Tales of a White Mage

The Forgotten Forests

(Chapter 1)

San d'Oria was an impressive nation. It had a majestic beauty that was unrivaled in all of Vanadiel. Each of the four nations had its own type of beauty, of course, but San d'Oria looked as though it had come straight out of a portrait. Tall stone walls and towers kept the citizens of the city safe, while adventurers routinely patrolled the surrounding areas to keep the region safe for travelers and traders alike. Many travelers journeyed across vast distances simply to visit the beautiful city, and tour its many wondrous sights.

"I hate San d'Oria." Mumbled the young white mage, Deronis, as he wearily trudged along the forest path that led to the mighty nation.

Having recently partaken in a battle against a disturbingly familiar foe in the far off Valkurm Dunes, Deronis had thought it prudent that he return to the Cathedral located in Northern San d'Oria to report the incident to his superiors in the White Order. In truth, the fight had shaken Deronis quite a bit, and cost the life of another member of the order. It had been the carelessness of the other white mage that had caused the incident in the first place, but nevertheless it saddened Deronis that one of his noble brotherhood had fallen. Still, it was clear that he would need to report both the fight and the death of a fellow white mage to the order. He only wished that headquarters was located somewhere else…

While San d'Oria was an ally of the other three nations, and a popular tourist spot, Deronis had no love for the city. As a loyal Bastokan and high ranking white mage, Deronis frequently participated in Ballista, a "training exercise" that pitted adventurers from separate nations against one another. In truth, Ballista was more a sport than an exercise. Huge crowds of spectators turned up to watch each match, to cheer on their home nation and good naturedly boo at rivals. Well, sometimes it was good naturedly, but if Deronis was to be honest with himself, it wasn't often. The separate nations had loyal fans that took rivalries deep to heart, and no rivalry was bigger than that between Bastok and San d'Oria. Deronis was far from a superstar in Ballista, but he was well known enough that he had quite a few rivals in each of the other nations.

That wasn't why Deronis didn't like the city though. He could stand a few friendly rivals poking fun at him when he entered their territory. It was the fans that made visiting San d'Oria miserable. It was true that Deronis wasn't a famous player, but San d'Orian fans in particular knew his name and despised him for it. Prior to his ill-fated trip to the dunes, Deronis had been instrumental in several key Bastokan wins against their forces, and in doing so had become seemingly anathema to the entire Ballista following population of San d'Oria.

Even worse, due to the Cathedral's location in the city, Deronis had to make frequent visits to the rival nation. He had learned over time that his best bet to go about his business undisturbed was to hide his face and use an alias until he entered the Cathedral itself. If he took up lodging in an inn for the night, he never told the innkeeper his real name… instead leaving a hefty tip in exchange for "no questions asked." His fellow white mages in the order found this to be hysterical, much to Deronis's chagrin.

Deronis' musings were cut short when he heard a sudden commotion coming from deep in the woods, quite some distance off the path. Curious, he stopped to listen closer. It was rare for the local beast men, orcs mostly, to venture this close to the city. They had an entrenched presence further to the north at their stronghold in Ghelsba, but San d'Orian patrols kept their presence farther south all but nonexistent. It was quite a surprise, then, when a young Mithra burst out of the tree line running as if her life depended on it. Moments later, as a group of three orcs became visible behind her, it became apparent that her life did depend on it.

Dropping his traveling sack at the side of the path, Deronis unlatched his blessed hammer, a gift given to him by his superiors in the order, and prepared for a fight. Neither the Mithra nor the orcs had noticed him so far, so he decided to let his presence be known with a bang. Focusing on the elements, he formed a ball of scorching flames in between his hands. After it had attained a suitable size, he thrust the ball straight into the middle of the pursuing orcs. The effect was instantaneous. The ball exploded, lighting the armor of all three orcs on fire and badly burning their flesh. The Mithra stumbled and fell, looking back in a panic at the source of the explosion, perhaps afraid that one of the orcs who had been chasing her was a spell caster. She relaxed slightly, however, when she saw that the spells target had been the orcs, not her.

