Staring at the dead man in front of him Raven decides his gear would look better on him so he starts stripping the gear from the man taking his long sword scabbard and shield as well as his backpack sadly there is no camping gear just another dagger some travel rations and a water skin. The armor is in rough shape and not worth taking besides it looks to small for Raven to wear. Satisfied Raven spits on the corpse of the man who tried to hunt him down kill and rob him as he continues back down the hill towards the river. Deciding that even if they are trying to kill him for no reason its best if he goes with the river towards the human outpost at least from there he may be able to find some one friendly to him to help him out, Perhaps not everyone is an evil cunt in this world there's always that hope right?

Two full days traveling the river and not seeing anyone, eating the travel rations he took off Jim and trying to stay out of sight as much as possible limiting camp fire time to day time only and in the forest. He finally sees something on the horizon as it comes into sight the forest seems to recede from the river bank even more and disappear in the distance leaving Raven walking in the open plains once again with the few scattered boulders the size of houses and hip high grass. He slowly approaches the outpost Surrounded with palisades made of felled trees 2 feet thick and 20 feet tall this place is a fortress with guard towers at the gate and all 4 corners looking at the towers he can see 2 men per tower equipped with what look like cross bows. This place screams death to Ravens senses many small camp fires roar within the camp leaving lots of smoke raising into the sky with the stench of burning meat blowing across the plains. Raven decides getting any closer than a couple miles is a bad idea and keeps his distance seeing if he can find a road or trail that may lead him some where else. As he gets to the other side of the camp he finds that the river leads to a large body of water which could be an ocean judging by the salt smell coming down the wind. In the bay is a large wooden ship bigger than anything Raven even seen on his own world with many small boats ferrying supplies to the outpost. Returning to the front side of the camp at distance he decides there's nothing for him here and maybe he's better off trusting the instinctual pull towards the mountains when he sees the gate open and four wolf riders come riding out at a fair clip towards Ravens general location, as they approach he can hear them argue “ if you don’t want the magic item that's fine boy you stay back at camp and we will take it. We don’t need you to find a lizard in the forest. Go home!” one of the men on a wolf stops some 50 feet away from Raven turns his wolf around as he does Raven knows him as the archer from the previous group the man seems to hesitate turns the wolf back to the group and continues to follow them. Raven Curses under his breath waits for them to pass and retreats back to the forest to hide.

Walking through the forest yet again trying to stay hidden hunted by humans yet again just for existing in the wrong area, he's starting to lose his cool panic, rage and sorrow start to fill his mind. Distracted with his thoughts he doesn’t notice the forest grow quiet around him as he stops through the trees for several minutes till he steps on a branch and the snap is so loud it shakes him from his thoughts. Listening to the surrounding area looking around with wide eyes he finally notices how still and quiet his surroundings are, drawing the longsword and a dagger he keeps looking everywhere when he hears a feminine giggle from behind him “what are you doing out here Mr. Kobold, this isn’t your home in fact you are far far away from your home lands. I think you should go home this place is not meant for your kind.” Spinning around raven looks behind him to see a two foot tall girl with pointy ears and 2 foot wings hovering off the ground in front of him wearing what appears to be a potato sack as a dress. “Who or what are you?” Raven exclaims in shock. “Why I’m a pixie silly, my name is Anna, my questions stand why are you here?” Raven blinks a few times then replies “ I’m Raven I just arrived in the area and am very lost I was hoping to find some civilization to see if they could help me get to know my surroundings and maybe help me survive this area.” Anna laughs and says “ oh silly Kobold these woods will eat some one like you up in a night you should go home quickly the humans have landed in the area and they will kill anything that isn’t like them… even then they tend to kill their own too they are really a nasty bunch.” “Yeah I’ve already run into humans they tried to kill and rob me but thankfully I was able to get away. I just seen a group headed out from their camp though so I think they are still looking for me, is there any way you could help me hide for a while I don’t want to die… again…” the Pixie raises an eye brow to the last comment but doesn’t bring it up again “ we could help you hide for a time but the humans are persistent and will eventually find you, once they do we will not help you any further we are a peaceful people and do not fight.” Raven nods his head “ yes that is fine thank you very much.” Anna waves to a path behind her and beckons Raven to follow her. Raven follows Anna into a small game trail which leads to a small clearing with a massive willow tree in the middle ringed by standing stones with blue carvings on the tips in some unknown language. They approach the tree and as they get closer Raven notices the willow tree has small shelters built on its limbs within the canopy small pixies flying to and fro.

Anna looks over to Raven has he stands in awe of the massive 200 foot tree “this is our binding tree, We pixies are fay and as such are not bound to this realm and can only stay here for a short time, the stones around the tree mark it as part of the fey realm allowing us to stay in this place but if we were to leave the tree for more than a day we would fade back into the fey and be lost to this place again. We ask that you stay away from the stones as they can be temperamental around other races magics.” Raven responds “ how so, I have a ring I found in a cave and the humans think its magical is it going to cause you folks trouble?” Anna floats over and looks at the ring, as Raven raises it up to her it begins to glow lightly white and hum. “Oh my no wonder the humans want you so bad that's not just an magic item that's an artifact” Raven looks to the ring and then to her “whys it glowing when you approach it the only time I see it do that is when a undead bear tried to attack me?” Anna smiles “ don’t worry I’m not undead its because I’m not of this realm so it reacts to the magic tethering us to this place, it should be fine around the tree but don’t go to close to the pillars they could cause some feed back and give you a bit of a shock, wouldn’t want you to become a crispy fried Kobold now would we.” Raven gives the pillars a wary stare then takes a giant step away from the closest one.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

