Chapter 17 : A Taste Of Steel

Ajel looked up, before seeping his hands through the cold, clean stream he had found on his journey to find a village and food.

The clean water sank through his throat, instantly refreshing him of the taste of the magic water that he had drank for the past month.

Ajel decided to continue north.

He walked for what seemed days, eating some wild rabbits he found and hunted with relative ease and drinking out of the plentiful streams he encountered on the way.

Wandering for a while, Ajel instantly locked his spear on the sight of a small, round pile of fluff....?

no, on closer observation it was some sort of creature, with an underbelly shaped like a heart and eyes blacker than the midnight sky.

Ajel slowly shifted his spear up, preparing to attack in case it was ready to attack him.

It slowly looked up at him, before shaking its head almost like it was confusing.

( ・◇・)?

its horns perked up before Ajel heard a pleasant voice and slowly saw the little creature run in the direction of the voice.

Ajel didn't lower his vigilance and he hastily followed the small pile of fluff, before it went to the forest and disappeared.

Then.... the forest went quiet.

Too quiet.

Ajel thought back to the unpleasant memory of him discovering the quiet village of Uwendale.

It was like last time.

He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

Ajel suddenly saw two objects fly towards his face, causing him to rapidly grab the spear from his back and use the shaft to block the tips of one of the arrows, which caused him to fall back slightly.

This was it.

His first fight as a mage.

Blocking the first, Ajel saw that the other arrow was aimed for a predicted spot for him to move out, which was the left of his body.

It must of saw that he was righthanded and expected him to dodge to the left.

He was ready to fire a magic bullet at any time, but he didn't know the location of the target, and he could only use a magic bullet once or twice at most.

Preparing to dodge to the right, Ajel felt his leg click as the prosthetic leg didn't like the sudden movement, meaning that the arrow to his left slightly grazed him, but it didn't cut too deep, but Ajel still groaned at the pain and his winter coat getting damaged.

And then he saw three people come out of the woods each armed with heavy armor and swords , bathed in a symbol of something he never saw.

But a girl in the middle caught his attention. Half wooden arrows and something that looked like ice was present in her quiver, armed with a Strongbow that was bigger than the bow that Ajel wielded before.

On the shoulder of the girl, Ajel saw the fuzzy creature that he saw before, which caused him to sigh.

One of the guards who carried a spear and sword suddenly spat out something.

"Speak...who.....are.....you."

Ajel's eyes opened, as he understood the language almost immediately.

It was Runeterrian.

All language was derived from this one, and although certain countries had created their dialect such as the language of Demacian which was commonly referred to as the language of Orlon.

Runeterra was easy to learn , as the base languages didn't stem that far away from it.

( AN: think about how European languages are descended from Latin,r the proto theory. For my NA friends, I just hope you know what this means.)

Scholars have debated where it has come from, but nobody could agree.

Ajel's orphanage was diverse, and he learnt a tiny bit of Shuriman, Demacian completely and Runeterra with around a basic understanding of most words.

"-I am Zek.-" Ajel muttered, causing the guard to mutter.

"-Demacia-?"

"-Indeed, I am a traveller-."

"-What, is the reason-"

The man didn't speak very fluent, and Ajel felt a stare coming from the girl in the middle.

Something about those arrows scared him, as he tapped his glabella, which put the guards in a state of alert.

They were all gree, with the guards slightly Amber.

Green meant safe, so Ajel slowly started to relax.

He couldn't run, and he certainly couldn't fight three people at much,

"-Mage..... Outcast-"

Ajel nodded his head, which made the guards nod their heads.

They seemed to discuss something in their here native language, and Ajel peacefully stood there, observing the girl in the middle.

It felt like a thorn was being shoved into his body every time she looked at him as Ajel

she was a slender, pale-skinned girl that was the same age as him an estimate. She had long silver hair and piercing blue eyes...

blue eyes...

Ajel thought of Sylas, which caused his fists to tighten.

Breathing and slowly starting to calm down, the guard spoke to him again.

"-We will take you back for interrogation. We will listen to your story and we will decide if you are a spy or not.-"

"-Spy of whom?-" Ajel asked, causing the guards to be perplexed. "-I do not know of the current Freljordian situation-"

The guards look suspicious, before shaking their heads. "-If you are truthful, you can go or become a warrior. You lie, your head will be rolling-"

Ajel nodded his head, before sighing deep into his heart.

"I would love just to run away right now, but i'm forced to be submissive. If only i had my leg." Ajel thought as he was instructed to give over all of the weapons he had.

It was at least comforting that he had his magic bullet, which they didn't know about..... hopefully.

Ajel was restrained, his items confiscated and was marched over to his destination.

Wherever that may be.