The Endless Forest

Felix gritted his teeth, the strain was getting to him. Sweat poured down, stinging his eyes as he tried to concentrate on two things.

The first was his mana, sluggishly flowing through him. It was protesting, fighting him. They were both exhausted. Yet both had to push onward unless they wished to suffer the consequences…

A rock flew at him. He barely dodged it.

“Too slow!” Ithea shouted.

And that was the second thing he had to keep up with. Ithea wasn’t going easy on any of them, and for every mistake Felix made she threw a rock at him.

Already, he had welts forming. It was more frustrating than anything. Sure, it hurt but he was more concerned with losing control of his mana.

With his mana sight, he could see a ball was forming in his outstretched hand. Please, we’re not done, he begged.

With what felt like a begrudging acceptance, his mana began to condense and shrink. Just a little bit more! he shouted to himself.

The next step was crucial.

I need to convert it… But how, exactly? This was what he’d been struggling with ever since he first learned about his unique ability. To date, he had only managed simple spells. That had to change, he needed something more. He needed a spell he could fight with.

Another rock flew at him. This time, it grazed his left arm as he sidestepped it.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he ignored the pain and put all his focus into his spell. With his rising frustration, it was becoming impossible. Soon, he would lose what little influence he had–

Maybe that’s it!

Without a second thought, Felix shifted his attention to his feelings, his emotions that were clouding his mind. It felt chaotic, it felt…

That might work, he thought, a grin forming. Please, become electric!

Felix didn’t stop with that. He dumped every ounce of his anger into his mana.

The air around him began to buzz, his hair began to rise. The ball of mana grew unstable–

Shit! Felix realized his mistake. The charged mana was converting, becoming visible in the process. He had no choice but to release it.

However, the moment he let go of his connection, it suddenly zipped away and…

It exploded.

The flash blinded him, the thunder that followed deafened him. He quickly threw up his hands to protect his face.

Thankfully, his failed spell had made it far enough to not catch him in its blast. Unfortunately, in his moment of distraction, a rock struck him in the stomach. He let out a pained grunt.

“Finally! I was beginning to wonder if you would ever do something!” Ithea shouted, as his hearing began to return.

Slowly, Felix began to lower his arms and take in the damage he caused. A large patch of ground, about twenty feet in front of him, was gone.

“If only you hadn’t startled yourself, maybe you would have actually hit me!” Ithea continued.

“But it felt unstable! Is that normal?” he shouted back, a little confused.

“Un…stable?” She gave him a perplexed look before bursting out laughing. “Oh, Felix! Why do you think combat magic is so deadly?! Of course it’s unstable!”

He wanted to ask her to elaborate, but at that moment Noria appeared. “I’m…done,” she said in between breaths. She was slouched forward and looked beyond exhausted.

“Very good! Hopefully, now you won't hesitate!”

“How are you doing?” Felix asked, concerned.

Noria wiped the sweat from her brow. “I’ll live… I hope.” She tried to let out a chuckle but that just caused her to wheeze.

He gave her a light pat on the shoulder, knowing exactly how she felt. In fact, they weren’t the only ones suffering. Everyone had a punishment for failure, it went along with their training and it was unique to the individual.

To start with, Noria and Felix were training their magic. However, unlike Felix’s punishment, Noria’s was to take a lap through a few game trails that ran nearby. Ithea wanted her to build up endurance since that was apparently what she lacked.

Solanna and Lorem were simultaneously drilling Yedril on bows and training swords– which they had to go back and grab –while also working on their own techniques. Yedril’s punishment was similar to Noria’s with only one minor change; he had to add other exercises to his rotation.

As for Solanna and Lorem, they got to choose the other’s penalty. Which was quickly leading to a fierce competition between the two.

And the dragons? Zira was busy flying overhead and occasionally diving into the forest. She didn’t have a penalty for failure, mainly due to the fact that if she did fail she’d smack into a tree…

The four younger dragons were busy having their own little competition. As far as Felix could tell, they were racing each other and playing what he could only describe as tag. It would’ve been adorable to watch, if he could. But every distraction was a rock thrown at him.

Speaking of, a rock hurdled its way towards him. He did his best to dodge but, again, it grazed him.

“Damn it all!” he shouted out, rubbing his right shoulder.

“I never said to stop! Come on, hit me.” Ithea whisper-shouted the last part, her voice amplified by magic. “You as well,” she directed at Noria. “Come on! Do it!”

Now he was thoroughly pissed off. Battered and beaten, his body and mana were reaching their limits. But he wasn’t going to let the dragon woman get away with toying with him.

I think I can do one more attempt. I can only hope it’ll be enough… His thoughts were unsure but the frustration, the anger of failure was enough to keep him going.

“Noria,” he said under his breath, keeping his eyes upon Ithea. His mana was beginning to boil up to the surface.

The elf jolted in surprise. “Yes?”

Coldly, he said, “You might want to step away.”

Noria let out an audible gulp and quickly made room.

Felix began raising his hand, a ball forming over it. Ithea watched with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression.

“Getting serious are we? Good…”

He stopped listening, and focused on guiding his mana into the shape he wanted. Into the spell he imagined.

The air grew hot, as fire suddenly appeared. The strain from it was causing his head to pound, like a hammer striking the side of his temple. The heat from it stung his hand and arm, threatening to singe his clothes and body.

Still, he leveled his spell at the dragon woman.

