“What in Gaia’s name is happening here?” Clark says as his arm reattaches, he moves his fingers making sure they are working. He looks down at his blood covered clothes, cursing as he remembers it was his favorite set. He then looks up at the giant unmoving water serpent looming overhead. “The fight is over, come on down.” The snake slowly dissolves, leaving only a blue frog. The frog bounces up to Clark and spits out a large blue orb. “Good boy.” Clark pockets the orb and stares at the shadow that Blaze just disappeared inside. He then looks over when he hears a groaning noise.

“NOOOOOO!” Shortclaw yells as he sits up. He quickly scans his surroundings, seeing Clark covered in blood his eyes grow wide. “What happened?”

“Your dad and well, everyone else kind of disappeared in a shadow.” Clark walks over and helps Shortclaw up.

Suddenly Blaze materializes from the nearby shadows, a giant flaming mace in one hand, in the other being dragged behind him is an unconscious beastkin.

“Father… how?” Shortclaw looks in disbelief as he walks over to the unconscious Wraithclaw.

“He’s okay, just a little drained.” Blaze says as he pats Shortclaw.

“I… am sorry everyone, I should have warned everyone better.” Shortclaw says as he looks over at Clark’s blood covered clothes then back at his father.

“Don’t worry about it lad.” Blaze says as he watches Shortclaw.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” A male voice can be heard accompanied by heavy metal footsteps.

“How did it go over there with Maria?” Blaze asks as he watches Joseph Reinhart walk up twirling a large wooden whistle.

“Good good, I was worried about Maria for a moment, she let her guard down and got caught by a pretty decent attack. Thankfully I got to watch a little more due to her brother actually shown up and helped her so I didn’t have to.”

“Wait that drunkard showed up?” A surprised Clark asks as he wiggles his fingers and flexes his healed arm.

“Yeah, he is surprisingly good for being so shitfaced, he was able to fight them off for a bit. He relies too much on his weapon when he’s that drunk though.” Joseph says as he slips the whistle into a bag on his waist. “Thankfully the whistle worked just as the young beastkin said so no one was seriously injured, just a few broken bones for the beastkin. Most of those where taken care of by Jasmine mid fight so they shouldn’t need any more healing.”

“So, most people are here now. Shortclaw are you ready for us to wake up your dad and have a little talk?” Blaze asks with a big smile.

Shortclaw nods and looks down at him as Blaze presses the head of the mace on Wraithclaw’s chest. Shortclaw’s eyes grow wide as the mace glows slightly and his father starts to move slightly and open his eyes.

“Where… how…” Wraithclaw tries to sit up but is kept down by the mace on his chest. He looks up at the dwarf and his eyes grow wide, he reaches over to his wrist and tries to activate one of his mana stones but he feels just an empty socket. “How!”

“You lost, horribly, to me.” Blaze says with a giant grin on his face.

“I would never lose!” Wraithclaw roars.

“Wow, you lost so badly that you forgot? I thought you beastkin were supposed to be strong and noble warriors, but all I am seeing here is a weak beastkin that won’t even admit he lost.” Blaze says as he causes the mace to glow brighter.

“I can’t lose to a. Aaahhhhhhhhh.” Wraithclaw yells as he tries to grab the mace as it heats up.

“Please stop!” Shortclaw screams as he watches his father in pain.

“Oh?” Blaze raises an eyebrow before looking back at Wraithclaw. “Looks like you are being saved by your own son.”

Wraithclaw bears his teeth at Blaze threateningly. “When I get out from under this mace I will kill all of you for this disrespect!”

“That is the wrong answer, you easily lost to me, so bad that you don’t even remember it. What do you think would happen now that I actually have allies with me.”

Wraithclaw glances around at the people around him. “Wait… where are my men? What did you do to my men!”

“Well, that all depends on your answer here shortly. You have two choices, my favorite choice, and the one you should definingly make, is you leave your son and his fiancé alone. You then leave here and go back to your tribe and say that you thought it was for the betterment of the tribe that you left him here and no one learns about what happened here. The second choice is the not so fun one for everyone, that is where we kill you and all your men so I don’t have to worry about my students. That is when we tell the beastkin council that you and your entire elite squad were taken out by one lone dwarf. Imagine what would happen to your clan after that, it would be ruined. Just imagine it, your family being ruined forever because of you…” Blaze says with a giant grin on his face, as he seems to enjoy himself.

Wraithclaw bears his fangs. “He is my son! He must obey his father and chieftain!”

“He is the age of consent and by this city state’s laws you no longer have authority over him. He is also one of my students and I will use any force necessary to defend them. If he wished to join you I would gladly let him but this whole thing was setup due to he wished to not go with you!” Blaze says as the mace starts to glow slightly brighter, warming up Wraithclaw’s chest.

