Early Years

by TurtleMe

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  The elf girl’s name is Tessia Eralith and she just turned 5, meaning she’s about 1 year older than me, physically that is.

  From the conversations I had while talking to her while walking, I conclude that she’s a pretty reserved, if not shy, girl. She’s very polite to me, considering that I’m only 4, and is all in all a very agreeable traveling companion. Perhaps if I weren’t traveling in the opposite direction of my home, I would be in a better mood.

  It was getting dark so I suggest we stop and pitch the tent for the night.

  There were no rods supporting the tent. Instead, it relied on a long line that had to be tied between two trees and hung over to keep it up, the ends weighed down by rocks. After I finished setting up the tent, I take out a couple of tried rations from out of my oversized bag and hand some to her.

  “…Thank you very much.”

  “You know. You don’t have to be polite with me. I am younger than you and I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you do.” I say, half chewing with a cheek full of dried food.

  “O-okay, I’ll try!”

  I scratch my nose in defeat and I go back to stuffing my food. She must have very strict parents. Maybe it’s just an elf thing?

  We sat against a tree next to the tent while chatting.

  “C-can you tell me about the human kingdom?” She suddenly asks with eyes sparkling in interest.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “What is a human town like? How are humans? Is it true you male humans are perverts and have more than one wife?”

  “Pbbt!”

  I spit out a mouthful of the dried fruits I was chewing on. This girl!

  *Cough*

  “No, although it isn’t against the law, only nobilities and the royal families tend to have multiple wives.” I say, while wiping my mouth.

  “I see now!” Her eyes seem to say, still sparkling.

  Do you really?

  I go unto explaining a bit about the town of Ashber and my family to pass the time before I ask.

  “What is it like living in Elenoir?”

  “Mmmm....” She ponders before explaining.

  “I don’t think it’s too different, except the children all have to go to school to learn about our history and how to read and write. When we awaken, we get teachers assigned to us and we become their disciple. From there, a lot of it is just training with your master.”

  “I see…”

  I get up from the ground and I hold my hand out to help her get up as well.

  I notice her turning a little red, but I think it’s just my eyes playing with me in the dark.

  “Sleep in the tent, I’ll keep guard next to you outside.”

  I see her thinking for a little and her eyes look at me, full of resolve.

  “I don’t mind sh-sharing the tent, if you’re okay with it.”

  “It’s okay. I’m not that sleepy right now anyway.” I instantly shut her down.

  Did her ears just droop a little?

  “…Okay”

  She goes into the tent and I lean against it and begin meditating.

  I start inspecting my mana core. Sylvia left me with something she calls her “will” but how does that affect my mana core? Inspecting even closer, I notice, ever so faintly, some markings in my mana core when,

  “A-Arthur?”

  I see Tessia’s head poking out of the tent.

  “Is there something wrong?” I asked, turning my head to face her.

  “W-well! You see… beasts will more likely appear if they notice you because they will see that you are a child. Therefore, I propose that for our safety, that it would be better for you to c-come inside the tent.” At this point, Tessia covers her face with the tent’s opening flap, showing only one eye.

  “Pft~ Tessia, are you scared to sleep by yourself in the tent?” I chuckle.

  “A-absolutely not! I am just suggesting, for both of our safety, what the best choice would be to do!” She pops her head out.

  I decide to continue teasing her, “If that’s the case, then I’ll hide up in the tree and continue to be on the lookout. You know… for ‘our safety’” I wink.

  “Uu…”

  By this time, she covers herself completely inside the tent before muttering softly,

  “…I’m scared to sleep by myself.”

  Ahh I should stop teasing her now.

  I open the flap and go inside the tent.

  “Eeep!”

  She immediately lies down, turning her back to me, but I see clearly that her ears are bright red. I should avoid the habit of teasing her so much before I get addicted to it.

  A couple moments later, she peeks behind her back and turns around.

  “Can I hold unto your shirt?”

  I forget that she’s just a child. How hard it must have been for her; getting kidnapped, separated from her family and carried off, not knowing if she’ll ever see them again.

  Scooting closer to her, I pat her head softly and nod.

  Her eye close in content and she grabs the end of my shirt. A couple minutes later, I hear her breathing get rhythmic, and I start drifting off to sleep too, still sitting up.

