In the horizon, the sun had begun to settle. Lyle and Ascalon made their way across the dense forest, the place was eerily quiet, no sound of birds or any sort of animals. The pair continued as they could, covered in the shadow of the foliage above them.
Ascalon was having issues moving, mostly because of his axe, the size of it made it hard to move in between trees so close to one another. Even then, Lyle was the one unable to keep up the pace, his moves were slow and rough, and he was clearly not making an effort to move without complications between the trees.
The issues of the blonde did not go unnoticed by his friend, who made sure to slow down so he could keep up with him. Although it was made more clear to him with the minutes that Lyle was not in the best condition to continue. He had not had the time to just process all of what just happened. Ascalon realized this and thought that maybe they should stop for a while.
"Lyle, do you want to rest?" Ascalon asked as he stopped walking.
Lyle looked at his friend with a downed face. "That would be nice, actually. However, I don't think this place is the best for that, and also, I'm feeling hungry, I haven't eaten anything since morning"
Ascalon looked at the sky through the dense foliage, he hadn't realized how late it was becoming, the sun had already begun to set. He suggested they continue walking for a while to maybe find a good spot to rest, which Lyle agreed with.
After a couple of minutes, as the light passing through the leaves became more and more dim, the pair was able to find a clearing in the middle of the forest where they could take a rest and most likely spend the night. Not ideal but it's not like they had many options.
Lyle walked towards the center of the clearing, looking around just in case.
"We should make a fire, shouldn't we?" Lyle asked.
"Considering that winter finished not too long ago, I think it'd be of help" Ascalon responded.
"Then I suppose we should look around for sticks and such"
"Hey, hey, calm down buddy" Ascalon said. "You wait a moment"
Up next, using his axe, Ascalon chopped down a tree, it was an easy task for him, in fact, he seemed like he actually had to hold back in order to not slice the tree completely. Lyle made sure to stay out of the way as the tree fell into the clearing, causing a resound that scared off nearby birds.
Ascalon began to chop pieces of the three to have them function as seats for them, whereas Lyle searched all over the crust of the tree looking for branches short enough to serve for a bonfire. It didn't take long for both of them to be done with their respective tasks.
Lyle put the branches in front of the two logs Ascalon had positioned near the center of the clearing, then Ascalon himself started a fire by rubbing two branches, something he was pretty skilled at.
The pair sat on the logs next to the bonfire, it was a nice feeling as the temperature lowered more and more as the sun continued to disappear on the horizon. After a couple of minutes, Lyle began looking around the clearing again, however this time he seemed to be looking for something in specific. He approached some bushes near the clearing, but at best he could find some flowers.
"What are you looking for?" Ascalon questioned.
"Food, whatever I can find, either some berries or a squirrel, whatever I find first" Lyle said to resume his search. "Aren't forests supposed to be filled with fruits and animals?"
"I mean, this one could be the exception, or we could just be unlucky"
Lyle stood in silence for a second as he turned to look at his friend. "Both of those situations would make us unlucky"
"That's…. a fair point" Ascalon sighed. "Oh wait, I just remembered. I have a bag of carrot sticks"
A small light appeared on the eyes of Lyle at the mention of food, he approached Ascalon who pulled off a small bag that was supposed to contain the said carrots. However, upon opening it, it was hard not to notice the ash covering the carrots. This made the pair hesitant to try them out, but even Ascalon was starting to feel his stomach roar.
So, they both took a carrot, took off as much ash as possible and then gave it a bite.
"This is not so bad" Ascalon said with a smile.
"This is fucking disgusting" Lyle said with a nauseating expression
"Why don't you try cooking it a bit?"
Lyle thought that the idea of cooking something to take out the flavor of ash wasn't the greatest of the ideas, but it wouldn't hurt to try, after all, there was no way it could make it taste worse.
It did.
