Chapter 17

Ash and the rest were moving fast following the tracks the goblins had left. At first, it was easy to see them, the broken branches or spots of blood here and there. But that was only because of their hurry to get out of there alive, as they moved forward the tracks became much harder to see. Aria had handed him away from the other's eyes another one of those fruits, it had helped fasten his healing process. His cuts were closed now and he didn't feel too much pain. It was partly due to the fruit but also because of the magic that was flowing through his body, he had finally unlocked whatever it was inside him which helped him control magic. He had leveled up. 

"Slow down," said Farin, ahead of the group, and they all slowed down on their beasts.

"I think we are close, I sense something near, we should go on foot from here," said Farin and they all got off their rides and bound them to a tree nearby, and continued on foot. Just after a few minutes, the forest started thinning until the trees completely vanished and they were standing on barren ground. There had to be a big and very deep river here because now it was dried up and there was a large canyon in front of them. They looked like huge cracks on the crust of the earth like a spiderweb. 

"We'll never find them here there are huge networks of caves and valleys in here, and some go deep," said Ben.

"What is this place?" asked Ash.

"It's the boundary to the burnt lands," said Farin.

The burnt lands, Ash had heard of, where the first Holy War was fought, it was the biggest desert on the continent. Some stories said that there used to be cities of ancient races, but then a large dragon burnt the whole place. The Burnt lands were one of the most dangerous places on the continent, no one had ever tried to cross them and succeeded.

"You cross these canyons for a few miles and you'll find yourself in the burnt lands," said Farin.

"So, how will we find the goblins then?" asked Aria.

"Even goblins stay away from the burnt lands, so I have no idea what are they doing here?" said Farin.

"Which also means they wouldn't go too far in these cracks, they should be nearby, we should look around," said Sarah.

"But we said we are not splitting, it would take too much time otherwise," said Hailey.

"Then I'll stay here and you guys can look, I mean I want to go look too, but I know you won't allow that so I'll just stay here," said Ash.

Farin again had a troubled expression as he contemplated the options. 

"Sarah you stay with him, we'll be back soon, nobody engages just locate them and then return," said Farin. Sarah wanted to go, but she also couldn't say what was already her duty. The four elves jumped into the deep canyon vanishing from sight.

"Are you and Hailey sisters?" asked Ash to break the silence.

"Yes," answered Sarah, she was the quiet type, or maybe just because of him.

"You fought good back with the goblins, at first it seemed like you were having trouble but then you managed fine, I wasn't expecting that of just an apprentice, especially with how lightly you humans take that word," said Sarah.

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting an attack," said Ash.

Sarah turned and went to the edge of the crack to look down and just then suddenly Ash had a familiar feeling of free fall and he found himself in the ruins with Blade sitting at the same spot as yesterday. Blade looked up at him and turned his head to the side.

"You have progressed," he said with surprise standing up and coming closer.

"Yeah, I am in a bit of a situation, got attacked by a band of goblins, and just had my first kill," said Ash.

"Yes, I was going to ask who the new elf was, and what were you doing at the edge of the burnt lands," said Blade.

Ash filled him in briefly on what was happening.

"Hmmm, do you still want to train, I mean I don't have a magical fruit like the elves," said Blade.

"Yes, I do want to train, the forms helped a lot, I think I understand them much better, now that I have been in a real and proper fight," said Ash.

'You are moving too fast, the mana is indeed dense in the elven kingdom, but it seems to have a stronger effect on you, must be something to do with your affinities," said Blade.

"Affinities?" asked Ash.

"Yeah, although lightning is your primary affinity, there are usually other elements too but with much less resonance, they are also much difficult to sense, since you already have one very rare, I don't think guessing the others would work," said Blade.

"I just want you to teach me something that will help against the goblins," said Ash.

"Don't underestimate the goblins, you have just got your first kill, and it is more than likely just beginner's luck that has helped you so far, but the more intelligent goblins can't be taken lightly," said Blade.

"Why are there different kinds of goblins?" asked Ash.

"It was some kind of blood magic, they used to be minions of the barbarians when the burnt lands didn't exist and they could come over here easily through the land, but one day they found a blood magic that could take the energy of their victim who they had killed and become stronger and smarter, that's when the evolved species were born, the ones who obtained the ability to use magic from killing other magical users became shamans, the most dangerous one, it is a completely different thing fighting someone with a working brain especially when they are ready to kill and there are no rules, you might have experienced it with yourself, but when you will face the first opponent you will realised, it's like playing a game, one wrong step and you will find yourself in deeper trouble then you can imagine," warned Blade, talking for this long for the first time. His voice sounded weird to him.

"I think I need to learn some long-range attacks then," said Ash.

"That would be ideal but it would take a lot of mana, you need to absorb more of it, and it will take some days before every cell in your body will start holding it, it's like training a muscle, but you still need a threshold amount," said Blade.

"I will teach you three more forms today, they are advanced and with more steps, then we'll do some magical training," said Blade. 

He showed him the forms, they were indeed much advanced and had much more subtle features, Blade moved gracefully from one to another, it had to be difficult to do it in a clock like that and indeed for the first time he looked irritated with it, as he did some swift movements, the cloak moved around a little, until he stopped and stood straight. Something had changed in Blade's appearance, it took him a second to realize what it was, the cloth near his neck had loosened exposing more than his eyes and a little bit of skin. He didn't know why but he had expected something, else, he was sure Blade couldn't have been human, he must have some other colored skin, or fur, or pointed ears, but from the skin he saw, it looked human. He couldn't think of a race with that kind of size and still human-looking.

"What are you?" asked Ash, the question escaped Ash's mouth before he could stop himself, He thought he would react badly, or he would immediately cover himself up, but he had assumed Blade was wearing that cloak to hide his identity even though he had no solid proof of that.

"Derek didn't tell you?" asked Blade. And there was something different in the voice now, the cloak loosened a bit more and Ash realized what it was just as the cloak fell open revealing a torso that belonged to a woman. Blade was a woman. But he wasn't thinking about Derek not telling him that for now, because his eyes were glued to the woman in front of him. She was wearing a dress that resembled only the undergarments a woman wore, though made of armored cloth they left everything else bare, she was ripped with perfect muscles, and she was big from other places too, he had no idea how the cloak had hid all of that.