Chapter 1 - An Obvious Misunderstanding

Dark shadows fell over the ravine as the sun slowly descended from its lofty perch, giving way to a blood colored sky that reflected dully from the flecks of crimson blood the small, boyish figure was carefully examining on the ground.

“Still hasn’t stiffened,” Skyle thought, rubbing the blood between his fingers. “I’m closing on it. It’s losing blood faster than I’d thought. After that last arrow, it can’t outrun me like it did the last time.”

Squeezing his small hands into fists, Skyle’s steel grey eyes narrowed slightly as he recalled the last time his prey had eluded him, only a week earlier. After snatching one of the precious energized elenium crystals under his watch, the culprit had easily evaded the one hastily loosed shot Skyle had managed with his bow, before vanishing into the trees.

For a small elenium crystal farm such as the one his family owned, it could take upwards of three months for even the tiniest crystal to absorb enough elemental essence to become fully charged and ready for sale. Those were three months of constant vigilance through rain, snow, hail or worse.

Of course, Skyle hardly had time to gape at the outrageous speed of the little thief before his father had seemingly appeared out of thin air behind his back to ungently nudge him forward.

“Go on. It’s your watch, it’s your responsibility,” his father had chuckled, and that was that.

Skyle knew it was useless to argue that he was only 12 this year, and that most parents would never even consider letting their children set a foot into the Felwood Forest, let alone send them on a wild chase after a wildefox.

After all, Skyle reflected, should he truly push his luck and decide to protest, his father would likely waste no time to point out that other 12 year old children wouldn’t have their own Asarian heartwood bow and ten copper bits every ten days either.

Mostly though, it was the fact that Skyle knew his father was a man who would seldom, if ever, take back a word he spoke. Other men might be persuaded one way or another, but only one person could ever hope to change Kendric Farrow’s mind once it was set. Unexpectedly, that was none other than the gentle tyrant of the house - Adrienne Farrow, Skyle’s mother.

As such, Skyle had wasted no time and rushed into the woods after the thief. However, after half a day of chasing its tracks over the outer reaches of Felwood Forest, he had been forced to concede defeat when he had finally lost the trail under the fading light of the setting sun. He had spent that whole night huddling inside the hollowed out trunk of a dead tree, shivering from the cold and mindful of every noise around him as the night came alive in the darkness. A fire might have been able to provide some warmth, but he wasn’t foolish enough to risk drawing the predators of the forest. Instead, he had rubbed the special herbs he had not neglected to pick up during the daytime chase just as his father had always taught him. By the next day, their godawful stench had successfully warded off both unwanted predators and his own peaceful sleep.

Undaunted by his failure, and after being the butt of his father’s jokes as well as his mother’s smothering care for the next week after the incident, Skyle had daringly decided to set up a trap for a rematch against the offending thief. After all, if a wildefox was clever enough to weave through their traps and snatch a single elenium crystal before making its escape, it would likely be back for another. The temptation would be too great, as the condensed elemental energy in one elenium crystal could well nurture its growth into the next layer of its spirit veins.

His father had smirked and shaken his head, but Skyle had stubbornly refused to give up. His only advice had been a final reminder that he would dock the eight silvers another empty crystal would cost straight out of his son’s already overdrafted wages. That was all. No tips on how to track down his prey, what arrows to bring, predators to watch out for. Heck, not even a token gesture of good faith or an encouraging pat on the back for his eldest son's daring expedition. Instead, Kendric had braved the disapproving sigh Skyle’s mother had let out in her husband’s direction and drawn her inside the house by drawing her close to his chest with an arm around her waist, all the while flicking a dismissive wave to Skyle over his shoulder.

Ten copper bits for one silver. Skyle had managed to secretly save up the massive fortune of 8 silvers this year. Only two more, and he would be holding a full golden sun, with its sun-embossed radiance. His father had promised to pay the difference for a true atawan bowstring should Skyle manage to scrounge up a golden sun. However, his savings would never get there if he kept losing crystals worth his entire savings for the whole year!

