Astrid wakes up to the sound of light snoring and heavy breathing. She looks over towards the direction of the noises, she can make the outline of Brittany’s bed and her under her covers. Astrid sits up in bed and yawns, she quickly closes her mouth and her eyes open wide in horror as she sees two large red glowing eyes appear above Brittany’s bed, the eyes are staring directly at Astrid. “What in Gaia is that?” Astrid whispers, mostly to herself.

“Santsa.” Viele says as he rolls around in his bed at the foot of Astrid’s bed.

“What in Gaia’s name is a Santsa and what is it doing?” Astrid asks as she pulls her covers up protectively.

“Santsa… isssss…. Ssstrange woman’s… familiar…. He isssss…. Sssshadow fox… hates lightssssss…. Thatsss why… you have… not sseen it… he…. Isssss… okay…. We had…. Long… conversation….” Viele says nonchalantly as he continues laying in his comfortable bed.

“Yep! Hello friend of Brittany! My name is Santsa! I am a shadow fox! Nice to meetcha!” Santsa says as he floats in front of Astrid’s face, startling her. “Sorry I have not introduced myself! This planet’s star and I do not get along!”

“Sssssory massssster…. He is…. A little ssstrange… like hissss… massster.” Viele says as he yawns.

“You mean the sun?” Astrid asks.

Santsa thinks for a moment. “Yes! The sun! The sun and I do not get along!” He continues floating around, the only thing visible in the dark is the red glowing eyes.

“I just realized something, you are the second familiar to actually talk to me, even my mom’s familiar just kind of squawked and grunted at me.” Astrid says as she looks into Santsa’s red glowing eyes.

“Because Brittany really likes you! Wants to be your friend! If you didn’t know she has a strong love for anything elven! Not sure why, but she does!” Santsa swirls around Astrid looking her up and down as he does.

Everyone stops talking as everyone hears Brittany start to wake up. “Good morning Santsa.” Brittany says as she lets out a big yawn. “What time is it?”

Santsa leaves Astrid’s side and moves to Brittany. “It is still dark outside! From my best guess, it won’t be light outside for another hour! But more importantly, guess who is awake!”

Brittany pauses for a second. “Astrid is awake? Oh no, errr Astrid?”

“Yes Brittany?” Astrid says, looking at Brittany’s outline as she is sitting up in bed.

“Err, sorry I couldn’t see you over there.” Brittany says apologetically.

“It’s okay, I have been talking to Santsa and Viele.”

“Santsa didn’t try to scare you away?” A hint of surprise appears in Brittany’s voice.

“No, why would he do that?” Astrid asks, confused.

“Oh… just that most of the girls in my class, Santsa likes to scare them. It makes it hard to make friends.” Brittany says in a sad tone. Brittany then suddenly seems to cheer up a moment later. “But that doesn’t matter! I got an elf as a new best friend!” Brittany then lets out a loud giggle.

“I think you are doing a better job at scaring her then I ever could!” Sansta says, chuckling.

“Oh hush you.” Brittany says. “Oh…. Ummm… Astrid… would you like me to turn on the light?”

“Sure.” Astrid says, covering her face as the light comes on.

“ARGGGGGG!” Santsa says as he slips under the bed to hide from the light. “You should of gave me a second to get into a decent shadow!” Santsa barks out from under the bed.

“Woops, sorry Santsa.” Brittany says as she leans over the side of the bed, peaking under it. She then reaches under it and she makes a stroking motion above the glowing red eyes.

“Mrrr… I forgive you!” Santsa says as he hides under the bed.

Brittany then sits up and looks over at Viele. “Speaking of familiars, yours doesn’t look like a tree ent, what is he?”

“Ummm… a mimic snake, I guess. He usually runs around in his tree ent form to not gather a lot of attention. That and the tree ent walks faster than his normal form.” Astrid says as Viele slithers up the bed and stares at Brittany.

“Really? He’s so strange though, I don’t think I have ever seen anything like him, it’s like he’s a bunch of mimic snakes creating one body.” Brittany says as she walks towards Viele.

“Viele… is many… Viele is one….” Viele says as several of his heads watch Brittany walk closer to him. His main head now getting petted by Astrid.

“He’s so amazing!” Brittany says as she gets close to Viele, inspecting him. “Not as cool as Santsa though.” Brittany turns around to see the red glowing eyes under her bed.

“Hmmmpfff!” Santsa’s eyes seem to literally roll underneath the bed. Creeping out Astrid.

“Well, Astrid, what would you like to do?” Brittany asks as she looks over at Astrid.

“Hmmm?” Astrid asks, looking confused.

“Well, I am pretty sure that it’s going to be daylight soon, so might as well start the morning off early.” Brittany runs to the door and opens it, showing that the skyline is starting to light up from the rising sun. “Let’s go, the baths will be opening shortly. Santsa, go ahead and hop in my shadow.”

