chapter 2: 15 years later.

15 years have passed since the day I was found in the woods by Miss Ferna. I live with her in her home deep within the forest of Fior. to me, she is both a mother and a teacher. My entire life has been training in both magic and combat from her. Her majestic and refined movements as we spar vastly outperform my sluggish and rough movements with a sword. But according to her, my magic skills would rank me somewhere as an archdemon if I was part of her race, but when I asked what that meant, she would always just shake her head, and then tell me to prepare for either dinner, or training.

Currently, she is sitting across from me at our dining table. It’s a small wooden table just big enough to seat four people if ever needed, which was rare. She has brought home guests a few times, but only ever close friends from the village a few miles out from the forest border. Today it’s just us. She made breakfast like she would normally, considering she doesn’t trust me enough with magic control to properly use a magic powered cooktop. Miss Ferna is currently reading one of her many books. Her reading glasses, which have a magic rune inscribed to allow her to read any language with perfect comprehension, always looked amazing on her. Her red flowing hair covering the chain to hold up her glasses, her thin robe-like dress clinging to her figure as though it were wet, emphasizing her bust even more. Honestly, if she hadn’t raised me, I might have fallen for her. But that doesn’t stop Miss Ferna from trying to make me fall for her herself.

“Kyo, if you keep staring… I will have no choice but to force you to take responsibility and be seduced by me.” Miss Ferna stated in a seductively stern tone, crossing her legs coyly to emphasize her intent.

I quickly averted my eyes. “Miss Ferna, I see you as both a mother, and a teacher. Nothing more.” Miss Ferna immediately looked upset after hearing that steam was even coming off her horns. You would think she was on fire with how quick it filled the room.

I quickly dashed to the window, opening it trying not to choke on the thick amount of steam leaving the kitchen into the forest. “Miss Ferna! Please try to remember I can’t breathe smoke or steam. Especially when it’s from your horns…” I half shouted, and whined about the fact that the steam from a demon’s horns is just as toxic to humans as the smoke they give off after releasing immense amounts of magic.

“I’m so sorry Kyo!” Miss Ferna shouted, immediately tackling me, and hugging me extremely tight, ‘it feels like my ribs are about to crack’ I thought while struggling to tap out of her painfully intimate hug, as I was forcibly smothered by her breasts. ‘Damn it Miss Ferna… Let go. I need… air…’ just before passing out, I was thankfully released from her monstrous hold, and immediately began greedily sucking in as much air as I possibly could.

“Oh, Yeah. I almost forgot…” Miss Ferna began, standing up with her finger to her chin thinking to herself as she spoke, while I sat on the floor catching my breath. “Since you’re fifteen now, I should probably keep my promise to the viscount of the city.” Miss Ferna was referring to viscount Andal. An old friend of hers visits her for tea, and to vent about work. He’s an old guy with a beard that makes him look like a mad sorcerer, but he’s just a kind guy who has a demon fetish if you ask me. He always tries to steal glances at Miss Ferna’s butt, and will always try to caress her horns, despite her objections. But according to Miss Ferna, they’ve known each other since Andal was only ten years old. So she sees him more as a nephew than anything.

“So, Miss Ferna… What was the promise you made to him?” I asked, getting up myself. “It sounds important if you are thinking that hard about it.”

Miss Ferna seemed to snap back to reality after my question, you could almost see the life return to her eyes after coming out of her trance of thought. “Nothing much Kyo, I just promised him we would move to the city so you can start proper schooling at age fifteen. It was the only way he would let me finalize your adoption.” Her response took me back a bit, mainly because I have never actually been to the city, and now I found out I will be moving there to start school.

“If you don’t mind me asking…” I began, “but, what will we do about this house here in the forest?” I asked mainly out of concern for where I grew up, as well as a confusion about what we would do with two houses if we kept both of them.

