Tia woke up in the middle of the night. She was laying on some old strawy bed. She looked around her. *Where am I? What happened?* She didn"t recognize the house she was in. It was old-looking abandoned building, the roof and walls were filled with holes which cooled the air inside. There was nothing that could be called a floor, only trampled dirt. The only source of heat and light was a campfire that was burning in the middle of the room. There was a man sitting next to it. "Finally awake, huh." the stranger said."Who are you? Where are we?" she sat down, staring at him.
"Calm down, I don"t want to hurt you. Do you remember what happened in your village?"
"My village?" blurry shards of memories flashed through her mind. "Yes...I remember." He stood up and begun to walk towards her with a wooden cup in his hand. He then took a chair and put it next to the bed.
"Drink this, it will help you recover your strength." he said with kind smile as he sat on the chair. She was thirsty so she didn"t wait on anything and took one big gulp. He could see the disgust that appeared on her face.
"It tastes awful." she said reproachfully.
"It does, but it really helps. Drink it." She did what he said even though she didn"t want to. The man was looking at her.
"Can you stop staring at me? It makes me nervous." she was annoyed.
"Oh, sorry." he turned his sight to the fire that he made in the middle of the room. "I think it"s time to introduce myself. My name is Anju. And I was looking for you, or, to be more specific, for Serpentra inside you." She was shocked.
"How do you know about it?" she asked him, wanting to know the answer.
"I saw you in a vision. It happened when Serpentra awaken for the first time. His eye opened." he explained it but when he saw her confused face, he continued "Serpentra is really powerful being, so when he appeared in this world again, many people could feel it and some of them could even see it in visions. I was one of them." She realized one thing when he was talking about the snake on her belly. She couldn"t sense it. It wasn"t throbbing. She rolled her clothes just to reveal the tattoo. There were some symbols and circles drew around the snake.
"What did you do to me when I was sleeping? Why did you draw these things on my body?!"
"There are magical beings from a different magic world that are often summoned to our world. We call them Magical Beasts." he looked at her to see if she understanded so far and she nodded in agreement. He continued. "We use them for their power, knowledge or just for an entertainment. There are countless beasts and many that we don"t even know yet. But there are also elite ones that are well-known. Serpentra is one of them."
"What do you mean by elite ones?" she asked him.
"There are 5 beasts that surpa.s.s others with their strength. Every king or demon lord wants their power. On the other hand, they are so strong they can even harm their summoner or person who has them sealed inside of them. And that"s your case. Serpentra is slowly killing you." he could see the panic on her face.
"Killing me?"
"Yes, he is slowly consuming your life force, making himself stronger. When he gets strong enough, he will sacrifice your body to create his own. Those symbols and circles I drew on you gave you more time, but they won"t stop him."
"Can I.. get rid of him?"
"There are ways to do that but we need to find one man. Artrog. He is the best healer I know and he should tell us more about your cure." little sparks of hope could be seen in her eyes.
"And where can we find him?"
"Well, that"s the problem. Right know we are in Morath, the kingdom of humans. Artrog lives in Zaryan. That"s a northern neighbour of Morath. It will take us days to get to borders."
"How much time do I have? Before he kills me?"
"I don"t know. Maybe month, maybe two weeks. We can"t waste any time." the room become silent after the last sentence. Then she asked him the last question she had.
"How do I know that I can trust you?"
"I"m the only chance you have right now. There are probably more enemies coming for you even now as we speak... But enough talking, try to sleep. We will have to leave this house early in the morning." He then stood up and went to sit next to the fire again. She was staring at the ceiling, slowly processing the news in her mind. *Is that really true? Can I trust him?* her mind was full of thoughts. She spent at least hour thinking but then she fell asleep.
*
"Wake up" Anju said as he slowly poked her shoulder. "It"s time to leave. There is some food ready on the table." She sat on her bed. It was still dark outside. She got up, ate some fruit and bread he prepared for her and then they left. The abandoned house was in the middle of the forest.
"Where are we right now?" she asked him, because she had never been there.
"The forest that was behind your village. This is it but we are much deeper now. We will get to the other end soon." he said. She just noticed the fox mask he had attached to his hip.
