It doesn't take long for the wolves to show up. I am surprised cause I'm so use to smelling stuff that with my sense of smell dulled they get pretty close before I hear them. That's when I realize how much I depend on my sense of smell. I still hear them long before anyone else. They are coming through the woods at a fast pace. I barely have time to reach my weapon before they are on us.
Three huge wolves come through the trees. I've seen them in books but seeing these orange and yellow wolves that look more like the werewolves from Hugh Jackman's movie Van Helsing is something to be hold. The middle of the three stands up on his back legs. He is about 5ft tall now, muscular and he lets out a huge roar like a bear.
His mouth is so wide I can see down his throat. His sharp teeth are about six feet away. Maynh says, "Get ready here they come." No sooner does he say that then more wolves burst from the woods behind the three. They part passing by the first three that stand back and there is more then just a couple.
I can see in the corner of my eye Alez swing her staff and hit one on the side of the head. She follows it with a blast of green lite from her staff. That's the last thing I have time to see cause one wolf is coming right at me. I get ready and the wolf's momentum carries it into my sword. I've no time to remove the body that's bearing down on me as another is coming straight for my face. It is a trap, one sacrificing itself to kill me.
Without thinking I let out a blast of lightning that goes out 6 inches from my body in all directions, "That's a first." The wolf makes a high pitch yelp and I can smell burnt fur as it falls to the ground.
I get my sword from the wolf who had jumped at me in time to meet a new wolf head on. I jump over the dead body and charge forward as another plunges towards me from the tree line. Sword in hand I move forward slicing off its head. Blood looks like it's following my sword as it slices through the air.
I step a little to far from the group as I hear Maynh saying, "Lizeli get back here you'll gone to far" I look over at him just as two wolves come at me one from each side. Not having time to react I let loose another Lightning shock. I hear yelps and smell burning fur as I turn backing up.
My back hits something warm and I'm about to strike out when I hear Tarna's voice saying, "I've got your back." With that we face the on slot back to back as more wolves burst into the area.
There are a lot of wolves that come into the clearing as well as some other creatures. As Zamh puts away the lure I return my sense of smell, "thankfully," back to normal. I look around as Alez starts cutting the tails off the bodies of the wolves and Farmok and Zamh are cutting off paws and removing fangs.
I look at Tarna and ask, "What are they gonna do with those." In reply she says, "The tails will be turned into the guild with your evaluation. We will get credit for each kill, and the paws and teeth can be sold to make medicine and other useful magical items. Same goes for other body parts but we only have so much time." I watch them for a few minutes before I decide to help. I start helping cut off tails and decide if I remember, I'll come back later for the bodies.
After we count the tails we have 50 and head back as the sun begins to set. As we leave the area and pass a small cottage the door opens and a young girl comes out. She must be about 7 or 8 with gray skin, gray hair, pointy ears and purple eyes.
Her clothes are dirty and worn. She looks up at us smiles and says, "Thank you for helping us Adventures." With that she runs back to the house, and we head towards the town. As I look at the closed door I think, "She's a Kasca, a wind spirit. I've yet to get one of her kind."
I turn to follow the others giving the cottage one last look before I follow the others towards the town. Full darkness is upon us as we make it back to the guildhall. The woman behind the desk is picking up her stuff and getting ready to leave.
She sees us entering the door. Then sits back down, smiles and says, "What took you so long? I was about to head out for the night." Maynh sets a batch of tails on the desk and we all follow suit. He says, "There was an over population of wolves. It's no wonder they were starting to attack the fields."
She looks at the pile in surprise and takes the papers from Maynh's hands. As she looks through them she looks up in surprise and says, "She really did this good?" Maynh laughs and says, "You should have seen how she fried those wolves. I was a little worried about her teamwork at first but she turned things around in the end." She looks over at me and smiles saying, "You may yet live up to your potential. I can't wait to see what you can do. the GuildMaster wants to see you in the morning. May I see your paperwork. I need to update your stats."
I pass her my paperwork and she says as she passes them back, "Congratulations! between your evaluation and your apprentice level magic you are now a Full Class Crystal Adventure. I need your badge." I pass it to her and she passes me a new one. The one I gave her was a simple badge about 1 inch across made of gold and about .5 inches diagonally. This one is made of a clear crystal. It's the same size but across it has the letters Azar.
I look at her as I put it on and she has a huge grin as she says, "Welcome new member. You are now an official Azar adventurer wear your badge with pride." I thank her and say, "I should get going now."
As I turn to leave Maynh passes me a bag of the claws and fangs saying, "Good work, If you need a team you know where to find us." I smile and say, "Thanks, but I think I've got it covered." I head out the door and turn left heading down the first alley.
As soon as I get there I put the bag Maynh gave me in my Void bag. After that I change into my Wimit shape I spread my wings and I take off landing on the roof. My wings vanish and the darkness surrounds me as I wait for my target to come out.
It don't take long for her to leave the guildhall and head to the right. I jump down from the roof and follow her staying in the shadows. The streets are busy and I find it a little difficult to follow her without being seen. I'm thinking of taking to the sky when she turns onto a quiet street.
I take the chance and silently come up behind her. I put one hand over her mouth and the other around her waist. I can hear the sound of music pounding at the end of this street. My wings appear and I take to the air. She tries prying my hand from her mouth but it's useless. When she realizes this she stops struggling and looks around with wild eyes. We fly above the city walls leaving its safety behind.
