Elise strolled through the endless expanse of trees. A serene atmosphere characterised the illuminated forest. The trees were spread far enough apart for the warm sunlight to reach the earthen ground.

The sounds of many different animals rippled through the refreshing air. A soft sound nearby startled her, but no monster emerged. Instead, a small brown squirrel ran across the forest floor and climbed up a tree as fast as its own legs could carry it. Elise smiled. It was a novel experience not to run into a monster every five metres. In contrast to the parts of the forest where she had been, this was a peaceful paradise.

However, the peacefulness of the forest only lasted for a few lingering moments. An oppressive silence swept through the forest like a wave at high tide. The young girl quickly realised that something was obviously wrong. The sound of the many animals that had accompanied her on her walk through the forest was no longer there.

It was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Even in the deeper parts of the forest there had been sounds. Now all she could hear was her breathing and her own footsteps.

She stopped and used ‘Sight’. Nothing had changed, this was a normal forest. She had not walked into a mirage conjured up by a monster or a rogue mage. Truth to be told, it was doubtful that she would have taken notice of such a thing even with ‘Sight’. Elise clutched her sword tightly and walked carefully back to where she had entered the forest.

However, a loud sound of something rushing towards her forced her to stop. She could run, yes, but whatever was running towards her sounded small and, judging by its speed, was not necessarily that fast. Turning her back towards a potential enemy was clearly not the recommended course of action. She took a defensive stance and eyed the rustling bushes in the distance.

A small bear cub charged out of the bushes, carrying a bleeding young fox on its back. Elise was no scholar, but as far as she was concerned, such an event was highly unlikely. Bears and foxes, like most carnivores, rarely got along. Most were very territorial animals and would not hesitate to attack what had ventured into their territory.

The cub approached her, but it seemed to have no intention of attacking her. Instead, it bawled miserably. Elise had seen some cats do the same when they wanted to inform their owners about something. Unfortunately, she was not Jacobina and therefore could not talk to animals. Otherwise, she would have quickly realised that the bear cub was trying to get her to run away too. Much to her dismay, she didn't. The bear cub started to run again and disappeared from her sight.

Elise heard a loud screech and one of the biggest wolves she had ever seen rushed out of the woods. Its grey fur was covered in blood and a small rusty sword was stuck in its left side. It noticed her and howled in fear before a fiery bolt struck its side. For a handful of seconds, Elise assumed a mage had attacked the wolf. But the shrill voices that reached her ears were unlike anything she had ever heard. It was clearly a language, but not one she had ever heard.

She spotted a small humanoid being in the distance and saw a small group of other similar beings accompanying the being. Elise quickly took cover and a fiery bolt slammed into the tree she was hidden behind.

"Goblins," was all Elise could think, and she looked up frantically to see if any of these creatures had decided to climb through the canopy to fall on her head. Fortunately, she saw nothing and thus decided to simply run. While turning her back towards a potential enemy was indeed not the recommended course of action, fighting the group of goblins was even more foolish.

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She had no good ability that allowed her to fight from a distance. The goblin shaman could obviously use some sort of magic. It was, unlike the spiders or large wolf, not a demonic beast, but a monster. The only option she had was to run as fast as her legs could carry, leave the forest and hope that the goblins would not follow.

Elise immediately used all the wild spells that she knew. ‘Sight’ to give her an edge and help her spot anything that would try to hide, ‘Spectral Shield’ to block incoming physical attacks, ‘Magic Mirror’ to block incoming magical attacks and lastly ‘Feather Fall’. She doubted that she would fall, however, ‘Feather Fall’ made her body slightly lighter, allowing her to run somewhat faster. ‘Fairy Fire’ was of no use, she could not throw it far enough before the chaotic nature of wild magic forced the spell to disintegrate.

She lunged forward. A hissing sound passed her head and an arrow bored deep into the earthen ground. Elise frowned, she had never fought goblins before. However, the mercenaries had all claimed that most of them were extremely stupid and rarely used weapons. The most common weapon they carried were wooden clubs fashioned by using dead branches. Therefore, a goblin with a bow was quite a rarity.

Two more arrows followed, but the arrows did not make it close. One landed in the trunk of a tree, another flew at least fifteen meters to her left and disappeared into the dense bushes.

Elise continued to run and headed directly towards the edge of the forest, just a few hundred meters, and she would have reached her goal. A pang of unease washed over her. If she continued to run like this, she would lead the goblins directly to the children.

Therefore, Elise decided to move further to the left and leave the forest at another point. The angry shrieking got quieter and quieter until Elise could no longer hear the goblins.

A feeling of lethargy and tiredness overcame her. For while her lungs were working to bring in much-needed oxygen, she felt like she was barely getting any air and was drowning instead. She subsequently decided to take a short break to catch her breath.

Hidden behind one of the larger trees nearby, a sigh escaped from her mouth. Elise had never felt such weakness. The battles with the spiders had ended in her victory, but she just now had realised how much experience she lacked. The physically strongest fighter could not win against inexperience, and, although she was not the physically strongest, this rule also applied to her.

She wondered what the best course of action would have been, what an experienced mercenary would have done to be victorious in battle against these goblins. Killing their obvious leader, the mage, would certainly have been the first objective. But a single mercenary could certainly not fight against a group of monsters and would have fallen victim to the many attacks.

Besides, most of the mercenaries had already figured out what their node did. She had not. Fighting the goblins, especially the shaman, was certainly not possible given her lack of experience and real magic. Just one hit could have pierced her armour or and a spell could have burned her alive.

Elise's gaze wandered over the nearby trees and bushes. She did not spot any goblins and decided to leave the forest. A few steps later, a small trail of blood appeared in front of her. There was no sign of a fight, but she noticed a trail, a trail made by the small paws of, most likely, a bear.

The young girl thought for a few moments before following the trail. She had vowed to find a pet for Jacobina. A bear cub seemed quite appropriate. It would become quite a beast in the future. However, at the moment the bear cub was not so different from the pets that any normal citizen could have. It was a wild animal, but so were birds or snakes, the latter being rather a rarity in these parts of the empire.

Elise began to wonder how much time had passed, maybe twenty to thirty minutes? There was still half an hour left before the others would start to worry. She had a good feeling that she could find the young bear in less than half an hour.