"When do you plan to leave the village?." Ren asked curiously as he wanted to ready himself.
"Right after we complete our coming of age rites that's when we leave.Can I leave it to you to find Ruth and tell her." Raphael had his arms crossed as he stared off into the distance.
"Of course" Ren speeded in the direction that Ruth had went.
...
After Ren had told Ruth about Raphael's plan she decided to go along with it despite her earlier outburst.
Once that was done the two of them went towards the building they had trained in for more then 10 years.They found Raphael over there along with the rest of their group.The group also included the non mages.They were all here for one reason.
YOUNG BLOOD,NOW THAT YOU ARE ALL HERE IT IS TIME FOR YOUR COMING OF AGE RITES.WHERE YOU WILL OFFICIALLY BECOME A MEMBER OF THE VILLAGE.4 KM NORTH EAST OF THE VILLAGE THERE IS A DUNGEON FILLED WITH ENTITIES FROM THE OLD TIMES.YOU ARE EXPECTED TO TRAVEL THERE AND SLAUGHTER ITS INHABITANTS.ONLY RETURN IF YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL OR IF THERE IS A DANGER TOO GREAT FOR YOU TO HANDLE.WE WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK AND OFFER YOU A SINGULAR MAP TO SHARE AMONGST YOURSELVES." Derek took out a map and handed it to Raphael.
No one objected when the map was given to Raphael as he was the strongest in the group.Therefore he would be able to keep it safe.
The group all had their supplies and tents ready and immediately embarked on their journey.With such a powerful group of youths walking through the forest none of the wildlife dared to approach them.
As this was the first time they had ever left the village the youths including Ren were awestruck when looking at the wildlife.Ren found some of them normal but others not so much,such as the two headed stags and bears as well as a colony of 1 metre ants.
Once they travelled 2 kms they decided to set up camp as nightfall was occurring.They decided to have the weaker members of the group guard and watch the camp for the first half of the night as they weren't in any danger yet.Plus if something did happen then they hoped they would hear it happen.
It wasn't even 4 hours into the night when something did happen though.Ren woke up and heard loud beautiful singing emanating from deeper within the forest.
Ren burst from his tent and entered a stance.The weapon he had chosen to wield this time around was a large dagger.Then he saw that almost everyone else was awake and looking at him like he was a weirdo.Raphael was already awake and relaxed.
"You woke up a bit late Archie but since Raphael was already up we have nothing to worry about."Kasper was more quiet.
Ren was extremely concerned.
"How long has this singing been going on for exactly?." Ren curiously asked.
"It's been going on for half an hour.Your far too deep a sleeper you need to be more vigilant like Raphael,he woke up immediately when the singing started." Ren almost cursed himself.
This was an issue he needed to solve immediately if he wanted to survive out in the world.If he had been alone the person singing could've easily snuck into his tent and killed him in his sleep.
"Anyways we were wondering whether or not to check out the source of the singing.Raphael wants us to check it out but I dont.We decided to leave the final decision to you when you woke up.What do you think?." Kasper asked as he looked in the direction the singing was coming from.
Ren plunged deep into thought.Getting rid of the source of the singing would be beneficial and they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked.However it was possible the one singing would leave them alone as it had done so already but Ren didn't want to count on that.There was a possibility of it being an entity that could drop good loot although there was a possibility of the entity being incredibly powerful.
"Do we get to keep the loot?." Asked Ren with a smile.
"Yes we get to keep the loot of entities we kill from now on."
"I think we should check out the source of the singing then."
Kasper seemed disappointed but Raphael appeared to be pleased with Rens decision and even gave him a thumbs up.
"Since you made the final decision we'll have you check out the source of the singing.We'll have you bring three other people with you." Kasper decided as he picked out three people among the group to go join Ren.
Once this was done the four of them headed stealthily in the direction of the beautiful singing.
They travelled about 300 metres which was odd as despite getting closer the singing didn't get any louder it simply stayed at the same volume.
Once they reached their destination they met an interesting sight.There was an empty spot in the forest with a wide magical looking tree in the centre.There were all sorts of wildlife of all dufferent sizes surrounding the tree.Birds,foxes,deers,bears you name it.
Upon closer investigation Ren realised that the animals weren't surrounding the tree at all but a beautiful green haired naked woman with her back to the tree.Some of her skin was green and plantlike so clearly she wasn't human.
Ren immediately began wandering on what to do next.He was wondering whether to turn back or desecrate this sight by killing the woman.