The entity flows around the trees, floating from branch to branch as it follows the three men, none of them realize they are being followed, but how can they, the entity following them is just a projection, it has no tangible presence. The origin of the entity, in its’ boredom, sent the entity to follow the three as they strolled through the forest that little to no life was stupid, or strong enough to transverse.

“That fucking elf couple! They are hiding something, I know it!” One hollers, the man’s thin leather armor seems to shine in the darkness due to the moon reflecting all the blades that cover his leather armor.

The entity tries to remember something… elves… could they be thinking of the elven child from many moons back? No… it thinks that elf should still be a youngling. Could it of been the elves parents? Possibly the entity thinks. It continues to follow silently, it starts to feel sadness as it misses the presence of the elf, wishing she would return, or that the entity could leave its’ mountain. Its’ thoughts switch back to the three when one of the men covered in a brown fur starts to yell.

“Damn it Earthtail! I told you we should have just torched the two elves and got the information, you know if we find the treasure before the boss and the rest get here in a few months we will be promoted. Hell if the treasure is really a weapon to rival the dead gods then we can just take over the group! Maybe even the city states!” The man’s greed highly apparent from his excitement.

“Johnny, you should know the three of us couldn’t have taken either of them, maybe the female one if she had her guard down, but even she gave me a bad feeling when she told us to leave.”

“You are just scared due to you are human.” Johnny says angrily as he snaps a branch in his way.

“Will you both shut up!” The third one says. “We will scout out the area then go back to camp and get everything ready for when the rest of the crew shows up. And if we do find the treasure we will be giving it straight to the boss, he has been scary ever since he got his hands on that rapier.”

“That he has,” Johnny mutters. “Did you see what he did to Jason? Poked a hole strait through his heart, going through his armor and everything!”

All three of the men shudder remembering.

The entity floats closer to the ground as the trees start to disappear, the ground becoming an incline made from stone and clay. My mountain. It thinks. Do the men think that this treasure is up in his mountain? It floats around mere inches from the ground as it tries to figure out what kind of treasure would be in its’ prison, it has never seen anything shiny in the thousands of years it has been imprisoned there. It then hides behind a rock as one of the men yell something.

“I found a cave!” Earthtail yells.

“Do you think that is where the treasure is?” Johnny asks as he looks at the cave, barely big and round enough for him to walk in.

“Only one way to find out.” Earthtail says as he walks inside.

After a few seconds of the two humans looking at each other Johnny, decides he will follow Earthtail. All three of the men go into the cave, followed at a distance by the entity. The entity lets off a creepy smile as it realizes exactly where they are going, there isn’t much it could do in its’ current state, but there… there it can have some fun.

After the men light some torches they go deeper into the cave, the cave slopes down deeper into the mountain in a near perfect strait line till it gets to a large circular cave.

“Have you guys noticed something about all this? This cave seems unnatural; everything is too smooth…” Johnny says as he looks up at the ceiling and walls. Walking deeper into the room, he then lets out a scream as he slips, his ass landing on the hard stone but his legs just past his knees are sticking in some warm liquid.

“Are you okay, Johnny?” Earthtail asks as he gets closer, his eyes growing wide as he sees the pitch-black liquid. “Shit pull Johnny out now!” Earthtail yells with urgency, him and the third man grab Johnny’s shoulders and pull him out.

“What the fuck was that about?” Johnny asks as he tries to get up. He stares back at the two, and they only stare down at Johnny’s legs. “What the fuck are you st…” Johnny’s eyes go wide to see that his leg armor was gone and his legs were starting to turn into a jelly like substance and pieces were sliding off, revealing part of his leg bone. “What the fuck is that!” Johnny screams, not even feeling his legs anymore as they start to turn into a jelly.

“It’s miasma!” Earthtail screams. “What the fuck is miasma doing here?”

“What the fuck is miasma? And what the fuck is it doing to johnny?” The third man asks as he steps back.