Wraithclaw bears his fangs for several minutes, staring up at Blaze. He slowly relaxes and closes his eyes. “Is it true pup? Did you set all this up?”

Shortclaw nods his head slowly. “Yes…”

“You know betraying your chieftain like this is punishable by death?” Wraithclaw says as he looks over at Shortclaw.

“I know.” Shortclaw says as he looks down, away from his father.

“You were supposed to be chieftain of our people! Why are you throwing your future away! Are you under some sort of elven spell?” Wraithclaw yells out and reaches out his arm towards his son.

“I can assure you he is under no such spell Mr. Wraithclaw.” Blaze says with a chuckle.

“Father… I love her… I have grown attached to her over my time he…” Shortclaw then jumps back startled as his father yells.

“You love her? You have grown weak! You are supposed to be the chieftain of the claw clan! There is no love, only the betterment family! Only the betterment of the clan! You are just like your mother! I knew I should have removed her from your life earlier!”

Shortclaw grabs the sword from Joseph Reinhart’s scabbard and suddenly blurs as he rushes at his father. Before anyone can stop him the sword slams right beside his father’s neck. “Don’t ever mention mother ever again!” Shortclaw roars.

The area is silent for a few moments then gets broken by laughter from Wraithclaw. “Yes! I knew you were the correct son!” He laughs more. “Dwarf, I shall go with option one for now! I got more than I could ever hope for just now!”

Everyone looks around confused.

“Do I have your word as a beastkin that you will leave this town with your men and not harm anyone?” Blaze asks with a raised eyebrow.

“You have my word as a beastkin.” Wraithclaw stands up as the mace gets lifted off his chest.

“What?” Shortclaw asks confused as he holds the sword.

“You were willing to attempt to kill off your own father, you showed me a part of myself in you. I just have to wait for that seed to grow. The problem with the elf, I can find a way to alleviate that issue in the future. See you again soon… son.” Wraithclaw then lets out another laugh as he suddenly vanishes, leaving behind nothing but droplets of blood on the ground.

Everyone blinks a few times trying to figure out everything that just happened. The first to speak was Clark. “Ummmm…. Aren’t we missing a half naked mage teacher?”

“Oh! Hmmm don’t worry about Amy, she’s being punished for disobeying commands.” Blaze says as he turns to Shortclaw.

“And you little beastkin, are you okay?” Blaze asks as he careful takes the blade out of Shortclaw’s hands.

Shortclaw looks at his hands as they tremble. “I… did I just try to kill my own father?”

Everyone just looks around, not sure how to answer. “Don’t worry too much about it kid, everyone has a breaking point. That and you didn’t kill him, you stopped just short. So, let’s get you back inside and make sure nothing else happens.” Blaze says as he shoos Shortclaw and the teachers away. When they leave his eyesight, he looks down at where he had Wraithclaw pinned to the ground and where he had pushed him a few inches to keep Shortclaw from decapitating his father. “That was dangerous.” Blaze says as he kicks the dirt around removing the evidence.

-outside the city-

“Cheiftain!” The beastkin all yell and stand at attention as Wraithclaw suddenly appears in front of them.

“Why are you all not injured to the point of being unable to follow orders?” Wraithclaw says as he scans the beastkin, he stops at a few that are tied to horses unconscious.

“Sir?” One of the beastkin ask in confusion. “We retreated mid fight when you blew the retreat whistle.”

“I n…” Wraithclaw pauses for a moment before letting out a thunderous laugh. “That pup, he is more cunning than I was at that age. He will be an amazing chieftain in the future, I will make sure of that.”

“Sir… where is Shortclaw?” A large orange beastkin asks before getting punched by Wraithclaw, causing the beastkin to crumple instantly. “Tie him up to a horse and let’s get going.” Wraithclaw jumps on his horse as they tie the beastkin to a horse. Wraithclaw looks back at the city of Flemmington as he kicks his horse causing it to jolt forward. “See you soon… son.”

-inside a certain cave-

Viele lifts himself up. “Nooooooooo!!!!!!” He screams as he looks around, remembering what happened before he passed out. “That… no… masssssster!” He transforms into a tree ent and runs to the edge of the pool of miasma. “Master! No!” He reaches down into the pool, retracting his hands as the miasma touches his bark-like flesh, at first it felt like water then an intense pain hits him, burning him beyond anything he could comprehend. He screams as he falls to his knees in intense pain. “There… isssss… no way…. Masssssterrrrr.”

“Calm down you stupid snake, are you an idiot? She is still alive.” A feminine voice can be heard in his head. “Just feel for your link with her, we all can feel it still.”

Viele pauses for a moment as his hands burn. He closes his eyes ignoring the pain and focuses on his link with his master, after a few moments he feels a weak link with his master. “She… how… issss.” He stares blankly at the miasma. “Masssster?”

