It was the last day before Aias was to journey to the capital with O’jghar, his stuff had already been packed and sorted, this included basicly everything he owned.

This was the first day in about three month that Aias had gone outside, and now he found out that winter was coming.

One winter had already passed by as he was laying there training indoors. Winters varied in the Antrim kingdom. Sometimes they would be harsh and destructive, ruining the lands and forcing people living on farms to move into the cities to survive the storms. Apparently this was one such winter.

The powerful snowstorms were predicted to come in about a month. After that the whole kingdom would be in complete shutdown, most beasts would be hibernating, most people would try to do the same. No one would be able to travel in the storms that were to come.

Aias was currently spending the rest of his last day riding around on Varja. The two hadn’t been meeting much in the past half year, Aias had mainly been training, and from what O’jghar had told him, Varja been going to hunt in the close by wilderness.

From the look of the giant serpent he had been very busy the past few months, he looked far larger and his body moved far quicker through the forests. O’jghar had predicted that the Kjil serpent was going to begin hibernating soon and after that it may end up transforming.

Some beasts have the possibility of transforming themselves once they have become strong enough. Kjil serpents have two ‘evolution tracks’ they can go down. One is the physical transformation that changes their scales to become like sharp spikes. The other is the spiritual transformation which will change both their core, making it far more powerful, and their bloodline making them into a magical beast. Their bodies will change depending on the transformation, a physical transformation will make them larger, while a spiritual will often make them smaller.

The two were heading for where they could usually find the little fox. Aias had wanted to say goodbye to his little forest pal before going of for a winter.

When thinking back it had actually been longer since his last visit to the fox than it would be until winter ends. Aias couldn’t help getting angry with himself as he rode Varja through the forest. “Why do I have to take so goddamn long to finish these simple techniques! I wish I was more normal!” Aias thought to himself.

He had for some time known there were talents he was blessed with. He had an incredible sense for combat, it could probably rival the experience of some highly trained soldiers. He also had an unique sense for people, he could read people's emotions and expressions better than most, he had no idea why.

Lastly, somehow, he had a good sense for energy. Not the control of it, but sensing it. He had found out from O’jghar that his ability to sense the energy around him wasn’t something people simply got when they found their energy core, most had to actually train just to begin feeling that. And he was also able to pinpoint where the energy was. Sadly that didn’t apply when the energy was inside him!

……..

After searching through the forest for a few hours had they finally found the little fox. It sat on a tree stump looking at Aias and Varja as they got closer. When Aias was put down the fox just sat there looking at him.

Looking at the fox it seemed to be shivering with excitement from his arrival but the concern of hurting him again was holding it back. It seemed to have reflected on the accidents it had caused in the past. To Aias those were of little concern but the fox still seemed afraid that he would dislike it.

However all it took from Aias was the short phrase “It’s okay” and the little fox jump onto his lap and began snuggle up against his stomach. It sure had missed him, and he had missed it.

After about an hour of the little fox flopping around around him and it had finally calmed down. The fox then sat by his side gazing at him, sniffing his body, licking him every now and then. Aias wasn’t sure what the fox now was up to, was this another game or had it gotten tiered.

Then it suddenly stopped and wagged its murky green tail at his face, Aias still had no idea what it was doing but expected it to be just a silly little fox game.

But then it shined, the light was back, it wasn’t as powerful as when the fox had suddenly grown a new tail, this time he could keep his eyes open, the light was dazzling and beautiful like looking at a sparkling jewel. Colours of the rainbow entered his eyes, the beauty was to much and he felt as if he was about to cry.

With the light also came that rejuvenating feeling, but it quickly changed, when the energy entered him it spread like a lightning bolt through his body, it gave of a painful feeling as if it was actual lightning.

As the light subsided and the lightning bolt had disappeared a new sensation came, pain. Far more pain than he had felt before, what was this, it was as if his whole body had been ripped apart. He wanted to scream but when he saw the expectant look on the fox he stopped himself.