Paying the fallen Mithra little mind for the moment, Deronis moved in quickly to finish the orcs off before they regained their senses. Confused and hurt as they were, he was able to finish the entire group off before they ever realized what had hit them. A few well placed hammer blows, as well as a bit of divine magic, was more than enough to fell them. Before replacing his hammer on his belt, Deronis quickly scanned the area. Satisfied that no more unexpected attackers were going to show themselves, he turned his attention to the young Mithra woman who was still lying on the ground. Walking slowly over to her side, he noticed that she was panting heavily, exhausted by her escape. She seemed to be just barely out of her youth, probably not much older than 20, the legal age of maturity at which adventurers were permitted to obtain licenses and begin accepting missions. Her dark hair was in disarray, and her clothing was dirty and torn in several places.

"Are you all right?" Deronis asked her. "I'm a white mage, I can heal you if you're injured."

Looking up at him, she took several deep breaths and then slowly shook her head. "No, I think I'm fine. I just need to catch my breath." She replied. "Those orcs have been chasing me all the way from Ghelsba Outpost."

Surprised, Deronis responded without thinking. "Ghelsba Outpost? What in the world was someone your age doing there? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Deronis immediately realized that this was the wrong thing to say as the a pair of bright brown eyes glared up at him.

"You're one to lecture me about age." She retorted, "You barely look any older than I am." It was true, Deronis had to admit. He was only twenty-four, hardly old enough to be giving others grief about their age. He was a bit of a special case though. Widely regarded as a prodigy in the magical arts, he was the youngest white mage ever to be promoted to his current level. While he might not be much older than the girl before him, the difference in their abilities was vast. As he looked down at the angry female in front of him, however, he felt that voicing such an opinion would be quite unwise.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense. It's just that normally even experienced adventurers don't go into that area without back up." Deronis said while backing up with his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

"Are you saying I'm not experienced?" The young woman asked, miffed.

At this point, Deronis realized that he was only digging himself deeper in the hole. Instead of responding, he just sat down next to her without saying a word. They spent the next several minutes enduring a somewhat uncomfortable silence before she spoke again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just a little bit tense at the moment." She said quietly, looking at the ground. "I haven't even thanked you for saving me yet. My name is Lillian."

"Don't worry about it. My name's Deronis, and I'm glad I could help." Lillian looked up at Deronis sharply, but he didn't notice as he continued. "What were you doing that got those orcs so mad at you anyways?" Deronis was genuinely confused as to why the orcs would have followed the young woman so far South. He could understand them chasing her off their land, and indeed killing her if she was caught, but this was a bit much.

"I was… trying to sneak in." She admitted, blushing. It was bad enough that Deronis already thought she was foolish for being in the area, but for her to actually try sneaking in? She was worried he'd think even less of her than he probably already did.

Deronis, for his part, was dumbfounded. Remembering the fiery temper of his companion, however, he chose to phrase his next question diplomatically. "What in Altana's name were you thinking doing that?" Well, diplomacy had never been Deronis' strong point.

Instead of becoming angry, however, Lillian seemed to shrink back and blush even more. Seeing that the poor girl was taking this hard, Deronis tried to be a bit more tactful. "Hold on, I didn't mean it like that. But sneaking into Ghelsba with no support is no small feat. Why would you even want to do it in the first place?"

"I was hired by the guards in San d'Oria to try to infiltrate Ghelsba and assassinate the new Warchief, Vatgit. He's been stirring up a lot of trouble in the region lately, and the knights have been trying to hire adventurers as mercenaries to take care of the problem. The reward for killing him is getting big, and I really need the money, so I took the job." She answered, scuffing her feet on the ground in front of her.

"And they actually hired you? I mean, no offense, but I've had dealings with the knights before and its not like them to give such a difficult assignment to someone so inexperienced." Lillian looked as though she wished she could disappear as Deronis gave his response, but he was too lost in thought to notice. The situation as she had explained it didn't make any sense. It was irresponsible, dangerous even, for the cities guards to have given a high level mission to such a young woman. Hell, an assignment like this shouldn't have even been entrusted to a single person. At the very least a second adventurer should have been there in case of an emergency.

