Wild-Wood Beltart

     Ash awoke to a swinging sensation, and a sudden change in the temperature. Silently she wondered, where are we? She didn't remember that she had fallen asleep, nor pitching the hanging tent.

     "It must have been Father-Tree!" She exclaimed with a gasp. " Still how did he set up our tent?" 

     "No, mom I want to stay on the swings." Sylvia muttered in her sleep.

Ash scoffed at her sister, "How is it she can always find a way to sleep in any situation?" she thought to herself.

     "Young ones are you awake?" Askes Father-Tree.

     "Sir Father-Tree I am awake, though my sister yet sleeps." Ash replied, "Do you know where our backpacks are, Father-Tree?"

     "Your bags hang from my branches just above your small shelter." His old raspy voice replied. The group had been traveling for a few days, without stopping. They left quite the   distance from the home and forest the girls once knew. Sylvia, who was just waking up, took a look outside of the hanging tent. A sense of ah and wonder overtook her as she stared out into the vast wilderness, that they were passing through.

    "I think we are safe to stop here for a time." Father-Tree stated to the girls. "Alas I can not   travel with you any further than this, if you continue strate for a day and a half you will reach a small city, the humans there call it a trading outpost. Find an apothecary by the name of Wild-Wood Beltart, her and I have a long history and deep friendship."

     "Thank you Sir Father-Tree." The two say together. The sisters gather their things, and Father-Tree lowers them to the ground.

     "Take this."  He pulls one of his larger branches and hands it to Ash, "May it serve you well in your journey." Ash takes the branch, it's about six feet long, to her five foot tall stature, she bows her head to Father-Tree, then puts the branch, securrly in her bag. The way it's positioned it is more between her bag and her back, then in her bag. Ash feels a warmth emanating from the staff, it's not too hot in fact it reminds her of home and how her and Sylvia would bundle up under blankets by the fire in winter,the smells of ginger and and the taste of roasted chestnuts. Ash loses herself in thought for a few moments.

     "Ash! Hey, snap out of it!" Sylvia yelled at her.

     "Humm? Oh, I- I'm sorry. Alright let's be on our way and see this Trading town." She said with a timid smile. "Let's not waste any time."  

     The travel was long but the girls managed to shave off about a quarter of the actual travel time arriving in the town earlier than even they had expected. From the outside there was a lot of movement, more than was back home, everyone rushing to and from. It wasn't hard to get directions to the shop they were looking for, but what came to them as great surprise was that the shop owner was an elf like them. Wild-wood Beltart is an elder wood-elf, though she seemed very spry for her old age.

     Evrin headed the team as they traveled through the wreckage, as he was the strongest and could  move almost any debris out of the way followed closely by Kat and her wolf familiar. Next in the line was Zero, then Rin and finally Zelma. Zelma pulls out her lute, and begins to play a mellow song as the party passes through the remains of the elven town.

     "H-help. M-m-me." a weak voice spoke from under a pile of rubble, and ash. Kat was the first to hear this, calling for Evrin to come help, the two cleared out what they could, to find an elf who was muttering something else just before passing out.

     "Who is that?" Zero inquired as the back half of the group approached.

     "He isn't dead is he?" Rin approtched already having a healing spell ready.

     "No, Rin, he is still with us, just weak and unconscious." Kat replied.

Zelma, cast healing word. The unconscious man stirred just a little.

     "Zero, where is the nearest town? Do you know?" Kat asked with some urgency in her tone.

     "If i remember right, Humm," he stops to think for a second. "Ah, that's right it's a day or two's travle to the north, ish, of here."

     "Good enough, let's get the horses and go." Evrin replies. A few more healing spells, where cast on the elf, before the party heads back to get their horses, and pack their gear.  Evrin was the only one strong enough to carry the unconscious elf back to camp. 

     "Ash, Sylv-..." The elf groaned as they traveled.

