Chapter 1: Arrows and Magic

"Drat that good-for-nothing priest! Isn't he supposed to be here helping me?" grumbled Alyssa as she fended off yet another growling bigfoot by herself. Her energy was depleting quicker than it is regenerating; and the amount of dark brown grizzlies were mounting fast. She looked around desperately. Ain't there anyone here that can help me? She wondered as she slashed one of the advancing bigfoot. The monster howled in pain and aimed an attack at her chest with his huge, furry paw.

"Oof!" Alyssa grunted as she stumbled onto the ground, temporarily winded by its attack. She looked up and saw that even more bigfoots were advancing towards her.' "Won't these damn beasts ever stop coming?" she muttered as she gripped her axe tightly. Summoning all of her strength, she blasted off a few monsters back with the help of the golden strength of her money. She harrumphed as the surprised bigfoots were thrown backwards by her strength. Quickly, she scanned her big, leather bag for any remaining butterfly wings. The sooner she can escape, the better.

Alyssa groaned aloud. Luck is definitely not with her because her bag lacked of butterfly wings, wings of fly and even potions to heal her! "Hmph! Guess I'd better make a run for it. Now if only I can find that potion…" she muttered as she frantically rummaged her bad for an agility potion to increase her slow pace. Triumphantly, she produced one at last and gulped down the potions before the bears regained their senses and tried to advance closer towards her. She felt the clear liquid running through her veins and her body felt lighter in a matter of seconds. Grinning broadly, she picked up her axe and flung it onto her cart before racing off in between two astonished bigfoots. The bears growled and howled in unison as they realized that their prey was escaping. Alyssa quickly avoided multitude blows dealt by the enraged bigfoots as she weaved in and out around them towards the nearest exit.

"Hmm, by the looks of it, I'll be in Payon soon. Awesome!" she exulted, as she ducked yet another heavy blow aimed at her head. "Hmm, I think I'd better restock on pots again before training. Next time I hire a darn priest, I'd better make sure he stick to his job!" she muttered to herself as she reached the city entrance. She took a deep breath, inhaling the evergreen aroma of the payonese city. She couldn't figure out why, but she loved Payon city even more than she loved her own hometown, Prontera. It was something about the evergreen grounds and the sense of tranquility blanketing the city that struck her as, well, homey.

The raven hair merchant contented herself by walking along the streets leisurely, watching as other merchants compete in their goods and bargains. Payon streets were always busy, if not as busy as the streets of Prontera. Groups of novices could be seen moving from one merchant to the other, hoping to purchase fairly cheap potions to help them in their training. Archers, on the other hand, would stop by to replenish their arrows before taking a snooze under a tree. Even the staid priests and priestess could be seen lazing about in groups of twos and threes as they were rained by numerous pleas of healings from others. Alyssa snickered quietly as she passed by them, noting that the pleas were mostly ignored out of goodwill. After all, what good would it do if those who beg gets what they want always?

Alyssa stopped by a few merchants as she haggled over the price of orange potions, butterfly wings, and other necessities. When she was satisfied with the results, she dumped the goods into her cart and trundled along towards the Payon Inn. She needed some rest…

Earilith Sensedriell glanced behind her uneasily. She can't seem to shake the spooky feeling that she was being followed. Quickening her pace, she carried on her way home, her heart beating fast. Now and then, she jumped as she heard a twig cracking or a shadow looming amongst the trees. It's just a bird, it's just a bird, she assured herself silently as she walked heading towards the nearest city. Suddenly, she heard a growl and jumped in horror. In front of her stood a huge, green-faced monster. It was an orc, no doubt about it. Its muscles bulged as it tightened its grip on the axe, as though preparing to hack whatever was in its way. Earilith stood there, transfixed in shock and horror. She couldn't even move a muscle for all that she was worth. It was as if someone had dumped a barrel of glue under her feet...

"Watch out!"

Another surprise. Earilith managed to break free from her horrified trance and whirled around towards the speaker. She saw a mage running towards her, yelling for her to get away. Spurred by his words, she finally managed to unglue herself and dashed away, hiding behind the trees. Surprised by the shout, the orc looked stupidly between the fleeing girl and the mage. Its slow mind began to realize that its victim was escaping and gave a loud growl. It decided to attack the mage instead and charged heavily towards that direction.. The silver-haired mage stood his ground and muttered something, his hands crackling with energy. As quick as thought, he flung a few balls of fire towards the blundering orc before preparing another spell. The orc roared in pain as the fireballs dealt it with more than one burns on its body. Picking up its axe, the orc made its way again towards the mage, only to stop with surprise and then turned around. The mage had cast a few bolts of ice towards the orc. Noticing that those shards of ice were sharp, sparkling under the sun, the orc took flight and howled in horror as the bolts followed it halfway.

The silver-haired mage smiled satisfied. Picking up his wand that he had accidentally dropped during spellcasts, he looked around for the girl that he had saved. "You can come out now," he called out, looking about. Earilith stepped out from her hiding, staring at her savior. He smiled at her and asked, "You okay?" She just nodded her head as she continued to stare at him speechlessly. The mage's smile wavered slightly at her continuous stare and asked, somewhat aggressively, "What are you staring at?"

Earilith shook her head, blushing before replying, "Oh, sorry! I'm just…wow! You're a great mage! The greatest I've seen so far!"

The mage looked pleased. "Thanks," came the simple reply.

"I'm Earilith Sensedriell, an archer from Payon. And you are…?"

"Name's Shenzein Zephyrthros. Shein for short. Nice to meet you Earilith."

The archer smiled in return. She told Shenzein that she was on her way to Payon city before the orc attacked her. Like a gallant gentleman, the mage offered to accompany her to the city, in case there were more errant orcs around. Eyes brightening, Earilith accepted his offer gratefully. She hadn't anyone to accompany her before anyway.

Halfway towards their destination, Earilith asked curiously, "So what are you doing around the forests of Payon anyway? I thought mages find the grasslands in Geffen more effective in spellcasting trainings."

"Not this mage. I'm more interested in knowing my strengths with other types of monsters apart from the one living outside the borders of the city of magic. How else could you see a mage single handedly defeat an orc all by himself?" came the sardonic reply.

Earilith looked at him before turning away quickly. "I see…" she murmured.

They soon reached the gates of Payon city, much to the archer's surprise. She didn't expect it to be so quick. She stole a look at the mage, and said slowly, "Shein, do you want to come in and have a drink with me at the inn? I'm sure you're also pretty exhausted as well after your spellcasting."

Shenzein shook his head. "Sorry, I can't. I need to rush somewhere at the moment. Well, I'm glad that you've reached where you wanted to be. Perhaps the winds of fate will bring us back together again one day, though. So long, Earilith Sensedriell."

He waved goodbye as he retraced back his steps towards the forest. Earilith stared at him in wonder. He was so mysterious. Not to mention handsome too. Earilith reddened at that thought as she headed towards the Payon inn. No more daydreams, Earilith. You need to concentrate on your own training! She scolded herself silently, as she walked towards her room. First, she needed to close her eyes…