Intermission

Saxonia national guard? Has there always been a country called Saxonia around these areas?

After thinking for a few seconds, I recalled something about many countries forming one singular alliance, which then came under central rule. I'm guessing they're the soldiers of that country.

So, right now there are a few soldiers in front of me ready to kill me, but I won't let that happen so easily.

I swung my arm and threw firebolts at the front soldiers, they hit a few soldiers, but the commanding one managed to dodge it on time.

"Impressive firework, however, you're going to need more than that."

A few soldiers then started charging at me holding shields in front of them. Firebolts are out of the picture, so I instead flew up into the air and cast a lightning spell on them.

I remember Sildok teaching me all about conductivity of metals and how electricity can easily pass through them. I used this knowledge to my advantage.

The soldiers all collapsed onto the ground with smoke coming from their bodies. I then fired consecutive lightning spells, taking down a few more of them.

"You guys should just give up, I've found your weakness, besides, I don't see any bows, so you won't be able to hit me in the air anyways."

"You act all cocky, thinking you've won, but we aren't done here yet."

He then signaled one of the soldiers standing in the back who was looking over some kind of large object. It began emitting light, before it burst out a huge wave of golden light.

"Huh? What did you do?" I asked, after the light wave passed through me and nothing happened.

"Let me tell you something about the war." He then began talking with a smug.

"Do you know how we managed to defeat your kind, even though your army was many times stronger than ours?"

"No, I don't, I was still little when all that happened."

"Your advantage in battle is your overwhelmingly higher magic capabilities, but if you take that away, then we can fight almost on equal ground. Now take a gander what that device is used for."

I tried firing a spell, but… nothing came out of it.

It was then that it dawned upon me that I needed to get out of here. They couldn't hit me anyways since I could fly.

However, when I turned around and tried to flee, I felt something tugging on my left leg.

I looked down and saw glowing chains wrapped around my leg. It is the commander who is currently holding me in place.

"What?"

"You're not the only one who can use magic."

He started pulling me towards him, so I tried flying away with as much force as I could muster, but he was much stronger than me.

I was slowly getting closer to him, I needed to do something, if I didn't, I might end up getting killed.

He gave me one more strong tug, which made me fall on the ground, making a dust cloud. I then saw him approaching me, with his sword ready in hand.

"How are you able to use magic, if you suppressed all mana around us?" I asked, wondering how he was able to conjure up those chains.

"Let's just say it's a different type of magic from your usual elemental ones. But you don't need to know as you are about to die here anyways."

Different type of magic, huh?

This made me think for a second, before I came up with an idea, but if it fails, this might be it for me.

One of the soldiers approached me and swung down his sword, slashing me across my chest.

"Aargh!"

Letting out an agonizing scream, I fell on the ground bleeding massively, after being wounded fatally.

At least, that's what the soldiers are seeing. I used a vision controlling spell on all soldiers to manipulate what they're seeing, essentially an illusion.

If I recall correctly from one of Sildok's magic lessons, there are two other types of magic different from elemental ones, those being holy and demonic magic. I learned that demonic magic couldn't be used by humans, so I deduced that he had to be using holy magic. Using this logic, I thought that I could perhaps use demonic magic as well under conditions where mana is suppressed. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but I'm glad it did.

This was my chance to escape, but I had to be quick, as the illusion was about to be over soon. I got ready to fly away again, this time they didn't know I was going to, so I wouldn't be caught.

The soldiers then quickly realized they were tricked, but by the time they did, I was already too far away for them and they wouldn't be able to catch up to me.

I quickly realized I made a mistake, however. In hindsight, I shouldn't have come to the center of the capital of the former Gaeran country. Although the city is now mostly rubble and in ruins, with nobody living here, there are still quite a few soldiers roaming around, even many years after the end of the war.

Before I could react, I got struck by a few arrows coming from archers standing on what was left of the city walls. One arrow hit me on my left side and two on my left wing.

I tried continuing to fly, but my wings quickly gave out and I crashed onto the ground. I looked behind me and saw more soldiers approaching. I couldn't use any magic and I was too wounded to flee.

I tried getting up again, but the wound on my left side from getting hit by an arrow made it difficult. I saw that I was in front of the city gates, so I slowly made my way towards it.

The soldiers were slowly but surely getting closer to me, I knew I couldn't escape, even if I made it outside the walls, I couldn't fly or outrun them due to the state I'm in.

So, I stopped and turned around, then grabbed a sword that was just lying on the side of the street. I then stood in the middle of the street and looked the soldiers in the eyes.

I wasn't going to go down without a fight just yet.

"You want me dead so badly, that you're sending a whole squad of knights, huh?"

Although I'm standing here, thinking I could perhaps put up a fight without my magic, but I realize that I have no experience using a sword whatsoever.

Heh, so this is what people mean when they say a cornered animal will lash out with everything they have.

I start walking forward with the sword ready in my hands in front of me.

The front soldier had his sword ready as well. I then swung my sword in a horizontal movement, but I got blocked easily by the soldiers. Due to my wounds, I couldn't put in much force at all in my swings. He then followed up with his own attack aimed at my head.

I closed my eyes, thinking that this would be it for me.

