Ollowyn watched his newfound companion as it chomped down on the large tree again. He wasn’t imagining things. This little fluffy snowball was eating solid wood like it was raw and tender meat. The sounds the cracking wood produced made the whole process even more bizarre. But the little guy seemed peaceful enough, even though its bite strength really seemed out of place.

The silver haired boy shrugged and proceeded to cut down more trees while the little white fox continued to work it’s way through the large oak trunk. Ollowyn was a little concerned though. What if the large tree smashed the tiny guy, while it was falling over? Oh, well. There was no way the tiny fox worked ate itself all the way through that giant tree right? So Ollowyn grabbed his axe tightly and went to work.

The sun had already vanished completely when Ollowyn finally gave in to his exhaustion again. He was able to use the technique longer again. Following his master's technique was definitely the right thing to do. The heavy black durak steel axe felt more and more familiar. Ollowyn was slowly getting used to the feeling of swinging it around and he was curious how it would feel to wield it in a real fight.

The touched silver swallow, Thasun’s old sword. No. He would stay true to his way. He was a swordsman, like his master. He looked up at the full moon that had risen over the edge of the mountainside. Thasun was gone. His absence still hurt. Ollowyn grabbed his sword with his left. A deep sadness overcame him, that only lifted when he spotted his little fox friend again. The white fluff ball was curled up inside the mostly eaten tree, clearly sleeping.

The giant oak had been eaten through nearly completely. Did the fox really eat that much wood in one go? That had to be at least twenty times it’s own body weight. If not more. Ollowyn picked up the large wicker basket and filled it with large chunks of wood that were left over from him knocking down trees. Then he carefully picked up the little fox and placed him in the basket.

Satisfied with his day’s work, Ollowyn returned to the village. It was night time already, so he encountered barely anyone. Most of the grown ups were gathering in the local pub, but Ollowyn had been told multiple times that he was not allowed in there yet, only when he got older. He spotted a few teenagers sitting on a rather flat roof of a large house as well, but aside from that and a few chickens that had apparently escaped from somewhere, he didn’t meet anyone on his way to Karthan’s house.

When he knocked against the wooden door with his axe lightly, it was Alissa that opened. She smiled in surprise. “Ollowyn. You wanna eat something? I just finished cooking, but I can make you something too?”

Ollowyn shook his head and stepped into the warm house. “No, thank you. I’m not that hungry. I’m sorry to come by so late, but I wanted to ask Karthan something.”

Alissa closed the door behind him and shoved him towards the dining table. “Nonsense. You gotta eat something.” She sat him down on a chair opposite of Sarafina and went into the kitchen.

The girl was positively happy to see him. “Ollo!” She lifted a large piece of meat from her plate with her fork. It was almost the size of her own head. “Look. All alone!”

Karthan immediately grabbed her hand and shoved the large piece of meat back towards the plate. “Sara, I know you want to show Ollowyn how you can cut the meat all by yourself, but he can see it fine even when it’s on your plate.”

Sarafina pouted visibly for a second, then she grabbed the tiny knife next to her plate and started cutting the meat very slowly. Her fist was clutched tightly around the cutlery and her face reddened in concentration. When she finally managed to cut off a decent sized piece she lifted it with her fork high over her head in Ollowyns direction. “Look!”

Ollowyn smiled. “Well done. All by yourself.”

The girl nodded happily. “Mm!” Then she ate the piece and continued to cut frantically.

“Slowly!” Karthan reminded her as Alissa dropped a plate in front of him.

Ollowyn frowned. “I am really not that hungry, Alissa.”

“Nonsense.” She said, placing a large bowl on top of his plate. A few seconds later it was filled with warm barley soup. “It’s still warm, you better eat it!” She looked at him sternly, but Ollowyn could find warmth in her eyes. Then she sat down next to her husband.

Karthan kissed her briefly before she rested her head against his shoulder.

“Thank you for the meal.” Ollowyn said. He took a big spoon full. Pieces of meat, barley and various vegetables made for a real treat. Greedily he took another spoon full. “That tastes so good. Thank you.”

“Of course. I have the best wife after all.” Karthan exclaimed, kissing his wife on the cheek.

“Ollo. Play?” Sarafina asked, her mouth still full of half chewed meat.

“Later, Sara. First eat up and let him eat too.” Karthan said sternly. “Ollowyn, how is your training going? Marun told me you are getting taught a new technique from Iordai?”

Ollowyn swallowed. The barley soup was soooo good. “Uhm, yeah. The great master taught me your technique. Arrágatâ.”

Karthan raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? Wait… You are using it when you are cutting down trees?”

“Yes. It’s not easy to use though.” Ollowyn said between bites.

“Yeah, no kidding. It tires you out so quickly. You use it all day?!?” Karthan frowned.

Ollowyn shook his head. “No, I use it as often as I can, then rest and repeat. I cut down-” He stopped to think of how the correct number was called again. “Sixty-four? Yes. Sixty-four trees so far. But I am slowly starting to get faster at it.”

