The Endless Forest

The entire village, the various camps around it, and even Zira up in the sky, all collectively felt a tremendous amount of mana rapidly being released. It rushed past every person, causing many to freeze while others simply stumbled. Zira, herself, skipped a wing-beat from the suddenness of it.

She had been flying high over the village, circling, and using her impressive eyesight to find Aluin. However, it was not perfect. Due to her altitude, she could easily see the elves, but making out their details was frustratingly difficult.

Just as she was starting to consider dropping down lower is when it hit her. She recovered quickly and ate some of the mana. There was no doubt, it was Aluin’s.

Zira! Did you–

She cut off Felix, I did. It’s Aluin’s and I'm heading to him now.

Alright… He said distractedly, Zira could tell he was speaking with Eri. She ignored it for now, and focused on the mana around her.

With her unique ability, she was able to follow the trail. She dove, tasting the ambient mana, and adjusted her trajectory. It became clear where it was leading her, to one of the small camps just outside the village.

Much like how they performed earlier that morning, Zira pulled up at the last possible moment and bled all her speed. She came down hard, feeling the ground give way beneath her feet.

Quickly blinking, Zira found herself surrounded by scared and startled elves, most of whom had jumped out of the way. She ignored them and tasted the mana again, Aluin was close.

With a leap, she used her wings to carry herself over the panicked elves before landing in front of a large tent.

“Aluin!” She shouted out frantically.

The tent flap flew open, and an elf stepped out.

“Zira!” Aluin said, looking surprised. He quickly developed a frown. “I thought I told you that I would handle this. There’s no reason for you to be here.”

She let out a relieved snort. “Me and Felix were…concerned.”

“I appreciate the concern, but as I promised, the situation has been… Dealt with.” His frown turned serious.

Curious, she looked past the elf towards the tent. She could hear someone mumbling incoherently inside. “I…see.”

“Come, let’s get back to the festival. I doubt Torm will bother us ever again.” The way the sage spoke, the way he relaxed as he did, it sent a shiver down her spine…

“Oh, Zira says he’s fine… They’re on their way back.” Felix said, feeling relieved. Everyone had slowly gotten back into the rhythm after such a terrifying display of mana. It honestly shocked him, but considering the Sage was here, and no alarms being raised, they all must have thought everything was fine.

“I told you he would be fine,” Eri commented. They were still hanging around the Chief’s home, waiting for an update from Zira.

“You did… But after what you told me, I couldn’t help but be concerned.” He let out a sigh, he could feel the nervousness from Zira. “Whatever Aluin did, it spooked Zira.”

With the tension and worry mostly gone, and Kyrith busy with some kids who had come up to him, Felix’s thoughts turned towards Eri.

He cleared his throat. “Say, tonight… I overheard that the, uh, village is going to have a bonfire. There will be music and–” He was becoming more and more nervous as he spoke. “–dancing. D-do you want to, um, go?”

“Huh? I was planning on turning in early–” Eri stopped, her eyes lit up in realization. “B-but I can take a nap…”

They both could feel their cheeks burning with embarrassment.

“Great– I mean, I can watch Kyrith… While you rest.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. “I was actually going to have Zira watch Kyrith… Maybe have him introduce her to people.”

Her eyes quickly flicked over to the dragon. “That’s not…a bad idea. It’ll just be the two of…”

“Us,” Felix finished, echoing Eri’s sentiment.

They both went quiet, unable to say anything. Luckily, Kyrith chose that moment to interrupt.

“I’m getting hungry, when do we feast?”

***

Felix found himself sitting down at a table watching as two dragons devoured their food. A small competition had started between a few different cooks, seeing who could satisfy the dragons. It was an exercise in futility though, as the two seemingly never stopped.

Thankfully, people were less apprehensive about approaching Zira. Kyrith's effect on the elves had improved her situation as he, forcefully, brought her into their conversation. And now that the two were eating, a crowd was forming and taking bets on who would eat the most.

Meanwhile, though, everyone was avoiding him. He tried to not let it affect him, but it was. Felix really wanted to open up and get to know the elves, but there was an even larger stigma surrounding him than Zira. Not even Kyrith could really help him there.

It wasn’t all bad, he was happy that they had found four elves that could hatch eggs. Not to mention, he had something to look forward to, come this evening.

Tomorrow, he thought to himself, I will put my best foot forward, both for me and Zira.

“Felix?” A voice asked in front of him, breaking him from his thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh, Yedril.” He said, looking up at the sickly elf. Yedril was holding two wooden plates filled with food. Felix gestured to the empty table. “You can sit down if you want. I promise I won’t bite.”

The elf smiled and took a seat opposite him. “Thank you.”

Felix shifted his attention back to the dragons, or, well, the cooks serving them. The platters of food had definitely thinned out since the start, and neither Zira or Kyrith were anywhere close to done.

His own stomach growled, but he had already finished a plate of food. Not that it was enough…or as good as Chef’s cooking. He frowned, his hunger wasn’t quite to the scale of the two dragons, but it would be concerning to the elves.