Suddenly, a shadow bursts out from under the bed, running to Brittany and blending in with her shadow.

“That is amazing, so he hides in your shadow?” Astrid asks, still shocked by what just happened.

Brittany nods as she goes out the door. “Let’s go, I want to beat the crowds!”

Astrid grabs some extra clothing and they go towards the communal baths, going into the male dorms and dragging Shortclaw out of bed as they do. He grumbles the entire time to the baths, even as he eyes the two women. As he is looking at Brittany suddenly a pair of red glowing eyes appear in her shadow. He rubs his eyes thinking it’s an illusion, when he looks again the eyes are gone. After the baths, they all head towards their classes, attempting to get their early.

“Soooo… Shortclaw.” Brittany says as she walks with Astrid and Shortclaw. “How does it feel to be marrying an elf?”

“What?” Shortclaw asks, startled by the question. “I… I’m not sure what you mean… it feels like… well… not sure… I feel lucky…” Shortclaw looks over at the now blushing elf. “Super lucky.”

“Awwww… I am jealous.” Brittany says pouting.

Shortclaw and Astrid walk in front of the classroom their class is held in. Brittany heads off to her class and Shortclaw and Astrid walk into theirs. When they enter, the classroom is empty so they choose a table towards the front of the class and sit down, Viele sits down beside Astrid in his tree ent form.

“So, how is your new room?” Shortclaw asks as he smiles at Astrid.

“Good, I have my own bed, and it has a ton of expensive pillows.” Astrid says teasingly.

Shortclaw frowns. “Sorry I don’t have extra money for stuff like that.” Shortclaw says as he starts to get depressed.

“I am joking, I promise!” Astrid says, hoping she didn’t hurt Shortclaw’s feelings.

Viele sees Shortclaw get depressed so he decides to pipe in. “I … even have… my own comfortable bed… and the room… doesn’t have any… offensive odor.”

“Hey! My room doesn’t smell bad!” Shortclaw says, glaring at Viele.

Astrid and Shortclaw both look back as they hear voices of several males. Five humans walk through the door. Looking at Astrid and Shortclaw they all come and sit down in a table behind them.

Shortclaw then looks back at Astrid, ignoring the men in the table behind them. “Does my room actually stink?” He asks Astrid, concerned.

“It… smells…. Like… wet fur…” Viele interjects.

Astrid turns to Viele, her eyes wide. “No it doesn’t Viele, the room was just fine.”

A voice behind them chimes in. “His room smells because he is nothing but an animal.” Then there is a large amount of laughter.

Shortclaw turns around and looks at the five humans. “What did you just say?”

A human with short black hair speaks up. “Oh, sorry, I thought animals had good hearing, apparently this one is deaf.”

“Shortclaw, just ignore them.” Astrid says, putting a hand on Shortclaw’s shoulder and trying to get him to turn around.

“Okay… I shouldn’t let them get to me.” Shortclaw says angrily as he turns around.

“Wow, it’s true, Primitives are really good at taming mindless beasts.” A human with long frizzy red hair says.

At that Shortclaw erupts from his seat, jumping onto the human with long frizzy red hair, forcing him out of his seat and pinning him on the ground. Shortclaw throws a punch, hitting the human’s nose, a slight crunching noise can be heard as the fist breaks the human’s nose. “No one ever.. HMMPFFTBBBB!” Shortclaw says as he gets tackled by the guy with short black hair. The other three then jump onto Shortclaw, punching and kicking him as he is pinned on the ground.

“Viele! Help him! But don’t kill anyone!” Astrid yells.

“Yesss… massster…” Viele says, running up to the group of humans in his tree ent form, he then starts to punch Shortclaw with the group of humans, surprising everyone there.

Astrid narrows her eyes. “No, Viele, help Shortclaw, not the humans!”

“Massster… was not… ssspecific…” Viele says with a hint of sadness in his voice. He then pulls back his fist and punches a human with long black hair in his temple, causing him to crumple onto the ground. This causes the remaining four to look at the tree ent.

“You two get that ent, we got this… pet.” The human with short black hair says.

While the humans are all distracted by the ent, Shortclaw is able to stand back up. He charges at the human with short black hair, but gets hit in the side by the man with long fizzy hair.

“I will fuck you up for breaking my nose.” The man says after he hits Shortclaw in the side. The two humans then charge at Shortclaw, this time Shortclaw dodges to the right, hitting the human with the long fizzy hair in the side, forcing him into the other charging human, causing them to trip over themselves. Shortclaw takes this chance to charge them as they are no longer balanced. He tackles the human with the long fizzy hair again, pinning him down to the ground as he starts hitting the humans already broken nose.

“Get this crazed beast off of me!” The human yells. “Why is he only coming for me?”

The other human grabs Shortclaw, attempting to pull him off his friend. He eventually is able to throw Shortclaw off his friend and help him up.

“I will teach you dirty humans not to insult a beastkin’s mate!” Shortclaw howls as he takes a low stance, lifting his paws up near his face.

