I started writing this story a few months back and I already have a few chapters done which i´ll be uploading after some editing.
Enjoy.
Chapter 1
I woke up with a start.
- What – who, uh? Must have been a dream.
I looked into the window and saw that the sun already above the horizon meaning it has already past seven.
Time to get up and get ready, it's an important day today, I thought to myself.
Today was the day I was going to leave the village and go travel the world, something I have been preparing for months.
- What was I dreaming? – There was a light and the voice of a woman? - I said, pondering while getting dressed, trying to remember the fragments from my dream.
I went to the kitchen to see what was left that I could eat before my journey.
- Hmm, the stew from last night but it was a little bland, better get a few herbs from that spot next to the road, moldy bread hard as rock, going to throw that way and a few nuts that will do until I get breakfast going.
I grabbed my coin purse and got to the door, there was sunny day with only a few clouds in the horizon, there were a few people walking around, already going with their daily tasks.
- Morning Trevor - I said to a guard that was passing by.
- Morning Luka - He responded back - Just a warning, if you´re going to the outskirts of the village, someone reported there were monsters close to the village but it turns ou it´s just a slime walking around, so don´t get surprised if you see one . - He warned
- Okay, thanks Trevor - I walked to the pile of lumber that I normally use for wood.
- Better take the axe just in case.
I got out of the village and went to the usual spot to gather the herbs I wanted.
- These ones will do just nicely. - I said.
- U-umm e-excuse me? - Said a distinctive female voice.
I turned around and saw an unusual sight, a girl blue colored skin, well not really skin but some kind of translucid fluid, in place of her legs there was a poodle and she was fidgeting her fingers nervously. She didn´t seem to anything like the descriptions that the old senile retired priest yapps about.
- Can I help you? - I asked her.
- D-Do you know if someone in the village sells surrapa? - She asked
- If they sell what?
- Surrapa, the drink every monster drinks? Do you know if someone sells it around here?
- Monsters don´t come this far south, I don´t think you gone find your drink around here.
- Darn it, just going to have to be water for a while. Thanks for telling me. Bye. - She said and walked (?) away.
- So long.
A few minutes later.
Well that was a strange way to start the day. Still I´m going to start my travels today and with a nice day to start it, blue sky, birds chipping, birds flying, birds crashing.
KABOOM!
Birds don't crash like that.
I run in the direction of the crash an when I arrived there I saw the strangest thing, a woman lying in the ground, well not a human woman at least, since from the waist down she has a snake tail, meaning she was a lamia a specie native from the Sentora continent, purple skin, horns, white hair and yellow eyes which were staring right at me, jump scaring me and making me drop my things.
- Oh hi d-didn´t realize you were conscious.
The strange woman got up and looked around confused and asked:
- Where am I?
- You´re in the forest around Ilias village. - I responded.
- What? - She asked, still confused
- It's in the southest part of Ilias continent. - I explained
- What? - She reapeated.
- You kind of felled from the sky and crashed.
- She looked at me confused for a moment and then her face filled with realization.
- Oooh, right … well I´m never using that spell ever again. - She said, crossing her arms.
- Do you need help? I mean, medically. You just fell from the sky. - I said.
- No I´m fine I just need to get my bearings, leave me alone, go away, sho. - She said uninterested. She didn´t seem hurt, no bruises or scratches, just a bit of dirt on her.
- Alright I´ll be going since you don´t need my help. Bye. - I said. I grabbed my basket and left the flying women for her own business. I returned to the trail, to go back to the village.
Well, that definitely was weirder than the slime encounter, maybe I should have insisted in helping her; then again she probably would have try to eat me … no wait, that just silly.
I returned to the village, first making my way into the blacksmith.
- Morning Jessie, I'm here for my special order. - I said.
- Morning Luka, it's ready, I made the last touches last night.
She laid a sword in the counter next to a leather scabbard and a sharpening stone, a light grey double-edged blade connected to a slightly darkened grey guard connected to a grip wrapped in a piece of green cloth with a round pommel.
- Good old fashioned tempered steel. 500 years old smiting technique and still as useful as today if you need a weapon for protection. - Jessie said with pride. - Speaking of that, you heard about a monster roaming close to the village? - She asked me.
- Yes, turns out it was just a slime looking for some booze. - I responded.
- Heh, must be form the elusive slime colony that there somewhere in these parts, good thing there wasn´t a ´´hero`` around, the poor thing could have been in trouble. - She said.
I couldn´t agree more, since the ´´accident`` three years ago when a ´´blessed`` hero came to village in his travels to rest boasting about how much of a badass he was and being pretty much a massive jerk, people didn´t like his presence much simply tolerating him because he has spending money in food and booze with generous tips until he decided to rob a house and kill the person who lived there, just a kind old man.
