14 Ludos

Clang, clang, clang

The sound of chains dragging on a metallic surface was ringing on Rais' head. It sounded like someone was slowly walking towards his direction. It became slightly louder as it came closer and eventually it came to a stop.

"Wake up."

Rais felt a cold hand on his head as he opened his eyes.

"Usron Fios …..."

Rais opened his eyes slowly as he didn't expect the room to be so bright. He pulled the blanket over his head and laid sideways for a moment. He couldn't keep sleeping because he smelled something unpleasant. He raised his hand, but there wasn't any dirt or blood from before but a dark mucky viscous substance that covered his entire body. His hands were sticky as honey and it still smelled like Spoiled fish. He stopped breathing and jumped out the bed quickly. He outstretched his hands and twisted himself and let out a yawn. He mistakenly breathes in through his mouth and felt like throwing up. He held his stomach as he opened the windows for fresh air.

He looked out the window and saw grandma was sitting on a chair outside. He looked at the direction the shadows fell and realized that he slept through the whole day and night and it was already afternoon. He couldn't believe he slept more than thirty circulations of a clock. He got knocked out yesterday afternoon after the magic ritual.

He looked at his table and saw his books were in mess and his drawings all over the tables. He saw a small crystal laying on the table and next to it was a small basket of orange scales. He picked up an orange scale with a curved rune and became impressed by the subtlety as he sensed hair thin mana inside them. He brought one scale closer to his eyes. "Fish scales?" He realized someone was inside his room by smelling a particular fragrance and all the mess from his table. He had smelled this flower scent nearby the sea coast. He heard a sound of footsteps behind the house and identified who it belonged to. Few strands of his pitch black hair got in front of his eyes as he realized his hair had become longer.

He picked up the life crystal laying on the table without any difficulty. He wasn't expecting it to be so effortless. He discovered a note under the crystal saying not to train for a few days and allow his body to become familiar with the mana.

He walked away from the bed and opened the door. He felt his body had changed drastically. He could hear the winds and his heartbeats. He smelled the flowers from the meadow and perfectly distinguished them from one another. It felt as he could see farther away as everything appeared brighter than before. He gazed into the distance and clearly identified the birds sitting on their nest on the leafless trees. The wind felt colder to him. It felt like a breeze was running through the pores of his body. His back felt like ice cold needle was stuck on them. He was having a hard time processing all the extra information, and He almost fell down sideways coming down the stairs. He set on the ground and closed his eyes and plugged his ears with his fingers.

"Did mana affect me so much so quickly?" He had no answer, but he needed to get himself cleaned first. Mana didn't feel so external anymore to Rais. It felt like mana was already frozen within his body and slowly spreading as it healed his body. He realized he had no pain on his body from the magic ritual, and all the injuries had also healed.

"Look, who finally decided to wake up after four days."

"you are not laying?"

"I am not your mother."

Rais laughed as he stood up and couldn't believe what he heard until he remembered his hair growth. Rais walked closer to grandma wobbling and maintained his distance. He circulated the mana and felt a lot better.

"Grandma, where did mom go and did anyone come here when I was sleeping?

"I wanted to tell you about the tale of the witch, and the forest but first I need to tell you about the princess that came here. There is also a surprise that your mom left you."

"Princess and a surprise?"

"Hay Rais, You are hiding from me?"

"Ludos"

Rais called out as he lifted his hands.

Rais friend who just left came back running seeing Rais getting out of the house.

"I was merely taking a little nap but what brings you here. Aren't you slacking on your training?"

"I came here for that exact reason but when did you become a slouch?"

A young boy slightly taller then Rais with oily light brown hair arrived next to Rais and almost puked. He jumped back and held his nose.

Rais laughed "It's better if you grab some Ice Gardenia from the garden."

The boy held the flower near his nose and finally let his breath out and set on a tree root. His hair reached halfway on his forehead and hid half of his ears. His had pale blue eyes and in between was a refined and tall nose. His light bronzed dried skin had cuts, crack and stains all over them. He wore a brown old cross-lace loose shirt and short red pant made from used women long scarf. He lacked any footwear and on his hand was a poster and a wooden sword.

"Is this your friend Rais he came here a few days ago with a little girl Asina from one of the tribes."

Rais nodded and caught the rolled paper thrown to him by Ludos. Then he looked towards grandma.

"What princess did you see grandma? You won't find any princess in these judges!"

"An elegant young lady did come you have to see to believe someone so beautiful to exist. She looked like a beautiful arrangement of ripe fruits and flowers. The Princess was pleasant and humble to me. She talked to me for a long time, unlike you and Dinna who avoids me all the time. She had face was like the silver Urine. Her blue eyes wear more beautiful than Rup, and gorgeous long braided hairs were like flaming lava. I can't forget her beautiful smile."

"Grandma you are making it seem like you saw a walking mermaid or a wingless angel."

Rais and ludos laughed together.

"Or maybe you saw an illusion from a charming devil or the manifestation of a nature spirit."

Rais and Ludos both were amused and laughed once more. Grandma also couldn't hold her laughter and laughed with them.

"No matter how beautiful she is she can't be more lovely than grandma."

Grandma became speechless and didn't try to explain anymore and Rais a lamp that she lit up with fire. Rais had already guessed the implication and placed his right hand into the flames. Then The elemental field diagram manifested on to his hand and became engulfed in flames. Even though he didn't cast any spell yet, he became excited as it was the first time he manipulated a magic diagram. He still needed some time to learn a few more things to cast a spell.

"The time is near." Rais had a big smile.

Ludos became surprised. "So you know how to cast spells now, how did you learn so quickly."

"No, not yet, I still need to learn how to trigger runes, but it won't be long before I learn my second spell."

"And what might the first spell be?"