But nothing happened. I felt nothing.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw the soldier that was just about to attack me, lying on the ground with his head completely crushed beneath a rock.

I saw all the soldiers looking above the city walls, so I looked as well.

It was Sildok standing on the wall, while holding a rock in his hand, looking down on us.

I could hardly get words out of my mouth.

"W-why are you here?"

"Why else but to save you of course!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm currently running at top speed in the direction Yasmin flew towards. I don't know where exactly she is, but no matter what I'll have to try and find her before it's too late.

After almost an hour of running through forests, I came across the ruins of an old city. This used to be the capital of the Gaerans. It's been more than a decade since the war, so I don't expect anybody to still live here.

Then I suddenly see a huge golden wave of energy through the sky. I looked for the source of it and saw something in the air.

That's her! That has to be Yasmin!

I once again started running towards the city ruins. Once I reached the walls, I climbed up onto it. One part was broken down, so I could climb up the large bricks to get on top of it. Now that I'm standing on top of the walls, I had a better sight over the ruins, I saw Yasmin in the air flying away from the castle, which was in the center of the city.

I wanted to call out to her, but she was too far and too high up in the sky to hear me, besides wherever that golden wave of energy came from, I wouldn't want to attract its attention towards me either.

I ran on the wall towards the direction she was flying towards. I looked up to the sky again and noticed she wasn't flying anymore, but instead was falling down.

No, I need to get to her quickly, I thought to myself.

Once I got closer, I noticed knights running towards Yasmin. She also had been shot by arrows, so she is in no state to flee or fight back.

This is not good. I had to get there before the knights did.

However, it seems like they'll get there first. I was just too far away.

It was at this moment that I was starting to be filled with despair, there wasn't any way for me to get to her first.

When I looked around, I saw a small pile of rocks and knew what I had to do. I know it is risky, since I could accidentally hit her, but if the alternative is her getting captured or worse, then this is worth trying.

I threw a rock that is slightly larger than my hand in the general direction of the front most knight. Miraculously it hit him right in the head, crushing his skull in the process, killing him instantly.

"W-why are you here?" yelled Yasmin, who was clearly on the verge of crying.

"Why else but to save you of course!"

"Even after yelling at you and running away?"

"It doesn't matter what you've done or what you've said. It doesn't matter who your real biological father is, what does matter is who treats you like a father. I've come to realize that those you care about and those you hold dear to your heart, are your real family."

After hearing me, she looked like she was about to burst into tears. I grabbed two more rocks and jumped down. I threw them again at the knights, hitting another two and incapacitating them.

After seeing me, the knights all stopped and stayed at a distance, not wanting to be the next victim.

I then quickly ran to Yasmin, while she was stumbling towards me, clearly hurt.

"Your wounds look really bad, let me heal you up!"

I had to pull out the arrows first though before I could restore her wounds. I pulled out the two that were in her left wing, there was another one that struck her left flank.

"Sorry if this hurts." After which I then pulled the last arrow out. She let out an agonizing scream, but she quickly stopped after I healed her.

"Thank you… I'm feeling a bit better now. What do we do about those guys." she asked while looking at the knights who were still standing there dumbfounded by what happened.

"Get us some reinforcements, we can't take them on with just the few of us." One of them said.

"We have to get out of here quickly! Run towards the gate!" I told Yasmin.

We turned around and started running, however, we were out of luck, because the gate was already closing on us. We couldn't reach it before it fully shut.

"We can still go around, there is a hole in the wall!" I said.

We turned right and started running again. We saw the large hole through the wall, through which we could escape, but once we got closer, we noticed a group of knights blocking it off. We turned around and noticed that there was another group chasing behind us. The side street was also blocked by a group of knights.

"Where did all of you appear from and why are you all here anyways?" Yasmin asked the knights, wondering why there is such a large number of knights in a place that is completely abandoned.

"Guess we'll have to fight our way out of here." I thought to myself. I looked towards Yasmin and she nodded, understanding what we had to do.

Yasmin started casting a powerful magic spell, while I put my hand on the ground and created a large stone club as a weapon.

The knights then approached us ready to fight. Yasmin finished her chanting and created a large ball of wind that was hovering above us. It started shooting out many wind blades and cutting through the armor of the knights and dismembering a few of them.

I started fighting them head on with my stone club, hearing the crushing of their armor with each impact. At this rate, we could definitely fight them off and make our way out of this place.

I then noticed that there was a mage in the back using some strange device.

Yasmin noticed that as well and suddenly yelled out, "That's a magic suppressing device! We need to get out of here as soon as possible!"

"What is a magic suppressing device? What will it do?"

"It means we won't be able to cast spells anymore!" However, the moment she said that it was already too late.

I saw the same wave of golden energy that I saw earlier. This time I was caught in it too. I immediately felt something different about our surroundings. My stone club also suddenly started to crumble as I couldn't hold it together anymore without mana. At least I could still fight them since I am physically strong. Yasmin, however, relies solely on her magic powers.

Things looked desperate again, but this time there didn't seem to be any way out for us.

My mind was racing with thoughts, thinking about any possible ways for us to get out, before I finally came to a conclusion.

"Yasmin… you should escape." I said to her with a rather low voice.

"What? What about you then?"

