About three or so hours after my wondrous meeting with the mighty and slightly mental dragon, I decided to just put the whole ordeal into the back of my mind and continue on my way to Trarton. See, graduating from the Academy meant I had to serve the Kingdom of Amyron. There was no question in that. I just had to. I might have hated the idea at first, but then I decided it might be profitable, so why not? Needless to say, running away without doing your duty was punishable by death.

Thus, all graduates had to pass across the mountains to Trarton City and give the Academy Assessment Papers to the local General, who would then decide their fate. Some were sent to more remote places of the Kingdom and some served in Trarton. I, for once, hoped for the latter. After all, there was more profit to be made in the capital city than the little villages scattered across the country.

The trip itself was a dangerous one and served as a sort of a final examination. The graduates could and were heavily advised to form groups and travel together. Safety in numbers as they say. I made the not so regular decision to go alone. That, if not my papers, should serve as definite proof of my abilities. Bandits and local wildlife, which tended to have way too much teeth and claws for anyone's liking, were known to attack travelers.

As a recent graduate of the Magical Academy of Trarton, I was expected to be able to handle a certain level of danger coming my way. However, magicians were considered frail and were easy to defeat in close combat. Thus, the recommendation of traveling in groups. Being the outcast that I was, difficult as it may be to believe, I did not have much, if any, friends to rely on. I was a disappointment to my teachers and an object of disgust to my peers. Some even considered me a failure of a magician. Unlike all the others, the normal ones, I could not teleport or form reliable magical shields to defend myself. Air magic was unfathomable. Water and ice? Not a chance. Any rituals and blessings I gave were short-lived or back-fired spectacularly. For some reason, my capabilities of magic were limited to the ghastly element of fire and several advanced healing spells. So, to make up for that and actually survive to see another day, I had to keep my agility and speed top notch as well as gain some melee combat skills to always know where and when to strike. And so I did. I attended any and all lectures that I could get in and learned a range of skills and tricks. I mastered ranged dagger throwing techniques, several sword fighting stances and hand-to-hand combat to level out my lack of magical ability. I could only hope it would be enough to get a job placement within Trarton City.

Lost in my musings of the future I could have, it took me a few moments to recognize the sounds of a battle. I had already descended the mountains and was making my way across the rolling hills and grasslands of the outskirts of the capital city. I had not expected to encounter much trouble here. The several fights I had against pixies and wolves all happened up in the mountains. Nevertheless, I ran up a low hill to get a better view of the skirmish ahead. A small group of warriors were fighting off a band of imps. The humans were completely outnumbered and though they had three archers, only one of them was free for ranged attacks. The other two were surrounded by imp warriors and one of them looked badly hurt. He was bleeding and limping on one leg as he tried to fend off the imps. Meanwhile, one of the human warriors who looked even younger than me was in a similar position as the archer and I noted blood was oozing from his right side. The other warrior looked way more experienced and I thought he was in his early thirties or so. Had a handsome face too... Ack, this is not the time, really. Sadly, he was swarmed with the imp warriors and I counted six of them plus the two he had just slashed to death with his longsword. To make the matters even worse, the imps had a shaman and a healer with them and even though the remaining free archer tried to take out the shaman first, the healer just kept healing him and the other imps.

I sighed. Didn't anyone ever tell them they should kill the imp healer first? I shook my head and then reached out my hands as I chanted the spell silently. They'd better thank me properly later. In money. Gold coins, preferably.

I finished chanting in some 15 seconds and felt my energy deplete immensely. Well, the group healing spell was no joke, after all. Yet, as capable as I was in fire spells, the same could be applied to my healing, rejuvenating and even revitalizing skills. I was well advanced in this field and the humans soon felt a refreshing gush of pure energy wrap them up in a warm and encouraging light as their health level went up considerably. I noticed the injured humans sigh with both surprise and relief as they could finally counter the attacks with more energy and vigor. The imp shaman noticed me right away and before he could hurl some magic at me, I quickly chanted another major spell that set all of the imps in the field on fire. Literally.

Just as I finished and some of the imps ran in agony, giving more space to the cornered archers and warriors, the imp shaman sent magical missiles at me and I smirked as, contrary to his expectations, I ran forth towards him instead of away from him. The missiles were way too easy to evade and while I waited for my depleted energy to come back, I rushed towards the shaman, sending flying daggers his way. He groaned as some hit him and some got deflected by his shield. He prepared for yet another attack but I suddenly changed my course and jumped the remaining distance towards the imp healer instead. He was too surprised to react fast enough and I slashed at his throat quickly and precisely. He gurgled something at me, swinging his staff, but I was already dashing and jumping away from him, avoiding the poisoned arrows of the imp archers, who were well positioned in the nearby bushes. The healer managed to cast a spell at himself, so I quickly sent a strong fireball at him and, surely enough, that got him good.

I heard the healer scream in anguish as I landed on my feet after my improvised evasion tactics. I quickly glanced around the field to see if anyone needed some healing. One of the archers was bleeding quite immensely again and an imp was ready to cut his throat. At the same time, my danger sensor was going haywire and I just knew someone was coming at me with a killing intent. I rolled out of the oncoming attack and quickly jumped sideways, flipping in the air so that I would face the injured archer. He had just deflected an imp attack, but his arm could hardly hold his sword. Quickly, I mumbled the magic words and gave a large boost to his health. Immediately, the man's strength returned to him and he overtook the little beast.

