Chapter 3

It was already late in the evening and the sun started to set as Frank was walking down the road with 7 of his fathers guards and 3 servants in their carriages.

Following them was a cart filled with the necessary supplies there were also 2 carriages to carry the people.

They had only just left the city before the gates closed behind them.

Frank had told his fathers men that he had received an order to follow after Yoran his father.

Thus they had rushed to pack all that was necessary for the trip so they could leave before the gates closed.

As Frank saw the sun slowly set he ordered his men to set up camp and prepare for dinner. Because packing had been rushed the supplies still needed to be organized.

They had just gotten out of the woods and the mountains now lay before them, there was a pasture to their right where they put the carriages and cart in a circle around the place where they were going to put a campfire upon which dinner was to be made.

The guards organized themselves for the night-shift and made the sleeping quarters in order by pulling a big canvas between the carriages and the cart to keep the warmth of the campfire inside the circle, though it looked more like a triangle.

Frank went up the mountain a bit further to look around practicing the alphabet with his mana as he went up. It also acted as a way to light up the hillside before him which was becoming less visible by the minute due to the setting sun. The sky and surroundings turned to a pretty evening red which were always followed by rain.

Frank had ordered the guard captain to hide the weapons in the compartment under our benches.

Because bearing weapons openly while going into a potential war-zone is never a good idea.

Another reason was that Frank didn't want the servants to notice that there would be potential danger up ahead.

But for good measure Frank told the guard captain to treat this as a training mission. This wasn't odd as the guards that Frank was able to bring with him were all new recruits which is why they didn't come with Yoran to Jin in the first place.

Frank also installed a mana shield that he had been tinkering with to the 2 carriages and the supply cart. Because Frank had also secretly installed a manashield onto his fathers carriage he was able to rationalize that his father survived the dragoon rider attack.

Frank had set it to activate to repel high velocity projectiles but if a boulder had hit the carriage it wouldn't be able to hold. This was because mana had little to no effect on boulders, or rocks in general, this is also why city walls were such an effective defense against mages and why warfare was still largely wrought with weaponry rather than mana.

After having looked around and not seen any foreseeable danger I headed back to camp. As I went down again I was met by the pleasant mouth-watering smell of stew, I hadn't eaten in a while increasing my saliva production two-fold.

For dinner we had a stew with meatballs wrapped in turkey-bacon. The proteins were good for the muscles and the stew itself did a good job of warming up our bodies.

Shortly after I went to bed, the rest stayed up longer talking about various things like the possibility of war and of course about the grand sage.

20 years ago the grand sage appeared with incredible powers.

The grand sage was born in Joren close to Jagun.

The constant war ravaged the lands that he called his home, he had thus come to hate war.

That is why he sought out a way to end it.

In 30 years time he became world renown for his might and magic; he made it to the palaces of Jin and Jagun and threatened them into signing a peace treaty with Joren. After coming back he was welcomed a hero but when Joren started producing weapons for Jin and Jagun the great sage disappeared.

He did not want to be part of a country that made a living off of other peoples misery.

My father Yoran had told this story many times to his children and his aspirations had been to succeed in bringing peace to Jin and Jagun as well.

Yoran however wasn't a great tactician or talented at warfare but he did what he could to bring peace through diplomacy. So far with little success.

Hearing about the great sage made Frank remember about the stories that he had heard from his father, causing him to tear up but even then not a sound could be heard from him.

With that thought he fell asleep.

It was the middle of the night and Frank had to go pee, probably because of the stew and since he hadn't had an opportunity to do so earlier.

Frank went out of the encampment to the closest bush that he could find which was quite far away. When Frank returned to the encampment ready to go back to bed he noticed a shadow as the fireplace was still somewhat smoldering; someone was running away from the encampment towards the jungle but he wasn't sure about what he had seen.

So Frank went to take a closer look carefully running towards where he had seen the shadow. Due to the darkness and the drowsiness he stumbled a couple times and almost fell once till he got to the place where he had seen someone run.

Frank knelt down to inspect the ground for footprints but it was too dark to see anything. Ready to turn back to the encampment he had an idea; Frank lit up his surroundings with mana to inspect the ground again and what he found surprised him.