"Our magic is suppressed, I can still fight, you cannot, but you can still fly. So, you should fly away from here and get away quickly."

"I… I… I'm sorry for earlier… I shouldn't have screamed at you earlier and ran away. We wouldn't even be in this situation."

"There is no need to worry about that anymore at this point. Worry about the future, you still have a long life to live."

"I will, I'll get away safely, for both our sakes."

"I'll hold them off as long as possible, try to fly at a high altitude, so to not get shot by arrows again."

"Do you promise to get away safely?"

I looked into her eyes, not knowing if I should lie to her or not. I personally didn't know either whether I would be able to escape safely.

"I promise I will get away safely as well."

She then turned around and was ready to fly up.

"I'll see you then." she said, before flying away into safety, leaving just me behind to deal with that ever-increasing number of knights.

It was at this moment that I started to feel heavy in my chest and felt something I hadn't felt before. Sorrow.

"Thank you, Yasmin."

It was ever since meeting her that I truly started to truly know what it meant to be more human. To feel emotions, attachment to people and having a place called home to protect.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After saying our goodbyes, I took flight. I tried not to look back or to let a tear out, since I knew the moment I did, I wouldn't be able to stop.

He told me he'd be safe, but I knew he just said that to ease my worries.

After flying for a short while, I arrived at our home again.

I proceeded to spend the next few days all alone there, still holding the hope that there is a chance that he might return again, but deep down, I knew I was just fooling myself.

I was not only emotionally exhausted, but mentally absent. I spent my days just wandering around doing nothing interesting.

It was then during a stroll through the forest in the evening that something strange occurred.

I heard somebody's voice come from seemingly everywhere. It sounded like a whisper. It was also hard to decipher if it was a male or female voice. It almost sounded like a mix.

"Who goes there? Show yourself!"

However, nobody showed up. I even flew up into the air to get a better sight over the surroundings, but I couldn't spot anybody.

Then I heard a voice again trying to say something that I didn't understand.

"What the… why do I still hear it."

I went back to the ground again, while the voice was still seemingly trying to communicate something to me.

Then I suddenly could understand what it was saying.

"Greetings, Gaeran."

"Who are you and what do you want from me? Since you don't want to show yourself, I'm assuming you're either scared or you are plotting something malicious."

"Oh oh oh, seems like we have quite the mistrusting person here. I'm not here to bring any harm to you or to plot anything. I'm simply here to propose something. A deal."

"A deal? What could you possibly want from me?"

"It's simple… I just want to make you stronger. I will subject you to a series of trials that I'm sure will improve your combat capabilities by many orders of magnitude."

"And what's the catch here? Everybody in this world wants to be the strongest, so since you're just here willing to offer power like free candy, there must be something else to it."

"You're quite perceptive for your age, well then, I'll just come clean then. I want you to join my legion of Harbingers of Death."

So, he'll help me get stronger and in turn I have to do his bidding.

"No, I think I will pass. I don't want to become your pawn."

"Oh, are you sure about that? I see quite a lot of potential in you though, especially since you're a so called 'albino Gaeran', said to be the strongest of the Gaerans. It would be a shame to waste that potential."

"Flattery isn't going to work. Just piss off already!"

"Alright then but do know that I will get what I want no matter what. I have the powers to assure the right outcome comes to play."

After that I didn't hear anything of the strange voice anymore. I just continued with my day and tried to pretend I never encountered it.

The anomaly did make me come out of my emotional trough again. I regained the willpower again to continue, because I knew I couldn't dwell on the past forever. That's what Sildok would have wanted, for me to continue and think about the future.

Once I got home, I started going through the mountain of books, trying to look for any place that I could stay, where I wouldn't immediately be hunted down on first sight.

I've spent many days reading through many of the books and documents that he has collected over the years. Some of them are very dated and talk about things of the ancient past. Those I'm not interested in since the information is most likely not relevant anymore. I am, however, interested in the more recent documents.

I found a box filled with administrative documents that Sildok 'borrowed' from a carriage. The box itself had an insignia on it, it looked to be a blue shield with three swords on it next to each other pointing downwards. I think this is the insignia of Saxonia.

Upon opening, I found many uninteresting documents. But one of them did pique my interest. It was a map of Saxonia, with many regions highlighted. The text on it said: "Areas with Gaerans sightings".

This was exactly what I was looking for. It was with this newfound goal that I started packing all the things I needed to set out on a journey. I would go and try and find a potential Gaeran settlement that I can move to.

The next day, I got everything that I needed packed in a bag, so I'm ready to go.

Judging from the location of the old capital of Gaeran, I have to fly to the northeastern regions, to a place called 'Romsgart'. There, I'll probably have to start looking in areas deep inside forests as I highly doubt they will be in open plains.

After having flown for half a day, I finally reached the region marked on this map. Since the sun is about to go under, I should try and find a place that I can stay at.

Luckily there is a small town very close to where I am, so I went to the ground a bit away from the town. I hid myself using a mantle and put the bag on my back, so I won't look suspicious, because of the bulge underneath the mantle created by my wings. I obviously cannot hide them completely, so this is the best I can do.

