Gale opened her eyes, seeing the familiar ceiling she was getting used to. Just like the two days before, she was still in her base inside the Tower. Right beside her, laying on the floor inside an empty sheathe she had found in the abandoned camp, she could see a familiar black sword. Zack’s sword. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could still see some images before her: Zack being cut down, her unexplained burst of rage and the way she murdered the cultists, the state of the villagers as she tried to give them a proper burial…

She once again tried to think about other things, as she has been doing for the past days. She did not feel ready to continue looking for an exit just yet; and much less, try to use the route indicated by the late mayor of the village. As far as she was concerned, the I portal was closed off. She got up, tried to ignore the sword on he floor, and reached for her bag. Inside, she found what little was left of the food she found on the village. Soon enough, she would be forced to continue her trip. Not today, she wasn’t yet ready.

She passed the time maintaining her equipment, and training with her own sword. To get motivated, she just needed to take a look at the piece of fabric in her pocket, the symbol of the Origin of Faith that she had tore off the corpse of one of those murderers. She had promised over the tomb of her friend that she would do all she could to obliterate anything and anyone marked by this symbol. This filled her with anger and determination, and while she could no longer do all those crazy attacks she could vaguely remember (not like she ever knew how to do them), she still was able to swing her sword angrily. After a while, she decided to go to sleep once again. Tomorrow, no matter what, she needed to get out of her base and explore the next objective: portal II.

*********************************

Less than half an hour after waking up, she was ready to leave her base. She just needed to take her final item: the black sword. She once again unsheathed it and examined it. It was still a deep black sword, just like before, similar to her own in weight and seemingly strength, but there was one difference from the time it was still owned by Zack: it was sharp now. She did not know how it happened, but after waking up from her murder-dream, the sword was in her hands, fully sharpened and usable. It was after burying her friend that she had sworn to him to find out if/how it was a magic sword or not, and to do that she had to take it with her, as a memento.

She put it in her side, opposite from her regular sword, and exited the base into the hallway. As usual, there were two goblins guarding portal II, identical to the previous time. They were also there every time she had come back to the tower, as if they somehow reformed themselves. She had never seen them come back with her own eyes, so they could still be reinforcements sent from beyond the portal they were guarding.

After making quick work of them, she stared at portal II. She dared not look at portal I, just behind her, and could not forget everything that had happened. But she needed to move on. She stepped forward to cross the portal, with her eyes open this time, wishing not to enter straight into a goblin base and find herself outnumbered.

After crossing the portal, she found herself in a cave. There was light coming from the side, after a turn of the cave. The floor, walls and ceiling were made of damp rock, slightly slippery, and it was much colder than the inside of the Tower. Turning around, there was a big stone arch carved on the wall, in what seemed to be the end of the cave.

She started walking forward, trying to exit the cave. It was quite shallow, and after two turns she found herself at the entrance. Just outside of it, there were two wooden beams crossing each other, seemingly blocking the entrance, and a wooden arrow pointing to the cave. It said “DANGER, GOBLIN CAVE”. She did not really understand what it meant, since the cave was completely devoid of sign of life. She just ignored it, and decided to exit the cave.

Outside, she found a magnificent view. She was quite tall on the side of a mountain, where she could see a small forest of trees climbing to the side of all the mountains forming a valley that stretched beyond what she could see. IN the middle, a flowing river could be seen snaking away, with a couple of small fishing boats on it. On the side of the river, she could also see a small town, much bigger than her village or Zack’s, surrounded by a wooden fence and with a road going away from it into the mountains to her side. She could hear the sounds of birds, and on the distance some human activity.

The cold wind brought her back to her senses, and she shuddered. She was not dressed appropriately for a mountain region. She decided to start climbing down towards the forest, and finally the human village. The descent was easy enough, as she was agile and an expert in traversing the forest. This forest was a bit different to hers, with tall trees that only had leaves on the top, making it look like an arrangement of spikes from inside. She only did see a small movement far away from her position, but not really any dangerous fauna.

When she finally reached the edge of the forest, she was not far from the road that started on the gate of the city, which was flanked by two guards. They were both similar to each other, each one carrying a spear and wearing similar metal breastplates, arm guards and leg guards.

As she approached the gate, they looked at her up and down and crossed their spears in front of her. This was not a good sign.

“I’m Gale, a lost adventurer that was looking for directions, and visit the magnificent city while at it”, she lied once again. She supposed she could try the same lie as in the previous place, it’s not like she could give a honest explanation.

“You do know that there is only one road out of this town, right? It leads outside the valley all the way south from the mountains. There, you have now your directions. Now leave”, the left guard said, displeased.

“I need more directions, I was looking how to find the city of Astidia and…”, she started.

“Enough”, the right guard said, sharply. “I’ve seen you coming out of the goblin cave. I have no idea why you went inside, but it was clearly not “because you were lost””, he air-quoted. “If you really are an adventurer, hurry up and show us your license. It is quite suspicious that you did not show it to us right away, as is proper procedure.”

“I-- I--”, Gale stammered. She did not have a license, nor did she know how to acquire one. And the more time she took, the more suspicious she looked. Was she really going to be kicked out, just like that?

