Tess

Tess woke up with a splitting headache. She cracked her eyes open, immediately regretting it. Snapping her eyes closed, letting out a groan.

She heard whispering voices, just barely audible, but she could make out some of the words. “Awake… Queen....”

After that she heard the shuffling of feet and the sound of a door opening and closing. A little bit after that, Tess felt a cool cloth placed over her forehead. It provided a little relief to the headache, but not much.

She sat there for a while, the headache slowly fading to a distant pain between her eyes. Just as she felt herself slipping back into sleep, the sound of a door opening echoed through the room and the cloth was taken off her head.

“Leave us,” Tess’s mother said. Tess opened her eyes, looking at her surroundings for the first time.

Two maids scurried out of the room’s door, her mom stood next to her. She wore a worried expression. Tess lay in her bed within her room. It was a rather large round chamber, with red velvet curtains hanging near a window. Daylight streamed through the window, landing on Tess and her bed. A large mahogany armoire stood at one side of the chamber, and next to it an unlit fireplace.

“How are you feeling?” Tess’s mother said, looking down at her. She was a tall and imposing woman, with dark brown hair and oddly soft, green eyes. She had the tell tail signs of an elf, oblong pointed ears, sticking out of her long hair.

Tess thought for a moment, then answered. “I feel okay. What happened?”

The Queen looked down, relief evident on her face. Then her expression turned to that one of slight worry, but happiness.

“You have… bonded with magic,” The Queen said, taking a seat in a wooden stool next to Tess' bed.

For a second, her mind didn't understand what her mother just said, but then it snapped.

“I bonded?” Tess asked her mother, not believing. Her mother nodded solemnly, looking out the window.

The Queen nodded again, “Magic has returned. After two thousand years it has come back. I fear what this means.”

Tess slowly sat up, wincing at a spike of pain between her eyes. She shifted herself from under her red, silk sheets, resting her head and back against the headboard of her bed. Her brows knit together, “Why are you scared? I thought magic returning was a good thing.”

The Queen looked at her daughter, her eyes hardening. “A border Keep was attacked yesterday, by the humans. A messenger appeared only moments after your bonding. He said the keep was attacked by a human using magic to control ‘demons’. Supposedly a human came earlier, blowing a hole in the keep gate. They were just starting to fix that hole up when they were attacked,” She looked down at her hands as if ashamed. “Your… father has declared war upon the humans. He also has put a bounty on the human who attacked the gate and destroyed the keep. The bounty is 100 gold for whoever brings him here, dead or alive.”

Tess sat there, dumbfounded. War? Demons? Bounties? Was her mother crazy?

But when she looked in her mother's eyes, she knew it was no lie. Tess looked up at the ceiling, her head resting against the headboard. It felt like her world had just been turned upside down, ripped in two and then glued together backwards with an extra piece.

“I’m… I fear that some of the evils from the Old World have been reborn,” The Queen spoke again, her gaze drifting back out to the window.

“Evils?” Tess asked, looking at her mother again.

“Yes, I can feel a great and malicious presence headed for Evrite. I can feel many of them, all in the south. The human lands. One has even breached the border and is headed here now. I don't know how I know, but I just do,” She leveled her gaze with Tess, a little fear evident within her green eyes, but they were stern. “My girl, do you remember the tales I used to tell you? Of the monsters, like the undead, and… I dare not say his name, The Dark Swordsman?”

Tess nodded, remembering the story her mother told her when she was nine, when she learned of magic. The Queen had told her about magic, how it used to exist and the many wonderful and evil creatures that used to walk Dragos, their continent. And how it was taken away by an evil man, his name a very sin to say. He had become the embodiment of death, destruction and doom to all religions in this world, the ultimate evil. Her parents called him The Dark Swordsman, because they knew the history, unlike most who only knew him as The Destroyer or The God of Darkness.

“Good, my child. I fear they will be returning, and you must learn to use your new found power. We will start your training tomorrow, for now you are to rest,” Tess’s mother said, stroking Tess’s hair and kissing her lightly on the forehead.

The Queen got up, heading for the door. She looked over her shoulder and smiled gently at her daughter, then closed the door behind her.

After a bit, Tess found her gaze drifting out to the window. It provided a beautiful view of the capital city, Valcrest. Farther out was the plains, and past that, only a smudge on the horizon, was the forest.

Tess mused within her thoughts, ‘Magic is back. That means I and probably others are just learning to use it… I wonder why The Dark Swordsman stole away all the magic, the books never said why. I wonder why he did it.’

Lost

Lost opened the bar and inn’s door. The smell of alcohol filling his nostrils. He was careful this time not to slam the door against the wall, but it didn't do anything. All conversation stopped, the patron’s eyes moving to him. There were even some gasps and screams this time.

‘Deja Vu,’ Lost thought as he walked in, with Fen following closely behind. He closed the door behind them and went to a near, empty table.

He sat down in a crudely carved wooden chair, Fen stood next to him. “Aren’t ya gonna sit, kid?”

