Somewhere in a far off and dark corner of Iltira there was a knock on a door.

“Enter.” Called out the voice from inside.

The heavy wooden door opened from the outside and the figure that had been waiting there stepped inside the dimly lit room.

“The report from the field has just come in.” They announced as they entered, to the unseen person inside.

“Good. What happened?” Answered the voice from inside the room.

“An agent was sent to the area where you detected the anomalous power, but they found no trace of its source. The Rasenclaw in the area had all been whipped into a frenzy, just as you requested and it seems there have been a couple of minor clashes with one of the local Pneuma users, although it was nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Did the agent do a thorough investigation of the scene?”

“They only completed a visual check.”

“Have them return and sift through thoroughly, there could be a residue of the power I sensed left behind.”

“Yes sir. I’ll have them return right away.”

“Good. While you’re at it, have a report prepared for me on all of the known Pneuma users that’re in that area. I want to know exactly who’s out there.”

“Yes sir. Is there anything else?”

“What about her, has there been any change?”

“No sir, nothing in the slightest.”

“Good. Report back to me as soon as there is any news.”

“Yes sir.”

The figure saluted to the voice in the gloom, turned and left the room, closing the door behind them.

After Elise had finished with her investigation, she had left Theo and went to catch up on her rest. Wanting something to do, he had initially offered his assistance to List, but as she had already nearly finished for the day, he found himself at a loose end. He had briefly toyed with the idea of investigating the wall further, but after his earlier shock he soon thought better of it. In the end he found himself with little to do and after a short whiles exploration he found a comfortable spot to sit and take in the scenery. Before long, the lingering tiredness from the previous day’s travels caught up with him and he fell fast asleep. The next thing he knew was the sensation of a sharp pain in his side. He was instantly brought back to the field.

“Ow!” He yelped as he opened his eyes to find List stood beside him.

“Oh, so you’re awake now?”

“It seems so… What was that for?”

“I’ve been trying to wake you for a while now and shaking you wasn’t seeming to work.”

“Okay…”

“I’m about to start cooking and I could do with a hand. Will you help?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.”

Theo followed List back to Elise’s house and into her kitchen. List had seemingly gathered all the ingredients for the evening meal, and Theo was put on preparation duty cutting up the various vegetables. This was an eye-opening experience in and of itself. There were some that he found recognisable and others that he had never seen before, but just as Elise had advised earlier, he didn’t enquire into what they were. His amnesia was probably a good enough excuse to ask about things like this, but he didn’t want to slip up and draw attention to himself like he had done the previous night. He needn’t have worried as dinner was soon made without so much as a single slip up. The food was just finishing up in the oven and while they waited for it to finish, List had gone to collect Elise from her room. A minute or two later and they both appeared in the kitchen.

“Shall we all sit down while we wait? There’s something that I’d like to talk to you both about.” Elise asked as she entered the room.

Both List and Theo sat as Elise suggested, Theo did so without question as he already had a good idea of what she wanted to discuss.

“What was it you wanted to talk to us about?” List asked, a little curious as to what was going on.

Elise sat silently for a moment, looking as if she was deep in thought before finally answering List.

“List as you know a long time ago, I made a promise never to take on a new student ever again…”

“I do, but after what happened no one would hold that against you, no matter how much they wanted to receive your teachings.”

“Thank you List.” Elise coughed a little to clear her throat. “The thing is a few events have happened recently and it has made me rethink things over… I’ve decided to go back on the promise that I made to myself. I’ve decided to take on a new student, two in fact.”

“You mean you’re going to teach me?” List asked with visible excitement.

“Yes, I’m going to take both you and Theo on as my students.”

“That’s great news! I’ve been hoping all along that one day you would change your mind and would train me. I know I’ll make it through the trials with your instruction.”

“Listen about that, before you get too excited let me make it clear that I will only enter you both for the trials if you manage to completely satisfy my expectations.”

“I won’t let you down Lady Elise!”

“I know you both will try your best.”

“By the way, what was it that made you change your mind?”

Elise reflexively looked over towards Theo before answering List.

