series is an option.


    Thank you everyone for following and reading this series, as well as eveyone that''s voted, commented and even favourited. Your encouragement has been greatly felt and will continue to motivate me to write. That''s all from me so until next time, bye.">


    Announcements27/07/2019 Hey everyone, it''s me again. Unfortunately been having trouble with life, and this break hasn''t done much, arguably thing''s have gotten worst. Haven''t done much writing either so I''ve decided I''m going to just force it before I lose track of the entire story.


    The good news isI will start posting chapters next month again.The bad news though is thatI will only post 2 chapters a month.Furthemore, they will not be spread out, but rather just posted whenever I find time to finish writing them.


    Personally, these months have been quite an emotional rollercoaster but I think I''ve grown that much for the wiser. Some of my chapters may end up being written under lots of time pressure and thus rougher around the edges, but hopefully they still come out fine. That''s all from me, over and out.z.z..z..zzzz


    Announcements 31/10/2019 Hey, probably no chapters for the next few weeks cause exams, but maybe some around the beginning of December. Also, it seems I am incapable of following a writing schedule, but will aim to average at least chapter a month, excluding special circumstances. Happy halloween, but please don''t knock, trying to study. :)

 ?Mystery Chapter?: The prophesised legend

    An old hag quietly knelt at the top of the open roofed colossal tower, facing the balcony overlooking the surrounding buildings. In front of her was a cup of cooled tea and a yellow oaken paintbrush. To her right were a few clear crystal orbs and an empty vial. To her left lay a lengthy silver staff with circular aqua stripes running down the entirety, glowing under the moonlight. And behind her lay the innards of numerous monsters and animals. Four pillars surrounded her in each corner, the surfaces covered with intricate, yet exquisite carved depictions. One depicted the heroic legends of the building¡¯s founder. Another depicted a time long, long ago, a myth of the past, even before the founder. As for the other two, they were surprisingly blank.


    The hag herself wore an impoverished mantle; the ends frayed and fabric tattered. Underneath, her hands appeared withered and mottled dots speckled her face. If it were not for the expensive looking staff, one might believe she was just a mere beggar.


    Suddenly, with a flurry, the old lady removed her mantle, tossing it into the air. Simultaneously, her skin seemed to glow before fading to reveal a youthful lady in her early twenties. Her wizened face had been replaced with a delicate beauty as her fragile limbs returned to her usual lean muscle.


    ¡°Ahhh, that¡¯s much better.¡± She sighed in a relaxed manner before proceeding to clean up her surroundings; her thrown cloak finally having drifted it¡¯s way back to her staff.


    At this point, one may wonder who she was, whether she was a youthful girl or an old lady? Unlike the convention pursuit of youthful beauty, truthfully she was just a young lady who had been disguising herself as an elderly. As for why, one would need to take a closer look at her profession.


    She was a student; at least she considered herself to be, specialising in the W? branch of magic, and even more precisely, in divination. Long having gone past the stage of being taught by textbooks or others, she could be considered a leading researcher in this area. However, divination was in itself an obscure and complex topic. It was hard enough to inform and explain possible futures, if she had to convince others of her credibility, she would simply have endless headaches. So instead she decided to simply pretend to be an elderly; it was common sense that older members knew more, and this was especially considered true in the W? branch that held an archaic and traditional view.


    Having nearly finished tidying up the region the diviner was preparing to leave when she felt an inexplicable chill. Perchance it may have just been a sudden breeze, but nevertheless she decided to turn around. And in doing so, she received a large shock. She had been stargazing from this tower for a long time, but tonight, just then, there happened to be a change. Three stars, previously unseen, were shining brightly. A purple glow, a silver glow and an orange glow surrounded a respective star and in the middle of the triangle formed by connecting them lay the blue moon partially overlapping against the white moon. The diviners eye¡¯s lit up as she rushed to the balcony, opening a thick astrology book, scribbling notes crazily, mentally preparing for a long night.


    ¡­


    A week later, two men stood inside a luxurious room. The room was not particularly flashy, but the furniture inside was clean, classy, and well built, sturdiness apparent from just a glance. Bookshelves covered half the walls inside the room, filled with numerous thick books. A giant mahogany table filled the corner furthest from the door. On top of the desk lay some paper along with a silver cage lined with multiple varying birds. Underneath the desk were some functional drawers and a pushed in green rocking chair. To the right of the worktable was a casement window and a clay fireplace was facing it. In the opposite corner of the room near the entrance were four fluffy couch seats, facing one another over a low rectangular tea table. In the final unoccupied corner of the room was a double layer metal trolley, the upper layer carrying some snacks and the lower layer some beverages. A fine fleece from a monster covered the exposed ground and walls.*2


    Of the two of men in the room, one was in his old age while the other was a youth in his early twenties. The old man wore a voluminous cape while the young one wore a set of loose robes. The old man went forward to shake hands with him and said ¡°Greetings Headmaster Adrian, it¡¯s great to see you in good health.¡±


    ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t be like that Magic Dean Roderick. If you are going to be that formal, should I call you Master Roderick instead?¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha, enough with the formalities. Why did you call me over today- that¡¯s unusual of you?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­how do I say this...I guess it will be easier for our guest to do the talking. She should be here any minute now.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    The two men proceeded to stand in companionable silence before Adrian awkwardly offered, ¡°Uh, should we sit down first? I might have got the time wrong-¡± His voice stifled as crisp knocks echoed from the room¡¯s door. ¡±You can come in.¡±


    The door creaked slowly open as a short, cloaked figure was revealed. It was the old hag from before. The old hag nodded seeing the headmaster, taking her hood off before freezing, finally registering the second man behind him. She raised her right eyebrow, silently questioning his presence- she had previously asked the headmaster for a private conversation to discuss an important revelation.*1


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, anything I know, he will know as well.¡±


    The lady nodded and proceeded to move to the couch seats. Adrian proceeded to join her before a sudden grab from behind jerked him backwards.


    ¡°Wait. You¡¯ve been casting magic since a while already¡­what are you doing?¡± The lady froze after hearing this, before sighing.


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s mainly an interference type magic to help with my poor eyesight.¡± She gestured at her eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t see very well with just these-¡°


    ¡°-No. It¡¯s not. We both know that it isn¡¯t something like that. Rather it would seem it is affecting our eyesight more than yours.¡± The lady had been expecting to meet the headmaster only, and although he was a talented young man in the magical fields, he wasn¡¯t very cautious of strangers. His strength in both the martial and administrative fields had dulled his wariness and his daily needs to be meticulous over management had lead him to inadvertently let his guard down. On the other hand, Roderick was extremely cautious; he was only still alive right now because of his caution.


    ¡°Ah, well I guess the joke is up. Although I didn¡¯t expect my trick to work the whole time, I didn¡¯t think it would be seen through so quickly.¡° Her voice already reverting to her normal tone, with a flash of light, she reverted back to her normal youthful self, growing a few heads taller. Adrian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more. Meanwhile, Roderick started to have a red tinge on his face.


    ¡°Uh...uh¡­I will¡­um¡­go make some tea.¡± Roderick finally stammered before heading to the trolley. Adrian raised both eyebrows seeing his mentor¡¯s weird behaviour.


    Deciding to move the meeting along, Adrian offered, ¡°Shall we take a seat first?¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Closing the door firmly shut behind her, the two sat opposite one another, Adrian facing the entrance.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°So, what did you want to tell me that was so important that you decided to come looking for me in the middle of the night?¡±


    ¡°Um sure, but first, can I ask what is the relationship between you two, and why he has been acting so strangely.¡± Currently the lady was observing the strange antics of Roderick, who for some absurd reason was struggling to mix tea properly. Hearing the question, he stiffened before quickly plating up three cups and some snacks. However he was not too worried, because he knew his student would surely give a reasonable explanation.


    ¡°Oh he¡¯s the head for your department and my mentor, -¡± The dean nodded happily to himself at the perfect response. ¡°-and he¡¯s been that weird since I¡¯ve known him so just ignore him.¡± Before tripping against the trolley at the ruthless remark. Collapsing into a mess near the trolley and spilling tea and food everywhere, the lady nodded in understanding.


    ¡°Ok. So about what I have to tell you, firstly I want to be clear that what I¡¯m about to say does not exit the room.¡±


    ¡°Well that depends on what you are talking about.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not exactly sure¡­but it¡¯s a prophecy.¡±


    Adrian got up and went back to his open window, closing it. Muttering a bit, he cast an enchantment on the room as an extra precaution. ¡°Of course. This room is soundproof when the window and fire pit are closed. With my extra bit of magic, unless you leak it yourself, what is said in here will stay in here.¡±


    ¡°Good. Ok, well the prophecy is very unclear to myself, but I have linked certain key points.¡± The lady looked hesitantly at the headmaster.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, go on.¡±


    ¡°Within the next fifty years, great changes will be happening. Multiple huge calamites are approaching us, which if are allowed to run their course, will send this world into chaos. Not just single countries, or tribes are likely to suffer, but entire continents. And yes, before you are about to ask, my divination has indicated that we shouldn¡¯t be the only continent. I believe with your wide network that you surely have noticed evidence pointing to the existence of others. Regardless, the winds of change are coming, and what¡¯s worst, the negative effects are cumulative while-.¡±


    ¡°Hold it right there- slow down a bit.¡± Adrian cut in. ¡°I need a second to digest everything¡­. So do you know who or what we are facing?¡±


    ¡°Nothing clear, but I can assure you both humans and monsters will be some of the causes.¡±


    ¡°Obviously¡­. you may continue.¡±


    ¡°Right¡­the worst is that we cannot hastily intervene. In the brief period where the astrological phenomena indicated an issue, I did some quick calculations on the possible futures, and along with soul words I self induced through partial hypnotism of the brain; particularly the cerebrum, I deduced that if I took this knowledge and spread it around carelessly, even in the particular event we managed to luckily succeed in passing a calamity safely, it could lead to intensified calamities in the future that are far more destructive than if we had purely done nothing. You see, the future is unstable, the butterfly effect being a clear example. Even though that is an exaggeration, Ryan¡¯s theory goes on to say that the pulling force that will return most things to the original destined timeline cannot overpower major events that serve as major turning points for future lines. There can be no return once taken. Also, us knowing this divination in itself is a disadvantage already, and as the Mystery Lava Hound experiment proves, knowing the possibility inadvertently solidifies it. The same is with futures, the more people that know of it; the harder it is to change. Similarly, the monster egg experiment-¡°


    ¡°STOP! STOP! STOP!¡± Adrian grasped his forehead. He hadn¡¯t had such a troublesome conversation since he was last still under his mentor and studying whilst having to deal with the school¡¯s paperwork. By now, Roderick had quietly snuck back into a couch seat adjacent to Adrian.


    ¡°I think mentioning all those complex theories doesn¡¯t help us at all, could you just explain it in peasant talk.¡± Roderick added. Despite his many years in the magic field, such specialised and complex terminology couldn¡¯t possibly be understood by him; there was no way Adrian would ever understand it.


    ¡°Oh. Sorry¡­right¡­.um¡­to simply speak, there is little we can do to impact or change this future from disaster-¡°


    ¡°What?!¡± Adrian hollered. ¡°THAN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SAYING ALL OF THAT?¡±


    ¡°Well, clearly she means to say that there is still stuff WE can do.¡± Roderick sneered. Although he held his doubts about this absurd conversation, and disliked this lady for her petty tricks¡­he hated even more his unfaithful disciple. Clearly, he still needed a beating.


    ¡°Right¡­sorry, that was unseemly of me. It¡¯s just, this is all very overwhelming, and it¡¯s not every day that a young lady comes in telling you the world is night.¡± The lady chuckled. ¡°So what should we do?¡±


    ¡°Well not much actually. Regardless of my bunch of deductions, I couldn¡¯t figure out a single clue on the identities of these future saviours. The chance we can impact the future depends on whether they make it up to this point, but I did glean that eight of them have the potential to pass through this school¡¯s doors.¡±


    ¡°Stop for a bit. You mention them, as in the saviours, but how many are we talking about?¡± Roderick added curiously, noting the weird phrasing.


    ¡° Yes, saviours. People whose presence allows us to potentiallyovercome the final calamity. There are a total of fifty six saviours¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh than aren¡¯t we fine?¡± Adrian asked.


    ¡°¡­Of which, only fourteen will be appearing on this continent.¡± Adrian and Roderick froze after hearing that.


    ¡°¡­How many do we need to survive?¡± Adrian asked softly.


    The young lady nervously played with her slender fingers. ¡°¡­I¡¯m really uncertain here, so it¡¯s quite likely that I¡¯m wrong, but the bare minimum in which there will be massive casualties, we will need at least eight of them¡­¡±


    ¡° ¡°¡­.¡± ¡±


    ¡°¡­And that¡¯s just for our continent¡¯s survival. I think there may have been more dangers lurking ahead, but I couldn¡¯t see anymore into the future.¡±


    The three sat in a heavy silence. Adrian eventually reinvigorated first, falling back to his normal carefree cheerful persona. ¡°Well at least, comparatively speaking, it will seem we have a high attendance. Let¡¯s not talk about the consequences; I assume they will all be extremely dire. So, when will these saviours be coming and what is it that you wish of us?¡±


    ¡°If all goes well and they survive some of their own personal misfortunes, they will be here in around thirteen years. As for what you need to do, apart from keeping this conversation confidential, there are two things. One is to make me a teacher of your school. I can teach any W? magic subjects perfectly fine. The other is that in exactly ten years and two months time, you must offer ALL of your acquaintances ten spots at this academy that they can personally decide. They will be special students who would have their identity revoked for the period of study and I will personally conduct temporary memory blocking on all of them, giving them all a new random identity. After their period of study, I will then proceed to remove their memory block-¡°


    ¡°How do you plan to do that? As far as I know, it isn¡¯t possible, at least not in the way you phrased it.¡± Roderick interrupted.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s possible. I¡¯m not sure exactly how I did it, but it utilises a branch of W? sacrificial magic combined with R? soul magic that is imbued into them in a similar way as how C? magic users absorb energy. However like you said, there is a catch; the recipient of this magic must be willing in order for it to be effective which is most likely why the spell is unheard of. I can show it to you later once my preparation is done.¡±


    ¡°I see, because it can¡¯t be used in combat, someone who is knowledgeable enough in all three branches would never bother investigating it.-¡°


    ¡°Can you two stop the magic chat and come back to the original topic.¡± Roland butted in. ¡°So what else do we need to do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing much, that would be it.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Adrian shared a look with Roderick. Although he saw the displeasure there, he decided, ¡°I will agree with my end of the bargain.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Thank you for believing me.¡° The lady gave a small laugh. ¡±You know, the reason I came to you was because my later set of divinations said that you were the only one with even a remote chance of agreeing. The rest had either poor impact to the future or little chance of agreeing. You were sitting at roughly a forty four-percentage chance of consenting, so I¡¯m really elated that you agreed. Well, cheers to our future co-operation, but I¡¯ll be leaving now. I still have a lot to do on my end, but I¡¯ll be back in a week. I¡¯ll also bring everything so that I can show you my magic sir.¡° The lady, with a bright glow, became an old hag again.


    ¡°Ok, thanks for trusting me as well, it was a fruitful conversation. Until next time, goodbye.¡± Adrian wished as he opened the door.


    ¡°Bye.¡± Letting her leave, he then shut the door behind her and turned back to his mentor.


    ¡°So, what do you think?¡± He asked. ¡°Personally, I kind of trust her, especially after that last sentence. If she wasn¡¯t trying to be honest, she would have had no reason to say that.¡±


    ¡°Me? Well, she was cute, but I don¡¯t really like her much. She seems able enough, but she''s a bit young and I don''t like that trick she tried to play on us at the start. As for what she said, it¡¯s plausible, especially considering that she was willing to show us her original magic, but it also could be an elaborate attack to control you. She also didn¡¯t reveal anything too important.¡± Roderick pointed out.


    ¡°I guess it will really depend on whether what she said about her magic is true. We can¡¯t really test her divination skills can we?¡±


    ¡°No. Not to mention that I don¡¯t know anyone studying that, even if I did, how would we get her to fairly compare notes? The future is unstable enough already with one seer.¡±


    ¡°But wow, the future ahead sure is dangerous. I guess I need to start working hard again.¡±


    ¡°I ain¡¯t young anymore, so maybe I might pass away before the calamities hit, but you sure do. Speaking of which, I think I need to pay you back a bit for what you said earlier.¡±


    The window was wide open as a young man¡¯s head stuck out screaming for an entire day. Many people later claimed it was the headmaster¡¯s private office in which he vehemently denied. It was also only later that they realised that they had never asked her about the words of the prophecy she heard¡­.

 Chapter 1: Light in the Dark

    I woke up staring at the dark blue sky, tinted with a pink hue. Huh....I''ve been staring at that sky for the past 7 miserable years. 7 years of hell, darker then the darkest parts of purgatory, however that was all in the past. I failed. I failed myself and I failed my parents. I failed Jacky and I failed my ancestors. This is the end. And so I closed my eyes one last time to this grim world. Goodbye Rachel. Goodbye.


    My thoughts strayed back to the yesterday where I had been asked by the local gang to do a job for them. I was alone, and have always been. No, that''s not quite true. No matter how hard I tried to forget it, I vaguely held the memories of when my parents were still alive and I lived in the village. Everyone was nice back then, I was all smiles and I thought the world was a beautiful place. But the truth is, it''s ugly. The gang managed to finally corner me after half a day of hard work. I was small, agile, and nobody paid attention to a little runt like me. Even if they knew all my hiding spots, I could shift through crowds faster than those bulky jerks could. I could run through the crowded streets and narrow alleys backwards ten times faster than they could forwards. I knew the city like the back of my hand. Well, maybe not ten times faster.


    Anyway, after I got cornered I was swiftly dealt with. What do you think a 12 year old little chimp like me could do against some 40 year old uncles. I twisted and turned trying to break free of their grasp, throwing wild kicks and punches. I scored a few hits and blackened an eye, or so I thought. A trail of curses thread their way through the air, followed by a rain of blows. I lost consciousness.


    I woke up, peaking through my squinted eyes to a dimly lit wooden ceiling. It was rotted all over, cracks in their tens, with spiderwebs hanging on the beams. Hazy smoke filled the air, the strong stench of booze cause me to almost lose consciousness again. I cautiously tilted my head sideways as I stretched my line of sight to the edges of my vision.


    "Looks like the little runt is awake."


    I instantly froze when I heard that voice. I had expected to know the voice of my kidnappers, but I hadn''t expected to be that familiar with it. I knew nearly every single person in town, and nearly every little passer-by. I had survived in the treacherous city for a whole 7 years now and nearly half my survival could be accredited to selling information; information brokering. I was small and mostly ignored, so I could get even the toughest information that other brokers couldn''t offer and eventually became known as "Mole"


    The guy who spoke before was known as Moon Poison. I had heard some rumours about him being in town, but I didn''t believe them at the time. He was an infamous criminal, on over seven countries wanted list for murder, fraud, thievery and assassination. Just a few months ago, the Royal Mage of Fei, Lara was assassinated in her sleep and a wanted poster was distributed. The whole royal castle was in chaos for the whole month, and the army was mobilised. Even so, not a trace of his skin could be found. And now, he was right in front of me.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    To describe him in one word, would be charming. Although his scar on his lower jaw disfigured him, he was still extremely handsome. He had that dark charisma and cold eyes that glinted with a unique blood lust. His most notable feature however were exactly these eyes, a mismatched pair with the left iris lime and the right one aqua.


    "Looks like the Mole is out of the wall. Smmph.... BAHHAHAHA. What''s with the jaw on the floor? Oh, so you also know this fella. As expected of your information gathering skills. Well that makes this so much easier. Help us do something will ya? We''ll let you off scot-free and might even slip you something. Or we can always give you to these uncles to play with."


    The guy who said this was known as Flu, the local tyrant of the gangs in this area. He thinks it''s because we think he is as deadly as the flu, but the real reason I overheard from some of his subordinates was because he always had a tiny bit of snot hanging on his left nose as if he had the flu. Of course, no one told him about it and it was a silent rule not to; he brained in the last person who did it and everyone else in the room. This wasn''t the only unseemly thing about him. He had a slightly crooked beak like nose along with a crooked smirk. The vulgar grin he revealed when he spoke to me, displayed his three remaining yellow front teeth along with his booze filled breath.


    His whole speech at me was filled with sarcasm and jabbing insults. Looks like it was Moon Poison who wanted me to come while Flu didn''t agree with him. Looks like he wanted me to do a job for him, however the fact that they didn''t come through my conventional way and are even attempting to blackmail me means that a certain level of secrecy and danger surrounds their request, and secrecy often leads to silencing used tools. To top it all off, the fact that Flu did this while even being on somewhat bad terms with me and that he didn''t guarantee pay just sent all my alarm bells ringing. The underworld is filled with trickery, backstabbing and deceit, however there was still and unwritten code of conduct amongst us, especially the orphans. However that only applies to what everyone sees, and behind closed doors, anything could happen and everything would be fine as long nothing got out.


    I glanced at where the uncles were. They were the same group who caught me as I noticed quite a few of them carried blackened eyes and were rubbing bruises. I felt a sense of satisfaction only to realise my actions might have consequences this time. "Um... I would prefer not to be slipped anything, and I''m sorry, but I currently already have a client and am quite busy. Maybe another time?..." I said that as I gradually edge myself to the only exit in the room I could locate.


    "You think you can weasel your way out of this?! I am not asking for YOUR consent.....I''m saying you WILL consent to do the job or you will be KILLED brutally!"


    ...


    At this point in time, I realised I was pretty screwed. I guess they wanted me to sneak into somewhere, and from their attitude, they were not gonna take no for an answer. Thus I decided to go with the flow and see if there was somewhere I could make a run for it. Which leads me to where I am right now, having landed myself in a ditch. And almost as if fate exists, I lose consciousness as my mind returns from its wild travel down memory lane.

 Chapter 2: At the bottom; only road left is up

    There is a saying that when one hits their all-time low, when there are no roads of survival left and they are in their bleakest hour, there is only one place they can move from that moment onwards, up. Such is the nature of those we call human, for it is that aspect of mankind that allows them to overcome calamity and sadness, and to keep trudging on, even when all hope is lost and they are at the end of their rope. In fact it is said, the fire burns the brightest just before it goes out. Those were some wise words once whispered to me by a wise friend.


    I woke up again to the sound of rain and sensation of of water splashing on me. I groggily open my eyes seeing only blackness. At first I panicked, thinking I had gone blind or maybe already moved on to hell, but then I realised it was just the night sky. The water revitalised me to an extent, soothing my parched throat, while also irritating and reminding me about my broken left leg. Yes, it was broken. Yes it throbbed. Yes it hurt. A lot.


    I decided to get moving. I had to move, even if I had to crawl. I was already quite close to one of my emergency stashes. I had kept an emergency stashe nearby as insurance, and now it may pay off. Being in my line of work does things to you that are unimaginable.


    Somehow or other, I hadn''t passed out yet from the blood loss or pain. My right leg resembled a red swollen sausage with all the blood splattered over it, but that was nothing compared to the pain from my left leg. Resilience is inbred to any orphan who survives the first twelve months of independence. In fact, even to just live through the first month by themselves requires willpower unimaginable to those who haven''t gone through this studious style. However when one gains, one will also suffer. Most suffer from the emotional scars, like fear, anxiety, anger and even in extreme cases madness. What anchors them to this world also serves as nail struck into their hearts. To derive the strength to stand up again, they take energy generated from their emotions. There are the lucky few who cling onto hope and use that as their source of motivation, however they are a rare few. I have never seen one before. And I for one, confess that I get my energy from hatred. Hatred of my villages destruction. Though there is no fairness in life, just why, WHY?!- did it have to be my village. Revenge motivates me like no other and so my soul, just like many others are tainted by dark secrets.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    After what I assumed was a few hours, dawn broke. The castle was coming alive, and if I didn''t get a hurry on, I would be caught. I had already managed to crawl into the bush twelve or so meters in. The pain from my legs had already numbed to a minor throb that I didn''t feel anymore. I knew this was a bad sign, rather than a good one. I would soon hit a critical stage.


    My eyesight suddenly grew dim. I squinted and willfully pushed at my eyelids, but they were already beginning to go numb and unresponsive. A black haze covered my vision, almost as if a cloth had been draped over my head. My brain was jarred by an intense wave. Looks like my perception has already been affected and I''ve misjudged myself. I desperately suppressed the urge to regurgitate as I felt the bile rising up from my empty stomach. The darkness continued to envelope me as even the rising sun looked dim. I felt my conscience slipping away from me just as I noticed a dim minute blurry figure approaching me. I''m deadfor sure.

 Chapter 3: There is no friendship in the slums; only people to take advantage of

    I woke up groggily. It was dim, musty and the strong stench of garbage instantly out me at ease. Taking note of my surroundings, I realised I was in the slums. The question was where was I? I sat up to take a better look around, only to quickly fall back down. My legs throbbed from the sudden pressure I put on them. I got up again, this time slowly and using my arms. I looked down at what I was lying upon, nothing fancy, just some old newspapers put together in a make shift bed. The blankets were soaked through from the rain. I felt a cold splash on the back of my neck that sent shivers down my spine as I winced from the pain I felt from agitating my legs. Not good, take things slowly. I looked up and shifted my body just as another droplet drip off the eave. So that''s what woke me up. I thought it was I heard someone or something nearby, but maybe I was mistaken? I took another glance around the area as my memory slowly came back to me. I had been extremely injured and bloodied, on the verge of death, so when I glanced down I was baffled by the sight that lay in store of me. Two legs that were perfectly fine, if not a bit weak and sensitive to pressure. And I should of been in a ditch on the roadside near the castle, so how was it I was in the slums again. This part of the slums was also a part that I did not frequent so I tried searching through my memory slowly for it. Ahhh...the puzzles slowly fell together...someone must have saved me.....but why?! Just as I was about to scramble away I noticed someone turning into the alley and making there way towards me. Seeing me on my feet, the person stopped five or so meters away, pulled off the hood from their cloak and spoke. "Cough up something. And don''t even think about running."


    Saviour? No, just someone trying to make some money by using a bit of magic.


    Dull long red hair rolled down, covered in black derbies from who knows where. An alert face with sharp lines, eyes that were hard and cold, but showed no cruelty. Legs hardened from exercise, toes firmly gripped onto the ground, ready to spring into action at a moments notice. A child like existence that reeked of awareness and caution. Everything fell into place.


    "Blood Doctor." I let slip.


    "Don''t call me that ''Mole''." She said that as if trying to demonstrate to me how annoying nicknames were. Well I didn''t find my nearly as annoying as she must of found hers I guess.


    Everything fell into place. The reason it took me so long to realise my location was I tended to avoid the territories anyone in the slums who I felt could threaten me. ''Pocket Pick'' , ''Mad Dog'' and ''Blood doctor''. Pocket Pick was what I would call a black thief. He stole from anyone anything. He was decent in a fight, decently hard to chase, and could steal things without you even noticing right in front of your eyes. He was intelligent, cunning and you would never catch him red handed unless he wanted you to. Apparently he could also pick the locks on doors, chests and safes, so people often went to him when they stole a safe and couldn''t break it open. He would then open it, and of course, it goes without saying, get a profit on it. His connections were also moderately powerful because of this, and this all made him a dangerous opponent. He lived in the South East area of the slums, and although I rarely saw him because I never stole safes and never required his services, that one time I moved a bit too South, I lost my hair comb. I don''t know if he stole it, and he would never admit that he did even if I asked.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ''Mad Dog'' was another infamous person in the slum. I''ve never met him, because he lived in the opposite area from where I lived, but from what I''ve heard, and I''ve heard lots about him, he was a tyrant. He was violent, strong and deadly in a fight. Apparently he knew quite a bit of martial arts. His area was the most violent area of the slums and quite a number of times Imperial Guards have entered that area and had conflict with them. All the black hearted orphans tended to gravitate to that area. At least that lessened the danger in other areas somewhat. They give the slums a really bad name, although not that much worse from the ugly truth. He lead a group of other violent orphans and men and often attacked carriages in the city. He got his name because once he bit into you, he would hound you until your death and nothing would stop him. Or so I was told. That''s not the only reason to watch out for him. From what I can tell, he''s not all brawn. To get so many people to follow you, all violent in nature, as well as the subtle information manipulation he has been doing hint that he''s quite crafty as well.


    Finally, there was ''Blood Doctor''. Most girls didn''t last long in the slums, especially orphans. The reasons are obvious. Things like kidnapping, and rape along with the generally weaker physique and mentality. That''s not to say that there were not girls capable of surviving here, in fact there were quite a few, and one good example is the ''Blood Doctor'' Instead of relying on her feminine wiles, she had the skills, capabilities and brains to survive. She had learnt beginner healing magic, and that along with her intelligence and medicinal knowledge allowed her to perform the basics required to heal an injured person. With fights occurring everywhere and the fact that she could save your life, not many people wanted to make an enemy out of her and treated her with some respect. With the lives she''s saved, she''s got many powerful connections. She only really became famous and started being called ''Blood Doctor'' after her fight against ''Mad Dog'' This was a few years back, back in the day when they were both still starting to become famous. This is the only known case where ''Mad Dog'' didn''t finish off an opponent, and that''s because apart from those two, no one else knew about it except me.


    ''Mad Dog'' had heard about her healing skills and wanted her to serve him. He also wanted her to serve him in other ways as well. Of course, she refused and so he sent his five close lackeys to capture her, beat her up and drag her to him in the middle of the night. It was a bloodbath. She killed four of them with an empty beer bottle. What happened to the fifth? A random brick, when no one was looking of course, fell off the top of the building killing him. Had absolutely nothing to do with me. After that, she went to him and managed to negotiate a truce between them. Of course I wasn''t spotted eavesdropping on their meeting. Somehow or other the rumour got out about her fighting off five opponents, starting a blood bath, and along with her blood red hair, got nicknamed ''Blood Doctor''. People also joked about paying for her healing would cost you blood and sweat but that''s another story. She eventually settled down in the North West region of the slums.


    There was no doubt about it, the person standing in front of me was her.

 Chapter 4: Blood Doctor, Blood Debt, Blood Deal

    I see..." I replied. Analysis had always been one of my fortes and that''s what I did right now. As she stared at me waiting for me to continue, I looked her up and down. Immediately I concluded I had to cough some payment. Not only did she have many connections, she had a pretty powerful physique and stance and although it couldn''t be called a combat stance, it was still a stance that allowed her to react and respond to most situations. She could quickly shift into a combat ready stance if need be, but it wasn''t a posture that showed open hostility. She looked pretty well off for an orphan; she could even pass off as a very poor child from town if not for her head and face. Her hair was matted with black debris, and her eyes said everything about her. People say the eyes are the doors to a person¡¯s heart, and I agree. They told me many things and her eyes said a lot; that she was just trying to make it by and would not actively seek a fight, but would fight if she needed to; that she had yet to give up on this world and unlike many orphans, her anchor to life was the hope to a better future; that she could be as vicious as ''Mad Dog'' if she felt threatened. Her eyes also had the crafty glint of the intelligent and clear minded, the hardness that showed a cold and ruthless heart and the hunger and desire to survive, but that wasn''t surprising; any and every orphan who has survived a year in the slums will get that, not to mention after a few years. Speaking of which, I''ve been living in these slums for over 6 years now already, which makes me one of the old boys.


    "You done staring?" It only felt like I had been analysing for a few seconds, but it must have been longer since my brain is still a bit out of whack. Her mouth formed a hard line at the continues silence.


    "Sorry, and yes, I''ll cough up. How much do you want anyways?" It was customary practice for her to take about 3 days worth of meals if she saved a life, and 1 day if it was a minor injury.


    "Give me a weeks worth of meals and we will call it even." I felt my jaw dropping after I heard this. What was with the biased treatment? Was it because I was somewhat famous and she knew I could afford this? Was it because she hated me and secretly wanted to exploit me? Was it because she found out that time I made someone in the slum pay for information on where to find a doctor?If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Isn''t that a bit overly expensive?" I questioned.


    "Maybe, but its pretty cheap payment for me to help and house a wanted person who sneaked into the royal castle. Not to mention stealing a treasured artefact and helping a convicted criminal."


    My mouth continued to drop after hearing that. How did they find out about me? No one saw me come and go, the alarm was only raised after I had already left. My befuddled expression must have been very funny as she suddenly giggled and laughed. Her eyes glinted with happiness, kindness and caring as a smile blossomed on her lovely face. Now that I had a second look, she was actually quite the beauty once you took out all the blemishes, dirt and soot in her hair. Wait a minute, why was there kindness and even caring in her eyes?


    Did she fall in love with me? No that''s not possible, we''ve rarely seen each other. Did she find out about my ''help''? No not possible either. She had her back turned back then when I chucked the brick and I was already lying flat on the roof when she realised the last guy had been killed. Also she should have not discovered the times when I have silently manipulated information.


    I stared at her askance. Seemingly realising her state, she blushed dark red; similar to her hair and coughed twice.


    "You talk in your sleep." She mumbled. "You also mention some things while you were in your hallucinating state.¡± So that''s how she discovered so much...everything fell into place...


    "How much did I say? What did I even say?" Being an information broker, I was a treasure trove of knowledge and secrets. It would seriously not be funny if critical information was leaked. She smiled again at my cautious reaction.


    "Nothing much." She blushed again and looking down shyly said, "Thanks for last time. I always felt my settling was too straightforward and that someone was helping me from the shadows. We could be considered even, as we each owe one and another a blood debt. Also if you take me with you when you leave the slums and city right now, I''ll make sure to forget everything I''ve seen and heard and won''t charge you anything for being saved by me. That''s a pretty good deal right? You probably already know, but I never break blood deals."

 Chapter 5: The difference between departing and escaping

    "You want me to take YOU with me?!" I could feel the incredulity rising with each second. "Hang on a minute...didn''t you just jump goals very quickly? Slow down a second, I need to think...why do you even want to leave with me? Why do you even want to leave, you''ve built up quite the foundation here. And why with ME?! And do you even have the food and money built-"


    "YES, I have my own supplies, you don''t need to be worried about me. I want to leave with you because I have always wanted to leave here to find my original birthplace and you¡¯re as good as a companion I can ask for in the slums. You care for me to a certain extent and won''t likely backstab me. "


    I felt my jaw dropping in shock again. I was sure by now my jaw muscles no longer existed... I stopped to think things through again. If I looked at things through her side, I had to agree that I seemed like I was a pretty good candidate, even if I didn''t know myself. That''s not my ego speaking. But still, to suddenly become so trusting of a stranger...something must of have happened during my little ''sleep talk''..That might be the missing puzzle...


    Looking at things from my perspective, it wasn''t such a bad deal. I mean, I could escape having to pay her, and if it''s as she said, and that she already has her own supplies for the journey then that means I could just have another companion. I wouldn''t be as lonely and the journey would be safer. Two kids are harder to attack and kidnap then one. I''m sure she could handle her share of a fight. I could also keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn''t spill my beans...theoretically.


    Then again there were the risks. Her looks and long hair would attract the attention of anyone hoping to kidnap a beauty. That would bring trouble. Also, the deal seems almost too good...as if there was a hidden catch. I stared hard at her trying to find ulterior motives, and perhaps she noticed my inspecting gaze, as she slightly crooked her mouth and held an equally intense glare at me. The smirk was almost tangible and I could almost see the laughter in her eyes. The eyes were challenging my judgement and me.


    I calmed down, took a deep breath, and thought over her nature towards me. Well she was a trustworthy figure comparatively speaking in the slums and she did save my life. She had already given her promise, possible had some weird affection for me and she didn''t have any reason to hurt me. But there was the extra attention she would bring to the party...it was easier for me to sneak past the city by myself then with her. Thus I had decided.


    I felt her voice hazily cutting into my thoughts again. "Sorry, what did you say? Could you please rep-" "So were you even listening?!?...Huh...Basically, I said with my inside connections we can leave Frankfurt through the mains doors, instead of escaping."


    "What''s the difference?" There wasn''t that much of a difference so long as we left undetected right? In fact escaping through a side exit or through a smuggler-even one with a shady background was probably safer then leaving through an official route.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "You''ll see." She twirled around and gave me an enigmatic smile. Looks like I was going to become part of the punch line. I could hear the light tattle as she walked away, crunching on some rubbish.


    ...


    I was standing outside of the civilian market, for the working class, and the loud voices of barter were floating by. Well, more like hiding in the shadow of a wall, two corners away from the nearest store and a hundred or so meters from the gates to the city. Frankfurt wasn''t as big as the capital, but it was a still considerably large city and was the main city for hundreds of miles. It was the centre of most trade and commerce in the area and so the traffic influx on a daily bases was incredible. The economy in this city and jobs were largely spurned originally from the traveling merchants, and with the increasing offered goods and services, it in turn attracted more customers and merchants. And so the cycle continued.


    To the handle the increasing population, the army and military in the city increased respectively. Public order in anywhere not near the slum was good, even in the poorer regions. And all that meant that security was strong. Smuggling was strongly suppressed in this city and security at the gates was supposedly airtight. Of course it was impossible to suppress all smuggling and corruption was occasionally a thing. The main city walls were also extremely large with quite a bit of nature near some bits and so there were a few hidden holes in the walls.


    I turned back, peaking around the wall. There was an officer and official checking the traffic passing through and credentials. Four guards stood next to them, two more searching the carts going by and two directing the waiting line. Another two were peaking from above. I could probably sprint past them if I had too as long as I could get by the two guards directing the line. Suddenly, I felt my arm being grabbed.


    "Hyaaa-" a hand quickly covered my mouth as I realised who''s hand it was, and shut up.


    "Don''t do that to me, I thought you were trying to kidnap me." I whispered


    "Sorry." Was the noncommittal reply I received. I noted to myself that when I started analysing things two deeply, my awareness levels drop off a cliff. Before I could open my mouth again I felt myself being pulled along by her.


    We quickly approached the gate, weaving through the crowd. We reached the queue waiting to exit and started walking pass them as well. The people in line gave us weird looks as we passed them, and one of them even shouted, "Hey, there''s a line you know?" Before his buddy nudged him and whispered "Can''t you tell by their clothing, they¡¯re from the slums! They are probably running some jobs or messages for the guards." We were dressed in rags, so it was pretty obvious, and we were each also carrying poorly made haversacks. Of course, no one realised that inside them there were cloth, food and water meant for us, not the guards.


    She continued striding up to the gate, and when the official at the gate waved off the last carriage and saw us he coughed and choked. The guards lowered their spears blocking our path forward and I gave my best nervous innocent smile.


    "Could you let them through please." The official muttered to the guards. The guards all then turned to the guard at the back. He was a senior guard, with the start of a grey grizzly beard showing. He frowned, and his forehead creased making him look older then he was. I nervously looked at ''Blood Doctor'', but she just gave the captain a blooming smile and said "Please let us through, there aren''t any official documents us orphans can get." He stared hard at us, and then ordered, "Let them through...And no need to search them."


    We walked outside the city, and as I felt the freedom of leaving the walls and entering the wilderness, I could feel the eyes staring at us with questioning looks from behind. But that didn''t matter to me one bit. I had finally left this dark place, to enter the world of the unknown again. This was the beginning of my adventure and the story of how I became ''The legend who ran faster then the gods''


    End of Prologue (Chapters 1-5)

 Chapter 6: The world outside the well. Well outside.

    Sooooooo~ as per the deal, I get to come with you because we got through the gateeeee cleanly~, Mhmmm~"


    Currently there was an annoying butterfly fluttering across my face in front of me.


    "So let me reintroduce myself. Hi, I''m called Shiara, hope we become good friends in the future."


    Finally deciding to stop hopping and skipping around in front of me, she comes over and happily proffers a handshake.


    I feel a frown on my forehead and I slowly have the urge to smack this annoying fly. So this is what people mean when they say you reap what you sow....Well, I guess introductions were necessary and the nicknames would just get annoying during our travels. *Cough* I reached out to grab her hand. The surprisingly soft and supple touch surprised me, but then I realised it was probably from constant usage of healing type magic on it. Word on the street, Mages specialised in healing magic tended to be that way. "Uh..Nice to meet you again I guess...my name''s...


    Va-xen. Hope~ we will be able to help each other out and have a good journey together, yeah."


    I let go of her hand continued to walk forward ignoring her and her inquisitive gaze again. We had a long way to go to till we reached our destinations. Mine was Yang Ying Magic academy. I overheard some mercenaries chatting about it in the pub when I was younger and gathering Intel for one of my clients. I don''t know where Shiara wanted to go, she wouldn''t tell me...all she said was "I''ll know I''m there when I get there." And "I''ll just go with the flow."...I really starting to question her survival skills and how she survived so long in the slums. Maybe my thought processes were just different.


    I felt a tug on my shoulder, nearly jerking my kitbag out of my hand. "What do you want now?!" I could feel my patience burning out.


    "Hey, if we are gonna travel and work together I need to know several things. What magic do you specialise in, what are your combat skills and can you cook or hunt? Do you have any foraging skills? As you probably already know, I specialise in healing magic, and I know some self-defence close combat skills. Also, I can cook, so if you want I can do the cooking, you can just do all the chores like cleaning and getting firewood. Although, I don''t know if it''s a good idea to have a fire...hey you even listening?" She was droning, and croaking and rambling and in general being a very loud chatterbox...I guess I should give a reply to just shut her up.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I have an affinity for both earth and wind magic. I''m a decent fight at close quarters, but I specialise in evasion and reconnaissance I guess...Also, I can cook, and nearly all orphans who survive in the slums can forage, including me. It''s like the 1st thing many of us learn. So don''t.....


    I felt the ground tremble ever so slightly. Maybe it''s because I''ve had a strong natural affinity to earth magic ever since I was young, but I have always been really sensitive to the vibrations in the ground. I immediately got on the ground and put my hands and ears on the ground. Yup, there it was. From the strength and sound it was probably a small convoy of horses with one or two heavily loaded carriages. The sound seemed to be echoing and elongated, so they probably had a scout and a sweeper, but no flanking guards or a screen. Most likely a merchant convoy I concluded.


    I narrowed my eyes and suddenly got up pulling us off the path.


    "Hey-"


    "Shhhhhhhh." I felt bad for my sudden unexplained actions so I whispered "Horses coming."


    The path we were taking wasn''t the main road. That was to the east and had quite a bit of traffic. We were on a moderately forested path, so I pulled us behind a shrub into some prickly bushes. There were a tree and stump that hid us from the path as well. I felt that something was off. Normally, any groups with carriages and most with horses would take the main path, however for some reason the carriage was traveling at a fast pace from the sounds of it, and if my ears weren''t lying, they were taking the walking path instead of the smooth, worn out main road, with no overhanging branches or trees.


    We weren''t disappointed. Before Shiara could even open her mouth again, we could hear the clatter of hooves on mud. They rounded over the crest moments later. First three horses, with guards atop, cantered cautiously over the hill. Seeing the area ahead clear, they did some hand signals and waving back. They started galloping again, quickly passing by us as another two carriages rounded over the crest followed by another guard of three. They continued their rapid pace until they rounded the next corner and the bushes blocked our line of sight. We both let out a sigh.


    I got out from behind the peak and cautiously peaked both ways. They didn''t look like they were related to the military of the country so there was probably no one else in the group like a sweeper. Bandits, thieves and underground organisations had one most of the time. I gradually stood back upright, stretching my back taut to release the stiffness and accumulated stress from trying to squash two people behind a small shrub.


    "Who were they? And how did you know they were coming...don''t tell me you actually heard them from so far away...." I felt a weird stare land on my ears....


    "Nah, my ears may be slightly more sensitive then others, but that''s not how I found out. Actually, I have a strong natural affinity with both the earth and wind element, which allows me to have a better grasp of the movement of both. "


    "You what!!? BOTH EARTH and AIR?.. Wow, I''m envious. Even though I have an affinity for a unique type of magic, I still would of preferred being a dual. Ahhhh....you must have had a lot of good karma when you were born...." She looked at me with a small "O" "Ooops...sorry."


    "Don''t worry about-"


    BOOM!!!


    Before I could finish my sentence we both looked up. Anyone worth their salt would be able to feel the huge shockwave that flashed by. But what truly put me on alert were the unnatural fluctuation of mana in the air and the proximity of the explosion.

 Chapter 7: Precious Princesss Plight; Principal Precarious Placement

    *POV change*


    Have you ever wondered what it''s like to be a princess? Well let me put it this way, it''s strict and demanding and the responsibility weighs down a tonne. You always have to put on a strong front and you are forced to question the motives of everyone around you; you don''t ever know if the kids around you actually like you or if they just want to be friends with a princess. Everyone expects you to perform to your utmost all the time. Yes you get to wear beautiful clothes and order everyone around, but it''s not as good as you might think it to be. You always need to dress respectably and act with etiquette. My royal father use to tell me when I was younger that "with great power comes great responsibility" and that "some day you will get use to it and understand" so I have always tried my hardest for him and up to this date, have nearly performed perfectly, but sometimes I just want to relax and get out of the stuffy castle.


    My father having realised this, finally decided to let his precious jewel out into the world. Having shown good results in my private lessons and magical studies, my father preceded to finally find me a tutor to teach me practical magic. Lara, the Royal Mage of Fei was appointed as my tutor, and I studied under her tutelage for half a year before she was brutally murdered one night. I walked into her room that night only to discover her badly mutilated corpse, lying on her bed twisted and barely recognisable. Although arc mages were very powerful magically and had no lack of firepower, they tended to slightly more less adept at close combat. Still, to do so to the countries most powerful arc mage, in the middle of the royal capital and castle, that was really unexpected. Moon Poison was spotted that night escaping from the castle, but my father suspects he wasn''t the only perpetrator and that their may have be foreign involvement.


    The event became a huge scandal and terror attack. Because her death was so unexpected, her successor had not been announced yet. The vice captains of the arc mage squads, along with their own political influences all began vying for the seat soon after her death was announced. The courts and officials were thrown into chaos, and my father often complained about headaches. The attack also hit quite close to my heart and my fathers and we were both left quite traumatised.


    My father also felt the murder unnatural. What was the reason of assassinating the Royal Mage, when there were many better targets inside the castle. Me, my younger brother, the queen. The loss of the Royal Mage did affect the military strength of Fei, but not critically. In the end, my father concluded that they may have been after the Firefox stone, an ancient artefact that originated from before this country was even founded, handed down from the founding of the nation. It was mysterious treasure left behind by the first founding monarch. The story goes that it was a gift from his close friend who help him unite the current Fei when he ascended to kingship, and the story of it is a tightly held national secret. Apart from royalty, there were only a handful that knew of the artefact and only the current monarch knew its usage. Even the duke who was charged with guarding it only knew that it was an extremely dangerous and precious object.


    Fearing for safety of the Firefox stone, but unable to do anything that may create a scene, my royal father tasked me with the secret mission of retrieving the stone from the duke. With a trusted personal adviser who is an expert level spell blade as an escort, I was to bring the artefact back to the royal castle where I would ''supposedly attempt to'' merge and absorb the artefact. If that failed, things would be complicated, as a change and strengthen in security would be tough to achieve.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    So here I am now with one of the worst possible situations. The artefact had been stolen already. At least that''s what the duke and guards say, although I never saw the thief, they claimed it was a small messy boy who was dressed in rags. They claim he must have been a kid from the slums and are currently searching for the boy, but when I left, they claimed they were running into trouble with some of the gangs in the slums. A bunch of useless liars. Either way the artefact was missing, so I was on my journey back to the capital to deliver this message to father as quickly as possible. In fact, we left as quickly as possible as etiquette would allow. Why? I''ve been in the royal castle long enough to know when something''s up. And I could smell a rat. Someone within the Dukes retinue, most likely a high ranking one, had to be a spy. That was the only way so much important information could have been leaked out.


    "Are you okay my lady? You¡¯ve been quiet for a while now."


    I look back from the tinted window that I was gazing out of. The scenery just changed from some grassy plains and was now filled with a lush forest outside, making it seem like we were some foreign object that were just waiting to be expelled...Maybe that was the reason why monsters existed...a natural balance for humanity.


    "Princess-


    "I''m fine Mathew. Just a little disgruntled, that''s all"


    "Is it about the artefact? Don''t worry princess, I will ensure you are not found to be at fault. I had originally already advised his majesty to change his security. The intelligence department had been picking up unnatural movement in Aerie for a while already. Alas, I am only a advisor and general, concerned with only military affairs and with no thought for economy."


    The only other person in this carriage apart from me, Mathew was one of father¡¯s personal advisers. He had been a friend of father since childhood, and although he was a general, he was surprisingly gentle, kind, dedicated, intelligent and loyal to a fault. Father said he was a good leader and respected by the soldiers, probably because how he understood and roused the soldiers. He preferred to use positive encouragement, only relying on harsh discipline if forced and attempt to share the soldier¡¯s pains and joys. His only problem was that he was quite sensitive and although not very spiteful, held grudges for ages. Currently he was holding a grudge from eight months ago, before Lara''s assassination, when the king happened to call him in one of his arguments, ''a man of military background'' and ''lacking a deep understanding for the countries economy'' This happened to happen in front of some other ministers and advisors, so he had been highly affronted by this ever since. Even Lara''s death didn''t sober him up entirely.


