《Journal of a Falcon》 Awakening - Prologue(*) He walks through a swamp, not very deep, but still uncomfortable. The wind whistles, he pulls his cloak closer. His cloak, it is important, his affiliation is represented by it. He is hungry, but food does not satisfy him. He remembers the past, when he was a normal man; he was from rural nobility and had a regular life. Previously he was called Falko Rudkowske and belonged to the minor nobility of the Kashubian`s. He didn`t have much and was also foreseeable that he would be impoverished, but something happened to him which changed his life and the life of those he had sworn to protect.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Everything began with his disease, which had spread in his little fiefdom. His doctor couldn`t tell where it came from or how to cure it. Shortly before the incident his alchemist told him that it is an artificial disease and someone had created it. As far as he knew he was the only one to survive it, if you call it that. People got worse by the day and they died one by one. He too died and was buried, however he still lives. Why? Who knows, but he died in his bed and from then on he remembered lying in a ¡­¡­ in his coffin. (Chp 1) An old friend and rumors(*) He saw light through the cracks on the bottom of his coffin. It did not flicker like from a fire, small or big. He tried to break the bottom of his coffin and the he fell. He regained consciousness on a table, after he opened his eyes everything was blurry, he couldn`t move otherwise. Then he heard a voice, he closed his eyes and focused on it. The voice belonged to a man who was clearly angry about something. He didn`t understand what the man said, as he spoke switching between two languages, one his own and another he didn`t know. The voice came closer; he could feel someone standing beside him. Someone opened his eyes and dripped something on his eyes, then the man closed them again. After that he lost consciousness again. When he woke it felt like an eternity had passed. Slowly he came back to his senses. After a while Falko managed to get on his feet somehow. It was no quite dark around him, but he could only see shadows and rough shapes. He got to the wall and followed it to the door. After he opened it he saw a small light in the distance. The walls around him were rough like a cave. He began slowly walking towards the light and as he reached it the light dazzled him for a while. After a while his eyes adjusted and he could see his surroundings. He knew this place, it was not far from the graveyard. Falko wondered what he should do, clearly something strange happened to him. He decided to go back to his castle. There he could at least find some answers. He slowly moved towards the castle. The first house he saw seemed somehow strange, he did not know why, but something seemed amiss. When he moved through half the houses around his family castle it hit him like lightning. The houses, they were ruins, decayed, mossy, empty. It can wait for late he thought and moved towards the castle. The gate to the castle was open and as he crossed it he saw only bones. The courtyard was filled with them. He moved closer to inspect them. He could see no meat only bones, like whatever happened, happened a long time ago. Weapons and other, common things were everywhere. He moved faster towards the center of the castle, trough rooms and corridors and everywhere he went he saw only bones and rusted and decayed things. Finally he reached his chamber. Falko didn`t know what to do, the castle and it`s vicinity seemed empty, besides the bones. Like a puppet he moved towards the well, he pulled up a bucket of water and tipped it over himself. Cold water flowed over him and his mind and his vision regain some clarity. He looked down and saw that he was wearing only rags, rags which were once his noble death dress. He pulled another bucket of water from the well and began cleaning himself. Do what you can do, even if they were small steps. He washed himself and walked to his chamber, to hopefully find some better clothes. He searched through a few rooms and a simple pair of trousers and a shirt with next to no holes was all he could find that was passable. He wandered through the castle until he became sleepy. He sat down on a stone bench and fell asleep. In his sleep he dreamed, he dreamed of a lone figure walking through the wilderness on a rough path. At the back you could see a castle, from which the figure most likely came. The figure reached a guidepost on the path on it where the letters ¡°SW¡±. Then he woke and he knew what he needed to do. His grandfather taught him to never ignore dreams and he never did and was not going to start. South-West it is then. He began to gather his thoughts and planed his next few steps. Frist he would gather anything usable and lightweight and then travel to the south-west. First he looked for a backpack and the started to gather things he would need. A pan, a water bag, flint and tinder from the kitchen and other small things. He the remembered the secret chamber of his family and made his way there. He found it unopened. Inside nothing much was left. What could rot and decay did so. He only found a bit of gold and a usable helmet, which only left the eyes exposed. Then he found three bulky chests. When he opened the first he only saw wax paper, as everything inside was wrapped up in multiple layer of wax paper. Inside of it where a brigandine, two bracers, two pauldrons and a mail shirt. In the second chest he found padding and some leather boots all also wrapped up in was paper. The third chest he found again more things wrapped up in wax paper. Inside of the wax paper were a bardiche, his favorite weapon, an arming sword and a hunting knife. He remembered seeing an intact mirror in his chamber and began moving everything there. As he looked in the mirror he saw that his skin seemed strange, it was somewhat grey and pale. He removed his clothes and inspected himself, what he saw frightened him. On some parts of his body bones looked through his skin, especially his right hand. What was he? Is he even alive?If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. After a while he got out of his thoughts and began dressing, after all he it was just another mystery in day full of them. First a shirt, then trousers, boots, padding, mail shirt, brigandine, bracers, pauldrons and finally the helmet. Next came the belt around his waist, hanging from it the arming sword and the hunting knife. He found some leather gloves and added the to his attire. In the meantime, he had resigned himself to whatever it was, it explained a great deal, for example why the armor felt so light. He decided to set off and keep it a secret for now, which meant that his right hand had to be always covered. After all, he did not want to be killed by the first living people he met, even if it sounded funny because it seems he is already dead. He thought about how to get to the next village, on foot it would take a long time. Although it was very unlikely, he searched through all the stables, all empty and there were often horse skeletons. He was about to give up, and his private stable with his favorite horse caught his attention. On the way, he felt a strong smell of decay, the haze much stronger than the rest of the castle. Cautiously he entered the stable, there was no one there, but now he saw from what the smell came from. In the horse box of his beloved horse, a beautiful black horse, lay a carcass, which, unlike the rest of the bodies in the castle, was incredibly well preserved. Grief struck Falko, he realized all the things he lost. He leaned against a post, knocking over a pitchfork which fell