So, he had dug in with grim determination, ignoring the smothering heat and the tantalizing smells of food coming from the house. Eventually, his patience was rewarded. Three interminable hours later, the wildefox had indeed returned, and had even managed to dodge the first two arrows to come flashing from Skyle’s prized Asarian bow. The little devil must be a high initiate ranked wind beast, which would explain the uncanny agility and speed with which it moved. However, on the third shot Skyle had finally read the clever beast’s movement patterns and was rewarded with a startled cry of pain before the wildefox had once again vanished into the trees.

Now, as Skyle took in the dense canopy of trees that lay before him, he knew the chase was almost over. Though it looked like a bewildering maze to most adults, Skyle’s well trained vision could read the telltale signs of movement and disturbance in the forest like lanterns shining brightly in the growing gloom. A broken branch here, a fresh paw print there, a disturbed pile of dead leaves beyond - they all told a story his father had spent many painstaking hours teaching him to read, until it became almost a second nature to Skyle. His feet lightly picked their way forward, an arrow nocked to his bowstring, ready to unleash the killing shot as soon as he sighted his prey.

There! About sixty paces ahead, he could see the glimmering coat of silver-tinged red that marked a young wildefox. It lay panting on the ground, the stolen elenium crystal still gripped tightly between its teeth. Skyle raised his bow in a smooth, practiced motion, ready to finally end the chase, when the smell hit his nose.

It was a shocking mix of offal with wet earth and the sweet, musky scent of death and decay. Skyle had personally never smelled it before, but it was so unique and his father had described it enough times, each with graver warnings than the last, that he instantly froze on the spot while cold sweat ran down his back. All the while, his mind frantically repeated one word over and over.

Troll.

The gruesome killing machines had not been sighted in the outer borders of the Forbidden Forest for the past hundred years, at the very least. Many thought them little more than legends, nightmares from a bygone era. However, his father had dutifully taught him about almost every mythical monster Skyle had ever heard of, and even a whole lot more that he hadn’t. Now, his very life depended on how well he could recall those lessons.

Trolls were mostly nocturnal hunters, carrion feeders who prefered the easy pickings of dead meat rather than having to hunt food for themselves. However, they were fiercely territorial and formidable fighters who could easily wipe out a full squad of adepts, let alone mere initiates like most commonfolk were.

Skyle himself, of course, did not even rank as an initiate.

The young boy desperately ran down a mental list the assets he could bring to bear to fight off such a formidable beast, but quickly realized the sole weapon he possessed - his bow - would do him no good at all if the troll had him in his sights right now. Worse still, his short legs and budding stamina would avail him for nothing against a monster that could outrun a horse and outmuscle it to boot!

Seconds trickled by slowly, with Skyle still not daring to move a muscle as his eyes scanned the area around him, afraid that the faintest motion might alert the troll nearby. However, he soon found the smell receding, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps this had been a lucky day, for the wildefox and himself both.

As Skyle lowered the bow in his hands while his chest slowly deflated, familiar sounds gradually crashed through the drumming of his heart and finally registered in his brain. The sounds of movement and the shouts of many men carried surprisingly well across the otherwise eerily quiet forest.

There were people nearby! That was probably what had drawn the troll’s attention away!

Skyle instantly struggled with a dilemma. On the one hand, he had barely escaped a deadly encounter with a troll and should consider himself lucky to be able to head home safely. On the other hand, a troll crashing into an unprepared line of innocent people would be a massacre that would weigh in his conscience forever.

It really wasn’t a choice at all, as Skyle bit his lips before throwing a respectful salute towards the distant wildefox in silent farewell.

He had the feeling the wildefox was a whole lot smarter than himself, after all.

“At least it couldn’t leave a wider path down the forest,” Skyle silently thought as he eyed the path of devastation laid out before him. Branches thicker than his arm were casually snapped off, and the vegetation underneath lay crushed under an unfathomable weight. “Father said adult trolls can weigh over a ton. Judging by these marks, this seems a little short of that. I wonder if that’s good or bad. Adults are stronger, but younger beasts are usually far more aggressive.”

Skyle nervously licked his lips while he followed the trail. He knew it was a dangerous game he was playing, but he couldn’t simply leave the people ahead to their fates and he’d rather keep the troll in front of him rather than behind. Perhaps the troll would be too lazy to confront so many humans and would simply pass the travelers by. If so, Skyle could hurry back to his father so they could get word out to the Crimson Guard stationed at Redemption Keep.