It was a footprint but not from a human. It had 4 long tows and it was the size of Franks chest (which isn't that big but still).

It was shaped like the footprint of a giant bird.

Now fully awake Frank spread out his mana to light up a large area in the direction that he had seen someone run to just in time to see the person.

She was right at the forest edge and the sudden burst of light made her turn around and look back and our eyes met.

Her eyes were gleaming red which indicated that she was from the Tamarin clan, the largest clan in the Tamarin jungle.

For the past 20 years only a handful of people had ever seen them since they had secluded themselves in the Tamarin jungle.

Shortly after their eyes met she turned around again and disappeared into the forest.

Where Frank had expected to see an afraid startled look he instead saw a worried face. What would make a Tamarin worry?

Wondering what just happened Frank stood there with his mana still lighting up a large part of the land between him and the forest. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to jump up to which also startled the guard captain who had this shift of the night-watch.

Frank calmed down a bit and realizing what the guard captain meant Frank made the mana light smaller.

Then guard captain the asked;

"what are you doing up so late? and why all that light?"

Then with mana Frank said:

"I saw a person of the running from our encampment and after finding the footprint I lighted up the area to see who it was. It turned out to be someone from the Tamarin clan.".

The guard captain Kees looked at Frank and the mana letters alternately with wide eyes wondering if Frank had had a bad dream or that he was telling the truth but even for a dream this would be too unbelievable.

After a while Kees said:

"regardless of that we'll still need to sleep, we'll look in the morning if we can find out what he was doing here."

Frank replied;

"it was a she"

Kees smiled and said;

"Sure, as if you can see that from this distance. The people of the forest have always been protective of their female counter parts nobody has seen one in centuries."

They then walked back to the encampment. Wondering what this all meant Frank went back to bed and after a long time of thinking and over thinking he fell asleep.

The next morning Frank had overslept, everyone had already woken up and taken down the camp and dried clothes and blankets up in the morning sun because it had rained that night.

Frank was so tired that he hadn't even notice it; even the tent he was sleeping in had been taken down.

Kees had gone to the nearby water stream to find a solution; since Frank wouldn't wake up through any ordinary method he got a bucket of cold water in which he placed Franks feet which sent an immediate chill down Franks spine.

Frank woke up immediately to see many smiling faces.

Frank was quite confused and felt disoriented but when he looked around and saw that the carriages and cart had already been taken to the road he quickly stood up; dried off his feat using his blanket and changed into his socks and boots.

The servants took the bed and Franks belongings that they couldn't yet pack because Frank had been lying on them and brought them to the cart.

Kees looked at me with a big grin on his face and said;

"Your breakfast is waiting for you in the carriage but if we are to catch up to your father we must leave now so I hope you don't mind me waking you up like that."

Rubbing out the sleep from his eyes and yawning Frank simply nodded a bit while walking towards the carriage. Then having gotten rid of the sleepiness I asked Kees with mana letters:

"and what about the Tamarin women? Any sign of what she was doing?"

Kees looked at me with a silly look in his eyes saying;

"we had a night shift all night and none of us saw any Tamarin, let alone a women passing through our encampment but I can provide you with another bucket of cold water to clear up your head because it seems like you're still dreaming."

Kees only dealt with Frank so nonchalantly due to him being something like an uncle to Frank as he had been the guard captain of the Kirkwall's family for many years.

Seeing as everyone had seen what Frank had asked Kees he could see that he wasn't taken serious.

Frank then walked by the place where he had seen the Tamarin run and looked at the ground but saw no footprints. The rain had washed it all away.

Seeing as there was no evidence, no witnesses besides himself Frank decided to let the matter drop since nothing was taken nor was anybody hurt.

Besides, trying to prove that he was right wouldn't gain Frank anything but funny looks. He wasn't socially adept and knowing that he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince others of what he had seen. Especially now that he wasn't able to talk normally. Talking through mana-letters had become easier but it still strained him; especially this early in the morning.

They then continued onwards after packing the last of the belongings.

As Frank was eating his breakfast, it was still an hour or two away from the entrance to the pass where the wounded soldier had said that the battle had been waged and lost.

Arriving at the entrance I was surprised to see that we hadn't met with any boulders nor any resistance.