to the ground, suddenly he heard a noise and the carcass of his favorite horse, named Marush, lifted his head. Completely confused, he opened the horse box, went to the horse and touched it. It had been made to the same thing that he was. He stayed long beside the horse and stroked it, it was the only thing left to him from his life. After a long time of pondering, he decided to take Marush with him, he saddled the horse, and he put his old horse armor on Marush. He also put a cloth over the head of Marush, which he had previously cut two big holes for his eyes in, as the head had decayed parts. He was satisfied with his work, Marush and he himself did not look dead, at least not at first glance. Falko von Rudkowske grabbed his belongings, mounted Marush and rode off, he left his land, maybe forever. Falko rode for a long time, he did not notice how his homeland was rotten and how the world had changed, he had only a few thoughts but they were all the more intense. His thoughts were all about what he was and why. After five days he reached an inn, Falko hoped he would find some information or at least rumors. He would be glad to find out anything. Falko put Marush on the drinking trough and entered the inn. Shamefully, a better word Falko did not know for this inn, but better than nothing. The innkeeper stood by the counter, looking suspiciously towards him, two tables were occupied. There were two young men on one of them, and one man on the other. Falko went to the innkeeper, ordered two beers, and went with them to the individual man. Falko said to him, "Good evening, may I sit down for a beer." The man replied with a nod at which Falko sat down and put a beer before him and one before the man. "I am Falko and what is your name?", "Pelch" answered the man. "You look like someone who has come around a lot and that is the reason why I would like to ask them something," said Falko. "You''re direct, all right ask" he replied. "I would like to have information about a castle that lies five days on horse to the North of here. Do you happen to know something about it? ".Pelch frowned, "Do you mean the ruins full of skeletons?". "Exactly," said Falko. "Well, I can tell you something, but they''re more local legends. You must know I took shelter there before a storm. I spent the night in the ruins and heard strange things. Terrified, I left the ruins the next morning. When I told the people in the next village, they were almost frightened. One of them then told me the story of the ruins, "said Pelch. "Tell me the story, for I''ve been looking for something like that," said Falko. Pelch nodded and began to tell "Well, once this ruin was the seat of an aristocratic family, they had not much power, but still lived quite well. One day an evil magician came to this castle and enchanted the castle owner. The magician experimented with the people of nearby villages, and he spread diseases among the people. Like so many, the castle owner also died to one of these diseases. After the castle owner had died, all the people gathered from the surrounding area and attacked the magician, who now saw himself as the castle owner. The mage had no one who was faithful to him, but with his black magic he conjured unholy beasts that killed many of the attackers. But in the end the Good triumphed and the mage vanished. He escaped the judgment of men. The castle and its surroundings had changed in the time of the magician and the people did not want to live in such an unholy place, so they all moved away from this place. " " The magician, do you know his name? "Falko asked. "The narrator called him ''Cil,''" said Pelch. Falko thought, the magician is gone, even if it is difficult to find him, I will do it, for myself, for those that died innocent deaths and for those that in the future will die because of him. Only where should he begin to look, maybe he should just look for similar events, he decided to ask Pelch. "Yes, i have heard about similar stories. Maybe seven or eight days to the West, there is a story of a beast. It is said to be an animal possessed by a demon, it has killed some people. As far as I know, this was a long time ago, even though it is said that it is going to show up again and again. " "Thank you for the two stories" Falko said, and then went to the innkeeper to buy some provisions. (Chp 2) Ferocious beast or unnatural demon Falko rode westwards, heading for the second story, as he wanted to pursue every trace of dark magic. What sort of choice did he have to find some trace of the man who had destroyed his fiefdom and made it a somewhat unnatural one? He had to follow every trace for the time being. In the late evening of the sixth day he arrived in a village, it had rained almost the whole time of his journey, and he was glad to sleep in a dry inn. He put Marush in the barn next to the inn and went inside. The inn was not full, which to Falko was welcome, as he could go to a quiet table and think about his next step. He ordered a beer and sat down in a seating niche to drink it. Some of the other guests looked at Falko suspiciously from the corner of their eyes. He had no problem with it, as long as they were not too curious and discovered what he was. Falko pondered for some time, but then was distracted by a fight. He looked around and saw that the inn was no longer empty. He was wondering if he should go to his room, but one of the contestants was now heading for him. Before he could react, the man asked while he was pointing to Falko''s weapons. "Can you handle that?" Falko replied, "I''m a bit rusty." The man ordered two beers from the innkeeper and sat down in front of Falko. "I''m Balduin, I''m sorry, i''m usually more friendly, but i was still a bit irritated. Some want to accept any help and others believe they can do everything better." After a sigh Balduin continued "To get to the point, there is a beast in the area that we want eliminated, there is also a reward. "Falko suddenly became very attentive, as he might have found a trace of Cil, and that sooner than expected. Balduin seemed to notice that Falko was interested and said "You seem to be interested, maybe I can pitch it to you, but first, what is your name? " " Falko. I''d love to know more about the beast and especially if it is the beast of the story i heard about. The story should come from this area." Balduin was astonished " This story it seems to be well known by know. Well Falko it seems to be the beast that has struck terror into people''s hearts for centuries." The waitress brought the beer, and Balduin continued after a sip. "You seem to be an experienced warrior and I hope this story does not frighten you. At least I can tell you that the story is overly exaggerated, and that the beast has killed only two people in the whole time. It mainly affects our cattle." Falko was disappointed, this sounded more like a wild animal, dangerous yes, but none of Cils conjured creatures, and thus no trace.