《Splitten World》


 Prolog

    It was a cold night in the eastern parts of the calm lands. Lyca, the mother of the wolfs trailed through the woods on the borders to the old lands to walk in the calming light of the moon like she always did on this day of the year. It was the day of the new moon. A day celebrated by her kind in reminiscence of their ancestors.


    While she felt the winds tosle her white fur she felt like she was walking through a dream, a dream filled with memories of her kind.


    One time she saw the birth of a young wolf and heard the weak sounds of it while being tenderly licked clean by the mother wolf.


    Than again she saw two wolfs chase after a deer and felt like she was with them, feeling the blood boiling while chasing the deer over fallen trees and wide grasland anticipating the feeling of satisfaction while buriing her fangs in the flank of the deer which knew its end had come.


    After the hunt was over she kept on walking through the mists of the dream to see an old wolf walk into the woods away from the pack knowing it would die soon to find itself a resting place.


    Dream after dream, life after life. She walked and walked until she reached a little hill on which she laid down and gazed at the moon just like it was typical for her kind.


    While gazing at the moon her vision began to blur what startled her since that never happened before. In all the time that she had carried out the remembrance ritual to perceive and honor her past relatives and friends the ritual usually ended here. But not this time.


    As soon as her vision started to become clear again she found herself in a circle of stones encompassed by floating milky white mist. She wondered where she was and started to walk forward out of the circle.Asshe was about to leave the circle she saw how the mist at her feet started to flow behind her and began to gather and form. She was captivated as she had never seen something like that. She knew magic but her kind of magic was a different one. She used a combination of conjuration and illusion magic to perceive and learn from the past to keep and lead her pack with knowledge and wisdom into a save future. But this was more of an alteration magic. It shaped the mists into something which she was not sure it was.


    "Hello mychild. Fogive my intrusion on your ancestral ritual but it is of outmost importance that I use my last bit of conciousness to talk with you."


    "May I ask who you are? How did I end up here? I do not recognize this part of the forest and the stars seem to be different as well."


    Lyca was not sure but as she was asking those questions she thought she saw the being smile slightly but on second thought it may have been the rolling mists on the beings face that she mistakenly thought to be the smile.


    As she looked at it she was wondering how it could talk. After all it seemed to be nothing more than mists pressed into a form and even that was kind of a mystery to her.


    "My name is Tirawa, Atius Tirawa. You are correct. Currently we are not at the border to the old lands. Actually we are in the deepest, most hidden part of the old lands. I brought you here to ask for your help and I hope you are willing since I have not much time left to find someone else to help me."


    As Lyca heard him ask for her help she started to wonder what she could possibly help him with. But she decided to hear him out since she had learned in her long life that it was never a bad idea to first listen and act accordingly than to rush to a decision based on a fleeting mood.


    "Please, go ahead. I would like to hear what it is that you need my help with."


    "Thank you Lyca."


    As she heard the being say her name she was startled. She had never given the being her name so how come it was aware of it?


    "First I would like to tell you a story of a long forgotten time.


    Once upon a time there was a seed. Just a little seed of a plant. No bigger than your own paw. But theseed was no odinary seed. It had a conciousness. As it woke up it found itself floating in the vast expanse of our universe. Itcast its gaze at all the wonders of the planets that orbited the sun and marveled at their beauty. But soon it saw all there was to see from its point of view so it began to observe itself. First its rough outer appearance and than its inner world. As it viewed itself from the inside it began to feel a peculiar feeling creep through every fibber of its being. A feeling so beautiful that it was completely absorbed in this sensation which came to be known as breath of life.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. This breath of life is nothing else but the magic which surrounds and permeates everyone and everything in this world and universe.


    The seed embraced the magic and started to grow alongside it. It grew and grew and became happier by the day. One day it was so happy that it had the urge to share this feeling. But it had noone to share it with so it started to use its magic to create.


    From the things it had perceived so far the planets were especially entrancing so it decided to become one of their kind. It grew and grew and after some time it achieved its wish. The seed became what is known to us as "Astara" today. The very world that we live on.


    The seed which had become "Astara" started to created plants, trees and living beings with which it could share the beauty of life. The beings of its first creation came to be known as its first children, "The Aspects". Each of them received an aspect to guard and make it a part of there own body and mind. That is the reason why they are called "Aspects".


    The second creation was the "Spriggans". They were created alongside the other normal animals and received the task to protect the areas they were born from. One Spriggan was born of water so he became the guardian of the part of the sea, lake or river that he was born from and they happily oblieged to their task since they would have died if they where seperated from their respective element.


    After them came the Elfs. Devided into two groups, the Albae the darker looking part of the race and the mistelfs, the lighter part. They did not receive a task they had to fullfill but they still made it their duty to protect wildlife as good as they could since Astara created another race.


    The human race. The humans were different from all the other races. They were curious and ambitious like a newborn child with a hunger never to be satisfied. But Astara loved them nonetheless. They were her children after all.


    Over the years the races evolved and matured and started building beautiful cities and for their growing cities they needed more recources. The elfs decided against the craving that began to yearn in their hearts so they could keep on living alongside nature and its inhabitants. But the humans did not. They gave in and left Astaras embrace. They build cities outside of the woods. They dug deep to reach for the precious stones covered by the earth. They destroyed woods and hunted for the lifes of its inhabitants in order to satisfy the need of their growing population. The cities grew and grew and the ages passed by.


    The relationship of elfs and humans became worse and worse. The elfs were disgusted by the greed of the humans and left their side and went to the far east now called the eastern kingdoms of the forest.


    The humans enraged by the attitude of the elfs became more aggressive as time passed by and one conflict chased the next.


    Astara, who saw all the bloodshed cried when she saw her children kill each other. The aspects who saw their mother so sad spoke to the humans and elfs but they would not listen so they left to the deepest parts of the splitten world to look after their mothers heart which began to bleed through the pain that she was oblivious to until now.


    As the aspects left the mortal plain the elements which they were guarding and keeping from runing wild until then were let loose on the mortals. Paradies seethed to exist.


    Over time all the Apects and the origin the races shared were forgotten.


    Until today since you are the first being since thousands of years to perceive these words and to learn from them."

 Chapter 1

    Lyca was silent for a long time while she was trying to stomache everything she had heard from Tirawa.


    "What a story." she murmured. "While I am grateful that you shared this knowledge with me I don''t see the reason for it. I''m already old, too old. I don''t have much longer to live. My time may be enough to impart this story to my descendants but only a few would be able to understand it since not everyone is able to perceive magic and develope their brain to an extent where they could remember the past. We are only a pack of wolfs with not many wishes."


    Tirawa listened to her and decided to answer in a way that she did not expect he would.


    "I understand your point. But child you haven''t even heard what I wish to ask from you and yet you are already thinking that my request demands of you to become Aspects or even Astara herself." He laughed shortly while looking at her in an amused way.


    "My request is fairly simple and yet a challenge by itself. In three years a child will be born on exactly this day. You have been chosen to look after the child and raise it as if it was your own flesh and blood."


    Lyca was surprised. "A child? Well, I certainly did not expect that." Lyca looked at him in an inquiring look and asked: "And from which member of my pack will that child be born?"


    "The child won''t be born from one of your pack. It is a human child. I will guide it to you by means of magic. Afterwards I will not be able to stay awake anylonger so the task to look after the child will all be in your capable hands." He smiled at her, knowing that what he asked of her would by any means be a pleasant task to anyone who was not human. The humans were a race despised by many races for their greed and brutality. Still, the choice had been made and there was no going back anymore. If she wished or not she had no choice in this matter.


    "A human?!!" Lyca looked at Tiwara in a disgruntled manner. She had seen to much bloodshed for the satisfaction of human nature to even give the slightest fuck about them. Hell she wouldn''t have cared if their whole race was eredicated from this land even though she knew that would probably never happen.


    "Why does it have to be me to look after a human? Why can''t the human child be raised under its own kind?"


