Ultimate Warrior

Chapter 2 - The strange encounter

That night, Eva silently grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows, packed a satchel full of essential supplies and began to make her way down the long hallway towards the stairs. When she was outside Madame's room, a creaking floorboard made her stiffen. She paused for a few seconds before an idea came to her head; where was she going to get the money for the journey? She glanced through the crack in the door and when she was satisfied that Madame was sound asleep, she tiptoed down the poorly carpeted stairs. Instead of heading out of the back door and towards the forest, she walked to the side-access door to the shop. It creaked open slowly and she stepped into the soul-chilling darkness of the room, moving in the general direction of the counter. Slipping her hand into one of the drawers, she pulled out the biggest money bag she could find and put it in her satchel. She gently closed the drawer and made a swift but silent exit out if the back door. She broke into a jog until she entered the thick forest, her long auburn hair flowing behind her.

Streams of silvery moonlight that fell through the surrounding trees made the forest feel eerie. Unlike the friendly glow of the morning sun that illuminated every inch of her pale skin on the mornings she went there to train, the moonlight, although beautiful, was unsettlingly hostile.

When she was a fair distance from the town, she decided to look for a place to rest as she was not yet even half way through what would be the longest night of her life. She spotted a gap under the roots of an old oak tree and headed towards it, relieved to be finally getting some rest. As she got nearer to the tree however, she noticed a strange glow emanating from the bark. Deciding it was probably just a combination of a trick of the light and her tired eyes, she unrolled her sleeping bag and lay down in the hollow woody gap and soon she was fast asleep.

........

The two sprites knew something was up when they felt that the Grand Oak's power was fluctuating. Expecting the worst, they hurried to the centre of the forest, only to find that a surprising sight awaited them. Just like it did every day at dawn, the morning sun illuminated the tree that stood proudly in the centre of the clearing. But it was not alone.

.......

"Do you think it's alive?"
"I doubt it! You know no human can survive for more than a few minutes being exposed to the pure magical energy of the Grand Oak!"
Evangeline awoke to the sound of a high pitched conversation. She opened her heavy eyelids, only to find herself staring into the eyes of two small, inquisitive faces. The sprites squealed and jumped back, and Eva had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream herself. She sat up abruptly, pulling the blue cotton sleeping bag up around her chest.
The smaller, female sprite picked up a stick that was lying on the ground and poked her with it, keeping her distance.
"Um..." Eva started, contemplating the idea that she was still experiencing a very bizarre dream.
"What are you?" The female sprite asked rudely.
"Excuse me?" The two sprites exchanges glances.
"Are you a demifauna? I mean, you don't have any visible tiger claws or fish gills, but that could be a pig's nose."
"Hey!" Eva exclaimed, self consciously rubbing her nose.
"What are you?" The male sprite repeated, stepping into a thin beam of sunlight.
Eva hadn't noticed until now how beautiful the sprites were. Their small, delicate features were perfectly in proportion. their sparkling eyes were framed by long, luscious lashes and their cheeks were tinted rosy red. However beautiful they may be, they are known to have a fiery temper, so Eva replied almost immediately so not to anger them further.
"I'm a human, and a very cold one at that." she shuddered as the morning breeze made her wavy locks dance and huddled further into her sleeping bag.
The sprites' mouths' dropped open in surprise at they stared at the girl, utterly shocked.
"Impossible! Humans are weak, there is no way a human could be exposed to that much magical energy for so long without their body collapsing under the pressure! You should be dead!" The male sprite practically screamed at her.
Before he could continue, the female put her finger to his lips and silently walked right up to Eva. She was so close that she could feel her tiny breaths on her apparently pig-like nose. The sprite put her delicate palm onto Eva's forehead and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she gasped and took a step back.
"Your aura! It's very strong indeed!"
"My... what?" Eva was confused.
The two sprites exchanges worried glances.
"Your aura."
"..."
The male sprite sighed.
"Aura is our internal power source, the spiritual and magical engine of our bodies. It works just like your heart, except it powers your soul instead of your physical body."
"It is very rare for a human to have such a strong aura. You must be destined for greatness." The female sprite concluded. Then, as if something switched inside her brain;
"Oh, how rude of us! We never did introduce ourselves! I'm Felicity and this is Alec." She gestured to the male sprite behind her who gave a timid wave. "We're the sprites in charge of protecting the Grand Oak from harm."
"The... Grand Oak?" Eva questioned.
"Dear me," sighed Felicity, "you really are clueless aren't you!!"
"The grand oak is the source of all the earth magic in the world, and because it's the royal family of Fantasica that use that type of magic, it is our job to make sure nothing happens to the Grand Oak."
The world of Metalania is separated into four kingdoms; Fantasica, Hareltura, Artual and Meturan. Each of the four kingdoms is ruled by a royal family of one of the four species. Fantasica is ruled by a royal family of magical creatures such as sprites, faeries and nymphs. Hareltura is the human kingdom and is ruled by humans. Artual is ruled by demifauna which are half human, half animal and are considered superior to humans due to their animal instincts and incredible fighting skills. The last kingdom, Meturan, is ruled by cyborgs that are half human, half machine. Each member of each royal bloodline has the magical ability to control one of the four elements. Anyone from the magical creature royal bloodline can control earth, human can control air, demifauna can control fire and cyborg can control water. In the old ages, the four kingdoms were separated so that all the species lived in their own kingdoms, however since the revolution ten years ago and the dawn of the new ages, integration between species has increased dramatically and now you can find every species living in all four kingdoms.
The two sprites were staring at Eva as if they were waiting for her to say something. She cocked her head to one side.
"We tell you who we are, but we don't even get to know your name? That hardly seems fair!" Alec finally said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm Evangeline Rose Thatcher."
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Thatcher." Alec took her hand in both of his and kissed it lightly. Felicity rolled her eyes.
"When you've finished flirting, we should be off." She turned to Eva.
"Just incase you ever need anything, I left an imprint on your mind. Just wish with all your heart for us to be there and we'll fly like the wind!"
"...Fly?" As if on cue, a pair of tiny shimmering wings sprouted from each of their backs.
"Goodbye Evangeline Rose Thatcher!" Felicity grinned and flew away, disappearing into the trees.
"'Til we meet again, Mademoiselle." Alec winked and followed behind his friend.

Still shocked by the rather strange encounter she had just experienced, Eva's gaze moved to the morning sky. The top of the sun was peeking mischievously over the treetops and the sky glowed a warm orange colour. Evangeline sighed as she packed away her belongings into her satchel and thought about the long day of travelling ahead of her. Archvale Academy was at least five days walk away, and she still had to find away of learning the basics of combat magic so she could pass the entrance exam.
She strapped her bow and quiver to her back and continued in the opposite direction to the one the sprites had flown in just minutes ago.