Month: May 2022

Twenty minutes had passed by now, and Annastaria and Bastillina still felt a great distance from each other. Bastillina wanted to go with Oden, and instead she was forced to watch the sunset, wondering what the lights of Cymroyl were like. At least she could still see the fireworks, as Oden said. Annastaria stepped out of the steamy shower tub and got dressed. She was wearing her shirt and shorts, preparing for a cozy sleep, something she hadn’t had for a few days. As she was alone in the bathroom, she had time, and examined some of her wounds from the fight in the forest, and in particular, the most severe one on her lower abdominal area, to the right of her belly. She wouldn’t look at it in front of Oden, nor Bastillina, not wanting them to see just how much damage the ice shards from that pale master did. This one managed to strike her just below her body armor, and punctured the skin, causing bleeding that stained into her pants and shirt.

She applied more bandages over the wound, covered it, and stepped outside, her hair still wet, and loose around her shoulders. She froze when her eyes set on Bastillina, who was staring out the large window to the western city and the Rip about three miles away, and the sunset beginning to burn in the western horizon. Annastaria knew what was on her mind; or at least she was relatively sure. 

Never before had she wanted to comfort Bastillina as she did now. And she remembered what Oden said to her back in the woods, that she needed to do better with the young girl, who looked to her now for hope, for answers, and guidance, echoing what Istvan said. It seemed that the gods destined her for this. This was one thing Oden was right about, but only one thing. 

With a silent sigh, Annastaria walked to her, looking out the window herself. “Are you doing okay?” Annastaria asked.

Bastillina didn’t look at her, and took a moment to respond, as if she was contemplating what to say, whether it was a nice thing or not. Finally she shrugged, “I’m fine.”

Annastaria felt like there was more in those simple words, and she didn’t know what to do about it. She stood silent for a moment, contemplating what to say next before she came up with the best thing she could think of. “How are you doing with listening for the magic winds?” she asked.

Bastillina looked at her, as if a lightbulb came on. “Good, I think.” she replied, “There was a lot of time out there in the forest and hills to listen. It was hard in the city, though. Lots of noise and all.”

Annastaria smiled and went to sit in a chair next to Bastillina. “That is something I can surely agree to; the cities in these parts are far too noisy for anyone to think clearly.”

“Is that why you don’t want to go out there?” Bastillina asked.

Annastaria sensed there was a kind of jab at her from Bastillina in the question. The girl clearly wanted to go and enjoy the evening. Annastaria’s smile disappeared, and she felt the need to explain herself. “I know it is not fun to have to remain here.” she replied, “But you must believe me that it is better this way.”

Bastillina chuckled suddenly, which caught Annastaria by surprise. “I’m not mad.” Bastillina replied, “If we stay up here, then that’s okay… But come on, it’s super boring here.”

Once again, Annastaria felt the sting of Bastillina’s criticism, as if she needed to do something about her boredom, which she couldn’t understand. An idea came to mind, but she hesitated; what if she was being tempted, and giving into the temptation, thus committing a sin by doing what was on her mind? She looked at Bastillina again, whose despairing face slowly returned. Annastaria cast aside the thought; she raised her hand and snapped her finger, and a small flame appeared above her thumb at the snap, drawing Bastillina’s attention. The light of the flame seemed to glare off her eyes. 

“Whoa!” the girl said with excitement, “How’d you do that?”

Annastaria smiled as she opened her hand and let the flame puff out. “It is easy, really.” she said, “It is as easy as,” she snapped her fingers again, and once again, a flame appeared, “snapping your fingers.”

“That’s so cool! I can’t wait to be able to do that!”

“What prevents you from doing it?” Annastaria said, letting the flame puff out again.

“I have to learn a bunch of stuff, don’t I?”

“Yes… But this little trick is nothing more than a small exercise. I can have you do it within the hour, if you pay close attention to the things that I tell to you.”

Bastillina’s eyes lit up and she straightened up in her chair, “Really? I can do this?”

“Of course. Do you remember what I said to you earlier? About listening and feeling the magic in the air? It is even in this room. If it was not, I could not have created a flame.”

“I remember.”

“Good… And remember always that you must not force yourself into the stream of magic, but must move with it. It is like a rhythm; keep it in your heart, and you will feel it flow in and through you… Come with me to the floor and we shall begin.”

Bastillina leaped off her chair and to the floor with Annastaria to begin. For the next ten minutes, Annastaria took Bastillina through the steps, beginning first with listening again for the magic in the air, and feeling it move. Somehow, it seemed like with Annastaria’s help, Bastillina’s senses of magic in the air became more sensitive. It was a graceful encouragement, like Annastaria was taking this journey with Bastillina, relating to her, even though Annastaria was far more experienced. 

When Bastillina was finally able and ready to try, she did not catch a flame, as she was supposed to, but she managed a spark in only a few tries. Annastaria could hardly believe that Bastillina was able to get even that so quickly. It was only a matter of time before she would be able to snap and catch the flame.

Finally, after twenty minutes, Bastillina snapped and caught her first flame on her thumb. It scared her at first, but she overcame it once the small shock gave way, and Annastaria almost shouted in joy at it. “You did it!” Annastaria exclaimed, “Well done!”

“Holy crap!” Bastillina said, holding the flame on her thumb, trying to control the excited breathing, “I did it! And it doesn’t hurt! Wow! I’ve never used fire before!”

A few more tries, and a few more misses, but the more and more Bastillina did it, the more she was successful, and she was soon getting the feel of it, catching flames three and even four times in a row. Annastaria was joyful the whole time, smiling and chuckling with pride in her in a way that Bastillina had never thought she would ever see. 

Annastaria was always distant and reserved, and seeing her this way only further encouraged Bastillina to give it her all and snap and catch more flames. The more and more she did it, the more she felt the magic around her, as if it was a heartbeat, or as Annastaria said, a rhythm to leap into and out of.

Before long, the two went from a lesson in magic, to something more. “Why did you stay around a gurra like Leno?” Annastaria asked.

“A what?” Bastillina said back.

“A gurra,” she said again, rolling the ‘r’ sound, “It is elvish for fool, or pathetic one.”

Bastillina giggled in agreement to the insult, but got more serious as she thought. She shrugged her shoulders, “I didn’t really have a choice.” she said. Once those words were uttered, Bastillina fell silent, and the light mood came down, as if the color of the whole room faded into black and white. Annastaria did not attempt to interrupt, seeing a thought on the edge of Bastillina’s lips. “When my dad died,” she said, “all I had was Leno. Both of them were caught up in crime… But I guess when I was born, my dad wanted to change. He tried to get out… And then my mom got sick–real sick… Then she was gone.”

“I am sorry.” Annastaria said.

Bastillina shrugged again, “It’s nothing, really… She died before I ever got to know her.” She paused, making no eye-contact with Annastaria, who felt as though Bastillina was forcing herself not to look at her. With a shaky sigh, Bastillina continued, “But I knew my dad though… I remember him well. He wasn’t around a lot, but he tried to keep a good job, somewhere in the big warehouse buildings.” She looked at Annastaria then and with a big smile over a broken heart, “He said he was going to do everything he could to help me get into a good school that would teach me about my gift.”

“You mean, you being a master?”

Bastillina nodded. Then another pause, and one that felt even more heavy than the last. Finally Bastillina forced out the rest of her words, “Then one day he… didn’t come home.” Her voice shook, and Annastaria’s heart fell and broke at the words. She struggled with finding security in her own home, but at least she had a father. This girl had none; he was taken away from her. “After that,” she continued, “I had no choice but to go with Leno, my uncle… My dad, though he did a lot of bad things, did everything he could to keep me from his crime stuff.” She looked up at Annastaria before continuing, “What would he think of me now?”

Annastaria waited a moment, to see if there was more Bastillina wanted to say. “Your father would know you had no choice.” Annastaria said.

Bastillina looked away again, thinking about Annastaria’s attempt to comfort her. It did help, and she didn’t know how to look poorly upon the statement. “Thanks.” Bastillina said, somewhat awkwardly.

“For what?” Annastaria asked.

“For getting me out of there.”

Annastaria paused for a moment. She was glad Bastillina was away from that life that only led to a miserable and forgotten death. But was where Annastaria was headed going to be better? She felt a sudden need and desire to explain to Bastillina her real intentions, but she wouldn’t. “I would not thank me so much.” Annastaria said, “Just because you have come away from that small world, does not mean everything outside is good.”

Bastillina shrugged again, “I guess… But don’t we all start in a small world? I bet you did at one point, and now look at you.” Annastaria was startled. Somehow Bastillina’s comment struck a chord in her own heart, as if it spoke directly to her. Was she also naïve and closed off from the world? Surely not, as she had learned much about the aenman western world. But she was nevertheless surprised with what she actually encountered beyond the books and stories. “And you run around chasing the day like no one I’ve ever seen.” Bastillina continued to flatter, “I don’t know if there are any gods or a god up in heaven, but if there is, I’m so glad he or she or they put me here with you.”

Annastaria chuckled slightly at the flattery, but wouldn’t let it get too close to her thinking. She didn’t want to be seen as some kind of hope for Bastillina. “It is an honor to help you take your first steps in your mastery.” Annastaria said, “It is vital and important that you carry a great sense of responsibility with it. And to that, it is time for your next great and important lesson.”

“What?” Bastillina asked, leaning forward to hear.

Annastaria leaned forward herself with a smirk on her face, “A good master gets their rest. It is time for bed.”

Bastillina smiled back, and the smile comforted Annastaria, who was grateful she managed to somehow turn this gloomy evening that Oden made worse with his immaturity, into something worthwhile to go to bed to. “Now get ready,” Annastaria said as she stood up, “I will go and see if I can find us some food downstairs.”

“It’s all probably expensive, though.” Bastillina said.

Annastaria went to her bag to find some money, “I am sure I have enough here to get us some decent food. I will find some, even if I must go across the street to get it. Wait here until I return.” Annastaria took her pouch of money and walked out, leaving Bastillina inside.

She walked downstairs and to the main lobby, where she came to the front desk with one of the very employees that were spying on Oden earlier. “Hello,” Annastaria said, getting their attention, “could I get some food here, and how much does it cost?”

The employee pointed towards the kitchen, “Sure. The kitchen’s over there, and prices vary. You’ll see them once you’re there.”

Annastaria thanked them, and moved on towards the kitchen. Once inside, she was impressed with its size. In fact, it wasn’t really a kitchen, but a restaurant. There was a buffet bar to the right, with cooks behind it preparing plates for people, all of whom sat in tables across a wide stretch of space, and a band consisting of a trumpet player, a drummer, cello and piano, playing a slow-beat jazz tune in the stage corner. Annastaria came to the bar and eventually, with some direction, found a worker to ask her questions, and saw that she could afford to buy a plate of mashed potatoes, some chicken legs and more of that soda pop Oden got her once. She had it prepared for her and sat at an empty table to wait for it to be placed in a foam box so she could take it upstairs.

She looked at the television box that sat elevated a few feet in front of her. It was too loud in the room to hear anything, but the headline was about the EU and other Enussian countries getting more involved in the growing Febian problem. Annastaria knew that her quest would take her close to Febia. The others of her clan would have to go into that place, she would not. For the first time, the idea both angered her, and relieved her. At least Bastillina wouldn’t have to go through that. Still, she couldn’t shake her anger that she wouldn’t be able to support her comrades in their search for the Black priest. It didn’t matter right now. Right now, she only wanted to focus on getting Bastillina something to eat before bed, as the sky grew darker and darker.

“Mind if I sit?” asked a voice, surprising her, and not even waiting for a reply before it’s human source sat down in the chair on her right. His forward nature nearly startled Annastaria out of her seat. Only a second later, another man sat at the table, to her left. The first man smiled, while Annastaria went into silent alert mode. She felt this unwelcome presence before, back when she was confronted by those Intero thugs.

“I do mind, actually.” she said to him.

“Oh.” the man replied, “Is this seat taken? I’ll only be a minute.” Annastaria thought of something to say, but couldn’t. The man chuckled and continued, “This place is so packed, I can’t find anywhere else to sit. I was literally headed to this table when you sat in it. My friend and I’ve been up and moving all day, and just need a moment to relax.”

Annastaria looked at them both, and maintained her alertness, but didn’t protest, given his answer. His accent wasn’t Oenian, but she didn’t recognize it from Ensostene, or Berchazan, or any of the other Enussian nations, leaving her completely in the dark as to who he was. 

An awkward silence followed before the man spoke again, “Elvish, huh?”

Annastaria stared at him, wondering if she should answer. “Part elvish.” she decidedly replied.

“Really? That’s interesting. I’ve always wondered, do part elves still get all the cool benefits of being elves? You know, better immune systems, heightened senses, and of course… magic?”

“Sometimes.” Annastaria replied, again, hesitant to even do so.

“And do you?”

She paused even longer this time, looking at both of them before she replied, “Why do you care?”

The man looked at his friend and chuckled, who chuckled back. “You’re not much of a people person, huh?” he said to her.

“I am not someone who likes being ambushed like this. The last time it happened, it did not go well.”

“Ambush? My goodness, I’m terribly sorry if that’s what it seemed like… Well I can assure you that this is not like the other times.”

“And how would you know of the other time this happened to me?”

The man took a cigarette out of a pack and lit it before he replied, “I know a lot about you, actually. More than you think.” Annastaria’s alert level went up once again, and she gave him a look as if she was ready to flip the table over and flee. “Not so fast there, my friend.” the man said to her, keeping his calmness, “No need to panic.”

“I do not know who you are, and you claim to know me. So you have already lied to me once.”

“Just getting your attention, and I think I have it now, do I not?” Annastaria didn’t answer, only thought about how she was going to get away from him without drawing attention to herself. “And before you think about anything funny,” the man continued, “my friend here, who’s not here to keep me safe, has a stun-gun ready to hit you the moment you make a sudden move. I know you’re a master, and I know what will happen if you get hit with one of those. So do us all a favor and relax… I’m not here to hurt you.”

“You threaten to stun me and paralyze my mastery and yet you claim to not be a threat?”

“I said I’m not here to hurt you; doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to if you don’t cooperate. I just have a few words I want to have with you… Is that too much to ask?” Annastaria didn’t answer, and he took another puff of his cigarette as he waited. The smoke was thick and ravaged her sinuses almost immediately, practically suffocating her. She battled heavy bouts of coughing, keeping them light, but rapid. “Not familiar with cigarettes are we?” he said with a smirk, “That’s interesting. They’re rather common in these parts.” Annastaria sensed there was something to what he was saying, but she wouldn’t dare implore what it was. Something about this man was different from the other Intero thugs. “You might be pleasantly surprised to hear what I have to say.” he continued, “I think it’s in your best interest to listen.”

Again, Annastaria didn’t want to even interact with him. “I do not even know who you are.” she said, “Why should I care what you have to say?”

“Oh dear goodness–silly me; I didn’t even introduce myself. My name is Donren Ryker, known mostly by my last name.” Annastaria froze and felt a chill go through her with it. The Ryker Oden spoke of? How could he have found her? Ryker saw her shock as her eyes seemed to widen, and she held her breath. He grinned at her bodily response, “So you have heard of me.” he said, “No doubt by your new and interesting companion… You know who I mean–Oden, of course.”

“Yes.” answered Annastaria, slowly and suspiciously, “He spoke of you, and that you are an evil man.”

Ryker chuckled, “Of course he said that. Why wouldn’t he? I’m his biggest enemy right now. Believe it or not, it’s not Lance and his Intero thugs that Oden is afraid of. They work for me.”

“Then it is you that sent that creature of a man upon us who nearly killed me.”

Ryker’s fading grin grew once more, “Ah, so you met Jorum, I see. Never fear; I can assure you that while Jorum can be… aggressive, he was under strict orders not to kill you.”

“If you do not seek my death, then what is it that you want?”

“Well, in the first place, I want what was stolen from me.”