    In fact, I suspect that''s why father sent him away on this mission with me. He happened to be an expert spell blade and although his rants and grudge were not getting in the way of work at all, they probably were starting to get annoying and tiresome.


    Suddenly, I noticed him stiffening. It wasn''t just the carriage jerking movement, his tired crinkled old face became alert and he pulled his eyes into a squint. "We just passed by two kids hiding at the edge of the forest. I think that we just happened to chance on them as they were not even trying to hide their magical energy. Well, maybe one of them was a bit. I think I will alert the guard detail to be on alert though...although it may be a false alarm...your thoughts my lady?"


    I toyed with the idea. We may travel a bit slower if we do, but I guess it''s better to be safe then sorry? Maybe I should just let Mathew decide himself.


    "Just do as you see fit." Father trusted him, so it should be fine to leave the security decision making to him.


    He frowned a sec, before replying "Of course, my lady." He reached out and pulled the curtain to the driver partly open and as he opened his mouth...


    CRASH!!


    Red sticky liquid splattered across my face, staining my clothes and trousers. Multiple giant spikes of earth protruded out of Mathew¡¯s body, it''s sharpened point millimetres away from my face and neck. The carriage had abruptly stopped and the driver was staring at me through window, an eerie smile plastered on his face. I gulped, for once glad that I didn''t have an Adam''s apple.

 Side Series: Jackys Diary- Note 4: Mana and Monsters

    Jacky''s Diary


    Hello there, I''m Jacky. If you are reading this right now, you must of one way or another made your way into the world of Myristic. Yes, you are no longer on earth or even in the same universe. This world will be harsh on you if you don''t learn the ropes quickly, so, as your senior in this world and a former earthling, I have decided to compile a list of diary entries and notes in order to aid your survival. Hopefully, armed with information, you will avoid the mistakes and pit holes that I fell into. I wish you the best of luck and that you find yourself in a nice house rather then in the stomach of a monster.


    P.S. If you want to find me, go to Groadenvale and ask the local merchants for Jacky Of All Trades. If I''m still alive and around, they will definitely lead you to me.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Note 4: Mana and Monsters


    What is mana? What is a monster?


    You may have heard of this in stories before back on earth, but I suggest you chuck out all that old knowledge. I don''t know the reliability of your sources, so I''ll start from the start.


    Mana, ether, Qi, life energy, spirit power, or any of the multitude of names, are all the name for a clear, colourless, odourless substance. It exists in the air and earth and it is the basis of all magic; when refined and absorbed into our bodies, it can then be released again in the form of magic. Although mankind here hasn''t discovered where it originates from, it has been confirmed that it even exists in space.


    Mana, as it is commonly referred to on the continent of Mirage, is heavily interrelated to monsters. The first time I saw a monster, I barely got away alive and got a huge long shallow scar on my back. It''s mostly healed now, but that was very scary event for me back then. However, as I got to know this world better I gradually understood why monsters exist in this world that is so similar to ours. Mana. There is apparently quite a bit of research in this topic and the formulas are complex, but to keep it simple I will only be explaining it roughly. Mana is like nuclear radiation. Passing through most material, it is something that is naturally absorbed by all living things. The trees, the horses, the insects, the birds and bears. When the mana levels reach a certain point of density within a living being that is not human, they become defined as a monster. This is generally about 17% as this indicates that they have most likely learnt (apart from some irregular cases) to gather mana from the air, and not just through their diet. As the density reaches about 70%, most living beings will gain wisdom and intellect. On the other hand, if a human being reaches about 70% density, the human is likely to experience something known as mana intoxication. Minor cases are just vomiting and headaches, while more sever symptoms involve loss of consciousness, self control and entering berserk rampages. That''s why it is essential to refine and compress all absorbed mana quickly, and I will go more in depth about the magic study and application in a later note- once I have satisfactorily completed my research. Note monsterisation is different from demonisationThis novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Back to the topic, the reason why forests tend to have more monsters is because of something known as the mana cycle-yes, just like the water cycle and oxygen cycle. As you may have already learnt on earth in science(hopefully), gases and liquids will try to spread out evenly in an area, like osmosis. The same mechanics apply to mana. Mana will naturally dissipate into air evenly. Plants absorb some at night, and release some in the day. Mana is believed to come from two sources, plants and the ground. I think, though I have no concrete evidence, as a by product of photosynthesis mana is produced. I also believe that the mana detected to be releasing from the planet comes from the magma, though this is pure conjecture and I could be completely wrong. Remember, this is Myristic, not Earth. Anyway, due to this, mana concentrations are heavily scrutinised. Mana detection machines have long been invented and mass produced and could largely be accounted for humanity''s continued survival.


    Oh, a warning. You will most likely run into carnivorous monsters, rather the omnivores or herbivores, and will very rarely run into plant monsters. Why? Well the mana gets more concentrated up the food chain. Dead leaves release mana, but not nearly as much as a dead corpse. This along with a carnivore''s aggressive behaviour, means that nearly all encounters will be with meat eaters. However my real warning is this. If you run into a plant monster, run. Plant monsters are much more ancient and require much more time to get the same amount of mana. Though you will think carnivorous monsters are more dangerous, that is mainly because of their high mobility. Plant type monsters tend to be less mobile, but in exchange, they are much, much more powerful and the only plant monsters you will find are either newborn ones, or old ones that various subjugation groups have failed to subdue. Plus, your lack of combat experience in dealing with plant monsters will prove much more dangerous then you first believe. So if you ever come across one, please run. Please, run.


    Today''s Memo:


    Winter Town


    Dancing atop the forest trees,


    The winter wind blew,


    Stores closed due to fees,


    The sun is born anew.

 Chapter 8: Observe. Strategise. Act.

    We hastened, as we slowly crept toward the epicentre of the explosion. Normally people would think its smarter to run away immediately, but I didn''t agree with that concept. If you don''t know what was the root and cause, you can''t make good judgment on counters and further action to be taken. For all you know, you could be running towards the danger and further action could just worsen or aggravate the situation. Maybe it''s just because I''ve been surviving and making a living off information for so long, but information can be really valuable, at times, worth more then lives. That''s why some people are silenced...eternally.


    Either way, we... I needed to know whether it was a monster or human that caused the explosion. Although it shouldn''t be a monster, we weren''t that deep into the forest. And even if we were, there shouldn''t have existed enough magical density, according to the map, for any monster of this calibre to be formed. Yes maps can be inaccurate, but not by this much. It was much more likely bandits.


    "Hey, considering the carriage that just went by, did they get attacked by something?"


    I though about what Shiara said. She was looking unexpected nervous. Yes, that was big a shockwave, but I thought living in the slums would of toughened her more...She may be a bigger weight then expected.


    "Yeah, but it''s most likely bandits. There aren''t monsters who can absorb enough mana from the air living in this forest."


    "Then shouldn''t we be running away?" She muttered underneath her breath. I was seriously beginning to question bringing her along. Yeah, maybe we should just cut ties here.


    "Then run away if you want. Bye" I waved her off as I continued through the forests, pushing past some vines and low hanging branches. The trunks were getting closer together so we were probably entering the deeper regions of the forest.


    "Hey wait up! Aren''t you boys meant to have some manly pride you are meant to protect."


    I looked back speechless. I decided to give her an awkward enigmatic smile and move on. It seems she hasn''t yet noticed. I never explicitly mentioned anything about it, but it wasn''t exactly a well kept secret.


    The forest was getting dimmer. Not just because the trees were getting denser. The high afternoon sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows everywhere. The wind had died down mostly and the clouds from earlier were no where to be seen. It would be a cloudless night, and the clear sky''s would allow the moonlight and stars to provide ample natural light for navigation. Having to push through a bunch of creepers, I felt Shiara catch up with me. She placed her hand on my shoulder.


    "Hey. So what are you even planning to do when we get there?" she shouted, slightly out of breath. I was setting quite a fast pace and traveling in a forest is harder then swimming through crowded streets or strolling through trashed up empty alleys. Even though I was clearing a path and she was just following, it wasn''t like I removed every obstacle and she had to watch out for branches that were swinging back into place. That''s quite impressive. Her voice was tad too loud though, I should warn her....The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "I don''t know, I''ll see when we get there. Also, lower your voice. A lot of newly formed low level nocturnal monsters rely on sound, and we could probably handle only one monster, maybe two if we get lucky. " I whispered, intentionally slightly lower then normal to emphasise my point.


    "So are we just charging-"


    "I don''t know about you, but there are three steps to my process of dealing with an unexpected situation. Step 1, observe. Wait and observe the situation and gather as much information as you can. Be decisive, but not hasty or rushed. Step 2, strategise. Utilising the information you have gathered and analysed, put together a comprehensive and cohesive plan that''s simple yet effective. Complex plans tend to go wrong, but simple plans don''t prepare you for contingencies. Step 3, act. Stick to the plan, but adapt as the situation calls for it. 90% of the time, you will change your plans. The plan is a guideline and not the only solution in a majority of situations-"


    "Ok enough, enough. I get it." She hushed me almost as if I was an immature child that couldn''t stop talking.... maybe I did go off on a bit of a tangent. "But wow, those are some big words...where did you even learn them from?-oops" Ouch. That hurt. No, I was not going to think about the past. The past is gone, gone with the wind. I will not think about the past. I could feel the edges of my eyes wetting themselves, as tears threatened to pour. No, the past is the past, what matters is the present, the future and what you make of it. "Sorry" she whispered to me, obviously sobered after realising she has stepped on a hidden land mine. My face probably gave me away. Family was always a sensitive topic to orphans, and among us a taboo of sorts. If someone noses around your family background in the slums, that was basically a challenge to a duel to the death. Most of us had dark and tragic pasts, and the rests were unwanted children, all one way or another making our way into the slums.


    Still, it wasn''t done intentionally or maliciously. She probably just didn''t think things through. I coughed, avoiding the delicate subject, and wiped the edges of my eyes.


    "Don''t worry about it. Anyway, be quiet, we are nearly there." From my judgement, after this last bit of bush, we should be able to see the scene of the explosion or whatever large scale magic it was. The road probably lay just ahead as the trees were beginning to thin out and the amount of mana in the air had also thinned out slightly. Well, there wasn''t that much to begin with for a forest.


    "Oh hey, I forgot to ask about if before, but do you know how to contain your mana and consciously stop absorption and refinement of mana from the air?" I was originally intending to ask about this after the carriage passed us by earlier, but I forgot about it because of the explosion. It was important that if we observed them that we wouldn''t be detected.


    "No? How do you do-"


    "Ok, bye then. Stay here and don''t move, I''ll be back before the sun fully sets." I left her before she could close her mouth dropping my sack of provisions. There would be another element of risk if I brought her along which would be higher then leaving her here out of sight. Hiding your mana required some delicate control and practice to pick up. Not something she could learn in a day.


    The sun fell below the tree line behind me as I slowly pushed my way through the last of the thicket to cautiously peak. I could no longer see my shadow and even though the sun had yet to set, I felt a slight chill on my neck as my sense of foreboding increased. Alarm bells were ringing in my head. A muffled curse suddenly broke the silence.

 Chapter 9: Dual jewels of Fei

    The outlines of several humans could be made out from the remaining dim sunlight.


    I shifted my neck so that I could see around some more trees to view the whole scene. They shouldn''t be able to spot my scruffy face in this dim lighting at this distance. There were about 50m, gap between us.


    There were seven men who were standing around a carriage. Well, surrounding what should of once been a carriage. There were several pieces of rock sticking out of the carriage all over and the roof seemed to have partially blown off. Another man stood on the carriage driver seat. The curse seems to have originated from him as he quickly let out another curse as a small fist from within struck him. Looks like they had yet to subdue everyone as a small figure could still be seen struggling on the carriage. Or so I thought until I heard the people around the carriage laugh raucously as the man on the carriage threw out a vicious punch. The struggle had ended.


    There was signs of magic and a big fight breaking out, supported by the magical traces, explosions and scorch marks that littered the ground. What looked like pieces of human bodies lay splattered all over. There was so much blood, yet I couldn''t smell it...it looks like there must have been some sought of isolation barrier put in place. Probably to stop any monsters from being attracted here.


    Another carriage lay slightly further away, crashed into the side of the road. The wheels had been blown off, the cogs and spokes broken, making it look more like a square box. The horses attached to it were sprawled across the tree trunks, one with the head struck in, the other still neighing in pain, legs broken. It was still mainly intact, so I decided to take a bigger peak.


    Yup, I recognised the carriage. It was the same one as the one that passed us before. Suddenly I heard a sentence that chilled me. One of the men surrounding the carriage had called out with a foreign accent. He was a serious looking man, in his early twenties. He had well trained chest and big legs that were threatening to burst his dirty trousers. His face was sharp and I noticed he carried himself with a military discipline I only ever saw in high-ranking officers in the military. Even the city official didn''t have his amount of dignity. I couldn''t work out many details as the sun was setting, but his eyes looked like darkened pits, sucking you in.


    But his statement was what scared me. Because he didn''t shout it, I''m not sure if I heard him correctly, but I think I heard "Search the princess! The artefact must be on her!"


    I slowly withdrew my head front the extended position. Yes, slowly. Big movements nearly always attracted more attention the slow subtle ones. This was something that I had gradually understood over the years of spying and peaking. It was much more easier to notice that objects were in different positions then to discover the outline of a human, silhouetted.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    The path I had taken previously rattled, as the grass underfoot was crunched. I whipped around in shock...


    ...only to find Shiara standing there half bent over, pushing her way under some branches. What was she doing here?! I sent her a furious glare, but she unblinkingly just stared back at me with an unyielding gaze...looks like she wasn''t willing to back down. My bag of provisions also hanged over her shoulder. I wouldn''t be able to make her go back by herself, short of making a ruckus or forcing her back so I just decided to let it drop.


    The barrier that prevented the odour leaking was probably some sort of barrier that prevented smell and mana leakage as apart from the initial mana wave, nothing else was detected. It covered us somewhat, but it was still risky to stay here too long. Although they seemed quite complacent, I decided to withdraw with her. I tugged on her arm and we pulled back together.


    After putting about another 50 meter gap between us, she finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    "So what did you see?-And don''t you dare ditch me again without an explanation!"


    I couldn''t help but smother a laugh. She was trying her hardest to keep her voice down, but her mixture of curiosity and anger in her voice ended up making a hilarious combination.


    "Ok, ok, I''m sorry....but you know, I didn''t ditch you. You ditched me. See ditching refers to saying you will go somewhere or do something, but not following through and thereby leaving someone or some group behind. " I had originally decided to placate her, but something in her look just wouldn''t allow me to do just that. Besides we were both too tense, I needed to lighten the mood before I broke it to her. "I told you I was leaving you and then left. Yet you didn''t tell me anything and then decided to stay behind. Now that''s what you would call ditching-"


    "That''s purefallacy!! And weren''t you the one who told me to stay?!?!" -I should probably leave the joke at that. Her screaming was starting to get a bit loud and hysteria was creeping in. We couldn''t allow ourselves to be found by them. The guy who shouted previously should be their leader, but he didn''t look like a leader for just a small band of thieves. There was probably much more to the situation then what I just saw- and working off half-baked information always ended badly.


    "Yes, yes. Ok but seriously, do you want to hear what I saw?"


    "Of course! What did you see?" A worried look was plastered on her face.


    "Have you ever overheard a soldier or high ranking official mention the dual-"


    "No. I don''t eavesdrop like you."


    "-jewels of Fei. Ok...how about the three treasures of Fei?" A blank look. Looks like explaining will take us some time. The climate around here was quite moderate, so even though the sun had set and it had begun to get chilly, it was nothing we were too used too or couldn''t bear. This was why so many people survived in the slums. We both sat down, as I started my long explanation on what I saw and heard. It would be a long night and there would be no fire tonight.

 Chapter 10: Where rivers meet

    Chapter 10: Where rivers meet


    I felt the first rays of dawn gently brush onto me as I woke up slightly startled. Oh, I remember now, I was on my escape, no journey to Yang Ying academy for a possible scholarship before that happened. After our conversation last night, we had moved further away from the scene of attack and then we slept. Well, I slept. Shiara was busy learning how to control her mana so that it didn''t leak and stopped absorbing mana from the surroundings. I noticed her lying nearby, curled in a fetal position. Looks like one night was enough for her to learn it, her talent must be extremely good. I could see the beginnings of bags under her eyes.


    The birds in the forest, probably of some normal wild kind, were chirping away there morning songs, diligently creating a soothing melody. It sounded similar to the melodies my parent- no, I shouldn''t think about that. Mentally steering clear of the dangerous topic, I decided to stop the other melody; my stomach. Subduing the grumbling, I grab some moulded food, from my bag, just enough to satiate my hunger and stop the pangs of pain. The black bread was chalking against of the inside of my mouth, but I ate it with satisfaction. Beggars can''t be choosers, and some food was always better then none. The dry food made me thirsty, but that would have to wait. I promised not to ditch her, so I wouldn''t...unless I really needed to.


    I crawled over and started shaking Shiara''s shoulder, her red hair waving along. We probably should do something about it, it stands out too much. She reminded me of the feral cat I found dumped on the side of the road back then-except she wasn''t unconscious and about to die from bleeding


    "Hey, hey, wake up."


    "Hugh? Hmm?


    "It''s morning. I know you''re tired, but I wanna go grab some water." She turned away from me, muttering something before going back to sleep. Looks like I will need to use my trump card. "If you don''t wake up soon, I''ll leave without you. I''ll be back in a few-"


    She suddenly jumped up, slightly startled and flustered.


    "I''m up!...I''m awake, so what''s happening?" It wasn''t very convincing with a bit of drool on the side of her mouth, her hair all over and her fists slowly rubbing her eyes. Well, I guess I should just remain silent. At least she still remembered where we were when she initially woke up, unlike someone else....maybe I got some head injury during the fall from the fort, my mind has been more clouded recently.


    "Let''s go to the river nearby. According to the map, it should be somewhere to our right, just slightly ahead." The map I was referring to was an old worn out parchment I got from an mercenary in exchange for a certain other information. The map had a leather outing, and although worn with ale stains on it, was still valuable. The map had so many symbols on it, it almost seemed like a decorated rug- luckily I managed to weasel out of the meanings of most of them. I knew most of the important ones and I could probably figure out the rest...or so I thought.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Ok, let''s go!"


    ...


    We reached the river before midday. There was only one slight problem.... we wouldn''t be able to use it.


    "Hey Vaxen, what do you think we should do now?"


    We were staring with bloody thirst at the river from on top of the cliff. Sorry, bad joke. Anyways, encamped on the bank were our recently made best friends! The bandits from before.


    "Hmmm. Let me think. This river has cliffs on either side throughout the forest according to the map. There''s no other way to get water nearby. We would die of thirst before we get to any of the other nearby spots. The only reason this bit hasn''t got a cliff is because the river splits here. Of course we could rely on rain water..."


    "No we shouldn''t Vaxen. You''ve lived in the slums long enough; you should know quite well how many kids have died of thirst. Unless we stay around and collect water from the rain, we will run out of water-"


    "-and if we hang around, we will run out of food or run into the bandits." We were in quite a dilemma. I should of considered the possibility that the only good camping spot in forest would be occupied. Guess our naivety was beginning to show.


    This river was the core of this forest. And this spot split the core of the river. The reason why this was labelled as a good camping spot was probably because all the animals in this forest that didn''t have a way to go down sheer cliffs had to come here to drink. The forest wasn''t big enough to support any monsters or even carnivores, only the small herbivores and animals existed and the river was too fast flowing for anything other then fish to survive. Camping here meant an easy food source and water source. I should of realised the only spot a group of bandits could camp would be here...it was also the only place where you could cross the river. If we didn''t cross here, a big detour would be required.


    "Should we try to go down a cliff for water and find somewhere else to cross?"


    That was a possibility, but the chances weren''t in our favour. We were bound to get injured while trying. Yes, Shiara could probably heal herself and me but that''s only if she stays conscious and if she can reach me. Healing over the distances should be impossible for her or greatly reduce its effect. Besides, the possibility of being stranded at the bottom is high.


    "I feel like we should just sit here and spy on them from above... I''ve been meaning to say this from a while ago, but maybe we should try to save the princess if we get the chance." She had an unpleasant face so I hurriedly continued on "I know that we have no strong reason to, but think about the benefits we could get if we do. You must have realised by now that surviving in the wild and hunting will be a lot harder then we first thought. We haven''t seen a single animal apart from birds. And I prefer the chances of fighting past bandits and going through a shallow river here then traversing the rapid rivers and steep cliffs. We have surprise on our side-"


    "-which will not be enough to overcome them. From your description before, they must have at least an advance-"


    "- expert magician. About two other intermediate magicians and about five close combat personnel."


    "Yes, exactly, and my point being that''s too many people for two of us to overcome. We don''t even know if that was all of them, or if there are more magicians."


    "Yeah, the foreign person may have been a spell blade. He was carrying a rapier and wielding a staff I think. There was also an archer probably. Didn''t see his bow, but it could have easily been unstrung and his cloak had a bulk that could of easily been a quiver. I know what you want to say and I get what you mean. But Shiara, that''s why I suggest we hang around and see what happens. We don''t have any better options, do we. Besides, the situation may change. They might get attacked by some low level thirsty monsters or people-"


    Shiara gave me a quizzical look at my abrupt silence before she noticed my eyes. She formed a silent ''Oh'' and turned to follow my line of sight. The foreign looking man and 4 others left the small cave at the bottom of the beach, slowly ambling up the slope coming towards us. Shiara should of been hiding her mana right?

 Chapter 11: Where people split

    *Princess P.O.V*


    We all have a first for everything and it can be quite scary; yet it is exciting, important and significant the first time we do many things. Your first toy, your first dress, your first friend. Your first crush, your first kiss, your first love. Well how envious of you I am. My firsts currently consist of my first tea party, my first teacher and guard being murdered in front of me and my first kidnapping. I expect to be adding my first torture and interrogation to that list some time soon. *1


    Luckily, like any slightly diligent royal, I had trained and studied for contingencies like this many times. The first step was to stay calm and attempt to understand the immediate surroundings and situation. Especially your location- x,y,z and time coordinates, or the equivalent of spatial magic''s mana spatial co-ordinates.


    I opened my eyes. Or so I thought. The world was a blanket of darkness and only the signals from eyelids told me that they were open. My body was bumping up and down, jolting my head. I could feel a liquid rolling down my forehead, most likely my own blood or Mathew''s. From the bumps, I was probably lying horizontally across on a horse, and few quiet neighs and panting confirmed it. Myabdomen was starting to hurt.


    A rough arm was holding onto my hands so I refrained from any sudden movements. It would probably be better if they didn''t know I was awake. I subtly tried shifting my arms, but they were properly tied behind my back, and so were my legs. I felt around my mana pool, but it seemed like it was nearly dry and something was clearly inhibiting my natural absorption of mana. I wouldn''t be able use any magic of significance without the absorbing from the air. I was still a beginner arc mage, and although I knew quite a few strong offensive spells, they would require my constant absorption of mana during the chant. I had only been doing practical magic for a little under a year or so and my internal mana pool was still minute. There wouldn''t be much of a benefit in being a dual light and space-time arc mage in my current predicament when I could only cast some harmless flashes of light. Space time magic was similar to a specialisation of light magic, and therefore required extra precision and mana compared to light magic so there wouldn''t be anyway I could cast any space magic.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    I felt myself suddenly roll forward bumping into the horse¡¯s mane before a rough and callous hand grabbed my arms. The downhill journey ended quickly as we came to a stop on what I assumed should be level ground. The sound of trickling water tickled my ears. I see, the bandits must of been using this crossing as a base. It was a popular camping spot and that where was even a cave on this side of the river.


    Suddenly I was unceremoniously thrown on the ground and before I could react, pulled along by the scruff of my neck. I let out a gasp of pain before I quickly stifled it. Too late. The rat was out of the bag.


    "Playing dead? Get up. Walk!" I was forcefully jerked to my feet as I marched and stumbled along, getting shoved from behind. Walking while blind was unexpectedly scary. *2Suddenly another voice nearby called out "Be careful with the goods, don''t be too rough." It sounded like the foreign voice who called out from before. I was thrown to the ground again.


    "I don''t give a shit about you White Crow, so f#%! off. I have way more at stake then you, and this little shit''s playing tricks on me. She''s pretending to be unconscious and she must of hidden the artefact somewhere. If the king or duke find out that I''ve betrayed them, I''ll be hunted till the ends of earth."


    "Oi John-"


    "The dukes out of the picture, or will soon be. My men should of started the revolt, and don''t worry, it will be orchestrated flawlessly unlike you guys. And if we don''t find the artefact, you guys will only get half-"


    It seems my captors were beginning to in-fight as they started to dissolve into a rabble of children. I was feeling quite elated now that I hadn''t found the artefact and brought it back with me. The missing artefact seemed to be sowing dissension among them, which would only aid me in any possible escape attempts I may conduct. It also seems like my gut feelings were spot on, there were spies among the duke''s men and they were currently conducting a coup d''¨¦tat. Clearly something big was moving behind the scenes. I needed to warn father.


    "What the f*%£¤. You cheating-"


    A loud slap sounded, and I felt someone land next to me.


    "Everyone shut the hell up!!! We can discuss these matters later, first let''s tie the princess up properly and set up camp."


    ...Dam it. Whoever it was at the end with an authoritative voice must have noticed that I was fiddling with my tied hands behind my back. Still, I had gained quite a bit of information during their little squabble that I was just beginning to digest properly. I couldn''t keep up with the conversation, so I tried to remember as much as I could.


    "Walk." I felt someone pull me up and drag me along, albeit less forcefully. Too busy thinking, I decided to just comply.

 Chapter 12: Where people split -Part 2

    The moonlight crept into the cave as my blindfold was removed. Squinting against the sudden light, I had my first look at my captors up close. A bit of blood oozed into my right eye, causing me to blink in irritation. The blood on me was starting to harden and get sticky. Yet, ironically, I found peace of mind with the thought that this would soon be the least of my problems.


    Achoo!


    I sneezed into my captors face due to the light night breeze. The cave floor was also slightly wet and the chamber was quite moist. The blood soaked dress also didn''t offer much protection against the cold, and I was still used to being pampered with warm fire at night. The blood had yet to dry out entirely though, so I probably hadn''t been out for long. I shirked sideways in expectation of a hit, but after waiting a moment nothing came. I looked back only to see a blanket flying at me, covering my view.


    Landing on top of my head, then worn out covering scratched my head injury; it''s random loose edges poking at me. Well, at least nobody threw a blow at me. They must have come to a uneasy acceptance or agreement not to injure me. That was, as long as I behaved. I sneezed again. I was just protected from the chill and my body had yet to warm up. I gradually wriggled my head out of the blanket.


    I looked around again. Yes, I was in a cave. It was a moderately sized cavern, maybe slightly bigger then a barn. The entrance was quite narrow, one man wide, but it rapidly enlarged past the entrance, forming a full size circular room. I had been placed on the left side, away from the entrance. There was a small fire pit in the middle with egg-sized stones forming the circular pit. Bits and pieces of burnt cinders lay there slowly dying away. My hands had been chained to a stalagmite behind my back, so I looked up. Yes! My intuition had been correct. The dim glow the fire provided illuminated a few low hanging stalactites, reflected in the hanging water droplets. They might come in handy...*1


    After performing some basic chores and checks, my attackers had sat down leisurely around the fire. There appeared to be some sort of hierarchy or prearranged seating arrangement as a few of them went around the circle before sitting down. Another one of them sat at the entrance. He wasn''t being a very good guard, constantly looking back at the fire. Not that they needed to worry about any threats- this forest only had a white danger rating, which was the most basic danger rating. It was probably mainly an act just out of habit.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "So let''s torture that little b*%#~!" It was the angry guy from before. John I think. "She definitely knows where the artefact is, we just need to beat her up until she spills it!"


    Everyone turned to stare at me, their eyes boring into me, as if trying to discern truths. Hmmm, this did not bode well for me. Should I try withholding information or just tell them. They may not believe me if I tell them straight up, but it would probably not be a good idea to agitate them anymore. The information wasn''t that valuable after all. Actually it might even put splinters into this group!


    "Don''t! I''ll talk! I''ll talk! I don''t know much, except that it was stolen from the Duke by a bunch of gangs around the slums. I don''t anything else! Don''t hurt me!" I cowered underneath the blankets. People who have their ego inflated tend to be less violent, or so I''ve thought. If they thought my spirt was broken already, they would be less wary of me as well.


    An uneasy silence followed my scream. What''s going on? I wriggled out of the blankets, poking my head out to peak. Everyone seemed to be silently staring at each other with distrustful faces. Suddenly, the foreign looking man, wearing the eastern sashed style clothing approached me. I started to stare in trepidation. Looks like I wouldn''t escape torture after all. As he reached me, he grasped a bundle of my hair in his hand, pulling and tugging on the roots. My scalp was burning in pain.... literally. He had been muttering as he came towards me and had casted some sought of basic flame spell directly into the top of my head. Normally, casting a spell inside someone would be extremely hard, if not impossible without their co-operation, but as I was lacking so much mana that my bodily functions were starting to fail, it became extremely easy for the foreign energy to invade me.


    "So?"


    So? So what? What do you even want me to say?! Did you want me to scream in pain? Or say that my statement from before was a lie?


    "I''m telling the tru-AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I stretched, and shifted writhing from the agony, trying to yank myself out of his grasp. Pure white splotches filled my vision as I barely retained my conscience.*2 If they definitely weren''t gonna play nice, I may as well give them a peace of mind. My mind just went mad, and forgetting my original intent of self-control, I could hear my self shouting wildly and splitting saliva. "You f¡ê^%#!* ass-hat. It''s the bloody truth, you morons. Some kids from the slums stole it from the duke''s idiotic men before I got there. Like that traitorous dog over there."


    I could feel myself grinning savagely as I pointedly stared at the man who had betrayed us. The moment John had murdered Mathew; I swore to myself that he wouldn''t have a happy ending.


    "Hmm, it seems there may be some truth in this. I guess we will need to go consult our respective people. Well, thanks for your help, good night." I felt a bolt of electricity coursing through my brain.


    I collapsed onto the ground. Suddenly I heard a slurred and blurry high pitch voice say "Two of you guys should stay here with me. The rest can go report to their respective bosses tomorrow." My last thoughts were that my ears were probably messing with my hearing. I lost conscious.

 Chapter 13: Head Signalling; Two heads are better than one

    *1


    We froze like two startled deers caught in headlights, subconsciously holding our breath. They didn''t seem to be coming for us, but their backpacks and casual walking could all be a ruse. Doubt and anxiety flowed through my brain as I realised that their path would take them right next to us. It wouldn''t matter if they did or didn''t know we were here if they walked into us. Thoughts of ambushing them flew wildly through my head, before being chucked out just as quickly. They weren''t bunched up enough and we stood no chance against their overwhelming numbers and power. Even if we attacked them with surprise, we would just be chicken sending ourselves up to be butchered-not to mention that they had reinforcements at their camp just below.


    The five man group continued to approach us, and the urge to flee was beginning to kick in. Yet I knew that the moment to run had already passed and at this range we wouldn''t stand much of a chance of fleeing. I resisted the urge to turn around and look at Shiara, knowing that any movement at this range would be fatal. 3 meters...2 meters....and then directly next to us...


    ...-and they continued by, without looking at the bush we were in. My eyes continued to follow them out of the corner of my field of vision, not daring to stray off their backs. Suddenly, a messy looking guy at the end of the line stopped about 6 meters away from us and I felt my heart jump up into my throat. His arm reached backwards towards his backpack-only to give it a good scratch, before he continues along. They proceeded out of sight, as the trees and foliage covered their sight. We waited another few seconds before we released our pent up breath, just short of choking. I heard a barely audible sigh from next to me and was just about to berate Shiara, when I realised that I had also sighed at the exact same moment. She had done nothing wrong.


    I turned to Shiara, noticing that her face was tinged slightly blue, the original pale rosiness to her cheeks only gradually returning now. After the tense episode, I couldn''t help but smile at her and say "...or people might leave. Now''s the chance we''ve been waiting for right?"


    ...


    We had settled ourselves onto a branch, the afternoon sun shining through the outstretched branches and leaves, glaring at us from above. Getting up quietly had been difficult for Shiara and I struggled a bit as well, but now we had the right angle so that we could directly see the princess inside the cave. The map I had with me, although quite crude, had actually noted down the size of this campsite cave.


    We peered cautiously between two branches, leaning slightly forward, though not enough to fall off. I spied two of the remaining bandits playing with a die right outside the cave, but the third one, the person possibly carrying the bow was out of sight and nowhere to be seen.


    "Hey how long are we going to play monkey in the tree?" It would seem like someone was getting impatient already.


    "We only just got here, hang on will you?" Shiara must have always been the energetic and cheerful type and now that we were actually doing something, heading somewhere and had goals, her suppressed personality seem to explode from her. Of course, her constant facade of cheerfulness and caring in front of her patients, who often were legitimate citizens, may have resulted in a few loose screws...


    Shiara made a sullen face at me, before going back to staring at the princess. It would seem her moody persona had taken over her again. Well, this would be a long wait, so it was better that she was mentally prepared. The chances that Princess would look sideways, upwards and out of the cave towards us were slim, so I would expect that it would required at least about 1/4 of a blue-moon''s time to 2/3 or maybe even 1/2 of a white-moon''s time.*2 There was also the chance she would never look here. Thus, Shiara and I agreed that if by this evening she still hadn''t noticed us, we would just go ahead with this rescue operation without notifying her. It would help if she was in on it, but it wouldn''t be a necessity.


    ***************


    I swung my sword. I swung my sword again. And again. And again, and again, and again. The up and down motion was tiring, yet it had a soothing effect on my heart. My breathing started to become ragged and my mind emptied itself of all trivial thoughts and worldly desires. It was just me and my sword. My short wooden sword, perfectly carved and polished to prevent splinters, perfectly weight for my tiny little delicate and cute hands. I felt the handle slide and fall out of my hand as I finished the last of the overhead swings in my practise set. I sat down on my bottom with a thump, too tired to even cry out in pain. Exercise seemed to dull my pain, just like it dulled my mind, and it was one of my best escapes from all the politics, parties, studying I normally did. What most adults found so appealing in wine, alcohol or even some of the other unmentionable illegal activities, I found in the sword.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Princess...maybe you should just focus on your studies. Your mother doesn''t want you playing with a sword and the King has also agreed to let you study magic. He''s looking for a good responsible teacher for you already."


    Hah. As if I wouldn''t know that already. My maids all treated me like a child still, as if I was like most of the other high handed, snobbish noble kids.


    "Sarra, you should listen to your maids. Your mother is really worried, she doesn''t want her daughter playing with a sword, even if it isn''t sharp. If you-"


    "But Jasmine! Even my brother is starting to learn the sword! And he''s YOUNGER then me! Why can''t I-"


    "You already know why...You won''t find many other female knights. And DON''T try to argue with me about mages, your father has already given his consent to that and..............."


    I turned around to look at why my female bodyguard had stopped talking suddenly. But no one was there. I turned back around. The maid was gone as well. I started to feel a chill in my heart as I suddenly heard the crunching of footsteps. I twisted around.


    I screamed in horror. The bloody corpse of Lara, twisted and mangled, dripping out blood, the empty eye sockets and orifices all wide open lay floating before me.


    -I woke up, cold sweat dripping from my forehead. I looked around startled for a moment before regaining my bearings and memories, recalling the recent misfortune of events. The dry blood was clinging to my skin, buta wet sensation in between my legs notified me of my accidental leakage.


    I lifted my head and took a look around me. Quite a few of the baggage and camping gear that were lying strewn all over the ground messily yesterday, were already gone. They must have left like they said. I looked around noticing only two of my captors playing a game or sorts at the entrance. They were lying in the sun alternatively throwing a die. I looked around again. There were three sleeping bags in the cave, where was the third person?


    Either way, I concluded that this would be my best chance to escape. My magic flare, which I normally carried, had been confiscated. I hadn''t noticed its disappearance previously. The bloody clothes clinging to me had cloaked the removal of the flare I usually carried on my thigh, and my brain had tunnel visioned somewhat previously, even though I tried to remain calm.


    "SHOO!"


    A loud shout echoed around the cave as pair of birds suddenly took flight, flying past the cave. I looked up at them.


    "Stupid birds! Trying to steel my sunflower seeds. I should have killed them!"


    "You know they wouldn''t have much to any meat."


    "Well at least we would then have bones to play with."


    "Just leave that to our deputy Huntress!"


    "Ha...hahaha!" Their combined laughter harmonised eerily inside the cave as they went back to their game outside. I didn''t recognise either of them, but they were probably one of the lower ranking members. I was just about to look down again-to deal with the magic absorption inhibiting rope that I had been tied with, when I suddenly caught a glimpse of something red in a distant tree atop of the cliff. I slowly looked up again, and sure enough, in a tree on the higher ground, there was a patch of red among the green. I quickly looked at the two guards, and after confirming they has settled back into their game, looked up again. I could barely see the red patch past the cave entrance, with it being on the very edge of my view.


    Suddenly the red patched disappeared, then popped up again, then disappeared, and then popped up again. It repeated that five times. By now I was entirely focused on it. If I wasn''t wrong that was the starting code for our countries military message signalling. I had learnt it during my military logistics'' lesson. The blob or red continued to appear and disappear. I silently mouthed out the letters as they began to be formed, straining to remember them. It signalled "R E S C U E A T T E M P T U P O J H I U. H A L F B L U E N P P O."


    I frowned. The code didn''t make sense?! Who were these amateurs?! Were they really part of the military?! What were ''U P O J H I U'' and ''N P P O'' at the end meant to mean? Did I forget something?!


    Author Notes: If you want to guess the code error/figure it out, do it now before you read on.


    I was starting to panic. Like did I miss a flash? Did I break up the letters incorrectly? And why was it a red patch bobbing instead of a light....oh, a light would of been too obvious, the guards would have seen it....


    Then it suddenly hit me. My Dad once mentioned to me that the old military code, back when he was a child, they didn''t have the value shift after every second word. If that was the case then they should have meant...uh....''TONIGHT'' and ''MOON''. Now that made sense. ''Rescue attempt tonight. Half blue moon.''


    I gathered my thoughts for a reply, calculating the amount of flashes and ways to minimise the amount while retaining clarity. I twisted my body so that my lap was hidden from the captors view; not that they were even looking. One of them had just lost in the game, and they were both crying. One from joy and one from sadness. I refocused my thoughts and started chanting underneath my breath. I focused my entire being, taking that little bit of mana left in me and pushing it into this bit of magic. "From darkness there first came light, shine."


    A tiny ball of light formed in my lap. Dim to the point that it would be barely noticeable under sunlight. The darkness of the cave however helpedprovide the extra contrast making it visible. I decided to skip the pre message protocols; I didn''t have enough mana or stamina to do that. Leaning over the light to produce the flashes, I quickly sent ''O K. W A T C H O U T T H E R E A R E T H R E E O F T H E M.'' I just finished when my spell ended. I sighed in relief. The message was rushed, but they should be able to decode it.


    Then I remembered, I had used the new military code.

 Chapter 14: Operation drop beat

    Chapter 15: Operation drop beat


    "Hey Shiara, so did you get what she signalled to us? I''m quite envious that you got to learn the army code, teach me it someday will you....even I couldn''t get my hands on this kind of information." Shiara had previously mentioned while we were planning this rescue that an old veteran and retired soldier known as Mad Waltz, one of her clients, had taught her how military signalling works for fun. Of course, he had payed for her time, even though she was the one being taught...


    Ahhh, Mad Waltz, now that brings backs memories. He was an eccentric, grumpy and moody person. He was supposedly over 70 already, and his head was mostly bald with a few wisps of white, but his combat abilities were still so strong that even the city officials didn''t dare to act against him. Even in his failing state, he still retained quite a few powerful connections and even supposedly had a huge amount of hidden wealth that he never used. He was a daring man, who would do anything and go anywhere if he so wished, with no regard for others. People who idolised him called him courageous and bold, but others just blamed it on his failing memory. Of course, his erratic behaviour made him a walking land mine for people, so I normally steered clear of him when I could. One minute you would see him talking kindly to a shop owner, the next moment he would already be strangling the poor man.


    Oh, and he also had arthritis, so he needed to have healing medicinal salve applied on a regular basis or undergo healing magic. But the number of people with a unique type of affinity like healing is low, so normally it would be harder to find someone who knew healing magic compared to other types, and most of the people who you could casually find, who knew healing magic, were people who had to forcefully try to comprehend it, and were thus less effective at healing. That''s what made Shiara valuable- yet this was also a double edged sword for her. If someone was valuable, but didn''t have the sufficient capabilities to safeguard themselves, that made them exploitable.


    1*


    We quietly slipped and slid down from the tree, dropping from the upper branches and sliding down the trunk. Ok, I was doing that. Shiara was attempting a very slow awkward spread out spider crawl down the centre of the trunk. I brushed off the sticks that had got stuck in a few of the holes in my clothing and the thorny edged leaves that had attached themselves to me. I was just finished patting myself down, when Shiara fell to the ground next to me with a dull thud.


    "What mole...you''re a monkey." ...I''ll pretend I didn''t hear her mutter that.


    "So what did she say? Was it-"


    "-I don''t know Vaxen. I don''t know." She stared at me, her forehead all creased up, eyes somewhat glazed and vacant. She was probably deep in thought, so I decided to wait for her to continue. "...Vaxen, maybe I didn''t remember the signalling code properly..." She was mumbling now, her face the image of anxiety, scrunched up and with confusion painted all over it. I should probably ask her to explain the problem to me so that- " I mean, I''m pretty sure I didn''t forget the code, as she understood mine and I understood her first sentence. It''s the second sentence that bugs me. I think the first two words should''ve been ''WATCH OUT'' but the next part is just some incoherent jumble of letters. "The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Well, we achieved our main goal of alerting her without getting caught. Let''s not ponder on what her message was, it''s probably just a warning of some sort. But I have to say, that was a lot easier then expected....almost too easy. Those two bandits down there are doing a worse job than the noble trainee patrol units in the middle of the night."


    "Yeah. Yeah, you''re right....She also rushed the message and ending, so they probably have something inhibiting her usage, production or collection of mana. Hey, Vaxen, what do we do if they are tying her down with iron chains, or high level magic?"


    "I''ll come down once I''ve knocked out the two guards. If it''s just iron chains look for the keys or I might be able to break them with earth magic and if I can''t...Well, then we may have to abandon her. Let''s just deal with it when it comes."


    ***


    I looked up at the night sky. A few clouds blotched out the starlight, but the two moons were both visible. The blue moon partially overlapped against the white moon, covering it and creating a partial eclipse. I sat, patiently staring up at the stars and feeling the night breeze.An urge to scratch my short hair had been developing, so I focused on my pores on my skin.


    The blue moon had almost eclipsed the white moon. Bored, I started to muse over the night time system. In Fei, there was a very funny misleading time concept that foreigners seemed to struggle with. Unlike in other nations, in this country, there existed the unique terms ''half blue moon'' and ''half white moon'' which are completely different from ''half blue-moons time'' and ''half white-moon''s time''respectively. ''Half blue moon'' refers to when the two moons first eclipse each other while ''half blue-moon''s time referred to when the moon was half way through its night cycle. I had previously conducted a few transactions at night, and when the client arrived late, that was a dead give away of their origin. Nobles also apparently had something called a clock which measured time in another unit, but I had never laid eyes upon one.


    -HOOT! HOOOOT!


    I was startled back out of my train of thoughts by the the sudden noise. Just an owl. Hah...it probably had just managed to land a successful catch as it took flight into the woods. The world suddenly turned slightly more bluish than normal. The tint indicated that eclipse was in place, so I grabbed the two fist sized rocks prepared before hand lying next to me. A sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu hit me.


    Brushing away the thought of changing my profession to chucking rocks, I pushed my head over the ledge, observing the two targets. I dropped the two heavy stones.


    I heard a dull thunk, as the two sitting figures collapsed forward. YES! It was a success.


    -or so I thought when suddenly I noticed a fluctiation of mana as one of them raised their hands and a burst of fire rushed up at me. I ducked back, as fire ball flew upwards into the night sky passing me. I could feel the warm upper current and heat that the trailed behind the fiery ball. Basking in the glory of my fast reflexive dodge, I suddenly noticed that my sleeve had caught alight. I attempted to pat it out with my other hand as I quickly stood up -OUCH!


    I felt a hard pointy branch pushing against my neck. In my panic, I had forgotten the old tree behind me. Cursing at my own stupidity, I felt myself being propelled forward and over the cliff. I swung my hands backwards, attempting to grasp the branch, but I was already in free fall.


    The wind rushed at me, as I noticed Shiara running toward me from the tree line at the bottom of the slope. She would never make it in time.


    I crashed. Pain wracked my whole body as I lost consciousness.


    2*

 Chapter 15: Raining trees and raining arrows?

    ...Huh..what''s this?...a dream? I looked down toward myself as I attempted to raise my arms...But there was nothing there. Yes, this must be a dream. Or a nightmare.


    I looked up again to see a toddler holding hands, standing between a young girl and a young mother. Another young boy danced around them, energetically bouncing on the balls of his feet, racing across the windy grass plains, his arms outstretched, a piece of string trailing behind him in the wind. A small maroon fox followed the boy, making excited snapping sounds at empty air, his lithe body skimming across the ground as if he was weightless. As the two of them started running in wider circles, the little girl pulled the scarf tighter around her neck and shouted "Jacky, come here!" 1* The boy started running back over and the little fox realising this, decided to race the little boy. It could be seen that these antics were nothing new to the group though, by how calmly they continued their leisurely walk. The young boy and young girl who had many similar features were actually twins.


    The toddler suddenly started tugging on the two palms she was holding onto. The young girl bent her back until her face was level with the toddler, while the young mother crouched and grasped the tiny hand in both her palms. "What''s wrong Rachel?" The voice, filled with motherly affection, warmed me up even though I knew I was a mere spirit right now existing in a memory of the past. How I longed to hear that voice again, for her to call me and caress my soul and very being. While the two of them started grooming the toddler''s clothes and hair, showering her with care, she continued to stare behind them.


    She removed her hands from their grasp as she tugged on their arms again. "Sister, mummy, why are their trees falling from the sky?" Her cute voice tugged on the ropes of my heart. Yes, she was my baby sister who had just turned 3 years old this year and everything about her was cute. Her puffy red cheeks, blushed red normally, her soft skin which felt smooth like the skin of a newborn ewe and big eyes that seemed to be filled with innocent curiosity.


    "Huh, there''s no such thing. It''s not good to ask random questions Rachel, or the Shadow Soul group may kidnap you." The young mother replied to the child with the common threat for naughty children. She admonished her though not because she disliked her daughter, but out of the love and kindness of her heart, because she wanted her child to grow up into a fine young lady.


    However this young mother didn''t know the toddler as well as her sister who had spent nearly every living moment awake so far next to her. She knew that Rachel would never make anything up. She simply didn''t have the mental capacity or aptitude to do so at her age.


    So without questioning the legitimacy of this highly improbable and insane question, she dutifully raised her head up high, inclined toward the direction the toddler was looking at. And what she saw shocked her. Her mouth hung wide open, wide enough to swallow a whole egg and she turned mute. Seeing her startled expression the young mother and boy quickly turned around only to adopt similar expressions of stupidity. The mother, quickly realising the severity of the problem, steeled herself, though her pale face still showed her horror.


    "Jacky. JACKY! Look at me...Hahhhh...I know you haven''t had your ceremony for adulthood yet, but consider this done right now. I want you to protect your sisters. Run! Just run to the village from Daddy''s stories. And trust nobody! Mummy will come find you guys with him later. And Vixen, look after the two of them, make sure he doesn''t do anything rash. Rachel, be a good little girl, listen to your siblings. Little fox, watch after them ok?" 2*


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I didn''t notice it at the time, but my mother left with a crying and resolute face. Maybe she was crying due to leaving us, or maybe she was crying for Dad. I felt a tinge of regret as I saw my past self. Perhaps, if I had done things differently, convinced her to come with us, or if perhaps I hadn''t stood in mute shock and instead took action, things would have been different. Inaction relies on fate, and destiny can be cruel.


    As I watched the group of children leave, blurred voices and sounds echoed and hummed in my ear. Each child with their own thought. Maybe it was our naivety that led us to believe that if we did as we were told, Mum and Papa would come find us and everything would be alright. Maybe we were in jubilation of being considered adults thereafter, or maybe it was just our cowardice, and that we realised the problem was bigger then us and anything we could handle. Suddenly, the mother said something I don''t remember hearing in the past.


    "I love you. Take care."


    ...


    "...V....VA..EN.....VAXEN!....VAXEN!!........VAXEEEEEENNNN!!!!!"


    !!


    I woke up lying on the cold hard ground. Two unfamiliar faces were staring down at me. No, one was Shiara.