    *sigh*


    "I know this isn''t an easy request to fullfill but it has to be this way. The reason it has to be raised outside of its own race is simply because it cannot be tainted by the human way of living. At least not until it is fully aware what is happening in this world. The role he will have to play in the future events is not an easy one and you will have to teach him about himself, the past and what is happening at the hands of the humans.


    He shall not be oblivious like the rest of his kind or this world is going to rot faster than you can imagine. The spiral downwards has already started and he is the only stone we can put in its way to stop it at this time.


    We tried to accomplish something by giving the Elfs some help in their war but it ended up in a draw with noone profiting from the bloodshed. So I ask of you Kiksuyapi Lyca, the one who shall never forget, will you help us?"


    Lyca closed her eyes for a few seconds to calm her rushing blood since the mention of the humans in accordance with her ancestral magic was a mix which could bring a beginner in the field of magic into a bloodrush.


    Simply because many of her ancestors were killed by the humans for the sake of their fur or claws or even to the amusement of the nobility and their spirits started to howl like a summer storm once that race was mentioned.


    "Cursed humans!"


    "Leave our descendants alone or we will rise from the Underworld to haunt you all!"


    "You wretched race. What would I give to burry my fangs in your forsaken necks once again!"


    "Kill them child. Kill them all!"


    "We know you want this as well!"


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    "Calm down Lyca, focus on your breath, feel it fill your lungs and leave you."


    After she calmed herself down she started to think deeply into the matter. "If it is of such importance than do I even have a choice?! Yes, I do. But it would be foolish to act on a whim without knowing what may happenin the aftermath. Damn it, that something like this has to happen to me shortly before i could leave this world is really a nuissance."


    "Even if I was ready to comply and help you in this matter, I''m already quite old and it is a fact that I won''t live to see the next summer, so I don''t think I can help you with this. I''m sorry."


    Tirawa looked at her without any surprise written on his face. "Do you know what the meaning of your name is child?"


    Lyca was startled at the sudden change of the topic and answered him truthfully: "Yes, I do. Every leader of the tribes or packs has a name inherited from long ago in the past, passed down to engrave into the leader the task they have to fullfill while wandering these vast lands. Kiksuyapi Lyca: "Remember, Wolf". But what does that have to do with our topic from just now?"


    Tirawa looked into the sky and his eyes grew distant in remembrance. He felt like it was yesterday that he had imparted those names to the tribes, giving them the ability to perceive magic and being able to consult with their ancestors just how it was with the tribe of the Wolfs.


    After some time his eyes grew clearer again. Even though they were surrounded by the moving mist it was still possible to see a little flicker inside of them as if a spark of his life had just returned from a long journey to the


    stars. "Yes, you are correct. Back in the past your ancestors received those names with a responsibility. I was only willing to bestow these names upon your people in return of the promise that they would honor their responsibility


    and guide your people with this power." He looked her straight into the eyes, which let a shiver run down her broad furry neck.


    "You are saying that you were the one who gave my people their powers? But that lies centuries in the past! How is that even possible?!!!" She looked at him with disbeliefing eyes.


    Tirawa smiled at her and said: "Yes, I was the one who bestowed those names upon you. And you have held onto that promise of yours which fills me with pride for your race. You staying true to your promise made me decide that you were the right choice. "


    He looked at her with kind eyes which showed a pride in them like a parent had for their children when they took their first step.


    "What you don''t know though, and that is where the crux of the matter is, is that I have a name as well. My full name is "Atius Tirawa-the grand spirit". I am the last of the Aspects still present on this plain because my task has yet to be


    fullfilled. But once I do I will join my brothers and sister into their sleep to look after our mother until the day this world shall know peace and our great mother awakens again."


    Lyca wasn''t able to close her mouth as her breath started to become rapid which wasn''t such a surprise since she is a wolf but still it indicated her incredulity when she heard that the being that she has been talking to this whole


    time was actually an Apostel, one of the first sons of Astara and a being of unfathomable power and wisdom. *gulp*


    "I am the Aspect that guards the souls of the deceased beings of this plane and guide them back to the breath of Astara to become one with her. Do not worry about the time that you have left on this plain since I will give you enough


    time so you can fullfill your last task as beautifully as you did until now. Remember well child, for it is all that keeps your race from falling into oblivion like the humans did. When your time has come I shall see to your soul so that it may have a safe journey back to our great mother. Until we meet again child, and may Astara protect you."


    Tiwara raised his right hand which began to shine in dark green light as if translucent green flames were dancing on his outstrechted palm. At the same time he swang his left hand in a diagonal manner in the air and open some kind


    of rift in the air which seemed to lead to a dark place. He moved his right hand with the green flaming hand and slit it inside the rift just to pull it out yet again with the light on his right shining brighter than before.


    He moved his hand to Lycas head and laid it ontop of her head. There was no noise only darkness that started to circle Lyca and embraced her until she slit into a warm and welcoming unconcious state.


    Tirawa looked down at her unconcious body after which he waved his left hand again and brought her back to the hill from which she gazed at the moon. He smiled one last time at her than faded into the night off to fullfill his last task.

 Chapter 2

    It was early in the morning when Lyca finally woke up. When her head started to clear she looked through her memories and was beginning to think everything she had seen and heard just to be a dream. In the end she decided to consult her ancestors if what she had seen truly happened.


    She closed her eyes and listened to her breath going in and out. It stream through her nose down her throat entering her lungs, filling them with life than after a circle leaving the way it came. This continued for some time. Slowly she entered a state similar to a trance, starting to feel the life around her, the breath of nature. She synchronized her breath with the breath of nature to take the magic in to channel it into her ancestral conjuration magic.


    As the magic (breath of nature and magic are the same thing) coursed through her body she started to feel the vibration of the breath of nature and weaved her own melody into it to create a song of calling.


    A soft yet yearning melody floated out of her calling to be united with her ancestors in this life or the next one. Slowly voices started to fill the wind that was rustling through the trees calling her name.


    "Lyca, you have called so we answered. How may we help you?"


    Lyca not yet satisfied with the result, since she prefered to see who she was talking to even though she knew that it was one of her ancestors began to weave another melody into the now fading conjuration song. The continuation song was one of multifaceted ambition to make real what wasn''t, a kind of illusion magic. This combination allowed her to see and hear her ancestors.


    After her song ended she saw the voices origins come into being. Illusionary yet corporeal looking wolfs which shimmered in a light blue light pleasant to the eyes stood before her, numbering five heads to count.


    "I thank you for answering my call brothers and sisters. My heart was yearning for proof of an answer I felt to be real yet could not proof it to myself. Did my memories betray me about last night or was what I saw and heard truely real?"


    "What you saw was the truth and along with it comes a task which needs to be fullfilled at all cost. This demands the honor of our noble tribe and the responsiblity given to us by Atius Tirawa, the Aspect that blessed us."


    "So it truely happened. Than do you have advice for me how I should tell my tribe about this? I don''t think everyone will be happy to raise a child of the humans."


    "Do not worry about this. They will listen to you like they always did no matter the cicumstances and it proofed to be the right course. We will stand by your side to give advise and in the worst case take form in order to keep the form and tranquility that we build over the years. You are not alone, do not forget this!"


    As the ancestor finished speaking Lyca heaved a sigh of relieve and released the song of magic which she had held to until now to keep their appearance in a corporeal shape. As she let go the ancestors started to fade into the wind and were gone after a few seconds.


    Lyca having heard her ancestors words braced herself and with a determined light in her eyes set of to tell her pack about what was to come in three years time. Alot of preperations had to be made.


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    <hr>


    two years and 2 months later


    -


    Little village, Rivers Hamlet


    There was a little village, located to the west of the border to the old lands, build near a river. Its name being Rivers Hamlet. It was a tranquil little village. A few houses made of wood in the style of the urban log cabins, a few little gardens with vegtables to supply the villagers with enough food and a well just outside the village as a source for drinkable water.


    The houses were build in a circle around a bigger log cabin which was located in the middle of the village. This mansion belonged to the chief of the village and his wife. His name was Eric Steadfast and his wife Caitlyn.


