My stomach hurts. Not only from the core muscles, but my insides as well. Luckily blood from me I can control not to fall so I don’t have to worry about it, but it still hurts me, which is, figuratively and literally, a pain.

However much it hurts is nothing compared to the constant knowledge I can’t get to sleep. You see, I had woken up in the middle of the night, cramps wrecking my body, ruining my plan of falling to sleep as I can never get comfortable. However, in order to distract myself, I started to think of a story my Mum used to tell me before she died.

I imagine her stroking my hair as she sits on my bed as I curl up next to her. “Long, long ago, an old man looked out his window.” She started, and I listened intently. “The man lived in a cabin by the woods. One day, he saw a light in the forest. Out of boredom, he went up to it, curious as to what it possibly could be. It seemed to look like a lantern's light, and he followed it in his eagerness and fascination. As he traversed the forest in the dead of night, only the light of the moon leading his way, many animals tried to scare him, but with a sense of adventure, he continued.

The man was a fine adventurer in his youth, but now he was old, he had settled down, and he hated that, with all his heart. So, to see more clearly, he followed the most moonlit path, the safest one as a fog encroached. As he kept walking, he stumbled across the light he had seen. It was a lantern, the cloak draping over the handle on the lantern and their hand, making it unable to be seen, as the face was also covered by this black cloak, and feet were swallowed up by the longess of the fabric that touched the forest floor. The man stared at the humanoid cloak in curiosity, it was something unique, a miracle maybe.

The cloaked figure turns, and walks slowly into the mist. The man, still curious, follows this humanoid cloak, wondering where it was leading him through the fog.

Slowly the fog got denser, and the man could no longer see anything but the lantern and the cloak holding it, so he hurried after them, afraid to get lost in the dense fog.

Soon they came across an old ruin. There was a door, as tall as the cloak, which was about 2 and a half times taller than the old man. The rectangular door was made out of old stone, however the top right had crumbled away, clearly it was very old, as the steps all around the door had moss and vines growing all over them, and they were worn and broken. However, as soon as the cloaked figure stepped onto the door area, the whole area shone with a bright light, and the old man flinched, covering his eyes in the beaming light.

As he opened his eyes, he gasped as he saw the changes that were made. The fog still swirled around them, ever present as always, but the old steps had been renewed, reformed to their former glory. It was amazing. The once broken and vine covered stone door was now fixed, with an actual wooden door and hinges making it swing open as the cloaked figure went up the now pristine stone steps to the door. The door was… weird. It showed a place the man would love to be, a field of flowers, with a simple hut and sheep roaming the hills. He could imagine a wonderful life there, maybe even with some adventure but he was cautious.

He looked up at the cloaked figure carefully. “Oh cloaked one, I would be honoured to know why you have shown me your amazing power?” He asked, knowing that acting like this was just a precaution, as someone who can renew something like that, and reform it to its former glory was someone insanely powerful. The figure looked at him.

“I am.. the Lightbearer, the one who leads those to a place they need to go.” A voice came from the cloaked figure, their lantern held halfway up the door. The voice sounded… timid? It was quiet, sure, but the old man didn't think it was timid, more, it was like someone who was apathetic, yet caring, someone who didn't know how to express themselves fully as they don't talk much. “The Lightbearer.” Said the old man, muttering to himself. “I've never heard of you, mind explaining everything to me?” He knew it was a risk doing something like this, but he still did it, wanting answers.

The Lightbearer looked at the man. “Of course.” It said hesitantly. “I am the Lightbearer, my lantern and door leads souls lost to realms they belong in from the ones they got lost in, and help them through their journeys if I deem it possible. I am the one thing that can travel dimensions, aside from some other… entities, like me.” The cloak struggled to find words to describe the people he was talking about, but then just settled on entities. “I…” The Lightbearer thinks for a bit before saying. “I also save those who have been stolen by other entities.” It adds.

“This.” It looks to the door. “Is your right place. But you have a choice. Follow the lantern to a new land of mystery and adventure, or you can stay here, and live your life normally as you would've before you met me.” The old man knew it was a hard choice, and even though it was hard, he knew what he wanted. walking up to the door, he bowed to the Lightbearer in thanks. “I shall follow thy lantern.” The words popped into his head, and he said them out loud. The figure nodded, and, putting his lantern through the portal first, he led the old man to his realm of dreams.”