“Miasma is a high concentration of what we call corrupted mana. It usually happens when a powerful creature dies and their high amount of mana can’t be handled by the local environment. It’s also been known to appear after a forbidden spell has been used.” Earthtail starts to smile, then starts to let out a loud laugh.

“What are you laughing about?” The third man yells again as he watches Earthtail laugh, he has a frown on his face as Johnny starts convulsing and goes into shock.

“Do you know where most miasma is located? Where they say an old god died. Do you know what that means?” Earthtail stops laughing and looks at the third man. “That there is a good chance that a weapon that killed the god is here.”

The entity lets out a laugh at the mentioning of a god dying here, the noise echoes around the cave, startling the two men, causing them to look at the entity floating at the entrance to the tunnel out.

“What the fuck is that? And how long has it been there?” The man says.

“It looks like some sort of spirit, it doesn’t look strong enough to hurt us.” Earthtail says as he pulls some daggers out of Johnny’s leather armor. “Grab some of Johnny’s daggers, he always kept some enchanted daggers to deal with creatures like these.”

“But he…” the man says.

“Johnny’s gone, neither of us can save him, he’s already in shock and neither of us know healing magic. Plus, the nearest city with a decent light or water mage is about a day’s travel away.” Earthtail says as he watches his comrade continue to twitch uncontrollably.

The man reluctantly grabs the remaining daggers before he turns around to look at the entity.

“It’s gone.” He says, confused.

Earthtail looks around the cave. “It must of ran away. We should get back too...”

“Your friend… he will betray you for the treasure… kill him now!” Earthtail hears a voice rattling inside his brain, invading it. “What in Gaia’s name, did you hear tha… GRKKKK” Earthtail opens his eyes wide as he feels the piece of metal penetrate his skin and slice into his right lung. He pushes the assailant back, causing the dagger to pull and tear flesh as it gets pulled out. Earthtail starts to cough as he feels his lung fill with blood. His ally is standing there, his eyes are wide, giving off a crazy look, a knife he just pulled off of Johnny in his right hand, covered in blood. “What the fuck are you thinking!” Earthtail growls, causing him to cough up blood.

“He said the weapon can be mine, and all I had to do was kill you.” The man starts to laugh maniacally. He then puts the bloody dagger in his left hand and pulls out his sword, charging Earthtail when he does.

Earthtail sees the man charge, he quickly pulls out his own weapon, a set of butterfly swords. Earthtail parries the charging man’s sword and dodges back from the dagger swing. Earthtail then charges forward, gritting his teeth as he feels the wound in his side widen, bringing one of his butterfly swords down towards the man. The man jumps forward, tackling Earthtail before he can bring the sword down. “Damn.” Earthtail yells out as the man rights himself up, sitting on top of Earthtail, pinning him down on the hard-stone floor. He watches the man lift the dagger to plunge it down and finish him off. “Like hell am I going to die here!” Earthtail screams as he swings a butterfly blade at the man’s arm. It slices through the arm like hot butter, the dagger clatters to the ground harmlessly as the man loses his hand. The man lets out a scream of anguish and attempts to slash at Earthtail with his sword but the sword is too big to use in such close quarters. Earthtail then gathers enough strength to push the man off him. Earthtail is the first to get up, a butterfly blade in each hand he charges the man, slamming both of his butterfly blades into the man’s side as the man attempts to get up. Blood sprays from the man’s wounds as Earthtail pulls out the blades, coating his fur turning it a red tint. “Trying… to … kill me.” The man falls to the ground, unmoving. Earthtail then looks over at Johnny. “Damn fools, the both of you.”

“You should rest… yes… rest… the cave is a nice cool place.” Earthtail hears the voice in his head again, this time the voice comes with a splitting headache, worse than he ever had before. He drops his butterfly blades and grabs his head. Falling down onto his butt he clenches his head, blood flowing everywhere till he starts getting light headed. The headache suddenly disappears and he looks up. In front of him the strange creature is floating, a grin on its’ strange mouth. “So I see you won… are you proud of yourself?”