Arriving at the main road leading to the town, I see a sign saying 'Bauchendorf'. I continued walking until I reached the main plaza of the small town, I was initially a bit hesitant to walk inside a town full of humans, but nobody seemed to bat an eye, which means I'm blending in perfectly.

Walking to the nearest inn, I entered and approached the person at the reception desk. It was a young-looking woman, who looked disinterested.

"Hello there." I said, trying to grab her attention.

"Hmm? Whaddya want from me?"

Talking about rudeness, does she not know any hospitality?

"Can I rent a room for tonight?"

"Sure, the first room upstairs to your left is vacant. That'll be forty bronze dalus's."

I grabbed the bag with this country's currency that I brought with me as well. I didn't bring a lot with me, but enough to cover the necessary expenses. I had one silver dalus and a handful of bronze dalus's with me. One thousand bronze dalus's are equivalent to one silver dalus. One thousand silver dalus's can be converted to a golden dalus.

I gave her forty bronze dalus's and I went to my room to rest for the night.

I woke up very quickly again, but not because it was already morning, but because I heard a strange noise in my room. It was pitch dark, so I couldn't see clearly.

It was then that I noticed something was next to my bed or rather someone. I quickly jumped out of my bed and held my hand in front of me, readying an incantation of a spell.

"Who are you? Speak if you don't want to have an icicle through your skull."

I then made a small fire on my other hand to light up the room. I could then see that a man was standing in front of me.

"Wait, calm down. I'm not here for any malicious reasons."

I tilted my head in confusion. The next thing he said made me on edge.

"You're a Gaeran, aren't you? I can see your wings."

"What do you want from me? Depending on your answer, I might have to kill you."

"As I said, I'm not here to harm you. I'll prove it to you."

He then reached for a necklace he was wearing. He removed it and his appearance started to change.

His hair color went from a brown color to almost black. His skin color also turned dark, but most significant of all, a pair of wings appeared on his back.

"See? I'm not here to harm you, because I'm also a Gaeran."

"I see. Then what are you here for then? I don't think I've met you before."

"That's true, we haven't. My name is Ager. Ager Valcaror."

"I'm Yasmin."

"Anyways, with introductions out of the way. I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm here because I'm from a Gaeran settlement that's not very far from. We sometimes just wander through small towns to scout for any Gaerans that happen to come pass by."

"Wait, are you serious? I've also been trying to look for a settlement."

"Well, then our goals align!"

"Then, can you bring me there right now? I'll quickly pack all my stuff."

I packed all my stuff into my bag and we both left the inn, while the entire town is dark and everybody is asleep.

"Say, how did you know I was a Gaeran? I thought I managed to hide my identity pretty well."

"I've seen many people use the same disguise method as you, so it's pretty easy to figure it out."

"I… I see. Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you, but the necklace you were wearing. Does it hide your identity?"

"This? Yes, it does. It's a special tool made, so our wings aren't visible. This way we can go into human towns without having to use large mantles to cover them. However, we only have a limited number of them. That's why we still live in a settlement hidden deep in the forest, next to this town."

After we've left the town, it was safe enough to take to the skies.

"It shouldn't be far from here, just fly in that direction for a short while. By the way, you only told me your first name. What's your last name?"

"I… uh… I don't remember."

"You don't remember?"

"Yeah, I'm not actually brought up by my biological parents. Since I can remember, I've lived with someone else, assuming he was my real father, but recently I found out that he in fact isn't. A while after, some things happened that led to my current situation."

"I'm sure that discovery must have been tough on you."

"I was completely lost for a period, but I'm getting over it now."

"That's good to hear. Anyways, I'm sure you'll be welcomed here as if you're part of our own family."

"I'm looking forward to it, Ager."

We've been flying for a while already above the endlessly stretching forest and mountains. The sun has even begun rising.

"We're about to arrive at our destination."

We started descending and approached a valley hidden deep inside the forests, where no human passes. The perfect location for a secret hideout.

After we landed on the ground, he guided me to the entrance of the small settlement.

There doesn't seem to be any people right now, mainly because it is still very early in the morning.

"Well, here it is. Welcome to our humble little village. It doesn't look like much because it has only existed for a handful of years."

In the distance, I see two people sitting at a table underneath a tent. They quickly noticed our arrival and waved to us.

"If it isn't Ager. Up early as always and I see you even brought somebody with you."

"Good morning, Kiru. I was just doing my usual patrol around various towns."

"Who is this young lady that you brought with you?" said the second guy sitting next to Kiru.

"She caught my attention during my patrol this morning, so I decided to get her to come to this place."

"I see…"

"Hey! I did not have any ulterior motives, okay? I was just doing what I've been doing for the past years."

"Okay Ager, no need to get so worked up over it." Kiru said.

It was at this point that the sun has fully risen above the horizon, shooting out rays of sunlight into this valley. We could see each other much clearer now, not hidden anymore by the darkness.

"Wait a minute now that I take a close look at you. You're no ordinary Gaeran, aren't you?"

"You're right Kiru. I think you're one of the fabled 'albino Gaerans'. Ager, how lucky must you have been to find one of those?"

I hear them mention the name 'albino Gaeran', it rings a bell in me, because I've come across that name a handful of times. But I never knew what was special about it.

"Excuse me, I think I'm out of the loop, but what is so special about it?" I ask them.

