Shrouded Forest

"When he turned around just now what did he say?"

"War never changes -"

"Really? Interesting"

"We better get going, we drew too much attention." She said indicating to the people that were looking at them. John too had noticed the crowd of onlookers and his old habit of avoidance was slightly coming back as he nodded. They exited the cafe retrieved their horses and left the city through a different gate than the one the arrived through.

TL: It was around mid afternoon.

Looking back at the city Minerva was sad that she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her student fellows at the college. Well its not like we won't see each other again. John beside her was looking ahead. He sensed her look and turned his head with a "what?" look. She shook her head and kicked her horse to move faster. She had gotten used to his peculiar clothes though he hardly wore them. He had tried to fit in to the foreign land. They were approaching a fork on the road. She took out her map again and after a quick study she put it back and turned left. Northward bound and homeward bound at last she thought and looked at John again. This time she found him already looking at her smiling and couldn't help but look away.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"What?"

"What's on your mind?" he asked shaking his head.

"You've been away from home for quite sometime but you don't even seem eager to get back."

"I am, I just don't believe i have to show it to feel it. Furthermore I'm worried they will not be as excited about my homecoming as I am."

"They're your family, off course they'll be pleased. I don't have a family so I may not know exactly but I would like to think so."

"What do you mean? What about the old man, may not be blood but he took care of you raised you and you've never left his side, that is family."

They proceeded northward in silence for sometime before John begun to speak. He sounded sad yet nostalgic and Minerva didn't interrupt him. HE sounded more like he was talking to himself than to her. She could gather that he had an older sister unrelated by blood who joined the family after her mother remarried. His real father abandoned them one day and it was just him and his mother for the longest time.

She could tell that he loved his family very much and even though he wasn't as open with his step sister and father as much as his mother it wasn't out of dislike but more because that was how he was. He talked of the regret he felt about mostly ignoring his sister even though she tried very hard to establish a relationship with him. She must have thought that her disliked her.

He expressed heavily his feeling of warmth and love for his mom. Having raised him herself and was both a mother and a father to him. His father had not left them high and dry but his absence was still painful to him especially remembering how other children seemed to treat him in the years that followed.

He was grateful for his step-father because he was there but didn't impose. Observant and was a father who didn't exert too much of his influence on John but was tough when he needed to be.

The afternoon passed as John continued to talk. She had a better understanding of him by the time they made camp. They were just outside of the Shrouded Forest. Venturing inside at night was close to suicide. The wolves in there were larger than normal wolves and rumor had it that it was just one huge pack, if one found you they all did and would be upon you like the rain. John set up the fire stakes around the camp. He would have set up a barrier but his training was insufficient for him to maintain it all night.

Minerva had prepared about thirty staves and John had wrapped, oiled them then lit them. They made a neat circle around the entire camp which made them look as if they were under a massive spotlight. But this was not strange since if anyone dared to venture into these parts this was something that they had to do. Off course taking care of a few wolves would have been no problem for the both of them considering how intently they had been training over the past month but did they dare do it all night and travel further into the woods all day?

At first Minerva was not particularly keen about training her spirits for combat but after seeing the enthusiasm displayed by John she just couldn't help but emulate. And with that she was constantly practicing how to wield them both simultaneously like how she did on her very first night. She went into the clearing in the woods often but she did so mostly alone with the few times that John had actually accompanied her was mostly so that he could sleep. He had once volunteered to be her sparing partner but she didn't feel that she was quite there yet not because she was afraid of him but because after learning the nature of Johns power and mastering her own she understood the destructiveness of the fight in the forest in the woods.

At the time John was able to successfully manipulate his fire magic. This happened one day when he and Khamet had accompanied her to the forest. At first he had rested before the young boy insisted that John show him "a few moves". John was eager to do so but the boy seemed to sulk so John decided to do a big one and went to take of his gloves. Minerva had been approaching with Fireball in tow. The bird had flown to land on Johns exposed hand and immediately ignited. At first Minerva thought that she had injured him and dashed to put out out the fire but John shooed her away insisting that this was not the birds fault and help up his hand and the flame continued to burn for a short while before returning to the lightning state that everyone was used to. Only then had she relaxed.

In the present wolf howls could be heard in the distance, they were like a choir. When the first one howled another one followed and so on. If one was to count these howls as individual wolves then they could tell how large and spread out the pack was. If they decided to come for them they would surround them completely. Though it was night time the thick fog was clearly visible because of the flame staves. John and Minerva settled down after the howling stopped but it was not for long since it started again. It was like the wolves knew they were there and wanted to intimidate them.

Minerva had the foresight to buy food when they were in Castle town and they didn't have to cook only warm it. They ate and after they ran out of things to talk about Minerva offered to take the first watch. A strong woman, John thought as he went into the tent and slept. Minerva sat outside the tent on a log and covered herself in a cloak and kept watch. She summoned Fireball and watched as she darted from one stave to the next making the fires dance as they grew and shrunk in sequence.

John didn't know how long he had slept before he was woken to take watch. It was still dark and misty and replaced Minerva on the log. Fireball followed her and disappeared just as she entered the tent. There was no use in keeping her summoned while she slept. Leave me alone now will you. He took out the long sword and unsheathed it. He had developed this habit ever since that first night in the rain when Noira had summoned his soul into her domain. He gazed at the black blade which was even darker in the night.

"Feeling lonely are you boy?" Noira said seductively startling him. This was the first time she had talked to him since that night. He did feel that his magic was more in sync with the sword but she had never again spoken to him. He was about to stand when he realized that his soul had been summoned again.

"I'm supposed to be keeping watch against the wolves." John said dismissively.

"Don't worry, I can do that for you besides, even if they come their souls are bound to be delicious, they have killed men after all." She replied.

"..." John was taken aback by this statement and gave her a look of disapproval,

"Oh relax, its not like you'd let them eat you so that I can't have their souls." she said as she begun circling around him. This made John shudder with the feeling that he was prey being stalked by a vicious predator.

"..."

"I am quite fascinated by you, this entire month we have been conversing and i haven't felt a hint of desire or blood lust only a thirst for power for knowledge's sake."

"Conversation?"

"Come now you can't be that stupid, do you need me to walk you through it, they say eagles drop their young to encourage them to fly, I've never seen it but that's rough"

"Can you even see."

"I can see through your eyes just fine, do you really think that all these fires will keep those ferocious wolves away? Humans." she scoffed.

"Peace of mind -"

"That's being weak and you are not weak, are you? My dear master. Our magic has been in sync as you trained so i can tell, that's how we conversed."

"I see."

"A sword becomes a weapon only after its used to kill, the language of combat is also a way in which people can speak no, and we have had many conversations."

"Okay then how do you think my training is going?"

"We shall talk later, right now we are about to have a very interesting conversation." She said running her tongue on her lips as her eyes glowed red. The blood thirst was strong and John was back in the present.