So, I consecrated the time I could have used to write chapter 5 (Nr. 4 is finished) to create some runes for the dwarwes to use as written language. It's the alphabet, including all of the symbols used to write a normal text, like " / () etc. This text is nothing but a message telling you that you deserve a cookie for being able to read it. What do you think of it?

And yes, I'm able to read this. Beware of the spacebar, it's the easiest symbol to find as I spammed it to create the shape.

And here is chapter 4, one day early.

AN: Adjusted Mana's mana pool from 100 to 1000, the regeneration from 1 to 10. Done for rough consistency's sake (no, don't ask). Also, the “month” Quintus spend in the forest became “months”. That was a typo, sorry.

One thing I'm uncertain about: how to use the possessive s at the end of a word ending with s, like: Quintuss?? (belonging to him) or just Quintus? The great guru (internet) claims there is no right way to do it, and I believe it. So I will be using a “ ' “ (Ex.: Quintus' ) in such cases. I will try to avoid such situations and use “his” “her”, if possible.

“Look, I understand you want to kill all of them, eye for an eye, but if you do this, innocent people would also get involved in your revenge. The Caballs are the only family able to read their books, if you kill all of them and someone gets sick..”

“As if those people would ever save anyone!”

“They did kill your mother, but that was because she recovered without you having to rely on their medicine. If word were to get out that the medicine family sells useless medicine, they'd loose everything. I didn't know they would react like this, so I actually offered to help cure your mother..”

“Don't try to take the blame, it's their fault entirely!”

“Even then, fact is, people not involved with your revenge would also be affected.”

“Don't try to dissuade me, I know that fighting all of them would be dangerous, but I'm confident that we can do it.”

“Saw right through me eh? Yeah, it's true that I just don't want you to risk our lives. So let me ask you again, if you were to kill Eamon, the mastermind behind both your mothers and fathers death, would that suffice for your revenge?”

(Hmm.. this is strange indeed. She should have crossed upon some three-leaved crimson sun flowers by now... could it be that someone else has gathered them? .. no, this is our territory, the other clans wouldn't dare.. I should inform the elders about this.)

For Eamon, this was a challenging situation. He had been tasked with protecting her, but on the almost desperate search for the last plant she needed, Carmela had ventured into parts of the forest that even he would consider to be dangerous. Luckily, she had been able to deal with the beasts she encountered so far. He admired her talent, but going this deep into the forest right after learning the basic incantations.. if she went any further, for the sake of her safety, he would be forced to interrupt this test.

Mana detection has reached level 5

(finally.. this took half an eternity.. these skills seem to require an exponentially increasing amount of time to level up.. almost 5 years just for this one.. well, I guess that for elves, that's not that much.. roughly half a year? I wonder just how long it will take for them to hit level 6.. if it's like this, could it be that 10 is the highest level? I don't want to imagine how long grinding would take for anything beyond that..)

With Mana detection having reached level 5, Mana's density sense could now also be used with the mana she saw that was not “herself”, effectively doubling her range yet again. Her “vision” now encompassed everything up to 8 meters from her veins, which could reach up to 15 meters now that she had reached level 3. The exp was acquired from the many beasts that were killed to feed Quintus over the past months, as well as the few who dared tho fight for his current position, but it were those who contributed the most to the levelup. While he was able to fight the majority of the magical beasts by himself, even without doing anything herself, Mana still received exp for his kills.

(Well, my other skills should reach level 5 some time soon too. If manipulation hits 5, wouldn't that double both my control and vision range yet again? Now that would be awesome.. hmm? There's a lot of noise coming from there...)

(Focus.. there is a way to get out of this...)

Even if she was telling herself that, the situation did not look good for Carmela.

(And I had finally managed to find it! Why did so many show up at once?!?)

Communication of complex information was a rather slow paced progress among the magical beast, some did not even know of Quints' position, others.. still hadn't received the information that the value of this plant as a tool to gather favor had reached zero now that Quintus had recovered from his injuries. This was one of the last few spots in this part of the forest in which this plant could still be found after it had turned into what the magical beast understood to be an easy to acquire means of increasing their favor with Quintus.

First, they believed that this intruder was just passing trough, but to actually dare steal from their territory! If it had been any other plant, there would have been no reason to attack. They knew that these two legged creatures should not be underestimated. However.. her target was the plant that they had to protect! After many other beast had taken this plant from their territory, they knew it was something important, even if they did not understand why that was the case.

Thus the five night hares decided to warn this intruder. And if it did not back of, they were ready to fight. They were weak creatures.. in terms of defense. One hit, and the small, rabbit-like creatures with night black fur would suffer serious, if not lethal injuries. For that reason, they generally avoided fights against stronger opponents. However.. one had to hit them to injure them. And that was where things would become difficult for most..

Facing this sudden change in events, Carmela hesitated. For too long. And the night hares turned into black bullets.

“DODGE!!”

(these beasts usually run away, why did they attack her?!? Well, she managed to narrowly evade the first attacks.. why do these things have to be this fast?!? At least they are targeting me instead of her now..)

The battle Eamon was currently fighting looked almost like some kind of weird dance, the only spectator being his niece, which had managed to hide a safe distance away from the battle.The night hares judged him to be the greater threat, so they had switched targets. They were small, but due to their momentum a hit would carry enough force to break bones. And if he was hit even once, it would become impossible to evade the following attacks. Given their speed and numbers, there was just no time for a counterattack. This was a battle of attrition. And it wasn't hard to tell who would win.

(if this continues.. I'm not going to make it. This is a taboo but.. there is no-one able to hear me around. I've no choice..)

“Fortify speed!”

