An entire year has passed. Gelvian and Levia and the majority of this year's group of children are ten. It is the middle of summer. The Awakening last year went without any problems but this year seems a bit more problematic. A lot more problematic.

Levia has learned how to weave small spells, cantrips if you will. She has been taught regularly by her Mother Elisia after her talents have manifested in a shocking display. She can throw small a [Jolt] or throw hot [Spark] with sand. She learned to [Levitate] very light objects like feathers 2 arms lengths away. Getting better with each day. The Awakening will make her abilities stronger if she keeps at it.

Elrian has kept at his training. Uther being a strict teacher has formed the young boy into a formidable athlete compared to his peers. Elrian has refined his mind palace to such a point that he can further delay who tries to invade his mind and even push back. Uther also has taught the boy the art of the divine steps. This is a form of power that allows the divine gifted to reinforced their bodies to perform better and stronger than the not powered peers or rivals. The day he moderately mastered the technique he of course challenged Gelvian to a race. Elrian won to the surprise of Gelvian but with the children of their age being in the tryout year or too busy learning their trade not many heard of this. That didn’t deter Elrian. He was proud of himself and can't wait for what else the Awakening will bring him.

Gelvian. Well, the Boy has been put through the wringer. After his early years of being called by some a prodigy. He just couldn’t keep up with the expectation of himself or others. He became frustrated at his ‘slow’ progress until Ravia sat down and talked to him. Telling him that nobody expects him to become an Archdruid overnight. She stopped their training for 3 months and taught him something else. First, she taught him how to meditate and let nature flow through him. Make him more connected with his inner self. No real training is required just dedication. After that, she taught him how to play the oud. The instrument was something familiar to his old life he remarked to himself.

Gelvian picked the oud up with a lot of enjoyment. The way Ravia played showed she was deeply familiar with the instrument. She played slow and relaxing tones the entire time when he meditating. After meditating, it was his turn to learn and play. The 3 months of meditating and learning to play the oud have calmed Gelvian. To the satisfaction of Darius and Elisia, his parents were very concerned and thought about intervening with Ravia's training of their son. After resuming his training, he refined his plant talking and listing skills from gibberish to simple sentences and his animal talking to a moderate level.

Fang this year has been busy after seething for a while and cursing every single god in existence or to become a god, himself included. He asked Master Druid Ravia to teach how to read books. His goal is to find a way to turn himself into a human again. At first, Ravia laughed thinking the Lizard was messing with her. Quickly realizing he was dead serious she slowly taught him to read the simple sentences when she had time. As she was busy teaching Gelvian.

Fang also grew a bit larger. He is strong enough to hunt sheep and large enough to become a threat to children without his venom. This of course made the townspeople nervous. Elisia who trusted Fang gathered her Neighbors and with the help of Ravia demonstrated that Fang was an intelligent animal and not a danger. From putting their hand into the mouth of Fang to the classic head into the maw without the muzzle that keeps the venomous fangs in place. They also showed his ability to understand commands. This didn't convince the neighbors but they aren't now trying to push the blame onto Fang each time a sheep or similar goes missing. Thankfully no children have been reported missing for a long time aside from the one or other not knowing the way back home after playing with friends.

For Darius this year has been one of the busiest since he was been ordered to protects Cainyorf and Elven interests. The only time how often he was needed to go on patrol is comparable to the decades after the Vesta Event. This recent increase of problems all started shortly after a month of last year's Awakening. First people got jumped by the usual bandits, small-time bandits only desperate and impoverished ones. Opportunists quickly dealt with either by force or persuasion. A few weeks later more organized groups showed up. They started felling trees and using large rocks to cut off the escape routes of merchants and their caravans. The bandits even had a few people with weak arcane talents and put people to sleep while attacking them at the same time. Surprisingly planned out attacks.

This is when the Council in Cainyorf became concerned. They formally ordered Darius to ride out and crack down on this recent intake in banditry before it escalated. Darius already had formed a party of 10 elven outriders to face the bandits but with the council giving him the go sign, he increased that group to 50 elves. This allowed him to engage the larger organized bandits more direct. Darius had a few successful raids. Smoking some bandits out of their holes. But immediately after that more problems showed up. The bandits originally were primarily mostly humans with a few half and quarter-blooded elves thrown in. His job became harder when Stone orcs the stupider and more feral variant of orcs poured into the valley. The Stone orcs tribes started migrating way further south than usual. And a manageable problem that could be contained to a small local area intensified into a more regional problem. The capital Derviu became extremely concerned as this meant their precious Mountain border wasn’t so safe anymore for anyone.

