Astrid opens her eyes to see three individuals over her, all three seem to smile as they see her awaken.

“Good, it seems like you are finally awake!” The black furred one says.

“Blackclaw?” Astrid asks, still in a haze.

“Yes lass, it is I, and Shortclaw and, err… the snake ent thingy is here too. You seem to of gotten into a tussle with a local aristocrat and decided to drain all your mana. Then your familiar drug you in here requesting aid.” Blackclaw says, a grin on his face.

Astrid looks over as she hears the familiar voice of Shortclaw.

“Astrid, I leave you alone for two minutes and you get into a fight with Elizabeth! What were you expecting to accomplish!” Blackclaw’s smile now gone, replaced with a scowl.

“To shut her up… I have no idea why she hates me just because I am an elf.” Astrid says, sitting up, her entire body screaming for her to lay back down.

Blackclaw and Shortclaw both look at each other nervously.

“You mean you have no idea why a human would hate an elf?” Blackclaw asks.

“No.” Astrid says, eyeing Blackclaw.

Blackclaw rubs his head. “Errr…. Well… the short version is a long time ago elves and humans were in this huge war and it ended in a stalemate after both armies were nearly wiped out. Then after a bit they both signed a peace agreement. But after that the elves just kind of shut themselves off in their forests. Due to that there aren’t many elves running around near human cities. And some of the older generations still have a strong hate for the elves due to that war and they just kind of pass it down to the future generations. It’s wrong but not much we can do about it.”

Shortclaw looks at Astrid as she starts to look depressed. “But don’t worry Astrid! I don’t hate you, and never could.” A huge grin on his face.

Astrid smiles back, then looks around her eyes going wide and her ears flattening on her head. “Wait… we bet on that match, oh no, did I lose?”

Shortclaw sticks out his paws. “Don’t worry Astrid, you won, Elizabeth’s guard came in and apparently interfered in the match so her side automatically forfeited.”

Astrid sighs in relief. “And so I passed out due to using all my mana?”

This time Viele speaks up. “Yes… massster used a lot…. Of mana… for Root spike spell… and body… not accustomed… to mana… usage….”

Astrid stands up and brushes some dirt off her pants. “Am I okay now?”

All three nod in unison.

“How late in the day is it now?” Astrid asks trying to look out a window to see if it is still daytime.

“It is around lunch time, you were not out for too long, apparently, elves regenerate their mana back fast.” Shortclaw says with a toothy grin.

Astrid walks a few steps, seeing her bow on a table nearby she grabs it. “I need to hurry and get back into the woods, I need to make some money for the festival tomorrow.”

Shortclaw and Blackclaw look at each other, worry on their faces. “Are you sure you don’t need to rest more?” They both ask.

“Nope.” Astrid says as she grips the door handle, pulling it back a smile on her face.

Shortclaw then picks up a large mace. “Then I will come help you, make sure you don’t get into any trouble.”

Astrid turns around. “Are you sure, and don’t you need to help your uncle set up his stall?”

Shortclaw nods. “I wouldn’t be a good man if I didn’t do this for you, and the stall was finished a while ago while you were passed out.”

“Do you promise not to scare away any of the animals?” Astrid eyes the beastman up and down, he’s holding his giant mace with both hands, trying to put on a heroic pose. This makes Astrid start to giggle. “Here how about this, you can come with me if you promise not to scare away the animals and you also don’t ever do that pose again.

Blackclaw pushes Shortclaw towards the door. “He agrees to those terms, now you two get out there and bring back lots of skins okay?” As Blackclaw pushes them both out the store a large smile grows on his face. “Oh the innocence of youth.”

Astrid, Viele, and Shortclaw all leave the town, chatting the entire time, but when they enter the woods all chatter is silenced as not to scare away the much-needed animals.

Viele shifts into his ivy form as Astrid finds a spot that seems to have heavy animal traffic, Shortclaw’s eyes growing wide watching Viele transform.

“Umm… Astrid… isn’t your familiar male? Why did he just transform into a female creature?” Shortclaw says, drooling slightly as he looks Viele’s dryad form up and down.

Astrid looks over at Shortclaw, seeing him drooling at Viele. “Seriously?” Astrid says as she starts getting annoyed.

Shortclaw shakes his head. “Sorry, it’s just that… he surprised me. I have heard of mimic snakes mimicking different things, but I am still trying to get used to him transforming into other creatures, not just a tree ent.”

Astrid smiles. “Yeah, he can transform into any nature element creature he devours.”

“C…Cool… So… ummm what is the plan?” He says, still looking over at Viele.