The entity just twirls around and makes a nodding notion.

Earthtail’s eyes widen. “So you can understand me huh?”

The entity seems to make a strange shrugging motion.

“So I doubt that you will try to save me.” Earthtail coughs , more blood coming out of his mouth, his body quickly becoming cold as his head becomes lighter and lighter.

The entity shakes its head no.

Earthtail lets out a meek laugh. “Then can you answer me one question, I am sure you heard our conversation about the weapon, is there really a weapon here that can destroy even a god?”

The entity stops for a moment and ponders the question, it then shakes its’ head no.

Earthtail lets out a sigh, the last of his breath leaving his body when he hears the devastating news. He dies knowing that it was all for nothing.

The entity watches as the light of life leaves the beastman’s eyes, it then starts to float back to the pool of miasma. Returning to where it belongs. But before it does it freezes, it feels something… something it has not felt since it was bound here. The feeling was far away, barely noticeable, but the feeling is unmistakable. It was power from a succubus, and that succubus must either have a death wish or must be too young to understand what it just did. The entity thinks as it sinks back into the miasma.

--

Astrid opens her eyes, sitting up drowsily, everything around her is pitch black. “What… Viele? Where are you?”

“Here massssster.” Viele says nonchalantly from Astrid’s right.

“Where are we, and how did we get here?” Astrid asks as her head starts to pound like a jackhammer, she then suddenly has a strong urge to vomit but cannot see anything in the room so tries to get off the bed, only to end up throwing up, off the side of the bed. She then lays back. “And why do I feel like I am dying?”

“Masssster…. Drank…. Drink… alcohol…. The dwarf…. Called…” Viele says as he opens up a wooden window shutter, letting light in threw the small hole.

Astrid looks around as she blinks, her eyes trying to adjust to the light as she sees she is in a small room made from a mixture of wood and stone, several wooden shelves with clothes and armor on the walls. Her eyes then stop as she sees a familiar mace. “Alcohol? And wait… is this Shortclaw’s room?” She then turns red and tries to hide herself behind the covers. “Viele, tell me what happened last night! And where is Shortclaw? I don’t remember anything after the dwarf… that dwarf!”

“After…. Dwarf… showed up…. Everyone… scared…. Dwarf… forced… all… to listen to horrible… sounds… from dead trees… and forced…. People… to drink poison…. Alcohol…. Viele was not pleased… then… masssster fell asleep…. Then foo… Shortclaw… brought you here…. Then Viele protected you.” Viele says proudly as he seems to flex, showing off slightly to Astrid.

“If this is Shortclaw’s room, then where is he?” Astrid asks as she puts her hand on her forehead, the headache seeming to get worse as the story progresses.

Viele thinks for a moment. “Viele…. Remember…. He laid down…. Somewhere unimportant…”

“Good mor… the hell, why am I covered in vomit?” a familiar voice is heard towards the left of Astrid. She then slowly turns her head to see Shortclaw sitting up beside the bed, his shirt covered in vomit.

Viele starts to grin. “Now… Viele rememberssss…. He wassss…. Right there….”

Astrid gets stuck between two thoughts, anger at Viele and the horror that she threw up on Shortclaw. “I’m, I’m so sorry, I I don’t know what… I didn’t mean to puke on you… it was dark…

“It’s okay Astrid, I am guessing it was your first time drinking?” Shortclaw says as he takes off his shirt, revealing his large muscular but very hairy chest. Astrid starts to blush when she realizes she is staring at Shortclaw undressing.

When Shortclaw realizes what he was doing he freezes. “I’m so sorry, I will go into the other room and change.” He grabs some clothes from a shelf and goes behind a door into a pitch-black room. “Do you know how late in the morning it is?” Shortclaw says as he bumps against the wall in the dark room trying to put on his pants.

Astrid strains her eyes trying to see outside the small hole that makes up the only window and the only current source of light. “It looks like it is early morning.”

“Good.” Shortclaw says as he comes out in pair of grey cloth pants with a matching shirt, a smile on his face. “Good, because I really don’t want to be late for orientation, I heard the new students who are late have to run laps around the school.”

