A. N. : I'm an amateur writer and this is the first story I've written, so don't have any high expectations.
Constructive criticisms are welcomed; it'll help me improve after all.
------------------------
The Forest of Asteria holds lots of mysteries. Anomalies in the Forest that cannot be explained are the result from lingering cosmic energy few know. Some say that an object from the stars fell on a barren land hundreds of thousands of years ago, and throughout eons it created a dense forest that devours anyone who voyages inside it.
Massive trees tower in the skies blocks out the sun turning the forest floor into a sea of darkness. Creatures of legends number in great quantities populate the onerous forest. Monsters out of nightmares and creature that can shake the very foundation of the world lurk in the darkness of the Forest. Such dangers can only allow few to traverse the Forest of Asteria.
Many armies have tried to invade the forest to prospect for resources, but the density of the forest prevents them from forming a suitable formation to defend against creatures that on their own, can wipe out a small army. As a result, it has been ignored… by most.
***
The captain of the guards, Tyvollus contemplates about the unusual and unnerving quietness in the forest. His usually calm demeanor was nowhere to be found. His sharp looking eyes darts back and forth to every slightest movement as his group travels through dense trees that blocks out majority of the light.
His group of guards, numbering at 6 including him is escorting Amara, the daughter of the village chief of Mytethnaes.
The group is returning to Mytethnae after they visited a neighboring village, Casaluna which was only half a day of walking distance apart from each other. Amara was visiting her uncle in Casaluna to check on the progress of his research.
Tyvollus looks at Amara, a young looking beautiful female elf, with long mint green hair, dark blue eyes that would rival a sapphire, flawless fair skin, and a body with perfect proportions. She is dressed in a dark blue dress that’s covered by a purple cloak.
He notices her attention was somewhere else. “Lady Amara, please be careful. This forest has been strange lately. ”
“Yes, Sir Tyvollus. I am just curious that’s all,” She snaps back to attention.
Tyvollus looks towards the direction to where Amara was originally looking. It was a small open area surrounded by dense trees, in the middle, was an old large tree stump about 30 meters in circumference and 2 meters tall. The parting of the trees in the open area allows rays of sunlight to bathe the old tree stump that is isolated by the other trees.
He then signals the 5 other guards with him to form a defensive formation. ‘What was the young Lady Amara looking at? I’m quite confident with my sensing skills, yet something got her attention without me noticing it.’ He thought to himself--!!!
Noticing a slight disturbance at the direction Tyvollus was looking at, the guards unsheathe their weapons preparing for anything that may come forth. But nothing came. It was deathly quiet, but they could not sense anything. They waited, and waited.
The unusual noise happened periodically.
It was unnerving for the guards. They were elites that lived for hundreds of years, elves being born of the forest allow them to have a better grasp of their surrounds, they have experienced many things in Forest of Asteria, yet they could not sense anything or anyone that made the slight disturbance. They knew something was there, but they could not sense it.
Amara noticed the guards’ actions and stayed silent. She never in her 82 years with the elite guards has seen such a serious and nervous look on their faces, even during encounters with powerful creatures. ‘What has gotten the elite guards this nervous? Even the time when we encountered a pack of hellhounds, or even during the time we encountered a wandering Nemean Lion did they not act like this. Even though the Nemean Lion just ignored us, such a legendary creature could kill off an army, a Blue ranked creature.’ She thought to herself. Sweat and a worrying expression plaster on her face, but she didn’t ask any questions because she knew that if she did it would only disturb their concentration or alarm whatever was by the tree stump. She quietly waited for what seemed like hours.
“I’ll go and check the source of the commotion.” One of the elite guards slowly moved towards the noise. His eyes were sharp, carefully analysing everything around his surroundings. His posture was like predator moving towards its prey, ready to attack at any time.
***POV ELITE GUARD***
‘I’ve never felt this nervous in my life. I could tell that everyone including the captain was nervous. Why? This is strange. Maybe it’s because I can’t sense this thing. I should be able to sense it. All creatures have mana prints, and I should be able to sense it’s mana with my high sensory skill. My sensing ability should be able to pick up something especially if I know it’s there. Perhaps it was a tree branch that fell. No. I would still be able to sense it. Whatever I’m dealing with must be a master at conceal his presence even after being “revealed”, an archmage?’
Sweat trickled down my forehead as I crept towards the large tree stump where the noise was coming form. My nervousness was there, but it did not affect my quick acting mind and kill-ready form.