“Dodge this–”

Felix released his hold on his spell.

Eri and Kyrith stormed off, both furious but relieved. The wolves were fine, well, mostly fine. Growls had several wounds which were, thankfully, not very serious.

As for the missing pup? It had been found trying to chew its way out of a small, makeshift cage. Seeing that had made Eri’s blood boil, but thankfully it hadn’t suffered any injuries. It was swiftly reunited with its mother.

After the wolves were all accounted for Tamer managed to get them away and back to their pens.

Now, Eri found herself sitting on top of Kyrith and contemplating on what to do next. Chief Calsen still hadn’t been entirely truthful with her, but it would be hard to prove that he had any ill intentions.

Should we say anything to Felix? she asked, more to herself than to Kyrith.

I don’t care! I should have been the one to deal with him. I could easily make him regret his decision! her partner growled out in her head.

She patted him on the side as she spoke. You would have killed him. And, if I’m honest, you scared me.

His anger immediately switched to worry. I would never hurt you! But him? He can burn–

Kyrith! Please don’t finish that sentence. She felt him hitch before slowing down.

But… I don’t want him here, he said with an audible whimper.

I know, but we have to deal with him for now. Besides, look. Look at all the elves here. There are bound to be others who will cause trouble. We have to be firm but cautious, otherwise we risk everyone leaving.

As she explained it to him, she answered her original question. No, I don’t think I will tell Felix about this incident. We have handled it, and if the Chief tries something more we will deal with it.

Part of her was concerned what Felix would do, but her main reasoning was that this was just another test she needed to complete.

Hump! If he hurts anyone again, I will personally see to it he never returns! With that Kyrith picked up his pace and trudged forward and towards a large gathering.

Further away from the incident, most of the elves had rallied and were swarming the only other candidate for queen. Unfortunately for them, that candidate was Calinna and she was a babbling mess trying to figure out what to do.

Gods, help us, Eri thought with a grimace. In all honesty, she felt pity for the woman. It was clear that Calinna was not cut out for this and Eri feared leaving her in charge at all would lead to disaster.

“Eri! Thank the Gods!” she heard the other woman shout out from the crowd, causing the others to whip around and see her and Kyrith approaching.

“S-see everyone! There’s no need to panic!” It sounded like Calinna was trying to convince herself more than the others…

Eri gave a nod, doing her best to hide her own anger. “The issue has been dealt with. However! No one is allowed to go near the dire wolves!”

No one dared to argue but a few questions were shouted out to her.

“The wolves are tamed, but that doesn’t mean they are harmless! Leave the kobolds to manage them, and report any escaped wolves to me. I will handle it.” With that she chose to dismount Kyrith and slid to the ground, landing gracefully.

“Now, get back to work!”

The group, realizing that the matter was settled, quickly dispersed and left only a few individuals.

“So, dire wolves, huh?” Gillador asked. ”Those kobolds are either suicidal or brilliant, can’t say for sure which yet.”

“I’d say they are suicidal geniuses,” Haldria added, visibly relaxing. “How did the kobolds end up with dire wolves?”

Eri let out a sigh. “You don’t want to know.”

That got a curious look from the three other elves.

“If you really want to know, you can ask Felix. Otherwise, I’m not going to tell.”

Gillador shrugged and faced Calinna. “What about ya? Are ya alright?” His tone was surprisingly soft, considering how gruff he normally sounded.

“Huh? Oh, yes…” She responded, trailing off with a forced smile.

“That’s good to hear, why don’t ya come with me for a little bit. There’s a lot that ya and me need to discuss.” The older elf gestured towards his makeshift workspace.

“Oh?” Calinna gave an awkward nod before giving Eri a confused glance.

“I’m just gonna give ya some pointers, nothing serious…” Gillador began leading the two of them away.

“What was that about?” Eri asked.

Haldria chuckled. “Gillador has a thing for vulnerable women.”

Wide eyed, Eri began to shout. “WHAT–”

The tanner quickly interrupted her. “A joke! But in all seriousness, Gil does have a soft spot for people like her…and me,” that last part was barely audible. “He’s probably going to have a little sit down chat and give her some pointers, exactly like he said.”

“Huh… He did get onto me earlier, said I wasn’t being assertive enough.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me– I mean, him doing that. He can be a rude and gruff old man, but underneath he is quite a caring individual.”

Eri cocked an eyebrow. “If you say so.”

“I do,” Haldria stated matter-of-factly.

Hiding an amused smile, Eri glanced up to Kyrith. Her partner was still brooding over the previous events and hadn’t taken an interest in the conversation at all. She sent him a mental nudge as she spoke up.

“Well, now that things have settled down, I need to go check in with Felix.”

“Oh! A few others said they saw him and a group go into the forest.”

That’s curious, I wonder if he managed to convince them all? “Thank you, I have an idea of where he might have gone.”

“Take care, then– Oh, and one request?” Haldria said. “If you see Noria, tell her I’m ready. She’ll know what I mean.”

“Sure… Anyway, see you later.” Eri gave her a wave before sending Kyrith another nudge.

Come on, Kyrith, let’s go look for Felix and the others. She was curious to know how his conversation had gone.

Okay, he said, still distracted.

She waited until he lowered himself and hopped on. Still stuck on what happened? she asked.

Yes, but I was wondering…

Hmm?

Do you think Calinna knew?