Land of Taria: The Awakening

Chapter 3

The next morning, Matías and Autumn are sparring. "You've gotten a little better." Matías snickers.
"Well as I'm a mage, I normally prefer to cast spells from afar and not resort to physical attacks." Autumn leaps back from Matías's daggers.
"And that's your weakness. People will easily notice that and exploit you. Gotta be ready for when that happens." Matías tosses a dagger towards Autumn and she catches it. Matías sprints towards her and goes to slash her. She blocks the blade and pushes him back.
"That was good. Now try and block this." Matías lunges at her and she blocks his dagger, but punches him right in the jaw with her other hand. Matías crashes into the ground.
"Ow."
"My skills seem to be improving. Maybe soon I can face Doruntus and Jason."
"Hey, I was going easy on you." Matías remarks.
"Why? Because I'm a girl." Autumn mocks him and helps him jump to his feet. She inspects his jaw for a moment before they lock eyes with each other.
"Do you need me to heal you?" She takes a step back and retrieves her staff. Matías just looks at her and feels his face getting red.
"Nah I'm fine. You don't really hit that hard." Matías laughs. They both stare at each other until their gaze is broken by Jason.
"Your sparring is getting better. But don't forget that a real enemy isn't gonna go easy on you." Jason states, looking at the two.
"Yes well maybe we should go out and fight more. It'll give us more experience." Matías retorts.
"Yeah! It was so exciting when we saved Ty'Vander! We actually got to fight guys!" Autumn beams.
Jason sighs.
"I wouldn't necessarily call that a fight. We massacred those bandits."
"Well yeah but it was so cool! I hadn't used a fire spell in so long! I just can't wait to do it again!" Autumn bounces up and down.
"I do have to give it to Autumn, it did look pretty cool when you walked through the flames. Those bandits totally pissed their pants."
"Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool." Jason looks off towards his tent.
"We're going on a supply run today." Jason states.
Matías and Autumn look at each other.
"That's a little sudden. What's the deal?" Matías asks.
"Yeah, it's not like you to spring plans on us suddenly." Autumn looks at Jason worryingly.
"Everything's fine. I just think it would be good idea to run into town." Jason's gaze hasn't come off his tent. He suddenly snaps his head towards Autumn and Matías.
"Tell the others and go get ready.
"Yes, sir." Autumn and Matías run off and disappear into their tents. Jason walks into his tent and begins preparing his bag for the trip. He paused for a moment before grabbing an amulet. It is a shiny red gem wrapped around a silver cage. He rubs his thumb over the amulet and puts it in his pocket. He walks out of the tent and finds himself surrounded by the group. Doruntus rubs his eyes and grunts.
"Did you just wake up?" Jason smirks at Doruntus, who just gives him a tired grunt. Ty'Vander raise his hand and Jason glanced over to him.
"You don't need to raise your hand, Ty." Jason chuckles.
"Oh. Sorry. But I just wanted to ask where we are going?"
"We're going into Cortulnse. It's the town we protect and it's where we get our supplies from."
"How far is it?"
"Just a few miles. Shouldn't take more than an hour." Jason states.
Matías slaps Ty'Vander on the back. "Just a little history lesson for you, bud. Cortulnse is where Jason and I met." Matías smirks and Jason nods.
"Yes. I remember." Jason begins to walk past them and head into the forest. The other follow behind him, with Doruntus in the back. The group walks for a while through the forest, the sun being lost to the trees above. Ty'Vander walks next to Matías.
"Hey, Matías. Quick question."
"I may have a quick answer, my scaly friend."
"If we protect Cortulnse, why don't we live closer?" Ty'Vander asks, receiving a weird look from Matías. Matías ponders on this question for a moment before glancing back at Ty'Vander.
"Ya know... I wish I had an answer for that."
Ty'Vander looks at Matías in utter disbelief.
"I genuinely wish I had an answer but holy shit, I never thought about that."
Ty'Vander leaves him questioning his entire life and catches up to Jason.
"Hey, Jason. I just had a question."
"Let's hear it."
"If we protect Cortulnse, then how come we don't live closer to or in Cortulnse?"
"That's a good question. You see, while we protect them, we don't want them to rely on us."
"What do you mean?" Ty'Vander tilts his head.
"Well, think of it as a dog. You love this dog and you'll protect it from harm. But what happens when the dog is attacked by a wolf and you're not around. The dog will die because it doesn't know how to protect itself."
Ty'Vander gives Jason a concerning glance.
"You need to teach the dog not to rely on you. You need to teach the dog how to fight for themselves. Otherwise the dog will perish." Jason looks towards the path of trees.
"So, you're calling everyone in Cortulnse dogs?" Ty'Vander says. Jason looks at Ty'Vander for a moment, before smacking the back of his head.
"Is that all you got from my metaphor? I'm not calling them dogs. I'm saying that if we live too close, they'll rely on us for everything. We only want to help them in emergencies."
Ty'Vander rubs the back of his head. "Why didn't you just say that instead of talking about dogs." Ty'Vander turns to see Autumn and Matías laughing at him.
After walking for a little longer, they stop at a gate.
"We're here." Jason looks up towards the large gate.
"Gee I hadn't noticed." Matías receives a glare from Jason.
Two guards look down at the group and one of them points his spear towards them.
"State your business or leave!" The guard demands.
Jason looks up at the guard and glares at him for a moment. The second guard flinches in his post.
"You moron, that's Jason. We told you about him."
The second guard pushes the spear away.
"Apologies, Sir Jason! This young lad is new and unfamiliar with your presence!"
"It's alright, Felix. Just open the gate."
"Right away sir!" Felix begins to open the gate and the city of Cortulnse is full of people. Ty'Vander glances inside and sees a marketplace filled with numerous stands and huge amounts of food and supplies, all busy with customers. The group heads inside as the gate closes behind them.