There was no way the fox was trying to hurt him, right? He had to think this through, why was he in so much pain. The only feasible explanation he could think of was that the fox had healed not his whole body but only the nerv system throughout it.

If that was the case it would explain both the lightning bolt like way the energy moved, and why he was in so much pain now. His muscles and bones were still in ruins and the only reason he wasn’t able to feel it before was because his nervsystem wasn’t strong enough to send a constant signal, it could only send signals when something changed. Like when something touched him.

Biting through the pain he took his time and tried his best not to look hurt when he finally spoke up, “Thank you!” it still sounded like a cry in pain but it had come with love and gratitude. The little fox seemed both concerned and happy, but before it could do anything it just slumped down and passed out.

Healing him had most likely taken on its core and it would now need to rest. The headmistress had healed him in the past, restoring several organs, and that had taken on her enough that she still needed to rest and restore her power to this day.

Aias had planned to sit with the fox and wait for it to wake up but then he suddenly felt drowsy, he tried to keep himself awake, this was clearly not his body telling him to sleep, but a spell. He bit down on his lip trying to keep himself awake with pain but even when he drew blood there was no change in hi- ZZZZ.

…….

Aias woke up, he was being carried back home by Varja. Looking at the sun it had most likely only been a few minutes since he fell asleep. Who had done that, why did they make him fall asleep. Aias licked his lip to feel the wound he had inflicted on himself, but there was nothing there. He was sure he had bitten through the skin.

Could it have been the little foxes parents. If the little fox could heal his nervsystem, which was still screaming at him with all the pain being drawn from his body, then surely its parents could heal something minor, like a bitemark.

It was most likely not someone trying to bring the fox away as they would most likely not bother with healing him. They would probably kill him to make sure no one knew. A fox that can heal severe injuries would be worth a pretty penny.

On the way back to his teacher’s house he decided to try something. If his nerv system was repaired then maybe he could feel his energy easier or send it through the rest of his body. Aias first tried to send his energy through the purify formations without using the control formation.

As the energy went through the formation and into his body he began feeling something, deep down in his gut, like a weak flow of water running through his stomach. Aias had already gotten quite used to controlling energy in his body and quickly got hold of it.

As soon as he started pulling the energy around and channeling it into specific parts of his body he grew annoyed. He had for five months been trying to feel the energy in his body and it was all his nerves fault. Why couldn’t he have been healed back then before spending so long doing something so pointless. Well at least he had learned a lot about formations because of it.

Aias got back to O’jghar later that day and explained that his nervsystem was now healed. The look O’jghar gave him during and after his short explanation was priceless. After looking at Aias for about a minute or so he finally gave in and sighed, “Well at least your body is getting better”

Aias couldn’t tell if that was some sort of joke or just a statement, either way he was still lying there in pain from his constantly screaming muscles.

……….

The two had to depart a day late as O’jghar had to set up a sealing formation on Aias nervsystem to keep the pain from being constant. Aias still got a quick flash of pain every now and then when something bumped into him but it wasn’t to bad.

Aias was now on the road, their first stop was Svordie Castle, Aias had only heard rumours of the guardian who held it. He was a great warrior, wielding a hammer the size of a person. His strength was supposedly second in Goijbi, dwarfed only by lord Meleth. Aias however did believe that may not be true as the headmaster’s strength wasn’t very well known and may infact be above both of theirs.

O’jghar expected it to take three days to get to the castle with their horses and the waggon they were carrying. It was a fairly large waggon meant to hold cargo enough for a merchant to set up shop. In it Aias rested in a sleeping bag, constantly training. Around him there were several large boxes filled with both food and coin for their travels, along with valuable equipment O’jghar couldn’t leave behind.

Aias had noticed that right behind where his teacher was sitting by the reigns, tilted to the side of the waggons frame, was a large spear. The spear had a long handle and at the end was a blade similar to a large axe, Aias had asked what the type of spear was called and apparently it is a Bardiche.

