No longer the sounds of battle could be heard throughout the air. The evening was now calm and early moon light shined bright above. The wind held a slight chill to it as it blew gently across the land. This would of been a peaceful evening if not for the battle that had just occurred. They were multiple craters in the ground a few inches wide, these were scattered around a larger a crater about 6 feet in diameter.

As Charlie lowered his hood Lucas removed the blade from his neck revealing a small cut. Looking at Charlie Lyca could now see that he had golden blonde hair with thick light brown eyebrows and peanut brown eyes. His eyes radiated with life. He had a sharp nose and thin lips with pointed ears and a heart shaped face.

"Apologize to this man and his friends immediately!" the old man scruffed at Charlie. Who in returned bowed to Lucas and his companions and apologized.

"Don't worry about it. It was a decent fight after all. It's been awhile since I had one." Lucas replied with a cheerful laugh. "But why did you attack us?"

"Oh that's easy. I sensed 3 auras earlier and one of them felt very strange. All of a sudden they disappeared. Then you guys showed up. So I figured it must have been one of you." he smiled, "So I thought 'What the heck either I'm right or wrong you'll block my arrow or die'" he finished with a laugh.

"Are you crazy that's not a good enough reason to shoot an arrow at someone!" Emily was red hot.

"Hey, I'm sorry ok." he replied with his hands held up in a surrendering manner. "Besides I wasn't really aiming to kill any of you." he then winked at Emily.

"Urgh!!! You bastard I'm going to kill you." Emily grabbed Lyca's sword and went after Charlie.

"That's enough you two." interrupted the old man. "Charlie close the gates behind us. You three welcome to Aden's Village." he spoke as he gestured for them to follow him inside the village.

People were already going back to their home after seeing that everything was ok and noise of a battle had ceased.

As they walked along with with Charlie and the village elder Lyca looked around and saw some of the villagers watching them with curious eyes. She examined her surroundings and saw that the village was larger than it appeared, it had multiple streets leading in different direction. The street lights were already lit illuminating the road they walked. It was well made. She could feel that it was made from sort of hard stone and was infused with heiki to keep it sturdy. The houses were mostly made of wood. A few being made of the same type of stone as the streets. She figured those must be for the wealthier folks. She could see some of the signs of the stores but they were all closed. They walked for a while before coming to a closed gate a guard standing at the entrance. He wore plain leather armor made from a creature with metal plates covering the chest, forearm and shin.

“Welcome back elder.” he greeted the old man with bow and nodded at them.

The old man acknowledged him by giving him a simple nod. They continued forward through the gate and Lyca notice a two story house at the end of the path. This also made of the some type stone like material as the street but had a marble like shine to it. They were two guards standing at the front wearing the same armor as the first.

“Not pretty strong armor they must confident in themselves.” Lucas commented as they walked in the house.The elder let out a soft chuckle before replying “My men are indeed strong. The woods around here are not the safest as you probably noticed most of the villagers are already inside their home.”

Inside the house was quite large with a three restrooms on the bottom the floor a kitchen area and a dining area. There was also an area for guest to relax and talk. The walls were adorned with paintings of past elders of the village. A few shelves advertising different vases with unique designs filled with followers of different kinds reminding her of home. A fireplace with the head of what was once a proud beast above it. Below the head was a sword with a silver blade with an inscription on it and a golden pommel. They, walked along the walkway leading to a flight of stairs going up to the second floor which lead to a path with multiple rooms and a double door at the end with intricate designs on it. Lyca was wondering why the old man brought them here. -Surely it wasn't just because of the incident with Charlie.- The elder pushed the door open leading to a huge room with an oval shape table made of wood in the middle. There were seven chairs around the table one sitting at the tip of the oval and three on each side. She figured the one at the top must be his and the others at the sides must be for his advisors or council members.

“I have not formally welcomed you to our village have.” the elder stated with a smile, “Welcome to my home Aden. I am the head of this small village Aden Fastin Krimor VII.” flashing a proud smile that deceived his age.

