Chapter 3

"No brains," She whispers. She shifts herself slowly, placing her body in between the boar and another tree. She bears her knife against the boar, and the boar charges once more directly at her. She moves aside, but not quick enough. The boar's horn slashes her left arm. She takes her knife and stabs at the boar's eye as it crashes onto the tree, this time getting a hold of its horn. The boar squeals incredibly loud, raising it's head in pain but she pulls it hard both from her knife and the horn, causing the boar to land face first on the ground.

Eska pulls her knife from the boar's eye socket. The boar squeals again as she drives it onto its healthy eye. The boar spasms out of control, ramming Eska out of the way as it picks itself up and begins running around erratically, hitting the trees and rocks around.

She then looks at her wounds. They bleed, but they aren't deep. She ignores it for now. Eska begins making noises at the boar, trying to get its attention "Hey, hey!" She shouts at it. The boar notices the noises and attempts to run at them. As he gets close, she dives out of the way, slashing at its sides. She repeats this, slicing at the boar multiple times. After a few attempts, the boar begins to slow down. Its blood spilled all over the ground, trees and rocks laying around.

She approaches, holding her knife on both of her hands. The boar keeps itself up on its fours as it struggles to breathe. She drives her knife into its neck. The boar is now too weak to struggle. Its breathing becomes silent and he collapses on his face. She pulls the knife out. Then falls back, sitting on the blood-covered ground.

Oblea's voice can be heard on the forest "Your first kill, I can't believe I was actually there to see it!" She says proudly. Eska looks around, confused. She finally looks up, and spots her hanging from a tree. Her claws driven into the hardwood, supporting herself with both of her legs. Barely much can be seen due to the darkness, though you can see her glowing eyes peering at her like a predator.

She lets go of the tree and comes down. She looks around, then looks at Eska. Oblea crouches down to her level, she picks up her left arm to take a closer look at the wound, Eska winces a bit but doesn't complain.

"You did well." Oblea says as she applies some healing ointment onto the wound. "I am very proud. But I did say I'd be the one doing the hunting."

Eska looks down, almost ashamed and says "I... I tripped, and hurt my foot." Oblea then takes off Eska's leather shoe and sees some inflammation. "Well, you did really good. You adapted to the situation, and kept yourself alive. You didn't waste your time regretting your choices, and you came out on the winning side." She continues, then proceeds to apply more ointment on the injury. Eska smiles, then gets a frown on her face.

"But…" She says a bit sad. Oblea sees this, and realizes. "The other boars were taken care of, I saw the whole thing." She says happily with a smile on her face. Eska seems a bit confused and asks her "You could have helped?" Oblea just keeps her smile and answers "Of course, but then what would you have learned? You learned many important things today. You tripped because you weren't paying as enough attention to your footing, you realized your situation fast and were able to react appropriately without straining your foot, you realized your opponent's weakness and exploited it, you realized your strength and used it, you also realized your weaknesses and adapted appropriately, and most important of all you understood your current limits."

Eska's eyes widen as she looks at Oblea and she begins looking past her, going through the fight she had just overcome. She looks down at her hands in near awe at Oblea's words.

Oblea then picks Eska up and says to her in a soft voice "Come, I'll get you home then I'll pick up the boars." Eska just smiles at Oblea, and embraces her.

Another four years pass. Eska sits atop the arm of a tree peering at the darkness with her yellow eyes. She holds a bow on her hands and a single arrow. She spots something afar, its fur seems to shift in color and it seems to be as tall as she is, about 5 feet tall. She jumps up onto her branch, draws the bow and fires her arrow.

The arrow flies into the trees and a loud sound is heard coming from an animal, almost like a scream and then quick steps rushing away. Eska jumps down from the tree and rushes towards the creature, catching it in no time. She brings her knife out and in a single motion stabs its neck and then pulls it back. She slows down while letting the creature run out of sight, but a crash and a thud is heard not far away.