“It’s complicated and I’d rather not go through it all here and now, not yet anyway. Just know that for the first time in a long time, I can see some hope of my students making it through the trials alive.”

“Then I won’t press any further.” List gave Theo the shortest of glances. “I know you will tell me when the time is right.”

“I will… We’ll begin the training tomorrow, but tonight we can celebrate you both becoming my students. List, do we have any of that wine left in the cellar?”

“The special one?”

“Yes, that one.”

“We do.”

“Great. Would you mind going and getting a bottle?”

“I’ll go and fetch one now.”

“Thanks.”

List hurried off and once she returned with the bottle it was time to serve up dinner and eat. The evening flew past, everyone was in a merry mood after Elise’s announcement and the wine only helped the hours pass by. They weren’t late to bed and despite the celebration the plan still was to begin the training early in the morning. Theo slept like a log, with the wine in his system and some lingering tiredness from the previous day’s journey, so before he knew it, it was morning and he was awoken by a loud knocking at his door.

“Are you awake?” List called out from the hallway.

“Yes, I’m up.” Theo answered sleepily.

“Good. We meet downstairs in ten minutes to begin.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Theo jumped out of bed and after splashing some water on his face, he threw on some clothes then hurried downstairs to join the others. By the time he made it down to the kitchen the other two were already there and waiting for him.

“Are you ready to begin?” Elise asked him.

“Are we stating without breakfast?”

“Yes. Trust me, this is probably better on an empty stomach.”

“Okay, well then I’m ready. What’re we doing?”

“I want to check the general fitness of both of you to start with, so we’re going to run up to the top.”

“The top where?”

“Of this mountain.”

Without saying anything further Elise headed outside, List and Theo followed her. Theo looked up at the side of the mountain that rose behind the settlement. He hadn’t really given it much thought before, he’d actually just thought of it as a hill when he first arrived here, but looking at it now, it did seem like it was a long way to the top. All he knew was that he wasn’t expecting this to be pleasant. 

“Both of you, follow me.” Elise called out.

With that Elise set off down the path and the others followed. They headed back through the gateway and out to the lane that led there. They must have travelled at least half a mile down the mountain slope away from the settlement before they reached the path that split off the main track and led to the top of the mountain. As soon as they started to run uphill the differences in their fitness levels became apparent. Elise was leading the way with ease and running with such an effortless style that it almost looked as if she was skipping from spot to spot. List wasn’t making it look anywhere near as easy as Elise was, but she was clearly in good shape and was taking the hill in her stride. Then there was Theo, he was breathing hard before they had even been running for five minutes, but even this was still better than he had been expecting. He had expected to be struggling to keep up at all, he was surprised that he wasn’t feeling like he needed to be sick already. Theo was clearly the least fit of the group, but he was managing to keep up and that was all that mattered to him for now. The route to the top of the mountain followed a rocky trail through the wood until they climbed above the treeline, after that the gravel path continued winding its way up through the light scrub and grass that covered the mountainside. After what felt like an age to Theo, they finally reached the summit and following Elise’s lead, they stopped and sat down.

“Well, how was that you two?” Asked Elise, not sounding out of breath in the slightest. 

“That was harder than I was expecting.” Answered List breathing a little heavily.

“I’m just happy we’ve stopped!” Theo replied still gasping for air.

“Well, you both did better than I was expecting. I’m glad, it means I can throw you both in at the deep end and start training you hard, right from the beginning.”

“Oh, great.” Theo wasn’t sure that he liked the look in her eyes when she said that.

“What’s next? I don’t suppose we’ll only be training for fitness.” Asked List.

“No, you’re right, we won’t. When we go back down, we’ll start with running through the basics of hand to hand fighting, after breakfast of course. Then when we’ve finished with that, we’ll move on to Pneuma manipulation. That is if you two have any energy left by then.”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you will be List, it’s just…”

Elise stopped mid-sentence; her gaze was drawn to the sky to the east of their position and a look of concern had come across her face. Seeing this List and Theo both looked up and started scanning the sky for whatever had grabbed Elise’s attention. Theo looked as hard as he could to see something worthy of pulling away her attention like that, but all he could make out was a few birds flying about far off in the distance.