Lyca, Lucas and Emily bowed in respect to elder and introduced themselves. -A bit late for introduction if you ask me.- Lyca thought.

“We don’t get much visitors here being a farming and a hunting village, but mostly because of the woods surrounding us and being the village furthest of the kingdom most travellers go the other direction. For you gracing us with your presence and the incident with my grandson I hereby offer you my home to stay as long as you wish.”

“Thank you sir offer most tempting, but we do not wish to impose on you. If you can point us to the nearest inn that will be fine.” Lucas humbly declined.

“Nonsense!” Aden spoke loudly with a large smile on his face, “It is my honor having such strong warriors as my guest. It the least I can do for an attack on your lives.” he spoke more firmly and giving Charlie a stern look.

“When you put that way then we can’t deny your wish.” chuckled Lucas.

Few moments later Aden called for his maids who escorted them to their respective rooms. Lyca and Emily were placed in the same room while Lucas his own. Lucas stayed behind to talk with elder and advised the girls to practice controlling their heiki. The girls room consisted of two beds with its own bathplace. The floor was decorated with a beautiful carpet made of fur and dyed pink and red in circular design. Shelves of flowers adorned the the walls given the room a sweet scent.

“This room is quite beautiful. I never would have guessed this was a village If I didn’t know.” Lyca commented.

“Yup’ it’s amazing!” smiled her friend. “Too bad we have to train. I don’t what made me want to do this.”

“Hahaha. Yeah I was wondering why you of all people wanted to train.” laughed Lyca.

“Don’t rub it in.” Emily joked back. “I just don’t want to feel helpless again.”

“It’s ok together we’ll become stronger.”

There was a knock at their door a maid had brought clothes for them to change. This was order Aden VII seeing that the group had no luggage with them. A few moments after they began they workout with Heiki. As they were told to do. Bringing the heiki energy to physical form and condensing it to a ball of energy was harder than it sounded. The girls kept this up for about two hours. Afterall they have been at it since morning leading up to their arrival at the village. On top of that maintaining a constant flow of exerting heiki puts a strain on the body and the mind causing fatigue easily. Lyca was surprised of how far Emily has came within only a few a days. On the first two days emily could only last about two to three hours before needing to rest. She could feel the strain on her body and was already nearing her limits. Looking at Emily

She could see that the girl already at her limit, sweat dripping off her chin. That's when she decided to speak up, “Hey think we should rest up now.”

“Yeah.” replied Emily weakly.

The girls then stretched their muscles before taking a shower and going to bed. -I wonder what brother and the old man could be talking about.-

-------

Bang* Bang* “Wakey wakey girls!!”

“Argh, what’s that noise.” moaned Emily as she covered her head with the pillow, “I wanna sleep a little longer.”

Bang* Bang*

“That's my brother.” Lyca spoke as she sat up on the bed. “Give us a few to change.”

The banging stopped and they could her footsteps walking away from the door.

“What time is it?” Emily yawned as she got out of bed.

“Who knows.”

They changed off into a suit off clothes the maid had brought earlier the night. It was training garments Lucas asked for while speaking with the elder. It was a plain brown shirt that was made of an elastic material so it does not hinder the movements and a black leggins pants men normally wore under their armor for each of them. After showering and changing they made their way downstairs. They were greeted by the eager Lucas just itching to train them.

“Well it's about time you girls got here, I was getting worried you might be lost hahaha!”

“Yeah funny, what time ist by the way.” Replied a tired sister.

“It's a few minutes past 4 in the morning. Took you girls a while to get ready.”

“Wait a minute 4 in the morning! I’ve never been up so early before.” exclaimed a weary Emily.

Lucas couldn’t help but smile as he replied “The beauty of training.”