    He had a rough outer appearance with a beard that was braided into a braid that hand down his chin. His hair was becoming grey and you could see from the look on his face that he had been through some hardships in his life.


    His statur was that of a strong man which worked on the fields all day long so long as he had the time for it, after all he had become the villages chief not too long ago and needed to get used to all the bureaucratic stuff that needed to be done. But the good thing was that his wife Caitlyn supported him whenever and however she could. They were a sweet couple even though they were a few years apart they still loved each other dearly for a few years before they decided to marry a year ago.


    They were happy but there was a thing that bugged him in the nights when he laid by his wife. They hadn''t managed to make a child yet and he started to wonder if it was ever going to happen.


    His wife on the other hand was not bothered by that. With her blue and caring eyes whenever he was down and/or frustrated about the absent pregnancy she would console him and asure him it was only a matter of time until she got pregnant with an heir.


    Caitlyn had always been a caring soul. When she was still a child she regularely brought animals back home which she thought had fallen sick or had hurt themselfs through an accident. But her parents never took her caring nature seriously and thought it to be just a habit of a little child.


    But that did not come to be the case. As she grew up she helped everyone and everywhere she could until one day as she was walking through the nearby plains saw a man that was lying face up on the ground while his shoulder bled and soaked the ground under him. As she saw that man she hurried over to help him but soon realised that she was to weak to carry the unconcious man back to the village so she ran back, got help and when they brought him back to the village continued to stay by his side and carred for him like a mother for her sick child. The man touched by the caring love of the young woman fell in love with her and soon they came to be known as fates-couple. Why that name? Well, the villagers simply took it as a sign of fate for the two to meet out in the wild and they would come to be right. But not in a way that anyone would expect them to.

 Chapter 3

    It was a cloudy day so far and the sky seemed to forecast heavy rain for the later half of the day. But in the little village River Hamlet noone really seemed to mind since rain was pretty normal for this time of the year. The Village was bustling with activity, children running around chasing each other while the mothers tried to bring some order into mess which ended up to be a futile endevor and instead encouraged the children to be even louder while chasing each other or one of the domisticated dogs in the village.


    The men on the other hand were working out on the fields rushing to bring out the crop before the end of the day and the failing rain to not let all the hard work be for naught.


    In the middle of the village at the entrance to the big mansion Caitlyn was seeing her husband off who wanted to try and help the few men out on the fields so to make sure everything went as it should without one having to do all the work all over again.


    Eric was a good man with a gentle and friendly soul but Caitlyn knew that his rushing to the fields was not only to help the farmers but to escape the work that was piling in his office and needed to be done. But she couldn''t blame him since it truly was a boring job to be done and his caring nature is what she loved about him so much. No matter his own mood, as soon as someone needed a helping hand he was there and supported as much as he could with every fibber of his being.


    "Don''t forget to come home earlier today. I''m sure it''s going to be a real downpour later the day." Cait told him with a worried face.


    "Hah, you worry too much woman. What can a bit of water falling on my head do to me? I''m not made of sugar, you know?" He said while grinning at his beautiful wife.


    "Oh, and Cait could you stop by the bakery later? I heard the ol'' man Harry has created another one of his sugar-coated little treasures. Maybe he''ll be willing to part with like ten or so in exchange for some of my selfmade booze. I know he goes crazy for that stuff, bwahahahaha" Eric said with a mischievous grin before bursting into one of his heartly laughs that thundered over the plaza in the middle of the village and made some of the villagers turn their heads in wonder what got the chief so riled up.


    "Okay, I will see what I can do. You take care of yourself please and leave the matters here to me."


    Cait said to him while grinning from ear to ear like she always had to whenever he laughed like that.


    "Ye, will do. Love you hun''." He gave her a quick kiss then turned around a walked along the streets in the direction of the fields.


    "Love you too dear." Cait said than turned around and entered the house to get some cleaning done. After she accomplished her endevor she walked out of the house to visit the market to by some fish and meat and visit the bakery as Eric had requested of her.


    As soon as she entered the bakery she was drowned in the smell of fresh bread and caramel which she thought smelled so good that she could taste it in the air.


    "Ohh, misses Steadfast, what brings you into my humble bakery?" Harry, the stout baker asked of her while smiling with a knowing smile. Whenever he created his speciality Eric was the first to know and send Cait over to grab as many of them as possible.


    "I would like some bread please and my husband asked me to deliever this alcohol to you in the hopes that you would be willing to exchange them for a few of your specialities." She said smilingly.


    As soon as Harry heard the word alcohol which was clearly the good stuff Eric made himself he had to swallow his saliva down in order to hide his anticipation.


    "Yes, Yes, of course. Do we exchange 10 again like the last few times?" he asked Caitlyn while being unable to keep his voice uncarring.


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    "Yes, lets do it like that. 10 in exchange for one bottle." As she finished her sentence Harry had already started to pack the specialities into a piece of paper and put it before Caitlyn with an impatient grin on his face.


    Cait gave him the bottle and put the specialities into her brought basket alongside all the food she had brought so far. When she left the bakery the sky had started to darken and a slight drizzel had started falling on her head. She hurried home put her groceries down and went out again to visit the well outside of the village to replenish the dwindling water reserves of her home. As she went out the door she ran into Eric who was completely exhausted from the hard work on the field.


    "Oh, you''re back. Go in and make yourself comfortable. I''ve brought back your specialities. Help yourself to them. I need to go to the fountain real quick. I''ll be back in 10-15 minutes. I''ll prepare dinner than." Cait said to him while walking past him as he collapsed more or less on the comfortable couch in the living room near the entrance.


    As she went out she knew she had to hurry since the rain got stronger and stronger.


    On her way to the well she thought she heard some crying but because the rain had gotten quite strong already she thought to imagine things. As she reached the well she heard it yet again but this time it was louder than before. As she turned her head to look into the direction of the village she heard it yet again. This time she was certain that something was happening in the village and she began to run towards her home, worriing for her loved ones.


    <hr>


    -in the village


    "Commander, this is the reported village. What are your orders sir?"


    The commander, a thin man with a face shaped like a rat and a head that was filled with dark hair took an arrogant glance around down from his huge brown horse while sulking in the disgust he felt for such a backwater village that had none of the elegance of the major cities that he resided in.


    As he was thinking how to precede now he turned his head slightly to look in the direction of a middle aged man in his mid 40th that had already grey hair and was wearing a wide dark blue robe indicating of his position as a mage working under the king.


    As the mage registered the questioning gaze of the commander he said leisurely: "We will have to stay here for quite some time and a leak of information is not an option. Capture the women for the mans pleasure while we stay here. Kill all the men!" his gaze turning hard and unforgiving of any mistakes.


    "Yes sir!"


    "Yes sir!"


    "As you command sir!"


    The soldiers surrounding the mage shouted in unison and took off in a formation of five men each to carry out the order given to them by their supperior.


    As the soldiers started to clean the village of men and capture the women some men started to defend their families and loved ones but soon realised that they were powerless. This was not a fight, it was a slaughter.


    Anguished wails filled the village as men were killed and women raped before their childrens eyes who cried in fear for their parents and siblings.


    As Harry realised what was going on outside he pulled some of the fleeing villagers into his store and knocked a chasing soldier out with a poker which he had picked up as a means to defend himself. But the soldier was not alone and as soon as his companions realised that someone had knocked their comrade out they surrounded Harry in order to strike him down. One of them attacked Harry with an overhead swing from the front which he managed to block somehow, but in the meantime one of the others sneaked up behind him and impaled his heart without any resistence. Harry collapsed and in his last moments he saw the horrific things the soldiers did to his loved ones and the ones he wanted to protect. Than it become dark around him.

 Chapter 4

    Just at the moment when Eric had gathered enough energy to stand up and take a bath a high pitched scream entered his ears and woke him up from his dazed state which he was in since he came back from his work on the field. He walked over to the door wondering what was happening on the outside when the door caved in and crashed right into his Erics face. The force of the impact threw him back with such force that he landed on his back and knocked his head on the hard floor.


