Many people say many things about Tal of Storms. Some can say that he was a great hero, others a monster.

Foreword of Tallen Elmheart A Biography by Rail Dahnchild

—

“Congratulations,” Underbrook’s voice said in all the student’s minds. “There has been an incident on campus Tigereye has been called upon to help resolve. Make your way to the village to collect the reward, and we will collect you from there later today.”

“Flood,” Rakin cursed. “I don’t want te walk anymore.”

“Are you okay?” Zale asked him, going to his side.

Despite the apparent ease the dwarf had battled the minor earth elementals, his hands and legs were covered in cuts.

“Aye, just exhausted.”

“I’ll catch something to eat,” Doug volunteered, before disappearing into the trees.

Zale and Kole then began preparing a fire to cook whatever Doug caught. Kole had been wholly unfamiliar with the life skills required to survive on the road as an adventurer—having grown up in his subaquatic home with nothing but city nearly up to the boundary—but Zale had been making progress in educating him.

By the time Doug came back with some already-skinned rabbits and something else Kole couldn’t identify without the fur or skin, they had a campfire ready to be lit.

“Shoot,” Zale cursed.

Kole laughed at her childlike curse, earning a challenging glare.

“Sorry, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t bring anything to start a fire with,” she admitted.

“I got it,” Rakin said, coming over with what Kole thought might have been eagerness.

“I figured something out,” he said once he was close.

He knelt down next to the fire pit, closed his eyes, and scrunched his face in focus and strain. Then, in his outstretched palm a small flame appeared, like the flicker of a candle without any taper to support it.

Quickly Rakin stuck his hand into the firepit, and the prepared kindling quickly lit.

“Wow!” Zale said, “You did it! And you didn’t try to kill anyone!”

“Yet,” Rakin said, with a bit of hostility in his voice that Kole didn’t think was a joke.

“With this,” Rakin continued, clutching his amulet, “I can do that much without losing meself. I’ve been working on it with me master all week.”

“Good job,” Kole said, trying to be genuine, but praise was not something with which he was particularly comfortable or practiced.

“Hmmph,” Rakin grunted out what Kole thought was an appreciative one.

Hmmm, maybe I am learning Torcish, Kole thought in jest.

“I’ve been making progress too,” Doug said, as he began to spit the meat. “I can sense when I’m about to teleport. I can’t do anything about it, but knowing it’s coming helps. I was able to hold off that shot, which would have missed if I moved before firing.”

“You seemed to teleport away from an attack,” Kole pointed out. “Was that on purpose?”

Doug began rubbing at the base of his antler, a sign Kole had begun to associate with the demon kin boy being embarrassed.

“No, its just more likely to occur if I’m terrified.”

They talked over their experience as they ate, and once they were ready to go, Rakin tried—and failed—to will the fire to extinguish.

“How are we going to prove to the village that we took care of the elementals?” Doug asked as they were heading out.

“They won’t just believe us?” Zale asked, genuinely surprised.

Doug shook his head solemnly, antlers swaying.

“My people are not trusting of outsiders,” he said, voice tinged with sadness. “We have been wronged and betrayed countless times. My own presence might help, but more likely—if no one recognized my name—they’ll think me some fool adolescent with wanderlust.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“But aren’t ye?” Rakin asked, earning a swat from Zale.

“Ow! Not with yer damned gauntlets!”

“How do they feel about voidlings?” Zale asked Doug, playing with her bracelet.

“I wasn’t going to ask you, but… since you brought it up, it might be best if you used your disguise.”

Zale nodded and activated her disguise bracelet. Kole tried to sense the magic of the item, but for whatever reason he was unable to detect it.

“Why can’t I tell when you use that?” Kole asked Zale.

“It’s enchanted to hide its magical presence,” Zale explained. “Mother got them for infiltration work for herself years ago but found them unreliable. They aren’t detectable, but any place with half an ounce of security has anti-magic fields, and they get disrupted.”

“Will these work?” Rakin asked, interrupting, showing the others some rusty red gems. “They’re heart stones of the elementals.”

“The whats?” Zale asked.

“It’s like a soul stone,” Kole explained. “But from an elemental. They don’t generate Will like a soul stone, but they are used to summon elementals by wizards.”

“Can you learn to do that?” Zale asked.

“Probably not…” Kole began, not really sure how the spells worked but doubting it. “but maybe Rakin can?”

