It’s been four months since I had started my training, here at the Veserie. Four months. It felt like an eternity. And in that time I had managed to catch up with the other students and I had even joined them in their lectures. Athough I was the oldest student here, a lot of them respected me and valued my opinions. But, four months still seems a long time away from my family, from my friends.

I had spoken to Tasbì and Azreàl, and my family, including my brother, Vokì. They know that I am safe; I just hoped that I didn’t have to stay here for so long.

I had received their report while I had been detained. I was shocked when I received word of the village of Moonseye. All those people dead and the only survivor was a little girl, who Tasbì found. She was only 18 months of age by Tasbì’s reckoning. But questions such as who did it and why, still remain a mystery…for now.

It was noon; I was sitting next to Ash who had been helping me with my studies these past few days. The grandmaster, Gunthar and Ash were all shocked at how fast I was progressing. I had surpassed all their expectations and more. Due to this fast learning, I was able to move out of the grandmaster’s chambers and into my own.

I cherished the times I spent alone. Well, sort of. Alone as I could be, with Sif in my head I was never truly alone.

She had told me and the grandmaster, in private, what had truly happened to her. The story she had told was grim and disheartening. She was traveling the Wild Lands in search of knowledge and wisdom. She was welcomed by Queen Sera, and accepted as part of the royal court. While the Wild Lands are home to the barbaric Ur’laks and the Dark mages, the Queen asked that Sif provided any useful information regarding these people. The constant battles against the Ur’laks most of all, were troubling.

The Wild Lands were a baron place. Dry like a desert and windy. What plants survived in that wilderness, had grown for that terrain. So they had survived on trade for centuries from Feln and other neighbouring countries, but ever since pirates had intercepted and destroyed most of the merchant vessels, the Ur’laks had grown hostile against the Queen and her people. She had sent armed vessels with the merchants to quell the piracy. And it had worked, for a time. Up until six months ago, the pirates had increased in numbers and still battered the merchant and armed vessels, making off with the loot they had now plundered.

So the Queen was still in trouble. The Ur’laks blamed her for the diminishing trade, this got violent, and so she decided to end all trade to the Ur’laks until they quench their violent tenacities.

But she was wrong, the violence didn’t stop, the Ur’laks sailed to other neighbouring countries and raided the coastlines, plundering and destroying as they went. The Ur’laks couldn’t reach the city of Minalveil, for which it stood upon the floating rocks. The only way to reach it was to travel a dangerous path, slip and one falls to their death. No one travelled that road. Not in five hundred years has that road had a traveller since a great war.

But since Sif had taken her first dusty steps of the Wild Lands, Dark mages had found and surrounded her. She was outnumbered, but they did not kill her before raping her. After they were done, the lead mage had taken what powers were released upon her death and left her body there to rot. She never found what she was searching for.

I had shed a tear as she detailed and described what had happened to her. And when I had looked upon the Grandmaster’s face, he too was grieving.

‘Hey, don’t think about me like I’m not here!’

I could feel her emotions surging through me. I sighed and replied, ‘I’m sorry. I guess that story has stuck with me. You have never told me much about yourself. Like how well did you know the Grandmaster, where do you come from, what were you searching for in the Wild Lands, and the city of Minalveil truly magnificent? You know everything about me, and I know very little about you.’

‘I was born in Forge, my parents were visiting the Dwarves there and my mother had me sooner than expected. So they had no choice but to stay at Forge so that I could be born. The Dwarves were helpful and in a way, I was brought up by them. But my mother fell with a fever a year after I was born and she passed away. My father then took me to the Sky elves up in the clouds to be raised by them, he told me we had ridden a large Moon Butterfly to reach them. I didn’t believe him at the time. He left me with them and never returned. I have always thought that he had died traveling the worlds many roads, but I guess I will never know what he has become of him.’

‘But what were you looking for in the Wild Lands then? Were you looking for your father?’ I asked her.

‘Yes. I had received numerous rumours that a man, who was described as my father, had travelled to Minalveil. For what purpose, I do not know. I will never know now, what has become of him.’

‘You can’t know that for certain, Sif. I promise that when I have completed my training, we will search for him together.’

‘Tarì, you don’t owe me anything. If fact, it should be me who owes you, for I have commandeered your body.’

‘Yes, but perhaps we will come across a body for you. If you can indeed leave my body, you could have your life back. Live again as it was taken from you.’

Sif was quiet for a time before saying, ok, ‘if we come across a beautiful female body, I will take it. Providing it will already be dead, but not for long. I don’t particularly want to travel around with a rotten corpse. It puts people off, you know.’

I laughed until my eyes started to water and my chest hurting from laughing too much. I could feel Sif’s happiness and enjoyment coursing through me. I smiled, for she was happy. And if she was happy, I was too.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2