The man with the short black hair charges forward and swings at Shortclaw. Shortclaw quickly dodges and charges at the human with long frizzy hair. He does a swift right jab, hitting the human in his left eye, the humans head snaps back from the blow. The human then lets out a scream and a stream of curses as Shortclaw goes for another jab. This time his arm is caught by the human with short black hair, stopping his swing. The human with fizzy red hair takes this chance to swing at Shortclaw’s face. Shortclaw ducks down then lunges up to the human’s arm, he opens his mouth wide and sinks his fangs deep into the man’s arm, spinning slightly to get out of the other humans grasp he pins down long fizzy haired human to the floor again. He shakes his head violently with his fangs sunk deep into the man’s arm. The man just screams as loud as he can, throwing punches at Shortfang with his free arm but it isn’t hurting Shortclaw in his rage.

“Shortclaw! Watch out behind you!” Astrid yells, but it is too late. The human with the short black hair picks up a bench and swings it at Shortclaw, the bench snaps in half as it slams into the beastkin’s back. The sudden intense pain in Shortclaw’s back causes his mouth to open, releasing the human’s arm, the human then takes this chance to shove Shortclaw off of him. He stands up and spits at Shortclaw.

“I am going to fucking kill you!” The human with frizzy red hair screams, the two humans then charge towards Shortclaw.

“This is not a fighting class!” A voice can be heard, then a screeching noise, followed by a sword twice as tall as Shortclaw slamming between the humans and Shortclaw. The blade sinks several feet into the stone flooring, causing it to crack. A shockwave caused from the hit causes the humans and Shortclaw to fly to opposite sides of the room, all three let out a groan as they hit the walls.

“And you, snake thing, I like your enthusiasm, but could you please not eat my students before my class starts?” The mysterious voice asks.

Viele is sitting there in his snake form, one human wrapped up and passed out in his coils, the other human is screaming, half an arm, still attached to the victim, down Viele’s throat. He quickly spits it out as a tall human female walks out from a dark doorway, she is covered neck down with chain and plate mail pieces. Every step she takes you hear a soft tinking noise. Underneath the areas with chainmail you can tell she is covered in taught powerful muscles. She walks over to the sword that is now sticking out of the ground and grabs the handle with one hand, pulling it out of the stone as if it was weightless.

“You males thought you could come into Maria Brink’s classroom and fight without her permission?” All five humans and Shortclaw lay there motionless, the only noise being made is groaning.

Astrid steps forward. “I am so sorry Ms. Brink. We were sitting here and they came up and started harassing us, and Shortclaw’s temper got the better of him.”

Maria looks over at Astrid, Maria’s tall frame towers over Astrid as she walks towards her. She then bends down and pats Astrid’s head. “It’s okay little elf, I have an idea what happened. I still have to punish all the men for fighting, but don’t worry, you are just fine. That and I won’t be too harsh.” Maria winks before she turns around and hollers.

“Wake up, you dirty men!” Four of the men and Shortclaw all wake up from the shout. The fifth human, the one that was in Viele’s coils, still doesn’t wake up. Viele’s eyes get wide and he quickly surrounds the fifth human in his wooden armor. He then forces the unconscious human’s body to stand up using the armor. “I… am… not… dead…” Viele says as he contorts the human’s body in strange positions, not used to the complexity of human joint movement.

“Since I guess all you men are now up, you can all take your punishments!” Maria grins as she looks at the five humans and the one beastman. “You all get to run around this building till class starts. You are not allowed to take a break till my crystal buzzes me. It shouldn’t be too hard; you are all warriors.”

“Nope.” Viele says, releasing his armor mode and letting the fifth human crumple to the ground. He then tries to slither away in his snake form. He is suddenly stopped when his nose pumps into a heavy piece of metal, all his heads look up to see Brink standing in front of him.

“I am not a snake expert, but do you happen to be a male?” She asks, bending down staring Viele in his eyes.

Viele grins as he thinks of something, he then quickly shifts into his Ivy form. “Female….” Viele says as he watches Maria’s eyes narrow.

“Okay… you can go sit with Astrid.” Maria says as she looks towards the injured humans and beastman. “And you all can carry your friend as you run.”

They all starts to groan till Maria gives them all death stares.

As the humans and Shortclaw all leave the room to go run around the building Maria follows them. “And the person who is in last place automatically gets their grades docked.” Maria says as she exits the door.

When they are all gone, Astrid turns and looks at Viele, eyeing him as he shifts back into his tree ent form. “Why did you do that?” She says, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Viele’s eyes go down to the tabletop. “Viele… issss ssssorry… for trying… to eat… human’ssssss… arm….”

“And?” Astrid asks as she taps her fingers on the table.

Viele thinks for almost a minute.

“When you went and started punching Shortclaw instead of helping him when I asked you to…” Astrid says, her eyes narrowing at the now cowering Viele.

