I wanted to save enough strength for me to teleport the slaves to safety. I couldn't hold out forever. Sekka led the way deeper into the woods. Once we were about a mile from the village I opened a portal. That portal led a great distance away from the village into the deep woods.
I'd been to this part of the forest before. It was for a brief amount of time. I was just there to hunt. This forest was dangerous beyond what any elf could handle. It was a good place to boost my level.
The problem was since the creatures weren't that intelligent I didn't gain much from killing them. Not compared to how hard it was to kill them. The flight of wyverns that had taken over this area would notice our presence here soon. They wouldn't be happy I trespassed in their territory again. I'd killed nearly thirty of them the last time I was here.
There were over two thousand that would quickly band together, and hunt us down once they realized I was here. I couldn't handle those kind of numbers in a fight. Thus the reason I chose to flee last time I was here. I sat down, and gathered mana without restraint. I didn't do this often because of the amount of mana I could draw to myself.
I could render entire areas devoid of mana when my core was empty. The problem was that that kind of absorption would let everything in the area know I was there. I wasn't planning on staying very long so it wasn't likely to become a problem. Sekka wasn't with me the last time I was here since he was more focused on forging his paperwork at the time. These wyverns had broken free of elven control, and grown without restraint for the better part of a millennia.
They were far more powerful then the hybrid race that I'd created using Vermillion, and her males. Vermillion, and her flight had far greater potential then these crazy brutes, but they needed time to reach those heights. I kept my eyes on the sky. My crazy antics had made me the enemy of this particular flight so I knew they were coming. I was hoping to completely refill my core before leaving this area, but time wasn't on my side.
I stood up as soon as I spotted one of the wyverns on the edge of my line of sight.
"Time to go," I walked past the slaves, and opened a portal, "Go."
Sekka looked up at me. Clearly sensing the urgencry of what was going on here. He ushered the slaves through the portal quickly. I kept the portal open as I watched the flight approaching us. Once Sekka spotted the beasts he knew we were in trouble.
"You brought us to the flats in the mountains!" Sekka shouted at me.
"No elf would be stupid enough to follow us here," I chuckled.
I grabbed Sekka, and yanked him through the portal with me. Sekka had waited for all the slaves to go through before spotting the flight. He didn't look up until then because he was very task oriented. The portal slammed shut behind us. Cutting off any pursuit.
"You can only open portals to places you've been or can clearly picture in your mind," Sekka shouted at me again, "When did you go to the flats in the mountains?"
It was night here so Sekka's shouting disturbed the quiet.
"Don't worry about it," I waved off the question, "They aren't smart enough to follow me. We'd better get back before Balock misses us."
I gripped Sekka's shoulder, and crossed the distance between us, and Balock in an instant. I was somewhat glad that the spatial element was one of the harder ones to understand if you didn't have the talent for it. I changed my clothing back to that of the loyal slave. Storing my mask away with a flick of my wrist. Sekka didn't have as much mana as me so he had to physically change his clothing.
I found it kind of odd, but I had so much mana that I didn't even feel the drain my clothing put on my mana pool. I erased our presence on this moment in time, and then moved back to the camp quietly. Sekka wouldn't stay in the bushes long. He didn't have the same modesty that I did when it came to his naked body. It seemed as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't marked by scars anymore.
He wasn't exactly ugly. He was half human half elf after all. He looked like a pop star. Strong lithe muscles, and completely perfect lightly tanned skin. If I were a human I might be jealous.
There were some genetic traits that seemed almost familiar, but I couldn't quite place them. His mana flow also seemed familiar, but again I couldn't quite place that familiarity. It felt as if I would be able to solve the mystery if I could just place that one missing piece. I didn't notice it at first. Maybe it was instinct that allowed me to detect this familiarity.
Maybe it wasn't. It made me wonder if this odd thing about him was the reason I thought I could win him over. There was a darkness in his eyes that could only be earned through suffering. I wanted to wipe that darkness away, and allow him to feel the light. Maybe that was why I was willing to save his mother.
I hadn't felt attraction like this since meeting Ethan. Although I was drawn to Ethan for a different reason. I sat down next to the long cold fire, and looked at the lightly sleeping Balock. I could tell that he hadn't been asleep long, and had tried to stay awake for a while. I stared at him a little while before the slight noise of Sekka reentering the camp disturbed the silence.