“I.. Erm.. Okay,” Fen said fidgeting, taking the other crude wooden chair across from Lost at the round table made from a wooden cart wheel.

Lost looked around from under his hood. A large amount of patrons were paying for their meals and leaving, all darted their eyes every once and awhile in Lost’s direction. All except for 3 heavily armed and armored elves, and 2 townsfolk deep in conversation, had stayed.

Leaning forward, Lost looked at the tiny wolf girl, “So, kid, what do you want to eat?”

She looked up at him, a little annoyance in her expresion for being called kid. She seemed to have gotten over her fear of him, well most of it anyways, right now she looked at him with mixture of awe, fear and annoyance.

A barmaid came over, wearing a lacey dress. She, too, was an elf, like everyone else. “Wha-what can I get y-you?”

“What's there to eat?” Lost asked the scared waitress. She handed him, with a shaking hand, the menu. It was a thick, almost a wooden sheet, piece of paper.

‘Sheesh, how fast does news spread in this town?’ Lost thought, it had only been about ten minutes since his fight with the guards. And now everyone was running in fear from him, at this rate his rapport with the elves would be shot to pieces.

He scanned the paper, looking at a large assortment of drinks and food. He decided on two meals, “Can I have your strongest ale, the beef stew and some fruits, please?”

Looking over to Fen, he handed her the menu. She looked slightly surprised, but quickly scanned the paper, “May I please have some stew with a cup of water?”

The waitress nodded vigorously, writing down their order and taking the menu back. She scurried off quickly, back to the bar where the manger was watching them.

Looking away, Lost focused his glowing gaze back on Fen. She was so tiny and thin, but he knew how powerful she was. That illusion she had sucked him into was very real looking, apart from the people not being able to be touched, everything else was solid. She could be very powerful with proper training.

“Mr. Lost… What did you do… back there?” Fen asked, looking up at him. Her ears were down and her tail swished ever so slightly.

Lost frowned, of course Fen wouldn't be able to see it. “I said not to call me Mr, sir or even ma’am. It's just Lost, kay?”

Fen giggled a little and nodded. She seemed to be loosening up now, not scared of him like before.

“You want to know what I did back there?” Lost said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. “I never left your side.”

Fen looked at him confused, he let out a small laugh. “Remember what I said about stretching shadows?”

She nodded.

He talked to her in a hushed tone, “There was plenty of shadow where you were trapped by the guards, so I concealed myself as soon as we entered it, putting a illusion of myself in my stead. Might I add, it is not easy to control that thing, much less make it talk. But once I dispelled it, making it look like I vanished, I started to use some magic to strengthen my body. I will explain that later, but that's why I didn't show myself for a little bit. I then revealed myself next to you, quickly took out one guard with a punch to the head, another with a kick and the third with another punch to the leg. After that I knocked the captain out with some help from my fire magic.”

Fen looked at him amazed, but Lost didn't really feel like it. He had meditated the whole night away holding onto Fen while she slept. Meditation allowed him to absorb surrounding terra, magic essence, mana, whatever you wanted to call it, and purify and store it. He was upset to learn that even though his body had been- mostly- brought back, his magic capacity had not.

It explained why he felt it leaving him so fast, it was because he didn't have that much in the first place. He knew all the spells from before he died, but most needed more mana than he currently had. Right now he was completely on empty.

“F-fire magic?” Fen asked still looking at him with some awe.

Lost nodded, “Yea, I made a small explosion. It’s barely noticeable, if you listened you would've heard a small pop and seen a quick flash. I must say it packed more punch than I thought it would, I'm just glad I didn't add more oomph to it.”

Lost looked away from Fen, scanning the room again. The three armored elves were looking in Lost and Fen’s direction, but not with hostility, he hoped. Or this might be a repeat of what happened to him before. The two chatting townsfolk were now eating and drinking, from their flushed faces, they were obviously drunk.

The inn and bar was a rectangular room. With the bar in the back, a door in the back of the bar and a staircase next to it. The walls were made of a dark wood, and the floor of stone. A few windows around let in light and some candles were lit. A large, cold, stone fireplace sat in one corner. Most of the tables were round and made of cart wheels. There were some longer rectangle tables with benches, like the one the three heavily armored men were at.

Lost’s attention was snapped towards where two barmaids headed towards them. They put Lost and Fen’s meals on their table, then bowed to Lost and said to call when they were done eating to pay the meal. This, of course, was said with a lot of stuttering. They both quickly went back to the bar.

Fen looked down at her soup and water. She quickly grabbed the wooden spoon and dumped a small spoonful of soup in her mouth. Lost quickly did the same. He let out a sad sigh, as the soup had no flavor. He had completely forgotten that he couldn't taste anything. Fen looked up at him curiously.

He ignored her, and just kept eating his food begrudgingly. He slowly ate his way through the fruit and soup, then he downed his drink. It, of course, too, had no flavor. Fen happily devoured her food as well.

Lost pegged down a waitress and asked for another drink. This of course nearly caused the elven waitress to faint, but she braved through it and came back with another jug of ale.

