One Year Before the Incident At Gale Manor

The little Infurnal boy fell backwards, the dry leaves of the forest crumbling under his weight as the other kids stood around him laughing. He tried to block out their taunting by closing his eyes tightly and covering his ears, his panther tail twitching nervously as he instinctively bared his fangs. This only caused harsher taunting by the other children.

“Look at those terrifying teeth!” Said the boy with small ram horns growing from his head.

“Oh no! He’s going to bite us!” Came the sarcasm of the girl with cheetah spots covering her body.

“Watch out! He’ll eat us up!” Another of the boys, this one with dark circles around his eyes, pushed him down harder onto the forest path with a rough kick.

The bullied boy curled up, still showing his sharp teeth in defense as he glared at the other children surrounding him through the tears he was fighting back. “Leave me alone! I didn’t do anything!” His words came through along with a weak growl.

The boy with the ram horns stepped over the target of their ridicule, sneering down at him. “You panther types always look down on the rest of us! You act like you’re so tough, so prove it!”

Another of the children, bearing thick brown bear fur, picked up a rock but before he could throw it a small yet strong clawed hand wrapped around his wrist. As he looked up he was confronted by the piercing blue eyes glaring down at him.

“What exactly do you children think you’re doing?” Her voice was calm yet firm, holding the same power as an older sibling. “How could you treat another of our kind in such a way?”

The young Infurnal winced a little as he found he couldn’t pull free of the wolf girl’s clawed grasp. “We weren’t doing anything-ow!” A quick tightening of her grip caused the bear Infurnal to loosen his hold and the rock fell from his hand with a light thud in the path at their feet. Immediately his eyes lowered, looking at the dirt under his feet as all the other children became silent with the tension in the air.

“You were attacking one of your own people! We Infurnals must stick together!” Her words were rising in anger to match the rage in her blue eyes. “The humans already look at us like we’re beasts! To be tamed! To be trained and to be pitied! How do you think they would view us if they saw you attacking another child?”

The ram horned boy began to try and defend his friend, but the wolf girl immediately stepped past him and moved next to the panther boy. He was still curled up on the ground, his battle with his emotions had already been lost and his tears were running freely down his face. She knelt down next to him and released a calming breath through her lips before touching him gently on the shoulder. His body reacted with a quick flinch before he looked up and saw her, his eyes widening at seeing her.

“Xana!” Without a thought he wrapped his arms around the girl who had come to save him. “I didn’t do anything! I promise!”

“Shh. Shh. I know.” The angry expression on her face quickly faded, replaced by a more calm and relaxing smile. Her words turned from harsh to surprisingly soft. “I know you’re a good kid. Let’s get you back home. I’ll be sure to talk to all their parents and tell them exactly what happened here, okay?”

The other kids began to throw excuses at her; claims of how they were just playing, how they only did it because of the other kids, how the little panther boy had started the whole thing, and plenty more. Xana had no trouble ignoring them as she helped the bullied boy to his feet and brushed the dirt and leaves off of him as best she could. Taking his hand firmly in her own as reassurance to his safety, she led him away from the group of kids, leaving them to wonder what trouble they’d be in by the end of the day.

The walk back into town wasn’t far, not even a full mile from where Xana had found the children. As soon as they stepped back into town her shoulders relaxed as the comfort of her own home washed over her. The cool spring breeze that danced through the bare streets, carrying the smell of the different dishes being made for dinner in every home. The grilled deer meat mixed with corn, the sweet scent of the candied apples, and the freshly cooked vegetables all accompanied by the golden sky framed by the tall trees reminded her why she loved her home village so much. 

The town itself was small, hidden away in a lush forest on the edge of the mountains that had been carved out for mining purposes. A quaint little Infurnal village, so small that none would ever bother to place it on a map. A couple dozen houses placed throughout the bare unpaved streets, accented by simple lamps that would soon flicker on as the sky darkened, a few different shops for tools and the basic weapons needed for defence against the rare IMPs and for hunting animals. A larger building, the size of two houses or so used for schooling and for the village meetings sat in the center of the town, decorated with different drawings of animals and flowers left by the children of the village.

It took a small tug on Xana’s hand from the panther boy to bring her back to her senses. She smiled down at the boy and tried to laugh off her bad habit of getting lost in her own thoughts. It always made her feel self-conscious, how easily she could lose track of what she was doing and it always brought a slight blush to her cheeks knowing that everyone in town knew this about her.