    *ughh* "what the fuck was that?" Eric groaned while he tried to get some focus back into his vision. Everything seemed to swim and a veil of fog surrounded everything.


    Just as he was gaining back a part of his vision something else hit him in the stomache and nearly made him vomit in pain as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes became clearer and clearer by the minute but now he had the issue of not being able to breath properly. It felt like an amboss was placed on his chest. He tried to move back by robbing over the ground but couldn''t get very far as someone grabed him by his shoulders and pulled him up into a standing position. Now he was finally able to see eye to eye with his attacker.


    He was startled to find out that it was a group of soldiers accompanied by a man in a dark blue robe.


    By the looks on their faces he new that they viewed him as something worseless, like a bug they could squeeze beneath their feet anytime they wished.


    "Are you the chief of this "village"?" the question come from a man with a rat face who spit out the word village as if he was talking about a piece of crap or something similarly disgusting which he would under normal circumstances not even take knowledge of.


    "Y-Yes sir." *cough* Eric said under difficulty while still trying to breath properly.


    "May I ask how I can help you?" He tried to build some bridges with humbling himself so that the damage done could be kept at a minimum even though he felt his inner self cry at the man in front of him with the rudest insults he could come up with.


    "We are looking for something and we know it is here so there is no point in lieing to us. Believe me, I will recognise a lie when I see it so you should answer me truthfully.


    Eric kept his mouth shut waiting for the inquisition of the rat-man, how he started to call him in his mind.


    "The mages in the academy perceived a high amount of magic coming from this place and they mused that it had to be a nexus, a point where the magic is especially strong, so we came here to find that supposedly existing nexus before the othercities could try to do something that we don''t want to happen. So tell me "chief", do you know anything about a nexus?"


    The rat-man stared Eric in the eyes to take note of every possible change therein. Secondly he put is left hands middle and indexfinger on Erics Carotid artery to check for a rise in his puls while keeping up the staring in his eyes.


    As he was doing this Eric finally had some time to muster his inquisitor a little. To his surprise he saw that his pupils had a violet glimmer inside of them. As soon as he saw that he looked at the other people surrounding him and saw the same phenomenon inside of each persons eyes but it seemed they were oblivious to this fact.


    "Hey, don''t space of and answer the fucking question!" hissed the rat-man through clenched teeth obviously trying to restrain his growing impatients.


    Eric snapped back to him and said: "Honestly i don''t know anything about such a Nexus. I don''t know how magic works, I''m just a simple farmer besides my position as chief. How could I possibly know something like that."


    "And even if I did i wouldn''t tell you you scumbag of a capt''n." He added in his mind just to calm his inner raging self down.


    A few seconds passed and the capt''n kept on staring into his eyes. "*tchhh* what a waste of time. Men dispose of him and then get back to work!"


    "Yes sir!" They answer yet again in unison.


    "Wait, what? You can''t do this to us. We are legimated citizens of this country. Who the fuck do you think you are?"


    While yelling Eric started to run rampage in a desperate struggle to defend his life. Meanwhile the capt''n and the mage decided to just leave him there and leave the house to look for the nexus he guessed.


    Eric managed to free one of his hands from the grip of one of the guards and used the momentum of his free arm to place a swinger right inside the face of the guard on his other side who still held his second arm tightly.


    The force of his swinger swept the soldier of his feet and threw him on his back. Eric, now free took the chance to attack the guard of hand number one but that one was prepared by the time he arrived and they started to wrestle for supperiority. But no matter how strong Eric was he was still nothing more than a farmer. one of the other three guards pulled out his sword and attacked him from behind while Eric was occupied with wrestling guard number one.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    A sharp pain slit down Erics back which he realised originated from a long diagonal cut on his back placed from his right shoulder to his left hip. Knowing that he had to do something he tried to move the guard he wrestled with between himself and the guard with the sword but by the time he managed to do so he was surrounded by the rest of the guards all coming for him with pulled out weapons.


    One sword cut his tendons on the back of his knee making it impossible to move. Another one cut his over his broad chest making blood flow down his stomache painting his clothes and the ground red.


    He fell on his knees unable to stand up and fight any longer.


    "Fuck, I hope Cait could escape this disaster. Hopefully she didn''t run back here when she heard the noises. But knowing her she probably had to help." He smiled a sad smile knowing that this were his last moments of life and he regretted not being able to spend more time with his beloved wife which had become the whole purpose of his being.


    Just as he was closing his eyes in preperation of death he heard loud steps rushing up the veranda of their house runing right into the capt''n and the mage that were on the way out.


    Eric looked up and dicovered in horror that his wife, the love of his life came rushing in trying to reach him.


    But just as he wanted to yell at her to run away as fast as possible a sharp pain errupted in his chest. He looked down only to discover that a sword had pierced his chest in the middle penetrating his heart.


    The last thing he perceived before darkness surrounded him was a sharp anguished scream coming from his wife Caitlyn, than darkness came and took him away.


    <hr>


    Caitlyn was rushing through the rain that wiped her in the face and cascaded down her black her which stook to her head and back like a second piece of tight clothes.


    While running she thought of all the bad things that could possibly have happened one worse than the other and she had to muster up all her strength not to start crying in painful anticipation of what she would find in her village.


    Soon she had reached the village and what she saw was worse than everything she could possibly have imagined.


    Dead bodies strewn across the streets while screams of pain and fear of some women echoed from inside some houses which were clear indicators of the horrors that took place inside the houses.


    She kept on sprinting as fast as she could with her trembling legs that nearly gave in in fear for her husband.


    As she reached her house she saw the door being busted and rushed up the veranda just to run into two men who were as startled as she was. She tried to ignore and rush past them but one of the man grabed her by the arm and pulled her closer. She managed to free herself and kept on stumbling forwards past the men.


    Then she saw him, her husband Eric. Kneeling and bleeding from several cuts and bruises all over his body.


    Just as she wanted to run over to help him to her horrify a sword came from the guard in his back and pierced straight through his chest.


    Cait felt like someone pierced her own heart as she saw her husband die in front of her.


    An anguished scream slipped out of her throat filled with all the pain she felt at the moment just to be drowned in her sobbing cries as tears streamed down her face.


    The love of her life, gone. It felt like the pain would never leave her and suffocated her to a point where she felt the warmth of the fainting rushing over.


    But just as she was about to faint a hand grabbed her by the neck and mustered her from top to bottom.


    The man that had kept her from entering from before held her tightly and she could feel his arousel press against her body which he was lusting for indicated by the violet shimmer in his eyes.


    She felt disgusted just thinking about this man being inside of her and tried to free herself only to be held tightly by two other guards who turned around and pressed her hands against the wall so that her back faced the rat faced man.


    She struggled and tried to move with all her strength but could not move.


    At some point she realized she had no power left to resist and could only endure.


    She heard the rat faced man nestle with his pants and felt her skirt being lifted and her chest being ripped open.


    As she felt him thrust into her she finally felt the warmth of the faint surround her and drifted away into a safe space where she was left alone and could find peace of mind to mourn for the love of her life that had left her.

 Chapter 5

    In a dark and damp room


    A few weeks after the horrific raid of the the small village River Hamlet Cait woke up in a small room. It was cramped inside as it was filled with all the captivated women from the village. Day after day night after night the women were used like toys to entertain the soldiers an make their stay less uncomfortable.


    They lived the lifes of slaves having lost track of time as it felt a never ending nightmare they were unable to wake up from.


    Cait on the other hand was kept away from the rest of the soldiers to serve as entertainment for the rat-man and the mage but could nonetheless feel the burning desire in the soldiers eyes whenever she made her way to the capt''ns room.


    Normally the two men would take her and then toss her aside when they quenched their desire.


    Today was no different day. They had used her and tossed her aside where she would roll up into an embryonic position and try to find comfort in her sleep hoping to forget the feeling of pain and despair.


    While she was trying to fall asleep she heard the heated discussion of the capt''n and the mage.