Astrid quickly gets out of bed, barely catching herself as she nearly falls due to her still trying to recuperate from the night before. Before she can fall though Viele quickly catches her. “Thank you Viele.”

“You… are welcome… massssster.” Viele says as he lifts her up then steps back, letting her get her own footing.

“And Shortclaw.” Astrid says as she turns to him. “What is this… alcohol… that I drank last night? And why did it make me feel… like… I’m dying!” She says as she grips her head again.

Shortclaw starts to laugh as he walks by Astrid and opens his door. “It’s a drink mostly for beastkin and dwarves, humans can drink it too but they can get sick and even die if they drink too much. You though, you had one glass and you were out of it, we were worried for a bit but you seem okay. And the reason you feel like you do is because you have what humans call a hangover.”

“Well I am banning all of this… alcohol drink…” Astrid says as she stumbles out the door following Shortclaw, the bright morning sun nearly blinding her as her eyes try to adjust. She lets at a growl as Shortclaw starts to chuckle at her.

Shortclaw walks towards the large stadium in the middle of the campus, Astrid in tow. Several thoughts are flooding his mind, like “How can he be this lucky? He was going to get married to the most beautiful woman he ever laid his eyes on.” and “She’s so cute when she growls.” His thoughts also laced with various “When did I get so confident?” He shakes the random thoughts as he gets closer to the stadium.

“So is today the first day of class?” Astrid asks as they walk through the large archway that leads to the stadium, several other students also walking in at the same time.

“Sort of? It is like a special orientation.” Shortclaw says. “They will pretty much separate the various students into different classes, depending on their skills, then give us information on our classes.” Shortclaw walks over to a large crowd of students, in front of the students is a large silver haired human covered in muscles, he is asking each one various questions and pointing them to go to one of several lines. After standing around for a while Shortclaw and Astrid are next to talk to the human. The first up is Shortclaw.

“I need your name and specialty.” The human says as he looks Shortclaw up and down, holding a paper and writing utensil like the other humans from a few days back.

“Shortclaw, and I am a warrior.” Shortclaw says proudly.

“What kind of warrior? Heavy or speed?” The human asks mechanically as he continues to write.

“I use a heavy mace.”

“Do you know how to read and write common, Mr. Shortclaw?” The human asks, not looking up from the parchment.

“Yes, I do.” Shortclaw says, a large grin on his face.

The human stop writing and looks up from his parchment. “Read this.” The human says as he shoves the parchment in Shortclaws face.

“Ummm…” Shortclaw mumbles as he scans the paper, his eyes suddenly widen and his mouth drops open. “She….she…. she…” Shortclaw starts stammering.

“Surprising, but from that reaction he most definitely can read, go to line two.” He then turns and directs Shortclaw to the correct line before he returns to Astrid.

“What just happened?” Astrid asks. She then turns around as she hears “hhssshhssshhhssshhsss.” And sees Viele with a smile on his face, he seems to be laughing.

“Nothing, he just proved he was able to read.” The man says as he looks Astrid up and down. “Name and specialty?”

Astrid starts to get nervous. “Astrid Thorn, I am a mage.”

“What type of magic do you use? And what familiar and minions do you possess?” The man asks as he continues to write more.

“Nature, and I only have Viele, he’s, I guess a mimic snake.” Astrid says as she turns and looks at Viele again, he is staring at some other familiars in the crowd of people, a piece of drool seems to come from the side of his entish mouth.

The human looks up at Viele. “You said mimic snake, but from the looks of it he’s a tree ent, I am going to have to request proof that he is as you claim.”

“Umm… okay…” Astrid says meekly. “Viele, can you show proof to this human that you are a mimic snake?”

Viele shakes his head as he snaps back to reality, hearing his master’s request he thinks about it and walks up to the human and sticks out a hand. The entire crowd and Astrid all open their eyes wide in surprise as a snake lashes out of the tree ent’s arm and latches onto the human’s arm. The only one not making some sort of reaction is the human that just got bit. He then scribbles something on his paper as if nothing happened.