“What Oden took from you… And that is why you hunt him?”

“That would be it, my dear.”

Annastaria paused, perplexed by this entire meeting. “I do not understand then. Oden is not here. If it is he that you want, why are you coming to me?”

Ryker chuckled again before replying, “That has to do with the second thing I want… I’ve been wanting an audience with you. Yes–you, my dear. You see, since you’ve come into the scene and been offering some protective services for Oden, you’ve become quite the object of attention for all of us.”

“Why would anyone be interested in me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You stand out, my dear. Aimless elvish teenage females are not the type people cross paths with every day. At least not in this part of the world. The way you clean the clocks of Lance’s men is rather impressive.”

“They were in my way.”

Both Ryker and his partner laughed at the comment. “Clearly!” Ryker replied through his laughter, “And that’s why I’ve been interested in you. But before I get to that, I think there is this business with Oden that needs to be dealt with.”

“Oden told me about you already.”

“I’m sure he did. I bet he told you I’m the scourge of Eldreon, or something like it.”

“He said you are trying to do something sinister, and that you are threatening Enussia.”

“Let me guess, he’s got secret information from me, that only he knows about, and he needs to get it into EU hands. He can’t say it’s a bunch of actual documents because he knows even he can’t hide that in his bag, so I bet he said he’s got a data disk of some kind. Am I close?” Annastaria was halted in her train of thought at what Ryker was saying. That was exactly what Oden told her. Once again, Ryker saw her freeze in place and knew what it meant. “Just as I thought.” he replied, taking another puff of his cigarette. He leaned forward then, and continued, “I bet he didn’t tell you that he used to work for me, did he?” Again, Annastaria didn’t know what to say or think. Oden never mentioned anything like that. “Oh yes,” Ryker continued, “he used to be one of my little soldiers. Me, the evil, sinister man… So tell me, why on Eldreon would a good and noble man like Oden work for an evil man like me?”

“I do not believe you.” Annastaria said. But she knew deep down he was making sense.

Ryker smirked, “Of course you don’t. And why should you? After all, I came hunting you down. I sent those Intero thugs after you, and I sent Jorum after you, and judging by those wounds on your arms, he did some damage. So sure, why trust me?” He paused, and Annastaria waited for him to answer the question she really wanted an answer to. “Let me tell you what Oden really has.” he said, “What he really has isn’t a data disk at all. Nothing of the sort is even in this equation. What Oden took from me is actually a magic artifact.” Annastaria’s interest peaked, but she didn’t show it to him. Magical artifacts were something she was always supposed to be on the lookout for. Ryker continued, “An object that contains within it magic energy. It’s sitting in his bag right now as we speak.”

“How do you know this?”

“How do you think I’ve been tracking you? I can track magic, my friend. You may be hiding your magic signature from our instruments, but that artifact can’t help itself. I’ve always known where you were. Lucky you, I could have sicked Lance’s men on you as soon as you reached your room here, but I didn’t. Now you’re wondering, ‘why?’… Because I want to give you a chance to look past all this crazy goose-chasing, and past Oden’s pathetic lies. As a matter of fact, I’m going to do you a solid right now: in a matter of,” he looked at his watch before continuing, “I’d say… fifteen–twenty minutes, this entire place is going to be overrun with Intero thugs.”

Annastaria’s heart began to race, and her panic began to break through her attempts to remain calm. Her mind instantly thought of Bastillina when he uttered that statement. “You wanna know why?” Ryker continued, “Because you guys are sitting in an Intero-owned hotel suite. Oden’s got a bounty on his head, and so as soon as he walked in this place, the fool exposed himself. Now I knew you were here already; Lance probably just learned about it right now, and is on his way. So you and your little sister I’ve seen you with, who’s probably upstairs right now, are about to get whacked because of Oden, and I tell you what,” he leaned back in his chair and took a puff of his cigarette again, “for someone who’s on an important and noble mission, Oden seems pretty comfortable right now, don’t you think? Carelessly checking into a place like this, and then going out to… do some ‘noble’ stuff, I’m sure, huh? And here’s another question to ask yourself: If Oden is trying to get this special information into EU hands, why not bring it to the SIU? There was a headquarters back in Whitehold. Why not go straight there? You wanna know why?” Ryker waited for a response that he knew was never going to come. “Because he’s a criminal, and as soon as he checks into an SIU headquarters, his ass gets cuffed, that’s why.”

Annastaria’s anger began to boil within herself. What if Ryker was right? He seemed right; Oden was out partying when they were all in grave danger. He was careless, and his carelessness put her and Bastillina at great risk, assuming Ryker was speaking the truth. She didn’t know, but she also knew that if she didn’t believe Ryker, she was risking Bastillina’s safety even more than Oden was.

Ryker saw the conflict in her eyes. He kept his calm as he took yet another puff before leaning forward again. “I tell you what, my dear… As I said, I want you to trust me. I haven’t attacked you, and I’m going to walk out of here with my friend and leave you be. I’ll make you a deal: You go upstairs to your room, go into Oden’s bag, and if you don’t find a data disk, then you know I’m telling you the truth, and Oden is the one lying to you.”

“And you are certain he left it there?”

“Sure am. When he walked out of here a little while ago, he didn’t have it. Where else is it gonna to be?” He paused again, waiting for Annastaria to reply. She had nothing. Ryker continued, “You got twenty minutes. Probably ten to be safe… Go through his bag, and if you don’t find a ‘data disk’,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card with what seemed to be an address written down on it, “you grab his bag and go to this place here. It’s an old warehouse next to a private airfield, south, outside of town and towards the woods. I’ll be there waiting for you… We’ll talk then.” He and his friend got up. 

“You better get moving, my dear.” he said, “And don’t forget your food sitting at the counter over there. You and your sister are gonna need it.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out and dropping in front of a stunned Annastaria a wad of cash. “Here.” Ryker said with a confident smile, “For your food, and a little more.” Ryker put his top hat on, still smiling, “It’s been a real pleasure. I do sincerely hope you take my advice. Believe it or not, I do not want to learn what happens if you don’t.”

He and his partner left, and the last Annastaria saw them, they were headed to the exit, leaving her alone and unsure what to do next. She had no reason to trust him, but nothing he said felt or seemed out of place. If she listened to this stranger, who she didn’t even have confirmation was this ‘Ryker’ character, she risked leading herself and Bastillina into a trap. Worse still, if he really was Ryker, that meant his mutant master would be part of this, and if she and Bastillina did walk into a trap, she had no assurance she could keep the girl safe; she risked putting her in even greater danger than if she ignored him.

But if she didn’t listen to him, and he turned out to be right, then she would feel the cost of it in only a few minutes, and she only had such minutes to think about what she was going to do.

Annastaria, Oden and Bastillina barely manage to escape Lance, and the clutches of the strange master in the Rueldof. Tired, beaten, and injured, they are forced to take shelter in the forest for the night. Finding a moment of rest and peace before moving on, Annastaria finds a moment to teach young Bastillina an important, fundamental lesson in magic, before they move on to Cymroyl, where Annastaria plans to rest up more before the final push to Mennix. However, as they approach the city, Oden begins to have different plans for “rest” that cause Annastaria to be concerned, and attracts too much attention.

The sun had risen somewhere in the Rueldof forest, and its beams through the wind-stricken trees glittered sunlight upon the eyelids of Annastaria and it slowly began to wake her. Finally her eyes came open, and she found herself huddled next to a tree, with a blanket over her to keep her warm. It was the one she gave to Bastillina for the night. Only a few seconds later, the sound of voices somewhere behind her, to the north, where the meadows gleaned over the small hills to open land. She looked over her shoulder and saw Oden and Bastillina having made a small fire and cooking something. She turned her gaze to the sky, and the sun coming through the trees from the east. That it was in the east was still a good sign, but it wasn’t all good. She almost leaped up suddenly, but calmed herself and went over to them.

“Hey!” Oden said to her, “Good to see you up.”

“Yes, I am up.” Annastaria quickly replied with a hasty manner, “How long have I been sleeping?”

Oden paused and hummed a moment, looking at Bastillina as if to seek help from her. She had nothing. He looked back at Annastaria, “Probably about an hour since the sun’s been up.”

Annastaria couldn’t believe it. Normally her heart would sink at such news, but she honestly couldn’t believe it in her heart. Yet it registered in her brain well. “An hour?” she said, “By the gods, this cannot be!”

“Hey, just calm down, it’s fine.”

“How is it fine? We should have been up and moving by now–why did you not wake me?”

Oden stood up quickly to meet her, “Hey-hey-hey, take it easy, okay? Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. You needed the rest. After what you did yesterday? You lost your jacket for crying out loud, and you were going hypothermic last night. That’s why I gave you the blanket and let you rest for a bit–and don’t worry, I didn’t touch you… Now look, it’s clear that wherever you’re from–and you don’t have to tell me–but wherever you’re from, they raised you to be one tough chick, and I’m totally into that… But Erene, you can’t just kill yourself here. There’s nothing wrong with taking a little time to rest. So come on; I got us some breakfast going, we’ll chow down a bit and head out in like twenty minutes. It’s still real early right now. We’ll be in Cymroyl by three in the afternoon.”

Annastaria was ready to send his advice and kindness right back into his face, but something stopped her. It felt like a temptation to actually enjoy some form of reward for all that she’s done the last few days, which, if true, would be considered a sin to indulge oneself like that, especially in the midst of an important quest. But she looked at Bastillina, who was chewing on whatever Oden made, and once more, she found herself in a strange situation of actually heeding advice that went against her instinct. She looked back at Oden, whose hair was blowing in his face from the morning breeze. 

She sighed, “Fine.” she said, “Twenty minutes.”

Oden’s face brightened like the morning sun, “Twenty minutes then!”

“Keep down your voice!” she whispered loudly, “We do not know who else may be out here!”

“I’m pretty sure they all moved on.” he said as he went to sit down again, “Come on! I made some fish.”

“Fish?” she asked as she looked at the pan he had over the campfire.

“It’s really good.” Bastillina said, “Oden should be a cook.” she added before taking another bite.

“Where did you get this fish?” Annastaria asked.

“The river to the southeast.” Oden replied, “Lots of ‘em in there.”

Annastaria was surprised, but she didn’t want to show it. She didn’t take Oden as any kind of hunter or fisher. She hesitated, but sat between Oden and Bastillina. The wind was incredible, blowing in from the northeast. It was cool, and the morning temperature was a complimentary warm. Oden took one of the crinkled paper plates he probably had stuffed in his bag and placed a half of a fish on it to give to Annastaria. 

“It’s a good thing we’ve been here at least an hour.” he said as he handed it to her, “You know why?” Annastaria took the plate suspiciously, staring at him with her skepticism and refused to entertain the question. Oden continued, “Otherwise, I couldn’t have made these just like this.”

Annastaria brought the sizzling fish piece to her nose and smelled, trying to figure it out before taking a bite. She didn’t trust that this would be good. It made it even more anxious knowing she had both Oden and Bastillina’s eyes beaming on her, waiting for her to bite, as if her biting into this fish would stop world hunger. She finally picked the piece up from the paper plate and bit into it. She chewed for a moment, and realized that it was actually well made. It wasn’t like Quelden’s fish, but given what Oden had to work with out here, it was impressive.

“You made this?” she asked.

Oden’s smile grew, “Yeah… What do you think?”

Annastaria looked at the two of them again before replying, “It is… good.”

“See?” Bastillina said, “It’s amazing!”

“When did you learn to do this?” Annastaria asked.

“Don’t ask questions–just enjoy!” he said as he stood up to begin packing his things, “You earned it. Just kick back for a little bit.”

Annastaria continued to eat her food, seemingly slowly, and it was a strange moment of awkward silence between her and Bastillina. Bastillina could have gotten up to get ready to leave, but she didn’t, which gave Annastaria the sense that she wanted to say something to her. They could hear Oden behind them humming some strange and clearly unscripted and scattered song. Otherwise, it was a silent and awkward moment. 

Finally Annastaria sighed quietly, “Is there something you wish to say to me?”

Bastillina almost blushed. “Umm…” she stuttered, “Well… kind of.”

“If you wish to say something to me, then please say it. This is strange enough having you watch me eat.”

“Well… I was just kind of thinking… since we’re taking a little break from walking, I was… kind of wondering… is it possible to show me something? You know… about magic?”

Annastaria said nothing for a moment, and instinctively, she wanted to tell Bastillina that they had no time. But once again, a strange force was in the air that was weighing down her conscience with some form of guilt for saying that. She looked up past her to Oden, who stopped and looked back at her. She knew what he was thinking about, and she hated it. She looked back at Bastillina, and stared at her for a moment, and thought and thought. 

Bastillina didn’t know what to make of the look, and feared the worst. Annastaria put down the plate of fish and focused on the young girl.  “Close your eyes.” she said. Bastillina didn’t know what to think of that request, but did it. “What do you hear?” Annastaria asked further.

Bastillina took a moment to think, trying to discern whether that was a trick question or not. She gave up trying to come up with an in-depth answer. “Just… the wind.” she replied, half-ashamed of her answer.

About a second later, Bastillina felt Annastaria’s hand gently take her own and raise it up. “Hold your hand out like this.” Annastaria said. Oden saw what they were doing, and stopped his packing to watch silently. “What do you feel?” she asked.

Once more, Bastillina tried to focus and come up with something more than what was plain and obvious, but once more, she had nothing. “Just… the wind.” she repeated.

“It is not simply the wind you hear and feel.” Annastaria said, “That is simply what it seems as though is all you hear and feel. Oden only hears and feels the wind. You, a master, hear and feel more. Do you hear a whisper, almost as if a chime or a series of bells sing to you? Concentrate.”

Bastillina did as requested, and pushed her mind to focus. The wind felt more roaring than ever before, and seemed to surround Bastillina in its aura. It was at that moment, upon her own request, it came to her aid. And then, she heard it. Her eyes went open, and Annastaria knew what it meant. “I…” Bastillina began, “I think I heard it.” She looked at Annastaria and continued, “But… I’ve heard that before… Isn’t that just the wind?”

“No.” Annastaria said with a smile breaking through, “That is more than the wind. Some call it the winds of magic, or simply magic energy. Magic is all around us; you breath it in. It is how we can do what we do. But only masters have that special sense and connection to it. You have heard it all your life, you simply always believed it was just the way the wind sounded… I have seen you fight with magic before, and I have seen you struggle to control it.”

Bastillina looked down as if in shame. “I try and try to control it, but,” she confessed, “I don’t know, it’s like as soon as I start to focus, I lose focus, like when I try to ice skate, I just mess it up and fall down. All I’m doing is trying to keep from falling. I never get to really enjoy it.”

Annastaria nodded at what Bastillina was saying, and it comforted her. It told her Annastaria knew what she was talking about. “Hold your hand up once more.” Annastaria said. Bastillina did so, and once again, felt the wind brush her arm. “The winds of magic flow through the air as the wind does. It is not something you can control. You cannot make the wind go where you want it to. The moment you try, you will be tossed and thrown away. Think of the rivers. They are channels of flowing water. When you see me use the water as I did yesterday, you must understand that I am doing that because I am not trying to pull it towards me, I am not demanding its submission to my will. I am acting with it. The water goes where it will go, and I accompany it. It is not about pulling it away from its natural flow, it is about going alongside it, and drawing from that energy, its nature gives out. Push against the river and how well will you do?”

Bastillina looked away and thought for a moment, “Not very well.”

Annastaria smiled and replied, “Precisely. That is why you struggle. The moment you tap into the magic energy that flows through the air, instead of flowing with it, you drive yourself within the current.”

“What do I do then?”

“Listen.” Annastaria said softly but firmly, “As you have just done. You must listen and feel it… That is your lesson for today. I want you, for the next few hours as we proceed forth, to listen and feel the winds of magic in the air. They are always there; you must listen and feel them… Can you do that for me?”