For her part, Lillian was too embarrassed at this point to even speak properly. It was bad enough that she needed to be rescued, but the name of her savior hadn't been lost on her either. Like most of the young people in Vanadiel, she followed Ballista religiously. What were the odds of being saved by one of the youngest players ever allowed to compete? It was too bad he was Bastokan, he would have made an excellent addition to the San d'Orian defensive line. Some of his tactics last season had been brilliant. Shaking her head lightly to rid herself of that line of thought, Lillian focused on the real reason she was upset. Besides the near death experience, of course. She had failed to even enter Ghelsba, let alone complete the mission. No success meant no money, and at this point she was quickly running out of options. Slowly her embarrassment faded and was replaced with a growing sense of depression, which did not go unnoticed by her newfound companion.

"Something wrong?" Deronis asked, as he noticed the gloomy silence which had descended over the young woman. At this, Lillian just looked up at him with a blank expression on her face. "Err, right. Anything wrong besides the obvious then?" He quickly amended.

"Oh no, everything is just fine. Great, actually. I mean, I just got the workout of a lifetime, what with being chased several miles by a horde of angry orcs. Not to mention I don't have to worry about that pesky mission anymore, as I now realize there's no chance in hell for me to finish it. Even better, that means I don't have to worry about what I'd do with the reward money, like those little hassles of feeding myself or paying my rent." After this outburst, the young Mithra quickly looked down and started scuffing her feet in the dirt again.

Well, she seems to have regained her charming disposition at least, Deronis thought wryly. Still, Deronis couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It was obvious that she must need the money very badly, otherwise she wouldn't have accepted such an obviously dangerous assignment. It continued to bother him that the guards would even permit her to do so. Something was obviously wrong in San d'Oria, and he was determined to figure out what. Perhaps he could hit two rooks with a single petra…

Quickly coming to a decision, Deronis spoke. "I don't like the way this situation sounds. I have business to take care of with in the Cathedral in the Northern section of the city. I'd like for you to accompany me while I take care of it, and then take me to the guard who gave you this mission. I want to find out for myself exactly what is going on. I would, of course, compensate you for your time." Lillian's head shot up as she realized exactly what Deronis had just said. Deronis watched closely as she seemed to silently debate whether or not to accept his offer.

For her part, Lillian was still mulling over the generous offer Deronis had just made. Too generous, actually. Lillian wasn't stupid, she recognized the blatant attempt at charity for what it was. Naturally her pride was fiercely against letting her accept. This sentiment was fiercely battled by her practicality, however. The truth was, charity or not, she couldn't afford to turn down a job at the moment. Even if the job was just a glorified escort mission "guarding" someone who was obviously much stronger than her in a relatively safe environment.

Deronis noticed her hesitation, and correctly guessed the reason behind it. He truly did want to help the girl out though, so he decided on another approach before her pride caused her to decline. "Don't worry, I realize I'm not the best of company. I'd be willing to pay you… oh, ten thousand gil a day if you'll tolerate my presence."

Lillian was shocked, to say the least. It would take them at least three more days to reach the city, and if he wanted to take care of his business in the cathedral before talking to the guards, it would probably take two or three more before their job was done. Fifty thousand gil was more than most fledgling adventurers made in an entire year. Mouth agape, all she could do was nod stupidly in Deronis' direction. Pride be damned, she'd have to be an idiot to turn down that kind of deal.

"Excellent!" Deronis beamed, smiling at his new traveling companion. "It's starting to get dark, and you've had a busy day, so lets make camp for the night and start out for San d'Oria in the morning." With this said, he started clearing out the surrounding area and gathered materials to start a fire as Lillian attempted to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. Finally coming to her senses, she began helping Deronis prepare the camp. After they had both eaten, the two adventurers fell asleep, ready to start traveling in the morning.

To be continued…