I am a tactician traveling across Elibe. Learning the ways of war, I set out to travel the land and discover it myself. I was crossing the Sacae Plains until…

?: "Are you awake?"

A feminine voice resounds as I come to. I get up and see a green-haired girl in a dress talking to me. "I found you unconscious on the plains."

Hold up. I WAS UNCONSCIOUS!? I check my belongings and see that everything but two books are missing. Sighing, my attention returns to the girl.

"I am Lyn, of the Lorca Tribe. You're safe now." She states as she serves what appears to be a warm soup in a wooden bowl. After taking a sip, she asks "Who are you? Can you remember your name?"

I introduce myself.

"Your name is Dan? What an odd-sounding name…" Not like I asked for your opinion.

"But pay me no mind. It is a good name." I chuckle to myself a bit. Thanks.

She continues to talk "I see by your attire that you are a traveler. What brings you to the Sacae Plains? Would you share your story with me?" Sure. As I began to talk, a sound went off in the distance.

"Hm? What was that noise? I'll go see what's happening. Dan, wait here for me." I watch as Lyn walks out of the "house"? It looked more like a hut than anything. While in my train of thought, Lyn charges back into the abode, color draining from her face.

"Bandits! They must have come down from the Bern Mountains! They must be planning on raiding the local villages. I... I have to stop them!". Right then, I saw her eyes. A beautiful shade of blue overtaken by a brighter fire, burning with determination. I ask her, "How many of them are out there?".

"A few, I think I can handle them on my own." I ask if she is sure. "Yes, stay here and you'll be safe, Dan."

WHAT!?

"I'm not letting you go out there alone." I say before I can think about what I'm saying.

"What?" Lyn says, confused.

Trying to recover, I say "I'll offer you my services for the upcoming battle" adding a small bow at the end.

"You want to help?" Lyn says, looking confused again. "Y-yes" I say, exasperatedly.

"Well, can you use a weapon?" Lyn asks.

"Sort of. I use boosting spells to empower my allies." I explain. "None of them are tide-turning though. My main profession is strategy."

"Ah, I see… so you're a strategist by trade? An odd profession, but…" She paused, as if to spare me of embarrassment. "Do you have your tomes?"

"I didn't have them when I woke up." I explained. Lyn walks up to a bookshelf and examines it. She then proceeded to take out two books from the middle. She walks back and hands them to me.

"These were lying beside you when you were unconscious." With a closer look I realize that both were mine. A tad roughed up, but still in working condition. Taking them gratefully, I say that I'm ready to go.

"Very well. We'll go together!" And both of us walk out in stride, weapons in hand and readiness on our faces.

"Over here!" Lyn cries from a patch of forest. "If you want to help, Dan, I could use your advice. I'll protect you, so stay close to me." "Got it. But let me cast a spell first. It will help us in battle."

I open my first tome. The cover is bland and the pages are white. I infuse a bit of my power into it and it begins to float slightly above my left hand. The cover shimmers and the title sears itself onto it in an intelligible language.

I turn to Lyn and see her look of amazement. Grabbing her attention, I ask, "I'll have to cast a separate one on you first, Lyn." She nods. "It'll only take a second." Hovering my hand slightly above her chest, I shout, "KNILLE" and a small orb of energy comes out of my hand and lands on Lyn.

"What did you do?" Lyn asks, checking herself for any changes to her body.

"Something that allows me to do this" I say with a smile before shouting "DLEIFELTTAB!" The pages I had opened to began to shine, and a few moments later, covered itself in a wave of colors mirroring the area around us.

Again, I look to Lyn and her eyes twinkle in childlike wonder. I beckon her closer and she begins to ask questions.

"Whats this?" She says, pointing to a blue dot on the layout.

"You can't already tell?" I tease. She looks at me with crossed arms and I say "It's you." while poking her in the arm. I explain, "Blue dots here represent my allies, red show me where my enemies are" pointing to the dots and correlating them to two men in the distance. "Green dots represent non-combatants like myself." I turn to Lyn and take a defensive posture behind her. "Let's move."

As we walk across the small patch of grassy field, a lecture from my strategy professor comes to mind.

"Remember class, battle essentially consists of your allies and enemies positioning themselves for skirmishes. As lot of strategists should be nowhere near the brawl. Don't expose yourself unless you need to. As tacticians, you also decide your allies movements across the map, but don't move them past their limit. In your tomes, the distance and possible positions to which they can and can't move is clearly outlined."