Viele sits there, focusing on the link with his master and staring at the hole full of miasma for hours until something strange happened. Viele jumps up when the miasma starts to boil, then the miasma starts to disappear. Viele moves to the edge of the hole as the miasma rapidly descends, looking down all he sees is emptiness. After a few seconds, he hears a rumbling noise from down below and sees something rushing up, the miasma was quickly returning. Viele jumps back, away from the hole, just as the miasma erupts towards the ceiling. He covers his face as the miasma falls on his body, burning wherever he gets touched. He then feels something fleshy touch his legs. He quickly uncovers his face to see his master laying at his feet naked and covered in miasma. He quickly reaches down and starts wiping the miasma away with his hands, damaging his hands more.

“MASTER!” He screams as his hands continue to burn from the miasma. Pulling her close as droplets of miasma land on him. He quickly gets up and grabs the two halves of Shawn’s robe off of his body and runs out of the cave. When he escapes the cave he sees the sun is rising. He quickly places Astrid on the ground and rips off a piece of clothing from part of Shawn’s tattered clothing and starts wiping any remains of the miasma off of her. When he finishes he notices something strange on his master, in the center of her chest is now a small cluster of black and green scales. After poking them a few times and realizing that they can’t be removed he takes what is left of the cloth and puts them on Astrid. “Pleasssse… massssster… wake up… ssssoon.” He then shifts into his guardian form. Several snakes erupt from his back and wrap around Astrid, he then places her on his his back and wrap him up in a cocoon of snakes.

“I… will… protect… massssster…” Viele says as he starts to run east towards Flemmington.

“What an interesting familiar she has.” A familiar floating black entity says as it floats on the slope of the nearby mountain, watching Viele run towards Flemmington. “I hope he is able to support her in the future, because it definitely won’t be easy.”

-Flemmington, the next day-

“Gather up everyone!” Day captain Vincent yells as the small group of guards gather and stand at attention. “I’m sure by now everyone has heard the news about last night, the city was infiltrated and apparently, some students from our academy where threatened. We are gathered today due to a request by the people of the academy. We were requested to patrol the main roads between here and the west. Now, usually we would tell them to fuck off, we serve Flemmington not rich children. This case is a little special, it’s our very own elf friend Astrid who may be in trouble. So, to pay off the eight silver I still owe h… I mean since we are such good friends, we will go make sure she is safe. Now, is our wagon ready, and is the healer from the academy here yet?”

A young human male covered in mismatched metal armor steps forward. “Sir, Ms. Jasmine is loading her supplies into the resource cart at this very moment, then we will be ready to march on your orders.”

“Sounds good, everyone at ease till the cart is here.” Vincent turns and walks into a nearby door, as he walks in he looks at the dwarf known as Blaze, and a short beastkin. He pulls up a chair and sits down pulling out his map. “Okay, so I talked with the men and we are going to be taking the main road and check these entrances to the forest. I can’t make my men go into the forest though, it is too dangerous.”

“I understand.” Blaze says as he looks at the map. “You are only going there to scout, you have the crystal I gave you correct?”

Vincent pulls out a fist sized crystal from his pocket and holds it up. “Yeah yeah, just put some mana into it and report if I have any issues or sighting of the beastkin group.”

“Good, hopefully you find her returning and just escort her back, I don’t want to give them any chance to hurt one of my students.” Blaze says as he looks over at Shortclaw.

“Thank you… I’m sorry that due to my family all this stuff is happening.” Shortclaw says as he looks down at the table.

“Don’t worry about it man.” Vincent says as he pats Shortclaw’s shoulder. “I don’t think there is a such thing as a perfect parent, not many want to kill their son’s fiancé so I guess that is a little different but eh, who am I to judge”

Blaze raises an eyebrow as Vincent talks.

“Shit… sorry, not good with the younger generations.” Vincent says apologetically.

“It’s okay.” Shortclaw says. “Just please make sure she makes it back safely incase my father does decide to go after her.”

“Don’t worry.” Vincent turns around as the door opens.

“Sir, everything is ready.” The guard that opens the door says.

“Right on time.” Vincent turns around and bows slightly to Blaze and Shortclaw. “We will return with the lady in tow, you have my word.” He then turns back to the door and leaves.

Vincent walks to the front of the gathered men. Turns to the open gate and lets out a sigh. “Men! March!” He yells as the group starts to march towards the west.”

-the forest outside the cursed mountain-

Viele runs through the forest as quickly as he can without jolting his master, all around him various noises can be heard as if he is being hunted by several creatures. Each step he takes sends a small amount of pain throughout his body as it uses up what little energy he has left to heal the damage done by the miasma.

“Viele, there are several creatures chasing us. They can tell we are injured and think we may be an easy meal.” A deep masculine voice says in Viele’s head.

