“Your son is an abomination…” Venu looked up at a scary looking face as an older man stared down at a young Venu. The man spoke to the mother some stern things about Venu.

Venu held onto his mother’s hand.

He could hear his mother’s response, “Well, I won’t let you touch him!”

—

A raging inferno. Wooden homes caved in from the rooves downward. The homes up to the dirt path all around the village burned. Amidst the chaos, a young lost boy looked for his mother.

“Momma,” a young Venu cried out raising his arms looking for his mom in the chaos. Helpless, Venu had barely learned to walk and was now trapped along the edge of their home between two planks.

He buried himself away inside of a corner.

Racing out to his cries, his mother reached out to him as she called out his name… “Venu!”

—

Venu, now ten, studied at home alone. His mother, a water elemental did her best to care for them in their hideaway apart from a nearby village.

“Momma, can I go into town.”

“Venu, you cannot- you must stay hidden,” she replied.

“But why?” he responded.

“Because they wouldn’t understand you…” she replied.

—

“But he’s my friend!” Venu spoke up- a fourteen year old Venu spoke to his mother at their new home.

“You will break ties with that young Canjun now,”

Venu bowed his head down, “yes, mom..”

—

“What is this, Venu!”

“Mom!”

“Where…!” she cried out.

“Mom, where are you!”

“Where did you go, Venu?!”

“Mom..”

“Venu… Venu…” she replied.

He found his mother helpless on the floor, trying to help her.

“…I always knew you were an abomination…” deadpan eyes stared at him from her.

He walked up slowly to the unmoving vessel.

He touched her, but she didn’t moved. He sat in a corner as the lifeless body grew cold.

—

Wake up!

“Wake up…” the touch of fingertips. Sari poked Venu lightly. Even still, her poke seemed to have more impact on Venu and the dragon then a jab from anyone else.

Sari was right next to him staring with worry in her eyes.

Sari had a small cloth against his head,

“You were sweating a lot,” she said, ringing out the cloth. After the dragon’s trials, the group worked their way down to the bottom of the mountain and made a quick makeshift shelter. No one had the energy for much else and everyone conked out. He must have been the last to wake, yesterday’s excursion made him physically drained.

He took notice of Sari for the first time since their excursion last night. She was supposedly an Elf-Canjun hybrid. She had hazel eyes, golden brown hair with a small braid like other Elves, she was quite the pretty little girl. He may have understood why he was called an abomination, but he didn’t understand why she received the same disdain as himself. It seemed like the only thing she knew how to do was love.

“Oh, good,” Elera spoke after a minute, “You’re up…”

Venu took more notice of his surroundings. The rest of the group looked a bit concerned. Elera – if she was- she didn’t show it.

Mika was looking at him from a perch on a middle branch- on lookout perhaps, even though in this area, they were protected by the dragon.

“For one,” she spoke up, “Venu, you never mentioned why you didn’t have a magic.”

“Well, I-” and then he stopped.

Upon noticing him stop – she replied, “Actually, it’s not that important. You do in fact have magic.”

Venu felt that he’d have to get his ears checked.

Venu wasn’t sure what she meant.

“Actually, if I counted properly – it’s appeared at least four times, now…” she spok

The news shocked Venu, “but how?”

“Venu- like Narika here, has a magic that only manifests through enhancement…” she responded.

“I’m not sure if it’s the same, but as of now, we know a couple things about it,” she paused to give the group time to accept the new information.

“As of now, you can enhance others’ magic… and I think that somehow, your magic allows us to clear up confusion to help us find the right path…”

Venu was happy to think that he actually had a magic useful to the group, even though he somewhat doubted it.

“You mean, he isn’t smart?” Mika spoke.

“I’m not saying he’s not smart… I just think his magic allows him to perceive things and he uses his brain to reason through the puzzle.”

“Oh, wow!” Sari responded.

Narika was impressed as well.

“So with that,” she spoke, “maybe we can use that to help us figure out what’s next…”

Narika took charge of the conversation.