Bastillina smiled bright as ever and nodded almost her entire upper-torso. “Aye!” she said, “I can do that!”

Annastaria smiled back, “Good. Come. We must be ready to leave and be in Cymroyl before nightfall.”

Oden’s smile grew as he hoisted his things over his shoulder and approached them, “Well, I’m waiting for you two slow-pokes. Come on and get your things together. We got at least six hours of walking until we’re in Cymroyl.”

The three of them, with Annastaria as their lead, started off once more, moving northwest through the open and hilly lands, until they came to another part of the woods, as beautiful as the ones from before. And just as before, there were great statues, old and cracked in many places within the woods. They took time to rest near one, in which Annastaria told Bastillina a small tale about some of the myths that the statues represented before they continued on as the sun took its place right above them. 

The walk then came out of the woods once more to more open hills; all the while, Bastillina kept reminding herself to keep focused on listening for the magic in the air. Throughout the journey, they had only the company of the local wildlife, which gave them no trouble. Otherwise, it seemed as though their enemies had lost them, and the longer the day went, the more care-free even Annastaria seemed.

It was late in the afternoon, and they were later than they had intended, but finally, they came to a hill from which they could see the tall buildings of downtown Cymroyl, some thirty miles away from their position. A sense of relief came to each of them, feeling as though they had managed to reach a milestone in their quest. Oden couldn’t stop talking about all the excitement of Cymroyl during the day, hoping to show both Annastaria and Bastillina all the things it had to offer. Still, Annastaria remained unswayed by his stories, even if Bastillina was.

“Looks like another two-three hours and we’ll be in business!” an enthused Oden said.

“We are getting rest.” Annastaria said, “Do not forget that.”

Oden smiled as he began taking the lead, “And rest we shall! In the beautiful city of Cymroyl. I tell you guys, we could not have picked a better time to come to this city–right during its Festival of Lights!”

“Yes,” Annastaria said coldly, “so you have spoken the last few days, and especially the last few hours. But you know what I mean by ‘rest’.”

“I know what you mean. I just care more about what I mean. Trust me, you guys will love it. Celebrating the Festival of Lights doesn’t simply mean just drinking and boozing your nights away. There’s so much more to do! There’s this one place called the Silver Dragon, and man does it have the best salmon and steak. We gotta go!”

“Aw, now I’m hungry!” Bastillina said, feeding off Oden’s excitement, “I’ve been walking forever. I can’t wait to just kick back, toss my shoes and enjoy some good grub!”

“And there’s no better place to do it than here in Cymroyl.”

A few hours later, the three had finally arrived in the city, and to Oden’s courtesy, took one of the trams further in. The tram went up about forty feet and Bastillina felt as though they were flying through this beautiful city. It had a golden look to it, with a mix of pointed and flat-top buildings. For Annastaria, it was much like Levaan, but Levaan seemed to have less interest in cultural emphasis, which much of Cymroyl portrayed. 

She could see many additional lights on many of the buildings that themselves were not lit due to it being the afternoon on a bright day, but she suspected they had to do with the night festivals. They passed by an open square, where people were clearly preparing for a party of some kind.

“They’re getting ready for the big night.” Oden said to Bastillina as she gazed at the wonderful sight. The square was impressively large, surrounded by buildings that were modern but yet maintained a style of old world and Victorian concepts, and there was a large fountain in the middle, with stacks of layers upon one another, the highest point being in the center, all of which shooting water up into the air. “What do you think?” Oden asked.

Bastillina looked at him with a bright smile and replied, “It looks amazing, Mr. Oden!”

“Wait till you see it at night.” he said with a smile of his own, “That’s when you really see it’s beauty.”

The whole time Annastaria remained mellow and unmoved, keeping herself aware of their surroundings. “Where are we going to?” she asked Oden.

“To a nice hotel.” he replied.

“A nice hotel? We do not need a nice hotel, just one to stay in.”

“Not in this city we’re not. We’re living a little while we’re here.”

Annastaria sighed. “We are not here for pleasure, Oden.” she said, “And we must not waste valuable resources like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“This train ride and this hotel you speak of. Plus your intention to spend more on this night.”

“Firstly, it’s a tram, not a train, and secondly, don’t worry about it, I got enough money to take us well past Cymroyl.”

Annastaria couldn’t believe what she was hearing Oden say. An eyebrow went up from her forehead as she spoke, “You are going to have enough money for all of this?”

“Sure. What do you think, I’m just some poor schmuck off the streets? Don’t worry about it, I’ve got everything covered.”

Annastaria didn’t say more, but she began to grow concerned about Oden’s sudden desire to spend lavishly. And such an example was disturbing to her for Bastillina, who was enchanted with this whole city. Finally, they came to a stop somewhere in the downtown area, close to the Rip. Oden led the two girls through the dense, urban area until they came upon a hotel that nearly caused Annastaria’s jaw to drop once she saw it. Much like the rest of the city, this hotel building seemed to be made of gold, and it soared up to fifty stories in the downtown area.

“What is this?” Annastaria asked slowly as she stood, nearly in shock.

“Where we’re staying for the night.” Oden replied, “It’s the Marduga Suite. The best place in town!”

“This…” Annastaria began, but was forced to pause at the breath-taking sight, “This cannot be affordable.”

“Sure it can!”

“This is amazing!” Bastillina shouted, even leaping up and down several times, “We’re staying here?”

“Sure are!”

“We cannot stay here.” Annastaria protested, acting as an anchor that stopped both Oden and Bastillina from going in.

“Why not?” Oden asked back.

“It is far too expensive I am sure! Look at the people walking inside. Their clothes alone are worth more than all I have spent in the last few days.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it, I got us covered. I want my two best lady friends to have at least one good night, can’t I do that for you?”

“I’m all in.” Bastillina said.

“Two to one.” Oden said to Annastaria with a grin, “Looks like you have to face the dread of staying at a top-of-the-line hotel suite. Come on, follow me!”

Reluctantly, Annastaria followed, feeling something push her away more intensely the closer they drew to the hotel. Once they walked inside, it was even more impressive than outside; it was spatial and the floors were polished marble tiles that reflected the bright and beautiful chandelier lights that hung from above. There was even a pianist in the lobby, where a bar was towards the right corner, which was some thirty feet away. Annastaria’s dread grew alongside Bastillina’s excitement. Nevertheless, Oden confidently approached the desk and got a room for three, which came up to be over one-thousand dollars for the night. Annastaria, not wanting to make a scene, swallowed her shock at the price and waited for later to confront Oden about it. 

With their room key, the two girls followed Oden upstairs, to the seventh floor, past several people, all of which seemed to be the upper-class in society. Not a single woman they came by was dressed below wealthy standards, leaving Annastaria feeling out of place.

They finally came to their room, and inside felt like a home in and of itself. Bastillina gasped in awe, dropping her pack at the door and running to the beds to jump on one of them. “I want this one!” she shouted in joy as she bounced upon the fluffy, king-sized bed. Annastaria walked with Oden in the room and looked around quietly at the impressive interior.

Bastillina didn’t know where to emphasize her gazing, whether it be the beds, the bathroom, the kitchen, or the window view and the balcony outside. Since the window was next to her, letting in a vibrant sunlight, she opted to begin there and threw open the shutters over the large window. The outside light bloomed her eyes almost blind for a moment, but they adjusted, and Bastillina was silenced by the view. 

It was the entire western part of the city she could see for miles, and even beyond to what seemed to be more mountains miles away. But in the middle of the city was a large river, or lake–she couldn’t tell which. It was a large body of water that seemed to split the city in two, it’s width being at least a mile apart. It grew more narrow the farther south it went, and opened more and more as it went north. The beautiful blue water glistened off the sunlight in the west and boats of different shapes and sizes strode upon it.

“They call that the Rip.” Oden said as he walked next to Bastillina, “The large split that separates east and west Cymroyl. One of the cool features of the city. It goes north into the Strelto Sea. Cymroyl is important for its great stand against the Norland invaders from over two centuries ago. This city used to be two divided cities, who were able to unite to defeat the Norlanders, making their stand on the Rip. Ever since, the two cities have been made one, although they’re still separated as east and west Cymroyl. With its ports, and culture, Cymroyl has become an important part of Oenkev’s development and northern Enussia entirely.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Bastillina said. She couldn’t find better words to describe everything she was seeing. And the history lesson from Oden was no less infatuating. She was getting to learn about the actual world that existed outside her own.

“Wait till the sun goes down, kiddo. The Rip lights up and they shoot fireworks from some of the big boats that sit out there, and we got some of the best seats in the house to see them.”

“Oden,” said Annastaria, still near the front door, “may I speak to you alone?”

Oden stood unsure for a quick moment; she wanted to actually talk to him? Again? He didn’t know if he should be excited or worried. She didn’t seem enthusiastic about the request. “Sure.” he said, and left Bastillina in the room to join Annastaria outside. He tried to stay casual, but felt a disturbance in the air of some kind.

“How is it that you can afford this?” she asked, once they were isolated in the hall.

“Come on,” Oden said, grinning away her concerned question, “You think I just ran around begging for money on corners? I did some good work, you know.”

Annastaria’s suspicion only grew from that point, and it showed in her glare straight into his own eyes. “What kind of ‘good work’ is it that you have done before?” she asked.

Oden shrugged, looking up and around the walls, “It’s difficult to explain, but it’s analyst work.”

Annastaria had never heard such a word before, “Ana… what?” she asked.

“Analyst work… You haven’t heard of that before?”

“I am from a place that does not keep up with the most modern technology. I do not know what this… analyst work is you speak of.”

“Well like I said, it’s hard to explain. But it’s kind of a big thing right now with computers becoming the latest and greatest of the technological world. I happen to know a thing or two in the area, and made some good money doing it.”

Annastaria paused, and though she had a disadvantage in not knowing anything about this kind of work, it did not dispel any of her suspicions about it. “I suppose that is fair…” she said, “But how does an ‘analyst’ go from doing what sounds like innocent and ordinary work to running from some criminal organization?”

“That’s also a little difficult.”

Annastaria couldn’t take it anymore. Finally she raised her voice at him, “By the gods, Oden! I may not be the most smartest person on the things that happen in this part of Enussia, but I know when someone is lying to me! I cannot risk myself, nor Bella’s life like this! You need to be honest with me, or I will take her and leave you here alone. What is it that is causing that criminal organization to hunt you?”

Oden went silent. Annastaria’s insistence took a turn that he never saw before, at least directed at him. The most he saw was when she lost her composure with Bastillina the other morning. He sighed, looking away again for a moment before speaking, “Alright, look… The truth is… I have something important on me.”

“That much is clear. What is it that you have?”

“I can’t say much, and it’s for your own safety, believe me… But it’s a special data disk.”

Annastaria took a moment to see if she knew what that was. Nothing came up. “What is that?” she asked.

“Well, that’s also a little complicated, but… it’s like having special documents or papers, only on a special disk that’s super portable. The point is, I have special documents that are vital for the EU.”

“Why are these ‘documents’ vital?”

Oden shrugged, “I don’t know. The data is protected by a special encryption.” Again, Annastaria visibly showed she had no idea what he was talking about, and her insistence for an explanation wore on her face. “It’s like a lock,” Oden said, “to keep someone from getting into the special chest, you could say. Bottom line, I can’t actually access the data–it’s top secret information. I just know it’s important because the Intero wants it, and worst of all, the guy who hired them, Ryker.”

“Who is Ryker?”

“Bad guy. I think you may recall fighting a strange master in the woods back there?” Annastaria paused, being forced to recall that master and it startled her. He haunted her memory. “That was Ryker’s pet master.” Oden continued, “He’s a real piece of work, and I mean that somewhat literally.” Quietness once more filled the air as Annastaria was left speechless. Oden felt a need to push his point and continued, “Look, Erene… I know I haven’t done much to earn your trust… But this is why I need your help. I don’t know exactly what Ryker’s doing, but all I know is he wants this data disk I have, and we can’t let him have it. That’s all I know. Get me far enough to reach Stouarch–that’s all I need.”

“I am not going that far southwest.”

“I know, I’m not asking you to go that far… Just help me until we have to split up.”

Annastaria went quiet and thought. She still wasn’t sure if she could trust him, and he acknowledged it. There were still unanswered questions, and it seemed like with his own answers, he only gave the need for more questions. She began to think she couldn’t really trust him to give her a straight answer, and started to think about how else she could get the truth from him. 

“Fine.” she said, “I will help you, but only until we get past the mountains in the west of here, the ones we see outside the window there. From there, we enter Mennix… and then you must go on your own.”

“Help me get to Mennix and I’m sure I’ll be fine the rest of the way.”

Annastaria paused again, still with an unsure look on her face. Oden felt awkward with her heavy eyes on him, and his eyes turned to look at her arms, which were still scraped up from whatever happened in the woods. “What happened out there?” he asked her. Annastaria suddenly had a question on her face. “When Bella and I took off and you stayed behind,” Oden explained, “you didn’t have all those scratches on your arms.”

Annastaria looked at her arms briefly and almost blushed. “It is nothing.” she answered.

“You sure? Those look like they could sting pretty good.”

Annastaria raised her voice, “I said it is nothing… I only scraped myself a few times.”

Her rebuke silenced Oden for a moment. “Alright.” he said, “I’m just saying… Glad to know you’re not seriously hurt.” A smile suddenly grew on his face, “So you gonna get ready for tonight? Come on, I gotta show you guys this town!”

“No.” Annastaria said, “We will remain here and rest as rest should be.”

Oden sighed, rolling his eyes, “Come on, Erene. You’ve got to just relax for a bit. You’ve earned some good time off, and I’m telling you, right now is the time to do it.”

“As I told you, I will rest here, and catch up on some important reading I must do.”

Finally Oden’s frustration with her reached a point that he wanted to rebuke her. But he bit his tongue, and shook his head. “You know what?” he said, “I’m gonna take a shower and get ready. You have until then to decide if you’re coming with me, because I’m going out there.”

“And risk being captured? For one who is on the run for his life, and carrying such important information, you behave very calmly and carelessly.”

“Like I said, it’s some relaxation. We all need it from time to time so we don’t lose our minds, and you’re well on your way to that if you keep this act up. Just because I have some crazy dudes after me doesn’t mean I have to be a killjoy like you. Poor Bella has to look up to that. I feel sorry for her, really.”

Oden suddenly became like some horrible taste in Annastaria’s mouth. Her anger boiled then, and she pushed down all temptation to allow her indignation towards aenmen to come out, which would risk blowing her cover as being from the clans. “One of these days,” she said to him, “you will be caught drunk and puking all over yourself, and you will remember what I have said to you here, I am sure.”

“I’m actually pretty slick when I’m drunk, I’ll have you know.” he said as he opened the door to go back in the hotel, “I think I’ll do just fine.” He grinned at her and then closed the door behind himself.

Annastaria exhaled in frustration and shook her head at this filth of the human race. It should not have surprised her that, like all aenmen, this one was weak with the spoils of pleasure and drunkenness, being careless with his life. People were complicated, as he said, right? Well, here was his complicated side, it seemed.

Oden showered and Annastaria went back into the hotel to continue reading the book given by Istvan. It was silent the whole time he was in the bathroom, the only sound being the running water through the walls somewhere, which was strangely relaxing in itself. Annastaria glanced up from her reading to see Bastillina holding the fairy necklace given to her in her hand while sitting in a chair next to the window that looked out west. 

Every time Annastaria saw her look at it, it reminded her of the pendant on her own special necklace. But she returned to her reading, and particularly to an area that was discussing the history surrounding a dark magic incident that happened over two-hundred years ago, with necromancy. The necromancer was identified to be an elf of some kind, clearly an apostate. Annastaria knew that her people would never allow such horror and heresy to go unchecked in the clans.

But while this was all interesting, Annastaria could not seem to find anything that would give her insight into the mystery of the Black Priest. Most of the collections were from centuries ago, the most being over a decade. Otherwise, nothing stuck out as useful or important.