“I… know… mussssssst… protect masssster.” Viele says as he jumps down a small cliff. As he is mid air he sees a large group of black creatures surround where he is going to land. He realizes exactly what was following him, it was a large pack of Devourers. As soon as he lands, he hears growls and yelps as even more devourers come out from behind various trees and bushes, surrounding him. A larger alpha devourer roars as he appears on the top of the cliff ledge that Viele just jumped down from, it is surrounded by smaller Devourers, a large amount of drool rolls out of its’ mouth as it stares at Viele hungrily. “I… don’t think… you… could just let me… passss?” Viele asks jokingly.

The larger alpha devourer lets out a howl and the devourer pack charge forward towards Viele.

“Root wall!” Viele yells as roots erupt between him and the pack of devourers, some of the faster ones get impaled on the root walls. Blood rolls down the roots as the devourers struggle to get off the roots but they just sink deeper, making their deaths quicker and more painful. Viele glances around as he hears loud crunching noises all around him. One of the root walls fall as it gets chewed through by the devourers, Viele quickly fires several root spikes, most hit their targets, impaling several enemies but some were able to dodge. He then hears another wall fall as more devourers chew through the roots. Viele lets out a roar as snakes erupt from the cocoon on his back, small spikes appear from their open mouths as the devourers sprint towards Viele. The spikes get released and fly towards the devourers, the ones who get hit by the spikes let out howls of agony as the spikes explode, releasing spores that spread to everything around them. The unfortunate devourers that touch the spores have their tender flesh melt, causing intense pain and death to the ones who took the brunt of the hits.

Viele roars again as more walls erupt around him, trying to slow down the waves of devourers as they rush at Viele like a black flood.

A loud screeching can be heard from the sky as Viele continues to erect more root walls and fire off more explosive root spikes. Suddenly, something brown lands on several devourers, and as quickly as it appeared it flies off, carrying several crushed devourers in its’ humongous claws. Viele jumps back as another one lands beside him, crushing several devourers that were getting close. He looks at the creature’s large catlike body and its’ two large wings as it flies off with its’ prey.

“We need to get out of here!” A voice screams in Viele’s head. “It’s a pack of griffins, they are going for the pack of devourers so now would be the perfect time to escape.” Viele looks around and finds the area with the least amount of devourers and sprints for it, casting root spikes in front of him as he runs. The devourers dodge back and forth trying to avoid getting eaten by the numerous griffins that were now flying overhead. Viele grunts as he tramples several devourers that aren’t paying attention to him as he gets closer and closer to escaping the pack. As he kills off the last devourer between him and freedom he hears a loud screech. He looks back to see one of the griffins getting swarmed by the surviving devourers. Within a few seconds of the scream the dangerous beast was already dead, large chunks of its’ body ripped off with each vicious bite from the devourers.

“Let’s hurry and get out of this area.” Viele thinks to himself as he sprints further east. He runs as fast as he can, the echoes of roars and screeches getting further and further with each exhausting step. He doesn’t stop running till he reaches the end of the forest. When he reaches the end of the tree line he stops for a moment to get his bearings. He then starts to walk the perimeter of the tree line till he finds a familiar road leading into the forest. When he reaches the road he lets out an exhausted sigh as he starts to sprint east towards Flemmington.

Viele runs as fast as he can down the road, his entire body crying out as if it is going to fall apart from lack of energy. Viele runs for over an hour before his body starts to shake, a front leg splits into a mass of snakes as Viele starts to lose control. He tumbles, catching himself with his stable leg before he would roll over onto the cocoon on his back. He lays in the road momentarily catching his breath, shifting into his tree ent form, the cocoon strapped to his back like a backpack, he slowly starts walking again.

“I… must… protect… masssssster…” Viele says to himself as he takes step after painful step. The tall grass around him seems to go on forever as he continues to walk. In the distance, Viele sees a large tree he remembered from his carriage ride to the forest. “That would… be perfect… to rest…” Viele says as he continues to walk. He gets closer to the tree until a mixture of smells assault his senses. A strong smell of smoke tinted with the smell of a pungent meat fills the air as the breeze carries the smell from around the tree. He pauses for a moment as several voices in his head all argue at once.

“Don’t go… it’s a trap!”

“Go, they have food and we need to rest.”

“What if they have a healer? They could save master!”

“What if they hurt master?”

“Husssshhh… all of you…” Viele commands as he thinks. “We will ssssscout… ssssee who they are…” Viele walks into the tall grass, walking slowly towards the tree trying to stay as silent and as hidden as possible. When he gets close enough to the large tree, he can make out several carriages filled with cages with different creatures. One cage he sees a devourer puppy attempting to chew the bars on the cage but can just make grunting noises as its’ small teeth scrape at the bars. He looks around more till he sees the humans in the middle of the wagons putting boxes on a currently empty cart.

“Be careful with those eggs! Creature emporium pays top coin for each one of them!” A large brown furred beastkin with a large metal spear roars out. “And if you drop any you get no lunch!”

