Way of the Knights

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Elyion had been having a rather stressful moment in his life.

He was pretty sure that the forest they were in had been quaking fiercely for an entire hour before stopping. Forget about maintaining vigilance, Elyion had to make sure that he stayed as far away as he possibly could from the falling trees thanks to Raven's heist.

Elyion had been running around and collecting the fallen trees during this time as well. Though his task might be simple enough, he was feeling a bit tired from all of this.

Thankfully, Raven stopped after that and only asked him to count how many fallen trees they have gathered so far. Elyion had a rough estimation of a hundred trees, but he himself wasn't so sure since he stopped counting when it reached that number. Fortunately, the density of trees around them was bountiful or else Raven might've already dismantled the entire forest all on his own.

Even so, Elyion knew that Raven wasn't satisfied just yet. It was because before he went ahead to count how many trees they have, Raven asked him if he had some water jugs in his storage pouch.

Elyion had 20 water jugs, which greatly disappointed Raven. It was too few for his liking. Nevertheless, he can't do anything about it since that's everything he had. So while Elyion was taking inventory of how many trees they gathered, he went ahead to the nearest pond and filled the jugs with water.

Unknowingly, he stared at the water jug he was holding while he was filling it and a brilliant idea flashed onto his head.

'That's right! Since we don't have enough, then we should make one!'

Raven inspected the water jugs in details and found out several things that he could take advantage off. First, though they call them water jugs, they were in fact, water pouches. They are made out beast skin that were cleaned and sterilized, it was stitched tightly in order to become a suitable container for water and it also has a wooden mouthpiece and a wooden cork as well.

Raven was confident on making these, so without any further ado, he quickly filled the jugs that he had and proceeded to look for some stray beast.

Due to the chaos earlier, the peace of the forest was disturbed, which worked on Raven's favor since he spotted several beasts nearby. He quickly made some traps and placed them on the path of these stray beasts.

He didn't need to wait for a long time before a beast fell under his traps, which made his work easier. After dealing with them, he set up a camp and called Elyion over.

The young wolf was dumbfounded to see several carcasses of beasts beside Raven upon his arrival. He left for half an hour and this is what happened, just what is this guy even?

Being reminded that Elyion was actually a beast himself, Raven felt a little weird and Elyion obviously figured this out. Unexpectedly he said...

"No need to consider my feelings, Sir. We and the rules of nature are very well acquainted. Since we started walking these lands, we already accepted that fact that if someone stronger comes, we would have no chances of escaping. Plus, it is with humans where I wanted to be, not with them so it's fine."

Elyion's words had Raven thinking: 'What a fucked up thought process. It's almost as it seems that someone tampered on his mentality when he was born.'

Nevertheless, Raven said nothing and continued his work. In the end, he managed to make at least thirty more water jugs, totaling to fifty adding those they have earlier. Elyion also finished counting and reported to him that he had taken down at least 130 trees in total. Adding the 15 skinless beast carcasses he managed to gather, they for sure won't have any difficulties entering the city now.

"Our work is done here, lead me to the Thorn City." Raven announced as soon as he finished filling up the remaining water jugs. Elyion nodded and led the way.

It turns out that they weren't too far from the city anyway. It only took them a couple minutes by foot until they saw the stone walls of the city. Elyion must've chosen that spot to morph since it was on a safe distance away from the city and thought that there shouldn't be any human around this part of the forest. Unfortunately, his luck was somewhat bad.

On their way, Raven was strangely silent. He wasn't relatively nervous about entering the city since there was no reason to. He had a mission and he knew that whatever arises, he had to eventually face it.

What he's worried about, is about how long would it take for him to actually finish the challenge. This is different from his regular training. He wondered if the time ratio changed for this specific event.

Suddenly, he felt his thoughts buzz, waking him up from his stupor. The source of the buzz was from his psyche. He focused on it and saw a new information which greatly relieved him.

***

- worry not about time, young candidate. The ratio had been changed, one hour outside is equivalent to one year in this space. So focus whole heartedly on completing the mission.

***

A sigh of relief escaped Raven's lips. This was a great news, he could now focus his entire being into this challenge without any distractions.

When he returned his attention back to the present, he found out that they were already lining up towards the city walls and it was nearly their turn already.

He didn't have to wait for a long time before it was finally their turn, Raven left Elyion to take care about the process of entering the city since he's the most experienced.

Raven could swear that the guards were scrutinizing them closely but found out nothing suspicious so they allowed them passage. Thankfully, the process went out without a hitch or else it would've been a headache.

As soon as they stepped inside the walls, the two fell into a daze. Elyion had this strange and intoxicated smile in his face as he stared at the houses and infrastructures. He looked kindly at each human that he saw and glanced sweetly at the kids running around and playing tag.

A strange warmth filled his heart, a deep longing persist and a determined heart beats. A line of thought surfaced in his mind:

'This, this is what everyone should be. Humans, oh how wonderful. They way they look, their intelligence, their ingenuity, all of it, everything should follow these standards! This is what the most powerful race should be! Why wasn't I born human? Wouldn't it be nice if I could remain in this place until I grow old? Such a pity.'

Raven couldn't hear his thoughts right now but he if he could. Then he might've dragged him away at some corner to beat some sense onto his delusional brain. Elyion's desire to become humans was so intense that it isn't a simple desire anymore, it already became an addiction. His psyche had been poisoned without him knowing about it.

Meanwhile, Raven was having a very strange feeling in his heart.

He had no idea where it came from, he doesn't even know if it was real or not. But he isn't liking this place unlike Elyion and most people here.

Something's...strange. He can't put a finger on it. If he looked closely, everything was on their proper place and everything was normal. But the weird sensation on his chest just won't stop nagging at him to the point that it was starting to get really irritating.

He shouldn't be feeling this way, after all this is a human settlement. He's sure that the people around him are mostly humans.

His eyes then landed at the larger infrastructures in front of him. They were mostly stores or exchanging platforms for raw materials. Others are private properties like farms, mansions or churches. But the biggest one that caught his eye, was a building sitting on centermost part of the city.

He had no ides what it was, but for some reason he could feel something inviting him over to visit that place, and that itself alone was already weird enough.

"What's that?" Raven asked while nudging at Elyion's shoulder.

The young wolf glanced at the direction he was pointing and immediately, a fawning expression appeared in his face.

"That is the most popular sight in the entire city. It is called the Astral Observatory. In there, humans are able to gaze at the heavenly bodies and admire them like they are close. Some stories says that they came across a lucky chance that changed their entire lives in the Astral Observatory. Some even proclaimed their love towards their partner in there since legends said that couples who did, would become blessed by the heavenly bodies."

Raven frowned and followed up with another question. "Have you ever been there?"

"Yes! And it was the most beautiful experience I had."

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