It was late afternoon.
Animals and insects trying their hardest to survive winter.
Some hunted, some collected and there were ones who were preperaing for their hibernation.
Within the forest Dawn was walking on a snowy path with the corpse of a bear.
His destination was a cave by a small mountin.
As he walked alone on the path he reflected on what happened after he knocked out the cursed woman.
He had many questions, but those could wait.
He went back to the crumbeled house and seached through the rubble.
Thankfully his cloths were intact although he was missing his hat.
He also found his wild herb collection which most of them were crushed, but some still could be used.
Not wasting time he picked out those that helped him sleep.
His immune system was very strong and ordinary medicine could not put him to sleep.
For a normal person these herbs could kill them, but for two elfs they were perfect.
After he put on his cloths and fed the herbs to the two elfs he went back to the rubble.
He picked out everything he deemed useful from the rubble including his axe.
He then picked the elfs up.
He threw one over his shoulder while he the other under his arm.
He then started walking on a path.
He was familiar with it since he cleared it himself.
This path led to a cave by a mountine which was one of his early bases.
Returning back to the present he was already at the cave entrance.
He took one final glance at the forest behind him then walked inside.
The cave was an abondond mining shaft that collapsed.
Dawn didnt have to walk much to reach where he set up his camp.
It wasen't much just a burnt out camfire in the middle and two elfs on the right side binded tightly with ropes.
With a loud thud he dropped the massiv bears corpse on to the cold stone.
He put the rest of his stuff on the left side.
Not wasting any time he pulled out the cursed womans sword which was now on his hip and started skinning and processing the bear.
After that he cleaned and placed the sword in its scabbard and picked up some fire wood.
He gently placed them in the fireplace.
He took out two black rocks and started hitting them against eachother.
Time after time no matter how he tried he could not get a sing spark out of them.
In his frustration he smashed the stones together creating a larg spark.
Dawn's eyes widened as his mind threw him in to another nightmare of a memory.
In the memory he was on the battlefield again fending off otherwordly monsters with just his spear.
Back then he was only a boy, not even sixteen.
Cold sweat began dripping from his forehead and he dropped the stones in his hand.
No matter how much he underwent this he still couldn't get used to this shaking.
He gathered all his strenght to turn and shakingly pull out the sword on his hip.
He gripped it tightly and pressed his forhead against the cold blade.
Holding a wepon for some reason always managed to partly calm him down.
He took deep breaths trying to get his body under control.
He then looked at the black stones on the ground.
His face distorted and rage crawled its way in to his heart.
He grit his teeth and punched one of the stones in to oblivion creating a small crater where his fist came in to contact with it.
As he went out his frustration his body stopped shaking and Dawn was in control of it again.
He breathed heavily as sweat dripped from his forehead.
"Fuck" Said Dawn
After he steadied his breath he reached in to his pocket and picked out a thin piece of paper and put it under the fire wood then said.
"Ignite"
Just as with the bear, flames burst through from the paper drowning the fire wood in flames.
These papers were born from alchemy and magic.
They were designed for people who didn't know any magic, but requiered its help.
These little thin piecees of papers could only contain basic and not very powerful spells such as "Ignite" or "Sprout".
Every paper had differant colors and symbols drawn on them depending on what spell it contained.
In the case of "Ignite" it had an ash grey color with a small flame in the middle of it.
Whith the fire now ready Dawn set up a cauldron over the fire and placed a dark blue colored paper with a wave symbol in to it then said.
"Wave"
Suddenly water burst through the paper in the cauldron.
Dawn picked the paper out of the cauldron and began throwing ingridients in to the water.
After about two and a half hours his bear stew was finished.
He took out a wooden plate and spoon from his bag and poured stew on his plate and began eating.
The night was silent.
Other than the fire slowely consuming the wood not much could be heard.
The wild life of the forest began to rest aswell storing their energy for the next day.
When Dawn was done eating he sat silently next to the bonfire.
His eyes gazing upon the dancing flames as if he was watching a preformance.
"How long are you going to pretend to sleep?" Asked Dawn.
Hearing this the brown skinned elf slowly sat up however she did not open her eyes.
"If you are trying to use your little shadow hop then don't bother. The rope around you is blessed with holy magic, although I dont know much and don't worship the gods it can still slow you down."
He then pulled out the runed sword from its scabbard and continued.
"Slow enough for me to catch you this time."
The cursed woman finally opened her eyes.
They were black as a night without stars.
Dawn had encountered many who were cursed by the abyss and knew how to deal with them.
The demons commonly infected their soldiers with this curse to empower them.
"Dont worry about the little runt. I just gave him more of the sleeping drug then you."
Dawn looked her up and down again.
Her hair was black as if ink was spilled on to it.
Her face wrinkleless and spotless.
By all definition of the word she was truely beautiful.
"You were able to regain your sanity, an amazing achievment." Said Dawn
"I didn't regain it, I maintained it!" Retoirted the cursed woman with spite and anger in her voice
"If so then why were you trying to kill someone you never met in your life?" Said Dawn in a stone cold tone.
The elf didn't answear.
They were an arrogant race, but not to the extent of the demons.
During the war with the demons they slowly started to appear out of nowhere.
Later they found out that they were sent here by their own kind as punishment for their crimes.
They had a hierarchy just like any other race and where you were born determind your place. Punishment was not common as almost every elf strictly followed the rules.
Almost
"On second thought do not answear that. The fact is you made an attempt at my life which is usually rewarded with death."
Dawn then pulled out a glass bottle from behind him.
The bottle was filled with crimson red liquid and Dawn took a drink out of it.
"You will answear every one of my questions with the truth and only the truth. If I take notice of you lying you and the kid will die, if I notice you using your magic you and the kid die and if I notice you do anything other then what I tell you to do what will happen?" Questioned Dawn.
"Me and my little brother will die." Answeared the elf.
Satisfied with the elfs answear Dawn nodded and drank the remaining alcohol in the bottle.