The Dance of the Blades and the Leaves

Chapter One

After leaving the city into the surrounding forest, I'd felt accomplished. Why this was, I wasn't sure. I've been on hundreds of jobs before this one and doubtless I'd face hundreds more after. The boredom that was driving me insane at the guild, maybe that was it. A sliver of the rain got through the tree layer, but it was still far less damp below the trees than it was in the city itself. Of course, the village named on the sheet was 70 miles to the North East and totally unreachable by trains, so my only option was to march there through the trees.

That I did find funny, a Plant Demon, whatever it was, would definitely have an advantage over me in the forest. That just seems like it would rationally make sense, there's far more plants here and of course, far more cover. But worried me very little. I was still one of Fairy Tail's top mages, I could still face any threat. The slight drop of the rain was the only source of any sound, the animals were just like humans, hiding from the rain itself. The wind picked up and began to howl, rocking the trees throughout the area.

I heard wood snap, and I instinctively thought there would be trouble. I requiped my cross spear, the brass body of the weapon glistened in the glassy water. I held it back and aimed my head towards the sound, hoping to counter whatever may be near me. I waited one minute. Two. Three. Four. Maybe five. There was no point staying in place, if something had found me my best chance was to move and move quickly. I started running, cross spear in hand, knowing that I could probably find a better place to fight, a meadow or perhaps a simple opening in the forest, anything would do.

I kept my run, calmly observing my surroundings. This was hardly the first time I'd faced danger in the woods. I damn well knew bandits loved to prey on unsuspecting passerby here. They tried to ambush, to capture, to kidnap, and to take hostage the poor souls they come across. I wasn't simply another victim though, most their targets didn't use any form of magic. There were rare cases bandits caught mages, but I refused to let myself be among them. I would defeat them or escape from them, I couldn't let anything else be the case. I was not a toy to be humiliated.

The ground shook, which startled me, that wasn't a bandit, or at least any ordinary one. I figured either the local wildlife had gotten in on the fun or my pursuer had fallen off the tree. I stopped running and looked around to identify the sound, and I heard many cracking sounds, almost identical to branches breaking. I heard a definitive snap to my right, and I quickly looked that way. A tree had been cut down, and I wasted zero time running forward and getting out of its way. In the distance I saw something, eyes and a hood perhaps. But now was not the time to investigate that. I had to get out of here, this situation was far too dangerous.

As I was darting away, I watched the hooded figured move their lips to talk, and I gathered "Nightmare" but nothing else. How peculiar, that almost seemed like a spell. They're either a mage of some sort or an occult follower. Either way, this made them particularly dangerous. How the hell did I get out of this now, fighting them definitely wasn't an option. I didn't want to risk burning my energy while I had such a trip ahead of me. I had to keep running, but that being seemed to know where I was at all times. This town to the North, Amaris, was and had to be my priority.

I kept running, unequiping my cross spear in the process. If I needed a weapon, I could requip it the moment I was attacked, It'd give them less time to react to my counter. Plus, this saved precious energy. I knew I couldn't make it there in a single night, but I needed to cover as much ground as possible. I wanted to simply be there and start this job, I had to be there, to escape the freezing rain, to escape the boredom, and to escape whatever I'd just encountered in the forest.

My pursuer had seemed to have gone for the moment, but that definitely didn't mean I could relax. My adversary clearly was no idiot, I couldn't just relax once I lost line of sight. I could walk more slowly, but I had to be cautious. I couldn't let them best me and that started with strategy. If they know anything about strategy, they'd make sure it was as unfair a fight as possible. This was doctrine I've known, but I kept repeating it to myself. In times like this I had to stay focused and calm and constantly reminding myself of what's happening is my way of doing that.