Valerian woke up in a daze. The sun's rays touched his light brown skin and he welcomed its warmth. His head was spinning and his body was bruised.
He could not completely heal himself yet. He needed time to get his mana stores back up but his racial abilities were slowly doing the task for him.
He stood up while groaning and realised he was in a forest on the material realm. The ancient vampire took a deep breath and smiled.
The air smelt less disgusting. It was not perfect but there was progress. He had not expected the [World Crystal] to create such a powerful discarge but the result he wanted was achieved.
He had to focus on quickly restoring his mana and bringing Az'Talon out of limbo. Four years was too long of a wait even for an immortal who had pressing issues to handle. One of them, namely, being the Traveller.
Valerian used his supernatural hearing and followed the sound of water until he reached an area with even denser foliage and a clear pool of water that was being fed by a beautiful waterfall.
He stripped down and made his way into the pool. The area was quite tranquil. Valerian bathed himself blissfully before having to decide what he would do after this.
He walked out of the pool and looked at his clothes before he frowned. His clothes were in shambles. Even his diadem had cracks on it.
He could not wear them. He sent them into his storage and chose a new outfit to match his relaxed mood.
He wore a green, long sleeved shirt that displayed his bare chest. He wore tight black pants that allowed his nether regions freedom to breathe, long, black riding boots and short black leather gloves.
He put on two black arm braces that had silver metal bands on them. He let his hair hang free and tucked it behind his ears.
"It would be a waste to use [Slipstream] without any idea of where I am."
He could vaguely sense the direction of the Dante Mountains but he could not fly or use teleportation magic indefinitely right now.
He needed to rest for a few days before taking such a journey. All his other modes of transportation needed mana or for him not to be exhausted.
He walked through the forest listening to the birds singing in the trees and beasts fighting over territory in the distance.
The beasts that got too close were targeted by Valerian's bloodlust and made to heel and retreat. The Progenitor had no desire to get blood on him after such a delightful bath.
He chose to keep moving west and found a path that continued in the same direction after an hour of walking.
He walked a little longer until he heard something that made him groan but he did not stop moving.
There were people heading in his direction. Two were running on foot while three were on horseback.
The only reason that he groaned was because they were going to cut off his path. The two on foot were fast but the horses were catching up to them.
Their heartbeats were fast and they were tired. They smelt heavily of fear. They were definitly going to be caught in Valerian's direct field of vision, right in front of him.
Valerian did not change his direction. He chose to go west and he would not be forced to move because of some mortals. He kept moving as they drew closer.
Valerian stopped and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A few steps ahead of him, exactly where he would have been if he had continued walking, two elves burst out of the forest onto the path. They would have literally bumped into each other.
The two elves tripped as soon as they entered the path, something that Valerian had not forseen but it mattered not. They were going to be caught here anyway.
Valerian opened his eyes and saw three human riders, one dressed in fine garbs on a white stallion flanked by two knights burst out of the forest.
The lead rider's intention was clear. He wanted to trample the elves under the horse's hooves. The sadistic look on his face was disgusting. Valerian did not care for elves but he was in the splash zone. If the two got trampled, their be blood would spray on him.
The horses hooves were about to come down when Valerian used his inhuman speed to approach the white stallion and gently ram his palm against it stomach, making it lose its balance and fall on its otherside.
The horse's body crushed the rider's leg but he had already died the moment his head hit the ground.
Valerian leapt over beast and rider before continuing his walk like nothing happened but stopped after three steps. A drop of the rider's blood had fallen on his cheek.
He wiped it away with his thumb and turned around. The remaining riders and even the elfin children were in shock. The knights had lost their young master while the children could not understand what had happened.
The knights were not fools. They understood that the person in front of them was potent. His beauty, eyes and ears were beyond the realm of what could be labelled common.
Perhaps he was someone from a Great Family. Those lunatics did have tendencies to train in seclusion or he may be a mage with powerful body reinforcement magic.
Idris respected strength and making a powerful enemy was the last thing they needed.
"We apologise, young Lord. We seem to have greatly offended you. We meant no disrespect. May we ask if there is anyway to appease you that allows this bloody conflict to go no further than the death of our young master here?" One of the knights asked.
Valerian looked at the elfin children. An opportunity had presented itself, one that had seemed too troublesome before but now that the annoyence was over he thought he may as well take advantage.
"Do you children know where we are?" He asked. The children did not dare let their shock allow them to hesitate. They nodded. They were skinny sacks of bones but their eyes held some intelligence.
Valerian made his choice and turned to the knights. "Leave this place. Leave me alone. Leave the children and leave your young master's body here. The wild beasts will feast on him for daring to disturb my walk, peace and tranquillity." Valerian declared. He still did not want to get blood on him.
"We hear your command." The knight replied. "Thank you." He gestured to his compatriot and they retreated slowly then when they felt they were a good distance away, they made their horse run with great haste eager to put distance between themselves and the one who reaped lives so easily.
Valerian then turned his gaze back to the children and asked, "So I saved your lives. Now tell me where on Idris I am."
"We are a little bit outside the borders of the Rayon Kingdom, my lord. We are in the Black Forest." The tallest of the children, who was female, replied.
Valerian looked around and all he saw were vast amounts of green. 'What could have happened here for this place to earn such an unfortunate name?' He wondered.
"And why is this place called that?" Valerian asked.
"It is because many of the unwanted races live here, my Lord." The girl replied.
She was uncertain of who this being in front her was but she knew that if she wanted to keep herself and her little brother alive she had to be respectful and useful.
"What are unwanted races?" Valerian asked.