This caused political stress and finger-pointing on both sides. Of course, the only elven town has been put to take the blame. Derviu's elite claiming that the elven allies forgot their true loyalty and only look out for themselves, which from their point of view could be seen as true. As the elves kept out of any war the humans got involved. Only participating when Cainyorf self was threatened. Cainyorf always liked to remind the Elite in Derviu that they were an elven town from the Elven Kingdoms, not a human settlement. Cainyorf not paying the full amount of taxes and stoping the levy draft in their sphere of influence of course created resentment between the human and elves.

The council of Cainyorf openly called Cainyorf into the Partial War stance. So half of the elven adults have been called to push back at the tide of bandits and Orcs. At the same time, the council has requested reinforcements from Derviu and after such claimed that the Elves only care for themselves and for Derviu to not respond to their first aid call in decades would leave them as hypocrites. Because then the unprotected human villages who are affected by this crisis could potentially become unloyal as only the elves would be left to protect them. So, a small army of 50 Knights and their retainers had been called with levies from villages, mostly around the already hit areas. This has happened around 6 months ago.

Darius in meanwhile tried keeping the town and the human villages around Cainyorf safe. His Outrider force has increased to nearly 600 elves who he deemed strong enough to not fall flat in the face of an orc. He prioritized survival over anything. Captial Derviu and Cainyorf estimate that around 3000 to 4000 orcs are in the region alone. While elven longevity and human determination are a strong combination. Orc pure unadulterated might is something to be respected or one would find their head on an orc spike very soon.

As if this wasn’t enough Darius needed to travel to the Elven Kingdoms to deliver his report, which was due every ten years while at the same time he was struggling to keep everyone safe. So after a week of discussion with the council and his family. Elisia was sent instead as she was a more than adequate representative being an Arch Mage before the time of Vesta. She traveled for a month to the Kingdoms and back. Her being a master of the arcane and an Archmage from the pre-Vesta era meant she could travel faster and safer than pretty much anyone from Cainyorf.

3 months ago before the next Awakening, the Awakening Gelvian was to participate the orcs went back north. Endless skirmishes with the humans and elves and left them exhausted. The reason why they even ventured this far south is still unknown but the danger of the orcs was banished for now. Only the bandits remained but for the knights of Derviu, this was enough. They lost 10 knights and enough levies to make a visible dent in their numbers. The exact is unknown as the leader of this force either didn’t bother to count or was inept.

For Darius these 3 months were painful he had lost 34 elves under his command. Yes, he knew for a 3-month long intensive fight against bandits and orcs it was a near-perfect campaign but for his elven heart, it was always hard to bear. The human Paladin Uther in the 3 months pretty much begged him to take him to the fight at least ones but Darius had refused. Cainyorf needs a strong defense. If they were to be attacked while they recovered from wounds that could spell a costly defense.

Darius had proven right somewhat. Some bandits two months ago before this year's Awakening got greedy. He had retreated from an engagement as to not lose anyone permanently. His fighters were exhausted or hurt but Cainyorf defenders sallied outside and crushed the chasing force saving elven lives. Ravia's knowledge of herbs and nature saving people on the field and Uther utterly crushing the greedy bandits with an oppressing charge that shattered the chasers.

After a while, it became clear that these bandits weren't any normal local bandits. The numbers and skills often varied but they followed a plan. This plan focused on Cainyorf and the surrounding villages. Their plan is to weaken the outer villages as to box them in keep them isolated from each other unable to help each other in case of an attack. Cainyorf being the biggest concertation of manpower in this area was in the prime position to aid the villages and so the villages could aid Cainyorf in return. As they did the years and decades before.

After this revelation. They used that against the bandits countering them before the bandits had a chance to do any harm. Reinforcing an ailing Village at the right moment or incepting them before they could attack another village. They adapted of course but now the fight was more even. The council of Cainyorf decided to share the information with Derviu fearing an attack by their neighbor on the other side of the mountain. This Organization of multiple bandits' groups was nothing more than preparation for an invasion.

Derviu replied that an attack by their neighbors isn't feasible as they are recovering from a war, the neighbors had this year. The reply said they will keep an eye out there to see if anything changes. This reply meant that they would send help in the case of an attack by a nation but as this was still a local bandit problem they will spectate for now. Without hard evidence to prove they weren't just simple bandits, it was hard to get Derviu to help.