I say, "It's sad really. You were useful to a point, but you were also disrespectful. So I'll take the payment with your life. I could drop you now and that would be the end of it, but where is the fun in that?"
We fly on for a good hour the town disappearing in the distance. I land deep in the woods. As soon as I land my wings vanish and I turn back to a Florensin and start to glow. I let her go. As I watch her fall to the ground. I can smell the fear on her as she spins around on her back looking up at me.
Her eyes get really big as she stares up at me. "I remember you. You are that stupid Florensin that came in earlier today. I don't know where that monster you are working with is but this isn't gonna work. You can't get away with this."
She no longer looks afraid as she stands up and brushes herself off. She looks down at me, smirks and says, "Pathetic nonhuman scum. Is this the best you can do? Trying to scare me isn't gonna work. I will say you had me for a minute but something like this will never work. I happen to be a Alacamit class mage and incase your small mind can't understand what that means I'll show you."
She holds her hand out in front of her hand curled like claws as a swirling fire bursts from her hand. She smiles at her fire and says, "Better watch it Florensin or you will get burnt." I'm still smiling as I say, "I suggest you run." My shape started to change my skin turning from blue to copper but it doesn't show up in the small light from her hand.
Her eyes get huge and her face looks like it is getting pale as my claws start to grow. The outline of my wings and tail can be seen in the night." She screams and throws her cyclone fireball. Then she turns and runs. It hits me in the chest and stomach, going out as soon as it touches my skin. I'm right behind her and I can hear her heart racing. She is full of fear as her blue hair catches on low branches.
She screams, "Help me, please, someone, anyone, help me." She looks back and sees me not even three feet behind her.
She goes to scream again and her shoe gets caught on a nearby root knocking the breath out of her. I stop above her as she falls saying, "Hasn't anyone ever told you to watch where you run." She turns on her back looking up at me as she propels herself backwards on her butt saying. No, please, No, I don't want to die."
Tears streak down her face making blue trails down her orange skin. I grab her by her shirt and say, " Sorry my dear. For your insults and my amusement your blood must be shed. Pity I'm not even that hungry." With that I plunge my hand into her chest and watch as the life leaves her eyes.
Not long after that I take flight leaving her body for the animals. I wash my hands in the cold water of the stream and I change back to My Wamit shape. Then I remember all those wolves and go to collect the bodies. A few have been attacked by wild animals. I collect the rest before heading back to the Azar.
When I get to Azar I land in a dark part of town. I land and turn back to a Florensin. My green glow illuminating the dark around me. I head to where I can feel the closest trapdoor is. Once in the caves I wander for a few hours before I find a cave I know and can head straight to my room. Iota is there on his bed looking excited as he plays with his baby Rayback it appears to be losing some of its fluff
. He smiles at me and says, "You are right on time. There is a Rayback race in less then an hour." He catches himself and trying to remove the smile from his face he ends with a sad excuse for a, "Master you want to go?" I laugh as I look at him and say, "Lead the way" As I follow the bouncing Iota out the door he says, "Master it's hard to get use to the idea that you are really a big huge evil monster that can change shape and go all destroyer anytime you want."
I laugh as we head down the tunnel and say, "I never said I was evil." He gives me a weak smile and says, "Sorry Master," and silently leads me through the twisted tunnels.
After a few minutes our green glow is mixed with more and more Florensin glows going here and there making the whole place look mystical. It takes about 15 minutes for the cave to widen and when we come to the entrance we enter what looks like a huge underground shopping mall with a huge plaza down below.
I can see food caves and other caves selling clothes or jewelry. There are children pulling their originators along and others eating together. There is a large curved banister in front of us with glowing men and women looking down below. Iota leads me to the banister carting his Rayback with him. When we get to the banister I look down and see four other levels below us loaded with people. There are five more above us and some have other races. Below us is a huge stone maze.
Iota is excited and says, "You see those small green signs in the middle of the forks in the maze. Those tell the riders the route of the day. They are slightly to the left or right and one wrong look in this fast pace race can cost you the race. Also if you are not paying attention and follow someone down the wrong path it could cost you the race."
I look down and see small green signs they are hard to see with all the green glowing all over the place and in a race it would be way to easy to miss. As I watch 5 Raybacks are starting to line up in a gate that looks like a wooden version of a horses starting line.
They are not far and there is a rope across the front and Florensin rider are mounting the Raybacks. A Florensin can be seen above the maze near the gates his hand raised with a flag. He drops the flag and the rope drops at the same time. The Raybacks are off down the maze.
As I watch they all plunge through the maze pushing for first place. 3 and 5 are pushing against each other in the lead. 4 is pulling up beside them and the Rider shoves 5 into 3 and they are forced to turn as the road splits and 4 plunges ahead followed by 1. 3 and 5 find themselves at a dead end. The other three thunder past as 3 and 5 try to turn their mounts back around and get back in the race.
Iota is jumping up and down screaming his excitement as his glow gets brighter. I smile shake my head and wander off to look around. I really don't want to watch a race that can get so confusing listening to the announcer talk about, Fumic, Fuka, Fudal, Fupa, and Fulal.
Whoever decided all Florensin Raybacks need to start with Fu was a idiot. Talk about annoying. Shortly after I hear cheers and the words. Number 2 Fuka takes the lead after he fakes number 4 into taking the wrong turn, Fuka wins.
"YAY and Yawn" I think