The world of Faeris has always known battleground for expand his territory beetwen his different inhabitants going from vast lands to the imposing snowy mountain where few people dare to venture. This land is home to a species with magical power and unequaled combat skills, he proclaims the Pakerjer, these people are recognizable by their proud eyes reflection of their powerful city erected high white tower, built on the surface of a lake and connected by pale stone bridges to the shore, but also to a pair of wings in their backs of a singular clear plumage allowing them to travel distances separating them from a target on their territory in a few hours at place of several days of riding.

Their reputations are tied to their sword, and more particularly to the address of these soldiers to make it shine in combat. In the year 1200 some creatures appeared of a different caliber going from insect of the size of a Man able to cut in piece a rock, with the dragon at the height of the oldest of the trees and whose force will break an army poorly prepared, these monsters today threaten all the peoples of this world who have decided by a common agreement to allied themselves temporarily.

Decades passed when the Pakerjer offered one of the best protection for the weakest by honor, peace was thus kept, until the day when the enemy forces passed to a completely different level, upsetting the balance that reigned there.

 

Espha had taken shelter under a tree canopy with black bark and soft turquoise foliage whose color reminded of the past winter. Their thick trunks were left visible by the branches, which began only several meters high, giving the appearance of an apple tree. She did not recognize this kind of plant, and even though the place where she stood smelled of pine and the fresh air was nice there was not familiar to him, only the light of the day that had just come up gave her a little hope, brightening the pale complexion of her face and wings.

Standing on the upper part of the forest she made a first identification, everywhere between the trees the ground was covered with a green moss, and in front of her feet a steep slope leading right to the heart of the vegetation, once inside she knew as a young soldier that this type of terrain would not allow her to flee if she was unlucky enough to meet one of these creatures.

But there was another concern of the same magnitude to see much more terrifying long-term that worried her, she tried to join her headquarters.

"It the unit 548, code Espha, request for urgent support in the West Zone, I send you my position."

She finished sending her coordinates by the blue screen which served as her interface to communicate with the rest of her division, this device was that of the Pakerjer army contained in the right armband of each of its soldiers. It received only answer as a sizzle of its device, followed by a disturbance of the vision.

She stopped the communication so as not to be spotted by the creatures around because of the noise. The light beams of the device went out in the armband, leaving Espha to gaze intently at the rest of the valley. She had just been assigned to a target that appeared a week ago on this territory causing havoc wherever she went destroying the villages of the Gereh, a people weak in combat.

In the course of the road, the number of monsters had become abnormally high and stronger than expected, it was with a touch of apprehension that she thought that the same situation had to have arrived at the headquarters but for it not to answer, the threat did not had never been so big. Delivered to herself she had to survive to help her people if one day she could find him.

A sudden breeze arose, pulling her from hers thoughts and letting her long blond hair float gently behind her head, this color going perfectly with her set of bright red fabric and thin golden armor border allowing for soft movements. Right now, the brightest glow was her intense blue gaze, reminiscent of the water flowing constantly in the purest rivers, where you can see the reflection of the sky both by storm and by bright day, reflecting her cold determination.

She slowly flapped her wings and took off to explore the surroundings in search of her first goal of the day, to find food.

With her hands full of fruit, Espha was flying above the treetops in the direction of a howl that she had just heard, coming from one of the creatures named Querj, with these three horns on its forehead and their two meters high their load could be deadly.

A hint of hope came back in her and decided to go save this person and may be in a companion to drive away the loneliness that gnawing from the inside. She took one of the fruits and took half of a butcher's bites and then stuck to the monster's place.

She crossed the foliage that obstructed her vision of the target and whipped her forearms that she had positioned to shield.

Arriving on the ground she received between the unknown and the beast who according to these suspicions was a Querj, this one had a black coat with blue stripes, similar to a small flame, the creature more like a unicorn than a horse ride by men.

She unsheathed a thin sword, dropping her fruit and stalking to the beast, which was in the attack position.

"I'm going to take care of it quickly," she said without turning to the attention of the person she was protecting.

The stranger replied with a short stride for hiding behind a tree, from here she had a global view of the battle scene. The place was a long and broad natural corridor cleared of the forest dimly lit up in its full length by fine beams that managed to pass.

This place was soothing because of the assemblage of branches that formed an arched roof, even if it allowed to gain momentum for a charge from his opponent, it also gave the advantage to a Pakerjer of to be able to use his wings.

Espha, knowing that, stopped trusting a dozen steps in front of the creature who trampled the ground of its hooves, moving large clod of earth, thus destroying the green harmony of the foam bed and decided to attack.

The monster galloped in a flash and struck with a great vertical blow the blade of Espha who managed to cash the blow by slipping a few steps.

The immobile beast had the blade planted in one of its horns, with one leg it took hold of the Querj's neck and unhooked her weapon. Time to recover she saw the beast get up to crush with these hooves.

The young soldier hesitated to cut its abdomen but did not take any chances because this fight could be won without a scratch, she dodged back thanks to a strong flapping of wings, leaving the hooves cracked the ground with a crash causing to fly by squealing birds perched around.

Espha had an idea when she saw the waterfowl, she turned around the corridor as quickly as possible thus putting distance between her and the Querj already darting in pursuit.

In full gallop, the beast shortened the distance between them roaring with rage, at the last moment Espha changed course to gain altitude, and find herself in a position of attack.

From there she ran at full speed towards the monster and knocked it down in one fell swoop. The monster crumbled behind her in a cloud of dust, Espha ranged her sword as calmly as the silence that settled in the clearing, a sign of her victory over the creature.