Viele looks around more, continuing to circle around the camp while hiding in the tall grass. He counts a dozen or so humans and beastkin, all armed with spears and nets. Most where loading crates, but one was guarding horses tied to a low branch. He then notices where the good smell was coming from, in the middle of the camp are two large skinned devourers on a metal contraption over a fire. The fire crackles each time juices fall into it, causing more and more delicious smells to wafer around.

Viele stands there, his mouth open slightly, drool rolling out as he eyes the delicious meat. He jolts back into reality when he hears a scream from above him. He looks up to see a large blue bird with four wings flying circles around him. He then hears yells from the camp.

“Hawkin found something near the camp! Everyone get into a defensive formation!” The brown beastkin yells as he pulls out his spear, getting between where Viele is and the camp. The rest of the men quickly follow suit.

Viele starts to panic as everything unravels. He thinks for a moment and yells out. “Wait… not… enemy…” He yells as the snakes making up the cocoon detach from his back and he sets the cocoon with Astrid on the ground. “Protect… masssster… be… back… sssssoon.” Viele says to the cocoon, which replies back with various hisses. Viele then turns around and walks out of the grass, causing the people to raise their eyes and murmur in confusion.

The beastkin steps forward. “Wait, tree ent, did you just speak?”

Viele nods. “Yes… sssssorry for hiding… in the grasssss… I… am in need…. Help…”

The group whisper amongst themselves till the beastkin slams his spear on the ground. “Quiet… so… talking tree ent, what do you need help with? We may be able to help.”

Viele’s eyes light up. “My masssster… ssssshe…. Isssss hurt… won’t wake… up…Needssss… healer…”

The group whispers again. “Sir…”

“Quiet, we aren’t monsters, we will help the tree ent and its’ master. We don’t have a healer but we have extensive healing supplies.” The beastkin says with a smile. “Where is your master?”

“Follow… me… thank you… for helping… us…” Viele says as he shambles over to the grass, revealing the cocoon.

“Your master is in there?” The beastkin asks confused.

“One… sssssecond…” Viele says as he puts the grass back in place blocking the view of the cocoon, the snakes making up the cocoon slither back inside Viele and he picks up Astrid in his arms. He then walks out of the grass in front of the group of people.

The group of people crowd around murmuring again. “She’s cute, wait is she an elf?” A human with short red hair says and raises an eyebrow.

The beastkin’s eyes grow wide and they start to twinkle. “I’ve never seen an elf in person before, hurry and get her on top of the crate over there.” The beastkin points out a wide box that is a few feet away. “I will go get our medicine.”

The beastkin come back with a glass bottle filled with a blue liquid. “Move back, I need space to do this.” The beastkin says, pushing Viele out of the way. He then moves an ear close to Astrid’s mouth. After a few seconds, he straitens up. “Okay, she’s still breathing, good.” He then uncorks the bottle and pours some into Astrids mouth. “It’s done, go ahead everyone.”

Viele looks confused till several nets get thrown on him, he attempts to turn into his original form and slip out but as soon as he does the nets tighten around him and his body starts to go numb.

“Ohhoho!” The beastkin says as he watches Viele transform. “This will definitely raise her value, an elf mage with a tree ent familiar is a fortune to the right people, but imagine one with a shape shifting familiar!” The beastkin kicks Viele as he squirms. “Stop squirming, or the next thing I give your elf will be something stronger.”

“What… did…. You… do… to… masssssster!” Viele hisses angrily.

“Just a little cocktail that I invented, it’s a nice little sedative to make sure she stays asleep.” The beastkin then pulls out a white bone collar with several white stones embedded in it. “Now this, is for when she finally wakes up, it will make sure she can’t cast any of those nasty spells mages like to cast.”

Viele tries to lunge at the beastkin but can’t. “I… will… protect… massssster…” He then tries to transform into another form but doesn’t have the strength, the netting seems to sap what little strength he has left. “No…. mussssst….”

The beastkin walks over to Astrid, slipping the collar around her neck. After a clicking noise can be heard, he turns around and chuckles. “Okay men, throw the snake creature in one of the empty cages, one of the ones with mana blockers. Same with the mage.”

Several men grab the net that’s holding Viele, quickly carrying him over to a cage and tossing him inside. They then turn their attention to Astrid, walking to her slowly, chatting about how beautiful elves were and how much they could sell her for. As they get close to Astrid they stop moving.

“The hell is that?” One says as he stares at Astrid. He takes a step back in fear as the air around Astrid starts to warp and shake excitedly. “Sir?” The second one yells, catching the beastkin’s attention.

“What!” He yells as he walks up, his eyes growing wide as he sees Astrid. “What in Gaia’s name, it looks like the mana is excited! Is the choker broken?”

