Date: Arrival +2

Location: Black Forest

Callum moved silently through the thick underbrush. Mulling over the information from last night as he stalked his prey. Eloisa had made him work for every question that he had asked. Having to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge all her questions vaguely as they always seemed to pry into something he did not wish to disclose.

'Where is your home, Callum?'

'How did you get here, Callum?'

'Why do you have no mana, Callum?'

'What do all the things you have do, Callum?'

'Why are you so tall, Callum?'

The last being asked by Nym, but he swore the older women reveled in making him squirm. For all that, though, Eloisa was very forthcoming with anything he wanted to know. At least as far as he could tell. For one thing, he learned more about this Kingdom of Tuisa, and it's neighbor Arkadia. As well as much of the surroundings Kingdoms and countries.

The two had been in a perpetual state of war for a little over a century. Skirmishes being quite common among the borders the two shared. The border would move from time to time as each Kingdom would mount offensives on the other. The hostilities were a tad complicated—frankly, the major reason is that in Tuisa, magic was used somewhat freely. There was a general distrust by most commoners of mages, but they were not burned at the stake at least. In Arkadia, that was not the case. Magic being pretty much thought of as an affront to god. The only reason they could stand on equal footing with the Tuisaians was through their god's blessings and enchanted items. Being burned at the stake was a common occurrence in Arkadia. Hell, bring the kids down for a nice family witch burning.

The next being the treatment of the other races. Or rather mistreatment as Callum saw it. In this world, there were all the different fantasy races you could imagine. Going by different names, but the same in practice as the fantasy of Earth. Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, the whole lot, plus much more. Many had their own nations in different parts of the world. Mostly keeping to themselves.

In Tuisa, they were treated as slaves and used as a working-class of the Kingdom. Pretty much being the backbone of their economy at this point. Most menial tasks being carried out by them, unless you were in so much of a backwater like Drewmere that no one was wealthy enough to own slaves. There were very few free members of the other races in Tusia, but they were the exception. As many of the magical races, as they happened to be called, were taken as slaves from slaving raids into their own Kingdoms by the human Kingdoms. Very few coming of their own volition into any human Kingdom. Not that Callum could blame them. Their treatment was terrible, and sadly, he could say it was not much different from the past of the old world or the future for that matter. Tec had made as much clear. Even in the future, nothing ever changed—just the scale of misery—colonies on distant colonies glassed by the government for rebelling, the extermination of sentient races that did not fall into lockstep with their new human neighbors in the universe. Old rivalries and wounds opening incessantly.

In Arkadia, it was a much bleaker picture than even Tusia. Just like magic was an affront to their god, the other races were seen as abominations to be hunted down and "cleansed". Thankfully both Tusia, and Arkadia were only minor powers in the region. Although the other Kingdoms in the region were not much better. Tuisa and Arkadia not being the exception to the rules. Many Kingdoms made use of slaves, and some of the magical races were no different. Enslaving humans or those from other races.

Much of the Beast Kingdoms were to the south of the continent. Tusia being on the northern part of the continent. The Elven lands were scattered across the continent. Usually located in the depths of ancient forests. Different subraces having different forests and environments they would call their home—the Dwarves homes consisting of a few different mountain ranges and their subraces living in different portions of those ranges.

For being in a backwater village, in a backwater Kingdom, Eloisa sure knew a lot about the geopolitical nature of the surrounding region. As well as some of its history. Though it's not surprising considering her's and Nym's predicament.

About fifteen years ago, Tusia underwent a bit of political upheaval. The current King, who was far removed from the current succession at the time, staged a coup on the former King's deathbed. With overwhelming support from the military and outside mercenary help, it took little time to secure the throne from his brothers. Who were left with no support in the face of the coup. Once the late King had been forced to abdicate the throne, the new King Renfred had made sure to take care of any opposition to his power.

Nobles disappearing in the dead of night, their families slaughtered. Prominent military leaders the same way. His brothers and sisters, murdered by his own hands unless they would pledge themselves to his service. There was then the court mages. Eloisa, at the time, was an elder on the court. Having guided the last King and his other son's in magic and serving the Kingdom with dignity. Mages from outside the Kingdom were brought in during the coup and were used to replace most of the court except for the lower echelons after the coup. The leaders of the court disappearing much the same way as some of the nobles and generals. Some of the lower echelons of leadership, like Eloisa, was given a chance to join the new regime, or cripple themselves.

Eloisa choosing the later out of spite. She was very close to the previous King, and apparently, in his later stages of life, had begun to soften the laws surrounding the magical races. Rumors flowing around that he was even considering disbanding the slavery of the races in the Kingdom.

Callum mused that was the likely reason behind the coup. Some nobles whose coffers were full from the illicit trade had likely taken it upon themselves to protect their purses. Supporting the new King Renfred being their only option to protect themselves and their assets.

