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The first day of travelling was very uneventful. Unless you can call, Malakir teaching me more about the history of magic and doing the exercises. By this time I could do both things simultaneously, although I have to be very focused when I do it and the slightest bump in the road would cause it to get very unstable. That was an event I did not want to do again, I had to explain to the captain what the sound was and that there was no danger to my life.

The guards were a solid bunch, they were all Warrior ranked while the captain was Guardian ranked. Of course, there were those of Squire rank but those were mainly composed of archers and crossbowmen. The Warrior ranked had swords and axes, while some had hammers and maces. They all wore the same armor with the Rigel insignia of the bird with two heads, six wings and twelve tails.

I believe that the creature was called a Ravenex, a legendary bird said to have been created as a bane of magic. It no longer exists as they were exterminated for their parts to be used as countermeasures against mages. Needless to say some of their parts are still used today, their bones are used in the mint that created the currency of the Rigel kingdom. In this way, only those coins are accepted and no mage can make gold out of lead. Which they did at some point which led to the Ravenex’s extinction.

Nothing of import happened during the day but when it was night, we would all gather in different camp fires and rest.

I sat down with the captain’s group and they were talking about the his adventures.

“So captain, why don’t you tell us about the time you fought against that Chimera?” asked one of the guards.

“I can’t, our master is here,” said the captain. He had black hair, fair skin, and red eyes. He had taken off his armor and you could see the scars as well as the muscles from his leather tunic and pants.

“I want to know!” I ordered.

He sighed and said, “If you wish.”

He grabbed a dry piece of wood that was gathered earlier on and threw it into the fire. The fire crackled as it ate the wood and the captain began his story.

He told us of how he met a Rantoral. A type of flying Chimera. It had four leathery wings, a humanoid torso, two goat legs and an owl head. Rantorals are difficult to fight against because they are skilled in fighting in midair. They would swoop from the air and kick its prey with its goat legs. The speed of the flight and the force of the legs are enough to kill anyone and if it didn’t kill you it would knock you out. You would then be left vulnerable to its pecking and be eaten alive.

It can also use magic. Its main specialty is Wind magic but it can also use Inner magic to disorient its prey. It likes to hunt humans who wander inside mossy caves and it just so happened that the captain was in one.

He was running away from some bandits that had ambushed his group as they were returning back to our castle. Some of them died but most of them returned alive.

The captain fought against the Rantoral with his sword and managed to cut off its left wings. The Rantoral fell down to the ground and used what little magic it had left to try and kill the captain.

The story was exciting as I imagined the fight and struggle with a Chimera. He ended the story by telling us of how he killed the Rantoral by stabbing at its weak spot, the right torso.

A few days passed like this. Malakir teaching me in the morning and stories at night.

It was the third night that we were in our journey and before we started eating there was a mist that flowed towards us.

The guards readied their weapons and the captain made me go back into the carriage saying, “Stay here master.”

I got inside and as soon as I got in, I heard shouts. People were screaming in all sorts of ways. I was frightened at the sheer loudness of it and I could hear the clanging of metal.

I looked out the window of the carriage and I saw dark figures fighting against my guards. There were too many of them. It seemed that for every one of my guards there were two or maybe even three of them.

My guards had a tough time dealing with the assailants that they were forced to surround the carriage. Even though they made themselves smaller, there were still a lot of them. The corpses of some guards that weren’t able to make it were being looted by other assailants.

Suddenly, I felt the carriage shake and the door busted open. There was a skinny black clothed female outside my door as she grabbed me and carried me away.

“Master!” shouted the captain as well as Malakir.

Malakir started to use magic but something stopped him and then I couldn’t feel him anymore.

Some guards surrounded me and the woman but they wouldn’t do anything as they seemed to be afraid of hitting me. I wanted to yell and scream but all I could do was cry.

The woman jumped on top of the carriage and a rain of arrows fell down around us.

The death cries of my guards rang around through my ears as I watched them die in front of me.

Their forms looked like they couldn’t believe what was happening just like I did. I was forced to look at the woman and she said, “This is the price you pay.”

I was led by these figures for hours until we came to what felt like a cave. I was blindfolded by these people and then I felt my body be thrown into a wall. Pain rushed into me as the wall was very rugged.

I heard the clanging of metal as well as a lock being turned and the footsteps disappeared.

I called for Malakir but I couldn’t hear him. I was alone and I couldn’t tell what was happening around me and so I just sat there trying not to cry.

A few hours passed and I fell asleep.

I was woken up by sounds of battle. It sounded the same as when my guards were being killed. I tensed up not since I was unable to tell what was happening around me save for what I heard.

The door opened and my blindfold was removed.