“Men, we may have an issue!” The beastkin yells, causing everyone to gather around Astrid, their spears at the ready. “Fuck it, kill her, it’s a lot of money but I’m not risking my life.” He then raises his spear to throw it but freezes when Astrid sits up, the mana around her goes back to normal. He then looks around confused as the elf yawns and stretches.

“How am I out?” Astrid asks as she looks at her hands. She then feels her neck and feels at the bone choker. “And did she get new jewelry? Huh…”

“What? How are you awake!” The beastkin yells at Astrid.

“Me?” Astrid asks confused. “Oh, I’m not supposed to be here, something must of happened and I was forced out here.”

“Well… err…. Could you drink this? You are terribly injured, we were trying to help you but then you went all… this…” The beastkin says nervously as he pulls out the bottle of blue liquid and tosses it to Astrid. She catches it and eyes the bottle.

“I’m good.” Astrid says with a smile, tossing the bottle to the side.

As soon as the beastkin sees Astrid toss the bottle to the side he lifts his spear back up, chunking it full power at Astrid. His eyes grow wide in fear as the spear gets stopped by a large wall of roots that instantly appeared mid throw.

“It’s not nice to toss spears at maidens like that.” Astrid chuckles evilly from the other side of the wall. She turns around to see three humans charging her with spears and one tossing a net at her. She waves a hand and a whip like root erupts from the ground, whipping at the human tossing the net. The human screams as the tip of the root takes out chunks of his flesh. He drops to the ground in pain as more whip like roots erupt from the ground, assaulting their victim. “Hmmmm… she is way too weak… it will probably be a slow process at her current level.” Astrid says as the spear wielders get closer.

The three spear wielders charge at Astrid full speed. “Die you damnable mage!” One screams as he gets within stabbing distance of Astrid.

Astrid looks up. “Don’t you see that I am trying to think here?” She watches as hundreds of roots erupt around the spear wielders, wrapping all three of them head to toe. She then smiles as their muffled screams get silenced as the roots squeeze tighter. The roots start to bleed as the blood of their victims flows between the cracks in between the roots.

The rest of the group have gotten around the original root wall by now, just in time to see the roots flowing with blood. “You monster!” The beastkin snarls as he charges at Astrid his spear in front of him.

Astrid raises and eyebrow. “Monster? What is a monster? Did you not just try to poison and kill her? Why don’t I return the favor!?”

Astrid raises a hand and nearby plant matter gathers in her hand, condensing into a small ball. She then throws the ball at the beastkin. The beastkin quickly dodges to the side and continues his charge. The ball redirects and follows the beastkin getting faster with each passing second.

“What!” The beastkin hollers as the orb hits him in the back, knocking him off his feet. His eyes then grow wide as the ball latches onto him and starts to move to his head. He quickly starts clawing at the ball but his hands just go through it as if it was made of water. “Help me!” He screams right before the ball reaches his face. His screams become silent for a moment as the ball enters his mouth. His screams can be heard again once the ball forces its’ way down the beastkin’s throat. “What did you do to me!” He screams at Astrid. He then starts to twitch and his eyes roll to the back of his head as he his chest starts to bulge.

The rest of the men lose their will to fight as they watch their leader twitch on the ground. They then all turn and run when they see what happens next. A tree bursts from their leader’s chest, quickly enveloping their leaders body in roots as the tree grows into a fully grown tree in a matter of seconds.

“We can’t have you running away like that.” Astrid says with a laugh as roots start to erupt from the ground, wrapping around the running beastkin and humans legs. She walks up to the closest one. “You should of just helped her.” Astrid says as another ball forms in her hand. She then shoves it into the man’s mouth. “Oh, and don’t worry, I have plenty for everyone!”

“D…D…Demon!” A beastkin with a mixture of black and dark brown fur yells before he throws his spear at Astrid. Astrid steps to the side and it impales the human behind her before a tree bursts from the humans chest.

“No little beastkin, no demons here, yet.” Astrid says with a smile. “Eventually, but she isn’t ready yet.” Astrid walks up to the now disarmed beastkin, looking behind him at the rest of the group hacking at the roots with their spears. Astrid waves a hand and more roots erupt from the ground, wrapping around everyone in the group, leaving only their heads exposed. “No trying to escape.”

“Please spare us!” One screams as tears go down his face.

“In Gaia’s name aren’t you supposed to be slavers? I’m sure your victims begged too.” Astrid says as she crosses her arms and looks at the slavers in disbelief.

“We will change! We don’t want to die! We only did this to feed our families!” They yell in return.

Astrid rolls her eyes and more roots erupt from the ground, completely wrapping around their victims. “I’m tired of listening to this drivel, that and I don’t have much longer.” Astrid smiles as the muffled screams of the group of men can be heard, getting louder as the roots squeeze harder. Soon the screams become silenced as blood starts pouring from the roots. The roots then retreat back underground, taking the bodies with them.

