Chapter two

     The little girl carried me to a hidden glen just outside of the no man's land.

     The little valley was hidden between two mountains and unless someone knew where to look, it would be extremely difficult to find and in this secluded little valley was a surprisingly scenic scene.

     A small charming little cottage was built on the banks an equally small sparkling stream that leisurely meandered through a field of multicolored flowers. Most people would have been enchanted by the picturesque setting which was complete with butterflies and small birds singing their little bird heart's out in obvious joy, but if anything, this scene actually made me suspicious and perplexed.

     This glen was nestled in between two large mountains in such a way that there was no way that there would be enough sunlight for the field of flowers to grow meaning that a powerful human mage took the time to create this field of flowers or one of the fay had decided to bless this area but neither option seemed very likely.

     I might not know much about the humans and the fay because of my self imposed exile but since I lived in the no man's land for so long, it was inevitable for me to come across numerous battles between the two. I know their strength and their weaknesses.

    I knew that if the field was the work of a human mage, then it would severely sap his strength just to maintain this small field. Human mages have very little understanding of life magic and instead focused on the flashy and more destructive branches such as elemental magic. I highly doubt that there was a human mage who would dedicate his entire life to a field of flowers.

     The second option seemed even less likely. If a fay truly gave their blessing to create this field, then that fay would have been forever linked with this land, their life force inextricably linked with the land, nourishing it and being nourished by it in return. The problem with this theory is that the fay are a cohesive bunch. A solitary fay would literally die out of loneliness so how could one of the fay leave the enchanted forest to bond with a piece of land here?

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     This pretty little landscape was a mystery that I couldn't solve and it only got worse when the little girl merrily skipped to the little cottage.

     The cottage was a very simple structure made from smooth rock that could be commonly found on river banks, just common rock that has been worn smooth by the passage of water. The simple thatched roof was made out of carefully arranged straw. There was absolutely nothing strange or conspicuous about the cottage, at least on the outside.

     When we entered, I felt a slight shift and before I knew what had caused it, I was distracted by what I was seeing. Instead of a small room to match the exterior of the cottage, we were in an endlessly vast room with white marble floors with golden veins, endless rows of columns that were actually statues of humans, monsters, fay, and even things I didn't recognize made from the same white marble and the roof being held up by these columns was a strange starry sky with three moons and brilliant rainbows of color randomly flashing in and out of existence.

     The place was so vast that there were no walls as far as I could see and the door we had just entered through was just standing there, alone and unattached to anything else.

     I finally realized what had caused that little shift I had felt; it was dimensional magic, the second most difficult and obscure branch of magic in the world.

     I was wondering who could be responsible for all of this when a hoarse voice suddenly came from the darkness,

     "What did I tell you about leaving this cottage when I am away? Have you started ignoring your poor old grandmother? Do you want your frail old grandmother to die of worry?"