Lyle had some issues impaling the piece of carrot on a stick, but once he did he made sure to give it a good cook on the fire. The flavor resulting from it wasn't bad to the point it would cause vomit, but it sure wasn't something delightful to feel in the mouth.
Nonetheless, the options of food were few, and any possible options just became less likely as the darkness of the night covered the lands of Lisbea. So, they both, Lyle mostly, had just to endure the taste of the ash covered carrots.
As night progressed, so did the sleep. It had been a long day, Lyle soon enough began to nod off from sleep. And even if for a moment it seemed like so would Ascalon, the latter suddenly entered a state of alert, which Lyle noticed right away, putting him on alert as well.
Ascalon began to look around, his gaze drifting in between two points in specific, rather than worried he seemed to be surprised. Lyle didn't know what he was looking at.
"What is going on?" The blond questioned.
"I can hear something approaching" Ascalon responded.
"What do you-" Lyle's words were promptly interrupted by the rampaging sound of a beast charging at them from the woods.
The roar of the creature caused a wind from inside the forest, and a few seconds later, a giant wild boar emerged from the darkness, it looked rabid. Its sight was fixed on Lyle and Ascalon, both of them got on guard, expecting an attack from the beast.
And they were right to do so, soon enough, the wild boar began to prepare itself to charge against them, the friends prepared themselves to counter the beast's attack, but the moment it took a step forward, a magical arrow pierced through the animal's neck, killing it instantly.
"Who's there?" Ascalon asked as he turned to look at where the arrow had come from.
Surprisingly for Lyle, his friend had not got on guard, unlike him. He didn't seem very worried about the person who had shot the arrow, which made him let his guard down as well.
A few moments after, the mysterious person emerged from the shadows, stepping on top of the fallen tree, the pair was able to recognize the figure of a woman, seemingly on her 20's, the woman was pretty fit, with noticeable muscles on her abdomen and arms, she had long blonde hair tied up in two pigtails that went down her chest, she was dressed on a green top with yellow details as well as brown shorts and boots of a similar color, she also wore a hood that made her face hard to distinguish. However, after a couple of seconds she let the hood uncover her face, revealing two particular characteristics of hers.
The first one were her eyes, they were of a light blue color, way too light, almost reaching the white, which intrigued both Lyle and Ascalon, however, the most highlighting part of her was undoubtedly her ears, her pointy ears.
"Hey… isn't that an elf?" Lyle asked.
"It seems so" Ascalon responded.
"Are you aware that I can hear you, right?" The elf questioned.
"What do you want?" Ascalon asked, his voice with a somewhat cold tone.
"I have killed that boar that attempted to attack you, and I can feel that you have a fire on, I suggest we could share these things" The elf proposed.
"Is that all?" Ascalon questioned.
"Correct" The elf responded, it didn't sound like she was lying.
"Hmm…" Ascalon began to look around, almost as if hoping to notice something. "Well, I suppose you don't represent a treat… And considering the hour I guess you'd also like to stay near our fire?"
"I'd be very thankful if so" The elf said.
"What do you think Lyle?"
Lyle thought of it for a moment, not finding any reason to deny the elf's suggestion. "Fine by me"
The elf jumped into the ground with a smile on her face. "Very well, I appreciate your kindness. I don't think I've introduced myself properly, my name is Sylvana Swiftblade, and as you can see, I'm an elf"
"My name is Ascalon" He said.
"I'm Lyle… Lyle Heiwane" Lyle said with some difficulty.
"It's nice to meet you both" Sylvana bowed a little. "I think we should proceed with our dinner. Do any of you happen to have a knife?"
"I have a sword" Lyle responded.
"Hmmm… that won't do" Sylvana said. "I mean, it was a big boar but a sword would be way too uncomfortable to manage" The elf then extended her hand and concentrated, creating a knife completely made out of magic, gaining her an impressed glance from both Lyle and Ascalon.
"Wow, that's pretty cool" Ascalon said.
"I agree. That's really impressive" Lyle seconded.