As she went to close the book, a page showed briefly before it was covered by another, and Annastaria read “blue eyes” in elvish. She stopped, but lost the page. She sat up, and began digging for it again. After a few moments, she found it, and began to read the paragraph it was in. It was another account of reported missing people, and in particular, kids and young people. This was a collection over one-hundred years, according to the records, of disappearances recorded across northern Eldreon, especially in Enussia, and each case ascribed two similar truths of those that disappeared: they had unique blue eyes that seemed to be icy blue, and they were masters, just like Bastillina. 

Annastaria swallowed, and she looked up towards Bastillina again, who was blissful about what she was reading. Reading on and on, she came to the end of the report, and couldn’t find any indication that the missing persons were ever found again, and hence, no explanation for what it was about them that led to their disappearance. She was prepared to go to the back index to find the phrase of “blue eyes” or something related to it, to see if she could find anywhere else in this volume about this, but the bathroom door came open and Oden stepped out, half-ready to go out for the evening, missing just his jacket.

“Alright,” he said as he set his shoes on the carpet next to a chair to sit in, “it’s about that time. Still early, ladies; plenty of time to do some partying. So you coming or not?” Bastillina looked at him with a disappointed face, while Annastaria stared at him silently. The silence gave him his answer. He looked at Bastillina, “Let me guess,” he began, “she won’t let you go?”

“Do not answer that.” Annastaria quickly replied. Bastillina stayed quiet.

Oden smirked at her and the stiff attitude, “You’re something else, I tell ya… Fine, have it your way.” He tied his shoes, and rose up to grab his jacket. “I’m telling you, Erene, you’re missing out on life. And you’re setting a pretty crappy example for Bella.”

“I think you have made your point well, Mr. Oden.” Annastaria replied firmly, “I am not interested in it.”

He shook his head and then pointed at his bag, “You’ll watch that for me, won’t you?”

“What?” Annastaria said, taking offense to the question.

“My bag, keep watch of it. Figured since you’re just going to sit here all night long, you might as well keep an eye on it.”

“You think I am your servant?”

Oden rolled his eyes, “Will you just keep an eye on it? Gods, you are impossible.” Annastaria went back to reading her book, not giving Oden an answer. He sighed, shaking his head again and walked to the door to leave. “Have a fun night!” he said, “Oh, wait! I’ll have a fun night; you kids read yourselves to death. Bye!” He opened the door and shut it behind himself, leaving in the wake a blistering silence.

He seemed to storm downstairs, leaving to have a good night, but he was not in a good mood to begin it. All he wanted was for Erene to have a good night, and for Bastillina to enjoy it as well. Was it too much to ask for such a gracious thing? He was even paying for their entire night, and this was how Erene treated it. He recalled to mind his promise to Bastillina to have Erene eating cinnamon rolls by the end of the week. The idea only made him more frustrated at this stubborn and ungrateful part-elvish aenman.

He was so frustrated and distracted, that he walked past the lobby and front desk, not noticing that the eyes of a manager, along with two other employees were locked and watching him walk hastily out of the door, from the stairs all the way to the exit. Once he left, the manager spoke to one of the two employees, “Find out which room he’s rented.” The two employees acknowledged and went to work. Then the manager walked towards a phone, “I’ve got a call to make.”

Annastaria must team up with a master who’s hunting she and Oden to fight a new and disturbing enemy, with a power that matches both of them. A desperate battle to survive is undertaken in the Rueldof, with Bastillina caught in the middle.

“Stay back, freak!” said the bounty hunter to the pale man, “She’s mine!”

The pale man stopped just ten feet from the bounty hunter, and about twenty feet from Annastaria, but he didn’t stop because of the master’s insult and command. He was squaring off with his enemy. Silence pushed out the chaos, if only for a brief moment. The only sounds heard were the river, and then, the pale man slashed his right hand at both Annastaria and the master, and a blaze of fire erupted from his proximity, blasting at the bounty hunter, who dodged the attack and engaged the pale man. 

Annastaria wouldn’t waste this chance, and darted back and towards Oden and Bastillina, using the opportunity to save them. She again leapt upon rocks swiftly and smoothly to reach them.

But a shot struck one of the rocks that Bastillina was holding onto, causing her to loosen her grip and be carried by the river yet again, just as Annastaria was about to reach her, and then another shot struck one of the rocks that Annastaria stepped onto. The shock from the impact may have missed her, but it knocked her off balance, and she slipped and fell forward, with her gut crashing upon another rock, with an impact that forced air out of her lungs. Oden felt the pain himself as he witnessed it and tried to push through the current, which by now was at least five feet deep in the ever-widening river.

Annastaria pushed through the pain, and pushed herself up on the rock, running back after Bastillina with more rock-leaping. Oden managed to keep hold of one of the rocks and pull himself up and from there, leapt slowly, one rock at a time to the shore on the west side of the river. Bastillina once again was able to grab hold of another rock, but was ready to fall down a waterfall only thirty feet away. 

“Erene!” she cried out, coughing up water as she did. 

“Hold on!” Annastaria shouted through her aching gut. Caution was no longer viable; Annastaria stood on a rock, and leapt into a straight and perfect dive into the water.

Bastillina waited for what felt like a minute for Erene to resurface. Where was she? All she saw was the whitened water battering against all the rocks and fallen trees, trying to pull her down into its grip. Her face darted in every which direction, spotting Oden on the western shoreline, trying to find a way to get to her. “Oden!” she cried out, “I can’t see Erene! Help!”

Oden’s eyes searched for a way to Bastillina, stepping closer to the edge of the river, but he couldn’t find any. How was he going to save Bastillina without himself getting washed away?

“Just hold on!” was all he could say, helpless and hopeless, willing to throw himself after her, but he saw no way of doing so that would save her. Bastillina was tired, the river had beaten her down. It was a raging monster, whose wrath was never quenched. Her grip came loose as her muscles burned, and as she let go, a hand sprang out from the water and gripped her wrist with power greater than the pull of the river. It was Annastaria, re-emerging from the water, and with her free hand, grabbing hold of a small rock, barely over the waters, but jagged enough to wrap her fingers around.

Bastillina tried to help, but the waters were higher than her own height, and she couldn’t feel the bottom to press her feet against as an anchor. She was at the mercy of Annastaria, who pulled, squinting her eyes shut and roared like Bastillina had never heard her do before, as if the agonizing cry was itself pulling her and Bastillina against the current. Annastaria couldn’t keep it up, and pulled Bastillina as close to a larger rock as she could, where Oden had jumped to grab the girl.

“I got you!” he repeated over and over again.

Bastillina grabbed the rock with what strength she had left, relieving Annastaria, who used both hands now to clench the small rock she had, to rest for a moment. Oden reached out for Bastillina, who did not hesitate and grabbed his hand. Using his feet anchored on solid ground, Oden pulled her out.

The two retreated further on the land, where Oden wiped her dark and drenched hair from her face, making sure she was okay. She was shivering and scared, coughing up water, but not harmed. Still her lips were blue, and her skin was pale.

“I’m okay.” she said, coughing as she spoke, “I’m not hurt.”

Oden looked up and saw Annastaria drag herself onto the shore, and ran to help her. Bastillina was not far behind. “Erene!” Oden said, “Are you okay?”

Annastaria paused to take a few more heavy breaths and pulled herself up. Before she could answer, she heard a voice from the other side of the river, “They’re over there!” The three of them looked up and saw more Intero, including Lance, on the other side, hindered by the river from getting to them. They didn’t shoot, and only stood at the edge, looking for a way across..

“They’re not shooting at us.” Bastillina said.

“They want me alive.” Oden said.

“Then we will use you to get away.” Annastaria said, “Go!”

The three of them started up the hill, moving west.

“Stop!” Lance shouted, “Or we’ll shoot!”

They didn’t stop, and kept running. Lance wanted to, but knew that it would make it too easy; less satisfying than to kill them up close and personal. But he also knew that he was told not to by Ryker. “What do we do?” asked Jodel, standing near Lance.

The pale master and the bounty hunter separated, with the master creating a distraction from a tremor that sent up enough debris that he was able to escape across the river, where he knew Annastaria had escaped. But the pale master did not fall for the diversion, and went after him.

Further into the trees, Oden, Annastaria and Bastillina, tired and wet, had broken the line of sight from the others, and only needed to go a little farther to be well away from them. But Annastaria stopped, causing Oden and Bastillina to stop. 

“What are you doing?” Oden said, barely able to catch his breath.

“Go.” she said, “Get to the end of the forest. It should not be far now.”

“No way!” Bastillina objected, with all the breath she had left, “We’re not leaving you here!”

“I will be fine.” Annastaria said, “I will hold them off for you to get away safely.”

“You’re out of your mind.” Oden said, “They’ll kill you!”

“They will not catch me.” Annastaria said. The words were firm and confident, even though she was tired, “I will hold them long enough for you to get away safely, and then I will follow after you.”

“How will you know where to find us?”

“If my map serves me well, there is a statue near a cliffside to the west of here. Find it, and stay there, hidden, until I come.” Oden and Bastillina looked at each other, both conflicted on whether to do as Annastaria asked. “Go!” she ordered, “I will be fine, believe me.” They didn’t want to argue with her, and time was running out.

“Come on.” Oden told Bastillina, who looked at Annastaria one last time and left with Oden.

Annastaria listened to their footsteps padder and padder away, sifting through the bushes and leaves until she was met with silence. She forced herself into controlled breathing, calming herself, focusing, immersing herself in the silence. 

She took one deep breath before closing her eyes, focusing further on her surroundings, and bent down to sit upon her knees and shins in meditation. As she came down, she felt herself sink into the forest, into its presence, as if it reached out and took hold of her, to make her part of it. She could hear the creaking and cracking branches, and the creatures that hid within them. Her senses heightened, and with only her ears, she could pinpoint the exact location of a branch snapping over a hundred yards away.

This was her environment. This was where the wood elves flourished. Though this forest was not of her lands, it was no less the place where her people fought, and she would use it to her advantage. She reached into her soaked backpage and drew the small bag case inside that contained her elvish throwing daggers–crystalline elven blades. It was time to hunt.

Lance and his men crossed the river at the shallow area. Their feet had gotten wet, but there was little time to be concerned; Oden had to be captured, and the elf had to pay for her interference. “Jorum!” Lance shouted at the pale master, who went ahead of them, “Get back to the group!”

The pale master–Jorum–hesitated, but did as instructed. At least, he just stopped and waited for Lance and his men to catch up. Meanwhile, he kept his eyes staring into the woods that Oden, the elf, and the little girl disappeared into. The other master he paid little attention to at this point; he was a traitor, but of little concern. Finally, Lance and the others had caught up. 

“Did we lose them?” he asked Jorum, who didn’t say anything back. Lance was quickly growing irritated at his distance. “Hey,” he said, “I’m talking to you, big guy. Remember who’s in charge here–your boss told you to do as I say. As far as you’re concerned, I’m Ryker right now, and I asked you a question.”

Jorum looked at Lance this time, with a pause before speaking, “It has become silent.”

“Obviously. Is that good or bad?”

Jorum looked back into the forest. “We must be careful from this point,” he said.

“Sure, whatever.” Lance then looked back at his men, “Split up, but stay together. Move out!”

The group proceeded into the woods, maintaining distance, but also not separating too much. The farther they went, the more Lance began to consider the silence Jorum had mentioned. Jorum himself did not proceed forth with any visible sign of caution. He strode into the woods, looking left and right, as if some kind of robot scanning the area, and occasionally looking up into the trees. He eventually parted from Lance, going left, or southwest.

Lance couldn’t help a sense of closeness, even out in the open like this. There was something unsettling about this place, and the farther they went, the worse the feeling got. It was strangely quiet. There was no reason to suspect that the three had remained nearby, but somehow he had the sense that he was being watched. He kept his revolver at the ready, as did all of his men, including Jodel, Dean and Harris.

“Hey, Jodel,” Harris whispered, “you get the feeling that…” he was afraid to finish the sentence, “I dunno… something’s off here?”

Jodel didn’t respond immediately, keeping his eyes forward and wide open, as if trying to see through the dense forest. “Just stay focused.” Jodel said, “If we keep our eyes open like this, scan every which way, there ain’t nothin’ to be afraid of.”

Once he finished the words, Jodel heard a strange, sharp wisp of wind swoosh by his right ear and not a second later, heard the stinging cry of one of Lance’s men. He jolted back, aiming his pistol to see the man fall. Then another wisp sound, and another man going down. Then another. They were being fired upon by something, and someone. Everyone panicked, and opened fire towards the west. Lance jumped behind a tree to calm his own panic before he began shouting over the loud, eruptive gunfire, “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”

Finally they all stopped, and Lance, with his throat now scratched up from his own screaming continued, “Bloody hell! What the hell is wrong with you sags? We’re out in the bloody woods! We’ve only got so much ammo!”

“Dian’s down!” he heard a shout from one of his men, “And Eder! He’s dead!”

Jodel went to one of the downed men, who had a strange blade lodged in his neck. It’s hilt was of a fine leather; the blade was turquoise, and it’s strange texture glistened in the light. But it began to break down into dust as they removed it from the man’s corpse.

“Everyone!” Lance shouted again, “Keep moving forward! The elf is around here somewhere!” He stepped out with the men following him, and just as he did, one of them spotted movement in the trees, to the north.

“Over there!” he shouted, before turning and shooting. The others followed. Lance jerked his gun and vision to it, but didn’t shoot. Instead he was bombarded with the ear-piercing gunshot sounds.

They stopped after just a few rounds of shooting, and then heard movement in the trees from somewhere. A few seconds later, they heard shots from another group and more shouting of men down. “Lance!” one of his men said, his face and voice revealing his terror, “What the hell is going on?”

Lance refused to give into the fear. “Stay focused! She’s here! Don’t let that little wench–” then, a wisp went by and struck the one who was just speaking to Lance. He gave out a short gasp before falling, causing the man next to him to jump to cover behind a tree. Before Lance could do anything, another wisp and this time, he felt a sharp thud, followed swiftly by a stinging pain in his right foot. He jumped up as if he had been shocked, hopping off-balance on his left foot. 

“Agh!” he shouted in pain, hopping into cover. He knew he had been shot, or struck, or something, he just didn’t know where from.

“Lance!” Goate panicked as he ran towards him to help.

Jorum hid himself, but remained calm, carefully scanning the trees. He saw Lance go down, and spotted in the trees, some twenty yards to the west of Lance, a human figure dash from one position. He jumped out of his spot, and performed a magic-attack, a form of scatter-shot with ice he made from the air and sent out the barrage-like missiles into the area he saw the movement. It was a massive wall of ice shards, engulfing the entire area into a snow storm of ice shards, chipping at the tree trunks, slicing up leaves and kicking through dirt.

Annastaria saw it barely and leaped out of the tree she was in and behind the trunk. She was thin enough to fit behind it as the ice shards came through. They would not have killed her, but they would have done significant damage to cripple her ability to fight, which meant to her that he did not intend to kill her, further indicating they wanted her alive. Jorum had exposed her position, it was time to perform her retreat. 

Her ears perked suddenly; movement, swift, approaching at incredible speeds. It was not footsteps, but a projectile of some kind, headed for her position. She jumped out from behind the tree trunk into a roll just as the tree she was hiding behind was struck and instantly turned to ice.

She came up from the roll, and turned to see the trunk burst into pieces, sending ice shards in every direction. Leaping through the glistening pieces of ice was the pale master. Instantly upon the explosive and violent appearance, Annastaria felt the fear of him return, creeping back into her. He had no reservations towards her, no hesitation to charge her head on. 

He dropped down and stood before her. Unlike the weak aenmen around him, this pale master was willing to challenge her. Annastaria realized in that short moment of adrenaline that the difference between her and those aenmen she had attacked was she was on a hunt, and that’s what was different about this pale master. He was also on the hunt.

