I woke up to the sound of Taro preparing breakfast. I could see the sun shining from the window which meant I had slept through the night and some hours of the day as well.

"Good morning," Taro said, as he rinsed some fruits in a small bowl filled with water. "Do you feel rested?"

"I feel better," I said, but immediately regretted it as I started to stand up. "Actually, my whole body hurts."

"Your muscles have had time to relax now and they’re starting to complain about the way you treated them." Taro spoke without turning around to look at me. "I hope you at least slept enough to carry yourself through the day."

I stood up and stretched my hands and legs. It felt as if I'd spent the whole previous day training extensively, but at least I had more energy in me than yesterday.

"It was enough alright," I said as I helped him serve our breakfast.

"When do you plan to leave?" he asked, once we sat down at the dining table.

"Immediately. My plan was to leave at sunrise," I replied, and took a bite out of a steaming hot bread bun.

"I see. You know, I brought quite a few magical bags with me from the tower," Taro explained. "I want you to have one."

"Taro, there's no need—" I began, but he would have none of it.

"I've already filled it with food, water, and everything else you'll need while traveling."

"Thank you," I said, and put my hand on his shoulder. "You're a true friend."

We continued eating the breakfast he'd prepared for us in silence. There was very little left to say. Once we were finished, he gave me the silver flute he'd promised me, along with a rather large leather bag.

"Your sister will probably have a stone like the one I used yesterday," he said. "When you get there, please don't forget to use it to let the tower know you reached Elysia safely. I'll be informed by them."

"Of course," I replied, "and you don't have to worry about me. I've been through much worse."

"Safe travels, brother," he said as we reached the door of the house.

I nodded, and hugged him briefly before opening the door and exiting into one of Nara's sunny alleys. He closed the door behind me, and I walked down the small path to a bigger, stone-paved street.

Looking at Nara in the light of the sun, it was almost possible to forget the slaughter that had taken place here some months ago. The area was eerily quiet, but it felt more like a town whose citizens were on vacation and would soon return than it did the site of a massacre.

When I reached the center of the village, I took the silver flute out of my pocket and blew hard into it. Moments later, a silvery-gray mare gradually appeared, galloping toward my direction. The beautiful creature stopped in front of me and waited eagerly to be ridden.

I strapped my newly-acquired leather bag securely just behind its saddle and climbed up. While most magical steeds reacted with the same susceptibility to new riders, their personalities varied greatly. My mare felt anxious to run, and prompting her to start proved my suspicions correct.

She moved so fast that whenever I looked down at her long silver legs, all I could discern was a gray haze. Thankfully, this was exactly what I wanted. I would, of course, use less-traveled roads and paths toward Elysia—the capital city of the nation that was named after it—but even those options would become more crowded as I got closer.

Riding fast would at least spare me a few inquisitive looks. And so I focused on the road ahead, fully prepared for long days of riding and short nights of rest.

***

Three days into my travels and I was almost halfway there. I hadn't yet encountered anyone when resting and the few people I'd seen while riding had been easy enough to avoid engaging with. Most of them seemed to be in almost as much of a hurry as I was.

Since I was now ahead of schedule, I decided to give my body some additional time to recuperate from the exhaustion of non-stop riding and camped for the night right after sunset.

Normally, I would use what little light was offered by the setting sun to travel a few extra miles but I was getting closer to an open valley with no trees. Traveling through the valley would be fine, but when it came to resting, I preferred the comfort and cover of thick vegetation and high trees.

I recalled my mare at the roadside and walked a few minutes into the heart of a small forest. No more than thirty minutes after I settled on the soft uneven ground between the roots of a giant sequoia, I saw a large figure fly by in the air.

I was immediately alarmed. It looked like a bird, but it was much larger. It reminded me of a martin, since it was shaped like an 'x', but I had never seen a martin as big as a human before, and I hoped it was just my drowsiness playing tricks on me.

Seconds later, I saw the figure make another flyby. This time I was certain it wasn't a bird. It was far too large, perhaps larger even than me, but the full moon shining bright behind it made it impossible to discern anything other than its shape.

I did not waste any more time trying to figure out what was happening and instead sprung up onto my feet. I hurriedly strapped my bag to my side and was reaching for my shield when the large figure dived directly toward me. Not only had it seen me, but it seemed to now be on the attack.

I quickly grabbed my shield and brought it in front of me. It glowed a faint blue as the giant bird crashed into it with a metallic clang. The light was brief, but long enough to see what was attacking me. It wasn't just a bird after all, but rather some kind of twisted cross between a man and a bird.

Name : ??

Race : Avoral

Class : Winged Swordsman

Level : 35

The creature had a male human face, but instead of hair, it only had long white feathers with dark red tips. Its human torso was muscular, with its abdominal and pectoral muscles lean but very defined. Its lower half was covered in the same long feathers all the way down to its razor-sharp four-taloned feet, which resembled those of a giant hawk.

Most impressively however, the creature in front of me had large wings attached to its arms, from its shoulder blades down to its wrists.

Not at all fazed by the brief shine of my shield, the creature charged at me again and it was only then that I registered why it had sounded metallic against my shield. Its right human-shaped hand was gripping a longsword, and it was traveling toward me again.

I raised my shield just in time to parry its blow and realized this was not simply the instinctual attack of a beast. The creature was more human than animal, as evident by it having a class and the fact that it was actually measuring my abilities. Its third thrust came slow enough to allow me to retrieve one of my own swords from my scabbard.

"So you do know how to fight, Adel," the man-bird said in a high-pitched voice.

The revelation that this creature knew me caught me off guard, and he took the chance to attack me again. He could have seen my name by scanning me of course but the way he talked made it seem like he knew more about me than just my name.