“What in Gaia’s name are you doing!” Astrid yells as Viele retracts the snake back into his body.

“Doing as masssster…. Requested…. Showed…. Proof…” Viele says, confused as he tries to figure out why his master is so angry at him.

“By proof I meant to transform into your normal form! Not bite the guy!” Astrid says, her ears sticking strait up and her face flush in anger.

“Massssster… wasssnt… sssspecific…” Viele says as he starts to cower in front of the angry elf.

“The familiar is correct, he did exactly as you commanded, he proved he was a mimic snake.” The man says, no change in his voice as if nothing happened at all. “Can you read and write common?” The man asks again.

“Yes, are you going to test me like you did to Shortclaw?” Astrid asks, afraid to read the thing that caused Shortclaw to react how he did. “And are you sure you are okay?”

The man just replies. “No test needed for mages, most can read and write already. And as for the snake, do not worry. I would now like to request you move to line number nine.” The man then directs Astrid towards the correct line, a sulking Viele following close on her heels.

When Astrid arrives to the line it starts moving into another door, leading to a round stone room that seems like it can hold around thirty people, but there are only eight people around her age in the room. After a while a short human adult male comes in, he has long blue hair, he’s also wearing a brown robe that is several inches too long for him, causing it to drag on the ground.

“Hello children!” The man says in a strangely high pitch voice. “My name is Clark Sven, a human, not a dwarf. And welcome to the Support and Summons department, the sas department for short. I will be your head teacher for your first semester, which will be six months. All the people here have magic affinities that fall into support and summoning categories which include Water, Light, and Nature magic. It is some of the most unappreciated magic but without it armies would crumble in a moment.” Clark just smiles at the students as they all stare at him. “Now first thing’s first.” He then pulls out a familiar parchment from his robe. “From what I see here you all can read and write, good!” He then puts away the parchment and claps his hands together. “Okay everyone, let’s get some stuff done. This school works on a system of two classes a day, one in the morning, one in the evening, how many days depends on the semester. First semester you will be taking six courses. The courses will be laid out as followed, starting tomorrow you will have Basic economy in the morning, followed by Basic spell theory. The day after that is Basic Government followed by Basic spell weaving. And on the third day it is History of the city states followed by Basic conjuring. Since you all can read and write you don’t have to enroll in the beginning writing or reading classes. That gives all of you students three days of classes, four days off to do whatever job you have or take a break.”

A timid looking human male raises his hand, long brown hair going to his shoulders. “Umm… sir?”

Clark looks at the human who raised his hand, he then looks at his parchment and reads something before replying to the person. “Yes… err… Richard Stallings?”

Richard looks confused for a moment, his mouth slightly ajar. “Err… ummm… well… I have an…. Er…. Twin… but she uses dark magic… and er… well…”

“Well spit it out Richard.” Clark says impatiently.

“It’s just… err… I never leave her side… and err will we not see each other for six months?” Richard spits out, wiping sweat off his forehead as he finished his question.

“Aren’t you a cute one.” Clark says as he pulls out his parchment again. “Do not worry you will be able to see your dear sister… Brittany Stallings… after the classes, the only restrictions you have for the six months during the semester is you aren’t allowed to leave the town of Flemmington, unless it pertains to an emergency. We will also need proof of the emergency, like someone’s hand, or foot if they died.”

The entire room erupts at hearing Clark’s words. “Calm down children that was a joke, it was just a joke.” Clark then scribbles down something on his parchment.

“What did you just write down?” A dwarf girl with shoulder length white hair and a pudgy belly that makes a bulge come from her robe.

“Just that the class has already gotten a zero on the sense of humor grade. Ms. Sherry Stonestomper.” Clark then looks at the class seeing them all stare at him in shock. “This is not going to be a fun semester for me, is it?”