“Oh, umm in that form Viele can use pheromones to attract all sorts of creatures, we wait till they come to us, we kill them, and then we skin them.” Astrid says with a smile.

“Oh…. Cool, so when do we start?” Shortclaw says right before he starts sniffing the air, all his fur seems to stand on end.

“Now, it seems.” Astrid says as her face starts to turn red. She lets out a sigh as she turns around and climbs up a nearby tree. When she gets to the top she waves down at the flustered beastman. “Make sure no creatures hurt my Viele. Okay?”

Shortclaw nods and glances over at Viele randomly as they wait. After a while three Ruby Rabbits come by, smelling the pheromones, their red fur shining in the sunlight as they come into the clearing. As they get closer to Viele and Shortclaw they notice something is wrong and quickly turn around but it is too late, an arrow goes through the head of one of the rabbits, it’s blood spewing onto the other two, they attempt to run away knowing they can’t fight back. As one is mid hop a large mace slams into its’ side it doesn’t stand a chance as bones and organs rupture from the impact, blood flowing from its’ eyes and nose as its body slams into the third Ruby Rabbit, knocking it down. As the last surviving Ruby Rabbit attempts to get back on its’ feet its’ eyes grow wide, it can’t seem to move, it feels like ropes are wrapping around it, keeping it from moving. It slowly realizes that it’s covered in thick vines, knowing it will die if it doesn’t get out soon it attempts to chew at the vines but it only makes the vines squeeze harder.

“Sssssshhhhh little one.” Viele says as he leans in towards the Ruby Rabbit, its’ entire body is wrapped by strong vines and he knew it had no way to escape. “I will make it as quick and painless as possible.”

The ruby rabbit looks up, a strong sweet smell invades its’ nostrils, its’ body going limp as what it views is the most beautiful thing in the world is slowly moving towards it. Part of its’ brain seems to scream to run but the rest refuses. Its’ last thoughts were of how much it loved this strange creature in front of it as a root erupts from the ground and penetrates its’ head, its’ brain scrambling as the tip of the root wiggles around.

Shortclaw’s eyes open wide watching the root penetrate the Ruby Rabbit’s head. “Now that is dangerous, thank Gaia he’s on my side.”

“Not… your side… Master’s ssssside.” Viele says as he picks up the three rabbit corpses.

Shortclaw lets out a gulp. “Then thankfully I am on her side too.”

Viele eyes Shortclaw then carries the corpses and puts them in the bag they brought. Putting it in front of the tree Astrid is standing on. They wait a little longer awaiting more animals to appear. After a while they hear a strange howl. Astrid pulls back on the bow string as a new creature jumps out from behind a tree, it looks like a large canine but it is has green and orange leaves instead of fur, is larger than a horse, and it has three vines coming from its back, sharp spikes on each tip of the vines.

Astrid lets loose an arrow at the creature’s head, the arrow slams into the creature’s head, then after a second it falls to the ground. The creature lunges forward, the arrow not even phasing the creature. “What in Gaia’s name is that!”

“A….. Guardian…. We…. Need… to… escape….” Viele says as he starts shooting root spikes and root walls in front of the Guardian, slowing it down.

“We can’t outrun it!” Shortclaw yells as he jumps to the side and slams the hammer into the Guardian’s side as it tries to run him down. The Guardian gets thrown onto its’ side, shaken but uninjured, it then rolls over back onto its’ feet. It lets out a loud howl as it charges again at Shortclaw, he dodges to the side again, but this time the vines on the guardian’s back shoot towards Shortclaw. Shortclaw dodges two of them but the third one slices deep into his arm causing blood to gush from his arm. “SHIT!” he grabs his arm trying to stop the bleeding.

“Viele! Save Shortclaw!” Astrid screams as she lets loose another arrow, it just bounces off the Guardian’s hide ineffectively.

“There isssss…. Nothing… I can… do….” Viele hisses as he shoots more spikes, one finally puncturing the creature’s side , but not getting deep enough to do any noteworthy damage.

“Can you do that armor thing you did to me when we met and protect him?” Astrid pleads.

“That… is… masssterr…”Viele hisses.

“Please… Viele…. I don’t want him to die!” Astrid yells with tears in her eyes.

Viele nods reluctantly. “If it iss…. Massster’s wissshh.” He then transforms into his original form, leaping at the now stunned Shortclaw.

“Wha…” Shortclaw’s hollers get cut short as his entire body gets wrapped by snakes, the snakes cover every part of his body and transforms into what looks like a rope armor covered in bark.