    "Why the fuck are we unable to find the Nexus? It should have been a piece of cake to find it since the magical signature was so strong and we know that we are at the right place for sure. So where is it?!!!" the capt''n spoke with an enraged voice while clenching his teeth together as an expression of his fury.


    "I don''t understand this either. I will send an a raven to the academy to discuss with them our further approach and check if they have any theories which explain why we are unable to locate the Nexus." The mage said with a froan.


    He truly couldn''t understand this. This was not his first time locating a Nexus so his failed attempt to find it enraged him just as much as it did the capt''n who felt uncomfortable in this backwater village.


    "Yes, do that. And tell those mages to hurry the fuck up. I know just too well that they forget the time when they brush through their tomes or do whatever you do down there in the halls of your Necropolis."


    Cait was brought back to the "cage" as the women called the room and fell into a numbing, dreamless sleep.


    <hr>


    As Cait was still indulding in her soothing dreams she was forced to wake up as she felt vomit rise in her throat. She rushed to the toilet and threw up. She never had to vomit in the morning before so she instinctively knew what this meant for her. She was pregnant.


    Over the last few weeks she had seen a few women become pregnant and saw the tears fall down their cheaks. Now she was one of them and didn''t really know how to handle this situation. In the past she had tried to get pregnant from her husband but failed and now she got pregnant from one of her rapists.


    Walking back to her provisional bed she lied down and started to sort out her feelings for her soon to be child.


    <hr>


    Over the past few months Caits pregnancy had become more obvious to the eye as her belly grew bigger and bigger.


    But the treatment she had received from the capt''n and the mage before her pregnancy didn''t diminish the least bit as if they didn''t give a damn about the tiny life that took shape inside of her to begin with.


    One day after they were done with her yet again, she heard them talk about the Nexus once more.


    "I''ve received another raven from the academy. After I''ve told them about all the methods we tried to locate the Nexus and still failed they said that we should wait for the coming new moon since the magic would increase on that day naturally. Should we still fail then we are to come back to the capital to not waste any more time." the mage said to the capt''n while sipping some wine out of a silver cup and leaning back in his chair, still marveling about the woman he just had. Strangely he never got tired of her before by slowly did. As if she was enchanted to enhance his instincts for reproduction or something like that and now that she had become pregnant it was just gone.


    What the mage didn''t realise or more accurately couldn''t realise was the slowly fading violet light which would have diminished fully by the time the new moon arrive. If he had he may have realised that he was subjected to a summoning ritual to get a certain woman pregnant. All the clues were given but he still failed to recognise it as if he was looking through a veil of mist clouding his perceiption.


    <hr>


    Soon the new moon arrived and on this fateful day it just so happened that Caitlyns veins started and she gave birth to a boy.


    Even though she new the boy was the child of one of her rapists she still loved him nonetheless. Now that she had become a mother and her son was lieing in her arms sleeping peacefully she reverted back to her past self. Her caring soul which had been suppressed by all the suffering she had to go through in the past months had regained its former light to illuminate the darkness that clouded this place.


    A few hours later on the evening of the new moon a group of soldiers entered "the cage". As they looked around with gloomy eyes telling stories of their ill intentions the soldier at the front spoke with a rasp voice: "My apologies ladies but those are the capt''ns orders!"


    Sounds of metal scraping against metal sounded as one soldier after the other drew their sounds and started walking towards the women who realised what was about to happen and began stumble backwards away from their impending doom.


    Cait pressed herself into a corner on the far left the furthest away from the soldiers. With the eyes of a tigress wanting to protect her new born child she tried to think of a way to escape this predicament. As she saw the soldiers rush up to the women who screamed and pleaded for merci she saw her chance and made her way to the door in the back of the soldiers pressing herself against the wall and holding her son tightly.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itEvery step hurt since it was just a few hours ago that she had given birth and was thus greatly weakened but nonetheless she clenched her teeth and endured the pain.


    Just as she was about to pass through the door she saw one of the soldiers who just had struck down a woman in front of him turn around and make eyecontact with her. Not hesitating any longer she sprinted out of the door only to hear the soldier scream that one of the hostages had escaped.


    "After her, come on guys. If the capt''n hears that we let one escape then we are bound to get one hell of a punishment. So move your asses and follow me!!!" the soldier yelled at his companions who winzed at the thought of the punishment.


    Who would want to go through this rough treatment for nothing more than a damn sex slave!?


    Cait sprinted to the village entrance holding her son tightly to her chest while her heart was hammering in her chest as if trying to burst out and run away as fast as possible.


    She kept on runing and runing ignoring the stinging pain in her chest but still feeling the breath of her predators in her neck. She accelerated yet again only to trip and nearly fall to the ground. She caught herself and kept on running. Just away from here!


    She heard the soldiers screaming in her back: "Stop right there you fucking slut!" but she ignored the cursing and yelling and just kept on running. The trees became mere silhouttes in the night seeming to guide her in a certain direction even though she knew that was not possible.


    After around 15 minutes she reached the river the village was build at. She knew it was impossible to cross it for her so she looked around to look for a way to make the impossible possible. As she looked around she saw a wooden trunk lieing there with a hole in the middle. As she looked at the naturally build basket a crazy idea started to take shape in her mind. She grabed the trunk and dragged it over hoping that she was doing the right thing.


    She kneeled down near the river with the trunk placed in front of her. She looked down at her child that was sleeping peacefully in her arms reluctant to part with him and yet knowing that it was the only way for him to survive.


    She gave him a gentle kiss on his tiny head while tears started to fall down her cheaks knowing she would never see him grow into a young man and maybe have a family on his own one day. The pain she felt when she had to leave him alone in this big and unforgiving world was nearly unbearable for her as she careully placed him into the wooden trunk.


    One last look and she pushed him out onto the river while trying to suppress the cry that was about to leave her lips to not wake him up and let him be discovered.


    She watched the trunk slowly glide down the river while hearing swords being drawn in her back but she ignored them. All she saw was the trunk carying her son to safety.


    She felt a sharp pain on her throat and as she looked down she saw her blood flow down her neck. Struggling to breath she collapsed onto her side while still keeping her eyes on the horizon where her son had disappered to.


    In her last moments she heard a calm and soothing voice whispering into her ear saying: "Do not worry for your son for he will be taken good care of."


    Somehow she knew that she could trust the words the voice spoke to her and with a smile on her face she closed her eyes drifted into the mists joining her husband to watch over her son from the next world.


    <hr>


    The child gilded down the river in the wooden trunk accompanied by the soothing sounds of the wind playing with the nearby leafs fallen down from the trees and the gurgling of the water down below. The child now awake looked around with wide eyes taking in all the wonders and the beauty that surrounded his little ship. Giggling it felt the wind touch his face and felt the cool sensation on his skin that seemed to play with him. Relocating his vision it looked up at the stars to see the shimmering firmament enlighten his way and surrounding drowning it in a gentle white light.


    After satisfying its hunger of looking at the stars the child turned its head slightly to the side in the direction of a tiny hill.


    <hr>


    The new moon was here and the ancestral ritual had led Lyca through the wild forests of the old lands once again until she reached the hill where she was told to wait for the boy she was going to raise in the future.


    She gazed at the moon and the stars taking in the gentle soozing light and observed the vast plains of the border region looking for any signs of a little human child.


    Just as she was about to take a walk to look through the surrounding to not overlook the child she cast her eyes on the river to her left and caught sight of a tiny wooden trunk that was gliding above the river. She focused her gaze on the trunk and discovered a pair of light blue eyes staring at her in amazement.


    She truly was not used to the shape of the humans and had a dislike for their race just like the rest of her pack but this human child looked so innocent and untainted of the worlds dirt that she couldn''t avert her eyes. After a few seconds she caught herself again and started to walk down the hill. She walked into the river and used her nose to guide the trunk to the shore which seemed to amuse the little human since it started to giggle. A little hand grabed at her nose and curiously ruffled her fur only to giggle once more.


    Lyca being amused and starting to like this little human boy pushed his little trunk onto the shore and grabed the linen clothes the child was wrapped into with her mouth carefully not to hurt her little protegee and carried it off and disappearing into the forests of the old lands.