Fen looked at Lost, a little worried. She probably thought he was going to get himself drunk. He ignored it, knowing that he wouldn't get drunk at all. She finished off her food, and Lost did so a little bit later, taking the last swig of the ale.

Flagging down the waitress again, he asked how much the meal was.

“E-eight coppers, with d-drinks,” She stuttered.

Lost, learning from past mistakes, reached down into his black cloak, felt around for one of the cut purse’s coin bags. He found one, being as it was smaller than his silver one. Lost pulled it out, counting out 10 coppers. He handed them to the barmaid, putting his coin purse away. He had read the menu, next to all the neatly listed foods and drink it said the prices, their meal added up to 10 coppers.

The barmaid looked at the coppers, then tried to hand two of them back to Lost. He waved them away. The waitress backed off and headed back to the bar.

Lost ever so slightly looked out of the corner of his eye at the armored elves. They were still looking at him, expressions neutral. He looked away from them, to the door outside. A billboard next to the door he hadn't noticed caught his attention.

It was made of wood, hanging onto the wall. The board was rather large, but not to much. It was covered in advertisements, news and other papers.

A specific paper caught his attention. Being so close to the door, Lost could read the words imprinted on it clearly.

Attention people of Evrite!

Wanted dead or alive!

This human is wanted for murder and is extremely dangerous. If you capture or kill him successfully, bring him to the city of Valcrest, you will be awarded with 100 gold!

-King Nerofix Hasrio Sander the 68th

Under the notice was a picture of a man wearing a hood, his face concealed in shadow and a sword strapped on his back.

Lost’s eyes widened slightly, he knew he wasn't making friends with the elves, but this was ridiculous. The King wanted his head, but for what?

He tried remembering what he could have done to be wanted dead. There wasn't anything that should get his head pegged by the king. Other than destroying a keep gate, and protecting Fen from the guards. Even so, that news, if ever brought to the king, wouldn't be able to make it to the capital that fast.

Then it hit him, a messenger had escaped from the keep. If the messenger hadn't been there when Lost had requested to see the king, then he would most likely have mistook Lost for the one to attack the Border Keep.

He looked out of the corner of his eye, careful not to shift his hood, at the three armored elves. Sure enough, they were still looking at him. He made a split second decision, he knew that he couldn't stay in this town for long. Not with a bounty on his head from the King. It was also likely that the King had hired bounty hunters or maybe sent some of his soldiers out to hunt Lost.

‘This had better work, or else I swear...’ He thought, looking back to Fen. He knew that he couldn't take them, not without the help of magic. And his stunt earlier had drained all of his magic, now he couldn't even enhance his strength or speed.

He talked in a hushed tone to Fen, who had noticed his agitation. “Okay, kid. I’m gonna explain something to you, I want you to remember it and use it if we get in trouble.”

Fen looked at him quizzically, it was kinda cute. With her head slightly to the side and her white wolf ears tilted to the side. But he ignored it. This was no time to get distracted.

“Good. Don't do it now, but if we get in trouble, do it. You should have enough magic already in you to do it once or twice. I want you to close your eyes, then just think about a kinda, pool right about in your abdomen. Then you should feel, a kind of presence there, like stagnant water. I want you to then think about sending it to your hand, while thinking about a flash of light.”

The little wolf girl looked at him, confused but she seemed to get the gist of it.

Lost nodded, “Alright kid. We are in trouble, don't look, but those three men over there probably want to kill me. So i'm going to act drunk, you lead me outside the door. If they follow us, I want you to try what I just explained to you, okay?”

“O-okay,” She said, obviously afraid.

“Dont worry. You have to trust me, they will probably hurt you, too. But I won't let that happen.” Lost tried to reassure her. He needed her calm, if she freaked out like before then things would only spiral out of control.

She got out of her chair, walking around the table unsurely. “Come.. on, let's go.” Fen said, tugging on the dark fabric of his cloak. Lost got up slowly, pretending to be on unsteady feet and swaying slightly.

Fen kept a tight grip on his cloak, probably out of fear. Lost’s heart rate rose, but he kept himself calm. He knew he was vulnerable right now, without any mana to do spells and he didn't even have that much mana anymore. This would work. He kept swaying, slowly shuffling along the floor after Fen.

They reached the door without problem. Fen pushed it open, tail swishing back and forth, her ears pointed in the direction of the three elves. They had yet to stand up, this may be a good sign.

Lost followed Fen out the door. The sun was just starting to set, coloring everything beautiful red’s, yellow’s and orange’s.

Lost stopped acting like he was drunk, “Okay kid. I think we are okay. You can let go now.”

The little wolf girl looked up at him warily, but she kept her grip on his cloak. Lost sighed, he was starting to feel more and more like a parent. He knew that this wasn't good, because he was not a good person, and would be less as a parent.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go get some traveling supplies and find another inn.” Lost walked down the cobbled street, heading deeper into town. It would seem that he was fine for now, at least he hoped.

They weren't going to stay in this town more than one night, that was for sure.