She had to push down the fear, and prepare to face him. She didn’t utter a word, though she wanted to. His yellow-tinted steel eyes stared into her once more, reading her, as if feeling her even, like he was studying her. She felt almost put under a spell of some kind that put her in stasis as he studied her, feeling as though if she were to make a sudden move, he would respond with a devastating counter-attack. 

But then, his eye-contact broke, like the sudden shattering of glass as they darted over her right shoulder. He changed his stance, off-setting his squaring-off to her right, indicating something coming from behind her towards him.

Before she could turn to see, the pale master spun to his left to dodge a magic projectile of some kind that radiated intense heat as it blew past Annastaria. She herself leaped to her left to dodge it, even though it would not have struck her; it was meant for the pale master. Annastaria looked up and saw the bounty hunter from before returning to the fight.

 “I told you,” he said to the pale master, “they’re mine!”

The pale man said nothing, only prepared for round two.

Oden and Bastillina raced through the forest, cold, wet, heavy and tired. But at least at this point, it didn’t seem like anyone unfriendly was chasing them. There were no unknown voices yelling for them to stop, or yelling at each other to catch them, nor gunshots or the sound of magical destruction. The peace of the forest was around them again. Yet this was only a partial comfort. Annastaria stayed behind, and Bastillina felt the world become alien to her. She couldn’t resist the darkened thoughts flashing through her mind as she ran, that she would have to keep going without Erene. A tug pulled at her the farther she ran, that she needed to go back. Annastaria promised she would meet them again, but what if she didn’t? They finally stopped to catch their breath.

“I think we’re in the clear.” Oden said, before giving out a single exhale.

“What do we do?” Bastillina said, unable to sit still, “We can’t… we can’t just leave her!”

“We don’t have a choice right now but to trust she knows what she’s doing.”

“How can you know that?”

“She seemed like she was handling herself well. She managed to get you and I to safety while fighting off those thugs.”

“I just…” Bastillina said, guilty thoughts overwhelming her again, “I can’t just… run away from that!”

“I hear you, kid, I really do… But the best thing we can do for Erene right now is go where she told us. If we run back there, and she just started to the place we were supposed to meet and doesn’t find us… Then we’ll lose her for sure.”

Bastillina fell silent. She didn’t like what Oden said, but she knew he was right. If she didn’t intend to really leave Erene behind, she should have decided that before she ran. The best thing they could do was to go where she told them to go. It was her best hope, a hope that felt like a thin rope. At least by now, it appeared Annastaria’s move to fend off the Intero and the bounty hunters had given them room to move more calmly, which was one good thing to have pulled out of this.

Annastaria and the bounty hunter stood, for the first time, seemingly together as they faced the pale master. They both had endured much fighting, and had used much magicka; both felt the growing Corruption effects. It was subtle, but it was there, and they could not keep going, or the Corruption would get worse. Annastaria had to get a voluum potion soon, or she may suffer some form of Corruption effect that was irreversible. It had to be the same for the bounty hunter. 

They would fight together, it seemed. It was an awkward alliance, borne out of sheer convenience, both having an interest in removing whoever this man was; Annastaria knew it had to be taken advantage of quickly to allow her to escape. The rest of the Intero seemed to be nowhere in sight. She figured she had done enough to cause them to retreat. Now only one remained, and yet that single one was the worst of them all.

While Annastaria had a reluctant ally, and that she had to work with him, the clear problem was that she did not know him, had no intention of communicating with him, and hence their strange ‘team’ as it were, was not going to work well against this menace. As she began contemplating how to attack, the pale master made a move himself. He raised his hands up just slightly, with his palms open, facing towards them. He slowly folded his arms and clenched his open hands into fists. Annastaria observed carefully at what he was doing, and prepared a combat stance for whatever was coming. But even she did not anticipate what would happen next. The pale man closed his eyes, and the rune-like tattoos on his body began to glow. The bounty hunter also was uncertain what to think or do.

Annastaria contemplated whether this was a rune system, but quickly rebuked it in her mind. It did not match the physical diagnosis of what rune magic was. This was something else. Something she had never seen before, and it frightened her. Her fright sank deeper the moment the pale man flung open his eyelids at her, revealing a glow coming from them. But she noticed something peculiar in his face. Though he maintained a stoic look, he shivered through whatever this transformation was. It was as though he was discomforted by it. Whatever this was, it was unnatural.

“What the hell is that?” the bounty hunter asked, “Rune magic?”

“No.” said Annastaria, “Those are not runes… And his form; that is not how rune magic uses form.”

The bounty hunter looked at her briefly, not even expecting her to answer his question. Though she removed the idea that this was rune magic, it gave him no comfort. Either way, he was not about to let this force him into a defensive mode. He sprang into action at the blink of an eye, taking hold of a boulder off to the pale master’s left. It was a bold move; a reach that required far too much focus, and hence slower action time. It was fast, but not fast enough to catch the pale master off guard. He reached out and took control of the missile’d boulder and with a simple toss of the same hand, threw it aside, not even having to dig his legs into a fighting stance to do it, and he stood straight as before. 

Before the bounty hunter could absorb the reality of his attack seemingly being tossed aside effortlessly, the pale master lunged his other arm at him, and a sharp flame slung out at him like a thick wire, blazing red hot as it did. It was like a cutting flame, and the shock at the speed of the attack nearly stunned the bounty hunter frozen, helpless to be dashed in two by it.

 But he leaped out of the way with a strafe to his right, just before the blade of fire could most surely slice him in two equal halves. Annastaria was stunned as well. It took enormous magicka strength to produce a flame that could reach that far and yet be so potent as to incinerate solid instantly. Whatever this pale master has activated, it has amplified his power immensely.

The bounty hunter was taken aback, but did not back down. He put himself into a rock-manipulating stance and began sending a barrage of rock-based attacks at the pale man, who responded with magic deflections done with little effort to perform the foundational stances to maintain such powerful warps. Annastaria only observed this for a moment, and realized that this foe was somehow using only a fraction of his potential, and yet was clearly matching the bounty hunter, who was throwing all he had at the pale master.

The pale master closed in on the bounty hunter, who was aware of it and transferred his combat to close-range. Then the pale master demonstrated his ability to fight in hand-to-hand combat with fluent moves similar to Annastaria’s. But his long arms had a reach that overwhelmed the bounty hunter, and it only took two well-placed strikes from the pale man to daze him before a magic-amplified kick to the gut blasted him away, tumbling to the ground.

Annastaria was still stunned by what she had seen. Once again, terror came over her about this man. How could this be? She had never felt this before. Even on her own borders, encountering aenman masters, she had all that she needed to fight them. Something about this one was different. She forced down the fear, but it felt like she was using just as much of her own strength just to do that, while the rest had to contend with this creature of a man. 

Once he was finished dispatching the bounty hunter, his eyes jolted and fixed on her. The moment they did, she felt like she had already been physically struck. The mere fixing of the eyes caused her to tremble and step back. What was worse, Annastaria couldn’t help but feel that he knew she was scared. That would only make things worse for her.

The pale master stared at her for a long five seconds of deafening silence before he lunged at her. Annastaria hardly caught the movement in time to duck under a straight jab from his right hand and fight him hand-to-hand. She was barely able to keep up with him, but while she strafed past another shot, he threw out a knee that Annastaria blocked only enough to avoid critical damage to her core with an arm cross. The blow still forced her back to the ground, where she rolled backwards, coming up in time to deliver an airburst that the pale master blocked with his own arm-cross. Annastaria launched a series of combo attacks with air and water to push him away.

The pale master was forced to disengage and deal with her barrage of magic attacks, but he dealt with them almost effortlessly, tossing them aside as he did with the other master’s moves. Annastaria was ready to use her fire mastery at this point, but the pale master did first with a reverse-warp spell (a type of warp that not only absorbs magic attacks, but overcomes the remaining attack and reverts it back onto the attacker). Annastaria’s airburst attack was transformed into ice shards that he sent back at her, forcing Annastaria into defense. She threw up a warp defense, unable to use the same warp he did in her condition.

She weathered the pelting of the ice shards, but the pale master then laid down his own mass barrage of ice shards as he did before. This was too much as she was overcome with pelts of ice that struck her entire body, pushing past her poor warp defense. She reverted to an arm-cross to protect her face from damage as she moved back as best she could. She grunted as the pain of cold ice berated her arms, legs and head. She felt a slice in her right arm; an ice shard cut her, and then another on her left thigh, and a third. The pale master was turning his ice shards into spikes now. 

Annastaria gave a shout from the pain before she pushed out another warp with what stamina she had left before reaching into a pouch on her belt, pulling out a powdered substance. She held it in her hands and spoke in Nagush, “Et numatai, kani-berai!” before throwing the dust out and almost immediately, it burst into a wall of red flame shooting out towards the pale master with a fast, ruthless ferocity, consuming all the ice shards and like the mouth of a flaming demon, the wall of fire looked to consume him as well.

The pale master’s stoic face broke as his eyes went wide to the horror that was coming at him, consuming in wreathing, blinding flame everything it blew past before he leaped out of the way to let the massive fire spell fly by him before it lost its magic energy and went out. No warp could be deployed strong enough and fast enough to absorb the power of that spell. In seconds, only silence filled the air, with only the sounds of burning wood and crispy grass and leaves. The smoke from the blaze coated the forest air as well with its thick smell. By the time the pale master looked to where Annastaria was last seen, she was gone.

He felt the choking in his own body, not from the smoke, but from his magic amplification. He couldn’t maintain it any longer, as his veins within his body were visibly blackening. He calmed himself, and his yellow-tinted eyes returned, and the tattoo designs on his body returned to their lightless, black state. He took a deep breath before returning to Lance and what was left of his men.

Annastaria ran farther west, hoping to escape the grasp of the pale master. She couldn’t keep fighting him in the state she was in; injured, exhausted, wet and cold. Yet even so, she wondered if even at full strength, she could match whatever that man was. Her mind bounced from the terrifying thought of facing him again, and her own injuries she sustained throughout the entire fight. She finally stopped, feeling she had some time to breath, and she battled to control her body’s need for oxygen, as it was starved for energy; the air was cold, at least it seemed so with the deep breaths. She could also feel a strain deep in her own bones, especially where her magicka points were. She knew what it was. The Corruption of magic was gripping her.

She came to a small stream, the sound of which was calming. She tried to kneel to it, but collapsed onto her knees instead, staring at her warped reflection in the water. She looked only for a moment before finally being able to catch her breath, at least partially; her lungs still demanded much oxygen. She looked at her right arm, now being able to feel the full force of the sting more and more as the adrenaline began to wear off, along with the straining in her bones that was from the Corruption. But that would have to wait a few minutes. Corruption was serious, but it was something that was far more subtle than physical injuries; it only needed to be managed. 

She began to feel the sting of slices on her thighs, and even waist and calves. She looked to see that she was hit more than she had originally thought. But most were superficial; they would be no problem in only a few days. The ones that needed to be bandaged were her right arm and the two on her left thigh.

She reached into her pack for bandages, which were soaked. Fortunately for her, elvish bandages were made of a dyren silk, which maintained its flexibility as well as durability even when soaked with water. She used water from the stream to clean the wounds and began bandaging herself up. She contemplated using her magic with the water to transfer it into restoration water, but doing so would bring more enemies upon her; given that they found her and Oden out in the woods like that, she couldn’t ignore the possibility that they were tracking her through magic detection. 

But even so, Annastaria was too depleted of magicka to do so. She was at a point where she had to make critical decisions on when to use reserve magicka. Though it was quiet for once, she was not convinced she was clear of danger, and she had to reserve what magic strength she had left for any incoming attack. She could do more healing later.

Once she finished bandaging, she completed her first aid with a vial of voluum. It was only four ounces, a small dose that, thanks be to the gods, did not break during the chaos of the fight and the battle in the river. Once she took the vial, she had to wait to let the voluum rest the symptoms and quell the Corruption. There was nothing left to do; she stood up, testing the bandages with some stretches, and by now, had her breath under control for the most part. She looked around, getting a read for her surroundings; the sun was to her right, which meant she had to go in that direction. She looked at the stream; it was going southwest, which meant she had to go up and north–she had fled southwest. Cymroyl, according to her map, was northwest, below the forest she was in. She had to go downhill north, not south. She started upward, going northwest, hoping to find Oden and Bastillina where she told them to go.

She kept her eyes and ears open for anything unusual in the forest, and so much that her mind played some tricks on her, but she came across nothing threatening. Her ears picked up no human feet moving, only the creatures that lived in the forests. It was a pleasant, silent walk, the kind she began her quest with. Though it was a nice return to the way it was at first, she felt far more lonely than she did before. For the first time, she found herself missing the company she had, even though it was with aenmen.

The only thing that disturbed her was her growing coldness to the increasingly cooling weather as the sun entered its late twilight. She lost her jacket in the fight, and her clothes had not fully dried, and hence added to the chill she felt. It would take her thirty minutes at least to finally reach the northern end of the forest. 

Oden and Bastillina waited more and more anxiously for her. He told Bastillina some of his stories and jokes to keep her mind occupied, but he soon came short.

Just as he ran out of jokes, they heard footsteps coming from inside the woods. They leaped up to see, both scared and hopeful, frozen still as their eyes searched for the source in the growing dusk. For a moment, they couldn’t believe it, but it was Annastaria emerging from the trees. Bastillina’s face lit up, and gave out a gasp before calling out,“Erene!” and she ran to her. Annastaria braced herself and tried to tell the girl to slow down, but was not fast enough; Bastillina flung into her waist, wrapping her hands around her, almost sobbing and telling Annastaria how glad she was that she was alive. “I thought we lost you!” she said further.

“I am fine.” Annastaria replied, allowing the hug, “But if you keep squeezing me like this, you may surely lose me forever.”

Bastillina looked up at her with a smile. Oden came right after, drawing Annastaria’s attention. “Thank the gods you’re okay.” Oden said, “I was running out of stories to tell her.”

Annastaria managed a small smile. “Thank you for watching for her.” she said.

“No problem.” A silence came into the air, and the three knew what they wanted to say, but didn’t know how. Oden finally spoke it, “What happened back there? And your arm and leg… Are you alright?”

“I am fine.” Annastaria answered, “Just some cuts. I have been in much worse times. I was able to hold them off long enough and get away.”

“Are they gone? For good?” Bastillina replied.

“I am afraid not. There was one among them who was…”

Oden noted Annastaria’s pause as she looked off towards the dim distant lights glowing in the distance, over hills. It was likely Auton. There was something weighing on her mind. “Erene?” he said, “What is it? What happened back there?”

Bastillina was scared now, and looked at Annastaria with still eyes. “I do not know.” Annastaria answered, “Those people back there had some kind of… master that I cannot describe fully right now.”

“Was it the same guy who froze my hands in the water?” Oden asked.

“No. It was a different one. Both that master and I found ourselves having to fight this one master together… But even us together could not beat him. I had to create a distraction to get away.”

“What do we do?” Bastillina asked.

“We must keep going. We have a good lead on them already, and we must not waste it now.”

“Then let’s get moving.” Oden said, “Auton is just to the north of here.”

“No.” Annastaria quickly objected.

“No? What do you mean ‘no’? It’s getting late and we’re out here in the woods.”

“It is not safe to go there. We just escaped nearly being captured, or killed by those criminals. They were able to track us even into the forest. If Auton is but a small town, I cannot doubt they will find us easily there as well. And it being the most obvious refuge for people such as us, tired and running from their threat, they would no doubt be going there to expect us.”

Bastillina’s mind began to jog at Annastaria’s point, and she found it more sensible as she thought about it. “It makes sense.” Bastillina replied, “It does seem kind of obvious, don’t you think? I’ve never been to Auton before, but I bet it’s no bigger than Bestolon.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Oden asked, in protest, “Walk straight to Cymroyl? We’ll be walking all night and into the morning hours–we won’t make that.”