“Have you not eaten?” Yedril asked, looking a little concerned.

“I have.” Felix shrugged, “I just have a larger appetite than you elves, but I’ll be fine.”

Yedril gave him a curious expression before looking over his shoulder at the dragons. “They… Certainly eat a lot too.” The elf brought his attention back to him. “Is that going to be a…problem? You know,” Yedril leaned over and whispered, “for us?”

“Probably not? The kobolds at the manor haven’t had any issues finding food so far.” He chuckled. “Believe it or not, but those two eat like that everyday.” Let’s just forget how much I eat…

Yedril, somehow, managed to pale even more than he already was.

“Anyway, how are you doing? Need any more mana?” Felix asked.

“Huh? Oh no. I’m fine…” The elf was clearly bothered by that question.

“Well, don’t be afraid to come find me. I can’t have one of my volunteers dy– Getting sick before we even start.” Felix said, catching himself.

Yedril smiled. “It’s alright, I like macabre jokes. My sister, on the other hand… Well, just be careful around her with them.”

“Noted,” He nodded before realizing something. “Actually, where is she? I thought she would be with you.”

“Oh, she’ll be here soon. I just got a…head start.” Yedril gave him a wink. “She, uh, needed to use the restroom. So I just went ahead without her.”

“I see, so you–”

“Ditched me!” Solanna shouted, appearing from almost thin air.

“Ah, sister! You’ve made it! Come, sit–”

“Don’t give me that! I was worried sick!” Her eyes lowered to the second plate of food.

Yedril noticed and gestured to the seat next to him. “I merely went ahead to get in line. I was afraid it would be packed… And, as you can see, it is. Luckily, Felix had a table all to himself and offered us seats.”

She sat down but quickly narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Is that so?” She turned her gaze upon Felix.

“Hey now, don’t involve me! I have nothing to do with this.” He said defensively.

Yedril opened his mouth to speak, but a loud, almost rumbling, belch stopped him. It came from Kyrith, and a good portion of the crowd cheered. Felix could definitely hear some grumbling though, suspecting a few bets were lost.

He took the opportunity to change the topic. “Looks like the dragons are done eating, I’ll have you two meet Kyrith. But be warned, he’ll find a way to make you play with him. Though, after eating that much, I suspect he might want to nap for a little bit.”

The crowd began to part as the ember-colored dragon started making his way over to them, Zira, meanwhile, was finishing her last platter. Don’t stuff yourself, there will probably be more food tonight!

She merely sent over the feeling of annoyance, clearly not amused by his teasing. He ignored it and focused on the other dragon slowly approaching.

“Kyrith! Did you get enough to eat?” He asked.

“For now, but it's not as good as Chef.” The dragon plopped down next to their table, drawing attention to them all.

“Chef?” Solanna asked, looking to Felix.

“Our kobold cook, his name is literally Chef– Don’t ask, he can tell you all about it himself. Anyways… Kyrith, meet Solanna and Yedril. They are two of the volunteers.” Felix gestured to each in kind.

“Oh! Nice to meet you two! Say, how good are you at back scratches? Because I’ve got this terrible itch, and I just can’t reach it.” Kyrith exaggeratedly shook himself, as if this ‘itch’ was unbearable.

Solanna looked surprised by the random question, but Yedril stood up and walked over to the dragon. He reached out, and started scratching.

“Lower… Lower– Right there! Ahh… Thanks.”

Yedril laughed, and took his seat again. “You’re welcome.”

Felix doubted there was an itch at all, but he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he brought his focus back to the siblings. “So, what are your plans for the rest of the festival?”

“Keeping an eye on my brother,” Solanna said sarcastically.

Yedril rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention to Felix. “I came to have some fun, and thanks to your…ability, I feel great. So thank you again.”

Felix noted how relaxed the elf was, compared to earlier. To him, Yedril looked more youthful and was starting to act like it. His sister, though, was still acting protective but Felix couldn’t really blame her. Her brother was only temporarily feeling better, and would soon be back in chronic pain.

Not if I can help it…

“You’re welcome, but please, come and find me if you start getting worse.” He said seriously.

Yedril looked away. “I will…”

It was at that point, Zira began making her way to them. The crowd parted much quicker this time as compared to Kyrith. She too laid down near them, unconcerned about the watchful eyes of the elves.

“What did you think of the food?” He asked, seeing and feeling how content she was.

“Good, but Chef is better.”

Felix snorted and shook his head. “Be sure to let him know. I’m willing to bet he's upset right now that we aren’t there enjoying his meals.”

Meanwhile, a few of the cooks were congratulating themselves, unaware that a kobold had beaten them…

Noria slumped over her desk, head in her hands. It was starting to get late, and she still had so much to do…

There had been an uproar that morning, when she informed the village heads about her leaving. Many tried to convince her to stay, that they needed her. And she might have caved right then and there, if it weren’t for Master Aluin and, surprisingly, Chief Yorlen.