“Masssster… wassn’t ssspec…” Viele attempts to say.

“No… master is disappointed in you, and from now I want you to treat Shortclaw like you would treat me.” Astrid says as she looks down at the ent.

“But… massster…” Viele says as he looks up, but stops as he sees tears rolling down Astrid’s face.

“Please Viele, if he actually gets hurt, I will be hurt too.” Astrid says as she brushes away the tears.

Viele lets out a sigh. “Viele… will… obey… massssster…”

“Thank you Viele.” Astrid says as she gives Viele a hug. The two then start to talk about various things while they wait for the class to fill up, a while after the crystal starts to buzz Shortclaw and the humans he fought came inside, they were all bruised and exhausted. Behind them Maria grins as she keeps her sword on her shoulder.

“From all that roughhousing and bench breaking you lot did earlier, I thought you had more energy. The warrior class this year is a disappointment.” Maria then walks to the front podium and thrusts her sword into the stone flooring beside the podium, the blade sinking into the stone as if it was butter. This causes the entire class to stare at the sword and Maria.

Maria pushes her long dirty blonde hair behind her back as she pulls out a sheet of paper. “Welcome class! My name is Maria Brink, I am a warrior instructor here, but due to a new policy of teachers having to teach at least two courses I somehow was given this position. My guess is it was some sort of joke but me being afraid… I mean me respecting Blaze, I did not question it.” Maria squints as she looks at the paper. “This is basic government?” Maria asks. “I mean, this is basic government.” Maria puts the papers down and stares at the class. “Okay, basic government, I guess that means I have to explain the government for this continent. Well, as even the men should know, this continent is mostly made of city states. And surrounding each city is a bunch of little villages under the city’s protection. Most city states follow the same basic government as the one here in Flemmington? I guess they should.” Maria says as she rubs her chin. “Well, here in Flemmington, we have three layers of government. We have the mayor, the baron council, and the civilian committee. If someone wants to pass a law, or anything like that, the baron council creates a bill, and after they pass it, it then goes to the civilian committee. The civilian committee will either pass it or send it back to the baron council. If it passes the civilian committee it will then go to the Mayor. All three parts of Flemmington’s government are unique in their own way. The baron council’s positions are all passed down within the baron’s family, and will stay in the baron’s family unless the baron’s family lineage dies off, or if the baron is found doing something illegal, like taking bribes, backdoor deals, stuff like that. If that ever happens one of the lesser nobles will be upgraded to baron from a vote from the civilian council. Now the civilian council, there is a staggered vote for the different positions every year, each council member position gets voted for every three years and the only ones who can get the position is a non-noble. Last, but not least, is the mayor, every five years the city votes on the position. Mayor is probably the most powerful position in the city, especially since he has final say on where our mercenary army goes.”

A female warrior raises her hand. “I came from a nearby village, and I have heard that Flemmington has a powerful army, but I never see them, why is that?”

Maria stops and cringes when she hears the voice, but once she realizes it is not a male speaking she smiles. “Good question. The answer to that is the city states have a unique army structure. We do not have a regular army; we have a massive mercenary style army. In another words, someone pays our city a ton of money and our army will fight anywhere or anything. Currently, if I remember, they are fighting to overthrow a country on a continent north of us. I think it was the human country of Georgia on the continent of Seff.” Maria continues to think. “I think that is it.”

The female warrior raises her hand again. “If the army is not here then how can the city states defend themselves?”

Maria grins again. “I am glad you are interested in all this. But to answer your question is, every city state has their own army that they hire out, it’s how the continent of Charr gets most of its’ revenue. If for some reason a city gets attacked by anything the city guards and various adventurers cannot handle then they will hire nearby city state armies for a small price since we have a protection agreement. If the city state cannot afford the protection though for any reason, the city state is pretty much dead. Thankfully that has never happened before.” Maria pulls out another sheet of paper. “Next… hmmm… Oh yes! To the north, the northern area has several different kinds of governments. The beastkins for example have several clans of beastkin, and each one has a chieftain of sorts. Also above all the clans are the beastkin council made up from the various clans. The beastkin council makes a lot of the decisions for the clans and help keep the chieftains in line if they become too dangerous. There is also a small country at the northern tip of the desert, it is mostly the same size as Flemmington’s territory but instead of a city state it is a few small cities with a king that calls himself the sultan. That country is called, Sclav if I remember correctly. The country of Sclav also has the main trading port for the entire continent of Charr. This keeps the country highly prosperous and all the city states and beastkin clans on good terms with the Sclav.” Maria pulls out another piece of parchment, squinting her eyes as she reads it. “Now is there any questions?”

Everyone in the class just looks around, shrugging.

“No one?” Maria asks. When no one raises a hand Maria starts looking through her papers again. After flipping through them a few times she stares out into class. “Well… since you all were all such good students today I will let you all out early, except for a certain group of people. Those six men aren’t allowed to leave class, they get to join me in running around the building till class officially ends. I need to make sure you don’t have the energy to go off fighting each other again.”