 Chapter 6

    The calm lands capital- Rhadon- the shining city


    The royal palace


    King Charles II. leader of the house Carapax sat inside his study surrounded bookshelfs which seemed to have grown tired of carrying all the knowledge of the calm lands on their shoulders but still unwilling to break under the weight of their fate, just like the one who owned those books and was leaning back in his chair while stroking his grey beard that contained a few red sprinkles of his beloved wine which he treasured most in this world. He looked down at the empty golden chalice in his hand with a frown on his old face wondering if there was a way to keep the chalice full at all times so he didn''t have to run down to his wine cellar again and again. But were he to ask that question he knew that the Archmage who sat in the chair on his opposite wouldn''t even waste a single thought on his question while still keeper that fake smile plastered over his white face deeming that proposal to be beyond his position to fullfill.


    "It really is a pain in the ass to deal with these arrogant mages thinking they are almighty and everlasting. How can it be beneath them to cast some kind of simple spell to answer my call when they should be honored to be asked a simple question by change. How could it possibly be unhonorable to serve your king for mothers love?!"


    King Charles started to grumble into his beard when he finished with his thought somehow seeming to be displeased with his empty chalice.


    He looked up and started to muster the man opposite him who wore a wide red robe and pointed red shoes and same as the king stroked his beard that was even longer than King Charles beard and had reached a considerable length reaching his solar plexus with a little hairband ending in a small bell which sounded with every swaying step the old man took. If an outsider were to look at this bizarre scene he may wonder if they tride to lengthen their beards by stroking them in order to contest who could make them grow longer.


    "So Eredur, what did you wanted to talk to me about?" Charles asked the Archmage who seemed to awake from a trance at the calling of the king opening his mouth with a pleasing smile to answer the kings question.


    "Your majesty, I beg to pardon this sudden intrusion on your excellency but the matter I wish to discuss is of outmost importance and may very well affect the future of our kingdom which is exactly why I did not dare to decide this matter only with my fellow Archmages." As Eredur finished is short speech the kings frown started to grow even more distinct as he thought: "Since when does your order of the oh so high and mighty mages care for us mere mortals? Well, might as well keep on listening..."


    "And what exactly is this important matter all about?" He asked while keeping his sharp eyes locked on Eredur to keep even the slightest lie from escaping his proficient eyes.


    The Archmage shifted slightly under the eagle eyes of King Charles as he seemingly could never get used to those all observent eyes of his.


    "We, the order of the savant, have conducted many experiments over the years to research the most miniscule structure of magic by noting and observing the Nexus that are popping up all over the land without a scheme they follow so it was hard to find them in time. Anyway, we conducted this research in the hopes to find out how magic is put together and understand its components. But we did not only research for the sake of gathering and accumulating more knowledge about magic to deepen our control. No. We started our research with the agenda to do something which had never be done in the whole of history as far as we know. We tried to understand the parts of magic and change it so we could completely absord and create everything we wished to our hearts content. You could say we tried to recreate Genesis.


    Over the years we reached a point where our knowledge could not be deepened any further with practical research meaning someone had to actually try and absorb magic and change it by his will alone."


    King Charles listened attentively but at some point couldn''t completely follow the Archmage anymore since his knowledge over magic was kind of limited.


    "Wait, wait, wait. I can''t follow you through with your thoughts. How does magic being confined in a person is something knew? I thought that''s what being a magician is all about." He said with a bit of ennoyance in his voice having to expose his lack of knowledge to the Archmage.


    "Forgive this old man your majesty, I got to excited about this topic and forgot that you are not a mage yourself." In his mind gloating for the old man opposite him who thought to be wise and all knowing yet knowing nothing at all.


    "Maybe it would be wise to explain the concept of magic from the beginning so you can fully grasp our goal and make a decision accordingly."


    "Yes, that would be good. If you may enlighten me then." the king said with a bit of ennoyence in his voice suppressing the urge to call for his guards and let this old dodderer have thrown out of his office if only to heal his wounded pride of having lost this contest of knowledge.


    Clearing his throat Eredur took a sipp of wine from the chalice in front of him which he hadn''t even touched once yet seemingly preparing himself for a long speech.


    "As your majesty may know, magic is a force which surrounds all things. A stone, a wall made of wood, bread, water and even the air. It is all encompassing, yet why that is so no human knows. Even the Elfs seem to have no knowledge of it.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.When you become a magician your first task is to clear your mind so you may commence with the second task to feel the magic within yourself. It is a melody which is unique to only yourself and differs from person to person. It is comprised of your character, your nature and affinity. Many people though confuse affinity with talent when looked at a certain element or school of magic but that is utter rubbish if I may say so. Affinity only means that you like a certain element more than the others which goes in accordance with your character and human nature and may help you to comprehend it faster when learning magic for the first time but after you are studying magic for some years you will come to like the other elements just as much as you may have liked your first one.


    But I have lost track of my original theme.


    After you have comprehended the melody within yourself you begin to observe your surroundings and start to feel the magic within them as well. Here again a melody can be found, unique to every thing. After you have perceived those melodies for some time you have to try and merge your own melody and the melody of a fire for example to create a song. In the process of merging you serve as a medium through which the magic/song of the fire flows and merges with your own. Now if you add a certain intention or emotion into the song and change it you reach the point where the song is categorised into the schools of magic. If you have ill intentions of harming someone or something the song falls under the category of the destruction magic. If you only which to use the song of the fire to use it for forging a weapon for example than there will be no ill intention and it falls under the category of transformation magic. There are of course other schools of magic but I don''t think they are needed in this example or would you like me to continue?"


    Eredur took a sipp of the wine which he found to be fantastic and took a second one not wanting to wasted the fine drink.


    The king had a pondering expression on his face while thinking about the Archmages words. Seeming to have woken up from his pondering state he looked at the Archmage and said: "No thank you, I think this should suffice."


    "So, what me and my collegues have tried to achieve is to overcome the state of being a mere medium and increasing the intensity of our own song by fully absorbing the magic of our surroundings and change it into our own magic while erasing the natures mark on it. Sadly, as we first tried our first experiment on a living being the mans own song got somehow changed so drastically as he was trying to change the song of the object he was trying to merge with his own magic that he died on the spot, simply because he was had changed his own basic structure that his body couldn''t sustain the energy level needed to do so and shut his system down." Eredur sighed, a little too obvious of his disappointment.


    "Afterwards we started to think differently and chose another approach on the matter to not endanger ourselfs. We thought that if a human being can''t stand the change to the human body why not simply let an object take our place?


    So we speculated what would be needed to accomplish our goal but have yet to find an answer to this question.


    Furthermore we thought it may be a good idea to inform your majesty of our plans since if we were to be successful than it may become quite possible that every human, mage or not could use the power of a mage one day."


    The kings eyes widened as he went over the possibilities this opened to mankind and couldn''t keep himself from thinking about the wretched Elfs. What would happen if they were to be confronted with such a massive power of magic? Simple, they would be utterly eredicated from this world and humankind could finally reign suppreme over the lands.


    King Charles looked over his desk at the Archmage with a chilling glimmer in his eyes indicative of his greed for this power Eredur was talking of. "You have my full support on this matter Eredur. How long will it take for you to finish the first prototype? Of course only if we assume that you are able to find a way to catalyse and save the magic first to use as fuel."


    "A few years from now should suffice your majesty. At the very least two and for the max four if I''m not completely wrong in my thinking." Eredur theorised as he stroked his beard again with a thoughtfull expression.


    "Than get to work already, we have no time to loose. Send a message if you need further financial assistence or what ever may be necessary." Charles said with a pressing tone making sure the Archmage had understood how urgently he wanted those machines.


    "As you wish your majesty. We shall start immediately upon my return to the necropolis."


    Eredur stood up, bowed lightly in the kings direction and left the kings office.


    As Eredur left his office the king still sat silently in his chair unable to contain the savage anticipation of crushing those Elfs beneath his feet once and for all glimmering in his eyes.


