9 A New Dawn

The moon was high in the night sky. The cloudy overcast didn't allow it to show its true brilliance. Staring up while smoking his pipe Jayson lets out a sigh as he exhales.

The crackling of the kindling draws his attention back to the fire. Realizing most of the embers were extinguished, Jayson threw the remainder of the sticks on the fire.

A faint sound catches his ears. Looking in the direction of the sound Jayson notices it's the same direction that Alysane came and went from earlier. Seeing nothing at first, the soft sound gradually increases as the source of the noise approaches. Readying his daggers Jayson realizes it's the same woman coming towards him again.

"I see you're still awake Jayson."

She says drawing closer as Jayson puts his daggers back.

"Y-yeah I don't see the point in sleeping in the forest if I can be ambushed by monsters or anything else. So I'll smoke as I stay on guard tonight before leaving when the sun rises."

"I'd say that's very astute, but at the same time it's not smart because what can you do when you're drained of energy?"

"You're not wrong princess, but what else can I do?"

Alysane raises a finger to her chin pondering his words.

"Fair point, so before you leave the woods, would you like to hear a story of this country?"

"Um sure, it'll make time go by quicker"

Taking him up on his answer Alysane sits opposite the fire and begins her tale.

Eighty years ago, the tribes weren't unified like they are today. In fact the clans and various races of this nation were divided. The clans were my family's, the Vernal clan which is an Elven nation headed by my father Revalor Vernal, the Silverfoot clan which is a Dwarvish clan that reigned over the 5 Dwarvish clans. Their chieftain is Dastrat Silverfoot. Followed by the Koila clan, a beastkin tribe led by Proudmane. There's also a therianthrope clan, and a lizardman clan.

For generations these clans fought each other for supremacy of the land. When the Atzian Theocracy started kidnapping, raping and selling members of different races belonging to these clans, we formed a loose coalition to deal with the threat. After the initial struggle the five clan leaders met in secret to lay a more concrete plan for unification of the races.

As the largest and wealthiest of the clans, the Elves were selected as the leader of this new nation. This was largely opposed by the leader of the Koila clan, Proudmane. My father believed we should focus more on defending our borders and dealing with any threats that way. Proudmane believed we should strike back at the Theocracy in an all out war, ignoring the fact that another nation is in between us and them.

A few years later a power struggle happened within the beastmen races between Proudmane and a tribe of Kitsune who did not believe in genocide like the Proudmanes. Everything was going in the Kitsune tribes favor, until one of the leader's advisers betrayed him and sold him out to Proudmane. He died for his sins. Granted his only sin was losing his power struggle, and being betrayed. There's little knowledge of what happened to his daughter and whether or not she's alive. She's someone my father would love to meet.

After that Proudmane's family solidified their standing and clawed their way up to the second highest position in the council. They managed to convert the lizardmen and therianthrope clans to their cause heavily opposing the Elvan and Dwarven clans who want to have a defensive stance without massacring innocents along the way to vengeance.

She ends her story and turns to me.

"With that story it's weird to see a human here, alive that is. Who exactly are you?"

"A-as I said before, my name is Jayson, I fled from a slavers camp before I was enslaved with the help of a kitsune woman. I was told to make my way to the empire to secure my freedom."

"A kitsune in an enslavement camp…? Wait, what do you mean enslavement camp? All I heard from father was that any trespassers in our nation were killed, not enslaved."

"...The camp is run by Zenith Proudmane, it's called the Rysk camp if I'm not mistaken.."

"Rysk?! There's a city near here named that, it's under my fathers territory. Are you sure you're not mistaken?!"

She says standing up and gripping Jayson up by the collar of his shirt lifting him from his sitting position.

"Y-yes.. it's maybe a few hours north from here on horseback.."

Alysane releases him and Jayson falls back to the ground.

"You've given me valuable intel. The woman who helped you escape, where is she? I haven't ever seen you with another person."

"Her name is Misrurri, she's a half Kitsune girl, she got caught as she couldn't come with me due to the branding she has… she more or less sacrificed herself so I can escape. I want to become stronger, and find a way to save her from her fate. So please don't send me back there."

Taken aback by his words Alysane smiled a little.

"I don't know what gave you the idea that I would do that. So I promise you I won't. I can't give you much assistance, but I'll tell you about the different kinds of magic known by various people throughout the world, and I can give you a little bit of money to help you."

"I don't deserve that much kindness, but I gratefully accept. Thank you Alysane."

Jayson says as he bows his head towards the young princess.

She moves near him and sits down again.

"Don't mention it. Anyway where to begin… I guess for starters the simplest magic is your basic arcana. You can think of it as elemental magic, there's fire, wind, water, earth, light, dark, and void. There's also ritual magic, that's mainly used for summoning, or slavery magic. The final category is advanced magic which fuses two or more elements together or the user creates their own unique magic, very few can do this properly so there isn't much knowledge about it truth be told."

"I see.. Can you tell me more about the basic stuff?"

Alysane nods.

"So with the basic magic, do you remember the thing I did to make the ground cave a little? That was earth magic. A more advanced option would be gravity magic which combines earth with void and even wind if you want to reduce weight and "soar" in the sky". I'm getting ahead of myself sorry, anyway, each type of magic has a wide array of spells with different concepts or powers. Magic isn't as linear as most would have you believe. Intention and imagination are as important as your incantations. Although to make magic work you must understand the arcane languages."

Nodding along with her words Jayson turns his head upwards.

"I see, I'll make a note to remember this princess, however the sun is rising, so I should be getting ready to leave. With you teaching me these things, as well as helping me financially I'd feel like a swindler without offering anything. So while it may not be worth it, please take the horse with you, I will continue on foot. You said I should head southeast instead of west, right?"

"Yes, and thank you for the horse. In addition to some coins, I'll give you one more thing, if you ever encounter anyone within the country's borders, show them this and you shouldn't have a hard time."

She hands him a small bag with a little bit of coins in it, as well as a small pin from her hair.

"Remember Jayson, southeast and until you leave these woods no harm will befall you. That doesn't mean you can neglect your vigilance. I'll see what I can do about that camp; next time we meet again, if the goddess allows it, I hope it's under more hospitable terms."

The two begin to part ways as Alysane puts out the fire with her magic while Jayson gathers up all of his things and places them into the sack from the horse. Jayson bows his head again in thanks to this woman before he turns to take his leave heading towards the rising sun.