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!”, a man said in a friendly voice from behind her. She turned around, and saw a strong looking man, much taller than her, carrying a basket with herbs and mushrooms inside. He must have been in his forties, with unkempt black hair and the shadow of a beard. He was wearing a leather armor just like herself, and had a short knife strapped to one of his tights.

“Hello, professor”, the left guard said. “Are you talking to her?”, he asked, pointing at Gale.

“Yes, yes”, he started. “She is my new student at the magic academy, coming from a far away place. That said, she was supposed to arrive a couple of days ago, did something happen?”, he said looking at her. His eyes were clearly saying “Follow my lead”.

Gale was confused for a few seconds, but she did want to enter the city. Also, if this man was actually a magic teacher, maybe he could help her learn! “Yes! Yes, I got lost somewhere, I somehow entered the valley through that mountain over there, with the closed off cave. I did not even know I had reached my destination, I was asking these kind men for directions. I’m so glad I finally found you!”, she lied.

“Just one thing, professor”, the left guard interjected, “I’m guessing you intend to vouch for her entrance in the city, but why did she not carry any form of identification? Moreover, she was claiming to be an adventurer!”

The professor looked at Gale pointedly for a few seconds, as if he was trying to make sense of what happened. Then, he simply replied: “She comes from a far away place, maybe she did not know an adventurer is a licensed professional? And not all places really require identification. In any case, don’t worry gentlemen, I will take her with me to the academy. Thank you for your hard work.”

The guards uncrossed the spears and allowed the man to enter, followed by Gale, while still looking suspiciously at her. She was not sure what to do know, so she proceeded to follow this strange man that had for some reason helped her along. They walked through the main street, where she could see a bakery selling their products, a butcher’s shop and three stands of fish, probably recently caught from the river in the distance. After a few turns away from the main street, they reached a plain-looking house. The man turned around for the first time, and told her to enter the building.

Inside she could see what was clearly the home of a single person. There was a small kitchen on the side, with a fire place and a couple of metal cooking instruments: a single bed on the far side of the main room, and a big desk with two chairs not far from it. The desk was covered in documents and books, as one would imagine from a scholar. He took both chairs and placed them in the middle of the main room, opposite each other, and signaling for her to sit down, as he did the same.

“Explain”, he said, brief. He was looking at her with intensity and curiosity. But he also seemed tense, as if he was prepared to act should something occur. This made Gale feel nervous about her answer, maybe she was really unwelcome here.

“I-- I’m just traveling, I was looking for indications here on how to continue my trip, and I thought saying I was an adventurer would help me look less suspicious. I’m sorry, please just show me a map or something and I’ll be on my way”, she said apologetically. She actually wanted to ask the man about teaching her magic, but he did not really seem to be in the proper disposition.

He scoffed at her answer. “You want me to believe that? That such a powerful magician carrying a magical sword just happened to stroll by the Scilla Range, and just happened to enter the Goblin cave (I saw you, you’re not even trying to disguise your teal hair), and was somehow lost enough to try and enter a city without any documentation to “ask for directions”? Do you think I’m...”

“Wait”, Gale interrupted, “what do you mean powerful magician?”

“What kind of question is that? You are not even suppressing your magical aura, you look like a goddamn beacon”, he replied looking at her even more suspiciously.

“I-- I cannot use magic, what are you talking about? And you mean this sword is actually magical?”, she replied confused, taking a look at her black sword.

The man stared at her for a few seconds, wondering why she seemed so genuine saying something so ridiculous. He decided then to make a little experiment. Gale did not notice anything, but his eyes went wide a few seconds later.

“WHAT. THE. FUCK.”, he shouted. He stood up before continuing. “Are you for real? Your aura did not even react at my pulse, what the hell? All this magical power, and this is just your untrained, overflowing energy?”

“There must be some mistake, I’m not powerful or anything of the sort”, she replied bewildered. Then she recalled how she butchered the member of the order, even if she only had pieces of it, and decided to look away from the man.

“I’ve decided. Young lady, you will be my student, starting tomorrow. Free of charge”, he said, matter-of-factly.

“WHAT? You don’t even know my name! And just like that you go from being super suspicious of me to wanting to train me? I haven’t even asked for it yet! And what do you gain form this?? You are literally offering a full scholarship to a stranger!”, Gale replied with increasing shock.

“Now are you the one being suspicious?”, he replied laughing. “I’m a magical researcher, and trying to understand the underlying mechanisms for the many magical abilities. And I can tell that you are a talent seen a few times every generation. Of course I want to be the teacher of someone like that!”, he said with increasing enthusiasm.

“You are way overestimating me”, Gale replied softly, looking on the floor.

“If you believe so, why don't just try coming to the academy? It’s not like you would be executed if you fail or something. And maybe, we could unlock some of your potential. Did you never want to do such a thing?”, he said back, this time knowing that he was winning her over. She had just blurted out “yet” a few seconds ago, after all.

Gale took a deep breath. She had always wanted to learn magic. She also need to become stronger, she almost died a few times just a couple of days before. And what if those murderers got to her hometown? She needed the strength to protect her friends and family. She got up from her chair and extended her hand. “Gale, nice to meet you professor”.

“Professor Aberyth, pleased to meet you”, he replied smiling widely, and shaking her hand with confidence.