Karthan smiled. “Good to see that I could still keep up with you. Seventy trees in three days is doable, even for me. Not sure, if I could do that with only Arrágatâ though.”

Sara raised her large piece of meat in the air again and cheered. “Gatâ!”

“The great master taught me another meditation technique. I can feel that I recover much better with it, but it is hard to use still.” Ollowyn finished the last of his bowl, before he stole the remaining piece of meat off of Sarafina’s plate. She had given up on eating anyway.

She smiled when she realised that they were both finished with their food soon. “Play?”

“Yes, but I have brought something that I wanted to show you first.” Ollowyn raised the wicker basket carefully and opened the lid. The little fox was still curled up and sleeping, although the amount of wood he had put in definitely looked smaller.

Carefully he lifted the tiny white fox out and put him on the dinner table.

Immediately Sara jumped up excitedly and screeched happy. “Foxy! Foxy!”

The white fluffball woke up, seemingly displeased. It only opened one eye, pretending to sleep some more.

“A white fox. It looks odd. Large ears and a very bushy tail. Where did you find it?” Karthan asked.

“It found me. I was just meditating when it came to me. But that isn’t the weird thing.” Ollowyn took another piece of wood out of the basket, about the size of his fist. He gave it to Sarafina. “Here. Give this to him.”

The girl took the piece with both her hands curiously, holding it in front of the cute little fox.

Alissa raised a brow. “What are you doing with this piece of woo-”

But she was interrupted by the tiny white fox biting into it and crushing the wood between its teeth. Within seconds it had devoured the wood out of the hands of Sarafina, before licking the fingers of the chuckling girl and curling up again to sleep. The fox let Sarafina stroke its fur.

Ollowyn relaxed. He had been very careful, just in case the fox was going to do anything to his little girl. He had a feeling that the creature was not as harmless as it looked.

“It eats wood? So it came for you because you were cutting down trees?” Karthan asked curiously.

“Yes, I think so? Do you know what kind of animal this is? I have never seen something like it. That was why I came actually. To find out more.” Ollowyn frowned.

Alissa shook her head. “I never heard of any animal eating wood.” She observed how Sara cuddled her face into the soft fur, the tiny fox licking her face approvingly. Apparently he liked her. “Maybe it is a magical beast?”

Ollowyn frowned. “Magical beast?”

Karthan nodded. “Like dragons. They are rare, but legends say that they appear whenever the world is about to change. Have you ever heard the legend of Zardoz? The titan of Erád Sûl?”

The silver haired boy shook his head. “No.”

“Zardoz is famous for deciding a very important siege in Valuans favour, when they were just an up and coming city state. It's a very, very old story. But Zardoz was also famous for having a companion, that he took everywhere. A Ran´khul. It is a magical beast, that has the ability to be invisible in the night sky and attack with fireballs.” Karthan explained.

“Fireballs? Like a dragon?” Ollowyn asked. He really would love to see a dragon one day. “You think this fox is also a magical beast?”

“Tha! Tha!” Sarafina said, patting the head of the little fox that had started playing with her hands. Curling around on the table playfully.

“You want to name him, Sara?” Ollowyn asked. But the little girl thought for a few seconds before she repeated her words. “Tha! Thaschun.”

The table got very quiet. Karthan looked sad, while Alissa frowned and concern was written all over her face. “She must have heard you mention the name before Ollowyn.” She said quietly.

Ollowyn had to grin. His master would definitely not like it to have a cute and tiny white fox named after him. That was exactly why it was a good idea. “I don’t know. I like it. Thasun fits.”

Karthan raised a brow. “Does it?”

Sarafina grinned happily while she played with the foxes belly. “Thaschun! Thaschun!” They seemed to get along well.

Then Thasun suddenly stopped reacting and turned back on its stomach. Sara looked confused on the sudden end of their happy playtime. Then the little fox puked. Or at least it looked like it did.

“Urgh, hairball?” Alissa said with a disgusted face. “Our old cat used to do that so often. Ollo, get it off the table if it-” But what she saw made her pause.

Thasun did not cough up a hairball. It was a marble that shimmered like a darkening night sky, dark blue and black, with a very intriguing and shifting wooden brown pattern. The little white fox nudged the marble towards Sarafina, raising its tail.

Or rather it’s two tails. Ollowyn had seen that happen before. “Looks like you are right Karthan. This looks like it really is a magical beast.”

The fox yawned and curled back up again, while the girl picked up the marble. Karthan looked ready to pounce on anything that happened, now more attentive than ever. Ollowyn was ready as well. Everything seemed calm, but he had never seen magic happen before so he prefered being careful.

Sarafina started laughing. “Warm. Tiggles.” She held the marble in her right hand while her left touched the table.

Immediately twigs started to sprout out of the table, as the dead wood came to life. Dozens of plants took root, not only saplings, even a large variety of flowers and in all colors grew out of the saplings. Plants that were very much different from each other grew on top of each other, fusing themselves to a new plant entirely.

Sarafina was cheering happily, casting magic like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Karthan, Ollowyn and Alissa sat there baffled, contemplating what this meant.

The first human to cast magic in over a hundred years… was born.