"It's not actually that impressive" Sylvana said with modesty. "This trick isn't very complicated to learn, I'm sure anyone could master it with some practice" She then extended the knife for any of them to grab it. "Care to make the honors?"
"You want us to do it?" Lyle questioned.
"That is right. I can't really do it myself" Sylvana scratched the back of her neck. "Because you see, I happen to be blind. And I just realized I unintentionally made a pun…"
"You're blind? Then how did you land such a precise shot on the wild boar?" Ascalon asked. Both he and Lyle were skeptical.
"Well… I am 'technically' blind. My sight isn't normal, for I can only see what emanates magic. For example that boar over there. It's dead, so it no longer emanates magic, meaning I can no longer see it, however you too, I can see you perfectly and I can tell by just looking at you that both of you are dark magic users" Sylvana explained.
"Oh, wow, that's… unexpected. I wasn't aware of such a condition to exist" Lyle declared.
"Oh, it isn't a condition, I'd be glad to explain to you but I'd much appreciate it if I did so while we eat" Sylvana said, accompanied with the growling sound of her empty stomach.
"Alright, then give me that" Ascalon said, snatching the magical knife from Sylvana's hands and walking towards the corpse of the wild boar.
Lyle and Sylvana stared at Ascalon as he used the knife to skin and cut the wild boar with admirable skill. Although in some moments he would slip off a bit, not being used to how light the magical knife was.
"So… Sylvana, how is it? To have that… sigh?" Lyle asked as his glance drifted towards the elf's eyes.
"It has its pros and cons. In battle it's very helpful to focus on your objective and while fighting at night. Although I guess this would only apply to battles in places like open valleys and forests, places like human cities could represent a serious issue. Sleeping can also a bit of a hustle, for one cannot see their own emanation of magic and therefore allowing me to see through my eyelids"
"I see- Sorry! I didn't mean…"
"It's ok, it's just a common expression"
After a couple of minutes, Ascalon was done extracting some pieces of meat from the wild boar for the three of them to eat. They cutted down the pieces to put them in the fire comfortably. It was decent, not mouthdropping, not disgusting, just decent.
Sylvana sat on the grass while eating, even though Ascalon had offered to cut a piece of log for her to sit, she denied, stating that she was used to eating like this. There was a somewhat awkward silence, for Lyle mostly, as both Ascalon and Sylvana didn't seem bothered by the quietness.
"So… you're an elf…" Lyle said, with both curiosity and desire to make some conversation.
"Umm… yes, I thought I had made it clear" Sylvana responded.
"Yes… ok…" The silence suddenly became awkward. "Mind if I ask, were you heading somewhere or do you live nearby?"
"Actually, I was heading somewhere. To the capital of Lisbea, to be more specific"
Sylvana's statement took off guard the pair, making them react with surprised expressions that the elf was unable to notice.
"You're heading towards the capital?" Ascalon questioned.
"That's what I said, didn't I?" Sylvana responded.
"What a funny coincidence, so are we" Lyle said, however Ascalon didn't seem very enthusiastic about him revealing that information.
"It is indeed a funny coincidence" Sylvana said as she took a bite off her meat. "Perhaps, we could travel along, you don't seem to be bad guys and I think that in case of any emergency, it could be good to have people around"
Ascalon didn't seem so sure about the elf's proposition, meanwhile Lyle seemed a bit more eager to accept, he could tell that Sylvana wasn't a bad person, and beginning to interact more with unknown people seemed like a good idea considering they were going to a place filled with those kind of people.
"May you give us some space to conversate about this?" Ascalon asked, looking at the elf.
"I can try to ignore you, unfortunately my ear is pretty sharp so I would have to get too far away to not overhear you" Sylvana responded.
Ascalon just sighed and took Lyle near the trees behind them so they could speak.
"I can see it in your face. Are you really considering this?" Ascalon whispered.