Eska cleans her knife and puts it away inside of its scabbard. Then begins walking towards the creature. An elk of sorts. Its fur seems to shift in colors, between black and dark blue. Almost like staring onto the starry sky. It has a short snout and its eyes are completely dark. Its hooves seem divided into nine sections and its short horns grow nearly straight back, aside from the curve away from its head. They are pitch black, almost like it will swallow your hand whole if you were to touch them.

She retrieves her arrow and places it in her quiver. Eska then brings out some rope and ties its horns then begins pulling her prize away from the hunting ground. The weight gives her some trouble, but it's nothing she can't handle.

Back home, a two story house made entirely with wood trunks sits in a massive clearing around the river. The river now has a curved bridge on top of it. Eska arrives and pulls the elk onto a square patch of dirt without grass, in front of the house, past a patch with a few vegetables and fruits growing from it. Oblea waits for her at the square where she leaves the elk.

"You found it, the Starlight Stag. How long has it been?" Oblea asks with slight happiness in her voice. "About three weeks." Eska answers. Oblea laughs and wipes a small tear from her eye "It took me half a year to find one, and you got one in three weeks...." She pauses for a bit then continues "I am proud of you Eska." She finishes.

Eska seems to perk up, enthusiastically she asks "So can I-" She is interrupted before she can finish "I'll teach you magic." Eska jumps with excitement then Oblea speaks once more "Now come inside, it's been a while since I've seen you. I want to know everything you saw!" She exclaimed.

After a day of resting, Oblea and Eska are outside. Eska is ready for what is coming.

Oblea begins speaking, though she seems much more serious than with any other lessons "What I'm about to teach you, is magic. Control over nature itself. This is very important Eska, very dangerous. You must always do as I say, or you will come to regret it. Magic can easily erase anything from existence in a split of a second."

Eska looks around her, then at the floor. She seems nervous. "I will do my best."

Oblea continues. "Magic. YOUR magic. Is forbidden outside of just the both of us. You use this magic, this ability, around anyone other than me and you will place a target behind your back."

Eska stiffens a bit and asks Oblea "You mean the church." "Yes" Oblea answers, "I've thought you enough about the outside world because I want you to understand. That at this point in time, you are about to cross a line that not many get to cross. I've taught you discipline, combat skills, hunting skills, everything I know that will help you in this very moment. Everything is chaos until you understand it, then it becomes order. You must always remember this." Oblea finishes and Eska takes a deep breath. She begins nodding with her head.

"Now then, Eska. Give me your hand." Oblea commands. Eska seems a bit taken aback. She extends her hand towards Oblea and she takes hold of it. Then quickly Oblea takes her knife and cuts straight across Eska's hand. Eska's eyes widen slightly, feeling her blood oozing out from the wound. She looks at Oblea in surprise, but remains calm and quiet.

"Every person is born with a type of elemental magic they can control at will, the rest of the elements must be controlled by chanting." Oblea says without letting go of her hand. Eska listens at every single one of her words. Oblea continues "Controlling the elements comes with a price. Blood. Magic uses up the user's blood to manifest. The more blood you use, the more powerful the spell will be."

Oblea keeps speaking as Eska's blood begins to pool on her hand. "Do you know what your element is?" Oblea asks her. Eska shakes her head then Oblea continues "That's because you have no element. A person's element manifests as late as ten years old. Yours never did..." Eska seems confused, and a bit worried about her hand, but she remains calm. "What manifested instead was the massacre of 14 werewolves at the young age of eight months old."

Eska raises one of her eyebrows "When you found me?"

Oblea nods. "When I first laid eyes on you, I was in disbelief. We all were. A magic expert then gave us his opinion. Your magic is the type of magic that the church deems heretical. Anyone found with this ability is... Executed, at best." Eska understands this. Oblea has taught her about 

many things, including the church, especially the church. The more Oblea speaks about magic, the more Eska seems to understand why she had emphasized the church's topic so much.