“Don’t worry Kyo.” Miss Ferna said, putting her hand gently on my head, petting me like a child. It was embarrassing, I definitely blushed, but it gave me a sense of warmth and comfort as she did. “This house is still ours, we will just be living in a house in the city during school hours, since it’s a four hour trip without my teleportation magic.” Miss Ferna can use a lot of different spells, including her infamous teleportation circle. It can only transport herself, and it requires her to concentrate for a few seconds equal to the distance she’s traveling. So four hours means four seconds of concentration. Because of that, she tends to just go shopping in the market in the city by herself.

“Ok miss Ferna, I understand, but can I ask how we are going to get to the city?” I asked, still unsure about going into the city to begin with.

Miss Ferna just gave me one of her “looks” , a triumphantly smug smile while putting her hands on her hips proudly. Which, has me worried. She only gives that look when she has a plan she thinks is good, but ends up being reckless and dangerous for everyone involved.

“Simple,” I’m already worried about where this is going. “We’ll travel by wyvern!” She stated confidently and with a sparkle in her magma-like eyes. As if she had said a really good idea. “Everything is already packed that we need to bring, as well as some of my books and other basic tools we may need.”

I could already tell, this is going to be a horrible idea to travel into the city. Wyverns are large two legged reptiles with wings for arms, and a poisonous stinger on their tail. Not to mention, they are complete idiots that are extremely violent, and yet for some reason, Miss Ferna is able to tame them for an hour at a time just by touching their forehead once. The problem being, the moment they are attacked, they snap out of their trance and go into a violent rage. However, Judging by Miss Ferna’s enthusiasm and her wide passionate smile, there is no way to change her mind into one that would actually be safe for anyone involved.

After some last minute packing and finishing breakfast, Miss Ferna led me out the door. A chilling breeze within the forest marked the beginning of the fall season, which according to Miss Ferna, was when the school year started entrance exams. She led me to a clearing close by, that resembled an open field blanketed with tall grass, and golden flowers still fresh from spring. In the middle of the clearing, laid our ride. A large wyvern with a saddle on it’s back holding all our luggage already packed beforehand. Its large scaly figure resembled a mass of a deep muddy green. Its curled up sleeping form bigger than most of the trees at the edge of the clearing.

Miss Ferna strapped the rest of our belongings in place, and then helped me onto the wyvern’s back. Its scales scraping my knee lightly, causing it to sting. Miss Ferna noticed the patch of blood under my pant leg, and immediately bandaged it, saying things like “my poor baby” and “It’s ok, mommy’s here.” which were embarrassing, causing my face to turn red.

After I was patched up, Miss Ferna straddled the wyvern’s saddle so she was sitting behind me, almost as if to brace me for what was to come. She looked at me with a sweet smile, almost like a parent looking at their child who is growing up before their eyes, before whistling a command to the wyvern, snapping the reins to get its attention.

The massive creature slowly rose from its slumber, righting itself before opening its maw, letting out a deafening growl most notably described only as its way of yawning. Miss Ferna held me firmly from behind, her arm wrapped around my waste protectively. As I looked up at her, with unease, all I saw was her looking out at the wyvern’s head, with a threatening glare. Almost as if to say “don’t even think about harming my child.” with nothing but her eyes alone. As I finally snapped out of being mesmerized by Miss Ferna's protective nurturing side, I saw a mass of green appear from both the left and right side, as I looked closer, I could instantly tell I was staring at the wings of the wyvern. Their thin muddy green wings were lighter than the scales on its back, and the translucent skiing revealed a network of spidery veins running along their wingspan, with claws at the middle that resembled a bird’s talons. It was almost beautiful in a “I could die from one strike” kind of way.

Suddenly, it felt as though all air had left my lungs as a huge burst of wind blew my hair back, and a massive pressure forced itself upon me like I was suddenly under a mountain. I started gasping for air, but no sound came, and no air entered my lungs as I began to panic and shake, looking around desperately unable to take in my surroundings, all I saw was a blur of green and blue rush past my eyes as I began to feel tears streaming down my face from the burning in my lungs desperate for air. My vision started going dark, and I was about to black out.