"Why not? We don't know the way, so having some support might as well be of help" Lyle responded in a whisper.
"Lyle, she's a stranger"
"One that saved our lives. I mean, I don't think we needed her but it's not like she knew that"
"She did it just for her own benefit" Ascalon raised his voice a bit.
"Don't you think you're being a bit too paranoic?"
"Lyle, we don't know her, she could very well be a shape-shifter!"
"A shape-?" Lyle was getting annoyed. "Where did that idea even come from?"
"That's not the point!"
"Look, Ascalon, I know you're not someone to trust on people easily, but come on, you're like, the strongest person I've met. Do you think she represents a threat to you? Does she represent a menace that you would not be able to handle?"
Ascalon could not respond that immediately, saying nothing but senseless mumbling for a couple of seconds before coming up with something to say. "Sometimes I really hate you"
"Come on, we are going to deal with a lot of strangers from now on, we are going to have to learn to give chances"
"I really hate it when you speak with such logic" Ascalon finally resigned.
Having finished their conversation, the pair walked back near Sylvana, who had just finished eating her meal.
"So, shall I pretend I didn't hear anything from your conversation or do I let you tell me your decision?" The elf asked with a smile.
"What would be the point?" Ascalon grumbled.
"You need to improve that attitude" Lyle said.
Having settled that, Lyle and Ascalon sat to finish their respective pieces of meat. The silence prevailed, but it wasn't an awkward silence, just a silence. Once the pair had finished eating, the three of them stayed close to the fire for a while to accumulate some heat, even though they all knew there were other methods, none of them wanted to use those.
As the night became darker, they finally decided to extinguish the fire and lay in the grass to get some sleep. Ascalon was able to fall asleep very easily, the same could not be said for Lyle and Sylvana, both unable to get to sleep.
"Are you awake?" Lyle said in a very low tone.
"I am" Sylvana responded.
"Long day?"
"Kind of, but also I'm not very comfortable sleeping around strangers" Sylvana sat. "Not that you seem like bad people, it's just at thing of me"
"That's understandable" Lyle sat. "Since neither of us can sleep, shall we talk?"
"What could we possibly talk about?" The elf questioned.
"Being honest. I'd like to know something about elves. I've heard very few of your kind"
"Hmm… sure. Why not" Sylvana crossed her arms. "What do you know about elves?"
"Well, you have pointy ears, live in forests and…" Lyle took a moment to think. "Actually, that's all I know"
"I see…" Sylvana coughed. "So, you know that all life on earth was created by Eternal, the Original God, right?"
"Anyone knows that" Lyle felt slightly offended.
"Well, for us elves that's not the case. We were created by the combined efforts of the Goddess of Nature, the Goddess of Magic and the Goddess of Life"
Lyle raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes" Sylvana looked at the sky "Because of that our species is not as capable as humankind. Not only do we possess shorter life spans but our magical potential is in average way lower than human's"
"Wow" Lyle was genuinely surprised.
"For elvenkind, it's been complicated to deal with humanity. We cannot avoid fearing them because of their natural superiority, and there are plenty of them who want to take advantage of our weakness" The elf had begun to fidget her fingers together. "Because of that we had to grow in other areas, our battle skill and senses far surpass the average soldier, which isn't much but it does help a bit. In the end, my kind ended up isolating themselves in forests across the continent, which has helped out a lot. The nature is our element"
Lyle sat and continued to listen to what Sylvana had to say about the elvenkind. The elf seemed like she was enjoying being heard. She commented on many details regarding her kind, such as their lifestyle, how their villages are and how her people are, at least the ones she knows.
"It's incredible to think that such a similar raze lives so differently to us" Lyle declared.
"For what I'm aware, even among humans there tends to be a great difference in the lifestyles of different cultures. But I don't know much about that topic" Sylvana said, laying comfortably on the grass.
"I guess you're right on that" Lyle chuckled. "I shall ask. You're like an elf soldier, aren't you?"
