The following day, I ventured deeper into the forest. It seemed kinda nice at first but then it started to get foggy and I wound up getting lost. So I walked. And I walked. And I walked. Until I found a boy.
He was young and small, with golden hair and tattered clothing. His glowing hair and wide smile was almost enough to distract me from the blood around his mouth and decaying corpse laying behind him.
"I missed you, Mother." it greeted without opening it's mouth. This thing wasn't human, it was one of those pretenders. A pretender disguises itself as a human to lure them in, likely as their next meal. They can imitate the appearance fine enough but their performance falls apart at their mannerisms and voice, repeating phrases over and over.
Regardless, I wasn't going to let myself be killed by something posing as a kid, so I summoned my poor excuse of a staff (it looked like a long stick, very unprofessional) and prepared for a fight. As you're likely aware, White Mages are not suited for combat. That is true. What you likely didn't know is that White Mages are also capable of stone, wind, water, light, and Holy magic; all of which contain offensive capabilities. As a novice myself, I only had the knowledge of how to perform weak, basic forms of stone, water and wind.
The pretender ran towards me pretty quickly but I pushed my left hand out as it glowed green with wind magic, pushing the creature back and into a tree. Following this, I decided to keep it stunned by firing multiple shots of stone at it. As it was dazed, I opted to go for a risky move that would drain my mana, but hopefully kill the creepy thing.
I raised my staff into the sky, waving it in a circular motion as it began to glow green and blue. The mist in the air began to disappear as I channelled the water and wind into my staff before swinging it towards the pretender, sending a barrage of pressurised water and wind magic at high speeds.
Luckily, that seemed to have killed it while also removing the fog. Tired and content, I continued walking.
It took a while but I made it out of the forest and set up camp near some old ruins. The ruins were of an old castle, probably a few centuries old.
I remember the dream I had that night. I was in a dark, unfamiliar town. The streets were crowded and I saw a tall figure in black robes carrying a scythe. His face was hidden and the lighting wasn't doing it any favours. Honestly, it looked like the stereotypical image of the Grim Reaper. He stood in a dark corner behind a few buildings, staring at me, beckoning me closer. I approached him and when I got within arms length, I noticed all of the people had suddenly vanished. He had his hand held out towards me. I looked down towards it and up to the bright light in the sky. It was a full moon. I looked back down at his hand and took a deep breath before taking it. Then I woke up immediately after. People say dreams have meaning but hell, I hope this isn't foreshadowing or anything. Though I am curious if this does have any meaning.
I spent the following two days or so simply wandering and improving my healing, stone, wind, and water magic. I avoid going into detail about these days because they were quite uneventful and I'm certain it'd be as boring to read as it would to write. It was the day that followed that was of interest.
I was walking through a valley, close to some big orangey rocks, like a canyon maybe? I'm not the best with geography and keep in mind, I was completely lost. But yeah, I was walking through there when I saw three wyverns circling up ahead. My first thought was,
"Hm, you don't see that very often." and then my second thought was, "Hm, if they see me, I will actually die." And as if the Gods wanted to toy with the sorrowful White Mage that is myself, the wyverns noticed me. Of course, I didn't die, because how else would I have written this? But what happened after was very unexpected.
I summoned my staff, preparing to put up a fight, even if it was a pathetic and feeble attempt at survival. I saw one of the beasts fly towards me, and then I saw that same beast come crashing to the ground as a Dragoon, donning red armour with his upper face obscured by his helmet, had slashed the creature with his lance.
"Are you okay?" he asked me.
"Um... maybe..?" I responded, still trying to make sense of the situation.
He gave a charming smile as he told me to stay back while he fought the remaining pair of wyverns.
The red Dragoon faced off against the two, swinging and stabbing his lance into them both. I didn't want to be a useless White Mage and I fully intended on healing him during the fight, but he really didn't need it.
"Are you alright?" he asked again, covered in wyvern blood.
"Yes. I'm okay, thank you." I responded, having gathered myself together, I gave a polite nod with a small smile.
"That's good to hear." he spoke rather genuinely, "I'm Salvador, the Red Lion."
"You have a title too?"
"Well, it's shorter than Salvador Soldado: Red Lion of the Royal Dragoon's Second Division!" he laughed.
"That is quite a mouthful." I chuckled. "If we're going for big titles, I'm nothing special. I'm Sanctus Fatebound, just a White Mage."
"I don't often meet healers like yourself."
"I didn't think you'd need to." I responded to his comment, though he didn't seem to acknowledge I was making a remark towards his lack of injuries during the fight I witnessed.
"How come you're out here on your own, by the way?" he asked, seemingly concerned for my safety. "Don't White Mages typically have someone to accompany them?"
"I could say the same to you." I replied. "Where's the rest of your group?"
"Over there." he said blankly as he pointed up to one of the aforementioned canyon-looking cliff edges.
Fuck me, he must have seen me from a mile away to scale down there and help me when he did. My surprise aside, I responded with a "Hm." Before telling him,
"I guess I'm trying to improve myself while learning to be more self-reliant."
"I see." he acknowledged my statement with a pensive look. "Our kingdom of Eldoria isn't too far from here. We can escort you there, if you'd like."
I smiled softly at his thoughtfulness I admit, the idea of being accompanied by an entire Dragoon Division would have made me feel really important, but I felt that's not what I needed. Although... I might be able to learn some things from these soldiers, not as a Mage but how to grow physically. Being a healer who can hit hard would certainly work to my advantage. After a moment of silent pondering, I responded,
"Yes, I'd like that very much. Thank you."
And man, the butterfly effect is crazy. The shit that went down from there, boy this is gonna be a blast to tell. But that's a bit later down the line after I met everyone.