“Besides, if the troll ends up eating me, father will never hear the end of it from mom,” Skyle noted to himself with a sickly smirk.

However, as he followed the tracks left by the troll, the sounds of humans seemed to be drawing gradually closer. Unable to delay any further and finally reaching a decision, Skyle gave up on stealth and instead took off dashing in the direction of the human voices. The troll’s tracks were slightly off to one side, and perhaps if Skyle hurried, he might reach the humans first.

After a few moments of frenzied movement, Skyle sprinted in the direction of a towering oak that had collapsed, leaning against a nearby tree. Agilely dashing up the length of its trunk, he slung his bow over his shoulder and leapt off the top of the fallen tree, reaching out with both hands and barely managing to cling onto a higher tree’s branch. After hastily pulling himself up, Skyle used this new elevated vantage point to scan the area ahead.

There! About 250 feet to his right he could see a long line of mounted soldiers advancing through the trees in a double file. The fading sunlight glittered against the polished metal of their armor, and the leading men bore several impressive flags that flapped in the breeze.

“Free Duchies’ men?” Skyle frowned, recalling the neverending lessons on the heraldry of the various Kingdoms and Duchies of the continent his father had forced upon him. “That looks like one of the eastern duchies’ crests. It can’t be though, what would they be doing all the way here in the Empire’s borders?”

Then Skyle gasped in shock as he turned his head to the left and caught sight of the monster he’d been tracking. It was a troll alright, fully 9 feet tall with shoulders at least half as wide. It lumbered ahead with a slow, steady gait as he crashed through thick trees as though they were mere kindling.

“C’mon, it’s making enough of a ruckus that even Fatty, hopeless as he is in a forest, would have heard it coming from a mile off!” Skyle cursed to himself as he carefully unslung his bow and reached for an arrow.

Skyle finally discovered the reason the incoming party of humans didn’t seem to have noticed the troll yet. It took the shape of a huge black horse charging ahead of the crowd, bearing an immaculately dressed youth who was emphatically pointing with his hand in the air while roaring wordlessly.

His target lay just ahead, about fifty feet in front of the youth. Skyle spotted a small shadow swiftly running deeper into the forest, in the very direction of the troll was heading in. The vague silhouette was so fast on its feet that Skyle couldn’t make much more than its general outline. It swerved and leapt about the forest with incredible grace. At the last moment, it seemed to finally sense the deadly danger that lay ahead, and it dove into a thick clump of bushes before turning and dashing away in the another direction.

The youth seemed to be oblivious to this fact, and ignoring the frantic calls of the men that had been left far behind, he plunged ahead on what was sure to be a direct collision course with the advancing troll.

“Stupid nobles, can’t even see down the end of their upturned noses,” Skyle cursed to himself.

“Beware, TROLL!” Skyle shouted, aware that he might risk drawing the troll’s attention but unwilling to be a simple spectator to this unfolding massacre. Fortunately, the troll did not even turn its head in Skyle’s direction as it picked up its pace forward. Unfortunately, neither did the foolish noble, fixated as he was on his stupid hunt. If this continued, the troll would tear him to pieces before any of his men had the opportunity to help.

Skyle shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment to recall his father’s instructions when faced with mortal danger. Skyle could almost hear his father’s relaxed, dry voice, “Woah, calm down boy. Breathe slow and regain your focus”.

Drawing deep, even breaths he began to examine each element at play here. The troll lay about 150 feet away to Skyle’s left at the moment. The unknown youth riding his white steed was roughly 150 feet in the opposite direction, to Skyle’s right hand side.

150 feet might not seem like too great a distance when the target is nine feet tall. However, it was picking up momentum, and the abundant trees offered enough cover that it would be a slightly challenging target. The more important factor was, even if Skyle did strike the target, how much damage could his arrow do to a high adept or maybe even master ranked monster like the troll? His bow was made from heartwood, an extremely flexible material that was a rare and expensive luxury in this part of the Empire. However, with Skyle’s boyish strength, there was no way he would be able to pierce the hide of such a monster using a normal arrow.

No, such an action would be almost as stupid as some spoiled noble blindly rushing into the Forbidden Forest in a suicidal hunt.

