Departure

Yea you guessed it, it's finally time to go.

We spent a good six months here living in solitude. I liked the simple life here; train, hunt and study magic, oh what a fine life. But like all good things, it must come to an end; and it did.

Were it someone else, they would have been overjoyed to return to civilization, to be once again among their own kind, but not me. I abhor humans. Living among the beasts and the wilderness of Gaea soothes my aching heart.

Greed

Deciet

Envy

.. Just what is their to love about humans.

I fiddled with the memento my mother gave me as I delved deep into my thoughts. Anger, frustration and... weakness

All this time I have not been able to express my emotions, save through violence and delving deep into magic studies. But I miss my mother very dearly, I miss granny as well as my old life.We were living away from all the worries of life, just enjoying each others company.

Why did it have to be taken form me? It is because of the greed of humans, isn't it.

A god from Lyndell went missing and lost power, causing all the followers that borrow her strength to weaken. Lo and behold, in true human nature, those from the Adriam Empire capitalized and launched an attack, the wake of which ripped me from my mother's embrace.

I will never forgive them, never

I have come to detest my own kind, how ironic is that?

'If something happens to them, I swear I'll....'

"Hurry up Eli, We have a long road ahead of us"

Breaking my out of my thoughts, my father's steady voice echoed in the cave. He along with mother and granny are the only things keeping me tethered to humanity, I do not even want to imagine what I would become. What I would do.

With a sigh, I walked over to Eset who was looking curiously at all our packed belongings.

"Come on girl, we're leaving" I called out to the little owlet softly

The two months old owl shed her soft black feathers and grew new ones, resembling a starry night sky. Her face however remained completely dark, only her white deer-like antlers keeping it from melting in the shadows of the shelter.

Eset was no ordinary owl, according to the bestiary, Eset was a happence that occurs once in a hundred thousand births. Her pigmentation is unique, very much so, to the point that owl hens would not recognize their young if it happened to have such color. And as evident with Eset, the mothers would get rid of the eggs, thinking it was that of another bird.

Not much is written in the bestiary about these black owls, but my father told me of a myth he came to learn in his travels as an adventurer. It spoke of a ferocious black owl able to harness all the elements of the world, wielding magic of calamitous strength.

'If it's true, and you can use all elements, then I can't wait for us to study magic together. It'll be so exciting!'

I approached her perch and stretched my left arm, which she climbed all the way up to my shoulder. She looked around confusedly tapping her feet, as if there was something amiss.

With a soft hoot she pattered all over my neck, crossing to the other side before nestling on my right shoulder contentedly.

Storing our luggage in the ring on my hand, I chuckled at her antics and walked forward toward the light of the entrance.

As the sunlight shone brightly in my face and I shielded my eyes from its luminosity, my thoughts trailed to the Aeter weapon hidden in my body, I thought of my mother, my father, granny, the war, magic, gods...

*sigh*

'What do you have in store for me Eos?'

###

Traveling in a world where technology is vastly inferior to that of earth's is just as it sounds, dull.

We trekked through the jungle for days, only exiting the boundaries of the wilderness after a week of travel. Once out of the jungle, no longer did the trees shield our bodies from the heat of the sun

The sun glared at us from high up in the blue sky, like an all seeing eye of god; except it wasn't.

'There are many gods and goddesses with the sun as their focal point of godhood, whose sun is this? I can already think of four who share that divinity, gee what a mess.'

"It's Just up ahead Eli, we're almost there"

Bringing me back from the matters of gods to that of mortals, my father's enthusiastic voice reached my ears.

"You've been saying that for the last two hours dad!"

"I have a feeling it's just behind this hill, C'mon hurry up!"

I heaved a sigh at his antics and jogged further up the hill to join him. Just as I got to the very peak, what came into view was a small river side village covered by willow trees aplenty.

With a mouth wide open, I stared dumbfounded at the peaceful little town.

"BAHAHHAAHAH, she's beauty ain't she. Elias, welcome to willow shade village."

In the village beneath the hill, small houses of red concrete and beige walls huddled together, hidden from the glaring heat under the shade of willow trees.

Passing through the village was a body of water, a river; where small fish danced on its surface, teasing the patient fishermen.

Far on an adjacent hill, a shepherd led his flock to graze as he sat peacefully on the grassy meadow

I could hear my father talking to me, yet I was in a totally different world right now. The village was like a perfect painting, nothing was even minutely amiss. The soft sound of the water stream and the bleating of goats only added to the serenity of the environment.

Enamored with the beautiful scenery, I failed to notice Eset's soft nibbling on my ear.

-Chomp

"AAAAHHH, dammit Eset you almost bit my ear off."

The little diva pattered contentedly, as if ignoring her was a great sin.

'You wanna play rough huh'

I grabbed her leg and waived her around upside down, dodging the casual chomps and slashes of her talons.

"Not so mighty now eh, little birdie"

I waived her in front of my face mockingly and extenuated the words slowly. As if she completely understood human speech, she was angered by calling her 'little' and began throwing a fit.

"Aright you two break it up and get a move on, we need to find somewhere to stay before nightfall."

Much further down the hill, already on his way to the village father called for us. He waived his hands in the air drawing the attention of all the villagers to him.

I looked at Eset as she looked back at me mischievously. I extended my left finger slowly towards her feet as I muttered inquisitively.

"Truce?"

Eset nodded with her tiny head and shook my finger with her talon. She then briskly climbed my arm and nested on my shoulder.

'What a little diva, oops good thing she can't hear me.'

With a laugh and a hoot we headed down the hill waiting to see what this little village has in store for us.