Zephyrus Elway's P.O.V.

As I watched my nephew disappear behind the now closing gate, I thought to myself. What battles would he face? What will his thought process be against the trials ahead?

I didn’t know why, but seeing him grow and progress was exhilarating. I wanted to see how he would turn out in the future. What would he change? And when he did, how?

The sound of the gate locking shut pulled me out of my thoughts, and my gaze veered to the gate guard. He came off as a good man, even going as far as to question me when his companions just laughed. The least I could do is ask his name.

“You,” I said, walking up to the guard, “What's your name?”

He spat on the ground in front of me, “And why should I tell scum my name?”

“Now, now. Don't be like that.” I laughed. “We all have our reasons for doing things.”

Stepping closer I got a better look at the man's features. He looked young and his stern gaze fit his uniform well–almost too well. I stopped stepping closer, though, when I noticed his hand move to the hilt of his sword.

“He was just a kid. you should've at least tried to talk him out of it.” His tone only grew ruder and more aggressive.

I said nothing back and looked at his armor. He wore it proudly–as any knight would–but the sigil caught my eye. It was the shape of a pentagon and in the middle was a white star.

He was an official knight of the kingdom… I quickly glanced at his companions. That means he’s their superior. Their armor sigils were gray, signifying they were knights in training.

“A knight at your age? You must be skilled.”

I seemed to be on his last nerve because he stepped forward so that we were closer than ever and fumed, “If you don't have an entrance stone. I will have to ask you to leave.” It seemed more like a demand than a request.

I lifted up my cloak, showing him my armored chest plate. At the sight, His face instantly blanched and he took a few steps back.

“A-a golden sigil? Who are you? ” He asked–a little bit too loudly.

He glanced at his now muddled subordinates. Due to the wind barrier I had conjured around the boy and me, they were unable to hear us.

I tried my hardest to suppress a laugh at his instant behavior change, “I’m your superior, of course.” I let my cloak down covering up my chest plate, “I am willing to let this slide due to your kind actions toward my nephew.”

He shook his head, obviously understanding the situation he was in. Smart boy.

“But as compensation…” I pointed up to the top of the Blockade’s massive wall, “I assume you don’t mind if I watch my nephew from up there. Wouldn't want anything happening to him.”

“Not at all, sir…” He mumbled, embarrassed.

At his answer, I covered myself in a veil of dark attribute mana and disappeared from his sight using the shadows. Once I was a good distance away, I entered my winged soul-force state to fly up the wall.

I allowed the sharp winds to hit my face as I flew up–instead of manipulating them to warp around my body–It was something I found myself doing a lot lately. It made me feel calm, but it also pushed away my thoughts of the very distant future, which I also found myself thinking a lot about lately.

Landing at the top of the wall I looked inside the Blockade. Do to the canopy of trees, I had to sense more than watch my nephew make his way through, but it would due.

Letting out a sharp, thoughtful breath, I sat down and hung my feet over the ledge, and continued to let the sharp winds hit my face.

“Should I be excited or scared for the future?” I asked, glancing at my sword.

But the top of the wall stayed quiet and my question remained unanswered as my old friend ‘the sharp winds’ carried my words away.

Falyn Elway’s P.O.V.

Walking through the enclosed forest I was constantly on guard. The eerie quietness put me on edge. Zeph had said the Blockade was filled with unpredictable dangers, but it seemed strangely peaceful.

Maybe it’s because I'm still somewhat close to the gate. I thought as I quickened my pace.

As I moved more quickly I unsheathed my dagger having to cut stray branches and lingering plants that got in the way of my path.

I tried to focus my senses on any possible mana fluctuations but sensed nothing. That was to be expected, though, since beasts learned how to conceal their presence from an early age–to either hunt their prey or hide from their predators.

I possessed the skill as well. Due to my knowledge and my mastery over mana from a young age, it was just something I picked up along the way. Despite that, I didn’t use the skill. I emitted a faint, weak presence as bait and continued like this for a few minutes.

As I was walking I noticed the once healthy green grass went dry and patchy, eventually leading me to a ground of dirt and hardened earth.

