“Good morning class, today we will be working on our spelling,” a monotonous voice sounded from the front of the room causing a cascade of groaning from the kids before him, “I know, I know – it’s been very difficult to spell those three letter words, but you have to be able to do it in the future.”

A few glowing words were written in the air near him, and he spoke once more, “Now these are the words we will be learning today. At the end of the hour, I will quiz you on them.” When he finished speaking, he looked around for a minute or two, glaring at those dozing off, before dozing off himself.

Sophia, whose features were changed due to an illusion, was sitting at the back of the class sighed deeply as she mumbled, “Two weeks and the class is already struggling with three letter words. Hopefully, he won’t notice my spell.”

She closed her eyes for a few moments and concentrated on forming another illusion on top of the first one. A few seconds later anyone who looked at her would see her blankly staring at the floating words at the front of the room. A quick sleep spell later and she was off to the land of nod.

Inside her dreams, as if on a screen, she could see a small gnome, his heavy cloak was lined with runes swayed freely as he moved around a large stone room, occasionally revealing a belt containing a multitude of potion vials. He was standing next to an array of alchemical equipment, including a pestle and mortar, several cauldrons sitting on flames and what could be called a rudimentary distillery, behind that were hundreds of shelves and drawers filled with ingredients, flowers could be seen stuffed into boxes, animals pickled in jars and even a few minerals could be seen sparkling in the high powered magelight.

“Now that we have covered the equipment and ingredient identification. I will now show you how to make your first potion. Well part of one at least.” His wizened voice was slow but maintained a steady cadence.

Sophia, although she couldn’t speak, almost involuntarily shouted for joy.

“Now the cure all, while fantastical in name, is the basis of most healing brews. It is used to significantly reduce the mana cost of those potions by allowing the alchemist to infuse half the required mana into a stable potion, recover, and then brew the full healing potion. First – ”

Sophia groaned once more and mentally settled in for another boring lecture.

Ursula, unfortunately, was in an almost identical position. In her dream like state, she could see in front of her on a grassy field inside a grey void a completely nude horse animan. He was easily over two meters tall, his muscles looked to be carved from marble and the only human characteristics he had were his hands and his bipedal nature. What was readily apparent was his gigantic horse like dick, fat overactive coconut sized balls hanging loosely underneath causing pre-cum to steadily drip onto the grass below.

“When using reinforcement and strengthening magic one must remember to strengthen every part of your body, veins, bones, muscles even your skin as they can easily tear from the force,” his deep horse-like face somehow managed to voice out.

“I would recommend reinforcing your bones first followed by your organs, ligaments and muscles and then finally your skin,” he uttered as he gestured to a nearby manikin that gradually revealed itself as he said those words, “I will expect you to do at least one-hundred hours training before you move on to the next section.”

Ursula internally whimpered at the prospect of even more training.

 

<-{|}->

 

Later in the day the duo could be seen slowly trudging their way into the orphanage after leaving from Axia’s blacksmith, back’s hunched and limbs weary. They arrived to see an unusual sight through the holes of the wooden building.

“Who’s that wolf animan talking to Rosalind?” Sophia asked.

“Why are you asking me?” Ursula weakly replied rolling her eyes.

The girls both shrugged and entered through the door and were soon waved over by the matron.

“Hello, you two,” she said warmly, she gestured to the tall but slightly shorter man beside her, “This is Brun. He’s here to make sure those – events – don’t happen again.”

“Greetings, Rosalind speaks well of you,” he said with a heady timbre with a slight bow. During that took off his thick black cloak to reveal a large two-handed warhammer strapped to his back and a necklace with a symbol of a howling wolf, “If you have any questions please ask.”

“Actually, I do have a question. What’s the scariest manamal that you’ve ever faced?” Sophia asked with stars in her eyes.

He chuckled, ruffled the blonde’s hair, and said, “In my service to my god Fenrir I have faced many a beast. The most deadly have always been the oldest and most intelligent. Be wary of a prepared foe.”

“Woah. Thanks, Mr. Brun,” the blonde said with faux innocence.

Ursula grabbed her friends hand gave both the adults a quick nod of the head and scampered off.

As they left towards their room the wolfman quietly spoke, “You kept them?”

“How could I not? They are innocent in all this.” Rosalind replied steadily.

Brun grunted and nodded, “Do not worry. I will keep you and all of the children safe. You have my word.”

“Thank you for coming back, Brun.” The tall woman said sincerely.

“You saved my life more times than I literally can count Rosa,” he said with an affectionate lilt, “I will always be available in your times of need.”

Rosalinds’ cheeks coloured to a rosy hue and she lightly punched his shoulder in mock indignation.

 

<-{|}->

 

Time slowly slipped away from the pair as they spent their time at school praying for every day to finish faster whilst slowly working through their ancestral lessons. Ursula spent most of her time working on her blacksmithing and martial fighting skills while Sophia focused on her alchemy whilst learning fighting from Axia and Ursula.

In almost in a blink a few years passed.

 

<-{|}->

 

Sophia and Ursula were sparring inside Axia's weapon room. The various training tools and dummies had been pushed to the sides to allow for the two girls to move freely.