Refocused on the task at hand, she walked the boy down the road and to his home, only a few houses down from her own. She gave the boy another reassuring smile before knocking on the door. Almost immediately the door opened and she was greeted by the large, muscular Infurnal panther man that looked down at her. His eyes looked her over briefly before falling on the child. A small huff escaped his lips when he saw the dirtied boy.

“Xana, what happened to my son?”

“I found him surrounded by some of the other kids. It seems they were giving him a hard time.” His steely gaze had no effect on her. She had lived near the blacksmithing family all her life and she knew the truth of the panther family’s kindness.

“Which kids?” He reached out and his son released his grip on Xana’s arm to rush over to his father, now clinging to him for reassurance.

“It’s okay daddy. It was my fault. I got in their way.” Both Xana and the panther father shared a look with one another, noting the tight hold the boy had on his father’s waist.

“No need to worry sir.” The wolf girl gave a polite bow to the man, never once dropping her smile as she brushed some of her long white hair from her face. “I know the children that were bullying him and I already scolded them. I’m already planning to report them to their parents as well. I’ll make sure to have a sit down with all of the children tomorrow at the school and I’ll go over the laws with them again. We have to make sure they know they can’t get away with acting like this.”

“You’re a good kid Xana. You always work hard for the village.” The tense atmosphere finally began to dissipate as he patted his son on the head. “All right, I trust you. If they try anything again though, they’ll have to answer to me.”

A sigh escaped Xana’s lips as she returned to her home, ignoring the noise of her other siblings as her two older brothers fought over something trivial once again, and her elder sister focused on the vidscreen in their home. After having dealt with the families of the other children who had been bullying the little Infurnal panther boy she felt exhausted. She had kept her word, going to each of their homes to report what she had seen; taking as long as was needed with each of the parents to make sure they understood how serious their actions were. The entire town knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t lie to them, but reporting to each child’s family and speaking with their parents in detail about the incident had taken hours longer than she had expected and had caused her to miss the delicious meal she had smelled earlier when passing by her home after visiting the panther’s home.

She trudged into her room, locking the door behind her and tossing her jacket off and to the side of the room before falling onto her bed. Feeling a rumbling in her empty stomach she rolled over onto her back and slid a hand down to her flat stomach. Ignoring her flat chest she idly ran her fingers along her abs as her stomach groaned in anger at missing another meal, something she had been becoming more accustomed to in the past couple of years. Being the runt of the family she was used to it. Her parents had left the day before to go into the caves of the mountains for work and they wouldn’t be back until the end of the week. That meant her older siblings were in charge, which meant a rougher few days for her..

As the runt, it was claimed to be fact that she needed less of everything compared to her other larger siblings. That of course included meals. If she missed a meal here and there, it wasn’t a big deal to them.

Another growl escaped from deep in her stomach and she stood from her bed, catching a glimpse of her jacketless image in the mirror of her room. A shiver ran through her body as she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself to cover the image revealed to her. Her breathing was starting to come in quick gasps as she felt the panic building. A quick wave of nausea began to build but she fought back against it as she had done countless times before. Some days were easier, but today she felt a sick bubbling deep inside her aching chest at the image reflecting back at her.

Blinking away her tears, she quickly picked her jacket back up and covered herself with it, thankful that it was capable of hiding what bothered her so much. She did all she could to gain the body she dreamed of, exercising daily even through her hunger to keep herself thinner, leaner, and more easily viewed as feminine by others. A weak smile came to her lips as the clothes she wore helped hide what others would consider her more masculine features. The shirt was loose enough to hide anything that may or may not be there, and her pants were slimming, helping to add to the look. The image reflected back at her now looked like her real self.

Deciding to forage for whatever food she might be able to find in the outskirts of town, she took one more deep breath to steady herself before stepping out of her room. She attempted to slip out of the house without her siblings paying any mind, but she wasn’t that lucky today.

“-----, that you?” Her elder sister called out from the couch she was lounging on as she continued to watch the vidscreen. “Where ya going?”

The name her mind instinctively attempted to erase from existence caused her to flinch, feeling as though she had just been slapped in the face. “Out. For food.” It had been 5 years, and still her siblings couldn’t get it right. She had long since become too exhausted to try and correct any of her siblings.

“Well make sure you bring back something good. I’m still hungry.”

You already ate. You already had food. You can’t even get my name right like mom and dad, so why should I do anything for you?

The thoughts ran through Xana’s mind but thinking back on all the fights they had in the past along with the distracting pains of hunger in her stomach, she could only come to one response. “Right.”

Shoulders slouching, she rushed out of the house and down the dirt road of the village. She ignored the cold winter air coming off of the mountains as it blew through the Infurnal town and stung her cheeks. She loved her village, her parents, they all accepted her for who she was; but her siblings...they were another matter.