    "Thank goodness you''re back! You really scared me when you fell down! Luckily you landed on the guys you knocked out before, so they absorbed the impact. One died from the dropped rock and I think you may have killed the other when you fell on him. Anyways you had a few fractures and internal bleeding, but nothing that couldn''t be healed, although you might feel slightly tired because of the magic I used. Oh right, this is the princess here, I managed to find the key for her chains after I healed you, but I wasn''t sure how long it would take you to wake up again. We were just about to carry-"


    "How long have I been out?" I decided to interrupt her as her worry had turned her into a nonstop chatterbox.


    "-uh...a while."


    "You''ve been out for about 15 minutes." The supplemented information came from the other girl standing there, the princess. Her voice had a rough edge to it, and somehow, she had reshaped her hair from the disheveled mob it was into a ponytail. Too bad I didn''t know how long 15 minutes was. Either way, this had taken too long, and the fire ball must have alerted everything nearby.


    "Anyways, we have to go! NOW! There is another bandit nearby!"


    !!!


    I got up, grabbed the dagger quickly from the dead body I had been using as a head rest, and started bolting across the river towards the trees on the other side. The other two also raced after me. Or so I thought, but I only heard one set of splashes. I turned back around to see the princess untether a horse before leaping onto its back and come galloping at us. Right! Just because we didn''t know how to ride horses, doesn''t mean she doesn''t. But what sort of naive idiot would try galloping a horse in the middle of the night through a forest?! ....A reckless princess I guess...


    Refocusing my thoughts, I realised that having a horse with us would be helpful. The reason I was so anxious was because there was still one of them out there who had been hunting. Previously the princess had made the delicate decision of grabbing supplies, rather than saving time. Although she had taken a bit of extra time, she had mostly caught up as she passed Shiara and levelled with me.


    Suddenly, I felt something amiss. My brain was still somewhat foggy from my sudden awakening, but something still felt amiss. Then it hit me. Killing intent. Anger, rage and the subtle currents of mana in the air. Someone else was here. I turned around to look, but only the trees stared back. I couldn''t identify the location where the mana was gathering, but someone, somewhere, was definitely gathering it.


    "We''re nearly there, so wait up!" Shiara was hollering at the back, oblivious to the imminent danger. Suddenly I spotted a white glow from between a pair of trees. Time seemed to slow down as I realised it was a projectile of some sorts. The question was, who was it aiming for? Me? Shiara? The princess? The most reliable way to stop us would be to shoot the princess, so I made a split second decision to pull her off her horse.


    Fwoosh!


    The horse¡¯s head suddenly disappeared upwards as the neck was cleanly cut in half. I spotted the arrow with its trailing white glow for a moment, before the princess and I tumbled into the nearby bush and smashed into a stunted trunk. I quickly got up helping the slightly dazed princess. Shiara caught up to us, so I decided I should leave this to her, and go buy us some time....then I spotted where the arrow from before had landed....through the whole of two thick tree trunks and stuck in the bough of a third. On second thoughts, we should all just run.


    Shiara came along, grabbing the princess on the other side, the two of them quickly ran and limped into the forest silently. I took one last glance back-SHIT! I ducked back in when I sensed the arrow and a moment later the feathered arrow flew by. The humanoid figure was on the cliff on the other side, so we had a bit of a head start, but our odds were not optimistic, considering the speed and accuracy of those shots. I quickly ran after the two.

 Side Series: Jackys Diary- Diary entry: no 24#

    Year of the Phoenix 462


    Dear Diary,


    As the Year of the Slumbering Dragon has reached it''s end, people are celebrating and welcoming the Year of the Rising Phoenix. Yet, I can''t set my heart at ease. Now this isn''t because of any sort of desire to return home, but rather out of the fear for one of the relatives who looked after me since I came to this world. Vanessa, my sister, had a political marriage with another high ranking noble from one of the small kingdoms part of the Four Clover Alliance. My sister had met the noble during a big party and they instantly hit it off. She ended up marrying into their family, and though it was done with politics in mind, they also both loved each other. She then gave birth to my nephew, Timothy, who I met a few times during my travels. He was a bright lad, and should be turning thirteen soon.


    Around the start of the Year of the Slumbering Dragon, the city states to the east of this alliance have had a lot of civil unrest, and the Holy Xeno Empire had begun mobilising their army. They have yet to announce their supposed crusade, yet the target is quite obvious considering their geographical location. The only good new is the Heavenly Magic Kingdom has remained quiet as normal.


    <s>Through my merchant connections, I have heard news that wars is about to break out, and there is no better time then when everyone has lowered their guard to celebrate the new year. </s>2*


    Through my merchant friends, I have heard that combat related products have sky rocketed in value recently, and I know more then one merchant who has been going east to sell armaments. But the imminent war isn''t truly what I fear. Even if the kingdom falls, as high ranking nobles, they should be granted some form of clemency or chance to surrender. They would most likely become political prisoners, and not be forced into slavery-that is, if they were in a normal war. What I truly fear, is the conspiracy I heard from a noble connection.


    This noble friend of mine happened to be involved in the intrigue and intelligence department of our nation. One night, when we went out to the local inn for a beer, he drank a bit too much. And during his drunken rancor, he mentioned that "Shadow Soul may be involved in stirring up the war" Those short words were enough to sober me up.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    I don''t believe he was truly drunk at that point, and that he may have done that on purpose knowing me, but due to this statement, I had begun organising to travel to them. Now most people believed that this organisation didn''t exist, and was just an imaginary fairytale used to scare children, but those who knew of their actual existence feared it. And I knew. In the past some people mistakenly thought I was apart of their group due to being reincarnated, and I nearly lost my life because of that.


    The Shadow Soul organisation supposedly consisted of around twelves core members, but their level of influence is unimaginable. The organisation specialises in kidnapping children and through illegal black soul magic, they would swap the souls of their members with kidnapped children. They would then posses the youthful body; while the child''s soul would be implanted into to a body about to die of old age. Through this, they manage to create pseudo immortality, with their oldest members estimated to be alive since before the founding of some smaller nations, around 400 years old. There are no records on when the organisation was founded, but it is believed to have existed since before most written records. 1*


    However, their eternal memory and wealth of knowledge isn''t the only reason they are so powerful. The organisation is believed to be connected to many powerful figures in nations across Myristic. They will also get any job done, as long as an equivalently large sum of wealth is given for it. Lastly, they are impossible to hunt. Though an occasional blunder, or trace is found, every hunt for them has ended in failure. And it''s no surprise considering their ability to swap bodies.


    Thus, I have decided to embark on this two week journey to meet my sister and nephew. I have already bought the carriage as well as the magic glow powder, though the cost pains my merchant heart, it''s better that my heart bleeds now rather then it bleeding from an accident. The powder provides a better headlight for the carriage then lamps, and are essential for night time travel. Lamps just don''t cut it, and with no powerful flame magician, I had no choice but to buy it. <s>Still, spending the Earth equivalent of 0.1 Million dollars just for this amount of powder is clearly a rip off. Even with magic, electricity can not be replaced well... </s>2*


    If I did not travel at night as well, it would take over a month, many currently time was of importance. Luckily, because my noble connection asked to come along, I could make him pay his part. He really did set me up... Anyways, I will leave it at that. Time to leave.


    Please be safe Vanessa, Timothy.


    Today''s Memo:


    Heroes of the past -Lest we forget


    The soldiers who have fought,


    Dies many fruitless wars,


    With their lives they bought,


    Peace and Law.<s></s>

 Chapter 16: The Hunt

    I ran, following behind the two figures into the forest. The branches spread out above created eerie shadows, as the blue moon shined down from above. Without the pale white light from the other moon, the ground seemed especially tinged with blue and washed out making seemingly normal plant life seem all the more monstrous. I felt my hairs standing on end, as a sense of being hunted slowly encroached on me.


    Somehow, I felt more tired then normal, as my legs and mind seemed to burn out quicker from running than usual. The forest created obstacles, but that was just like running in a crowded street. What really put me off was the uneven flooring. Yep, another root there that I nearly tripped over again. The occasional stunted plant growth with a branch at head height was also distracting, but not nearly as annoying as the ground. We also seemed to have been running uphill.


    I took a glance at the two figures in front of me. The princess had recovered from her initial fall and was running on her own. Our mouths being busy breathing in air, had mostly been silent, apart from the occasional grunt in pain and our increasingly ragged breathing. I wasn''t running at full pace because I needed to cover our backs as well as check for and remove any obvious signs or tracks we left behind. Luckily there hadn''t been any rain recently so the ground was mostly solid.


    The glance up seemed to have re-awaken my previous pains as my neck felt somewhat stiff and rigid in movement. Healing magic is not an all powerful quick fix, and considering my previous fall, and the degree of damage taken, the basic or medium grade recovery magic would have probably only stimulated the self recovery of important parts to a safe level. Considering that, I should be really low on mana....OH NO! I quickly shut off my absorbance of mana from the surroundings. It had been an unconscious reflexive response from my body for reaching dangerously low levels of mana. I had already mostly recovered, but in exchange I had left a stupidly obvious trail. Because of how quickly I had been taking in and converting mana from the atmosphere, I had created a trail of less dense mana, in which it would require a few hours to defuse evenly with the surroundings again. Deciding that it may come down to a fight, I squatted down and quickly grabbed a rock in my left hand.


    When I looked up again, I discovered I had lost sight of them. A slightly bigger cedar tree stood in front of me. There was a low hanging, twisted, creeper attached to it that seemed to point towards the direction in which the proper main road through the forest was. To the right of the tree was a small thin path between trees cleared of vegetation, most likely used by the few small animals living here. Left? Right? Which way to go? I thought about calling out to them, but immediately scratched that. I had already left a big enough clue with the mana, and the archer hunting us should already be within earshot. The left side would be tougher to push through, and the plant life looked mostly undisturbed, so I moved towards the right track. Worst comes to worst, I could always just continue to head in the same direction as the track until I reached her grave.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    !!! I dived towards the right. Throughout my life I had had several moments where I would suddenly feel imminent danger for no reason. Like that one time when I hadn''t known what those men were up to, I had felt it moments before the sword juggling man lost control and threw his dagger at me from behind my back. Every time, whether accidental or not, whether blood lust and mana were involved or not, it had warned me about a life threatening situation. Thus I mentally dubbed this Survival Instinct. And it just kicked in.


    Before I could even look for the direction of the threat, I felt a slight pain as an arrow grazed my left shoulder, launching a small spray of blood droplets. At the same moment, I felt the light makeshift cloth pack, with my spare cloth and food inside, drop to the ground. The sash had been cut along with my left shoulder.


    I continued to stumble down the right path, twisting my head around to look. My left shoulder was screaming with pain and the occasional small branch''s touch only antagonised it. The arrow had come almost silently, and had been near invisible to detect. I heard a crunching of leaves behind me towards the right. The rock I had managed to hold on to, through the pain, in my left hand was still clenched inside of my fist, hidden from sight. When I heard a clear crunching sound closing in to my right, I turned around. A figure holding a bow was walking quickly towards me, with the arrow trained on me. I pivoted my left arm, and launched the rock. The action caused me agony, but I was rewarded with a satisfying thud, as the rock smashed against their hood and splintered.


    But my happiness was short lived. The figure stood there silently without a reaction. No, the rock had hit the hood, but the hood seemed to be some defensive magical item. The hood of the cloak had been knocked off and a clean feminine face was revealed. The hood had somehow absorbed the hit. The lady stared at me, like a wolf eyeing a deer, a small mocking smirk showing, the corner of her mouth tilted ever slightly upwards. But her eyes weren''t smiling. I stumbled backwards on a root, landing painfully on my bum.


    The lady drew back her arrow. There were no words that needed to be exchanged between us. We each knew our own situation. Still, maybe out of some foreign courtesy she asked,"Any last words?" Her voice sounded so soothing, yet it was a song of death. I started to see my life flash before me. Suddenly I understood something so fundamental about magic, that it shocked me. I placed my hands in front of my face, pretending to cower and said..


    "Yes. Rock blast." I stared through the cracks between my fingers as a rock was quickly formed out of mana and launched at a fast speed towards her. As it was about to reach her, the rock suddenly shattered as a glowing arrow pierced through it, and flew speedily at me, much, much faster than the rock. I was out of mana, and didn''t have enough time to gather or fire off another spell. So I feebly closed my eyes, and pushed out my hands, my mind wandering to the sensation of the cold ground as I waited for my imminent death...waited...and waited...and waited? Why hadn''t the arrow hit yet?!

 Chapter 17: Spatial Spirit

    I wondered for a moment whether she had decided to play with me after her taunt, but then the long silence proved the impossibility of this option. I tried to open my eyes, but somehow my eyelids refused to move and seemed so sluggish. I tried moving my arms as well, but they seemed numb and frozen stiff. They wouldn''t budge at all either. What was going on? Had I already died and missed the pain? Was my body in the rigour-mortis state that all life experiences after death?


    "Hello little girl. How did you end up becoming my host?...Well you are magically compatible after all, though not the best, I guess you will do. I don''t want to keep sleeping another million years only to find a slightly better host." The voice suddenly came out startling me. It seemed to come out from inside my body. Not from my throat or mouth, but from within my body. No, their seemed to be two voices, one slightly delayed compared to the other. The words seemed to come out with a strange echo, each voice seemingly resonating with the other. <sub>*1</sub>


    The voice itself was soothing to hear, like a lullaby, and it seemed to further numb the top of my head, and warm up the insides of my ears. My brain started to feel like mush, as a small current of lightning seemed to flow through my body. I could feel my face glowing and skin beginning to burn up, as the voice seemed to stimulate me, and a sensation of ants walking all over enveloped me. My body started feeling ticklish, as an urge to laugh overcame me, and though I was still immobile, the feeling began to build up and swell, mysteriously morphing into happiness and bliss. A sensual beat seemed to throb in my ears and I began to feel a blush- wait, now was not the time for analysing the voice. Got to stay focused and figure out what''s happening. Gotta stay focused. As my mind cleared, the urge to laugh and other feelings seemed to recede, though the paralysis did not seem to disappear. <sub>*2</sub>


    "Hmmm...not bad I guess, you must have pretty strong will-power to escape my charm magic. Although I''m currently quite weakened, to escape such a high tier version of the magic is still pretty hard. And from your late response and blank mind, I''m guessing this is your first time facing this kind of magic? Then again, illusion is more my area of expertise, rather than charm, even though they quite often come hand in hand. Well, enough of the side chat, I guess you pass.¡±


    What was going on?! The voice had changed back into a childlike voice, so the charm magic they mentioned must have changed their voice. However, I still had over thirty other important things I wanted to ask this mysterious voice. Who was she or he? Where did they come from? Why am I in this frozen state? Am I even alive? However, my mouth seemed so sluggish. It felt like I literally had loose lips.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Young child, you seem smart enough, and I don''t have much time right now, so I won''t be answering all of your questions. If you ever have any problems, just think it to me, and I will hear it."


    Two lights suddenly glowed in the darkness. A body gradually illuminated behind these lights, revealing a two-tailed fox glowing with warm orange and maroon coloured flames. The eyes were hard to stare at, and sparkling brightly, shining like two miniature stars. It opened its snout, revealing an elongated jaw line and a pair of sharp canines.


    "Well, don''t thank me too early. I''m just returning a favour to someone." The two tailed fox suddenly moved upright, arching its tails to the left to wrap around its body. Realising the implications of his movement, I quickly turn around and realise I can move again. I look down, but notice that I can''t see myself...every direction is just a complete obsidian black wall of emptiness.


    "As dictated by the first man of space, I herby accept the current host. From this moment onwards, I, Nine Tailed Deity Fox, Immortal of Illusions, Traveller of Time, will perform my guardian duties to nurture her and her future generations to the best of my abilities. I pledge to guard her and all her future offspring that I deem fit. Do you accept this companion pact?"


    "Uah?!" I accidentally let out a half strangled and befuddled voice at the strange direction the solemn speech headed in. Wait, I can talk again?


    "The host has accepted. Thus, from this moment onwards, this pact has been formed. Let no time or space tear us apart unto death." That counted as acceptance?! A bright yellow glow enveloped the two tailed fox as he suddenly vanished into a flash of flames, returning the world to absolute darkness.


    "I will be saving you this once, but don''t count on me every time. I will be going on a journey now to find my other selves and tails in the different timelines and spaces, so I won''t be back anytime soon. However if you use any fire, spatial, light or illusory magic, it will probably be subconsciously strengthened by my presence. Also, I''ll imprint a special magic of mine right now that summons a bear to ride, though I recommend you don''t use it in combat or dangerous situations as any damage done to it will be converted to mental damage done to you. A simple punch at it may knock you out, while a stab at it might turn you into a vegetable for life. Anyway, look after yourself kiddo."


    Suddenly I felt my eyelids open again. The whooshing sound of the arrow told me it was still on its original flight path. I peaked through the cracks of my hand, staring at it, hoping that what I had seen wasn''t just a dream. I was still feeling slightly confused from the rapid development, but if what the fox said was all true, I could have been experiencing spatial magic before. SPATIAL MAGIC! That was an ultra rare and high tier version of light magic where even the most gifted had only reached the elementary usage of it before passing away. And if it was all a dream, any action done now would be futile.


    "AHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the sudden pain. The pain!


    I felt a scorching sensation on the back of my right hand, as a small red bear imprint appeared on it, before sinking into my skin and disappearing again. I suddenly felt really tired as I noticed a black plate sized whirlpool form in front of my hands swirling in a circular direction while simultaneously another identical whirlpool formed to the left of the lady''s head. A glowing arrow launched out of the whirlpool piercing her head, and as she collapsed, her face filled with resentment, shock and unwillingness. My arms drooped, and I flopped backwards, laying my head on a root. 3*

 Chapter 18: The calm after the storm or the calm before the storm?

    I looked up into the starry night sky. The moons were nearing the end of their cycles and dawn was fast approaching. The night had felt so long, but I recognised that was just due to the excessive amount of activity, along with all the exciting and tense moments. I could feel the adrenaline still pumping through my body, my blood flowing restlessly through my tired arms and legs. I had given up on secrecy and was rapidly absorbing all the mana in the air around me, the mana helping slightly with the recovery of my body. I efficiently moved my senses around my body internally, feeling around and checking for their functionality and safety.


    The root against my head felt strangely smooth, the bark glued against the wood inside creating a sensation against my short hair similar to the inside of water-proof hides. My neck had a dull ache, but nothing serious. My back rested on the ground, pressed against some loose gravel that created some minor bumps near my lower spine, my legs raised slightly on another root that had splinters sticking out of it. A troop of green capped mushrooms lay to the right of me, slightly off the path under a tree, a few of the spread out ones barely touching my left shoulder, slightly irritating the still open cut. The previous splatters of blood had soaked into the grass underfoot, feeding them and continuing the circle of life. I shifted my body weight slightly, relieving the pressure on a bruise on my ankle, while moving the open wound on my left shoulder away from contact. I would have to be careful of an infection before it healed. Having confirmed my health''s stability, I started to consider the implications of previous events.


    I lay on the ground, slowly whirring my brain back to what had just happened, slowly processing the events again. Hmmm, had I accidentally bumped my head somewhere? The bizarre encounter with the two tailed fox had seemed a little too unrealistic and crazy, but the following scenes of what appeared to be space magic as well as the pain from magic being physically imprinted on me denied the possibility of a dream or hallucination. The two black circles appeared to have teleported the arrow from one location to another along with all it¡¯s momentum behind it- clearly space magic. I looked towards the back of my right arm. Yup, like before, the mark had disappeared and it was empty.


    I seemed to have slightly recovered from my fatigue. I sat up, taking in my sorroundings. The other lady had fallen without a scream, the arrow piercing her skull, mercilessly taking her life. I could sympathise with her resentment, though I didn''t appreciate it. One of the requirements for survival in the slums as well as being an informant was to recognise the strength and therefore dangerousness of people and clients, and over my life so far, I had built up this skill to a strong level. Although the lady didn''t seem to use any fancy skill, from her magic imbued arrow and tracking skills, she must have been an expert hunter at the very least, and probably an intermediate magician as well. To have suddenly died at the hands of a child, a child who was injured and had even been frantically absorbing mana while being chased, it could be said that fate had played tricks on her. Then again, she had probably destroyed the lives of countless others.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    A faint unnatural blockage of mana could be felt from a nearby bush and a faint rustle suddenly came from within it. I quickly went alert again, half narrowing my eyes, and was just about to stand up when I realised who was there. I relaxed my guard again.


    1*


    I shut my eyes again suddenly feeling all so tired. Living is tiring, but yet I desperately struggled to live. Suddenly the rustling stopped and I felt faint trembling on the ground as the sound of dried leaves being crunched filled the quiet night.


    "Are they still alive?" The timid voice belonged to Shiara. I suddenly felt mildly annoyed at having brought her all the way here. If she didn''t know healing magic, I wouldn''t have even looked twice and just left her behind.


    "This one''s dead. The arrow''s smashed her brain and she''s not breathing at all. Hey, stop staring and quickly go check on your friend!" The benign voiced belonged to the princess. Maybe it was due to everything finally calming down, but even though everything was said softly, the voice contained hidden authority and strength. Well, at the end of the day, she was a princess, so I guess I shouldn''t be too surprised.


    I opened my eyes as I felt a dim shadow cast over me. "I''m alive." Shiara''s mouth formed a perfect circle, a different appearance to her normal confident face. "Can you stop gawking and heal me? I got a cut on my shoulder and some healing on the back of my neck and ankle wouldn''t hurt." I sat up right on the ground and outstretched my legs. Shiara quickly knelt down and outstretched her two arms till they were nearly touching my wound.


    2*


    "Clear and purify thy wound, and burn away all evil. Cauterise." I clenched my teeth as a mild sizzling sensation began. It soon faded, so I observed my shoulder wound. The wound seemed to have be cleaned, and the blood around the edges evaporated into the air, tickling my nose with a metallic scent.. "Oops. Blessings of love, numb thy pain. Painkiller. Ha...Nature''s course; all wounds heal with time. Elementary Heal." The edges of the wound had become this pinkish white and began to rapidly close up. Shiara began to shift around me, but I quickly got up.


    "Shiara, that''s enough. You must be tired. I can handle the rest." I gently outstretched my hand and patted her matted red hair. It would be better to let my minor injuries heal with time. I wouldn''t want to tire Shiara out so much that she would become a liability. Though I was slightly taller, the action was still strained. I looked sideways as I noticed the princess staring at me. Her eyes seemed to be measuring me. She suddenly smiled at me when she noticed I was returning her stare.


    "Let''s see what we can grab here and then get away before we introduce ourselves ok?" I started bending down, leading by example, grabbing the previously spilled supplies, and making a makeshift carrying sack with the excess cloth. And so, as the morning sun began to break dawn, we slowly sifted through a dead corpse...


    3*

 Chapter 19: The princess, the fallen noble and the village orphan...

    After quickly collecting the spilled supplies, we stripped the dead lady on the ground of her clothes. The dead had no need for anything. Contrary to my expectations, the princess seemed to find it fine, while Shiara gave me a weird look. Seriously..how did this girl survive in the slums....The clothes may come in handy, and the cloak was clearly a valuable protective item. Although the cloak had quite a bit of brain and blood splattered on it, we just wiped it roughly on the grass nearby, removing a majority of the blood.


    Under her cloak, we also found a few pouches filled with unknown powders, as well as two similar daggers. They were a pair simple basic knife, the blade about as long as a hand, with a smooth sharp edge on both sides. The handle was made out of bound leather and the wooden pommel was the only difference between the two, one had a picture of an open flame engraved on it, while the other had a bow engraved on it. I was overcome with a sense of familiarity when staring at the daggers. Right! The dagger I picked up from the guy I killed was the exact same. Thinking back, I must of dropped the dagger when I pulled the princess into the brush.


    Unfortunately, there was no substantial food to be found on her. Only a small stringed pouch filled with an assortment of wild berries and nuts. She must of been confident and seen us as easy prey, which would be why she didn''t bring much food. The recurve bow she had been carrying was decently heavy and the enchanted wood was smooth, a good hint that it was a good bow and that it had been well taken care of. Grabbing the big bow, I passed the quiver half filled with arrows to Shiara.


    "Let''s get out of here now before we talk. This way." I waved my arm forward as I continued down the original path. In hurried steps, we followed the obscure trail further into the woods as we left behind a bloody path.


    ...


    Half an hour later, after putting enough distance between all the blood, we finally took a break in a nondescript clearing. The blood on all of us had all dried a while back I collapsed forward, leaning against the nearby tree. I glanced across the small clearing to see the princess and Shiara in a similar state. We were all similarly exhausted from the earlier chase and our jumbled emotions. I glanced at the princess expecting her to be in the worst shape due to her time in captivity and lofty status, but somehow she looked much more composed then Shiara. As I originally thought, she was definitely quite capable and more then meets the eye. As expected from a princess who was dubbed a living "Jewel of Fei"The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I decided to initiate the conversation as the other two seemed too tired. This way it would also be easier to control the flow of discussion. "Hello your highness, I''m Vaxen. The girl next to you is Shiara. As you probably already realised, we were the ones who initiated the rescue attempt on you. However, we are in no way related to the military and are just a pair of hopeful orphans who were travelling by. I hope that you will sincerely repay us for this kindness." There, I said it. A good introduction that displayed our expectations, while subtly highlighting how lucky she was that we were there and that suggested that while we had no obligation to save her, we still did despite our weakness.


    The princess stared at me, and I had a feeling that she had astutely picked up the hidden implications. Her eyes were gentle yet sharp at the same time. She disarmingly smiled at me and said "I know that. You are a very intelligent person, similar to me, yet different." Her smile became a charming smirk as she then said "I value and respect loyalty. If we get past this troubled period ahead and manage to return to the capital, I will definitely reward you. In fact, if we survive this, I''m willing to become close friends with you guys and even offer you guys posts beside me. It just so happens that I''m lacking trustable guards my age, and an able personal healer. And after this tough voyage, I''m sure we will all have formed strong bonds"


    I looked at Shiara to see what she thought about the princess''s speech. Seeing our hesitation, the princess eyes seemed to twinkle and said "Let me show you two my sincerity. Seeing as we are all out here stranded, you guys should just address me as Sarrartina or Sarra and drop the princess." 1*


    "Wait did you say capital? Why can''t we just go to the nearest town and drop you off to the guards?" Shiara finally made an important observation again. Why was she so dumb sometimes and other times smart and observant....


    "You guys may not have noticed, but I have reason to believe a conspiracy is occurring right now. No, I need you guys to take me safely back to the capital. The faster the better."


    I looked back at Shiara and subtly nodded my head. She nodded back at me. Guess we were both fine with it then...


    "So guess we are changing destinations to the capital!" I smiled at the idea of a future without having to worry about food and shelter everyday.


    "Hey, Vaxen you two mentioned you were orphans...I know this is probably a sensitive topic for you two, but where were your parents from?" She was looking at us cautiously, but also with traces of curiosity, like we were a pair of monsters caged in an exhibit.


    "My parents were fallen nobles. I don''t know from where, but they were travelling already when I was born. They died in an attack by bandits who kidnapped me. Somemercenarieslater came and killed the bandits, but they had no room to look after a young girl. So I became an orphan." Shiara quickly rushed her answer with a stiff tone.


    "My village was destroyed by monsters. I was among some of the children who survived, but no adults did and thus we all became orphans. I then eventually moved into the slums of Frankfurt-."


    The princess suddenly cut me off with a glare. "As you already know, I value sincerity, but that applies both ways... Your real name.... it is not Vaxen is it?"

 Chapter 20: Bury the hatchet lest you are buried with it.

    Her stern voice caught me off guard as I took another look at her. Considering her fame for being intelligent and well mannered, her discovery of my identity was not too far outside of my expectations. However, my secret being discovered this quickly was another matter entirely. Did she have someone secretly investigate me or was there some more obvious flaw? I quickly disregarded the wild notion. All these thoughts flashed through my head as I put on a confused expression. ¡°Sorry¡­Sarra? Would you care to explain what you mean by saying that?¡±


    I stared back into her eyes. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Shiara who was genuinely confused. I continued to stare unflinchingly into the princess¡¯s eyes. I noticed that both irises were hazel in colour, but seemed to glow and pulsate into an amber colour. It made the eyes almost seem magical¡­ 1*


    ¡°You really are persistent. Fine, as a show of good faith, I will explain it to you. The name Vaxen is a name that is actually reasonable and common and doesn¡¯t sound like an alias. Starting with ¡®V¡¯ isn¡¯t too strange. However, that is common only in the most northern countries. We aren¡¯t close enough to the North for you to have moved from your destroyed village to Frankfurt. Your look of sadness when you mentioned your hometown seemed genuine, and even you yourself didn¡¯t seem to notice it. Even if I had never heard of it, that look you had was genuine. So the only conclusion is that your name is a lie.¡± She showed a triumphant expression after she finished explaining, her face screaming for praise. She continued but her arrogant tone dropped and was replaced with an uncertain gaze.


    ¡°Also, I wasn¡¯t sure when we first met and we were in a hurry, but you¡¯re a girl aren¡¯t you. I¡¯ve met my fair share of cross-dressing nobles and tomboys, and my instincts are telling me you¡¯re not a guy. When you pulled me off the horse earlier, my arm elbowed your chest, and even though nothing was there, thinking back, it felt a bit soft. Even my younger brother¡¯s chest was harder.¡±


    I suddenly felt two hot gazes slowing dropping from my face downwards. These two morons. ¡°Do you guys mind?¡± Well I guess this was to be expected, she was a princess who had probably seen her fair share of foreign diplomats and nobles. This secret being discovered was, although early, to be expected and a great relief to me as it meant that she had only found out my gender and not any of my more important secrets. Some things were best not shared.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± She politely apologised for her intrusive gaze. As expected, she carried the demeanour of royalty, gracefully stepping back. ¡°And by Shiara¡¯s shocked expressions, I take it she was in the dark as well?¡± The princess finished off her sentence. Shiara¡¯s face was currently going through a myriad of emotions, from shock, to annoyance, to anger and was still changing, with her face changing from a drained white pallor to a red blush, then turning into a slightly tinged purple sheen. It would have been interesting to watch if I didn¡¯t know that her current emotions were directed at me.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Huh? ...Yes, I¡¯m a girl. I never said I wasn¡¯t one. You have my sincere apologies though for lying about my name. I guess you really are an astute and intelligent girl. Let me re-introduce myself to show my sincerity for our future interactions and relationship. My name is Vixen Uralya, protected by the fox totem. Although I have misled you about my name, everything else has been truthful. I hope that we can work together in the future.¡±


    ¡°Hmphh!¡± Shiara snorted through her nose and abruptly turned her head away. She decided to climb up a tree at the edge of the clearing. Her climbing skills had grown considerably compared to her initial skills, so she eventually managed to land herself on a lower branch. She poked her head around the trunk ¡°I¡¯m going to take a nap. Feel free to talk behind my back.¡± She then withdrew back to her branch as she faced away from us.


    ¡°Sorry for causing trouble¡­¡± The princess seemed dejected and ashamed of her actions. Though they were in themselves not incorrect, she probably felt that as royalty she should have had dealt with the situation more delicately. ¡°I apologise for my blunt actions¡­ I know it¡¯s in your nature, but next time don¡¯t test me like that. And again¡­really sorry for ruining your relationship with her, but you need to know that your personality is also at fault. You are too cautious and need to stop hiding in your shell.¡± I suddenly felt the urge to yawn after hearing her reprimand. I covered my mouth.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get some sleep.¡± I looked up at the slowly rising sun.


    ¡°We all need the mental break. Let¡¯s talk about what to do next when we wake up.¡±


    I went to another suitable nearby tree and helped the princess up. Her strength and eyesight were remarkable, so I managed to help her onto a low branch quite quickly. I then climbed up another nearby tree to sleep on.


    ¡­


    ¡°I LOVED HIM! I actually liked that sneaky little liar. I thought he was the one for me and didn¡¯t even realise he wasn¡¯t a boy but actually a girl.¡±


    ¡°Shiara, I know that it really hurts when you are betrayed like that. But strictly speaking, he didn¡¯t do anything wrong¡­he just left things up to your imagination.¡±


    ¡°So playing with my feelings isn¡¯t something WRONG? His hair is short as a boy¡¯s, and he acts like how most boys in the slums act, how is that not intentional?¡±


    I closed my eyes again, ignoring the afternoon sun shining through the leaves. A cool breeze blew by swaying the leaves and shaking the shadows. It would seem that Princess Sarratina was really an able person.


    ¡°Shiara¡­huh¡­never mind. I will just leave you with a story. I once knew someone who held grudges like you. He was a close friend and trusted aid, but because of a few trivial things, had a grudge against one of his close friends. He died a sudden death holding onto that grudge and he never got the chance for the two of them to make it up. Mortality is fragile. Don¡¯t look at the small things, but the bigger picture, and try to make it up, ok? I need both of you to be working well if we are going make it out of this alive. Please¡­please Shiara. Heed my advice. Bury the hatchet, lest you are buried with it.¡±

 Chapter 21: Where to next…

    I opened my eyes again as I felt the bluish hue that signalled the setting of the sun. As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon and behind the trees, the last rays of evening sunlight barely touched the tip of some of the nearby ancient trees. In contrast, the light from the blue moon gradually became more apparent. I rubbed my eyes, but then stopped after realising my hands were just making my eyes more irritated, rather than less. My hands still had bits of dried blood hardened on them, especially between some of the chipped nails and the webbing between bony fingers. It would be nice if we could find some water. The hardened blood was starting to become an annoyance. I stretched my back by leaning forwards and touching my toes then pushing back against the trunk. There, much better. My shoulder and neck seemed a bit stiff, but the injury was mostly fine. I then grasped the branch I had been sleeping on and gently shifted from my sitting position, whipping my right foot over the side of the branch, before sliding to a lower branch as I descended.


    I still felt quite fatigued and sleep deprived, but we couldn¡¯t afford to spend any more time here. We needed to decide how we were going to the capital before our food ran out. The half-day of sleep was filled with several moments of alertness. Maybe we should have organised a watch rotation, but we were all too tired to give a damn, so we just ended up relying on ourselves. Besides, there was still some discord between us, so it wouldn¡¯t have given us much peace of mind even if we did take turns sleeping. The poor quality sleep was unavoidable. On the bright side, it seems that Princess Sarratina was quite intelligent and did do a good job mediating last night. 1*


    Thinking about the conflict and the princess¡¯s actions, I glanced over towards the tree where the princess was. Well, at least one of us had a good rest. She was quietly snoring away and sleeping without a worry in the world, her lips pulled upwards in a peaceful smile. She was leaning precariously against the main trunk of the tree with her hands dangling to either side, her face squashed side on. Watching her sleep, I felt bad for waking her up, and snapping her back into our cruel reality. I gently shifted to another lower branch that wobbled under my weight, before dropping down to the ground.


    I unslung my pack and opened it to check the contents within. The spare cloth was fine, and though the food was a bit jumbled and squashed, nothing too spoilt. I took out a particular carefully wrapped cloth package and delicately opened the wrapping. I had been planning to save this package, but it seemed circumstances would require its usage earlier.


    The moment I opened the wrapping, a sweat aroma permeated the air. Though faint, the smell was of a type of heavenly blueberry, which did not falter even in its old age... A pair of nightingales appeared out of nowhere and landed on a nearby branch, twittering away in excitement and eyeing the muffin. I quickly shielded it with my body. Birds were scary scavengers, and one of our biggest non-human competitors back in the slums. I wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake twice. 2*


    Inside the package, I eyed a cracked ceramic tray that had four spots, three of which were filled with blueberry muffins. Although the package had fallen onto the ground before, the three remaining muffins inside had remained plump and unbruised, albeit less fresh than when I first stole them. This gift was a courtesy of the kitchen staff at Castle Town Frankfurt and I had been planning to save them for later on in the journey when things got tough. Or for when I got bored of the dull and bad tasting rations. Unfortunately, now seemed like a good time to have them. 3*


    Unravelling the tray, I carried it towards the already alert Shiara. She stood up on her branch, glaring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would have been skewered thoroughly. Finally, she snorted before lowering her gaze towards the tray. I smiled in anticipation. A person like her surely couldn¡¯t resist this type of bait. As if to answer my expectations, her eyes widened and lit up as she spotted the muffin and her tongue quietly slipped out as she licked her lips. I could almost see the drool hanging from the edges of her mouth.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Here. Some muffins I had been saving.¡± I didn¡¯t mention anything about an apology. That would only show that I had a guilty conscience and would only serve to emphasise and enlarge the problem at the moment. What sensitive, emotional and kind people like her needed were actions of good will. I lifted the tray. ¡°Do you want one?¡±


    She lightly dropped to the ground, her red hair fluttering and trailing behind her. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll take one¡­. And sorry for before.¡± She greedily grabbed a muffin before retreating back to the trunk and sitting down. She eyed the muffin, looking almost ashamed to eat it.


    I ignored her and approached the sleeping princess. She was everything I could ask for from a friend; rich, courageous, intelligent and loyal. Though her high status may have daunted most, it meant nothing in front of most orphans, including me. She would have just been seen as a fatter lamb. Though she was very intelligent, she was also somewhat na?ve. Although I didn¡¯t laugh due to her actions being done in good faith, it was still humorous how she attempted to placate Shiara without realising that it was meaningless. 4*


    In order to remain humane, most orphans developed two personalities, one that was hard and one that¡¯s soft. The hard and soft did not mean that they were complete opposites but rather that we had a hard shell which was often used to protect our soft personality which we only showed when we were by ourselves or with people we loved and cared for. Of course, this was just a trend and not a solid fact. Although the difference in personalities varied, it would come as no surprise that the hardier personality would come out after a long flight, and so it would be harder to convince Shiara to let go of her grudge.


    ¡°Sarra, wake up! Princess Sarratina.¡± My throat felt a bit parched from shouting. We really should find some water. The princess groggily woke up, looking around while still half-asleep. Realising her unnatural environment, her face suddenly became startled as she quickly leaned backwards and crazily waved her arms. After she managed to stabilise herself, she noticed me watching and with a slightly flushed face, quickly lowered herself down from the tree to come face to face with me.


    ¡°Good morning...evening. Is this muffin for me?¡± She eyed the muffin hungrily. She must have been starved since her capture and not had anything decent to eat. It almost seemed like she had become a starving wolf eyeing a sleeping lamb.


    ¡°Yeah, go for it.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± As she went to grab it, she noticed the two empty spots. She glanced at Shiara who had quietly started digging into the muffin with her whole face before looking at me while I grabbed the last muffin. ¡°Where did the fourth go?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know Mrs Princess?¡± I bit into the muffin. Mhhmmmmm. It tasted great.


    ¡°!!! I thought it looked familiar, but it tastes exactly like the muffin I had for breakfast when I visited Frankfurt! Ah¡­. I see.¡±


    I smiled ambiguously at her and her revelation.


    ¡­.


    We came together after finishing our meal. The sweet aftertaste resided in my mouth, reminding me of a muffin of the past. I glanced at the two of them. Looks like I would need to take initiative again. ¡°Soooo I¡¯m starting this conversation with the basis that we are not going back to loot their camp. You two both agree that it¡¯s too risky right.¡± The two silently nodded their heads. I pulled out the leather map. ¡°Ok the next issue is how do we get to the capital. Currently we should be here and I have two ideas.¡± I pointed at our rough location on the map. Somewhere just past the ford to the right. ¡°The first is that we follow the road and avoid the towns. However without a horse, the journey would require about a month¡¯s time and no matter how we stretch our food, we could only end up with food for one and a half weeks. Of course we could buy food with the money we looted, but then that would mean being conspicuous and going into town. We also don¡¯t have enough money to buy a horse-¡°


    ¡°Yeah, we should try to avoid towns. However, can¡¯t I just wait outside of them while you two go inside?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Shiara shook her head. ¡°Two dirty kids by themselves drag about as much unwanted attention as you would if you walked down the slums by yourself. Although we could go that route, we would need to handle human complications along with wild ones.¡±


    ¡°Also, this route is too obvious, and the moment the rest of the group after you come back to their camp, which may be quite soon considering that a fireball got shot into the air in the middle of the night, they will probably realise you are heading to the capital or a nearby major city. From there, they only need to wait outside the nearby towns to ambush us. Which brings me to my second option.¡±


    I paused, and looked at both of them to make sure they were paying attention. I stared at them both, confirming that I was ready to trust my past to them. Yes, although they both had their flaws, they weren¡¯t bad choices for friends for life. Besides, fate brought us together. The dramatic pause seemed to increase their tension.


    ¡°The other option is that instead of circling around to the capital, we could directly cross through here, the Jungle of Illusions. The journey would be about ten days, barely enough food.¡± I pointed to the place directly between the capital and us, marked with red crosses on the map. The words ¡°DANGER¡± and ¡°DO NOT ENTER¡± were explicitly written multiple times over the area and seemed to stand out.

 Chapter 22: The chosen path

    ¡°WHAT?! Are you INSANE? Do you even realise what you are talking about?¡± Shiara glowered at me, but I didn¡¯t take it to heart. Her emotional outburst was quite reasonable and showed her strong desire for survival; after all, most people would consider that place a death trap ¡±If you want to go to your own demise, feel free to do so, but DON¡¯T drag us down with you.¡± She finished with a snort.


    Princess Sarratina looked at me with a more level gaze. She stared at me for a moment before evenly saying, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you have a reason for saying this?¡± Her calm attitude made me acknowledge again that her nobility and renown really weren¡¯t just empty titles. Her open-minded attitude demonstrated her experience and spoke of the many storms she had already weather at her young age. She was also likely privy to many more secrets of the Fei, or as she probably refers it to, ¡®The Royal Democratic Kingdom of Fei¡¯


    ¡°What reason, that¡¯s utter nonsense. Forgetting about the wide array of deadly monsters, insects and fauna that would mean your demise just from meeting them, no one has lasted for more then ten days after entering the jungle. You should know that jungle is also known in the slums as the Jungle of Doom. Even when the Royal Brigade of Fei went with the support of a dozen experts and different magical divisions-¡°


    ¡°-Along with the exploration experts of several other countries-¡°


    ¡°-They still failed to figure out how their vanguard died and were forced to dissemble and relinquish exploring that zone.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a majority of the vanguard who suffered no obvious injury died of internal bodily implosion. Their veins ended up bulging and exploding. None of our healers could figure out the cause, but they speculated it was toxins. However none of them or our magicians could detect them, or stop them from entering people. Every magical barrier we attempted failed to stop the toxin.¡± She paused to stare at me a bit. ¡°Not to mention that all of it is unexplored territory that we have no idea of. The fog is impossible to dissipate, and some of the survivors who made it back out mentioned that they have no idea of North and South once they were inside. Even though the land is claimed to be a part of Fei, we have literally no control over it which is why no roads go even near-¡±


    I waved my hand to stop the two of them. They were derailing off topic.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really ready to talk about how I know yet, but I promise I will tell you guys about it in time.¡± The past involved a lot of topics my parents forbade me from talking about. The elders got really mad that one time my Dad said something to the merchant. I still remember silently watching him being flogged in front of my eyes. Though we may have been forsaken and they might not be around anymore, I wasn¡¯t about to break some important traditions and laws. ¡°All I can say right now is that I know a lot about the Jungle of Illusions and that I know how we can survive going through it. I know I am asking you guys to take a big leap of faith, but as a princess, Sarratina, I¡¯m sure you know that some secrets are best kept secret and are dangerous if accidently learnt.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The princess had a complicated expression on her face. It wasn¡¯t a good moment to laugh in such a serious moment, but her face was squashed between a frown, a confused smile and a helpless sigh was barely audible. The torn up expression combined was really funny, but of course, I stifled my laugh. Convincing her right now was the most important thing, as Shiara would probably come as well if the Princess agreed. Her face cleared up as she finished her deliberation.


    ¡°Can you give us a bit more information? It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you, but I don¡¯t like the feeling of not knowing anything or being in control of my own life¡­Please Vixen?¡±


    ¡°Surely you aren¡¯t considering going into that jungle Sarra?!¡±


    ¡°¡­Fine, I will explain the wildlife and monsters as we see them.¡± That should barely count as not breaking the ancestral tribal teachings. Right? ¡°As for why people always die after ten days, all I can say is that there is something similar to an invisible toxin in the mana. I know the way to neutralise it once we get inside the jungle, but it would still be best from refraining to use magic as much as possible.¡± I shut my mouth firmly after that. They weren¡¯t lies.


    ¡°Now that wasn¡¯t that hard was it?¡± She smiled at me cheekily. ¡±Let¡¯s got then. To the Jungle of Illusion!¡± Raising her arm in an imaginary command, she started to walk in direction of the Jungle. As she passed me she suddenly whispered, ¡°Miss Uralya¡¯s village was from the jungle right?¡±


    I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. She came to the conclusion herself so it should be fine as long as I don¡¯t confirm it.


    ¡°Hey! Princess! You can¡¯t be serious!¡± Shiara gave me a piercing look before jogging after the princess. Shiara really did follow her heart, a true muscle brain. I packed up the map and placed it carefully back into the sack, shifting around the food and wrapping it with some other spare fabric. I took out another piece of spare cloth and wrapped it around my upper body. It would get cold in parts of the jungle. I sprinted after the two ahead.


    ¡­


    After walking for a bit, we ended up breaking through some forest trees and finding previous trail that lead to the Jungle of Illusion. Under the blue and white crescent moons, we followed the rest of the trail till we reached the top of hill, or more precisely the edge of a deformed crater. I was confronted by the somewhat familiar sight of a mist covered jungle; the Jungle of Illusions.


    ¡°Oh. Wow.¡±


    ¡°Wow indeed. Much more breathtaking then what my royal father told me.¡±


    A downward slope could be seen before quickly being cut off by a layer of mist. Towards the centre, two different giant trees could be seen peaking barely through the mist, one on the left, and one on the right. The mist was reflecting the blue light from above, making it seem similar to the ocean, the night wind creating pseudo waves.


    But while the two were cheerfully looking at the beautiful scenery with stars in their eyes, I was silent thinking about all the hidden dangers that were quietly lurking inside. Yet I felt much warmer standing here compared to the last time I was here in the sun.


    ¡°Ok girls, I hope you two will listen to what I say once we enter.¡±

 Chapter 23: Jungle of Illusions- A gourmet’s guide, The Entree

    I looked towards the other two. They both seemed slightly tired, but we needed to push on. The princess, the tallest among the three of us, was wearing the cloak we had pillaged from the dead bandit earlier. The oversized cloak was of good quality, but the dragging cloak might become a hazard ahead.


    ¡°Hey Princess, before we enter, can you do something about your dragging cloak?¡± She understood the dangers of having her cloak caught in the jungle ahead; there was no need to prattle on about it. ¡°Also, are you any good with the bow?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯ve never learnt how to shoot with one.¡±


    ¡°Then Shiara, you¡¯ve been carrying the quiver from before, can you pass that over and instead carry some of my supplies? I¡¯ll warn you two right now though, I¡¯m not a great shot; so don¡¯t expect much out of me. Also, once we enter the Jungle of Illusions, I want you two to be armed at all times with your dagger. A lot of wildlife in there like to ambush and surprise prey and when we are not fighting, the daggers can help clear the path. The other note is that you should try to follow in my footsteps in the jungle as much as possible as well as refrain from using any magic unless it¡¯s an absolute emergency.¡± That should be all the warnings for now. There was no need for me to explain to them about the holy mana, only what was needed to survive. We exchanged supplies and patched ourselves up with a bit of hard mouldy bread along with some berries and nuts, before heading down into the Jungle of Illusions.


    Most of the time we had been travelling recently had been quite quiet apart from the necessary comments. Even excluding Shiara¡¯s attitude towards me, we were all really tired from the continuous trekking. The slums may have been tough and toughened us up, but that was nothing compared to our current journey and it would only get harder from here. I had no idea how Princess Sarratina was still coping, but I really respected her for it. We were all really tired from the walk as well as constant state of alertness and emotions running wild.


    I looked towards the two giant trees ahead, peeking up above the mist like floating islands. Maybe at one time they were floating islands. Maybe they weren¡¯t. Either way, it could be said that so much of our village¡¯s history and belief surround those two trees, even maybe our very existence. Not that there were many others left. I think I will pay a visit to her grave. Wait, wait, wait! Now wasn¡¯t the time to be reminiscing about this and getting distracted.


    I quickly flipped my head around to check where we were and that we were going the correct way. Good, we were going the right way. Shiara and Sarra gave me weird looks when I looked back at them.


    We passed through the layer of mist, and entered the Jungle of Illusion. Once inside, the sunlight became dim, and only became dimmer once we passed by the layer of upper canopy. The sunlight occasionally reached the jungle floor, but was invisible in most places creating a dark damp atmosphere. When the sun set, the jungle floor would often be pitch black even with the blue moonlight trying to shine in from above.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I couldn¡¯t help feeling chilled returning to this environment. We couldn¡¯t get near the village anymore and I had no Yallisha on me, which meant we were on a timer. Not a timer to exit the jungle, but a timer to reach the capital.


    I decided to pick up the pace as we started walking at a speed nearing a jog. I rapidly scanned the ground and surroundings as I walked, not forgetting to measure the dampness of the ground with my toes. The other two seemed to have kept quiet in fear of disturbing my concentration.