Frank had expected to have to move the boulders and prepared a bogus story to convince the guards that it wasn't anything serious. But when Frank looked out the window he saw the entrance to the pass but no boulders were blocking the way; nor were there any arrows or bodies.

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Not knowing what to think or say Frank sat back and tried to organize his thoughts.

That's the second time now that he had seen something strange today.

The carriages continued onwards into the pass seeing a couple boulders oddly out of place Frank quickly commanded everyone to stop lighting up the words with mana letters.

After they had stopped, Kees looked at Frank with a look demanding an explanation. Yesterday they had had to hurry to leave as soon as possible but now they stopped after a late start.

I then signaled:

"I want us to enjoy the view of our home country, it may be a long time before we are able to do so again."

Taking it to heart Kees agreed thus we all went out of the carriages and as the others did exactly that, looking back to Altara. The land; our home for which we were making such an arduous journey.

Frank then ran sneakily towards the boulders. The rain had washed away most traces but it could still be clearly seen that the boulders had been dragged and rolled to their current positions.

Frank then started going over the events of the day as he drew closer to the boulders.

Yesterday there was a Tamarin in our encampment, Frank overslept and these boulders were moved.

What if the Tamarin had given us something so that Frank would sleep longer so that they would have enough time to move the boulders while there was rain to wash away their tracks?

It seemed quite plausible but a few problems immediately arose with this conclusion.

Why would they do that?

Frank also wondered how he could possibly explain it while keeping the rest of the story about the wounded soldier and the attack on his fathers escort a secret.

As Frank pondered on this after having checked the boulder he walked back to the cart he then noticed something shining from under the tracks where the boulders had moved.

He knelt down and with his hands he started moving the mud.

From afar Kees looked at him wondering what he was up to now.

Frank quickly discovered that what he had found was a metal inlay-ed door. It wasn't a very big door. It had no hinges and though the door had a clear split in the middle where he supposed it would open up but there were no handles to pull on.

Almost as if the door was made so that it wouldn't be opened.

Not knowing what to do he flashes a quick 'I found something'.

Kees had already started walking towards Frank and as he arrived he asked:

'what did you f...'

he stopped his question when the obvious came into his view.

After quickly examining the door Kees said:

'Well what do ya know, its one of those cursed doors. How did you find it?'

Frank then replied

'I just thought that boulder looked out of place and then I found this under the mud.'

After thinking about something Kees said:

'We better leave this place, they're called cursed doors for a reason. Staying around one of these is never a good thing to do.'

Said Kees as he walked back towards the carriages. As he turns around he sees something in the corner of his eye that catches his attention.

'Dragoons!!!' he yells as he runs to the carriages warning the others.

Frank jolts up from his crouching position from which he had been examining the door and starts preparing mana bolts to fend off the flurry of arrows from the dragoon riders that are coming down from the sky and the mountains.

Frank pulls out the mana shield device from under his cloak and turns it on just in time to block the first couple of arrows and spears that were aimed at him. Kees had reached the carriages having barely dodged the projectiles and started taking out the weapons for the servants while the guards set up their shields above their heads as they were trained to do in case of a dragoon raid. The mana shield of the carriages had also activated and prevented the servants and guards from getting hurt by the surprise attack.

The guards shields were all standard format, big wooden rectangles with obsidian around the edges. They weren't made of metal because metal conducts mana as none of them were mages they wouldn't profit from mana being able to pass through their shields. Mages use metal shields so they can shoot mana at enemies from the relative safety of their shields.

But none of the guards training could have prepared them for what came down the mountain with the dragoon riders. Preceded by a thunderous roar came boulders the size of houses falling and rolling down the mountain. As they rolled down they caught more debris causing an avalanche of debris.

This was the same tactic that the dragoon riders have used to safeguard their homes. They had lived safely in the white tip mountains despite the endless wars that had been waged on their lands.

Kees shouted 'take cover!!!' but it was too late, there were too many rocks and boulders falling down, arrows being shot and there was too little time and no place to take cover from the boulders.

Frank then ran to the boulder that had been pulled away but as he ran over the cursed door the manashield he was carrying reacted to the cursed door opening it causing Frank to fall.

It was not a long drop down, just a couple meters and as soon as the manashield got out of reach of the cursed door it closed automatically.