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. But better be safe than sorry and at least he can get a reward. Falko promised Balduin to help and asked him to tell him all that he knew about this beast. They talked long into the night about things like - Where the beast appeared the most and if it showed itself during the day or if anybody has seen it all - At the end Falko promised again to look for the beast before going to his room to sleep. On the next morning he mounted Marush and went to the South-West of the village, where a dense forest stretched along the foot of a mountain. Falko went to the fields that bordered the forest to look for tracks. All the rain made it hard but after some time he found tracks but they somehow felt strange, then he realized it, the beast walks like a human on two legs. Because of the rain there weren''t enough tracks to follow so Falko took his Bardiche from his back, before going into the forest. Slowly he made his way through the forest to the foot of the mountain. He wanted to search for caves as he was most likely to find a beast there. Falko searched nearly the whole day. He found some caves, but the biggest animal he found was a suprisingly small brown bear which he never saw before and a wolverine . The sun was already setting and he decided that after searching the cave he saw a bit away from him he would head back. As Falko was approaching the cave he smelled smoke. He carefully approached the cave. He looked inside and he saw some light deeper into the cave. Falko carefully snuck closer to the light, as soon as he was close enough to see so details, he stopped and took it all in. In a small room a young man sat beside a campfire, behind him a bedroll a big backpack and some bags of various sizes. On the fire sat a pot with some broth in it. Without looking up the man spoke "Hello friend, your chain armor is not very silent. Come here, sit and we can talk." On Falko''s face was a grin, he walked to the fire and sat down next to it. "My name is Falko, what is yours?" "Call me Ulf. " Falko saw Ulf had two daggers hidden in his sleeves. Ulf wanted to show him that he was not defenseless. Falko spoke, "Are you the one they call the beast that kills cattle and also men?" Ulf laughed "Yes i''am but i''am also not it!" "Before you do something you regret let me speak. When i arrived in this region i killed a few cows, after that i hunted in the forest. For me that was enough, but it seems the ones that hunt me arrived in this region. They probably killed the humans and recent cows. Most likely they wanted information from the humans. Stupid, as if i would show myself around here, where everything non-human is seen as a demon and has to be killed." Falko was suprised, "What do you mean with non-human and are you saying you are not a human?" There was a grin on Ulf''s face as he said, "Yes i''am not 100 percent human" (Chp 3) Strange new world Falko was shocked. What did Ulf mean with not a 100 percent human. The most mysthic things he has seen, before he died, was his alchemist. There were stories and legends, but nobody has he knew has seen anything from them. Are the legends he heard as a child true? He needed to sort his mind. It seems i didn''t think about the things i have seen since i awoke, after all his body seems to be dead which is not compatible with the reality he knew. He needed the keek calm and find out more and it''s seems Ulf could be a good source. Falko became serious and spoke to Ulf. "Ulf i need information. I woke up a few days ago and all the things i remember don''t make any sense. " I told Ulf that the buildings in which i awoke were ruins and that i remembered how theses ruins looked when they where inhabited. I told him that i suspect that a lot of time passed and i asked if he can tell me about this world. He told me a lot of things: First we are in the country Tardigrada and here mostly humans live, besides this country is not only small but also one of the less civilized. Because of that most non-humans are called demons here, but it seems in most countries there are a lot of non-humans in some even more than humans. Second his father was a half lupus and his mother a human, because of that he has a bit of abilities of the lupus, but generally speaking he was a human. He covered most things up that are non-human. He showed me that on his forearm and his shins was fur which was all you could normally see of his lupus ancestry. But it seems lupus have an abilitie which turns them more wolf like and he could do that as well.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Third the reason why he did not attack me is because he could smell that i`m also a non-human. I did not tell him what i am, after all i am not sure myself, but i told him that i''am looking for mage named Cil. I tried to avoid this matter thereafter. Fourth he was hunted by some Purity Cult. Interestingly this cult doesn''t care if you are human, a lupus, a fae or something else. Their goal was to preserve the purity of every race, so people like Ulf who is partly a lupus is hunted by them. He also said that this cult mostly operates from the shadows and not openly. He didn''t knew much else about the Purity Cult . Fifth because he lived in the wild for some time he didn''t knew the accurate date, but he told me a rough estimation. I didn''t recognize the form of the calendar, so i couldn''t put it in relation to the calendar i know. Falko knew he had to find out more about himself. At the moment he couldn''t trust Ulf enough to use his help in that matter. Falko decided to examine himselfthoroughly on the next day. Next he spoke to Ulf. "Ulf i think we can help each other. At the moment you just need to get away from here. I on the other hand need more information and i also need to find Cil. How about it, you help me find him and i help you with your hunted problem?" Ulf thought about it for sometime before he agreed. Now it was already late in the night and we agreed to plan where to go tomorrow morning, but then Ulf stopped and with signs told me to be silent, he then pointed at the cave entrance and drew his twin dagger. I then drew my Bardiche. (Chp 4) Fight and realizations Falko moved towards the entrance of the cave. He remembered, one way in , enclosed space, use the bardiche as a short spear, use you reach. The bardiche is a polearm, however it is not a normal one. Most of the time you fight with it similar to a big two handed axe and cleave you way trough, but you can also use it as a not perfectly balanced short spear. As a short spear it has a longer reach and is mostly used against cavalry or to break through heavy armor. In a narrow cave you can first use the reach of the short spear stance and if the enemy got to close you can change to the two handed axe stance. by now Falko also heard people outside. Falko and Ulf moved away from the fire and were hiding just outside of it''s range of light. He could hear the people moving into the cave and getting closer. One of them began shouting. "Half-breed dog we know you are hiding here, come out and die." I moved, the light of the fire was in my back and i spoke. "There is only me here and i don''t know who you are, but i don''t think we have any quarrel." The sound of wet boots on the cave ground came close till we could see each other. They all had one thing in common, they all had a white tunic with a strange symbol on it. The symbol was a red lotus with a crown on each petal. The other party looked at me and then looked at the campfire. One man from the party spoke. "You are right i only see you here, but we have to make sure he is not here." He turned to another man further back und said. "Arian you go, maybe you can find him" The man, apparently Arian, moved forward. As the light of the fire shone on him i could see that he was not human. His arms are full of fur and on his face you could almost see no skin. Arian began to sniff. Ulf lunged from the shadows and one enemy died. Before they could react i pierced another on in the chest. Two dead, six left. I changed stance and cleaved right trough another. Ulf movwed towards me while cutting into the legs of two people. Five left, two are injured.Two are attacking me from which one is injured, Arian attacked Ulf and i saw that one of them was loading a crossbow. The one who spoke was staring at me and Ulf full of hate. The uninjnured one lunged at me, i sidesteped and hit his stomach with the shaft of the bardiche. I cleaved at the