     "We should make haste." Zero said to the group. As the party finished packing it was just about mid-day, as soon as the horses were loaded up they took off. The horses moved at near full gallup, for most of the journey. Soon before they had noticed twilight had fallen, and the group was forced to make camp for the night. Though time was not on their side, Rin was at least carrying a medical kit. The elf's injuries were bad but at least she was able to stabilize him.

     "The B-bla, wyv-vern." He muttered in his sleep, rolling and thrashing as though he was in the middle of a nightmare.

     "The black wyvern?" repeated Kat "Who, or what is that?"

     "Legend has it; the Black Wyvern is a mystical beast, one of the two children of creation. It's said that if it were to get free of its prison, it would make the end of times." Zelma spouted out, being that she had learned the history and lore of many lands, this was second nature to her.

     "So it's just another thing for us to kill." Zero quipped.

     "So there can be balance in the world." Mocked Evrin, "ain't that right, Zero?" He said laughing.

     "More then you will ever know." Zero muttered back.

     "So, umm what is it a dragon, like a dragon just how screwed are we if we try?" Kat questioned, there was a note of anger in her voice, that the others ignored. This caused her to become even more upset, though she could tell they ignored it not to anger her, but because most of them were scared too.

     "We should be able to make it to the town, sometime tomorrow. Should we go see her?" Zero said in an almost sour monotone. 

     "If you mean the crazy lady who talks to trees, go ahead. I've had my fill of her. She almost made me drink a potion claiming it would toughen my skin." Evrin shuddered

     "Ya, ya, and as soon as the liquide hit your lips your skin turned in to ironwood, I still don't believe you." Rin sounding disinterested said. Though she knew something had to have happened, when Evrin was there ever since they last left the shop he has been acting differently.

     "There is no time to dwell on the past, now let's get some sleep. I'll take the first watch." Kat declared.

     The night was calm, surean, it felt as though one could lose themselves and fall deep into a blissful sleep. Kat was unaffected by this as she took the first four hour watch. The fire burned, embers danced in the sky, then disappeared into a vale of stars, the animals of the night were silent for miles, as though paying respect to the lives lost. A somberness fell over Kat and her familiar, just an hour before her shift ended, she woke up Zero.

     "Hey, it's your turn to keep us safe." she said quietly to him. He could hear the range of emotion in her voice even though she had tried to hide it behind a smile and joking statement.

     "I know this has been hard for you Kat, but after it's all said and done, you have been a good friend to me." There was such sincerity in his voice, it had caused her to start tearing up. She had turned quickly so to stop him from seeing them. Zero, is a unique being, as he isn't exactly human, more accurately he is an asamar. An angle of sorts, his natural abilities like Kats allow for him to see in the pitch of the night. As the night continued he had played aimlessly with a few cantrips, seeing just how many he could hold active at one time. The camp fire started to die just two hours into his watch, Zero walked over and threw some more wood in to keep the heat up for the rest of the party. He stopped for just a moment before returning to his post, to look at Rin, while she slept he thought to himself. 

     "What lies behind your mask?" There was a force, almost primal in nature compelling him to take it off of her and to peak at her face. 

     "NO, what am i doing!" He said to himself, "this isn't right." Zero opened his wings, and went up to a tree branch to sit on. 

     "Stories say that the night sky was once as black as the world around us, then two dragons, one of light, and one of dark fought each jealous of the other and their domain. The two warred for several eons, tearing and clawing parts of one another off, creating the universe as we know it. It wasn't till the metallic dragons, children of the light came that the night sky had gotten its stars. The dragon children, angered by the eternal war of their parent, and took to ripping and tearing bits of the night sky, thus causing the stars and constellations we know today but, in turn their actions caused the created the children of the dark, these are the 'normal' heued dragons, like the reds, blacks, and greens of the world. As the children fought one another, spilling more blood across the land, giving birth to the forests, the mountains, the oceans, the animals, and the many races that inhabit the world. The only exceptions being those born from the gods above, the demons below, and the mages in between." Zelma who had been restless recited.

     "So what, your saying you and this world were born out of war?" Zero replied coldly "I do not believe such things, however I do believe that all things can come to balance."