Younger Dalyva looked up at her mother. “What happened then?” she asked, insanely curious. Her mother chuckles. “The old man lived happily in that realm, and took care of his sheep with a newfound purpose, even adopting a son to take care of the sheep when he was gone from the nearby village.”

The younger version of Dalyva looks up at her mother with fascination. I’m then woken up and am in my bed. I can hear Taegan and Shankhe making brekkie, and get up with a groan, all my muscles protesting and killing me as I get up.

With a yawn I walk out of the tent. As I look at the boys, I see them just sitting on the ground as they look at the campfire that's currently cooking the congee. I walk over to them and sit down. “Hey.” I say in a croaky, hoarse voice- my usual morning voice. They both look up at me. “Hey.” They both reply. “What were you talking about?” I ask as I glance at the congee, slowly absorbing the water. “Just about some stories.” Replies Taegan to my question, and I look at him. “Oh, really? Which one?” He quickly replies. “Paktuto.” he says, but then looks guilty. “But we can't remember the whole story. Do you, Dalyva?” He asks, and I nod.

I know it, I had to write a whole essay on it at the academy. “Yeah, of course I know it. Do you want me to tell you?” Both of them nod eagerly. “Yeah, that’d be great!” Exclaims Shankhe.“Please?” He adds quietly.

I take a deep breath, and then start to tell. “After The Endless War of Fire took place, Paktuto, the firebird of the realm, came down to Jesva. (The name of their world.) Paktuto blessed the nobles with a fire that would heal all ailments, wanting the nobles to share it with the commoners of the land, who he had intended it for as he saw their wounds from the war. however, they didn't share it, and hogged it for those who were rich and wealthy. Though Paktuto didnt do anything, as he wanted to let nature run its course.

“My.” Said an old friend as he sat down opposite the god. “How times are changing, yet you grow not a day older, my patron.” The old man chuckled. He was the one who had stopped the Endless War, blessed by Paktuto- Garuma. “I see there is heart among the common folk. Don’t worry, your flame shall be in good hands soon.” He reassured his patron, sword at his hip as he sipped at the drink in front of him. And, yes, there was one to help. Doudou was an orphan, his mother killed by a noble when he was young and his father by the war. He hated the nobles, and hated seeing them hog Paktuto’s gift. He came up with a great plan, entering the royal palace as a servant boy, earning their trust, and then stealing the heart of Patuto’s flame.

Patuto means firebird, because before Paktuto became a god, he was just a mere bird, but seeing draconian and orc adventurers gathering around a flame and being happy, he wished to become a bird of flame, and that he did, so he could make people laugh and smile in the face of a flame.

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Now back to young Doudou, he had succeeded, and managed to steal the heart, and with the help of an uprising of commoners, escaped to be known as ‘Paktuto’s Flamekeeper.’ He was honoured, and constantly travelled from town to town, healing ailments and injuries. Paktuto was confused, so he came down in the body of an old man, and went up to Dou.

“Young one.” He says, hobbling on one foot, his other had gone from the war in this visage. “Yes, senior of the war?” Doudou says politely. The old man chuckles. “Such formalities are not needed. But tell me, Paktuto gave the nobles the flame, yet they didn't share it, but you, a street rat, did. Why, may I ask?” He says, and the boy grins. “Well, Paktuto gave us a gift, right?We shouldn’t waste this gift of our god, because we never know when the flame will burn out.” The old man nodded happily. “Blessings of Paktuto on you, young man.” He said, and meant it, as just days later a crest appeared on the back of his hand. He was blessed by Paktuto.”

I groan as I finish, the boys pulled out of their trance, and enrapturement. “Hey, why don’t we play kingdoms of Jesva?” Says Shankhe as he sits up from where he was laying as I told the story. Kingdoms of Jesva was everyone having to sing all the kingdom's names, but then the other players have a kingdom in mind, and once they say that kingdom, the person has to say who, what and where.

”Okay.” I agree, knowing I'll be good at it. Taegan went first, singing it as that's how everyone is taught the kingdoms, by saying their area name and then the kingdom's names. For Mara however, because the kingdoms are Mara-Ni or Mara-Ko, you just say the added bit, so it actually can be sung. “Mara; Ko, Ni, Ae. Wandé; Satoka, Paktu.Tingari; Surawa, Tekoto, Esoa. Shafka; Shirono, Shitaki. Dejenu; Sotaka, Arukdé, Daruden.” I was the one to say the kingdom. “Mara-Ae” i say, (Pronounced eye for Ae. Mara is just m-ah-r-ah.) Taegan thought, before saying. “Isn’t it near the… northern eye of the dragon skull…” He trails off, unable to think of what it is known for.