After the fall of the capital, Eloisa chose to cripple herself rather than die and left the capital towards Drewmere. Picking up an orphan along the way to care for. This orphan being Nym, whose parents died during the coup. She was just a baby at the time and currently believed Eloisa was actually her grandmother. Which at this point really wasn't far from the truth. Eloisa treated her like her own kin. Though being crippled, it was much harder for her to care for the kid. Well, actually teenager seeing as she had just turned fifteen. She was so little in comparison to someone her age due to the harsh conditions they lived in. Eloisa had moved with Nym to this outback village not long after the fall of the capital. Having become, it's a medicine woman to make ends meet. Eloisa's meager amount of magical ability, and knowledge of herbal remedies keeping them from starving but not much more.

The locals still, after all this time, had not come to trust her. Her magical abilities and the fact that she cared for Nym a halfbreed as she was called derogatorily. Cast them as being outcasts. The community having isolated them to the small hill overlooking the village far away from the village's communal protection. The hunters of the village having never once shared their kills with them. This being the most likely reason for Nym's lack of growth. They had lived on what little food they could provide for themselves from the forest.

Hence why Callum was out in the forest at the moment. He had been tracking a small deer-like creature much of the morning. Having decided to payback Eloisa's generosity and trust with a little meat. Nym having been very excited at the prospect of having something a bit more substantial then watery mush. Meat being a delicacy, she had only had on a few occasions when some villager would pity the two women and share from their harvest.

Callum had left in the late morning into the forest behind the cabin. Taking Eloisa's words of caution into consideration. Especially after learning what a Whisper of the Woods was. The outskirts of the forest were a relatively safe place. The largest threat being the possibility of encountering a wolf. Though from what Eloisa had said, they tended to be rather large wolves. Standing up to a full-grown man's shoulders when fully matured. Reminding Callum of what a Dire Wolf must have been like before they had gone extinct 10,000 years ago back on Earth.

Being stalked by a pack of such wolves was not high up on Callum's to-do list. Especially ones that made a grey wolf look like a puppy. Depper in the forest, there were supposedly all sorts of danger and monsters. A bit disconcerting yes, but as long as he stuck to the edge of the forest, it should be fine. Though honestly, the Whisper of the Woods was something that scared the everloving shit out of him.

Eloisa had explained the creature, and it was never something Callum wished to meet. It was a creature from the deepest part of the forest. An unending hunger, it would devour anything in its path monster, animal, human. It did not matter nor care. It could take the form of it's kills and take on a perverse version of their personality or nature. Using its appearance to lure in more prey. It was apparently not uncommon for villages like this to being attacked by such creatures—their whispers, luring the unsuspecting in. Just to be torn limb from limb. Their bones picked clean of every morsel. The marrow of their bones drank clean by the creature. They were absurdly strong but had no magical affinity, at least as the story went.

So when I happened to show up in the forest at the nick of time for Nym. My transference point tearing a wolf in half, the villagers believed I might have been possibly one such creature. A human with not a touch of mana with the power to tear a wolf in two with no sword was a bit of an eye raiser. It was a bit of a weird coincidence; he did have to acquiesce that point. Though with Nym having told Eloisa about what had happened, the weird occurrence was cleared up relatively quickly through the village meeting she had attended to earlier yesterday. At least he wouldn't get chased into the forest with pitchforks in torches Frankenstein style.

Though the strangeness having garnered the unwanted attention from that Sir Baynard. His troop had left in the morning in the direction of the border, but not before coming back up to the cabin to ask for Callum to join him for a meal when they came back through the village. The tone of the exchange had not been a friendly question but rather a suggestion with the underpinning of violence if he did not. Callum simply sighed, hoping that the meal would be uneventful but being slightly doubtful.

He had finally found the prey he was looking for. It was in a small glade to his front around fifty yards away. The outskirts of the forest had been relatively quiet. The trees being sparse once he had entered, but growing more and more gnarled and the distance to move between trees becoming much more restricted.

The prey being a deer only around four feet tall, with a striking resemblance to the small deer that lived in the southern parts of Africa. The name of the creature escaping his mind for the moment. It had two small horns, being little more than nubs on the top of its head. White spots adorned its tan coat running down its side. A small tail similar to a whitetail deer swished every few seconds through the air. It was currently munching on some clover that was growing in the glade, the glade in question being only twenty to thirty feet in circumference.

In the corner of his vision, he could see Tec crouched, looking through a set of binoculars. Her clothes being something you would see on a safari, not in a temperate forest. Her silver hair pulled back into a simple ponytail poking out a tan ball cap. He was getting used to his new companion's antics. She seemed to be having a good amount of fun, enjoying her new freedom. Well, as much as his vision would allow at least. From a discussion, they had once he had fallen asleep in his mind. It was apparently a long time since she relax. She did not go into many details at the time, but she seemed to have had a troubled past. Alluding to the fact that her sleep as she put it was not exactly a voluntary thing.