“We will have to sleep out here then.” Annastaria said.

“No way–that’s insane! We can’t stay out here!”

“We must, Oden… Do not worry, we will be fine.”

Oden felt the darkness creep in around him, but not just the physical darkness; his mind became restless as he looked at the increasing black around them. “Great.” he said, rubbing his hand through his hair, “I hate this. I don’t like being out here in the woods, especially–especially at night. All the crazy things I hear about that go on in the woods. That’s how horror stories start, you know.”

“Most of them are just stories, aren’t they?” Bastillina asked, “You know, myths and tales and all that?”

“Yeah, sure… But where do those myths come from? There’s always some form of truth to it.”

“There will be nothing wrong to happen to us.” Annastaria said, like a mother to bratty kids, “I have stayed in the woods many times before.”

“You have?” Oden asked, “When?”

“You are not to be asking me questions, remember?”

Oden glared at her in a momentary pause before speaking, “I’m really regretting this rule of yours.”

“Regret it all you like, you can do nothing for it. We must stay out here tonight if we wish to remain hidden from those men that are your burden, Oden, not ours. If you wish to take to the town of Auton and see if it is safe or not, you are free to. There is nothing here keeping you with us. As for Bella and myself, we are sleeping here, in the woods.” She looked at Bastillina, who looked back up at her. “And there will be nothing that will happen to us.” Annastaria said to her. For what felt like the first time, Bastillina marveled at Annastaria’s words to her. They were comforting.

Oden looked at both of them, then back to where Auton was. They couldn’t see it, as it was still several miles away, but he felt drawn to it. He sighed, looking back at the other two. “Fine.” he said, “Guess you’re right… But we still have some time before dark, maybe we should get as far as we can before calling it a night.”

“Agreed.” said Annastaria, “We will proceed towards Cymroyl. There is no sense in us keeping Auton in our interest at this point, it is only a place of danger. Let us go for another thirty minutes, as it appears we have such time remaining in the day.”

For the next thirty minutes, the three took Annastaria’s advice, and went past Auton. It was a great chance to take; it meant they could not refresh themselves and get more supplies. The more they walked, the more Oden hated the idea of staying out in the woods for the night. But the more he thought about their alternative, the more he realized Annastaria was probably right. 

Annastaria walked with Bastillina, who acted as help for her in case she needed it. Though Annastaria was putting on the appearance of being in good condition, she didn’t look it. She noticed Bastillina staying right by her side for the walk across the open land, towards the hills. It was strange, unexpected, and made her feel like she was walking with a limp.

“Why are you walking beside me?” Annastaria asked.

Bastillina ignored Annastaria’s rude question, figuring it had something to do with being elvish. “I’m just looking out for you.” she said.

“I said I was fine. I am sure Oden may be wanting company up ahead of us. He is always wanting to talk and talk.”

“He’s fine.” Bastillina said, “But I’m staying here for now, in case you need it.”

Annastaria looked at her for a moment, secretly admiring this strange comradery in Bastillina. “You do not need to worry about me, Bella.”

“Well I do… Levaan was no fun, but even though the people there were scum, we looked out for each other.”

Annastaria went quiet. Again, she was in awful admiration of Bastillina’s commitment to comradery, and her conviction of this at such a young age was unseen. She must have been forced into growing up faster than most. It was almost identical to the commitment of herself and her own clanmates. How was it that Annastaria could find such honor among the aenmen? A question she thought about the remainder of their walk.

Lance was carried by Goate and Jodel back to their cars to regroup with whoever was left. “That blasted little pointy-eared wench!” Lance grunted in pain as his men set him in the back of his car, and worked to remove the dagger still in his foot. The men urged Lance to hold still, while trying to do so without making him more angry. It had little avail. Jorum came to rejoin the group, calm and stoic as ever. “Oh! Look who finally decided to show up!” Lance snarked.

“They have escaped.” Jorum said.

“Thanks, but you’re a little late on that information!”

The blade finally came out, causing Lance to curse once more at the pain. The men went to work removing his shoe and performing first aid, while Lance took hold of the strange blade himself. The hilt had a peculiar leather wrapped around it, and the blade itself with its glistening turquoise color was unlike anything he had seen. It was thin, even at the handle, and its weight was concentrated at the tip. “What the hell kind of dagger is this?” Lance asked.

“It is an elvish blade.” Jorum said, looking at it. “These unique weapons are made of particular crystals that the wood elvish clans construct, found only in certain lands that they dwell in. Durable, light and sharp. This blade, however, has a magical essence to it. It is meant to disintegrate moments after it strikes in order to erase any trace of its origin.” 

Lance paused, taken aback by what Jorum had said. If it was true, it was something he never anticipated. It made no sense. “How is that even possible? No such thing exists!”

“It is advanced elvish weaponry. The kind that their highest agents utilize.”

“Highest agents… meaning what?”

“Reconnaissance; spies… and assassins.”

Once more, Lance paused, struck even further by this. Could they really be dealing with an elvish assassin? He never even considered it, and now wondered why not, given it seemed to make sense. Maybe it was because the idea of an elvish assassin was the stuff of ancient conspiracy theory during the elvish-aenman wars of old. The establishment of the international community, the EU and other modern organizations over the last few decades, dispersed such ideas from society, reducing them to tales and myths. Could they really be dealing with an actual elvish assassin in the Oenkev lands? 

“What in the blazing hell would an elvish assassin be doing all the way here in central Oenkev?” he asked.

“Perhaps that is what my master is seeking to uncover.”

Lance was reminded of Ryker then, and he was not pleased with the thought. “Oh yeah,” he said, “your master who so conveniently managed to escape what that bloody mess! Should have been his sorry ass getting a knife in the foot!”

“He is attaining important information necessary in discovering more about this opponent of ours. As difficult as it may appear, his work is vital.”

Lance glared at Jorum. Nothing the strange, pale man said would justify Ryker’s activity to Lance, not with what happened at this point. “Whatever.” he said, dismissive of the poor apology from Jorum. But another question was now rising in Lance, “So if this is supposed to have disintegrated upon impact… why the hell didn’t it?”

“Because I have prevented it.” 

Lance was taken back by that statement. He had no idea how, but he figured with Jorum’s bold assertion, he knew what he was talking about. “And why did you do that?” Lance asked.

“Because I am under orders from my master to investigate this elf. He has a particular interest in her. Once I saw you and your men take the projectiles, I saw opportunity to retrieve one of the weapons coming from her to understand her better.”

“You couldn’t just ‘prevent’ one of the other blades from disintegrating? It had to be the one in my foot?”

“Your men were taking the projectiles so suddenly, I had not seen what was happening at first. Once I discovered it, you had taken one, and I acted as fast as I could. I reversed the spell on the blade to prevent it from disintegrating.”

Lance felt like Jorum was just making excuses for being incompetent at his job, which was prioritizing his own safety. In any case, it didn’t make him feel any better. “Gee, thanks for that.” he said. Still, Lance’s curiosity was now aroused. He settled his wrath, at least for a time, to consider this new possibility. An elvish agent in Oenkev was almost beyond belief. Why would she be here? Could there be a possible target in Oenkev? If so, they had to be a high value target. Best-case-scenario, she’s just doing reconnaissance. But recon is often preparatory work for grander operations, and if so, it could mean a potential international incident.

“Goate!” he called out. Goate came immediately to him. “Look into our informants within the SIU and see if you can find anything–anything about a possible infiltration of zealots into Oenkev.” he ordered.

“What for?”

Lance held the blade up again with intrigue, “It appears our little elvish friend may be more than we thought she was.”

The dark had settled in entirely by now, and Annastaria, Oden and Bastillina spent the last few minutes of their day searching for a spot to sleep for the night. They followed Annastaria’s lead, who fortunately had the pale moon as a light to guide her. Bastillina had never seen the moon so bright before; it was like a mock-sun, illuminating the land in a mystic blue tint, the nature of which seemed to be the sole source of the cooling of the air. A cloud would occasionally pass by the lonely moon, but none of them were thick or large enough to snuff out it’s mystical presence.

They found a spot near a group of trees south of the open land they were walking in. They could see the hills to the north, and even the wind gliding from the northwest through the tall grass that would radiate a golden light in the sun if it were out. Bastillina imagined the golden glow from the tall grass. It was beautiful to her. She looked forward to waking up and seeing it begin to glisten in the waking sun again. But that did not mean that the lack of sun removed all the wonder of the scenery itself. The moonlight gave its own beauty, in its own way–the same feeling, in a different atmosphere.

Settling in for the night was entirely foreign to Bastillina, and she didn’t know what to expect from this, but she felt comforted with Annastaria close by. She didn’t express to her just how glad and relieved she was that she survived. Bastillina didn’t want to think about what it would be like if Erene died this day. Not that Oden wasn’t enjoyable to be around, but Erene was something more to Bastillina that she couldn’t quite understand. She just knew that she inspired her. But she was exhausted, and however uncomfortable sleeping out here was at first, the sheer exhaustion caused her to fall asleep almost minutes after she lay her head down to rest.

Annastaria gave her a blanket she had packed, one that was water resistant, and left her to sleep. Oden silently noticed the sight as he settled himself near the small fire they made for themselves, and watched Annastaria step away, towards the edge of their small camp. He sighed, sensing a need to talk to her, but also that any attempt would prove fruitless. He himself was tired, and his clothes still wet; Annastaria had to be in even worse condition, but even this late into the night, she wouldn’t rest. He walked towards her slowly, thinking of what to say, keeping quiet as he could the whole time.

“Why are you trying to be silent?” Annastaria suddenly said, stopping him in his tracks.

“Man,” he said, “are your ears really that good?”

“We are in the middle of the woods, near no cities or towns for miles. It does not take elvish ears to hear your pitiful attempts at quietness.”

Oden felt the scorn of her words, and froze awkwardly at it. “Oh.” he said. He looked back once, as if trying to heal the awkwardness, then back to her, “Well… mind if I sit?”

Annastaria said nothing for a moment, and didn’t turn around, leaving Oden wondering what she was thinking. “You have something on your mind.” she said.

Oden smiled a little, coming closer to her, “Now that’s definitely got to be some cool elvish ability.”

“No.” she said, looking back at him once as he came closer, “That is the ability of a woman sensing the foolish attempt of an aenman man to seem ordinary, when he is clearly not.”

Oden tried to smile away at the awkward and blunt attitude of Erene. He still believed she was deliberately trying to be distant from him. “Well,” he began, “I’d love to share with you a question, but I believe we have a deal, remember?”

Annastaria looked forward again, remembering what he was talking about. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “I’ll allow this one question.”

Oden smiled, and Annastaria, though she didn’t turn to him, knew his grin was blooming behind her. “Alright,” he said, kneeling down, but not sitting next to her, “I’m a little curious about what exactly you’re doing here. It’s got to be close to midnight, and you’re obviously tired, not to mention cold.”

Annastaria scanned the treeline to the east, resting at least a hundred feet away before replying, “I am just ensuring we have a peaceful night… Our trackers are still behind us, waiting for their chance.”

Oden looked to the east with her, but knew he couldn’t see what she could, “I’m pretty sure our trackers also need their sleep to keep tracking us. I doubt they’re up and running around this late at night.” Annastaria said nothing, leaving them both in silence. “Come on,” Oden said, “you really need to get some rest. Bella needs you to sleep for her, not to go on in perpetual guard mode. You’re tough, obviously, but you’re no god.”

Annastaria was struck by the last thing he said. She wasn’t so sure that was actually true. Maybe she was a god, despite all her attempts to deny it. But she wouldn’t speak anymore, and Oden was left with a familiar sense of hopelessness with getting through to her, just like he ought to have expected. He looked away for a moment, and then stood up to walk away.

“You helped me save her.” Annastaria said, stopping Oden, who turned around as though he had to be sure she said something. Annastaria hesitated, but turned her head slightly, “You got her out of that river… I do appreciate the action… It was not something I expected from you.”

Oden bit back the offense he ought to have taken from the comment; he was just glad she was doing any kind of opening up. “If that’s your subtle and unofficial way of saying ‘thank you’, then…” he stepped towards her again with a smirk, “you’re welcome. Although I can’t help but notice you seem… surprised.”

Annastaria pondered a moment. Oden always seemed able to make her have to reflect on her own natural thoughts. “I suppose I am.” she replied, “I just… I have not seen much bravery from your part of the world.”

Oden looked around for a moment, half offended and half proud of himself. “Well,” he said, “like I said, I have a niece, whom I love, though I haven’t seen her in a few years. Hmph… I probably wouldn’t even recognize her if I saw her today. But the thing is,” he sat down next to Annastaria, keeping a considerable distance in respect, “people are strange.”

Annastaria looked at him, not offended by his presence for once, but curious. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

Oden shrugged, looking away for a moment, “Take Gaetesus, the great emperor of the ancient Ontush. A devout Carathien believer, loved his children, raised them well, and yet objectified women. He was a conqueror, wrecked anyone who got in his way, destroyed swaths of dwarven patriarchs in the northern Bohestran campaigns, ensured proper education for the lands that he built, and yet was a slaver, and adulterer.”

“I remember reading about that man.” she said, “He enslaved my own people.”

“That he did… Did you know he had an adopted daughter? One who was elvish?”

Annastaria paused, pondering a moment. “He did.” she said, “At least, some of the things I have read. But how can that be true? Certainly it is false.”

Oden chuckled slightly, “What if it is true? What if it’s possible for someone to be two contradicting ideas at once? What if people, Erene… are more than just constructs behaving after a certain pattern of psychology? Obviously we’re all consistent in some things, but take me for instance? I hate gooey stuff on my hands. But I’ll dig into a greasy stake as soon as it’s put in front of me.”

Annastaria wasn’t sure what to think anymore, or how they even got to this point. It was all too much for her at this moment, and the two thus sat in awkward silence. Oden felt the conversation end there, and the night called him to sleep. “Well,” he said, standing up, “just don’t stay up too long, Erene. Bella needs you; we both do.”

Annastaria again said nothing, but gave a nod, and Oden left her to go to sleep.

Annastaria is forced to lead Bastillina and Oden through the Rueldof forest in hopes to lose those who are seeking them. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Elise and Oretes seek to quickly pick up the trail of their lost elvish suspect before the trail goes cold, while Ryker employs his own, secret means of tracking down the elf and her companions…

The scene at the market was under police control by now, and two airships hovered over, both being news balloons. Elise and Dylen had arrived only minutes later to witness the devastation left behind, with no one involved in the fight anywhere to be found. Elise approached the leading detective in the scene; she was too tired for formalities, and frankly out of time for it. 

“I’m hearing that this was the result of a battle of masters, sargeant.” she said to him, “How true are the witness reports?”

“Pretty much true.” he replied, “Two masters at least in conflict. Both were kicking up the ground at each other. There were other reports of three suspects that others weren’t sure who to identify as.”

“The masters,” Dylen said, “what can you tell us about them, other than that they were masters?”

“Reports tell us it was a male and a female. The female had pointy ears–elvish, it seems, with light-brown hair. The male was tall, dark, short hair and a beard.”

“Any idea where the female went?” Elise asked.

“Only that they were last seen moving west.”

Elise and Dylen went silent, looking at each other for a moment. “What else are people saying?” Dylen asked.

The detective was somewhat beside himself at the question. “Other than that their business is taking a hit from the fight, nothing.”

“Not now, they’re not.” Elise murmured. She thanked the detective before leaving with Dylen to talk for a few moments. But Dylen was also wondering about the question.

“Something on your mind, Lieutenant?” he asked her.

Elise shuffled a few thoughts in her mind for a moment, looking at the scene. “We need to be careful.” she said, “The longer this elf is running around, wreaking havoc, the more she’ll gain unwanted attention.”

“Then we should start picking up the trail where we can.”