----

They made their way along the road to south of the village along a path leading to plain field within the village walls. This was an area Aden told Lucas about during their conversation. Lucas learnt that Aden VII was quite skilled with heiki and it was common in this village as most of the boys are trained at young age in the art of hunting and fighting. The area spread a few hundred meters before reaching the walls. He also learnt that the village was more of a self maintained community. Being this far away from the kingdom means they would get little travelers indeed. Only those who wish to travel to the forest that lies beyond the village and the ruins in the mountains would come this way. The creatures in the forest are said to be at the peak intermediate stage and early expert. But those in the mountains were between early to peak expert meaning he would have to train the girls to their limit everyday.

“This area seems good enough.” Lucas spoke to himself as they reached the center of the plains. “This morning you will be strengthening the physical body. Meaning physical exercise. Controlling heiki means nothing if your body can’t sustain the strain of constantly exerting it. As you both have probably already figured.”

“Yeah you should have at least gave us a heads up.” interjected Lyca.

Lucas smiled before continuing, “Well we're going to push those muscles to their limits today. You’re going to work out until you drop.”

“But shouldn’t we be going somewhere?” questioned Emily.

“Yes. But I’ve learnt that our journey won't be an easy one. So I asked Aden if we could stay here for a week or two while I train you girls. By the end of the training you should be at the peak of a trained individual maybe early intermediate level. Currently you're both at the early beginners level.” he finished flashing his mischievous smile.

“How comes were both at the same level, shouldn't Lyca be stronger since she’s been training longer?”

“Not really. Since both of you were unable to use Heiki you were just considered as a normal person. By unlocking your heiki this allows you to break through that barrier of a normal person and allows you to become have access to different classes of warriors based on how you use your heiki.”

“What are those classes?” question Lyca.

“Yes there are many but the most common are Warrior, Healers and Mages. Warriors use Heiki to strengthen their physical body giving them inhuman speed and strength. Healers as it states uses Heiki to heal the injured and Mages are the most skilled in Heiki control they use heiki to control the elements to their will. However neither has an advantage over the other. This is where skill comes in. Which is why, Emily, Lyca is stronger than you.”

“What about you?” interrupted Emily, “I’ve seen your fight with Charlie earlier and it appeared that used your heiki to increase your speed and before you used it to manipulate the earth and bring fire out of nowhere.”

-Hmm she noticed that? Very impressive maybe she does have a chance at mastering her heiki.- “Yes not just because one is a warrior does not mean they will not be able to manipulate the elements. This goes to show never underestimate your opponent. It is also good to meddle with all sorts of abilities you never know. But do so when you’ve learned to control your heiki. Now let us begin your training”

-He just completely ignored my question!-

And so training began with all three of them warming up by stretching the muscles with inhaling and exhaling exercise to stretch the lungs and get as much oxygen as possible. This went on for about 5 minutes of stretching and breathing exercise. From there using his ability to manipulate the earth with a wave of his hands Lucas created a track with a total distance of 100 meters in an circular shape. By the end of the first lap Emily was exhausted. She could feel the burn in her lungs and her legs ached for rest. But she pushed on through the pain. She was thankful for the few lessons she had back home, even though she would slack off some of-most of the time, she was grateful for the little time she spent in self defense class with her brothers. They ran 4 laps around it before stopping and repeating the series of stretches and breathing exercise again for another 5 minutes. From there they went to push ups. Lucas demonstrated a few different type of push ups to them since this was all new to Emily he sticked to basics. They completed 10 sets of 10s this time her arms were screaming with agony after after they completed the last set she was impressed with herself even though the pain was killing her she couldn’t help but smile proudly.

“That's good for now let's take a rest and head back to the house.” Lucas stated as they completed the last set of stretches.

The sun was rising and the people of the village were already out and about. The street vendors were just setting up shop putting their merchandise up for sale. Some displayed a variety of different fruits and veggies. Some displayed the names of different types meat for sale and seasonings. As they walked along they could smell the different aroma a different snacks being made to be placed on sale later on during the day. While walking Lyca noticed a group of men heading to end of the village. They were all dress in the same clothing as Charlie. Only the colors were different shades of green, some had a lush grass like color and some resemble dark leaves. This was one of the hunting groups of the village. This group consisted of 10 hunters. Lyca could not make out if any of them was Charlie. After turning a lane they came out of view and Lyca’s focus returned to the road as the two story house painted white came into view.