"I did make the princess leave with my stinky magic spell."

Ludos didn't think Rais was messing around.

"She did go to my room."

Rais placed the rolled paper to the side and went into his room.

"Wait for some time I will be back fast."

Rais jumped into the sea to cleaned his body thoroughly. It caused him to realize his scenes had improved more than he formerly thought. At that time, he checked his right shoulder where the curse mark manifested from. He didn't panic by not seeing the mark. Rais always thought the visions like dreams he had were unrelated to the curse mark as the dreams felt like part of him. He remained composed and placed the thought back of his mind.

He wore a black short sleeve shirt with a gold vine wrapped around it and a dark blue pant. He ran through the forest as his messy hair flew backward. He seized what he needed and arrived next to the tree branch where Ludos was sitting.

"Grandma I will listen to your story later"

Grandma nodded as Ludos jumped down from the branch.

"Sister said you owed her something."

"I have it here." Rais showed a bunch of papers on his hand. They were loaded with rune drawings and magic diagrams.

"What's on the poster you have and what's made so excited about it."

"I wouldn't bring it if I knew how to read them. The texts are written in common gods language. Some people indeed came from the western headquarter of the Throne Restorers to deliver the message."

"It's very unlikely for that to happen. They wouldn't come here and even if they did they would be too afraid to get off the ships. It's already made a grave offense to the forest by constructing a Zarieun temple here. None of the major power wants to cross paths with the forest."

"I saw them wearing the emblem and ceremonial armor of the Throne Restorers."

"Like the ancients have been saying, it's hard to traverse the world, but it's harder to cross the Szronix Little Garden. These cities existences are accepted by sea deity but definitely not by the forest. When the forest decides to expand, it will expand. Why do you think there are no parliament nontribal statements here? It's because everything here has a limited lifespan unless you are accepted by the forest. The Moon Island and Storms Eyes don't mind their slaves escaping here. It's because the escapes are already doing their slaving here by reconstructing the city over and over again."

They stayed silent for a moment.

"Alright, let's go. What you saw might be just the field division of the Throne Restorers."

"It the first time hearing anyone calling the Szronix Little Garden? Is it not Wooden Shield of Rentalia?"

"That's the name given after the previous major war against the demons five hundred years ago before that everyone called it Szornix Little Garden."

"I always to explore into deeper parts of the forest but it's impossible unless you are accepted by it. It would be absolutely brilliant if I was accepted like Aisina."

"Only the ancient tribes that lived before the gods ruled are accepted by the forest. The ancient tribes lived in the ancient northern plane of Rentalia before it was taken over by the forest."

Rais and Ludos ran through the forest westward towards Ludos house.

"It is possible to be accepted by the forest if someone invites you into the forest but you can't invite anyone back. I asked Aisina, but she said it was a taboo from her tribe. The sole way it's possible for her to invite me if I became part of her tribe."

"What's the catch."

"She said I needed to marry her if I wanted to be invited into the forest."

Ludos and Rais laughed for a long time."So that was what that was about."

"It was her sister Mursinas Idea. She even went to my house to look for my mom but when she saw her she didn't step into the yard."

"We can only wait for our chance to come if it ever comes."

Rais saw ludos were having a hard time keeping up so he slowed down a little. The two of them looked like frogs hopping in between the towering trees."

"My mom said there is another way to get into the forest. If someone capable of controlling mana to the third stage of crystallization, they could survive deep within the forest."

"That kind of mana control is impossible. Only the legendary figures are able to crystalize to that stage." Ludos had a dejected look but there was still hope within his eyes.

"We can ask them again and see what they say."

"Definitely something not good."

They ran through the towering tree that pierced through the clouds. The colorful fallen leaves reached to their knees. Under the tree looked like a colorful carpet. Although the trees had lost their leaves, it still looked like the evening under them. Small pockets of light came from the ground lighting the surroundings, and they ultimately disappeared into the air.

Rais stopped next to a colossal tree and retrieved a reddish wooden sword from near it. Rais only reached a quarter height of the root he was standing next to. Behind the tree was a gigantic barrier fortifying the city. The force from the barrier generated harsh winds. On the other side stood hundreds of gigantic skeletons from the demonic beasts wrapped around by thick veins and crystalized inside dense mana. They represent the remnants from the previous great war.

Rais set on the root and played with the sword with one hand and read through the poster.

"You can try learning the gods' language like your sister doing right now. You will need it everywhere if you want to talk to people."

"I need more time for training."

"It will turn your training easier and this poster delivers us good news. The Throne Restorers are going to regularly monitor for talent in the northern port cities. If they think we are talented enough they will transfer us to the Grand Festive of the western coast."

"That sounds ridiculously good to be true. It's not like they are desperate for talent unless what I heard about the rift inside the Throne Restorers and few of the leading generals dying is actually true."

"Throne Restores are no pushover. Even if it's true why would, they want people from here? It even said if a candidate does well first time they will be provided resources for a better chance next time. The ships they are providing are used by the naval division. This will reduce the travel time from six months to just a few days."

Ludos became ecstatic and jumped in joy.

"Now I need to wait seven more years before participating in the Grand Festive."

Rais nodded his head but he needed to wait seven and a half years."We can start participating from thirteen until we are twenty-eight years old."

Rais didn't understand why Throne Restorers were being so generous, but he had a fleeing that he would find the answer very soon. They arrived at the place they usually play with other kids. There was a small pond. The pond had turned slightly reddish color.

"I saw everyone playing here when I went to look for you."

"I think they just left the place."

They walked north towards the sea. When they arrived, they saw many people standing around the coast looking towards the sea. When Rais arrived near the seashore, he saw an unpleasant and inhumane scene. This made him realize why the Throne Restorers were being so eager to recruit people from here.