    We were still on the outer edge of the jungle and the giants trees, and their hanging vines were mostly normal, but it didn¡¯t take us long before we encountered our first strange plant life.


    ¡°Hey what is that?¡± Shiara was standing behind me pointing at a mushroom up ahead to our right. The mushroom was a disgusting dark yellow colour with yellow bulges all over it including both the stem and cap giving it a grotesque and deformed look. I felt disgusted seeing it, but couldn¡¯t also help feeling elated. Suddenly, as if sensing our presence, all the bulges over its body opened revealing different sized eyeballs.


    I turned around while pulling both of their heads around. They obediently let themselves be tugged before Shiara shakily asked, ¡°What was that¡­ thing?¡± The princess face was also a bit pale.


    ¡°That is a Hundred Eyed Paralysis Mushroom. If you look into any of their eyes for more then three or so seconds, you will have your whole body paralysed for over an hour. Because it can¡¯t move, it will then attempt to scatter spores into your body, which will act as food for their newborn, and you will be eaten alive. As you can see, they¡¯re often not very successful and are one of the bottom feeders of the food chain.¡± 1*


    I took a quick peek around to see if the mushroom had its eyes open still. Yup. they were closed.


    ¡°I had thought you two realised it already, but this jungle is really dangerous. Anyways, it¡¯s closed its eyes now and it won¡¯t be able to open them for a while. Besides I have something good to show you two.¡±


    ¡°Something good? I don¡¯t remember father or his advisors ever mentioning finding anything good in here¡­¡±


    I should have warned them about the mushroom when I first saw it, but I was too happy looking for something else. There! On the jungle floor nearby there were some light brown cubical blocks. Green and red flecks could be seen inside. I went forward and got down and grabbed all the ones I could see. Where there was one, there should be more. I ended up collecting about 14 blocks. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh evilly inside. This would be a good show.


    ¡°Hey Shiara, Sarra, come here.¡± They obediently came over. ¡°If you guys ever see any of these, make sure to tell me.¡±


    ¡°What are these?¡±


    ¡°Have some and you¡¯ll know. Here.¡± I passed the two of them each a block. The two carefully analysed the strange cubic block before them.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve never seen this before, what is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s edible. Just eat some and you will know.¡± I ate one I was still holding. Mm, it tastes great. Ahhh¡­ the memories. Giving me dubious stares, the two proceed to eat them.


    ¡­


    ¡°What is this?! It¡¯s delicious! I¡¯ve never had anything like this before. It looks like that chocolate I once had, but it¡¯s salty and also has a slight spicy meaty flavour. It¡¯s really nice!¡±


    ¡°Yeah I know what you mean! It tastes so great! Can I have another one please?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± I passed another to Shiara who had greedily wolfed the first one down.


    ¡°So what is this? I¡¯ve never had it or heard of it before.¡°


    Since Shiara was in the middle of stuffing her face with the second one, now seemed like as good a time as any. Carefully watching both of their reactions, I replied ¡°Faeces. Strictly speaking toukou bird faeces.¡±

 Chapter 24: Jungle of Illusions- The more you know, the more you worry

    ¡°Phleph¡­Ugh what the hell?!¡± *1


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious right?!¡± The princess had disgustedly attempted to regurgitate and cough up her last meal while Shiara became mildly surprised.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s taking the prank too far! I may never have eaten shit before, but that¡¯s definitely not what shit should taste like!¡± Are you trying to convince yourself or me¡­


    ¡°Nope, that was definitely faeces and-¡°


    ¡°Wait, did you say toukou?!....Why does¡­it feel like I¡¯ve¡­heard it¡­somewhere¡­before¡­oh¡­I remember it now!...ohhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Shiara let out a befuddled mutter at Sarratina¡¯s change in reaction. Huh indeed. If you had figured it out, why did you decide to start holding your mouth and start spinning in circles slowly? I can still hear you muttering ¡®toukou¡¯ even if you cover your mouth. Weren¡¯t you pretty lethargic just a few moments ago? ¡°Princess are you ok?¡±


    Oh¡­I see why. I should probably tell her-


    ¡°Do you know what toukou birds are?! I didn¡¯t realise at the start because I was more shocked at the faeces part and I haven¡¯t heard the word ¡®toukou¡¯ in years. When I was younger, I was given a book called¡­¡¯A traveller¡¯s tale¡¯ I really enjoyed that book so my mother got me the limited edition ¡®Jack¡¯s Almanac of Monsters (beta)¡¯ as a birthday present. I never really understood why it was called the beta, but in the book they mentioned the toukou bird in one of their pages.¡±


    -only to be cut off by an extremely excited princess¡¯s speech¡­ *2


    ¡°What did it say??¡± Shiara avidly asked. I could have told you two if you just waited and listened¡­


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember all of it because I read it a while ago, but I remember planning to make a fortune out of domesticating them back then. The page¡­ said¡­ that toukou birds were a small flightless bird that could only be found in the most magically dense and therefore dangerous environments and that¡­-¡°


    ¡°-Although they are mostly harmless, weak and pacifistic, they are extremely fast runners. They also have an unspoken pact of diplomatic immunity in these environments with the other higher end and more intelligent monsters, especially plant type monsters.¡± Shiara, why are you looking at me with such an astonished face¡­?*3The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°YES! YES, and that¡¯s because they help regulate and recycle waste produce. They mainly eat dead carcasses as well as normal bugs and insects. Their poop is extremely nutritious and helps strengthen monsters that eat it, further increasing their superiority in the food chain. The toukou bird¡¯s feathers are also really valuable and their meat is apparently a real delicacy and it helps strengthen your magical abilities-not that I¡¯ve ever had any¡­our country¡¯s too low end¡­-¡°


    ¡°-And that is enough about the bird. We should get going, the birds should be long gone and there shouldn¡¯t be anymore poop around here-¡°


    ¡°Then I guess these three are mine.¡± Shiara ran to a nearby tree before crouching down and grabbing¡­ more blocks. Huh¡­that¡¯s strange, the poop clearly showed that it should be only from one bird, so why were their more blocks there. The birds have always traditionally dumped the same amount every time, so why were there more¡­. Well, whatever, I¡¯ll think about it later. We really needed to push on. I started leading the way again as the other two went back to closely and quietly following me.


    ¡­


    ¡°Hey shouldn¡¯t we be going to the right more?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been feeling like we¡¯ve been going in the wrong direction for a while.¡±


    Although I couldn¡¯t see the sun through the upper canopy, it should be currently around noon. We had all just taken a toilet break and having relieved ourselves, decided to grab a quick bite and rest. Though there was no sun in sight, the air was quite humid and we were sweating rivers.


    I¡¯m also really glad the misunderstanding by Shiara had been cleared up or else the current situation would have been a real hassle considering I couldn¡¯t let either of them out of my sight for safety reasons. We were about an eighth of our way through the jungle, but that was majorly because we hadn¡¯t encountered anything that was too dangerous or that we needed to detour yet. The closer we got, the more dangerous it would get and the slower we would go, so we needed to make time now. We would also need to grab a drink some time later today and that would be dangerous as well.


    ¡°No, we are going the right way. I don¡¯t know how it works, but the jungle will attempt to mislead intruders into walking back out of it when you are in the outer circle. Just trust me.¡±


    With that I decided to ignore the rest of their questions and stares and march on.


    ¡­


    It was late in the afternoon and we were heading towards the river. I was planning for us to grab a drink after today¡¯s long walk before retreating away to a safer location. I was really feeling the mental fatigue hit having needed to constantly scan our nearby environment, while navigating and cutting a path through some of the overgrown places. The wide variety of normal colourful trees and ferns only made the job more stressful. I had taken a path that avoided about eighty to ninety precent of the jungle¡¯s dangers, but some things were unavoidable and if I had not known prior to this about there being hanging creepers here, I think I would have probably been caught unaware.


    THUMP!


    ¡°Hey! Vixen, watch it. Why did you stop so suddenly?¡± It seems I wasn¡¯t the only one to lose focus. Well, no point starting a spat here.


    ¡°Sorry Shiara. I should have given you two some warning.¡° I lent her a hand and lifted her up. ¡°Sarra, Shiara, you see those green striped creepers that seem to be hanging down from the trees? Notice how they seem to end up as nooses hanging down?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°What about those?¡±


    ¡°Well they¡¯re what¡¯s known as Hanging Creepers. They¡¯re monsters that lie in ambush of unsuspecting victims that walk underneath them. Don¡¯t get within three tree¡¯s distance to them unless you want to get hanged. However, as you can see they often live in batches, so we need to take a detour-¡°


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just kill them?¡±


    ¡°A good question Sarra, but they¡¯re tenacious and hard to kill. We also need to avoid making too much noise or using magic, so it will be faster, less tiring and less dangerous to just go around, so let¡¯s go.¡±


    I led them away from the monsters and ran parallel to the lot of them and the river. Even if I couldn¡¯t see the river yet, I could tell we were quite close by the damp soil beneath us. Looks like it might be a while longer before we get our drink.

 Side Series: Jackys Diary- Diary entry: no 33#

    Year of the Phoenix 462


    Dear Diary,


    Today we (by that I refer to me, my beautiful Stanley and Stede, and not this arrogant jerk sitting next to me) finally arrived outside the town of Frankfurt, and there is no other way to put it; I¡¯m really anxious. On our way here, the atmosphere has been strange, and it only increased once we got inside the borders of Fei.


    The border guards of Fei searched us intensively twice even though we announced our identity and we were also questioned on our purpose of entry, with the interrogation carried out by a nervous looking official. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would of thought he was considering running from the country. They then proceeded to confirm the details of our cargo matched with our motives, before searching our cart and horses, checking the underside of the cart and the inside of the carriage and even going as far at to check the inside of Stanley and Stede¡¯s mouths. The only thing you will find there is some dirty molars and half chewed grass.


    We soon learnt the reason why when we arrived at our first town in Fei. The Duke had apparently rebelled. This was a quite a surprise to me as the last time I met him, he didn¡¯t strike me as an ambitious or idiotic man, so why did he start rebelling during such an unstable period? However, after his sudden written declaration, the city was just closed off and no further action and message or information been passed on. The King had apparently attempted to have this information suppressed, but something on such a large scale that could be considered a suspension of the country¡¯s second heart, couldn¡¯t be easily suppressed. It had already spread among the merchants, and from there it would not be surprising if spies from other countries had caught wind of it¡­No actually that should be incorrect. The rebellion was probably done in cahoots with other countries, and their spies were probably the ones quietly stirring up unrest and spreading rumours.


    The merchant that told me took some cash for the information as per normal. There are no free meals. But the information I got from him explained everything. Why this city seemed to have a lot of merchants, many who were planning to leave the country. The Dukes rebellion had effectively blocked out trade from the South and Western regions. Not many merchants, especially those who were not selling weapon and armour would want to go to a warring country. First there was the question if they could enter a city like Frankfurt in its current state, and that even if they could, it would be pointless if they could not leave it in one piece or with a profit. Thus when we (again, does not include egotistical fool beside me) left the town, we were detained and questioned even more thoroughly.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Their fear was understandable though. The country had originally overcome the Jungle of Illusions being near the centre by having most travel and trade go around its southern side. This route connected the capital to all the other western regions of Fei, but the duke¡¯s declaration had effectively cut them off and paralysed the country. The only way to reach the capital now was to either circumnavigate Frankfurt, and only travel in the outer region of the dukedom or to travel north, heading past the Wesley Mountain Range, before making east after going north of the Jungle of Illusions. Both journeys have had their dangers and were not for the faint hearted. We ended up taking the southern route because it was quicker and needed less preparation. Thus that led to the suspicion place on us that even a prestigious count¡¯s title could not be wavered. We ended up being detained before being interrogated by the local flustered baron. However after showing the envelope the king previously gave me, he then tried to plead with us to pass on a message and help clarify the situation and¡­well I just left at that point. I¡¯m sure the count will pass on the message as a foreign diplomat from afar.


    So, with an eight-day delay to our original plan, we finally reached the eastern side of Frankfurt. Of course we had gone through the outer fringes of the dukedom, but we decided to take a close peak before leaving, so once we passed the point directly south of Frankfurt, we started heading north. Of course as previously mentioned in my other short diary entry, we had sold our carts. Although the off road journey was tough (which was also why I had no time to write in here) I had ridden hard on Stanley, so we decided to give them a break here.


    Looking at it from afar-we doesn¡¯t dare approach too closely- the castle looks exactly the same as the last time I came and although I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on inside, a storm was surely brewing.


    And this storm would be bigger then all of us. If the duke really ended up in the pocket of Shadow Soul organisation-which seemed quite likely by his sudden and inexplicable timing, then the capital might be facing a three front war. Or more likely a three front massacre. I can¡¯t help but shudder thinking about that¡­ Then I guess it¡¯s decided. I will do the most I can for a friend on his last leg. It¡¯s not my place to fight in this war, but at least I should be able to carry some people to safety. And to avoid them or me from being chased, I will need a safe place to raise them¡­if I pull some strings, I should be able to get about seven entry spots into the Talent Academy-though whether they can enter and receive the academy¡¯s protection will depend on their own talent¡­


    Huh¡­looks like I need to get going again, the horses should be done resting and the jerks back from his closer look.


    I hope Timothy has been studying hard.


    Today''s Memo:


    People go¡­where the¡­rivers flow.


    The river flowed beyond the plain,


    To the wide open sea,


    Beyond the mountains, past the stormy rain,


    Beyond the eye can see

 Chapter 25: Jungle of Illusions- A gourmet’s guide, the main course

    The coursing river swelled beside the banks, gradually eroding and widening the ancient channel. The ever-present sloshing sounds created a simple acoustic to which echoed dully in the background. Tempted by the hopes of water, we navigated ourselves eastwards, running parallel to the river until arriving past the area under the control of the Hanging Creepers.


    ¡°Are we past them yet?¡±


    Instead of responding to the nagging voice, I proceeded to head towards the river. It was understandable that Shiara would be nagging around now. We had walked for so long that the sun was already beginning to set. I had taken the precautionary measure of going the extra distance in order to hopefully avoid any other avarice carnivore that might be lurking nearby. One of the stories the elders once mentioned illustrated the dangerous wildlife adapting to the harsh environment with passing of time, where there have been less and less prey. A common adaptation was the closer knit hunting system where a lot of weak predators would lurk around a bigger predator and help each other out.


    Bzzzzzzzz!


    I ducked down while turning around and motioning for them to do the same, however Shiara had already pulled the princess down with her. She gave me a quizzical look, tilting here head to the side to further emphasise her confusion. Meanwhile, Sarratina looked even more distress and I could almost see the panicked words ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± floating above her. The buzzing was gradually becoming louder so I crawled over to the pair. I wet my dry and hoarse throat before whispering ¡°Dragon Flyire¡­. Nobody move.¡±


    The buzzing noise must have finally reached an audible level, as Shiara and Sarratina finally looked towards the source of noise. A normal looking dragonfly came flying towards us from the North West, buzzing around at about a meter off the ground- normal if you didn¡¯t include its body being a vivid red. It floated above the river, and although it¡¯s eyes made it hard to identify where it was looking at, I knew it was staring at us and I could feel my heart thumping irregularly and rapidly. It floated above the river for what felt like an eternity, but probably only lasted a moment, before heading off back up river. YES! We passed. It must have deemed us not a threat and it probably had more then enough to eat being the ruler of this part of the river.


    ¡° ¡° ¡°Hahhhhhh¡­¡± ¡± ¡° Our sighs overlapped as we stared at each other. In that moment, I felt the mutual understanding and comrade. Shiara stifled a quiet giggle and Sarratina was smiling peacefully.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°Hey, so what was that thing? I felt such a dangerous aura coming off the bug, and from your pale looks I knew it was really bad.¡±¡­Was my face pale?


    ¡°Yeah Vixen, are you okay?¡± I slapped myself with both hands. I must have been unconsciously remembering the past. I couldn¡¯t have Shiara or the princess doubting my capabilities now.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright, thank you.¡± I forced a smile to further emphasise this point. ¡°Anyways, that was a Dragon Flyire. A mutant monster version of the common dragonfly-¡°


    ¡°-they¡¯re normally found in or around mana dense rivers. Their ability to use powerful fire magic, as well as their high mobility and evasion make them a dangerous foe, especially for normal knights. Even their¡­¡± I see¡­I was wondering where such an impeccable princess¡¯s faults lay. She was a show off. Not a bad fault for nobility, but something that should be kept at the back of the mind.


    ¡°¡­ so although they are carnivores, they tend to eat little, and so rarely hunt. So unless you threaten them in some way, they are often quite pacifistic. Am I right Vixen?¡± ¡­Uhhh¡­. I haven¡¯t been listening¡­.


    ¡°Yes, what she said. Also, they have excellent tracking capabilities and senses; it has something to do with how they see things. Anyway, let¡¯s continue, we¡¯ve had a long enough break and all this chatting is making me thirsty.¡± We picked up ourselves, and started approaching the water.


    ¡­.


    We reached the river as the sun began to set. Leaving the jungle overgrowth, the setting sun reflected it¡¯s orange glow against the water. Due to the insecurity of drinking here, I allowed the other two to first drink while I paid attention to our surroundings. Currently, down wind happened to be the opposite bank, so I mainly focused on anything coming from down the river, only sending occasional glances to the opposite bank. A few small critters popped up, but all of them faded away after seeing us on the other side of the river. The river had it¡¯s own dangers.


    The two finished their gulp of water with satisfied looks; their entire faces dripping with water. The two had also taken the chance to briefly clean their hair. While Shiara¡¯s dripping hair looked like hanging branches of a willow tree in Autumn, Sarra was in the process of attempting to retie her hair into a ponytail.I approached the water now that it was my turn, but I noticed at the edge of my vision a fluttering on the water¡¯s surface down river. I backed up immediately.1*


    ¡°Shiara, Sarra stand back! Go back by about six meters from the edge of the river, but pay attention to your surroundings as you do.¡±


    I pulled out the bow, stringing it while slowing backing up. Looks like we will be having some Flying Paran¨¢¡¯s for dinner. The fluttering on the surface seemed to be intensifying, so I backed up until I was behind a solid looking tree trunk


    ¡°Hey Vixen, what¡¯s wrong?¡± I didn¡¯t turn around to answer. I retrieved an arrow from the quiver and knocked it onto the bow. I only had one shot at this, so I needed to make this count. If this hunt succeeded, then we wouldn¡¯t need to ration our food and we should be able to not even bother hunting.


    ¡°Hey VIXEN!? What¡¯s-¡°


    ¡°Look there!¡±


    ¡­. Focus. I needed to focus to make up my lack of skill here. Lead the targets¡­lead it¡­ and¡­SHOOT!!!


    THRUMP!!!

 Chapter 26: Flying-Piranhas

    ¡°Pfff!!!¡±


    ¡°¡­Good job.¡±


    The leading fish slowly floated to the surface as the arrow protruded out of the side of its main body ¨Cwas what I was hoping for, but sadly, nothing floated up. The arrow lay pierced at the bottom of a thick mangrove¡¯s root on the opposite side¡¯s bank. The arrow¡¯s feathered end mocked me as I knocked another arrow. It had flown unexpectedly straight with nearly no drop and along with the diffraction of light through water, had made my miss seem especially big. I snatched another arrow from my quiver, fumbling a bit, before I quickly sighted and launched my next arrow.


    SPLASH!!


    ¡°Ooh, that¡¯s more like it!¡± The arrow had flown just over the top of the fish, nicking the dorsal fin, catching its attention. The school of fish stagnated, as they bunched up to face the shore. Looking at them closely, I noticed their slightly bigger fins and uniquely structured scales. They possessed blue oval scales that reflected the dying rays of the sun and shone, illuminating the patch of water creating a mystical atmosphere.


    ¡°¡­Wow, that¡¯s somehow so mesmerising and beautiful¡­¡±


    ¡°I can see why you think that, but this is just like the peace before a war, fragile and temporary. Sarratina, rip up some of your cloth that¡¯s got blood on it, tie it to a rock and then chuck it about three meters from the bank.¡± Sarratina gave me a questioning look, before proceeding to tear up a part of the hem of her dress. The originally long dress had already been torn up so much; it resembled a short skirt. She might start getting cold in this jungle; I would need to watch out for her shivering. I turned my attention to Shiara, who seemed a bit flustered. She must have caught on to at least some of my plan.


    I wiped my sweaty hands on my rag before casually nocking another arrow. This shot wouldn¡¯t matter too much, but would rather be used to further incite the fish, so I didn¡¯t focus too much and instead looked towards Sarratina.


    ¡°You ready?¡±


    She gave me a curt nod.


    ¡°¡­Then chuck it.¡± I watched her do an underarm lob at the same time as I released my arrow. The rock and cloth landed about four meters from the edge, before starting to roll towards the river at the same times as my arrow made a small splash somewhere in the middle of the school. Judging from how no blood came out, it must have just missed them all.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The rock finally stopped its slow rolling as it bumped into a fern.


    ¡°¡­Is something meant to happ-¡°


    KABOOM!!!


    ¡°-AHHH?!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Even though I had seen this before, the sudden surge of a large volume of water flying vertically upwards was still quite the spectacle. It was about three times the size of the fountain in Frankfurt. And from out of the spray, a flock of Flying-Piranha¡¯s came at us. The reflective scale created a dazzling glare while their jaws unhinged, and their oily mouths opened into a round circle, even bigger then Shiara¡¯s. Inside their mouth, a row of serrated razor sharp teeth, occasionally glinting inside the maw, threatened us menacingly. Their pectoral fins already extended outward and touching their neighbour, retracted into a double fold. *1


    The fishes were launching towards us, and I could feel the tension in the air. The large mass of open jaws aimed towards us was a frightening sight to behold. I glanced towards the other two again. Shiara was still in shock, but Sarra had started to nervously twitch a bit, her hand seeming to do small circular motions.


    ¡°Hey Sarra, calm down and just watch. Remember, don¡¯t absorb any mana in the jungle, so no magic.¡±


    ¡°Y..y-yeah, s..sure. I know that already¡± I stared at the fish again. As if following my expectations, the fish start to lose height, before rapidly plummeting towards the ground.


    KATHUNK! KATHUNK! KATHUNK, KATHUNK!!


    Ah, finally we can have some nice meat. The sun had already dipped behind the slope, and the river no longer reflected light from the sun, allowing the bright moon to create a pale blue ambience. The fish landed in a huge cluster around the rock, with about four to five fishes chomping on the ground immediately next to the rock, their mouth half digging into the ground. The rest lay on their sides flapping their tails, trying to return to the river. A few tried to propel themselves with newly formed water, moving gradually back towards the river. We should quickly fetch them. *2


    ¡°Hey, wake up you two, time to work. Grab a fish by the tail, and kill it. Grab about two each, that¡¯s all we can handle. Also, careful of their mouth. They¡¯ll swing their head around to bite you, or even squirt some water into your eyes.¡± It would be a bit of a waste of a harvest, but there wasn¡¯t too much we could do about it. Besides, we probably could only eat that much before it went bad. Checking that the two had woken up out of their trances, I quickly strode towards the cluster of fish. I could hear the two cautiously treading behind me. The Flying-Piranha¡¯s were slowly migrating back to the water having failed their attack and finding no target on landing, so the longer we took, the more dangerous it would be, and the longer we would have to walk.


    Reaching the fish that had managed to get within three meters from the river, I pulled out the dagger we had previous pillaged. I reached down, grabbing one of them by their tails before slitting it at the gill and doing the same for a second one.


    ¡°Ouch!¡±


    ¡°So sorry, didn¡¯t realise you were so close.¡± I turned around. Shiara had a Flying-Piranha in her hand, but somehow, it had flapped sideways and managed to scrape Sarra¡¯s elbow before being quickly killed by Shiara. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. Here let me heal you-¡°


    ¡°Hey! No magic. Unless you want your body to explode, don¡¯t use any magic. Just stop her bleeding manually-¡°


    ¡°Uhhhh-Vixen, what are those?¡± With a sinking feeling I quickly turned around towards the river and Shiara did the same.


    And what lay before my eyes were a dozen lances made of water floating above the river.

 Chapter 27: Spearfish

    The thin translucent lances levitating above the river remained stationary as the water inside made small swirling motions, their tips facing us. I noticed simultaneously that below them were a bunch of silvery 1-meter long spikes poking out the river. Spearfish! -Or maybe a higher mutant variant considering how the lances were being formed above the river rather then from the tips of their body in the river. They must have been hunting the Flying-Piranha¡¯s. *1


    ¡°Freeze¡­nobody¡­move.¡±


    At that moment a Flying-Piranha, seemingly unaware of the danger flopped up into the air. At the same time, one of the floating lances shot forth, creating an equally small, but bloody hole in it. It was dead before it even landed.


    Gulp.


    We all simultaneously swallowed some saliva. The sheer strength in the water lances had been made apparent and we were all awed by it. It could probably cut through most of the jungle¡¯s trees like a knife through butter. The only silver lining was that the magic spears were reliant on the waters high pressure, and thus probably had a maximum effective range.


    Formulating a plan in my head, I realised I would need to take advantage of their reliance on motion to escape. Do we all just run for it when another fish flops about, or do we just slowly inch back? Could they only detect sudden movements? Normally, they would also be able to detect traces of magic. While looking down to think, I realised that one of the Flying-Piranhas had been slowly inching back to the river while I was thinking. So it would seem slow movements it is.


    ¡°Hey Shiara, Sarra, no sudden movements. Let¡¯s spread out a bit and back out. ¡­Slowly.¡±


    ¡°I hope you know what you¡¯re doing Vixen.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Just don¡¯t step on any fish and we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    We started backing out, walking backwards slowly and had nearly left the mass of land stuck fish when a fish next to Shiara flopped.


    ¡­Nothing happened. It would have been bad if she got hit as collateral.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    As if the fish had not done enough it squirted water and flopped up again, this time even higher in the air. It even flopped directly between Shiara and where the lances were.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡­huh? Nothing happened, and even Shiara who had shut her eyes in preparation for imminent pain and death had opened them again. The lances remained floating above the river. Not understanding the anomaly, I looked towards the river, but the spikes in the water had disappeared.


    ¡°Wow that was lucky -ahhh¡°


    PHWOOSH!


    And for the second time today, the water in the lake rose up, this time revealing a lizard looking monster. It had a sharp two-meter long natural spear at the front of its head, attached to the top of the skull, that although slightly long, was a characteristic of the spearfish family. However this was clearly an old mutant or evolved variant, as its thick scaly limbs were not a common feature. Although it was a high-ranking monster in the water system, I had never heard of it being able to become amphibious before. After the first one leapt up the bank, another two quickly joined it


    ¡°RUN!!¡±


    We started running towards tree line. The reason the lances were not shooting before was probably related to them preparing to jump up onto the bank. Somehow they had not started shooting yet. I sighed in relief as I saw Sarra make it to the trees, followed by Shiara. Due to the proximity of the trees to our original location, the speed at which we ran made less of a difference compared to who was closer, but as the furthest away, I had nearly caught up to Shiara.


    Suddenly, I felt my Survival Instincts blaring again. I stopped running immediately, and ¨COUCH.


    ¡°Ssss¡­.¡±


    I gritted my teeth in pain as I ducked behind the thick trunk, which Shiara had hid behind. Three water lances had been launched at me, but they had all barely missed me when I suddenly stopped. One hit the fish in my right hand, jarring my hand a bit. One flew over my head pushing down my hair. The last one had flown over my left shoulder, missing it, but the accompanying wind had thinly sliced my shoulder, reopening the old wound again. I almost felt that my instinct might have a stigma against my left shoulder, but I was thankful nonetheless. Normally, I would be able to detect the magical element in the lance a split moment before it hit, but in this Jungle where we weren¡¯t meant to absorb any of it¡¯s natural mana, that would be impossible.


    ¡°You okay? What do we do?¡±


    ¡°Those monsters are coming towards us, and we can¡¯t move or we will probably get hit by the lances. Vixen? What do we do?!¡± Sarra had crawled towards us from behind her different tree.


    I took a peak around the tree-NOPE. I quickly retrieved my head as a splash of water hit me. The spear of water had struck the ground next to me and splashed up. It would seem that five meters was nearing the maximum effective range of their attack seeing how the water dissipated in a splash. Considering the size of the river, five meters would be all they needed. This probably also meant that they were newly evolved or mutated, something that seemed to show by their lack of understanding and control with their own abilities.


    CREAK!


    We all turned to the noise. Although there was no hole through the tree yet, it seemed that the tree Sarra was hiding behind had been hit one too many times. It cracked, and began falling down on Sarra.


    ¡°AHHHHH!¡± She made a leap to another tree further in from ours. A lance flew by mid-jump, barely missing her torso ripping a hole through her cloak.


    ¡°Oooh.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, it didn¡¯t hit me. Will the tree falling cause others to fall? Shouldn¡¯t we make a run for it?¡±


    No, Sarra could because she had gotten in deeper, but Shiara and me had no other tree we could jump to in time, and the mutant spearfish were only about three meters from us. Big trees prevented other trees from growing too close. Suddenly, I picked up on a faint buzzing noise. Was it just in my head from exertion or-


    BZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

 Side Story (April Fools)

    In a different time and place...


    Today was the birthday party of the princess of Fae. It served to celebrate not only her turning ten, but also to announce her talents for politics, magic and all her other studies, as well to announce that she was officially the heir to the throne-well at least until her brother was old enough. This had huge implications, as this meant, in the sudden demise of his and her majesty, the King and Queen; she would become the effective ruler.


    Everyone here was a part of the upper echelons of the kingdom, from famous craftsmen and knights, to nobility and ministry. They of course came to see this new ¡°Jewel of Fae¡±, to see her talent and beauty, but to also make some internal judgments about her personality and intelligence. There would be no point buttering up to an irrational princess, but a stupid or naive one might be easier to manipulate and a smart one would value your help and talent.


    The main host, Princess Sarritina was nervously welcoming guests as they came.


    ¡°G-good, ahem, wel-lcome Sir Arnold.¡±


    ¡°How do you do princess? It is an honour to meet you. Might I later introduce you to my son, who will be of course inheriting the family house?¡±


    ¡°-Of course. I would-d be pleas-sed to meet him.¡±


    The princess was acting really nervously, and other people behind were shuffling him, so the gentleman got the message and decided to move on. Thus the event continues per norm.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    However this ordered atmosphere ended the moment a brave childhood friend of the princess entered. He had always secretly had a crush on her, but the love was one sided, and thus miserable for him. The princess saw him as a cute little brother, though she was supposedly only a few hours older.


    ¡°My princess, I have held this in too long, please accept this love and devotion of mine. ¡°


    ¡°I-¡°


    ¡°No! Think about my feelings and love first. I would be willing to do anything for you!¡±


    At this point every single man and woman had his or her eyes on this play. The stares seemed to make the princess blush, though the boy seemed unabashed. A few that knew the backstory, quietly informed their less informed neighbors in quiet whispers, and soon the rumour mill was running. Everyone was wondering how she would deal with this situation, but secretly, everyone came to the general consensus that she would definitely reject him, albeit politely.


    ¡°-I¡­I accept¡­¡±


    ¡°EH!??!?!??!¡±


    The crowd entered uproar at this statement. Their noise was so loud; the guards outside came in to check what was going on. Even some of the sentries near the outside sent one or two in, and when they heard what had just happened, they quickly entered shock and despair, before quickly running outside to tell their friends and fellow comrades. Quite a few guards secretly admired the princess in their hearts. Of course all this noise drowned the quiet mutter by the girl of ¡°..if you¡¯ll accept me for who I am.¡±


    ¡°What is all this ruckus? QUIET PLEASE! HIS MAJESTY THE KING IS ENTERING.¡±


    And then the king entered, the crowd quieting down, though the mutters and whispering continued, half the crowd¡¯s eyes, still looking towards the princess rather than towards the King. The king quickly seeing his girl, walked towards her, while flanked by his secretary and two royal guards.


    ¡°What was all the ruckus before Sarra...wait, ¡­Ava, is that you? Where¡¯s Sarra?¡±


    Question marks floated above the crowd¡¯s head.


    ¡°Your majesty, the princess was sick and is currently bedridden. She could not attend, so she made me attend in her stead.¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­that girl¡­. what does she think a body double is for?!¡±


    Meanwhile, in her bedroom, lying on her double bed, the ill princess was continuously sneezing since a while ago.

 Intermission 1.0: The dilemma of a father

    An old man sat inside a room by himself, his head in his hands, leaning forward from his plush rocking chair. There he lay motionless, as if contemplating a difficult issue further emphasised by the grief filled face that peaked out from behind his hands. Wrapping around his neck was a beautiful lush silvery fur, made from the skin of a high-ranking monster, supposedly imbued with a magic charm. However the scarf brought him neither warmth nor comfort at this moment. Upon his head lay a golden crown, the gloss dulled with the passing of years, leaning sideways and hanging on the edge of his head, The crooked crown¡¯s precarious position seemed to symbolise the sombre mood that currently filled the room. Though frustration, anger and other emotions filled the room, the sadness of one man clouded them all. Yet for that one man, there would be no respite. Beside him on the same table, a slightly younger lady stared dead ahead. Though she was young and beautiful, her face was now painted with incredible sadness that seemed to age her by years. The two, who seemed to be nearly old enough to be thought of as a father and daughter, were actually a couple. And upon their shoulders lay a country.


    Neither of the two shed tears, for now was not the moment; there was too much to be done. They secretly also shed no tears, so as to not worry the other even more. And lastly, they shed no tears because they were in front of others. A little boy lay in his mother¡¯s embrace, quietly hugging her tightly. Not knowing what had happened, he was still able to sense the delicate atmosphere, and that scared him. Never had he seen such weakness in his mother, or his normally assertive father. The other man in the room stood quietly by the door with a stern face. He wore a plain overcoat, and carried a plain spear. The few decretory badges attached to his breast pocket were the only signs that he held a high-ranking position, his outfit essentially the same as any man at arms. The man was a friend, advisor and confidant of the king and understood that he should not interrupt this family moment, but his duties moved contrary to his heart.


    Footsteps could be heard in the corridor outside before stopping in front of the door. A dull knocking reverberated through the door followed by an even quieter ¡°Sir, the ministers and nobles request the presence of His Majesty.¡± The guard then hunkered way, his armoured shoes clanking away, echoing noisily in the silence. The stern man inside the room gently tapped the butt of the spear in hand to get the occupants attention.


    *Cough* ¡°Your Majesty, you heard the soldier. We need you present to lead the meeting.¡± Seeing the king¡¯s un-resigned look he followed up with another cough ¡°Sir, a country without its ruler is like an army without it¡¯s general, or a snake without its head. Right now we are carrying a giant target on our back and are just waiting to be preyed upon. I understand Your Majesty¡¯s pain-¡°


    ¡°Enough Liam, I¡¯ll go.¡± The king grabbed his wife¡¯s hand one last time before lifting himself out of his seat. His gown flowed off the chair onto the ground, as he rubbed his face, morphing his grief filled face back into one of seriousness. Striding confidently towards the door, the two men left the room, as the cold eyes of the lady followed the king out before returning to staring blankly ahead again. Silence returned to the room again. *1


    ¡­


    ¡°Apolog-¡°


    ¡°Enough. I don¡¯t want to hear anymore from you. Let¡¯s just make this quick.¡±


    Refusing the apologetic bow, the king marched towards the inner meeting room. The room was normally reserved for state emergencies, and only a select few had access to the room. The room had been insulated with sound matting material, along with an extremely hard protective diamond coated shell. It had then been further supported with a multitude of spells and arcane traps that served a variety of functions, including detection of unauthorised entry, anti eavesdropping, lethal self defence mechanisms and even a basic mana limiting and inhibiting functions.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    To summarise, the room was filled with the country¡¯s cutting edge technology and magic, whether for defence or utility, and as if to further emphasise this point, five ornamental, yet functional diamond locks could be found on the main door. This was clearly a room of great importance; it¡¯s material make up and intricate design showing obvious splurging by its owner.


    In truth, this function room also doubled up high-level emergency escape bunker. This was one of the reasons for the owner¡¯s apparent splurge. What use was wealth or power, if one didn¡¯t protect their life? Normally this room was kept under tight lock and key, but today the door was left ajar, and the heated voiced leaking out from inside hinted at the perturbed nature of it¡¯s guests. Under standard regulations, the door would normally be locked from the inside if a meeting, especially one as important as the current meeting, were in session. However, its guest seemed to have forgotten that, leaving the door guard in a dilemma. He was a military man, and as any good foot soldier would tell you, regulations were made to be followed. Yet, he struggled to muster up the courage to question his superiors, as the atmosphere inside was stifling. Not to mention, that by the very same legislative document, normal regulations stated he could not enter the room; unless he was delivering vital information during a crisis, or had been asked to enter by someone who normally had access to the room, he was strictly not allowed to enter, and not closing a door could hardly be considered vital information in a crisis. So the young guard was puzzled, hesitating on his next action when he spotted his solution arriving. The King had arrived. He quickly stood up straight, making sure his chest was slightly puffed, his eyes alert and roving the otherwise empty corridor.


    ¡°Sir.¡±


    The King glanced at him, nodding once, before walking by. The guard hurriedly suppressed his urge to break out into an ecstatic smile, somewhat failing as his mouth formed a twisted smirk. The king had acknowledged him! Glad about the possibilities that had now opened for his future career, he looked upon it with positivity and couldn¡¯t help but forget that the future would be an unstable one. Though instability meant many chances to rise in rank, it also presented many more chances to die. Liam quietly followed in behind the King, this time making sure to shut the door.


    The King¡¯s secretary, who had previously been sitting in the corner of the room quietly observing the three dimensional map of Fae, hearing the clicking of the door, looked up noticing the King.


    ¡°Gentleman, ladies, settle down. Last I checked, nobility and ministry had not dilapidated into a bunch of spoilt children. We are before His Majesty so show some courtesy and etiquette.¡± Heralding the king¡¯s arrival, the secretary had always had a way with words.


    ¡°You¡¯re the only lady in here.¡± Someone muttered near the back. His snappy remark happened to be on point. Out of all the nobility and minister here, she was the only female. This was not due to any legislation, but rather a result of cultural beliefs as well as the need for most ladies to take time off their careers for child birthing, something valued greatly in a high mortality world.


    ¡°Oh my apologies Anthony. I¡¯m really sorry, but I thought for a second that we were in a female gossip salon. Sorry¡± However the secretary would not back down. She was a noble and a genius in many fields and hardworking on top of it. Even with Lara¡¯s prestige overshadowing her, she rose rapidly in the ranks of nobility before entering the ministry and eventually choosing to become the King¡¯s secretary. Apart from being skilled at a multitude of secretarial work, from diplomacy to economics to even military strategy, she also had astute hearing and a toxic tongue. Hence she was nickname Viper by the other ministers, a nickname that coincidentally also fit her agility based combat style.


    A quiet sigh suddenly filled the room, an indication of the frequency this ongoing verbal battle took place.


    ¡°¡­Enough Sophia. You too Anthony.¡± 2*


    ¡°I- ¡°


    ¡°ANTHONY, unless you want your wife hearing about this¡­.¡±


    ¡°-Nothing¡­ Forgive my impudence your majesty.¡± The man¡¯s face paled at the implied threat.


    ¡°Good. Now lets starts this serious discussion. Where should we begin Sophia?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes your majesty. Firstly, how do we respond to their demands? Although we haven¡¯t had many such scenarios as of late, our kingdom¡¯s policy dictates that we should never truly bow to threats lest we set a precedent and bare such weakness¡­¡±


    Thus the conference that would dictate the country¡¯s future began. The path chosen, the roads taken, the decisions made at this moment would have a lasting impact. Not only would the choices impact this country, but also the many other countries nearby, whether they meant good or harm, whether they were allies or opportunists lying in wait¡­


    ¡­Yet as everybody sat down, a chair around the table was left empty. A missing Mathew, a dark omen of what was to come. *3

 Chapter 28: A battle of the guardians

    Swivelling our heads in unison, we looked upstream towards the source of the noise. The river and dense foliage seemed to muffle the sound, however I finally spotted a sharp moving blur through the trees, moving in and out of view. It¡¯s movements were much louder than last time, which was probably why I thought it was closer than it was.


    ¡°Hang on, is that¡­¡±


    The whispered query was left hanging in the air by Sarra, but we all understood the rest. I stared back into Shiara¡¯s eyes, confirming our feelings, and I could see fear reflected in her irises¡­I glanced back around the tree. Good, the group of mutant spearfish had also noticed the fast approaching presence. Well, with the scary aura it was releasing, there would be no way they wouldn¡¯t. The group also seemed to be having their animal instincts riled up, as they started pawing the ground with their limbs.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move now. While they¡¯re distracted.¡± I peeked around the tree again, the splintered bark reminding me of the deadly magic shooting moments ago. The monsters were totally distracted, but for assurance I motioned to Shiara with my fingers. 3, 2, 1, go! Waving my hand forward, I crept forward quickly while maintaining a crouch. Using a fallen trunk as cover, we quickly converged with Sarra behind a tree further in. I looked back again. The mutant spearfish seemed to have already forgotten us and had their bladed tail facing us, each blade with a crescent shaped hole in the middle. I could barely pick up a low pitch growl that they were emanating as they sidled up and bunched together. I spoke without turning away.


    ¡°Hey, we should get-¡°


    BZZZZZZ!


    -ouch. The buzzing had yet again increased in volumed as a stream of bright light flowed from behind the trees towards the frightened spearfish. Barely registering the breath of flame, the river rose unnaturally in a giant wave, crashing down on the flame, releasing a bunch of steam. It was an awe-inspiring fight, but we couldn¡¯t stick around any longer. Watching the fight, the mystery attacker was more than likely the Dragon Flyire from before, defending its territory from what it saw as invaders. If so, this battle would be between parties with a guardian monster equivalent strength. Normally, the party with an elemental advantage would win, but considering the spearfish¡¯s clear inexperience to combat on land, it would be an easy victory for the Dragon Flyire. The dull pain in my shoulder stopped me from further analysis. I tapped on the two other distracted shoulders, and motioned to leave. There was no point trying to converse currently, and the faster we got away the better. The noise had become as loud as crowded city fanfares, with every animal, plant and more likely monster in the vicinity aware of the current battle; the giant flashes of light in the night a bright beacon.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Dropping the fish that was bleeding ruby blood from a giant hole in its chest, I passed the other Flying-Piranha to Sarra who had lost one of hers. I then unslung the bow before nocking an arrow to the string. I checked the quiver, counting the arrows. There were only seven more left. The battle was still ongoing as heatwaves and explosions were constantly being felt, but it wouldn¡¯t last much longer, and once a battle of this size stopped, all the predators would come in. Nocturnal predators were notorious for being strong, violent, and dangerous. The adults use to tell the kids all the time as a warning ¡®The night is for hunting. If you are not the hunter, you will become the hunted¡¯ I felt a shiver up my spine. It was cold, it was scary, and I was thinking about my past. Thinking back, it was a surprise that I hadn¡¯t reacted more, but that meant I was confronting my past, something that I had been trying to run from. Never mind that, focus, focus¡­1*


    Readjusting myself, I scanned the surrounding up ahead, and proceeded to cautiously walk on. I wanted to truly leave the battleground and it¡¯s surroundings before holing up. The worst situation would be deciding to hole up here and getting hit by a stray magic attack. I did NOT want to wake up as the tree I¡¯m sleeping on collapses. I could still feel the heat waves from here, so we needed to go further in.


    The jungle floor was nearly pitch black as the canopy above blocked out the majority of the blue and white moonlight. Occasional patches of light could be seen in the distance, but for the most part, I could barely see Shiara¡¯s and Sarratina¡¯s faces. Instead I tried to focus more on my other senses. I could feel the cold wind brushing against my skin. I could feel the directions that seemed to lack noise or wind, a likely indication of denser vegetation. And I could hear the ragged breathing of my two travel companions behind me. I could feel the feather arrow brushing against the tips of my fingers. I could hear the explosive fight for territory between the monsters. I could hear the-


    ¡°Ahh!...ouch.¡±


    ¡°You ok?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah I¡¯m fine¡­ Just tripped over something. Wait, I dropped the fish and I can¡¯t see it. Where¡¯d it go? How did-¡°


    ¡°SHHHHH! Just forget it, and pay attention to your surroundings. Try to stick close to me and follow in my footsteps.¡± The flashes of light still occurred intermittently, but they were becoming sparser and sparser. ¡°It sounds like the fight¡¯s dying down and most of the spearfish have died. Be on guard, predators may be coming our way.¡± People often associated the evil with being stupid, but monsters were actually quite intelligent; half the high ranking monsters in this jungle were probably smarter than Shiara.


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re not stupid.¡± Did Shiara just read my mind? ¡°No need to tell us the obvious. It¡¯s just hard to follow you in here. How is it so dark? It¡¯s almost like we are inside a giant cave¡­¡± Or not¡­-hang on, what was that?! I flick my head to the right looking for the colour. There.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Vixen, you see that as well right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re not hallucinating.¡±


    A pair of bright yellow fluorescent eyes stared at us unblinkingly from inside a nearby shrub quietly observing us.

 Chapter 29: Eyes in the night

    The pair of eyes stared back at us unblinkingly. No, actually it seemed to be staring at me. Did it label me as the leader? The eyes just stayed staring at us unblinkingly. I could feel the tension in the two next to me. What do I do? Was it waiting to pounce? No. It seemed to be cautious and just observing us. Maybe it had never seen humans before. I stared at it, and it stared back. We entered a stare down. Hmm, maybe it was waiting to see our reaction? Maybe it was waiting for its pack? I decided to throw all my doubt out the window and drew the bow up, pulling the string all the way back. As if recognising my aggressive action, it¡­ disappeared into the trees.


    ¡°Hahh¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t loosen up too much. Let¡¯s move.¡±¡­Did it really back off, or did it just disappear out of sight, waiting for the right moment to strike? And WHAT was that monster? I wracked my brain, but nothing like that previously existed. Yellow glowing eyes, yellow glowing eyes. Although my knowledge wouldn¡¯t be the be all and end all, and although I was less informed on the exact details of night monsters, none of them had possessed yellow eyes. That was definitely not normal. I could feel a suspicion forming.


    THERE! Wait, that¡¯s just the knob of a tree root, calm down, calm down. I was starting to see the faces of monsters everywhere. Breathe in¡­and out¡­. Focus.


    ¡°Vixen...-¡°


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Just focus on where you¡¯re walking.¡± I shrugged off Sarra¡¯s concern. It would just make me feel bad and doubt myself more. We just needed to persevere a bit longer and then we could sleep for as long as we wanted. Well, probably till the sun came up.


    ¡°Ok this-¡° and there the eyes popped up again. I whipped up my bow and launched the arrow. The string was still vibrating, when the snatched arrow landed with a thump at the bottom of the fern where the eyes were previously. Of course, the animal or monster had disappeared the moment I launched the arrow, hiding in the night.


    ¡°Should we-¡°


    ¡°Let¡¯s just go, forget the arrow.¡± I was starting to feel really unsettled. Just how persistent was this mysterious monster? The last flash of light had been a while ago, so the fight was likely over, which meant a monster feast was likely to occur soon. And on a much larger scale than the one I had thought about attempting at the river. Blood would run like rivers.


    UROOARH!!


    I had barely taken a score of steps before a loud roar echoed from behind. The roar was so loud even though we had gone quite the distance¡­or maybe we haven¡¯t gone that far in the dark.


    ¡°AH?!¡±


    ¡°What was that?!¡±


    ¡°Keep it quiet and just. Keep. Walking.¡± We really needed to get out of here. Maybe we should just pick a tree here. The fight had stopped and there was no big fire. The monster feast shouldn¡¯t go too out of control with a guardian around as long as the guardian doesn¡¯t kick the bucket. I grabbed around my quiver, finally finding another arrow. There were only six left, including the one on my bow. I would need to use them sparingly. I had been a bit trigger happy originally because I thought that I wasn¡¯t a good shot anymore, but I had actually been pretty accurate so far. Maybe the pressure and responsibility was making me perform beyond expectations or maybe I had somehow improved my skill after not touching a bow for seven years¡­. Stop. Now was not the time to be deliberating about that. Exhaustion must be influencing my thinking-the others as well. We really needed to look for a tree to sleep in. Now.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I scanned the upper branches of nearby trees. It was hard to see in the dark, and they all looked similar. A few purple-black leaves scattered from a tree slightly further ahead, slowly floating down. That tree wouldn¡¯t do. It was a Purple-Paralyser, a tree that had toxins in it¡¯s leaf, that would be injected through small barbs on the surface of the leaves into anything that pressed against them, quickly making it¡¯s way into the blood stream and turning the victim¡¯s blood into a thin murkish purple, paralysing muscles before eventually reaching and paralysing the heart. I remember Dad use to smear our arrows with an extract of it. If only I still had some Satinummi leaves; we wouldn¡¯t be on a timer to get out of this jungle. 1*


    THERE! While thinking about the botany, I finally spotted a suitable tree. There were enough vines, broken bark and branches to climb our way up, and there didn¡¯t seem to be any potential hazards near it. It was tall enough that all the prowling predators wouldn¡¯t be able to reach us even with a jump, and there were several branches that looked thick enough to support our weight. There were also a decent amount of leaves that would hopefully camouflage us in our sleep. We wouldn¡¯t be able to do much against monsters with strong magic, but as humans weren¡¯t a normal source of food, we should be fine. Hopefully. We just needed to blend in and be inconspicuous.