Sophia had a small recurve bow strung around her small body, a dagger in each hand and was slightly crouched, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. Ursula alternatively was standing strong in a boxer's stance, she had her shield on her left hand up and ready in front of her body in her other hand she held a large two-handed sword aloft, which although was made of wood, was causing her arm to lightly tremble and toned muscles to strain.

The pair paused for a moment and the glow of reinforcement magic shrouded them. In a flash Sophia shot off to her left spiralling in towards Ursula's unshielded right side, her butt length hair trailing behind her in a golden stream. Ursula's sword dropped low and flickered up to her left causing Sophia to dive over the sword. The blonde turned the dive into a roll, making sure not to crush the bow, and then leapt up only to be met with the face of Ursula's shield. The swordswoman tried to follow through with a swipe from her sword but Sophia quickly back peddled, the long blade just barely missing.

As Sophia was righting herself Ursula got back into her original stance and then rushed forward, her shield held firmly in front. Sophia once again moved to her left causing Ursula to stop her shield charge and whipped her sword out to follow her foe, her shoulder length auburn hair fanning out like dull flames.

Sophia, panting in exertion, desperately tried to use her flexibility to duck and try to parry the blade, but she just wasn't able to overcome the momentum of the large sword. It caught the girl hard on her shoulder causing her to let out a gasp of pain.

The green-eyed blonde let her weapons fall to the floor and gave her friend a weak glare, “That shield is not fair – and I have to fight with this stupid bow on my back,” Sophia pouted.

“You did a good job Soph. And you didn’t smash your bow this time either,” Ursula commented, her breathing still coming faster than usual.

“It’s been pretty much three years since I started combat training and I haven’t even come close to touching you,” the girl said exasperatedly.

“You know that I’ve got two of my ancestors teaching me combat Soph,” Ursula walked over to her friend and gave her a warm hug, Sophia’s head now fitting snugly under her chin, “And you’ve matched my progress in smithing in both enchanting and alchemy just using the bat-stard’s books and your ancestral lessons.”

Sophia gently pulled back her head and looked up into Ursula’s face, “Hopefully after our maturity tonight and a few weeks growth I’ll match you in height as well,” she said with a wry smile.

“I think we both know you will always be the short one,” Ursula replied smugly.

“You don’t have to say it,” the blonde grumbled.

They spent a few moments in companionable silence before it was broken by Axia walking into the room.

“Go home.” The buff woman said tersely.

The two children nodded and placed their weapons back on their racks leaving the room with a quick nod to the stern woman.

The pair walked outside to see that the sun had already set but they spotted Eyvor holding a magelight spell waiting for them.

“Eyvor!” Sophia shouted happily running up to the woman and giving her a hug, “How did your first dungeon dive go? Did you see anything cool?”

“Hey Soph and Ursula, I’m going great thanks for asking,” she said flatly giving the blonde a look.

Sophia looked away chagrined while Ursula smiled wryly beside her and gave Eyvor a hug.

“She told us she was staying in the first room Soph,” Ursula uttered slightly irritated, “It’s literally an wide expanse of rocky cave with low level manamal's and materials. It takes a few days to even get to the second room, let alone return.”

“I know Ursy but it’s so cool! How do the dungeons use spatial compression so well that they can fit hundreds of kilometres of space inside them?” Sophia said with stars in her eyes, “And then the space is subdivided into rooms of varying difficulty. Why do they do that?”

Eyvor interrupted before the small enchanter could continue further, “Easy there kiddo. While I’d love to talk about it we need to get back for your maturities.”

While Sophia sulked, Eyvor took out a small bloody bag and offered it to Ursula, “Here, it’s not much but these are some mana gems from some wolf manamal's. You can sell them to start making some equipment for you two once you’ve matured, or just eat ‘em.” She offered kindly.

“Ew, that was inside a manamal's body, how could you eat them?” Sophia chimed in.

“Doesn’t really bother me.” Eyvor shrugged, “It reminds me of those hard candies we sometimes got a couple years back. And occasionally you can get a small mana boost. It's much more effective for those with no densification as you have to properly integrate it before it becomes useful.”

“So basically, they work better on those idiots who’ve done no mana densification at all?” Ursula asked with quirked lips, “But seriously thank you. We’ve probably said this a thousand times but it's worth mentioning again, you really are the best older sister a girl could have.”  

Eyvor’s cheeks warmed, and she started to nervously rub the back of her head, “Yeah, well, make sure you remember me when you guys get famous.”

Ursula snorted, “You’ll always be remembered as our big sister and trainer. You won’t get a moments peace from fans.”

Eyvor paled, “Now that you mention it… maybe keep quiet about my involvement. I’ve seen what happens to those famous adventurers and dungeon delvers.”

This time both Sophia and Ursula gave their sister a strong hug at the same time, squishing their faces into her body.

They all walked home with content smiles on their faces.

 

<-{|}->

 

As they entered the orphanage, they saw Rosalind and Brun waiting for them at one of the tables, three steaming bowls and gruel and chilled glasses of milk sitting unattended.

“Hello my children. Productive day today?” Rosalind greeted them.