The spear had sparked Aias interest since a long time ago. During the day O’jghar was usually not in the house, he did have a job to do. It was to keep bandits and beast away from the orphanage, and he always brought the large spear.

The blade was made from the carapace a magical beast, and from its magical power an inscription had been drawn. The inscription drew curse energy to weaken opponents struck by its blade, similar to a poison slowly spreading through their body, restricting them.

Aias felt it was a useless power for a weapon like that. The axe blade was large and powerful enough that if it did strike the opponent, they should already be hurt beyond being able to fight back.

The effect would be more useful on something like a dagger which was quicker but weaker.

Aias wanted to know more about inscriptions. He knew he would learn it someday but it felt like an eternity as they slowly made it down the road.

Varja was keeping up with the waggons speed, constantly looking out for any danger that could be coming up. Looking at Varja speeding, darting over the land was an amusing sight, a cross country snake. What would people think when seeing the giant serpent racing across the land.

……..

Days passed uneventfully, slowly traveling down the roads, every now and then passing by peasants hurrying to get set up in a town to hide out the coming storms. Every time they met someone they got quite the looks. Not just for the giant snake but also for O’jghar, Aias hadn’t seen much outside of the orphanage however knew that beastmen, or Klenod, weren’t very common in Antrim.

The two spent their days learning more about the fundamentals of formations and techniques. Aias was during this trip to learn how to restore a technique. He had been given an uncomplete blueprint for the technique ‘heavenly boost’.

The technique is a simple body enhancement technique to make oneself somewhat stronger. From O’jghar’s explanation, Aias could combine the formation he was using to control purity with this, and he could then also use this technique similarly to purify.

Aias had from the beginning of the journey to now been reading the scroll that contained how heavenly boost was supposed to be structured, however couldn’t make any sense of if it was correct already or what could be wrong with it.

He had tried to create the formation in his consciousness however it wasn’t able to remain stable. It could be that he was portioning his energy incorrectly and that made it collapse, or the structure could be wrong. Either way, Aias knew he had a lot to work on before he could make the technique his own.

In the middle of the fourth day of travel did they finally reach the outskirts of Svordie castle. Aias was amazed at the sight of its large walls, reaching up to what looked like thirty meters. They were truly impressive, not just in size but also energy. Aias noticed that across the long and tall wall was an inscription. The inscription gave of energy that felt odd, ancient, and powerful, like a mountain, standing tall and unbreakable.

Although Aias realised that that didn’t mean much coming from him. When he first saw Varja he thought his scales looked like unbreakable shields but the next day that had been proven wrong. Although during the almost three years since then he had learned quite a bit about energy and felt that his observation should be somewhat true.

Before heading into town they would need to consult the local guilds on how to deal with Varja, therefore they first set up a camp directly outside of the town. O’jghar explained that this was to show that they had something that wasn’t allowed in town and needed it examined, that way they wouldn’t accidentally break any rules.

Several hours passed, night had come, shrouding the camp in darkness, they had set up a small fireplace and tent while waiting.

However as further time passed O’jghar realised they didn’t have enough wood to go for the night and went to gather more. He knew he could leave Aias as he was, Varja was looking over him after all.

As his teacher was away Aias spotted some shadows moving closer to the camp. From the look of it they were people from the city.

As they got closer Aias could tell they were most likely the representatives sent to see what they needed inspected.

The ones who came was a short red haired woman carrying a few books. Along with her were ten guards, all with light armour, half with swords and shields other half with lances. They all looked strong and serious.

The woman and her guards stopped roughly ten meters away from the camp they had set up, “The castle of Svordie is open for all, what business do you have?” the woman suddenly yelled after stopping. Her voice didn’t seem to carry any ill will, however she did seem somewhat concerned.

They had after all come a bit away from town and it had gotten quite dark, this was the perfect setup for an ambush.

As O’jghar had left Aias was now sitting alone to answer to the sudden intrusion.