    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s climb up that tree. Shiara, you climb up it first, and then together we¡¯ll help out Sarra. I¡¯ll climb it last.¡±


    I turned around to watch the surrounding area as Shiara started her ascent. Truthfully, Sarra didn¡¯t really need too much help. I just used that as an excuse so that Sarra would be in a slightly safer position. If there were any small monsters lurking at the top of the tree, Shiara stood a better chance, and I had to stay at the bottom to ensure no one would get attacked as they were climbing or as they descend tomorrow. Suddenly, I spotted the luminescent eyes again. WOAH! Hmmm¡­ Whatever animal it was, the yellow-eyed creature had been following us. I had noticed it¡¯s shiny eyes several times at the edge of my peripheral vision, but every time I turned to focus on it, it would disappear so quickly that I wouldn¡¯t be sure if it even existed. But this time, I caught a blur of movement, so it was surely there. I pulled back my bow to full strength, feeling the slight strain on my shoulders and the old wound re-opening again. Hiss. Something didn¡¯t feel right. I glanced backwards quickly; Sarra was nearly up.


    RYAOOOU! 2*


    Huh? WHAT WAS THAT?! I turned towards the direction of the sound. To my knowledge, nothing in this jungle should have made a sound like that; a rough bark that ended in a high pitch squeal. Huh¡­are my eyes tired, why is that bit blurry¡­oh NO! I let loose an arrow at empty space a dozen meters away in the middle of the path. As I went to grab another one, the bowstring still thrumming, a giant spurt of crimson blood gushed out from the blur of thin air as the arrow disappeared. The blood after raining down revealed the shape of a quadrupedal animal.


    GRRHHHH!


    A Chameleon-Tiger. It¡¯s fur changed from a black grey stripe into a yellow red stripe as it charged towards me. I let loose another arrow, but unlike the first which had lodged itself into the monster¡¯s shoulder, the tiger sprang to the side avoiding it. I quickly grabbed my bow and climbed up the tree. Climb, climb, CLIMB!!! I scaled up the tree, not caring about scraping my hands or legs.


    BOOOOM! SCRRRRR!


    The dull impact barely half a meter below vibrated me as I quickly tightened my loosened grip. I could hear the claws scraping against the bark, as the tiger slowly fell down the tree.


    ¡°Vixen, grab my hand!¡±


    ¡°You okay?¡±


    I grabbed the outstretch hand, pulling myself up with it. I was glad they hadn¡¯t screamed when they first saw it; that would have just attracted more monsters.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, but we might not be soon.¡± I unslung my bow, knocking an arrow to it.


    ¡°Wait why?! Aren¡¯t we safe up here?¡±


    ¡°We are only relatively safer up here then on the ground. Tigers can climb.¡± *3


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°Shhhh. Although they aren¡¯t great climbers, they can climb nonetheless. They¡¯re light enough and strong enough.¡±


    As if proving my point, the monster after having fallen back to the ground, leapt again and attempted to claw its way up. I only had four arrows left. I needed to wait for the right moment. If I don¡¯t manage to kill it or scare it off with these four arrows, we would all be dead.

 Chapter 30: A tree top battle

    I placed the arrow, resting it on the drawstring as gravity tried to pull it out of my hand. I didn¡¯t have many arrows left, so I decided to wait till it was closer and climbing; that way it would be an easier shot, and the climbing tiger would have less time to react. I felt the feathered end again, confirming that the feathers were in shape, that the shaft was straight, and that the arrow was applying sufficient pressure to the string. They had been jostled around a lot on our journey, but somehow seemed relatively intact. The branch we were standing on trembled a bit as the northerly night wind picked up, the leaves rustling like chimes.


    ¡°Hey, Shiara, can you try to move onto that other branch slightly above.¡± Although it was unlikely, I wouldn¡¯t want the tree collapsing under our weight. I gripped the arrow firmly between my fingers fearing that it may accidently slip through them with a fumble. We were too close for a dropped arrow to be lethal.


    The tiger slowly pawed its way up the tree, often using the same footholds we had, clawing into the bark. 6 meters. 3 meters. 1 meter! The tiger tensed its muscles, the coloured stripes turning a dark brown and green. I launched the arrow at the incoming tiger as it leapt upwards, momentarily turning into a blur. I unconsciously exhaled as I realised the arrow was on point when the tiger suddenly writhed to the side while mid air, noticing the incoming projectile, as it forcibly stopped its momentum and fell back down. 1*


    BOOOM!


    ¡°YES!¡±


    ¡°Nice. It¡¯s dead yeah?¡±


    GROOOHHH!!!


    ¡°I wish it was.¡± I really did. The monster rolled over, flipping itself back onto its feet. The arrow had only managed to give the tiger another red stripe. It shrugged off the pain like it didn¡¯t even feel it, and proceeded to glare up at us. I stared back, secretly trembling inside. With only three arrows left, if it seriously continued to hunt us, we wouldn¡¯t last long. But suddenly, the tiger turned away, and with a few light jumps, disappeared in the undergrowth.


    ¡°Fuhhh, good job. You must have scared it away.¡± ¡­or it could be lurking in the shadows.


    ¡°Mhmm. We¡¯ll leave it at that. I¡¯m going to take a nap now. Yawwwwn. I¡¯m so tired.¡± Without even bothering to cover my mouth or unstring the bow, I flopped backwards against the trunk. And having not learnt from my mistakes, I didn¡¯t check for any branches that may have been poking out...ouch, just some loose bark. I ripped it off, leaving the smooth interior to rest on. All the fatigue seemed to hit me, as the myriad of minor scratches over my arms and legs began to sting. Well I¡¯m too tired to care anymore. 2*Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°I guess I will go to sleep to then.¡±


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! Don¡¯t go to sleep yet! What happens if that tiger comes back or another beast attacks us?¡±¡­Looked like her convoy of thoughts followed mine.


    *3


    ¡°If anything does, we will be dead anywayyys. Yawwww, anyway, if you can¡¯t sleep without a sentry, feel free to stay awake. I doubt you will be able to stay awake, and even then, you won¡¯t be able to keep up tomorroooooooww. Ohhhhh, I¡¯m toooo, tired. Good night tsuuuu.¡± Sleep, ahhh sleep, the sweet ¡­sleep. Wind¡­. And ¡­.I miss¡­ you¡­


    ¡­.


    4*


    ¡­.


    ¡°Daddy! Daddy, teach me how to use this.¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm, shouldn¡¯t you be out with the other girls playing chase?¡±


    ¡°Hi..hicup. They all stopped playing with me.¡±


    ¡°Stopped playing with you?¡± The man went over, crouching down to wipe his daughter¡¯s crying face. ¡°And why is that?¡± The man carefully pried the dangerous weapon out of his daughter¡¯s hands. She had been carrying his hunting knife, still stuck in the sheath, facing up. The man proceeded to grab her waist, lifting his little angel in front of him, staring into her teary eyes.


    ¡°Huuu¡­They said that I was too fast. They, they told me to go p-play with the old-older kids. B-but I wanted to p-play and not train. I, I then said that I would run slower, but-but one of the older girls, told me to stop showing off. Daddy, Daddy, I¡¯m not showing off! I¡¯m not showing off right?¡±


    The father patiently listened to his daughter¡¯s outburst. She had always been slightly better then her peers, and even the effects of their family bloodline seem more pronounced. Thoughts of speaking to the other girl¡¯s parents briefly flittered by, but he immediately dismissed it. Parents would normally stay out of conflicts between children. He wasn¡¯t old enough yet to forget how he was as a kid. These small conflicts often could help spur growth and teach children how to overcome similar problems they may similarly encounter later in life. But still, she was only a toddler, so he decided to help out. He couldn¡¯t help but dote on his cute daughter.


    ¡°No you¡¯re not. Have you thought about going to play with your brother and the boys?¡± Reassuring her, he proceeded to suggest a solution, though he knew in his heart she wouldn¡¯t accept it. This would make his second suggestion more likeable.


    ¡°Nooo! When they play chase they¡¯re all rough and pushy. I don¡¯t want to get muddy with them.¡±


    Suddenly, not far from the small clearing they were in, a chubby lady appeared in the doorway of a hut. Her stomach still bulged slightly from her recent pregnancy, her offspring; a cute babygirl was peacefully suckling on her left breast. The lady had heard most of the outburst from inside.


    The man exchanged looks with his wife, a smile touching his face. Even through the stress of pregnancy, her astuteness hadn¡¯t dulled at all. She had read his mind and came out at the perfect time. He couldn¡¯t help but internally laugh with mirth thinking about how smart his kids would be.


    ¡°Then how about helping Daddy and looking after Mommy. You get to watch your little sister-¡°


    The man suddenly cut off, and turned around noticing an intruder. The wife similarly had also shifted her gaze over. A baby maroon fox walked into the clearing. Foxes were not native to this region, and the man only knew of it due to his wide travels in his youth and merchant nature. But what was truly eye catching was the blood trail leaking from its left hind leg. It was also limping on its right front leg, creating a weird dragging hop. It¡¯s yellow eyes looked up briefly before collapsing on it¡¯s own weight. The girl looked at the dying fox.


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    Yellow¡­yellow¡­yellow eyes¡­yellow eyes¡­YELLOW EYES!


    I opened my eyes slowly, vaguely remembering I had a dream. As of the contents, it was blank. But what struck me was where those yellow eyes-


    A pair of yellow eyes stared at me as I felt a slight weight on my legs.


    Ah?


    ¡°AH?!¡±


    And then I felt myself slip. I was weightless.

 Chapter 31: A past from the pet

    *Change of P.O.V*


    I lay there in shock. The light had recently faded and I had heard the sound of combat near my territory. At first, I bristled my furs in anger. Who had stolen my little spot on the bank? Who had the gall to challenge me for my territory? But when I heard the sound of the explosion from the fight, I stopped sliding out of my burrow and shrunk back down. This was clearly something bigger then me; probably one of the bosses disciplining some kids trying to challenge his dominance.


    Yet I froze my retreating body yet again when I felt my nose tickle. That scent¡­that scent¡­could it be?...


    I burst open my burrow, destroying the area around it. I shook my body, getting rid of the dirt clinging to my fur. Ahh, that felt much better. I had endured the stuffiness for my survival, but being clean feels much better after all. The sky had darkened which meant the senior residents were probably out prowling. It would be dangerous and I would need to be careful, I didn¡¯t want to end up as someone else¡¯s chow.


    I shook my body again, stretching my legs and trying to warm them up. Right. I would just follow that scent. Hahhh¡­how nostalgic. Feeling slightly intoxicated, I followed my nose, lightly gliding along the surface. My fur padded paws occasionally touched the surface as I gracefully ran towards the scent. I felt the earth, confirming my location. Hmmm, the scent was moving now. It seemed to be running away from where the explosions and flashes of light were coming from. Hey! Why were they fighting at my drinking spot? Please don¡¯t destroy it. Ah, but if my nose is correct, and it hasn¡¯t failed me even once, then I guess I won¡¯t be returning?


    I stopped as I felt the presence of a senior monster next to me. Hiding my presence, I let it walk past. Phew, it seemed to be heading towards the fight. I continued running, weaving between the shrubs, gradually changing my path so that I could intercept the scent. I sniffed again, this time the scent was stronger. And my nose was right! This was the smell of my family¡­and more specifically¡­ Big Sis! The smell seemed quite dirty, but it was Big Sis. She should really shower, the stench she was releasing was overpowering, and nearly anyone with a sense of smell would be able to find her.


    I thought back to my family. I don¡¯t really remember my mother¡¯s smell. The only distinct memory I had of her was her being killed on top of me. I still remember the blood leaking out of her mouth and fur covering me, and my hind leg being crushed underneath her. I still sometimes woke up to imaginary pains in my leg. Ah, there was another memory I had of her, but it was much more foggy. I only ever saw it in my dreams, so I¡¯m not even sure, but in it, she held me in her mouth and she keeps telling me to grow up strong, and to protect everyone I care for. She also says something about father, but I¡¯m not sure, as she never says it clearly. That felt like a much older memory.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    And then there were the rest of my family. For some reason, they smelt differently and I couldn¡¯t understand them at first, but as time went on, I gradually began to understand their weird noises and actions, although we still had misunderstandings. At first, I thought they weren¡¯t my family, and was about to run away when Big Sis grabbed me. I remember hearing a lot of loud noises before fainting. The next time I woke up, I was feeling all better and clean. Big Sis was always the responsible and smart one. She wouldn¡¯t make me do much, but when she wanted me to do something, there were always consequences if I didn¡¯t listen. She was also nice to me, and would help clean me. Then there was Big Bro. He was younger then Big Sis, and he would always play with me. Sometimes he hurt me, and I once hurt him, but we still always ended up going back to having fun playing with each other. Then there was Father who would always bring back tasty food. He was a bit rude, but well, food he made was tasty, so all was well. Ahhhh¡­I haven¡¯t had such nice food since I last saw Father. And that was the family. Oh, there also seemed to be an evil lady in our skulk who lived with us. She was always the one stopping my playtime and making loud noises at me. I think she was angry with me most of the time. I don¡¯t know why Big Bro and Big Sis ever listened to her. Right. Time to focus.


    I shivered; slightly shaking my body while ridding myself of stray thoughts. There was no need to think too deeply about the past right now. I continued to rush as cautiously as possible towards the smell. It was coming from just beyond the slight incline...and there were multiple smells. The stink had hidden the other smells, but there were actually two more scents. One of them was similarly stinky while the other smelt like flowers. The tasty flowers as well.


    I quickly took a peek through a shrub at them. Hmm, I found you Big Sister. I found you. Ahhh, I can¡¯t wait to be brushed again. Please brush my fur. Oops, I should come out. I prepared to jump out, tensing my muscles, when she suddenly pointed her weapon at me. It was one of those long-range weapons I had seen Father use. It shoots something at where it is aimed, so why did she aim it at me?! Before I even registered everything, my instincts took over, as I immediately fled into the bush. Why? WHY!? Was she angry with me? Maybe she didn¡¯t recognise me. Stopping my hurried sprint, I once again turned back around. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.


    I decided to take another quick peek at them, but when Big Sis looked towards me, I quickly backed out again. For some reason, Big Sis looked really scary right now. Did she become scary in the period of time I haven¡¯t seen her. I haven¡¯t seen any family in ages. I tried approaching her again, but every time she turned towards me, I felt an instinctive fear and backed out again. She really does look scary, even more then some of the night predators¡­No, she is just Big Sis. I just need to show myself. She may have gotten older, but she is still the same person. I approached them again, preparing to leap out of the shrub ¨CAhhh. I dived backwards, as something flew past my previous location. Big Sis! Just give me a chance to show myself. Don¡¯t shoot at me! I felt the grievances pile up-What¡¯s that smell?!


    I sniffed the air again, pointing my nose up in the air¡­. there! I sniffed again. I had gotten a bit distracted before, but how did I not notice it?


    RYAOOOU!


    I had to warn them. Hopefully they got the message.

 Chapter 32: A pet from the past

    ¡°Ahhh!!!OWW! OWW!! What theeee- OW! OWWWW!¡±


    THUNK! THUN-THUNK THUNK BooOOM!


    Barely registering the morning sun, I felt the wind rush out of my lungs as I made a final solid thump against the ground. My consciousness began to fade as my entire body screamed in pain. I could feel my heart beating crazily, threatening to burst out, but at the same time, it gradually felt more distant. Even the gravel that poked into my underside felt numb as my vision began to darken and narrow and¡­what¡­a ¡­way to¡­wake¡­up¡­.


    ¡°Vixen! ¡°VIXEN!!¡± ¡±¡­just let me pass out in peace. I tried to-ah¡­I¡¯m not getting up soon. I need at least a few minutes to recover. Ignoring the varying sized cuts and scratches that lined my limbs; the much bigger injury was the pure shock from the fall. Although I had managed to land back first as well as the slow the fall, in exchanged I had my flailing arms and legs smashed against multiple branches, bringing them down along with me. Their cushioning effect was minimal, but I was just glad none of them were toxic considering even basic healing spells might not work and we weren¡¯t even able to use magic here¡­-yellow eyes!


    Reigning in my analytical thoughts, I willed my sluggish eyelids up, opening my eyes again, searchingly gazing up for the-UHG!


    THUMP


    I felt my breath leave me again as something heavy landed on my stomach. Even though my stomach was nearly empty, I still felt the urge to regurgitate bile as I felt a familiar acid coming up into my throat. I forcibly swallowed it as I reopened the eyes I had shut in reflex from the pain and what I saw before me was¡­.


    ¡­a pair of yellow eyes-belonging to a¡­fox. It had a maroon pelt, the fur a dull sheen. Its body was about half a meter long, and its tail was another meter long, sweeping from left to right in a slow, but paced manner. Even through my numbed and cold feet, I felt the slight tickling sensation as its tail brushed over them. I could feel its heat passing though it¡¯s paws into me. Its mouth was curled up as if sneering or smirking at me; while it¡¯s yellow eyes kept staring at me, expectantly as if waiting for something to-¡­could it be? I though back to what seemed like the distant past, almost as if I was looking at another life, and thought back to when I still had a family and- a single tear rolled down my face.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°¡­Suticat?¡± I slowly reached out my hand towards its snout. The fox on top of me had greatly changed compared to the little fox in my memory. It was bigger, and messier. But there shouldn¡¯t be any other foxes in here. The fox remained still, and as I finally brought my hand close enough to touch it, it opened it¡¯s mouth and¡­


    ¡­bit me. 1*


    ¡°Get away from her! SHOO!¡± Finally registering the sound of snapping branches, I noticed Shiara and Sarra wildly waving some branches at the fox. I couldn¡¯t see their faces due to the foxes back blocking me, but even I could hear the fear in their voice. There was no way an animal wouldn¡¯t. The fox let go of my arm, turning around to face them.


    KCRRHH!!


    I could feel the vibrations from the snarl in my stomach. Its tail had turned somewhat stiff, having stopped it¡¯s sweeping motions, some of the fur sticking into my facial orifices. That hurt. It was time to end this farce. Gently rising and ignoring the minimal residual pain, I pushed Suticat off before gently wrapping my arms around him.


    *2


    ¡°Vi-Vixen?!¡±


    ¡°What are you doing? Wait your arm-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. He was just getting a little emotional at our re-union.¡± So they must have seen my teary eyes and my arm being bit and thought that Suticat was eating me. Play biting my arm and licking it was one of his bad habits. I hadn¡¯t managed to stop him from doing it even after two years of looking after him.


    ¡°He? Reunion? Do you know him?? Is he your magic summon- or just a pet??! Is that why you introduced yourself as protected by the fox totem??!!?¡±


    ¡°Ah-he-he just bit your arm again.¡±


    ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s fine.¡± I stroked his head left to right with my other hand. It was the signal I had developed to get him to let go of my arm. ¡°And Sarra, one question at a time. To answer your last question, yes, you could say he is why I said that.¡± Well, only one of the reasons. ¡±Anyways, where¡¯s the fish we had before. Can you two go grab it? I¡¯m still a bit sore from the fall, so I want to rest a bit longer here. Seeing as we haven¡¯t eaten anything and are all hungry, let¡¯s just cook up the fish and eat it here. I¡¯ll introduce everyone over food.¡±


    ¡°Ok sure, but what about yesterday¡¯s tiger? What happens if it comes?¡±¡­Shiara is adapting really quickly to this environment.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­. it should be a nocturnal predator. Also, this little guy¡¯s a coward. He wouldn¡¯t show up here if there were any monsters lurking nearby, and his sense of smell is excellent. We should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Ok, well Shiara, help me up the tree then. We left the fish on the third branch right? We¡¯ll leave you two to your reunion then.¡± With a cheeky smirk, she dragged Shiara back to the tree.


    Ignoring her, I thought about our current escape path. I unconsciously patted his fur as I thought about the past and planned for the future. Ahhh, if only I had a comb and we weren¡¯t on the run. The act of brushing Suticat down was always a nice calming activity for me. I hugged him again, realising he might be the only family I had left. I had no idea where my brother was, or if he was even still alive. Mom and Dad¡­. had sadly¡­ with everyone else in the village¡­and even Rachael... ¨CI need to visit that hill. It would only be a slight detour.


    Wiping my face with my arm, I renewed my determination.

 Chapter 33: Let there be fire

    Haahhhhh¡­.Soooohhh¡­Haaahhhh


    Taking a deep breath, I attempted to calm my thumping heart down. I had experienced multiple shocks, emotionally and physically, within a short period of time, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that my heart had been set racing. Ahh, the smell of fur is nice.


    ¡°You done talking with your girl?¡±


    Looking up, I discovered the two had come back down already, landing slightly clumsily with their hands holding the fish. The fish had dried overnight, becoming flaky and brittle. I would have thought they would co-operate to drop the fish from one person to the next, but I guess that was being too optimistic. Though last night¡¯s sleep should¡¯ve helped us recover a bit, I guess our brains were still not working to their optimal level.


    ¡°You talking to me or the fox? I was led to believe that this fox is a boy.¡± The princess replied with a shrug, walking over with the fish.


    ¡°So what do we do with these?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re starting to smell icky.¡± Icky? Is that what she thought her patients smelt like back in the slums? Ahhh wait, she must have gotten used to treating the townsmen in the period before our escape. Well, like always, let¡¯s just ignore Shiara when she¡¯s being unhelpful¡­


    ¡°Roast them. Do either of you know how to start a fire?¡±


    ¡°Uh I can with magic...-¡°


    ¡°-Without magic?¡±


    ¡°..uhhh¡­really never needed to as I always had magic to¡­ do¡­ it¡­NEVER MIND ME!¡± She turned her head away out of embarrassment. I had an urge to laugh at her pitiful face. It was cute how her voice softened and face reddened as she realised how redundant her speech had been. This is what happens when you depend on magic too heavily. Mana is not almighty. Shiara seemingly having learnt from Sarra, just gave a curt shake of the head. Well she probably only learnt how to start fires off embers using newspaper as kindling, so wasn¡¯t too confident starting one out in the wild.


    ¡°Ok, well Sarra, pass me your dagger, and keep a watch of our surroundings. Tell me if you see anything move. Shiara, bring over some of the branches that we brought down before.¡± Having finished directing the two, I sifted the ground for some dead dry leaves. We needed some with little water in them, so that they would catch fire easily when hit by a spark. Brittle leaves that would crumble would work, but it would be better if they only made up a minority, or else the fire wouldn¡¯t burn for long.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Creating a small pile of dry leaves, I pulled out the dagger we had previously stolen, and along with the dagger Sarratina handed over, I started smashing the two blades together.


    ¡­


    A while later, a spark had finally flown off the blades catching onto the tinder. A small flame burst to life as I gently blew against it. Shiara had finished bringing over enough foliage long ago, and was waiting for the fire beside me. I could feel her staring into me, and when I took a quick peak out of the corner of my eyes, she was staring at me as if contemplating something. Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside her head. Sarra similarly had come over and sat down. Worried at first, I realised upon rethinking that Suticat would most likely warn us of dangers long before we could see them. Rubbing my tired, hands, I quickly used them to cover the small orange flame lest a sudden wind blew it out- not that there was any wind; the air was stagnant around here. Blowing another gentle breath, the fire finally increased to a stable size as I started to throw on some small twigs Shiara had collected.


    Sarra had helpfully skewered all the fish with a branch. Grabbing a stick each, we sat around the fire facing each other, fish hanging over the open flames, a thin smoky grey trail floating upwards. Sometime unnoticed by me, Suticat had sneakily crawled onto my lap, his front furry limbs resting on them. We stared at the flickering flames, as if entranced, silently waiting for our Flying-Piranhas to finish roasting.


    ¡°Hey, I know that we are in pretty dire straits right now and that we are all tired, but I think we should talk a bit more about ourselves. It will help us co-operate better going on, and even if we ignore all that, even if you two don¡¯t consider me your friend, I still do. So I¡¯ll tell you two more about myself, and then I want you two tell me more about yourselves. You don¡¯t have to say anything that you are uncomfortable sharing like your past. Just what your likes and dislikes are, how you see yourself, what you¡¯re good and bad at. Anything you want to say.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but yet again notice her natural inborn charisma as a leader. Sarra was truly a princess.


    ¡°Anyways, I am the first born princess of Fei, Princess Sarratina El¡¯ La Tronte. My father is the king of Fei, and my mother is the queen Fei. I have a younger brother who should be turning nine this year. To me, he¡¯s a really obedient younger brother, but I heard from the maids he listens to no one apart from mother and me. Apparently father got so pissed off at his attitude of ignoring his tutors that he had him grounded for a week. However, even though my younger brother messes around quite often, he does work hard in sword training and doesn¡¯t do anything too bad- well if he really did, father might actually disown him. I don¡¯t spend much time with father, but mother is often sickly ever since giving birth to brother and spends lots of time sleeping in bed. She likes watching me and my brother and likes sitting on the porch in the garden.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, that¡¯s enough about my family. Knowing you two, I¡¯m going to end up talking the most and because I don¡¯t want to bore you two to death, how about I stop here for a bit and one of you two tell me a bit about yourselves.¡± Damn Sarra, that was sneaky! ¡­and was she implying that she would tell us more about herself depending on how much we told her? Now that I think about it, we haven¡¯t even been told when or why she was attacked and caught. Surely it was not by a random coincidence that the attack was planned for when it happened; they were clearly targeting her.


    While these thought flashed through my brain, I made eye contact with Shiara. We stared at each other, a silent contest of wills for who would go next. You go do it. You go do it. You go do it!


    Shiara talk first or I will make sure you step on something unpleasant. I started screaming threats of pranks I would pull in my head if she didn¡¯t talk first. Information is an important commodity, worth it¡¯s weight in gold. Finally Shiara glanced away, seemingly backing off.


    *1


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll go first. You weren¡¯t with us previously Sarra, so I will also talk about my skills and abilities. It is something worth sharing for this journey.¡± Shiara threw an evil look. Why was that¡­-Oh no! Shiara you meanie!


    ¡°¡­hehe.¡± I heard that quiet chuckle Sarra!

 Chapter 34: Girl’s Talk: Shiara

    ¡°So as you may already know, I lived previously in the slums. I could be considered one of the better off and even maybe a top dog in the slums, but the slums at the end are still slums. There was a saying that often went around. If you cry, you die. Short, sweet and simple. Crying was seen as a sign of hopelessness and weakness. It was what you did when you were at your ropes end and had nothing left you could do. You walk past a kid crying the first day; he would be gone by the second. Either sold off as a slave, beaten to death in some nook or who knows what.¡±


    Shiara shifted around a bit before settling into a more comfortable position to continue her story telling. ¡°When I first started living in the slums after my parent¡¯s death I remember just quietly sitting there. I was in a state of shock and utter disbelief. My parents just never showed up that night. Or the next. Or the next. I thought I was just having a bad dream and was waiting to wake up. I remember thinking with certainty that it was all just a bad dream, and that I would suddenly wake up in the embrace of my mother, maybe even a maid serving us. I don¡¯t remember my house when we were still nobles, but back then I still sometimes had dreams of this white cradle in a beige coloured room. The Beige Room I called it.¡± Shiara took an enquiring glance at my face, and then Shiara¡¯s as if to assess are thoughts, before continuing, ¡°I was eight at the time and even though we were always traveling, my parents had sheltered me, and given me all the love and care I could ask for. We were happy. They had me, and I had them. Sometimes, Dad would disappear on us for a few days, but he would always come back, with a smile on his face. Mum would hug Dad, and then they would tell me not to disturb them for a while, giving me something to play or a chore to do before entering a room together. We were content with life and I was happy.¡±


    Shiara quietly wiped some tears that leaked from the edges of her eyes. Though her eyes were moist, she continued to smile at us as she said, ¡°But fate is not always kind. I was naive in thinking nothing would change, that they would be always there for me till I could stand on my own two feet. I was young, I was sheltered, and I was na?ve. It was during our journey from the capital of Fae to Frankfurt when we were attacked by a group of bandits. We had just finished watching a ceremony-¡°


    ¡°Wait! By that you mean you were there during my succession ceremony where they announced my right to inheritance?!¡±


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Yes of course¡­ That was the only public ceremony that year. ¡°Princess Sarratina, would you please be kind enough to let Shiara finish her story?¡±


    ¡°Ooh, sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine Vixen. But yes, I was there. I don¡¯t want to delve too deeply into the actual attack, but both my parents past away. A band of traveling mercenaries came, but they found us too late. The bandits were slaughtered, but the damage had already been done and-¡­ yeah.¡± Grimacing, she continued, ¡°They couldn¡¯t and had no need to look after me, so they left me in Frankfurt. I remember my mother had a letter on her that was addressed to me, but well¡­.¡± She looked embarrassedly at us, ¡°I kind of tore it up without reading it properly. Well I read everything, but I can¡¯t remember most of it because of how distraught I was. The letter contained everything they wanted to tell me and did not yet dare say, but I only remember distinctly the last sentence, which was um¡­. ¡®Mom and Dad lived for love. Please don¡¯t be¡­afraid¡­to love.¡¯ ¡° 1*


    ¡°What did you say? Why you talking so quietly- oh¡­ sorry, that was insensitive of me. If you don¡¯t feel comfortable sharing, don¡¯t tell us. We won¡¯t pry.¡± Looks like only Sarra couldn¡¯t hear the last part.


    ¡°I find that very hypocritical coming from you, but I guess you¡¯re use to double standards.¡± Sarra visibly winced at the jab, but I felt a sense of satisfaction from it. That¡¯s what she get¡¯s for digging up the past.


    ¡°Anyways, on my second day in the slums, and I think I was in semi delirious state back then, I remember constantly muttering ¡®I¡¯m not alone, I¡¯m not alone, I¡¯m not alone¡¯ over and over while hugging myself. I hadn¡¯t been targeted yet because no one had noticed, but someone soon did. I remember thinking you were my knight in shining armour Vixen when you came over and nonchalantly told me as you passed by ¡®They¡¯ve never left you as long as they are remembered.¡¯


    And then over the last few years, Vixen has helped me quietly numerous times which I only found out about recently, but I¡¯ll let Vixen tell you about that.¡± Shiara smirked at me before continuing, ¡°About my skills, I¡¯m good at healing magic and a decent brawler, at least against humans. Against the monster¡¯s we¡¯ve seen so far, I wouldn¡¯t even hold a candle. Although we can¡¯t use magic here,¡± -Stop waving your fish around and keep it over the fire! ¡°Normally, I can heal most injuries that are not instantly fatal and don¡¯t include huge loss of blood or cut off appendages. ¨COr involve complex poisons.¡±


    2*


    ¡°Anyways, that¡¯s all from me. Vixen, I believe it is your turn.¡± Shiara, stop smiling at me like that.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Sarra should continue with sharing her story as one of us has spoken already and I¡¯m sure my story isn¡¯t that interesting.¡± I also have lots of confidential information and tribal secrets. Ah! Suticat, stop nudging me, the fish isn''t ready yet.


    ¡°Hahhh¡­Vixen, I¡¯ll go now, but you¡¯re going to have to spill the beans soon as well¡­.¡±


    Not if I can help it.

 Side Series: Jackys Diary- Note VII (8): Magic in depth part 1

    So after further research and exploration of the world¡¯s literature, I have managed to summaries the four major types of magic in this world. But first that requires me to define something. What is magic? Although there are varying definitions, I have chosen to define magic as a changing phenomenon or phenomena that requires the manipulation of mana along with other inputs to create a desired effect.


    There are four different major magic systems. Of course there are a multitude of arcane and mysterious magic systems created, as well as mixed combinations, but for the sake of today¡¯s discussion, I will only be talking about the four most widely acknowledge systems. This world, Myristic, has advanced incredibly in the field of magic, comparable to the science of Earth. No, although I hate to admit it, but if you include the hidden experts and researches, or even supreme evil organizations, probably advanced even more. I haven¡¯t been able to safely contact anyone of that level, but from the rumors circulating, it is easy to make some rough estimates and conclusions. I have also noticed that magical technology is especially advanced in countries that integrate multiple systems into their teaching and society, and also tend to be wealthier. Countries that follow single disciplines tend to be the smaller countries, especially ¡°pop up countries¡± ¨Ccountries that pop up during periods of conflict and last less then fifty years¡­oh and I¡¯ve derailed. 1*


    Ignoring my awe, the four major systems are as follows, Ba, Ra, Ci and Wi magic. I know, they sound funny. I believe the reason the names have become so short is due to the different languages all using the same or similar pronunciation and to convey easily across different languages. It is also my personal conjecture, and although I lack any evidence whatsoever, based on Earth¡¯s history, I conclude that the names were originally longer only starting with that sound, but shortened for convenience.


    Below I have transcribed a textbook definition of each magic type.


    B? Magic- Also known as bloodline magic, it uses inheritance and often requires one to be descendant of a certain race or god. The heritage and amount of power unlocked from bloodline is often served as a measure of one¡¯s natural talent. Has a strong relation to many beastly types of magic.


    R? Magic- The eastern magic that focuses on absorbing and releasing mana to create different phenomena. Power is often measured by a variety of things including the amount of storable mana, recovery rate, control and efficiency in creation. Typically an interference branch of magic.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    C? Magic- Magic that focuses on storing and collecting mana and converting that into storable energy, dubbed by students of this magic as qi or life force. Focuses on balance as well as the amount of raw strength executable/exert-able by the body. Associated heavily with most self-enhancement, fortification and strengthening of body magics.


    W? Magic- Magic that does not enter the body, instead manifestation occurs entirely outside. Magic often requires sacrifice and the drawing of magic circles. Luck and omens are often in popular belief by practitioners and also often involve grimoires. Typically considered the most arcane branch of magic. Mental stability or instability is important. Distinct feature is the appearance of glowing magic circles in the magic.


    Due to the existence of magic not being new, the magic branches have blurred with time. Travellers have spread the different cultures and magic thus leading to most modern schools teaching some magic from all disciplines even though they may specialise in a certain kind. People who focus purely a single type are considered eccentric or backwards.


    Or so it is mentioned. To summarise and add on, basically Ba (B?) magic is an exclusive type to a select group of people. These heritages are often either the centre of a nation, or living secluded and hidden in some obscure location. The magic found in this branch varies the most from each other and the disparity in strength displayed by each user differs. It is also believed to be the most ancient magic. Ra (R?) magic is supposedly the youngest branch, though still ancient, and is supposedly the most diverse branch and more flexible compared to others. However it is considered the lease potent branch and is often therefore thought as an imitator of other branches. That is not to say that a high tier Ra spell is not dangerous, but compared to a similarly high tier spell from any of the other branches, the Ra spell would be sorely lacking. Ci (C?) magic is believed to be the second youngest magic branch. Although it was originally created to imitate Ba magic, it has now moved on and it¡¯s practitioners are known for their longevity and youthfulness. This branch of magic is rumoured to be quite popular among some countries¡¯ noble¡¯s and court ladies (like the Holy Xeno Empire). Lastly, Wi (W?) magic is my opinion the creepiest branch. This branch of magic is very similar to alchemy and it often requires preparation to set up spells. Time consuming and creepy, the magic is obscure and learning it is filled with dangerous pits as this branch of magic also has the most magic misfire out of all the branches. Among 30% of practitioners have a disfiguration due to a mistake in their magic. Finding a willing teacher is also incredibly difficult in most regions as the branch is shunned in many places as almost a curse or force of evil- probably due to beginner practitioners accidently involving others in their misfire. The only thing that has kept this branch still alive is it¡¯s occasional miraculous magic effect- curing some incurable disease or razing a magically strengthened castle to the ground while out of sight. The Wi magic branch also contains many, wide area of effect and potent magic spells.


    I will write in further detail about each branch once I have more information as some branches seem hard to learn about...


    Today''s Memo:


    I wonder if I¡¯m still remembered?


    Unwillingly I left my past,


    To enter an unknown future,


    That memory will be my last,


    So I¡¯ll ingrain it with sutures.


    2*

 Chapter 35: Girl’s Talk: Slum Dogs, Milling Air

    ¡°Ok, fine I¡¯ll go. However one last question, Vixen, I want to know honestly how you made a living in the slums. From what I¡¯ve heard, Shiara worked as a healer, mainly outside the slums.  However, I never really heard what you did apart from a few vague words and gestures. Care to explain it in more detail, or is it too shady for me to know?¡± Sarra stared pointedly at me. It was clear that she was beginning to doubt my integrity and character even if she wished to believe otherwise. That, or she was beginning to find it hard to read me. ¡°I understand that you have lot¡¯s of secrets, it¡¯s obvious at a glance. I just want to know mainly out of curiosity what you did, but can you please tell me enough so that I can get to know you better? I promise I won¡¯t think badly of you even if you¡¯ve done a bad deed or two if they¡¯re nothing major. ¡± Or she just simply asked out of curiosity and¡­ friendship?


    Well telling some of this should be fine, and if that were the price to satiate her curiosity, it would be a small price to pay. I guess divulging the intricacies of my work would not make much of a difference at this point.


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll tell you about how I survived in the slums. Well the whole idea to trade and deal in information began when I was quite new to the slums, only a few months after my arrival there I believe. I was sitting on the ground in a stupor, when three kids rushed by me carrying something. Two of them continued to run away, while one, seemingly tired, decided to hide behind a pile of trash.¡±


    I stared at the two who were enthralled with the story before continuing, ¡°Soon after, a man ran by. Seeing the backs of the two kids, he was about to run on when he stopped and suddenly came back. He calmly looked around before he eventually noticed me and came over. He explained to me how he was a storeowner, and how the kids had stolen from him, asking me if I had seen where the third kid went. Realising I was too tired or weak to talk, he brought out some half eaten food and fed me. He then took out a dirty coin and said, ¡°If you tell me where the kid who has my jewellery went, I¡¯ll give you this copper coin.¡± For me, it was an easy decision to make, so I pointed to his spot and said ¡°Behind the garbage over there.¡± The kid must have heard me tattling on him, as he quickly burst out and tried to get away, but the man swiftly caught him. Manhandling the kid, the man tossed me the coin with his other hand before leaving. I never saw that kid ever again.¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Stop nudging me Suticat. I pushed his head away. ¡°After realising the value of information, it was just a gradual trial and error until I perfected my work. Of course there were a few times where I nearly lost my life, but that¡¯s a story for another time. The work was irregular, and I quickly discovered several things; that not all information was valuable and that the higher the value, often the greater the risk. I also discovered by a fortuitous encounter the value of incorrect information, or as many of my clients called it, misinformation. False information nearly made me as much money as correct information.¡±


    ¡°As of the way I collected my information there were three main ways. One way was by going around the slums to ask for information, but this was mostly useless. While other kids were good at spreading rumours, they also heard mostly incorrect or inaccurate rumours. Another more reliable way was to go around and sit outside shady pubs to eavesdrop. I could even occasionally sneak into the ones run by a local gang lead by Flu. However this method was also quite unreliable. However, my last strategy, which I¡¯m very proud of, worked the best, and considering how close we are, I shall reveal it to you two. However, I want you to promise to not spread it.¡±


    The two who were looking fascinated and caught up in the excitement nodded quickly like chickens pecking. ¡° We definitely won¡¯t talk about it. What is it?¡±


    Leaning closer to the fire, I whispered ¡°Hanging onto carriages.¡± The two revealed confused looks. Do they still not understand it? ¡°Hah¡­. basically, I would lie around gates, waiting for carriages, typically important looking carriages to pass by. Then blending in with the human crowd, I would get close, and maybe even pretend to get hit by the cart sometimes, before going under and clinging onto the underside of the carriage when the drivers were inattentive. There I would hang on to the axle and eavesdrop for a bit, before leaving again in another crowd. The guards at each checkpoint will often check under the carriage, so you need to leave before then. And you know the most brilliant thing? Lots of low level mercenaries, merchants, nobles and official¡¯s carriages have thick soundproof sides, but not a sound proof floor. You can often hear everything clearly once you press your ear against the floor. People are often quite loose lipped inside carriages-people seem to subconsciously believe they are safe and infallible inside.¡±


    ¡°Hmm I see. But Vixen, why didn¡¯t you suggest we do that to leave Frankfurt? We could freely travel while under someone¡¯s carriage right?¡±


    ¡°That-¡°


    ¡°No Shiara. If you think about it, you would need enormous strength to hold on for a long time. The uneven ground outside of towns would also make it very dangerous. You also wouldn¡¯t be able to hide easily when the people inside the carriage set up camp. The journey would have been filled with many issues. Lastly, I might not still be alive if you two hadn¡¯t save me. Anyways, thanks for the entertaining story, I just have one last question. Seeing as you are so informed, did you hear anything about the firefo-¡°


    ¡°Ouch!¡± I turned to my left to glare at him. ¡°Suticat, why did you bite- Oh. OH NO! Grab your fish and go. Now!¡±


    We had gotten too distracted, and if Suticat had not alerted me, I might not have noticed it in time. The air in that direction was vibrating unnaturally. Milling Air.

 Chapter 36: Milling Air Moving towards Mysterious Magical Circles

    Milling Air¡­was¡­right. Milling Air is a natural phenomena caused by the difference in magical densities. Although it can be created manually, it is a rare naturally occurring phenomenon around the edges of the Jungle of Illusions caused by the magically dense air in the jungle interacting with the less mana dense air in the outside. This causes the air to seem blurred as if it was superheated, but in reality, the mana in the air starts vibrating rapidly. This rapid vibration is enough to damage the internal organs of most organisms, including the brain, so while plants with their tough trunks can survive, any animal that enters its range would be turned silly before suffering a slow death. Would the death be painful? No one caught in it ever had the chance to respond before their mental capabilities seized to function, so it could be considered unpainful¡­or so I¡¯ve been told.


    We continued to scramble away from the turbid air, as Suticat followed us, nipping at our heels to urge us on. He probably felt the unnatural wave of energy from it ages ago, which might have explained his unruly behaviour previously. Yes, that was right. Right, we needed to head passed the river up ahead. That way we could go towards the centre and avoid the Milling Air. I glanced searchingly up ahead to look for a ford to cross. It would be unfortunate if we missed it due to a moment of carelessness. The next ford after would be a while way and would require be taking a massive detour.


    ¡°..Uh..Hey Vixen. What¡¯s¡­that?¡±


    Awoken from my thoughts by her voice, I glanced back before following the direction indicated by her finger to behind a few shrubs. I couldn¡¯t see from my angles, so I backed up a few steps, to align myself with her and¡­


    ¡°Um¡­what?¡± I couldn¡¯t stop the small mutter from escaping my mouth. There was a faintly glowing black curved line that overlayed the natural foliage¡­


    ¡°¡­That should be a magic circle.¡± Sarratina voiced the thought in my head. But judging from the curved lines, the actual circle might be a kilometre in size. This shouldn¡¯t be here. In fact, eight years ago, it definitely wasn¡¯t here. I wonder who did this, and what the magic is even meant to be.


    ¡°But a magic circle this big must be some sort of huge spell. My royal father once briefly mentioned it even though no one practises magic like that in Fae.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Uh¡­now¡¯s not the time to be focusing on that! The milling air seems to be coming in our direction!¡± Right, a spell like this must be drawing all the nearby mana. I didn¡¯t feel the change in mana in the air because I¡¯ve stopped my natural absorption of it, but no wonder the breeze all seemed to be coming this way. 1*


    Shoot, we need to leave before the milling air encroached upon us, but I really want to find out what the circle was doing and if there would be anything in the centre. ¡°Vixen, give it up. You would need to climb a really tall tree to see the whole circle, and even then I doubt you or I could identify it. I know it¡¯s not your style, but we just need to head further in to this jungle blind to what that large spell might be doing.¡± Huh¡­my face was read. Still, there is no time to be wasting now. I glanced towards the Milling Air; or more precisely, the front of its destruction. Although it was not moving rapidly, it was surely and slowly making it¡¯s way towards the circle. Ah, wait!


    Hey, Mr. God, you in there?! HEllOOOO?


    ¡°Vixen why you shutting your eyes now of-¡°


    Old fox, fire fox?!


    ¡°-Yes, I¡¯m here brat.¡± I suddenly felt my body, no, my conciousness being pulled inwards. ¡°And I¡¯M not just ANY old fox; I¡¯m a deified fox. Sheesh, mortals these days, got no RESPECT. And STOP shouting, you¡¯re hurting my head. It¡¯s not even a life-threatening combat situation, why did you call me back?! I nearly found my third tail before you called me back, this better be important! If-¡°


    Sorry, was just trying to get your attention. So do you know what this magic circle in front of me is? What a weird spirit this is. He claims to be a god, but I doubt my ancestors were like that¡­ right?


    ¡°VIXEN, you finally opened your eyes! We need to-¡°


    ¡°Humph, I may be a god, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m all seeing. You asked the wrong guy. You should have asked one of those trashy W? gods. Aaron, or what¡¯s it called-¡°


    SO do you not know anything about what this circle is meant to do?


    ¡°OF COURSE I do. I am still a god after all, and a pretty strong one.¡± Well I sure hope your words aren¡¯t just hot air¡­ ¡±Let¡¯s see, from the size and stuff too complex for you to know yet, it should have been summoning magic, targeted at a really powerful monster or¡­ a god. I see a bit of a deathly aura on it, and from what I can hear of the spirits, the spell should have already been completed a few months ago, and the circle is now just gradually decaying. Just the spell potency and size though will mean it needs half a year to even decade to decay fully. Oh, and from the way your pet is reacting, it shouldn¡¯t be a monster, but rather a god. If it was a monster, he would smell it and he wouldn¡¯t even dare approach here.¡± He can see deathly aura? What is that even meant to mean? ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m not your walking encyclopaedia. Figure the rest out yourself. In fact I¡¯ll be ignoring you for the next few months, so don¡¯t get yourself killed. Bye-¡±


    ¡°Vixen, snap out of it.¡± I woke up to the voice of Shiara as I was being half dragged along, Shiara and Sarra holding a hand each. I could feel my head whirling with incomplete thoughts. But a deathly aura¡­

 Chapter 37: Ford’s Flying Flea-fish, Fight or Flight.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Thanks. And it¡¯s this way.¡±


    Waking from my stupor, I loosened the two girl''s grip on me as I accelerated to lead the way to the ford. Sarra had dragged us off the correct orientation while I had zoned out. We ran silently a little longer till the ford came into view, and although we had lost sight of the Milling Air, the occasional glance the two sent backwards suggested that they couldn¡¯t shrug off the feeling of being hunted. Well the magic circle was leaking a sinister aura, and this whole summoning shenanigan just gave me a bad feeling. The type of queasy feeling that sticks to you in the depths of your gut. Speaking of the deathly though¡­hmmm, it would be right next to the path we were planning to take¡­so I guess¡­I should go pay my respects¡­ah, I can¡¯t take any more morbid thoughts. I pinched the sides of my face, refocusing on the current issues. 1*


    Wading past the last of the exotic undergrowth, I rushed to the edge of the riverbank, glancing along the stream whilst the other two made their way to where I was. Taking out the cooling fish from my cloth pack, I took a few chomps on it and assessed the river crossing. The river was crystal clear and under the river surface, I could see a relatively stationary school of tiny flying flea-fish lying in wait near the ford to ambush river crossers. However that shouldn¡¯t present a problem if we spread the smell of flying piranha that we recently cooked, the school will mostly likely warily watch us pass. The fish had been trained to run from the smell by the nature gods themselves.*2


    Blanching a bit at the characteristic undercooked fishy taste, I heard snapping branches behind. Shiara, was probably breaking her way through more shrubbery. Would it kill her to save some energy and take a more open and less direct path?


    ¡°So Vixen, are we going to follow the river till we reach the ford from here?


    ¡°Uh Sarra, hate to break it to you but this is the ford?¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute. We are crossing HERE?!¡±


    ¡°-Yea-¡°


    ¡°-But the river¡¯s still very deep here.¡±


    ¡°¡­.chest height for us probably.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°-Shiara¡­is there no better way across?¡± Sarra made a pitiful face at me, but I ignored it. There weren¡¯t any better places to cross, and nothing I could do would change that.


    ¡°If you two are really against it, you can try finding another way across. Maybe knock down a giant tree or try to swing across on some vines. I¡¯ll be going on ahead.¡± And with that, I stepped into the river, my pack in one hand held above me, the fish in the other. The river water near the bank was at a mild temperature with patches of colder water, covered by the shade of overhanging branches. The mid day sun was right above the river, so it was lukewarm, but wherever the current flowed rapidly, and whenever the wind above the surface picked up, a chill could be felt that sent a shiver down to my lower back. In fact, I could feel a disparity between the temperature of my upper and lower body.


    As I fought against the current, searching for footing, I head two distinct splashes followed by spluttering from behind. Though my back was faced towards them, I was pretty sure the two must have silently communicated their agreement with eye contact before diving in. I wasn¡¯t quite sure if they were worried about getting wet and catching a cold, getting washed away, or getting attacked. Speaking of getting attacked¡­


    ¡°You two, dip your fishes into the water when you see the school of fish over there coming for you.¡±


    Damn, my throat hurts. I took a sip of the river water as I continued towards the centre of the river.