Astrid and Viele walk out the class together, when they exit the building they find a nice flat area to sit down, watching Shortclaw and the humans that attacked him run around the building that the class was just held in. Maria, behind them insulting them and swinging her sword at one when one starts to try to slow down. The tip of Maria’s sword always coming half an inch away from their head, causing them to gain a burst of speed out of the fear of getting cut. Astrid both awed and a little concerned, awed at the sheer strength and control of the woman. Maria is the tallest human Astrid has ever seen, but the sword she is wielding looks bigger than even she is, and she can swing it one handed like it was weightless. Astrid lays down on the ground, her hands behind her head as she starts to look up at the sky. After a while she starts to nod off but is quickly brought out of it when she hears the crystal make a buzzing noise. “I guess it is lunch time!” Astrid says cheerfully. She sits up to see Shortclaw and the human males all on the ground trying to catch their breath. Standing above them is Maria, belittling them for being tired after so little running. Astrid stands up, walking over to the exhausted Shortclaw, kneeling as he looks up at her. “So, would you like some lunch?”

Shortclaw shakes his head no. “Need… water…”

Astrid smiles at him as she reaches into her bag and grabs a water flask, handing it to Shortclaw. She watches and pats him as he starts to guzzle down the water. “Hey! Drink slower!” Astrid says as she watches Shortclaw.” She then looks over at the humans as they stare at Shortclaw drinking from the flask. Her eyes narrow. “Sorry, us primitives don’t share water.”

Maria lets out a laugh as she hears Astrid. “You heard the little lady, shoo, unless you wish to do more running.” Maria turns and looks at Astrid and Shortclaw as the humans get up and stumble away. “And you, Shortclaw, I am sorry you had to run too but you were the first one to throw a punch so I had to punish you too. I will say this; I am glad that you are willing to fight five other warriors in hand to hand combat just to protect your fiancé’s honor. But before you do that again I would probably try to get stronger.” Maria then holds out her hand, helping Shortclaw up. She then pats his head and smiles. “Well, I have to go get ready for my afternoon class.” She then turns around and walks away.

Shortclaw takes a step forward, his legs nearly giving out. He quickly gets grabbed by Astrid and Viele. “I do believe I need to rest a little.” Shortclaw says with a chuckle.

Astrid and Viele carry Shortclaw over to the closest bench and puts him down. The water flask from earlier now empty as Shortclaw attempts to get another drop out. Shortclaw lets out grunts as every leg muscle seems aches from all the running.

“Remind me to never anger that woman.” Shortclaw says as he leans against Astrid, causing her to chuckle. Shortclaw then slips down, laying his head in Astrid’s lap. “Is it okay if I nap here for an hour or so?”

Astrid pets Shortclaw’s head and nods. “Go ahead and rest up, I will wake you up before it is time for classes.” She continues to pet Shortclaw as he falls into a deep sleep in her lap.

“Massssster…” Viele says after Shortclaw starts to snore.

“Yes Viele?” Astrid looks over at Viele as he stands there in his tree ent form, shifting around nervously. “Are you hungry?”

Viele responds with a nod.

“Okay.” Astrid pulls out a few copper coins and hands them over to Viele. “Don’t scare anyone, and make sure you pay for the food before you eat it. Also don’t try to eat any people.”

Viele turns around and starts shambling towards town. “Yessssss… masssster…” He says as he runs as fast as his ent legs can take him.

Astrid just lets out a sigh, hoping that he actually listens. After Viele disappears Astrid looks back down, looking at all the bumps and bruises on Shortclaw. “I wish I could heal you right now.” She then lets out a sigh.

“So this is where you are at.” A shrill voice can be heard from nearby.

Astrid looks up to see a group of humans, several familiar faces can be seen. In the front is Elizabeth Stockings, behind her is a group of girls and five human warriors, covered in bruises and barely able to walk.

“What are you doing here?” Astrid asks with disgust in her voice.

“Little ole me?” Elizabeth asks. “I just came by these poor hurt gentlemen and heard that you and your… pet… assaulted them too!”

Astrid’s eyes narrow. “So you were involved with them?” She asks angrily.

“Possibly, but you have no way to prove it.” Elizabeth chuckles. “Oh, and how are your living arrangements going? I heard that you could no longer sleep with your pet over there.” A large grin appears on Elizabeth’s face as the females behind her start to all laugh in near unison.

“You were involved with that too?” Astrid nearly screams as she starts to get up. She then stops as she sees a fireball appear in Elizabeth’s hand.

“I wouldn’t try to get up if I were you, you primitive.” Elizabeth jeers. “You don’t want to wake up your tired little pet there, or make me have to hit either of you with my fireball in self-defense.”

Astrid stares at Elizabeth. “Why do you hate me so much? Is it because I am an elf?”