Astrid walks back to the camp. “I need to go clean up this mess.” She raises her hands and all the evidence of battle get swallowed up by hundreds of roots. Once she is happy with everything she walks over to the various cages, stopping at one, she has some roots rip the cage open. She bends over and drags Viele from the cage.

“Masssssster?” Viele asks weakly as he opens his eyes.

“You are supposed to be the one to protect her not me.” Astrid says with a scowl on her face.

“You… are not… massssster…” Viele says as he tries to transform into his tree ent form but is still too weak.

“Yes, and no.” Astrid says with a shrug.

“Who…what… are you?” Viele asks as he raises his head. “Where… isssss massssster?”

“She is right here silly snake.” Astrid says as she pats Viele’s head.

“But… what… how?”

“I’m… well… you can say I am a cluster of mana given a purpose by your master’s benefactor… the one who saved her.” Astrid says with a grin. “But do not worry, I am only here temporarily, I was not even supposed to be able to surface like this. I was supposed to be a voice in her head when she needed help with what she will be going through soon.”

“Going through? You… mean… thosssse sssssstrange sssscales? Are… you hurting… masssssster!” Viele lets out a hiss and tries to raise his head threateningly but doesn’t have the strength.

Astrid thumps Viele’s head and chuckles. “Don’t worry, my master won’t hurt her in any way shape or form. She just had to pay a price to live, and to make sure that her… gift doesn’t end up hurting her I was kind of added as a… temporary guide.” Astrid pauses for a moment watching the exhausted Viele struggle. “Here, let me help you.” Astrid places a hand on Viele’s head and starts to funnel mana to him, reenergizing him.

Viele’s eyes grow wide as he feels his strength return. “What… are… you doing?”

“Funneling you mana, you are her familiar are you not?” Astrid shakes her head. “There, now you know I am not your enemy.”

“You… said… price what… issss… masssstersssss… price…. To pay… please… let me pay…. Instead…” Viele begs, bowing his head in shame.

“No… this is not something that someone like you can do. And the price that she has to pay for this gift is minuscule, many would sacrifice their entire families for this gift.” Astrid says as she chuckles.

“What… issss… the price…” Viele asks, scared.

“Entertain her benefactor… how she does it is her choice. She can burn the world to the ground if she so wishes, or she can become a god!” Astrid pauses for a moment. “Not that I will be around to see it, since the mana that makes up my will would have dissolved way before then.”

“Who… isssss thisssss… benefactor?”

“You know, you are the most talkative snake creature that I have ever met. Well the only snake creature I have ever met. But I guess since you are involved so I might as well tell you, but you have to make me a promise first.” Astrid bends down, moving her face close to Viele’s.

“Yesssss… as long asss… it issss for… massssster.”

“Good, because it is. When your master wakes up, do not tell her anything about what happened here. Just tell her you found this abandoned camp when she wakes up. The only thing she should remember is running to the cave, just make up some story about her getting knocked out and escaping. She isn’t ready mentally for the whole her body was just used to kill off a few people who were attempting to sell her as a sex slave thing. Do you promise?”

“Yessssss…”

Astrid then straitens up. “Your master’s benefactor is an ancient creature from before written history, and due to him well, being him, he ended up getting trapped in a mountain. Oh, and before I forget, he said good job on that transformation in the cave. He really enjoyed the show you put on. And once you become stronger with your master, you should bring her back to the cave for a gift.”

Viele pauses for a moment to ask another question but Astrid raises her hand to stop him.

“No more talking, I have already been out too long. I’m going to lay her down on the back of this cart and remove this choker. After that, she will go back to sleep, when she wakes up she will be back to normal.” Astrid says as she walks away from Viele, deftly jumping onto the back of a near empty cart. She then lays down and grabs the choker. “Oh, and if you want to get revenge for your master and her family, you are running out of time. I highly recommend that you do so, and you never know, it may even save your master in the future.” Astrid then rips the choker off in one swift motion. The moment she does she becomes limp and flops down motionless.

Viele shifts into his tree ent form and walks up to Astrid cautiously, poking her with a barky finger. When Astrid doesn’t move he lets out a sigh and turns around to see the devourer corpses still cooking on the fire. He drools as he walks over, throwing dirt on the fire he quickly puts them out and grabs a chunk of meat off of the closest one. When he brings it to his mouth he hears a weak growl, then a sad howl causing him to look over at a nearby cage. What he sees is the devourer pup howling sadly at him. He looks at the devourer corpses then back at the pup, he walks slowly up to the puppy. When he reaches the cage the puppy quickly runs to the back of the cage, cowering and growling fearfully. Viele then tosses the piece of meat into the cage. The puppy pauses for a moment and carefully walks up to the meat, sniffing it. He then starts howling sadly for several minutes as Viele watches closely. After a bit, he finally stops howling and lays his head on the piece of meat, licking it several times before devouring it.