"Oh, you don't know? Well, to keep it simple, an 'albino Gaeran' is a sub species that looks different and has much greater capabilities than ordinary Gaerans, like us. However, they're rarely born among the Gaeran population, so only a handful of them exist at the same time." Kiru explained.

The second guy then added, "Since there is only a handful of them and they're also so special, they're very well known among the population and because of their greater capabilities, they usually get high ranking positions in society. At the end of the war, only four 'albino Gaerans' were known. However, all of them died in combat during the war that wiped out our country. So, I'm assuming you must have been born at the end or right after the war."

"I don't actually know or remember anything about Gaeran, so that may be true."

"Anyways, I think you guys need to see the village elder, don't you?" asked Kiru.

"That's right, that was what I was planning on doing when I arrived back here. Follow me, Yasmin. Kiru, Pemu, have a good day."

"You too, Ager!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After that interaction, we went to the largest building of this small village to meet with the village elder.

His name was Vellas Raetellor, he was quite a friendly man, he even gave us a tour of the whole village, even though he seemed like he had difficulty walking, let alone fly.

It was by now that the village was bustling with people. I am getting curious looks from people, due to my different appearance.

"Of course, you'll also need a place to stay at." The village elder said, after leading us to one of the houses.

"You'll be sharing this house with a few others."

He knocked on the door, before it was opened by a young-looking boy.

"Oh, it's the village elder. Sis, the village elder is here!" he yelled.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. Don't need to shout. Hello Mr. Raetellor, do you need something from us?"

"We have a new member of the village here and I believe you still have a few vacant rooms here. What do you think about her staying here with you?"

"Sure! The more the merrier."

She stretched out her arm, signaling that she wanted to shake my hand.

"So, what's your name?"

"I'm Yasmin."

"Nice to meet you Yasmin, I'm Lana. I hope we'll get to know each other better."

After our meeting, the village elder and Ager both had to go do some other business. I then checked out my new house that I would be staying at. It appears Lana is living with only her little brother in this relatively large house.

"Hey, Yasmin. Want to know what my favorite activity is?"

"What is it?" I asked. She then held out a long rod with a long rope attached on one end.

"It's fishing. Want to go fish with me?"

"Yeah, seems interesting. You'll have to teach me though."

"Of course, but it's easy, you'll see."

"Is your brother not going to join us?" I asked.

"No, he's currently outside playing with his friends. Besides, he doesn't like fishing in the first place."

We flew for just a few minutes until we arrived at a river. It wasn't very large, but there were still plenty of fish in it.

She taught me how to fish and I got to say it's not as easy as she made it out to be, but it was still fun. Just not the waiting around part.

"You know, waiting is also part of fishing. You can't just expect fish to take the bait instantly. The satisfaction comes after waiting."

Hours went by and we caught a few fish that we'll be bringing back to the village.

"Say, Yasmin. I've been thinking about something. Your appearance. You're an 'albino Gaeran' right?"

"Yes, I am. I've had many people give me curious looks already in the village. I've been told we don't appear very often among the Gaerans."

"That's true. But if you're worried that I'll treat you differently because of it, don't worry. At the end of the day, we're all in the same boat together. I don't remember too many details of the war, because I was still a child, but the aftermath of it and what happened to our country was horrible."

"Yeah, I also don't remember. I think I was born around the end of it. I know you said you don't remember much, but could you tell me more about Gaeran? I'm just curious what my country was like."

"I'll try and remember what I can. So, to start off, Gaeran was in the past just a peaceful country, where not only Gaerans but also humans lived. Yes, we co-existed at one point. Most of it is mountainous regions, with even greater mountains to the far north. The capital was called Tlurgusk. I was where my family used to live. But at one point, the harvest was bad, partially because of bad weather, but the soil of Gaeran wasn't extremely fertile to begin with. This led to a large famine, causing a lot of suffering and death. Trading from neighboring countries did alleviate the famine partially, but it wasn't enough. The papal states to the south refused to deal with us, due to their religion. One day, the king started a war against the humans towards the east and the south, probably to make sure another famine wouldn't occur by securing fertile lands. Initially it went well, but the army quickly got pushed back and the humans even started pushing into our territory. They eventually ended up occupying the whole country. I initially thought that would be the end of our troubles and that they would leave us alone after this, but they had to take it a step further and start massacring us by the dozens. They were adamant about wiping us all out. So, we all had to flee. Flee our home country to get to safety and that leads us to now. Fifteen years later and I would say our situation is getting stable."

"I can't believe it, I was told that we were hunted down by humans, but to think that they would go as far to kill each and every one of us."

"I know. It's… horrible. And they're not slowing down."

An awkward silence ensued after we discussed this rather serious topic. Lana broke the silence after a few minutes.

"You know, if our country still stood to this day, you would've been very famous. You would also have had a high position in society. Compared to me, my family hasn't always been well off. I probably would not have been able to get close to you. So, in a way the war allowed for us to meet, as crazy as it sounds."

When she mentioned that, it made me think about what I discovered about my biological family. How they were actually the king and queen of Gaeran. Taurcaran is my real last name if I remember correctly. Of course, I won't tell this to anybody, it probably won't make any difference whether I told them or not and it would most likely just cause trouble. So, I'll just leave it as it is.