“Of course, don’t you know? Humans hate elves, or at least the smart ones do.” Elizabeth says as she continues to grin, she then lets the fireball in her hand dissipate. “Your dirty kind tried to come out of your forest and kill off us humans before. You are nothing but primitives that have zero clue about your place in the world. That is why humans pushed you back into your forest.” Elizabeth walks closer to Astrid. “How about this, you go back to your forest, then neither of us have to see each other ever again.”

“Or how about this? You stick to your deal when we dueled, you lost, you said that you will stop bothering me if I won.” Astrid says angrily.

Elizabeth’s eyes go wide. “You think you won that duel! You passed out after you tried to kill me!”

“After you got saved by your bodyguard!” Astrid sneers.

“Why you!” Elizabeth raises a hand and forms another fireball.

“Ms. Elizabeth, I would advise that you stop this. You are still in trouble from the last incident.” Siegfried says as he suddenly appears beside Elizabeth, doing a slight bow. Causing the fireball in Elizabeth’s hand to disappear.

Elizabeth turns to Siegfried. “Why are you defending this dirty primitive!” Her face turning red with anger.

“Madam, I am not defending the elf, I am keeping you from angering any of the school personnel. Your father doesn’t want any more blemishes on his family name.” Siegfried says as he remains bowing.

“But…GAAHHH!” Elizabeth turns around. “You are lucky today elf… but you should go back to your forest before your luck runs out!” Elizabeth then stomps off, leaving with her entourage.

Astrid sits there dumbfounded for a moment before she starts to cry, tears falling from her face, splashing down on Shortclaw. After a bit Shortclaw wakes up and wipes his face.

“What’s wrong?” Shortclaw asks, wiping the tears that fell on him off.

“Not…nothing…” Astrid says as she wipes her eyes. “Just felt like crying.”

“Did someone hurt you?” Shortclaw asks as he sits up, his body still aching.

“No… no… it is nothing…” Astrid says as she puts on a smile. “Don’t worry about it, was just worried about you.” Astrid then finishes wiping the tears away.

Shortclaw lets out a sigh, looking at Astrid. “Okay… okay… and wait, where is Viele?”

“He went off to go get some food.” Astrid says as she stands up. “He should be back soon, well hopefully.”

Astrid and Shortclaw sit on the bench silently till Viele returns, walking slowly, an entish smile on his face.

“You look happy.” Astrid says, eyeing Viele.

“Viele… full…” He says as he flops down beside Astrid and Shortclaw.

“Well, I am glad.” Astrid says as she stands up. “Because the next class will be starting soon and we need to get going.”

Both Viele and Shortclaw let out a groan in unison. Causing Astrid to tap her foot. “Come on you two, we don’t want to be late for class, if we are, they will probably make us run.”

Hearing this both, Shortclaw and Viele jump up off the bench. “I think we should hurry and get to class then.” Shortclaw says, remembering what he just went through.

They both separate and walk towards their different classrooms, when Astrid and Viele walk into her classroom, the dwarf Sherry and the teacher Clark is sitting down in chairs talking about magic. They both look up to see Astrid walk in.

“Well, hello there Astrid, glad to see another early student.” Clark says. “As they say the early frog gets the best Lilly pad.” He then lets out a chuckle.

Both Astrid and Sherry just stare at him, wondering if this is a joke or not. They then both smile as he continues to chuckle.

“Sorry for the joke, when I am not teaching a class I like to make a good joke or two.” Clark says as he leans back in his chair. “But yes, Sherry, we will continue our discussion after class.” Clark then stands up and walks to his podium, pulling out a large stack of papers. He then hands Astrid and Sherry both several pieces of papers.

Astrid looks at the papers, looking at it, the paper says basics to casting nature spells.

“Keep these papers and read them religiously, since this class has casters from several elements we would be here forever if I went through every single one. Also, this way you can practice during your off time.” Clark says as he hands a set of papers to another student that walks in.

Astrid nods and starts to read the papers.

“Nature magic is magic that takes makes use of plant life, it mostly utilizes spores in the air and plant matter in and on the earth. The weaknesses are as follows, weakness to fire, lack of attack spells, lack of spell usability when not around plant matter, massive mana usage, and it also is the most complicated to cast. The strengths are the massive number of useable spells, spells strengthen when a mass amount of plant matter is around, powerful summons, since the spells are living matter they can mutate and grow stronger, powerful crowd control spells, and good support spells. The next few pages have the beginning level nature magic spells Root spike, Root wall, Brambles, and Entangle.”

“Okay everyone is here now.” Clark says, causing Astrid to look up from her papers. “Everyone has papers in front of them, I want everyone to read them. If you have any questions just raise your hand and ask. When you feel that you have a good enough understanding of a spell I will take you to the next room to try it. More than likely you won’t get any spell to work on your first day. So, if you don’t, you shouldn’t worry.”

Astrid looks back down at the next page; the words Root Spike is written at the top.

