Edited by: KenChi死

I turned back. They saw what I wanted them to see.

“If you could please solve your problems without involving me to much… that would be great.” I raised from the chair and headed to the door. “Finish your meal before it gets cold… in the end I rarely have guests… well, guests that wouldn’t kill me at least.”

I went out and sat at the verge of the veranda, letting my legs hang freely. I took out the envelopes given by the magician and began to read. The one from Hanna first

“ Dear Zariel,

Your actions were noticed by the facilities of the Magic Council all over the world, and as speculation started I allowed myself to describe you, in order to reduce harshness of possible reactions. I am not sure if I did good or bad, and I left that matter completely for you to consider.

As the outcome of my selfish actions the Council was interested with your person, even more than I wished to. Because, as I told to the members of Council, and I hope so to be true – we have a good relations, I was “asked” to convince you to come with the messenger, whoever he or she is, to take a part in the council meeting as a guest.

Even if I was asked to do so, I am not going to force my opinion on you. Do what you would find right to do. But just let me say it, the Council is afraid of you, not your current powers, but the political impact you may have.

In case you would come here… let me just say that I have a couple of friends that helped me greatly, and for introduction and conversation with you they will be more than happy to support you during the meeting.

In case you wouldn’t wish to come… run. Run as far as you can. I can only imagine what the inner forces of the council may wish to do.

I hope this letter found you in good health, and that you will chose a decision that would let you stay true with who you are.

Your teacher,

Hanna.”

Isn’t that sweet of her? As I wanted to open the other letter someone sat next to me.

“You know both who and what I am, I hope it wouldn’t be too much for you to share similar information about yourself with me” the one who was sitting now near me was a girl that saw through my little charade. The fact that I couldn’t appraised her was a bit annoying and scary at the same time. “You can’t tell?” She asked truly surprised “As you look at me… don’t you… feel anything?”

That was… weird. But as she said… there is some kind of…similarity? No, wrong word… more like…

“You are something that I cannot be… are you? I can’t really name it, but it’s like I should know you. Yet at the same time I know it can’t be true. Without a short, two week long break, I have never left that forest.” “My name is… Etsuko. And I am something similar to you. I… and my mother, as mother of my mother and so on, are creation of same goddess that created you. Both you and me are essence of natural processes that could be seen in nature. We – Kitsune – are being born and raised peacefully and our main force come from process of maturing, while you are… no offence, the process of creation of an abomination. You are never born, you simply “earn” it. You are rapid in evolution, yet instead of picking but a one variant, you may take all of them and switch them as you please. We are peaceful, you are violent. We are actually more like evolution while you are revolution. We, as races, were meant to be together, to complement each other, but the vision of worlds our ancestors shared… were way different and lead to fights. For generations we were killing each other, for every time you awoke, a violence and chaos approached with you. And thus, as we always were born earlier, we tried our best to kill you as early as possible, because you tend to grow stronger in an abnormal speed. This is why I want to know, why the hell did you help those peoples? Don’t you know that you could become so much stronger if you would kill them?”

So this is why you are worried. I changed the pattern of behaving that you were used to, so you panicked. Did Aira knew about it? Is this actually why she told me to renew the pact even as every villager was sure that it is impossible? For now, let’s not give our little vixen more reasons to kill me, as for now I am unable to oppose her.

“You told that my main trait is adaptation, don’t you think this is exactly what am I doing right now? As the one before me tend to act chaotically, and they failed, maybe… it is just my assumption, I was made less violent for this would gave me more chance of surviving? You asked if I wanted to kill humans to get stronger. I saw it in a different way. If I would start killing humans, they would react. But if I would help them, I could stop being treated as a threat. Which action would give me a greater chances for surviving? To slow down a little process of gathering powers for life prolongation seemed fair enough. And let me say it one more time. I don’t wish to be dragged in any personal war.” “So you say, that you are not going to hurt intelligent being?” She didn’t believe that, and for all hells, neither did I. “I already am responsible for killing over 50 humans.” She looked at me with an angry gaze and I could feel magic gathering around her. “They came here to kill me. As soon as they saw me they dragged weapons and rushed at me. So no, I am not going to stay defenseless. If you attack me, I will fight back, if you would hit me, I will strike back with even more power. For I refuse to die. Not until I achieve my ultimate goal.” “Which is…?” She was alerted. “You won’t believe it” I chuckled. “Try me” “ Having a happy life. I want to visit many places, taste many foods, start an adventure, and I would already know every possible pleasure this world can give, I want to have a family. Now tell me, did you believe me?” “Not really” “So just as I told you.” it wasn’t a lie. Not at all. “But to be able to do so, I need to get stronger to be able to defend myself from those who wish me harm. During my adventure I will need knowledge about the politics of this world to not be used… Speaking about the devil… I am invited to the meeting of the council… and for now I feel like I would like to partake in it… just to see an ol’ friend.”