When the villagers demanded for justice the idiot boasted while swinging his sword that he could kill anyone he wanted including children. The villagers didn't take kindly to that remark so they hanged him, it was disturbing seeing someone die like that but I couldn´t really feel any pity for the person in question.
Suffice to say the priest hasn´t done any more blessings since.
- Well good thing we don't have anyone jerkish enough in the village to want to be a hero, here´s the rest of the payment. - I said and gave her the pouch with coins I had with me.
- Thank you, you won´t be disappointed. - She said, still with a hint of pride.
I put the sword in the scabbard and grabbed the sharpening stone and left the blacksmith back home. Time for breakfast before going to start the big travel, I tought to myself has I opened the door to my house.
- Hello. - Greeted a voice has I entered my house. Standing in the kitchen, was the ´´woman`` I had met in the forest.
- What are you doing here? - I asked her.
- You forgot your axe in the forest- She said, extending her arm with my axe.
- Oh thank you - I said aind took it from her and leaned it against the wall. - How did you found me? - I asked her.
- I followed your scent. - She answered
- You followed my scent? - I asked back.
- Yes, lamias have a very strong smell of scent. - She explained.
- Impressive. - I said. - So I'm heating stew for lunch, since you´re alrady here would you like to have lunch with me? - I asked her. It´s not like I could just forcibly evicted her, I mean, I could but that would be rude of me.
- Well, that crash did left me with a hole in the stomach; sure I will eat some of your stew. - She said. - Take a seat then. - I said and so she did.
I heated the stove and put the pot with the stew on top off it. Then grabbed some the herbs I had collected and dropped them into the pot and started to stir the stew with a wooden spoon.
- So, you never told me your name. - I asked her.
- Alipheese Fateburn XVI. - She answered.
- That is a … impressive name.
- You can call me Alice, everyone does.
- Oh, that´s easier to pronounce, mine´s Luka by the way. - I said. - So, Alice what made you crashed in the neighborhood? - I asked her has I put the plates on the table.
- I punched an angel. - She said with a proud smile.
- … You punched an angel.
- Yes, I was flying, saw an angel and decided to punch it and that made me crash. - She said without a hint of sarcasm.
- How can you fly if you don´t mind me asking, you don´t have wings.
- I used a spell to fly, a spell that I had barely any control over it
- And that´s what made you crashed?
- Yes, that was obvious.
I didn´t have any more questions after that. I wnt back to the stove, raised the spoon from the pot and tasted the stew.
- That seems about done, let's eat. - I said and took the pot from the pot and put it in the center of the table. I served the food to Alice first and then me. I sat down, on my chair and start eating while taking a better at Alice.
She is wearing some kind of boiled leather armor that covers her upper body completely from the neck to the arms and to the waist and underneath that was what looked like a battle skirt from the illustrations I saw in book when I was younger, she was also very tall or long since her tail could reach all to the other side of the kitchen. She also has a sword in her back, in fact she has four swords by the number of pummels I could see. Why would anyone to carry that many swords? Maybe she has a spell that makes her grow an extra pair of arms? And looking at her face I think she might be the most beautiful woman I´ve seen in my life, with a smooth skin without any kind of blemishes or scars and pretty yellow eyes looking at me.
- What? Do I have something in my face? - She asked me
- Um, no. I was just wondering, is that what you do for a living? Punching angels in the face?
- What? No. I´m a … traveling gourmet. Yes that's it, I travel and taste the regional dishes. What about you? What do you do?
- I work as lumberjack but sometimes I help other people with their farming and carpeting, until today anyway since today I´m going to travel to see the world. - I answered.
- So you´re leaving this village? That explain why you have everything so tidy up and a full backpack over there. - She said pointing at my pack travelling gear with her fork.
- Yes, that´s the reason. - I said.
- Mmm, mind if I accompany you? - She asked me has she finished her meal.
- You want to travel with me?
- Well I´m kinda lost, I don´t know anything about this continent and honestly I need help.
- I guess it would be really mean of me to just leave stranded, alright let's go travel together. I said
- Yes! See you outside the village! - She said, full of enthusiasm.
- I still have … to do something first. - I said, turning to her. - Where did she go?- I went outside looking for any signs of my guest.
- How the heck did she disappeared like that? - I asked. - Well if she was serious about traveling with me, I better finish the last thing I need to do.
I cleaned the dishes, grabbed my essentials, locked the door and made my way to Betty´s house. Betty had been a surrogate mother for me since my own mother death, so I had to say farewell to her before I leave.
- Hey Betty I´m leaving today so … here´s the key to my house. - I said
- Oh Luka, it shame to see you leave, but if that's your decision it's your decision. - She said with a bit of sadness in her voice
She leans and gives me a kiss in the forehead.
