As the companions neared a bend on the road, they saw what seemed to be a figure sitting on a boulder that sat beneath a few trees. Kazeel could make out that it wasn't human, but he didn't know who it was. He strayed to the left staying close to the trees.

"You know kid, I can see you." The figure said. It jumped off the boulder to be in the light to show a red haired fair skinned human female, dressed in a tunic, slim brown trousers, adorned with a cloak and carrying a sword on her hip that held a red stone on its hilt.

"A human?" Falaina hissed. " of all the places. Perhaps I should I kill you?"

"Girl," The female said, turning to her. " You couldn't hurt me even if I was blindfolded. Save your minuscule threats."

Falana shot a blast of fire at her, only for the woman to sidestep the oncoming flames with grace to the side. Falaina shot another blast of fire and the woman did it again

"You are sloppy," The female chuckled. " You lack the foundation of magic."

Falaina grunted as she shot another blast, only to now notice the female nearing to her right. After stepping back, Falaina fell, tripped by her own stumbling. She landed on the ground, only to have the female standing before her, blade drawn. It was a black blade with a reddish tint to the outer rim of the blade.

"The thing you lack is control." The woman said, placing the blade back in its sheathe. " That is the fundamental of all magic."

"I never would've thought you would travel south," Zalora replied, stepping forth giving a deep hug to the woman, who returned it warmly. "How long has it been? Ten years?"

"I had to, got  sent word from Pax," The red haired woman replied. "Said it had something to do with Pyramus. I thought he was dealt with before. So it raised some concern.  "

"As much as I hate to say it," Cyrus replied as he walked over to them. "Pyramus being alive was not what I even expected. He sent some of his armies raiding and laying waste to Lorenai."

"I thought you took care of that Cyrus," The woman snapped. "He was supposed to be dead. Did you get cold feet?"

Kazeel helped Falaina since the women was preoccupied with Cyrus. Grunting, the woman's attention drew her as her head snapped towards her direction, making Falaina slightly flinch.

"Well, well, well," She said. "A Navigator Mage huh? I haven't seen those eyes in a long time."

"How do you know that?" Kazeel asked. "Let alone what does my eyes have to do with it? To top it all, who are you?"

The woman chuckled. "my name is Katanya, knight of the Haven Order of Liryana. "

"And you suppose I know who they are?" Kazeel gritted through his teeth.

"No," Katanya replied. "You don't seem to know etiquette by the way you speak. You lack them severely. I suppose I can overlook it. We are a sacred order to keep the land safe from clerics that are causing havoc in the upper eastern region, close to Hadenrall."

"If that's the case," Falaina said, glaring at her. "Why would you come out here? Outside of knowing our Keeper and Cyrus, I doubt you came here just for a reunion."

"Because we made an oath when the Dragon War ended," Katanya said, glancing at Cyrus and Zalora. "Well others that aren't here, that when the search for the Bloodstone was sought after we would ensure we stopped whomever was."

"So what about the Sunstone," Falaina said. " I thought you humans wanted it."

"The Sunstone and Bloodstone are the same object," Zalora replied. "For those that lack the magical sight, it looks like a bright golden jewel. It is just a jewel to others. Yet it has magical abilites that can help subjugate an army. If the Dragon's Oracle gets the stone, they will bring ruin upon us all."

"So what can see it, a mage?" Falaina asked.

Katanya looked at Kazeel. "Only a Navigator Mage can see it. Unfortunately Pyramus is one also. "

"Wait. Are you saying the leader of the Dragon's Oracle is like me?" Kazeel asked, his eyes curious as he glanced at Katanya and Cyrus.

"No," Zalora replied. "You are nowhere the same. We better make haste. We can talk while we move. I only teleported us a good distance, but even then the orcs and goblins will be heading this way to look for signs of us."

Katanya nodded and started to walk with Cyrus beside her. Zalora looked at Kazeel and Falaina and gestured for them to follow. She then waved her staff as they went ahead, masking their scent from the trackers that goblins had, nasty little creatures. The mere thought made her shiver. With one more look to the direction of their home, she knew that what happened there would stretch out to the rest land. And that was just the start.

She then followed behind the others in tow. Kazeel looked at her. "So what do you know about these guys? How do you know them. Why did you guys do an oath?"

Falaina fell back to hear, while Cyrus and Katanya went forward as to give space to their conversation. Zalora sighed. "We were in different times before. There was a time when the land united against a Dragon king named Akanoth, he was a powerful Dragon, that rivaled the Landra, the Goddess of Light and Ether. She is no longer present in this world, but her presence is felt through her magic."

"Are gods even real?" Falaina asked.

"I believe that they were powerful mages at one time and were beyond most magically inclined people's understanding."

"So what happened?" Kazeel asked.

"Pyramus was a mage that wanted power, and he was a Dragonbane Priest, one of the most renowned in the land. He laid waste to many cities when he was a priest, destroying everything for Akanoth."

"It all stopped after when Landra got involved, sealing the Dragon King in a different realm. Unfortunately the only way to bring him back is through the Bloodstone. That is in the Darklands. But before we do so, we will need to get a few others."

"Why did you guys get involved with Pyramus? Why did you make that oath?" Kazeel asked.

"Because amidst our travels we knew that we couldn't let it be the destruction and chaos it once was," Cyrus said, glancing momentarily their direction. "Also we were investigating, making sure there were no little snippets of the Dragon's Oracle lackeys. Only in the past recent war did we notice the changes."