The entire class just shrugs, confused, as Clark sighs. “Okay, okay, okay. How about this, you people laugh at my jokes and I won’t let my Deepwater gator try to eat you all for snacks?”

At this the entire class, even Astrid bust out laughing, causing Clark to turn red in anger. “That one wasn’t a joke!” He yells.

Over at the other side of the building, Shortclaw is sitting down in a large room, filled with over two hundred other warriors. A large beastkin with black and white stripes is walking in front of the crowd. “Hello there young pups! Welcome to Flemmington academy! My name is Darkpaw, I will be your home instructor for your first semester. You all are in this class due to you follow the path of heavy weapons, from large skull crushing maces to swords that will cleave your enemies in half. I like to call them the fun weapons. Unfortunately, due to school standards we must also provide other classes besides ones where you get to play with the fun weapons. So, the classes will go as follows, starting tomorrow you will have basic economy, followed by the all-important stance class. Day two is Basic government, followed by stance breaking class. Day three is History of the city states, followed by basic weapons usage. Day four, for the people who cannot read or write, you have Reading class, followed by Writing class.”

The last bit caused a large percentage of the room to erupt in complaints.

“Will you pups shut the fuck up?” Darkpaw howls, causing the entire room to quiet. “I prefer some discipline from my classes!”

The entire class goes silent.

“Good!” Darkpaw smiles, he then walks around, examining various people. “So you pups, do you want to know why this school is so well known? Don’t answer because I will tell you. It is because we hammer what it is to be a warrior into your very soul. You will learn not only how to become the best of the very best, you will learn to be the best with the very best.” Darkpaw stops for a moment and turns on his heel, turning to face the crowd again. “I have to warn you now, this will not be easy and most of you will probably drop out after the first semester, but for the truly strong warriors here, you will become gods among men!”

After the teacher informed what all they would need for class and where the classes will be held Astrid decided she would sit on a bench in front of the stadium to wait for Shortclaw. Both Viele and Astrid are kicking the air as they sit there, bored.

“Viele?” Astrid looks over at Viele.

“Yessss… masssster?” Viele asks, as he continues to kick his feet in the air mimicking his master.

“What do you think of Shortclaw?” Astrid asks as moves and leans against Viele.

Viele pauses for a moment as Astrid leans on him. “I… think… he... would tasssste good… possssibly with… sssssmall family of… ruby rabbit.”

Astrid lets out a small laugh as she closes her eyes. “You glutton you.”

“Masssster… I sssaid… ssssmall… family.” Viele protests indignantly.

Astrid opens her eyes as she starts to hear many footsteps coming from the entrance of the stadium. In front of her is a crowd of students that look to be from a warrior class, but they are all bruised and injured. She quickly scans the crowd looking for Shortclaw. Astrid then frowns as she sees Shortclaw leave the stadium, his face seems to be swollen. Viele and Astrid quickly get off the bench and run up to Shortclaw. “Are you okay?” Astrid asks worriedly. Viele just stares at Shortclaw with a slight grin on his face.

“I’m okay Astrid.” Shortclaw says as he wraps his arms around Astrid, he looks over to see several people staring with mouths wide open, one may have been due to their jaw needing healed, but all Shortclaw can do is grin at all the surprised people. He then kisses Astrid’s forehead. “Sorry for worrying you, it’s just that our teacher decided it was a good time to show us how powerful we can be, by beating us all up. Thankfully everything except my face could dodge him.” Shortclaw jokes, trying to make Astrid feel better.

Astrid starts to giggle uncontrollably, tears starting to flow down her face.

Shortclaw starts to rub his head nervously. “You shouldn’t laugh at the injured like that.” He then cracks a smile as he looks at Astrid.

Astrid wipes away her tears. “I am so sorry, it’s just that I am imagining him punching you while you yell please not the face. I am sorry.” Both Astrid and Shortclaw freeze for a moment when they both hear their stomachs rumbling.

“Umm… I am kind of craving some talon kabobs.” Astrid says as she does her best to look cute, remembering what her mother would do when she wanted something from her dad.