Elise paused for a moment. It felt like she was always one step behind Erene, and all she was doing was discovering empty footprints one by one, but not the one creating them. “There’s nothing left for us here,” she said, with disappointment in her voice, “Erene is gone.”

“Where to next?” Dylen asked as the two went back to his car.

“To Auton.”

“You’re sure they’re headed there?”

“Not entirely, but it’s a good place to be. They’re not traveling by train anymore. They’ll have to find something else, either a hitchhike, or walking. In both cases, if we move now, we can hope to stop them before they get past Auton.”

Lance was once again looking out the window with Ryker in his office, along with each other’s own men, receiving a report from Jodel and Harris over the phone about their failed attempt to capture Oden, even with the aid of another master and bounty hunter. Lance became increasingly more and more anxious and angered over the failure to catch Oden, and the focus of his frustration was turning towards whoever this elvish companion of Oden was. This mysterious master protecting Oden was becoming more than a pester, but a serious problem, and what was more, something that Ryker didn’t seem to be taking very seriously. 

“Very interesting.” Ryker said as Jodel explained what happened over the phone, “And you say she was just a teenager?”

“I think so.” Jodel said, “Looked young, anyway. She was fast and smart, never seen anyone move like that.”

“How did Rolek fare against her?” Ryker asked.

“Pfft! The dude showed up late! He was supposed to be our backup, and take out the elf. By the time he did show up the whole thing was botched. That damned kid with them, too, she’s a little master as well.”

“Do you know what the significance of the kid among them is? Is she elvish as well?”

“No. She was aenman, through and through. I have no idea what she was all about. But when Rolek did show up, he attacked the elf, like he was supposed to, and it seemed like he was doing a good job, but… Boss, this elf just moves like nothin’ we’ve seen before.”

“So it would seem.” Ryker said, introspectively. Lance noticed it, and noticed more that Ryker wasn’t thinking out loud. “And where is Rolek now?” Ryker asked.

“No idea. We left before he finished fighting the elf. The cops were just seconds away, boss, there was nothing we could do. We tried to get him to run, but he wouldn’t, so we just bolted. Haven’t seen him since.”

“Has he been arrested?” Ryker asked, looking around the room for that question.

“No.” Lance quickly replied, “If he was arrested it would be on the news. And my informants in the force don’t have any records of it. He must’ve gotten away.”

“Well,” Jodel said, “We could really use some more of those informants, sir. We got no idea where they’re at now.”

“I think I do.” Ryker said.

Lance looked at him, “You do? How?” he asked.

“My sources, of course. Jorum has tracked the two masters west. We think they’ll be going to Auton. It’s the nearest town west of here; the rest of the area is the Rueldof forest. In fact, that’s what I originally came here to tell you. I’m going with them.”

“What for?”

“To retrieve my artifact, of course. I can’t really continue my project until I have it back from Oden, so I don’t really have anything to do around here. I might as well assist in the hunt.”

Lance didn’t expect Ryker to put himself out there like this. It was risky. Then again, thinking about it himself, Lance was getting tired of waiting around for useless pawns to capture Oden and take out this protector of his. It was clear to Lance that Oden’s resources had been underestimated severely. The only one Lance could think could square off with whoever this master was, was Ryker’s pet master, Jorum. Lance joining the search may increase the pressure on her, and force her to make desperate moves, and hence make mistakes.

“I’ll go with you then.” Lance said.

His answer drew surprise from Ryker as well. “Are you sure?” Ryker said.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Lance said, walking from around his desk to leave, signalling his own men to follow, “I’m sick of all of this. This damn elf is giving me a headache, and I want her dropped, including her little friend. You said they’re on their way to Auton. How are they getting there?”

“As far as we know, they will either walk, or attempt to hitch a ride. They’re certainly not going by train.”

“Then we’ll need to be in Auton first.” said Lance. He looked to Goate then, “Get the cars ready, now.”

Ryker paused for a moment, glancing at a large map Lance had framed on a wall in his office. The map had northern Eldreon on it. He walked to it and pointed at a large forest to the west of Whitehold. “Actually,” he said, “since you’re going to go out there, that gives me a chance to look into something.”

“What?” asked Lance, stopping to give Ryker his full attention.

“I know it seems… strange, but I really need to look into something regarding our elvish master.”

“Only when you learn that I’m coming?”

“This was decided before you opted to come along. But with you heading the operation, it gives me the chance to actually look into it… Don’t worry, I’ll let you take Jorum with you to catch them, and deal with our elvish friend. In the meantime, I must see to this quickly, and I’ll meet you back in Auton.”

Lance paused with suspicion towards Ryker. What was he up to? He only asked the question in his mind; he knew Ryker wouldn’t tell, and there was no way Lance could make him talk. 

“Fine.” Lance said, “But how exactly am I supposed to find them? I don’t have a lot to go on.”

“The Rueldof Forest.” Ryker answered, fixing his jacket as he prepared to leave.

“What about it?” asked Lance.

“I’d check there. It’s a long shot, but I think given how close they’ve come to being caught, and they’re not going by train, they’ll probably try and lose any tails in the forest.”

“That’s too big a risk to take.”

“Well, in any case, you have Jorum with you, as well as my magic-detection resources. If anything interesting happens out there, Jorum will lead the way.”

The Rueldof Forest spanned over twenty miles of mid-northern-Oenvek, and during this time of year, it’s trees gave its guests a beautiful display of various warm colors, the likes of which Bastillina adored. The farther and farther they walked into the forest, the greater the sense of mystery she felt, as if she was walking through a dream. The autumn leaves fell from the trees like golden strips of glitter, and the birds gave music to the wilderness. Erene may be in a rotten mood over this, but Bastillina saw no reason to be outraged. They were away from the city again, and enjoying the peace of the forest. 

Every so often, she would hear unfamiliar sounds, some like a howl, but a light one, from a creature that was also singing somewhere in the forest. Though it seemed like they were lost, Bastillina was confident in Erene being able to navigate it. Her only concern was that Annastaria was noticeably limping, likely due to the last fight. As before, Annastaria took a potion of voluum before they set off, but told Bastillina she would be fine, given she used only a small portion of her magicka.

Annastaria watched Oden walk with Bastillina, the two of them ahead of her, talking in bliss about things she didn’t know of. She was beginning to realize she knew very little about the aenmen, despite learning more than most in her clan.

“You hear that?” Oden said, recalling one of those howl sounds somewhere in the distance. Bastillina nodded curiously. “That’s a feneri; forest creatures. They’re these tiny, furry little guys with big ears, long tails and like to fling around in the trees.”

“How do you know all this stuff?” Bastillina asked.

“I’ve had a few hikes through the forests when I was younger.” he said, “Got to see plenty of amazing animals that roam these places.”

Bastillina looked at him for a moment, innocence in her eyes. “I had no idea how big such a forest like this could be, or all the animals running around in them.” she said.

Oden chuckled, “Wait till you see the western Berchazian plains. The mountainous areas like this give us a lot of cool things in their own way. But once you get out to the plains, you’ll see some beautiful bison, wild horses, and maston.”

“What’s a maston?” Bastillina asked.

“Beautiful, four-legged beasts, and large. They can get up to thirty feet tall. At least the males do. Most don’t live long enough to get that big, but the ones that do, are gorgeous; they have this beautiful, blaze of red maine, large claw-teeth. Truly majestic creatures, I think.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Meh, they’re not that bad. Just don’t try and mess with the pack. Really all the wild beasts, even the griffins and dragons, at the end of the day are just part of the animal kingdom.”

“Everyone back home always told me dragons were monsters, and they always attacked people.”

Oden chuckled again, “Yeah, that’s what they say. But have you ever been attacked by a dragon?”

Bastillina shook her head.

“Ever even seen a dragon?”

Again, she shook her head.

“That’s because even the biggest high dragon won’t come near the big city. Too scary for them.”

“Dragons are scared of us?”

“Like any apex predator. They keep to their territory, and don’t mess with anyone unless they’re provoked. The problem is the world’s modernizing, and so has how we think of these creatures.”

Annastaria remained quiet, listening to their conversation, and wondering what it was that made the two of them so well-off together. There seemed to be no effort in their conversation with each other. She couldn’t understand why it concerned her. All she could remember was Istvan telling her that she had a bond with Bastillina. She couldn’t feel it. Or maybe she was feeling it, and didn’t accept what it was. What if this was a form of jealousy; Bastillina enjoying Oden’s company over her own? 

And several times already, Bastillina was more than willing, without any back-bite, to help Oden with what he needed. Whether it was to fetch him a fork, or to grab something from his backpack for him, she did it with ease and joy. And yet he didn’t save her life. Annastaria did. The only reason Bastillina was out here, loving this experience was because of her. Why was Oden getting the payoff for it, and not Annastaria? All she was trying to do was do as she was raised. Kids need to be disciplined, after all, not constantly treated as though they are okay. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t figure out what it was. 

They stopped to use the restroom, and here was one of the few experiences Bastillina was not comfortable with, as she was forced to use the wilderness for a restroom. Hardly something of proper privacy. But Annastaria and Oden waited for her as she went off a few feet away to be alone. Annastaria couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would be forced to stoop to such shame as to ask an aenman for something.

“How do you do it?” she asked him, as he was scooping water from a stream.

Oden was caught off-guard, and looked at her, pausing for a moment. “Do what?” he asked.

“Get her to obey you so easily. She knows you no more than a day, you have not saved her from a wicked man, and yet she obeys you easily. And she talks to you so easily.”

Oden could almost blush for her. He smiled, looking back to where Bastillina was, somewhere behind the bushes, recalling their time together, then back at Annastaria. “You’re not that familiar with kids, are you?” he asked.

Annastaria glared at him, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it means. It’s alright, Erene, I get it. Everyone’s first encounter with kids is a little awkward.”

“So you know how to work with them?”

“A little. To be honest, Bella reminds me of my niece… She’s a good kid, Erene.”

“You are the second person to say something like that to me, and yet I do not see it.”

“Maybe you do, but you just keep looking at all the bad stuff.” Annastaria paused as he said this. She wasn’t sure what he meant. “You wanna know the secret?” he continued, still with that annoying smile on his face, “Talk to her. Don’t treat her like baggage.”

“I do not treat her like baggage.” Annastaria argued.

“She seems to think differently.”

“Children think many things.”

Oden chuckled, “Sometimes, children say the truest things. Bella’s told me you don’t seem to care that you saved her. She’s very appreciative of what you’ve done for her, Erene… But just because you pulled a kid out of poverty, doesn’t mean you’ve given them something for it. I could give a poor kid a hundred bucks, and he can buy food for the next several weeks. But what next? Eventually that money runs out. What’ve I done for him in the end?”

Annastaria paused to think for a moment, hearing Bastillina begin to move, which meant she was probably finished. “Then what am I to do?”

“Like I said, talk to her, listen. And don’t tell kids you’re gonna do something unless you intend to do it. Seems like you told her you were going to show her how to use her power.”

“But time prevents me.”

“Does it? You got a lot of time to read that book.”

“It is important.”

“More important than a kid growing up? Seeing the world for what it is? You have any idea what that’ll do to a kid?”

Bastillina was heard beginning to walk back to them, humming innocently as she did. Oden stepped closer to Annastaria then. “Instead of treating her like extra luggage,” he murmured, “you should treat her as a friend. Or a little sister. She may say some stuff about you that’s not so nice, but she doesn’t say it pleasantly. She wants you to be her hero, Erene. I’m not her hero–you are. You said it yourself, you pulled her out of that pit in Levaan. Now show her where to go.”

Annastaria had no words. She couldn’t believe she was receiving more profound words from a no-good aenman thief than from even her own elders. This wasn’t how Uramuun raised her and the others. Or was it? Then again, Uramuun was never in the kind of position of parentage, or guardianship, or whatever this was, that she was in. 

Bastillina came to them before they could talk further. “Bloody hell,” she said in her east-Oenian, city-borne accent, “that was weird. Never done that before.”

Oden chuckled at her, “Well, you might be doing more of that unfortunately, unless we get through these blasted woods soon.”

“How long until we get to the next city?”

She and Oden instinctively turned to Annastaria. “If I know where we are,” she answered, “then it should be another few hours. Well before nightfall.”

“Sounds good to me.” Oden replied, “Let’s get moving then.”

Annastaria kept the sun ahead of her, and the shadows of the trees pointing towards her, to indicate the time of day, which was late in the afternoon. It told her they were moving west, as they should be. The walk was mildly rocky, and hilly towards the middle of the forest, but gradually became more flattened. Finally, after two hours, they found a small pond to rest at, and to refresh themselves. It’s source was a stream from the northeast that ran through going west. Annastaria took note of it as a good sign of going in the right direction; the hilly parts of the woods were behind them east. According to her map, they were not far from Auton.

Oden didn’t hesitate to strip himself to his underwear and dive into the water. Bastillina wanted to follow, but Annastaria would not let her, and so the girl elected to simply rest her bare feet in the cool water. It was a sharp coldness at first, but a few seconds later, it began to comfort her, especially given the warmth of the sun through a patch of open sky in the trees above that beamed on her spot.

Annastaria sat on the base of a tree near the river, where she rested on her thighs the book that Istvan gave her, raised up to her face so she could read it. For the first time since he gave it to her, she finally had a chance to at least look at it, and while the conflict at the trainstation was nothing short of a cursed event, at least it’s following events put her in the peaceful forest to read this book. Quickly she was overwhelmed with many illustrations, mostly of ritual designs, containing Nagush-based enchantment markings on them, mostly of singular nouns. There was a ritual about an owl, about water, light, wood, darkness, wings, dragons, bugs, and even goblins. There were many such ritualistic symbols, most of which Annastaria was not immediately familiar with. What she was essentially familiar with in this, was that this was a record of repieced dark magic ritual spells, mostly from secondary sources, given how rare it was to come across real dark magic rituals.

There were records, with dates going back over two centuries of dark magic incidents, and as Istvan said, the entire book was written in elvish. It was a fortunate thing for her; only she could read it. The last thing Annastaria wanted was for either Oden or Bastillina to know about this. The calm and peace was quiet, but almost too quiet, as it made it difficult for Annastaria to focus on the book itself, instead of the silly conversation Oden and Bastillina were having over more of that dreaded meat that Oden tried to carry with him, but lost in the fight back in Whitehold. She figured being attacked by more of the henchmen of this mob wasn’t so bad if it caused Oden to lose the paper bag with those abominable foods in it. But things would only get worse for her now as Oden took his attention off of Bastillina and to herself.

“Come on in, Erene!” he said from inside the pond, “The water is perfect!”

Bastillina encouraged the sentiment with a silent smile towards Annastaria. 

“No thank you.” she said, keeping her eyes on the book.

“What? Come on, you have got to be rotting in body odor by now!”

“Not enough that I will undress myself to swim in a pool with someone I do not know, especially you.”

“Oh come on, drama queen!” Oden teased as he swam to the shore closest to where Annastaria was sitting, “When was the last time you had a good, clean bath?”

Those words were enough to draw her eyes to him, peering over the top of the book with a glare, “That is not of your concern.” she said firmly.

He looked to his left, where Bastillina was sitting. She rolled her eyes, and Oden read it clearly. Both were tired of this elf’s attitude by now. But Oden smirked, still confident in his assertion to Bastillina that he could get Annastaria to loosen up somehow. The unspoken thing for him, of course, was that he was attracted to her. He fancied the elvish women, and he was determined to get Annastaria to swim, and of course, to eventually eat a cinnamon roll.

“You’re way too uptight, you know that?” he said to her, “Don’t you ever relax?”

“I am relaxed when you are not bothering me while trying to read.” she whipped back, glaring at him once more.

“Reading? Not that kind of relaxing.” he said, before stepping out of the water to walk towards her, “We all love to read here and there, but I’m talking about just taking a load off. Letting loose a little bit.”

“Again,” Annastaria said, keeping her eyes on the book and not on the profusely wet Oden standing just three feet in front of her in his underwear, “I do not know what that means, but I would leave it there if I were you.”