“Root spike is the basic attack spell for nature mages, and one of the few attack spells in their arsenal. The spell is formed from gathering spores in the air, condensing them into a solid form. The form you are trying to obtain is that of a sharp spearhead. As you get more used to the spell you can maximize the damage of the spell by causing the root spike to spin as it flies, causing the spell to drill through even powerful plate armor. The weaknesses of this spell are it has the longest buildup time of all the basic attack spells available to mages, it has a massive mana usage, and its’ power depends on local plant matter. The strengths of the spell are its’ ability to change and get more powerful. Examples of this are adding a spin to the spike when firing, causing it to do more damage and armor piercing properties. Mages can also change the properties of the root spike itself, giving it different properties like causing it to release poisonous spores when hitting its’ target.” Astrid then turns to the next page. “To cast a basic Root spike you must first connect to your familiar’s mana crystal. After making a connection to it let your mana flow into it and imagine the mana condensing in front of you. The mana crystal will react through your connection and cause the mana in the world to excite. If done properly it will cause any spores in the air to condense into your desired shape. After acquiring an adequate shape you will need to utilize the mana behind the spike, thrusting it forward. After you thrust the spike forward, if the shape is proper, it will fly in a straight line. An improper spike shape will cause the spike to veer off it’s intended course. For more variations in the spell it may require a chant until the caster has a strong understanding of the utilization of mana using the familiar’s mana crystal.”

Astrid looks up. “Ummm, Mr. Clark?”

“Yes Astrid?”

“What this paper is saying about spells, I’m not sure how to do, well any of it.” Astrid says as she starts to frown.

Clark makes a beckoning motion to Astrid. “That is fine, come into the next room and I will help you out. Nippy, watch the class while I am gone.”

Nippy jumps on the podium and ribbits as Clark and Astrid go into the next room.

“Well, Astrid what spell are you attempting to cast?” Clark asks as they enter a large empty room with a strange metal covering all the walls, on the other side is stones in the shape of a human.

“Root spike.” Astrid says as she puts her papers in her bag.

“Okay, the first thing you need to do with any spell is establish a connection with your familiar.” Clark says as he looks between Astrid and Viele. “The easiest way to establish the connection for the first time is to put both of your hands on your familiar and clear your mind. Now imagine your familiar in front of you. Once you have a clear image of your familiar, imagine a thin line of thread coming from your hands, and send that thread to your familiar.” Clark says as he continues to watch the two.

Astrid follows Clarks instructions, in her mind is only her familiar Viele, she imagines the thin blue thread, stretching from her hands. After a few minutes Astrid’s eyes open wide. “I feel it!” Astrid says excitedly. “I can feel Viele!” She then grabs her head and screams as a multitude of voices start to invade her mind, each voice seeming to be talking to each other, but when she lets out a scream in pain several yell in unison. “Master!”

“Master!” Viele yells as he runs towards Astrid.

“Stop!” Clark yells to Viele, causing him to stop in his tracks. “This is normal for someone’s first connection to their familiar she has information going directly into her brain and her brain isn’t used to it. She will get used to it momentarily.”

Astrid falls to her knees, she still holds her head. The voices still flooding into her mind. “This human is an idiot. We must help master. No, we shouldn’t. I wish I killed her when I could of. I’m hungry.” Then a voice louder than the rest can be heard in Astrid’s head. “Shut up, all of you! I feel the connection to master, I think us talking is the reason master is how she currently is.” All the voices in Astrid’s head suddenly disappears. After a few moments, the voice from earlier returns. “Master?” The voice says quizzically. When Astrid’s mind clears up and she recollects herself she closes her eyes back and stands back up. “Viele?” Astrid tries to project in her mind. “Yes master! It is Viele, or one of many. We are sorry for hurting you master, did not expect what would happen once we formed a mana connection like this.” Astrid just nods at Viele.

“Good! You got used to the connection quiet fast!” Clark says excitedly as he walks up to Astrid and pats her back. “Do you think you can continue to the next step?”

Astrid thinks for a moment. “I think I can try.”

“Okay, now that you have created a proper mana link to your familiar from now on it should become second nature just imagine the blue thread linking the two of you together. When you want to cut it just imagine cutting it and it disappearing. Before you do that though, let’s get you sending a decent amount of mana to your familiar. Now imagine the blue thread again, but this time imagine the thread being thicker. Once you do that, push mana into the threat, kind of like when you use a magical item, just instead of a physical object, you are doing that to the thread.

After a few moments Viele speaks. “I feel… massstersssss… mana…”

“Yeah, I am starting to feel weaker.” Astrid says as she feeds Viele mana through the link.

“That is normal, especially till you get used to it.” Clark says as he reaches into his robe and pulls out a sack. He then pours the entire sack onto the ground in front of Astrid, a yellow powdery substance falls out. “Now, the next step, Astrid I want you to focus on the point in front of you, look at the particles in the air, I want you to visualize in your mind all of them coming together.”