There was some awkward silence.

“I will keep an eye on you. And if I would decide that you have lied to me and you caused an actual violence out of your pure need for blood… we shall meet again, and that time we would not talk.”

She jumped down and walked away. What do you think about her guyz?

~She is elegant yet deadl…

~LET ME GO! THAT ARROGANT BITCH! GIVE HER TO ME FOR 5 HOURS AND I WILL FUCK THAT BITCH INTO SUBMISSION!

~Lust calm yours…

~SHE WILL KISS OUR FOOTPRINT IN THE DUST! SHE WILL BEG TO ME TO WHIP HER MORE! afmijskdmda

~We are going to have a nice and long taaaalk Lust…

As always, thanks.

~Don’t mind it

The other letter…

“Mr. Zariel,

As the chairman of the Council of Magic I have an honor to invite you to the Council gathering. As your teacher and our beloved friend, Hanna, described you as extremely a talented young magician, we truly believe that you may present your own point concerning the recent events and politics that may prove itself extremely value to us.

As we are also concerned about your future and wished you to improve your skills in wielding magic powers, you will be able to meet here experts of every possible magic branch as also, if you would be found worthy, you could be rewarded with unlimited access to our library, where the most talented are polishing their skills under the guidance of teachers from the Academy.

If you would find our invitation interesting and you would like to travel from your current destination to our beloved capital, please tell it to the messenger immediately. All your expenses shall be compensated and you shall be given lodging also paid by us.

Let me one more time express my desire to meet you soon,

The Senator and Chairman of the Council,

Archmage Polimus.”

The quantity and quality of fawning almost left me blind. I hid the letters under my robe and went back to the hut.

The beastmen were almost begging me to do something… Sorry, but I am still not sure, what unleashing from the chains of mentality means.

“But you are our king! Y…” “King of what? I am the king of the forest, where no one wishes to enter. Look at me and tell me what do you see? Because I see a kid covered in scars. I know nothing, I understand nothing and I can do barely enough to keep myself alive. Is this what you want as a king? Then you don’t want a king but a symbol or even a puppet. Someone you can blame for forcing you to do something. If you want to free yourself from the chains, then do something, if you need somebody else to do it, then you do not free yourself from the chains but replace one for another, maybe even the golden one, maybe even lighter, but a bird in cage will always be a slave even if his cage would be made of gold and diamonds. Become stronger. And fight for what you believe. You don’t need anyone to guide you.” “But every possible story says that the time will come to…| “Then it looks like the time is still not here. If you really believe that one day I shall call you.. then why the hell did you look for me instead of preparing and waiting?”

First they looked at me with admiration, then with fear and finally with disappointment. I am not surprised. As I could tell, they have walked for a long time, stepped into a place that was used to scare them as they were children, just to be said to fuck off. Life is a bitch.

“We understand…” the harpy said quietly “We shall not fail you.” … which part in fuck off don’t you get? “As you said, we shall grow stronger and wait for you to lead us.”… did I say something like that? Whatever. Another group was dealt with… the last one was elven. “Could you leave us?” I asked. Not that they are in a position to refuse. As we were left alone I tried to remember the parts from elvish for dummies that I studied once or twice. “Est ariv dim tulas” I hoped that I greeted her not offended her mother by suggesting her profession… you can never know for sure with this fucked up grammar.

First she looked surprised then chuckled.