As they stand there another pixie flies down from the tree tops to them this one appears to be a male holding a short bow with a quiver on his back full of arrows. “Anna who is this and why are they here?” “oh relax Dom this is Raven he has asked for our help hiding from the humans for a short time and is hoping to learn more of the area as he's lost and seeking knowledge.” Dom looks Raven up and down “a Kobold huh, haven’t seen many of your kind you tend to stay in the mountains with your dragon protectors. Your lost yet you can see the mountains from the plains and your covered in, what is that purple blood and seem to have a wound to your shoulder. You seem to have had it rough in our lands Anna treat the poor thing, I will talk with the elders and we will decide what to do with you but for now you are welcome to stay with us for a short time at the least, collect yourself eat rest and heal up. I will be back shortly.” Fly back to the trees and out of site. Anna looks to Ravens shoulder she nods her eyes and right hand glow a light green then she lays her hand over the arrow wound on Ravens shoulder as she does the glow spreads around the wound and the pain slowly fades as she removes her hand Raven can see the wound has closed leaving a minor scar in its place. “ Thank you I wasn’t sure what to do about the wound. How did you learn that spell is there anyway to teach me? I feel like that spell would be a must traveling alone out there” Anna sighs “ Our magic isn’t the same as the magic as this realm we draw from the all mothers magic to cast spells she has blessed us with, from what I’m told beings of this place can only cast spells they have learned through ancient scrolls magic items or earned from the gods for deeds related to the god in question.” “Gods? So if I got a spell while traveling it was from a god? I don’t know if I like the sounds of that.” Anna Laughs lightly “its OK its not like they are interfering with you directly its more they have set tasks that if some one does them they will gain favor for that task. Like a chore list of the gods. They some times can be awful but most are actually really good things to do and help a lot and not just help you.” Raven nods and Anna waves him over to a hollow spot in the Willow trees trunk. “You can sleep in here for now sorry if its not that big its where we store items we find in the forest till we decide what to do with them, its empty at the moment and ill have a bed made for you but it wont be ready till tomorrow, I hope you are OK with sleeping on the ground for tonight.” Raven nods “ that's basically what I’ve been doing in the woods anyways my tent was destroyed my first night out there so I’ve been sleeping in the open. Anna frowns “ I’m sorry to hear that ill get a door made for your room as well so you have at least some privacy but again will probably take a day to finish, don’t worry though this place is protected wild life wont come here and outsiders cant see it till they come within the barrier. The stones have a glimmer that covers the tree so outsiders simply cant see it, think of it as a droplet of water around the area bending the image so you cant see it. But its getting late so get some rest we will bring you down some food in a bit but we don’t eat meat so I’m sorry to say all we have to offer is roots and vegetables ” Raven smiles “that's OK too I’ve been stuck on a bread and trail ration diet for the last couple days so something new will be nice. Thank you for everything I don’t know if I would have made it without your help” Anna nods and Raven goes to his room to rest wiped out from the days events.

Waking the next morning Raven looks around his room placing some of his gear around the place to lighten his bag and make it some what more his. Walking out of his hollow he stretches and yawns loudly as the aces stretch out and his bones pop from the rough ground of last nights sleep. Above him he hears Anna’s voice “oh my we defiantly need to get you a bed that sounded horrible are you ok?” Raven gives a satisfied sigh and replies “oh yeah nothing better than a morning stretch to loosen everything back up. Thanks again for allowing me to stay the night.” “No problem Raven I’m glade to have been able to help you, the Elders decided having you here for now at least could be a boon to the village and are allowing you to stay for one month before sending you out to the woods again, but In exchange they ask that you help with daily tasks to earn your keep. We would have let you stay as long as you like but the Humans seem to be in a expanding mood and we may have to move ourselves here shortly and as such cant have some one not of the realm with us when that time comes as it would kill you when we moved.” Anna Replies. Raven bows to Anna to thank her once more they trade a few more pleasantries and Anna tells Raven that the Pixies would like him to go to the forest and collect larger pieces of wood to help their crafters out since Pixies are not physically strong having him bring larger supplies to the tree would help them since they wont have to make the project outside the trees protection and bring it back after its been made to which Raven agrees and heads out to the tree line.

Walking out into the Forest once again Raven feels that this time its different he has a temporary and safe home with people he can talk to that are not trying to kill him but are actively helping him with a smile on his face and pep in his step Raven gets to work. A few hours go by and Raven has stockpiled a large amount of wood in front of his new home logs and sticks mixed lots of dead fall but some he cut with his hatchet a few of the bigger logs he struggled with making Raven wish he had more strength the struggle reminding him of being trapped under the spider his first night sending chills down his spine. Dom flies down to Raven as he admires his pile of wood “Nice work outsider this will keep our crafters busy for a while I've brought you some food and water and some of the crafters will being your door and bed down in a minute they are just getting a few people together to help carry it down.” Raven thanks Dom for the food and he flies away, Raven enters his Hollow and starts eating, after which he begins sharpening his daggers and hatchet. Looking over his gear Raven sees the brass bell that came with his bag when he first arrived and is curious why would a survival pack come with a bell it doesn’t make any sense to Raven so he grabs the bell looks it over and gives it a ring. The bell doesn’t make a sound but there is a silent pulse of pressure that comes out from the bell that makes Ravens head hurt. A few seconds later a system message comes up “Bell of the gods has been used, None of the gods chosen have been detected in range. The use of the bell has alerted others of the chosen that a bell has been used. Beware the chosen may now be looking for you.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>> Chapter End<<<<<<<<<<<<<