The journey begins

Rumius returned several hours before sunset after completing his third and last run of firewood collection. Without washing himself, he immediately set to cooking dinner. He didn't mind the work since he needed something to occupy himself with.

There was a strange tension about the hut that night as Rumius and his Mistress, no, his Master ate in silence. 

After eating, Rumius excused himself and went to take care of the dishes. He planned to excuse himself early that night.

" Rumius." Rumius turned around as his name was called. 

" Come here." Master Isadora said, patting a surface of the common table whilst indicating to the chair across her. " Sit, I have matters to talk to you about." Her tone was serious.

Why did fate always have to snide him like this?

" Can it wait? I'm tired, Master Isadora." He whined a little. In truth, Rumius was genuinely fatigued, most of all mentally. He felt as if his head alone had gained another few pounds, making it heavy to lift. 

Master Isadora frowned at his reply. " I'm afraid not. Sit." She commanded.

Rumius had no choice but to make his way over. 

" What did you want to talk about, Master Isadora?" He asked. 

" It is less of a matter of talking but a matter of telling." 

' Well of course, you are the master.' Rumius thought, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. ' What say do I have?'

" I wanted to tell you that we would be leaving these woods tomorrow. I have a new destination in mind." 

Rumius sat up a little straighter at the information.

" We're leaving? Already? I thought you said that we would be staying here awhile longer than usual?" He asked.

Mistress Isadora replied: "Well, we have. It'll be nearly a week and a half by tomorrow. And our usual stays don't exceed three days." 

Rumius had to admit that she was right, but her words to him when they had arrived had implied an even longer stay. Rumius could think of several reasons why Master Isadora's mind has changed.

" Is it because of my ability? Or the fact that you enslaved me and now wish to start some experiments?" He spat the words more forcefully and spitefully than he'd thought. Master Isadora's face darkened visibly. Rumius closed his mouth and looked down, feeling somewhat fearful and regretful. But also angry.

' Oh my god…why am I throwing a tantrum like a child? Arghhhhh!! God! I lost! I lost! Alright? Accept it already! I was naive and foolish and an idiot! Master Isadora didn't do anything wrong! I said I would agree to ANYTHING and now it's really happened and I'm mad and it's STUPID!' His anger was one sidedly directed at himself. 

' Enough already!' He snapped. 

 Rumius lowered his head and apologised sincerely. When he raised his head again, Master Isadora had one of her eyebrows raised in a quizzical and mildly intrigued look. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be angry any more.

" Actually, it's a matter of both." She replied coolly. 

" You're right that I had planned for us to stay here for a longer time, but in this short time, your ability has developed enough to more or less meet my expectations. So now, I want to focus on training your two other main weapons. Your ability to speak Elder tongue and your Unique skill." 

Rumius became more attentive as he heard two of his most desired goals mentioned. Master Isadora sure didn't waste time. 

" Right. How are we going to train them?" He asked.

" I was just getting there." Isadora placed her hands on her fingers and interlaced them. " But first I need something from you." 

" Something from me?" Rumius was perplexed. " Don't you know everything about me by now? Because of the…" he made a circling gesture around his neck. Saying the words were still difficult. 

Master Isadora didn't even seem to notice." I do know everything, but it helps to have actual testimony from the source. I do hope you are a good storyteller."

" Tell me, what happened the day you recieved your unique skill? Oh and there's no need to lie, I already know all about what happened, I just want to hear it again." Isadora added as she saw Rumius's eyes widen in surprise. 

Rumius was hesitant. Since that day, he had been guarding this secret extremely defensively. Not even Maman knew about it. Rumius eyed his Master suspiciously. ' Could she just be bluffing again? ' Like she did before? What could she gain from it?

But thinking about how she'd put the shocking fact the he wasn't blessed by the same deity as everyone else out there in a such a casual manner, Rumius could figure out the logic far enough to relax. He figured that telling anything other than the truth was a waste of time. And since Master Isadora brought the topic up in the first place, it was probably true that she wasn't lying.

Signing, Rumius caved and spilled.

By the time he was done, Master's face hadn't twitched a muscle. 

" That does line up with the version that is in my head." She noted. Then she laughed. " That definitely does seem like something she would do. In any case, it looks like my suspicions were correct. We will be going to Limia afterall." 

" Limia?" It sounded like the name of a country. But it surprised Rumius to find out that a nation which he didn't know of existed. That alone spoke to him a lot about this place already. 

" Master Isadora, just how far out is this place?" He asked. His sudden question seemed to amuse his master a great deal as she looked at him with slightly impressed eyes and a skewed half smile. 

" Impressive that you understand well! Have you heard of Limia before?" she asked, to which Rumius shook his head. 

" Mistress, I have the world map pretty much memorised in here." He pointed to his head. ' It's nothing special. Just the result of the boredom of a little child.' 

" I see, in which case that would explain why you haven't heard of Limia before. Humans haven't gone that far in world yet, that's why it isn't mapped on any human maps, except those used by the upper ranked members of that er….adventurer's guild." 

" Limia lies in the direction of the demon's domain. Humans tend to be pretty scare there." Mistress Isadora described. 

Rumius's heart was up and pounding in his throat the minute he heard about the demons. ' This world has demons too? Wait, if they have elves and dwarfs then would it be that strange to think that there exists demons as well? 

" What do these..demons, look like?" Rumius gulped. 

" Oh? Hmm…" Master Isadora's face suddenly lit up. "I won't tell you. So that you can see for yourself when we arrive there." 

' Eh...' 

" Are we going to teleport directly into Limia, Master Isadora?" 

" It's not possible.We simply don't have enough range to make the jump." Master Isadora lamented. " Tomorow morning, we will….. actually, this be all for tonight. You can find out the rest tomorrow morning. " 

" I'm tired as well. You're dismissed." Isadora waved her hands in a shooing motion.

Rumius was in shock." Master! Please tell me more!"

" I said I'm tired. You'll find out tomorrow." Master Isadora waved her hands again as she made a beeline for her rocking chair which sat by the fireplace.

When he had wanted to leave, he was denied. And now when he wanted to know more, he was denied as well? Wasn't that just cruel? 

" Master! At least tell me why we are going to Limia! How would that help me with my unique magic?" 

Master Isadora turned around and placed and finger to her chin. " Master..has a nice ring to it. Ditch my name behind and just call me ' Master' from now on. Dismissed. "

And just like that, the conversation was over. 

Rumius still wanted to know more, but he had little say in the matter as he was sent to his quarters. In the middle of the night, Rumius thought he vaguely felt the hut rumbling. And in the morning when he woke up again, the trees outside were gone.

In their place was a large earth that stretched as far as the eye could see with not a single living creature in sight.