I stepped towards the open area. The rays of light gleamed against my armor. Like the rest of the guards and every soldier in Mytethnaes, my body was covered by black leather armor with silver plating that had intricate engravings on the chest, shoulders, forearms, thighs and the shin of my boots. The only thing that differed among us was the insignia that’s placed on our left chest and shoulder which signifies our standings.
The trees surrounding the open area and the tree stump were troublesome. If a surprise attack were to happen I would be a sitting duck. I carefully made my way forward and the entire tree stump eventually came into view. As I got closer to the anomaly, I was able to now faintly sense a strange mana-like energy.
After a while of treading carefully around the tree stump, the back of the tree stump came into view. There I saw what we were afraid of.
***
“Tanithil, what’s wrong!?” Tyvollus shouted worriedly. The elite guard that investigated the strange commotion stood like a statue. Worried looks were on everyone’s faces.
“It’s alright, but you need to come and see this,” at the reply of Tanithil everyone relaxed and sighed in relief, but did not drop their vigilance.
Amara was the first to move. The guards quickly followed and surrounded her making sure that she was safe from harm.
They quickly made their way towards Tanithil. Amara’s eyes sparkled in excitement as she was curious on what he had discovered. She is young and because of this she is constantly getting into trouble; always doing things that would give her father a heart attack every second. This trait of hers earned 6 elite guards to always keep her safe.
“… ”
No one said a word when everyone saw the source of the commotion. Amara’s eyes widen in surprise at what she saw.
****Amara’s father POV****
‘My dear daughter should be returning home today. I just hope that she stays out of trouble.’ I let out a sigh of defeat.
I made plans to go to the barrack today. I needed to check up on the security around our walls and our fighting forces in Legion Three again. Many dangerous creatures have been popping up lately. This is the Forest of Asteria, and although there are many dangerous creatures that reside in this forest, they would normally leave our race, the elves, “alone” or rather, we are just lucky to not encounter them so often.
For thousands of years many elves have made the Forest of Asteria their home. It is quite unknown even to us that the infamous forest welcomes the elven race – or at least not be so hostile towards us. This provided a perfect place for the elven race to make their homes. Other races aside from the fairies are not usually welcomed by the Forest of Asteria; if they were to enter, they would be like magnets that attract monsters. Only powerful beings that could hide their presence would be able to negate that magnetic effect.
As I exited my manor, two guards dressed in fine black leather armor made their way to my sides. Their armors are made out of hellhounds. Hides from hellhounds are extremely hard and resistant to physical and magical attacks. It also has high attributes to fire, death and dark magic.
They are very rare creature on many parts of the world. But they are plenty in this forest. It makes me wonder because they are said to be the protectors of the supernatural; guarding the secrecy of supernatural creatures, or beings, from the world. This forest truly holds lots of mysteries. What are they protecting in this forest? Whatever they’re protecting it must be one of the safest things in the world. I can’t imagine stealing something from a horde of hellhounds. Just looking at it in the eyes a few times can bring certain death by a death curse.
I cleared my prior thoughts and continued towards the northern part of the village where the barrack was located. I was greeted by bows by many villagers as I walked along the streets littered with people.
As I observed my surroundings I couldn’t help but smile at the joyous and friendly atmosphere. I saw group of children playing by the fields near a small creek. Villagers were exchanging friendly chatter. They all greeted me with reverence.
I admired how the village has progressed over the centuries. Not a single person in the village was poor. We all lived wonderful lives for centuries – ever since my father led a group of survivors from one of the elven cities to this place.
Mytethnaes was a beautiful village. It was surrounded by magically enhanced 15 meter tall and 3 meter thick walls. The buildings were made out of strong white stones that were easy on the eyes, lush green vegetation everywhere created an aesthetic contrast to the architect and color of the buildings. It was more like a very small city rather than a village.
After a few minutes of walking had passed, the barrack finally came into view. It was a large building surrounded by a magically reinforced 10 meter tall stone wall that was 2 meters thick. As I entered through a large gate, guards stationed formed their right hand into a fist and placed it on their chest. Inside the walls was a large field meant for training and military use that was 200 meters by 100 meters.
I shifted my gaze towards the training area, the western side of the barrack; many soldiers were sparring with each other in the field. I stopped my tracks when I noticed two distinct pair. One pair of soldiers that were sparring with each other was quite amazing. Their names were Zaos Kearoris and Ryfon Daesatra. Zaos had long blonde hair with sharp facial features. Ryfon had short auburn hair with fierce yet enchanting eyes.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
I observed their fight.