I looked around cautiously. Something had been here.

Taking another step forward I felt a vibration in the earth below my foot. It let out a muffled rumbling noise as if something were moving in the ground below.

I instantly enhanced my body with mana and hoisted myself up on the nearest tree branch. Looking below at where I just stood I saw the ground crack in several different positions and interconnect, eventually shattering into multiple shards of rock. Revealing themselves were four menacing ant-looking creatures.

Their skin was a shiny maroon and each of their six legs held thick sharp claws and the ends. On their heads were two large black–almost lifeless–eyes staring right at me and in the middle above them were nearly transparent brown gems.

They each released and contracted their mandibles, letting out screeching sounds as they moved unpredictably–probably gauging my strength.

I hadn’t heard or read about any beast that looked like this, so I was at a loss. Doing the same as them, I gauged their strength. They seemed weak, Iron-class at most.

Smirking to myself, I kept my presence faint and weak.

It didn't take long for them to fall for my bait and they all charged at me. I jumped off the tree and enhanced my dagger with mana, flying at the furthest most ant. My dagger pierced deep into its eye and eventually through its skull, covering me in a bluish-green liquid. The piercing sound of the beast’s death echoed through the vicinity and the other ants screeched ever more rageful at the unexpected death of their companion.

Mana started gathering around the remaining three ants, and the gems in the center of their foreheads glowed dully. The earthen shards on the ground started gravitating toward their mandibles and claws, wrapping around them and sharpening like deadly weapons.

“...Earth magic.” I realized.

Responding in kind, I enhanced my body and weapon with wind attribute mana. Allowing the wind to push me forward I blitzed toward them. I lashed out with many blade techniques, maneuvering and dodging each bite they snapped at me with.

Cutting off one of the ant's mandibles, it started to claw at me sluggishly. That left an opening and gave me room to slice at its neck, decapitating the beast.

Turning around the last two were already attacking. One clawing at me from my left and the other attempting a bite at my right.

Quickly covering myself in a cloak of dark mana I Shadow Stepped. I had mastered this spell a while back. It allowed the user to cloak themselves in darkness and blend in with the shadows. And although it enhanced one’s speed by a small margin it was useless without any shadows around–and the mana consumption was heavy.

Now standing behind the ants, I quickly let out a sharp breath of exhaustion and unleashed wind bullets. Piercing their backs the ants once again let out loud screeches.

Only one died from the wind bullets and I had to finish the last one off with a slash of compressed wind.

At the sight of my victory, I plopped to my butt. After getting my ass handed to me by Zeph every sparring match this victory feels good. But that Shadow Step spell really does take a lot out of me at my level.

After getting my breath back to the normal rhythm I scanned the recent battlefield. Walking over to one of the ant’s corpses I looked at the gem on its forehead. If I wasn’t mistaken it was a beast stone. Taking my bloody dagger I carved out the stone to inspect it closer. Holding it up to the little sunlight that managed to seep its way through the canopy of trees I could sense the earth attribute mana lingering in it.

I wonder how much I could get for it.

Going to the other corpses and carving the beast stones out, I placed them in the sack Zeph had given me.

Leaning against the trunk of a thick tree I was stuck thinking about what to do.

Should I leave the Blockade and call it a day? I already collected four beast stones after all.

Or should I continue and fight more? The two-headed serpent I had fought back in Beck Town was in the same rank as these ants, so my abilities have definitely improved since that time. I still had a good amount of mana left too, so there was no doubt I had the ability to keep going.

Giving it a couple more minutes of thought, as I did whatever I could to clean the blood off my dagger, I decided to keep going.

But as I took a couple of steps forward I felt powerful mana fluctuations coming from a couple of yards in front of me.

The branches and plants shook as whatever this monster was moved closer toward me. It sounded like there were many footsteps as if a herd was coming my way.

But as the trees parted, showing me what was here, I stared back in horror. Eight glowing red eyes stared at me with hunger. A green liquid dripped from its giant fangs and hit the ground melting the very earth.

I held my dagger at the ready on pure instinct and clenched my teeth for the difficult battle I knew was to come.

This thing saw me as prey and prey only.