“What is it?” Theo asked Elise.

“Oh nothing, I just felt I noticed something for a moment, but it must’ve just been my imagination. Come on, let’s head back home.”

Elise got straight to her feet and started heading back down the trail, this time she was only walking much to Theo’s relief. Theo and List both got up and followed her back down the mountainside. None of them headed back in a hurry, but Theo definitely had the sense that something was bothering Elise, as every now and then she would look over her shoulder or off into the distance. It was as if she felt that they were being followed. Seeing Elise like that made Theo pay extra care to his surroundings for the entire trip back down the mountain, but as far as he could tell there wasn’t anything out of place. Elise seemed to stay at a state of alert for the rest of the walk, only relaxing once they had passed back through the gateway. Once back List headed straight inside Elise’s house, all Theo caught was the word breakfast, as she murmured on her way past him. This left Theo and Elise stood outside. Still curious about what had caught Elise’s attention on the mountainside, Theo decided to press her about it once again.

“Are you sure everything is alright? You still look concerned.”

“It was probably nothing, but when we were out on the exposed mountainside, just for a moment, I felt like we were being watched and I sensed a blip of energy from across the other side of the valley. It’s highly unlikely that there was anyone there, that area is completely deserted and Pneuma can sometimes well up naturally. Besides, for someone to be able to observe us from that distance… Then they would have to be a rel.”

“A rel?”

“One of the released, someone that has passed through the trials. There is no telling how old or experienced someone like that could be.”

“Someone like you?”

“Yes… It’s okay I think I was just being over cautious.”

No sooner than the words had left her lips, then there was an almighty sound coming from the direction of the gate. It was what sounded like a loud crash followed by the sound of a large and heavy metal object being dragged along over concrete.

“What’s that?” I called out to Elise over the noise.

“Get inside, find List and take her down to the basement.”

“The basement?”

“Yes, you’ll be safe down there. I’ll come and find you once it’s safe. Now go!”

Elise turned and headed straight for the gate. Theo waited for a moment trying to make out what was happening down there. He still couldn’t see a thing, concerned he did as Elise had asked and made his way inside. He had barely stepped inside before he ran into List, she too had heard the noise from outside and was already on her way to find out what was going on.

“What is that sound?” She asked Theo.

“I don’t know. Elise just asked me to find you and tell you to get down to the basement.”

“What, the basement? Why, what’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, but she said that we’d be safe down there.”

“I’m going to see what’s happening.”

“I don’t think she wants you to…”

Theo called out after List, but she wasn’t paying him any attention, she was already out the door and several steps down the path towards the gate. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to follow List to check out what was happening for himself. He rushed outside after List, but she had already sped down the path and was out of his view. Theo hurriedly walked in the direction that Elise had gone. The awful noise from earlier had now stopped. As Theo turned the corner and walked down the path to the gateway, he could make out Elise in the distance, there was also a figure stood on the other side of the gate. There was no sign of List though and as he couldn’t make out what Elise or the stranger were saying, or what was happening he decided to get closer. He had just about got close enough to hear the conversation when he heard a twig snapping from the bush to the side of him. He turned to see what had caused the noise, but it was too late, he had been grabbed from behind and was dragged off into the overgrowth. Once there his assailant let go of his mouth and let him free. Theo rolled over to see who it was that had grabbed him and was surprised to find out it was List.

“Wha…” Theo spluttered.

“Are you stupid?” She asked him.

“I don’t know.”

“I think we might’ve been lucky, and they didn’t notice you, they were too distracted by Elise.”

“What’s going on and who is that?”

“I don’t know, but can’t you sense that? They aren’t here to talk that’s all I know.”

Theo gave it a moment’s thought, he could feel a strong sense of pressure coming from the direction of the gate and it definitely felt ominous, but was that what List meant he wondered.

“I think I can. Does that mean that they’re dangerous?”

“You don’t come somewhere that powered up and giving off that kind of aura, unless you’ve come prepared for a fight.”

“Right.”

“Anyway, quiet down. I’m trying to make out what’s happening.”

Theo fell silent and they both laid there, focusing on the events unfolding at the gate.

