Dominic began to laugh, 'a druid. The gods really despised you didn't they?'
Tobias looked at Dominic scared and then the man replied. 'What is a druid?'
'I forgot you weren't aware. See the plants well that is a way to display the attributes of your mana. Simply put, once blood that is potent with mana is released it manifests the traits of your mana, so someone with a high capacity for fire would see their blood ignite once it is exposed. Or an earth mage whose blood would crystallize. It is an easy way to determine your innate traits, which is done simply by cutting your arm and letting blood drop on a small dish. Normally we do it to children to see what they have the most potential for so they can study their respective magic.' Glancing at him Dominic gave him a dirty look. 'Druids are special since two conditions are needed to become one; first you must be born without any mana attribute and second perform a contract with the spirits. Unlike normal magic if you summoned a fire or a tsunami eventually it would return to the world as mana. But a druid controls the world itself creating living plants and ripping apart the earth this damage cannot be repaired by having the mana return like normal so it has led to many problems. One druid had summoned a large amount of roots to attack his opponent however the fields they fought on became unusable and all the surrounding area was drained of nutrients by the roots. It led to an entire village failing their harvest for that year reducing the population to a quarter. This led to the king's law forbidding such magic however some druids still practice it within these forests.'
The man looked at him deep in thought. This had been new information but it greatly intrigued him. Even Tobias sat on a small stool to listen to the lecture Diminic was giving.
'Due to the fact a druid relies on spirits for magic they are much more efficient in casting as unlike a normal person they do not require a catalyst to siphon out their magic without waste. Also the reason why druids are a problem is because a person's mana cannot be removed but their memories of magic can be. This is why Dimia must've thought you had been a criminal since it's a common punishment for major criminals, mainly thieves and murderers.'
'Wait, how do you know Dimia thought I was a criminal?'
'Dimia isn't the quietest nor the most secretive of people so she told me after she left.'
He looked at Dominic who had seemed calm and relaxed; he obviously was not lying. 'Anyways as druids rely on spirits there are spirits that have favourites. This is usually their first and spirits act as a tool to retain one's memories, other mages have tried this but spirits tend to not like specialised mana. So you having no memories implies you haven't been a druid for long which is unlikely due to the speed the plants grew. The other is the chance something happened to your spirit. Which is actually a major reason for why druids have become a threat. Only a druid can cripple another since as long as they have a spirit willing to aid them they are always able to use magic. However a druid can utilise their own spirit to overpower and kill another. Rendering a druid useless and spirits are as much cowards as they are reckless so once someone loses their spirit the others near them flee. So most druids work together leading them to have shared goals. As great as it was for preventing internal conflict it allowed more powerful druids to force others into helping their malicious goals. An' without a moral compass spirits didn't care for others. '
The mood became solemn for a moment as they thought upon it. 'So what the hell happened to my spirit,' he thought, chewing at his nail. Slowly his frustration led to him making his thumb bleed.
Dominic grabbed a clean cloth to cover the thumb, 'don't do that you can get an infection. Also let me go get your food. I was making it but then, wait…' The smell of char was wafting through the air. 'Dammit.' Dominic went running out the tent to the scent of char.
Tobias chuckled a bit before wiping a small tear, 'that's uncle Dom he can make potions capable of restoring the skin from your face after it was roasted by a wyvern yet he can't cook anything. The closest is soup or stew but then again it's just a tasty potion when he makes it. Anyway I'm going to help him but it would be good if you got out of bed and tried to walk around. The ground here is soft enough you won't cut our feet just avoid the grass, evergreen vipers are a nasty bunch. Not that they're poisonous but their bites ain't small. See ya' later.'
Tobias then rushed out to help Dominic, leaving him alone.
Turning to the side of the bed he saw the sun seemed to be setting and he wanted to at least stretch before being made to sleep. He also felt like a burden and wanted to see if he could help out. So sliding off the edge of the bed to stand he remembered the all to familiar shaking of getting up from feeling weak. Feeling more confident he got up and landed his feet on the ground. It was a little coarse and dry almost like tightly packed sand and stone. Looking at what he was wearing to ensure he wouldn't have to relive the traumas of before he found they dressed him in rigged cloth clothing, practical but not stylish with it being a murky brown. He began to walk out of the tent confident he wasn't nude and looked around to his surprise at a very organized camp. The medical tent he was in had been close to middle withthe the biggest tent opposite it, alongside in between them a campfire with tobias and Dominic talking. To another side seemed to be a store for rations and supplies and the other a group of tents for the others to sleep in. In his current sight there seemed to be around twenty people at the encampment with some maintaining weapons while others joked around. A mix of different species including a couple dwarves, a small number of elves and the largest group of human beings are the most mixed. Curiously he approached those who had been returning with the firewood and it happened to me a couple of dwarves who looked to be twins.
'Hey, need help?' The man asked them.
'Eh, you lookin' down on us, since we're short.' The dwarf replied with a glare.
He panicked a bit till he saw the dwarf's smirk.
'Ah, we're messing with ya, but of course any help is good if they can do it.' The dwarf handed him a large bundle of branches.
Picking it up he was surprised by how heavy it had been but continued to lug it following the dwarves who impressively carried bundles each that seemed to be taller than them. Eventually they got a small group of benches and a box in the middle.
The two dwarves sat down with their bundles cutting off any excess leaves and such. The man sat down alongside them and they passed him a small hatchet to do it. But as he raised it one of the dwarves stopped him.
'Woah, woah calm down. You need to do it gently.' The dwarf showed him how to do it by swinging a short distance and hitting the smaller twigs. 'It's all in yer wrists a good flick and it comes clean off. These are gonna be used to make charcoal but Roland hates it if you mess it up. I reckon he got something wrong with 'im always uptight and needing to have everything organized.'
The other black haired dwarf replied, 'probably due to his mentor beating it into him. Remember when he couldn't find the right tool and his master made him sleep outside for a week.'
'Yeesh, that was bad. He made sure no one could help him. A bit rough but at least he ain't messy.' Turning to the man the dwarf went. 'So stranger, I never saw you with us during the march so you must be that guy they picked up.'
'Wait, Tolburd he's the one the hounds snuffed out.'
'That's right yer ruddy fool. By the way he's Torvald my little brother. You can tell since he ain't the brightest and since he has purple eyes, I got pa's blue ones.' Once he pointed it out the fact they had different eye colours stood out especially since they looked identical in literally every other way.
'Well, I don't know my name. I was living in the forest for a couple days.' He chuckled laughing at his own misfortune.
'Look if ya ain't got a name we need to call you something. So, how about Crim short for crimson. Like yer eyes.' Tolburd looked proud at the suggestion of the name.
'Crim, that ain't half bad. Guess it's usable.' Crim smiled at them.
'Well let's get to cleaning the branches, that way we can get some time to catch a rabbit or two. Halforgen knows if I'll survive another of Diminic's leaf soups. Absolutely no meat and the stuff he adds is just salted beef which honestly doesn't even taste like beef.'
Torvald jutted in, 'Yeah, it's a bit more like a wild dog.'
Tolburd chuckled a bit, then Crim's stomach began growling.
Sighing Tolburd looked at him, 'go and eat, you ain't gonna work faster starving. Ask for Tobias to whip up a dish that is at least somewhat enjoyable.'
With a smile he waved off to get a meal.