other one, he tried to block with his shield, the blade split the shield and his forearm from his body. I pierced his stomach and turned to the one lying on the ground holding his stomach. I felt something hitting my shoulder and throwing me to the ground. The guy with the crossbow hit me. The guy i hit in the stomach came into my sight, trying to finish what the cossbow started. I kicked his leg and while falling i pierced his head. I got up and looked around. Arian still fought with Ulf, crossbow guy was reloading and the guy who spoke was moving towards Ulf to help Arian. I picked up a sword and threw it towards that guy, it was enough to distract him for a little bit of time, then i began to sprint towards crossbow guy, before his end he looked up from reloading, shock in his face. The guy who spoke was not fast enough to intercept me and after he died i thought that he was maybe more of the tactician of the group. I turend to Arian and Ulf only to see something new. Both stepped back from each other and both began to change. Arians head turned into that of a wolf, his arms into claws and overall more fur grew. Ulfs head turned also into that of a wolf, but the rest didn''t happen with him. It seems Arian was a full lupus. Both engaged each other again, moving faster than humanly possible.I moved in and with my help Ulf got the opening he needed to heavily injure Arian and shortly after that Arian died.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Ulf turned back, i could see he was exhausted. I looked around realizing the heavy smell of blood. The cave was painted red only disturbed by the fire, pink flesh and white bones. Ulf said: "OK i help you and you help me. Now we have to move we can''t stay here any longer." He moved to his backpack and bedroll and packed his things. While doing so he said "Those were from the Purity Cult, the blood lotus is their symbol" Outside the cave we saw somebody riding away in the rain. It seems one of them stayed outside. Ulf took one of their horsed and i whistled for Marush. Ulf was suprisied to see Marush, most likely because of the horse armor. It was better to just get away, it would be hard or them to find our tracks in the rain. We rode through the night and through the next day before we stopped. Both Ulf and the horses needed rest. We found a little cave, made a fire and ate some of my provisions. After eating we began to talk. "So Falko you are faster and stronger than humans, if you don`t want to, then don`t tell me what you are, but i have to say you are strong. While saying that he looked at me an suddenly looked shocked. "Falko ist that a crossbow bolt in your shoulder?" I looked at my shoulder and sighed, it seems i forgot that. It seems i need to trust Ulf a bit more, i just hope he wont attack me after all it seems we will be together for a while. Before ripping the bolt out i said to Ulf "I''m not so sure what i am myself. I was once human, but it seems a black magician experimented on me and now i am something else." I decided to tell Ulf all i knew about Cil and my death. By the end Ulf had a pale face, but he didn''t try to kill me. It looks like Ulf has seen enough of the world to not judge a book by it''s cover. After my story Ulf thought for a while before saying: "If what you say is true, maybe we can find out more about your body trough some experiments. I''m really tired now, but we can look into it tomorrow, how about it?" I agreed. It seems i need to learn a lot more about my new body and this new world. On the next day we started to do some experiments, i also showed Ulf my hand which was nearly all bones. Ulf was pale nearly the entire time, it seems my body is strange even for this world. The most important things we found out in the morning are as followed. First i am really strong. Ulf is stronger than a normal human and i am a lot stornger than him. Second i am faster than a normal human, but Ulf is faster, especially when he uses his lupus ability to changes more wolf like. He called that ability ''Blood Quickening'' and most races with beast blood, like the lupus, can use that ability. Third there is no blood flowing through me and my wounds don''t heal. Ulf stitched the wound from the bolt and after some time the skin kind of melded together. Fourth Marush seems like me, stronger, faster and no blood and natural healing. Sometime in the Morning it stopped raining and the sky cleared up. For me it was the first time since i awoke in this world that i could see a clear sky. After those tests we decided to hunt some animals and do more tests later. (Chp 5) A light in the sky We both don''t have any ranged weapons so we could only hunt certain animals. I should get myself a bow, i remember that one man of the Purity Cult had a crossbow, but after we killed them i didn''t think to plunder the corpses. We caught some flightless birds, Ulf called them Nandu. During our meal i thought about various things. If this world is not the one i am from, then why could i understand everyone i met so far. I am a noble so i learned more than one language. In the kingdom i am from i belonged to the Kashubians, a minority with an own language, also because my fiefdom was near the border to another kingdom i learned their language as well, so in total i could speak three languages. Everyone i met so far spoke the language of my kingdom, but if this is another world then how can that be. I asked Ulf about the languages he knows of. He told me, that the language i am speaking is used by all humans on this continent, but humans on other continents use other. Also most non human races have their own language, but races like the lupus with beast blood in their veins usually speak the same language as the humans. We also made a plan on where to go. Right now we will avoid big cities, so the Purity Cult will lose Ulfs trail, in regards to Cil we will ask a friend of Ulf if he heard about him. We are in the country Tardigrada which is in the North-East on the continent of Amet. We will go to the country named Hummel, which covers the entire south of Amet. To get there we have to go through Ursus which is south of Tardigrada and after that through Temito which is South-West of Ursus. The friend of Ulf how might know sometihng about Cil lives on the coast in the South-East of Hummel. We will first travel to the mountains in the South of Tardigrada, there we will stop in a village to buy provisions and some necesseties. We decided to test my body more tomorrow and rode the rest of the day southwards. The day passed by uneventful. Noon the next day, we wanted to to some more testing, but eyesight strarted to degrade. We had no idea why but over the course of an hour it got from bad to worse. I looked if Marush had the same problem and when i looked at his eyes i saw that they were dry and partly black. Ulf told me they look like mine. Most likely it had something to to with my new body, after all Marush had the same problem and he and i shared this new kind of body. I tried to think, what is my body. First of all it seems my body is more or less dead. There is no blood and no natural healing, maybe other things didn''t work as well, but why did it to so long for my eyes to change. If there is no blood, then maybe all the fluids in my body are missing. If this is the case my body would slowly but surely turn into that of a mummy, a dry corpse. Thinking i looked in the sky and then it hit me, until yesterday it rained the whole time since i awoke, so maybe i can store water in body to replace all body fluids and prevent it from turning into a mummy. I used some water and poured it over Marush''s eyes, it took only a minute or so and i could so how the eyes turned back to look like the eyes of the living, i was relieved. Yesterday it stoped raining around noon and today around noon my eyes started to change, so most likely i have to use water on them at least once a day. This is something that requires more testing, so i can know how often and how much i need to do that, maybe it will be enough to just jump into a river once a day. I think it would be best to that a routine of me, that way i won''t forget.