The moment I wanted to say something to Lana, we both heard leaves shuffling from behind us.

We both turned around to see who was behind us. The leaves kept shuffling until a monster appeared from the bushes. It was a large humanoid creature that did not have a head but had its face on its chest. It sprinted towards Lana while it was screaming at the top of its lungs.

This both frightened us. We had to get away as soon as possible, but we couldn't because it caught us off guard.

If I didn't do anything, it would get to Lana. She was much slower than me, so I decided to push her out of the way and grab the monster's attention.

My plan in my head only went this far, so I didn't think about what to do from here on. The monster was about to hit me with its fist from the looks of it. I braced myself for impact by putting my arms in front of me.

I felt the impact instantly and felt my body flying through the air. I landed on the soil and noticed that I was punched across the river.

"Yasmin! Are you alright?" Lana shouted, she was already in the air, where the monster couldn't get to her.

"Yes, I am fine, surprisingly." I said, surprised that I didn't feel as much pain as I thought I would after taking a hit with so much force behind it.

Before I could get up, I heard the monster approaching me again. It ran through the river at an alarming speed, still screaming at the top of its lungs. Doesn't it get tired from screaming so much?

I quickly started casting a wind spell and shot out a gust of wind, sending the monster flying through the air and landing somewhere far into the forest with a loud crashing noise.

"Lana, you can come back down, it's safe again!"

We quickly went back and grabbed our things before quickly taking to the air again, since we didn't know if that same monster or another would show up.

While cruising through the air, I noticed Lana started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just that now thinking back to you being thrown all the way across the river and then seeing you throw that monster across the forest as well, it made for quite the peculiar show. You know, you really are something else Yasmin. To be able to take such a hit and to still be able to fight back."

"Eh, it wasn't really anything special. But I was surprised that I didn't get injured from all the blunt force from that hit."

"Well, I'm glad you're safe. Otherwise, I would have a hell of an explanation to do, if I brought you back to the village injured after just arriving here."

Not long after, we arrived back at the village.

"Hey, guys! You won't believe what happened earlier to me and Yasmin."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That same evening, the whole village was holding a large feast, partially to celebrate my arrival as a new member of the village, but also because today is a special day.

Apparently in Gaeran folklore, today is Blue Flare Day. It is based on an ancient folklore tale, it talks about the distant past, before Gaeran as a country was even established. The people were terrorized by an evil demon, causing suffering and anguish for decades. The people tried everything they could to defeat the demon, but nobody prevailed. That was until one day, a hero appeared, who went on a journey to forge a weapon that could defeat the evil demon. He was assisted by somebody, that somebody would be none other than a Gaeran, who would found our country and become the first king. After a journey that took years, they managed to create an artifact that would allow them to defeat the demon, its defeat came with a blinding blue light that covered the whole sky. Everybody was over joyous when they heard the news of the demon's defeat and would celebrate this day as Blue Flare Day.

That brings us to now, I'm currently sitting at a long table next to Lana and Ager. Next to us are a few other tables all full of people enjoying a nice time together, eating nice food and talking about various things. There is even a large campfire in the middle to make it cozy.

"You know, Yasmin can take a hit from a big monster head-on and she will just scrub it off like it's nothing, I'm telling you! She's probably more powerful than you guys, she could even defeat a large monster like it's just another Tuesday."

Lana was telling everyone at the table about my feats today while she clearly has had one too many drinks.

"That big ass monster ran towards her, but it was no match for her, she barely put any force to it and she sent the monster flying way up into the sky. Stuff you'd only hear about in fairy tales. That monster went all woosh and landed with a bang! The monster created a huge crater where it landed, at least ten meters wide. It was dead on the spot!"

"Ehhh, Lana, you're making it sound more over the top than it actually was."

"Now, now, I think you've had enough beer for now, how about we ease with the drinks for now before you do something you'll regret later on." Ager said, trying to calm Lana down a bit.

However, it just ended up having the opposite effect.

"Huh?!? What are you trying to say? I'm perfectly fine as I am right now! In fact, I haven't felt better!"

She said, while trying to get up and walk closer to Ager, but while doing so, she tripped over a rock and fell face first into the dirt, spilling beer all over herself.

Everyone burst out laughing at the almost comedic scene, while Lana was anguished over her spilled drink.

We then heard the village elder trying to get everybody's attention by hitting a metal flask.

"Everybody, first off, I would like to wish everybody a happy Blue Flare Day, today marks another anniversary of the hero and the first king of Gaeran defeating the evil of the past. But that is not the only reason for us to hold this celebration, today we also have a new member in our village, in our collective family. I want all of you to welcome Yasmin over there."

Everybody clapped with all with a warm smile on their faces.

"Thank you everybody for welcoming me, I hope I can make acquaintances with all of you."

Once again, everybody clapped and welcomed me into their collective family, that is the village.

"Now then, continue on with this feast!" the elder finished off saying.

He then approached my seat, wanting to talk to me more personally.

"How is the village so far?" he asks.

"Everybody is very friendly, I also really appreciate how you're easily so welcoming."