    He started to sort out the paperrolls on his desk and was beginning to think about the preparations needed to be made in order to assemble the royal army and to gather war supplies for the upcoming stormy days.


    War was brewing and Charles couldn''t stop himself from looking forward to the days to come.

 Chapter 7

    Rhadon- the shining city


    Royal palace


    In one of the many floors on the upper levels of the palace which were flooded with a dim orange light from the lamps trying to illuminate the carpets on the floors and beautiful paintings on the walls as if to say: "come, you can still spectate the beauty of the palace even at night time.", a nearly untracable shadow was hiding from the view of the lights pressed to a wall. He did not make a single sound or move in the slightest way like he had done so many times already that he had stopped caring at some point for his bodys yearning for movement. His name was forgotten over the years, only called "the herold" by those who knew him and he felt proud of the name since it showed the trust and position he received from his mistress. He devoted his entire being and energy to the "grains of dust" as the organisation he was a subleader in was called and feared by those who knew what they did and specialized in. He had never failed at a mission and he had sworn to himself to keep it at that for his sense of honor demanded it of him.


    As he was standing there and waiting, his target appeared in his vision slowly walking down the lightly dim corridor with his long grey beard, face filled with wrinkles, wrapped in his red robes and a slight smile on his face like he always had when he was around all the bootlickers inside the royal palace to not let anyone sneak a glimps at his thoughts and intentions.


    As Eredur was passing through the shady corridor, still happy about his successful mission to convince the king to support the agenda of the order he heard a soft whisper from a nearby position interrupting his train of thought of his highly deserving reward that he was yearning for in his head. "Ohh, my dear bathtub, how I want to drown myself in your soft and warm embrace to fill my old bones with life again..."


    "Success or failure?", the voice whispered in a nearly inaudible voice, startling him as he turned in the direction the voice was coming from only to discover that he couldn''t dicern the speakers outlines in the darkness.


    "Who do you serve?" He asked with the code to identify a member of the grains or uncover a fraud in which case he would instantly turn the person to ashes.


    "The crowns puppeteer" came the answer and Eredur heaved a sigh of relief to not having to resort to violence at this hour in the night.


    "Success" he answered and turning around to leave not waiting for and answer knowing that the grain had already vanished to report to his mistress.


    "Now I can finally relax a little." With this thought he went of home to his beloved buthtub.


    <hr>


    In a dimly lit office somewhere in the palace which only a handful of people were aware of even existed "the herold" was standing before a desk where the dakest secrets and biggest schemes were coming to life. Behind the desk sat a woman, clad in a black dress with green stribes at the back, black hair and dark brown nearly black eyes like an incanation of darkness. She was the puppeteer, the leader and founder of the grains of dust, member of the order of savants and to top it off the queen of the calm lands. Not many people were aware of her secret machinations and how dangerous she really was. Many thought of her as nothing more than the kings wife and mother to the prince only following her obligations given to her by her husband. But all of them were ubelievably mistaken. But they couldn''t really be blamed for their lack of knowledge since everyone that wasn''t allowed to know of her identity was swiftly dispatched of to never see the lights of day again.


    An eery quiet was dominating the queens office only to be disturbed from time to time by the rustling of papers whenever she opened a new report or compared two manuscripts for their similarity accompanied but the flickering candles which decorated her office and drowned it in a warm yet eery light supporting the permeating silence.


    The herold was standing before her desk waiting for his mistress to finish her work and ask him about the mission he had accomplished not to long ago but he wasn''t impatient since he would never dare to interrupt his mistress or be disrespectful in her presence.


    The time passed and after it felt like hours had gone by the rustling of papers finally stopped as the queen looked up and asked the herold with an inquisitive look in her eyes: "So?"


    "Reporting to the mistress, the mission was a success." the herold said while slightly bowing in her direction.


    Instead of nodding as a sign of understanding she diverted her gaze back to her papers not bothering to look at the herold again knowing that he would leave in due time.


    As the herold left he couldn''t hide the happy thoughts from rising in his mind knowing from his mistresses demeanor that she was jumping in joy on the inside. For an outsider is was as good as impossible to read his mistresses feeling from her actions but he had, over the years picked up on some tiny details and movements that indicated her feelings. Thus he was sure alot of future accomplishments to fuel his pride for being a member of the grains of dust were soon to follow.


    After the herold had left and the mistress was finally alone again with her thoughts she couldn''t help herself but curl the corners of her mouth into an evil smile rarely seen on her face looking forward to crush the damned Elfs beneath her feet while helping her beloved son gathering honor and glory to build a steady future for himself as the king of the whole of Astara at his bidding.


    <hr>


    The Old Lands


    Far away in the east of Rhadon spanning from the south of the continent to the north parting the lands into two was the realm of the forests- The Old Lands, origin of every living race in Astara and home to the Silverfangs, Kiksuyapi Lycas wolf tribe.


    The Old Lands spanned for thousands of miles and made up over half of the whole continents surface. It was the realm of the none humanoid races like wolfs, bears, eagle and so on being governed by the Spriggans, a form of manifestation of the land, for example a river, a mountain or a very old tree. The hand of humanity hadn''t reached so far yet and if it did it would in most cases be bitten of by some animal or simply disappear in the huge forests that covered the earth.


    No, the Old Lands were unsullied ground, a holy land if you will where nature still reigned supreme.


    Tree after tree, varying in the hundreds of different kinds, sometimes crossed by a river sparkling like liquified crystals or a mountain range straightening themselfs into the sky like a child yearning and stretching themselfs for their mothers embrace. Plants were still growing over and under each other not bound to some law to tell them how to grow and animals roaming free and unfettered alongside them to hide their presence when they were hunting for a meal or hiding from chasing predator.


    This was a land which mankind only entered hesitantly which truly proofed to be problematic since the Elfs, humans sworn enemy lived in the far east behind the curtain of the forest realm hiding in their cities build in the wooden embrace and plotting against the humans to make their lifes as hard and unpleasant as possible while protecting the peacefullness of the forests.


    Inside the Old Lands in a norther region of the forests lay the hunting grounds of the Silverfangs. They were a tribe, or rather called a pack of big wolfs with fur colors varying from white as the moonlight to grey as ashes. Lead by the mother wolf Kiksuyapi Lyca, overshadowing all her peers in height through her anhanced growth the magic provided her, the pack prospered and grew in population and prosperity. The pack numbered a startling 50 wolfs by now and the the wolfs hunted in teams of ten to provide the pack with enough food.


    Amongst their midst sat a little boy of the human race. He was three and a half years old by now and had short black hair and had developped grey colored eyes over the years. He started walking at the age of two, much to the amusement of his packmembers as he stumble through their midst trying to look impressive. He learned talking relatively fast for a human but was still at an age, with his tender three years where he sometimes faced the problem of not being able to communicate the way he wanted to which lead to some crying attacks when the other party, the most times Lyca, started teasing him by twisting his words in his mouth until he didn''t know where was down and above anymore.


    Today was another day where the groups of hunters would gather and set out to hunt for food. Chogan, the human child had always looked at the hunters with yearning eyes wanting to join them in their noble yet exciting cause and become a strong hunter of the wolf tribe himself. That''s why today was the day he decided to gather his courage and speak up for himself when facing his mother.


    He sat there in the middle of the gathering hunters waiting for his mother Lyca to finally appear. As she did he promptly stood up on his still a little unsteady legs and faced his mother with a grimm determined face. "Mama Lyca, I decided that from today onwards I will be the leader of the Silverfangs hunters!"


    He puffed his chest to give his tiny figure a more impressive attire while waiting for his mothers answer.


    "The leader hmm? Are you sure you have what it takes to fullfill the role you chose? You will have to face a lot of tasks and responsibilities as the leader." Lyca reminded him with an imperious voice seeming to take his request as extremely important which caused a majority of the wolfs in the surroundings to turn around to hide the tears of supressed laughter from echoing out in a wolfs howling which would ring through the whole valley and cause a lot of prey to be warned of their prescence.