“Just do yourself a favour and let me inside!” The man stood at the gateway called out to Elise.

“And just why would I do that? You’ve clearly come here expecting to encounter trouble and you’ve already tried to force your way inside. I’m not about to let an aggressive stranger into my realm just because they demand it.”

“Like I said, it’s in your best interest!”

“How’s that?”

“I’ll make my way in eventually and I’ll only be the first of many. You are better off not irritating me.”

“Why are you here and what do you want?” Elise asked unphased by the man’s aggressive demeanour.

Seeing that he was stuck outside the gate for now, the man decided to answer in the hope she would move.

“A few days ago, there was a strange signal detected deep into the forest somewhere over there. I was sent to investigate the source.” He said pointing off into the distance behind him. “There are several Rasenclaw bodies lying between here and there, not to mention the trail that leads right up to this gateway.”

“And what of it? That doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“The one that I work for is very interested in the source of that signal and they’ll do anything to retrieve them. If you hand them over now without any fuss, I’ll make sure no harm comes to you. I won’t mention you or this place in my report.”

“That isn’t happening.”

“What? They can’t be important to you. You must’ve only happened across them the other day. Do you have any idea the trouble you’re getting into by involving yourself in this?”

“You’ve already had my answer and now it’s time for you to leave. I suggest you do so of your own accord. That’s in your own best interest!”

The man stood at the gate burst into laughter.  

“I was going to let you go if you played nice, it’s been a while since I’ve come across a woman as pretty as you, but I guess you aren’t quite all there upstairs. I won’t give you another chance.”

He didn’t waste any time in acting, throwing his arms straight out in front of him and stepping forward towards the gateway. The moment he hit the boundary there was a deafening crashing noise just like earlier and just like earlier it was followed by same terrible screeching noise as before. As he pushed forward trying to step into the gateway his arms and body were enveloped in a wave of sparks that were many different colours. His technique was violently interacting with the invisible barrier of the gateway, but whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be working and he was being pushed back, his feet digging into gravel path behind him.

After a few moments he seemed to have given up with this method and took a step back rubbing his hands together and brushing himself down. He then took in a deep breath before preparing for what looked like another technique. However, he wasn’t given the time enact it. She didn’t call out the attack, but Theo knew it on sight, he had already seen it several times before. The difference was the sheer scale of it this time. An enormous shard of ice flew through the gate only just clearing its sides before crashing into the man on the other side. Almost crashing into the man, he’d managed to throw up his defence just in the nick of time and the shard stopped mid-air, about half a meter in front of him. Clouds of steam were thrown up as the end of the shard begun to melt and evaporate. The man was pushed back several meters down the path by the force of Elise’s attack before he came to a halt. All the while the shard was slowly melted and evaporated by his defensive technique. A few moments later and it had vanished completely.

“Huh, I should have guessed it wouldn’t be that easy.” Remarked Elise.

Seeing everything that was going on and overhearing what had just been said, Theo tried to climb to his feet. He was immediately slammed back down to the ground by List.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She asked him.

“We need to help her.”

“Don’t be stupid. You wouldn’t even stand a chance against me. What do you think you’ll be able to do out there?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure I’d manage something.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Even if we both went out there now, the best that could come of it is we get Elise’s way, but it would probably turn out worse. Just lay low and watch for now.”

“Okay, fine.” Theo finally agreed and settled down.

“Just watch. She’s much stronger than you know.”

Their attention was pulled back to the front gate by a loud crash and crackling sound. It seemed that their unwanted guest was continuing his attack and still trying to get through the gate. He has switched to using something that looked like an electrical attack and was attempting to blast his way through the barrier. It didn’t seem to be having the desired effect as the invisible barrier around the gate was comfortably deflecting the energy from his attack. This didn’t seem to deter him much and he kept up his attack for as long as his energy seemed to hold out. Finally, he ran out of steam and the attack halted. He stood there in front of the gate breathing heavily, but grinning as he reached to retrieve something from a pocket.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting to use this here, but I guess I’ve no choice.” He said with a chuckle.