  I open my eyes awake and I look around. I look down to see Tessia’s head on my lap, her body curled up.

  I gently shake her awake, “Tessia, we should head out now.”

  She slowly stirs awake, but when she realizes the position we’re in, she shoots up with a surprised shriek. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to… was I heavy?”

  “Haha… don’t worry about it. Let’s fold up the tent.”

  Her cheeks slightly pink, she nods and we pack everything up before heading back out.

  A few more days pass by pretty uneventfully. A couple of forest hounds tried to get close once, but I threw my mana-reinforced knife at one of them and they all ran away scared. Nights were spent with me sleeping in the tent with Tessia and her getting more comfortable around me. Fortunately, we didn’t run into any tree golems or stronger mana beasts.

  “Can you tell how far we are from Elenoir now Tessia?” I ask on the 4th day of our journey?

  She looks around her eyes seeming to glow and her ears slightly twitching.

  “Yes! We’re not too far anymore! I think that if we quicken our pace a little bit, we’ll be able to make it by tonight!”

  “Sounds good.” The faster I drop her off, the faster I can make my plans to somehow get home. Although I admit I’ll probably miss her after this.

  “Arthur? You said your family and the people close to you call you Art. D-do you mind if I call you Art as well?” Tessia suddenly asks while we cross a log bridge across a stream.

  “Hmm? Yeah I don’t mind.” I flash her a wide smile.

  “Hehe okay! Umm please call me Tess as well…” She says while her head was slanted down, her eyes looking at me in an upward fashion, shyly.

  This girl is going to be dangerous when she grows up.

  We continued on the rest of the day, with only a couple of quick stops to rest ourselves and replenish our stomachs. I wasn’t too tired because I was constantly using mana rotation, but it was obvious that Tess was getting exhausted.

  After our last quick stop, we continued forward for the last stretch. Tess and I got a lot closer on this journey. The once shy and reserved elf girl showed bright smiles that made even my heart thump. She would tease me too at times, saying that I should call her older sister since she was 2 years older than I was. I teased her back, imitating her when she was crying, rubbing my eyes and yelling, “WAAA~ MOMMY, I’M SCARED!” This seemed to turn her bright red and she hit my arm before pouting with her arms crossed and lower lip protruding. “HMPH! Meanie!”

  Ah! Endure this need to hug her, Arthur!

  It’s dusk now and the fog around us seems to get thicker and thicker. My sense of direction is all but useless here. If I were to get separated from Tess, I can end up travelling in circles without eve
n realizing it.

  She suddenly turns to me, her face a mixture of happiness and hesitation. “We’re here.”

  Looking around, the only things I see are clusters of trees and fog. Confused, I was about to ask where we were, but I stopped when I saw Tess placing both her palms on a tree and chanting softly.

  Suddenly, the fog around us was sucked into that same tree and what came into vision was a giant wooden door that seemed to just stand on by itself on the ground.

  Tess takes my hand pulls me towards the door. When she opens it, I’m reminded of the portal that Sylvia sent me through.

  Experiencing the same feeling of being in a fast-forwarded film, we softly land on our feet, arriving at our destination, my eyes wide with awe at the sight before me.

  Chapter 12: Meeting

  Pristine

  That was the word that popped up in my head, upon gazing at the elven city. It appears we directly teleported right past the gates. What I see before me are buildings that seem to be made of a jade like material. These jade buildings each seemed to be carved from a single, huge stone. The structures were void of cracks or any other blemishes that would normally come through time.

  Making this place look even more awe-inspiring were the huge trees that intertwined with the buildings, giving this whole city a more magnificent, natural look. Looking up at the immensely thick branches, that extended out of the thick trunks even thicker than the buildings, seemed to be many houses with smoke coming out of their chimneys.

  The floor of this city was covered in lush grass, with only the narrow sidewalks and the main road made out of a smooth stone. Most of the city was covered in shade because of the thick branches that fanned out from the trees but the city itself gave off a warm luminescent glow from what looked to be floating orbs of light dotted across the city. Whether it was my previous world or this world, I could only describe it as perfect.

  While I stood still, slack-faced, a blur in front of me suddenly jolted me awake.

  Tess was still holding unto my hand when a group of what seemed like guards arrived almost out of nowhere. These elven warriors emanated a majestic air around them, all dressed in coordinated black suits with green trimmings and a golden shoulder guard on their left shoulder. These 5 guards all had with them a rapier strapped to their waist and what surprised me the most was that there was no aura coming out of them.