As soon as I was done, I twirled around to evade the magic missiles sent by the shaman. Two of them flew past me, but the third hit my shoulder and I winced slightly. Damn that imp! How dare he! I gritted my teeth, but had no time to cast any magic as two warriors jumped on me. I rolled away from one of them and managed to deflect the sword of another. Yet, I was never very strong and I couldn't win in a battle of sheer might. So, I had to be cunning instead.

I let out a wince as I felt another magic missile hit me and fell to the ground, letting the imp topple me. He did so with immense satisfaction and his beady yellow eyes stared down at me gleefully.

"Touren, protect the magician!" I heard someone shout and swords clashed above my head as I released a concentrated wave of fiery flames that sent my attacker flying across the field.

As fast as I could, I jumped to my feet and found the younger warrior beside me, slashing at another imp. I quickly glanced over the field, noticing the shaman was fighting off the older warrior, whom I was now seriously considering to call Mr. Hotty. He looked good even when splattered with blood. Anyways, the man seemed rather well off if not for the swarm of the arrows that was coming towards him. The guy noticed it too and I saw him grit his teeth as he braced himself for the impact. But it never came as I simply set the flying wooden sticks on fire and they burnt to crisp in a matter of seconds. I noticed his surprised eyes as he glanced over at me. I gave him a smile as I hurled a fireball over my palm and sent it at the bushes where the imp archers were hiding at. Two of them ran screaming as they got set on fire and the third one jumped away in time, but I still got him with my homing fire missiles. They hit him right on the spot and he let out a groan as he fell down.

I looked around once more, but there were only a few imps left already and the imp shaman let out his last breath at the hands of Mr. Hotty. And so, the battle was over. I glanced at the young warrior beside me and cast a mild healing spell on him. He looked at me gratefully and smiled, a reddish tint coloring his cheeks.

"Thanks', miss," he said and I nodded.

I wonder if they're gonna pay me for this. A thank you surely is good and polite, but, hey, it's the money that makes the world go round.

"Indeed," I heard another voice and turned around to face Mr. Hotty. Dark brown eyes, short silver hair and those muscles... muscles, muscles, muscles everywhere. Did I say muscles?

"Ah, I'm sure you would have managed without me," I said, trying to act more modest and surreptitiously ogling his rather intimidating figure.

"Perhaps, but not without casualties," he answered and gave me a small smile. Ohhhh... he smiles good too.

"I'm Elek," he reached out his hand and I pressed it, wincing a bit at the pain on my shoulder as I moved my arm.

That missile surely burnt me good if it still hurt. I was quick to heal, actually, and it always impressed my teachers back at the Academy. It was most probably the only thing that impressed them.

"Aleta," I said, nevertheless, ignoring the pain.

"Here," Elek was more attentive than I could have guessed. "Use this potion to heal yourself."

I looked at the bottle of the red mixture and shook my head surprised.

"Why?" I made a gesture with my hand and a bluish light enveloped my shoulder, healing it completely. "See, I can heal it perfectly well like this."

The warrior stared at me surprised. "You should save your energy and use potions too."

I frowned. "Potions cost money, so I'd rather save them if I have the chance."

"Interesting point of view," Elek's smirk was deeper this time, the corner of his lips going upwards.

Meanwhile, the rest of his group reached us and thanked me for helping them out. They were quite a cheerful bunch of people, considering they would be lying in wooden coffins if not for me. Still, in the end we agreed on travelling to Trarton together as they were headed towards the city as well.

I paced beside Elek, my mood going up immensely. Hey, who doesn't want to walk side by side with a hot and strong warrior, huh? Huh? Who, who? Raise your hands now or be silent forever! Not to mention, I was going pretty bored traveling alone.

"You are rather skillful with both fire and healing spells," Elek noted. "How come I never noticed you around before?"

"I've just graduated," I grinned at him. "I'm heading to Trarton for my assignment and first mission."

"Ah," he nodded. "And what were your majors?"

"Fire element," I replied and he chuckled.

"Figures. That was some powerful spell you pulled off back there."

"Nah, I'm not that good. And you, you are really good with the sword, Elek. I doubt I have ever seen anyone wield a sword the way you did," I said and eyed his steel sword intently. Now that Elek had cleaned it, the metal glittered and shone in the sunlight and I wondered why he did not have a sheath for it.

Meanwhile, Elek only shrugged as he brushed my compliment off, "Like they say, practice makes it perfect."

I simply nodded as I gave him a +20 points for not being an arrogant donkey-ass and we continued on our trip chatting and talking all the way to the city. We had to separate at the gates though as Elek had to deliver a certain package and the rest of the team wished to empty their pockets in a local tavern. I, for once, had to visit the General and the Captain of the Barracks to get my assignment and, perhaps, even my first mission. And if not, I'd surely find what to do in this bustling town full of pockets and gold bags, just waiting to be emptied... huh, gold bags?

"DAMN IT!" I stomped my foot down irritably as I groaned. "I forgot to ask for the reward!"

My eyes scanned the area for the hot, yet, scroogy warrior or any of his teammates but none of them were in my sights. I gritted my teeth as I banged my small fist onto my head, cursing myself for staring at his brown eyes for too long. Darn it. Pretty eyes will never buy me a two-story house or a fast horse... How could I forget to ask for a reward for saving their petty lives?..

Argh, I must be getting senile.