"Why do you wear a fox mask?"
"I have my reasons." Then they became silent. After two hours of walking the sun came out and could be seen through the branches. She now noticed the small animals around her as she was walking. There were rabbits, birds, snakes. She also heard some bigger one in the bush next to her, but they didn"t stop to find out what it was.
They arrived to the edge of the forest around noon. Anju succesfuly hunted a small rabbit and Tia prepared it on the campfire. Then they ate together. "Wow, you are good at cooking." Anju said after he took the first bite.
"My mom used to teach me. She also told me about herbs that are great with meat." then her expression became little sad. He noticed it so he tried to change the topic.
"Do you know anything about the world outside your village? For example the kingdoms, races..."
"No, only the chief and elders knew about it. I only heard about heroes." he looked at her and begun to tell her the basic history.
"Thousands of years ago, this continent was inhabited by many races. Elves, animal people, dwarfs... Then, one human appeared, his name was Morath. He came to these lands with his army and conquered it. Humans became superior race and enslaved others. That"s how the kingdom of humans was created." her mood got better as she got interested in the history of her world. "Then, centuries ago, other races had enough of the oppresion, so they asked the G.o.ddess of nature, Varya, for help. She decided to help them as she chose one girl to lead others and gave her incredible power. Her name was Zara. She succesfuly formed an army and took back a huge part of Morath. Zaryan is named after both of them."
"Are there more kingdoms?"
"There is No Man"s Land on the east, bordering with both Morath and Zaryan. That"s a place where all the monsters and demons come from. Deadly deserts, bottomless abyss and mountains so high you can"t see the top. That"s where demon lords rule. And that"s the biggest threat to other kingdoms."
"I see." they kept talking and eating. After a little while their journey continued.
*
Toby opened his eyes. He was in the same dark room like yesteday. He was wearing only trousers which made him feel cold. Steps could be heard coming closer to him. Then the door opened. It was her, Arachne, with two men that he saw for the first time. "It"s good to see you again." she said with an evil smile on her face.
"Why don"t you just kill me?" he asked her with hateful stare.
"Who would entertain me if I killed you?" she giggled. "Moreover, I have great future planned for you. You will become my servant."
"I"ll never serve you, you b.i.t.c.h." he said. One man behind Arachne got angry as he started to shout on Toby.
"You pathetic worm! How dare you to talk to Lord Arachne like that? We should cut off your tongue...." she raised her hand to silence him.
"Don"t worry, he will be obedient soon." she begun to walk closer to him, then she touched his face.
"Why do they call you a lord when you are female?" he asked her. He didn"t care about it at all, but he wanted to show his defiance by talking to her like if she was just a normal girl.
"It"s tradition. Every demon lord is called like that. It doesn"t matter if you are male, female or animal." then she bit her lip. "I heard really terrible things... about your village." she giggled.
"What did you do?" he asked her with bitterness in his voice.
"Me? It was a different demon lord, Kale. He destroyed your village, killing everyone. Except your friend." she turned around, showing her back to him. "I heard he is trying to get her because of the gift I gave her."
"So it"s your fault in the end. Everyone"s death.." he said, all the defiance in him was gone. His eyes were full of despair.
"Well if you look at it this way, maybe. But your friend is still alive. Not like it will last long though. She will either die because of my gift or because she will get caught by Kale"s thugs. But you can prevent that." small spark of hope appeared in his mind.
"What do you mean?"
"I"m giving you a choice." she then looked at one of the men. He was holding something in his hand. He quickly moved to a wooden table in the room, putting the unknown item there. It was some kind of elixir.
"What"s that?" Toby asked her. He expected some kind of betrayal.
"If you drink this, you will become powerful. You will be able to save your friend. But your soul will be mine, forever."
"Do you think I believe you? After everything you have done to me?" She giggled.
"It"s your choice. Do whatever you want. But remember, she doesn"t have much time left. You should decide quickly." Then she begun leaving the room. "I will come back in the morning. You have time till that." then the door closed. He could hear the lock rattling.
"Tia.. are you okay? Where are you?..... What should I do..." he was talking to himself as he carefully stared at the elixir in front of him.