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I showered Marush with water and then took a bath in a nearby river After my eyesight was back to normal, we did more testing but didn''t find anything, we also didn''t really know what else to test. Maybe so other time i will be able to learn more about this mystical body of mine. The next few days were uneventful, we arrived at the mountains in the South of Tardigrada , behind them is the country Ursus. In a village at foot of the mountains be bought some provisions, moslty flavoring for things we hunt and some nonperishables. We also bought two tents and some ropes. Besides we got lucky, we were able to buy a rough map of the mountains from a local hunter group. They also maked some areas which we should avoid, they said some stronger beasts live there. Before i awoke i only knew of two really dangerous animals, one are wolves and the other are bears, to my suprise i learned form the hunter group and Ulf that here wolves and bears a considered the weakest beasts, anything below are called animals. Ulf told me later that we should expect to encouter something stronger than bears and wolves while crossing the mountains. On the next day we started to cross the mountains. At noon i saw a big bird in the sky and i told Ulf about it, after he lokked up he said to hide under some trees. Under a tree and observing the sky Ulf told me that it is a griffin. They normaly don`t attack humans as they are intelligent enough to know that if they attack humans, then other humans will come to hunt them. But it is still better to first hide, because they are one of the best mounts and anybody who can subdue a griffin is normally really strong. The rest of the day was uneventful. We just finsihed eating and wanted to go sleeping when we saw a light over the mountains, it was red, blue and white and it moved over the sky. Ulf had no idea what it could be, but we decided to stay away from that area. As it moved closer to us we could see the rough silhouette of the thing, it lookes like a big head with a long tail. It moved to the west and there it flew in circles of an area. We had no idea what it was and no way to avoid the are it flew over, we could only hope it is either friendly or it won''t notice us. On the next day the terrain became more uneven and we could no longer ride on the horse. We guided our horses through the mountains and slowed down al lot. Two days passed uneventful. We camped beside a crystal clear lake and as the sun set we saw the flying light again. It flew to our west and circled over and area, it looked like the same area. It flew there for some time before flying in our direction. We had absolute no idea what to expect, so we put our hands on our weapons and watched till it was above us. It drop from the sky and flew a few circles over the lake bevor moving towards us. We could see it more clearly now. It''s color was light blue, it had a really big head, a small and long body with four legs and a really long tail. Behind and above the forelegs it had a pair of see-through wings. The tails was far longer than ther body and head combined and the wings could only be seen if you are really close. As it stoped before us the light it gave of became less until there was only a glow on it''s skin. Becaus it was so close it realized that it''s total mass was about that of a horse, but from afar and with more glowing it had looked a lot bigger. It looked around and sniffed a bit, it then opened one of it''s claws and dropped something on the ground, it then kind of grinned and then flew back to the area in the west and circled again. Both Ulf and me had no idea what just happend and we both realized how tense we were. We both were happy as it didn''t look like some bloodthirsty beast. Ulf said it looked kind of like a dragen, but he has never heard or seen any that looked so strange. Marush then walked to the thing it dropped and kicked it towards us. At once we were tense again and then looked at the thing. It looked like a big golden coin, there are also some words on it. I got closer and picked it up. It really was just a gold coin, the only thing was that i couldn''t read the words on it. I showed it to Ulf but he also had no idea, but he said that his friend that may know something about Cil may also be able to read the words on the coin and know about the srange creature we just met. (Chp 6) Answer and offer We traveled peaceful for two days and since the lake there were no more trees to be seen, but on the third day we met a beast, Ulf called it a leogriff, it had the body of a big cat and the head of a bird of prey and also it was a bit bigger than a wolf. We saw it in the distance, eating a goat . Over the next two days we looked out for it, so it could not suprise us. We were prepared should it deem us as prey, but we never saw it again. On the evening of the next day we came upon a valley with a thick forest inside. Ulf warned that we should travel at it''s edge, because most likely something dangerous lives there. I could understand his reasoning, because if i look around i see a lot of rocks, some smaller bushes and some patches of grass. That valley was full of trees and most likely full of animals, so it was not without reason so supect a bigger predator in there. We about to make a fire and cook something to eat, but then someone talked to us: "I will bring you wood, don''t come into the forest and take it yourself." It was a deep and rough voice and we both looked into the forest, trying to find the origin of the voice. We were both tense, Ulf touched his dagger and i held my bardiche, we decided to just wait and see. It didn''t took to long before we could see someone walking towards us. Under one arm he had, as promised, wood for the fire and under the other he had some rabbits. Walking towards us he spoke with his deep and rough voice: "Good you didn''t take any wood from the forest, let''s eat and talk some." While walking closer i could finally see what he looked like. He was tall, i would say around 2,5m , his hair was black and really long, he also wore some simple clothes of fur. Now standing before us, he dropped the wood and rabbits and stepped back. He said, "You make the fire and the meal, then we talk" before sitting down and drinking from a wineskin. It did seem he was a friendly guy, but we both remained on guard. Ulf made the fire and i skined and disemboweled the rabbits. We began eating and talked. "You can call me Sylvan and i live in this forest. You can relax i have no ill intentions." Before we could respond, something swooped down, took a rabbit and the flew away. It was the dragon like thing we met face to face at lake a few days back, now it only had a faint glow. It flew to the top if a nearby mountain and remained there, most likely eating.