    As Chogan heard his mothers words said in such an imperious voice his legs started to get soft again while seeming to reordering his thoughts. "Ahem, maybe not leader but still one of the leading wolfs in the hunting party." he said with an expression saying that he definately deserved that position.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on."Oh? Are you sure? Still alot of responsibilities awaiting you." she said yet again with that imperious voice while staring down at the fledgling.


    "Ahem, maybe..." as he started rearranging his offer again the pack couldn''t hold it in anymore and burst into a concert of howling and laughing while tears streamed down their faces ringing for breath to not fall over.


    Lyca was laughing as well while grabing Chogan with her paws and pulled him towards her while patting his little frustrated looking head having discovered that he was subjected to teasing again.


    As Lyca still held him in her mighty embrace she said: "We may not make you a hunter yet but how about we bestore you the title of junior mascot of the Silverfangs. You would be the first of your kind so it is a great honor to receive such a title." she said with a giggle suppressing another laughing flash that was trying to climb his way up her throat.


    Having heard her words Chogan started to immidiately switch from a gloomy face to one with filled with delight and pride. "Than from today onwards you all shall know me as the junior mascot of the Silverfangs and tremble before my wrath!!" Chogan said while looking as if he was the king of the world and becoming dumbfounded when he discovered all the wolfs surrounding him lying on the ground laughing while holding their bellies with their paws which attracted quite a few looks from their far away families who were wondering what kind of strange ritual they were performing not having heard the conversation.


    "Alright, now that you have become an official member of the hunters of the Silverfangs as their junior mascot I will take you with us to see us hunting if you want." Lyca said while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.


    "Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes..." Chogan began to eagerly proclaim since that had been his dream for such a long time already.


    Having heard his answer Lyca lay her massive body down to allow him to climb up on her back so she could carry him atop of her back. Chogan grab on her silver fur and started to climb his way up only to end up panting at the end of the exhausting procedure but marveling at the amazing few you had from up there.


    "Alright, then let us move out!" Lyca said and the group of hunters split into their respective parties and began running into the thicket.


    As the wolfs were running over branches, stones and jumping over fallen down trees and their stumps Chogan marvelled at the beauty of the forest he had never seen before outside of their living grounds and felt the soothing wind brushing against his face and playing with his hair and clothes. He was wearing a dark brown kilt made of sturdy leather and a cloak made of black feathers was drapped around his shoulders to protect his tiny body from wind and weather.


    Chogan had always loved the wind and how it could go everywhere unfettered and without boundaries rustling through the leafs playing with everything and everyone. Lyca, who had observed, taught and protected him since he was an infant had discovered this trait of his and with or without a reason behind it had given him the name Chogan- the black bird. Later he would come to understand that there is more to his name than first met the eye but in his childishness he didn''t really care to begin with so he accepted the name without protest.


    Soon some of the wolfs seemed to have taken up a trail on a herd of deer and Chogan greedily took in every action of them as they started to split up into two groups. The first group consisted of six wolfs of a rather smaller size. The second group consisted of three wolfs easily being labeled as huge in figure. The first group would walk around the horde of deer and wait there in ambush for them to come rushing in their direction while the second groups job was to spread chaos amongst the deers and urge them in the first groups direction. As the first group disappered into the thicket Chogan and Lyca stayed with the second group to spectate from the distance.


    "What''s gonna happen next mama?" Chogan asked. "It is important that we stay quiet now so no more questions. I''ll tell you the plan after we return to the pack."


    Chogan shut his mouth to not let his fellow hunters down and watched with rapt attention visible on his face.


    As they approached a grass plain while still being hidden behind the trees they spotted a herd of deer feasting upon the fresh green grass littering the ground. One of the deer raised its head seemingly having felt something but after confirming no smell in the wind it returned to eating.


    As they had waited for some time to make sure the other party was in position Lyca gave the signal to begin. One of the wolfs gave a sparp and highpitched howl which was answered by a far away howl from the other group as a signal that they were ready as well. The dear having heard the howling looked up with tension all over them not knowing where the howling came from. Yet another howl was sent from the big wolf near Lyca as a signal that they would begin the asault. The three wolfs jumped out of the thicket with exposed fangs and started rushing towards the herd which fell into chaos.


    While the wolfs were chasing the deer rushed in the direction the chasing party directed them to without knowing.


    As the deer reached the thicket and prepared to jump into the protection of the woods trying to escape from sight the party laying in ambush revealed themselfs by jumping onto the dear and burrowing their fangs in their bodies, two wolfs tackling one deer to make sure they would get their targets.


    The deer nailed to the ground struggled to no avail and as the chasing party reached them they burrowed their fangs in the deers neck to finish them off.


    Lyca, with the excited Chogan on her back joined them and checked up on their prey. While they were musing if they could have grabbed more in a different approach their little junior mascot rushed around them while shouting how awesome that was and how cool they looked and that he would join them the next time for sure!


    Just as Lyca was about to silence him she discovered that Chogan was already quiet while looking into the west where the vast plains away from the Old Lands where situated. In their hunt they had unintentionally reached the border of the Old Lands and stood upon human ground.


    Lyca followed Chogans gaze and it landed on a group of human males who were chopping down trees and burning the stamps to probably increase the size for their future home, or fields or maybe just for grabing some fuel.


    Chogan having spotted the humans started to wonder who those men were and as he saw what they were doing creased his brows as a frown appeared on his face and his head started to throb with a headache that pulsed in his head like his heart in his chest when he was out of breath from running. He put his hand on his head while grimacing never having experienced a headache before. As Lyca saw his motion she didn''t know what he was doing so she asked: "What''s wrong Cho?"


    "My head hurts when I look at the broken trees. I never felt so bad before." he said still not sure what was wrong with him.


    As Lyca heard his answer she was puzzled not completely sure what to do about it. As she lowered her head again to look at the people in the distance her blood started to pulsate and boil influenced by her rage for the humans and to top it off the magic rushing through her signalling her ancestors prescence and wrath at the humans.


    As the humans discovered the wolfs they started to shout and point in their direction signaling and communicating that there were wolfs. As soon as the guards spotted the wolfs they became pale at the sheer sight of the wolfs bodies and drew their weapons in preperation of a huge fight while not letting the wolfs out of their eyes.


    Lyca having felt the rage boil in her fellow pack members and her own blood she decided it would be foolish to attack them. Sure they could kill them all but it would probably cause some wounds or even deaths and to top it off they were in company of Chogan, a little child. So she decided to retreat and swiftly gave the signal to the others who grabbed the deer and disappeared back into the thicket followed by Lyca who cast a last look at the humans who seemed to have understood that the wolfs were not there for their lifes and heaved sighs of relief while sheathing their swords.


    On the way back to their home Chogan was still deep in thought. As they arrived back home he got off of Lyca and turned around to ask her a question. With a questioning look in his eyes he asked her: "Am I one of them?" Gesturing in the direction they came from.


    Lyca looked at him and said with a caring tone: "You are indeed a human but that does not matter to me as you will always be my beloved son and a member of the tribe."


    Having heard her he heaved a sigh of relief having thought that he may have to leave the tribe as a human, not realising in his childish mind that he was the only one not being aware of which race he belonged to and knowing it himself would make no difference to his pack.


    Now he finally understood why he was taught how to walk and run on two legs instead of all four. He always thought running on two legs would be the basic requirement and one day he would run on all four just as his fellow tribe members and the fur would grow with time as well. But now that he had seen the humans at the border to the Old Lands he knew that he would remain how he was now in his basic bodily structure.


    He walked over to the river crossing the valley the pack was living in and splashed some water on his face to cool his still slightly hurting head and spectated his image displayed on the waters surface with new found knowledge. "A human huhh? I think I can live with that." He finished his spectation and turned around to run over to his friends and play with them hunter and prey according to what he had learned and seen today on the hunt eager to tell his friends about it.


    As Lyca observed him she contemplated todays events and still couldn''t grab her head around a few things that had to do with Chogan. "I guess it''s about time to get some answers from Aspect Tirawa what is so special about my son."


    She thought turned around and walked into her cave to think on how to approach her thought the best way.