She became aware of the person who watched her from the beginning, she must be lost and happy to meet someone too. Espha approached the tree and stared at the immobile trunk.

"You can go out now," she said, leaning on her back leg with her arms crossed.

Hidden behind the tree, a female figure timidly approached a meter from the Pakerjer.

They looked at each other.

Espha first noticed that her hair was mauve, a red ribbon attached to the back of her head, leaving the remaining locks falling back on her shoulders, a bow tie the same color as her ribbon tie the top of her black military uniform composed a button jacket and white glove.

The color of her eyes was amber and a long wavy and unevenly-spread bangs wrapped around her face like a crescent moon. Espha guessed by the rank of her uniform that she was a novice of the same age as her but could not remember the emblem of her clan, the answer came to hers when she saw a black feathered wing out of the girl.

An Urhl, Espha thought. This people was currently playing as an equal with the Pakerjer in the role of protector, except that they paid for their services, and their weapon of choice was the magic of darkness.

Enemy in the past, they stopped their struggle to devote themselves to the threat of the monsters that began to encroach on their territory and to instil fear today in all Faeris.

The young Urlh could not stand the silence that was becoming heavy and began a wide gesture of the right hand in the direction of the beast.

"Pretty acrobatics," she said in a neutral voice, looking at the creature and at the Pakerjer. Her black wings move gracefully to the gesture she made.

"But I could very well have managed alone".

"Excuse me but in this case you could have done well before I arrived."

"I intended it but .." She stopped to look annoyed. Espha helped her to continue, paying attention to the delicacy of his words.

"But as your magic is launched at a distance, you were afraid to miss it and get stuck then you decided to distort company."

She nodded without flinching and raised her index finger to the sky.

"You forget one thing," she replied, with a slight hint of pride in people who think they are more malignant than others.

Espha knew little about the Urlh, it was actually the first time she came across it, her only sources were limited to the stories of the books of the city where the qualities and defects of the Pakerjer battles were compared with them.

She felt the desire to know more about her, pushed by a mixture of curiosity and excitement she leaned to take her hand in herself.

"I listen to you tell me your secret."

The young Urlh not knowing how to react to this enthusiasm, had no choice but to continue its momentum.

"Well, look, it's still alive," she said, pointing to the beast with her head for not having her right hand free.

The Querj had stood up showing incredible strength, it stirred the floor of its hoof frantically moving its head upset.

Espha let go of the Urlh to pull the blade out of its scabbard, but the girl's hand came to close it.

"But! What are you doing! Let go of me I have to stop him", she said in the stress of precipitation.

"Your blade was not enough," she replied calmly.

"Let me do it this time."

Espha finally nodded because she wanted to see what she was capable of, and she said true, her sword had failed.

The young Urlh stood in front of the soldier and held out her right arm up to her face. She hid the shoulder of the beast with her hand.

That's it! she thought, I targeted it. She froze like that for a moment, without anything happening, then like a snake responding to its master's call, a black fluid began to come out of her sleeve to form a dark-colored ball whose interior seemed to turn more and more quickly, moving from blue to slow down and stabilize to purple.

This floating mass had increased in brightness and now lit up her white glove, the girl no longer saw the Querj in front of her because of the size of the sphere but she did not care now.

"Light of darkness!" She said with a smile that betrayed her love for magic.

The projectile went at full speed in a sonic explosion throwing the Urlh in the air which lost in passing some plummets and brushed Espha who would have sworn to hear a ridiculous cry of the magician, but it had fainted too quickly with the distance.

A big explosion sounded at the beast's location, the shock wave forced the soldier to cover her face, after the calm returned only a cloud of dust remain at this place.

Instead of the beast find a floor of gravas glowing with heat.

Espha under the influence of emotion had admiration for her, forgetting the fear that a normal person should feel at such power, she looked around to find the Urlh and saw one of her feather that remained standing vertically in the ground, which she took without thinking and admired its shade. The soldier touched its contours and was surprised by its softness it was like silk, she felt a sudden tap on her shoulder.

"Boo", said the magician with amusement. Espha let go of the quill in a burst of surprise and shame, which she immediately tried to hide by regaining composure. Young Urlh measuring one head less, skirted the Pakerjer, letting her hand slip from her shoulder to face her.

"I am called Lunhlia, the magician of the Urlh Guard," she said, taking off her glove to shake hers hand.

The soldier did not make her wait and accepted hers invitation to present herself formally.

"Enchanted Lunhlia, my name is Espha, soldier of the Pakerjer infantry division."

"Well I would like to know what you do on these lands far from all Espha."

"I was assigned to a target that appeared a week ago in the vicinity that would ravage the villages of the Gereh people, but along the way I was attacked by several creatures who hunt in pack, I quickly realized that I can not do it alone and seeking help I contact my division, only the communication did not happen on their side. I'm afraid the problem has become general and the creatures have just gone on the attack."

Lunhlia lowered her head to look down at the ground.

"If what you say is true, we do not know what to expect wherever we are," she said, shrugging her shoulders, pausing to give free rein to her reflection and resumed.

Even the Pakerjer are in trouble. She looked up at Espha.

"I propose to accompany you to my camp, there we can see if we at the same target, your sword will not be too much, when your people I think you already know they had to ask for help to his allies included the Urlh."

"Yes, I guess you're right, I also planned to finish my mission before coming back to help."

"Let's go before other creatures attracted by the sound of the explosion arrive."

Lunhlia flew beyond the treetops through one of the openings of the canopy where flying was simpler, Espha caught up with her and followed her closely.