After a few seconds all that can be seen is Shortclaw’s eyes. “The next part will… be… unpleasant for you… but it is needed…” Viele mutter’s in Shortclaw’s ear.

“What do you mea…AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Shortclaw screams, what feels like dozens of snake fangs penetrate deep into his skin all over his body, he feels every muscle in his body ache as a burning sensation fills his body. Then as fast as it all happened the pain seemed to vanish, his body seems to be overflowing with power, like he was a god, he grips his mace, the cut from earlier seems to be gone as there is no pain. “Bastard, what did you do to me.”

“Berzerker venom… only… way… to have the power… to hurt… guardian.” Viele says nonchalantly. “Now do not lose yourself... to its’ power…. Or die…. Or masssster will… blame me….”

“Shortclaw are you okay!” Astrid screams, she then calms down as she sees him move, but something seems to be strange, his eyes are the only thing visible in the armor and they are starting to glow an orange color, and even though he has armor on, his entire body looks as if it grew from just moments ago. There also seems to be a dangerous feeling coming from him. Astrid fires another arrow at the Guardian, it redirects its’ rage towards Astrid, charging at her tree. “Shit shit shit!” Astrid yells getting ready to jump from the tree. But before she could she sees the guardian starts to fly and crashes into a nearby tree, the tree snapping in half as the guardian hits it.

Shortclaw starts laughing like a madman, the blow he just landed on the guardian was beyond anything he could dream of. “This power, so much power! I will ground this mutt into powder!” The wooden armor surrounding his body shifting like it was part of Shortclaw’s skin, a living armor, the snakes that make up Viele slowly pumping more Berserker venom into Shortclaw.

The guardian jumps back onto its’ feet, the three vines on its’ back swaying back and forth threateningly. For the first time since it was in this forest it felt like it was facing a threat. The guardian charges at Shortclaw again letting out a loud roar.

As the guardian gets closer to Shortclaw, it opens its’ mouth wide letting out an earsplitting roar. Astrid sees this as an opportunity and lets loose another arrow attempting to shoot its’ open mouth. Before the arrow can land the guardian closes its’ mouth and the arrow lodges itself partway into the armor protecting the guardian’s face.

Seeing the arrow lodge into the guardian’s face armor Shortclaw grins, he charges the guardian, swinging the mace with all his newfound power. The guardian sees the mace coming towards its’ face but it can’t stop, its’ too heavy and is already running too fast. Shortclaw lets out a loud feral roar as he feels the mace connecting with the guardian’s armored face. A loud cracking noise can be heard, sounding like lightning just struck. Shortclaw turns around to see the guardian flipping midair and landing on its’ back, blood gushing from its’ head. He looks over at his mace to see that the head is missing, or most of it is missing. All that is left is a sharp shard, making what was once a large mace look like nothing but a spear. He slowly walks over to the guardian, its’ body is still twitching as he shoves the remnants of his mace into the soft neck area of the creature, blood now flowing out of the guardian’s nose and mouth. He then takes a knee in front of the creature, letting out a modifying laugh.

Astrid’s blood seems to freeze as she hears the laugh coming from her friend Shortclaw.

At the same time, in nearby bushes three devourers wait, patiently watching as the newcomer to the forest gets taken down. The smell of blood strong in the air making them salivate. They are afraid of the strange creature that took down the newcomer to the forest, but all three are starving so they are willing to take a chance. They slowly sneak closer as the strange creature kneels in front of what will soon be their meal. Seeing the exposed back and kneeling position as signs of weakness and the perfect time to strike they all take positions and pounce at their defenseless prey. As they fly towards their prey all they can think about is all the food in front of them. The devourers realize something is wrong when they see the prey they are jumping at is now looking at them. All three of them can only see the glowing eyes, eyes that seem to look into the depths of their souls. The devourers all let out yelps as the one in the middle suddenly disappears and what the devourers can only tell is a very long stick takes its’ place. They don’t have much time to think about it though due to not even half a second afterwards they both feel large hands wrap around their heads, then nothingness.

“Too weak, way too weak!” Shortclaw yells as he crushes the two devourer’s skulls with his hands. The middle one that jumped at him now impaled on the ground with what is left of his mace. He walks over to it and pulls it out of the devourer. “More prey, I must kill… more!” Shortclaw says, looking over towards Astrid as she runs towards him. “More prey!” Shortclaw starts to lift the spear but suddenly his whole body stops moving, he can feel his muscles moving, attempting to lift the spear but something is restricting him. “I must…”

“You musssst ssssleep now.” Viele whispers in Shortclaw’s ear.