Breathing in small gasps Xana looked around and found herself deeper in the dense forest than she had meant to go. She knew the forest well, so being lost wasn’t a worry that bothered to cross her mind. Thoughts of going back to town and giving up on foraging muddled around in her head as she began to look for berry bushes, ignoring the idea of returning empty handed in the end.

Metal clanging against metal caught the young arctic wolf Infurnal off guard. Her feet moved faster than her mind and she found herself following the sounds that continued further yet into the forest. She pushed through bushes, ignoring the bramble that tried to scratch her through her pant legs and ducked under branches as she came to the familiar lake. It looked different so late at night. The orange quarter moon reflected off of it’s still blue surface, accompanied by the sparkling stars dancing in the night sky. A brief smile crossed her lips at the serene image before her attention was brought back to her reason for coming this far out; a loud splash disrupting the beautiful reflection.

She looked over and saw the dark shadowy figures of two large men. One at the edge of the lake, the other bursting back out of the water and aiming his weapon at the still dry man. The moonlight glinted off of the weapon, revealing a silver tipped spear being thrust towards the first man’s body.

“Watch out!” The panicked words escaped the wolf girl’s lips before she could contemplate the scene before her. The words were enough to distract both men, the one in the water stumbling and falling back into the lake.

Rushing over to them both, Xana quickly pulled her makeshift daggers from their crossed sheaths on her lower back. “What’s going on here? Why are you two fighting?” She came closer to them, clutching her daggers tightly as she felt her heart beating faster, her mind screaming at her for daring to get any closer to these two strangers. Only the villagers and a select few merchants knew of her village’s exact location. The realization caused her empty stomach to flip over itself, her nerves getting to her. When she got a better look she was surprised by the sight standing before her.

The still dry man wasn’t a human like she had feared, but a large Infurnal Bull man that towered over her, heavy muscles trying to break out of his black and red Caster outfit and two intimidating horns coming from his head. He gripped his double sided axe with only one hand and looked down on the much smaller wolf girl. The other man, completely drenched by his two trips into the lake, was an Infurnal Rhino that nearly matched the first man in size. He wore a matching outfit and was stepping out of the lake, using his spear to help support his weight.

The rhino Infurnal was the first to speak. “Dammit girl. You messed up my chance to land a hit!” His words were gruff, reminding her of the father of the panther boy. The bull man gave a little laugh but said nothing which seemed to annoy the soaked man further. “Shut it! You know I could have got you with that opening!”

Xana noticed that the tension that had been surrounding the lake earlier was quickly fading, replaced by a much more relaxed atmosphere. She loosened her grip on her dagger without any thought.

Not humans. Good.  

“You should be more careful, girl.” The rhino spoke again as he removed his jacket and began to ring it out. “What if we had been dangerous people?”

Raising an eyebrow, Xana couldn’t stop her words before they escaped from her. “I still don’t know if you two are dangerous. I know those are Caster outfits, doesn’t mean you’re Casters.”

The two muscular men exchanged looks before laughing briefly.

“Pretty good answer.”  said the Infurnal Bull caster. “The name’s Ryan Drumm. B-Class Caster.” He declared with pride as he motioned to the collar of his uniform that was embroidered with a silver shield with an intricate B in the center. He then motioned to the other man before reaching out his hand for a shake. “This is my partner on the field and my best friend since we were little, Franky Rheene. We came out here to do a bit of training, figured it was a good spot to better ourselves in different terrain.”

“Xana” accepting the handshake, she put her daggers away. “Xana Thrine. I, um, live in the village near here.” She was put at ease knowing they weren’t humans, but her own history with strangers and attempting to be accepted left her with a slight hesitance.

Taking a seat with them on a log at the edge of the lake, she found herself smiling and feeling excited as they told her about the life of a Caster while watching the small fire they made to dry the wet clothes. The missions they’d gone on, the training, the mystical creatures they had seen and the wondrous places they had visited. It was all amazing, like a fairy tale her mother used to tell her and her siblings when they were younger. The most fantastic thing they mentioned though was that humans had to look up to them and respect them. Respect.

“So, if I became a Caster, I could be like you two?” her blue eyes filled with hope and optimism. “I wouldn’t have to be scared of humans anymore?”

Their answer was all she needed to hear. The moment they told her that no humans dared to bother them any longer, she knew she would enroll to become a Caster. She would train and study every day. She would force herself to go into the nearest human city to prove she was worthy of going to the Caster school. She would do whatever it took to be accepted, to be respected as the Infurnal she was.

Next Chapter: First Meetings