***
The practice ground of the barrack was flooded with explosive sounds from magic and metals colliding with each other as soldiers sparred and trained.
“Hey Zaos, Let’s do a little sparring.”
Zaos let out a sigh and agreed to Ryfon’s statement. They made their way towards the far west of the training ground where few people were located at. Both elves glared at each other.
Zaos created a Water Ball the size of a fist from magic. “Once this Water Ball hits the ground, it will signal the start of our little sparring.”
Ryfon nodded in agreement. Zaos took a deep breath and launched the Water Ball into the air. As the Water Ball was falling the two unsheathed their weapons and stared daggers at each other. After a few seconds the Water Ball broke on impact from the collision of the ground.
Loud booms reverberated around the surroundings followed by surges of powerful air. Zaos and Ryfon were 20 meters apart, but that was covered in one fourth of a second (200mph/300kmh) by Ryfon when launched himself towards Zaos. During Ryfon’s charge, Zaos used his long sword to parry one of the two short swords Ryfon had while dodging the second blade. During this time Ryfon followed up by a series of slashes while moving around Zaos trying to look for any openings. But Zaos stood his ground and blocked every strike Ryfon delivered. Ryfon continued his barrage of strikes trying to overwhelm Zaos. But he could not land a single hit. This did not worry him though. It took a lot more power and energy to block two short swords with a long sword than to strike with two short swords. If he continued this, he would most likely out endure Zaos. But he kept his composed demeanour. The fight was far from over. He knew best how excellent Zaos is in swordsmanship.
The fight caught the attention of everyone in the training area. The surrounding soldiers watched in silence. Most of the spectators were new and had yet to see one of their commanders going what they assumed to be all out. Their eyes widen trying to observe the spectacle before them. They had uneasy eyes because of the unknown elf, but when they realized that some of their superiors in the training area did nothing and just observed the fight, they did not interfere and instead they struggled to observe the two blurring bodies.
The soldiers were at awe by the defence their commander, Zaos, displayed. He was like an immovable fortress with his blade that danced around him while being bombarded by hurricanes of strikes. They were also in astonishment by the unknown elf that was like the embodiment of a tornado.
The fight continued for 40 minutes. Neither of the elves had yet to land a single blow. Everyone in the training area was dumbfounded. They could not believe how long the two elves fought while maintaining the same absurd amount of skill and power.
Zaos started to sweat and breathe heavily, his muscles ached from fatigue. He was getting overwhelmed. He could tell that Ryfon improved since the last time they sparred which was 50 years ago. He knew the difference in strength and experience was now showing. ‘Ryfon did some serious training while he was wandering around the world’. He thought to himself.
After a few more minutes Ryfon stopped his attacks and put some distance between Zaos and himself. Both elves were drenched in sweat and their chest heaved rapidly. But it was clear who won.
Zaos knew he utterly lost. The only reason he was left unscathed was because it was only a sparring session. He could also tell that Ryfon held back and he was only doing it to exercise his skills.
“You’ve improved, Ryfon.” Zaos and Ryfon turned their heads at the direction of the comment.
“Chief Agis.” Zaos bowed. Agis nodded and Zaos took his leave.
“Father, it’s good to see you!” Ryfon had a big smile across his face.
“Likewise,” Agis replied with a stoic expression. But deep inside he was glad he was well.
“I see… How is my sister, Amara?”
“She went to Casaluna to check on my brother’s research. She should be back today. Now, try not to cause any trouble I have to speak to the generals.” Agis prepared to take his leave but stopped when he noticed that Ryfon was going to follow him.
“I won’t cause any trouble.”
******Agis POV*****
It was mid-afternoon when I finally finished the meeting with the Four Generals. The generals had the same report as yesterdays. More monsters have been cited by the walls and in the northern area of the forest. But it was nothing the Legion Three couldn’t handle.
There are 4 legions in our military. Legion One operates inside the village; they number at 100. Legion Two, guards the walls and are excellent in defending; they number at 400. Legion Three operates outside the village to hunt, scout, exterminate and defend; they number at 500. Legion Four is the elites and there are only 50 of them. Each legion has their own general which consists of the Four Generals.
The village’s armed forces are impressive. I would bet that they could hold off on their own against a demon army of the same number – not including Legion Four.
After the meeting I made my way back to my manor with Ryfon and my 2 guard which I don’t really need. Along the way Ryfon told me about his experiences when he was traveling around the world in the past 10 years. But he stopped soon after he started. He said that he’d wait during dinner when Amara will be around.