- Just remember that you always have a home to return here. - She said with a smile.
- Aaah geez, you making me blush.
I kissed her in the cheek and said my farewells.
I made my way to the road to star my journey and found Alice waiting for me.
- Are you ready to go. - She asked me.
- Yes let´s get going. - I responded.
We started walking, well I was walking and Alice was slithering, following the road to the next settlement.
After a few minutes of silence I got bored and decided to start a Q and A session.
- So Alice where do you need to go exactly? - I asked her
- I want to get out of this continent and go to Sentora. - She responded.
- Well for that we better pass by Iliasburg which halfway and then in Illiasport he take a ship to Port Natalia which is the closest city in Sentora by Ship. - I explained
- Does every settlement in this continent have Illias in its name? - She asked.
- Pretty much.
- Someone didn´t have much imagination when they settled here, I guess there will be ´´heroes`` in these places doing petty crimes and being an annoyance in general. - She said.
- Yeah, we got a problem like that in the village a few years back, a hero killed one of us, on purpose even and got hanged because of that. Since then there haven´t been any more blessings. - I said.
- I´ve heard of cases like that happening in Sentora in human villages. Shows what kind of people these so called heroes are, they should take a look at some real heroes like the Order of Clerics, they travel the land curing sick people and plagues. - I said.
- We actually had clerics going to the village during a plague 8 years ago, they save most of the village.
Not my mother, she was already dead when they arrived. - But still I heard the church main body shuns the clerics, they say their ways are blasphemy. - I said.
- Pfff, bunch of idiots if you ask me, you shouldn´t badmouth the person that can save your life, speaking of church I guess there aren´t many monsters around here?
- No, I mean there´s a slime colony somewhere close to my village but besides that no, there isn´t any other kind of monster around here. - I explained.
- Slimes? Didn´t know there were slimes this far south, still it makes sense slimes only need water for – Oh! - Alice suddenly stopped and sniffed.
- What´s wrong? - I asked her
- Guess you are wrong when you said there weren't any monster around here. Hide.
- Hide? What are you talking about? - I looked around. - There´s no one around besides … us. - She disappeared again. How did she do that?
- Hi there. - Said a unfamiliar voice. - I turned around and saw a girl with a strange dress and hat, a tattoo in her face and a sword in her hip.
- Mmm, yes you will do nicely. - The girl said
- Can I help you? - I asked her.
- Actually yes, take your clothes, lay down and just let me have my way with you. - Said the girl with a sadistic smile
- I don´t think I will be doing that. - I said with a glare and grabbing the hilt of my sword.
She started walking, getting closer to me her ´´dress`` undulating with pink things moving in place of her feet's, releasing what appeared to be mucus. She was some kind of monster.
- Don´t worry I'll be gentle, just lay down and think of … girls with legs.
I took my sword from its scabbard.
- Just walkway. - I warned her
She took a shorter sword than mine from her own scabbard. - Well I´ll just have to undress you myself. -
Alright Luka, you practiced for this, right foot in front of left foot, two hands in the grip, blade in diagonal.
She strikes I parry easily and pushed her. She strikes again I parry again pusher her and slash her in the left cheek the one with the tattoo. She strikes three times this time and I parry all of them and leave a tiny cut in her chest making her bleed. She strikes again more furiously, again I parry easily and kick her in the chest making her stumble back. This time I´m the one who goes into offensive giving fast strikes, negating her the chance of riposting. I keep striking until she makes a mistaking allowing me to leave the tip of my blade touching her neck a drop of blood sliding through it.
I don´t want to kill her. I don´t want to be a murderer.
- Just leave. - I warn her.
She hissed and started flailing wildly, making me step back. I strike back making her lose her balance and stumble, giving me access to slash her from under her right eye to her chin.
-I warned you.
This time she screeched and started to flail more wildly than before like an angry kid with a wooden sword just trying to hit something. And then she got hit with a red tail and slammed into a tree.
- What a sore loser. - Alice said
- Alice? Where were you? - I ask her.
- I was hiding like I told you to do. - She responded
- I didn´t have time to hide, your warning was cryptic, and why didn´t you help me? - I asked her
- I was going to, but you didn´t have trouble fighting her just finishing the fight and you were just dragging it so I decided to finished it myself. - She responded. - Also I really didn´t want to fight. - he added
- … Fine! But don´t just leave me in that kind of situation like that! - I said a bit upset.
Seriously what kind of jerk would do that?
- Alright geez, sorry, no need to yell. - She complained. - Next time I´ll help you.
- Good, anyway should we leave her like that? You hit her pretty hard. - I said.
- Leave her, she´s an exiled. - Alice said.
- An exiled? - I asked
- Yes, the tattoo in her face marks her has an exiled, a criminal by her village, that specific mark means something serious like murder or rape. - Alice explained.