“I was hoping you would just give up, but I guess that’s my cue to end this.” Elise replied.

In a blink of the eye the ground at the man’s feet was encased in ice, as were his legs as far up as his knees. He was effectively frozen to the spot. Before he had the chance to try and melt it, Elise had finished encasing him in ice from head to toe. Then without taking another breath, she shot out a thin jet of flame. It pierced deep into the ice block causing the inside to melt rapidly and then turn to steam. The following chain reaction of events resulted in a massive build-up of pressure inside the block and an explosion followed shortly after. Pieces of ice were blown everywhere, and the man was sent flying down the path. He was still alive, but he was in an awfully bad state. There was no way that he would be able to put up a fight to Elise anymore. Seeing this she walked out of the gate and headed towards where he now lay on the ground. Once there she gently kicked his leg.

“Are you still alive?” Elise asked her fallen adversary.

“Urgh.” He groaned in response.

“Look, if you tell me who sent you and promise to cause me no further trouble, I’m willing to treat your wounds and send you on your way.”

The man laughed.

“As if I’d tell you anything.”

He once again reached for the pocket at his side, but before he could reach it, he was impaled from every direction by stakes of ice that had suddenly grown from the ground. There was no doubt about it, he was definitely dead this time. His body was held up in the air by the many stakes of ice that pierced it. Elise gave a wave of her hand and the ice disappeared; the lifeless body falling straight to the ground with a thump. Seeing that it was over, List got up and ran out the gate towards Elise. Theo stood up and brushed himself off and followed her.

“Lady Elise, are you alright?” List called out.

“I’m fine, he wasn’t much trouble. Anyway, what’re you doing here? I told Theo to get you down to the basement. Didn’t he pass on the message?”

“He did, but with all that racket I had to come and see what was happening. Anyway, he’s clearly dead so it didn’t turn out to be much of threat that we needed to hide in the basement.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t true. He isn’t going to be the last to come looking. If this plays out like I’m expecting, then we aren’t going to be safe here anymore.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry I’ll make sure someone from the closest town collects the animals. It’s just a shame that we’ll have to sell them all off.”

“What? We can’t just up and leave just because we had one random guy came and attacked us. He was no match for you either!”

“He wasn’t, but it’s what he said and what will come after that bothers me. Someone is looking for us and they are willing to send more after us, he was only the first of many. Considering how easily he tracked this place down, I don’t expect it will be long before we have more visitors, not once they realise that he’s missing. If they attack with numbers next time we might not fare as well.”

“But this is our home!”

“It is, but this is only a place and we can always return after the danger has passed. If we stay here, there is no guarantee that we’ll be safe, and it will be almost impossible for you to complete your training.”

List grimaced for a second before answering.

“Fine, but where will we be going?”

“There is a small dwelling, a little like this place that belongs to my family. It’s many miles further out into the wilderness and across the border, but it’s somewhere that anyone would have trouble finding us…”

“No, you should just hand me over to them.” Theo interrupted. “I’m the one that they’re after. I heard what he said, and this is only happening because of me! I’ll be putting you both at risk if I go with you.”

“Nonsense!” Elise rebuked him. “I decided to take you in, you never once asked to come with me. I killed those Rasenclaw and I killed the man that came calling here. None of this is your fault, all you did was wake up with your memories missing, so don’t be so stupid. I’ve already involved us both in this. It was my doing.”

“But…”

“I’m not letting people like that take you.”

“Are you really sure that’s okay?”

“Of course, I am.”

“I-I just… Thank you...”

“There’s no need. I’m only doing as what I see as right.” Elise turned to List who had been standing at the side listening the entire time. “List, please go and prepare to leave. Take only what you can carry.”

“Yes, lady Elise.”

“And while you’re at it, take Theo with you and make sure he has everything he’ll need for a journey of several days.”

“I will, but what are you doing?”

“I need to take care of the body. I want to make sure it is at least a little difficult to find.”

“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Please just go and get ready, we don’t know how much time we have.”

“We’ll go now, come on Theo.”