All three gave quick nods as they sat down to eat the bland meal, Sophia already chugging down her glass of milk.

“There’s three things I want to speak to you two,” she gestured to Sophia and Ursula, ”Firstly, this is the last night that you'll be able to sleep together.” Rosalind said sternly.

“Bu-” Sophia tried to interject.

“-No buts. Once you’ve passed your maturity, I don’t trust you two to get up to any mischief,” The tall woman said with a glare.

“W-We’re just friends,” Sophia exclaimed her face red and her eyes quickly darting away and looking to the floor, a small grin creeped onto Ursula’s face at Sophia’s reaction. The blonde then, with wide tearful eyes, looked towards Rosalind and said fretfully, “How am I supposed to get to sleep?”

Rosalind had to look away, “Y-You’ll just have to try,” she said with difficulty.

“Darn, didn’t work.” Sophia whined.

“Secondly, I know I said this six years ago but please know that no matter what happens there’ll be a place for you. I love you both so much.” Rosalind said kindly.

Tears prickled at the sides of the girl’s eyes, and they latched on to the tall woman hugging her with all their might as Rosalind reciprocated. They stayed there for a few minutes before Brun lightly coughed into his hand.

The two kids tried to surreptitiously wipe their tears, but their puffy red eyes and faces betrayed them.

“I’ll let Brun tell you the last thing I had to say,” Rosalind warbled, her own eyes looking a little moist, and gestured to the large man sitting beside her.

“Sophia and Ursula, while I haven’t had much contact with you two over the last three years, I do know that you both are strong for your age. When you get into the dream, please be careful, there have been rumours that several children have been coming back no stronger than when they went in.” He warned.

“Is it something to do with what happened with us for our last maturity?” Ursula asked seriously.

He nodded, “Rosalind told me about what happened to you two. The roar or scream that kicked you out of the dream is slowly coming earlier and earlier. I’m not sure at what point it will occur during your dream as the kingdom is trying to suppress the news.”

“Why are they trying to suppress the news?” Sophia asked, her small face scrunched up in confusion.

“Sophia, think what would happen if other kingdoms discovered that we no longer are capable of inheriting our ancestors’ boons.” The wolfman explained.

“Oh.”

Sophia felt the warm gruel and milk setting in her stomach and let out a loud yawn which was promptly copied by Ursula. Rosalind got up and started to lead them towards their beds.

“Stay safe kiddo’s,” Eyvor said worriedly as they left the room.

It did not take long for Rosalind to tuck them into bed and give them a quick kiss on their foreheads, “Stay safe my children.” She whispered.

“Thanks – Mum,” Sophia said half-asleep as she spooned into Ursula’s warm embrace.

Tears once more threatened to be released from the matron’s eyes but she held them in and quietly left the room.

 

<-{|}->

 

The pair woke inside the same dream-like space as last time. A small field atop a small hill of tall lush green grass covered in cold dew. The grass was circled by a dense ring of trees and sitting just inside the tree line was a heavy blanket of fog preventing any kind of vision further in. The distant peaks of tall slate mountains also now obscured from vision.

Much quicker than last time the eight elves appeared from the trees although they were slightly incorporeal, and their appearances were ragged. The pristine weapons were now chipped and frayed, their bodies dirty and their hair matted. They furtively looked around and sprinted into the clearing. Four went to Ursula while the remainder went to Sophia and without any hesitation a shade of them split off into their descendant and then they disappeared into ethereal motes of light.

As soon as they did so the earth-shaking roar sounded out sweeping through the land in an intense shockwave shaking the pair to their cores. The fog once more started to sweep in around them, almost trying to protect them but now the pair had magic.

In a burst of mana Sophia created a barrier around them to stop the ungodly roar although they could still feel the heavy vibrations heavily their feet. Ursula’s mana reached out into the fog, and it tried to push it back towards her, urging the tall child to leave. But the auburn-haired-girl was insistent and so with one last flare of warning the fog dissipated.

All at once the forest behind the trees was revealed and all the pair could see was devastation. Blackened husks of once tall trees strewn across the ashy ground; most trees were caving in on themselves as if the moisture had been sucked from the inside. A faint breeze picked up carrying the scent of ash, a few trees crumbling to dust from just a light touch of wind.

In the deep distance was a large mound of earth, in its centre was a large, cavernous hole. Even from their location the pair could feel the faint pressure of a huge mana signature deep within the cave’s recesses.

Feeling the roar come to an end Sophia ended to spell allowing for them to hear the ominous booms of footfalls coming from within the cavity. With each thunderous step the pressure on their small bodies grew until it was difficult for them to stand.

Soon a four-legged creature could be seen walking out into the open. The first definable features of the creature was its head, instead of any animal it was the face of an androgynous man. The head transitioned into a lion’s body, it’s strong muscles clearly defined through the thin fur. Finally, its tail was revealed, swinging from side to side, was the tail of a dragon.

The animal saw Sophia and Ursula standing out into the open and it smiled viciously. The face’s pupils dilated to that of a snake and its eyes narrowed. And with a growl reminiscent of distant thunder, it pounced towards them.

The manticore was on the hunt.