A weeks travel

While Anna had fought the manticore and returned to the lake a small group consisting for 5 individuals were travelling through the wilderness some miles away. The pace they were travelling was neither fast nor slow.

If one were to look closer they would be able to see the five figures all had cloaks and masks on. This group as you may have guessed is the group that Tia is travelling with.

*Crunch* looking up to the top of the trees I can see it's become about midday. The path that we have taken is completely unused and thus our movements are slightly hindered. The grass that crunches underneath my feet to the sway of the cloak in the wind really adds to the atmosphere this forest gives.

So far it's been an uneventful and peaceful travel although I know that it won't last forever. It never does.

So far since I've left Eldran me and four of my mothers guards had been able to make quite good progress in out travel. I would have loved nothing more than to connect with these people but they don't talk unless they absolutely need to.

In fact they don't even have real names. It's probably due to the fact that they are the elites of the elites in our military. Starting from the left the names match with their masks. There's wolf, tiger, eagle and dragon.

It appears that all four members are women, probably due to the request of my siblings and my mothers protectiveness. From what I understand these four are actually the better of my mothers guards. They have carried out missions such as infiltrating enemy forts, assassinations, to destroying smaller armies. They even have a nickname, 'the four mystic beasts'.

Wolf is a short girl measuring no more than 5,4. From the glimpses I've seen it appears that she may be a dark elf. I can tell by her silver hair, dark skin and pointed ears that I've seen from time to time.

Tiger is a girl measuring my height and she has a light pink hair colour. The people of this world can have what we would consider unnatural hair colour in my old world so it's really exciting to see. From what I can tell she is part of the beast kin race, more than likely the cat kin. You can tell by her tail and pointy ears.

Eagle is just shorter than my self but still taller than wolf. She seems to be from the human race due to the lack of unique features. She seems to have light brown hair but had the most amazing figure out of the four. I can tell even though she wears a cloak.

Dragon is the last and is the most powerful. She is taller than myself and seems to be a high elf. She has bright golden blonde hair and like wolf her elf ears give her away. She gives the feeling of power just by being near her.

These four had all sweared loyalty to my mother due to various circumstances that I don't really know about. What I do know however is that my mother has helped them in some way from when she used to travel.

All of my mothers guards were brought to Eldran by herself. I had heard that they came because of various reasons such as them having no where else to go, mother rescuing them from slavery and other circumstances.

This is why they were all loyal to my mother and to top this all off they had sworn under an oath with the goddess watching them.

Taking the oath with the goddess as the witness means that if one were to break this oath they would be punished by the Goddess herself.

We had been travelling together so far for 2 days. It's not a great deal of time but we've made good progress. It's estimated that we will arrive at the blessed lake in 5 days. I hope nothing goes bad happens but what are the chances of the happening?

-Day 3-

Nothing too eventful happened today either. The most noticeable thing that happened was that the forest we had entered had a more thicker mana atmosphere and denser foliage. It's a sign that we are getting into a more mana rich and dangerous area.

*Click* hmm? Turning around I was met with the sight of wolf cleaning her rifle. I had discovered that during the time we camped for the night wolf would always clean her rifle. I bet if she didn't have her mask on her eyes would be shining, she loves rifles from what I can tell.

Noticing my stare wolf looked up then cutely waved her hands in the air like she had been caught with a hand in the biscuit jar. *Giggle* It's kinda cute. It reminds me of a certain girl who got embarrassed the first time I saw her reading a comic on Godzilla.

*Crackle* *Snap* facing back to the fire with a smile on my face I think about that girl again. Her smile every time I walked through the door lit up my world and brought it meaning. *Sigh* I can't wait till we meet again Anna.

-Day 4-

*Yawn* the following morning arrived and it's time to move on again. Packing the equipment and quickly washing up we set off. This time we follow a river up, this should take us towards the mountains where the blessed lake is to be.

*Hahaha* hearing laughter we quickly dive into cover. I take my spot up in the trees. Waiting a few minutes a group of human soldiers walk pass.

"Hey captain how much longer before we find the target?"

"I don't know, reports say the creature was last seen heading towards the dwarven strongholds in the mountains. If we follow this river up according to the map we'll be on its track."

"Thank fuck for that. I can't be arsed with this mission any way. Why couldn't the old beast tamer travel up there himself? I mean he's the only one that can talk to the damn thing anyways."

"Just shut up and get a move on. It's orders from the higher ups, unless you want to go back to the bloody frontlines then your more than welcome to."

"Err... no thanks captain, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Good, now let's get a move on!"

As the group of humans walk pass with their rifles and equipment that jingle as they move I knew straight away their target and so did the four bodyguards.

We were outnumbered 3 to 1 but I couldn't allow them to find Anna. Taking my own magical rifle that had been custom made for me due to my own magic abilities a aimed down sight onto the lead soldier.

*BANG!* aiming down with the iron sight I pulled the trigger releasing a magical filled bullet that was loaded with enough mana that it was equivalent to a .50 round.

Ripping through the helmet and skull of the soldier all that was left was a headless corpse. After a few seconds of utter shock by the human forces me and the bodyguards open fire.

A rain of single shot rifles and submachine gun fire hit the humans. The bullets rip through their armour and flesh before they even know what hit them.

Blood now covers the ground in a blanket of red while slight moans of agony fill the air. Taking the sword from my waist I finish the men off. I'm not letting them find Anna, never.

I had been trained with the sword and bow since young by my mother. But then the introduction of magical guns meant that retraining for the whole military was in order. But due to the nature of my mothers training I and all of her personal guards had been able to handle a rifle like we had done so for our whole lives. We still carry our swords around for various reasons and they are still very useful as they have shown.

Looking back at the guards I breath in deeply before letting out an audible exhale. "Burn or burry the bodies I don't care but make sure that no one will be able to find them. Got it?"

""Yes princess""

*Sigh* after this we'll move on, then set up camp. It looks like the humans are looking for her.

-Day 5 to 6-

For the next two days nothing of interest happened again. After that last encounter with the humans we haven't seen or heard anything. We have however seen tracks showing some type of humanoid has passed through the area. Now it could be allies but it looks too close to orc tracks. And they seem to be heading towards the blessed lake, seems like they are looking for her as well.

Im really glad for all my mothers training now. When I was forced to do it I hated it, I just wanted to learn my magic and live a life in solace. But now that it's come down to this and it's to potentially protect the one I love despite them being a huge lizard I'll risk anything.

-Day 7-

*Whoosh* running as fast as I can I race to the top of the hill that overlooks the blessed lake. The joy and excitement of meeting her and reuniting has sent my emotions through the roof. Getting closer and closer I feel my heart beat faster and faster with both nervousness and anticipation.

*Dum* *Dum* *Dum* the sounds of drums reach my ears from the top of the hill. Finally getting to the top I see a scene that I really didn't want. The blessed lake is in an encirclement of orcs. It seems they had discovered her.

Whether they were searching for Anna or the blessed lake is unknown but we can't allow them to follow through with whatever they plan on doing.

Thankfully the orcs are still quite primitive with their weaponry so it won't be a huge disadvantage but we need to move now. The orcs are readying what seems to be catapults which are aimed at the blessed lake. They really seem determined to attack it.

Looking back at my bodyguards we all nodded to each other. Although we have only spent a few days together I really understand them and they understand me. It's time to start a fire fight and with luck Anna may join in.

This is going to be one hell of a reunion my beloved, so just wait for me I'll be there soon.