I look at my tome and tap Lyn's dot, which transforms into a mini-Lyn and splatters blue and red ink as to where Lyn can possibly move and attack on the map. Zoning back into reality, I spot a nearby bandit some kilometres away from mine and Lyn's position.

"Lyn, I suggest moving closer to that first bandit" I say, pointing at him

"Got it" Lyn grunts as she and I move closer. "Uh-oh! That bandit's spotted me! He's coming this way."

"Don't worry, he can't reach us before we reach him." I say in an attempt to reassure her.

The hulking monster of a man barrels toward Lyn, axe in hand. Before he reaches us, he tires out and stops.

"Lyn! It's our turn to strike! Rush up to him and attack!" I shout, seconds later. Lyn attacks first, aiming for the bandit's chest with her sword. As she attacks, I notice the foreign style of her attack, where she draws and sheathes her blade quickly. With a roar of fury, the warrior attempts to counter, but Lyn is able to dodge by a hair's breadth. Lyn then strikes again, slashing the man, before assuming a defensive posture. The brigand, in a rage, raises his axe and slashes Lyn's arm. I look in surprise and Lyn seems unfazed and finishes the bandit in one clean strike.

"Victory! But I've been injured. I have need of a vulnerary." Lyn says, wincing at the cut on her arm and supporting it.

"Yeah, we need to treat your cut." I say, concerned.

"Before we start the treatment, we should move closer to that ger to the west." I pause in confusion before she begins to explain.

"Gers are a type of round hut, like the one you woke up in. Many nomads live in huts like these." She says, casually pointing back to her home with her good arm.

"Okay, let's move in a little closer then." I say in agreement.

In a forest outcropping near the ger, I take off some of my robes and lay them down as a blanket for Lyn to rest on.

"I have a couple vulneraries in my satchel. They should heal me up. Would you get one for me?" Lyn says, looking at her bag a few metres away.

"Sure," I reply cheerily. "Would you like some help applying it as well?"

"If it wouldn't trouble you, Dan." Lyn replies shyly. As she drinks some of the concoction, I tear a bit of my sleeve and rub some of it into the cloth. I then pull up Lyn's sleeve and begin wrapping the wound. As I am wrapping the bandages, I can't help but admire Lyn's beauty and resolve. After all, a cut wound like this can't hurt that little. After a few moments of me staring, I notice a fluorescent blush appear on her face. I wonder how old she is. "How old are you, Lyn?"

"I-I'm 15, w-why would you ask such a question, Dan?" She says, looking at me with a streak of pink painted on her cheeks. Well, no surprise the-... WAIT WHAT!? It takes a full second for me to register her comment seriously. I begin to feel heat rise in my face. I take a moment to re-examine Lyn. With her figure, I had assumed she was 17 at least. Shaking lecherous thoughts from my mind, I focus on completing the treatment.

"There, all done." I say embarrassingly.

"Thank you, Dan." Lyn replies awkwardly. "Now let's go get that brigand over by the ger!"

"Let's go!" I shout. We walk over to the ger to confront the blond bandit on it's doorstep.

"Who do you think you are?" He roars in our direction.

"We are the ones who will take you down!" Lyn replies defiantly.

"You think you can stand up to Batta the Beast?" Heh… Alliterative name, fitting of a mongrel like him. Lyn dashes forward to strike, hitting his arm. Batta retaliates, hitting Lyn across the stomach. Striking one last hit, Lyn backs off.

"Whew! He's tough" Lyn says, exhausted. I notice red staining her dress and blood on her lip. "…It all comes to this next blow. Dan, if I fall, I want you to flee. You must escape!" She says between ragged breaths.

