A fire crackled in the night. Jason and the others had made it halfway to the mountain range he had seen on his first day. They would have been further, but he couldn’t resist going back to the cave for the gold. The elves also took that opportunity to arm themselves with goods from the armory.

Apparently there was elven armor the goblins had looted. It shined like metal, and yet it was thin and folded like leather. Apparently, it was enchanted leather made by sacrificing the essence of a lump of iron. This essence included the iron’s hardness and other qualities. The result was that the iron became a brittle lump of dull metal, while the leather became strong and metallic.

The swords they wielded were almost exactly like katanas from his own world, except there was no guard and the blade was all one piece, as if someone had pulled its form out of a solid block of steel.They were incredibly light and sharp, and as the elves practiced with them, Jason wondered how in the world they lost to those goblins

They traveled west the whole day, bringing them to their current point. As the fire slowly cooked some fowl that Deineres had caught, Jason decided to try and get to know the elves. He started with the one he figured disliked him the most, Calex.

Jason approached and spoke first. “Hey, we never did introduce ourselves. I’m Jason.” Calex looked up from a picture he was idly drawing with a thin piece of charcoal. “I’m Calex Delacroix, glad to be of service.” Although he said this without malice, and with a smile on his face, It still made Jason feel slightly odd. They were all using his last name now and it was somewhat odd to him,

“Hey… are you guys seriously going to use my last name from now on? In fact, I didn't even think that you liked me.” Calex stopped drawing and looked at Jason before responding

“Yes, we joined your house, and thus we are obligated to use your last name at the end of our own. As for me not liking you, I'm sorry. its not like I didn't like you, more accurately, I was afraid of you. My imprisonment had weakened me, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. Someone had finally come and set us free, and all i could think was ‘what kind of monster could make goblins run in fear?’ All i wanted to do was run. Run until I couldn’t anymore. And for that, I ask that you excuse my previous conduct.”

Jason was unused to such candid honesty and was at a loss for words. “A-ah I see, don’t worry about it, it’s in the past. what are you drawing though?” Calex’s face lit up as he showed Jason his work of art. It was of a war between the sylvan elves and the goblin-orc alliance. Except in his art, the elves were gaining the upper hand. Jason saw that the detail was incredible, especially for only using the equivalent of a pencil.

Suddenly he had an idea. He reached out and touched the picture while activating his animate ability. The was seemed to come to life as the elves vanquished the enemy and drove them away in around one minute. then the picture reverted to the way it was. “What was that? that was incredible! It’s not magic so i don't understand. How do you do that?” Calex asked, his voice full of excitement.

“It’s… my ability. I'm not entirely sure how it works myself, but hey, you draw anything else, Ill animate it for you. Hmmm, It seems like each scene is a minute, so try to do around 22 connected scenes, I think you’ll like the outcome.” Jason said. He stayed composed outside, but inside, he was screaming for joy. Finally, He would have anime!

Jason left Calex who began drawing right away, and decided to talk to Alize. She saw him coming, and greeted him with a smile. “Well if it isnt the family man, what’s up Jason?”she said. “ Yo, Alize, how you holding up? Is it hard for you during the day, with your vampirism and all?”

“Oh no, I can handle it. I’m just not as strong during the day, and sunlight irritates my skin. You know, surprisingly this whole vampirism thing isn’t that bad, other than constantly thirsting for the blood of everyone in the immediate vicinity.” Alize said with a slight smile. Jason laughed, he definitely knew the feeling.

“Yeah, I feel you. The dragon in me wants to just take the gold and the women and hole up in a mountain somewhere. While the snake just wants to hunt all day. I, on the other hand, just want to get home so i can watch the shows I have recording on my dvr.” Jason said. Alize’s eyes narrowed.

Then she asked “You… you have more than one transformation? You ate someone?” Jason stopped smiling, and responded truthfully “Yes. it was the night everything went crazy. Some dragon guy attacked me, and the snake within me thirsted for blood. After that, well you can guess what happened.”

Alize sighed, “I too killed someone that night. I, in my foolishness, thought that we would be fine if we all stayed together. As you well know, i was proven wrong. As I ran into the forest, a man followed me. He had super speed, and could have caught me at anytime he wished. My transformation is bat, and I’m a fairly big one at that, but as soon as I would transform, He would already be on top of me, and would give me several super fast blows to the head, sending me back to the ground.”

“Soon I couldn't run anymore, and he made his intentions clear. he wished to… violate me. As he approached, the moon shined directly upon us, and my bloodlust was awakened. I waited until he was very near, and then I drained him dry. Apparently that counted as eating because I gained his abilities. After that though, I was horrified at what I had done, horrified that i had loved the taste and the feel of blood going down my throat, and ran from the scene until I fell unconscious. When I woke I was in the goblin cave and the rest you know.”

Jason knew full well the power of bloodthirst. He could resist better now, as he had gotten used to it, but that first night, it was impossible. “Well, let’s do our best not to eat people together, hmm?” Jason said. Alize giggled and agreed. “Okay, but I’m gonna need a little of your blood tonight, k?” She said with a wink, and a smile. With a sigh, Jason began preparing his arm.

They traveled for two weeks heading west towards more civilized areas. As they traveled, They crossed several rivers. Deineres informed the two from earth that this world didn't have very many large bodies of water, rather, it was crisscrossed by many rivers. Apparently the ones they were crossing now were mere trickles of water compared to most of the rivers.

Jason and Alize also began learning magic from the elves. Jason was able to ius magic right off due to his connection with the elves. The symbol on his hand had opened his own magical vessels throughout his body, as well as holding additional magic from the elves. Alize on the other hand, had to have her magical vessels forcibly opened by the elves.

Magic was cast in several ways. apparently humans used runes and magic circles to do magic, while elves used incantations. Deineres knew a few human runes and taught them to the humans. after using magic to draw the symbols and the circle within the air, they both were able to fire off a simple fireball. However it took them 45 seconds to draw all the required signs, which made it somewhat impractical.

All in all, it was a fairly peaceful journey, until one evening...