- I wasn´t really paying attention to her face. - I said. I did noticed but I was more concerned with the fight.
- Anyway, we should really keep going if want to reach Illiaswhatever before night fall. - Alice said.
- You know by the position of the sun I don´t think we're not going to able to do that. - I said.
I was right.
By the time the sun was starting to set on the horizon our destination was nowhere in sight. We decided to start a camp close to the road so we could eat and rest until morning; I made dinner consisting of dried meat seasoned with the rest of the herbs I caught earlier, with some carrots and lettuce, a satisfying meal to finish the day Alice at least look satisfied a she devoured her meal.
- Hmm that was delicious, you´re a good cook, if I has a rich noble living in a castle I would make my personal cook and never be hungry again. - She said satisfied.
- Thanks for the compliment. - I thank her
- Now everything's that missing is a glass of surrapa.
- Huh… What is exactly is surrapa? I got a slime asking me earlier if there was any around here. - I said.
-It's what every monster needs to drink. - Alice said.
Is that some kind of booze? - I asked her.
- No it´s actually like a staple food like bread, you have a church in your village so you must have been told that monsters need human semen to live right?
- Yes. - I responded.
- Well surrapa is the perfect substitute. It feeds that primal hunger that monsters have. Pretty much every monster settlement has surrapa plant crops, I mean we still need humans for reproduction. - She explained.
- So. how is it made? - I asked her
- Well, the leaves of the plant are left to dry in a dried closed environment and then they are putted in water to absorb it for a few hours, normally a large recipient and voulá! - She explained.
- That´s interesting. - I said.
- Yep. Weird that you mentioned a slime wanting surrapa, they only need water to survive, anyway my time for questions. - She said. - Where did you learned how to fight? - She asked me.
- I learned form a book. - I responded.
- A book?
- Yes, it was called the basics of swordsmanship through the ages written by someone with a name I can´t pronounce, I read it and practiced its lessons until I got everything. - I explained.
- You don´t happen to have that book with you by any chance? - Alice asked me.
- No I traded it a few months back for a sack of carrots. - I responded.
- You shouldn't just trade books away like that, in such an isolated village like yours, books are a luxury. - She scolded me.
- Right … So, you like someone who´s been trained in sword fight, what did you think of my epic duel? - I asked her.
- I wouldn´t call it an epic duel, but you did good, you did basics pretty well and hold yourself just fine, then again your opponent wasn´t exactly very well trained, but it's good to know the basics, especially for a journey like this.
- Thanks, so what about you, how where you trained? - I asked.
- My mother well not my real mother, my adoptive mother taught me everything about sword combat, the basics and advanced she even taught me magic. - She answered
- Yeah you mentioned doing spells what kind of magic can you used besides faulty flying spells?
- Aren´t you funny? - Alice asked sarcastically. - Well mostly spells for combat, the 4 elements, dark energy, healing, I know how to some rituals and basic necromancy, my best ones are fire and ice, check it out. - She raises her hands and makes a floating flame in one hand and a circulating white-blueish mist in the other.
- Oooooh that´s so cool! - I said.
- With enough power I can make a big chunk of ice where you standing. - She said proudly.
- Awesome! Hey, maybe you could teach me some sword techniques, if you´re okay with that.
- Mmmh … yes actually I could teach you a technique that's just right for your level of skill, we can start right now if you want. - She said.
- Really? Well I was just being hopeful but, yeah okay teach me please! - I said, excited.
We started practicing, being careful since we were using real swords and not training ones, and we entered a rhythm while Alice started to explain the movements.
- Alright again! Bringing the tip of the blade to my neck and slash. - She instructed.
I followed her instructions and he exactly that and when I tried to slash, she effortless dodged it.
- Very good, you did almost perfectly. - She complimented.
- Thanks for teaching me that, it seems like a good move.
- It is. It's called demon decapitation.
- That's … a colorful name. - I said.
- It's said that the Elf swordmaster Zachariah was able to cut off the heads of 100 opponents using that move.
- That´s seems … a bit exaggerated.
- It is, it was probably just one person and the story got exaggerated every time it got told. Well, we should get some sleep, it´s getting late. - She said before stenching.
- Yeah we need to wake up soon If we want to get earlier to Illiasburg. I said. - Um Alice? How are going to sleep I only brought one bed pack and you didn´t brought your one.
- I´ll just use my tail. - She responded. She laid down in the grass making a small circle with lower body using it has a makeshift bed and pillow. -My scales are smooth and comfortable enough, good night. - She said before turning away.
- Well then, sweet dreams. - I said.
I took my bed pack and put it on ground, put myself inside of it close my eyes, thinking of what the next day holds for me compared to today and eventually fall asleep.
End of chapter.