I saw a blonde, fair skinned, red eyed woman. She wore a red and black leather armor. Her hair reached down to her waist and she had a rapier on her right arm.

“Do you want to live?” she asked in a cold voice.

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I nodded.

“Then come with me,” she said as she reached out her left hand.

I grabbed it and she dragged me out of my cage with her. We went through corridors and hallways filled with blood, corpses, battles between the bandits and other people who wore the same thing as this woman.

We stopped at a large rounded room with a black shrine with a Ravenex figure at the top.

“Wait here,” she said as she ran up to the shrine.

She drew back her right arm and stabbed at the point where the Ravenex met the base of the shrine. It was the thinnest point and when her rapier hit it, it cracked and the Ravenex fell down.

She came back to me, grabbed my arm and said, “Come!”

She dragged me out of the cave while I slowly began feeling Malakir again.

Outside, there were wooden carts filled with Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen and Humans. Each carriage was surrounded by at least ten more people who wore the same uniform as the woman.

She led me to one of the remaining unfilled carriages and gently lifted me up to get in.

“You’re safe now,” she said as she made sure that I was inside and went back to the cave.

I was the only one in this cart and I sat near the other end of it. In front of the cart was a black horse with red eyes. It was a Rexar, a species of horse that was built to be strong and fast. They were very hard to raise but if you were able to, you could earn a hefty profit because of their rarity.

There were many more of these horses and I wondered who this group was to be able to have so many of them.

“Master!”

I could finally feel Malakir and I whispered,” What happened?”

“It was the Ravenex Mist. Contact with the mist dispels any magic as well as stops anyone from using magic,” explained Malakir.

“Speaking of Ravenex, I saw a Ravenex shrine inside the cave that they held me in,” I said remembering the shrine.

“A Ravenex Shrine?! Then that would be why. A Ravenex Shrine is a rare item of the past. Having one allows you to be able to create items made from the extinct Ravenex. Creation of the Ravenex mist is easy with it and so long as you were near the shrine, you would be unable to use any magic.”

“I see,” I said, “I guess it’s a good thing that she destroyed the shrine then.”

“She?” asked Malakir.

I then explained to Malakir what happened when I was affected by the mist and the shrine when the cart began filling up with people.

The first one to come in was a boy about my age. He had blonde hair, light brown skin and blue eyes. His hair was short and his clothing was bloodstained. His eyes were dark and seemed to be staring at the distance.

He sat in front of me and I tried to start talking to him but he wouldn’t answer at all.

The cart started moving and I looked around. Our cart was near the end of the procession and we were heading west of the cave.

After a few minutes a large explosion rang through the night. I looked to where I had heard the explosion and saw that it was from the cave. A large column of smoke rose up, signaling the end of the bandits.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry,” said a voice near me.

I turned to look at where the voice came from and saw that it was the boy who said those words.

He was crying and I moved towards him and hugged him. He cried harder and harder through the cart ride until he was too tired to continue.

We slept together in that position and were woken up by the cart stopping.

I stretched my body as everyone else were being led out of the cart.

I looked at the kid and asked, “Are you ok?”

“Yes, thanks,” he said as he rubbed his eyes.

“My name is Zed,” I said reaching out my hands to him.

He looked at me suspiciously and he slowly shook my hands as he said, “My name is Alex.”

“Nice to meet you Alex,” I said.

“Come on!” I said as I dragged him out of the cart when it was our turn.

Outside was a small fort surrounded by a lake with one bridge connecting to it. We were led towards the fort by the people who saved us.

Alex and I walked near the back of the group as I looked at the fort.

It was a small fort reaching up to fifty meters. It was on a small island large enough to fit only the fort leaving a small beach all around it. The walls were old and vines crept around it. The gates were old wood reinforced with iron. There was one tower near the back that was taller than the others.

The inside was a stone courtyard and there was a balcony in front of us with a man. He had short cropped brown hair with fair skin and red eyes. He wore the same red and black leather armor with a gold cape.

He looked down at us and said, “My name is Jardin, leader of the Shadows. Our job is to rescue those who are not protected by justice. You all were captured by the Stone Bandits to be sold for slavery.”

“In this country, slavery is illegal but the king does not do anything about it. This is an injustice! It is our goal to help save you all but we cannot do it alone.”

“We may be many but there are many places that even we cannot reach because we are not enough. This is why I ask if you would join us. Join us and help those who are oppressed, the captured, those who suffer injustice!”

“You all have experienced this injustice and it is only right that you all help those who suffer as well. We will provide you with everything that we can, all we ask is that you help us.”

“Will you join us? Will you help your fellow brethren?” he shouted as he raised both arms high.

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