Right when I was at the brink of blacking out, there was suddenly a rush of calm, as things settled down, and I could see the sky. Air returned to my lungs as I violently began sucking in as much air as I could, violently coughing as a result. I felt Miss Ferna kiss the back of my head as I began to regain my sense of awareness, I realized we were now flying. As I came to this epiphany, a rush of air hit my face as I felt the cold breeze of the wind rush against my skin, I laid back into Miss Ferna, as she held me close to her.

“I apologize for taking off so suddenly, wyverns don’t know the meaning of a ‘gentle’ take off, so it caught you off guard before I could warn you to hold your breath.” Miss Ferna spoke with such a kind and nurturing tone as she spoke. Her warmth contrasting the rushing cold of the air.

As I looked on at the scene before me it could only be described as breathtaking. The clouds streaming below us like water rushing in the streams of our forest home, the sun beaming over the horizon, radiating in such a beautiful light, causing the scales of the wyvern to sheen and glow a tantalizing gold, which contrasted the muddy green color they had given off before. The breeze, lightly whistling streams of what felt like a melody too faint to be recognized, and the feeling of the cold air chilling my face as bad as the winters would get back at our home. And the massive shift from trees to planes once we had flown outside of the forest borders. All of it was stunning. All I could think about was how any creature with wings could experience such an indescribably beautiful sight every single day. The sights, the sounds, the feelings, and the emotion they all carry made the whole thing a memory I could never forget in a million years.

As I sat there, mesmerized by the view that laid before me, Miss Ferna’s gaze was glancing at me and the scene before us with a warm smile on her face. I never did need to look at her to tell when she was stealing glances at me, but to this day I have no idea as to why. Whenever I asked, she would always respond with “because you’re so cute” or “It’s natural for a parent to want to see their child’s first time with a new experience.”

“Look there Kyo.” Miss Ferna began, pointing just past the horizon. “We’re coming up on the city of Welden.” as she said that, the city came into view. We would be landing soon, just far enough to walk to, but far enough to where we wouldn’t be shot down with attack magic for being on a wyvern. Even I could tell that much. Miss Ferna may be laid back when it comes to most things, but she would never willingly put my life at risk.

Eventually, we descended down in a nearby clearing behind some tree cover, and landed a lot softer than our initial takeoff. Miss Ferna slid herself down from the Wyvern’s back, as the creature let out a thunderous yawn before curling up with me still on top. Due to the sudden change in stability, I fell off, and landed harshly. It hurt, but not as much as the fall should have. When I opened my eyes, I realized Miss Ferna had caught me in her arms mere inches before I could hit the ground. Her face scrunched up in a worried expression, as though I was a baby bird with a broken wing.

“Are you ok Kyo?” she asked with a voice on the brink of breaking.

“I’m fine, really. But thank you for worrying about me.” I responded, standing up onto my own two feet, and helping Miss Ferna up from her kneeling position on the ground.

After a few seconds to regain our composure, mainly so Miss Ferna could hold back her running tears, we both stood, and arranged our belongings so we could make our way to Welden on foot. Miss Ferna was adamant that I held her hand as we walked through the clearing, at least until we reached the front gates of the city. Her reasoning is because the forest was easy for anyone aside from her to get lost in. I was told when I was young it was designed that way to keep out unwanted visitors from our home.

As the Large stone walls forming Welden’s borders came into view from past the brush, it was clear to me just how old and prosperous the city must be. The stone looked worn down and old with time, but the banners of the city’s crest, a large golden phoenix in a blaze of gold flame was embroidered onto the blue pristine fabric looked to have been recently adorned onto the stone walls of the front gates, which was lively with many people of all races running amuck. There were demi humans, people with animalistic features like cat ears, dog tails, and I could have sworn I saw a family of wolf demihumans. There were also elves, dwarves, harpies, and even lizard folk. Of course humans as well. Just the front gate looked to be something of a melting pot of different races. But, Miss Ferna seemed to be the only one of the demon race I could see, which left a small pit in my stomach. As though maybe demons weren’t welcome into the town. Which scared me more than being alone.