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Sylvan said, " Ohh you guys are lucky, he took your food, which means he gives you both his blessing" It seems Sylvan knew what it was, so i asked him about it. "My name is Falko and he is Ulf, we want to traverse these mountains and we saw it a few times. Could you tell us what it is?" Sylvan laughed and said, "It''s a Gluhschwanz, they are a very special existence. They give gifts to good people and also fly in circles above the houses of evil people, so that the other people know they are evil. They often fly very high and are often mistaken for shooting stars." "We saw him circling in an area in the west, does it mean someone evil lives there?" , i asked. "Good to know and to answer you question, yes that is what it means." , answerded Sylvan. I thought that the gold coin is maybe a gift from him and it could be important to find out what the writing on it means, after all Sylvan said they are special. Now, near the light of the fire, i could better see what Sylvan looked like. His wild and long black hair reached all the way down his back and was covering his face except his big red nose. His skin was dark brown and his only clothes are a fur shirt and pants. I then asked, " If you don''t mind me asking, why are you living alone in the middle of the mountains?" Sylvan looked stunned and the laughed before answering. "Are you thinking i am human or something similar, but i can say, you are wrong." Dumbfounded i looked at him. I have to remind myself, that this is another world and legends and mythological creatures are very real here. I thought he was human because he looks like one, but Ulf looks also human, but a part of him is a lupus. Besides the full lupus form the Purity Cult i met also looked mostly like a normal human. Ulf interrupted my train of thought by saying: " Sylvan are you a Fae or some form of spirit?" Sylvan answered, " Yes , i''m some form of a forest spirit and in no way a Fae. Because the Gluhschwanz likes you, i will tell you more about myself, also i need the help of good people right now and you can maybe be them." He took a bite from the rabbit and then told us about him. " I`am bound to this forest, if the forest dies, then i die, if the forest is alive, then i am alive. As you can see, this forest is only in this valley and no other forest is near here. I can''t go to far from the forest so i know a lot about a small part of this whole mountain range, but of the rest i nearly know nothing. " He sighed and the continued: "Recently something evil is coming to this valley. It always destoys a few trees and if i arrive there it has already disappeared. With more eyes i hope i can at leat find out what it is and then maybe stop it. Can you stay here for a few days and help me look out for it?" I looked at Ulf and he said: "I''m ok with staying a few days and if we find out what it is and we could not even dream of stopping it, then we can still go. If that is the case then we will not help anymore, is that ok Sylvan?" He nodded, then i nodded and we agreed to help Sylvan. We then asked Sylvan to tell us all he knows about this evil thing and to show us one of the recent sites of it''s attacks, so we maybe can find tracks. The only noteworty things he could tell us are the following things. First some kind of acid remained in the broken trees. Second it always attacked around twilight. Not much to go on. Sylvan agreed the keep watch over us while sleeping and to wake us before twilight. (Chp 7) The Weird and the Unknown The Weird and the Unknown Falko saw the get closer, he was exhausted after fighting for so long, but he held on. His bardiche cut clean through two of his enemies and he had a time to take a breath. In front of him was an endless horde of enemies, he and his comrades fought on this choke point, which was the only way that they could hold on. Out of nowhere a blue and red light covered the battlefield. The enemies trembled with fear and then fled in panic. Falko was too exhausted to think clearly and then he fell to the ground. Falko smelled something burning, he opened his eyes. His surroundings have changed, he was in some sort of forge and the pain came. To him it felt like his right hand was melting or someone stuck it into lava. The heard someone calling his name, he focused on the voice and tried to listen what it said. It was a deep and rough voice and it said: ¡°Falko wake, hey Falko wake up.¡± Falko opened his eyes and he saw Sylvan talking to him. It looks like it was a dream, but what a strange one. Of his enemies he only remembered that they were many and their height didn¡¯t reach his shoulder. What a weird dream. It was still dark, but it should soon be twilight. Falko bathed in a nearby river and washed Marush, before eating breakfast with Falko and Sylvan. After that Sylvan led the way to an attack site. It was already twilight when we arrived. The site was as described by Sylvan, broken and smashed trees and some big patches of dead grass from the acid. They all looked for tracks, but couldn¡¯t find anything that looked remotely like tracks. Before splitting up Sylvan assured both of us, that only small animals are living in this valley and no predator that could kill them. Sylvan watched in the middle of the valley, while Ulf and I each took one end. Sylvan told us that he could contact us through his magic as soon as he knew where the attack was happening. Because this thing wasn¡¯t attacking every day, Falko thought they had to wait some time, maybe even days, bit soon after I found a spot to watch my end of the valley, I heard the sound of breaking trees. Soon after, a hole opened in the tree besides Falko and the sound of a voice came from it. ¡°Falko, it¡¯s me Sylvan. Can you see the attack site? I already notified Ulf and we are both on the way. Try to at least get a look of it.¡± It seems this was Silvan¡¯s magic. Falko moved through the forest towards the noise, he still could hear trees breaking and sometime he could hear a whiz and bubbling, most likely from the acid. As Falko got closer he slowed down and finally he was sneaking and looking through the green of the forest. It took him some time to, but he could see the thing and thing was the best word he had for it, as he knew nothing that looked remotely like it.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It is around two meters tall, grey in color and walked with four legs, but not like an animal but the legs are more like two pairs of legs. From the hip, one pair is slanted towards the back and one pair towards the front. The torso above the hip is ball like and from it multiple tentacles come out. It has no neck and its head is another smaller ball which is on top of the torso ball. On each side it had two tentacles, one above the other and two tentacles side by side at the front and one at the back. While Falko was watching and looking at it, it already smashed a few trees and then, beneath his two front tentacles a gap opened. The gap is full of teeth and from it came a ball of green goo. As the green goo hit a tree, Falko could hear a whiz and bubbling. It seems this green goo is acid. The thing turned and then spat another ball of acid, but this time it was flying towards Falko. Falko jumped to the side and evaded it, but he made too much noise and the thing found him. He knew he could not remain at a distance, as it could just spat acid at him and he could not retaliate. He dashed towards it, his bardiche in spear stance as he wanted to engage it in melee as soon as possible. The thing defended with his four tentacles on the side while trying to bind him with the two at the front. The bardiche pierced into the tentacles and violet blood sprayed out of them. It seems it didn¡¯t expect such a strong attack, as it jumped backwards and no longer tried to bind Falko. As it landed it spat out a ball of acid. Falko evaded it, but it splashed against a tree besides him and some of the acid splashed on his left face. Falko ignored it as he had no way to deal with the acid right now and wiping it would only spread it on his face. The pain made him close his left eye; he hoped Sylvan could maybe help him with his magic. Falko tried to stay behind trees and rocks and dashed towards it. He again got in melee range and he swung his bardiche, trying to carve into the ball like torso. It jumped again and at the same time it was trying to hit Falko with some of its tentacles. Falko got hit by one and thrown to the ground, but he was also able to lop off one of its tentacles. As the thing landed on the ground, roots that moved like snakes were coming out of the ground, trying to bind it. As Falko looked up he saw Sylvan coming through the forest. The thing saw Sylvan, it destroyed the roots and ran away, escaping into the mountains. Falko was still on the ground, he sit up and said to Sylvan. ¡°Don¡¯t chase it, it is too fast. Besides it left tracks for us to follow.