-------

As they entered the house they were greeted by the aroma of freshly made breakfast. Arriving in the dining area they saw the table was already set for the three of them with wonderful looking spread laid out on the table.

“Welcome back, breakfast is ready for you as ordered by the elder.” they were greeted by one of the maiden as they entered the house. They all wore the same type of clothing, Lyca realized. A plain black dress covered the entire body from the neck down to the knee. It seemed to made of the same material as the shirt they were given, it was tight around the upper part of the body but gave way at wast giving free mobility of the legs. The sleeves were cut short and long white gloves covering most of the forearm. Their hair was up in a bond unlike theirs which was currently braided back. All seemed to be beautiful in their own right.

“Wow it smell delicious, what is it?” Lyca’s thoughts were interrupted by her friends curiosity.

“Of Course what we have here is bread made from our finest flour mixed with Kimo berries, a small black berry with 2 seeds on the inside and are very sweet to the taste and Lasnmi berries a small red and orange seedless berry and has a bitter taste, with fried Jenspoe, a small rabbit like creature with plenty meat and there was mug containing Glimig juice. Made from Glimig a yellow fruit the size of a normal boy hand with a small seed in the middle. Also in the juice is Famis a type of herb to give you back your strength. Aden said you would be out training and to prepare something that would give you back your energy.” she smiled.

“Really?! That just made things easier. I’m sure I’ll be able to get you girls to where I want you now.”

The maid smiled before replying, “However the herb is not meant to be overused. Too much can destroy the body. It is recommended that you only take it once a day every other day if you're using it to train. Since the continuous stress on the body from training and then recovering and going back to training can put serious stress on the muscles not having time to recover properly.”

“Hmmm.. I see.”

The food was indeed delicious they enjoyed the breakfast as Emily asked Lucas about his past and how strong he really was. Lucas informed her that he was once in the army from he was young but missed out the part of where he was a member of the Queen’s Guard a most prestigious group and that he was holder of the fourth chair. Also leaving out how strong he really was just saying that he was vast in the art of fighting and adept with many skills. After enjoying their meal and recovering their strength it was back to training. The group made their way back towards the field where they were to continue training, receiving a few curious glance from the children in the streets.

Upon their arrival in the area Lucas decided instead of going back to physical work out he should teach Emily how to defend herself in combat as well. So he sent Lyca to look around the village while he thought Emily the basics of their fighting style.

---------

The village was a bit more busier that earlier when they first went out but being a village there wasn’t much people walking around. Most of them were already out in the farms working. There were a few kids playing in the different parts of the village. As she passed them a few kids would look at her weirdly and some would wave to her and she did the same in return, waving back to them. While walking the different roads in the village Lyca came across a road that had no houses going along the side and at the end she saw a large fence in the distance and decide to follow it. Lyca made her way into another part of the village which had a fence about 12 feet high, as high as the one surrounding the village. Surprisingly the gate to this area was opened so she decided to enter and explore a bit. Within this area there were 5 large buildings about 200 feet wide and was built like a dome with a single double door about 7 feet wide and 10 feet high. It also had several windows for ventilation.

“Welcome to our training grounds young one.” a voice from behind her spoke and she swung around to find a tall male person dressed in a button down shirt with brown and yellow stripes in checkered pattern and a black pants.

---------------

Somewhere in the Kalmor region hidden deep within the mountains stood a giant fortress hidden from the naked eye, by concealment techniques. Surrounded by guards clad in black armor made from a dark metal. On the upper right arm of the armor was painted a skull with a dagger going through the middle with snake wrapping around it. This was the fortress of the vipers clan.

Deep inside the fortress in a large room only light by a few candles a man sat at his desk reading intently a book in front of him. This man man was the leader of the VIpers Clan the man who had caused the destruction of Liasha. “Septom had failed me. I matters not I have an army of warriors of old at my disposal once I learn to release the seals on them, they’ll be mine to control and this Kingdom will be mine.”