Astrid stares at the particles in front of her, the room quiet as little by little the particles seem to start to move to one central point. After a while they form into a large yellow puff ball.

“Good start Astrid, now what you need to do is imagine them condensed into a tighter ball, imagine it as one solid ball, not as a bunch of little particles.” Clark then starts to clap excitedly as the ball starts to shrink, the lines in the ball slowly dissipating till it looks like one solid ball of yellow metal. “Amazing Astrid, already getting a hang of using magic, I guess elves being naturally good at magic wasn’t a lie after all.”

Astrid starts to pant heavily as she continues to condense the ball.

“Okay now, Astrid, I want you to imagine yourself pulling the ball and shaping it, pull it thinner, imagine an arrow even.” Clark says excitedly as he watches Astrid progress with the spell.

The ball in front of Astrid starts to slowly take shape, turning into a long thin cylinder. The tip facing away from Astrid starts to shrink, turning into a cone-like shape.

Once it gets into a shape that Clark finds promising he calls out to Astrid. “It’s in a good shape now Astrid, now for the final part. You need to imagine a large amount of mana condensing behind the spike, ready to explode, or like a spring ready to thrust the spike forward. When you feel like the force has gathered enough release it. The force of the release will cause the spike to thrust forward.” Clark watches Astrid for several minutes as she seems to struggle with the last part of the spell.

“I don’t think I can…” Astrid says as she keeps trying to gather force behind the spike, but whenever she tries, it seems to dissipate. After a few minutes Astrid finally starts to feel like something is building up behind the root spike. She then opens her eyes in surprise and loses her concentration. The condensed mana gets released, causing the root spike to fly forward a few feet before plummeting to the ground.

“Good job!” Clark claps excitedly. “Usually it takes days for a student to get this far, don’t worry, just keep practicing and you will start casting these basic spells as easily as breathing!”

Astrid puts both hands on her head, trying to catch her breath. “I am tired.” She says between breaths.

“Don’t worry about that, you are doing something you are not used to, utilizing mana is like utilizing any muscle in your body. The more you use it the stronger it gets and the better you are with it. Now go ahead and go to the room and rest. Before that, I highly recommend cutting off the mana connection with your familiar to help your mana recover.” Clark says as he opens the door to the classroom.

“Awwww, master is cutting off her connection.” A voice in Astrid’s head says as she starts to imagine the thread being cut. After she imagines the thread disappearing she no longer hears the voices.

As Astrid and Viele both sit down back in the classroom with the rest of the students Astrid turns to Viele. “That was you speaking to me in my head correct? Why are there so many voices?”

Viele smiles at Astrid. “Viele…. Issss… many… Viele… isssss… one…”

“Another question. When we dueled with Elizabeth, remember when you helped me cast root spike and root wall? How did you do that?” Astrid asks as she looks at Viele.

“Viele… usssed… part of hisss…. Body… like… wands… since… Viele… knows how to casssst… spells… was easy…” Viele says proudly.

“Wait… since you know how to cast the spells, can you teach them to me?” Astrid asks, moving close to Viele.

Viele thinks for a moment. “Viele… won’t… be able… to do… that… but…. Viele…. Can… show… masssster…. How Viele…. Casts… spells…”

“Can you do that for me? Any little bit helps.” Astrid asks, almost pleading.

“Issss… masssster… ssssure… it may… be unpleasant.” Viele says reluctantly.

“I will be okay!” Astrid says excitedly, grabbing Viele’s hands.

“Okay… assss… long assss… massster… isss okay. Pleasssse… form… mana link… with me…” Viele says as he closes his eyes.

Astrid nods and closes her eyes, she imagines the thread forming again, she instantly feels the connection, and the voices. “We get to send stuff to master?” One of the voices say. “Yay!” Another one says. “Hush, everyone.” The loudest voice says. “Master are you ready?”

Astrid replies back to the voice. “Yes, I am ready.”

“Okay, here comes what you want to know.” The voice of Viele says again.

Astrid starts to feel her brain start to tingle slightly, then suddenly there is a sharp pain as images and information seems to flow into her brain from the mana link. Astrid lets out a scream as it seems like her brain is getting split in two. Blood starts to gush out of her nose and she starts to convulse. She nearly falls off the bench but she is being held there by Viele’s hands. The entire class stands as they watch Astrid convulse.

Clark hears the scream from Astrid and he rushes into the classroom. “What is happening?” He then sees Astrid convulsing, then both her and her familiar fall to the floor. He runs over to the two of them, he checks them both, they seem alive, but Astrid is twitching uncontrollably and her familiar Viele is unmoving. “Go and get help!” Clark yells as he picks up Astrid. “I got Astrid, some of you grab her familiar.” He commands several of the students who stayed behind.

“I… understand…” Astrid says as her eyes shoot open.

“What?” Clark asks, looking down at Astrid. Suddenly she goes limp and unmoving in his arms. “Shit!” Clark says as he sprints out the door, looking for help.