“No… I…. must….” Shortclaw starts feeling drowsy as the burning affect that was filling every fiber of his being gets replaced by a cold feeling. “You… can’t…. stop…zzzzzzz.” Shortclaw passes out moment later landing face first on the ground.

Viele transforms back to his normal form, he slithers over to the guardian and he starts to coil around the guardian slowly.

“What did you do to Shortclaw?” Astrid yells at Viele as she rolls Shortclaw onto his back checking to see if he is breathing.

“He… issss fine…. Masssster…. Had… to use…. Berserker venom…. For him to be… strong enough… not to die… I then… put him to sssssleep… before venom… can do permanent damage to him.” Viele says as he starts to devour the guardian.

Astrid stares at her familiar for a moment and sighs. “Thank you Viele… sorry for yelling… I just was worried about my only friend.”

“Yessss… Viele livessssss to ssserve massssster… even… if it meansssss… protecting… unworthy.” Viele says before he takes another large chunk out of the guardian. Once nothing is left of the guardian Viele transforms into his tree ent form and gathers the corpses of the devourers, shoving them into the bag with the ruby rabbit corpses, after sprinkling some of the spores in the bag he puts it over his shoulder. Walking over to Shortclaw he picks him up and throws him over the other shoulder. “Is massssster ready? If…. We do not make it back… ssssoon… Shop will…. Be closed.”

Astrid’s eyes snap open. “Shit! You are right!” She looks up at the sky to see it is starting to get dark. “We’ve got to hurry back to town and get paid!” Astrid picks up any useable arrows off the ground and heads back to town. As Astrid and Viele reach the town gate they see two guards sitting on the side playing cards. Astrid looks back at the tree ent carrying a large back with blood leaking out of it and the large beastman on his shoulder. “Well… this will be fun…” She says as she walks towards the guards. “Ummmmm… sirs… I am back from hunting and errr… I need to get back into town to sell the skins.”

Both guards look up from their game, looking at her, then the ent. One then just waves them in. “Go on in, have a good evening.” Then they burn back to their card game, the other guard looks confused then just shrugs.

Astrid eyes both guards but before they can change their mind she motions at Viele and they go ahead and enter.

As Astrid leaves one of the guards stares at the other guard, a slight amount of confusion on his face. “Sir… I know I am a new guard but aren’t we supposed to stop suspicious individuals from entering the town?”

“Yeah.” The senior guard says, letting out a grunt as he lays a card down on the table.

“Wasn’t that girl just very suspicious? I mean there is literally a trail of blood going into the town from the bag the ent was carrying.”

“Paperwork.” The senior guard says.

“What?”

“Do you know how many hours of paperwork stopping her would of caused? That and I very much doubt she is doing anything bad.”

“Why do you think that sir?” The rookie guard asks confused.

“How many murderers do you think will just come up to a city gate with guards at it with a body in a bag visible for everyone to see? And why would they bring it inside the city? Can you imagine? Oh yes! Fuck hiding the body in the woods where no guard will ever find it, let’s bring it INTO the city that is a GREAT place to hide this body, so great in fact we will bring it past the guards in plain sight!” The senior guard says sarcastically.

“Then what about the beastman on the ent’s shoulders?” The rookie guard asks putting another card on the table.

“He was still breathing and he wasn’t bleeding so it was not our problem. Speaking of problems, you are about to have one.” The senior guard lays down one last card. “I win.”

“Damn it!” The rookie guard yells. “There goes my food rations for tomorrow.”

Astrid arrives infront of Blackclaw’s shop, before she opens the door she gets Viele to lay Shortclaw down beside of the door. “Don’t want to start a fuss due to him passed out.” She then peers in, seeing workers cleaning up the shop getting ready for closing time. “Is Blackclaw here?” She asks nervously.

The black beastwoman from this morning nods. “Yes mam! I will go ahead and get him!”

After about ten minutes they both come out of the back of the shop.

“Oh hey there Astrid, glad to see you make it back in time. Do you have more skins for me, and where is my nephew hiding?” Blackclaw asks, a big grin on his face.

“Yes sir! Three devourers and three ruby rabbits!” Astrid says with a smile on her face, she then points at the still bloody sack being carried by Viele. “And Shortclaw was tired so he went ahead to his dorm.”

“Hmmm… Then come to the back let us see those skins, did you skin them again or did you bring the whole animal?” Blackclaw asks.

“Whole animals, didn’t have enough time to skin them.” Astrid says with a frown.

“Oh don’t worry about it lass, we need more meat anyways due to the festival so if you want I can just buy everything.”

