I didn’t wait for them, I had to leave as soon as possible, because I knew if I’d stayed I would have attracted more attention and that was the one thing I certainly didn’t want to happen.

I was a bit worried that I might get lost without the map, but as soon as I stepped out of the village i sighed with relief.

There was a small dirt road going in parallel to the forest in the distance and a wooden road sign next to it. There was “Oakheart” written on an arrow pointing towards the village. The arrow which was facing in an opposite direction had “Bellmare 98 feim” written on it.

I guess this feim is something similar to miles. I just hope it won’t turn out to be very different.

I looked back one last time before finally departing.

Ember I’m sorry for leaving without saying a word, but despite knowing you for such short amount of time I believe you’ll understand why I took a French leave

Although this was another world with many new and strange things, I wasn't worried about my survival much. I had a complex training which literally covered everything.

You could call me a true jack of all trades, but despite my broad range of abilities I was still able to completely master 2 skills. There was no one on earth who could beat me in melee during one on one situation, also my accuracy with any weapon was top notch.

Well technically I didn’t master my accuracy, it was just something I was born with. I could perfectly aim with everything all I had to do was to fire few test shots, so I could accommodate myself to a weapon.

After 7 hours of walking the track has finally turned towards a forest.

Despite the distance I traversed I wasn’t tired even a bit. I bet it’s because of the nanites and what they did to my body.

When I finally approached the forest I felt a strange mist of energy surrounding it, I don’t know why but this energy plus strange trees made me feel anxious, as If something was lurking inside.

I looked at the sign nailed to a tree trunk. “Elven Forest. Do not enter after sunset!” was written on it.

Should I enter? The sun will set approximately after an hour, but I don't know how long it will take me to...

*Yoooohhuuuu!*

Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted, by a howl, it was similar to wolf's, but I couldn’t be sure about what creatures are living in this world.

The howl was soon followed by numerous footstep sounds. Because they were getting louder I quickly deducted that whatever is causing these sounds is getting closer and because I didn’t want to get into a trouble or to attract attention, I quickly climbed on a tree and hid myself between its branches.

I didn’t pick this tree randomly, In fact I picked the tree with the most dense leaves around, so it will be easier for me to conceal my presence. The tree I hid on was deeper in the forest, but I could still see the plains from which I came.

Few minutes later a group of people finally appeared in my sight. The group was composed of 8 men escorting a woman. Men were wearing metal and leather armors and the woman was dressed in a hooded robe instead of an armor like the rest of her group. She moved in a weird way as if she was sleepwalking and on top of that I could feel the energy around her was denser.

Hmm… Strange.

The group was running with high speed towards the boundary of the forest, something was probably chasing them.

“Faster! We must escape! We’ve almost reached the border!” I heard someone shouting. He was probably a leader, but because of the chaos amongst the group I couldn’t be 100% sure.

I wonder who or what is chasing them?

I didn’t have to wait long to sate my curiosity, soon the second group of people appeared. The group was 2 times larger and more organized than the previous one. Members of the group were all clad in some sort of green metallic armor and wielded bows and spears. There was one person among their ranks that had a different, more decorated set of armor, he was clearly their leader.

Because of competent leadership, they were way faster than previous group, you could clearly feel the professionalism emanating from their ranks. What I found strange about was that they all had similar aura to the woman from the first group.

Unfortunately for the chased group their pursuers caught up to them as soon as they exited the forest.

“Filthy humans, hand over ma’fael and we will let you live.” Said the leader of the second group.

“We are already stepped out of the your forest elves, according to the treaty you have no right to attack us here.” Said a guy who was probably a leader of the first group.

Elves huh? It’s really a fantasy world.

“Ha! Foolish humans do you really think that your incompetent king will start a war with us? Especially when you're currently waging a war with demons.” The leader of elves replied.

“Will you really spare us go if we give her back to you?” Asked another person from the first group.

“You have my word.” Replied the elf

“I didn’t come here to lose my life and I heard elves always keep their promises, so if you want her then take her! I’m not going to risk my life for merely few gold coins.” Said a member of the first group.

“Shut up Kane! They won’t dare to attack us here, because as you said earlier elves always keep their promises and they’ve signed a treaty which forbids them from attacking us outside their forests.” Said the leader of the first group

“Humans your foolishness knows no bounds, do you really think you are outside the forest?” Said the elven leader and touched the ground with his spear.

Suddenly the strange mist that was surrounding the forest condensed into more trees effectively expanding the forest. Humans who were who were outside the forest were suddenly surrounded by trees again.

So this strange mist was a magic trap. Ha I wonder if I could cast spells too.

They wanted to run, but were surrounded. Elves were too powerful all they could do was to beg for their lives.

“Take her! I don’t want to die.” Someone begged

“I surrender, don’t kill me please.” Said another person.

While the human group was begging for their lives, their leader grabbed a woman and put a dagger to her throat. I was wondering earlier why was she moving so strange, but now I understood. She was hypnotized.

“Let me go or I’ll kill her!” He shouted.

Members of his group glared at him hatefully while the elven leader only smiled disdainfully.

“I really did want to let you go, but now that I’ve witnessed your nature I no longer feel so magnanimous.” Said elven leader and touched the ground with spear again.

In a blink of an eye roots exploded from the ground restraining everyone in the human group, they couldn’t even flinch if they wanted.

“What the hell!?” Said the human leader in shock. He was no longer able to move his body, regret was painted on his face, but it was already too late to change his mind.

“Kill them.” Said elven leader cooly.

Humans started screaming and begging, but it didn’t stop the elves. As if they wanted to increase the despair amongst the humans elves didn’t kill them immediately, they killed them one by one by slitting their throats.

Finally after the last human was killed elven leader approached the hooded woman and extended his hand towards her neck. He didn’t grab her neck instead he torn off the necklace from her and then threw it deeper in the forest.

After amulet was torn the woman lost consciousness and fell to the leader’s arms.

“Noa las wi orlan ma’fael.” Said elven leader to the woman.

Suddenly the amulet exploded shaking the nearby trees including the tree I was currently hiding on.

“Whoa.” I unintentionally let out the sound while I staggered to keep the balance.

“Who’s there!?” The elven leader shouted and looked in my direction.

I’m no longer going to spam with “language learning”

1 feim ≈ 0,998 km ≈ 0,620 miles