She was as much at whoever's whim that had brought them here as he was. He wasn't fully trusting of his companion yet, and he doubted she fully trusted him either. But they were getting there at least. She was very lively, her get up being once such an example.

'It is just me, or does that deer look somewhat familiar?'

Tec still looked through her binoculars as she answered, 'Yeah, it looks like a large Dik Dik, just slightly different. Its size much bigger.'

'It is very weird how this place has such similarities to Earth and closely follows some of our fiction. I mean come on there are literally elves and dwarves—humans with animal characteristics. I know a few guys that would kill to be here right now and experience this.'

Tec had lowered the binoculars before looking back towards him, 'I noticed the same as well. I mean, it is possible that this universe simply follows closely by Earth's fiction by chance, but that is a bit of a leap. Also, the records I have from the frontier do not show any sentient being on this planet at the time of it's landing. Though as we both know, that could have been eons ago. Still, it is very weird. Almost if Earth's fiction was planted in this universe. Are you going to shoot that deer or not, by the way? It is kinda getting away.'

Callum looking back towards the glen noticed the deer had finished it's munching and was moving towards the far end of the glade, slightly quartering away from him and slightly right. Raising his rifle slowly so as not to alert the deer, he sighted in at the rear of its ribcage. With it quartering away from the angle, Callum would put the round at the rear of the ribcage. So that upon entry, the round would make its way towards the vital organs which would be located in the animal's chest.

It was not the best shot to take with his rifle, the caliber being a bit anemic for the task, but he would have to hope for the best, or for a quick followup shot.

He slowly leveled out his breathing, balancing the rifle against a nearby tree. With a slow squeeze of the trigger, the rifle bucked in his shoulder, the rifle shot muted by the suppressor he had affixed to the rifle earlier in the day after taking it from his pack. The gunshot still very well audible, just some of the bark taken off. The supersonic crack of the round echoed through the forest, causing some of the birds roosted in the treetops to scatter.

The deer took the round and jumped up into the air. All four legs leaving the ground as it jumped up in terror from the noise and the searing pain that shot through its body—the 62 grains of lead tearing its way through its innards. With no idea what had happened and in complete confusion, the deer turned slightly to the right to run into the forest away from the loud noise and pain.

The turn bringing it completely broadside to Callum, his rifle recoiling again into his shoulder. The second round impacting in the perfect spot. Right behind the front shoulder blade, the second chunk of lead taking both its lungs and heart. The deer already dead before it knew it. It's feet carrying it about another ten feet before rolling ass over head as its mashed heart could not keep up the blood flow to supply its body.

Callum slung his rifle as he moved to the now-dead deer. Grabbing it's four legs, two in each hand, he slung the deer up over his shoulders and started walking back towards the cabin. Deciding to put a bit of distance from himself and the glade. Choosing to gut the deer a bit further away. Just in case the noise drew anything to the glade. Plus, he would rather be further from the inner part of the forest before he started wafting the scent of blood everywhere with cleaning the deer.

Callum could already taste the venison stew he was hoping to make when he got back. He just hoped Eloisa had some form of seasoning.

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Once again, in another plane, the shadowed being Eurus watched Callum through a shifting globe. He was slightly displeased when he had felt the power in Callum wane the day before, but upon viewing him. His skin had started to crawl, his very soul screaming danger. Whatever power he now possessed was much stronger than the power of darkness he had given to the human. He had contemplated simply ending him then and there. Before he became a threat to himself. His mark was still present in his heart, though. Eurus's want for revenge had gotten the better of him. He could tell that such power was not easily wielded, but in time, the human would grow into it. To become something to truly be reckoned with.

It suited him just fine that he was more powerful, it would make his revenge that much easier. He had already sown the seeds of his plan in the pantheon. Soon they would take root and flourish. The mark of darkness in this human would soon draw the ire of so many of the pantheon.

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Deep in the great large cathedral in the capital Bedladon in Arkadia. A golden light shown upon the center of a massive altar, a being of pure light, stood hovering slightly above the altar. The entirety of Arkadia was devoted to the Sun God, Irata. This being an avatar of this god, all the cardinals and priests in attendance were on their knees in reverence. The avatar of their god having never once appeared in any of their lifetimes. The only human with their head slightly raised was the head cardinal. The being simply motioned towards cardinal to rise. It's light cascading across the ornate marble of the cathedral.

With pure devotion, the cardinal stood and walked with grace to a pedestal below the great altar. Taking one knee and lowering his head. The avatar stooped slightly, performing an almost curtsied like action. Her hand coming to rest on the cardinal's head. Images flashed in his mind of a forest over the border in Tusia. A being shrowded in shadows moved through the forest; a freshly killed deer slung over its shoulder. More images flashed through his mind. Images of a possible future, Bedladon burning in a dark night. Bright flashes raining down into the city. Screams of the innocent burning through his mind, reaching his very soul. His body started to shake violently in unbridled rage. Only six words leaving his mouth as he looked up at the avatar. It's hand having left his head.

"It will be done, our god."