Whatever else Skyle’s many complaints against his father may be, at least Kendric Farrow had not raised a fool.

Since stopping the troll’s advance did not seem likely, perhaps he could at least slow or better yet, stop the foolish noble until the rest of his retinue caught up with him. Immediately moving into action, Skyle kept his eyes closed and swiftly concentrated on that inner spark of power all living beings on the surface of Aeria were granted. He could feel his spirit senses tugging at the edges of the greater elements in the world around him as air, fire, water and earth sang their hymns directly into his blood. The power of the World Spirits was intoxicating in its freedom, its everpresence. If only he could reach out and actually taste of this boundless source! Then, as always, the illusion shattered and it all came crashing in a painful wave of black smoke as Skyle failed to draw any elemental essence at all. The spirit vision was ruthlessly torn from him and all he was left with was the rising taste of bile in the back of the throat and blood where his teeth had bitten too deeply into his own lips.

Skyle should have become used to such failures since he went through the experience at least several times every day. However, the young boy had refused to give up and fought claw and nail to hold on to the spirit vision, even if it was only for one breath longer. In that split second before he was completely ejected from the ethereal sight of the elemental world around him, Skyle drew on the lightest, faintest thread of the most dominant color in his spirit veins - blue. It fizzled weakly before the smallest of lights flickered into being, but this pathetic success was almost enough to nearly bring a shout of joy from his lips.

Though he had half-expected to fail in the attempt, Skyle unknowingly bit even deeper into his lower lip as he blindly focused on his target. The last remnants of the spirit vision at least served to enhance his vision and grant the illusion of slowed time. It was just a slight enhancement to his natural reflexes, Skyle knew, but at the moment he needed every edge he could muster.

“Even a broken arm is too cheap for you,” Skyle muttered to himself, as he carefully took aim at an area just ahead of the horseman.

Relying on both his eyes and his spirit senses to guide the shaft, Skyle let loose in one smooth motion while releasing all the energy he had accumulated thus far.

The arrow flew in a high arc as it sped into the distance. Skyle followed its trajectory with tired, but satisfied eyes. Weaving its way past branches and leaves, the arrow flew true. The arrow would stab at the ground just in front of his rushing mount, stopping his heedless chase. This should let him know that there was danger in these woods. Hopefully, he would do the sane thing and withdraw to his men. Skyle had only needed to buy those precious few seconds for the escorts to catch up with their ward.

Skyle blew out a relieved breath and slumped back against the knotted trunk of the tree he was standing on. His eyes slowly drifted shut as exhaustion hit him, as it always did after another painful attempt to open his spirit senses. That he hadn’t managed to draw any elemental essence at all, or that he was unable to even keep his spirit vision open for longer than a few breaths no longer burned him with disappointment. As his father always said, what would be would be, and there was no use crying over spilled milk. At least he had saved a life, and he could rest easy on that knowledge.

“You dare?”

Skyle’s eyes instantly popped open, and he stared in absolute disbelief as the youth in the distance roared in rage and his eyes began to burn with a red glow easily distinguishable even from this far away. An instant later, Skyle’s perfectly aimed arrow struck a translucent barrier only a foot away from its target and exploded into flaming splinters.

“You dare strike at me with such pitiful aim, you cowards? Come then, I will show you the fury of the Lions of Draxas!” The young noble roared, then expertly drew a sword from his saddle and commanded the horse to charge in Skyle’s direction. Had this idiot gone completely insane?

Skyle winced as he saw the troll slowly adjust its course to a new direction, following the bright flash of his arrow’s impact, and the shouts from the charging youth. Then it hit Skyle that as far as the young noble was concerned, he had just committed attempted murder. The youth raised his sword and Skyle cursed his own bad luck as a glimmering line of fire came into life from the edge of the sword.

“Great, he must be a mid-ranked fire mage adept at the very least,” Skyle grumbled, as he wondered whether he would be cut down by the youth and his followers first, or eaten by the giant troll.

"Hold, it's just a misunderstanding," Skyle cried out, but the rest of his words died in his mouth as more flames leapt from the youth's sword.

Skyle barely had time to reflect that indeed, that wildefox was a great deal smarter than him, before the charging horse and its fire wielding adept were nearly on top of him, with a monstrous troll following hot on their heels.