  Augmenters and Conjurers both emit a faint aura unconsciously but this is only because of their lack of control over mana, which causes it to leak out of their body. One of the main reasons I was able to beat the slave traders was because I’m able to control my mana to not leak out, which I was able to use to catch them by surprise.

  By the speed that the guards arrived in front of, they were clearly Augmenters but if they’re not leaking out even a hint of mana, that means these guys are no joke.

  These 5 guards suddenly kneeled down on one knee, their face bowed down and right arm across their chests.

  In unison, the guards saluted, “We welcome back the royal princess.”

  “…”

  Holy shit.

  Tessia is the princess of this whole fucking Kingdom?

  While I tried to let go of Tessia’s hand, she suddenly grasps it harder and says in a voice that was so cold and apathetic, it brought shivers down my spine.

  “You may rise.” She says with her peering down on the kneeled knights.

  They stand up, their clenched right fist still crossing their chest, and the knight in front speaks, “Princess, we arrived as soon as we saw that the royal teleportation gate was used. Please, tell us what happened…”

  Before he could finish speaking, I hear a cry not too far away.

  “My baby! Tessia, you’re okay! Oh my baby!”

  Running towards us was a middle aged man and woman. From the crown on the man’s head and the tiara encircling the woman’s forehead, I assumed that they were the King and Queen.

  The King’s tall, built body was uniformed in a loose, decorated robe. His emerald eyes were pointed upwards and his thin lips were tensed, matching his short, military style hair.

  While the King had a dignified but somewhat reserved appearance, the Queen was breathtaking. Although she was a bit past her youthful stage, her age couldn’t mask the beauty she was. Her round eyes were a light blue color and her lips full and a deep pink color. Her silver hair was curled down past her back as she was running towards us with a figure that could make anyone doubt that this woman was a mother.

  They’re both running over here, the mother’s cheeks lined with tears and the father’s eyes straining to keep his tears in.

  I turn to see Tessia’s face visibly soften as she herself starts tearing up. I let go of her hand and gently push her towards her parents, feeling a little emotional myself.

  Tessia lands in the arms of both her parents who start sobbing at this point on their knees, burying their face in their daughter.

  The last to arrive is an old man, well past his prime. His facial features are all sharp, with a gaze that can kill someone. His hair was pure white and was tied in the back, face cleanly shaven. This grandpa didn’t say anything, but his eyes did warm up a little when he saw Tessia.

  It took a couple of minutes for Tessia and her parents to settle down, while the guards were looking at me with daggers in their eyes the whole time.

  The King gets up, eyes a little red but not being able to mask the air of nobility that surrounded him.

  “As the King of Elenoir and the father of Tessia, I apologize for this unsightly appearance of mine and more importantly, I thank you for escorting my daughter back home.” He says.

  Continuing on, he adds, “Please accompany us to our home so we can hear what happened.”

  I just nod in consent and was about to follow them when Tessia comes to me and holds my hand again, making the surrounding people give us weird and surprised gazes. I just uncomfortably chuckle and scratch the side of my head, not knowing what to really say in this situation.

  Arriving at the castle, I observe that, rather than a castle; it was actually a huge tree. This tree, that probably needed at least a couple hundred people, locking arms, to encircle it, was made of a white stone that I guessed was petrified somehow.

  Stepping inside the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how magnificent the interior of this castle was. There were two curved staircases that created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.

  Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia’s father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia’s mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter, leaving a pretty big gap between them and me, while the five guards standing off to the side behind the King.

  With both his elbows on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak.

  “Child. What did you say your name was?”

  “Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen.” I stand up and bow slightly at each of them individually before sitting back down.

  Discussion wasn’t going to get anywhere if they were going to treat me like a kid.

  Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of shock from my mature behavior, while even the grandpa had an amused grin on his face; Tessia giving me a shy smile.

  Regaining composure, the King continues on.

  “It seems you are much more intelligent than your appearance. Forgive me for my preconception. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this.”

  Wa
ving off the apology, I begin telling my story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; just mentioning that I got separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive from a stroke of luck.

  From there on, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of utterly surprised looks from everyone, even Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really had the need to use mana so I didn’t bother explaining.