¡± Falko pointed at the trail of violet blood. ¡°Sylvan I got hit by the acid, can your magic help?¡± Sylvan moved closer to Falko and said. ¡°Yes, let me see what I can do.¡± He removed Falko¡¯s helm and then moved his hand onto Falko¡¯s face. Falko could feel the warmth that spread through his face, relieving his pain. A shortly after that Ulf arrived. Ulf talked with Sylvan while Falko rested. Ulf and Sylvan both came to Falko and asked him what happened and what it exactly looked like. Falko told them all the details he knew and the asked them if they knew what that thing is. Both Ulf and Sylvan had no idea and Sylvan told us to go back to the camp from last night, while he was going to ask a friend of his about this thing. He told us that this friend knows nearly every being in these mountains and he hoped with his friend could identify this thing. While Sylvan travel to his friend, we both went back to where we slept last night. Sylvan also told us he would need at least two days to get to his friend and back. After arriving Ulf looked at my face and said. ¡°It looks like the helm caught most of the acid and only the skin around your left eye got hurt. Sylvan¡¯s magic healed it almost completely. Open your eye and let me see how it looks like.¡± I opened my left eye. (Chp 8) Fighting acid Fighting acid After opening his eye Falko realized that his view didn¡¯t change. He heard how Ulf sighed and then he said: ¡°Falko it seems your left eye is destroyed. Your skin melding ability will most likely not work, so you have to wait till we reach a place where we can buy you a magic eye as replacement. I will make you a rough eye patch. I have a few pieces of leather which I use to repair my armor. Wait a moment, it shouldn¡¯t take long to make a makeshift eye patch. Also I think you need a new helm.¡± I looked at my helm and Ulf was right, the left side of the helm was nearly gone. For now it is ok, but I should try to get a new one if possible. It didn¡¯t take long and Falko was wearing a makeshift leather eye patch over his left eye. During Sylvan¡¯s absence Ulf hunted and Falko tried to get used to his new field of view. Three uneventful days went by and on the evening of the fourth day, Sylvan finally returned. During a meal Sylvan said what he found out. ¡°My friend didn¡¯t know much, but he said, he never heard or saw anything like it. He could only give me some suggestions.¡± According to Sylvans friend we should try to stop it from using acid. Because it only used his mouth like thing on his torso we should be able to stop it. We could resin to stop it from using his acid, the only problem is, how do we get the resin over his mouth like thing. Besides we should attack it from behind, as it not only has one tentacle less there, it also wouldn`t be able to use the acid. It sounded feasible and we only needed a way to get the resin on it, after all. to get enough resin shouldn¡¯t be the problem as we have a nature spirit called Sylvan with us. We decided that we think about it overnight and maybe one of us then has an idea. On the next day they set out to follow the violet blood tracks that remained after the fight. During the time as Sylvan was away, they followed it for some time, till they saw it ending near a cave. So now it was not hard to find that place again. They had two things to stop the acid attacks. One was bottle full of resin, but they only had one bottle and as plan b they had small balls of resin that are covered with leaves. These balls where hard to handle and they decided that only Sylvan would use them as he could remove the resin easy from his hands. If the hands of Ulf and Falko were to be covered with resin, then they had a harder time fighting and Sylvan is a forest spirit, so it doesn¡¯t matter to him. As Ulf was proficient in using throwing knives, he would use the bottle of resin. The arrived at the cave and entered. Falko was in the front with a torch, behind and some to the side was Ulf and behind him was Sylvan. They walked about half an hour before the cave opened up. They now stood at the entrance to a high and wide area and they could also see some light in the distance. They carefully approached the light, as soon as they saw some details, they stopped and looked around. It seems a house was built into the rock and inside a living beings and light. On one side of the house was a small stream of water that came out of the cave wall. They moved closer, trying to get a look inside through the windows.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Inside they saw the thing with its tentacles, they also saw a smaller figure. The smaller being had only a mouth and a nose, but no eyes. It was gray in color and was hairless, not even on its head. Before it was table with a mirror and different crystals, there it was doing something, while the tentacle thing sat in a corner. Falko signed Ulf and Sylvan to throw the resin at the tentacle thing though the window while he was going to the door. Ulf and Sylvan used their hand to count form three to one and then Ulf threw the bottle and Sylvan some resin balls. Falko opened the door and dashed to the small gray being and cut its head off clean. Falko looked at the tentacle thing and saw that the mouth under his front tentacles was covered in resin. The thing became wild and madly sprinted towards Falko. He evaded and jumped through the door and he was outside again. The thing smashed into wall and then it turned and followed Falko outside. Before it arrived in front of Falko, roots came out of the ground, trying to bind the thing. At the same time Ulf got behind it, because of the tentacle on its back he couldn`t deliver a killing blow, but he was able to cut off the back tentacles. The thing seemed unable to cope with the situation. It tried to turn, to face Ulf while using two tentacles to attack Falko. Falko blocked them and because of the roots it was not able to turn fast. Sylvan poured more magic into the roots and they became bigger and grew thorns. Ulf and Falko attacked it at the same time while the thorny roots entangled it. Falko split its head with his bardiche and Ulf cut deep into its back with his twin dagger. Dead it fell to the ground. ¡°Falko and Ulf thank you both, it don`t think I would be able to kill it alone, especially as there was another being with it that we didn¡¯t expected.¡± I answered, ¡°I think this tentacles thing was really dangerous because of its acid and only because we had some kind of plan to stop it from using it were we able to kill it so easy. Also I think we should look through the house, maybe we find a clue about them. Sylvan you should especially look at the table with the crystals and the mirror, they maybe magic related.