"Some human kingdoms were getting involved in this war, but the ones involved in the larger scale are looking for the Bloodstone."

Falaina stopped. "So where are we headed first? The Darklands are a good many days away."

"We are heading to Throendale." Cyrus replied. "if you remember earlier. We mentioned it. Glymnasyir would do well to heed our words and protect his people from the onslaught that is ensuing."

"And you think he would listen to a half-elven? Falaina retorted. "He'd rather skin you alive for even being born."

"You know very little of the past girl," Cyrus chuckled. "Glymnasyir is an old friend of mine. He was a great warrior back in the day of war. He will know where our last 2 members that had separated those years ago when we made our oath."

Falaina remained silent as she followed behind the three strangers that her Keeper considered friends.

She fell back to observe them all. It was odd that her Keeper was friends with a half-elven and a human. She was raised to understand humans had no honor, only wanted war, bloodshed and were for the better sense barbaric. Yet right before her very eyes was a human knight and she she bested her with ease. Magic usually trumped all. How did she know that?

She started to speed up until she came beside Katanya, who had her eyes on the road ahead. "You need something?"

"I wanted to ask you how do you know about magic," Falaina said, faltering a bit. "How did you best me? I thought I had you."

Katanya chuckled. "What do you know of magic?"

"It pervades in all things, it moves to the users ability-."

"Wrong," Katanya replied curtly. "Magic is all pervading, but it doesn't move to the users ability. The user movers with it. One can manipulate it , not control. one needs control of oneself in order to manipulate it correctly. You lack control. You use emotion in your magic. That is a last resort, not the first. I bested you because I noticed you acted on impulse besides focusing. Impulse will get you killed."

"I see." Falaina said, thinking about the current outcome that happened earlier.

"You are still a beginner and that requires years of practice. We will be stopping by Valenwood," Katanya said. "There's some supplies we need, and a library for mages as it is a magical society and fortress city into one." She glanced behind them as she finished speaking, a  serious look adorned her face, darkening as Falaina followed her eyes.

Cyrus stopped as well, looking back. They noticed black smoke in the distance. Yet it seemed closer. "Seems they are persistent. How long do think it will take? It's a small search party, by the size of the smoke."

Zalora chuckled. "I can create a barrier that will stop them for a few hours. That should give us plenty of time, since the divergence of the road is not too long up ahead. We can then head to Thorendale and then head to Valenwood. We can then examine the map more in detail there with the help of the Noren Clerics there. We send out falcons to get out to our friends. They will be happy especially Horendall, that dwarf will do anything for a good battle."

Cyrus nodded. "Alright, Katanya, take these two ahead of us, I'll hang back. "

Katanya, nodded in reply, gesturing to Falaina and Kazeel who had remained in silence as he too was observing the whole situation. But he was rather curious, being that this was the first time that he had really left the his home. Shame it had to be the last time he got to see it. It was odd, strange, and it made him angry deep inside. Why did it have to be his village? They were peaceful, they didn't get involved with the war, yet they were thrust into it.

"You needn't worry," Katanya said, drawing him out if his thoughts. "You are going to learn long lessons about the ramifications of war. It's not easy. You aren't the first to feel anger for the result of this war. It certainly won't be the last either."

Kazeel frowned. It was as if she knew what he was thinking. "How-"

"For those who understand magic, it's easy to use it in the most smallest of things. Even reading a person's feelings."

Kazeel looked in wonder at the knight before him. How could it be that a human understood such a more peaceful outlook. There was much more to understand about them. He began to follow her with Falaina beside him ,her hand slid in his. They kept up with Katanya, who had started to trot forward, her armor banging lightly with the breeze that passed through. He caught a faint scent that was smelled like the Wvardrenfell mountain flower.

"Are you from the southeast of Wvardrenfell, I smell the flower fragrance. I don't know any humans that live there."

"I was travelling with a companion, an elf named Oreyen, he gave me a flower." Katanya replied. "That's all that there is to it. The flower you probably smell is that."

They came to a fork in the road. one going to what seemed east, the other that seemed west. Katanya turned to their path they travelled. A flash of blue light could be seen coming the path they came from. It echoed through the air like a wavelength, rupturing the sky. It dissipated in a few seconds, followed by a calming breeze. Soon Cyrus and Zalora could be seen trotting to their position. When approached, Cyrus glanced back. "We've got a three hour time frame. I helped to enhance the barrier. The enemy will probably diverge in a different direction and continue their pillaging to find the map. Come. We've got to get to Thorndale. There's a small town four miles west of here. I can get us there."

"I though warriormages used defensive and offensive spells," Falaina said. "You can teleport? How?"

"We use them yes, but we can learn other spells. Most don't use them, or for the most part fail to learn, as it takes a lot of practice. I learned teleportation from Zalora. now take a deep breath. All of you."

Kazeel looked at all of them and closed his eyes taking a deep breath. A deep cooling feeling like water rushed around him, coaxing him, almost putting him to sleep, yet he was calm as he listened to the words that Cyrus mumbled. it sounded like old elven from the ancient texts of the Da-Ruk Nthai, an ancient magic book that was in Thorndale.

Soon the feeling stopped, and Kazeel opened his eyes, they were in front of a small gate.

"This is Adrid. We'll be safe here for the night." Cyrus said, placing his on the gate to open them. "All are welcome."