“The dominion of that who you seek is to the northwest of the continent, the master of soul arts live in a mountain where the spring never cease.”

“How will I find this place? The northwest direction is too broad.” Replied Ullach.

“That is your trial. We pointed out the direction and told you how to find the master. Now, it’s up to you to complete the journey.” The Elder trembled a bit, and he said. “Now, I give you my final parting gift, when the time of need arrives, it will be useful. Look up, child.”

I looked up and saw a leaf slowly falling from the crown of the Elder, it had a sturdy feel to it. I extended my hand to wait for it to fall, and before it touched me, the leaf turned into a necklace with a small green rock with golden markings on it.

I bowed to the elder one more time and said. “Thank you.”

“You are free to visit us anytime, young traveler.” Said the elder.

I left Dionach’s living place and went to the forest to find a place to stay for today. Thankfully, the woods around the Dionach’s dwelling place was full of life, and I found many things to eat.

Looking at the new necklace around my neck, I could feel an ancient power in it. It revitalized me and made my mind clearer.

After eating, I slept the whole night like a baby, knowing that this night, there was no danger to me in this forest.

***

There was sunlight coming through the canopies, and morning dew making was my skin moist.

I got up and packed my things, paying more attention to collect more things to eat before I left this place full of food.

After preparing my bag, I looked at the sky, and finding the directions, proceeded northwest.

***

I walked and walked, the forest seemed endless, although being there was peaceful sometimes, being left alone for long periods was never right.

My clothes were already in rags, although they were pretty resistant, by walking in a forest full of twigs and branches they couldn't last long.

There were some bruises on my skin, and my mouth was already dry for walking all morning.

It has already been 18 days since I met the Dionach elder and received instruction on how to find the hidden master.

I think that the worst part is not finding the master, but not finding anything!

There were some powerful monsters on the forests that I went through, but I could almost always evade them. There was only one time when I couldn't escape, and I had to engage a spike tiger in combat.

The result of such an encounter was an even more significant delay in my mission. The creature launched spikes like missiles in my direction and began to attack me. There were still some pretty nasty wounds on my ribs.

After walking for a few more minutes, I began to see something ahead. "Oh my god, is that what I think it is?" I thought to myself and began to run toward it.

Feeling the pebbles beneath my feet and seeing a beautiful road in front of me, I almost cried.

It has been a long time since I last saw something that was built by humans. Looking at the sky, and seeing that the road also followed the northwest direction, I silently prayed in thanks and proceeded through the way.

Now that I was walking on a road, it was only a matter of time before finding a city or a human settlement.

I looked at my bag and saw the dry meat I prepared from the hunts, and the fruits were almost ending.

"I need to hunt." I thought to myself.

Near the road there probably wouldn't be a lot of animals, so I had to take some distance from it. After entering the forest again, and making sure that I knew exactly where the road was, I began to track some clues from my surrounds. Some broken twigs in here... Some marks on the ground in there… After following the clues, I finally found my prey.

Looking through the foliage, I saw a family of wild boars. The family had two adults and six cubs. It pained me to hunt them down, but I had to put food in my belly.

Slowly taking my greatsword out, I picked the male boar as my target. I crouched and put some power in my legs. The blade of my sword was enchanted and always sharp.

I waited for a bit and finally found the perfect opportunity. The male was at the back of the group while the cubs were in front of the mother.

I didn't wait and jumped from the foliage. There was no mystery or surprise; one strike of my sword at the boar's neck was enough to kill the creature immediately; it was a painless death at least. Seeing its partner is killed, instead of advancing upon me, the other boar ran away with the cubs.

I sat down and began to skin the boar and prepare its meat.

____________________________________________

After I prepared and cured the meat last night, my bag was full again. I even made another bag with the boar skin to carry my supplies.

I returned to the road and continued to walk. After three more hours, I could finally see something in the distance. There was a stone-colored wall, that was at least 6 meters tall. It had some guards on top of it, and the gate was open.

Relief washed over me, finally civilization!! Those weeks of walking alone were making me mad.

Getting closer to the gate, one of the guards stopped me and said.

"Welcome to the city of Coille. What is your business here?" Asked the soldier. The soldiers were wearing a brown colored uniform, grey boots, and most of them had a magic spear.

"I am here to look for someone that is supposed to live in the mountains. Do you know such a person?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know, but maybe there are some other people in town that may." The soldier turned to the town direction and began to point in a direction while saying. "In that street, you will find the "Rock mole" inn, and there you can have food and a place to sleep with enough money. The barman, old Tom, may know of the information you are after."

"Ok. Do you know a place where I can sell meat in here?" I asked.

Well, you can go to the butchery that is on that street." Said the soldier while pointing toward it.

"Thanks."

I walked to the butchery and quickly found it. There was a glass panel where the meats were, and because it was still morning, some people were entering the place to buy meat.

I entered the place and went to the balcony. There was a muscular man that was cutting the meat and a young man that was serving the customers.

After waiting for my turn, I asked the young man.

"Good morning. I have some boar meat in here and want to sell it." I said while opening the bag to show the smoked meat.

"Hmm… Let's see what you have in there." The young man picked the bag and began to browse through the meat, looking at the quality and how old it was.

"It's recently hunted, from yesterday, I presume?" Said the young man while looking at me.

"You're right. I hunted and smoked it yesterday."

"Okay, the quality of the meat is good. I can give you four silver and 35 copper coins for it."

I thought that it was a just price and agreed. "Okay, I will sell it."

"Great, let me get you the money. The name is Junior, by the way, the big man over there cutting the meats is my father, Simon." Junior said while getting the money from behind the balcony.

"Sorry for not introducing myself before, my name is Ullach," I answered.

"Bah, that's fine." He gave me the money. "It was good to do business with you."

I waved goodbye and went toward the inn. I wanted to eat a proper meal and sleep in a bed instead of the floor for once, at least.

Arriving at the inn, I saw a symbol of a mole coming out of a rock above the door. It was a building of wood and stones. I entered the place and saw that some people were eating on the tables, and two girls serving them.

There was an older man in the balcony. I went in his direction and said.

"Are you perhaps, old Tom?" I asked the older man.

"Precisely, and who would you be?"

"My name in Ullach, I am here to get some rest and some information." I grinned and said. "But first, give me something to drink, please, something light."

"Just a second." Old Tom grabbed some fruits and mixed them with a beverage and made a drink. "Here it is."

I picked the cup and tasted the drink.

"Wow, it's delicious!" The taste of the drink was excellent. The alcohol was very low, as well.

Although I was young, I still had already drunk alcohol before. Most of my clansmen never touched anything like that, because magicians saw anything that numbs the mind like a curse. But I trained with many warriors to forge my body and had tasted a lot of different beverages in their company.

"These old hands still have some tricks." Old Tom smiled while saying this. "So, what information are you after?"

"I am looking for someone that lives in the mountain. It has something to do with a place where the spring never ceases." I asked while looking at the beverage.

"Hmm… The mountains are a dangerous place to live. Only one person that I know of lives in there. But finding her will be harder than learning to fly." Old Tom had a nostalgic look in his eyes while speaking. "And the place where the spring never ceases is where she lives in the mountains, the lost garden."

"Could you please tell me how can I find this lost garden?" I asked with an eager face.

"I can tell you, but first, hear this out." Old Tom had a stern look on his face.