“Hmmmmm….” Viele thinks about everything he just learned as he looks at the devourer puppy, he lifts up the cage, nearly dropping it as the puppy runs around scared inside the cage. He then puts the cage down beside the two devourer corpses. He grabs two chunks of the meat as the devourer growls angrily at Viele. Viele then tosses a piece of meat into the cage and he quickly eats the other piece of meat. He waits till the devourer puppy stops howling sadly at the meat and eats it. As the puppy eats on the meat Viele sits there and talks to the puppy about his thoughts on the various things that has occurred recently, until the puppy finishes the meat and starts to howl sadly. He then repeats this several times, eating a large portion of the cooked devourer until the devourer puppy refuses to eat anymore. Viele now watches as the devourer puppy cuddles with the cooked piece of meat he just threw into the cage.

“I guessss… I will… sssssee… what all… issss here.” Viele says to the puppy before he stands up, walking around the camp looking inside the various cages. Most of the cages are filled with various elemental birds and rodents but one cage catches his eyes. It’s a slightly larger cage covered in a thick cloth. He throws the cloth back and he jumps back when he sees what is in the cage. It’s a familiar human, one of the men that was with Shawn. Viele is about to open his mouth when the human speaks.

“Please in Gaia’s name don’t hurt me!” The man squeals out as he pushes to the furthest part of the cage.

Viele pauses for a moment, staring at the scared man as he soils himself. “Don’t… worry… how… did you… get here?” Viele asks, trying to fake a smile and look as unthreateningly as possible.

“Wait, no way, are you that tree ent that was with the elf?” The man’s eyes grow wide in disbelief. “Are you here to save me?” He asks excitedly. “Where is your master? Wait where are the slavers? Please hurry and get me out of here so I can meet up with the rest of the Rexdevils.”

“Where… are… Rexdevilssssss?” Viele asks while pretending to try to open the cage.

“They left yesterday soon after we arrived, I was left behind at the camp because Shawn hadn’t returned, is he with you?” The human looks around excitedly.

“He… isssss… taking care of… the ressssst… of ssslaversssss…” Viele lies as he open the cage door.

The man quickly crawls out of the cage. “Thank gaia you came and save me.” The man then hugs Viele and starts to cry. “I thought I was going to become some sex slave for a rich perverted aristocrat.”

“You… don’t… have to… worry… about that…” Viele says as he starts to laugh.

The man steps back, confused by the laugh. “What is that laugh for?”

Both Viele and the human look back at a cage when there is a loud excited barking noise. They see the devourer pup jumping around the cage excitedly, wagging its long black tail.

“You sseem… to be… ssssssmarter… than you look…” Viele says with a smile, he then looks back at the human. “Where… did… Rexdevilssss… go…” Viele asks the human, the smile remaining on his face.

“I am supposed to meet them in this small village north of Flemmington tomorrow. Wait… why do you ask?” The human asks, confused again.

“Nothing… you have… worry about… anymore…” Viele says as he shifts into his dryad form, causing the human to freeze.

“Don’t worry… it will be as painlessssss… asssss… possssible…” Viele says as he slowly walks up to the human.

“What… no… what are you doing?”

“Protecting… my… massssster…” Viele says as his hand shifts into a blade, he then thrusts it into the man’s stomach, pulling the man close with his free hand as the man cries out in anguish. Viele pulls the blade out of the man’s stomach, causing the man to crumple to the ground.

“Why?” The man asks as he coughs up blood.

“Sssssshhhhhh.” Viele raises both of his hands and roots erupt from the ground, wrapping around the dying man. They then drag him into the ground, the hole quickly filling with dirt. Viele then lets out a sigh as the devourer puppy continues to bark excitedly due to the show he just seen. Viele turns to look around the camp more, he walks by the crates of eggs till an enticing smell fills his nostrils. He sniffs each crate till he finds the one the smell is coming from. He opens up the crate and carefully pushes the various eggs to the side till he finds several seeds. He pulls them all out and lays them on top of a nearby crate. He then starts smelling each one, tossing the ones he didn’t want until he finds one that interested him. This seed contained a special creature known as a spore carrier, a small crablike plant creature that is known for the giant mushroom-like appendage growing from its’ back. The appendage allows for the creation of a variety of spores that could cause sleep, strong poisoning, and some were even known to have powerful healing properties. He greedily devours the seed and places the rest back in the crate.

Viele then walks around the camp a little more, attempting to ignore the devourer puppy that is still barking excitedly. He then stops at the sleeping Astrid, staring down at her. “I will… protect… massssster…” He says as he gets up and shambles over to some horses that are tied to the large tree branch. As he is about to grab a few he hears a large amount of metallic footsteps approaching fast. He turns around and runs to the road, getting ready to combat whatever was coming.