“Finally I can leave leave this godforsaken place” Reya muttered to herself

She was using a broken branch of a tree for support, her right ankle had been injured in her last encounter with what seemed to be death itself.

The injured warrior sighed deeply, her mind started wandering to a time when she wasn’t so burdened by the troubles of her past.

‘I’m actually starting to miss Reynard now…I never thought I'd actually miss that filth of a brother…’

Reya trudged through the tall beanstalk like grass, stopping and starting every few steps so as to not injure her ankle further.

The only thing surrounding her was the colour green. ‘Green grass to my left, to my right, to my fucking left…all that surrounds me is this stupid green grass’ 

Out of pure frustration Reya pulled out her sword and silently chanted a spell ‘flame’, a large plume of flames engulfed her surroundings, the grass that was previously there now turned to ash.

‘I feel so much better now!’ The stress of her last encounter had placed a huge burden on her.

As Reya continued walking, she encountered a river full of rapi, these creatures swarmed around the banks and prevented Reya from crossing, one rapi lunged up at Reya, but she quickly dispatched of it with a quick downwards thrust to the throat.

“Why oh why are there always these stupid fucking monsters in my way, I’ve had enough!” Reya grit her teeth and screamed, her aura bursting forth, a red energy surrounded her entire being, this red energy was known as an aura and it was something she had yet to master.

“All I've faced since coming into this cursed place is frustration after frustration, I am done playing the ‘hero' that people so desperately wanted!” 

Reya muttered a combination of spells under her breath ‘fire’ ‘incinerate’ ‘explode’.

The ground trembled and suddenly a violent lava plume rose out of the ground destroying the rapi colony and the surrounding area.

Reya laughed maniacally at the site of the destroyed colony “AHAHAHA, how does it feel you useless swine to be on the opposite end of what  I've been dealing with for all these years!” 

The red aura around the insane warrior changed dramatically, the aura that before was calm and still now changed to be violent and active, the aura cloaked Reya even more and her mind was slowly starting to change.

‘Why should I help them? All they’ve ever done for me is give me more and more work, the one connection I had left to the outside is now dead! No longer will I play the role they gave me…”

She drew her sword into an arch and then muttered ‘speed’ ‘flame’ ‘burn’, the surrounding area that was already completely charred once again was set ablaze, any remaining life should have been completely wiped out however what stepped out of the blaze surprised Reya. 

“Young one, why do you bring such destruction to this place?” an old beastfolk man walked out of the plume and confronted Reya. His shabby white ears and tail surprised Reya.

“Why do I bring destruction?, WHY DO I BRING DESTRUCTION!!?, I AM BRINGING NO SUCH THING OLD MAN, NOW GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I DEAL WITH YOU!.” 

Reya had completely lost her mind at this point and any rational thinking was gone, she gritted her teeth and her aura grew in size and ferocity, any place that her aura reached was burnt to a crisp.

The old looking beastfolk was not intimidated by Reya in the slightest, what should have been fear in his eyes was instead just pity, his eyes stared into Reya’s.

“I see you have been mistreated by the people around you, instead of thanking you they only looked at you with scorn and…you lost someone precious it seems.”

Reya had tuned out from what the old man was saying and instead gave him one last warning.

“Step aside, or die”

He firmly stood his ground and took out what appeared to be a fishing rod, attached to the end was something akin to bait.

Reya laughed at this site and lunged forward, the ground beneath her feet breaking apart from her force.

The old man however did not move and instead he got into a battle stance and muttered ‘aquawall’ 

A huge body of water formed in front of the old man, the body of water then quickly shaped itself into a wall like shape.

Reya just before hitting the wall quickly slashed down horizontally and then up vertically to create an opening in the wall, she pierced through the wall with ease and then quickly approached the elderly figure.

“SO YOU'RE ONE OF THE SAGES OF THIS PLACE, THE VERY ONES WHO TRAPPED ME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Reya screamed this and then slashed upwards at the elderly man.

The elderly man blocked this attack with his fishing rod and then counterattacked, he swiped downwards with the rod, the hook grabbing Reya, he then reeled her in and punched her in the stomach, the force winding Reya and causing her aura to temporarily reduce in size. 

Reya quickly stepped back after feeling the impact of the punch and she regained some level of rationality ‘That punch…what type of strength was that..’ 

Reya realizing she had to get serious, she entered into a battle stance placing her right foot forward and putting her left foot just behind her body, she concentrated her mana into her feet and yelled “ACCELERATE!”

Her body dashed forward as if she was one with the wind, she slashed her sword downwards while muttering ‘accelerate’, the speed of her sword increased 

The elderly man blocked once again with his fishing rod however he was forced to take a step back, Reya continued her frontal assault, she would swing left then right then downwards while also interrupting her swift sword strikes with powerful kicks, the elderly beastfolk dodged and blocked, he was being pushed back, when Reya swung down the man would jump back and Reya would then attempt to kick the old man which he struggled to block.

Reya’s aura once again flared up and she entered into a frenzied state, her attacks were becoming more and more like that of a wild beasts, her face gained strange swipes on the side of her cheeks and as the fight continued Reya's battle prowess only increased.

‘This kid…she’s unbelievably dangerous’ the elderly beastfolk decided he had to take it up a notch so he unleashed his own aura, however unlike Reya’s it was blue and was calm like the sea.

The old man muttered ‘absorb’ but continued too block and avoid Reya’s attacks, the ground beneath the pair of them would be destroyed wherever they went, the battlefield that had once been a calm river was now a desolate wasteland of fire and water clashing against each other.

Reya could feel her mana and aura being sapped away from her ‘Why, why isn’t this old man fighting back! And why am I losing ground!’ Reya’s attacks although still ferocious were not as strong as they once were, as her aura shrank the beastfolk’s aura only grew larger and calmer. 

‘Wait, my mana is being sapped away!’. Reya realised this and instantly jumped back away from the scruffy beastman.

‘Huh, so she noticed’ The beastman whispered a spell ‘entangle’, the aura that was surrounding him swiftly launched towards Reya.

Reya was now on the defensive and she was at a heavy disadvantage, although she had been able to ignore the pain of her ankle until now, now that she was on the defensive it was finally starting to affect her movements, the wave of water that was after Reya was constantly aiming for her left leg so she was forced to dodge with her right foot. 

This continued on for a few minutes with Reya dodging to the best of her abilities while the wave followed and attacked her.

‘Fuck, the pain is too much, I need too get away’ 

Reya realizing her error in attacking the elderly beastfolk decided to cut her losses and muttered a spell ‘Accelerate’, she dashed away from the battle area and into the surrounding forest, however the old man followed after her.

“Turning tail and running now are we? Young one please listen to me, you need to let that anger go, you cannot let it control you”

Although Reya was running away as fast as she could she still paid what he was saying some heed.

The old man continued “The past is the past, you cannot let the actions of those people affect you now, although you have experienced much loss I can still see good in you, please listen!” 

Reya started jumping from one tree to another however she suddenly twisted her ankle again and she screamed out in pain and crashed onto the floor, swiftly being entangled by the wave of water.

“Please young one listen..” but before Reya could say anything she was knocked out by the elderly man.