And so, the times Darius needed to ride out increased more and more to the dismay of his family. He knows he can't just get up and relax for a week as this would spell disaster for the defense of Cainyorf and all the families within or outside the town. Around one month before the Awakening of this year, the attacks seemingly ceased. There were reports of small skirmishes around the villages but nothing major. The Merchant who only ventured to the mountain in heavy convoys finally started to increase with less protection but more wares. This meant cheaper goods and more trade for the villages and the town.

The council of Cainyorf had congratulated Darius of course but he knew something was suspicious about the abrupt decrease inactivity. The council decided to reduce the Original 600 elf strong force down to 100. Darius objected as this decision was way too rash. He was forced to invoke his status as the Voice of the Kings to veto the decision but he saw their point of view.

The people were concerned that it could be the last time that they will see their loved ones ride out of the gate only to return wrapped in white cloth. The compromise was to reduce down to 300 active Outriders but keep the other 300 in active reserve inside the city. This meant the reserve can spend a part of their day as a normal citizen and the other as a soldier. In this case, training and guard duty was demanded. In effect not much changed for the 300 only that they are now inside the city.

A week before the Awakening the skirmishes seemed to cease as well. It is as if the mountain and the villages around Cainyorf had returned to normalcy. But Darius knows he can feel it in his bones. His past experience is screaming at him. This is only the calm before the storm and this storm is fast approaching.

In a dark cave, a hooded man is walking towards a large circle made out of chairs all filled with various cutthroats, bandits, and other criminals. He stands before his seat and the murmuring inside the cave stops.

A man with an eye patch speaks. “And with that the grand wanker of this plan shows up! About god's damn time! You had us waiting. My boss wants some results!”

A chorus of yeah and ayes echo.

“You promised us an entire town's loot. An elven town to boot! A town that survived Vesta and flourished! What did you give us? Squat! Only pitty picking from human villages.” He spat.

Another chorus of yeah and ayes echo.

The hooded man reached for his hood and pulled it down.

The boss. A man with dark brown hair and blue hues and a face mask depicting a crying man with red stripes going down from the eyes is exposed for all.

“I know you all have been promised riches from that town. I want them. We all get something out of this. When I first asked for your help. You laughed.” The man began walking around the circle.

“You mistrusted me.” A smile formed on his lips “That I respect. I also respect the brave and the foolish who trusted me from the beginning. They said you can't bring a town down. Not without an organized siege or an army. An elven town is something even more foolish.”

He took on a mocking voice. “’ You risk the wrath of all the elven kingdoms and realms if you sack an elven town!’ I laughed at the fool's face. We alone made Cainyorf feel unsafe! We began to bleed it slowly drop by drop. Its power paling. Their commander is a coward too scared to risk a bloody battle. Then fortune of the dark gods smiled upon us. The Stone Orc tribes for the first time in decades migrated way further south than anyone could have predicted. This meant the bleeding of Cainyorf was now done for us! And a few months of vacation inside the villages as mercenaries! The fools of Derviu even paid us to help them fight the orc menace not realizing they are funding the demise of Cainyorf in the future!” A few laughing and snickers are heard. “And now?” His smile turned cruel. “Cainyorf is ripe for attack. They may not know it yet but they are wide open. We will attack the day of the Awakening Ritual. Do your preparations.”

“That was a greet speech boss.” A large hooded man said.

The man with the mask only scoffed. Now that he was under his work colleagues, he could show his true ‘face’.

“Fools the lot of them. If the leaders of larger groups were here, they would know something was up.” Only a few of the brigands guessed something was wrong but even if they pull out it will be enough.

“When the Awakening has finished we will signal the attack. Snatch the two kids Gelvian and Elrian and at opportunity kill this Uther or their commander Darius. The bounty on their heads will be a nice bonus for our pockets.”

“So no more snatching any girls?”

“No only at the opportunity. We can't risk getting bogged down with loot. I trust you remember my order to avoid Elisia Sunleaf at all costs.

“The magic elf woman with the large hat?”

“Yes. If she becomes a factor on the field, it could become problematic but don’t worry, we have a way to deal with her for a time.”

“I hope so boss, I don’t want to be roasted like a pig.”

“Me neither.” He weakly laughed. “Get ready.”