"I'm a guardian elf, a warrior specially trained to defend the interests and well-being of my people. But yes. guardian elves are pretty much the equivalent to human soldiers" Sylvana couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "Very few of us actually possess remarkable power. Fortunately, the Goddess of Magic blessed our kind with the anti-aging potion. I think I have no need of explaining what it does"
"Is that for real?" Lyle was astonished at the fact such a thing existed.
Sylvana nodded. "Correct. Only guardians tend to take the potion, because of our life spans and different way of viewing the world, living for too long turns out to be very overwhelming for our minds. Most guardians tend to take the reversal potion around the age of 80" Sylvana closed her eyes, she seemed to get somewhat serious. "There is only one elf I know about that has gone beyond that age. His name is Darius, and elf over 200 years old, also known as the strongest elf to have ever existed"
Lyle continued to listen mindfully to Sylvana, surprised by how her sudden seriousness had just become a warm, almost childlike smile.
"I've heard nothing but great things about him. He's an elf who's always aiming higher so he can protect our kind from any evil that may threaten us. I guess someone could say he's like… a hero of mine or something" Sylvana blushed.
Lyle smiled, he felt the desire to speak about his own hero, but with what happened recently, he preferred not to. He quickly diverted his mind from thoughts related to them.
"And what about you? How long have you been a guardian?" Lyle asked in an attempt to change the topic.
"Oh. Well, let me think" Sylvana said, oblivious to Lyle's true intentions. "If I recall correctly I was 13 when I took the potion so… I've been on it for 19 years"
"13?" Lyle was confused.
"Oh, did I forget to mention the aging part? Because of our shorter life span we also age significantly faster than humans do. Elves reach adulthood by the age of 10"
"I see…" Lyle suddenly thought of something. "I also wanted to ask about your sight. You said you can only see the magic emanations other beings produce, or something of the sort, right?"
"That's correct" Sylvana smiled. "I suppose you want to know about this ability. It's something similar to the anti-aging potion. However this one cannot be reversed, or at least no one has figured out who, the magic sight potion was an invention of us elves, not the gods"
"Is it really that useful?"
"Considering that we usually fight in open places filled with plants that emanate magic. I'd say it has its use"
"That's great but…" Lyle seemed a bit nervous. "Is it safe that you'd share all of this? Mostly the anti-aging potion. I bet there is a lot of people out there that'd kill for something like that"
"There is nothing to worry about" Sylvana responded calmly. "Despite our similarities, elves and humans work differently. The anti-aging potion has no major effects on humans for what I know"
"Oh. Hey, since you've told me all of this stuff about elves, what if I tell you some stuff about us humans now?"
"I do have some knowledge of humankind, but alright, you might know things I don't" The elf responded with a smile.
Lyle spends a good while telling Sylvana about the humans, both known and unknown stuff for the elf. They had a good time chatting until the sleep finally began to win them over and they both fell asleep calmly on the grass as Ascalon opened an eye to look at them for a moment before relaxing and drifting off to sleep.
The following morning, Lyle woke up, finding both Ascalon and Sylvana already awake and getting ready for the day. The elf was stretching as Ascalon ate some berries that when questioned about he responded that Sylvana had a bag with them, so the elf also offered some to Lyle who accepted. The berries were pretty sweet and delicious, Lyle was surprised, he had never tasted berries like these and properly thanked Sylvana for them, who seemed to really appreciate the compliments.
"Men, I have been thinking. Since we are heading in the same direction, I purpose that we travel together, it is safer to walk in groups after all" Sylvana said.
Before Ascalon could say anything, Lyle accepted Sylvana's offer. Despite the clear doubt of his friend, Lyle reassured him that there was nothing to fear about the elf.
Ascalon decided to just go along with this situation, he wasn't in the mood to argue so early. And so, the three of them resumed their way towards their shared destination, the capital of Lisbea.