Magic and Destiny: Fate

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dominic was the leader of the wood-cutter's guild and had been for almost two months now. It was hot today and as he wiped the sweat from his brow he couldn't help but begin to think of the one in which he had been pursuing. The others had all told him that he was crazy and it would never work between the two but he had to try at any rate. Maya was, of course, the daughter of the chief of the village. So his impressing him and showing his truest intentions to marry his daughter would, in all likelihood, be nigh impossible.

He had given his presentation of his feelings a lot of thought and practice. He looked at himself in the mirror every morning and once more every night before going to bed. He was athletic, held a stable job and was an accomplished negotiator for information from other wood-cutting guilds he came across. Once a month he would make a travel party under the impression for the chief to be on a selling trip.

Indeed, selling they did, and lots of it. But he also went away once a month for distant news and he had decided that he needed to make his move soon if he was going to do it at all. There wouldn't be time in a few years and Maya wasn't getting any younger. Already she was a beautiful flower at the age of seventeen. She would be turning of age at the summer festival which was later today. He had to convey to the chief of the village his feelings for her and of what was to be coming.

He had much experience in the ways of the world, having traveled long, rough distances since he was no older than six years. He had seen many things and been taught many more things like how to defend himself.

Dominic jerked his head up, his ears pricking close to his head as he listened, thinking he had heard something. He waited in silence, there it was again. He held up his hand and then whistled to the rest of his crew. "Evening is upon us, men! We have worked hard today but now we must go home. I will see you all tomorrow at first light on the eastern edge of the village. There are quite a few trees that are ready to be utilized. Now, be gone with you all. I don't want to see you chopping wood for the rest of the day."

He watched as all around him the men of the wood-cutters guild loped off; axes strapped to their backs as they ran on all fours back to the village, and mostly, back to their families. The wood-cutters were all carefully selected. Rich, dark browns and blacks, some dappled with grey, and the uniform was brown vests and green pants that match their surroundings. He wiped his paws free of dirt and dust and then swung his axe over his own back. He was pure black and looked like a panther. But he walked and talked like he was human. All the people in his village were the same. They looked animal in appearance; it was how they naturally looked.

There were a few differences here and there. For example, when the women were pregnant they kept the lower animal halves and the top halves lost all their fur and you could see the skin beneath and the sheer beauty of the people. He waited a moment longer, and pulled out a small mirror. Taking one last look about him he saw that he was indeed alone and spoke a word into the mirror. It sounded something like 'Obrak'. In the mirror an image of a woman appeared and he smiled, stroking the edges of the image and as if the image itself could feel the touch it spun until a bright pair of green eyes looked up at him. His mother was an older panther, her fur was graying, but you could still see a vigor in her eyes. She was in a set of white robes he recognized from life in his home village. She would only wear the white robes when she was seeing to her people. Otherwise she liked to have a variety of garments in purple hues.

"All goes well, mother. I have made it this far and I am not going to let anything stop my mission, or my heart. I know that I am to find the one that will be the savior of us all and to that end my mission will never stop until I achieve my goal. But I must also report this to you. It has been three months since my longest journey and it was also unsuccessful. Mother, I wish to invite you to the village I am staying in but I only wish to do it if the circumstances are right. I will not know that until I follow through with my plan later tonight. If I am lucky, you will have a daughter-in-law."