Theo followed List but he turned back as the pair headed up to the houses. He saw Elise dragging the body a short way away from the path, now far enough away she stopped and rolled the body face down into a ditch, moments later the body was engulfed in flames. Once back up the hill the pair headed into Elise’s house. They passed straight through the kitchen and out towards the back of the house where there was a small storeroom. List immediately started setting Theo up, she found him an old looking rucksack, a basic looking sleeping roll and some blankets. Then she dug out a battered looking tin plate, bowl and cup set. The last thing she found was a weather stained waxed cotton poncho. This would serve as a solid outer layer and his shelter under the stars whilst they were traveling. After that List left Theo to pack away his gear and went to gather her own things. Theo quickly finished up and headed outside, finding Elise on her way back as he did so. Elise had her hands cupped over her mouth and was talking into them. As she pulled them away what looked like a small bird flew out and off into the sky.

“What was that?” Theo asked surprised at the sight.

“It was a messenger. I needed to send news to the nearest town.”

“It looked as if you were talking to it.”

“I was.”

“They can understand you?”

“They don’t need to they just pass the message on.”

“I suppose that makes sense… How did it go with the body?” He asked accepting her explanation.

“All sorted, no one will be finding without some effort…” She answered brushing her hands together. “How’re the preparations to leave coming along?”

“Well I’m all packed and ready to go, List is busy packing her gear. I doubt she’s far behind me.”

“Good, I want to leave here as soon as possible. We need to put as much distance between us and here as we can before they come looking for us.”

“Are you so sure that someone is going to come?”

“Yes, and they are likely to be experts at tracking, so the older our trail is the better. It’s a good four days on foot before we reach the first safe way stop.”

“We aren’t going straight to your families land?”

“No, there are a couple of stops I’d like to make, people I’d like to see on our way.”

“Is that going to be okay?”

“I hope so. If we don’t then there’s nowhere else that we’ll be able to safely rest on our way.”

“I was thinking more about what might happen if we brought all this trouble with us and down on your friends.”

“I’m hoping that we don’t, but don’t worry they can handle a little bit of trouble and they owe me a favour. It’s not only a safe haven, I know you’ll appreciate the stop. I think they will have some information that you might find useful.”

“They know something about the one that was brought here before?”

“They do.”

As Elise and Theo were talking on the doorstep of Elise’s house, List reappeared from her own home with a very full looking rucksack slung over her shoulders.

“Are you all set?” Elise asked her as she walked over.

“I’ve packed everything that I could carry.”

“Good, then we should be off.”

“Hold on, don’t you need to pack as well?” Theo asked Elise feeling a little confused.

“I have everything that I need in here.” She answered taping the pouch on her side. It was the same pouch that she had miraculously pulled an entire sword out of when they were on route here. Theo had thought as much previously, but that was clearly no normal pouch.

“I’ve packed enough food for a few days. I just want to get a few fresh eggs, what’s happening with the animals?” List asked Elise.

“Do what you need to but remember we have little time. I’ve already sent word to the town and a caravan should be along within two days to collect them all.”

“In that case, I’ll just make sure they all have enough food and water to last that long.”

“Just be quick.”

“I will!”

“I’ll help her.” Theo added.

They both rushed off to check on the animals. Before long they had ensured that they were all safely away with access to more than enough food and water to last until they were collected. As soon as they were done, they jogged back to the front of the houses to find a rather anxious and impatient looking Elise.

“Are you both satisfied now?” She asked.

“Yes.” They both answered.

 “Good, let’s get a move on.”

Theo and List grabbed their gear and started to make their way towards the gateway. It was a strange feeling leaving this place for Theo, even after only a couple of days there. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had brought down misfortune on them both. They were forced to leave their home and he couldn’t feel good about it no matter what Elise had to say. Just as they approached the gateway there was a blur of movement as something flashed across their line of vision. Elise immediately pushed both List and Theo behind her, before facing the gateway in a defensive position. There was a loud boom and scraping noise just like there had been earlier, when the now deceased visitor had tried to gain entry. Dust had been thrown up all around the gateway, it slowly began to settle as they all stood on looking for the cause of all the stir. As the air cleared, they could make out the silhouette of a person stood at the gateway barring their exit.