¡± Together we searched the house. We didn¡¯t find much in it, only some dried meat, a small bed, most likely for the small gray being and a room that was covered in hay, it looked like the tentacle thing slept there. Sylvan then looked at the table with the crystals and the mirror while Ulf and I looked at the dead gray being. Ulf has never seen something like it and later Sylvan said the same thing. One thing we noticed was that it had seven instead of five finger on each hand. Sylvan was only able to tell that the crystal and the mirror are both filled with magic, but not more. He said he wanted to show them to his friend and that he would be able to tell. In the end we couldn¡¯t figure out where they came from or what they wanted. Ulf and I wanted to stay for the day and continue our travel on the next day. When we were back at the place we stayed the last few days, we told Sylvan about it. He then said: ¡°Again thank you for your help. Before you go tomorrow speak to me, I want to give you something that is maybe able to help on your journey. OK, let¡¯s eat and drink tonight to say farewell.¡± He then vanished in the forest and shortly after came back with wood for the fire, meat to eat and wine to drink. Together we ate, drank and talked deep into the night. Ulf and I found a new friend. At the next morning, before Sylvan came back, I talked to Ulf. ¡°Ulf you could stay here with Sylvan, I don¡¯t think the Purity Cult will be able to find you here.¡± After some thinking Ulf replied: ¡°I said that I will help you find out more about Cil and I will do so. Maybe if I need a save place I could return here, but for now I will travel together with you.¡± I smiled and said my thanks. Shortly after that Sylvan arrived. ¡°It is time so say farewell and save travels.¡± The he gave each of us an orb out of wood. ¡°I know that you both can¡¯t use magic, so I made these for you.¡± He then explained how they work to us. Inside of the orb is a stored magic spell. On the orb from Ulf was the symbol of a bush and with it he cloud entangle someone with thorny roots. On my orb was a tree surrounded by water and with it I could turn the ground into a swamp. Each had a command word which is needed to activate them. For mine it was ¡®Palus¡¯ and for Ulf¡¯s it was ¡®Spineus¡¯. He also told us that each can be used six times and that as long as three uses are left you could learn the spell, but for that, you had to know how and that he could not teach us or if we are even able to learn them. We both thanked Sylvan for his gifts and then we said our farewells and parted. (Chp 9) Eyes of a falcon Eyes of a falcon After we parted with Sylvan, we traveled for about four days before we finally could see the other side of the mountain range. We could finally see the hills and forests of the country Ursus. We still had to travel a few days before we would be leaving the mountains. Ulf told me that their country was called Ursus, because it was considered a paradise for ursus which are beast people like the lupus. From what I could understand, if you consider lupus a form of wolf people, then ursus are a form of bear people. During this talk I also learned an umbrella term for different beast people, which is `ferus¡¯. After we traveled together and fought together we trusted each other more and we became friends. During our time of travel to a village at the foot of the mountain, we talked a lot more lighthearted. During the last days in the mountains we also fought a leogriff. We were able to defeat it, but after the fight Ulf told me that we were lucky. He told me that they often live in pairs and two of them are really hard to handle. I agreed, as we only could defeat it without suffering a bigger injury because Ulf used on of the charges of his wood orb to bind the leogriff. We were not far from a village and decided to bring the entire leogriff there to sell it. During this night however something strange happened. I was dreaming of the fight against the leogriff and in that dream my hand started to feel hot and as I looked at it I saw it glowing. At that moment Ulf woke me to take the night watch. During the night watch I thought a lot about that dream, I just couldn¡¯t get it out of my head. Then the left side of my belt started to feel warm, I had no idea why. On my belt I had a few pouches and after searching for a bit I found the source of the warmth. It was the coin from the Gluhschwanz. As I took it into my hand it began to glow, it flew out of my hand and to the corpse of the leogriff. I followed the flying coin. The coin flew to the head of the leogriff and stopped before the eyes, it started to glow more and I could also feel that it got warmer. The eyes were covered in a blue light and then they were gone. The coin slowly sank to the ground. I moved to it and as I picked it up I saw an orb lying beside the coin. I picked the coin and the orb up and examined both.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The coin looked like before, a strange and big gold coin with writing on it. The orb is colored amber and had one black dot, it is a bit smaller than the egg of a quail, but besides that I could not see anything strange. On the next day I asked Ulf if he knew what that orb was. I told him about all the things that happened and then showed him the orb. Ulf looked baffled after seeing the orb. He then said: ¡°Falko, I think we should not show the coin to anybody, at least until we arrive at the place where my friend lives. I don¡¯t know much about magic, but I know some, even if I cannot use it myself. That friend we are traveling to, he is a mage. I suspect something and if I am right, then this coin is very powerful. ¡° He sighed and continued¡­. ¡°I think this coin transformed the eyes of the leogriff in this orb and I think this orb is a magic eye. I don¡¯t know how that is possible, but after listening to you, that is what I think. To be sure you can try to put the orb into your eye-socket.¡± I looked at the orb in my hand. In this world magic seems to be common and we already want to get a magic eye for me. Maybe I am really this lucky. After this thought, I put the orb into my empty eye-socket, after removing the eye-patch. Then I lost my senses. I had that dream again, where I was fighting against a horde of enemies. This time however my left eye was a magic eye. I woke up and saw Ulf looking at me worried. ¡°How long was I out?¡± Ulf seemed relived and said: ¡°For about two to three hours. How is your new eye?¡± Then I realized that I had my old vision back or better said a normal vision. ¡°It seems to be working, as I can see normal again.¡± Ulf looked at me and excited he asked: ¡°Are there any other abilities?¡± I look at him confused and then he said: ¡°Oh, I forgot. You most likely don`t know but magic eyes have a rating. The ratings are common, rare, unique and mystic. 99% of all magic eyes are common and 0.9% are rare. Common magic eyes have no abilities, they are only able to let you see again, but rare or higher have abilities. Because of how it was created, I hoped that this magic eye is special.¡± ¡°How do you know if it special and with an ability?¡± Ulf shrugged his shoulder and said: ¡°I have no idea.¡± We tested a bit, but because we had no idea how to know if there is an ability or not, we found out nothing. Most likely it has to wait till we arrive in Hummel and can ask Ulf¡¯s friend. The rest of the travel to the village was uneventful and we needed about two days to arrive. We sold all the things we hunted from beasts in the mountains and were able to get quite the sum, especially the leogriff was worth a lot. We bought a few necessities and I also bought a new leather helm and a bow and arrows. I am not a marksman but the bow would make the hunting easier. Ulf said that we need about the same amount of time we needed to cross the mountains, to ride through Ursus and arrive at Temito. Riding our horses we set off from the village towards Temito.