Shortclaw looks up and starts to stammer from not expecting Astrid’s actions. “S…Su… Sure…”

Astrid grins as Shortclaw grabs her hand and they head into town, heading back to “The Fallen Phoenix” inn from a few days ago.

They walk into the inn and quickly pick out a table. Sitting down their server comes by. “Wow, familiar faces!” The server says as she looks at Astrid and Shortclaw. “Well… your face looks a little different.” The server says as she looks at Shortclaw.

Astrid lets out a little giggle. “Sorry, we just got out of our orientation classes to Flemmington academy, and my hu… friend here decided he would block his teacher’s hits with his face.”

“I can tell…” The waitress says as she winces, looking at the bruising. “So… what would you two… three…” like to eat.

Viele eyes the waitress. “I… wissshh… to eat… fressssh talon.”

Both Astrid and Shortclaw order cooked talon Kabobs. As they are waiting for their food, two individuals come in that catches Astrid’s eye, one is a younger male human that she recognizes. The boy sees Astrid and his eyes grow as he waves at her and they both walk over. “May we sit with you?” The boy asks.

“Sure you can… err..” Astrid says.

“Sorry, ummm my name is Richard Stallings, and this is my twin sister Brittany Stallings.” Richard says nervously. “We are in the same classes; I am a light mage.”

“Ohhhh, sorry.” Astrid says embarrassed.

Both Richard and his sister Brittany sit in chairs across the table from Astrid and Shortclaw.

Shortclaw smiles at the twins. “Hello, my name is Shortclaw, I am Astrid’s, fiancé, I guess you would call it.”

Brittany’s eyes grow wide in surprise. “So it’s true! That means you really are the elf!”

“Huh?” Astrid and Shortclaw both say in surprise.

Brittany moves up closer to Astrid. “I heard from a classmate that there was an elf here, and that she was marrying a beastkin, she also said that you attacked and tried to kill her!”

“That damn girl!” Shortclaw stands up and slams his fists on the table. “I really will kill her!”

“Please sit down.” Astrid asks as she grabs Shortclaws paw, he falls back down into his chair, anger still in his eyes. “I’m sorry Brittany, ummm, me and this girl named Elizabeth do not get along, and no I didn’t try to kill her, we have gotten into a few fights though. And yes, I… accidentally… got into marriage vows with Shortclaw. And yes, I am an elf.”

“Can I see your ears?” Brittany asks, getting closer to Astrid, eyeing her like she was trying to examine an exotic animal.

Astrid starts to get nervous, her face turning a red tint. “Umm… sure?” Astrid then pulls back her hair and lets her ears stick out.

“Oh… My… that is the cutest thing ever!” Brittany giggles, seeing the ears.

“I am sorry about my sister, she has an unusual fascination with elves, and elf ears apparently.” Richard says as he stares at his sister embarrassingly.

“It… it’s okay…” Astrid says as her face turns even darker red as Brittany starts fondling Astrid’s ears.

Brittany finally releases Astrid’s ears and sits down. “I want to ask you so many questions! Like why are you here? Are there other elves nearby? Where are they?”

“Let’s keep it to those for now please sis.” Richard begs, causing Brittany to pout.

“Sure…” Astrid says nervously. “Umm… I am going to the academy to learn, well everything I can. I have family about a day’s ride from here, we live in a cabin together.”

“Oooooooo.” Brittany’s eyes glow in wonder. “That is so cooooolllll.”

The server finally shows up and places their plates of food in front of them.

“Okay sis, it’s time for us to go, they are going to get annoyed if we keep bothering them.” Richard says as he gets up and smiles at Astrid and Shortclaw.

Brittany starts pouting again. “But… but… I have so many questions still!”

“You can ask them later, we go to the same school remember?” Richard says as he shoos his sister away. “I’m so sorry about her.”

“It’s okay.” Astrid says as they both walk away.

“Looks like you made some more friends.” Shortclaw says with a smile.