“I don’t know,” Rakin said when all eyes turned to him. “I don’t exactly have a master Stoneweaver I can ask do I?”

“Those should work,” Doug said, interrupting.

Doug claimed to know the way, and everyone followed him down the mountain and into the woods. His ability to navigate the forest was as great as his ability to traverse the city was terrible and in seemingly no time, Kole could smell the scent of burning wood and cookfires.

“Halt!” A voice commanded from ahead.

Kole searched his surroundings but didn’t see who was calling.

“State your purpose.”

“I am Doug Peak, of the Zialrock clan to the east.”

“And your business?”

“My friends and I have dealt with the four minor earth elementals you placed a bounty on.”

What Kole thought was a bush parted up ahead, revealing a group of demon kin with loaded crossbows. They lowered the weapons as the false brush shifted.

“Have you proof?” The voice, a tall purple-skinned demonkin with rams horns asked.

Doug produced the stones Rakin had given him and threw one underhanded at the man, where it landed right before him. He then held the other three up to show the number.

“Hmmm,” the man said, examining the stones. “We thought there were only three. Well, come on in then, and make sure your Illusian friends mind their manners.

He spoke the word “Illusian” with disdain, and made no effort to hide his contempt. Kole didn’t think he could blame the man though. The demonkin had been treated as nothing more than vermin and pests for most of their existence, either being ruled by demons and spent as fodder in their short-lived reigns of terror when summoned to Kaltis, or being hunted out of retribution by the victims of the acts the demons forced them to commit.

The village was small and cleverly hidden. The trees grew thicker as they walked, and the undergrowth with it. They reached a large brambled hedge, and Kole spotted a palisade through the leaves and vines. The thorny hedge opened, and they were led into a forest clearing with a few dozen small cottages and a large central meeting hall. Aside from the fact everyone had horns and their skin varied in hue from red to purple, it looked exactly as Kole would picture a secluded forest village—not that he’d seen any before.

“Wait here,” they were commanded.

A few minutes later the speaker returned with an older demon kin whose horns had broken off near the base.

“Welcome young adventurers,” came his weathered voice. “I have your reward here, but I must ask you to leave immediately after. We are grateful, that you’ve helped us, but it would be best if you didn’t linger.”

Kole didn’t expect this, even with Doug’s warning. He recalled the feeling he’d gotten at helping the people of the dungeon trials, and he had sort of been looking forward to the adoration they’d receive upon completing their first real life quest.

This was far from that. He looked around again, and took in the village. This time he noticed more. The clothes on all the villagers were ragged, the kids all wearing articles too large or too small, and some more patch than original cloth. The walls were spotted with fresh timber in a dozen places where they’d been repaired after recent attacks, and everyone looked tired.

The headman handed Doug the pouch, and he took it mechanically.

“They should keep it,” Kole said, before he realized he was doing so. “We can keep the stones, Amara might find use for them, but they need that coin more than us.”

Doug looked at Kole, and nodded appreciatively, and Zale hummed in approval.

“That’s very generous of you,” the headman said, taking the pouch back and making no attempt to convince Kole otherwise. “But even still, it would be best if you didn’t stick around.”

And so, they left and found a nice clearing to sit and wait for their professors to come and retrieve them.

----------------------------------------

“Well that was a sad sight,” Rakin said, once they’d gotten far from the village. “Is that what yer homes like?”

“No,” Doug answered. “My village was prosperous and isolated. We have stone walls and a strong militia able to keep the monsters of the wilds at bay. This village… I don’t know how it even survives out here. Those elementals were not that tough right?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. They were hardly hardened veterans, but despite this having actually been a life or death experience, Kole had found he hadn’t been that scared.

They talked about their experience a little more in facing the elementals, until Professor Underbrook appeared before them.

“Surprise!” he shouted, and they all fell back at his sudden appearance.

“Oh, I crack myself up,” he said, “Ready to go?”

They collected themselves, and Zale put a hand on Rakin’s shoulder to help him steady his anger. Kole had noticed the dwarf had been a little on edge since creating that small flame, and he was happy to see Zale had taken note as well.

“Great,” Underbrook said, after they’d agreed. “Time to go.’

The professor took a metal rod out from his belt, and held it up in the air before pulling it towards him. As he did so, a door appeared attached to the handle, showing the chamber they’d left through earlier that day.

“In you go, I have some more weird hyena monsters to hunt down.”