Blackclaw brings Astrid to the back of the shop. After negotiating for a bit, they settled at five silver for all six of the animals. Astrid gets her silver and leaves the shop. Viele then lifts Shortclaw as he continues to sleep, carrying him as he follows Astrid to the school entrance. By the time they reach the school entrance it is already dark, the moon the only thing lighting up the area except some crystals shining near the gate. Astrid eyes the gate, well less the gate and more the two people in front of it. Amy and her familiar are guarding the gate, and arguing like always. Astrid approaches the gate hoping Amy won’t question her about her asleep friend.

Amy looks up as she hears footsteps. “Ooooo nighttime visitors?” Amy smiles as she sees that it is Astrid, and smiles even wider when she sees the tree ent carrying the passed out beastman. “Oh my, Astrid you man eater you, you always seemed so innocent, yet here you are.” Amy walks up to look at Shortclaw’s face. “Wow he is out like a light, you shouldn’t be so rough on your fellow students.” Amy winks at Astrid.

Astrid blushes. “No… no… he just passed out after a long and hard fight we had in the woods.”

“Long and hard you say?” Amy causes herself to chuckle at her own words.

“NOOOOOOOO, I am not lying, and I am trying to drop him off in his room so he can rest it off.” Astrid says her face becoming as bright as a tomato.

Amy lets out a loud sigh. “Here I will help you two out.” She then walks over to Shortclaw and puts two fingers to Shortclaw’s temples. After a few seconds the tips of her fingers start to glow and Shortclaw starts to wake up.

Shortclaw jolts awake, a strange feeling flooding his mind. He looks up to see Amy staring at him in his face, and what feels like a lump of wood jabbing into his stomach. “Where am I? What happened to the guardian? I remember being… bitten… then it all went dark.”

“Guardian? Oh you two must of really been on a fun adventure.” Amy chuckles at the young beastman.

“Wait where is Astrid? Is she okay?” Shortclaw pushes himself off Viele’s shoulder and turns around to see Astrid waving at him slightly and smiling.

“I’m just fine Shortclaw.”

As Shortclaw looks at the smiling Astrid his brain starts to get fuzzy. “Wow Astrid… umm…” His fur starts to stick strait out again.

Amy pats him on the back. “Shortclaw you should get to bed; it sounds like you had an eventful day. And Astrid I want you to make sure he gets to his room and in bed, the spell is temporary and not sure if it will last till he makes it into his room.”

“You sure?” Astrid asks, her eyes looking around nervously.

“Yes, now hurry up he doesn’t have much time till he passes out again.” Amy says pushing the two into the school compound before returning to her post.

Amy’s familiar, Sheckith, eyes his master. “So what spell did you use? Or did you use your… powers.”

Amy grins at him. “Ohhhh I just used my powers to… well… make him be a man and go for what he desires.”

“Do you think the elf is what he desires?” Sheckith asks as he floats around lazily.

“Well he fought a monster many times stronger than him, for what I am guessing is to protect her, so I hope so. And wait… that is strange, guardians aren’t supposed to be in this area, not even close! Damn it, I have to report this to the headmaster.”

Deep inside the school ground an elf and beastman are heading inside the dorms. After a bit more they reach a dark wooden door with a metal plate outside with the symbol of a claw on it.

“Well, this is my room.” A nervous Shortclaw says.

“So this is your room? I will remember it.” Astrid says as she smiles, trying to figure out why Shortclaw is so nervous. “Well you made it to your room, I guess I will go ahead and go.”

“Wait!” Shortclaw yells, startling Astrid. “Before you go, I have to ask you something… and it’s important.”

“Yes?” Astrid asks raising an eyebrow, her ears perked up at full attention.

“Umm… well… I know that humans have this thing before they vow to be mates… called dating? And umm…. I was wondering… if you would like to …. Date me?” Shortclaw closes his eyes, waiting for the answer, too afraid to look at her.

Astrid’s eyes widen, not ready for a question like that. After what seems like hours of thinking as the beastman keeps his eyes closed. Thinking of how her mother would answer a question like this she got the perfect answer. Astrid leans into the beastman and kisses his lips softly before pulling back.

Shortclaw’s eyes shoot open when he feels the soft lips against his, the scent of the elf filling his nostrils as Astrid pulls away.

Astrid smiles at Shortclaw, her cheeks a crimson red. “That is my answer, see you at the festival Shortclaw.”

Astrid walks away slowly, leaving Shortclaw with his mouth wide open.

When Astrid gets out of his view Shortclaw goes into his bedroom, flopping down on the bed, his heart beating faster than ever before. “This… is the greatest day… in my life!” Shortclaw yells as he closes his eyes, falling asleep seconds later.