Chapter 1: Awakening in Viria

-------------------------------- Serayana's point of view

It certainly was a journey which Serayana Crawgard would never forget, she visited The Royal Capital Rogat, which lies in the North of the country. She took this journey to discover her affinity for magic, like every noble citizen does. She has two affinities, both very great ones, the life affinity, which you need to heal wounds, and the fire affinity, which is mostly used as a weapon.

Serayana was currently riding in her carriage, with a total of 7 guards following her by horse, traveling to a wayside cross which leads into three directions: they were on the way to Medeth, the town of the Crawgard household, which lies south west. The other two directions would be south east where the Bourlean Lake lies and towards the west where Baguda home of the Farnstone household lies.

Her head was leaning at the window of the wooden carriage, her silver hair was untidy, a side effect of the road which was made out of cobblestone, but she did not seem to care. Her rather long and pointed ears, the trademark of the elves, were exposed. Yet they were not as long as a usual elf would have, only about half as long. Half long elven ears meant that she was a half-bred: half elf, half human. Half-Elves look like humans, except their ears, they had a better affinity with magic and a lifespan of over a thousand years. They would grow up like a human until adulthood and then they would just stop aging.

Currently the thin 14-year-old girl seemed to be bored, but there was a tinge of sadness in hear green eyes. 'The eyes of those nobles who looked at me were filled with hatred,' she remembered unwillingly. 'Nothing has changed, even after the demons attacked. If they would sit in a room with a demon and me, they still would only poison my tea...'

The half-elves were frowned upon by the noble families, they regard a crossbreed as a dishonor for their noble blood and thus Serayana grew up rather lonely, as nobody wants to taint their own reputation.

Suddenly the carriage came to a halt and she heard the voice of Guard-Commander Eric, who leads the guards of the household Crawgard. He was 42 years old with brown hair, with a few grey hairs, and was regarded as one of the tallest men in the Kingdom of Aseran boasting 1,87 meters. He had hazelnut brown eyes and an athletic build, which was currently tensed up.

"Stay in your carriage Serayana. I see movement in the woods to our right, Thomas, John protect the back of the carriage."

"Yessir!" said the two guards in unison and promptly carried out their orders.

She heard a vicious howl from outside and stealed a glance outside the window. There she saw beings with black fur, about 2 meters in height. They stood on two legs, yet looked more like a wolf than a man. 'Worgen!' she gasped and it sended her cold shivers up and down her spine.

A lone worgen should not be an issue for 7 guards, but as she looked further outside, she saw a dozen worgen, a whole pack, surrounding the carriage and her guards. Worgen would not stop chasing their prey until they were sated, thus it was for certain that it would be a matter of live and death. They seemed to be thinner than a usual worgen, they  might not have been finding prey in their usual habitat anymore.

'Did something happen in the Untamed South? Beasts usually never leave their natural habitat. Is there something that made them flee?  Asked Serayana herself, burying into her seat to hide from sight. A useless gesture, worgen had a superior sense of smell, but it made her feel safer.

The worgen started their hunt by jumping onto the guards simultaneously, the whole pack outnumbered the guards by far. Serayana saw Eric evading a strike by jumping backwards, he went in low and counterattacked, hitting the worgen's flank. It was a fatal wound, but the worgen seemed not to care, driven by its hunger.

Guard-Commander Eric eyed the situation and saw his guards dying cause the worgen were nearly twice the guards numbers. "Serayana get out of the carriage and follow me! We have to flee!"

As Serayana heard the voice, she was overcome with shock and anextiy. 'Is this already the end?'

She bursted out of the carriage in Erics direction, grabbing the attention of a few worgen. They were not eager to let their prey to flee. Eric saw the worgen and managed to jump infront of Serayana to block the claw of a worgen with his body. Blood gushed over the floor. "Run away, Serayana! I will hold them off!" he managed to shout with pain apperant in his voice. "Don't look back; run!"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

And Serayana did, scaring for her live she ran through the forest, trying to not stumble over roots. She was running faster than she ever did, part of the reason was the adrenaline, the other was that she never had such a good reason to. She heard worgen behind her, but she did not look back. She did not want to look back.

Running until she met a dead end, she stood infront of the Bourlean Lake, her only option was to swim. 'Do it Serayana!' she thought to herself.'You may have never swam before, but now you have to do it!' While she tried to muster the courage she needed she heard the an explosion.

*BOOM* the loudly sound echoed through the whole forest, creating a shockwave which swept Serayana from her feet, she fell.

-------------------------------- Vorlianth's view a few minutes before

Opening his eyes Vorlianth saw an altar with a familiar symbol , on which he is was currently lying.'A chalice? How fitting for the cupbearer,' he mused.

He was trying to move, it felt very alien to him, as he never had the form of a human before. 'Humans usually stand on two legs, why is it so difficult?' he complained, clearly struggeling with aspects of his new body. As he was trying to stand up, he slipped as his body still felt very foreign to him. He stumbled infront of a small pond and saw a human in its reflection. 'Is this me?' he assumed, as he eyed the reflection.

It was a human with golden eyes, not reptilian, just golden. His hair was jetblack like his scales once were, he seemed very athletic with a sculpted face. He also was nude, yet it did not concern him in the least, as a dragon he never wore clothes, so why should he miss them, he thought.

Using his two hands to push himself up, he awkwardly stood up. 'Slow and steady, Vor, slow and steady...' he told himself until he stood on his two legs, feeling proud of his accomplishment. ' Didn't Hebe say the child I have to protect was in trouble?' he realized while he was looking for an exit, clearly caught off guard with the sudden realization.

There was only one way in this cave, which was quite cold and humid. Only a single speck of light illuminates the cave.'This should be my way out of here,' Vorlianth thought as he awkwardly walked towards the light.

After reaching it he saw that he was in a forest, he closed his eyes and listened. He was disappointed to not hear as much as he used to as a dragon.

'Humans truly haven't got a great hearing, I cannot even hear the fishes swimming in that lake to my left...' criticized Vorlianth the human anatomy, looking around to find a clue where the child under his protection was. 'I should make my way through the forest.'

At the same time as he made his way through the forest, he saw a human running from beasts. 'Why is a human running from dogs?' he inquired himself. At this moment one of the 'dogs' noticed the bystander and jumped infront of him.

'Hou? I have never seen a dog standing on two legs, maybe he can talk?' Vorlianth thought to himself, surprised by the standing dog. "Good-... afternoon?" , he said awkwardly, grasping that he did not know the time.

The 'dog' just growled and jumped at him. Vorlianth was so preoccupied with his blunder that he only punched the 'dog' out of pure reflex. Blood and Organs splashed everywhere as his punch connected with the 'dog'.

The now red Vorlianth was surprised: 'He didn't seem too friendly to me, what a shame...' Vorlianth clearly was undisturbed by all the gore that was sticking to him.

He looked at the other dogs and saw that it was a child they were chasing. 'Is that maybe the child I have to protect?' he mused while he gathered mana to use a spell. 'I think a simple explosion should kill the childs persecutors.'

He imagined the explosion in his mind and willed his mana create it.

*BOOM* 'Dragon's shit! I did not want to blow up the whole forest,' Vorlianth thought, this was his third blunder in a few minutes. Not minding the shockwave he walked towards the little human and realized that it was a 'she' and to top it off she was not moving. 'Did I kill her? That would not be a good start to this journey.' he worried as he looked upon her.

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Truly tedious to format this, I really need to get used to it, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.