In all honesty, she had no idea what she was even saying. She hadn’t even realized the magnitude of such a decision, especially one that had been made in the moment. It was, simply put, uncharacteristic of her.

But for some reason, it felt right. At least it had, but now the slow, dawning realization was starting to hit, and she began to doubt herself once again. That didn’t even include everything she now had to do.

First she needed to draw up a list of potential replacements. While village heads had claimed they needed her, that was far from the truth. They wanted her mother’s knowledge and expertise, something that Noria clearly lacked, at least according to herself.

There were other people within the village who could easily take over, but it was up to her to make a list of the most respectable among them.

Then, probably after a week or so, the village would vote. She would be long gone by then, but that was fine. It would give the candidates a chance to shine and to convince the village to vote for them.

That wasn’t all though, she still needed to pack. She had two more days, but considering the vast collection of handwritten tomes that her mother had left, Noria needed to decide what to take and what to leave to the village.

There were also her and her mother’s experiments, many of which were volatile and shouldn’t be left unattended or worse, in unacquainted hands. She needed to either label them, dispose of them, or take them with her. All three choices had their downsides, of course…

To make matters worse, she still had her job to perform. There were plenty of requests coming to her, even now. People from all over the village were having problems with various enchantments.

Interestingly enough, a good chunk came from the cooks, their ovens and tools had been overused. Apparently, it was because two dragons had decided to stop by and eat nearly a third of all the food prepared for the entire festival.

But of course, that had a snowball effect on its own. Hunters, from all the tribes, were now sending in requests to enchant their bows…

To put it simply, her day had spiraled out of control.

Why did I even volunteer?! She berated herself. So stupid! A-and–

“Everything alright?” Lorem asked concernedly.

Startled, she let out a yelp and stared up at him. He had poked his head in, and had a worried expression upon his face.

“No…” She answered truthfully.

He stepped into her office fully, pulling up a second chair. Sitting down across from her, he reached out and grasped one of her hands. “Noria, just take a deep breath.”

She did and held it for a few moments, then slowly exhaled. It helped…sort of, it did give her a moment of clarity. Unfortunately, that clarity only made her realize just how monumentally she’d screwed up…

Her breathing picked up, her heart rate increased, she even began to sweat. She was on the onset of a panic attack.

Lorem acted fast, quickly rushing to her side. Effortlessly, he scooped her up in a hug. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay… Just remember the breathing technique I showed you. In, and out… In, and out.”

Noria gulped up air, forcing it into her lungs. Her heart continued to pound in her chest, but listening to Lorem constantly repeat his instructions gave her something to focus on. After a few moments, she began to regain control.

“I think I’m better...” She trailed off, her voice barely audible.

The tall elf held her for another second, before slowly setting her back down into her chair. He kneeled down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“There we go,” he said, putting on a smile. “Now, tell me what you need help with.”

She took a few moments to respond, letting herself calm down more. “I’ve got a list of replacements to fill out, for my position. Then, I’ve got to decide what to keep and what to leave. Not to mention, I still have duties to perform…” Noria let a groan.

“Well, let’s take a look at that list.” He said, reaching for a piece of parchment sitting on top of everything. “Hmm, I think this is good. You’ve already got ten different names on here–”

“I know! I wanted to narrow it down to the top three…” She deflated into her chair.

“I see… But don’t you think you should just leave that to the village? I mean, they are going to have to vote on the next Mage anyways. It’s not going to be your problem.”

She wanted to argue back, to say he was wrong, but no. Lorem was right, they only requested a simple list. It was herself that was making this more difficult by wanting to narrow it down.

“I guess…you’re right.” She let out a sigh.

“Good, then that is done.” He set the list aside. “Now, we can worry about packing later. What other duties do you need to perform?”

“Enchantments, mostly…” She said, gesturing to a large pile of requests on the other side of her desk.

Lorem frowned, thinking for a moment. “I have an idea, why don’t you send these requests out to some of the candidates? It would trim down your workload, and give them a chance to show off.”

She opened her mouth to rebuke that thought, but stopped. That’s…actually a really good idea. I can even use their performance to narrow down my list– Though, I might just do the top five…

A smile began to form upon her face, Lorem’s suggestion was perfect. She quickly pulled out another sheet of parchment and set to writing various names.

“Here,” she handed him the new list.

“Take half the stack and hand out the requests to those people. I’ve written down where you would most likely find them, but worst case, you can just ask around. I’m sure word has already spread, and many of them are probably working to try and influence the villagers’ decisions.”

Lorem nodded, quickly studying the parchment. A moment later, he took a good chunk of the requests before making his way to the door.

“If we’re lucky,” she started as she took the other half, “we can finish all this before they start the bonfire.”

The tall elf nearly tripped as he walked out the door. “You want to go?” He asked, looking back at her. She could see the worry written on his face.

“Yes.” she said with confidence.

“With you.”