    ¡°OK! But why?- AH, I get it!¡±


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t.¡± I barely picked up the mutter from Shiara. Feeling obliged, I added an extra sentence.


    ¡°Shiara, use your brain a bit. What do Flying-Piranhas normally eat?¡± She could easily figure out the rest. Time to focus. I shifted my foot around a bit before placing it on the next bit of riverbed. The bed was sandy and it was easy to kick up loose sand and gravel. Which was why I paid extra attention to check that my footing would be stable before lifting my other leg up against the water and plonking it down. The current splashed the water against me, as it rose just above my stomach. Finally reaching a third of the way across the river, I stopped to turn around and check on the other two.


    Shiara was as expected, leading the way, with her being a quarter of the way across the river. A strained smile was sketched on her face as she occasionally chuckled somewhat madly. Her dishevelled hair only made her seem wilder. She almost seemed exhilarated, the excitement rushing to her head. Meanwhile, Sarratina was following her, trying to copy Shiara¡¯s wading path while glancing around. Her teeth were chattering noisily and she seemed to be shivering. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was out of fear, nervousness and anxiety, or the cold. Either way I was gradually regretting my choice of companions; a no brain thrill seeker, and a sheltered protection target.*3


    Looking back, I also realised that Sarra was reasonably taller than Shiara, or me. It just wasn¡¯t normally obvious as we spent lots of time stooped. Shiara was also slightly shorter than me, but with how she carried herself, she seemed taller. As for ages, although we were all roughly the same age, Shiara should be the youngest, and Sarra the oldest- the exact opposite of our heights.


    SPLASH!


    ¡°Hey, the fish are approaching!¡± Turning towards the noise, I notice Sarra plonk her fish into the water. A little too forcefully. Shiara quickly pulled the Flying-Piranhas¡¯ body out of her mouth and similarly plonked it into the water


    The school¡¯s approach abruptly stopped. And they waited¡­and waited¡­and waited¡­.


    We were at a temporary stand off. They were like an underwater locus swarm, constantly swimming back and forth in confusion on what to do next, but I couldn¡¯t help feel the school¡¯s leaders were just observing our next actions to see if we would chase them or run; if we were the predator, or prey. And we needed to decide fast, because those fishes would soon lose their smell, or be washed off their sticks down river, and once that happened, we wouldn¡¯t stand a chance of getting out of the river alive.

 Chapter 38: A Mysterious and Grave Problem

    RYAOUU! SPLASH!


    The stand off was suddenly broken as Suticat leapt off the shore and at the fish. The school of fish seeing the mass hurling towards them finally broke down and scattered, turning tail and swimming back down stream, the current rapidly increasing their distance between us.


    ¡°Phew¡­blugh¡­PLAH!¡± *1


    ¡°Ha, ha, ha.¡± Sarra inadvertently drank some river water as she sighed in relief, relaxing her body and Shiara gave off a broken laugh whilst looking up at the afternoon sun. We needed to finish the crossing before we could rest. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief at Suticat jumping in to help. He had at some point silently slunk to the back whilst I was leading and had managed to save us from fighting another battle. Surviving in this jungle was all about avoiding battles as dangers came one after the next. The route I had decided on avoided most of the more dangerous plants and monsters, but clearly it was still very dangerous without a capable adult.


    ¡°Come on Shiara and Sarra. Let¡¯s try to finish this crossing soon in case they come back.¡±


    With Suticat paddling at the back and nudging the girls along, we managed to cross the rest of the river quietly and uneventfully. With a few slips along the way, we wearily made our way onto the opposite bank, downstream a meter or two.


    ¡°Hahhhhh¡­.So Vixen, you going to make a fire here? I¡¯ll go gr-grab the wood so-so-¡°


    ¡°-No need!¡± I looked around the undergrowth of some plants nearby, pushing their leaves out of the way. Hmm, where are they¡­. here! I grabbed the rocks I could find and brought them over.


    ¡°Hey-hey, why¡¯d you bring over these rocks? We¡¯re freez-¡°


    ¡°HOT ROCKS!¡± Without even waiting for the rest, Sarra jumped over and grabbed a piece forcefully from my hands and smashed the red rock against her chest. ¡°Hah¡­that feels good.¡± And in more than one way I imagine¡­well, my bloodline has only benefits, I just need to give it some time¡­ 2*


    I smashed one of the rocks against my wet rags to dry them and heat myself up. ¡°Uh¡­what are you two-¡°


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°-doing? I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ve never seen these before. These are Hot Rocks. In simple terms, these rocks will heat up when you hit them. The harder you hit, the hotter they get. But-¡°


    ¡°-they are a high class item that is hard to come by. Lot¡¯s of demand for them that leads to quite a number of scammers selling rocks, charcoal or cooled lava as them. Their most obvious feature is their back exterior that gradually becomes redder the closer to the centre you get. A common misconception is the idea that the rocks should crumble on impact, but anything that does is just a con fraud. Another misconception is in the name because a Hot Rock is not actually a rock, but rather the excrement of Lava Hounds. However, due to their rarity, behavioural isolation and normal habitat, the monster is not well known and it makes the faeces hard to come by. Its main strength is that it allows non-flame practitioners to heat things up in a convenient way, and that it doesn¡¯t have a degrading life span unless the rocks gets bumped around a lot. Each piece of Hot Rock is also really weight effective as a heat source, meaning it¡¯s convenient and compact to carry and the heat transfers gently, but thoroughly to objects in contact with it. Directional heat blast I think the book called it. ! Oh! Speaking of which, are there Lava Hounds in here?!¡± ¡­.all in one breath.


    ¡°Huh¡­well there you go Shiara. And Sarratina, yes they live here, but not close to the river edge.¡± I stood up and looked towards the centre of the jungle.


    ¡°Huh? When did that get there?! Surely I¡¯m not as oblivious as to miss-¡±


    ¡°-No. It wasn¡¯t there before. Vixen care to explain?¡± I looked at the two, holding each of their eyes for a second. I guess this needs to be said. Sarratina was giving me the cough it up look.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ve already realised this Sarra, but there are some things I just can¡¯t say or tell you about regardless of my opinions and feelings. However, you¡¯re pretty bright and there is nothing stopping you from making some good guesses.¡± As the sole survivor there would unlikely be many if any consequence for breaking these ancient laws, but I¡¯d rather not take the chance of being magically cursed. ¡°About the two giant trees, this forest is called the Jungle of Illusions for a reason, seeing a blue sky instead of trees is just one of it¡¯s many illusions that have been active since the moment you entered. The river in this jungle acts as a border, to keep the dangerous and the weak separate, but it is also one of the reasons why the outer region of the jungle is less dangerous.¡± I stared at Shiara. ¡°That¡¯s why, I suggest you stay as close to me as possible from here on out and keep chatter to the bare minimum, and DON¡¯T go bashing through shortcuts.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s not stay here at the edge of the bank and climb up that slope. It won¡¯t be pleasant if we get attacked here.¡± Giving Shiara one last glare, I tossed her a Hot Rock and started climbing up the slope and towards the sun. The sun had already fallen behind the top of the hill. I couldn¡¯t help but stare at the giant trees in the distance. A giant cherry tree and a giant willow tree stood towering above the central region. I was the only living person who would ever remember what those trees meant, what they symbolised.


    Reaching the top of the slope, the ground flattened out, small trees replacing the ferns that previously dominated the undergrowth. An assortment of relatively normal wild mushrooms could be seen near the roots of the trees. I searched around and quickly found what I was looking for. Wiping away at the edges of my eye, I approached the rock. The rock was normal and like any other rock, but I could still distinguish it from behind easily. I could still clearly remember that day seven years ago, as if it only happened yesterday- her last moments, her final hopes and words. I offered a silent prayer to her spirit. Approaching the rock almost in a trance, I finally noticed half a meter away- something had happened!


    I scrambled towards the pile of uplifted dirt. An empty hole lay where there should have been a bulge. What did this? No! WHO DID THIS?!


    ¡°Vixen wait up-¡­ you okay?¡± I could feel my face paling, my whole body freezing. Neither animal, nor monster would do this. But who would or even could come here normally anyways? And why would they do this?! Or maybe someone survived-


    ¡°EEEEHK! G-GHOULS!¡±


    Rachel!? I turned around. 3*

 Intermission 1.1: Traitorous Shadows

    ¡°THAT IS TREASON!¡±


    ¡°What ARE you on about?! TREASON would be what you are trying to convince his majesty to do. Surrendering to the demands of a rebel would only further INCITE the anger of the populace, something you CAN NOT DO right now.¡± The man paused and looked towards his liege. ¡°Sire, have you been out in the city recently? The gossip and rumours are spreading like a plague. If we do not assuage the citizen¡¯s unrest and doubt-¡°


    ¡°-No doubt spread by spies.¡±


    ¡°Are YOU calling ME a spy?! ¡°


    ¡°-Never called you one¡±


    ¡°I beg your pardon, but my family has served his majesty¡¯s line for generations. My family and I have shown nothing but loyalty for the kingdom and it¡¯s king. If anyone were a spy, it would be an upstart like you who swings where the wind blows.¡±


    ¡°Hoho, at least that shows I have a brain. Furthemore, I am perfectly content with my position, unlike you, who¡¯s family is¡­. what did the noble ladies like to call it? ... Oh yes, that¡¯s right!¡± The man clapped his hands together, coughing twice to clear his throat before performing a crude imitation to a female¡¯s sneering simper. ¡°His family is in decline. I doubt they¡¯ll still be around in a few years. Have you heard about his son¡¯s behaviour? Simply wild, audacious and atrocious. ¡°


    The two men were glaring at each other over a coloured model. It was a scaled map of the kingdom with all the castles, forts, towns and even villages on it. Little figurines were placed over the map, representing the current last known locations of each military unit. The whole model shone brightly ¨Cexcept a roughly spherical dark region near the centre of map. The symbolic military units on it glowed with a pulsing light, but the glowering figures overshadowed the table.


    The second man, Mordant, grabbed the mahogany table in anger. He was tempted to flip the table, but the still rational part of his mind spoke of the heavy consequences such an action would lead to, so he refrained. For now that is. The man had a powerful figure, his muscles bulging with every action. This man was one of the three generals present in the conference room. Old fashioned and a traditional hardliner, he was strict with himself and those around him,- especially his soldiers.


    Opposite him was a lanky wizened man, his white messy beard trembling in anger. He was one of the four vice captains of the still leaderless arc mage squad, Malcolm. Though his looks seemed to be the spitting image of an old man in his seventies, his actual age barely reached the forties. He had previously suggested surrendering for what he considered some more tangible benefits rather than pride and trust of the citizens.


    The two noisy children however weren¡¯t the only ones in the room though. A crowd had been watching their heated debate from the sidelines, swivelling their heads back and forth as if they were watching a tennis rally. Tired of hearing their noisy fight and impatient to continue the conversation along a more productive path, Liam stepped in. *1


    ¡°Gentleman, if you two may allow me to say a few blunt words, our country is facing a nation wide extinction event. It is perfectly fine for the two of you to throw in some suggestions, but right now is no time for you two to be childishly squabbling, slandering without evidence and trying to impress a king who doesn¡¯t want to be impressed. Either put down your differences or leave. ¡± Liam walked over to the door before roughly opening it. ¡°The door is right here. So? What will it be?¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°Sorry sir.¡± The two meekly sat back down, the fight taken out of them by Liam¡¯s scolding. They were long terms rivals. Originally proposing separate solutions, this soon led to a conflict of opinion, which set off a spark for the old fights, gradually spiralling out of control. Neither of them wanted to embarrass themselves in front of the king, but both of them couldn¡¯t help but feel shame at what had just transpired, and in their hearts, they were each blaming the other.


    ¡°Sire, if I may say a few words?¡± A nondescript man stood up. Of mediocre height and build, his clothes were nothing fancy, a clean brown shirt and leggings. The man¡¯s only outlandish feature was the constant twitching in his right eye.


    ¡°Of course Robert. Is this about the economic repercussions?¡±


    ¡°You could say it is. You could also say it isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Could you just say it so that we can all understand?¡± Sophia fed up with the lack of progress and now confounding answers asked. ¡°Stop talking in riddles.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°My, my. My dear Sophia-¡°


    ¡°-Who¡¯s your dear!?¡±


    ¡°You are, my dear pupil-¡°


    ¡°-I¡¯m not your pupil! You taught me for one day-¡°


    ¡°-A pupil for a day, a pupil for life-.¡±


    ¡°ENNNOUGHH!!!!¡± Everyone in the room turned to the king who was heaving from the shout. ¡°No more distractions. Robert, just get to the point. Quickly!¡± The king rubbed his temples with his fingers. The constant signs of argument in court were a clear indicator of the unrest and change in balances of power. The previous checks were being removed and like a house of cards, they would soon all fall down. First Lara, then Mathew, now Sarratina. Who would be next?


    ¡°Sorry sir. My point is, no matter what you decide, we need the decision quickly. At this point, we can basically confirm there is foreign involvement and any further inaction or show of weakness and disunity will lead to our collapse. And sir, if I may dare say, it hardly matters much what we do at this point in regards to your daughter.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Following the man¡¯s outrageous statement, the surroundings exclaimed their disbelief. His increase in twitching only made him seem more insane and less¡­stable. The king restrained his smirk that threatened to come out after the crowd¡¯s reactions. They were both aware there was a certain set of rumours going around the mill claiming he was mad, but finding it funny, neither the victim nor king did anything about it. The king raised his hand for silence.


    ¡°Continue.¡±


    ¡°Yes, well the point is, I can basically guarantee there are spies at work, so no matter the truth, it will be twisted.¡± Seeing the questions about to arise, the man continued ¡°Now don¡¯t interrupt me till I finish. Firstly, we haven¡¯t been able to confirm they have caught your daughter. All we know is that she is missing and that she should have been back already. They have managed to show no evidence what so ever except for by letter. Yes, none of the search parties you sent out found her, but that¡¯s not surprising.¡±


    ¡°-why is-¡±


    ¡°-BECAUSE she is a smart girl. Although she¡¯s young and weak in many ways, she knows what she can handle and what she can¡¯t. She also is very good at reading people and the atmosphere of places. If she has escaped, it is very likely that she would have gone underground. She also has no way to determine if the soldiers you sent were really from you or not, or are truly loyal to you, so of course she wouldn¡¯t reveal herself. My guess is if she is still alive, she is either making for the capital secretly or bunkered down somewhere waiting for the storm to pass. ¡°


    ¡°So I should go out to personally look-¡°


    ¡°NO sir. You would be putting yourself at too much risk and the chances of encountering her would be miniscule. If you were a minute early or late, you could easily pass her and she could be anywhere now. I don¡¯t think she would want you to take the risk, and would rather you put the country first. Think about it this way. If you solve this issue with the duke and neighbouring kingdoms faster, her chance of survival would increase and she would be potentially able to reunite with you faster.¡±


    ¡°...You¡¯re right. Thank you. ¨C But potentially? -¡°


    ¡°Well, I hate to say this, but we are basing this on the fact that she is still alive. She could just as like-¡°


    ¡°- I see. Thank you.¡± The king frowned from being reminded of this point. ¡°Anything else?¡±


    Robert wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, his worry eroding his previous annoyance at being interrupted and continued nervously ¡°Well, basically I recommend that you appear before the citizens of the capital and make a rallying speech and then consider mobilizing the army. The price of armaments has been on the rise as of late, and the blockade created by the Duke has not helped. However from the increase in demand for supplies and armaments along with the monetary flow and decrease in our currency exchange rates, we can conclude that war is not far on the horizon and we are expected to be on the losing side.¡±


    ¡°I see. Riley?¡± The man referred to quietly stepped forward.


    ¡°No news from agents inside. Evidence from ambassador¡¯s and diplomats are vague, but it all points to the stirring of civil war followed by an invasion from multiple directions.¡± The man quietly stepped back, slinking back into the corner of the room. A few sent questionable looks at the King not understanding the curt initial message, but the King nodded to himself. He stood up and faced the surrounding important commanders, nobles and ministers.


    ¡°The army is hereby ordered to begin mobilization. General Mordant, General Haskin; begin mobilization. Prime Minister Fallow, you are to work with them on recruitment notices and organising supplies, make sure you don¡¯t overwork the smiths. Robert, I leave you to deal with the economics. Try not to empty our coffers and MAKE sure you don¡¯t sell off the heirlooms. And DON¡¯T scare off the banks and merchants please. General Mat- Liam and Arch Wizard Malcolm, tighten the internal security of the castle- Liam¡¯s in charge. Arch Wizard Alex, Duncan, Nicholas, you three are to organise a rotation. I want enough mages on stand by to cast a wide area Aerial Fortress over the entire eastern region of Fei. Riley, you know what to do. Make sure you set up a scouting perimeter as well. Marquis Jones, try to reach out to your brother in law please and get in contact with the mercenary guilds, see what their stance is and try to pull some over. Sophia, you are to come up with a draft copy for the speech to the citizens. Work your magic. I will look over it with you tomorrow. Anyone who hasn¡¯t been assigned a role, make yourselves busy. I need some time to mull things over so we will reconvene tomorrow morning at 9. I expect results. Dismissed.¡± *2


    ¡°YES YOUR MAJESTY!¡±


    Receiving their respective orders the recipients quickly left the room. The remaining nobles who weren¡¯t mentioned at all quickly followed them offering their services and the room soon emptied out. The King quickly finding himself alone, decided to head back and comfort his wife. Exiting the room, he made sure to lock it behind him, nodding towards the still ecstatic door guard.


    ¡°Good job. I hope you keep anything you may have accidently heard a secret.¡±


    ¡°Of course, your majesty!¡±


    ¡­


    Later that evening, after his wife had gone to sleep, the king had decided to take a walk in order to ponder what was to come. Deep in thought, he took a random route, which eventually led past the spell blade unit¡¯s barracks and near the arch wizards barracks. With his acute hearing built up from muttering nobles and servants, he stumbled upon an interesting conversation.


    He wasn¡¯t prowling around and would have continued walking on deep in thought if not for hearing them mention him. Like any normal person, he couldn¡¯t help but be curious about what people said behind his back.


    ¡°So now what do we do?¡±


    ¡°We could try to drive them against each other by angering the King and telling him his daughter is dead.¡±


    ¡°But we don¡¯t have a body to prove it. For all we know, she could already be back and he¡¯s just playing it dumb.¡±


    ¡°Impossible. Princess Sarratina should have broke free herself. The signs of struggle prove it wasn¡¯t a professional rescue. Besides no one should of know it.¡±


    Hearing his daughter¡¯s name, he froze. Clenching his fists, and restraining his anger, he listened on to these two unfortunate shadows.

 Chapter 39: Ghouls, Souls, and the difference in controls

    Turning around I noticed multiple white shadowy glimmering forms of floating vapours rushing towards us and noticing the imminent danger, I jumped in front of Shiara and Sarra and spread out my arms wide.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE WITH ME!¡±


    The clouds of vapour froze, before gradually falling backwards. Taking a clearer look, I noticed the curious way in which their bodies constantly shimmered and how light reflected off their body in some places, and passed through in others. I could hear Shiara nosily rubbing her eyes behind me; whether from shock at their sudden retreat or from their blurry figures, I wouldn¡¯t know.


    The formless mist surrounding them seemed to vibrate in excitement.


    ¡°Relax Shiara, they¡¯re ¡­Zielen, souls.¡± ¡­Not that I was feeling relaxed at all. *1


    ¡°Wait Vixen, did you say souls?! I realised they don¡¯t appear to be the normal ghouls, but what do you mean by Zielen? As in the soul of a dead person?- How do they even materialise?!¡±


    ¡°A¡­de¡­.da..nt..A¡­de¡­da!¡± Ignoring Sarra¡¯s precise questioning, I looked back towards the Zielen. I had only heard of this phenomenon once before and wasn¡¯t even sure it existed until this moment. The supposedly sentient and intelligent apparition, that bore a strong grudge or a heavy burden and refused to move on. Of course, the white vapour could just be a magic trick, but considering we were in the Jungle of Illusions, the chances were slim, so I just let the thought slip to the back of my head.


    ¡°A¡­no¡­the¡­rrrrr¡­.sss¡­.vive¡­¡±


    ¡°Wwwwai-¡­.¡±


    ¡°Ell¡­d¡­.cu...mnnm¡­.soooo-¡°


    ¡°Sorry, can you talk one at a time and slowly. I¡¯m-¡°¡­finding it hard to understand anything as it is. Their attempt at speech could be more aptly described as a collection of odd and weird noises, barely triumphing over the sound of nightlife in this jungle, which I probably learnt more from. Their voices sounded blurred and slurred, with sudden drops and sharp increases in volume. Though the way they shook and vibrated as they spoke made them seem creepy and eerie, their voice was surprisingly plainer than I would expect.


    ¡°Ru¡­.nnng¡­hiiiii¡­ddddd.


    ¡°Veng¡­.ugug¡­.ussss.¡±


    ¡°Ch¡­osse¡­nnn¡­ blehh¡­sssed


    I shook my head in frustration. Their voices were overlapping and seemed to be telling me different things, and it didn¡¯t seem like they could understand me, not to mention hear me, straight up continuing with their sounds while I was talking. The newer ones who had come forward seemed more corporal and their speech was more distinct, but I still couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying. I helplessly turned back to look at Shiara and Sarra.


    ¡°Hey what do you expect from us? Besides, you¡¯re the one who has the best hearing here.¡± Meanwhile Sarra just silently shook her head whilst looking vexed.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    SHWOOOOOOOWWWLLLL!!!


    Suddenly, the crowd of floating souls parted as if pushed by an invisible force, almost as if like making way for a king. And revealed through this gap¡­was an important looking soul, the last village elder. His outline was quite distinct, and his facial features still clearly recognisable. Especially his goatee¡­I still remember the other kids tugging on them.


    ¡°Apologieesssss forrrr theeee delayyy.¡±¡­ and he sounded like a hissing snake, rasping with a lisp.


    ¡°Elder-¡°


    ¡°Weeehehee don¡¯ttt havvve mucchh time. Weeeee arrrrre faccccing exttttinction, sooo you no longger havvve toooo folloooow ancient traditions.¡±¡­Could you not have shortened that message¡­¡±Heeere come theee resssts of your familyyy.¡±


    The elder moved to the side and behind him stood another two who I would recognise by just smell alone. The two forms were more blurred than the elder, but I knew who they were at a glance; my parents that I only saw in my dream. Any hope that they were still alive hidden somewhere was shattered, and the soul crushing pain of their passinghit me again. I had thought myself prepared, ready for the anguish and sadness, but somewhere inside, I heard the same parts shatter. I had known that they were most certainly dead, but without seeing their corpse, I couldn¡¯t stop myself secretly hoping that somewhere, somehow, one if not both of them were alive. Unknowingly I had reached out my hand, but the two souls kept out of my reach, the chilly sensation reminding me that touching a soul would freeze you. However just the sight of them was enough to do that.


    ¡°I¡­I-¡°


    I couldn¡¯t talk, my voice felt choked. Now that I was finally here, I didn¡¯t know what to say. I was past the point of apologising, past the point of begging for their return, past the point of anger, madness and insanity, screaming about the world¡¯s injustice. The world was unfair, people died every day, the strong would bully the weak, and some things somewhere would happen that were uncalled for, and someone would suffer. Equality in the truest sense was a lie, as we all lived different lives, and chance and fate would often play cruel jokes on us. *2


    So what was left inside of me still? Nothing but a deep emptiness, hollowness and sadness. The raw pain of loss, more cruel than having lost a limb. If my death could in anyway bring back their lives, I would do it without a moment¡¯s of thought. But deep down, I knew they would not be happy for it, and that death should never be addled with for revival in the truest sense was a myth and a lie. Life and death could never be reverted.


    ¡°Be stroong-¡°


    ¡°-Look after each other-¡°


    Suddenly their gentle voices cut off as the Zielen seemed to shimmer violently, and as if something was pulling them, slowly fell into the ground. A few of them wildly flailed about, but my eyes were focused on the two in front of me. They had what seemed like self-mocking smiles on their face, but I could sense their inner peace. Not as any physical or magical signal, but from my years with them and the connection between us, as child and parent. They opened their mouths but nothing came out. Though I was in a slight daze, in what seemed like moments, the crowd of souls disappeared into the ground, leaving without a trace of distortion, as if they never existed and were simply an illusion.


    And as if underwater, I heard the footsteps of Shiara and Sarra. I had without noticing, ended up kneeling on the ground. I stared dazedly back at the two, mouth open.


    ¡°!!! Vixen, are you ok?! You¡¯re crying,- ¡°¡­huh, was I crying? I felt my face and suddenly, as if I had just regained my sense of touch, I noticed my whole face was wet. Not just eyes and cheeks, but my nose, mouth and neck. I hadn¡¯t felt it before and I hadn¡¯t let out any sniffle, so I hadn¡¯t realised. Crying¡­ huh. And suddenly it seemed as if I had just been winded again.


    WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!


    I let it all out. My tears and bottled up emotions. My mind was in a blank state. Someone had rushed over and hugged me, trying to soothe me with words, but I heard none of it. I instinctively grabbed the person in front of me, putting them into a strong vice like hug, as if trying to pass on my emotions. I no longer knew left from right and the world was a cold blur to me, so I hugged the warm living thing in front of me, as if to reassure myself that I was still alive. I could only see my tears, but I could faintly hear my sniffles, something I had not heard since I lost my childhood.


    And I cried¡­. and cried¡­and cried¡­


    ¡­Letting all my worries out¡­


    ¡­. And hoping for a better tomorrow¡­


    Feeling tired, I rested my head on the person in front of me, and gently lulled into the sweet embrace of sleep. A thought flitted through my dulling mind, the words I had wanted to say, but never said to my parents. ¡°Sorry¡±, but more importantly, ¡°Thank you.¡± And with that, the world finally died out. I fell asleep. *3


    For the first time in 7 years did I have deep and sound sleep, and only then did I finally, truly move on. The past no longer held me though it had scarred me, and looking back this was a historic moment personally. I had cast off my childish cicada skin, and finally moved a step closer to adulthood. Both emotionally, and only later would I find out, physically as well; I had unconsciously awakened my inherent bloodline.


    Goodbye mother and father; and goodbye to the Inner D?mon you left inside of me. Like everyone else, I will die one day, but until then, Mum, Dad, please wait peacefully in the after life for me.

 Chapter 40: She’s still just a kid. We all are.

    *Sarratina P.O.V*


    I looked down kindly on the girl currently gripping me tightly, even in her sleep. I gently straightened out her short tuffs of brown hair, cleaning away the leaves and twigs stuck in them. Her occasional snore resounded quietly in my ear as I brushed the back of my hand along her face, wiping away the last vestiges of her drying tears. I had been in this position for an hour or more already and I could feel the tingling sensation that came with numbness and stiffness of inactivity. My legs burnt from kneeling for so long and shot me repeated signals of pain, but I endured them and remained immobile. I didn¡¯t want to disturb the girl sleeping in my arms. Not now that she could finally truly rest. She had carried us far and she deserved a break for all her hard work, one that I intended to give to the best of my abilities. So until we really needed her again, we should let her sleep.


    I looked up as I heard the approaching footsteps of Shiara. She had decided to, and against my warnings, explore the local region, scout out the area for any obvious dangers and go looking for heat rocks and toukou chocolate. I had warned her that the real dangers would be hard to realise without Vixen and suggested she stay with us and act as a lookout, but she just said replied that Vixen would also want us to get a grip of our bearings and that she wouldn¡¯t go far. The only other promise I could illicit out of her was that she would not approach anything she had not seen before.


    ¡°Notice anything unusual?¡±


    ¡°Plenty of things, but nothing that was openly moving towards us. We should be fine.¡± She proceeded to go lie down next to me.


    Over this period of days spending time with the two, I felt I had already become a lot closer with two. Shiara was a simple loveable fool, stubborn and open and Vixen was a courageous and sly girl, an equal if not greater intellectual compared to me. True there was greater distance between us, but I was not worried. She seemed the type to be more wary and harder to befriend, but she was also gradually opening up on this journey. Otherwise, even in her distraught state, she would never have entered such a deep sleep. I also had this inexplicable feeling that she would be a great friend to have; someone who was extremely loyal to those she considered deserved it. Why I thought that, I had no idea, but maybe it was due to her being so similar to me in some ways. Something just resonated within me when I first saw her, and continues to do so when I look at her; almost as if our destinies were somehow interlinked¡­Lot¡¯s had happened within the short timespan of our meeting, dangerous and memorable, and I couldn¡¯t help feel an illusion that a month had passes since our meeting, not days.


    Ah, and about Vixen, these recent events really cleared up my image of her, and I was beginning to see her with new clarity. From my observations, she should be a native inhabitant of this jungle, however disbelieving this may seem. They could of moved in to evade tax, but more likely than not, they were just a reclusive ancient clan living here for centuries even before our nation was founded. There were many ancient heritages on this continent, some thousands if not millions of years old, so it was never wise to blindly challenge these tribe; if they had survived for so long, then surely they had the means to survive longer, whether through trickery and cunning or raw power. It was normally much more valuable to use or ally with them than rather to fight them. Whether you could successfully convince them was another problem entirely. Her ancestry might also explain her grit- or she could just be a tough girl who survived a tough life.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    That would also explain her familiarity with the jungle and considering her past¡­she must have been here before. She had likely buried something on top of this hill that was unfortunately dug out by some strange monster. But why were the souls¡­Zielin she called them here? Was it due to crossing the river? And then that begs the bigger question¡­. what killed them? If each cloud of vapour before was a soul¡­then did they all die suddenly from the same cause assuming that something like a soul should only linger for a relative short period? What could kill such a tribe that had been living in this jungle for so long and how did Vixen escape? Were there more children like her somewhere? I stopped my line of thought. There were too many questions, and not enough answers. It was best to clarify it with her when she woke up.


    I looked down again at her, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I could almost see the dark clouds that seemed to have been clinging and shrouding her part, as her mysterious background gradually revealed itself to be a tragic one. Finally I felt her calloused hands relax, as her grip on me loosened. Stumbling a bit from the numbness, I managed to shift my legs out and slowly lower her to a clean patch of grass, letting her head rest on my outstretched legs. Lying down myself I looked up at the darkening sky. The blue tinge through the overhanging canopy seemed to put me at peace. I felt myself relax. Here I was, in the middle of the most dangerous place in the kingdom, hunted by an evil organisation, trying to resolve a conspiracy, stuck with two orphans who I felt strangely close with, hanging on with an empty stomach and no guards around to protect me, or maids to serve me. Free. Yet hunted. Did that still make me free then? One year ago, I would never have imagined something like this happening to me¡­I mean I was a very, very important person in this country, how did it come to being chased down in my own country¡­ I missed Father, and Mother, and brother too. I missed Claire and Timothy as well. I hope they were doing well. But seeing as how homesick I am right now, I can¡¯t even begin to imagine how Vixen must feel. Well she has made her peace, so I should just let it be.


    I couldn¡¯t help but admire Vixen again for her strength. I really admired her, her forward mentality, her fortitude and her courage. Though her personality left something to be desired, but with her upbringing, there wasn¡¯t much more that could be expected from her. Somehow the way she talked to me and carried herself reminded me of a good negotiator I listened to once. Though I felt ever grateful to both Shiara and Vixen who had saved my life, and both seemed brilliant to me, it always seemed as if Vixen was in control, and had that something special, as if ¨C right, she had the charisma of a natural leader. I couldn¡¯t exactly point out what made me feel like that, but she gave off that aura.


    During my thought¡¯s Suticat had snuck up on and curled up next to me, gently flapping my arm with his tail. He was small, and his presence was often thin, but he was always there when it counted. I was envious that Vixen had such a nice pet, but happy for her as well. Shiara shifted over a bit and whispered something to me.


    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t hear that.¡±


    ¡°Do you mind if I snuggle up as well. It¡¯s kind of cold and¡­¡±


    ¡°Go for it.¡±


    And so Shiara joined us, as we all snuggled up together. I couldn¡¯t help but feel warmer inside and out, as my legs seemed to heat up. Out in the forest bunched up together, me, Vixen, Shiara, a fox, with nothing else to keep us company but the night sky and-


    ¡°AH! SHIARA, WHAT¡¯S THAT?!¡±


    ¡°Huh?...AHHHHHH!! Get it off me!¡±

 Chapter 41: Some spices a day keeps the insects away.

    Huh¡­who¡¯s screaming? Where am I? Opening my eyes, I was greeted with the view of a lush jungle canopy. Ah, that¡¯s right, we were passing home. As my brain started to work again, the world came into focus and somehow the world seemed¡­brighter¡­no clearer. It was already night, and both moons were up, yet the world seemed so much more vibrant and sharp. I couldn¡¯t help but observe the machinations of horned ants crawling along the foliage, their bodies reflecting the pale blue moonlight. Their orderly march created blue simmering streams crossing the branches. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt I could almost hear the tiny tittering from their feet.


    I shifted my head subtlety, tilting it to get a better view of the Shiara. Again I couldn¡¯t help but feel as if the world around me was moving slower than before. I felt completely refreshed from my nap, as if I had just finished submerging in a warm bath. Marvelling at this newfound feeling, I put these revelations into the back of my mind as I stood up. Shiara had her back to me and was too focused on wildly waving her arms around, but Sarra noticed my movements immediately.


    ¡°She¡¯s awake-¡°


    ¡°Vixen, what do I do? I-¡°


    ¡°STOP! Don¡¯t wave your hands around.¡± This is bad. Hanging from her forearm was a banded blood red leech¡­an explosive leech, and judging from its size, it was nearing the end of its life. ¡°Do either of you two have salt?¡±


    ¡°Salt?! Why would-¡±


    ¡°-Well no¡­but there was some back in my carriage¡­normally you would carry salt or spices when you travel-¡°


    Right! ¡°You¡¯re a genius Sarra!¡± I quickly grabbed my sack, sifting through its contents. Where was it, where did I leave it¡­there! I picked out a small pouch, loosening its drawstrings. It was the pouch that we had pilfered off the dead assailants. None of us had been able to identify the powder inside, but hopefully this does the trick. Grabbing a handful of the powder, I stood up, and¡­tossed it at Shiara.


    ¡°Wah?! Achoo-¡± The cloud of fine powder scattered, drifting pass Shiara, covering both her and Shiara in a fine layer. Shiara in particular seemed to be watery eyed, but I was more worried about the leech. Please, please, please¡­


    PLOPWHOOO!Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    As if answering my prayers, the leech fell off her arm. The leech curled up and seemed to shrivel, as it rapidly shrunk.


    ¡°Run!¡±


    Without wasting a single moment, I grabbed both of their powdery arms and started pulling them away. The three of us quickly ran as I felt my heart beat accelerate. One¡­two¡­three¡­I pulled the two down with me as I ducked behind the roots of the nearest tree.


    KA-BOOOM!!


    Holding down the head of the curious Sarra, I waited till I heard the pitter patter of liquid hitting the ground before releasing my grip and slowly rising. The clearing we had been in was covered with a red shiny viscous liquid in which little tiny worms were wriggling about.


    ¡°Hahhhh¡­.¡±


    ¡°Phew¡­can this jungle just give us a period of peace. And Shiara, this is all because you decided to go out exploring. You nearly got us ¨CACHOO! Damn nose! And Vixen, can you explain why the hell you decided to throw that-this on us?! And what the hell was that monster?! Since when did-¡°


    ¡°Sarratina! Calm down....take a deep breath and-¡°


    ¡°Right-sorry hehe haha haaaaa¡­..stress is just getting to me. Sorry.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her reaction. Well, smiling internally of course.


    ¡°Ok. Well try not to get too worked up, or you¡¯ll start tripping up. That was an explosive leech, a pregnant explosive leech-¡°


    ¡°So it explodes. But how does it even survive and reproduce more monsters if the species keep¡¯s self destructing?-¡± I gave Shiara an annoyed glare. I was mildly surprised at her intelligent question, but more annoyed at the interruption. Why did the two always feel the need to interrupt my explanations?!


    ¡°I was getting to that, and yes Sarra, I will answer your questions as well, can you two just wait, please. That species of leech is mostly harmless until they reach adulthood. There, they attempt to attach onto a host to suck both blood and mana. They balloon in size and concentrate magic in their core region before exploding themselves killing themselves and their host potentially. The unfortunate victim or victims caught in the blast are than a feeding bed for the new offspring. Even if the blast doesn¡¯t kill you, the baby worms will eat you alive from the inside.¡± *1


    The two showed disgusted expressions at the thought of that. I remember nearly puking when I first saw a wild monster getting eaten from the inside by them. Luckily Dad was there to carry me back¡­


    ¡°While they are ballooning in size, they are highly volatile, and if you are not careful, they can explode prematurely. If you pull it out, they will explode. If you use an open flame like you would for regular leeches, they will explode. If you kill it, they will explode. There is only one way to safely remove them, which is to use salt-¡°


    ¡°-But you didn¡¯t use salt. That was some weird powder that-¡±


    ¡°I see! So you just need something that can irritate it to make it drop. Then you run and hide as fast as you can!¡± ¡­Exactly what I was thinking Sarra, but could the two of you not INTERUPT ME ALL THE TIME! Hahhh¡­ ¡°Oh yeah, I know it¡¯s a bit late, but are you ok Vixen? How you feeling?¡±


    ¡°Ah, thanks for looking after me¡­and sorry for showing such an unsightly side of me-¡°


    ¡°No, don¡¯t worry about a thing. In fact, seeing you like that just made me feel closer to you, right Sarra?


    ¡°Yeah, it did. But Shiara, I don¡¯t think that is a good way to phrase it, misunderstanding-¡°


    ¡°Ah who cares about that? Vixen, you should have a lot to tell us right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I sure do. But let¡¯s not hand around too long. I¡¯ll tell you as we walk. It¡¯s the fourth day already, and we¡¯re nearly halfway through. So, where do I start?¡±


    Picking up the pieces, we slowly, but surely continued our journey.

 ?Mystery Chapter? : Country of Frozen Flame

    Beneath the frozen mountain range, within the snowy tundra, a group of armed men- 8 to be precise -aggressively surrounded a single hardy man. The situation however would seem strange and almost funny to any immediate observer, because rather than the single man trembling in fear, his presences seemed to dominate and intimidate the surrounding men. The men surrounding him, though each carrying a long one handed axe and a thick wooden buckler, seemed to shiver with apprehension at the thought of facing off with the single man, flinching whenever the man turned to look at them. The man¡¯s name was Vlad.


    Another strange point was that while a blizzard was currently raging in the background of the fight, the men were all scantly clad, albeit with identical gear. Upon each of their chest, the same symbol was etched. A white mountain behind a vertical blazing double edged axe, the shaft covered by a round white buckler.


    ¡°Well, if you wimps won¡¯t act, then I shall make the first move! HYAA!¡± Growing impatient of the inactivity, Vlad decided to pre-emptively attack his opponents. Raising his axe overhead, in an unexpected twist, he dropped his arm backwards, bringing the double bladed axe down with it. The man behind him, caught off guard, hastily raised his shield catching the lower curved edge on the top of his shield. The man trembling from the blow hastily dropped into a crouch as he supported his shield arm with his other arm.


    As if waking up from a daze, the man situated opposite the victim moved in to attack, jabbing his axe forward like a spear. Vlad quickly raised his buckler towards the strike, accurately blocking with the centre of his shield. Using the impact, Vlad launched himself backwards crushing the opponent behind him into the ground before bouncing back on to his feet. Feeling the heavy weight of impact through his shield, the man on the ground groaned and keeled over before quickly fainting, the shock from hitting the ice with his head knocking him out. The rest of the men galvanised into action, enclosed Vlad again.


    Sharing a nod, the two men on the left and right of Vlad charged in brandishing their axes. Taking a big swing, both attackers brought down their axes in powerful overhead blows. Seeing the attack, Vlad took a step to his left, stepping into the circle of the swing and tilting his shield, slanting it so that the axe deflected off the side. Not striking the expected resistance, the man stumbled forwards, receiving a sharp kick to the shin and an elbow to the gut as he passed Vlad. Simultaneously, Vlad brought his axe into a horizontal slam, slamming the other incoming axe sideways. Striking at the shoulder of the axe, he proceeded to push off the axe bringing the flat side of the axe to meet the poor man¡¯s face. 1*


    At this point an intelligent observer would notice an incongruity with the whole fight; that although the battle was intense, no one had been severely maimed, nor anyone killed. The three men that lay on the ground were still breathing, and had only been rendered incapable of further action; one had fainted with a bloody nose, another curled in a fetal position regurgitating breakfast and the last was lying on the snow groaning about a cracked rib. But to those who recognised all the men here, that was to be expected.


    Wanting to capitalise on their fallen comrades efforts, the rest of the men attacked together. The three still standing in front of Vlad all swung at him from different angles, hoping to land at least one hit home. However, to their surprise, they all heard the dull sound of their axe striking deeply into the buckler, before losing their grip on the shaft as the axe was forcefully yanked out of their hand. The shield moved like a blur in their eyes, rapidly catching their axes. Seeing Vlad pivot, the man on the very right instinctively raised his shield as he felt a powerful impact striking his shield, launching him off his feet and into his two neighbours, turning them into a pile of tangled arms and legs in the snow. In the same moment that Vlad¡¯s axe had struck the shield, his left arm went around flinging out and dislodging axes from the shield. The axes flying at a fast velocity struck the left attacker who had been sneaking up from behind, the butt of the axe hitting his head and rendering him unconscious.


    The last attacker who had been sneaking up from the right had luckily dodged the shaft that had come flying at him. He had gone in to attack with the rest, but in the moment he saw Vlad lunge and swipe all three of the frontal attackers away, he had realised that something was amiss. Normally a lunge like that could be used to dodge his attack from behind, but the move had been performed way too early, something that a strong fighter wouldn¡¯t do without reason. And this was Vlad we were talking about- there was no way he would make such a basic mistake. With so many conjectures flowing through his brain, he hesitated charging further in¡­and in this moment of hesitation, he noticed the shield, a blur to him, continuing to swing around. Remembering the first victim¡¯s unfortunate fate, he leaped back. Being more alert and further away from the shield then his companion on his left, he felt a gust of wind flow by as an axe intended for him narrowly missed his skull, eventually landing in the white snow a stone¡¯s throw away. However, without even a moment to relax or correct his poor posture, he felt a blow to his stomach sending him flying. Whilst he had been focused on dodging the axe, he had failed to notice Vlad leaping backwards, and gripping the axe close to the head, jabbing him in the stomach with the shaft.


    ¡°And the drill is over! Lower your weapons!¡± Vlad boomed away. It was a very loud shout, so loud that an echo could be heard in the distant mountains. Luckily, it was a regular occurrence and the local folks had already accepted it¡­. not that they had much of a choice.


    Feeling the ringing in their ears, the men still conscious on the ground clasped their ears. Quite a few choked, and some even vomited again after hearing his command¡­after all, he was the only man still armed! Suddenly, a piercing clapping could be heard as a man approached the lot. He wore a furry oversized hooded cloak and had a very short stature, almost as if his growth had been stunted, with an equally skinny body. He could be easily mistaken as a nine-year-old kid.


    ¡°What¡¯s up Tyler?¡± On the contrary, Vlad had a bear like physique, rough facial features, his beard a forest of prickly stems. He had dark brown curly hair that was matted down, filled with fallen snow, and was very tall even by the country¡¯s standards; over double the height of his friend Tyler. He had a bulging barrel chest, and his arms were as thick as an anvil.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Nothing much, just the daily report and a little surprise-?¡±


    ¡°-You mean Hildr?¡± 4*


    ¡°No, of course not-wait WHAT?! How did you know?¡± A deep sigh could be heard from Vlad at his friend¡¯s exclamation.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve known you for a long time, and it¡¯s undeniable that you are one of the smartest if not the smartest person in this country. So how is it that you still keep overlooking so many simple mistakes?!¡±


    ¡°-so could you please explain-¡°


    ¡°-What are we standing on?¡± ¡°Uh, snow and ice. Sedimentary; clastic rock, earthen and magic minerals. The underground ralline, mine tunnels-¡° *3


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, we don¡¯t need the full outline. I know you spend lots of time indoors and underground, but come on; you were born and raised here. As the head of research and internal defence, I expect better-¡°


    ¡°Ah!¡± Tyler had been looking down whilst thinking and had finally noticed his obvious mistake; a pair of tracks in the snow beside him. ¡°However, how did you know it was Hildr?¡±


    ¡°Well, although the tracks look unsteady, the footprints clearly belong to Hildr. Besides, who else would trust you enough to be put in your invisibility experiment?¡± Vlad suddenly realised that he was still in the company of some of his men. ¡°Oh crap, that was meant to be secret. Hey you lot, you¡¯ll all forget about what I just said and keep your mouth sealed right?¡±


    ¡°YES SIR!¡± shouted the injured men.


    Receiving the scary look, the group gave a loud uniform affirmation whilst vigorously nodding. Vlad used to crack his knuckles, but the men had already heard enough about his memory erasing abilities that just a verbal threat was enough for them to fear for their lives. None of them wanted to go through the same punishment again. A few of the men who had just woken up from the shout revealed the white of their eyes, pretending to be unconscious again.


    ¡°Hmm, seems the discipline is still decent. I guess there¡¯s no need to smash some skulls around. So tell me, what did you guys learn today?¡± Vlad turned his eyes questioningly at a young man.


    ¡°Sorry sir, I shouldn¡¯t have worn my uniform backwards.¡± The young man contritely responded. As if that was the signal, the rest of the men hastily called out their crimes.


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have come late for morning roll call.¡± ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have eaten my room mate¡¯s rations.¡±


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have told my sister in law my brother¡¯s embarrassing stories.¡±


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have written a love letter to Hildr.¡±


    An awkward silence filled the region halting the procession of repentances as everyone turned to look at the young man who had said that. Even the few who were playing dead sat up and stared at him. Feeling the gazes of everyone, he started becoming flustered. Deciding to send the poor kid a lifeboat, Vlad said ¡°Well, I¡¯m busy right now, so that will be it for training. The other fault no one mentioned is that you all should have been stronger, and that your weakness is a fault in itself. Dismissed. All of you scram and make sure to pick up your mates on your way out.¡±


    ¡°YES SIR!¡± The group hurriedly left, some hobbling away as fast a possible. No one wanted to be put into another ¡®training session¡¯ due to tardiness or for being slow on his or her feet.


    ¡°Ha-ha, another group of pitiful soldiers on punching bag duty, dogged in by their comrades. Not to mention that poor fellow at the end, he¡¯ll be in for a hell of a night. What does that make him, the fiftieth soldier to fall for her.¡± Tyler muttered under his breath.


    Shaking his head in disappointment, Vlad turned around to face Tyler again. ¡°What were you muttering about? And what up¡¯s with Hildr, why hasn¡¯t she said anything?¡±


    ¡°Well you see, the thing is uh, you know how I was working on getting rid of the problems with conventional invisibility magic? Although varying amounts depending on the type, the magic normally blurs a bit when the user is moving around due to lag. Well I managed to solve that issue with this magic by bending the light around the user but¡­ doing so created several other issues¡­¡±


    ¡°Like?¡± ¡°Well¡­firstly, the magic must be cast by someone else, but more importantly, the magic¡­ makes the person it is cast on blind, disorientated and senseless¡­¡± 2*


    ¡°So that¡¯s why her foot prints are all over the place¡­so the magic is useless in most situations and only useful in say a kidnapping¡­¡±


    A lady suddenly appeared next to Tyler. ¡°Ha¡­ha¡­.Finally¡­Tyler, how long were you planning to keep me like that. I was going to break out if you didn¡¯t dispel the magic soo- BLURGH!¡± A colourful fountain of food came out. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Ha¡­..¡± She stood up to her full height again; just double the height of Tyler, shaking off the snow that had built up. ¡°Shall we talk as we walk?¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon.¡± Vlad started walking back towards the distant mountain. Through the falling snow, one could faintly see the outlines of a giant castle situated near the peak of the mountains. The three of them stared at it silently as they approached it. Tyler suddenly broke the moment of silence with a question.


    ¡°Do you still remember what the elders used to say about our country¡¯s emblem?¡±


    ¡°Aww¡­aren¡¯t you a cutie, thinking about our childhood.¡± Hildr snickered.


    ¡°What, that I would be the mountain, you would be the shield and Hildr the axe?¡±


    ¡°Hey! Why did you mention me last?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that and all the symbolism. Well, we¡¯ve actually evolved into our rolls quite well if I say so myself. Although, I¡¯m very worried about the next generation. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to start the fight with them sooner?¡±


    ¡°Hey you two, stop ignoring me!¡± ¡°Hildr, if you don¡¯t want me to order Tyler to put you back in that invisibility, start behaving yourself.¡±


    ¡°¡­Fine, so we are talking about those dead operatives, Tyler¡¯s subordinates? ¡±


    ¡°OI!¡± ¡°Yes, we are. Our agents died too quickly back then. I would have gone and invaded Fei to save that tribe, but we only found out after they failed to turn up for their regular meeting. The shadow groups have been moving.¡±


    ¡°Damn, I still can¡¯t forgive them for what they¡¯ve done. First, it was Vlad¡¯s mother and sister, and now this. Why don¡¯t we just make our move?!¡±


    ¡°Hildr does have a point, the groups have been going around weakening and whittling away the strength of powerful countries and undermining relationships. We have unconfirmed estimates they¡¯ve taken out twenty or so ancient tribes, a few of them had quite powerful bloodlines like the Terra tribe and the Yonko tribe.¡± Vlad smiled at seeing them agree on something for once.