“Elera and I are planning to go to Darantis,” he spoke. “Now that your mission is completed…-“

“I want to be stronger!” Mika said.

Venu clarified, “Mika means that to be strong- we have to go to Darantis to train and get stronger,”

Venu inserted, “I wouldn’t mind going with you guys either…”

Venu had never thought about it before, but did that clarification come from his magic?

Sari spoke up, “can I join you guys?”

Narika didn’t even have to think about Sari being eight- It may make things a bit more difficult along the way, trying to protect her- but he would much prefer having her join them rather than be sent to the village. It seemed that the rest of the group echoed his thoughts.

“Of course you’re coming with us,” Venu responded.

Narika initially had planned to return Mika before learning about the situation in the village. After realizing what occurred there- however, he much preferred they all leave.

“Alright then,” Narika responded confidently, “it’s settled. Next stop is…”

“Darantis!” the group shouted.

—

Golden hair, small braid on the side, common to the elven kind: an unassuming figure walked a small pathway through the woods. Drifters were common to these parts. The woods seemed pleasant enough, sun broke through the trees.

However, this part of the wood was ruled by followers of a dark wizard… predators to the elves.

Long ago, before history was recorded and humanity had only just begun, there was a war. Humans warred against humans, Demon-kin, demon possessed humans, began to take charge of the land. To help humanity fight against the demon-kin, select elves voted to give humans magic, the first ‘wizards’.

Unbeknownst to the elves, the progeny of the first wizards also held the same power.

However, as humanity had the tendency to ‘err’ – the offspring of these wizards used their magic for selfish and dark intentions- creating dark wizards.

To increase their mana pool and longevity, dark wizards would drain the elves’ magic. Many abominations occurred due to the workings of ‘dark wizards’.

The lone walking elf was walking into a trap.

Fifty orcs suddenly surrounded him. Orcs were the choice minions of the dark wizard, as they had a special immunity to magic. The elf would have little chance against them.

With their clubs and brute force, the orcs charged towards the lone elf.

The lone elf gave a small smile as he pulled out a slender unassuming sword.

“I was getting bored being cooped up in the castle…” he spoke as he swung his blade “finally some action!”

With flashes of light and unparalleled movement, forty-nine orcs fell within a minute.

The point of the elf’s sword crept up to the last remaining orc.

“Ith can’t beee!”

“Oh, but it is,” the elf smiled.

“Aarock?!” The name meant dread to all the followers of the darkness. “Why are you…?”

“I heard some nasty things were happening in these parts…” he responded he put his blade into his sheath.

“The one and the same,” he spoke, “and if you wish to keep your life, you will guide me to your wizard’s lair…”

—

As light as the mood was earlier, was about how heavy it was now. ‘Darantis’ it seemed would be a month or so away travelling barefoot and it had only been a few hours.

The first hour or so, Narica had carried all of them on his back as the firebird. They made pretty good ground, but he wasn’t really designed for heavy transport and had to take a break shortly afterwards.

The second hour, Elera had managed to make an ice path leading through the woods – they managed to go somewhat far with that method too, however, after Mika ran headfirst into a tree- (Elera was getting tired herself anyway), they decided just to walk.

“I am tired,” Mika spoke.

Narika having been trained by his father to live inside of wilderness was familiar with walking quite often, and a little bit of his father seeped through as he responded, “Suck it up. You’re going to be a knight.”

Mika looked at him and noticed that Narika had an encouraging smile and nodded in assent.

Sari was given rides by one of the three bigger ones. It didn’t hurt that she was only eight and part elf.

“How far away is Darantis?” Elera asked Venu.

“Honestly, I’m not quite sure…” Venu responded… “Before we reach the lush fields that fill darantis, there’s supposedly a forest, a desert, then a flatland plains environment. I think along the way there’s also a river.

He’d been five or six from what he remembered when his mother and he had left.

Narika wondered if it would in fact be months to reach it, considering all that they were bound to go through.

Using the sun, Narika and the group travelled north.