After they both finish eating they decide to go check on Blackclaw and see if he needed their help since they had some free time till tomorrow. Upon arriving at Blackclaw’s shop they see several carriages covered in crates from the festival, Blackclaw and several other beastkin unloading the crates.

Shortclaw and Astrid both walk up to the carriages.

“Hey uncle! You kind of disappeared on us last night after the fight.” Shortclaw says with a grin.

Blackclaw turns around. “Well someone had to pull this old man from his stall to protect him.” Blackclaw says teasingly. “Sometimes I wonder how you can get in so much trouble.” Blackclaw then eyes a smiling Astrid. “So lass, have you gotten tired of the pup yet?”

Astrid shakes her head. “Don’t worry I will make sure that you are the first to know if I do.” Astrid says jokingly.

Blackclaw lets out a loud laugh. “Good!”

Shortclaw lets out a nervous chuckle. “So uncle, it looks like you need help.”

Blackclaw turns around as he lifts a crate. “The first day orientation is already done?”

Shortclaw nods. “Yep!”

“Then get your butt up here and help me with some crates then, and remember lift with your legs, not… your face…” Blackclaw bursts out laughing as Shortclaw gets close enough for him to get a good look at Shortclaw’s bruised face.

Shortclaw rolls his eyes. “I have a strong teacher.”

“I can see that, you two have met… face to fist…” Blackclaw goes into a laughing fit, nearly dropping the crate he is carrying.

Astrid gets Viele to assist in moving the crates, even with Shortclaw and Viele helping unload crates it takes them until nearly nighttime to unload the last crate. When they finish Blackclaw gives both of them a silver and some copper coins, shooing them off and giving them random pieces of marriage advice till they leave his line of sight.

Astrid walks down the paved street, humming happily. Viele and Shortclaw follow behind her, dragging their feet, both tired from all the crate lifting they have been doing. She turns around to see the two of them, exhaustion covering their faces. “Today was a pretty good day.” A large grin on Astrid’s face.

“Why do you think that?” Shortclaw asks, eyeing the cheerful elf as his entire body aches.

“Nothing tried to eat me today!” Astrid giggles and turns around, almost skipping as they arrive at the gate heading into Flemmington Academy. When they reach the guardian golem Astrid smiles and waves to Shortclaw. "Well... see you tomorrow." Astrid says, grinning as she turns and starts walking away.

"Ummm... Astrid wait!" Shortclaw says as he starts to follow her. "Where are you currently staying?" He asks as Astrid turns around and stares at him.

Astrid starts to blush slightly as she explains that she sleeps outisde the city gate, using Viele as a tent due to her lack of funds.

Shortclaw's shakes his head. "Well I have a room with plenty of space, you can have the bed. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt outside the city walls."

Astrid's ears perk up and poke out of her long blond hair. "But..." She tries to protest but Shortclaw stops her.

"If you try to say no, I will just go outside the city and camp with you. But I am sure the bed is alot more comfortable." Shortclaw says as he eyes Astrid.

Astrid lets out a sigh. "Okay... but... are you sure?"

Shortclaw just nods and grabs Astrid's hand, walking back to the gate and the waiting guardian golem. The guardian golem lets them by and they reach their room without any issues.

Astrid flops down on the bed as they enter the room, letting out a loud yawn and stretching out. She looks over at Shortclaw as he starts laying a bed mat on the floor. “Wait.” Astrid says, turning red again from embarrassment.

Shortclaw looks up, an eyebrow raised. “Yes?”

Astrid lets out a sigh. “You can sleep in the bed, just stay on that side, and don’t do anything… strange. Or I will get Viele to hurt you.”

Viele perks up at hearing this.

“Are you sure?” Shortclaw asks before eyeing Viele suspiciously.

“Yes, but only if you stay on your side.” Astrid says as she covers herself with the only blanket on the bed.

Shortclaw just nods and lays in bed, staring at the ceiling till he hears Astrid make random snoring noises. He then looks over and stares at the sleeping Astrid, a smile on his face as he himself falls asleep.