    ¡°The Yonko tribe although more divided were a more powerful entity than us. Their bloodline is also stronger than ours.¡± Hildr added.


    ¡°Enough. The tribe in Fei had a really powerful bloodline, and would have been an excellent ally. They were living in seclusion there, but I really regret not meeting them earlier. Perhaps things would have turned out differently. They were peaceful, kind people and they never really changed their ancient ways, and they never deserved any of what happened to them.¡° Vlad turned away his slightly misty eyes. The other two exchanged glances.


    ¡°Speaking of Fei, they¡¯re currently about to be permanently destroyed, should we step in and intervene?¡± Hildr asked.


    ¡°No, we are currently not ready. I still remember what they did last time, and I will not fall for it again. This may sound selfish, but I don¡¯t care. In five months, I will send my late wife¡¯s twins to the International Academy of Excellence. That will be the safest place to be, and no harm will come to them whilst they are studying there. The rest of us will then go to war with Shadow Soul. If we lose the initial gamble, they can hide and escape and continue our line. And if we win it, then they will come out of that academy, ready to fight, as warriors.¡±

 Chapter 42: Ploughing on with a plan

    Picking up the bow, I quickly strung it before leading the way forward. I had left in such a rush that I had forgotten to bring our sacks with us, but luckily Shiara and Sarra had grabbed them whilst I was tugging them along. If we had left it behind, I would not have gone back into that red goo to get it. Just imaging our sacks infested with leeches made me blanch.


    ¡°Ok, we¡¯ve both been eager to ask you about yourself, so we¡¯ll take you up on that. But first, as I assume it will be a long story, why don¡¯t I do the asking based on what I have assumed and we can go from there¡­that okay with you?¡±


    I glanced back at Sarra before continuing along. ¡°Sure, what¡¯d you wanna ask?¡± Somehow I felt stronger after that meeting with my parent¡¯s souls. It sounds unusual, but it was as if something had just flipped in me- like I had come to the realisation that there was no point hiding it, nor any point to continue to dwell on the past tragedy. What had happened had happened, and I could only move on.


    ¡°So you¡¯re name is Vixen Uralya, twelve years old, you were part of a tribe with bloodline magic that use to dwell in the jungle. At the age of five, your village was destroyed and you are the sole survivor who fled to Frankfurt. Is that all correct.¡±


    I glanced back again. Shiara was innocently looking around, but I could see that she was secretly attentively listening. Meanwhile, Sarra had a triumphant face as if she was assured in her assumptions being correct. ¡°Well mostly.¡±


    ¡°-Mostly?¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry¡­something my parent said that I¡¯ve been thinking about. But yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± Ah, the fluffiness...this was fulfilling somehow¡­ I didn¡¯t know when, but Suticat had quietly snuggled up next to me, and my hand as if having a mind of it¡¯s own had started petting and scratching.


    ¡°-Hey, you listening? Well, in combat you mainly use earth and wind magic, and you¡¯re an average shot with the bow, but I wanted to ask¡­what is your bloodline magic- is it to with taming?¡±


    ¡°-¡­I don¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?! You serious?¡±


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Has she ever not been serious?¡±


    ¡°Thanks Shiara¡­but yes, I¡¯m serious.¡± Sarra stared me down for a bit before averting her eyes.


    ¡°Ok, so assuming-¡° ¡°That¡¯s the truth¡± ¡°-that you don¡¯t know, how are you meant to use it?! Surely you must have some clue¡­¡±


    ¡°Well normally everyone in the village would go through an adult rite of passage when they turn fifteen. The adults never tell us kids what it is and that¡¯s probably when we are taught to harness our powers¡­after all, kid¡¯s might misuse their strength.¡± I took a peak at Shiara before continuing ¡°But I can tell you some of our folk tales that hint at our ancestry, like the twin giant trees that we previously saw in the centre. We use to visit them once a month to offer tributes as well as baptise new babies. Oh and we also used the place once when an elder passed away¡­I think¡­I don¡¯t really remember it that clearly¡­¡±


    I brushed away a few branches as I continued on. ¡°The cherry tree represented the phoenix and the willow represented the dragon and I think they also represented females and males and¡­¡± My voice died off as I noticed they both had a puzzled expression. ¡°¡­What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a phoenix?¡± ¡°-And what¡¯s a dragon?¡± Ah, of course they would not know about them. Even I only heard people mention them during my time at the village.


    ¡°Have you never heard of dragons before Shiara? Well they¡¯re like a giant reptile, uh¡­¡± Seeing the glance for help from Sarra I added on a simpler explanation ¡°You remember the spearfish monsters that came onto land and we ran away from? Well imagine them, but bigger and with wings.¡± ¡°-Oh dear god.¡± A rueful smile crept onto Sarra¡¯s face. Was my description bad or did she find Shiara¡¯s response funny?


    ¡°Hey, where¡¯s my answer. It must be another monster- animal, um another animal right?¡± Good, at least she had the tact to change and not call the phoenix a monster...it only took a glare. But how was I going to describe this. Neither had heard or seen one before and they were apparently very uncommon and rare¡­.


    ¡°I guess it would be like a toukou bird or a chicken, but on fire¡­?¡± That should have been what my parents had told me, but my voice died off after feeling an inexplicable sensation as if someone or something had snicked deep inside of me.


    ¡°Hmm¡­I see.¡± ¡°So is it tasty?¡± The gluttonous response came from Shiara. Had she always been a glutton? Well, back when we were in the slums, she did ask for a week¡¯s worth of food for saving me. But her response also reminded me of a major problem, my stomach grumbling in agreement. We were going to run out of food imminently and we didn¡¯t have any easy sources for food. We could turn back to the ford and try hunting, but that would only delay us and present more issues- we were on a timer with paralysis and had no antidote. Not to mention we were only armed with some daggers and a bow with only three arrows remaining. I was also not willing to go to the village to search for food or the antidote. It would be infested with monsters and I would just be giving up on our lives by going there. ¡°¡­Vixen!¡±


    ¡°-Wha what?¡± ¡°You ok?¡± I felt Sarra¡¯s hand grab my shoulder. ¡°Sorry, I just got a lot on my mind.¡± I shrugged her arm off and continued our march forward.


    ¡°Shiara!¡± ¡°Sorry Sarra, I shouldn¡¯t have mentioned eating uh¡­her trees?¡± Hearing the scolding, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh inside. They had misunderstood me and thought I had taken offence at her blasphemy whilst I had just merely been in deep thought. Suticat came running back over, so I gave him a pat. He had been avoiding the other two ever since they were covered in the powder, seemingly not liking the smell. Most of it had fallen off after walking and running, and they had brushed the rest off, but he still steered clear of them returning to me after his adventures-!!


    ¡°YES! Why did I forget! He¡¯s not just an extra mouth to feed, we can also use him!¡± I felt the odd gaze of the two behind me. Maybe I had really developed a sixth sense.

 Chapter 43: Foraging with a fox

    Tightening my hold on Suticat, I forcefully brought his head around towards me¡­OWW. I glanced down to my hand in surprise noting the bite marks on the skin. The skin hadn¡¯t been pierced but it was painful enough to startle me. Taking advantage of my momentary loosening, the fox quickly struggled free of my loosened hold. Sprinting a few steps awake, he finally stopped and sent what I could only assume was a resentful look¡­ah, I had been a bit too rushed and excited- and too forceful¡­I might of accidently hurt him as well.


    Putting on my most pitiful look, I beckoned towards him. Come here little fox, come on, I didn¡¯t mean to do that. I¡¯m sorry. I screamed my thoughts urging him to come back at me and as if realising I had calmed down, he cautiously crept back towards me. We had a history with each other so something little like that would not have a lasting impact on our relationship. I wondered for a moment why the other two had not commented but I quickly realised why. I could faintly hear a heated discussion between the two girls as they stood still in their previous positions.


    Now, how was I going to convey my message? I had long forgotten any hunting signal my parents may or may not have ever mentioned and so I could only resort to the basics¡­miming. Coming to that conclusion, I started to bite down on my jaw and perform chewing motions¡­but the only response was curious tilt of his head. He had no idea what I was on about.


    Uh¡­ah! This would be embarrassing but perhaps he would understand me better. With a quick peak, I checked that Sarra and Shiara were still focused on their own private conversation before slowly getting on all fours and lowering myself. Looking around, I could only see the tall grass all around me. Hoping that Suticat could still see me, I then started to mimic the prowling motion I had once seen him use before performing a sudden leap.


    ¡°GRAAHHH!¡± I felt my face blush at the pathetic growling sound I had tried to make.


    ¡°AH! What are you doing?!¡± Hearing Shiara¡¯s shout, my ears rapidly warmed up as I noticed my prowling and leaping had somehow brought me in front of the two.


    ¡°We lost sight of you and your fox before so we decided to hurry in your direction. I didn¡¯t expect you to be¡­¡± ¡°Oh, uh, I was just- just trying to communicate to Suticat.¡± Seeing princess Sarratina¡¯s wide grin as she left her sentence unfinished, I knew I would never live down this moment¨Cthat is if we made it out of this jungle alive and whole.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    CREOW!


    Hearing the sharp bark, I glanced towards Suticat. He sniffed the air twice, ears twitching and circled around twice before slinking forwards into the tall grass before stopping to gaze back. He understood my message! Seeing him like this I also dropped to a crouch.


    ¡°Psss, crouch and be quiet, just copy and follow me.¡±


    Seeing him slowly wade through the grass, I quickly followed him. This time, I made sure to check which direction we were heading in before dropping down.


    ¡­


    The sun was about to set when Suticat finally stopped moving. My knees were killing me and I had long lost most of my feeling in them. The other two were surely waiting to grumble to me, but they immediately froze as they caught up to me. I too had let out a silent gasp when I finally caught up to Suticat; because in the small clearing in front of us, stood not one, but two toukou birds.


    The other two looked towards me for directions, saliva already dribbling from the edges of Shiara¡¯s face, but honestly I had no clue. The act of stringing and nocking a bow normally wouldn¡¯t be that loud, but any noise at this point would reveal us. The two birds had somehow managed to land directly down wind of us, and so had no clue of our presence yet. Seeing Suticat continue to prowl forwards, I decided to just watch on and leave it to him. There was nothing to do, but to silently hold my breath and stay hidden.


    With the other two mimicking me, we watched as he slowly snuck up¡­eight meters¡­seven meters¡­he stopped as the two birds suddenly both looked in our direction. Suddenly the two birds made a dash north away from us as Suticat burst out and started to chase them.


    ¡°WAIT!¡± My shout fell on deaf ears as Suticat rushed away, already too enthralled on the chase. It was clear the toukou birds were way faster than the fox just from their initial speed, but the birds only ran as far as needed be, slowing down once their distance between the two increased.


    The other two stood up as well. ¡°So do we follow-¡° ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t pass me, especially if you see me suddenly stop¡± With that, I made a mad dash after them.


    It wasn¡¯t long before I saw Suticat, sitting on his hindquarters staring ahead. Puzzled, I looked in the same direction, only to realise that behind a bit of undergrowth lay an overgrown apple orchard. Ah, we had accidently moved a bit closer to the centre of the jungle- this should have been one of the old cultivated orchards that had continued to thrive without human maintenance. The toukou birds were nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°Hah¡­hahhhh¡­slow down.¡±


    ¡°So, what¡¯s this? Did we lose them?-¡° ¡°-Ah apples! -OWW¡±


    I quickly yanked Shiara¡¯s hair as she made a dash forwards. ¡°Hold your horses, do you see those little circular things on the tree.¡±


    ¡°-What was that for- Where? You don¡¯t mean the apples right?¡±


    ¡°Below them you dummy!¡± Sarra turned to me with a knowing smile. ¡°Let me guess, monsters?¡±


    Yeah. I had previously considered coming here for food, but I didn¡¯t want to deal with them, because after all they¡¯re ¡°Warnet hives¡±

 Intermission 1.2: Our Nation’s Hearts

    ¡°And THEY have conspired to pull us apart, one by one. And THEY have conspired to steal, kidnap, pillage and rape every single town and village in this and county. And THEY ¡­have kidnapped my daughter and threatened me with her life unless I dissolve this country¡¯s army and surrender; the very same acts they may perform on your loved ones. Your friends, your neighbours, the local butcher, the local mercenary and even any merchant they catch. They are ruthless, more ruthless than any wild monster. But I am NOT weak willed. I am NOT going to surrender to these infidels. I am NOT going to surrender or collude with these invades like my brother. And I am NOT-¡­not strong enough, to hold them back all alone, just like how I am unable to save my daughter¡­ That¡¯s why I need YOUR help. If you are a young abled man, a powerful witch or wizard, we need YOU in the army. If you are a skilled smith we need YOU hammering away, day in and day out, forging us new weapons. If you are a merchant we need YOU bringing in supplies. I am not strong enough to stop them and neither may you, or you or you, but fear not my fellow citizens for together, WE are strong enough. The enemy may taunt us, threaten and intimidate us, but we will NOT be divided. With a united heart, spirit and soul, we will drive these invaders back. For our freedom! For our loved ones! For our princess!¡° *1


    ¡°UWOAAHHHHHHHH!!!¡± The loud screams, shouts and cheering jumbled up into a roaring blast, their original voices incoherent. The king raised his arm, waiting for silence to descend.


    ¡°I now declare our country is in a state of defensive war. You can sign up in the booths at the north end of the courtyard. Registration for the army and volunteering or goods and services will also be held indefinitely. The government office can be found on Royale Parade. I look forward to seeing many of you on the battlefield.¡±


    The king retreated from the balcony edge back into the shaded region, the clapping from the crowd increasing in volume as the staged hands got to work. In the shadows stood Liam and Sophia. *2


    ¡°Good work out there.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure that was a good idea your majesty?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that Sophia? The derailment from the planned speech at the end or the announcement of my daughter being kidnapped and my showing of weakness?¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Uh...both your majesty. Hey, Liam, say something.¡±


    ¡°I am not as intelligent as either of you two in the field of politics but I have faith in his majesty.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, you are a great friend Liam. Well Sophia, sorry if I hurt your pride with the change in speech at the end but I realised our mistake too late. Even with people secretly controlling the crowd¡¯s mentality, the speech needs to speak to people. Citizens care more about their small community and livelihood rather than royal authority, so I tried to connect with them, that¡¯s all. As for the princess¡­. well¡­the people have always really loved the princess, so announcing her kidnapping will only spurn on more citizens to join the fight. And this way they won¡¯t know that we know she¡¯s escaped.¡±


    ¡°But what about the regular nobility. I don¡¯t think they will approve of this speech.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t need to. I¡¯ve been fed up with them for years, if they abandon us or do anything fishy I will personally knock some sense into them. So how¡¯s the interrogation of the spies, any more new information?¡±


    ¡°No unfortunately. With all due respect sir, I think your methods were very brutal- yes and efficient and perfectly fine. Haha, yes perfectly fine and they definitely deserved it¡­. but I think you may have destroyed their sanity¡­they keep screaming that there are monsters everywhere when we try to question them now and we¡¯ve learnt nothing new.¡± The king had previously overheard a pair of spies by coincidence. One was a lower noble of this country, so the term traitor may have been better, but it mattered little for the pair. After learning as much as he could, the king proceeded to seize the two by surprise as the pair prepared to separate. It was a forceful, yet quiet seizure and was followed by a day long interrogation and torture performed by a wrathful parent. They would never be the same again. Or sane again. But the information they spewed was a treasure trove and included a long list of associates and accomplices. Most were trivial people, small time servants, peasants, merchants and lower nobility; some even unaware of who they were truly helping. However there were two other big wigs included in the list and so unexpected that the king would have never imagined them a traitor.


    The trio left the lavish room and started at a brisk pace down the hallway, the intricate carvings and paintings along the wall a insignificant back drop in front of their clouded minds. The king gave a loud sigh. ¡° An enemy in the dark is so much harder to deal with than an enemy in the open. Liam, perform the purge tonight. Make sure none of them are alerted and you capture as many of them alive as possible, but most importantly, do not let anyone of them get away alive. We need to figure out who we are facing and if we are really going to be dealing with a three sided war.¡±


    ¡°Sir, yes sir!¡± Liam turned the corner and headed down a different corridor.


    ¡°A question your majesty!¡± ¡°Yes Sophia?¡± ¡°Are you sure it is ok to openly recruit like this? I fear we may end up hiring a few rats and moles.¡± ¡°Yes, unfortunately there is not much we can do. We are always bound to hire some. The most we can do is do a basic background check and make sure that none of the new recruits are in a position to do major damage. I¡¯m sure there were at least a few of them in the crowd.¡± ¡°Understood your majesty.¡±


    Suddenly a guard scrambled towards the pair in a rush, performing a hasty bow.


    ¡°Sire, a man claims to have found your daughter, but that she refuses to come to the palace. She wants you to meet her personally in the Wanderer¡¯s Inn tonight at 7 O¡¯clock. *3

 Chapter 44: Splitting up

    ¡°Warnet hives?¡±


    ¡°I see, you weren¡¯t kidding when you said this jungle was dangerous.¡± ¡­I never said that.


    ¡°Sarra what do you mean by that? What are these Warnets?¡± Poor Shiara, always the clueless one. Sensing her moment to shine, Sarratina adopted a haughty look before answering, ¡°You probably don¡¯t know because it¡¯s ancient history, but during the era of our kingdom¡¯s founding, people used to use these hives in siege battles. Someone wearing a full suit of durable amour would harvest the hives, before proceeding to catapult it into enemy cities. The hive would typically explode on impact releasing a swarm of angry warnets. Each Warnet is tiny, tough and hard to kill, but most importantly their body and hives are also highly resistant to magic- in fact, one of my family heirloom swords that have anti-magic properties supposedly has Warnet hive mixed into the steel. Their venom is also a strong hallucinogen, where a full dose from a sting is enough to cause most people to become insane. And-¡°


    ¡°So why did people stop using them? ...Was it due to successfully sieged cities being inhabitable?¡°


    ¡°It should also be pretty expensive equipping a team with full body armour durable enough to withstand the hive and have small enough breathing and vision holes that they couldn¡¯t be stung through.¡± Not to mention the logistics involved behind bringing the hive¡­it might be cheaper just performing a high level freezing ritual on the hive.


    ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re both right. But the main reason is because it was thought to have gone extinct in most countries in our region many years ago, including ours...¡±


    Seeing her thoughtful expression, I was once again reminded that she really was a princess. Well, now was not the time to be dwelling on it. ¡°Well if we survive this whole mess, I can always come take you back here later. Now, although they are really dangerous, unlike most other wasp monsters, they can¡¯t shoot venom or their stinger. They also have pretty bad eyesight and rely mainly on smell and sensing the movement of air.¡± I looked down at my feet. To others it may have seemed like I was contemplating a hard decision, but it was mainly just to hide my smirk. Knowing Shiara, she would jump head first into this. ¡°Seeing as we are already here, one of us should probably sneak into the orchard along the ground, and grab some apples that have already fallen¡­¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Oh good idea, I¡¯m quite hungry. So who¡¯s going in?¡± I looked up at her. Sarratina had crossed her arms and was also gazing at Shiara. ¡°Uh?! ¨CYou couldn¡¯t possibly mean me right?¡± She pointed at herself with a shocked expression as if she was the least likely candidate. ¡°Wa- wait a minute! Why are you two both looking at me like that? Why are you two picking on me?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you think about it, if I die, there¡¯s no point for you two to be going to the capital, nor is there a reward. And if Vixen dies, well, I doubt the two of us will make it out of here alive¡­which leaves you.¡±


    ¡°Aw come on, but I mean, uh, Vixen, I saved your life right? I¡¯m still useful!¡±


    ¡°Which you proceeded to waste by nearly getting us killed with the explosive leech.¡± Shiara had a look similar to an abandoned animal, like an injured bird about to be eaten, so I decided to send her a lifeline.


    ¡°Look, we aren¡¯t sending you in to die. As long as you stay low to the ground and move slowly inside that tall grass, they can¡¯t sense you. Besides, think about it this way, if you go, you can eat all the best apples on the ground and you can eat as much as you want.¡±


    ¡°Uh, I guess¡­mm, for food! ...But why aren¡¯t we all going then?¡±


    ¡°Well there¡¯s only so many apples we need, and if we all go we will be too obvious. Besides, there¡¯s something else I want to do here-¡°


    ¡°-You¡¯re not leaving me behind right?!¡±


    ¡°NO! No, definitely not. Once I¡¯m done, I will come back here. Besides, I won¡¯t be that far away, Suticat will go with you and he can lead you straight back to us.¡±


    ¡°Promise?¡± ¡°Promise.¡± ¡°Pinkie promise?¡± ¡­hah. ¡°Pinkie promise¡± I shook pinkies with her. Though the act had no meaning to it, she somehow took comfort in it. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll bring back as much as I can.¡±


    ¡°Mm, take care. Suticat, look after her.¡± I pointed forward and waved my hand. He seemed to hesitate a bit before reluctantly diving into the grass. Shiara got down onto her stomach before continuing to crawl into the grass.


    ¡°So what do we do? ¨COh and thanks for the cover there, I guess I sounded a bit harsh talking about it all logically-¡° ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. At heart you are still a princess. Just make sure you reward us well.¡± ¡°Yes definitely.¡±


    I started to walk away, and Sarra hurried to match pace with me. ¡°So uh, just confirming, but you didn¡¯t send her in to die right?¡± I stopped and stared back at Sarra.


    ¡°Hah...I may be calculating and even ruthless, but I¡¯m not malicious without reason. She may be stupid, straight forward, emotion driven-¡° ¡°-driven by her stomach¡± ¡°-that too, but she¡¯s smart when it counts, funny, loyal and knows her debts and grudges-¡° ¡±- and a nice girl to be around.¡± We smiled at each other.


    ¡° Sorry about the inappropriate question I asked before, it¡¯s just that even though our minds are quite similar-¡° ¡°- You just can¡¯t read me? Don¡¯t worry, it comes with my line of business.¡± I smiled proudly. Being an informant had really sped up my process of learning the subtle arts. After all if I read things correctly it meant food on the plate, but if I read things wrongly¡­best case would just be a failed job and a hungry stomach, worst case would be people hunting me.


    ¡°And to your original question, we are looking for mushrooms like¡­ this!¡± I pulled up a mushroom growing next to the roots of a tall tree. The mushroom had a long thin grey stalk and an enormous black and white splotched head. Gendershrooms. 1*

 Chapter 45: Gendershrooms

    ¡°Oh, so are these edible?¡± Sarra had grabbed another similar mushroom from a nearby patch. I glanced at it carefully. It was very similar to the one I had grabbed; it¡¯s stem, size and shape identical, but unlike the mushroom I was holding, its head had a few more white splotches than black.


    ¡°I would not eat that if I were you. You would be foaming at the mouth within a minute-¡°


    ¡°Ah-¡°


    ¡°-Hey, don¡¯t just chuck it away.¡± We could still use it. Clearly she had never heard of these before¡­it¡¯s childish of me, but I guess I should mess with her a little, this way she won¡¯t dare play too many tricks on me later. Grabbing the mushroom she had just dropped, I added it to my hand of mushrooms and¡­


    ¡°Hey! Why did you eat it?!¡± She roughly grabbed me by the shoulder and started shaking me backwards and forwards. Hey stop it! You¡¯re making me dizzy! ¡°Spit it out! Spit it out! Spit it ouutttttt- wait a minute-¡± Suddenly releasing me, I took a moment to steady myself. She stood back with a thoughtful expression. ¡°You must be tricking me¡­. you wouldn¡¯t kill yourself suddenly¡­either you are immune to it or¡­ you lied to me?¡± Straining my ears, I barely heard the last mutter. Now would be a good time to clear things up, the joke had gone along far enough- that¡¯s strange¡­since when did I make practical jokes like this¡­? It would seem my time with the two have been influencing me¡­


    ¡°Ok, calm down, let me explain. Firstly, I didn¡¯t actually eat the one you plucked, I secretly swapped it with the one I plucked when went I bent down to pick it up. See, this is the one you plucked.¡± I had learnt this sleight of hand by watching the adults at the bars and taverns. The amount of drunkards who had been unknowingly cheated by a simple body block or diversion was astounding- although the amount of naive pickpockets pummelled to death was equally shocking, not to mention the picket pockets who were too busy stealing that they got stolen from themselves.


    ¡°Ah, I see¡­I didn¡¯t expect you would play prank on me like that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, please stop glaring at me like that.¡±


    ¡°Fine, so tell me about this mushroom. There¡¯s something special about it right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m not sure about elsewhere, but our tribe used to call this a gendershroom. The reason being that the mushrooms look identical when they are younger, but when they mature, they decide a gender.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ¡°A gender?¡±


    ¡°Right. When they are young, the splotches on their head are perfectly equal between black and white. But once they mature, they have slightly more black or white splotches on the head. See this one, this is a male, and this one is also a male, oh and this one is a female. Notice how this one is more white and this one is more black?¡± I looked up at Sarra, but she was busily squinting at the mushrooms I had pointed out. I started collecting the nearby mushrooms carefully dividing them into two piles.


    ¡°So more black splotches on the head is female, and more white splotches are male¡­but they all look the same!¡± Ah¡­that reminds me of when I was little. I said the exact same thing to Mother...I miss you¡­


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it and just watch. It takes a while to pick up the difference-¡°


    ¡°Yeah, so what¡¯s up with the genders than? Is there a difference between the two?¡±


    ¡°Definitely. You see, whilst the mushroom tastes like a normal delicious mushroom, if you happen to eat one of the wrong gender-¡°


    ¡°-You foam and die?¡±


    ¡°Right. That¡¯s why we only ate these during celebrations or special occasions and only the adults were allowed to go out and pick.¡°


    ¡°Why would you eat something potentially so dangerous?!¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s tasty and if the collector is focused and diligent, nothing bad will happen.¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­. maybe I¡¯m just too much of a princess to understand¡­ So, the two separate piles¡­¡± I nodded at her. ¡°Why are you collecting the male mushrooms as well?-¡°


    ¡°-Because these mushrooms can be just as toxic to us as to monsters and animals. Although I don¡¯t know how to split the toxins, if we stuff both the male and female mushrooms into a monster, it¡¯s bound to die; might come handy if we run into anything dangerous later on.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a good idea. But is it not toxic to touch?¡±


    ¡°No, only if you ingest it whole, so help me out would you? Look around and bring over the nearby gendershrooms and make a pile over there.¡±


    Working under the pale moonlight, Sarra brought the mushrooms over whilst I separated them, putting the female ones straight into my sack and the male ones into the now empty spice pouch. Thinking back, the spices were probably worth a fortune- but our lives were definitely worth more and the King would surely reward us. However that was a problem for the future and for now, our current survival took priority.


    The blue moon was already beginning its second cycle over the night sky and the white moon was already directly above in the night sky when we had finally finished. The local area had already been cleared of it¡¯s population of gendershooms and a sizeable amount had been gathered in our sacks.


    ¡°Let¡¯s head back shall we. I¡¯m hungry for some apples and we don¡¯t want to scare Shiara by being late right?¡±


    I started walking back, but hearing no response I glanced back to see the princess fidgeting. Now that was unusual¡­ ¡°Is something the matter?¡±


    ¡°Say, I know this may be too early and a bit presumptuous of me, but would you be interested in becoming a personal maid for me when we get back? That is of course, not part of your reward for returning me and I mean of course you will be paid and all¡­and um¡­¡±


    Hmmm¡­. now that was unexpected¡­

 Intermission 1.3: Counter-attack!

    The capital was eerily quiet tonight. Apart from the occasional maniacal burst of laughter, a heavy, depressing silence filled the city, the setting sun a reflection of the people¡¯s hearts. Though the King¡¯s speech had inspired the citizens and raised morale, as their passion settled down for the night, they started to calmly think with their brains and ask the big questions. Who or what were they fighting? How did the princess even get kidnapped? How many of them were going to die? Would their family still be safe with them gone? And to all these unanswered questions, no official answer was ever given, leaving nothing but rumours; all too often incorrect.


    In a certain inn, groups of merchants and travellers were exchanging such rumours and thoughts in low whispers while finishing their evening meal. ¡°It¡¯s because they don¡¯t want us to know.¡± The man wore a hood over his head, yet he still looked furtively around as if worried about being found out. Assured that no one apart from his dining neighbours could hear him, he continued, ¡°I heard rumours that we are going to get sieged from every country surrounding us. And that-¡°


    ¡°WE¡¯RE ALL GOING TO DIE! IT¡¯S FUTILE! THE DEMONIC GODS ARE AFTER US-¡°


    THWACK!!


    The screaming man collapsed, a broken cup smashed on his head. The rest of the diners continued with their meal with a sour look on their faces. It had barely been half a day, but crazy cults and pressured pessimists were already raving left and right. Their madness was also hard to deny with the lack of information, leaving everyone with a bitter aftertaste.


    Two hooded figures, one bulky, and the other lean, sat in the furthest corner of the inn watching this spectacle. Their cloaks were a dull brown and seemed to blend in a bit with the wooden wall behind them.


    ¡°Bah! This beer is so pungent. No finesse.¡± The lean figure muttered to her companion.


    ¡°It would seem we would need to release some facts and try to find out where these rumours are coming from.¡± The bulkier man muttered back.


    ¡°Information that we don¡¯t have or is strictly confidential? And there¡¯s no point tracing these rumours; most of them are probably made up by the mentally addled members of our country like that guy lying over there.¡±


    ¡°True. Well, we will deal with that later. It¡¯s time, follow my lead.¡±


    The pair quietly got up and proceeded toslip up the stairs. Upon reaching the second floor, they left the stair well and proceeded to head down the corridor. An open window at the end of the corridor let the cool night breeze refreshingly breathe into their cloaks. The pair continued towards the window, passing several doors on both sides before finally stoping at the last door.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    KONK! KONK!


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A muffled voice came through the wall.


    ¡°The white moon and the blue moon.¡± The man replied.


    The door¡¯s internal lock unclicked and it abruptly opened as a short hooded figure dived with outstretched hands towards them shouting, ¡°Father!¡± The man in response suddenly raised his hand before several things happened simultaneously. His stomach growled as an intense pain hit him in the stomach. Reflexively bending over from the pain, an arrow that shot out from his outstretched arm jerked upward hitting the empty hood and lifting it. The lady with him not recognizing the girl standing before them proceeded to draw her sword and rapidly thrust the tip at her. The girl realising that she had been exposed suddenly jerked her arms, drawing out two daggers before crossing them to block the lethal jab. Bouncing back into the room from the recoil, the pair outside finally noticed something amiss- a mass of rapidly approaching magical energy. Flying through the night sky like a shooting star, the magic attack shot through the window as the man grabbed his partner and dived into the room as the corridor exploded, becoming a blazing inferno. The girl wasted no time as she quickly rushed at the two who had been knocked off their feet.


    KACHING!


    The window in the back of the room shattered as a long thin icicle appeared in the girl¡¯s right shoulder causing her to stumble forward. The man drew his blade and attempted to slice off her other arm but the girl nimbly jumped back on top of the bed in the corner. Noticing the torn curtain, she positioned herself to be out of sight from the attacker outside- little did she know that the two attackers outside were already engaged in a long-range battle¡­


    ¡°That was close. You okay Sophia?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine sir.¡± Their cloaks had all fallen off during the fight so their identities were all out in the open. While the girl was just another unknown assassin, the pair were both famous figures; the King and his secretary. ¡°Still, it seems your guess really was right. Shall we finish this?¡±


    The two moved so that they had the little girl cornered in the room. They had taken many pains in preparing to fall for this trap and so they wanted to take their attackers alive if possible. The little girl was barely over a meter tall and her right arm seemed to have been immobilized by the ice crystal piercing her shoulder.


    The pair simultaneously swung at her. She sprung up from the bed and dodging Sophia¡¯s initial attack, she attempted to also dodge the King¡¯s diagonal swing. Realising there was no room to manoeuvre; she brought down her dagger in a final attempt to end his life by trading her own. As the dagger came down, a third blade appeared piercing the girl¡¯s arm and pinning her against the wall. The blade had come from Sophia¡¯s left hand.


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Sir, I suggest that you should be more careful when fighting an assassin. Your life is worth many of theirs.¡±


    The King started to smile at her when he suddenly detected a large mass of mana approaching the building. Sharing a brief look with each other, the two proceeded to run at the girl and smash her along with the weakened wall behind her open, falling down on top of her.


    KABOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!

 Chapter 46: Stalling Tactics

    I looked back down at the ground to think. This was a big question that I had not even considered previously and not something I could decide in a moment...I looked back up towards her. ¡°Why are you suddenly asking about that now?¡±


    ¡°We-well I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you about it for a while but-¡°


    ¡°Does it have anything to do with Shiara not being here?¡±


    ¡°-Wh-what?! No, no, no. You¡¯ve got me all wrong and-¡°


    ¡°Is it because you pity us?¡±


    ¡°No, no, no. I mean yes! But no, that¡¯s not why-¡°


    ¡°So you want my knowledge-¡°


    ¡°VIXEN! WILL YOU JUST LET ME FINISH MY SENTENCE!!!¡± I grabbed my ears as I winced in pain. I had managed to finish thinking of a good answer during my rapid fire questioning, but I may have accidently riled her up. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t be using negotiation tactics here¡­*1


    ¡°Ok, sorry, but lower your volume please. We don¡¯t want to attract any monsters.¡±


    ¡°¡­Hah¡­. you did that on purpose didn¡¯t you, you¡¯re not normally like that.¡± Sarra took another deep breath. ¡°Sorry for losing my cool there but you were seriously becoming irritating. Now please let me finish talking. Firstly I asked just then because I finally believe that we have a strong chance of getting back to the capital. And I was planning to ask Shiara later as well. Though she may not have as good a head on her shoulders as you do, she is still very talented and I was planning to ask her to join my entourage as a healer. Lastly¡­well you girls have grown on me and I think I would miss you two¡­so I was hoping I could keep the three of us together even back at the capital somehow.¡± I noticed Sarra wringing her hands behind her back, pulling on her fingers nervously. I smiled.


    ¡°Are you sure the king would be fine with it? With our unclear identity?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a reasonable parent so he should be¡­mother as well¡­¡±


    ¡°Then if our feelings haven¡¯t changed and Shiara is fine with it, I would be happy to become your maid. Anyways, that¡¯s all in the future, let¡¯s first get out of the Jungle Of Illusions before we discuss this.¡± Plenty of things could happen between now and then. It would be best not to be too rigid with our planning. With that we stopped chatting and continued striding back to our meeting place.


    ¡­


    Arriving back at the edge of the apple orchard, I gave a long yawn. We hadn¡¯t slept properly in a long time and the fatigue was burning me out. Shiara should be somewhere around here¡­Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Hey-¡±


    ¡°Hyah?! -Oh it¡¯s just you two.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I was so tired that I didn¡¯t even notice Shiara and Suticat creeping out of the tall grass until she greeted us. Random pieces of foliage were tangled all over her, and along with her dull clothing, blended her in. In addition, the clouds happened to cover their position from most of the moons¡¯ light.


    ¡°¡­Sorry for startling you Sarra. Well, the apples are over here. I tried to grab the better ones, but most of them are bruised. I¡¯m so tired¡­yawwwwwnn¡­. we should find somewhere to nap. Also Vixen, did you not toilet train the fox?¡±


    ¡°¡­That¡¯s a strange question, why do you ask¡­hang on a minute, what¡¯s that smell...oh¡­¡± Yeah, Shiara stunk; Suticat must have peed on her.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me- the fox peed on you?!¡± Sarra pulled away even though the smell was mostly gone, a giant grin on her face.


    ¡°Yeah, he did. He just jumped on top of me while I was crawling into the orchard. I thought he was protecting me from the Warnets when he took a piss on me. What the heck Vixen, he can¡¯t be in heat right?¡±


    ¡°No and even if he was, he would have definitely picked me.¡± To emphasise my point I made a quick gesture behind my back for Suticat to come over. Seeing the hand signal, he quickly ran over and gave my leg a long nudge. ¡±Anyways, he doesn¡¯t normally pee on people. I can¡¯t say for sure, but he should have been trying to mask your scent with his piss.¡±


    ¡°Oh that makes sense! Still, it must feel pretty uncomfortable in it. Should we go back to the river and-¡°


    ¡°No need. Besides I¡¯m too tiiiiirrreeed to care.¡±


    ¡°-And the river is too far back. Let¡¯s just eat the apples quickly, bring along what we can and find somewhere to sleep soon. I think we are all very tired.¡± We all sat down in the grass next to the apples. After a quick count, I split the six apples their in half taking three. The apples were all blemished with varying sizes of rotting and bruising on them. I even had one that luckily had no rot at all. Picking the best one up, I took a bite out of it. Mmmm¡­. The apple was mostly sweet with some sourness and a bit of bitterness. It sadly lacked the normal crunch and was quite mushy, but it was decently juicy past the brown withered surface.


    I glanced up to check on the other two. Shiara, seemingly very tired, just sat next to us watching us with a blank unfocused stare. Meanwhile, Sarratina had taken her knife out and begun performing surgical cuts, removing the rotten parts and withered skin of the apple.


    ¡°So what did the two of you do while I was crawling around in grass searching for apples?¡± I finished off my mouthful of food.


    ¡°We were searching for some mushrooms to eat as well as some poisonous ones for self defence.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Silence descended again after the brief reply. Two of us were busily eating our food and we were all very tired. It had nearly been a whole day since we last slept. Realising that the sun was soon to rise, I rapidly wolfed down two apples before stowing away the third in the sac. I had proffered the apple to Suticat, but he just shook his head away. He must have eaten with Shiara.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m going to sleep first now-¡°


    ¡°Huh? Vixen, don¡¯t we need to find some tree to hide in?¡±


    ¡°Sadly, as you can see, there are no trees around that are strong enough to hold us, or climbable for us. Besides, if we stay on the ground, Suticat can quickly alert us if any monster is coming. Yawwnnnn¡­I¡¯m going to sleep first, do what you want.¡± I lied down on the grass, scantly covering myself with some dried leaves and my sack.


    ¡°Sarratina?¡±


    ¡°Well she is the expert here. When in Fei, do as the Feis¡¯ do.¡± *2


    ¡°¡­Hah¡­this isn¡¯t even a Fei culture. Well, I¡¯m going to sleep as well¡­¡± As I gradually fell into a fitful sleep I head Shiara quietly mutter ¡±She should of said we were sleeping here earlier-¡°

 Chapter 47: Common Sense

    I was in a dream. It was obvious due to a multitude of reasons, but the most glaring reason was because I was watching myself in this particular dream. I also knew that if I willed it, I would be able to wake up instantly, but I would rather not. It was a more pleasant dream than the normal ones so I decided to sit back and watch it play out.


    We were at the river, bathing, and girls only. Little sister, my mother and me all sat inside the netted off section inside the river. I was quietly washing my sister¡¯s back while mother washed mine, engaged in a wild conversation with my little sister and it went something like this.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°A raspberry tree?¡±


    ¡°-Why does mommy eat that?¡±


    ¡°I only eat the leaf sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Why do you eat the leaf and not the fruit?¡±


    ¡°Because it helps me.¡±


    ¡°Can I eat it?¡±


    ¡°No-.¡±


    ¡°-So why shouldn¡¯t I eat it?¡±


    ¡°Because it won¡¯t help you.¡±


    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it help me?¡±


    ¡°Because you haven¡¯t grown up yet.¡±


    ¡°When will I grow up?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you¡¯ve grown up.¡±


    Zoning out on the conversation, I slowly floated around inside my dream to take a closer look at my own face inside this dream. I had a carefree smile on it. Suddenly I felt cold water on my face.


    -I opened my eyes only to be greeted by a wet sloppy tongue. It was just Suticat waking me up. I glanced around him to look up at the sky. Through the tree top canopy I could see it was already gradually brightening. It was past dawn.


    With a groan I got up, shaking off the leaves I had used to previously cover myself. My body was stiff and sore from lying on the rough ground, so I took a moment after standing up to check out my body. After a small shake up, I waddled over to Shiara and Sarratina giving them a rough jerk each.


    ¡°Hey! Shiara, Sarra, waaaaakkkkee up¡­¡± I gave a loud yawn. I was still feeling tired, but we needed to get a move on and make the most out of the daylight. I didn¡¯t want to be making the next part of the journey by night. There were the Vampiric-bats, but more importantly, the Night-hogs. *1This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Shiara quickly woke up and started to loosen her shoulders. I was about to shake Sarra again, but she suddenly got up, whilst rubbing her eyes. She took a quick look around before promptly lying back down again.


    ¡­I was speechless. Clearly she was still groggy with sleep. Sadly, we really couldn¡¯t afford to sleep any longer. I shook her shoulders again until she finally got up-with her eyes still closed.


    ¡°Huh Jasmine, why the rush? I had this really bad dream that I-¡° Her eyes opened and she stared at me in shock as she gradually began to remember everything that has had happened so far. She coughed in embarrassment. ¡°-Uhuh¡­not a dream¡­¡±


    While we munched on left over apples, I decided to unroll the map and take a look at it. The map only showed vague outlines of the jungle¡¯s borders and was mostly useless to me now, but I decided to unfurl it for the other two¡¯s sake.


    ¡°So where are we at?¡± Sarra nodded towards the map. I pointed down to a spot slightly south of the centre of the jungle.


    Shiara came over as well. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡±


    ¡°We avoid the central monster infested region and keep heading east until we reach the edge of the jungle. We will then head north a bit more until we reach the capital.¡± We were still on a timer to leave the jungle, but our food situation had improved with the apples. I was hoping to reach the wild berry bushes by nightfall.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get going.¡± I rolled up the map again, tucking it back into my sack. Taking a glance at the twin towering trees, I confirmed my orientation and began heading due east. A soft wind picked up behind us as if encouraging us along.


    ¡­


    We had barely travelled a few kilometres before Sarratina started up a conversation again.


    ¡°Hey Shiara, I already said this to Vixen, but when we get back to the capital, would you be interested in working for me?¡±


    ¡°Working for you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Of course, as I said before, this would be separate from your reward for saving me. That way we can keep in close contact as well as provide you with a job.¡±


    ¡°¡­Did Vixen agree? And do we get good food if we work for you?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°-Vixen sort of agreed, and yes, there is decent food- better than most of what we have been eating.¡±


    ¡°Than I¡¯m happy to as well. But for how long do you expect us to work for you?¡±


    ¡°Well, however long you wish to. You can even continue working into your hundreds until you die of old age if you want.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, our village chief kept working even when he was over two hundred and twenty years old-¡° The other two were looking at me strangely. ¡°-What? I guess you might be shocked that he¡¯s still working when he¡¯s so old-¡°


    ¡°-Not that!¡±


    ¡°Did you say two hundred?!¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah?¡±


    ¡°,,,¡±


    ¡°Wait a second Vixen¡­how long is a year?¡±


    ¡°¡­Why are you asking such a silly-¡°


    ¡°-Just answer me please.¡±


    ¡°A year is sixteen months-¡°


    ¡°-And a month?¡±


    ¡°A month is thirty six days. Same as everyone else! Why are you even asking?¡±


    ¡°What Sarratina is trying to say is that most people only live up to just above hundred before dying of old age.¡±


    ¡°Oh really?! But quite a few people in my village were in there two hundreds¡­¡± ¡­Was there a difference in people¡¯s life expectancy? I hadn¡¯t had much contact with the elderly back in the slums, nor discussed private matters like age with anyone, so I hadn¡¯t realised.


    ¡°Hmm¡­a difference in life expectancy, but you didn¡¯t even realise it¡­. could it be¡­that your village matures slower? ...Maybe, but the only difference¡­ah! It might to do with your bloodline.¡±


    I turned around. ¡°You might be onto something, but can we stay focused please. If you have the energy to talk about unimportant subjects, you should use that energy to walk faster!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry Vixen, I know you need to focus. It¡¯s just the quiet is a bit unsettling and boring my nerves-.¡±


    ¡°Wait Vixen, Sarratina, I just realised, maybe her slower growth explains why she¡¯s lacking down there-¡° I spun back away as I felt their eyes head down my body. Ignoring the strong d¨¦j¨¤ vu, I continued marching on.

 Chapter 48: Chasm

    Following Suticat¡¯s swaying tail, we continued heading east. The dense presence of magical energy made the jungle vegetation flourish. The region we were entering here was overgrown with distractingly colourful undergrowth, and although it should be mostly harmless, the low visibility made me nervous. The jungle had already shown a few drastic changes here and there, so I wasn¡¯t confident enough to overly rely on past knowledge. Though the past seven years felt like another world and being back here finally gave me a relaxing sensation, it was exactly this emotion that made me so unsettled. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was due to lack of sleep or some new magical affect, but it unsettled me.


    As I was focused analysing the surrounding vegetation and observing for signs of animals or monsters, I noticed Suticat suddenly sit down in front of a tree root and turn back to look at me. A thick screen of foliage masked any danger that could possibly lie ahead. Wondering what the problem was, I gently pried apart some branches to observe what was beyond and-


    -Emptiness¡­ there was a giant patch of nothing. No vegetation, no animals, and solving my brief confusion, no ground¡­


    A giant chasm stood in our way. Feeling glad at my cautiousness, I gently backed up-


    THUMP!


    I made a grab for the tree next to me as I felt an unexpected force hit my shoulder. Reeling a bit, I managed to finally steady myself as I felt someone grab my shoulders and pull me back. I let out a giant sigh as I finally landed back on firm ground. I had noticed bits of rock and soil crumble and fall into the gap, but there had been no sound from it hitting the bottom floor yet. There would be no coming back from falling and no saving grace unlike last time.


    Feeling both mildly annoyed at nearly dying and grateful at being potentially saved, I turned around and¡­saw something unexpected. Shiara having been indivertibly mentally labelled as the clumsy one had surprisingly been the one to grab me whilst Sarratina was lying backwards on the litterfall. Now that I thought about it, she never was really clumsy¡­so why did I believe that she was clumsy¡­rather maybe a bit inattentive sometimes. Giving up the convoy of thoughts, I concluded that my brain must have begun dulling due to excessive overuse. Sorry Shiara.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Thanks Shiara, but Sarra, what was that?¡± Sarra wasn¡¯t normally very clumsy or inattentive either. Maybe the journey was beginning to take its toll on us. Sarra finally poked her head back out of the leaf litter. 1*


    ¡°Sorry about that¡­I was too focused on looking at the ground, following your steps and not tripping that I didn¡¯t notice that we stopped.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So why the sudden stop?¡±


    ¡°Look for yourselves.¡± I parted the branches again as the pair stuck their heads forwards.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to see- Oh¡­.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me-¡°


    ¡°-There¡¯s no ground!¡± The pair looked back towards me with astonished faces. ¡°Hey, why didn¡¯t you mention this earlier-¡° I avoided looking at Shiara¡¯s interrogatory eyes. I didn¡¯t want to show the confusion I was in myself.


    ¡°-She didn¡¯t know. Right?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Hang on, hasn¡¯t Vixen been here before?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah, this wasn¡¯t here last time. It¡¯s quite close to the village here so I would know.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! SO are you saying this formed in the seven or so years since you last came here?! It¡¯s nearly as wide as some of trees are tall, not to mention that I can¡¯t see how far on it goes north south.¡± I trembled a bit under Shiara¡¯s intense gaze and questioning. This was blunder on my part even though I had no way of knowing beforehand, and now my previous planning was all messed up. I needed some time to rethink my plans.


    ¡°Maybe we could still cross it with the help of vines and some tall trees?¡±


    ¡°What? You strong enough to knock some down? Or do you plan on jumping across with some vines? Cause if that¡¯s so, I¡¯m out.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just putting some ideas out there. There¡¯s no point complaining about the situation right now, so we may as well find some solutions.¡±


    ¡°Oh then maybe we should find some monster¡¯s to ride across-¡°


    ¡°QUIET! Please, we are all stressed so can you two just shut it and let me think.¡± Now that the two were silent, I quickly finalised the rest of my plans. The most viable option would be to go around it whilst looking for potential pathways across it. Going south would be the plan due to two major reasons. Heading north could lead us to be too close to the village and we stood no chance against most of the monsters lurking around it. The other reason was that the river had seemed unaffected and normal before which meant that the chasm likely did not reach the river. Though going north would be a more direct route, potentially even faster by one or two days, going south was the safer and better option here.


    ¡°Let''s follow the chasm south. Sarratina, pay attention and don¡¯t focus just on the ground.¡± I signalled to Suticat to lead the way and quickly followed behind him.