Eamons speed had, while slower than the night hares', already been supernatural.. but now.. he had spoken the incantation. Elves used voiceless incantations, speaking them aloud was a taboo as, while it would increase their power, it would also inform others of the incantation. And even for the incantations everyone already knew, it was considered to be a thing that should never be done, unless in a desperate situation. If spoken aloud, the power of the incantation would greatly increase. That was something everyone knew. It was a forbidden power. And now Eamon had broken that taboo.

Suddenly, Eamon disappeared. This was accompanied by the sound of an explosion, the shockwave blasting away leaves from nearby trees. And then the five night hares ceased to move, each a single cut along its throat.

“Carmela, we have to go back now. Today something was strange about the forest, even if you did not manage to gather all herbs, this will not be considered a failure.”

Using the powered up incantation had drained Eamon of almost all of his mana. Carmela, having seen that her uncle was forced to break the taboo to save her fully understood how serious the situation was. She was getting ready to leave, but then someone entered her field of view..

“Hey Quintus, why did ya suddenly stop? What is it?”

(My density sense can see through objects, but it's range doesn't even compare to having eyes.. eh, he's running? Honestly, what.... Eamon?!? What is this guy doing here?! He looks exhausted, and his mana level is close to zero.. so there was a fight? Now both him and Quintus have readied their weapons.. well, under such circumstances, I'm not going to stop him.)

(So.. this is the heavens verdict. I can't say my actions were noble, but I don't regret a single one!)

Between Quintus and Eamon, Quintus had always been the better fighter. However, Eamon was able to rely on incantations to greatly enhance his power and thus utterly dominate the fight. With this ability gone, the following event's didn't deserve to be called a fight. It was a slaughter.

“Well, I assume that this could be interpreted as the heavens telling us that his death alone should be enough to avenge your family, he was delivered on a silver palate..”

Mana couldn't see what Quintus was seeing, a little girl, frightened to death. He knew that this was Carmela Caball. However, that girl was never part of his revenge, had not taken part in anything. He had no reason to kill her, actually, seeing her in this state somehow reminded him of himself, and while he previously didn't care about what would happen to her after he killed her parents, while he knew that she would definitely not be treated like him once both her parents died..

Perhaps because he empathized with that girl after seeing her in this state, perhaps because Mana kept telling him that killing Eamon, which he knew was the one to make responsible for what happened, would be enough to avenge his family and the heavens delivered him as if saying "he shall suffice", or perhaps because the time he spend in this forest had calmed down his heart..

“..I have no reason to stay here anymore. If that's what you want, we can go.”

“Well, then let's go right now. This is the southern part of the forest, so the shortest way would be to go south?”

(Hmm.. the elves have been isolated inside of this barrier for thousands of years right? I wonder how the world out there is like.. maybe they already invented guns? Or perhaps the steam engine? Or.. they are even further advanced than the technology of my world? So many possibilities..)

She had been hiding a few meters away, but from her position, Carmela was able to watch the entire scene. She wanted to scream, run.. but fear silenced her, froze her entire body, forced her to watch how that stranger ran towards her uncle and murdered him, only to walk away as if nothing had happened. At some point, it looked like he had noticed her, she became too scared to dare to even breathe, but then he turned his head. She couldn't clearly see his face from the distance, but when he suddenly started to talk..

(This.. is Quintus?!? Shouldn't he be dead?!? I heard that he ran into the forest after causing the death of his mother.. and there's someone else with him.. I can't see her, only hear the voice..)

It was not that her uncles death didn't affect her, she forced herself to concentrate on what Quintus and the other voice were talking about. But once that distraction left, there was no way for her to avoid looking at reality. None but to run, run from what should never have happened.

“Eamon.. is dead? You are telling me that Quintus, killed him?!?”

“But.. that.. that's what happened! He.. he ..”

“You are telling me that he was killed by a dead person?!?” -his brother, dead? Killed protecting his daughter, killed by the person they had left for dead? How could Kristan accept this reality?!

“Stop it! She must have been trough a lot.. we.. should talk about this once everyone has calmed down. Carmela, there's no need to explain everything now. You.. should rest.” -Kaila was able to act calmer than her husband, but that was not due to her strong will. It was due to fear creeping through her mind, paralyzing all other emotions.

Following her mothers words, Carmela went to her room, she knew she was supposed to rest, but the images going trough her head kept her from calming down. Her uncle had died, just like this. Killed within seconds after saving her. She was left with a mixture of sadness, despair, and the panic she had carried on since that encounter. The panic slowly left her mind, but that did not calm her down. The emptiness it left was filled with one single question: Why? “Why did all of this happen?” The reason Quintus was still alive, the reason that he killed her uncle, the reason that her uncle didn't even seem to have the will to fight back. And what did that other person have to do with all of this? At this point it was clear that this question would never truly leave her mind, not until she found its answer.

Her parents knew part of the answer, but this did not calm down their minds. Not at all.

“He, he should have died back then(!) There is no way he is still alive(!)”

“She.. mentioned another person.. what if that person saved him..”

“But that would mean that he is still alive, and out for revenge? This... this just can't be(!)”

“If he is still alive.. he saw us kill his mother.. what.. what have we done?”

But at this point, regretting their actions was pointless. They knew that the person whose life they ruined was out there, out for revenge. And that there was nothing they could do to change that, nothing but hide, hide and hope. For Quintus, that revenge had ended. For them, it would keep going on for eternity.

PS:

I intend to double the chapter length from now on. Yep, double. Should be doable. It's all about motivation, and your feedback(which is my motivation).

And if you want to be able to write runes too, I uploaded this font on a site I found called Fontstruct. I can send you the link if you want, just PM me.