"That's just how we are, we help each other when in need and these times are especially difficult, so there are many people in need. You know, Blue Flare Day would normally also come with bright blue flares being shot into the sky during nighttime, but for obvious reasons we can't do that anymore."

"That's a bummer, I would've really liked to see that."

"Maybe one day, you'll be able to see those. Who knows when that day will come. The future is unknown to all of us. Well, I won't bother you any further, please enjoy this feast to the fullest."

"I will, Mr. Raetellor."

"No need to call me by my last name. You can just call me Vellas. We're all family here after all."

"Yes, of course, Vellas." I responded with a big smile on my face.

We continued late into the night with our celebration with many laughs and enjoying a good time.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the feast ended, I had to carry Lana to our home, because she was way too drunk to walk normally. She even ended up puking a few times. She's such a mess right now.

We arrived and I took her to her bedroom. Meanwhile she was brabbling some unintelligible sentences.

"Good night, Lana." I said before leaving her room.

"Ehh… ye- yeah…good night… Yasmin…"

I also went to my room to sleep, it was already very late, Lana's brother had gone home before us, because he got tired quickly.

I jumped in bed and for the first time in a while, I felt like the next day was going to be a great day. I felt very grateful to have found these nice people.

Slowly I dosed off into a slumber and would have a nice night of sleep after a tiring day.

After what felt like only a few seconds, I was woken up by loud noises both outside and inside our house. Outside my window, it was also bright.

All this made me think I overslept and that everybody was already busy with their day. But, when I stood up to look outside, I realized the noise and brightness wasn't of a bustling village during daytime, but actually the scene of half the village on fire in the middle of the night. The noises were of people panicking.

I only just woke up, so I didn't fully register what was happening.

I then suddenly heard a scream from across the hallway. It sounded like it came from Lana's brother, so I ran outside my room and towards his, when I entered it, I saw him standing in the room with what seemed like another person. It was still quite dark in the room, despite the huge fires illuminating the whole village. I thought it was Lana at first, but I quickly found out I was wrong.

From the silhouette I could tell it was too large and it also had something in its hands.

The silhouette moved and thrusted the object in its hand towards Lana's brother, who then let out a groan and collapsed on the floor.

It was at this point that it clicked on me.

It wasn't just any village fire…

The village was being raided…

I walked a step backwards out of fear and shock, but my step made a cracking noise on the floor, alerting the knight in front of me. He then turned around clearly having me in his sight as his next target.

I quickly fired off an icicle towards his head, catching him off guard and killing him in an instant.

I quickly ran towards Lana's brother, who was still lying on the floor.

"Are you alright?"

I tried holding him, but then I noticed the red stains on both my hands and the floor.

"Oh no… this is really bad."

"They… they got… her…" he tried to say, but clearly struggling to get his words out.

"Sis… they got sis…" he said before he collapsed and stopped saying anything.

My head was racing with all sorts of emotions. I did not know what to do. I did not know what to think.

The words he mumbled then finally clicked inside my mind and I got up and ran towards Lana's room.

The door was already open, but when I entered, nobody was inside. The room was a big mess, however.

I then got back to the hallway, wondering where she could be, but then I heard some noises downstairs, where the living room is.

I quietly walked down the stairs and was hit with the most horrifying scene I could have ever imagined.

Lana was lying on the floor, a knight was on top of her, doing unspeakable things.

It was at this moment that something snapped. I couldn't remember much of what happened, but all I knew was that I was stabbing the soldier non-stop with a sword that hung on a wall.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Even though the soldier was clearly dead, I kept going. Lying next to me was Lana, her body violated and covered in fatal wounds. I was still stabbing the knight, somewhere in me, I knew this wouldn't undo what happened to her, but I didn't want to accept that reality, so I just kept going.

I eventually got exhausted and dropped the sword on the floor.

I looked outside. There was still a lot of chaos. I opened the front door and was met with burning buildings, people fleeing and fighting knights and corpses lying everywhere.

Once again, I was just standing there, my mind was racing with all sorts of emotions and thoughts.

I snapped back to reality when I heard somebody call out to me.

"Yasmin! Don't just stand there! Run!"

I was Ager's voice. He was helping people flee this place, while fighting off a few knights.

"What's going on?" I asked him, even though I already had a good idea of what was going on.

"The village is getting raided! We need to flee this place at once!"

"Let me help fend off some of the knights!" I answered.

"No, you shouldn't!"

I ignored his words and got out to battle the knights.

At first, we seemed to be able to hold them off long enough for people to get away from this place, however it all would change in the next moment.

I noticed something strange happening behind the enemy lines. I noticed a familiar device.

Oh no… Not again…

"Everybody! We need to get away now!" I yelled to everybody, trying to tell them that it would quickly become very dangerous.

"We can't! They'll catch the people trying to flee!"

"They have a device that can suppress our-", but before I could finish my sentence, I once again saw the familiar golden light.

Everybody just stared at it wondering what it was going to do. They were initially confused by the fact that they seemed to have taken no damage, but then they quickly realized what's going on when the knights started attacking again.

"We can't use spells anymore!"

"That's what that light did!"

"Everybody, we need to get away right now!" Ager yelled at everybody.

Some took to the skies, since that was still one of the advantages we had over the knight and since it was night, we thought it would be practically impossible for archers to hit us.