Venu tried testing his magic. Walking along the path, he imagined where all the directions would take them.

He could sense the viable paths and the paths to stay away from, and from there used logic to dictate what would be best for the group. Somehow they travelled without much hindrance.

“We’ll still have to be careful…” Venu spoke.

The further they got from the dragon’s protection, the more threats would come up, “The dark wizard’s kingdom should be nearby…”

“What can you tell us about him?”

“Actually, not much is known at all…” Venu responded, “Only that his kingdom has extended vastly over the past fifty years…”

“Oh, so he’s old?”

“Uh… he probably looks younger than he is…”

From what it sounded like, wizards could live longer lives based on their mana. Wizards had a base mana pool, but could enlargen it via magic artifacts- especially from draining the magic of others. Their life was enhanced by their magic.

In essence, by draining the life force of others, they could extend their own life. Dark wizards lived especially longer lives by draining the life force of ‘elves’.

“You know a lot about wizards…” Narice spoke after listening to Venu’s response.

“My mom was quite…” he paused to look for a word, “cautious… She’d always be worried about the possible threats to us.”

Narice wondered why, but figured it could be a sensitive topic and decided rather to ask about the dark wizard.

“Can you tell us about dark wizards?”

“Dark wizards are those that stray from the path of normal magic. A magic can manifest many ways…” he explained.

“Magic. It manifests in multiple ways- and is generally a means of interacting with a physical world through means not physical. The first beings with ‘magic’ bestowed were elves. Through tapping into an inherent ‘life magic’ they use their physical energy to alter reality. Wizards have the same magical energy as elves, but dark wizards are those who also interact with demonos and use dark magic.

Dark magic generally includes death, manipulation, charms, curses… all would be impossible without demonos… the essense of dark magic itself comes from the workings of demonos in a spiritual plain.”

“I used to study a lot,” Venu said defensively after seeing the strange looks at his vast knowledge from Narika, Mika, and Elera, “Actually,” Venu responded, “How come you know so little? Were you raised without magic? Some of this stuff is common knowledge…”

Narika responded, “Sort of- I come from a faraway land… one where magic is very limited.”

“Hm…” Vineu responded. “Do you come from beyond the great ocean?”

Silence took over the group after small discussions. It seemed that conversation died out when there were hours of constant companionship.

Sari was currently being carried by Elera After her feet had grown tired.

Another dawning and another fire.

——

They learned a bit about Sari and Mika’s upbringing… their father was a hard- worker while Sari’s mother was an elf. Sari was elected sacrifice against her father’s wishes- however, there wasn’t much he was able to do about it. He tried to fight against the village elders with his reasoning- however she was chosen against his wishes. The elfa were in support of Sari becoming the sacrifice- the chiefs only wanted to keep the Elfa happy.

“Sari…” he spoke. “

“Yes, poppa?” already she’d grown accustomed to the demeaning looks of the village. She always walked somewhat behind Mika when she walked amidst the village.

“You are going to be the next sacrifice…”

“Okay Poppa.”

Her father upon noticing her agreeable response to his doomsaying upon her life couldn’t accept it and took matters in his own hands.

“Our father fought for her with everything he had – and in the end- he died.”

The group had already seen the rest. Mika- who’d recently realized his own magic and had been practicing it for fun, suddenly had a purpose for it. He tricked his sister into a dimensional prison – a jewel he kept around his neck – and ran.

He met with the only friend he’d had- Venu. And decided to approach the dragon- at the very worst, he would sacrifice himself to keep Sari safe.

Thankfully- however – it turned out differently.

—-

It turns that Sari did have some magic too. While she wasn’t very

Another day of travel.

The path they travelled seemed to approach darker woods, but somehow, using Venu’s magic- they seemed to avoid any sort of major conflict. The worst they ran into was tripping on rocks in a riverbed and slowly having to wade through it. In retrospect- Elera could have frozen it, but it was more for the excitement then out of necessity that she didn’t.

The third day however was different.