“Isn’t it the boat community and traders…?” Racking his brain, he nods after a couple seconds. “Yeah, it's the Kingdom of the Eye, and primarily a traders kingdom!” I smile. “Yep, that's it!” Shankhe looks over to us, clearly very bored. “Don’t you think we should be doing another trial room?” He asks. “Yeah, we probably should.” Answers Taegan.

“What one?” I ask as I start to force down the dull gruel that is grain congee, as it’s finished cooking. “Do we have anything to make this stuff bearable?” Whines Shankhe as he slowly eats his congee.

Taegan pulls over the dimensional bag and looks in it. “Well, there’s a little dried herb mix.” He tosses the bottle to Shankhe, who promptly tosses some into his spoonful congee. I watch with caution as he scoops it up and tastes it. His face scrunched into disgust, but not wasting it he swallowed it reluctantly.“Nope.” He says. “That isn’t good.” We finish our congee, and then I bring out my notebook. “Here.” I say. “Which one do we want to do?” We all look at the notebook, and then as we do, Taegan points to one. “The Gatherer trial would be an easy one, why don’t we do that?” He says, and I nod in agreement. “Yeah, it sounds like one of the easier ones that we could do, so let's do that.” We walk up to its door, the symbol is a clump of grass.

I slowly open the door, and we head inside. I gasp in amazement. “Wow!” I exclaimed. “It's huge!” I look around the space. A whole plain spread in front of me, with a forest down the back, and no end in sight. However i sigh three seconds after realising that its all purple, or at the very least tinted a light purple.

The boys enter soon, and they look at it with jaws dropped as well. It's an amazing land. “This is way bigger than the other two trial rooms.” Says Shankhe, as he looks around. A stone in front of us says something, so we walk towards it. It has several bags, each labelled with a type of herb or fruit. The engraved writing on the stone says- ‘Gather all the correct herbs, fruit or grains before putting them on the stone here. Once you get it correct, you can leave with your gathered food.’ This sounds like a great time to stock up on some herbs to make the congee taste better! I excitedly grab one of the bags, and turn it around to see the label.

The boys do as well, and I start by saying mine out loud. “Wheat!” I say excitedly, as that means we can finally make something decent like bread or something. “Hey, mine says some Appa seeds and Appa fruit.” I grin. Appas are a red fruit that's really sweet, delicious and a great snack that you can use in everything! (Appa is sort of a red mango, with it shaped like a mango, except red. It has the same characteristics, like having a seed in the middle and whatever, it's just red.)

Then Taegan reads out his bags. “Mine says to gather Tor.” Tor is a type of grass, edible yes, and the replacement of sugarcane in areas where water isn't as abundant. “That's amazing!” I say happily. “This means we may be able to bake stuff!” I'm really excited now, and am just rearing to go collect some ingredients. Shankhe looks at the last bag, and then looks at me. “Isn't that bag yours?” He asks. “Yeah, but I don't want to get my hopes up too much and then be disappointed when I don't get something good.” He shrugs. “It can't be that bad, we’ve already gone through all the others, why don't you just pick it up and look at it.” Finally, I reach my hand out and pick up the bag, a multitude of emotions swirling within me, nervousness, excitement…. I turn over the bag, it says to gather wild fucking Bak eggs.

For those who don’t know, Bak eggs have an extremely hard shell, due to Baks having a very high calcium rate, but this also means that Baks are extremely aggressive, since they can do anything to get their young back. That's indeed why they're called Baks, because they always get things back that belong to them. However, Baks eggs taste so good that many culinary fans from all over Jesva travel to find these Baks and get their eggs. Baks are maybe 30-40 cm tall, maybe even 50 in the males, with browny green colours to help them blend into the forest floor, however pointless it is in a purple forest area. They live in the hollows of really old trees, and lay their eggs in those hollows on the ground, or in little dens they dig out. Baks also use abandoned wolf dens, and fight the wolves to get them to give up on that den.