We were all taken by surprise when the few people in the sky were quickly shot down in quick succession.

The arrows all came from a singular archer.

"We can't fly, they have enchanted weapons, they'll shoot us down!" Ager once again yelled at everybody.

"What? Even if it's so dark outside?"

We all started scattering, running towards safety inside the vast forest.

I was currently running behind just Ager, everybody else went different ways. I looked behind us and we were still being chased by a few individuals.

"Looks like we'll be able to outrun them." I said, but I was too optimistic.

I noticed that the village fire behind started to get brighter. Before I could turn around to see what was happening, Ager quickly held me and put him between me and the orange light.

Then, something hit Ager in the back and sent us rolling down a hill.

The hill was very steep and very large, so we kept rolling down for quite some time, hitting various branches and rocks, causing a lot of wounds.

Once we finally hit the bottom, I looked towards Ager, who was lying face down on the ground. I slowly got up and got a closer look at him.

His back was completely covered in burn marks, his wings were in no state to be used.

He was barely able to move.

"Ager! Are you alright? Say something!"

He let out a few agonizing moans, before he tried to get up again, but realized he couldn't.

"I don't think I can go any further."

"What… what are you talking about?"

"Yasmin… you're going to have to run… leave me behind…"

I was reminded of what happened not too long ago, when I abandoned Sildok. Because of that, I started to tear up.

"I… I can't… I'll carry you if I must…"

"No… just leave this old man behind… you should try and save yourself first…"

"Why? I can't do that. I absolutely cannot do that."

"I've already lived a fulfilling life… you're still young… you still have things to look forward to…"

I couldn't see properly anymore because my eyes were full of tears. They dripped down on the dirt soil of the forest. He then held his hand on my cheeks, which surprised me.

I blankly stared at him for a few seconds before I made up my mind.

"You know Ager… before I go, there is something I need to tell you. I told you that I don't know who my real parents are. My biological parents. But I do know. I lied to you."

I then paused for a few seconds, thinking about my next words.

"My last is actually Taurcaran, the same as the last king of Gaeran. I'm their daughter."

Ager then made a look that was neither surprise nor shock. He looked like he was smiling. Like he knew it all along.

"Actually, I already had a hunch that that was the case."

"Huh?"

"You see, when albino Gaerans get born, the news usually quickly makes its round across the country, so most people have a good idea of how many albinos are present. There were only 5 albinos at the end of the war, four of them were all in the military and died during their service save for one. The daughter of the king."

He then let out another agonizing groan before continuing his story.

"Besides, I was one of the first to know of your birth. That was because I actually worked for the King directly. I was one of his advisors. The fact I had close contact with him also meant I knew what happened in the royal household."

I then heard some people coming from the top of the hill that we fell from, meaning I didn't have much time left to get away safely.

"You know… your father… he was an amazing king… he made sure our country prospered… it's just a shame that the war had to happen…"

"If I can ask you, why did the war have to happen then?"

"I don't know myself either… your father did seem a bit more… irrational before and during the war… it almost seemed like his thoughts weren't his own…"

Once again, we both heard the enemy slowly getting closer.

"It seems that our time running low… you should go now…"

"Alright, Ager. I will. I'm glad to have met you, Ager." I said before finally leaving him behind.

"Take care…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once again, I was on the run leaving everybody behind and dying just to save me.

I was cursing my own weakness, my inability to protect those that I care about. After finally having found a new place to stay, a new home. It just all had to be ripped away from me.

I punched a boulder near me out of frustration. I kept punching it and punching it until my fist started bleeding and I couldn't anymore.

"Why… why does reality have to be so cruel…"

Then, somebody seemed to have answered my cries. Somebody familiar.

"You seem to be in quite a bad situation, aren't you?"

"You again? This is not the right moment."

Once again, the whispering voice has come to me to talk.

"Same as always, huh? I'm just here because you seemed like you needed some help."

"Help with what? I just lost my new home and the people I care about. What could you still help me with, besides pissing me off more."

"You see, I heard your cries for help, you want to be able to protect your home, people you care about. Isn't that right?"

I didn't say anything in response because I knew he was right.

"Your silence confirms my suspicions. I'll propose the same deal as last time once again. I'm sure this time, you'll see the value you'll be getting from it. More so than last time. So, what do you think?"

I am still skeptical about this strange fellow. But after everything that has happened over the past weeks, I'm not sure if I want to experience this grief again. I really want to prevent such disasters from happening again in the future, but I know the only way to achieve such goals in this cruel world is for me to get stronger. Much stronger.

After contemplating my choices for a little longer, I have come to a decision.

"Alright. I'll take up your offer."

"…"

The strange voice didn't immediately respond, indicating it didn't expect me to agree to it.

"I'll go through your trials and get stronger. I'll defeat that 'Lord of Monsters' for you as well."

"…"

"Hmmm? Do we have a deal or what?"

"Of course, I was just taken a bit aback by your determination, but that's excellent."

"However, just so you know, I'll hold the right to void the deal the moment I notice it's all just a sham."

"Sure, but I'm certain you'll notice that my trial will be quite… effective…"

It was at this moment that I would be about to undergo the harshest and most difficult trials this world had to offer.