Oden felt as though he got struck in the nose again. Annastaria was a stubborn one, that was certain to him. He recalibrated his thoughts, trying to find something to say to her. Then he noticed her book, and had an idea to maybe appeal to what she was interested in. “Alright, fine.” he said, “So what are you reading, anyway?”

Annastaria paused a moment, wondering if she should be blunt with him about the book. “An old book.” she answered.

“Obviously. What kind of book? Old story?”

“You could say that.”

Oden felt the conversation dying as quick as a poorly-made fire, in which the only thing to keep it alive was to keep throwing sticks at it. “What kind of story?” he asked.

“Old stories… about ancient legends and myths.”

That was something he could work with. “Ah, interesting. So you’re into that kind of stuff?”

“For various reasons, none of which are of your concern.”

“Sure… Can I guess one reason, though?” he said with a grin.

Annastaria looked at him with the same glare again. She refused to answer his question, and looked back at the book. Oden took it as an approval. “I bet,” he began, “one of the reasons is so you can learn more about that cool thing you did with your hand back there.”

Annastaria’s attention suddenly sparked towards him. “You saw what I did?” she asked.

Oden shrugged, still smiling, “Uh, yeah. Who didn’t? Other than maybe Bella, who had her eyes closed. Hmph! I don’t know what you did to that other master back there, but you got that dude tripping all over himself. Clearly had to be some form of illusion magic, right?” Bastillina pivoted towards them, interested in the turn of the conversation.

“Um… yes, it is.” Annastaria said with a small stutter.

“That’s what that was?” Bastillina asked, “You can do illusion magic?”

“I can.” Annastaria said, after a short hesitation.

“Just with your cool tattoo thing? I’ve never seen that before, or heard of it!” Bastillina’s face brightened as she spoke. Annastaria was half relieved, knowing that if she was excited about it, rather than shocked (as any knowledgeable master should be) it meant she didn’t know what it was. “Can you teach me that?” the girl asked.

Annastaria paused again. She felt strangely sad for the girl. The moment the question came off Bastillina’s lips, Annastaria felt strangely sorrowful and empathetic, remembering Oden’s words to her. She couldn’t actually teach Bastillina this, but she also wished she herself didn’t have this power. “Perhaps.” Annastaria said. A lie, and one that stung her conscience even further, but she would not repent of it. She choked down the sting, which only stung worse when Bastillina nearly shouted in excitement over it. Annastaria had never seen a young master so overly joyed from learning more about their magic capabilities. It concerned her, and she didn’t know how to confront Bastillina about it.

“Interesting.” Oden said, pondering, “I don’t know a lot about magic, but you being able to perform an illusion magic that way seems pretty strange.”

“Have you ever heard of body runes?” Annastaria said to him.

“Only a little.”

“They are not greatly unusual. Many masters have runes given to them to enhance certain abilities.” Annastaria hoped Oden would not recognize her conflation of runes and her prime attributes, meant to throw him off the trail he was on.

“Oh! I’ve heard about that!” Bastillina said. A lightbulb may as well have popped on over her head, “It’s supposed to give them a special power over a part of magic, right? Like illusion!”

“Something like that, yes.”

“True.” Oden replied, “But I’ve only ever heard that being done by the wood-elven mages and sorcerers. You’re not really suggesting you’re… with them, are you?”

Annastaria was taken aback for a moment. She counted on his claim to ignorance of magic to throw him off, and found herself putting him on another trail she did not want him on. He was surprisingly well-known in this. “Of course not.” she lied, “And it is not greatly unusual for non-zealots to do this to themselves.”

“So you’ve got runes?” Oden said.

“Yes–and do not ask me why or how. You are not to be asking me questions right now. You should be happy that I have allowed you to at all.”

Oden chuckled, “Alright… Fair enough.”

“That is quite fair. Now please, both of you, may I return to reading in peace before we must leave?”

Oden and Bastillina looked at each other. “Alright,” Oden said. Then he grinned at Annastaria, “You sure you don’t want to take a swim before we leave?”

Annastaria looked up at him with a stoic stare. “Enjoy your bath, Mr. Oden.” she said, biting back a rebuke. Oden smiled and stepped away from her.

Twenty minutes later, they were moving once more through the Rueldof, with it’s ends seeming to be nowhere in sight. Every few minutes they were greeted with the harmless and observant wildlife of the forest, such as fawns, birds and squirrels. But every so often, the most peculiar things to Bastillina that they came across, especially in areas that were more open and free of tall trees were monuments, or statues, resting in groves. Of all that the woods of the Rueldof had to offer in terms of mystery, these were the most question-begging.

They weren’t human statues, though some had humans as part of them. They were like spires, mostly tall and rectangular in nature, often narrowing as they rose up to, what was about twenty feet high, set upon stone foundations mostly covered in the fall leaves. The statues were silent, yet spoke the most in the whole forest. Bastillina wanted to ask about them, and nearly did, except Oden spoke first as he knelt down to wash his hands in the shallow crossing part of a river.

 “How much farther do we have to go?” he asked.

“I am not sure.” she said on the other side of the stream, “But the sun will set soon.”

“Well that’s just great. I thought we were supposed to be in Auton before then.”

Annastaria didn’t say anything. She really wasn’t sure what to say. This forest seemed unpredictable to her. She had never been in foreign woods and forests before, only her own, which were far different. The ones from home contained their mystic essence, protected by the magic of the wood elves. She knew them, and was comforted by the magic protection of her tribes. Here, in the dark world of the aenmen, she did not know what to expect in the foreign woods.

Before he could complain further, Oden felt the water grip his hands, becoming heavy and frozen. He looked and saw that his hands had been frozen together in the water. “Erene?” he said as his panic began to rise. Annastaria heard the ice freeze and turned quickly. Oden pulled his frozen hands out of the water, “Help!”

Bastillina was next to Annastaria, and instinctively went to Oden’s aid, but Annastaria grabbed her and pulled her back, looking out in the trees in every direction she could for any abnormal movement. 

“What?” Bastillina said, “We’ve got to help him!” She was ready to pull herself away from her when she saw a blast of leaves barrel towards the two of them from where they had come from. 

Annastaria saw it, recognizing it as an airburst and threw herself into Bastillina, wrapping her arms around the girl to dodge the attack. The two helped each other up only to see a tremor come towards them from the same direction. Bastillina leaped out of the way by Annastaria’s push, and Annastaria herself jumped the other direction. Only a few seconds later came the master from before leaping from the trees to attack Annastaria.

She rolled out of the way of his airborne attack, forcing him to engage with her once more on leveled ground, in hand-to-hand combat. Bastillina stood up next to a tree, mesmerized by the fight for a moment before hearing Oden, “Bella! Help!” She looked and saw that the ice on Oden’s hands seemed to be growing more and more, and heavier and heavier. He could barely keep it above water as the stream started to take him away. Bastillina jumped out of her position to help Oden, hoping to find a way to him without falling in the river. She had to be quick, as he was approaching deeper and stronger currents.

Annastaria, as before, was faster and more agile than this master. Finally, she managed to blunt a right-hook from him with an airburst mixed with a punch of her own, forcing him back. The two squared off, only ten feet away from each other. The master couldn’t help but smile. “Damn!” he exclaimed, “You’re good! I was curious to see if you would actually fall for that trap. But even when your precious cargo is caught, you stood your ground and looked for the source, instead of  foolishly go to his aid. I don’t know who trained you, or hell, if you’re a zealot somehow, but they did a damn fine job.”

“How did you find me?” Annastaria said.

“You’re not the only one who’s got training, pointy-ears. It’s my job to track targets.”

Annastaria looked over to see Bastillina running after Oden. Panic rose in her the farther Bastillina went. “Bella!” she shouted, “Stop!”

Bastillina stopped only for a moment to look at her. “Oden’s stuck!” she shouted back, gesturing, “I can’t just leave him!”

“Just hold on!” Annastaria said, “I will be there to get him out! Stay where you are!”

Before she could keep talking, the master attacked once more with a magic scatter shot attack–a form of attack that takes the magic projectile and breaks it apart as it approaches the target. It was a rock-based attack, sending pelts of rocks and hardened clumps of dirt at Annastaria. She was distracted by Bastillina and didn’t see the attack at first, throwing up her arms criss-cross over her face and the small rock pebbles pelted her. Before more could do more damage, she threw her arms out in a warp that dispersed the rest of it, and once more, the master closed the distance to try and overwhelm her with hand-to-hand combat.

Bastillina ran along the river, moving farther and farther from Annastaria to keep Oden in her sight. “Oden!” she cried out, “You’ve got to stand up! Come on!”

“I’m trying!” he shouted back, “The ice! It’s growing, and getting heavier!”

Bastillina looked ahead, realizing she had to try and catch him; chasing him would not do anything. She saw a fallen tree ahead and ran towards it, past Oden. He watched her, and wasn’t sure if he should rebuke her for putting herself in danger, or if he should hope she had a good idea. She jumped on the fallen tree, which only went into the river at a slant, and possibly too far for Oden. He tried to pull himself towards her as she came to the end, holding both hands out and resting her body on the trunk. He dug his feet into the riverbed and pulled his iced hands out, revealing the ice had turned into nearly a boulder of ice around his hands. Bastillina grabbed it and felt the weight of the ice and the stream of the river pull her down, but she used her body wrapped around the tree to hold herself in place.

“Got’cha!” she exhaled.

But then Bastillina felt coldness creep around her own hands. She looked and saw the ice was now consuming her hands. This was more than simply freezing Oden’s hands; some kind of spell was causing this to persist, and using the river water to grow. She gasped, trying to let go, but couldn’t. “What the–” she said, “What’s going on? I can’t let go!”

“I would rather you not let go!” Oden said back.

“No–I mean, my hands are stuck in the ice!”

Oden paused, only for a moment to think. He looked back, and barely saw Annastaria still fighting the master up the river. “Just hold on!” he said with empty words of comfort.

Both Annastaria and the other master traded magic attacks in a fierce duel, neither seemingly able to gain an upper hand. The master sent out a flurry of small magic projectiles at her, showing his ability to use raw magic energy as a weapon. Annastaria responded by dodging the attacks, progressively moving towards the stream and then magically sent a slicing wave of water at him, diagonally. The bounty hunter panicked at her quick and impressive use of elemental magic and strafed left to dodge the attack. He managed to get far enough to the left to dodge most of the water, but as he came up, he was met with Annastaria’s own flurry of attacks. She delivered a powerful kick to his face, which he barely saw in time to throw his arm up and deflect the powerful blow that would surely have knocked him out cold. He managed to catch her foot before it could come down, gaining him an advantage.

But in only a split second, a second foot came up before he could take full advantage and struck him in the face. He let go and tumbled to the ground, his head spinning. Annastaria landed on all four as he stumbled to the ground. She had finally gotten the opening she needed to finish him. 

But then, “Erene!” she heard. It was Bastillina’s voice echoing over the water. She turned quickly and saw both Oden and Bastillina, stuck in the river near a downed tree.

“Hold on!” she shouted back as she darted towards them.

Annastaria seemingly glided over the river, leaping on rocks to avoid falling in, closing the distance towards Oden and Bastillina in just seconds before one final leap onto the fallen tree. What took Bastillina almost thirty seconds to get to, Annastaria managed in just under five seconds. She was ready to reach for Oden and Bastillina’s hands, both trapped in the ice.

“Don’t touch it!” Bastillina said, “It… grows!”

Annastaria was confused, but only for a moment. She reached out and placed her hand on the ice and sure enough, her hand was being consumed by it. “I told you not to touch it!” Bastillina rebuked once more.

Annastaria then reached into a pocket, pulling out a small vial, using her teeth to rip open the cork that sealed it, and then pouring the pink liquid content on the ice. It began to crack, and she broke her hand away. “Pull away!” she ordered them. Both Bastillina and Oden didn’t hesitate, and began to pull themselves out of the ice block, feeling it’s grip give way. “It is held by a sustaining spell.” Annastaria said further, “The ice trap not only grips, but it is continuously maintained by the spell.”

As helpful as it was, they still had the progressively raging river to contend with. Before Annastaria could pull herself up, and help Bastillina, she felt the downed tree suddenly give way and fall into the river. She turned and saw the same master from before, breaking the tree from its final grasp into the ground, but he used his rock mastery and kept it from completely giving way. He was angry now. “I’ve got all three of you where I want you!” he said, “Give up now! Or I let you all go into the waters ahead, and trust me, they get a lot worse than this.”

Annastaria stared him down for a moment, contemplating what to do. Surrender was not an option, and she dashed after him, her speed not affected by the narrow tree trunk. He was stunned for a moment, as it only took her two seconds to get within three feet of him before she leapt into the air for an attack. “Holy crap!” he cursed at her shocking speed before letting the tree go and thrusting a rock-based scatter-shot attack that caused Annastaria to respond to with a mid-air butterfly twist, blasting the scatter-shot away with a powerful airburst that then struck and launched him away, tumbling into the ground. She came down and quickly turned to maintain the grip the master had on the tree, keeping it from falling away by only a weakened root in the ground.

She grunted, and ground her teeth as she struggled to keep it from giving way to the current of the river, and from the weakness of her form. Transitioning from air to rock was not something she was good at. Annastaria, for a split second that seemed to agonize her for hours, realized the importance of what her trainers were trying to teach her, about focusing on the weaknesses in her combat. It counted more than ever here, and she wasn’t ready for it. She knew she couldn’t hold on, and decided to try and ice the water that was surrounding the remaining root.

But when she did, what she hoped would give her relief in at least briefly solidifying the grip of the tree to the remaining ground, only provided more weight for the tree giving way to the current, and it was pulled out of the ground. “Erene!” Bastillina screamed again as the tree succumbed to the river. Both she and Oden were carried off.

Annastaria was about to leap into action once more when she heard loud cracks from somewhere behind her, and the ground around her burst up. She turned and saw from the bluffs above from where they came from, a whole group of men, coming over it, opening fire on her. She looked to the other master, who was in the crossfire, and she felt a strange concern for him, but ignored it, and ran after Oden and Bastillina again.

“Dammit.” said the other master as he watched them close in, “Those bastards found us somehow.” 

It was the Intero gangsters, having somehow found them. He didn’t have time to ask questions, and ran after Annastaria. Both Oden and Bastillina managed to grab hold of a rock to keep them from being taken farther down the river, which gave Annastaria some ease in this, but it would not last long. She was prepared to reach out to Bastillina, who was within reach when an airburst struck her and pushed her into a tree. The shock and pain dazed her, but she knew what had happened. She looked up and saw the master from before once again, simply unwilling to give up.

That was it. She stood up, throwing her outer coat off and prepared to unleash her prime power on him when suddenly, the master’s feet were frozen in their tracks. The anomaly stopped both him and Annastaria and they turned behind him to see something neither expected in any capacity, more strange than the Intero finding them in the woods. 

Approaching them was another man, who was not like the others. He was tall, slender and yet had a ripped muscle build; his upper body naked and pale, his lower body with only worn cargo pants and combat boots. His cheeks bore an unnatural gaunt, with eyes bearing a kind of filthy yellow tint over their steel color. His head and face was bare of any hair, and his body was covered in what seemed to be ritualistic-like runes that were black in color, that ran along his limbs and chest, with circular shapes at his joints and chest, where the magicka points of a master was.

He walked with a stride, and he had the stare of a stoic predator, hesitating in no way to draw near to them. His sights looked past the first master and were set firmly on Annastaria. She could see it, and it disturbed her. For the first time in aenman lands, she felt a strange sense of fear, or disturbance coming from this man. As though there was darkness of a supernatural kind around him, or through him. It made her tremble, but she refused to give it any leverage in her mind. She focused on saving Bastillina and Oden. The other master pulled his feet out of the ice grips and turned towards this one. Annastaria prepared herself as well; a whole new kind of fight was about to begin.