"And leave you to die? I know I haven't known you for long, Lyn, but you're a good friend, and I will not leave you behind." She's shocked and flinches. "I will die for you if need be, Lyn!" She begins to tear up. "Now let's finish this!" Lyn nods silently. I open my second tome in one hand while closing the first with the other. The first disappears into the folds of my robes as I begin casting the spell. Glowing energy appears to siphon from the pages of the book into my hand. It accumulates into an orb which I send toward Lyn while shouting, "BARARAQ!" The orb circles her for a bit then slams itself into her scabbard, making it glow. A few moments later, it manifests into a small charm at the hilt of her blade. Lyn gives me a questioning look and I reply with a wink and a smile saying "You'll have need of it soon." Lyn turns back to Batta who had just returned from the hut with a bandage around his arm. He begins to raise his axe against Lyn and attacks. In the split-second before the attack connects I cast, in my terms, my strongest spell. Time freezes and both of us are surrounded by rings of light. I look at Lyn and there is only one thought on my mind, "Sorry..." Moments after and I finally recite the name of my spell, "ECALPER!" A flash of blinding light envelopes both me and Lyn. As the light fades, I switch Lyn's position with mine. Lyn can only react with a shocked expression as Batta's axe is coming straight for me. Floating my tome in front of me in an attempt to defend myself, I shout to Lyn, "Now is your chance! Take him down!" Batta's axe cleaves through my tome, robes, and flesh easily. I hold onto my consciousness long enough to see Lyn's empowered strike. The charm evaporates as Lyn draws her blade. After taking a stance, Lyn focuses and seemingly splits into three mirages and disappears. I can only see the glint of steel arcing three time from Lyn's former position. Lyn reappears and sheathes her blade. Batta is shocked as slash marks snake across his body.

"What? How…how did you…" before falling flat on his face. Lyn wipes her brow then collapses. I gather my strength and rush forward, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Whew...that was close. I sorely underestimated him." Ignoring my own wound, I sit her down on the ger's front step and tear two clean strips of cloth from my tattered robes. I soak one of the pieces in a vulnerary. I give her the rest to drink and a handkerchief to wipe the blood on her mouth. As I begin to wrap her torso she says, "Sorry if I worried you. I'll need to be stronger if I'm going to survive...strong enough that no one can defeat me!" I give her a empathetic smile. I guess I wasn't expecting such a childish quote from her, given her maturity towards battle. I glance at the remains of my spell book cleaved in two by Batta's axe. I realize that I won't be able to use the tome any longer. Picking up the pieces, I turn to Lyn.

"Now let's go home." She says with a newly affixed bandage around her waist. We make our way back with little trouble. As I enter the doorway, my last dregs of energy are spent. The spell I had self-casted earlier to hold back my wound finally wore off. I fall to the floor as my vision turns black. The last thing I see is Lyn's surprised expression and a pool of my own blood.

"Good morning, Dan." I hear a familiar voice as I wake up. Opening my eyes, I see Lyn watching over me, her face scarred with worry. I examine my surroundings. It seems that I am on a mat on the floor of Lyn's ger. Examining myself, I find that I am shirtless other than a bandage covering the area where I was slashed by Batta. Realizing that I didn't reply earlier, I manage to say hello to Lyn, easing her fears.

"That fight yesterday must have taken a lot out of you." She states. "Say, Dan...I want to talk to you about something." She says as she blushes a little.

"Go on." I reply as calmly and stoically as I can manage.

"You have some experience in the ways of war, I can see." I nod, acknowledging the statement, but having no idea of where her line of thought is going.

"Would you…" Blushing madly as she tries to word the phrase properly. "Would you allow me to travel with you!" She says with her eyes shut tight and her face flushed pink. The image threatens to set off my latent teenage hormones. Keeping myself under control and thinking logically, I ask her to get permission from her parents.

"What? You want me to get permission from my parents? " Her expression becomes grave. "My mother and father… died six months ago." I'm at a loss for words. I notice Lyn beginning to tear up. "My people - the Lorca - they don't… I'm the last of my tribe. The tribe was scattered. My father was the chieftain, and I wanted to protect our people. But I was too young, and our people were so old-fashioned. They wouldn't follow a woman. No one would follow me." I decided to pull Lyn into a hug. She continued to speak as she was crying into my shoulder. "Sniff… I'm sorry. I've been alone for so long… No. No more. I will shed no more tears." She paused, recomposing herself. "Thank you." I released her. "I'm better now. Dan, I want- I must become stronger, so that u may avenge my father's death. Yesterday's battle taught me something. I won't become stronger by sitting here alone. Dan, tell me you'll train with me, that you'll let me travel with you!" She looks to me for a response. "Of course. How could I say no to you."

"You will? That's wonderful! Thank you! Oh, thank you!" We embrace again as Lyn sheds tears of joy. "We'll be better off working together, I know it. You'll be my master strategist, and I'll be your peerless warrior! We can do it! Right?" I can only smile and nod to her.

Travel with Lyn, Dan. Give her your aid. And master the art of combat. Help Lyn in her quest.