    ¡°Why-¡° ¡±-Cause the river we crossed before seemed relatively normal. Hopefully that means the chasm doesn¡¯t reach it and worst comes to worst, we can go around it at the river and continue to head East.¡±


    ¡°Sorry to ask just like Shiara-¡° ¡°-HEY!¡± ¡°-but shouldn¡¯t we move away from the chasm? If we stay next to it we have to be careful not to fall into it and we could also get trapped by monsters here easily?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true, but if we move further away, we won¡¯t know when it isn¡¯t there anymore with all this dense jungle growth. Besides, if my past knowledge still stands true, the only things we need to watch out for are the Toxic-fireflies and Bellowers. They don¡¯t tend to corner prey.¡± Hearing my reply, Sarratina stopped questioning and the three of us fell back into a rhythmic brisk pace. What I failed to mention was that they were both many times more dangerous than Night-hogs or Vampiric-bats. *2

 Chapter 49: Blown Off-course

    As we headed towards the river, I scanned the ground carefully before treading forwards. The dense jungle undergrowth along with the overlapping canopy made it very easy to accidently lose our bearings and the sun was nearing its zenith making it a poor indicator. In order to avoid walking off a cliff again, I decided to travel slightly slower and visually confirm the footing ahead. The detour would cost us, but there would be no point rushing the journey only to have our lives tragically taken.


    However I wasn¡¯t only checking for solid ground. Toxic-fireflies were nocturnal and could often be found resting on the sunny side of a leaf or mushroom during the day- it would be best not to disturb them. Meanwhile, I was also checking for any animal or monster tracks. Bellowers were destructive in nature so most creatures had an aversion to them, but then again, the jungle had changed.


    ¡°Uh Sarratina, do you know what these monsters she just mentioned are meant to um¡­well look like?


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not really sure, but I assume a Toxic-firefly would look like, well, a firefly? But Vixen, could you please explain what these Bellowers are? I¡¯ve never heard of them before.¡±


    ¡°-That¡¯s surprising because they are the ones you tend to hear.¡±


    ¡°Uh what?¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    I mentally hit myself for responding to her with that line. It had been a joke of the past and I had reflexively blurted it out. ¡°Forget it. I haven¡¯t heard about them outside the jungle so they might not exist anywhere else in Fei. From what I¡¯ve seen-¡°


    ¡°-wait, seen?¡± *1


    ¡°¡­I was curious after I overheard the other kids so I secretly followed my father and some other villagers when they went out hunting.¡±


    ¡°Wow, so not only are you sly, you use to be quite mischievous eh¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­I¡¯m more in awe that you managed to stealthily follow them without being found out!¡±


    ¡°No Shiara, looking back, it¡¯s quite likely they knew I was there, but decided to let my transgression pass.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any evidence?¡±


    ¡°¡­Not really, but there is no way I could tail them without them noticing.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± We stared at each other without blinking away until Sarra moved between us.


    ¡°Ok, enough about the past. Just tell me! What are these Bellowers?!¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°¡­Bellowers are a type of four-legged monster. They are quite big and have a thick fur coat on the outside- we use to use their fur for bedding. They walk on all four legs and are very robust. Their skin and fur are very hard to penetrate and together, they are stronger than steel. Just like Shiara, they have a habit of smashing through the jungle, often overturning entire regions of trees. They often do this with their two giant tusks. These are curved, jagged, hardened bones that are attached to their head. They also have an arm like snout attached to their face that can be used to both suck in prey as well as launched compressed blasts of air capable of demolishing trees.¡± *2


    ¡°¡­That sounds very scary¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­we are dead if we ever meet one right? That¡¯s why you said they don¡¯t corner prey- they don¡¯t even need to.¡±


    ¡°Exactly, luckily, because of how destructive they are, the signs that you are entering Bellower territory is very obvious¡­¡± My voice died off as I brushed away a few branches catching sight of the area lying ahead of us. As if to provide an example, a region of roughly toppled and splinted trees stood in front of us. The other two catching up to me stopped to observe it as well.


    ¡°¡­Um, Vixen, is there anyway we can uh¡­avoid this area.¡± Shiara¡¯s voice was gradually becoming smaller and smaller as she realised the obvious answer to her question. I heard Sarra nervously gulp next to me.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, no time to be dawdling here. Walk quietly and talk softly from here on.¡± Feeling my dry mouth, I continued heading deeper into Bellower territory. Why did this fissure have to suddenly appear?!


    ¡­


    Avoiding another piece of splintered wood, I jumped on top of some fallen logs. Standing up I gave a once over in all directions. Since entering the Bellower territory, we hadn¡¯t met any monsters. The chasm size had significantly decreased and the other edge was now visible from the ground. The sun had also stopped glaring at us from above and was now tinging the sky in an orange glow.


    ¡°Hah¡­hahhh, how much further Vixen?¡±


    ¡°It should be Bellower territory all the way till the river, but we are more than halfway there. But it would seem we have slowed down, we didn¡¯t go as far as I had planned.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because you keep looking around so much. How do you have the energy?¡±


    ¡°Well Sarra, at least we haven¡¯t met any beasts yet.¡± Thank you for the support Shiara, but please don¡¯t say that.


    ¡°The sun¡¯s setting, what are we doing tonight?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll keep walking until we reach the river.¡±


    ¡° ¡° WHAT?!¡± ¡° I turned around to be greeted by too annoyed faces.


    ¡°Look, this is really not a safe place, we should keep moving.¡± Ignoring the rest of their complaints, I kept walking. Suticat was softly treading right next to me and I could feel his anxiety as well. Normally, he would have never entered such a dangerous area. He had stuck right next to me ever since we first encountered the chasm and clearly felt threatened.


    ¡°Hey wait, is it really wise to walk continuously for so long, shouldn¡¯t we at least stop for a bit.¡±


    ¡°No once we stop, it will be harder to continue again. Oh and I will just mention it to you two now. Other than Bellowers, there are still Toxic-fireflies who should be waking up around now. They naturally release a sleep inducing odour before poisoning and feeding on you during your sleep so please don¡¯t stop moving.¡± Seeing the two¡¯s pale faces, I continued walking. I had withheld the information about the flies previously partly due to not being asked, but more importantly so that it could be used as a shock factor to keep them energised. Shiara and Sarratina had settled in a bit too much again and forgotten how problematic this unexpected chasm or how precarious our current situation was, so this would be just a gentle reminder.


    ¡°Please, I don¡¯t want to get eaten-¡°


    HASNICH! *3


    A few leaves suddenly scattered into the air as I felt a blast of wind fly past my left side. Hearing Shiara¡¯s voice die off, I immediately realised she must have been hit. I quickly glanced towards the source of the noise, before finally spotting it. A dark brown Bellower¡¯s snout trapped beneath a fallen tree.

 Chapter 50: Break of day

    The dense branches attached to the thick fallen trunk had effectively hidden the snout at first glance. I tensed up in preparation for the next blast of air. Suticat had bolted, but I was sure she could find us later if she wanted to. Meanwhile, I could hear the distinctive sound of Sarratina panicking as she ran towards Shiara. It was doubtful that she had even seen the Bellower yet, but this way she would at least be out of immediate danger; conveniently leaving me as the main target. Bracing myself, I counted down the time till the next attack. Three¡­two¡­one, I dived to the side, rolling slightly to disperse the impact¡­


    -And nothing happened. Puzzled, I tentatively glanced back to the snout. Peeking cautiously around the tree I had dived behind- not that it offered any true protection, I noticed that the trunk had not moved at all. Was it stuck? It was quite rare for the Bellower to not be strong enough to release itself¡­unless it had snapped its snout.


    Marvelling at our luck, I got up from behind my tree and proceeded to head back towards Shiara-


    HASNICH!


    I dropped to the ground again as I felt a large gust of wind blasted by me again. What was going on?? It was getting dark and in the faded light I struggled to see both the Bellower¡¯s snout and Sarratina.


    ¡°Oh no! Vixen, Shiara¡¯s unconscious! What do we do-¡°


    HASNICH!


    The air next to me became turbulent again as the Bellower released another blast of air. However, though the rest of Shiara¡¯s speech was deafened by the attack, suddenly everything made sense to me. Taking advantage of the lull between attacks, I quickly passed through the blasted area and headedover to Shiara.


    ¡°Vixen? YOU STILL-¡± ¡°SHH!¡± Popping up next to her, I signalled for to quiet down. ¡°What do we do?! What¡¯s going-¡±


    HASNICH.


    ¡°And what¡¯s that noise?¡± A brief examination of Shiara showed that she hadn¡¯t suffered too heavy of an impact; at least nothing capable of knocking her out. Rather, she was just asleep and not unconscious.


    ¡°Less questions, talk later. Slap Shiara until she wakes up and tell her to be quiet, than follow me.¡± Turning around, I heard a resounding slap sound that made me wince. *1


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Huh, huh? What¡¯s going on?-¡° ¡°-Shh.¡±


    I silently shook my head, speechless. I did tell her to do it and she did manage to wake up Shiara, but I hadn¡¯t expected her to perform my order so vigorously. Although she was faultless, the slap was truly too resounding. Then again, she had followed all my previous requests very dutifully, so this excessive behaviour could be expected. Ignoring the rest of these thoughts, I continued squinting into the dark, finally confirming that the Bellower¡¯s snout had not moved.


    HASNICH.


    ¡­And as expected the blast of air came at the same time. Feeling the two arrive behind me, we slipped away towards the West.


    ¡­


    Having left the Bellower along with the chasm behind, we were able to continue heading South, making good time. Suticat re-joined us briefly after we started heading West, clinging unnaturally close to me. I was feeling extremely tired so it may have just been my imagination, but she seemed to be acting contritely. We were still in Bellower territory, but the blue moon was nearing its second nightly zenith and the other two were brimming with impatience and curiosity. There didn¡¯t seem to be any other Bellowers in the immediate vicinity, so with a sigh, I decided to get their interrogation out of the way.


    ¡°Ok, you can ask away- quietly ask away.¡±


    ¡°What was that back there?! Was that a Bellower?¡± ¡°Why was I suddenly knocked out, and why did you let Sarratina slap me?¡± I took a look at her still swollen face; at least there was no handprint.


    ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but yes that was a Bellower back there. Not sure if you two saw it, but I think it was trapped underneath that fallen tree-¡°


    ¡°Oh! That one, I thought I saw something weird coming from it. That reminds me, Sarratina, why didn¡¯t you scream or shout when I flew by you?¡±


    ¡°Well Vixen did say to keep quiet¡­but it¡¯s also because I wasn¡¯t very focused¡­and may have not noticed until you had already gone by¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°So why didn¡¯t the Bellower continue attacking us?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. At first I thought it was because it was stuck, but if that was the case, it should still be able to change the direction of it¡¯s attack by just changing the snout, even if the rest of it¡¯s trunk is stuck. I also thought it could have been a baby Bellower, but it¡¯s snout was too big. That¡¯s when I realised that though its attacks were coming at a regular interval, they were more spaced out. I suspected it might be asleep and the previous blasts of air being the Bellower¡¯s sneezes or snoring. Finally I realised that though Shiara was knocked off her feet, she hadn¡¯t been knocked out by the shock from impact. Instead she had just gone to sleep, leading me to believe that somehow the Toxic-fireflies have evolved to produce a variant toxin; potent enough to induce sleep in not only regular prey, but even Bellowers as well. That might also explain the lack of Bellower¡¯s we¡¯ve seen.¡°


    ¡°¡­Oh.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°But than why haven¡¯t we seen any Toxic fireflies?¡±


    ¡°Well they could be all eating the insides of Bellower¡¯s nearby.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s very likely Shiara. More likely they just overpopulated the region and starved to death. Right Vixen?¡± ¡­Hmmm


    ¡°Hopefully. The only other reason I can think of is that something else ate them all¡­¡± We all silently pondered over the gloomy thought of what that would mean for us. Well, there was no use worrying about that now.


    ¡°Hey, enough of the depressing thoughts, isn¡¯t that normal jungle ahead.¡± I glanced up at Shiara¡¯s shout. She was right! In front of us lay normal jungle terrain with its vibrant maniacal overgrowth. ¡°Finally!¡± Shiara fell forward, face planting into the ground. ¡°And the ground¡¯s soft and wet!¡± ¡­ah!


    ¡°Yes! We can finally sleep as-¡°


    ¡°-Quiet Sarra.¡± I listened intently¡­yes, there was a slightly trickling noise, barely audible. Ignoring the other two I started sluggishly climbing the nearest tall tree. It wasn¡¯t a great one to climb, and I was tired, so I struggled, but I eventually managed to haul myself to the top.


    I looked to the South and soon noticed close by a brief East-West break in the canopy. That must be the river! Looking to the East, I spotted the chasm as well. The chasm continued into the overgrown forest as a gap in the canopy, however that gap did not connect with the river gap, leaving a space of a few kilometres of passable terrain. As I was analysing the area from above, the first rays of sunlight burst through lighting up the distant horizon. A new day had begun.

 Chapter 51: A fox’s recollection

    *Change of P.O.V*


    I gave a lazy yawn. Pushing against my two forelegs, I shoved my rear into the cool evening air. Striking my usual languid pose, I gave another silent yawn before turning around to inspect the rest of my sleeping skulk.


    Big Sis had been climbing back down earlier today when she had fallen asleep against the tree. Her arms were now jutting out on either side of the trunk as she leaned against the bough. Shifting my nose down, I looked at the other two sleeping on the ground. They seemed to make the same weird noises as big sister. I couldn¡¯t understand them either, so I decided to call them Auntie and Stinky.


    Auntie I called Auntie because she is the tallest and biggest and she is very nice. She gave me food. She petted me. Scratched me. Rubbed me. And gave me food. Mm, mmm! She reminded me of mother. She even comforted Big Sis when she randomly started crying. But she isn¡¯t mother and Big Sis is better. Big Sis is stingy with food and strict, but she is family! She trusts me and she forgives me for my mistakes. She didn¡¯t even punish me like Big Bro did. So Big Sis is better than Auntie, which is why she is Auntie. Uhhh, but food is nice, so Auntie is also nice.


    Then there is Stinky. Stinky is smelly, short and very stinky. She started off smelling like poop, and then she started smelling very fishy. After that she smelt like insects, then some very spicy smell. My nose was very itchy afterwards and I couldn¡¯t stand her anymore so I peed on her. Afterwards, she smelt much better, but she still has a stench. I nosed her rear- she was still stinky. But we did eat lots and lots and lots of apples underneath the trees together. She enjoyed the food, but still shared it so I guess she is also nice.


    Big Sis, Auntie and Stinky were still sleeping, but I was thirsty. Should I wake them up, or should I wait for them? No, I will just go myself. I still felt ashamed for running away before, but loud noises are scary. Still, next time I will definitely protect Big Sis- I will better warn her before we run into monsters!Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Perking up my ears, I made sure to listen carefully. Like I thought, I could hear the trickling sound of a river. The wind was coming from the same direction as the sound of water. I raised my nose into the air. Sniff-sniff. Nothing: nothing to be afraid of at least. I snuck away from our skulk towards the river.


    Whilst heading there I had nothing really do, so I started to think about Big Sis. Until recently, I haven¡¯t seen her for a really long, long time. I felt like I had grown bigger, but she has grown much, much bigger. Although Auntie was slightly taller, Big Sis felt scarier. Maybe my memory idolised her, but she seems weirder and scarier. She hasn¡¯t played with me much so far and she seems distracted all the time. She doesn¡¯t check on me much either, but that¡¯s probably because she trusts me. Still, she¡¯s changed and I kind of miss the old Big Sis¡­but I can¡¯t complain, I''m just glad to have even met her again. The forest has changed and I must have unknowingly changed with it.


    But maybe¡­Big Sis doesn¡¯t really need me anymore¡­ When she mysteriously started crying before, she decided to hug Auntie instead of me¡­wait no, Auntie decided to hug her and she just hugged back. Mm, mm. Why else would she hug the cold Auntie right after a cold wind blew by, and not a warm fur ball like me. After all, my coat loses to no one! Right, Auntie must be the source of all these changes and issues¡­Does that make her good or bad then? ¡­Yes, she is bad, but I will still accept all her food as an apology! Food is always innocent.


    Licking the drool off my mouth, I noticed I had reached a small stream. It was clear and sparkling, and a bunch of colourful plants sat around it. Although I could hear the sounds of more water ahead, this stream would do. Sniffing the air again, I smelt nothing dangerous nearby. Darting my head around to check, I then quickly gulped down many mouthfuls of water. Ahh¡­much better. With my thirst satiated, I started heading back.


    Thinking back, there was that interesting day where Big Sis did something very unusual. Instead of just signalling me, she tried to mimic my hunting style. She even tried to speak to me, but I had no idea what she was saying. Seeing her do it felt weird, but cool at the same time. And then we chased that bird huh. I nearly caught it, but I got to eager; it just looked too tasty sitting there, I couldn¡¯t wait. Seeing her act like that, maybe she does still really care about me-huh?! But than later that day she left me behind with Stinky and went off with Auntie¡­. so it is all Auntie¡¯s fault!


    Suddenly, the direction of the wind changed completely, the wind now blowing from Big Sis towards me. Idle thoughts blown away along with it; I started dashing back to her. This was bad, I smelt the same enemy from before! None of them were awake when I left, they might all still be sleeping. Hoping that I would make it, I bounded back as fast as I could.

 Chapter 52: A danger from the past

    I woke up finding myself lying sloppily against the tree trunk. Steadying myself, I quickly remembered my last moments before falling asleep. I had been climbing back down the tree when a sudden gust of wind had made me feel incredibly sleepy, so I slept. In fact I still felt sleepy, but I knew now was not the time to keep sleeping. The setting sun meant we had slept most of the day away and we were losing valuable time. Gripping some cloth, I tied it around the lower tree trunk, before hopping off the branch I had been sitting on. Pulling against the cloth, I walked backwards down the tree in a controlled descent.


    Landing feet first onto the ground, I observed the two sprawled figures lying soundly asleep. Maybe I should join them. Their smooth snoring¡­was soothing and¡­ beckoned me to¡­ just¡­ close¡­my¡­ eyes¡­ for¡­ a¡­ second and- no! I had to get a hold of myself. I vigorously pinched my right arm, the pain waking me up. In my semi-lucid state, I realised that something was clearly wrong. But my brain stopped there, pink clouds blocking any further thought. Pink¡­the air seemed strangely pink, but it was hard to see with only the dying sun. My eyes only barely picked up the pink tinge. Maybe I was just too tired that I was seeing things. Maybe this was just a dream, just a bad dream¡­maybe if I went to sleep, I would wake up again, and I would be five. I would be in the small little hut, my parents in the kitchen, my brother playing outside in the garden with Suticat-


    RYAOU! RYAOU! RYAOUUU!!!


    I turned around in time to see Suticat break through the dense thicket, wildly barking at me. I had only just realised that he had been missing, but why was he barking so loudly? And it was even his warning bark, but looking around, I couldn¡¯t see anything threatening¡­Maybe he was just over reacting¡­maybe I should just nap for a bit¡­maybe then I would finally understand him. Deciding on that, I turned around, cradling my sore head; I slowly lowered myself, lying down- ¡°OW!!¡±


    A sharp pain came from my left shoulder. Turning slightly I noticed Suticat biting down on my shoulder. What was he doing?! I prepared to shove him off when the strong stench of blood hit me, as my old wound re-opened. Seeing his crimson maw, I felt angry and tired¡­and sleepy-Why was I not afraid?!


    Suddenly I felt mental clarity again as my senses seemed to reconnect with the world around. My brain overloaded with information rapidly sorted out what was happening. My instincts were warning me of imminent danger, yet I couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. I got up, briskly pushing Suticat off. My sudden jerky movement had caused another burst of blood from my shoulder, dying the pinkish air red- how did my blood stain the air? Unless it wasn¡¯t air¡­but of course, that was why¡­the wind must have been able to blow it along¡­but this was an obvious blunder¡­


    Reaching a conclusion, I approached Shiara and Sarratina. Placing my right hand on top of my injured left shoulder, I then proceeded to remove my blood soaked hand and wipe it on Sarra¡¯s face.


    ¡°Mmmngh-WAHAH?!¡±


    ¡­and then wipe Shiara¡¯s face.


    ¡°Chuuuuu-SNICH. Nnngg-AHHH!?¡±


    RYAOU! RYAOU!


    Suticat approached the two, barking once in each of their faces, before running off towards the river. The two were still dazed and bewildered at their sudden awakening. ¡°Get up and run-Pinch yourself whenever you feel sleepy!¡± Without seeing their response I dashed after Suticat.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡­


    Reaching the riverbank, I finally collapsed onto the ground next to Suticat. Drying my bloody hands on the grass next to me, I then inserted them into the water, rinsing off the rest of the blood. Hopefully that wouldn¡¯t attract the attention of any other monsters nearby. Next, I scooped up the river water, dumping it on top of my head. Drenched, but refreshed, I finally heard panting. Turning around, I spotted Shiara bursting through the bushes followed by an even wearier Sarratina. Seeing them safe, I finally let my guard down, dunking myself head first into the cold stream. Taking a few large mouthfuls to quench my parched throat, I surfaced for a breath of fresh air before returning back into the river. This time, I ran my hands through my short hair in a relaxed manner, untangling some clumps pulling on my scalp. It had been a while since I had last managed my hair, and they had grown slightly longer than I was use to. Perhaps I would cut them again before entering the capital-I was too tired to deal with it now. All I wanted in this moment was to enjoy the brief peace and to stare at the riverbed, but sadly, this would be short-lived.


    ¡°Heeyyyy VIxeeennn, WHHHATTTSS GOINNNNGG ONNNNN?¡±


    Hearing her question echo dully through the water, I decided it was time to surface. Pulling up again, I saw Shiara staring at me with her hands crossed. Meanwhile, Sarratina seemingly having finally got her breath back again, headed past me and started steadily slurping water from the river.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on-¡° ¡°-Wash your face first and drink up. I¡¯ll explain everything when we have all recovered.¡± I sat down next to Suticat and started absentmindedly grooming him whilst observing the surroundings. Pulling out locks of loose fur, I contemplated on my explanation for them.


    ¡°Ahem, so we are done. What do we do now-¡°¡±- Yeah, what was that before?!¡± Seeing the two come over and join me, I got up. And I bowed.


    ¡°Sorry. That was my fault. Not sure if you noticed, but the air was slightly pink before-¡° ¡°-It was? I didn¡¯t-¡± I stared at Shiara till she quietened down before continuing ¡°The pink air was most likely the gas released by Toxic-fireflies. Remember how I theorised that their sleep inducing toxins had become more potent? Well if they had become more potent, than logically the distance in which their toxins can travel should increase¡­¡±


    ¡°So we shouldn¡¯t have stopped and slept right outside the area right?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah.¡±


    ¡°That explains why I was feeling so sleepy¡­but is that related to why you smeared blood on us?¡±


    ¡°Sorry Sarra if that was traumatising-¡° ¡°No, no, no I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡± ¡°But yes, you are correct. My mind cleared up when I smelt blood, so I assumed it may have a similar effect.¡±


    ¡°Right, and rehydrating and wetting yourself works as well.¡±


    ¡°¡­No, at least I¡¯m not sure. I did that mainly for comfort¡­¡±


    Suddenly Shiara got up and moved between us. ¡°Hey, you two are leaving me out of the conversation again!¡±


    ¡°Well unlike you Shiara, the princess is polite and calm when holding a conversation.¡±


    ¡°And unlike you, Vixen is knowledgeable about this region.¡±


    ¡°Humph! You¡¯ll regret it when you need healing!¡± As we shared a laugh while she stomped away, I couldn¡¯t help but add, ¡°Shiara it¡¯s this way!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Ha, ha, haaa, let¡¯s stop for a bit.¡±


    The sun was about to rise and we had been walking all night on an empty stomach, the apples a distant memory. Shiara still seemed relatively fine, but the Sarratina was looking completely ragged and warn out, her rough panting so loud that for a moment I was seriously worried she might attract monsters. Having taken only brief stops since starting, I decided now was a good time to take out the mushrooms to eat.


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s stop here and take a break. I have some food we can share here.¡±


    ¡°Oh, the mushrooms¡­. you did double check that their the female ones right?¡±


    ¡°Yup, so unless you are somehow a boy, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Am I missing something?¡±


    ¡° ¡°JUST EAT!¡± ¡°


    Passing the pouch of edible mushrooms, I did a quick assessment of the surrounding regions. We had been heading north along the eastern side of the chasm with my intention being to return to our original route. After all, that was the least dangerous part. Currently across the chasm was Toxic-firefly territory, so we would have to be wary of the pink gas, but a short break would be fine-


    ¡°Stop! Let¡¯s keep going.¡±


    ¡° ¡°Why?¡± ¡°


    I pointed to our east toward a clump of thick bushes. ¡°There¡¯s a baby Bellower about to wake up for the day.¡±

 Chapter 53: Bout with Baby Bellower

    The bellower was previously curled up, camouflaged as a boulder. I hadn¡¯t noticed it initially, however during my second inspection of the clearing I noticed it hiding behind a tree just outside of the clearing. What appeared to be it¡¯s behind started shaking as its trunk rose into the air in what seemed like a lazy morning stretch.


    Yet it was waking up faster than I expected; it wasn¡¯t even dawn! We must have woken it up and so obviously it would be especially grumpy. Any chance of us being ignored would now be non-existent.


    ¡°Run!¡±


    CHUUUUUUUUU!!!


    Covering my ears to the best of my ability, I dived, sliding painfully along broken branches. As I dropped, a blast of wind flew overhead, the draught lifting me up temporarily. I felt my heart beating rapidly as I looked backwards. Noticing the hole in the middle of some snapping wood, I checked the conditions of the other two. They were both on the ground staring at me anxiously. Although the Bellower was just a baby, the blast it had sent was deafening. Though it was not as physically strong or big as an adult, its blast of air was more than enough to end us, being powerful enough to punch through multiple trees without slowing. *1


    ¡°Spread out! -But make sure you can still see me!¡± I got up and dashed forward again. This time I made sure to add a bit of swerving, bouncing from tree to tree, attempting to stay out of the Bellower¡¯s view. I realised that it was probably hard to follow my figure for the other two, but that would be their own issue.


    CHUUUUUU!


    Pushing off a tree, I forcefully swerved behind another tree as I felt the blast of air whip by me, taking with it a part of the trunk I hid behind. I could feel my heart beating madly, strenuously pumping blood while my legs were itching as if fire ants were crawling all over them. Clearly it was focusing on me, but that was probably for the better. Ridding the random thoughts and regaining my breath, I dashed out again.


    I ran forward, leaping over fallen matter, my lungs burning, head thumping. I glanced back, but immediately regretted it; the Bellower had decided to charge me down, constantly redirecting it¡¯s trunk to point at me. The baby Bellower must have concluded that I was weak prey and adopted a more frontal approach. The good news was that I now had all its attention. The bad news was that I had all the attention. I slipped underneath an incoming branch, keeping as low to the ground as possible now, without slowing down. I would be a smaller target for both the Bellower and incoming branches.


    CHUUUUUU!


    I ducked down before charging through some shrubs. Getting up, I briefly realised I had lost sight of the other two before my brain quickly carted the thought off into a corner. Much more worrisome were the massive tremors coming from behind me and the hot breath I felt breathing down my neck- even though that was clearly impossible and probably just a figment of my imagination, I felt extremely unnerved.


    I swerved around the roots of a tree changing directions. I had unknowingly run towards the chasm, and only realised due to the change in the soil; the normal wet mud had become a harder brittle dirt clod. I glanced back again only to realise that the Bellower had gotten closer. It was barrelling through shrubbery to cut me off. I could already see it¡¯s beady black irises glaring at me. I pushed even harder against my soles, trying to move even faster. Getting cornered against the ravine would be the end of me.


    I felt a thrill of excitement as I realised I would barely make it past. I quickly glanced back again as I was about to pass it, only to have my hopes dashed as it somehow raised it¡¯s trunk while still maintaining it¡¯s speed. The Bellower slowly raised and pointed its trunk directly at me, steadying its aim. I dived.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    CHUUUUUU!


    ¡°Argh-Hcha!¡±


    I involuntarily let out a shout as I felt the spike of pain from my left shoulder. I had dived just in time, performing a roll over my shoulder aggravating my previous injury. The blast of air had barely missed, skimming over my head causing all my short hair to stand. But I had no time to waste, so swallowing my choked shout of pain; I got up as smoothly as possible and continued my dash into even denser jungle.


    Feeling threatened from the close call and focused on not running into trees or tripping over roots, it took me a while to finally realise that the baby Bellower was gone. It wasn¡¯t behind me, and there were no longer any tremors in the ground. It was as if it had vanished into thin air¡­


    Sure that I was no longer followed, I stopped before collapsing onto the ground. As my immediate fear disappeared, my brain started working again and I realised I had lost not only the Bellower, but Shiara and Sarratina as well. Did the Bellower just give up or did it decide to go hunt after Shiara and Sarratina? It didn¡¯t seem to be making any loud noises now, so it was probably not hunting them, but the question was where were they? Should I go back for them? After pondering for a brief period, I finally decided that I would wait here until I had recovered sufficiently. If they still did not arrive by then, then I would climb some trees and see if I could see anything from above.


    ¡­


    Finally done resting, I got up when I suddenly heard rustling. I turned towards the noise, tensing up; even my breathing started to become more chaotic. I felt occasional tremors in the ground.


    Suddenly, bursting from the bush- came a tattered looking Shiara, followed by an equally messy Sarratina.


    A look of relief quickly covered Sarratina. ¡°Thank R? god we found you. Where¡¯s the Bellower?¡±


    ¡°Not sure¡­ One moment it was there, the next, ¡­it was gone. How did you two find me?¡±


    ¡°We-¡° ¡±Dumb luck.¡±


    ¡°...¡± The two entered a furious staring contest until eventually Shiara turned away with a sigh.


    ¡°Fine. Whatever-¡°


    ¡°Is it really that embarrassing?¡±


    ¡°No, but I doubt she will believe me-¡°


    ¡°Hey, can the two of you let me in on what you¡¯re talking about?¡± The two were exchanging knowing glances and looks¡­and I NEVER liked being left out of the loop, you could call it a sore point.


    ¡°It¡¯s really not that bad Shiara. I can tell you, I¡¯ve heard stranger things at home. Anyways, you see Vixen, apparently Shiara can see smell.¡±


    What¡­was that supposed to mean? Shiara and Sarra seemed to be staring at me as if waiting for some kind of response, but I honestly just felt completely baffled. My knowledge was obviously not very best, but I liked to believe I was quite well informed¡­especially towards combat or survival skills.


    ¡°See¡­smell?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Sarra smirked at me, enjoying my response. ¡°You should of seen-¡°


    ¡°Enough Sarra. But basically, since young, whenever I met others, I could see this tiny floaty ball of air around people. Depending on what they thought about me, the colour would change. So for strangers it would be white, almost invisible, but people who find me agreeable turn green, red if they have ill intent, orange if they are concerned, grey if they are undecided and so on.¡±


    ¡°Ok, but how is that seeing smell, isn¡¯t that just a simple form of mind reading-¡°


    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I need to see the air balls, but I call it a smell because of a few reasons. People leave a trail of it like an odour; that¡¯s how we found you. Also I only noticed this on a rainy day, but wind and rain make them hard to read. At first I thought it was a simply a bad day, but then I noticed when I snuck into an inn, I couldn¡¯t see one on the chef, and a few days later, I saw a noble who had really strong perfume. I-¡°


    ¡°So basically you need to be able to both see and smell their natural odour or something like that. Have you always had this¡­ability?¡± This was definitely worth listening to, but I didn¡¯t want to spend too long here.


    ¡°No, I first noticed it around the time where my parents died¡­but¡­well¡­I was honestly quite shocked then and definitely not thinking properly. My memory of it is also a bit foggy, not sure when exactly things happened.¡±


    ¡°¡­I see. So who told you about what the colours meant?¡± Looking over, I realised Sarra had been listening closely as well. I guess, she must have not shared the full extent of her powers before.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to explain it to you Sarratina, but well, I kind of just instinctively did. Most of the colours feel pretty self explanatory right?¡±


    ¡°I guess¡­. ooh, so then what does my smell say about me. And how about Vixen¡¯s smell?¡±


    ¡°Well, they only reflect your relationship to me. At the start, I couldn¡¯t see your smell clearly, but it looked orange before becoming green. Surprisingly you were never a grey and your colour changes have all been very stable. As for Vixen¡­¡± She gulped loudly. Now that¡¯s not nice¡­


    ¡°Hey, hey, Shiara, you can¡¯t just do that and not share Vixen¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°Well, hers has changed a lot. She has one of the unstablest smell I have seen¡­and¡­right now¡­it¡¯s¡­bright¡­red.¡±


    ¡°Ahhahah¡­. ok, no need to glare at her Vixen, let¡¯s just stop here.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± ¡° ¡°AH?¡± ¡°


    ¡°Let¡¯s get a move on.¡± It seems they had misunderstood me; did they really believe that I would be so petty!?


    Just as I started to walk away, I noticed the ground trembling¡­ rather, it must have been faintly trembling the whole time, I had gotten distracted and careless! And the trembling got stronger because it must have gotten closer-


    SHUUUUUU!!!

 Chapter 54: Strength of Foresight

    I grabbed onto the nearest trunk as I felt something pulling me backwards. Rather, it wasn¡¯t just me as random leaves and loose branches started flying past me. I forcefully shifted my head back towards the other two, my brain working to process the current situation, however seeing the two¡¯s faces, everything clicked.


    Resisting the strong tugging sensation, I dug my heels into the ground. I loosened my left hand from the trunk as I tried to reach towards my pouch, before I instantly grabbed the trunk again. The suction was too strong.


    ¡°HEY! YOU TWO! CAN YOU COME OVER AND GRAB ONTO ME?¡±


    ¡°AHH?...CAN¡¯T¡­¡­YOU!¡± I couldn¡¯t hear them clearly, but whatever it was-


    CHUU!!!


    I felt a blast of air hit me as I was suddenly sent forward into the tree, my arms barely cushioning the impact. Stunned, it took me a moment to realise that the ground was rapidly trembling¡­as if something was stomping. My ears were still ringing, but looking back, I spotted the baby Bellower thrashing in pain, bleeding from its right front leg. Noticing a flicker at the edge of my vision, I spotted a foxes tail disappearing into the undergrowth. Thanks Suticat.


    Calming down, the baby Bellower raised its trunk again aiming at us. The injury had been a mere flesh wound, amounting to barely a scratch. Unfazed, I grabbed my pouch, pulling open the drawstrings. Checking that the contents were still inside, I closed it again. I had been hoping to save this pouch for later, but there was no point keeping it if we were to suffer serious injury or even death instead.


    ¡°Hide behind the tree and hold on.¡± The two were panting, but gave tired nods in response.


    SHUUUUUU!!!


    I tossed the pouch at it, the strong suction pulling it into its trunk. Thankfully, it hadn¡¯t shot a blast of air at me; it had deemed us harmless prey, which was why it was mainly sucking us in. It would be hungry right around now, so seeing it was nice enough to not blast us into smithereens I had generously decided to feed it. I watched it carefully making sure it had inhaled the pouch before sighing in relief when a sudden thought crossed my mind- what if it was a mutant and became immune? No, that should be unlikely, I was just overthinking things. Calming down, I carefully positioned myself around the other side of the trunk.


    SHUUMPUU!!!


    A few moments later the leaves around me settled down. Sitting down, I cautiously peered around the tree. The bellower was lying, sprawled on all four limbs; it¡¯s trunk fell powerlessly resting sideways. Its eyes bulged as white foam frothed out of its mouth and trunk. Then starting from the head downward, it¡¯s skin started shrivelling as if all the moisture had been sucked dry from it.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Turning around, I couldn¡¯t see either Shiara or Sarratina¡­surely they were still here¡­


    ¡°We¡¯re good¡­you can come out now¡­¡± Sarra cautiously peeked out from behind a wide tree trunk slightly further back.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°Dead?¡±


    ¡°Can we eat it?¡± I spun around at the new voice, to see Shiara crouching a few steps away. When did she even get there?! Was I getting sloppy? It was probably just because I was distracted. Or maybe¡­she had always been very good at moving quietly and just chose to be noisy?! ¡°Hello?¡± I looked at Shiara, salivating openly and felt the urge to honestly blurt out.


    ¡°How did you get there?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­? I just walked.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What she means is that she got there by simply walking over during the gaps between the attacks. You were probably preoccupied with the Bellower and failed to notice her.¡± Ah, of course, even with my heightened senses it would be impossible to hear her movements above the roars coming from the bellower.  Still, that begs the question¡­


    ¡°So¡­why are you over there?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I thought you were having trouble and was planning to flank the bellower-¡°


    ¡°And do what exactly?¡±


    ¡°Well to help out¡­as the situation demanded¡­anyway, that¡¯s beside the point. More importantly, can we eat it?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but mentally sigh at her food orientated mindset¡­in what world would that look edible.


    ¡°Obviously, it¡¯s not edible because-¡°


    ¡°-You used the gendershrooms didn¡¯t you¡­but I still don¡¯t understand, how did you know it¡¯s gender? Is there some obvious key difference with their species-¡° I glanced towards Sarratina. Her inference was quite accurate¡­I definitely shouldn¡¯t underestimate her attentiveness and intellect in the future.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± Seeing Sarratina frown at me as well as Shiara¡¯s blank look, I explained, ¡°But you are right Sarra, I did use the gendershrooms, and as you have already deduced, I fed it to the Bellower by taking advantage of it trying to suck us in. However, I didn¡¯t know it¡¯s gender so I-¡°


    ¡°FED IT BOTH TYPES! GENIUS!¡± I stared in shock at her outburst. Seeming to pick up on my surprise, she shyly lowered her head in embarrassment. Wow, princesses really were made of different material. She somehow made the whole action seem graceful; though that may just be my bias speaking. I spotted Suticat glancing over from further away, reminding me of our more pressing issue.


    ¡°Yeah. So let¡¯s get away from here first before we start talking.¡±


    ¡°Ok, lead the way.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Ok, we should be in the clear now.¡± I raised my hand signalling for a stop only to hear two tired sighs of joy. I turned around to be met with the two of them lying on the ground, Sarratina already preparing to nod off. Whilst I had been busy leading the way and watching Suticat, I had noticed the two quietly chatting with each other, probably afraid of distracting me or attracting monsters.


    ¡°I understand how Sarra might be tired, but I¡¯m quite surprised you are so tired as well.¡±


    ¡°Pssh, who wouldn¡¯t be tired after being awake for so long, running and walking constantly. Most importantly, we haven¡¯t had the chance to eat tonight! Only a monster like you wouldn¡¯t be tired yet.¡± Honestly though, I was very tired. I had even ended up relying on Suticat for danger cues, only focusing on navigating the right route.


    ¡°What happened to the mushrooms I gave you to eat from before?¡±


    ¡°That was breakfast, and I shared it with the princess.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­Sarra, would you like some food?¡± I looked over towards her, but she happened to be facing away from us, having rolled over at some point during our conversation. An unsettling feeling started to form in me. ¡°Sarra, you ok?¡± I cautiously walked over, Shiara a step behind me. Walking around her to the other side¡­


    ... I saw nothing amiss. Calming down, I realised I had probably just been overthinking things. Reaching out, I felt her rhythmic breath- she had just fallen asleep. The long day must have tremendously tired out Sarra. I looked towards Suticat, before giving up. He was clearly just as tired and in no shape to go foraging.


    ¡°She¡¯s just asleep. Seeing as we are all so tired, I guess we aren¡¯t going to get food or climb up.¡± I passed her a quarter of my remaining mushrooms. ¡°Here¡¯s some food if you want to eat. I¡¯m going to rest now as well and you should too. No need for night watch.¡± Seeing the sun about to set, I sat down next to Sarratina. Stringing the bow methodically, I checked the remaining three arrows, making sure they were all at hand. Pulling out a spare cloak, I covered Sarra and me with It. Suticat immediately squeezed herself next to my head curling up as I felt Shiara do the same near our legs. Clenching the bow one last time, I nodded off with the vague feeling I would need it real soon.

 Intermission 1.4: Night of long Wyverns

    A giant explosion lit up the inn against the night sky. Now a fiery inferno, the inn ruptured into an even more chaotic scene as customers came fleeing out of the burning building. The magical shockwave had shrapnel sent upwards and flying, showering parts of the city in debris. Pieces of timber and wood fell from it as the already crumbling walls formed giant cracks under the heat and pressure. Suddenly, a wall ejected from the building, launching into the nigh air before rapidly dropping, crumbling on impact. This was the final blow needed for this dying building and with the second floor breaking down, the rest of the building rapidly collapsed on top of each other, before the entire building dropped to the ground like a straw house trampled by Bellowers.


    Slightly off the centre of this wreckage lay three people partially trapped under some rubble. Splintered wood stuck up like pikes all around them.


    1*


    Suddenly, the rubble shook and began to slide off as a man emerged from within. His clothing was torn and a dull sheen could be seen underneath his damaged outer garments.


    ¡°Ouchhhhsssss¡­.I¡¯m getting too old to do this.¡± He muttered, as he casted a wary glance at his surroundings whilst rolling his shoulder blades back and forth. ¡°Sophia, you alright?¡±


    ¡°Fine sir, just need a moment.¡± The lady brushed away the soot and dust off her face. Though she had left active service for a while, her skills had clearly not dulled.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ but that is strange, I would of expected the girl to have tried for one last attempt while we were falling or to have disrupted our landing-¡°


    ¡°She¡¯s dead sir. And I smell poison in her breath.¡± Sophia moved her head away after confirming this, withdrawing her blade from the body and began inspecting it.


    ¡°Why is that not a surprise¡­a shame really, though she did serve as a fine cushion-SOPHIA!¡± The shout came as the assassin suddenly stood up again and lunged at Sophia¡¯s unguarded back. Hearing the anguish in the scream, she reflexively swung her blade backwards with practiced smooth movements.


    THUMP!


    A body collapsed motionlessly on the floor, head severed. Flicking the blood away, she sheathed her swords again.


    ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve served as bait long enough. It¡¯s not safe here, we should go back now.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. Liam should be done by now, let¡¯s go.¡± As soldiers and civilians quickly worked hand in hand to put out the flames and secure the area, two shadows quietly snuck away.


    ¡­


    ¡°So, what happened out there?¡±


    Arch Wizard Alex stood sheepishly in front of the King as Sophia stared him down from the side.


    ¡°Apologies Sire, I could no longer support the two of you as an unknown assailant engaged me.¡±


    ¡°And what happened to this enemy?¡±


    Alex reddened in embarrassment, quietly replying. ¡±They got away. I lost them moments after the giant explosion...¡±


    ¡°¡­Anything else that I should know of?¡±


    ¡°Um sir, this might sound like I¡¯m making excuses, but the enemy¡¯s magic felt weird, different¡­almost-¡°


    ¡°-Foreign?¡±


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    ¡°Yeah, exactly! And all their attacks felt creepy¡­ cursed even. Every time I deflected a magic attack; even their fire bolts, I felt slightly numb inside, and um, well, like I was drunk-¡°


    ¡°And I assume you haven¡¯t been drinking on the job-?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! Sophia, why would you say that?!-¡± ¡°-Not like it¡¯s a first.¡± ¡°Hey, c¡¯mon, that was one time. Smell my breath-¡° ¡°It stinks.¡± ¡°How can you even smell it from over-¡°


    ¡°Settle down the two of you. And Sophia, behave yourself, we both know that he only got drunk that time because his son had just been born.¡±


    ¡°Tsk.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the impartial judgment Sire. I would never undertake such an important task casually sir. As you can see, Lady Sophia still holds a grudge just cause I walked in on Captain Lara and her when-¡°


    ¡°ENOUGH! I don¡¯t want to hear another word about that out of you. Though you boast about your precision interpersonal magic being the strongest among the vice-captains, you are clearly not the best around here anymore seeing as you lost someone today. Not to mention you are lacking in many other skills. Enough, if I hear another word about it- I will personally remove you from the candidate list.¡±


    KONK! KONK!


    As everyone quietened down, the door slid open. The man outside quickly marched in before firmly shutting the door behind him, locking the manual bolts.


    ¡°Liam! Does that mean you are done with your end- WAH?!¡± Similar startled faces filled the room as he turned around with a grim pale face.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all sit down first.¡± The King took the lead to sit down as the rest sat around the table.


    ¡°Is it fine for me to be here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine Alex, we are planning to tell the others soon anyways. So¡­?¡±


    ¡°Can I hear about how the meet up went first?¡±


    ¡°Sure. So as we thought, it wasn¡¯t my daughter, but an assassin. Though we went disguised, I think they had their eyes already on us as they put laxatives in my drink; nearly got me killed. They must have known I had a strong resistance against poisons. Well, the assassin was really strong, but we managed to take her down. Building exploded so we fell out of the second floor. Not sure if the assassin faked death or got resurrected, but she nearly killed Sophia as well. And Alex here let some of there supporters get away. That¡¯s about it.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­well guess it¡¯s my turn¡­I¡¯ll start with the good news, we captured both General Mordant¡¯s son and Marquis Raquel. The bad news-¡° ¡°-That¡¯s all the good news?!-¡± ¡°-Quiet Alex!¡± ¡°-There were a lot more of them than we expected, quite a few of them got away and we suffered heavy casualties despite the surprise attack. We have also had to¡­ detain General Mordant as he was obstructing us; it would seem many of his family and followers had been in on it. If we were to execute all the traitors¡­ we would be left with three members of his family and five followers, two of which had unknowingly helped them, though the acts themselves were perfectly sound and legal. Also, we have another traitor who we were unaware about that I just discovered. Vice-captain Malcolm.¡±


    ¡° ¡°MALCOLM!?¡± ¡°


    ¡°-Never liked him. This is why you can¡¯t trust commoners.¡± ¡°-And it¡¯s because of people like you Alex that-¡°


    ¡°-You TWO! QUIET...please continue Liam.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. He didn¡¯t come up in our initial investigation due to him not being in contact with the others. I only realised it due to neither of the other two being responsible for Lara¡¯s death and some clues Raquel inadvertently dropped. All I had to do was ask who would benefit most from her death and Malcolm had plenty of motives- he was always the jealous type.¡±


    ¡°So where is he now?¡±


    ¡°He disappeared shortly before I realised. We must have startled him with our purge and I believe he may have fled the capital already. We individually questioned his subordinates, but they all seem clean.¡±


    ¡°What about the rest of the traitors?¡±


    ¡°Apart from the pawns, we captured most of the upper echelons and some of my trusted subordinates are currently torturing them for information.-¡±


    ¡°-Any other news? Especially about my daughter?¡±


    ¡°There seems to be some conflict in information, but it appears there is some internal discord between the collaborators and that she has escaped and that they have no idea where she is-¡°


    ¡°Great! If she gets back safely, I will definitely dote on her-¡±


    ¡°-Before that, I think you should learn about the worst news. You know how we have been hoping to dispel all those rumours and always thought they were exaggerations¡­well some of them may have been reasonable of even under estimations. This isn¡¯t confirmed yet, but I believe there are at least four countries preparing to go to war against us.¡±


    ¡°FOUR?!¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute, we only border three countries, with the north being ocean, how are we-¡°


    ¡°My liege, apart from being backstabbed by the Four Clover Alliance it would seem the Holy Xeno Empire has also set their eyes on us. We have lost contact with our ambassador over there, but according to his last report; there had been an increase of ships being docked in the harbour. I believe we can expect costal pillaging at the very least.-¡°


    ¡°-But why?! What did we ever do to them! Why didn¡¯t our diplomats do something earlier!? SOMEBODY TELL ME, WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?!!??!¡±


    Everyone looked down, quietly avoiding the King¡¯s eyes. Being King of Fei had never been an easy job. In terms of size, it was a small kingdom. In terms of heritage, it had a comparatively short history. In terms of economy, technology, magic development and even culture, it could be considered behind. It¡¯s nobility could easily trace their heritage right back to their founding fathers who helped the first king found this country. Being the leader of such a small country, the problems faced daily over division of resources and personnel would be tiring to say the least. And now, the alliance built up to face larger countries, both in war and diplomacy, had plans to backstab him. His younger brother a duke, whether voluntarily or otherwise, had started a coup and his own daughter was missing. A blockade had been established around Frankfurt, but all attempts to sneak in had failed and anything short of a siege would fail. The King had been pushed past his limits.


    ¡°¡­Sorry everyone. I guess I¡¯m getting too old to do this as well, huh.¡±


    ¡°¡­Not at all sir.¡± Liam shook his head in denial.


    ¡°We understand your under lot¡¯s of pressure, so please don¡¯t take it out on us.¡± Alex added.


    ¡°What he means is that we are all trying our hardest, so please don¡¯t take the betrayals personally.¡± Sophia glared at Alex for a moment before adding, ¡°And feel VERY FREE to take your anger out on him.¡± 2*


    ¡°Ha hah aha, I guess there are still some perks with you lot around.¡±


    KONK! KONK! KONK!


    ¡°I¡¯ll go see who it is and tell them to you at another time sir.¡± Sophia unlocked the door, poking her head out to ask, before shutting the door again.


    ¡°Sir, I think you should hear this.¡±