“ I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am dark elf… and as we were force to live on the demon continent for more than just a few generations, our dialect changed that much that is nothing like what you just said, yet I still believe that it was perfectly said in High-Elvish.” “There is more than one dialect?” “Wood elves, High Elves, Snow Elves, Dark Elves, Blood Elves…” She kept counting “ North Elves, Deep Elves, Elder Elves…” “Please… stop it.” “We rarely create kingdoms, I know only about two or three, most of us prefer to live in small villages or even caravans, and as many as there are, we tend to create many dialects.” “No offence, but I find it stupid… not to call say retarded.” “None taken. You are not then only one. We can live for a long time and have a natural ability to learn any language quickly. And we find pleasure in learning those. Myself even as don’t have much time to study because of my job, am fluent with 11 languages. Humans, dwarven, 4 elvish, orcish… but that’s not what really interest you, is it?” “You said you have a job for a mercenary… don’t you?” “But I am afraid that you will refuse it… in the end you have just said that you are not interested in partaking war” She said weakly “And I am afraid that what I wanted to ask you may be even worse…” “Can none of you listen carefully?” She didn’t understand what I meant “I told you I don’t wish to start a war, to be used as reason to start one nor to be blamed for it. I have never said but a one thing about joining the one that has already started… yet still for now I would prefer to avoid it.” “That’s just perfect, because what we want to achieve is to stop a war.” I looked at her interested, showing her to continue “The election of picking a King or Queen in the demon continent is a bit… complicated process. And it’s more like a giant show or great chess game witnessed by the whole nation… a chess game where pawns are real warriors that are dying while fighting for future kings or queens…” “Were you, perhaps, sent by one of the five candidates?” “Yes and no, I look for champions for my mistress by my own, but yes, there are indeed five of them… could you please tell me how you know that? I was sure you are pretty young and… sorry for my boldness… not introduced into politic… not to mention politic of other continent.”

And the dying black tree shall drop five saplings, and saplings shall fight each another for domination over the dead tree. As the one shall win the tree shall be alive once again… and one of the sapling shall ask me for help… the first dream-vision I got after I got a skill of predicting future.

“Let’s just say birds told me. But I am afraid, that what you wish me to do involves to much politics… can you tell me where this… “tournament” is and if it is about to start?” “No one knows. For now the current devil king is… having a party. A big one. Demons also can live for some time so the feast can take a few years… someone says that it can start in a year or two…” “Then I am afraid I have to refuse. For now, at least. In the end I have no idea who your mistress is… and answering proposition you wanted to ask, I do not wish to listen about her from you… for your description, no matter how much you would try, shall not be objective, as you were influenced by her. Let me judge her on my own… from what people all around the world are saying, and maybe, in those two years, I would visit you in the capital.”

An uneasy expression appeared on elven face.

“To be honest… it is not an answer I was hoping to bring back with me…” “Neither did those beastmen. And once again let me say it. I am weak. Much too weak to be of any use for demons. I plan to use those years to gain power. And information at the same time. If I would achieve both of them and my judgment would be favorable of you… well I would try to be there for you. For now…”

She raised from her chair.

“Thank you for hearing me… let me just add, that for everyone who would take a role of a champion the prize from devils lords shall be given… and I can ensure you, that my mistress devoted her life to finding a rare books, grimoires and artifacts… so you would only have something more than just the satisfaction of not bringing the world to an end.”

I walked the elf to the doors, where only the magician was still waiting. Looks like the beastmen left already. As elven vanished between into woods I looked at the girl.

“I am going with you. If you have any way of informing your superior about that…” without waiting for me to finish the pulled from a pouch a small, white ball and smashed it. I could also see that a pouch contained another one, red. So you could inform them right away? Honestly, the number of security tools the council prepared just for me … is scary.

Aira has vanished somewhere, probably in order to not be seen by mortals, because of it I couldn’t say farewell properly. So I simply laid my hand on one of the trees and said farewell in thought, hoping that she could hear it.

~” You little fool, I am nature itself” I heard the giggle in my mind “Wherever you will be, as long as there is one flower, one blade of grass… I will be with you.”

So no goodbyes needed? Maybe it’s even better? For now me and my new companion headed out of the forest, I left it, this time for bit longer than just two weeks.