The Spirit Forest.

Part 1.

Ever since we run away from the northern territory of van Vogel, both my mercenary company and the ex-gladiators that followed my brother when he asked for warriors found a special haven, the elves decided to welcome us to have a military force in case of need.

The Spirit Forest was already a haven for every elf that could not go back to Elfhellion, being situated in the southernmost part of the continent it is more than six months to travel the distance from the Septem Imperium. The Ever king Adonilas, title and name of the one and only ruler that Elfhellion has known, decided to negotiate with every country in the two continents of Aibousa to have a territory where elves could dwell in their own terms.

This place was one of such places, the patriarch Gurelas is cousin to the Ever king, and thus of royal lineage. Every ruler of these special territories is either family to Adonilas or one of his greatest generals; in this case they needed military strength since they are mostly elves who haven’t seen much fight.

Now that my two nephews have arrive to this land I may have to try and negotiate my departure from this place, the pig ‘s empire is in its most fragile moment, and a little push may put Adikemas in the throne. I just met him, but Rauro’s blood flows in him so I would rather bet on him than just wait a civil war erupt from the nobles using the remaining children of the empress as puppets.

“Morning dew is always nice... I hope you are not thinking about anything stupid, Retor. Your family is here in a safe place; there is no need to join any war.” Eralas meets me as I am starting my training, she was one of the few elves that always was in favor of accepting my people. Elves don’t like humans very much, and it is normal. They use the magic to try and comprehend the world, while humans decided that it’s best use was destruction. The only other force that was already unrefined were demons, and even they are not as extreme. “Young daughter of Gurelas, it is not stupid to want the best for the people. I know well the way you think, and I will ever be thankful for the protection your father granted us, but there are things that must be done”.

“Your use of that way of speech just shows how much of this land is part of you, no human would think of calling an elf young. You are a good leader, and your group while diverse do have in common one thing; their good hearts. The little band that brought this imperial prince doesn’t seem bad, but you will have to mingle with the rotten apples”. She is right, there is no other way than to gather support from nobles. It’s not like every lord of this country is bad, but most did have too much freedom to do wrong if the empress did not know.

Part 2

A dream of my home world. I am just waiting in a bus stop, seated on the bench. It was always like this before I was sign by a good club at the capital, I did live in the boonies, and I was the only kid that came to this stop.

“Rough these last days, right son?” Seated just beside me is Olivia van Rood. Empress, mother of seven and someone who just died. Her light blue hair is disheveled unlike her normal braided look, and she is wearing a white simple dress. She is swinging her legs like nothing. “This is a bus station, is it alright for you to be here so nonchalant?” “Don’t worry Adi, it is quite curious this world of yours. I’m dead but seeing the ancient's original home is refreshing”.

“This feels too real; those strange purple fruits that the elves gave me were probably expired”. The empress looks at me like I am nothing but a silly goose. “This is real Adi, before dying I made a curse so that if something happened to me, I would be connected to you all. It seems like you were the only one capable of hosting my curse though”.

A curse. One of the most complicated group of spells of the dark element used just so that she could be in touch with her children after death. It is well thought, but not really something you should be doing if you are a good mother. Probably a nice move from an empress.

“So, you, are you?” I don’t think properly my question, my mind is swimming, and I can’t keep up. “I am not exactly the mother you knew, let’s say I am a copy of her from the moment before she died. I am not capable of doing anything for you, just sharing my knowledge”. Well, that sounds good.

“I’m afraid your sleep is coming to an end, next time we should try to expend our time in a more useful way. I am a cursed that lives dormant in you, so don’t worry I know what is happening when you are awake, no need to explain to me something that happened these days. Trust your uncle, he is rough but a good man”. She says this and gets up, just when I was about to follow her, I wake up.

It seems like is already morning. Better to step up and start training, my legs are aching from all the walking we did to arrive here, so doing specific workout for each muscle should be a nice change of pace.

I go out carefully from the treehouse still in wonder of their architecture I am not sure why the people who came here did not imitate elves, this truly rocks. As I start warming up to start my morning training, I see my uncle Retor approaching me, he himself looks like he’s been busy doing some exercise.

“Your highness, good morning. I see that you are preparing to do some training, I have heard that your person truly enjoys a rather rare routine” He is stiff, yesterday he wasn’t this much. I suppose that the shock of a prince talking like a slum dweller made him speak rougher yesterday. “Uncle, there is no need for you to talk to me in that way. We are family and I don’t really know if I can still be called an imperial prince.”

“You are an imperial prince until your death, boy. I have already gathered that you don’t see etiquette as a must, but still, you should be talk to with respect if we want to make someone out of you” He still doesn’t smile one bit. “You are going to try and make me the emperor? I’d rather go and explore the world, I don’t really think my mother would want me as the ruler”.

He closes his eye, and his face muscles become even more stiff. I think he may be close to getting very angry. But come on, this man commanded with my father a rebellion against one of the most influential nobles in the Septem Imperium. Making me the emperor would need for him to negotiate with other corrupted nobles, maybe start a civil war depending on who is taking the throne right now.

“I won’t tell you what to do prince Adikemas, but after today's talk with the Spirit Forest people you should get a picture of what this country may become if you decide to forfeit your right to the throne”. He comes closer to me and just pats my shoulder; he seemed relaxed when he walked away. Maybe he was more just trying to gauge my intentions and if I am power hungry.

After doing some strength training focused on the lower body it is time to practice some magic. Some curious elves are looking at me while I juggle with a fire ball, they are probably worried that a human with fire will reduce their home to ashes. No need to worry my pointy eared friends, I am already an expert at this.

Even without my leg armor I have enough experience triggering fending magic that I can confidently let the fire almost touch my boots. My magic instructor was very impressed with my control of basic magic; she said that I had to be some genius. Trust be told, she stopped thinking it when I did not pay much interest in magic spells, even when you learn to shorten the casting is still such a bother.

That should be enough exercising, my legs are starting to hurt bad, and I don’t want to risk an injury. When I stop some children start clapping, it seemed strange las night to me, but most elves here are either too young or too old.

But it is not as strange anymore, during my training I started to see a common thing in most of them. The slave mark, a burnt ingrained in the bodies of those who are sold. I suppose that having a territory in the middle of a country that allows slavery calls for the patriarch to try and free as many elves as they can. Involving them in human problems after being victims to us... Even someone as stupid as me knows that I should be gone as soon as possible.