Rise of Legends - DISCONTINUED

Alistair

Her voice seemed to have woken Alistair from his trance as he bolted away. He looked over his shoulder to see mana and aether starting to move towards his mother, forming a giant humanoid purple coloured statue. The man summoned black flames into his hand before charging.

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Arthur POV:

Getting up from the ground, I held my hand out to help her get up. I noticed her hesitation when she turned a little red, but I assumed it was just my eyes playing with me in the dark.

"Sleep in the tent, I'll keep guard next to you outside."

I see her thinking for a little as her eyes were fixed on me, full of resolve.

"I don't mind sh-sharing the tent if you're okay with it." She tried to sound nonchalant but her voice gave betrayed her.

"It's okay. I'm not that sleepy right now anyway," I replied a lot faster than I had meant to.

"...Okay," she sulked. Did her ears just droop a little?

Making sure she went inside the tent, I leaned against the massive tree trunk and began meditating.

Suddenly, a little boy appeared in front of me. The boy was exhausted as he was breathing heavily and tears were rolling down his throat. I went to the boy, letting down my guard as I thought of him as a kid.

He was crying heavily, pouring out his emotions as he muttered under his breath. I heard him mention 'killer', 'mother' and 'coward'. I then patted him on his shoulder. 

He looked at me in my eyes as he retreated. I was going to get closer to him however his eyes caused me to freeze. His red eyes seemed to pierce deep into my soul, chills went down my spine. Just when I was pondering about what happened,

"A-Arthur?" Tessia's head poked out of the tent.

I turned my head to face her. She came out of the tent as she looked at the boy. I also decided to look at him following Tessia's lead. The boy had snow-white hair and pale skin, making him look girly. He had slightly pointed ears like that of an elf but were not as pointed as Tessia's. His piercing red eyes softened as tears continued to roll down.

Tessia was shocked at the sight of another child as she went up and patted him. He was startled but calmed down noticing it was a girl. 

We both decided to let him calm down before asking him questions as he would not be comfortable right now. After he stopped crying, I asked him, "Who are you and why were you crying?"

Both Tessia and him were surprised at my straightforward questioning, however, the boy said, "My name is Alistair. I lived alone with my mother in the middle of the forest. My mother was a human while my father was an elf."

So he was a half-elf. That explained his pointed ears. 

He then continued, "My mother was an extremely powerful mage and so we didn't have to worry about beasts attacking us. But, yesterday, a man k-k-killed her..."

Alistair broke down in sobs again. He calmed down again and I let him join us. He had a very tragic life and I wanted him to not suffer. 

A few more days had passed by fairly uneventfully when, out of nowhere, I was struck with deep aches in my abdomen. The first pains occurred on the third day of the trip; We were inside the tent, Tess already fast asleep, when a sudden searing ache spread from my sternum. It disappeared soon enough, but even that brief moment caused a pain that left me in shivers.

Nights passed as I continued sleeping in the tent with Tessia and Alistair, all three of us getting more comfortable with each other. Our conversations became more natural and had less awkward silence as she began joking around with me, even teasing me about the way I talk; in her words, she said that I "tried too hard to sound like an adult." Alistair was also better now as he had stopped crying every day and did not suffer as much.

"Can you tell how far we are from Elenoir now, Tessia?" I asked on a particularly clear morning on the fifth day of our journey?

Her elongated ears twitched as she began surveying her surroundings. Suddenly, she ran to a particularly crooked tree and ran her fingers over the trunk. A few minutes of silence went by before she came, visibly excited.

"That tree is one I used to come with my Grandfather sometimes! I remember carving my name into the trunk of the tree when he wasn't looking. We're not too far anymore! I think that if we quicken our pace a little bit, we'll be able to make it by tonight!" she said, pointing to the tree.

"Sounds good," I answered, following behind her. As lovely as the journey had been, I needed to make my plans to somehow get home, and that wouldn't be possible until I got her home.

Although I admit, I'd probably miss the two of them after this.

"Arthur? You said your family and the people close to you called you Art. I feel that, through this journey, I have gotten close enough to call you that as well." We were crossing a stream atop a moss-covered log bridge when she suddenly stopped. "So... can I call you Art as well?" Tessia turned around, revealing a wide smile.

"Hmm? Sure, I don't mind," I said, returning her smile.

"You don't mind'? Tch, you could sound a bit more enthusiastic..." she stuck her tongue out at me.

"I would be honoured to be called Art by you, your highness," I made a bow gracious enough for a noble despite my tattered clothes.

"Hehe, and you may also have the honour to call me Tess," she giggled, curtsying back at me before turning back around and hopping off the log.

"Could I call you both Art and Tess as well?" Alistair quietly said. We both nodded our heads with smiles plastered on our faces.

We continued on the rest of the day, with only a few quick stops to rest ourselves and replenish our stomachs. Constant use of mana rotation had kept my body from being strained, but it was obvious that Tess was growing wearier.

After our last quick rest on a soft patch of moss, we continued forward for the last stretch. All of us had gotten much 

It was dusk now and the fog around us seemed to be getting thicker. My sense of direction was all but useless in this blasted forest. Enough so that, if I were to get separated from Tess, I could wind up travelling in circles without even realizing it.

She suddenly turned to me, her face a mixture of happiness and hesitation before she muttered, "We're here."

Looking around, the only things visible were clusters of trees and fog. Confused, I was about to ask where we were, but I stopped myself when I saw Tess placing both her palms on a tree and muttering a chant.

Suddenly, the fog around us was sucked into the same tree and what came into vision was a giant wooden door that seemed to be propped up by itself on the ground.

Tess grabbed my hand while I grabbed Alistair's and both of us were pulled towards the door. I was reminded of the portal that Sylvia had pushed me through. The experience didn't feel any better the second time but I at least knew what to expect. As we softly landed on our feet, arriving at our destination, I immediately rummaged through my bag to make sure I still had the stone Sylvia entrusted me with. It was only after confirming that it was still there did I finally look up and take in the scene around us.

[A/N: A new FF which I wanted to try out. There are four OC's (excluding Arthur): Alistair who is not reincarnated but has eyes same as Sasuke's rinnegan and mangekyou sharingan that he will unlock soon. The other three OC's will be introduced later on in the story.]