“It seems the dark wizard’s territory is pretty far reaching…” Elera spoke as a thick darkness seemed to take over the area they were in. this time it was Narika’s magic that led them through the direct fog. Somehow he could see through the immediate darkness where the others couldn’t. It seemed to be some sort of spell that covered the other’s eyes.

On the fourth day the fog grew denser.

The group trusted Venu’s judgement getting through to the right path as it had led them through the woods safely so far. However the path suddenly shifted for the group.

“Wouldn’t that go straight towards the Dark Wizard?”

Venu frowned as he attempted to recast his magic with differing purposes.

Shortest path- it pointed him straight towards the thickest fog.

Safest path- it pointed him straight towards the thickest fog.

Simplest path- it pointed him straight towards the thickest fog.

“Let’s follow it,” Elera spoke daringly. The entire group seemed on board. Narice told them to approach with caution.

Perhaps they’d all gotten a little bored of the drudgery.

—-

Aarock looked downward at a group of five as they headed towards the Wizard’s lair.

Hm. I guess this is how the wizard gets his victims to reach him.

In fact they were approaching the clearest path- the landscape itself seemed to lead the group of youths towards the castle in the distance. Before they knew it, it would be too late to turn back.

I may have to step in, he thought as he followed them at a safe distance. Using clarity – he could clearly see through the fog. As if it weren’t there. Sometimes when it was raining, he would look up at the sun as if it were a sun shower- he liked the rain. He didn’t bother holding it back.

From what it looked like a horde of ten or so orcs were approaching and would soon be surrounding them at this part- and they wouldn’t have any way to escape.

—-

“Oh wow!” Mika spoke. In the distance he pointed out a castle. Rather than a dark area. It seemed as if the sun had broken through. The path they were on became an actual walkway and the surrounding foliage seemed lively.

“My magic says to keep walking…” Venu said confusedly, “perhaps we should head towards the castle?”

The group walked towards it. Narika noticed them passing a strange rock on the left and right of the path, like a marker.

As soon as they passed it he sense eyes. He put his hand to his side, unlocking his magic infused sword.

Venu turned his head with his senses. Elera had already made sure to keep Sari in the middle of the group.

Oblivious, Mika and Sari walked along the path pointing out a rock and such.

As soon as the attack came- Narika had already begun to counter the incoming blow with a parry. Venu had been cautious enough to dodge it- however he wasn’t well equipped with a weapon and not the best fighter.

Elera put up a wall of ice from compressing the surrounding air. They grouped up as ten or so orcs surrounded them.

“Hello,” Narika spoke to one of the orcs as he made eye contract. Unlike the one’s he’d met earlier, these seemed intent on harm however. The eyes were blood red, as if possessed by some otherworldly force. Another crash came down and he dodged and whacked him on the neck with the sword.

Three orcs came down intent on capturing Sari it seemed.

This time it seemed, Elera took the challenge. She artfully dodged all of them as she ran up and cut at their legs. Two of them fell as she did a backflip on the third. She ended up wrapped around its neck as it flailed and put her short sword up to its throat.

Noticing Sari looking at her curiously- she changed her tactics instead focused on freezing. She put her hand up to the orc touching it and with as much focus as possible attempted to chill the area. Despite their resistances the orc directly below her seemed to feel the cold and ran about until frozen in place.

“Narice!” she called out, Narice nodded from the two orcs he’d put down and rushed towards her. She then grabbed onto him and the entire landscape surrounding them into a far reaching distance froze in seconds. What had been a sun filled landscape was now was suddenly a cold winter land. The ten orcs around them didn’t have the physical implication of being frozen like the landscape, however, they were all stuck in place, frozen- none the less.

Mika looked at the orc standing directly above him frozen in place curiously. He touched it, and the orc tipped over.

“Hmmm…” a voice came from the trees, “the wizard probably will have seen that and probably is sending his troops now… you’ve already passed the threshold…”

A figure jumped down to them. All of them were combat ready and instantly turned their weapons towards the new threat.