Book One - The Dragonkin Empire.

Beneath the stars - part one

 Lumiere's side.

 The fire's still young, there's enough wood for it to last all night. Lixk snores disrupt my shallow sleep which I've been trying to do for a while with no avail. Alice's weapons are in her pack, except her dagger which lays beside her on the other side of the fire in front of me. Since I was kept prisoner for a while all my things counted up to a pair of pants, two shirts, a blanket and a large hood and not a single weapon. The wind felt really chilly up here, in the Tunnel it never snowed because of the mana flow that kept everything melted but the temperature dropped considerably during the night. Tonight I was feeling rather restless, but I couldn't put my mind at ease, like when someone is watching you.

Giving up I rose and sat by the fire to warm me up. At this point I was supposed to be already on the other side doing something else rather than listen to the annoying snores of an oaf. When the first generation came, they blocked completely the Tunnel with a powerful seal but with the passing of time the tower has benn absorbing it's power weakening it enough, I am confident that I can break through.

It was about a year ago that I found the seal, it stood big and blurred, the green ink used on the iron door was almost gone, I knew it was a portal to the Physical realm but it still amazed me that I could hear voices traveling from that side, it enthralled me so much that I begun to study the seal and eventually got a way to break it, I had to sniffle every little book I could find in the dark archives kept in the Chief's room, I spent those days sneaking around and wasting time until I found it the way, the only thing that ruined my plans were the innocent and good intentions of a naive girl that sent two of the worst possible options, an apathetic girl and a useless guy which aren't in my best regards.

I had to get out of there before I killed the twins in their sleep. before I left I grabbed my satchel,my destination was the lake, I broke into a jog to warm up and before long the lake was in front of me, without stopping I took off my shirt and pants jumping into the still water.

As soon as the water touched my skin a thousand needles stabbed me from everywhere urging me into a furious swim to evade the coldness. I swam like that until my skin didn't hurt anymore and I could breath deeply, I stopped and turn around to gaze at an innumerable white dots in the vast cloudless sky, the last time I was here, about a year ago, I did the same, jumping head first into the water. Between the lights hovered a giant pale, white moon that seemed to be within my grasp. I floated into the endless sea of stars until I reached the shore.I stood and went for my clothes. Put my trousers and stretched my muscles.

I spent fifteen minutes warming up doing calisthenics to exercise my muscles, I finished feeling tired, I sat crossed legged, put together the tip of my fingers in a O shape and started chanting with my eyes closed. This kind of activities were essential for mages, we had to clear our mind and synchronize ourselves through a trance with the energy around us in order to verify the flow of mana, where was more thick, the quality, etc. How well we entered this state was dictated by our breathing and our talent. I want to merge and understand my surroundings with a calm spirit to take note from anything that could be a danger to us, taking deep breaths that reached down all the way to my diaphragm I started my trance. With such pure energy it's easy to fall into a deep trance, in this mode we see and sense the flow of mana like some kind of mist, depending on the intentions of the earth, the state of the life around us and the energy released by the living, the mana tainted itself with a special color, here, were the life was pure and healthy without the natural mana being twisted by human or spirit hands, it was green, a light and bright green which filled me and gave me peace...

"crunch"

My senses stirred from the trance...

"pat, snap"