“It can’t be that bad.” I say in a mocking voice. “We've already gone through the others, just pick it up and look at it.” The boys can tell I'm mad, and look at me, trying to peek and see what it says. I hold it out to them with an annoyed glare. “Fucking Bak eggs.” i say. They both immediately look sympathetic as they look at me. “Better be good with your halberd.” Says Taegan as he pats me on the back comfortingly. “Sorry.” Says Shankhe, looking guilty. “Why don't we gather everything else, and then we all do the Bak eggs together?” Says Taegan, and we both nod. “Alright, everyone split up and find your ingredients!” He says, as we all walk in different directions.

I soon come across a whole field of wheat, wild and unrestrained. I can tell, as the wheat is growing wildly, has heaps of weeds, and isn't in neat orderly rows like farm wheat would be. I started gathering the heads of the wheat, and that's when I discovered that it was a dimensional bag. I mean, I figured it was, since even one tip of wheat wouldn't fit in there, but whatever. I filled it up really easily, breaking off the seeds part of the wheat, as that's the part that you grind up to make flour.

Gathering heaps, I start to get tired as the fake sun, which I just realised was there, glared down on me. Sweat started pouring down my forehead as the heat started to get to me, and as I tried to put another bit of wheat in, it spat it back out. The bag was full. I look back to where I came from, and start to walk back to the meeting spot. seeing no one else there, since the boys had two bags instead of one. I sat down, thinking to myself about random things as my stomach continued to kill me from the inside out. i really couldn’t wait till i progressed and became a higher level adventurer, because that way my body will slowly turn into mana, and such things such as stomach killers once a month will be gone.

Of course, this is why a lot of girls and women aspire to be adventurers, even just at the second level, because even then it stops the blood, and you don't have to deal with the pain. It’s almost like bragging rights as well, saying you don’t deal with the pain, and you can say this, and many women around you will pay attention and praise you, even more than when a boy gets to the same stage.

I hadn’t even realised I had spaced out until a familiar voice talked to me. “Dalyva.” Said Shankhe, waving his hand in front of me. I quickly snap out of it, and look at him. “Yeah?” I ask. “Taegan’s almost finished, and I'm finished mine, so we two can start looking for the Baks, and Taegan will catch up soon.” He informs me, and I nod. “Okay.” I say, as I get up. We start to walk towards the forest, my anticipation and nervousness colliding inside me. As we approach the edge of the forest, we start to be more on edge, me grabbing my halberd and using it as a walking stick while Shankhe has a hand hovering over his sword, one I know he can draw in a quick second if he wanted to. Okay, not literally one second, but it would be pretty fast.

Suddenly Shankhe draws his sword, blocking an attack I hadn't even realised was coming as I stumble back in surprise. It was a Bak. we must be getting close to their nest. I look around as I hold my halberd in a fighting position, ready for anything. There. I see it, and instantly rush around where Shankhe’s trading blows with the Bak, going straight for its nest. I know full well that Shankhe has my back, and, having absolutely no regard for my wide open back, start crouching down and gathering the eggs, quickly putting the three eggs into the bag, which isn't a dimensional bag, but had anto-break on it, which was just as good, even with their thick shells.

I hear the sound of parrying get closer, and just know that Shankhe is now facing bothe the mum and the dad Bak, so i quickly finish putting them in, and then whirl around, grabbing my halberd and getting into a fighting stance, just as the bigger of the two Baks launches himself at me. Instinctively I raise my halberd, parrying its claws from piercing my chest as I knock it down, gripping my halberd tight and spreading my legs into a more stable position. It flies at me again, and I use the axe part of the halberd to swing as it, and since it was in midair, had no way to block, getting a huge gash on its side. The Bak squawks in pain, but quickly gets up and goes for it again.

Seeing this, I narrowed my eyes in annoyance, before pulling my halberd back, and, using the spear part, tried to stab the pesky land bird. It dodged the strikes, getting ever closer, and that's when I knew I screwed up, and it was now too close to use the axe part of my halberd without it hurting me first, but that's when I remembered what made my specialisation so dangerous. I focus on my mana flowing through me, even in the heat of the fight, seeing the Bak grow ever closer. i focus on the pathways, and my core pool of mana, sending heaps of mana pulsing through the strings leading to the rest of my body.

Strength flowed through me, and I pulled my halberd back, thrusting it forwards with all my power, putting everything into this one strike. In its final moments, I can see how the Bak realised its imminent death, and tried to get out of the way, but I was too quick, and stabbed it through its side and into its chest. it was well and truly dead.