Chapter 30 - Teams

…

There was a chill in the air, the sun had yet to ascend its throne and the moon was furtively walking out of the room. The trees were bathing in the morning dew and listening to the soft whispers of the wind.

The nocturnal beasts were returning to their lairs while the rest were waking up to the call of the birds while the great forest stood watch.

Ango and Hawkwood were walking among the trees, trying their best to make as little sound as possible while walking the outskirts of the forest; they did the first part quite well.

*Tkh

"Why are there so many twigs, Fall has not arrived yet" Ango whispered

'I should make myself thicker clothes, could also cover my feet with some fur so I don't make any noise when I walk' He thought and then looked at the wooden spear in his hand that had a dagger fixated on top of it and then added 'and a swordspear when I learn how to control metal, I couldn't bring a wooden one so this will have to do'

"But it is late summer, you should know better than me that leaves and twigs start falling by this time, now focus on your training; if one is not silent enough, the hunter easily becomes the hunted" Hawkwood replied.

"You know that I spent all my life in the human settlement not beside the forest, how would I know?" he complained but he shut his mouth afterward and focused on trying to make his steps as soundless as possible.

Hawkwood had decided to educate him about the forest and postpone the hunting to tomorrow after they had entered the forest, because he saw how Ango walked and behaved. He also gave him some tasks.

Ango bent down to look at a brown twig from the ground and studied it for a few moments

'Yep this is an Earthvine and It's an energy recovery one, like whit and corn' he silently tore it off the ground and snapped it in half. He then proceeded to carefully skin the dirty outer layers; beneath their skin was a yellowish brown hard substance. He handed one of the pieces to Hawkwood and whispered

"Breakfast" Hawkwood nodded and grabbed it; they did not stop to it eat but ate the Earthvine slowly on the way. Little snow wouldn't even go near the herb for some reason so Ango gave him a piece of dried meat, which she ate but looked at Ango with eyes that said 'Feed me more hooman'

Even weak beasts rarely came so far from the outskirts of the great forest so they were quite undisturbed.

…

"Miguel, you said your name was Miguel right? You were the one who scouted these parts last night, are you sure you saw the dwarves this far up in the great forest?"

"Yes team leader, I saw them setting camp, they were easy to notice with their carts and the sound of their armors"

A group of six masked elves was moving through the forest, dressed in light armor that would almost make them invisible among the forest due to the mixture of colors.

"But that makes no sense team leader" another elf said "we are far away from the battlefields and if they had carts with them that means they are prepared for battle, wha-"

The brown-haired team leader interjected "He said he saw carts not that it contained weapons, they could be on their way for something else"

Another elf asked "For what? Oh wait, they could reach the great mountain range from here, where they could reach Arcana"

The team leader listened and then added "Which they might be going for an alliance, alright listen up" he called for them to stop and listen.

"Mission's changed, before we needed to observe and attack if necessary but now we have to kill them at all cost. The filthy half men might be an envoy group sent to negotiate an alliance with the gnomes, they have to die"

One of the elves then interrupted him "Team leader, then it's better if we find them and wait for nightfall before the attack, best to not engage them in open combat in case the cart carries weapons"

The brown hair elf nodded after a moment's consideration and said "Yes, we'll do just that but first we'll have to find them"

…..

In Corinwall, one of the Free Cities

*Huff huff huff

Sounds of heavy breathing, feet hitting the ground and metal jiggling could be heard.

"Come on Jin we're going to be late for the ceremony, we're already inside the academy, the place isn't too far; work those short legs of yours"

A short girl of around 1.5 meters with brownish skin, dark hair, short pointy ears and yellow eyes could be seen running inside a large courtyard. She cursed under her breath as she looked at her friend and said "Easy for you to say Jacob, you're a big guy *huff Damn it why did have to make the Titan academy so big you know, there is only thirty of us anyway, you know; were they trying to keep up with the name or something?"

The boy named Jacob was nearly two meters tall, had grayish skin, brown eyes, long pointy ears and four arms; his brown hair was flowing behind him due to the wind and his speed, covering the handles of two thick war maces that had a brownish shine to them.

"It's because rich and important families like yours and mine tend to fuss over these matters, it's not like we'll ever understand your grandma, the great Helia stroud and my father, David Haldor the tycoon" he then looked at the struggling Jin and said "Hey give me your weapon so you can run faster" and he extended his upper right arm while his lower one continued moving.

Jin hit the hand away and said "Hey, hands of my chain, and it's not like *huff huff* I'm slow because of the weight, you know"

"I know Jin I know, the academy uniform sucks, deal with it, I'm moving around fine in it and I have four arms you-"

"I was about to say because of my short legs smartass and because of last night's party. Take your four arms and stick them up y-"

"We're here"

A group of around thirty people, each with odd and unique physics were sitting on luxurious chairs in that part of the courtyard, their only similarity could be said to be the black and green academy uniform. They divided into groups of friends who were socializing, waiting for the event to begin.

*Huff huff

Jin bent over and tried to catch his breath while the crowd turned to look at the two; they had caused quite a commotion when they came in since they were yelling.

"JIN" a girl of average height and curved horns on her head called out "JIN"

"Huh? Oh Tina it's you, had fun last night?" she asked with a mischievous smile while slowly lifting her head.

"Oh yeah that was fun hihi, we should do that more often. Anyway you nearly missed the ceremony, why are you so late?" she then caught sight of Jacob and winked at him.

Jin awkwardly answered "Haha you know… I overslept"

Jacob gave Tina a toothy smile and said loudly "Overslept? Hah. This girl was so drunk after you guys left last night that she danced with the door and hit her head; if I had not checked on her, she would have missed it" his words were accompanied by the laughter of the crowd while Jin awkwardly stood there scratching her head.

"I'm never going to drink with you guys ever again" She declared loudly with a serious face but even she couldn't believe it and exploded with laughter a few moments later. Most of the crowd joined her but then a loud voice rang out.

"Quite, The headmaster has arrived, please take your seats"

A tall gorgeous man, with golden hair, green eyes and pure white skin dressed in black robes with small white feathery wings behind him walked up to a small stage. Jin and Jacob took their seats at the back and started whispering, something difficult for the tall Jacob but quite easy for Jin.

The headmaster was congratulating them on successfully finishing the academy, telling them that they were ready to shoulder responsibility since now they were of eighteen years of age and so on while Jacob and Jin were having a conversation.

"So jake, did you think about what I said? After today we won't have to attend the academy so Will you join my team?" she asked a bit anxious

The tall Jacob lowered his head and said "I did and yeah. My dad keeps pestering me to join the family business but I want to first have some adventures, we need more people though"

Jin smiled in triumph and nodded his head "We do, I asked a few others as well, after this boring speech is done I'll get their answers"

Jacob nodded and asked "By the way, have you thought of a name for the team?"

Jin shook her head, causing some droplets of sweat to fall around on the ground and said "Not yet, we can all decide after the team is ready"

…..

In the great forest

The moon was shining its silvery light on the pieces of dried meat that Hawkwood, Ango and Little snow were eating. They had spent the whole day walking around without encountering a single beast so they had decided to rest and sleep after they had eaten, with Hawkwood standing guard for the first few hours.

Ango had seen the forest at night, once when they were ambushed by the dwarves and then when he woke up in the forest and had to walk for days to reach the mountain range. The first time, he did care much about the forest, since they were under attack and the second time, even though he was not attacked even once, he was afraid since he was an ordinary human without any weapons or skills, stranded in the forest.

But this time was different, even though he knew the forest was dangerous beyond what he could imagine, he still felt peaceful; There was serenity and comfort in the cold and dark of the forest.