He’s changed so much. He almost seems like a different person from 50 years ago. His eyes now show a very strong character. If you were to look in his eyes, it would seem like you were looking at someone who has experience true horror and beauty in the world. It’s hard to believe he could change this much in such a short time.
When I think back to the time when he left 50 years ago I wasn’t too happy. Even though he was not my real son, I treated him like he was my own. Curse that old geezer. One of the elders filled his head with things about the world which sparked his curiosity; he wanted to see the world with his own eyes instead of reading it from books and hearing about it from that old geezer. And now, his curiosity and adventurous nature has rubbed off on my dear daughter. At least he visited regularly. But I start worry when he hadn’t visited for an irregularly long time.
When we finally arrived to my manor, I noticed the 6 personal guards of my dear daughter were stationed by the gate. ‘She must be here’.
The 6 elite guards formed their right hand into a fist and placed it on their chest as I neared them. I nodded, and they relaxed their posture. “I hope there weren’t any problems during my dear daughter’s journey.” I noticed something was off.
“Well… we did come across something unexpected.” Tyvollus stepped forward. “But don’t worry no harm befell on Lady Amara.”
“Good,” I answered satisfied. But I did not further question them. I got the impression that my dear daughter would have something to do with that “something unexpected”. And whatever it was, I have the impression that I would soon find out… from her.
“Ryfon?” Tyvollus questioned with a confused face. The 6 elite guards opened their mouth in disbelief.
“It’s good to see you all again.” Ryfon smiled. They have known each other for over a century so I let them be and started toward the entrance of my manor. Ryfon noticed my disappearance.
“Sorry, I need to greet my sister. I’ll talk to everyone later.” Ryfon made his way behind and I opened the entrance to my manor.
After Ryfon and I entered the manor, we were greeted by maids near the entrance with a bow. Some of the maids widen their eyes at the sight of Ryfon. Not because he was handsome, but because of his return; this surprised them.
“Where is my dear daughter?”
One of the maids replied. “Lady Amara is in her room fixing herself after the long travel. Would you like me to get her after she is finished?”
“Yes, do that.” ********
Chapter 3
Agis made my way to the living room and sat on his comfy chair by a big window. Ryfon sat on the couch to the front right of Agis and they waited for Amara in awkward silence.
Agis was the first to break the silence. “I’m surprised you’re not dead yet considering some of the places you went to in your travels that you mentioned to me earlier.”
Ryfon let out a sigh. “I know you’re still mad about my decision and the now long visit, but you knew that I can’t—this place… This place was not for me. I’ve always desired to have something fulfilling and this place could not do fulfil that. I don’t regret my choice; although sometimes I do. But I would not have changed what happened back then given the chance.” Agis noticed a small slightly hidden smile on his face. “And there are still many, many things I have yet experienced.”
“I’m not mad – just upset.” He stared at the floor in front of him then faced him. “I’m just upset. It’s good to see you again, son.”
During their wait, quick and rhythmic thuds could be heard at the direction of the stairs. Ryfon and Agis turned their gazes towards the cheek flushed girl with lime green hair in a white dress that stopped at her knees. Her chest was moving up and down rapidly from the heavy breathing. And she had a big smile on her face.
“Father you’re he—Dear brother!” In an instant she lounged her body for an embrace from her brother. Ryfon put his arms out with a smile.
“Oh, how much I’ve I missed you, my dear sister. And I am truly sorry.” Sniffles and soft sobs could be heard from Amara. Her body shook from the irregular breathing caused by her sobbing.
“Why have you not visited for the past 10 years?” Amara stared directly at Ryfon while still in his arms. Her eyes were filled with tears as she held the rest like a dam, but it looked like it was ready to flood her more so flushed cheeks. She had heard how dangerous it is in some part of the world. When her brother had not visited for his visit that he does every five years, she feared for the worse.
“I’m really sorry. I did not mean to worry you. Things just came up. I’d be happy to tell you the things that had happened over the past 10 years. I think you’ll enjoy.”
Agis had a defeated look. He knew the reason his daughter was so curious and adventurous.
“Oh, and I’ve decided to stay here for a couple years.” Ryfon’s expression visibly darkened as his eyes grew distant.
Agis and Amara immediately noticed this change and was about to comment but decided to not say a word feeling that it would be improper to pry.
To this, Amara struggled to get out of Ryfon’s grasp which left a saddened expression on his face. She then put on a smile that lightened the entire room.
“I have to tell you and father something.”