World Seed

"Oh Aerwyn, Master Ferlin asked to bring you along tomorrow. He captured a few vosk the other day after father asked him to keep an eye out for any strong beasts."

"What are vosk?"

"Ah, they"re a semi-intelligent subterranean species from the orcs home world dear boy. The orcs use them as slave labor to man their mines. The vosk have three large curved claws on each hand that are stronger than steel, perfect for burrowing through rock and earth. You can think of them as more intelligent goblins that prefer living underground." Tylin spoke gesturing a hook shape with his hand before Sera could reply.

Aerwyn agreed to Sera"s request before heading to another guest room that Tylin had prepared after he had burnt down the first one. Rin followed Aerwyn as usual but Ren curiously stayed downstairs following Sera around as she cleaned up. He chuckled and left the door cracked open just in case the little brexil cat wanted to sneak in during the night.

Sera and Ren woke him in the early morning and they left for Master Ferlin"s house. His home was by the northern wall and gave the impression it was a military garrison of sorts. The front yard had training dummies and hay bale targets setup in an orderly fas.h.i.+on. Master Ferlin exited his front door as they approached.

"Aerwyn right? Come on, the creatures are in the back." Aerwyn didn"t have a chance to respond before Master Ferlin began walking around the house. They followed the elf and once they turned the corner Aerwyn could see a dozen cages lined up with eight occupied by small stocky creatures.

The creatures were barely taller than goblins but seemed to have the same muscle ma.s.s as Velk making Aerwyn feel annoyed that he was being outdone once again. They had a milky white hide that was sectioned like armor, a thick tail, and a head that looked like a bald rat.

On their backs Aerwyn could see three rows of spikes that got smaller the closer they got to their tails. They weren"t as savage as he was expecting, if it was goblins in those cages they would undoubtedly be trying to bite though the steel bars. He could tell by their curious looks that they were far more intelligent than the average goblin.

"Go ahead." Master Ferlin urged.

"I..." The sight of the creatures cowering in the corner of the cages made Aerwyn feel wrong. It made him as though he was about to kill in cold blood causing him to freeze.

"Getting cold feet are we? Don"t let them fool ya, if we were out in the wilds they would be picking your bones clean for showing them such pity." Master Ferlin spoke egging him on to no avail.

"But we aren"t in the wilds... Can they understand words?"

"Yeah, if you speak orcish." Master Ferlin scoffed before continuing with a softer voice.

"Look... Even if you don"t want them, they still need to die. We can"t let them free or they"d just trespa.s.s in our lands again. If we released them, then maybe next time they run into a villager and get to feast on elf instead of being captured by me. Then that villagers blood would be on our hands. It"s good that you"ve got a good heart but in the Forsaken Lands you need to choose wisely on who will be receiving such kindness, that"s just the way it is here."
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Aerwyn watched the pitiful creatures for a moment before coming to a decision. He stepped towards the cage and stabbed his staff through the metal bars. The vosk dodged the incoming spearhead before it grabbed the shaft pulling Aerwyn towards the cage. Rin jumped to attack the creature but Master Ferlin was quicker. He shot into action pulling Aerwyn back just as the vosk"s three claws swiped through the metal bars.

"d.a.m.ned boy, how the h.e.l.l did you survive the wilds and make it Setrhyn. You can"t even properly thrust a spear and yet you plan to live alone in the Ruins of Ardin!" Master Ferlin hounded him.

"Master Ferlin, Aerwyn"s a mage he"s-" Sera tried to stand up for him but was interrupted.

"Mage my a.s.s, your old man"s a mage and he can still best an orc in a melee if it"s a fair fight..." He paused for a moment before hanging his head and sighing.

"Listen boy, Sera and the old man seems fond of you so i can"t in good conscious let you go and get yourself killed. Hurry up and deal with these vosk, use your d.a.m.ned magic too. Afterwards you"ll be getting a crash course in melee." Aerwyn agreed, taking off his s.h.i.+rt before picking up his staff.

"What are you doing kid? Showing off your scrawny body? I told you to kill "em not make "em laugh at you."

"KWEE!" Rin screeched at the old elf ranger. Aerwyn didn"t find Master Ferlin"s joke funny either and gave Rin a head pat for defending him.

The purple flames engulfed his whole upper body in an attempt to show off his power and recover a bit of his pride. He mentally pushed the flames to his staff and fired a flame lance at the vosk who had nearly killed him. Unsure about whether or not he had consumed enough souls to bring them all back he waited for each to resurrect before moving on to the next.

Once he had killed all eight Master Ferlin opened the cages and had Aerwyn and Sera follow him to the front of the house.

"Try and stab Sera." Master Ferlin ordered and Sera got into position in front of Aerwyn.

"What...?" Aerwyn gave him a look as if he didn"t want to hurt Sera causing Master Ferlin to laugh.

"Boy, you couldn"t hit her if there were a thousand of you, i said try and stab her. Unless of course you would like me to be your opponent."

"Ugh... Ok, here i come."

Aerwyn took a step and halfheartedly thrust his staff in Sera"s direction. She nimbly dodged to the side much faster than his eyes could keep up with before grabbing the shaft. He felt pain in the back of his knees and realized he was in the air as his eyes were filled with nothing but the sight of the azure morning sky.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he impacted the ground, opening them once more to see Sera standing over him with the tip of his staff pointed at his neck. She no longer wore the same warm smile that he was used to, her expression was detached and cold. It took him a moment to realize he was still looking at the same person.

"If you keep messing around you"re gonna be in a lot more pain before this day is through." Master Ferlin commented as he got off the ground and dusted himself off. Sera handed him back his staff still wearing the same chilly expression before moving back into position.

Aerwyn closed his eyes for a moment, sucking in a deep breathe and taking a step forward he thrust his staff out with all his might. This time Sera grabbed the shaft and with a spin sent Aerwyn tumbling forward. He tried to hold on but Sera was just too quick and before he knew it he was sprawled out on the ground with his own weapon at his throat once again.

The process repeated itself for most of the day with Master Ferlin giving him advice after every couple of bouts. Afterwards Master Ferlin spent some time teaching him some basic techniques that he could practice in his free time.

"Well, starting from zero anything is progress i guess. Practice whenever you have time and it could save your life one day. You can stop by whenever your in town, if i"m not busy i"ll give you some more tips."

"Thank you Master Ferlin." He bowed before thanking Sera as well despite her beating on him all day.

As soon as they left Sera"s warm smile returned as if a flip had switched. It was getting late and he still needed to pickup the lumbering axes from the blacksmith so he was forced to bring along the eight new undead he acquired.

Marik the blacksmith was closing the large sliding door to his shop when they arrived. They exchanged greetings and Marik seemed curious about the eight vosk behind Aerwyn but he seemed to tired to ask about them. He handed Aerwyn the three axes and a short thin spear. The blacksmith told him he had some extra time and finished one which was a welcome surprise.

Sera left to go start dinner and Aerwyn headed to the gates to drop the vosk off with the other undead outside the walls. Handing Teek the first goblin spear, the leader of the goblins seemed to try and hold back his excitement from receiving the gift.

"He"s surprisingly reserved for a goblin." Aerwyn thought while handing the three lumbering axes to Teek as well. He explained that they weren"t to be used for fighting and to only use them if their lives were threatened.

Returning home they ate dinner while chatting away happily. Aerwyn felt a bit melancholic at the thought that he wouldn"t be seeing Sera and Tylin much for a while but he had already made up his mind. The wilds of the forsaken lands would be the best place for him to grow and learn about his powers. Despite his reluctance to leave he was still excited for tomorrow and sleep quickly fell over him as soon as he hit the bed.