When he hit the floor the manashield got drained by the floor and it caused a pathway to appear with lights on each side of the path powered by the mana that got drained. Frank looked up to see where he had fallen through but the light didn't reach up that far making it too dark to see the ceiling.

"Now what..." Frank thought to himself.

All alone in a dark cave past a door named 'cursed door' as his family is in need of help. The only people that know that Frank was there were about to die and Frank still had no idea why it was called the "cursed door".

What else could go wrong Frank thought to himself as the lights that lit up the path turned off after flickering for a few seconds.

For some reason Frank then started laughing to himself due to the irony; the agony.

This had become his way to deal with it all.

This was because blaming yourself for misfortunes never works out well neither does being sad and quiet. That too only causes regret; regret for not having bonded with his father while he was still around.

'So much irony, only now that I am truly alone do I want to be around people.' thought Frank.

"All these feelings swirling around my head.. Seriously annoying" Frank thought as he bowed down while gathering up all his strength.

He then let out a roar sending waves of mana swirling everywhere lighting up the hall that he had fallen in, most of the mana got absorbed again and many lights lit up all around him.

This allowed Frank to see that he was in a spherical structure with stairs leading up to the cursed door.

But the stairs were old and rotten and they were covered by roots from the plants above which covered most of what should be the western wall of the sphere.

In the center where Frank stood was a metal raster circular of shape with metal raster pathways leading to the east and to the west. The mana he had sent swirling lit up many lights that were attached to the metal raster. The railing that was attached to the raster had long since rusted away as there was water seeping in through the top ceiling from the rain of last night.

'east or west, where do I go' Frank thought to himself.

'east corresponds with the white-tip mountains and the dragoon riders that tried to kill me and my father and to the west we have the jungle of no return.'

'Not the best of odds' I said with a hoarse voice.

Only after hearing the echo of my own voice did I realize that I had regained my voice again.

Letting go of all that pent up frustration really did help.

Though now that he thought about it, he had just let out a massive roar before. Perhaps Frank hadn't become a complete mute after all, or it had something to do with that door.

"Going east will let me question those dragoon riders perhaps so I can ask what they did to father"

Frank had decided, as he started walking to the east a sound could be heard from one of the metal tables that had fallen to the bottom, the echo carried the sound to Franks ears and said

'welcome what is your name?'

Having regained his voice Frank replied:

'Frank'.

The machine box then replied:

'which race?'

Quite surprised by this question and how a metal box was talking, of course there was that too.

Frank then replied

'can I be any other race but a human?'

After Frank said that the metal box said

'adjusting, do not move'

Suddenly mana of many different colors came from all sides of the room enveloping him.

Frank felt it touching his neck after which he immediately blacked out.

Frank then woke up.

The lights had gone out so he gathered some mana up and lit up the room. What he saw scared him a lot (massive understatement) he had turned into a dragoon rider.

The metal box as if coming alive again due to the mana continued on where it left off;

"Process completed, you are now all races but human;

your interface for switching between races can be found on your right-arm."

"WHAAAAT!!!" Frank yelled as he looked at his right arm.

His arms had grown thick with sharp nails now protruding from his fingertips with green hands.

Frank had also grown to twice his previous height plus due to his increased height his body-mass likewise increased when he moved the metal raster under him made cracking noises then suddenly the entire metal raster that he stood on just fell down into the water.

The cold water had been gathered at the bottom due to the rainfall of the night before and Frank couldn't swim or stand because he hadn't grown accustomed to his new big sluggish body.

Struggling to keep his head above water he splashed around but couldn't keep it up for long. His head was racing to find a way to preserve his life. There was not way that he was going to give up his life without putting up a fight.

Taking a last deep breath Frank went under and looked at his right wrist. There was a bracelet around his wrist so he pushed it but nothing happened.

He pushed it several times until he decided to try mana. But underwater that's a really bad idea.

He received a massive jolt but at least the interface turned on. The jolt forced the air out of his lungs as he pressed 'waterman' on the interface.

Again mana enveloped him and faster than before he turned into a water-man able to breathe underwater through the gills that appeared at the sides of my neck. But the mana that enveloped him caused shocks to hit him knocking him unconscious after he confirmed that he had changed into a waterman.